a lowly white city boy like myself had no problem

hey dad

i guess i didnt actually send the letter i wrote to you guys last week. it's still in my inbox as a draft. woops! sorry. i apologize. also, were you able to get my transcript information from csn? can you also look up a transcript info from the "Las Vegas West Charleston Institute of Religion" that's the institute i went to, and the application for byu requires me to send in a transcript for institute.. i apologize, but i really have no idea what i'm doing with this application. it's tough to be on a mission and try to apply, but i really do appreciate all the help you've given me already. the only other thing i would need from you guys is to estimate the gross family income for 2010. thanks so much.

anyways, this week has been pretty awesome. i'll try to expalin as best as i can, but i'm really horrible at emails. so i've been seeing the lord's hand in our area quite a bit lately. so last week someone pulled the fire alarm at the church. well, we are on the 5th floor, and someone pulled the alarm on the empty 1st floor. so we, the missionaries, went to go inspect what was going on, since the alarm was disturbing church and malaysians have a tough time handling a crisis. so we went down to the ground floor to look at the fire alarm panel. well, all of a sudden a former investigator who suddenly moved and didnt have a phone showed up and started talking to us. well, we never wouldve seen him except the fire alarm had been puled. so we set an appointment with him to meet at the church, because we still didnt know where he lived. so that made us pretty excited.

so the day came to meet him, and it was rainy and he never showed up. i was pretty bummed. it took a miracle for us to see him, and the poof. gone. so we had a potential investigator listed for the back up plan. we had tried to meet up a few times, but being around christmas and new years, she was always busy (and avoiding us). so it didnt seem like that would go anywhere. we just wanted to go back and see her one last time to see if we could either fix things or drop. we wanted to call her first, but earlier that day we accidentally left our cell phone in another elder's bag. so we figured we would just surprise her. so we went. it was rainy. i was thinking what a horrible situation we were in. we finally arrived, and met the lady, ramas. she immediately started saying how she didnt have time and couldnt meet and that if she wanted to meet later she would call us. in my head, i was just thinking "well, there goes that, i guess" and wanted to give up. it was looking to be a pretty horrible day. but as we sat in silence for a bit, i remembered that when we met her before, she said she was really interested in our message. so i asked her if she had prayed about the things we taught last time and i asked how she felt. she responded by asking us if we wanted a drink, and then followed with a "do you want to come inside?" luckily this time, her husband was also home. so we got to know them a little better and had a lesson with them. it turned out to be a pretty good lesson. we found out that they had been antied but we were able to resolve the concern, and they seemed pretty excited about what we were teaching. so we invited them to come to church, and they came! for all 3 hours! and then the found out one of their relatives is already a member of the church! and we met them after church and had another awesome lesson with them and they are just awesome. so we're pretty excited about them.

also, our area is really looking up. we've been meeting with lots of members, and we're finally starting to reap some of the referrals that we've been sowing. and they've been pretty good. getting lots of new investigators and next week at church is looking to be a big one. we contacted the little brother of the branches 1st counsellor, and he totally looks up to his older brother. he already stopped drinking coffe and tea because the 1st counsellor told him it wasnt good. and he seems like he wants to learn. his wife is pretty strong rc, but she's friendly.

also, the son of one of our recent converts is wanting to get baptized finally after a while of us teaching him. his wife is shirley or if you've ever read my emails about "shelly" same people. malaysians have a funny accent, so the names shelly and shirley are impossible to differentiate.

also, we contacted into a family that seems really good. well, the lady is religious but has never been baptized, and wants to learn more about the gospel. the husband ran away, so she is understandably sad, but the gospel seems to be cheering her up. also, she likes a visit from to white kids. but we brought a member over and they became instant friends and this family seems pretty excited to come to church. we're gonna walk with them the first time they come, hopefully this sunday.

the same member that helped us with the lady mentioned above has been helping us quite a bit lately. her name is puras, a recent convert of ours. she referred some friends from work, and she is so good. she just shares an awesome testimony and helps people get excited for church. one of her referrals seemed really shaky after we invited to come to church. she said she would see later if she had time. then puras shared her testimony (which was in bidayuh so i didnt understand) but right after that, the friend was like "so church is at 11? i'll come" it was awesome.

we've been having a successful few weeks, for which i am very grateful. we hope to keep that success coming and the baptisms will follow shortly. thanks for listening to my ramblings. i do believe that should be all for the week, but we can chat next week. love you dad.

love, zac

mom!

i meant to email you last week, but i guess i forgot to push the send button! sorry sorry sorry! what a horrible son i am. but i had a good week. i'm emailing a day early because we have a meeting in sibu for zone leaders, so our pday was pushed to tuesday. please read the email i sent to dad, as it explains the goings on of my week.

anyways, what is your news? let me know what's been going on? how's the member missionary work going? how's church going? how's work? my news is pretty good. we got permission from the president to ride a boat on the river from kuching to sibu. that was pretty fun. we sailed the high seas, and i felt the spray of the ocean on me face. plus, it was cheaper and half the time of a bus ride! there were people throwing up everywhere in the boat tho, which was pretty nasty. luckily they had those funny bags. ive never understood sea sickness. (the boat was pretty rocky at times) but as i was listening to some people gurgle, i had some thoughts. ibans are sometimes called "sea dayaks" and melayus are called "sea people" by the ibans. and yet both of the tribes had people who cant handle the high seas and a lowly white city boy like myself had no problem. shame on them. the boat ride was fun tho. who would've know i would do that on my mission? the air conditioner in the boat was like an ice box tho and felt like death. i cant handle the cold anymore.

well, we're getting the members here in kuching to like us a lot. it's been so much fun. i cant believe how much ive been learnin lately about missionary work, and i wish i knew this stuff at the begininng of my mission. i'm pretty excited for when i get back, so i can help the missionaries in our ward. gotta keep the missionary experiences going. it's so fun to see the gospel change people's lives. what are the missionaries like in our ward right now? what's the ward like? have there been people moving in or out? anyways, i cant think of much else to say. ive got pictures printed that i will send you sometime.. whenever i can find the time to go to the post office. please be patient with me! i love you mom. have a good week and i'll talk to you next time.

love, zac