So, basically the
internet died halfway through emailing on Monday so we just saved our emails to
send next week. Sibu Jaya is janky.
Anyway, we are
currently making the baptismal program for tomorrow and we decided to just go
ahead and update and send our emails.
This week was good. Our
investigators are doing good.
This weekend was General
Conference here, it was pretty good. I really liked that the non-English
speakers, I thought that was pretty cool. We had high attendance the whole
time, our max was 68. To put it in perspective, both of the Malay branches and
the Chinese branch in Sibu town had a combined attendance of 72, Sibu Jaya is a
beast
Lulong, Edah and
Talut are doing good. Edah and Talut were baptized on Friday. Lulong would have
been but some issues came up in the interview. Anyway those have been worked out
and she will be baptized tomorrow.
Bibi is doing alright.
She is still into Iban ritual stuff though, and doesn’t have a huge desire. We
are working on that.
Gilbert is alright
too. His Mom isn’t letting him come to church, but he has been reading and
praying.
We met with a former
investigator this week. Her name is Viani, she learned in 2011. Anyway Sister Kat
suggested that we go try again, because her uncle passed away a while back and
Sis Kat thought maybe her heart would be more open. Our visit went well, we will
see her again this week. Trying to see her tomorrow or Sunday.
Also, now that I
know the other half of Sibu Jaya better I’ll introduce some of the people that
we have been working with over there.
Veronica is the wife
of Roy, a member. Anyway, Roy is 18, she is 15 (both legal and socially
acceptable), he went to Bintulu shortly after I arrived for about 3 weeks for
work and came back married. So the other Elders have been working with them
since then. Anyway, this week we put her on date for the 1st of November,
should be good.
Syinzliana is the
daughter of Catherine, the one who was baptized the same time as Sigai. She is
11 and will be baptized this weekend also.
Jamel is Punan about
32, he is married to Romy who is Kayan about 26.
Punan and Kayan are
both tribes in upriver Sarawak. It’s kind of interesting, since there is also
Penan and Kenan which are the basically the non-agricultural Punan’s and Kayan’s.
Basically at some point in the past 400ish years they were just the Penan’s and
Kenan’s and they were all hunter, gatherer nomads. They would make a camp, live
there for a month or so and then move on. They gradually split however, the
Punan’s and Kayan’s becoming more agricultural, relying more on the rivers and
living in longhouses like the Ibans, slowly their languages drifted apart and
now you have 4 tribes/races where you used to have 2.
So anyway, Jamal
& Romy, they follow agama lama, or basically the traditional beliefs. He is
doing a lot better then she is, he just finished the reading the Book of Mormon
and the night he finished the last chapter he had a dream, he didn’t say what
it was but he said that it was sign that he should be baptized, so he’s on date
for the 8th of November.
Eugenia and Kenneth
and Pira. Eugenia and Kenneth are the children of a recent convert named Timas,
who was baptized a little while before I arrived. They are 16 and 14
respectively, Eugenia is married. Both her and Timas's husbands work in
Bintulu. Anyway, they were not baptized
because they couldn’t quit smoking. They are now recommitted and hopefully will
be baptized on the 15th of November, meaning they will need to stop by the 1st.
Going way good, they are down to 2 everyday, they started at 6. It’s really
kind of sad Eugenia was 12 and Kenneth 10 when they started. Anyway, they are
becoming spiritual bosses now, it’s cool to see. Sister Pira was ready to go
but issues came up in the interview. anyway, she and the Elders kind of lost
hope, but we managed to reinvigorate her and now the issues are finally
resolved, she said she will come back to church and she hopefully will be baptized
in the next couple weeks, the 25th of October or the 1st
of November.
Sibu Jaya is the
sickest, we are so busy.
Love you guys, Dad
the flyer is cool, I can’t wait to go skiing again!!!!
Sincerely,
Elder Halpin
Hope you remember this guy,
Ramond Beliang from Samarahan,
he’s now serving in Sibu!
Edah and Taluts baptism.
That’s Rolyn, a boss member, he’s 16,
he and Sister Kat helped translate while teaching and
he Baptized Edah.
That’s me with Tima’s and Pira’s families.
Kenneth in blue in the foreground,
Pira in the red shirt and
Eugenia in the orange shirt.
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