Into the Jungle

First, can you believe that we've actually been on our mission for a month and two days? We entered the MTC on September 1st. Wow! A lot has happened in that short month. It's a good thing we have this blog to help us remember a few things.

Last night we had our first foray into the jungles of Sibu. We accompanied a set of missionaries on two discussions. The first family we visited have been visiting with the missionaries for quite some time. When the first missionaries went, they only taught the father. The recent missionaries have invited the family to attend the discussions. Apparently that has made a difference. They also enjoy the senior couple coming, even though they (we) don't speak much Malay. I was asked to give the opening prayer, which I did . . . the first half in Malay, then I switched back into English. The family was appreciative of my efforts. We were served paos (not sure of the spelling . . . A pao is a white bread roll with a peanut butter filling. We were also served a deep fried bread stick with a garlic flavor. Both are really delicious. This is a good family. I would like to see them come into the church. They were invited to attend conference in a week. The father said they would try to make one of the sessions.

The second house seemed a little further into the jungle, but not a lot. We had our first experience sitting on the floor here. We were offered a watered down drink (The way it's been served everywhere we've been) and biscuits . . . actually they were cookies that were pretty good. Sherrie may use them for a crust for a cheese cake. It's the closest thing she's found that's usable for such. Anyway, there are two young boys in this family that live with their grandmother who are interested in the church. They came to church last Sunday with another family that's investigating the church as well which will be baptized this month. (Our district has at least a dozen baptisms planned in October. I think there may be more. These two young boys are both sharp, very friendly, and very interested. Their father works out of town, but has given his permission for them to be taught. I would imagine that he will do the same should the boys want to be baptized. They made several new friends last Sunday at church. They've been invited to attend conference as well.

Here is a little video of our drive in the jungle. You can hear the voice of one of the missionaries asking if Sister Bodell was recording a video, her response, and his response of, "Hi, Mom."