Thursday, July 24, 2014

July 21, 2014 – The Work Continues, Busy, Busy, Busy - Week 3 in Sibu Jaya

Good week. So first off my wrist. It is doing good, no pain, I assume it’s healing. The name of the bone I broke is called the scaphoid bone. It’s one of the small bones in the wrist. It usually heals up fine depending on where it is broken and if the parts have separated. My particular fracture isn’t separated yet. Basically I will go back to the Doctor in 1 more week to get more x-rays and see how it’s doing. If it’s good should be 4-6 more weeks of the cast. If it is "bad" then they may need to do surgery and hook them together with a screw.... if that happens it’s almost certain I will get transferred to Singapore and depending on things I guess there is a chance I could get sent home for medical (highly doubt it though)... Anyway don’t dwell on it, the doctor said the chance of that happening is only 10%-15% percent, not too likely. Already had a blessing too, so I should be good!

Showering with one hand up is way annoying...

Typing with one hand is so slow!!!!! The above paragraph took like 10 minutes, I’m sure!!!

A couple things that I have just generally forgotten to tell you.

I am the district leader here. Basically means nothing but every Sunday night I report ours and the other Sibu Jaya companionship’s numbers to the zone leaders. It also means that on Tuesday I conduct district meeting and give some training.

My bike is a boss! It’s a 5 year old one I picked up in Ipoh! It was purchased back in the day when the mission paid for bicycles, (would have been nice, right?). So there was no budget and this 7 foot tall Elder got one custom shipped from America because he couldn't find one tall enough. It’s got the old style equipment so maintenance is way cheap. Also it’s tall (duh). Way nice on the knees. Basically goes to show the crappiness of Chinese stuff. The bike that I bought off the missionary when he went home was falling apart when I got to Ipoh. It was going to need several hundred ringgit worth of repairs. Anyway there was this 5 year old bike sitting there that nobody owned. It was basically just ridden by random Elders around Ipoh for 5 years. So I took it and ditched my piece of junk Chinese bicycle. Only a few problems since, replacing a broken quick release with a bolt, the brake pads and a tire. Best decision I ever made concerning transportation. American made stuff for life!

So this week!

Had both the good and the bad. First off Roseline got anti’d by her in-laws. Although her husband works in Kapit we have met him a couple times and he is way cool, really wants to learn when he stops working in Kapit. So maybe then we will try again.

We went and taught John again, it was ok, I have a lot of hope that his family will come back and John will be baptized. Also his nephew who lives there is super cool. His name is Kevin, he is 9. Anyway, saw him looking at my Book of Mormon over dinner, so gave him one. the next time we visited (2 days later) he had taken it upon himself to read the title page, introduction, the testimonies of the 3 and 8 witnesses and Joseph Smith’s testimony! Pretty cool kid!

We also got a referral this week from Sister Seleha. Basically it’s two of her friends that live in her Kampung five minutes down the highway. They live in a miniature 3 door longhouse. First time in a longhouse. They are named Lulong and Ida. They are SIB but are pretty interested in learning.

We are meeting with a lot of people.

Everyone is talking about MH 17... Saying that the number 7 is unlucky and that Malaysian Airlines is going to be bankrupt. Then there will be nothing left but Air Asia (that would be awful, they would make you pay for your parachute on the spot if there was an evacuation at altitude, all jokes aside its true).

We get fed a lot here, more than any other area so far. I am really beginning to like Iban food.

We are trying to get Home Teaching started. On my mission I have come to realize its importance. I didn’t put much stock in it before. I will be 100% after my mission for sure. I feel that if we could get it started solid in Sarawak it would solve and prevent a lot of problems.

Always looking for investigators. The cast is actually a way good contacting tool. Just walk through the flats and inevitably someone asks what’s wrong with my hand, bam, ice broken!

Speaking of ice, I am addicted to Malaysian otter pops. Sister Kat makes Limau (lime) ones from fresh limes from her tree that are ridiculously good. Too good, and cheap. Elder Chan and I ordered 50 about 4 days ago, I think 20ish are left... Killed my immune system and caught a cold. Serves me right....

This morning went into the jungle with Sister Kat, to gather Sayur and Buah (vegetables and fruit). Not much luck with the fruit as none was ripe. But we did gather a lot of sayur, a rice bag’s worth of 3 main types. Also sampled a few others. I am confident now that if I was lost in the jungle here I could at least find enough food to comfortably survive. Water would be a different picture. Drank 3 liters in 5 hours...


Love,
Elder Halpin

Pictures this week:

A "ningit." 
Basically a large variety of fly that Iban's sometimes eat. 
It’s the size of my thumb.

At Brother John’s house, Sister Sutia, his wife, is in the door and Kevin is wearing the red shirt. 
The cat is probably the biggest house cat I have seen in my life.

At Brother Tabor and Sister Jelitas house. 
One of my favorite families here. Brother Tabor is way cool.

Lunch in the jungle, Elder Strathearn is the other Elder. 
His comp is Elder Hill from my MTC group. 



No comments:

Post a Comment