Selamat Ari Gawai

We had transfers this last week when I got off last Monday but nothing exciting other than I am staying here and everyone in the house is staying too. That was to be expected. We plan to exalt this city up with Enoch by the end of these next 5 weeks.

So earlier this week as it normally does it just started dumping rain in the middle of the night. Like I'm pretty used to it by now, but this was something else. Rain on tin roofs puts me to sleep but this was like a straight mile long stream of water being poured down on our house for like 5 hours straight. I remember at one point I could actually feel the vibration of the rain through my bed. Yep, earthquake rain. It's awesome.

So, there is like 1 puddle in the middle of this entire small town. Seriously, one. It is right on the main road. It's literally the only puddle within miles and it had to be on the street. Well I drove up next to it on my bike and waited to turn when a car comes flying by going the other way and hit the puddle straight on. Watching a wave of water come at you that is like 6 feet and your on a bike, you say some pretty classic prayers. But yeah who knew bike surfing could be so much fun?! Jokes on the car I was burning hot and he cooled me down. Thank you kind car driver for caring enough to give a mini tsunami here in Bintulu. 

We helped a Muslim family this week build there house and that was a new experience. They were like, you're really going to help us?! I'm like, yeah! What? Is it because we're white? Huh? He laughed. It is not often different religions help each other out like that. Not even their own family want to help. I was like, we believe in the same God, and we are all his children, so yeah we'll be here bright and early tomorrow morning. It was cool to get to know them. 

The highlight of the week was our Gawai Party. We kicked of the Gawai season, which is like the equivalent of Thanksgiving here, with an awesome party. Pictures to come. Lots of music and dancing and a whole ton of food. Way too much food. Way too good. Good times with members and watching Relief Society sisters battle it out in musical chairs. It all makes for some good memories!

That's all I got love you all!

Elder Thompson

 

 

Gawai Parties and Exchanges 

On Mon, May 22, 2017

Parker Thompson : PThompson@MyLDSMail.net wrote:

Hello one and all once again! Another down in the books here and yeah, here's the highlights and what not:

Probably the best experience this week that was not really missionary related would be the other branche's 'Gawai Party,' of which we had a performance in. Yes we went all out. Would you expect anything less. Just imagine a bunch of huge white dudes all dressed up in swimming and scuba diving equipment doing a mix of ballet and cheer leading stunts to some nice classical music. It was so much fun. It's kind of a sad thing that most of the people here don't really know what swimming is, or even how to do it, but it still worked. So worth it. 

I also got to go on an exchange with my district leader here, Elder Mickelson. We had a fun day of walking around the smallest area in the mission, and very well could be the smallest in the world. Within about a 5 minutes walk there are like 20 flat building just stocked full of majority, Iban. There was lots of stair climbing and a lot of obnoxious Gawai music blasting everywhere you went. Ah, feels like home. 

So also, we were going to teach our investigators and we have known that one of them has been missing out because his mom won't allow him to learn. Well we went to visit the house and ask politely. We ended up talking to the father and before we got too far I wanted to know his name. He's like, "Sion." Yeah. Zion. If there is another indicator greater than this for an elect person to teach, then I don't know what it is.  His name is literally, Zion. Like, we found Zion. Hopefully he works out!

Other than that, anything and everything that happens here in Bintulu is done in Iban, their tribal language.  I absolutely love it and have found myself more comfortable in Iban than in Malay at points in the day. I think when I committed myself to becoming Iban early on in my mission I might have been in over my head. But hey, if we aren't in over our heads, how can we know how tall we are? That was a short joke, Ibans are way short and stubby haha. I love these people.

Love you all!

Elder Thompson

 

 

 

Last Skype! Happy Mom Day

Hey all! This week was a good week but fair warning, this will be a short email because (1) I will be skyping with my fam in like a couple hours so I need something to talk about and (2) yeah, just refer to reason number (1). 

Last P-day I got to get out and do some yard work in our yard. Yes we have a yard. We live in a house on our own but it is in an area with a bunch of new lots that people buy. Well everyone kind of just builds their own house how they want so our house has a yard. It felt good to get out and get my hands dirty in jungle gardens and what not. We have to make sure our banana trees and papaya trees are taken care of! 

We had an Elders Quorum activity this week that we got to go to. We kind of have to go to support everything in the branch. They just went down into town and ate together and hey, I wasn't complaining! I mean, it might have been a little weird- 2 white kids sitting with 4 men over the age of 40 and one of the white guys is speaking Iban with them-but it was totally fun. You gain a lot of respect with the men when you can talk about fishing, cars, and food in their native tribal tongue. 

 

Henry is awesome. He just is. I feel like I mention him every week seriously. He gave his first talk in sacrament yesterday for like 5 min and he was way nervous. He did great! He bore sincere testimony that he knew that everything was true and I was so proud of him. After he finished he told me he felt like getting up and continuing because he was fired up haha. I think I told him that is kind of what happens to Elders when we teach lessons...The Holy Ghost is awesome. I honestly felt like a parent while we was speaking up at the front, watching my little son go up and speak for the first time haha. I'm a very proud parent.

Well, that's all I got for ya this week. Talk to you soon!

Elder Thompson

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Draper, Utah Missionary Letters seen thru May 13-2017

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新加坡

I hope google translate got that letter Title right...that is Singapore is Chinese.

Well, because flew to Singapore this week for my last zone conference. I have done it 7 or 8 times now and it is crazy that I will not be doing it anymore until I go home. Nuts. Anyways, Singapore always presents some out-of-the-ordinary experiences that you don't typically get in Malaysia, or in Sarawak. One of the most noticeable things, every single time without fail, is how clean and technologically advanced it all is. You remember when I first got transferred to Singapore and I couldn't believe my eyes for, at least, like a month? Yeah like that. Except now it all feels like home to me. Here are the highlights of Singapore in a nutshell:

 

 

Obviously the training we received was great. I love President Simmons and his wife. It's a hard job when you are the President of missionaries living so far away from you on different islands. Like, imagine you live in Texas and your mission president lives in New York. Yeah. 

I got to see all the good homies almost across the whole mission. Always a good time seeing how everyone is. I got to see Elder Haslam and talk with him all night long. I seriously just felt like I was chillin' with good friends from home haha. 

We got to eat cereal, again. Always a highlight!   I used toilet paper! It's been since...I can't even remember when I last used toilet paper. It was a bit odd. 

Long waits in airports make for some long, great, hyped games of UNO with the house. It was legit. 

Ok, on a more spiritual note for the week, the spiritual highlight you could say. This week Henry got to pass the sacrament! It has been so cool seeing him progress one week to the next just making leaps and bounds. Baptism, priesthood ( and using it ), and now looking at a calling. When I told him he was going to be passing the sacrament and then maybe blessing it one day later, instead of the typical scared look I get from everyone else, I got a some lights turning on in his head. You should have seen his eyes light up, haha. He was way exited and anxious to get it done. What an example he is to me whenever I am called to do my priesthood duties. Be like Henry.

Love you all!

Elder Thompson

( PThompson@MyLDSMail.net )

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Draper, Utah Missionary Letters seen thru May 6-2017

Songs Sung and UnSung in Bintulu

Another great week in in TJK branch. Emailing you all from a very noisy internet kedai in which I can barely hear the keyboard clicking as I am pressing the keys. But, it is none the less a good day. We just got done at a branch activity for the Sungai Plan branch in which we, yes, barbecued at the beach, again. Can you say Ibans on a holiday in Sarawak? It tasted good.

Here's the run down this week. As far as teaching is going, our investigators are moving along. My favorite people to teach have been mentioned before, Henry and his friends. Now we have Henry, Roni, Jackson, and Brindin. I love sitting in front of these 4 future priesthood holders testifying of how much this church is going to help them become the men God wants them to be. Check that, 3 future priesthood holders. Henry got the Aaronic Priesthood this week! So cool.

At church we had one huge meeting in which basically the whole branch sat in on as we discussed upcoming parties. The whole thing was in Iban ( their tribal language ). I feel bad for my companion Elder Read, but I honestly just felt at home. Everyone was throwing out jokes and laughing together. It was just happy. THAT is what we are trying to get going here. THERE is some branch unity! Alright! 

So, speaking of songs sung and unsung. You would die listening to the hymns being sung here. Haha I love it. When Jefferey R Holland said not everyone sings the same, boy was he right. The best part is, everyone sings...and they sing as loud as they can. You can hardly make out a melody, BUT everyone is having a good time. Just imagine like a bunch of little minions from Despicable Me singing church hymns...awesome right?! I have officially just joined in now and become one of them. No sense in trying to sing good, just match your voice with everyone else! I love it. 

We also teach a really sweet lady who just recently joined the church. She speaks her own language. It's called Bua language and her name is Bua. She only understands Iban, can't read, and has a short tongue so she only speaks Iban, but it sounds a whole lot more like a bunch of grunts and animal sounds. Lots of hand signals and sign language later and we've just taught a lesson and had a conversation. The gift of tongues is key here. I have officially learned Bua language. You can too. Try making random hand signals, pointing your lips, grunting, sounding out this word "nya" over and over, and shaking your head like you understand. Haha, Sis Bua is the best. 

That's all I got for you all this week. I love you all! But God loves you more!

Elder Thompson 

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Draper, Utah Missionary Letters seen thru Apr 29-2017