February 8, 2011
Hello Family!!!
So after a few weeks full of traveling, adventures in bridge building, and overcoming floods, this week was pretty tame. :D It was kinda nice to have a somewhat "regular" week. They really do make things easier.
The city of Sandakan is starting to recover from the floods, and the streets are cleared of sand for the most part. Sometimes when there is a heavy rainstorm at night we hold our breath, but nothing big has really sprung up. Thank goodness. I have certainly found a new love for umbrellas. HAHA. In Kuching we would just have to bite our teeth and take the rain on our bikes, but here in Sandakan thanks to good public transportation they give a great chance to go all our work by bus. And it makes for good contacting! We even have a possible new investigator from a bus contact, let’s just hope she wants to talk to us because of the Gospel, and not because we are young white guys who speak Malay. :D
So we are having a baptism this week too!!! WOOT!!! It's been a while, but we have another one coming up at the end of the month. Oh they are so awesome. The interview itself was an adventure on its own. The Branch President ( Elder Wieland) does the interviews, but doesn't speak the language, so he has to bring a translator, and our usual translator is currently in Immigration jail (he accidentally got fraud papers, but that’s a whole other story) so we brought a young man who could do the job. Well.....they had never met Joey, who is one of the shyest and slowest to respond girls in the world. But she has the biggest heart! They bore with it and a little over an hour later finished. That gave us Missionaries plenty of time to see the Man of the House (Enol) battle their pregnant cat who kept trying to find a 'different' place to have her babies other than the one Enol picked. HAHA!!! It even got to the point that he put her in the corner and moved the sofa chair in front of the entrance to try and pin her in. Well, it didn't work, but she still hasn't given birth either. Maybe she will wait until Enol goes to work.
It was also quite interesting that after all of the flooding that happened Enol's house was relatively unharmed, as they are on top of a hug hill. But they had another problem come up! A underground water main broke right next to their house, and completely wiped out the path they use to leave. Oh NO!!!! It completely washed away all the land, and ran for about 2 days before anyone came to fix it. I guess the Lord really is trying these people here in Sandakan. There really is something special here. The hole is still there though, but now its dry so they can walk through.
This past week was also Chinese New Year’s, and it really showed how all of the shops and businesses are run by the Chinese. On the two days of Chinese New Year’s, there were hardly any cars on the road, and nearly all the shops were closed. It was insane. Wherever you find shops and cities and places of business, that is where you will find the Chinese here :D But it has been a good Chinese New Year’s none the Less. It is now the year of the Rabbit!!! I guess I was born in the Year of the Snake (a cunning creature). Hahah. The Chinese food here is so different than that in America. It’s like real Chinese food and American Chinese food. Completely different food. But! During the Chinese New year they love to hand out Oranges wrapped in red plastic. Such good oranges here. It’s amazing! :D
But I must get going. Got a text last night telling us that I would be going to Singapore for 3 days for a Leadership Training, and that we needed to find a place in Sandakan for Elder Martin to stay. And the Senior couple here is in Singapore on their Visa run, so they are out of the picture. We freaked out for a second, but got things figured out. :D If there is one thing I have learned, its that things will always work out :D I love you all and hope America is treating you well. Malaysia is doing amazing for me. :D I think I'm going to freeze in the summer when I come back.
Elder Kampenhout
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