Rain Everyday!

Hey Everyone!

This week was crazy! It was full of miracles, and we had a ton of fun! On Monday, we had an eating contest between David Chong and Elder Schellenberg. It was awesome. They put away a TON of roti. Roti is a super good bread. Roti really just means bread in Malay.  Whenever someone says roti, normally they mean roti canai (the stuff they ate). Elder Schellenberg won. So that was cool. David ended up throwing up in the middle of a mall later, and Elder Schellenberg just sat on his bed all day after.  That night, we went over to the Jopius's house. It was fun, and we had a really good lesson. Sister Jopius was telling us about how everyone at her village is trying super hard to get her to come to the only church up there (a Catholic church), but she always tells them that it's a false church. Haha! So that's pretty awesome.

Tuesday, we had a great district meeting, then I can't really remember much after that... We taught Andrew about tithing, and we committed him to pay tithing after he was baptized.  He asked us if he was only allowed to pay 10%, because he wanted to pay more.  We told him that's what fast offerings were for. Haha!  He's ready to receive those blessings from tithing! After teaching him, Elder Mickelson and I went to the airport to go on exchanges in Tawau!  We flew into Tawau at night, and then stayed all day Wednesday, and flew back to KK on Thursday!

Wednesday, I was with Elder Loutzenheiser.  I got to ride a super broken bike, and got to see Tawau! So that was cool. It’s a pretty awesome place. We got 2 new investigators, and 2 solid potential investigators who we taught the restoration to. So that was cool. I had a lot of fun, but there are TONS of Muslims there. It was crazy. It had to have been like 80% Muslim. I took a picture with the family of the 2 potential investigators we taught. The potentials are the two oldest kids.

We flew back Thursday morning, and did weekly planning and studies. After that, we met with a guy named Syirus. He’s Russian Orthodox. That’s the first time I've ever taught one! It was super interesting though. They have many more correct beliefs than Catholicism.  It was really funny, because he kept saying we need to follow the traditions of the Apostles.  We started talking about how Paul wasn't one of the original Twelve, but he was called later.  Then we asked him why we couldn't call more Apostles after.  He was trying to think of an answer, and then just changed the subject on us. It was pretty funny. He actually read the Book of Mormon, and is super interested in it, so we didn't drop him the second time we met with him! He's super smart. He knows English, and knows what Gentile means. He’s literally the first person in Malaysia that wasn't a member of our church who I've met that knows what a Gentile is.

Friday, we met with Andrew and taught him about the priesthood and other things. He ate it up. At the end of the lesson, he said he had a question that was super important, but then wouldn't ask it.  I think he's just messing with us. He was smiling as he said he had a question, so I don't think he really did. We had English class... I can't remember what else.

Saturday, we visited Rina. She's been really sick for quite a while.  When she opened her door, her face was WHITE.   I was a little scared she was about to die, but I think she'll be ok. She got color in her face once we started meeting. It was just a little weird since she doesn't really have white skin, but her face was white.  We taught her and everything seemed fine.  I told some members at church to make sure they visit her once a week. We met with Syirus again, and had a nice good discussion on the Book of Mormon. We had assigned him to read 2 Nephi 29 the time before, and he did, and he marked it UP. It was way cool. Most of the questions he asked were answered in all the pages before 2 Nephi 29, so we committed him to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover.  I think he'll actually do it really quickly. He just eats it up. He's kind of skeptical about it right now, but as he starts to read it, he'll become converted. So that'll be awesome. Give it a few weeks! Haha! That's the best thing about our church! If they pray, read, and come to church, they'll know it's true!

Yesterday... Let's see. We met with Shadan, Jonvi, and Lee Kok Hung, and put them all on date. They're 3 of the bros that we teach. They ate it up, and totally understood the importance of the priesthood. It was awesome. Andrew helped us teach members after church. So that was super cool too. We're hoping to turn Andrew into the automatic member present man. He wants to finish school, get a job and save up, then go on a mission! He told us that was his new goal. Then after his mission, he was hoping he would be able to go to BYU and further his education. It was pretty awesome!

This week was crazy! Tons of stuff happened, and I only told you some of it.  It dumped rain every single day.   There are rockslides everywhere, drainage systems almost overflowing (not quite), and we were SOAKED all week, but it was ok!   All our hard work was totally worth it. Apparently, there's a typhoon over in the Philippines, so that's why it's raining every day here. It's been great though! I can't wait to see what happens this week! Andrew and Inday are getting baptized in two weeks, so we're all super excited for that too!

Love,

Elder Ben Mullins

Cool tree

Pineapple plant

Drunk dude we messed with

Family in Tawau

Roti

The bill for roti meal

Brother Jopius and his family

Johnny's baptism

Andrew

The Chongster

Huge Book of Mormon

The Bros

Zone conference-Elder Allred, Elder Mickelsen

Zone Conference

Hey Everyone!

From Monday to Thursday night, I was in Singapore! So not a ton happened those days except trainings. A missionary pulled the fire alarm (claimed it was on accident), we set the mission office security alarm off, served up ice cream and enchilada casserole, and learned a lot. It was lots of fun, and I got to meet every missionary in East Malaysia finally! That was cool. I had never met most of the missionaries in the Kuching zone, so that was kind of weird. BUT. Lots of good trainings, lots of good ideas!  I'm excited to use the ideas now!

Friday... let's see. Oh, we did our studies, weekly planning, had English Class, and called a ton of PI's to try and get some new investigators for this week.  We didn't have a ton of time to do anything, so it was mainly a planning day! English class was good, because I gave a baptismal interview while Elder Johnson taught English in the other room, so I didn't have to teach! And the guy passed his interview!

Saturday was great! We had two baptisms! I actually got to baptize one! His name is Johnny. He's the sister's investigator, but he started learning right when I got in the area, and we became friends really fast. He's trying to teach me Chinese. Anyway, that was cool! We also met with Ivy and tried to teach her daughter, Christina, but she wasn't home. After her, we stopped by the bro's. Lee Kok Hong was the only one home, so we just read the Book of Mormon a bit with him.  Then we went over to the house with all the girls to see if we could find Nelly, our investigator. She was there, and she forced one of her friends to come out and talk with us. They said they'd do their best to come to church, but they didn't make it.  We'll get them next time... We also made a killer stir fry. It was great.

Sunday, we were told about a member that used to always help the missionaries a ton, but she had gone inactive a while ago.  We went out on a quest to find her! We took David Chong with us, and we made the long bus ride/hike to this place where we thought she lived. We met a lot of cool people on the way, and when we arrived, we knocked on the door, and a little girl answered, closed the door, followed by a girl that was a little older answer then shut the door, followed by a girl that was a little older.   The third time, the door didn't shut. They just said, "One second elders" then closed the door.  I asked David who they were, and they were her nieces. We finally went in and met them all, and it turned out they were inactive members that I had tried to find a month ago or so, and couldn't. So that was cool! They were super funny. They wer arguing back and forth the entire time. One was 17, the other 19, then two super little girls. Malaysians... Getting married when they're like 16... PRETTY WEIRD. Anyway, we had a good lesson, and I think they'll come to church this week!  So that'll be good! We also visited other members, investigators, and potential investigators, but didn't see a ton come out of that besides talking with people. But it's ok. We'll get them next time!

I really enjoyed the week! We didn't have a ton of time in our area, BUT. On Sunday evening, we realized that our on-date number was really low.  We started talking, and then Elder Johnson asked if we were allowed to put people on date over the phone. I said I thought we were, so we did it! We put two people on date over the phone! One was Inday! She didn't have a solid date yet, but we called her and asked if she had prayed to know when she should be baptized.  She said she had, and just the night before she got her answer.  We asked what the answer was. She said she had a dream where she heard a voice calling from the sky, and it said her name.  We asked what it meant, and she said she was ready to get baptized!  We put her on date for November 4th! With Andrew!  We're mega excited for that! I love it in KK, and we're about to have roti canai eating contest with David Chong! So that'll be awesome too! Elder Schellenberg versus David. It'll be awesome. Oh, forgot to mention. Elder Johnson's neck was wrecked when he woke up Friday morning, and he couldn't even move it. It's still super bad, and he always walks with his head turned sideways now. It’s super funny, but I feel kind of bad for him too. AND. Jim (an investigator I taught in Puchong) got baptized! So that was awesome! I think I might've mentioned that in my last letter, but I’m not sure. I'm just glad he got baptized. So that was cool!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Ben Mullins

The Bros

Hey Everyone!

This week was awesome! There were tons of crazy miracles, and lots of people to meet with! General Conference was awesome, and we were super busy all week. We're going to Singapore later today, so I'm emailing early! I told you about Monday last week, but I didn't get to tell you about the rest of the week. The problem is, I've already forgotten all of that week. Luckily, it's in my journal, but that's at the house. SO. Maybe after my mission you'll be able to ask about the one week that I wasn't able to email.

Tuesday was a pretty calm day. We got on the bus to go to a place called Kepayan Ridge (we do a lot of work over there), and while we were waiting for the bus to fill up, a girl walked onto the bus, and David Chong leans over to me and says, "Isn't that the girl we talked to last Friday?" I didn't see her, so I wasn't sure if it was her or not. She was sitting right next to Elder Johnson, so I told him to ask her if we had met before, but he was too nervous. Later he said he just didn't know what I was saying, but he definitely knew what I was saying. ANYWAY. I whip out the phone, and we had her number, so I called her. She answers the phone, and says that she had just gotten back from kampung, and that we could meet in a few days.  We hung up, then she looked over to Elder Johnson, then Elder Johnson started laughing, and it was pretty awkward, but he fixed it. I think. Anyway, we left and ended up visiting a bunch of people. One of those people was Ivy, a less active that we're working with. When we got there, I felt like I should ask if her daughter (a non-member) was home, and she was, so I asked Ivy if she could go get her. Ivy kept doing the, "oh she's been taught by a lot of elders before, she's not interested" type thing, but I said to just TRY. She finally went and got her daughter and asked if she wanted to come out and say hi.  Ivy came out, and said, "Yeah, I don't know if she'll come. I just told her you asked if she wanted to come out and say hi."  I thought that was kind of a bummer that Ivy didn't try very hard, but then about 3 minutes later, her daughter came out of the house, and said hi!  I asked if she wanted to listen in on our lesson, and she said can, but then we just ended up teaching her the restoration.  It was really good! She was actually super interested, and wants to learn more! SO. HAH. People deserve second chances.  Always invite people, even if they weren't interested before, they might be interested now!

Wednesday, the AP's came over for exchanges. I went with Elder McCusker, and we had a fire day. Super awesome. We got 20 potential investigators, cast out a demon, David Chong got asked on a date, had a miracle meeting with a potential investigator, and met some people I'm really excited to meet! SO. First off. Casting out a demon. At night time, we were walking by a hospital on our way to the church, and this random guy that looked pretty Muslim started following us.  I made sure he knew I was watching him, then he asked if we were going to a church. I said we were, and he said something about he was going to follow because he needed to worship. I made sure he wasn't Muslim, then told him we don't have a worship meeting, but we could teach him if he wanted.  He said ok, and kept following. I had a super weird feeling about him, and finally I asked him if everything was ok. He said he wasn't ok, because Satan was with him. I was like, "oooooooook. We're going give you a blessing or something." but then he figured out the church was like a 30-minute walk, and said it was too far. So Elder McCusker did the whole arm to the square thing, and it was pretty epic, and I think the guy was ok after! So. Yeah. Other than that, remember that girl we called on the bus on Tuesday? Well, same thing happened, but only instead of calling her, we went up to her and asked if she had 30 minutes to learn, and she did.  We taught her, and she ate it up!  After that, she went home and shared with her family, and they all antied her. SO. We dropped her a few days later. But. Still a miracle. Oh yeah, so another super cool thing. We met this group of guys that are best friends, and there are 7 of them. They all live in the same house on top of this hill. All of them are way cool, and they're all Christian, so we could teach them!  That was awesome! We met with them later in the week. We also met this house of girls, and it was mega awkward.  A week ago, we got this new investigator named Nelly. She's 14, and super funny.  She was a referral from a member, her niece.  We walked up to this random house, because the little kids in front of the house were super funny, and it turned out, Nelly is over there hanging out with all of her friends. Nelly introduced us to 6 of her friends, all ages 14 - 17, and I'm just going to say, it was mega awkward. I don't think they had ever talked to a white person in their whole lives, especially two white 19-year-old boys that spoke Malay. Well. I spoke Malay. Elder McCusker spoke Chinese. Super awkward. AND. David had a girl from KL ask him out on a date, and he's way pumped for it. He's hilarious. I can't wait to see what happens with that.

Thursday, we met with all those bros. We call them the bros. 6 of them were there, and we gave them all Book of Mormons, as well as taught the restoration, and they really liked it. They came to their own conclusions about the apostasy and stuff that led right into the restoration, so it worked out really well. They all work the night shift, so we'll have to build their faith to get them to come to church, but I think we can do it.  Other than that, we just visited less actives the rest of the day. It was fun though!

Friday, we were booked. We met with the girl on the bus that got antied, and dropped her, met with Ivy's daughter again, and met with brother Lo. Brother Lo was telling us about how he was sick and stuff, but then when he came to the church, he was better until the next day, and that's how it always is. So that was pretty cool. He really likes the church. He was baptized about 6 months ago.

Saturday, we had General Conference. I really enjoyed all the talks. Elder Mickelson and I were trying to plan our training for Zone Conference.  We were just kind of at a dead end, and didn't know what to talk about.  After General Conference, we had a ton of ideas, and we threw it all this morning since we're giving the training tonight. Haha! One of my favorite things said in the Saturday sessions was by President Utchdorf.  He said that blessings don't come from abilities, they come from choices. I've learned that a lot on my mission. Blessings are 100% based on if we do something or not. Not on our ability to do it. As long as we do our best, we get the blessing. Pretty awesome. I also liked the comment Elder Christofferson made about how service is the very fiber of what life is in the Celestial Kingdom. That's a super interesting outlook.

Sunday, we went to church, and Andrew had said that he would be able to make it to church.  We called him in the morning, and he said he was still going to be able to make it.  When we sat down in the first session, we were just waiting for a call from him saying he made it to the church. 5 minutes in, he sends us a text saying he's got something super important and can't make it.  I told him that God is super important and should be at the top of his list, but he just said sorry, and then the entire session, I was like, "I thought Andrew was more solid than that... How could he not come to church?"  The session ended, and we walked outside, and Andrew is standing right there in the church with a huge smile on his face.  I said something along the lines of, "I thought you said you couldn't make it!" Then he told me that he was just joking and he had actually been to the entire first session. He just went to the one in Malay, and I was in the English one. What a guy. He should be getting baptized on the 28th!  His little sister came up to KK because she has a kidney problem, and he was a little concerned about it. We tried visiting her yesterday, but we didn't know the room number, and Andrew wasn't answering.  We'll visit her once we get back from Singapore!  Conference on Sunday was MEGA good. Elder Hallstrom's talk on miracles was super good, Elder Bednar's was super good, Elder Eyring's was good, Elder Callister's was wayyy good for investigators, and the rest were all super good too. Those were just some favorites. I really enjoyed the conference. I can't believe that that's my second to last conference in my mission. One more, and I'll be home. UNBELIEVABLE.

This week was just a crazy week in general. I had a ton of fun. Lots of stuff is happening in KK, and I love it here! My pictures aren't uploading, so maybe I'll find a way to fix it, because I have a ton of pictures to send this week. Two weeks-worth to be exact! But that's ok. I might have to send them next week... The internet in KK is terrible, but everything else is super cool! I really love it here! It's a ton of fun! I hope you all have an awesome!

Love,

Elder Ben Mullins