June 8 2014

Family and Friends!

This past week has been a whirlwind...I take that back this transfer has been a whirlwind! I can't believe it is half done. It really is true what they say after training ever transfer goes by faster.

So I've tried to keep track of all the interesting things to tell you in my planner in an attempt to be better at writing letters. Now I just need to write a reminder for myself to write in my planner....Haha

I did get a few things written down though! Here goes nothing:

Sister Hales Broken Bike: Haha this is a good one. So P-Days are always the most stressful days, mostly because all the missionaries are trying to squeeze so much out of them and do it all together. Which is cool I like them. But last Monday we went to waterfront which is the super touristy part of Kuching, it's literally a forever long bike ride. We hung out for an hour but then had to hop back on the bike to go grocery shopping, which is another 30 minutes, this time it was even longer though because Sister Hansen got lost for a hot second. (she cut me some slack though...I mean I've only been living in Kuching for 2 weeks....) So after this huge ordeal all day of biking around basically all of Kuching we park our bikes, go grocery shopping, and have to rush so we can get to our appointment on time . Haha. We unchain our bikes and go to pull them out of the rack to go home, and someone had completely detached Sister Hales' tire. Haha literally the most hilarious thing ever! Luckily a very sweet security guard came and fixed it. We had a whole crowd watching the "White People and their broken bikes." We got lots of photos with all the locals. We were celebrities for a hot second. Everything worked out and we made to our appointment. It was a good and much needed laugh! 

Almost Dying all week: So i've been having these super weird dreams of dying here in Kuching. (super morbid I know.) I always laugh them off and everything works out, but man this week something was out to get me. On Monday I narrowly escaped 6 cars almost hitting me. Then Tuesday night my light ran out of juice and I had to ride a bike in the dark with no lights....It was super scary. Then on Wednesday it happened. I was hit by my first car! Haha I am 100% ok and all is well. But I finally made it as a biking missionary! I have been extra cautious and safe lately, but the traffic is intense here. I am going to be a pro when I go home though! :)

Unknown Investigator: So remember how last week I contacted a Nigerian man in the mall, well this week was the appointment and I litterally have no clue what this guy's name is. He wrote it in my planner but I can't decipher actual letters. So the whole appointment I avoided addressing him directly and surprisingly it was fine, there was no need for names. He accepted a return appointment and is now an official investigator.....I don't get why I do these things to myself. Luckily we will most likely be passing him to the Elders, because he keeps telling me I was in his dreams...So that's that. Haha the things that happen as a missionary...It's a good thing this is the Lord's Work! 

Stella's Birthday Party: On Saturday we were invited to our new investigators Granddaughters birthday party, which is perfect since we needed to pass her to Batu Kawa Sisters, it turned out to be not so perfect. Haha. So we get to the party a little early to give a lesson like Stella asked...we didn't give a lesson...haha we asked to bless the baby, like a legitimate Catholic blessing with Holy Water. We were caught a little off guard but said that we'd be happy to offer a prayer in her behalf instead. As we are preparing to say a prayer all 60ish of the house guests gather around in a big circle and the great grandma starts to bless the baby in Bahasa, then she picks up their water bottle of "Holly" Water, (yes it was mispelt) and sprinkles all of us with it! I legitimately got sprinkled with Holy water.....Then we offer a prayer, in Bahasa and a poor new missionary who was still learning Malay was asked to offer it. Luckily they seemed pleased with it and we went on to eating...and eating...and eating....The whole time we were eating the great grandmother sat by me hugging me and speaking malay, even though I kept telling her I don't speak it. Hahah it was definitely a good memory I'll have here.

This week there were so many fun things that had happened. But more importantly we were able to meet with numerous of our investigators and gauge exactly who is ready to progress and make covenants and who isn't. I've been learning and growing a lot as a missionary here in Kuching and I am very excited to see what weird adventures and lessons Heavenly Father has for me this week. You guys this gospel is amazing. This is the Lord's work and I expect nothing but miracles because of it! 

I love all of you!

Sister Emma Lynne Hansen

June 1 2014

Selemet Hari Gawail :)

Family and friends:

 

Wow I am just so bad at the big weekly e-mails so here is my attempt at a real good one!

 

Monday- We went to a nature reseve here in Kuching and it was really cool, I was able to meet about 90% of the missionaries serving in Sarawak and I can tell I am really going to love the work here. The nature reserve was so cheap too, only 1 RM which is crazy cheap in comparison to what Singapore would charge. It was so beautiful and I am excited for you to see the photos I will send off this week.

Tuesday-District Meeting as usual. Haha my district is just so dorky and nerdy, and I just couldn't help but laugh the whole meeting, but I already love them with my whole heart. Not only did I get district Meeting on Tuesday, but it was like a day of Miracles! We had a lesson with our investigator Shana, with a member present (MIRACLE) then went back to KDC (the chapel) and as we were trying to figure out what in the world we were going to do with the rest of our day that would be more effective than contacting we were able to get an on the fly lesson with another one of our investigators David Ho, (even more of a MIRACLE) and it was a member present as well!! In between our two lessons we were able to meet with the Elders and make a game plan about working with members, and Sister Hales and I made a cigarette box full of "Spiritual Smokes" for our investigator who was having a hard time quitting. Literally such a stellar day.

Wednesday-was pretty uneventful, we went contacting at a mall nearby and I was able to talk with this super cool Nigerian who just moved here to Kuching, we have a lesson this week so I will keep you updated on him. Wednesday night though we were able to meet with a less-active family that lives out in Matang (like a 2 hour bike ride away..we taxied...) and it was SO FUN! we talked about the My Family booklets and geneology with them. Hopefully they feel the urgency to do family history work. They are just so so sweet. After the lesson we were able to play a couple of games with them and it seriously reminded me of Sunday night games at our house. It was a blast. I love working with families and seeing how happy the gospel can make them!

Thursday-Yuck. Weekly planning. It was the pits. But after some super long hours of staring at a white board we got out of the house and went door knocking! Really though, here it should be called gate knocking. It was something I have never done yet on my mission and I did it pretty begrudgingly but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. We met 3 super cool people and I am excited to go back and visit them again. So the rules here in Malaysia are pretty strict concerning talking to Muslims, and we just aren't allowed to talk about religion so when we go knocking we have to be super wary about which houses we hit. The only way to tell if they are Muslim is if they have Christmas lights hung. Sister Hales and I weren't paying attention too well and it was super dark and we rattled the gate and we saw someone start walking out towards us and that's when I saw the lights. Haha instead of being a normal person and just asking where Christians lived, I freaked out and yelled Muslim and ran away. Luckily it was dark so hopefully no one saw my name tag. Haha I am the worst trainer ever.

Friday-3 appointments! I was so proud of us, one of them was practically handed to us! So to meet with Shana we have to bike about 30 minutes away, it's quite the journey, and we had set up a member to go with us, so it was going to be this epic trip. We get to the petronas we usually meet her at and she wasn't there, we waited, and she still wasn't there. We get worried so we call her and she had been stuck at work and completely unable to meet us there. We felt horrible for the member who had to bike with us and wait around in the heat, we were seriously roasting. Instead of being discouraged though our member turned into a killer missionary and said "I think I know where a less active lives around here, let's go and visit him!" In shock we both said of course and by some miracle he was home! Bam, 1st lesson! Then on our way to our bikes from the surprise appointment, Shana calls and says she can meet us at her work place, we were able to high tail it over to her work and have a quick lesson on the GOJC and prayer. Bam, 2nd lesson! After Shana we were able to meet with a potential Stella who brought her entire family to meet with us and get us drinks, it was seriously insane. My spirits were unbelievably lifted on Friday.

Saturday-It rained ALL DAY! our appointment cancelled on us so we went to KDC to plan some lessons, make some object lessons, and talk about our vision for the branch we are in. It seemed unproductive, but it is for the greater good! Afterwards we went contacting at this super cool park that I will have to send photos of next time we go. Honestly so cool.

Sunday-GAWAI!!!!! So apparently Sarawak has this holiday called Gawai, which is basically like New Years for us, but they celebrate like we do Thanksgiving. So all day yester Sister Hales, our Elders, and The Pryzbylas (senior couple), went from kampung to kampung eating ludicrous amounts of food (most of which I couldn't identify...). That's the holiday, that's how they celebrate it. Haha so funny.

 

Fun Facts:

Weird foods I have eaten on the mission:

• A bowl of chicken hearts (yes a literal bowl full of chicken hearts....)
• Chicken/Pork/Duck liver (the WORST)
• Pig Ear
• Pig Intestine
• Chicken Lung
• Raw Octopus coated in sugar and chilli powder

I don't even know what else, they are just so normal to me now....

 

Funny story of the week, courtesy of Elder Pryzbyla:

So we were waiting for all the missionaries to show up to KDC for district meeting for forever, so I decided to talk with Elder Pryzbyla about fun things to do in Kuching on P-days, I want adventures while I am here. So he tells me about the Fairy Caves which leads to us talking about fireflies and glow worms. So I asked if it was the actuall bug that glowed or just their poop, ( I know, it's a dumb question but I had heard somewhere that is in actuallity their poop haha). So we laugh about it for a moment and then it gets really really silent between us, because honestly what would you say after that? Then all the sudden he says, "Aren't you so grateful that we don't have glow in the dark pooh." Haha I almost died, then he continues to talk about it and how it'd be helpful for babies and changing diapers. I seriously loved every second of our conversation.

 

 

Favorite Moment of the week:

On the long drive back from Kampung it was kind of silent and I get so uncomfortable when no one is talking. So I decided that everyone in the care needed to share their favorite spiritual moment on their mission. It got really quiet and I felt supe lame for suggesting it, and being a complete sister missionary, but then all of the sudden Elder Mitchell started it off. IT WAS SO GREAT! I needed it really bad to hear just how much the Lord's hand is in the work and other peoples spiritual experiences. It doesn't get much better than that. It was so important for me to recall some of those experiences I've had as well.

 

 

Basically this week was so so good. I am absolutely loving it here. It is truly so different from Singapore, and there are many moments where I just feel like I have no clue what I am doing, but I know that I am here for a reason and by some crazy stroke of luck Heavenly Father trusts me enough to do this. This is amazing work. I'm obsessed!

 

Sister Emma Lynne Hansen