Elder Ben Mullins: Them Snappers!

May 13, 2018

Hey Everyone!

This week was crazy. I don't even remember what happened but I have some highlights I can talk about! The week just flew by, and we're half way done with the transfer now. I hit my 22-month mark (ouch). I also figured out that I'm flying home on the same plane as Christian Kamalu. Christian is in my home ward and is serving in the Philippines. We come home on the same plane on the same day. It was an awesome week!

Monday, we went to the crocodile farm. It was crazy! There was this part where there were wild crocodiles. One saw us on the little deck about 5 feet above it. The crocodile was doing this weird growl thing, and then it ran toward us and jumped and snapped its teeth trying to eat us. CRAZY, but super fun. I'll send pictures.

Crocodile farm

Elder Wang

Weird looking bird

Hope the crocs don't eat us!

One funny thing. Do you remember those kids I talked about that we taught "What is your name" means "How are you"? Well, every time we pass by, we say, "What is your name?" and they all respond with, "I am fine, thank you!" It's awesome. They love us. Maybe one day, they'll realize what it really means.

While I was on exchanges with Elder Wang, we were biking along, and a car pulled over and motioned for us to stop. We stopped, and this Muslim guy hops out of the car. I was kinda weirded out, since we never talk to Muslims. He reached in his car and whips out a Book of Mormon! He said something along the lines of, "Hey, I found this Christian book on the ground, and I'm a Muslim, so I can't read this stuff. I wanna give it to a Christian. You're Christian, right?" Hahaha, it was a brand new English book of Mormon! So. Someone's investigator didn't want their Book of Mormon. It wasn't our investigator though, because we don't use English Book of Mormons! Haha! It was super random. The book made a full circle I guess!

Elder Wang

Hmmmm... Let's see... We're on our way to Damai beach right now for a zone activity. I bet it'll be pretty cool. I've never been, but it'll be fun to go to the beach! It’s like I'm back in Sabah!

A guy we met a week ago who didn't come to church called us last Friday and asked when church was, because he wanted to come. That was cool! His name is Gary! He brought his girlfriend too, so that was cool. We'll be meeting with them on Tuesday hopefully.

I was also on exchanges with Elder McCusker the other day, and we met this super awesome guy named Lesley. He's ripped and really nice. When we invited him to church, he was like, "Hmmmm. I'll make it happen." He didn't make it to church (no idea why), but we'll get him next time. He only works 4 days a week, and it's for an American company. He's a really nice guy.

Elder McCusker and I found a sickle!

Something happened that was kinda weird. The people go all out on Mother's Day here in Kuching. Sooooo many people were out and about with their families. Tons of people couldn't come to church (I assume Lesley had a similar excuse) because of Mother’s Day. Instead of saying good afternoon to us, people would say Happy Mother’s Day. So that was cool.

Mike, Milani, and Dylan all received the Aaronic Priesthood today. That was really good. The members are getting really excited for those three, and then Raymond, Tracy, and Peter too! All the members really like the people we bring to church, so that's good. We're pumping some energy back into the branch. There haven't been good missionaries here in a while so they're excited to have some missionaries who work.

Raymond and Tracy are doing really well. They're eating up the Book of Mormon, eternal marriage, tithing, fasting, and everything else. Raymond's ankle that he broke a while ago is starting to get better, so he was able to come to church this week. We even got his sister to church for the second week in a row! So that was awesome! We just gotta set up a schedule with his sister (Connie) so that we can meet with her regularly! Oh, and as a side note, Raymond and Tracy gave us these peanut butter cookie things that were really good.

Raymond in his new white shirt

Mike and Milani had this crazy exotic food they wouldn't let us eat because it's too hard to make. Basically, they get a bunch of whatever food they want (durian, pork and rice, etc) and stick it in separate bottles. They let it sit for 2 years, then eat it. It looks nasty. I asked them if it turns alcoholic, and they said it doesn't ferment. It doesn't smell like it rots. It’s super crazy stuff. It looks pretty nasty, but they love it.

Mike and his aged durian

It was elections this week. All of Malaysia was going crazy. The Prime Minister changed, and everyone who isn't Muslim is freaking out. That was interesting. When they vote, to make sure people only vote once, they have you dip their finger in this weird ink stuff that turns it a weird color. Everyone we talked to had a purple finger this week. That was kinda weird. I got a picture with Brother Lee and his purple finger.

Brother Lee voted

We found the best Indian food in the entire world the other day. It was wayyyyyy more expensive than normal Indian food, but it tasted sooooooo good. I had no idea it could taste that good. Absolutely amazing! Indian food is definitely some of the best food in the world. Does anyone know if Indian food in the USA is good? I might have to go find some good Indian food once I get home...

Also, a couple months ago, when I was on exchanges with Elder McCusker, we found someone named Aaron. Guess who's getting baptized on the 26th along with Tracy, Raymond, and Peter? Wooohoooo! 4 people that I found and had the privilege of teaching are getting baptized on the 26th! They're all super solid, and really want to get baptized. We're all pretty hyped about it. We're trying to get all 4 of them to have members baptize them so that in our baptismal picture, there are 8 people dressed in white, and then us 4 Elders just off to the sides. It'll be awesome. Hopefully we can get them. It shouldn't be too hard, they all seem to have fellowshippers that they can pick.

The work here in Kuching is unreal, time is flying by, I Skype home today, and I still feel like I have about a year left on my mission! Life is great, I'm loving every second, and I hope everyone has an awesome week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Ben Mullins