Week 36 - Malaysia - Zone and District Conference‏

Wow, what a week!

    Thursday night last week we flew to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah for Missionary Zone Conference and our District Conference (since there are no stakes in Malaysia). It was very strange being away from home for 3 days, and especially in a city like KK. It is very high class like Singapore, but full of Malaysians, and still has all the little fun parts of Malaysia in the surrounding areas. It is definitely more of a tourist place and because of that has advanced in its appearance and technology.

    But that aside, it was incredible. The Zone Conference came at the perfect time for me, as I was just in need of a spiritual boost and clean up. It gave me a chance to really examine myself and see where I was doing well, but mainly where I could do better. There were a lot of things that I was letting kinda slip away, and Sister Clark really gave me some food stuff to work with :D
    But more incredible than all of that was the simple yet profound teachings that happened. Sister Clark explain to us that this life is a balancing act, and went about showing us that when we balance a book on 3 fingers, it is pretty firm. Those 3 fingers are the foundation of a testimony. Reading, prayer, and church attendance. If you take away any one of those, you may be able to balance for a little bit, but it will eventually fall. You can also even add to it (other fingers) by serving callings, attending activities, but if you don't have those foundation 3, you will fall. Its inevitable. Wow.
    Even more spectacular was what President Clark taught all of the people at the adult session. Many people feel that they have just sinned too much, or that they can't be forgiven, or that their self worth is not worth the effort. To clarify and expound and teach, he used a story (as the savior did). When he goes jogging, he always brings a little notebook and pencil to write thoughts in as he has them, and also $10 to buy a drink with at the end of the run. On this one particular day, it was raining and when he had a spiritual insight, he stopped and pulled out his little notepad. While doing so, the $10 bill fell out too and onto the ground getting muddy and dirty. "rats" he said, and brushed the mud off and put it back in his pocket. Later on while running, he had another thought, and pulled out his notepad to write it down. Again, the 10 dollar bill note fell to the ground and got covered in mud. He again, picked it up, cleaned it off, and put it back into his pocket. Why can't his money stay in his pocket? Towards the end of his run, he again had a spiritual thought, and when he pulled out his notepad, again the 10 dollar bill fell on the ground. Then he finally realized what the dollar bill was teaching. No matter how many times he fell out of his pocket, President Clark would always pick it up, brush it off, and put it back in his pocket. We are the 10 Dollar bill. We are of great worth to God, and no matter how many times we fall, no matter how dirty we get, or where we fall, Our Heavenly Father will ALWAYS pick us back up. Would you ever leave a 10 dollar bill laying on the ground and walk away from it? Perhaps think about the dollar bills that are waiting to be picked back up in your life. Pray about them, and how you can brush them off, and return yourself or others into the fold of God.
     In other news, the Violin playing at district conference and zone conference was very popular :D After all the meetings I spent about 40 minutes just playing hymns for members while they ate, and asking what their favorite songs were. They even sang on a few of them too. And then everyone and their dog wanted to try playing the violin. It was really fun, and many people talked about how the violin touched their hearts. Thank you mama and papa for sending the money to purchase the violin here in Malaysia. It has been priceless :D
    I love you all very much, and hope you are doing well. Take care and will hear from you soon!!

Your loving friend, brother, and son,
     Elder Willem Kampenhout  

Malaysia - Week 35 - Safe and Sound‏

Hello!

Just to let you all know. Malaysia is Safe. Not sure why, but this place seems to avoid disasters pretty well. The usual rains and floods are about all it gets. Not nuclear clouds, nor earth quakes have hit here. And good thing. I think if a decent sized earth quake hit East Malaysia, nearly every building taller than 3 stories would be destroyed, because everything is make out of brick and cement, which has no give. And they have some pretty tall buildings.

But not to worry :D We are all good here. Our house is situated on top of a nice big hill called Taman Hing Lee. Right next to the Jehovah's Witness church. Lots of people think that we are JW's. Ha ha...oh the confusion of life at times.

But life has been pretty good here. Elder Martin went on his Visa run this week (flew to Singapore for a day) and nearly missed his flight, but then had his other flight delayed because Singapore was down to one lane, therefore missing his connecting flight. So much like I did, he had to stay the night in KL. However, his stay was much different than my "prison sentence" in the Terminal. He was taken to a Resort, and given a nice big room and a all you can eat buffet. Oh....the comparisons in life sometimes. I’m glad I had my experience though :D

We also had a branch service project here, where I had my first experience of cutting down a tree, and then digging up all the roots and cutting it out!! Wow....talk about hard work. And this wasn't the biggest tree either!!! The hardest part was that it was growing through cement, and we could only dig out so far. It was a lot hard work, and really fun! Even though it ground dirt into my hands so deep that there are still some traces in it that just won’t come out. Ha ha. Hard work has lasting impressions . :D

Other than that the Mission work keeps pushing along. There are plenty of challenges and trials that you would not find in many other missions. This truly has been a place where I have grown a lot :D

Your Loving son,

   Elder Kampenhout

Malaysia - Week 34 - The Silence Before the Storm

March 8, 2011

Anu Abarmu!!!

 Thank you so much for all your letters and emails :D They are really great to read and it’s good to have thoughts about home at times. I guess it makes me more of a human being.

    The time on the mission is a strange vortex. It seems like I was just here 2 days ago, yet it seems so long at the same time. Weird. But much has changed. A large chunk of our investigator pool has seemingly vanished, and we have suddenly gone from super busy to not so busy at all. I have a feeling that something is going to happen pretty soon here that will need a lot of our time and effort :D Let me tell you about one miracle family :D Malou is a 49 year old woman who has 5 children, 4 of which live with her. If we had been out looking for new investigators we would have never found her, because she actually lives in an old Muslim mans house, but is Christian, and Man!!! She was ready for the Gospel. A member works with her daughter’s husband, and began talking with her about the church when she saw him reading the Liahona, and he began to tell her about the church (and about the temples in the Philippines before he even mentioned Joseph Smith). It was awesome and she wanted to go and see what this church was. When Sunday morning came, Malou, and her daughter Manilou and her three other little boys walked in and immediately meshed with all the other Filipinos in the branch. It was incredible. Everything we have been teaching they have been soaking up and applying. They wanted to be baptized that day! In old times we probably would have. They are ready, but we want to set a firm foundation first :D But this is one family we are definitely excited about. This week they went back to "camp" ( a far away work place where their husbands work) but will be back next week. Can't wait :D

   Here in Sandakan we work extremely close with the senior couple, and the Branch President (same guy :D) and this has given us tons of experience with how leadership within the church works. The Branch President has me translate the sacrament meetings, interviews with non-English speakers, and lots of other things. With all this close work with him, it has given me a lot of wisdom and insight into life, but one thing particularly is in Focus and Faith. Not just any senior couple could come out to Malaysia. Things just don't work the same, and it’s hard to even get basic functions going, and there is lots of work to be done. However, I myself have realized that the church here and the way people are is about 19th Century saints in America. It really is interesting, but I have learned myself that you need to Focus your effort. Build one foundation at a time, and once it is complete, it will help uplift others. If you try to tackle them all at once it won't get done. This is happening on the Lords time, not ours. It sure does make it hard at times, but is a great humbling experience. The second half is with Faith. Believe. Such a powerful word! I could go on for hours how that when has faith, it fills them with such light and love, and lifts others around them. It is an incredible thing to see take place, and have been blessed with many occasions as such :D

   One thing that has been very strong here in Sandakan is the Missionaries. Now not us, but the ones who come from here. We just recently had two go out (and are serving in this mission too) but are working on another one, and setting the building blocks for another one. The youth of Sandakan are some of the strongest I have ever seen, who keep coming to church even when their parents have stopped for months. They are the future leaders of the church. They are the pillars that will one day raise up the land of Malaysia to be a spiritual mountain. But I guess we are all doing that. We are all building up our families, our lives and our experiences so that one day, we will bring our works before our Father, and we will reap what we have sown here in this life. I guess that is why I love 3 Nephi 13:19-21 so much. "Lay not up your treasures upon earth, where moth and rust do corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and thieves break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." President Dallin H. Oaks once said "The Ultimate treasure on earth and in Heaven, is in our children." While I have none of my own yet, I know that those who do could say the same thing. Don't forget that. Take the time with your treasures, and let them collect dust. Spend time with your children and your treasures every day, and they will love you back :D I am sure grateful for the love my parents showed me. I sometimes wonder why I got such good ones :D Continue on being those great mothers, fathers, husbands and wives. 

Your Loving Friend, Brother, and Son,

   Elder Willem Kampenhout

Malaysia - Week 33 - Sandakan on the Rise‏

March 8, 2011

That is one HUGE spider!!

Hey all!!

 Wow, time seems to just be flying too fast, yet also it seems so much has happened since I last wrote. Maybe I skipped a week of writing you?

Well Elder Martin and I are back and really cruising now, and had a wonderful and successful baptism last week. It was so amazing, and special. I love baptisms. Even though many people have no idea how great of a covenant the baptismal covenant is when they are first baptized, they soon do once they begin their journey on the straight and narrow.

So many people have been asking me how I got back into Sandakan. Well, since Kota Kinabalu is a very tough airport for immigration, there is one flight a day that goes direct from KL (easiest immigration in West Malaysia) to Sandakan. So I just took that flight and it was easy as cake! Yeah....no stories of smuggling onto boats and showing up on the seashore in the middle of the night, but it’s enough that we have to smuggle in our book of Mormons, and whatnot ;)

Earlier on this week though we were contacting a person that Elder Martin had met while I was gone, and in the middle of a contact, a 13 year old kid came up to us and ASKED for a Book of Mormon, and  then asked us, where is the true church? What?!?! Come to find out this guys name is Chris Lee, and learned with the Elders before, and was more than excited to start learning with us again :D Not sure why he stopped before, but we are very excited for him now. Its interesting how sometimes people just find you :D

Earlier on today, we attended a full Anglican Funeral service, for one of our old members who passed away. You may wonder why it was an Anglican one, well that is because due to some incidents in the past, the youngest sister of our active member took the mom and both of them started going to the Anglican Church. Let me tell you. It was so......different. Everything was memorized. There were no heartfelt prayers, the people did everything out of this little book that was written by mortal hands in which they even changed the scriptures in which they used. It was odd but I felt no comfort at all, except for when the pastor gave his sermon for about 15 minutes, and he actually had a good point. "Many people have left their homes, and they don't know how to get back." Wow....i guess that is what I am doing here now. Helping people really find out how to get back home. This also made me really appreciate our Sunday meetings. Even though they are small in number, they are so full of love and joy that it just....warms your heart :D It really was an eye opener to how much the Restored Gospel has made a difference :D

  Well I must get going, but I love you all so much :D

Elder Kampenhout