Jan. 11, 2011
Hello family!!!!
So I am now currently emailing you from Sandakan, Sabah. Wow. The OPPOSITE end of East Malaysia. I guess we are about 1000 miles away from the Mission office. How many missionaries can say that! And it is just the two of us. Elder Martin and I. Well...I guess the Mission President's older Sister is here with her husband as a Senior Couple, so we have some white man company :D It's nice. We have been working very closely with them, and it is about night and day difference from the last branch. The Kota Samarahan branch was growing from an infant into a giant of a branch, where as the Sandakan branch has roughly been around the same size for a while. I think. It is completely different up here though. Yes its still hot. No snow, but as in contrast with Kota Samarahan, NO IBANS!!!! It's funny. The first day I start studying Iban in my language study I get transferred to a place with none! haha Nasib (fate). well.....I lied. There is one Iban member from Bintulu named Lucy. Her speech reminds me of Kuching so much :D Love it!!!
But other than that, the words they use here are different. Instead of 'kamu' for you, they use 'kau' and 'mu'. Pretty different. Gotta work that one into the language. They also speak tons of different dialects. AND!!! There are tons of Filipino's!!! Most of them are illegal who come over from the Philippines, and are totally different than the rest of the people. People here are way more courageous, and have more concerns than those in Sarawak. They are also not shy at all!! Its kinda nice :D We are no longer trying to bring people out of their shells! They come right out :D Its awesome :D
We also just moved from a tiny little one floor, to a huge house where just 2 missionaries live. No idea why we need that much space!!! Its crazy! The place was pretty dirty and messy when I got there, but we have been doing some good work to clean it up. I have really become keen on a clean house out here on the mission. I probably owe it to living with Devin Graham in college :D
We also don't use bikes here in Sandakan. All of the people mainly live along this main highway, and so everyone uses the insanely good transportation they have here. Compared to Sarawak anyway. That makes for less sweaty days :D More bus rides too!!!! Woot!
Elder Martin is a good companion :D Only a little bit taller than I am, and older than me too! I am older than him in the mission (by about 6 weeks) but he is almost 4 months older than me age wise. Its nice to have a good wise and more experienced in life companion. Miles of difference. We are not here together on accident. There is a purpose for us :D The only downside is that Elder Martin's first station was in Singapore, and so he really didn't use his Malay at all, until now! He has not even been in a Malay speaking area for a month! But he is doing just great :D I forget at times that he doesn't speak the best. But this has also given me the opportunity to translate for the Senior Couples, and translate in meetings for non-English members. It's very hard, but very cool :D I am still amazed and grateful for the Lord's blessing of this language ability. I myself am amazed as to what has happened in the past 6 months. Incredible.
So! Stories!!!! Well the very first house we go to go visit with the Branch President (who is also the Senior couple here, Elder Wieland) we are walking on wooden walk ways, and as we turn to walk into the recently converted members house, the walkway breaks!!! I nearly fell into the muddy bog below, but with some quick feet avoided the muddy fate. The member was horrified, but I quickly promised we would return and do a service project for her. Sweet!!! So just like Kuching, my first full day in the area included a service project!!!! It was so awesome to see. When we showed up with the necessary supplies, the member (Jessica) was actually gone with her husband, but her mom was there, who is not a member, and in the past has been very.....grumpy towards the elders. At first she was telling us that we should go home, and that she would hire someone else to fix it. Ha ha! yeah right!!!! No way i am letting the opportunity to crawl around in the mud and build something get out of my hands. So we kept on going. She eventually gave in and even made us some drinks! After about 3 hours of good labor, we not only fixed the broken part of the walkway, but made it even stronger than before, and fixed around 20 ft of walkway that wasn't looking so hot either. At the end of the Service the little old grandma was so thankful, and even invited us to come back later on that week. Woah! Just last week she was telling the missionaries not to come back. This really strengthened my testimony of what service can do. I took a metaphysical step back and looked at the situation. 3 white guys wearing white shirts and ties come to a little old woman's house made of tin and wood over a swamp. We come preaching of Jesus Christ and all this beauty and happiness, while she is still living in dirt and poverty. I wouldn't blame her for not believing us, nor for wanting us to 'humble ourselves' to her level. She wouldn't want us to do that to ourselves. So when we came back the next day, hoped right into the mud, and free of charge made her home a safer and better place, I think it really put an example into her eyes. The example of Jesus Christ. He humbled himself below all of us. He was born in a dirty smelly sheep pen, and was laid in a very filthy eating bin as a baby. Can you imagine a more humble birth? It is when we humble ourselves to meet people eye to eye that they can really see the Light of Christ, and find it within themselves. There is no better way to humble yourself other than service. Yes, you can speak of a better world from the pulpit, in a class, or in someone's home, but you can make a better world by serving them with all your heart, might, mind and strength. The service that is needed most won't find you, you have to go find it. I just so happened to be lucky, and was privileged to do this service here in Sandakan. Now I would ask each of you, how are you making this place a better world? A wave to a stranger? A smile to the lonely old grandpa? A smile to the angry man walking down the street? Service has many faces. We just have to find it.
I love you all and hope that you are doing your best in your life. Seize every moment. Don't just do good things. Do the Best things.
Elder Willem Kampenhout
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