Week 2 - Malaysia

July 27, 1010

Nama Berintah!!!!  (Iban)

    So this last week was awesome :D Every day is just rad. The last couple days it hasn't rained cats and dogs, so it was nice to come home dry (although still drenched in sweat). It's at least a 40 minute bike ride home every night. When we are in the furthest part of our area its just under an hour. Elder Steele and I set the new record the other night with 53 minutes from Kg Rembus, but I was pedaling in my top two gears the whole way. It's a long and hard ride. We come home, plan for a bit, shower and collapse into bed. It's nuts.

   So this week we went on splits with the Mission President. This is the first time he has come out, and he gave us as a companionship some training, and then went to an appointment with us. While the appointment was a bit tough (multiple investigators, tons of bugs, noisy kids) it was still really good, and we committed two of the adults to be baptized. YA!!!! We asked President Clark to share his testimony about baptism, and he gave a very simple but powerful one. They didn't even understand it (language barrier), but the Spirit was SOOO strong in the room you could have cut it with a knife. There was such peace in my heart I wish I could live in that state my whole life. Last night was one of many testimonies in my life that this is the one true gospel. It's crazy. I love this work.

   So, crazy things that went on this week. So I had my first lorry ride. A lorry is when you hold onto a vehicle while it drives down the highway. It definitely saves time, energy, and water. You grab on these little trucks with long beds at stop lights or down hills or right before roundabouts. They need to slow down so you can grab on. It's fun though. Wow. My first one only lasted about 5 seconds until I saw Elder Steele couldn't grab on, so I let go. Was immediately splashed by Elder Steele with a muddy puddle, and got another shirt muddy for a whole day. Ha ha! It was a small little truck. It was pretty safe. My second lorry 2 minutes later was a bit more dangerous. It was about the size of an American semi, but the entire back was full of gas containers that they use for stoves here (2x the size of propane tanks). I just grabbed onto the side and went for a ride. It was AWESOME!!!! He turned off after about a minute though, so Elder Steele let go of his truck and I let go of my big Bertha. It was good though :D

    We also rode a bus for the first time. And not just any old bus. A Sarawak bus. It's probably about  20 years old, and feels like you are going to die inside. All the seats are made out of steel and wood, as is the rest of the bus. It's kinda awesome. No suspension, so it bounces on every little pothole (and there are lots). It's really fun to ride, and really cheap (1.5 RM [.50 dollars]).

  I also gave a talk this week too. We had a tiny little baptism Saturday day for one of the Zone Leaders investigators, so they asked me to give a talk about Baptism, so I wrote out a talk and translated. I thought it was ok, but it apparently got around, because President Clark complimented me on it when we met with him. Crazy. The language barrier is still there. My Malay is getting better, but when people mix Malay and Iban it gets real tough to comprehend what they are saying. Just need to keep working hard.

   The mission is going super well. I love hearing from you all and love the emails I get :D It really is awesome getting emails from you all. I love hearing about what is going on at home. I may not reply right away, but I definitely read them every week. I love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
     Elder Kampenhout

P.S. Malaysian and Iban kids are the naughtiest kids alive.