feb 1, 2010

hey dad
i really hope you received an email last week, because i sent a huge
one to you. i told you about everything i did that week. if you
didn't, i tell you it wasn't my fault! haha. well, we haven't heard
too much about the situation here in malaysia. everytihng that is
going down is pretty much in west malaysia so it hasn't really
affected us here in east much. people just tell us to be careful and
they tell us in west there have been churches that have been bombed. i
dont know how much you've heard about it, but i guess it's because of
a controversy over the word "allah." in malay there is no other word
for god, and the muslims get angry because they feel like christians
disrespect Allah. the issue came to a vote, and it was passed that
christians could continue using the word, so there was a backlash. i
guess some people in west had to stay inside, but we're still safe.
it's crazy to face politics as a missionary, because i have no idea
what is going on in the world. people always ask where we're from, and
when we tell them america, they just go "barak obama!" it's so funny.
and then they ask what we think of him, but i dont know anything. i
might just tell people i'm from france, because no one knows where
that is anyway. so we had a pretty good week last week. well, there
were some tough things that happened i guess, but mostly good. we've
been working with all our investigators, and most of them are doing
really well. you may have heard me talk about this lady named kitty
that we have been teaching. she's so good. she is really prepared to
hear what we talk about. she's been to church twice, and pretty much
ready to be baptized, but she's a little nervous to be by herself so
we're going to postpone it a week so she can be baptized with another
person. we should have quite a few coming up, but we need to wait a
little bit to see how things go. one day, all our appointments fell
through, and even our back up appointments. it was like 830 at night,
and we knew it was too early to go home. we didnt yet have bikes at
that point, so we didnt want to go super far and have to just walk
back. so we started to contact around where we lived, which normally
night contacting goes no where because people are scared of two big
white guys when its dark out. anyways, we go straight for this one
house, and the guy is a stud. he let us in and he's really receptive.
he's been to america before, so he likes to talk to us in english a
bit. so we met him that first time, and last week, we met him for a
second time. he really seemed excited to hear about the book of mormon
and on thursday he invited us back, and he said he would bring some
family members, so we're really excited for that coming up. we've got
some members who are giving us referals, which is always helpful. that
should go well. sacrament is pretty strange, but it's so much more
peaceful with just a handful of people. anyways, we just meet in a
terace house until we have enough people to merit the renting of a
building for church. and some people dont want anything to do with us
until we have an actual building. it's a little sad, but you can
really see who is prepared and who isnt. anyways, the hard thing this
week was that we have a family who seemed pretty good. a mother and a
few children that love to have us come over. the husband works far
away and comes back once a month. so he came back, and has banned her
from going to church. he says once we have an actual building for
church, he'll let them go again, but you never know if he'll keep his
word. so that's a few baptisms we'll have to wait for. it's always
hard to see things like that, but you just have to keep going.
everything else here is going great. we get rained on almost everyday
now, and that's just the way i like it. so i was originally going to
send this just in myldsmail, but i decided i'd send it twice just so i
could make sure you get it. take care dad and know that i love you.
let me know how things are going back home. later.
love, elder hill

Reply

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Zachary Hill to me

show details 6:54 PM (2 hours ago)

hey mom. i havent gotten the pictures yet, but they should be in singapore right now. normally, they wait until someone from the same city goes back to singapore, and they can just pick up the mail for free. so i should get it in the upcoming weeks. plus, you never know how long it will actually take to get to singapore. i just got the christmas card you sent me last week! haha. what a fun experience this is. i can't even tell you how much i love malaysia. i have had so many experiences that just make me laugh, that i can't even describe them all. i wish you guys could all experience it, but i'm sure you'd have to experience it as a missionary to have one like mine. i'm not sure how much i'd like coming here as a tourist, but getting to know all the people is so much fun. especially being able to talk to them. but yeah, malaysia is always pretty warm. it's nice. i think i wouldve died if i got sent to russia or dare i say canada! brrr! but yeah, there are some pretty sweet jungles around here. way more than in kuching because i was just surrounded by city. i'm sorry i've been so bad about sending pictures. i'll try to remember to take some. there's this raging river we have to cross to get some places. it's pretty crazy. also, there's a really really tall bridge we ride over to get to some members. when i get to the top, i feel like i'm gonna pass out, but it sure is fun to ride down. the family we had isnt ready to be baptized yet, and wont be for a while. i explained a little more in depth in dad's email (i really hope you both read both emails i send, because i say different things) anyways, the husband has currently forbidden them to come to church until further notice. so we'll wait to see what goes on. we still have some good people, and are expecting a good turnout for february. the people here seem to really like us. we get invited over for food a lot more than i did in kuching, so it's pretty nuts. malaysia sure has some delicious curry, but i think it would be better with no bones and no skin on the chicken. either way, you just gotten eat what's given to you, know what i'm saying? i wish i would've realized that when i was younger. i'm sorry i was so picky back in the day ma. anyways, i'm sorry this one's short. i should probably get. i'm gonna try to write better emails, so we'll see how it goes. i love you ma. take care of yourself.
love, elder hill