check it!

that's right.  STILL HERE.

the Punjabi man that let me make naan bread:) he said this week he will come to church.

this is HUGE! in west malaysia the name of the church has never been able to be posted on the outside.
this is the first time!!

his name is amad.  he is a boss.

unfortunately, I am closing my eyes.  but this was after they dolled us up.  we went to eat banana leaf.  mmmmmmmmmmm I'm going to miss this food.  miss eating with my fingers also.  it's so much easier.

denial

so. I don't know what to do with this. my last mission email ever, right? it doesn't feel real enough to write like it's my last one. 
so I'll just write like I normally do.
I remember last week Gibbons told me to expect to see miracles in my last two weeks like I haven't seen before. I have a lot of examples of just that. but maybe I talk about two of them. so first, Rose. not sure I mentioned her before...she is african. she had beautiful african hair wrapped the african way like they did it in tanzania so I started talking to her about that. I invited her to church, she came  that sunday, but when she came she told us about all the anti stuff she had heard. it was pretty heavy. we tried our best, but we were fairly certain that she wasn't gonna come again. well, saturday night rolls around and I call her just to invite her to come to church again, and she says she would! and she did! just like that. she said she didn't like the stuff she heard but she can't deny the feelings she has at church. and in sunday school she very actively participated in the whole class as if she had been a member for a long time already. she's incredible. and she's insanely beautiful. and she is one miracle, I think. 
the other miracle involves Amika. I'm pretty sure I've talked about her before. she was a miracle find when we were faith finding. and now she has come to church twice. but the first time we met her, she mentioned an experience she had with some "missionaries" (not sure what church) that came and talked nonstop about baptism and how she needed to get baptized again. she didn't like that one at all, and she made it clear from the beginning she was gonna have none of that from us. which worried us! haha. we come to help people prepare to be baptized. you know? so we prayed a lot about that and how we were gonna go around that. so then this past sunday she comes to church, and a members son had just turned 8 so it was his baptism. and tooooons of people came. and it was really special. and amika stayed to see it. well, after, I asked her what she thought and if she had any questions. and she said, "well when I was baptized I was a baby with water on my head. but you guys do it, like....the same way jesus did in the movie. is it?" so then I explain to her we follow his way because we are his church. and she tells me about how much she loved it and the feelings she had and then she says, "I would like to be baptized. is it okay??" hahaha. which, of course, was a MIRACLE to say the least. so she'll be baptized soon too:)
also, elvis is getting the priesthood!!! and the other night we were teaching him and his two best friends, which want to be baptized as well, and we told elvis after he got the aaronic priesthood he would be able to baptize them. WOW! they were all so amped on that!!!! again, I selfishly hate that I won't be here. but it will happen and it will be a miracle. oh, and elvis went out and bought two pairs of mens trousers and two more ties for church. haha. he wants to look good!
this is a funny one, since its been a while. so many many weeks ago, I bought this very obnoxious creepy looking cat toy that meows and his eyes light up when you turn it on. it's loud and obnoxious. but I bought it so I could put it on sister pinkston when she was sleeping. which I did, and it was awesome. it was such a big hit, a few weeks later we did it to gopinath, which was awesome because all she did was pick it up and chuck it at me. haha. so we had been saving this cat to wait for a good time to do it to noordy. we didn't want to do it too early for fear she'd think it was like hazing or something. so we kept waiting. it never felt right, and we just weren't gonna do it. until one night rhodesy steals it and decides to put it on me. I'm dead asleep, and in my dream I see this cat in my face meowing at me. I guess it was going off for some 5 or so minutes without me waking up. finally I wake up, halfway, recognize what was happening, so I turn it off and roll over to go back to sleep. but then my sleep was very rudely interrupted by rhodesy's mad giggles coming from her bunk bed. when I say mad, they were mad giggles. so loud. her laughter was what woke me up completely from my sleep, which I was quite annoyed about. I think we all were. but she couldn't stop. so I yell, "pull it together rhodes!!!!!!!!!!!" and immediately fall back asleep. I think she laughed the remainder of the night cause she was quite tired the next morning. haha. her fault! it was funny though. we both occasionally start laughing all over again about it.
also, this was cool. we went to see our investigator balu at his shop yesterday, it's the place I bought all my indian outfits. and we also love eeeeeeveryone that works there. it's a party every time we stop by. they usually give us something or dress us up or whatever. but yesterday we walked in and I had just bought tied jasmine flowers that the girls always wear but I didn't know how. so they sat us down and did our hair for us and gave me these huge elizabeth taylor style clip on earings complete with the sticker on our forehead and they were dying. I guess we are indian already. the switch has happened:) but we walked around like that the rest of the day and I loved it. I must go to india ASAP.
I'll end with a cool quote that mum had given me in a card at the very beginning of my mission. I wonder if you even remember. "the mind determines what's possible. the heart surpasses it. follow your heart." I have reflected on that a lot this past week and it has touched me all over again. the heart is important. I try every day to get my heart right. and I really think the heart, or love, is like, the catalyst for everything. if theres love for what you're doing, you do anything to accomplish your goal. and you accomplish it. 
well, I guess this is it. 
I love you all. 
see you soon.

hooray for pictures

this is the place I got all my indian clothes made. and I'm wearing a saree.  and it was BEAUTIFUL! I wanted to get one but it's a little grand for any occasion I will be going to. but the lady next to me is a doll and she is awkwardly holding my hand:)  haha

Batu Caves!  really it's a hindu temple, but it has this big statue and then a thousand stairs going up to another couple of shrines to pray at.  it was awesome.

while we were waiting for the other missionaries to get there I borrowed a mans bubble gun and started trying to scare rhodesy:)

this is at the top of the caves.....

and again......

these men are from Iraq.  I told them I was from Las Vegas, apparently they have all been and they love it, because they sat and talked for about 10 minutes and randomly they would yell "viva Las Vegas"!!!!!!!

very typical......I was getting antsy from waiting for everyone

the train ride home!!! gopi, me, noordy (officially known as sister Noorda, she is a greenie) and rhodesy.

I can't believe the time. really I can't. it hasn't hit me yet.
do you remember last week? I'm pretty sure I told you about amika. we found her knocking? she is punjab indian and christian? I think I did. anyway, she came to our district conference this weekend and she loved it so much. aaalllllllllll of the indian woman in our whole district came and they all spoke in their language together and laughed and exchanged phone numbers and blah blah blah. it was incredible. she loved it so much. now everyday she texts us and she will get baptized. unfortunately I'll be gone, but it's good. 
also, lya is back!!! she got back on monday so we went and taught her and everything. she is just as crazy as always. I missed her so much. she's reading her scriptures every day:) and she loves church even more after going to it in indonesia. 
sorry. I'm being boring. my mind is kindof heavy today. is that right? hard to focus. 
the last two days were quiet epic though. monday night elvis insisted on taking us to eat since I'm leaving soon. so we went with him and his best friend and our investigator, steefn. we went to this pakistani restaurant that I wrote a bit about in my email with the pictures. the food was pretty good, although homemade pakistani food is much better. the men were scaring me. we were in a sketchy part of town. but the sweet part of the whole night was elvis. he has changed so much. he is so sweet and full of love for everyone. he is getting the priesthood this weekend and he will be so good. he's excited to bless the sacrament and baptize steefn. but we were sitting there, waiting for our food, and beggars started coming up to us. this is typical, sooooo many beggars here. its sad but you just have to push them on. sometimes I buy them lunch but in the handbook it says something about not giving money away. so anyway. three times a man would come up and ask for money, and elvis would kindof politely shoo him away. but then one time a woman came up, asking for money, and elvis looked at her, smiled, gave her some money, and said a sweet thing to her in arabic and the lady was so happy. and then we carried on like nothing happened. he didn't say anything. but rhodes and I were both sooo impressed with him and the compassion he has for woman. I dare say that is not a natural feeling for him, being from pakistan. at least all of the men we have met from there, its just maybe their view or perhaps just the way they are accustomed to treat woman is not according to the way Christ taught us. but elvis showed how much he has changed by that small small act. and then later, after we had eaten soooooooooo much food, and rhodes and elvis had a chicken eating contest, he paid and insisted he buy us ice cream. I thought I'd get off the hook by saying I'm allergic, but instead he bought me three chocolate bars. hahaha. I said elvis! too much! we don't need so much! and he said "no! you study bible all the time! you need food! when you get tired, you take! eat, bible, study!" haha. it was so cute. his english is much better already too. anyway, I could brag about him for long time. so I'll stop. but he is changing, and it is a miracle to see. OH! and I almost forgot. he told his family in new york about the church and they want to go. so he asked us for the address and everything. so he's doing missionary work already. AH! I love him. 
also this is cool, so fauzia is johnsons wife. she has a very intense story. I will tell you when I get home. but she is very lonely. a whole lot of indescribable pain in her life. she doesn't take to being taught, so we started trying to serve only. she knows we love her though, especially me. we have this bond. but we went there yesterday to "learn to cook" but really to help her cook. she's 8 months pregnant with complications and she has to make sooo much food. and pakistani food takes forever. anyway, so we went to go cook with her. so all day we talked with her, and she got to talk to us about stuff, we laughed, she told stories, she loves to cook so I think she had a good time teaching us. it was one of the most....hm. one of the most love filled days of my life. asher and faris were there and they were helping and taking care of their mom and we were laughing. it was just nice to feel love in their home, since it has been so long since it has been like that. I'll remember it forever. I've never seen them so happy.
oh! and I met my new mission president and his wife, president and sister mains. they are incredible. all of our investigators kept asking who they were because they spoke so humbly and beautifully at the conferences. it was quite the shock at the gross difference between him and president clark. they came in humble and wanting to love. they are full of love. president mains even bore his testimony in malay, which was a very simple broken malay testimony, and he was saying it to people who really don't speak malay that much, but I think that touched the people too. that he would try to learn the language. I don't know, I don't really know how to describe him. other missionaries have said he is entirely by the book. which I'm not sure about, I haven't seen it. the only thing that struck me was how humble and loving him and sister mains were. so I'm very happy to have them. they're incredible.
I don't know if I have any funny stories today, perhaps I'm just not in a funny mood. I can't believe the time.
I'm excited to see you all though. I love you so much.

it was awesome

me and sis rhodes riding an elephant.
i'm so tired now!

INTENSE is a good way to describe the last few days. lets start with a brother anthony moment. he will get a shout out a little later too, but this one was a classic. he's quite the scrawny man, and he always is having problems with his socks. he either rolls them over 50 times to get them to stay up, or the other day, my most favorite solution of his, use a zip tie!!!! yep, he used zip ties around his calves to hold up those blasted socks. I asked him where he got that idea and he said you could use a ziptie to fix anything. when I get home I'll do the research and see if I agree with that. so our little miracle moment of the day occurred on sunday. so actually sundays sometimes are the hardest day for us, they are always the most stressful. so we usually try to have appointments all day so its a bit more relaxed. but unfortunately, or fortunately, this sunday we didn't have any appointments. so right after church we went out on an adventure to explore these really ancient looking green apartment buildings I have wanted to do for forever. actually cool sidenote, the building literally had a huge tree growing in to the wall. I didn't know how that was possible but thats what was happening. anyway, so we knock and knock, got legitimately yelled and chased out of this pitch black staircase from the 3rd floor by an old chinese auntie that did not want to hear "christian" actually quite sad to think about it, one day she's gonna have to own up to that moment, but it was also quite....quite typical. so that was fun. but anyway. so we keep knocking, we met all of like, 20, christian people from myanmar. they were adooooooorable. not super swift with english, but it was a pleasure to meet them. they let us in and all of us sat in a circle on their floor and they gave us drinks. it was just really really sweet. and then right after, it was quite dark at this point and we were in a sketch area, so we were about to go back when I see this door with a picture of jesus on it. BAM! we rarely see doors with jesus. usually something arabic from the quran, or hindu stuff, or buddha. so when we see jesus, we get amped. so we knock the door and this beautiful indian girl ushers us in to her house sits us down gives us some drink and then sits down and says, can I help you? so we talk to her for an hour. she was going through a really really hard time so she said it was a miracle we came. there are a lot more details involved in that conversation but lets just say she is beautiful and we're gonna help her fix her heart. I'm running out of time!!!!! okay. I'll end with the really intense story. so. we get a call from brother anthony. come to this place at this time, I want to introduce you to this person. so we go there. turns out, he wants to introduce us to 10 people. 10 older christians. crazy old christians. that their job is running a church. hmmmmmmm. so we are a bit outnumbered and not at all what we were anticipating the meeting being like. so we sit down. we try to say a few words, ask a few questions, but instead, this crazy pastor man and his wife start yelling at us. well, yellingpreaching at us. quoting the same typical verses all these churches quote. of course, interpreted wrongly. to which we quote some from the bible, proving theirs wrong, and what not. in all actuality, that is a very bad thing to do. bible bashes never go over well. so mostly we just sat there and were entertained by this chinese pastor yelling and shaking his body and throwing his arms all over the place and "praising the Lord" it was ridiculous. I wanted to go. rhodes was thoroughly entertained. and anthony was sitting and closng his eyes. I think asleep. they highlights would be them talking about speaking in tongues. the gift of tongues. and that means you speak in satans language that sounds like parseltongue, if you're a harry potter fan. I said I don't do that and would never do that. they told me that I hadn't reached a spiritual place yet and to go home and pray for it. I said I'll go home and pray to never speak in satans language. it was funny. I was being very blunt and they just kept going. meanwhile this random man on the side is trying to sneakily take pictures of us, but unfortunate for him it wasn't so sneaky. so that was fun. so I excuse ourselves to say we need to leave, when they all stand up and rush forward to us. seriously, I didn't think I had space issues anymore after living here, but they were TOO close. they kept saying "let us pray for you!!!!" and I said they can pray for us in their hearts and that would be great. they insisted. rhodes gave them permission. we were both curious but I was mostly terrified. so one starts praying. all of them, hands to the sky, waving around, and she is doing the typical yell to Jesus type prayer. haaaard not to laugh to be honest. but then, instantaneously, they all broke in to "tongues" so there were ten voices all around us speaking and chanting in the most creepy sounding language thing ever. I felt satan. it was so bad I couldn't control it but every muscle in my body started to contract and my face was in pain and I could not stand it. so I grabbed rhodesy and we RAN out of there. in the middle of the prayer. in the middle of the prayer of satan tongue, we ran. into the pouring rain. and we didn't stop running for about 15 minutes. I have never been that....disturbed. I don't think. ever in my life. so we had to find an alley and prayer and only then I slowly started to feel better about life. it was terrifying! and to think they think that that is the true way to talk to god! they don't even know what they're saying!! ick. it was horrible. I'll remember it forever. oh, but one of my favorite quotes from one of the men. in response to, how do you find the right church? "ANY PLACE WHERE CHRISTIANS ARE CHARISMATIC, BIBLE BELIEVIN, BORN AGAIN, AND TONGUE SPEAKING, IS OKAY!!" hahahaha. it makes me wonder who or what these guys are converted to. I feel bad now, didn't mean to bash other churches. in fact, I don't even know what church they were from. it just amazes me sometimes how far off people can get. I think about some of the hindu people I have met that pray to statues but they are some of the most humble spiritual and beautiful people and I can't help but feel they are closer than those guys. but not supposed to judge. anyway. even though there was a lot of frustration involved with that, it was still a good story!!! and I'm out of time. but I only have two more weeks now to email. isn't it weird? have to think of something good. I love you! love you love you.

some photos

this was a petrified lizard that we found underneath all of gopinaths books on her desk.  I decided to immortalize him, and name him, of course.

Rhodes on the phone with Bro Anthony.  Looks familiar?

Me on the phone with Bro Anthony.  we were trying to figure out where in the heck we were supposed to go.  I think I've told stories and maybe sent a picture of him before, so I'll let your imagination run on what this was like.:)

Elvis in his new duds!!!!!!  I think he looks very GQ.