1/30/2011 Elder G.

Last evening we (in the Branch) had 4 more baptisms--a couple about 30 years old, a single man about the same age and a boy. Almost half the branch attended and it was a good service. One thing they do here, which I think is good is that after the baptisms, everyone meets again in the chapel and before the closing song and prayer each person who is baptized shares his\her feelings and bears a testimony. Some tender times.

This past week has been a little busier for us. We met with a couple of families each night and gave the 'after baptism lessons' or just visited whatever was appropriate in the circumstances. We feel frustrated a lot of the time in that we cannot communicate directly with a lot of the people. The Ibans don' speak English and we cannot carry on a conversation in any of their languages, whether it is Iban, Malay, Chinese, Indonesian, or whatever. When we use an interpreter for giving a lesson, something always seams to be lost between us and them. We are getting so we can bear testimony and pray in Malay. It seems like we are always preparing lessons. Oh well, I guess that is what we do. One day this week we took a member with us who can speak both English and Malay and went out about 50 miles to visit a member family. We knew that the man would probably be working but decided to visit the sister member and maybe set up an appointment to come back. We had visited them once about three weeks ago in the evening and they were really friendly even though they are inactive. They wanted us to come back for dinner sometime. Anyway, we finally found their place, which took some time since the last time we were there it was dark and we were in a taxi. We kind of banged on the gate leading into her house, but no one was home. The neighbor woman heard us knocking and came out (their row houses are joined by common walls between) and told us that the woman we came to see was at the store. The neighbor called her and she said to wait that she would be there in a little while. The neighbor lady invited us into her home to wait, so we did. She served us a drink and we all sat on the floor and had small talk. In the conversation, we asked her how many children she had and she said three, but really four. She went on to explain with a tear in her eye that her husband's brother had been married 9 years and couldn't have children and felt really bad about that. She told her brother in law that she would have a child and then give it to them. She did have the child almost a year ago and she didn't want to give it up but said that a promise is a promise so she gave the baby to them. She sees the baby quite often but is still sad that he does not live with her. We were quite impressed by that story and her integrity. We asked if she is Christian and she said yes, so we asked her if we could teach her about our Church. She said yes, so we will. When the member lady arrived we all went over to her house and visited for about an hour and Nyla gave them a lesson about the Gospel and we bore our testimonies and invited the member to Church. She said she would like to come but it is so far to come. That is a real problem here. The Church bldg. is so far away for a lot of the members and the only way for some to come is to take a taxi which most cannot afford.

The car still runs and I am kind of getting used to everything on the wrong side, but when I turn on the turn-signal, I still sometimes turn on the wiper instead. It is a good thing we bought a car with Nyla's broken toe. She walks really well, but it is better that she doesn't have to walk miles.

Later--