January 18, 2015 – Following the crowd… - Week 5 in Singapore

So this week went very well.

Mom: Did you send my letter?

Elder Halpin: I sent the letter 2 weeks ago, I hope it’s not lost....

Note: The letter arrive this week.

First off I want to say that at least one reason I was sent to Singapore was to learn and grow spiritually. Over the last few weeks I have learned a lot about the gospel and what it means to truly live it. Also about obedience, what it means and why it’s important.

Mom you were talking about Stake Conference and obedience. It’s really a pain. Just this past week President Mains made a new rule that only 1 set of missionaries can go to any one appointment. In a 3 companionship area I don’t know how this is going to work. We have been having a hard time getting into member’s homes anyway. Now if a certain member likes to have the missionaries over once every 2 weeks either we will only meet them once a transfer (6 weeks) or never because they will pick the set of missionaries they like the best.... ugh....

With that in mind I began to contemplate because we have the hardest time effectively using our time. I was looking at what we couldn’t do - go to malls, use the train and bus and knock doors. Also it is very difficult to effectively work with less actives and members here because they are all so busy. Anyway, I realized that I was looking at it all wrong. I was looking at what wasn’t working, not what was. I realized that most of our success in getting potential investigators happened when we were walking to and from the MRT stops in the same direction as people but that once we left the general vicinity people dispersed and it became ineffective. Also if we just stood in one place trying to talk to everyone, everyone avoided us. We therefore decided to just go back and forth and around. Pretty sneaky like. Walk up to the corner where people are waiting for the light, start a conversation with anyone who is willing and then just kind of walk in the same direction as them to keep the conversation going. Before they arrive at their flat get their number. Turn around, walk back to the intersection, by then it’s all new people. Repeat process.

We have been able to meet with a several people. We have 3 investigators now.

Sylvia is doing well. We met her again on what day? I forgot... Anyway we went to the Cortez family’s home and had a lesson/discussion on the plan of salvation. The Cortez’s are from the Philippines, they are way sick! Anyway, she has started to read and to pray. She would have come to church but one of her friends passed away suddenly in Kuala Lumpur and she went back for the funeral. Should be meeting again in the next couple days.

Doris is from China and has been in Singapore for about 2 months. She is pretty cool. She is a "freethinker." She said though that her Grandmother in China is Christian, and that actually a lot of people are starting to accept Christianity there. We talked about the restoration and she has started praying and reading. On Sunday she came to church for all 3 hours. We are meeting her again on Tuesday.

Celynne is the last one. She is from the Philippines and has been in Singapore for several years. She used to be Catholic but is now agnostic. We met and she asked what was the difference between her church and ours. So we began teaching the restoration but she asked why everything existed, why God would create everything. So we quickly changed tracks and began sharing the plan of salvation. She really is a deep thinker, asked a lot of questions, kind of looking for cracks. She has more questions and we are meeting again this afternoon at 2. It’s kind of interesting this is the 2nd time on my mission when a Catholic has asked what the difference is between our churches and the restoration has not worked and the plan of salvation has answered perfectly.

So yeah, things are picking up. We have several more promising potentials.

Also, Adam is your knee broken?

Sincerely,

Elder Halpin

One of very many very tall buildings in downtown Singapore, 

we went there last p-day.

A shipyard at night near one of the places the Japanese invaded.

A river.

January 11, 2015 – Pride… - Week 4 in Singapore

Right now I am liking Ecclesiastes 7:8. Really applies to my situation right now. Sort of learning to be patient more.

Something that I have learned on my mission is what pride actually is. It’s not only the whole chin stuck up thing. It’s also about how you listen to and follow your leaders. About how you regard disobedience. Before I went on my mission I thought I was not very prideful at all.  I have, over the course of my mission, realized that I am very prideful, and that I have a long way to go before I will truly be humble.

This week was good.

Katherine: How were you this week?  I miss you.  I started learning piano.  I learned the first twinkle and the first part of Honeybee.  I am enjoying it.  What did you eat today?  I hope you have a good week Matthew.  Bye!

Elder Halpin: That’s way cool Katherine! This morning I had an orange and 2 roti canais.

David: Dear Matthew, Jessica was great.  Maybe next year they will come again.  We are having a good time.  We killed some chickens and Bright and Gladys made Peanut Chicken and Curry Chicken.  I ate a chicken foot.  It was tasty.  The kitchen is going not so well.

Elder Halpin: That’s cool David. One time I bought a chicken that was pre wrapped in a newspaper and then hung it on my handlebars and took it to a member’s house. Way funny. I’m riding my bike and there is this chicken sitting there swinging under my handlebars.

WE HAVE AN INVESTIGATOR! woot woot!

So I don’t remember exactly what I said last week so I’ll recap. To get to our apartment we can either take the bus right to the front door from Yishun station or we can go to Admiralty station and walk 10-15 minutes. Last Sunday night we planned to go the Yishun route but we got distracted and missed the stop. So we walked and as we were walking we were waiting for a light and we started talking to this lady standing next to us.

Her name was Sylvia. She is Chinese, 22, from Malaysia and working as a lab tech. She told us that she doesn’t normally walk that way but she felt like she should that night. The next day we were able to meet. Not only did we think it was a miracle but she did to, way sick! Anyway she is "Buddhist" but not really. She was pretty interested in hearing what we had to say. She had lot of questions about things, including about Christianity in general. Way good lesson, we were able to share the restoration, she said she would pray and read.

We are meeting her again tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes.

The Chinese Brother has not been able to meet.

We went to the Selvan family again on Saturday. They are great. We will be meeting with their oldest son this week, CJ. He is way cool, going to school. He also knows sign language and translates for a deaf lady in our ward. We will be talking about a mission with him. In Singapore it’s way hard to go because of national service. All men have to serve a 2 year term in either the army, security force (police) or the Bomba, which is like ambulance, fire etc. Anyway, they have to do that before they can go on a mission, so it basically all adds up to waiting 4 years away from studies. Even still most of the active YSA in the ward have or are going to go on missions, pretty cool.

We will be meeting with the Cortez family this week, hopefully also with Sylvia. They are a way cool young Filipino couple. They both served missions in the Philippines.

Also, we met a Muslim lady from Indonesia on Saturday last and were able to meet her this Saturday. Her name was Euly. She wasn’t super interested, mostly just curious. She turned out to not speak English as well as we thought so I ended up teaching the lesson in Bahasa. It went alright, she accepted and said would she try reading a Kitab Mormon. We will see if it goes anywhere. It was one of the strangest lessons so far on my mission. So I could say Allah, instead of Tuhan, I was teaching a Muslim, she understood all of the deep vocabulary, the only word I had to explain was priesthood. Just way different.

So yeah it’s going good, we are just cranking through heaps of potential investigators.

Miss you guys a lot.

Sincerely

Elder Halpin

I decided to count my change. I have a lot.

Looking out the living room window, the MRT, flats and a bus stop.

January 4, 2015 – Singapore is Different, but… - Week 3 in Singapore

So first off the Singapore post (post office) is the worst. They close at 5 pm and for like the whole week of Christmas. The stamp machine dispensers only take a card and they don’t like the church card or my personal one. Therefore I have not been able to mail Mom’s letter. I will try again after I finish emailing.

Otherwise I am learning to live in Singapore. The MRT or train / subway still just gives me headaches. I am now a master at using busses. I can get anywhere. Thank goodness for map books.

So the church will pay up until I get to wherever I’m going, so they would only pay until Hawaii. Also they asked me where I wanted to fly to today, on the 23rd. So I suppose I will tell them Spokane? I have a smart phone here in Singapore, I will check my email tomorrow, you tell me where I should ask them to fly me and I will tell them later this week. I am not going to extend I think.

When I get home? I will probably sleep a while. Then probably go into mission withdrawals. They are probably similar to the Sarawak withdrawals I am going through now.

The work is different in every aspect. The less actives are typically less active because they want to be less active, not because they lack encouragement or fellowship or have broken the commandments, as was the case in Malaysia. As a result, so far we have 2 less active family's to work with. We have knocked on the door of almost every less active member in our area.

The members are way cool and supportive, but they, like everyone else in this place, are busy, like way busy. Talking to other missionaries and from my experiences so far it seems that you visit members once every 2 weeks to 2 months depending instead of the once or even twice every week in Sarawak.

So anyway we passed the less active ex-Muslim girl to the Sister Missionaries. A little too friendly if you get my meaning.

The Buddhist was good. Her name is Cassandra. She is Chinese/Filipino. Just starting to go to university. We met at a library and taught her the Restoration. It went well, committed her to read the Book of Mormon and pray.

Today because people so happened to be not busy we met with Trishalin, a potential investigator we met while on the bus to find a less active family (the less active family asked us to remove their records :(. Anyway, she is Filipino, just finished secondary school (highschool) and is Baptist. The lesson went well.

Teaching is so much different here. The people are literate, they understand what they read and aren’t afraid to explain or state their opinions. So yeah. I don’t really know what I’m doing, glad the spirits on my side or I’d be in trouble.

Later today we might be meeting with 2 more potential investigators, at 4 and 6 respectively.

Cool things that happened this week. We had absolutely nothing to do on Saturday. So just walked out the door to see where my feet took me. I felt like skipping the bus and walking into some HDB flats (the government owned flats that cover the entire landscape of my area). Anyway we saw a Chinese man with a baby. Decided to be bold. Walked up to him and was like "hello, we are representatives of Jesus Christ here to teach people about him and his teachings. Would you be interested in hearing our message?" He was like "yes.” Wait what? So, we got his number, hopefully we can visit him this week.

Also met this Muslim lady from Indonesia who said we can meet maybe this Saturday. Pretty cool. She didn’t believe I could speak Bahasa until I did.

Yesterday was interesting. So for the first time on my mission I was late to church. Really just rubbish. Anyway, we went out in the evening. Decided to get on the bus to the checkpoint on the way to JB in Malaysia. We wanted to get off at the checkpoint and maybe walk around, slowly meander back towards the city. No can do. Once the bus enters the checkpoint you are committed, no turning back. So of course, not having our passports the guards told us to go wait in this corner. Eventually we were escorted up into the interrogation office. They took us back into separate interrogation rooms and asked us a bunch of questions. My interrogators talked in Malay to each other and English to me, I guess to hide what they were saying. Didn’t work. They were talking about how stupid we were for coming to the check point. They made some immigration jokes. Talked about an incident earlier in the day when somebody tried to come in on a stolen passport. Once again said we must have been pretty dumb to just come to the border. Anyway took our thumbprints then put us back on a bus to the city.

Never again will I get on that bus....

We were able to meet with a couple members this week. Brother and Sister Soh. They are Chinese, older and are ward missionaries. They invited over several other families, the Ng family that we visited on Christmas Eve. Also the Leong family that we met my first week here. Also Brother Jimmy Tan. He is pretty old. He was the first person baptized in Singapore. Pretty cool. He was telling us about his day. Apparently back a while ago Singapore had a 2 child policy similar to china? I don’t know anyway, interesting stuff.

awefulkeyboardspacebarisbroken.

Anyway, so things are picking up. Life is good in Singapore.

Love you guys,

Elder Halpin

BTW, members aren’t picture crazy here so I actually don’t have any with members yet.

Don’t pee in the elevators.

The view from Brother Soh’s apartment. 

That’s the bridge to JB with the checkpoint on the far left....

HDB flats for days.

December 28, 2014 – The Work Begins, again… - Week 2 in Singapore

So this week was significantly better than the last.

Christmas was pretty good. Several members invited us over on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We met the Solomon family, both Ng family’s and the Tadina family (the one we skyped at). All way cool. They also all have families and individuals they are trying to prepare to hear the gospel.

Church was really epic on Sunday. Elder Woo (the 70), President Lai (the Singapore Stake President), and another Brother taught Priesthood. Basically it was like sitting in apostolic council or something such, way powerful.

This morning we sent Elder Lee off to Canada. The end of an era. I’m pretty sure our tri-panionship was the most epic tri-panionship ever. Now I will have a bed and a desk. Also, he willed me some instant curry noodles.

I’ve started liking Singapore a little bit more.

Also we finally got our support.

Tomorrow we have an appointment with a less active ex-Muslim and with a Buddhist potential investigator. It should be good.

For Pday? I have Moms letter in hand and will send it later.

Also maybe going to get a haircut, I need one, also maybe going to try and find Indian food here in dhoby gauht.

I asked about flights home.

That’s about all.

Miss you guys,

Elder Halpin

Forgot my card reader. Sorry there are no pictures.

December 21, 2014 – Rough Week… - Week 1 in Singapore

 So this week was rough, really rough! Probably hardest on my mission with the exception of when Elder Wiberg was hit by the car.

So I am about half way done with my letter to you Mom, things got hectic and I forgot to write it. I will finish it and send it tomorrow, sorry it will be late. I will add my thoughts on the Savior in there.

I miss you guys a lot.

Just about the only good thing that happened this week was that I was able to pick up my package. Thanks you guys, a lot. The cards are really nice. The cookies are delicious. The new white shirts are very white. I put up the Christmas tree over my desk on the wall, it’s very nice.

I’m way jealous of you guys.

So on Monday we got news that I was being transferred to Singapore. To the woodlands ward. I am in a tri-companionship with Elders Lee and Wright. They are both pretty cool. Elder Lee is leaving on the 29th for his mission in Toronto Canada. He’s just visa waiting (that’s why a tri-companionship). He’s from Melaka in West Malaysia. Elder Wright is one of my "grandsons" (he is Elder Ferguson’s son). He is from New Jersey.

The flight over was just kind of awful. The dumb plane out of Sibu didn’t leave until 35 minutes late. Once it got to Kuala Lumpur it had to circle for another 10 minutes waiting for weather. Once it finally landed I had about 5-7 minutes to get to the proper terminal. So I booked through the airport at a sprint. Made it, just barely, had to yell to get them to hold the door. Anyway, I get to Singapore, and of course, my checked bag didn’t make it..... So I go report my lost bag. I don’t know my number (or anyone’s number for that matter) in Singapore, so they give me their number and tell me to call later. I tried to call 20 times at intervals later that night. No answer. The next morning did the same thing, same result. Finally I gave up and went and picked it up in person. As nice as the Singapore airport is, the lost baggage hotline is absolutely rubbish.

Our area is in the northern half of the island, if you look up "woodlands" on google maps, that’s our area. It’s a ward, not a branch, in a stake not a district.

We are whitewashing the area, none of us three have been in the area before. We have no work. The Elders before had nothing going, and from what it looks like they kind of just went belly up and died/gave up. The area is split between 3 sets of missionaries, the other two companionships have some work, but not much.

We live in a condo on the eighth floor. We live with 2 Elders from the 4th ward (Elders Zimmerman and Egbert), which is one of 2 expat wards. So it’s 5 people in a four person house. Maksudnya, I sleep on a "taco" as they are called, a 2 inch thick foam seat/mat thing. It’s about 4 1/2 feet long, so my feet stick out from the knees onward. My "office" or "desk" is the corner of the living room. Honestly though I don’t mind it, in fact, I often prefer to sit on the ground over a chair. Other than that, the apartment is nice, we have three bathrooms, however only 1 has a hose (limiting usability, TP is absolute rubbish, I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get back...). It’s alright though, we don’t have to filter the water here. We also have a dryer, but dryers are rubbish, viva la drying racks!

We ride the MRT/bus just about half the day, the other half is spent walking around endless malls or walking about trying to figure out where members live in the endless mass of condominiums and flats.

We’ve managed to meet a few members, Elder Woo and his family. He is a 70. Bishop Loh, the Selvan family, the Leong family, the Chong family. Tonight we are going to family home evening with the Solomon’s – it should be good. The ward is pretty evenly split between Chinese, Pilipino and Indians. Pretty cool, they all seem way dope.

My "area adjustment" has not come in yet (8 days now)....(honestly the church reimbursement/support system has gotten progressively worse over my mission, not better) My ringgits that I converted were used up in about 2 days, so I have been using my Christmas money to survive....

A member invited us to use their computers to skype. Send me your names. I will email you my name right before so we can find each other. It will be at about 9 o’clock in the morning on the 26th (my time) you guys do the converting so that I don’t screw it up.

Another thing is that our house is split down the middle on missionary work philosophies. It hasn’t really yet, but I know it’s going to cause clashes down the road.

So yeah. Just really struggling to figure out why I was sent here. Struggling with not speaking Malay/Iban, I really miss it. Struggling with my housemates/companions a bit. Struggling with the area, how to get it going. It’s likely to be the last area in my mission, maybe not though. Struggling with my general loathing of Singapore. Not anything against it personally, just that it’s the epitome of a large city, I hate large cities. Everywhere you look is a billion people, cars and busses and advertisements.

I know that if I can just focus on the people, the members, and the less actives and forget everything else I’ll be fine. I’m just having a really hard time doing it.

I guess really that’s just the gist of it.

If you have any inspirational thoughts or advice now is the time for it.

Sincerely,

Elder Halpin

P.S. I think this is the most depressing email I have ever written.

A somewhat depressive picture waiting at an MRT station.

My office/desk.

All three of us.

December 14, 2014 – Transfers – Off to Singapore… - Week 25 in Sibu Jaya

This week was good.

We are waiting for transfer news right now, having been here for 4 transfers already and considering the circumstances, I am probably gone, but I really hope I stay.

So first off, we went to Singapore on Monday for zone conference and for chop (Visa process) renewal. It was nice, heard some really good departing testimonies from Elders going home at the end of next transfer. Weird to think that, whether or not I extend or not, next zone conference it’s my turn....

Anyway, Kenneth slipped up last week with smoking, so we pushed his date back and will keep working with him. On the other hand Patricia, Lulong’s daughter, is doing well. She prayed for the first time and we committed her to start reading the Book of Mormon.

Romy is also doing well. She came to church again on Sunday. Jamil is boss.

Something I was thinking about this week was forgiveness. Not to be forgiven but to forgive. Thinking about when Jesus was talking to Peter about it, when he tells him to forgive 70x70 or what not, when you first think about it; it seems like a burden, but in all reality it is a huge blessing.

Still waiting.... I get transfer fever way bad.....

Sibu Jaya is the best!!!

No photos this week, forgot card reader...

So I’m going to Singapore in a tripanionship. This is literally the worst possible transfer.

Sincerely,

Elder Halpin

December 8, 2014 – Last Week Here??? - Week 24 in Sibu Jaya

So this week went well.

Miss you lots guys.

We arrived in Singapore about 2 hours ago, we are here for zone conference. We will be heading back on Wednesday.

Elder Blackwelder is from a small town near Cincinnati Ohio. He has been out just over a year now. He’s way gung-ho, way game for local food (he just eats more of the sketchier dishes, that’s why he gets sick).

It wasn’t the first snake I have eaten but was the first time I have cooked it. It tastes like really gamey chicken/fish sort of.

The Christmas tree sounds nice. I set up my nativity set you sent me earlier this week,

Yes, I’ll send you a letter Mom.

Also, tell Brother Waters I’m interested in that job, as in I want it. Still not quite sure if I want to extend, President Mains has asked us to talk to him 3 months before our date if we want to extend, so I’ll have to figure that out in the next 2 months. When I get home, I figure I’ll just work non-stop and when I’m not working I’ll be getting my math skills re sharpened so I can pass that test at SFCC and get my AA (and do anything else I need to). Then transfer to wherever. The 2 main things I got to do fast is that I got to get money and I got to get out (as into school). If I don’t I’ll probably just vegetate and end up living in the root cellar.....  That’s about all the planning I’ve done.

Kenneth wasn’t able to be baptized this week because of the accident (just delayed until next week) but Eugenia was. Her whole family was able to come, it was pretty cool.

Faska is doing well, I think he will meet his date.

Michael went back to his ship this week. He took a Book of Mormon and said he would read it though.

Sibu Jaya is great. I might only have 1 week left, next week being transfers. If I leave I’m really going to miss it. I really hope they don’t whitewash the area.

Time is weird, it’s slow and then fast all at once. The more you try to slow it down the faster it goes. Also, if you zip about it ends up speeding up. So the best plan therefore is to flow with it, staying busy up until the point where you’re almost rushing. That’s the best. You get back to the house and you can’t really remember without really trying to think about it what you did that morning or exactly who all you visited. You just feel accomplished, not stressed at all, very nice.

5 minutes left.

Don’t have much time or a way to send pictures, sorry.

  

Anyway, love you guys,

Sincerely

Elder Halpin

November 30, 2014 – Snake Anyone?… - Week 23 in Sibu Jaya

This week was pretty good.

So to answer your questions

The Mills are the Senior missionaries assigned to Sibu Jaya.

Katherine, last week we didn’t baptize anyone, they ended up going out of town for a family emergency. This week they (Eugenia and Kenneth) will be baptized.

My favorite scripture this week? 2nd Timothy 1:7.

We have talked to the member, she is doing alright. She is working through divorce stuff now.

Thanksgiving was delicious. The turkey was really a turkey. There was actually only 4 types of pies (plenty!) - funny how rumors grow. But yeah, we ate until we were sick and there was still enough food to take home as leftovers.

My feelings when someone is baptized? Way happy for them. Way peaceful. I feel way relieved. I feel really hopeful for the recent convert. Kind of like getting to the top of a ridge before going for the summit. You made it, the view is great, you feel exhilarated. All that's left is to follow the ridge to the summit. Hard for me to explain.

Kenneth and Eugenia are clean, they haven’t smoked. However, they went out of town so we had to push their date back to this week. Last night Kenneth got in a motto wreck. (this is what happens when you let 14 year olds drive around mottos). He broke his collar bone and got a few stiches on his head (he decided not to buckle his helmet). So yeah, he’s alright, just shaken up.

Romy (Jamil’s wife) is doing great. She prayed out loud for the first time ever this week. She is reading and such also. She is pretty fearful about baptism so we invited her to attend Kenneth and Eugenia’s baptism this week and she said she would come. She IS ready to be baptized, just scared to do it. She said that if she felt comfortable after seeing them get baptized that she would be baptized the following week. Pretty sweet.

We have few new investigators this week that are pretty dope.

There is a Sister Mandora in the branch. She was baptized in Kuching and then moved back here. My first transfer here she had twins, way cute. Her husband is a logger, works way out in the jungle somewhere. Anyway, her brother Faska, lives with her. He is about 14-15 and is way sick. He has been coming to church and wants to be baptized. He has started reading and has been praying for a while. He is on date for the 20th of this month. On Saturday he brought his friend, Loolainick, to English class and we were able to meet afterward. Pretty cool kid, maybe he will start learning.

I’ve talked before about Sister Ramani. Anyway she was inactive but now is active. Her husband Michael works on an oil rig offshore in Thailand. He is not a member but recently came back for training and a break.  He has come to church the last 2 weeks and is pretty sick. When we asked what church he belongs to he answered "this one of course". Pretty cool. He doesn’t know when he will be going out for training so we are trying to teach him all we can before he goes out again. If it’s a while there is a possibility he could be baptized before he leaves I guess. Pretty sick.

Other than that this week has been eventful.

On Thursday, Elder Blackwelder fell ill again and was sick until Saturday. Stuck in the house...... I really just hate being stuck in the house. I can only read the scriptures and do language study for so long before I start going crazy...

On Saturday we bought a snake from a member. A 4-6 foot long boa constrictor/ball python type snake. Brother Masam brings them back from his work out in the jungle and sells them in Guni sacks. I killed it, gutted it and skinned it. We cut it into sections and decided to cook it a few different ways. We fried it with lemongrass and some other stuff - that was pretty good. We also rubbed some other spices into another section and baked it in the oven. The third section we rubbed spices and soy sauce on, this was the most delicious one. We still have a bunch of uncooked snake in the freezer. It was a pain to do, all of our knives were way dull. We didn’t have good cooking equipment either. It was definitely an experience.

The branch is getting going (really awesome). Elder Mills called his councilors, the clerk and also an Elders Quorum President (the first this branch has ever had).

Anyway, miss you guys,

Sincerely,

Elder Halpin

Pictures:

The snake, minus the head, before it was eaten.

Faska and Mandora.

Brother Michael and Family 

November 23, 2014 – Branch President Change… - Week 22 in Sibu Jaya

Really mixed up this week, some good some bad.

Mom:  Dad replaced the window you broke with the rocket and Rosemitha finished off with a rock ;). 

Elder Halpin:  Hmm.... the rocket launcher would have worked fine. Just the tail was bit too heavy and didn’t have enough drag...

Katherine: I miss you and I love you!

David:  Everything’s going great.  I was in a skit at church.  I put glue on my face and gloves on my feet and ate a crayon...anyway ...everyone thought it was hilarious.  Adam says I was the star of the evening!"

Elder Halpin:  I miss you to Katherine, also David, did you actually eat a crayon???!!!

So first off, Kenneth and Eugenia are set to get baptized this week.

Jennifer was baptized on Saturday, she was way excited.

Brother Chipping and Brother Sigai received the Melchizedek Priesthood on Sunday!

On Sunday Sibu Jaya was ushered into its third age. Basically President Clement hasn’t been able continue. He is in the District Presidency and that takes a lot of his time. On top of that he was Branch President here, to top it all off he hasn’t been doing to great financially and he really just didn’t have the time for everything. So he was released as Branch President (he was way relieved) and Elder Mills was called as the Branch President. This was quite surprising. Anyway, it should be good, because President Mills has time and because of that can interview people and extend callings. He also has some experience, he was a Bishop before. Still this was very surprising.

He was given permission by President Mains to "unofficially officially" call us as assistants. We will be helping with the transition and helping him to meet people and such.  Also helping with MLS. On Sunday we did the tithing and on Tuesday we will be going over the action to do list seeing what we can help with.

Mom: I see he told you about his truck.  It is an extended cab.  Dad really likes it.  I am glad he was able to finally get his truck.  We will either sell his car or junk it.

Elder Halpin:  A truck? Sounds like a good idea, the car was self-destructing? eek.

So, later today we will be going to the church in Sibu for Thanksgiving, the senior couples have managed, reportedly, to make 10 different types of pie (from scratch none the less!!) and to have somehow found and obtained a turkey!

My email’s pretty short. You see pretty much most of this week sucked. Tuesday we got stuck in Sibu because the bus driver wouldn’t let us on with our bikes.... Anyway the senior couples were busy so we were stuck until about 10 at night when they could finally take us back. Wednesday Elder Blackwelder was sick, he slept all day... Thursday we were finally able to work but it was all rubbish. One member’s husband went ballistic and beat her up, now she is in hiding, we have no idea what’s going to happen there, also maybe another member will get kicked out of their house at the end of the year.... So yeah, just rubbish.

Anyway, gotta go.

Sincerely,

Elder Halpin

Picture:

Jennifer being baptized.