hello semua!
aku rindu nuan!
so this week. is it another week already? really? geeze. I don't know what to think about life anymore. haha. it moves so weirdly.
lots of funny moments this week. the first being last saturday night. we had a baptism, and as tradition, every saturday after baptisms we go to the night market, where they just have tons of hawker stand food and it's really fun and loud and tasty. so we were about to go there, when I started talking to an inactive member who I absolutely adore. we love to tease everybody together haha. she's fun. anyway, I was like sister! you must come with us! and she was all amped so she gets on to the back of my bike. and then her husband hops on to the back of moody's bike. so we go to the night market like that. we had to cross a freeway and a very busy parking lot to get there, almost died about 15 times, I crashed into the curb/car twice, and then on our way back home we decided to race and we tooootally won. I couldn't walk the next day because my legs were so sore, but it was still soo funny. just the sight of us was funny. especially moody with her husband on the back of his bike. it just looked awkward. but, the sister and her husband laughed all night long and were so funny, and then they came to church the next day for the first time in a very very long time. so I guess a little fun can get you pretty far.
another funny story, that goes with one of the pictures I sent home, was the morning we decided to saran wrap the elders bicycles together. :) hahaha. they are such snots, and forsyth and moody always call sister rinet pocahontas or squaw, and demand us to make cookies for them, so we decided to get revenge. so one morning we snuck down with a ton of saran wrap and went to town. the workers at our apartment complex all came over and watched and laughed with us. it was oddly invigorating:) but then they found out before we thought they were going to and in revenge took the front wheels off of our bikes and hid them...I still think they lacked points in creativity and spontaneity but whatever. they just haven't got the revenge thing down yet.
also very epic, did you know I have a 118 year old malaysian grandma? I sure do!! we were teaching a recent convert lesson and she goes hey sister, can you go meet my great grandma? so I go uh yeah I can! kindof weirded out because they live in this little house and I had never seen her or heard of her before. but we go to this room and there is this little woman laying in a ball on the floor. probably 40 pounds. no teeth. eyes sockets that looked like they had no eyes. white hair. she looked dead. but I walked over and sat down by her and she immediately perked up and immediately reached for me. one hand was petting my head and the other hand was clenching mine. great grip for a 118 year old woman! she had never seen a white person in her life before and she said she thought I was an angel. haha. I think it might be because she is so old she can probably see angels now...but I asked her if she could be my malaysian grandma and you should have seen the toothless gumless grin I got out of that question!! she is adorable. next time we go back I'm going to bring a bracelet for her because she was wearing like 6 of them already. I'll bring a cute sparkly one:) she really is 118 years old though, we won the bet so we get fruit bowls this week.
and I will end with the greatest thing on earth. so we have been teaching this one family since the day I got here. and they really weren't progressing, but then they started coming to church. and wow! the husband of the family was a smoker, and we hadn't taught him word of wisdom yet, but he ran in to a relative at our church, who told him about the word of wisdom, and it turns out, he came home and threw his cigarettes away. just like that! and now he doesn't smoke! that family is insanely amazing and I love them. the day all seven of them get baptized will be the greatest day on earth.
oh and kezie, if you are reading this, I got your letter! and I layed on the floor laughing because it was so funny. I will write back soon:)
and that is all. the chinese elders have to go to singapore next week or something so they promised they'd bring me any packages I get. fingers crossed!
anyway anyway. I love you all so much! hope all is going well.
Tuesday, November 29
love pictures!!
This is Ahsing. She just turned 5 years old!! Her family are members in our branch, but not our area. However, she has an older sister that I adored that lives in KK. So I promised her when I got to Miri I'd find her family and take care of them. So I got the huge fluffy pink teddy bear for her for her birthday and oh my gosh the smile on her face made me cry. She was stoked. As far as money goes, they are the poorest of the poor. I could tell stories that would make you cry. But they are the most kind hearted, full of life, gorgeous and lovable people I have ever met. All of them. I would do anything for them.
Sister Rinet, Sister Lowe and I decided one morning to saran wrap the elders bikes. Basically it was hysterical. For revenge they took the tires off our bikes and hid them. But ours was way cooler.
This is the great grandma of a recent convert. She is ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD. Believe it - it is true!!
This is Sis. Rinet. We look nasty. It had been a long day already and we had an hour bike ride to get to an area. We actually have a pretty nice/upper class area. People live in terrace houses and flats that aren't too ghetto. Not what we are used to, but we don't have wood and tin houses in our area. Still rocking the fjallraven backpack!
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This was STEAMBOAT night. Basically the funnest, but most difficult dinner I've had. You had to cook everything! And I was eating soooo much stuff because it was all you can eat. Prawns, yes, chicken butt, yes, squid, yes, dog - I think so...... |
Thursday, November 24
Happy Thanksgiving!
in case you were nervous that being in malaysia with a malaysian companion, I wasn't going to get a thanksgiving...you were wrong! sister lowe pulled some strings with the people at the marriot (she is almost as good as mom!!) and we got a whole morning/afternoon to play volleyball and frisbee on their private beach, followed by access to the sauna and the shower room, followed by an all you can eat buffet of salad and white people food and a specially cooked turkey and cranberry and stuffing, just for us!! basically, it was the funnest p day I have had on my mission. if I had to miss thanksgiving at home, this was a very nice second.
I counted my bug bites on my legs that I got just last night. are you ready? 28. 28 in one night. I'm terrified that one of these days one of those bites will be malaria or dengae! but seeing as hite and I already had to conquer typhoid...I'm thinking I might have a free card from getting any other intense tropical diseases. something unique to miri, well, I didn't have it in KK. but a lot of houses here don't have electricity. or if they do, it's only at like 8 at night until like 10. and then none again. so the other night we were sitting there in this wood shack house, all in a circle sitting cross legged on the floor, it was pitch black outside because it was pouring raining, and our only light source was a tiny candle in the middle of the circle. to make it better, the house is situated very close to a mosque, and the hour was just right to get to hear the gorgeous call to prayer. and there we were, together, reading out loud the book of mormon about king lamoni's dad's conversion story. it was one of those out of body experiences as I sat back for a second and took in everything that was going on around me. sometimes that happens. it dawns on me once again where I am and what I'm doing. isn't it wild? it's wild.
I do have a cool story about this one woman we are teaching. so, she didn't know how to read. like seriously, no idea how. then the missionaries met her a few months ago, and they tried to teach her the gospel. then the areas switched, she became our area, so we started teaching her. she has a very incredible testimony. I guess one of the elders, who has long since left miri, promised her that even though she couldn't read, if she looked at the pages in the book of mormon every day, prayed with full purpose of heart, and tried, she would be able to read. well. by the time we found her again, she was reading from the book of mormon. slowly, but steadily. and she told us that she followed the elders counsel and prayed and looked at the pages and tried to figure it out, and after a few weeks she could read. she said she has tried to read other books and she struggles really bad. but the book of mormon she said, even though it isn't even in malay it's in indonesian! she said she could read it and understand it and she knew it was only because God wanted her to read that book. she's really really solid and every time we leave her house I feel dumbfounded by her faith.
I will share one quick funny moment. this is a typical lisa moment. so, last night, we get home and we're soooo tired. sister rinet starts making christmas cards. I just wander around our apartment. and sister lowe is sitting on her computer, skyping with her daughter. I think it was a bit of a hard conversation because she just looked so stressed. and so did rinet. so, courtesy of elder moody, I turn on a very bumpy song from his ipod, and proceed to start doing the dance. yeah, THE DANCE. alllll over and all around. and to make it even better, I added in part of tessa's butt dance just for sister lowe. (she needed a little extra) so I just carry on like that for about ten minutes, they are all just trying really hard to ignore me and not smile, and then when I was done I walked into our room and went to bed. no spoken words. just a few jigs. tessbabe would have been proud. as I laid there though it made me think of home and before the mission and how often I did ridiculous dances like that. it's been a while since I've pulled that out! it felt good. it also felt good knowing that I hadn't lost a part of what makes me me. but no worries, this was definitely only in the privacy of our own home:) mission rules lah!
I'm out of time! but I'm sure everyone is busy digesting the 4 kg's of food they just ate.
hope it was delicious.
I love you all so much.
and you are what I am grateful for this thanksgiving.
I counted my bug bites on my legs that I got just last night. are you ready? 28. 28 in one night. I'm terrified that one of these days one of those bites will be malaria or dengae! but seeing as hite and I already had to conquer typhoid...I'm thinking I might have a free card from getting any other intense tropical diseases. something unique to miri, well, I didn't have it in KK. but a lot of houses here don't have electricity. or if they do, it's only at like 8 at night until like 10. and then none again. so the other night we were sitting there in this wood shack house, all in a circle sitting cross legged on the floor, it was pitch black outside because it was pouring raining, and our only light source was a tiny candle in the middle of the circle. to make it better, the house is situated very close to a mosque, and the hour was just right to get to hear the gorgeous call to prayer. and there we were, together, reading out loud the book of mormon about king lamoni's dad's conversion story. it was one of those out of body experiences as I sat back for a second and took in everything that was going on around me. sometimes that happens. it dawns on me once again where I am and what I'm doing. isn't it wild? it's wild.
I do have a cool story about this one woman we are teaching. so, she didn't know how to read. like seriously, no idea how. then the missionaries met her a few months ago, and they tried to teach her the gospel. then the areas switched, she became our area, so we started teaching her. she has a very incredible testimony. I guess one of the elders, who has long since left miri, promised her that even though she couldn't read, if she looked at the pages in the book of mormon every day, prayed with full purpose of heart, and tried, she would be able to read. well. by the time we found her again, she was reading from the book of mormon. slowly, but steadily. and she told us that she followed the elders counsel and prayed and looked at the pages and tried to figure it out, and after a few weeks she could read. she said she has tried to read other books and she struggles really bad. but the book of mormon she said, even though it isn't even in malay it's in indonesian! she said she could read it and understand it and she knew it was only because God wanted her to read that book. she's really really solid and every time we leave her house I feel dumbfounded by her faith.
I will share one quick funny moment. this is a typical lisa moment. so, last night, we get home and we're soooo tired. sister rinet starts making christmas cards. I just wander around our apartment. and sister lowe is sitting on her computer, skyping with her daughter. I think it was a bit of a hard conversation because she just looked so stressed. and so did rinet. so, courtesy of elder moody, I turn on a very bumpy song from his ipod, and proceed to start doing the dance. yeah, THE DANCE. alllll over and all around. and to make it even better, I added in part of tessa's butt dance just for sister lowe. (she needed a little extra) so I just carry on like that for about ten minutes, they are all just trying really hard to ignore me and not smile, and then when I was done I walked into our room and went to bed. no spoken words. just a few jigs. tessbabe would have been proud. as I laid there though it made me think of home and before the mission and how often I did ridiculous dances like that. it's been a while since I've pulled that out! it felt good. it also felt good knowing that I hadn't lost a part of what makes me me. but no worries, this was definitely only in the privacy of our own home:) mission rules lah!
I'm out of time! but I'm sure everyone is busy digesting the 4 kg's of food they just ate.
hope it was delicious.
I love you all so much.
and you are what I am grateful for this thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 15
hello!
this week we had zone conference, and I always get so amped after conference. we are really blessed because President Clark is insane at speaking. and he uses scriptures so well. its just, it's like listening to a conference talk especially for you at this moment in your life, whenever ZC comes around. there was a few thoughts that I thought were particularly cool. he taught about the doctrine of "rememberance" remember is in the scriptures 522 times. way more than a lot of other terms. but he spoke on things we really need to "remember" one being the reality of satan. he quoted a bit of elder...hollands? talk this last conference, I think it was a priesthood talk. but about how there is a literal battle every day against satan. that he is real, and he is always fighting us. so president said the same thing to us, satan is real. and he 100% is trying to stop what we are doing here. we are literally God's army, and we are fighting for His purpose. to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. that is what we fight for every day when we go out, we talk to people, we teach we testify, we try to bring people to Christ. it's not a year and a halfish vacation, not some EFY thing where we build our testimonies, we're in a battle against satan and we fight for God and for souls every day. it hit home very hard. I've thought a lot about that since then. what a calling, right? and it's not just me and the other missionaries. every church member is part of it. so lets get out and fight, yeah?
one other thing that reaaaallllyyyyy hit home that president said was that we needed to "remember" who we are and who we represent. he told us to look at our tags, and of course Jesus Christ is etched in very big letters. we are literally representing Jesus Christ. so that requires a very serious effort to not do or say anything contrary to what Jesus Christ would do. but I will admit, that I also looked at my name tag and saw the name JENSEN written quite large as well. in malaysia, they do names different, and there is no such thing as a last name. if I was malaysian, my name would be (translated) lisa child of paul. lisa anak paul. so when people see my name tag, they always say I have a boys name. and then I explain that that is my fathers name. and they understand. so in the same thought process of "remembering who I represent" I also know that I am representing dad. and all the jensens. and my jensen ancestors that may periodically be checking up on me and taking a peak at what I'm doing. anyway, I got a new charge to be better and to represent my Savior and my Dad and family better.
oh! before I forget. I got Christina's letter from singapore:) replies will be semi soon.
we have been teaching this grandma and her daughter and her grandkids for a few weeks, and then finally grandpa came home and we got to meet him for the first time. I don't know his name, because when there are old people around it's almost more polite, or maybe just more normal, to call them datuk or nenek. grandpa or grandma. so anyway, datuk walks in, and he's ancient. he looks like he's 85. and he is sooooo funny. very sharp and whitty. so he asks me how old I am, and I say 21, and he goes "oh of course. still young and so beautiful" (brown noser) and then I go datuk, how old are you? he looks me square in the eye, and replies, "55." and I immediately start laughing, because hello, he's like 90. and I look up again, and he's not laughing. he's dead serious. so then I go, "wow! my dad is not too much younger than you! look at this picture!" so I show him a picture of dad and nenek goes, looking at datuk, "if he's your age too, you look horrible!!" and then we all laughed. even though he obviously was not 55, I still give him points for being young at heart. and being so belligerent that he was only 55.
oh! something fun! and a milestone for me! sister lowe and the other senior couples put on a workshop thing where they shared information about emergency prepareness, parenting tips, and health issues. lowe was in charge of the health issue. she asked me to help her and to be her interpreter. it was SO FUN! we were so busy so we didn't prepare, I drew a bunch of pictures and made the whiteboard look cute 20 minutes before everyone came in, and then we taught about water safety, dehydration, burns, dental hygiene...it was so fun to be back in the swing of what I love to do again. and also, I was able to translate everything straight in to malay! with the help of sister rinet a few times with one or two random words I didn't know. but we did it! sister lowe and I pulled it off with basically no preparation! we were so happy we went to eat lunch after.
oh, and here is a miracle story. so we have been teaching about 6 people that all live in this one little house. the "leader" is named Lenny, and I absolutely adore her. everyone in that house. they're like family. so anyway, before they started learning from us, they were Iban tradition, so didn't know God. no idea who Jesus Christ was. and as we teach them, they are so active in the lessons. they ask so many questions. and it's all new, so we have to do the lessons very very slow so they understand. and they read the Book of Mormon and they pray and they are amazing. but they won't come to church. they're too scared too. and they actually have about 85 concerns that we are in the process of trying to help them overcome so they will just come to church. anyway, the last lesson we had (before the one I want to tell you about) they asked about doing the pagan thing, offering sacrifices and things like that. they asked if they could still do that after they were baptized. oh my gosh, I prayed for the Spirit so hard at that moment. and sister rinet answered their concern with a very beautiful testimony of the priesthood and of God, while telling them they of course shouldn't still do the pagan things if they want to follow Christ. so anyway. they took it kindof hard. it's very much a part of them. and the lesson got kindof awkward, and we were devastated after we left. they wouldn't tell us when we could come back again (so weird) and we thought it was over. but then we go over a few days later to see them, and Lenny looked at us and said she believed "100%" in God now. she knew He was there. and then she told this story that right after we left, they all got into a huge fight. especially her and her husband. her husband was going to divorce her, and everyone was yelling, and it had been like this for a few days and she was just dying. so she said she left her house at like 10 at night (dangerous) sobbing, and just wandering around, not knowing what to do. she said she was hopeless. and then she decided to pray. so she said in the middle of her sobs, she said a prayer like this: "Heavenly Father. I want to know if you exist and you love me and you look at me and listen to me like the sisters have been telling me. I want to know if that is true, because if it is, I need your help. I can't handle this anymore, my heart is going to explode. if you're there, take this pain from me." and then she said she finished by saying "in the name of Jesus Christ" and she said the second she finished saying Jesus Christ's name, all of the sudden, her sobs stopped. she said they just very abruptly stopped. no tears in her eyes and she wasn't crying. at all. and she said her mind was so clear. and she almost didn't believe that two seconds earlier she had been hysterical. so she walked home, found her family, told them she loved them and that everything was gonna be okay. and then they went to bed. so now, she says, she knows it. God is there and He loves them. it was an incredible incredible experience for me to be able to sit there and listen to her testimony. you grow to love these people more than you can say. more than I can express. and then to be able to sit there and watch them get to know God. and to get answers. and to see the miracles that occur in their lives. it is just the most insane blessing in my life that I will forever be grateful for. so grateful to get to see it and feel it with them.
wow, what a long email! not so many funny stories this week because I think the spiritual ones were better. :) although rest assured that there of course was a lot of laughing. hope all is well back home with all the people I love.
keep being strong!
this week we had zone conference, and I always get so amped after conference. we are really blessed because President Clark is insane at speaking. and he uses scriptures so well. its just, it's like listening to a conference talk especially for you at this moment in your life, whenever ZC comes around. there was a few thoughts that I thought were particularly cool. he taught about the doctrine of "rememberance" remember is in the scriptures 522 times. way more than a lot of other terms. but he spoke on things we really need to "remember" one being the reality of satan. he quoted a bit of elder...hollands? talk this last conference, I think it was a priesthood talk. but about how there is a literal battle every day against satan. that he is real, and he is always fighting us. so president said the same thing to us, satan is real. and he 100% is trying to stop what we are doing here. we are literally God's army, and we are fighting for His purpose. to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. that is what we fight for every day when we go out, we talk to people, we teach we testify, we try to bring people to Christ. it's not a year and a halfish vacation, not some EFY thing where we build our testimonies, we're in a battle against satan and we fight for God and for souls every day. it hit home very hard. I've thought a lot about that since then. what a calling, right? and it's not just me and the other missionaries. every church member is part of it. so lets get out and fight, yeah?
one other thing that reaaaallllyyyyy hit home that president said was that we needed to "remember" who we are and who we represent. he told us to look at our tags, and of course Jesus Christ is etched in very big letters. we are literally representing Jesus Christ. so that requires a very serious effort to not do or say anything contrary to what Jesus Christ would do. but I will admit, that I also looked at my name tag and saw the name JENSEN written quite large as well. in malaysia, they do names different, and there is no such thing as a last name. if I was malaysian, my name would be (translated) lisa child of paul. lisa anak paul. so when people see my name tag, they always say I have a boys name. and then I explain that that is my fathers name. and they understand. so in the same thought process of "remembering who I represent" I also know that I am representing dad. and all the jensens. and my jensen ancestors that may periodically be checking up on me and taking a peak at what I'm doing. anyway, I got a new charge to be better and to represent my Savior and my Dad and family better.
oh! before I forget. I got Christina's letter from singapore:) replies will be semi soon.
we have been teaching this grandma and her daughter and her grandkids for a few weeks, and then finally grandpa came home and we got to meet him for the first time. I don't know his name, because when there are old people around it's almost more polite, or maybe just more normal, to call them datuk or nenek. grandpa or grandma. so anyway, datuk walks in, and he's ancient. he looks like he's 85. and he is sooooo funny. very sharp and whitty. so he asks me how old I am, and I say 21, and he goes "oh of course. still young and so beautiful" (brown noser) and then I go datuk, how old are you? he looks me square in the eye, and replies, "55." and I immediately start laughing, because hello, he's like 90. and I look up again, and he's not laughing. he's dead serious. so then I go, "wow! my dad is not too much younger than you! look at this picture!" so I show him a picture of dad and nenek goes, looking at datuk, "if he's your age too, you look horrible!!" and then we all laughed. even though he obviously was not 55, I still give him points for being young at heart. and being so belligerent that he was only 55.
oh! something fun! and a milestone for me! sister lowe and the other senior couples put on a workshop thing where they shared information about emergency prepareness, parenting tips, and health issues. lowe was in charge of the health issue. she asked me to help her and to be her interpreter. it was SO FUN! we were so busy so we didn't prepare, I drew a bunch of pictures and made the whiteboard look cute 20 minutes before everyone came in, and then we taught about water safety, dehydration, burns, dental hygiene...it was so fun to be back in the swing of what I love to do again. and also, I was able to translate everything straight in to malay! with the help of sister rinet a few times with one or two random words I didn't know. but we did it! sister lowe and I pulled it off with basically no preparation! we were so happy we went to eat lunch after.
oh, and here is a miracle story. so we have been teaching about 6 people that all live in this one little house. the "leader" is named Lenny, and I absolutely adore her. everyone in that house. they're like family. so anyway, before they started learning from us, they were Iban tradition, so didn't know God. no idea who Jesus Christ was. and as we teach them, they are so active in the lessons. they ask so many questions. and it's all new, so we have to do the lessons very very slow so they understand. and they read the Book of Mormon and they pray and they are amazing. but they won't come to church. they're too scared too. and they actually have about 85 concerns that we are in the process of trying to help them overcome so they will just come to church. anyway, the last lesson we had (before the one I want to tell you about) they asked about doing the pagan thing, offering sacrifices and things like that. they asked if they could still do that after they were baptized. oh my gosh, I prayed for the Spirit so hard at that moment. and sister rinet answered their concern with a very beautiful testimony of the priesthood and of God, while telling them they of course shouldn't still do the pagan things if they want to follow Christ. so anyway. they took it kindof hard. it's very much a part of them. and the lesson got kindof awkward, and we were devastated after we left. they wouldn't tell us when we could come back again (so weird) and we thought it was over. but then we go over a few days later to see them, and Lenny looked at us and said she believed "100%" in God now. she knew He was there. and then she told this story that right after we left, they all got into a huge fight. especially her and her husband. her husband was going to divorce her, and everyone was yelling, and it had been like this for a few days and she was just dying. so she said she left her house at like 10 at night (dangerous) sobbing, and just wandering around, not knowing what to do. she said she was hopeless. and then she decided to pray. so she said in the middle of her sobs, she said a prayer like this: "Heavenly Father. I want to know if you exist and you love me and you look at me and listen to me like the sisters have been telling me. I want to know if that is true, because if it is, I need your help. I can't handle this anymore, my heart is going to explode. if you're there, take this pain from me." and then she said she finished by saying "in the name of Jesus Christ" and she said the second she finished saying Jesus Christ's name, all of the sudden, her sobs stopped. she said they just very abruptly stopped. no tears in her eyes and she wasn't crying. at all. and she said her mind was so clear. and she almost didn't believe that two seconds earlier she had been hysterical. so she walked home, found her family, told them she loved them and that everything was gonna be okay. and then they went to bed. so now, she says, she knows it. God is there and He loves them. it was an incredible incredible experience for me to be able to sit there and listen to her testimony. you grow to love these people more than you can say. more than I can express. and then to be able to sit there and watch them get to know God. and to get answers. and to see the miracles that occur in their lives. it is just the most insane blessing in my life that I will forever be grateful for. so grateful to get to see it and feel it with them.
wow, what a long email! not so many funny stories this week because I think the spiritual ones were better. :) although rest assured that there of course was a lot of laughing. hope all is well back home with all the people I love.
keep being strong!
Thursday, November 10
another email. wow. what a week.
twice I almost had a bit of an accident on my bicycle, once I felt my heart fall out of my butt because I was so scared, but I know I have guardian angels protecting me out here, because the worst injury I have gotten despite of everything is just a really swollen ankle. no worries on that:) between me and dad though, I'm sure they're getting sick of protecting jensens on two wheeled machines!!
this sunday was really really good. my last week in KK was general conference, so no sacrament, and then my first two weeks in Miri were also conference, so no sacrament. so last sunday was the first sunday in almost a month that I got to take it! geeze. I never ever realized how much of a difference it makes until this week. I'm very very grateful I finally got to take it! and now I get to take it every week again.
there is a senior sister here, sister lowe (although she isn't senior, she's 60 or something but is really like 40) and she is moving to a different part of the mission in a month, so her last month here she gets to live with us. I was a bit unsure of it at first, since I hadn't really met her, but she has turned out to be one of the biggest blessings I have received in Miri! she helps me a lot. a lot of encouragement and wisdom and we laugh allllll the time. plus she has made enchiladas and french toast already. woooweee!!!! it was so good! I forgot I was in malaysia for a second!
oh also really really fun, on sunday I was sitting in sunday school when a member walked up and asked if I could teach primary. of course, I jumped right up with a big smile on my face!!!! primary here is just one big room with all the kids, all ages. so I got them for two hours. we sang, we watched the joseph smith movie, they acted some parts out, we played a game with a bunch of pictures, and then soooo many of them took opportunities to stand and bare their sweet little testimonies!! it was adorable. I wish so bad I could teach primary every week! when I get home I will probably request that to be my calling again. I miss my kids.
I ate something really nasty again this week. jellyfish. it wasn't cooked, it was just raw I think. and cut into pieces. I tried really hard to chew it but I wasn't making any progress at all. so I swallowed it whole. pretty nasty. I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to ever eating that one again....
the progress here is going. trying to set some goals. get it to really start going again.
and that's about all I have! hopefully one of these weeks I'll start to have some really good stories again.
I love you all. pray for you always.
oh, and I got two letters from mom, one from dad, and one from tomas. there was a conference so they got to bring letters from KK to me. thank you for writing!!!!!!!!
twice I almost had a bit of an accident on my bicycle, once I felt my heart fall out of my butt because I was so scared, but I know I have guardian angels protecting me out here, because the worst injury I have gotten despite of everything is just a really swollen ankle. no worries on that:) between me and dad though, I'm sure they're getting sick of protecting jensens on two wheeled machines!!
this sunday was really really good. my last week in KK was general conference, so no sacrament, and then my first two weeks in Miri were also conference, so no sacrament. so last sunday was the first sunday in almost a month that I got to take it! geeze. I never ever realized how much of a difference it makes until this week. I'm very very grateful I finally got to take it! and now I get to take it every week again.
there is a senior sister here, sister lowe (although she isn't senior, she's 60 or something but is really like 40) and she is moving to a different part of the mission in a month, so her last month here she gets to live with us. I was a bit unsure of it at first, since I hadn't really met her, but she has turned out to be one of the biggest blessings I have received in Miri! she helps me a lot. a lot of encouragement and wisdom and we laugh allllll the time. plus she has made enchiladas and french toast already. woooweee!!!! it was so good! I forgot I was in malaysia for a second!
oh also really really fun, on sunday I was sitting in sunday school when a member walked up and asked if I could teach primary. of course, I jumped right up with a big smile on my face!!!! primary here is just one big room with all the kids, all ages. so I got them for two hours. we sang, we watched the joseph smith movie, they acted some parts out, we played a game with a bunch of pictures, and then soooo many of them took opportunities to stand and bare their sweet little testimonies!! it was adorable. I wish so bad I could teach primary every week! when I get home I will probably request that to be my calling again. I miss my kids.
I ate something really nasty again this week. jellyfish. it wasn't cooked, it was just raw I think. and cut into pieces. I tried really hard to chew it but I wasn't making any progress at all. so I swallowed it whole. pretty nasty. I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to ever eating that one again....
the progress here is going. trying to set some goals. get it to really start going again.
and that's about all I have! hopefully one of these weeks I'll start to have some really good stories again.
I love you all. pray for you always.
oh, and I got two letters from mom, one from dad, and one from tomas. there was a conference so they got to bring letters from KK to me. thank you for writing!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, November 2
hello everyone!
so I apologize ahead of time, I have about three seconds. so all I will say, is I have beaten my "most disgusting thing ever eaten" thing.
a quick story. we are at this chinese restaurant. rinet ordered noodles. so she eats the whole thing, I didn't order anything. but she still had a few things in the bottom of her bowl when she was finished so I was gonna clear it off for her. I thought it was a mushroom at first, so I ate it. when I popped it in, I realized automatically it was not a mushroom. it had the texture of tofu. so I figured it was just that, tofu. not too bad. so I kept eating. about three pieces later, someone tells me it's pig. and I'm like, what? what part of pig has this texture? so then I start asking what part, and no one will tell me. I'm getting fed up so finally I gave the waiter guy this eye that meant business and I scared it out of him. he says "darah." yes. blood. I was chomping on coagulated pigs blood. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. let me tell you. I dry heaved for the next two or three hours. every time I thought of it. I also ate shark yesterday, but that wasn't too bad. so pigs blood it is. worst thing ever.
sorry my time is short this week:/ hope all is well with everyone at home.
love you.
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