Face to Face, Ponderizing, FHEs, "S" Day, Sunday

One of the many blessings we've enjoyed this week was listening to the Church's Face to Face program with The Piano Guys. It was very inspiring. These guys are so talented and have strong testimonies of the Gospel. The venue for the program was atop the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. What backdrop! What a view! During their discussions I discovered the next scripture I will ponderize. More about that in a moment. If you missed the broadcast, you can view it here:

https://www.lds.org/youth/activities/spiritual-strength/face-to-face-with-the-piano-guys?cid=HP_TU_10-20-2015_dPTH_fEVT_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng (You may have to cut and paste the link into your browser window.)

The program is about an hour long, but well worth it. If you have youth in your home, they need to watch it.

The Piano Guys during the Church's Face to Face broadcast

As I mentioned, I found a scripture to ponderize while watching this broadcast. The scripture is found in D&C 64:33-34. It says:

Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.

This is not only important for me to remember as a missionary, but for all that I do. Be not weary in well-doing, laying a foundation, small things will become great. I need to be willing and obedient. Blessings await.

Monday night we attended the Branch 2 Family Home Evening at Sister Julie's. The Elders gave a great lesson and then played a game called Jontoh. The kids loved it. You have to have a lot of trust in this game. Everyone sits in a circle with the legs extended to the center. One person stands in the middle between the feet, then leans back and is passed around the circle. Sound confusing? Here, watch this.

We have been blessed with the association of many wonderful Elders here in Sibu. We love to help them get from place to place, eat with them, prepare meals for them. We love them. In return, the return their love to us by being of service. Frequently they want to help us in return. This past week four of "our" Elders came over and washed the two Church cars of which we have custody. When they were done, they wanted to know what else they could do. They told us to make a list of things we needed help with for next time and they would work it into their schedules. They are so willing to serve others. We are very fortunate to be here with them.

While Elders J, P  . . . 

and S cleaned the mats . . . 

and the outside of the cars,

Elder T thoroughly vacuumed . . . 

the interiors.

The cars were immaculate when they were finished. Sister Bodell fed them a good breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs.

Tuesday night was FHE with the Chinese Branch again. Sister Bodell and I had the activity. We played Smell the Stick, a game that we have played for many, many years. Those in attendance enjoyed it trying to figure out the game. 

Before FHE, however, Elders S and J had to test the strength of our stick, to make sure it would hold up under pressure.

Albert and Elder S

Gary and Albert

The atmosphere is still hazy. It's getting old fast. We're hoping the rainy season will start soon and wash all the gunk away.

Visibility is not so good!

School traffic times, when dropping and/or picking up, are something to be avoided. Cars are double and triple parked; traffic is backed up for at least a couple of blocks. It's really nasty. Even letting the students out for lunch will create a traffic jam. Here's a short video of a school letting the students out for lunch.

I thought these spiral staircases were interesting. I like the paint jobs! They surround a parking lot by one of the bike shops that the missionaries frequent.

The week has gone by quite quickly. We've had lunch with the Elders several times. We spent Saturday morning getting ready for the big "S" Day activity, and Sunday was a day of rest. I'm not sure from what we rested though. I will share in a moment about Saturday and Sunday. (I want to interject here that it's now 9:00 AM Monday morning. We are sitting in a little café at the KL airport on our way to Singapore for Zone Conference this week.)

Okay, Saturday and Sunday were full. I mean really full! Saturday morning we had to get a little shopping done for the seminary activity. It was a great success! The seminary council did a great job planning and producing it.  We had about 50 people there. The activities included a 7 Second Challenge, Ultimate Frisbie, Balloon Stomp, and reading and recording chapters of the Book of Mormon (Kitab Mormon) in Malay. Boy! These kids can really read Malay fluently. We still have many more chapters to go before we have the entire Kitab Mormon finished. Here are some pictures from the activities. Sister Bodell took the pictures as I was busy with recording.

Ballon Preparation

Bust those balloons! Go get 'em Elder S!

There are more pictures, but they aren't that great.  Besides, I need to share some thoughts about Sunday, along with some pictures.

Seminary was held at 6:00 PM and then we discovered we were invited to a birthday party for our little friend Cassidy when seminary was over. Today was also the first anniversary of Sister Doo's baptism (Cassidy's mother). The rest of the family was baptized a year ago last week. It was a good celebration.

Our man, Cassidy

Cassidy with his family and friends

I love this picture of Cassidy with kisses from his mom and dad.

Looks good! Tasted good! Snake! Yes, I ate some.

Chicken Curry

Yummy vegetables!

Sunday was an exhausting day. We started with the usual Branch 1 Sacrament meeting at 9:00 AM, but on the way to church we discovered that we had forgotten something so we had to return home to get it. Because we were late, Sister Bodell had one of the Elders play the opening hymn. We got there in time for Sister Bodell to play the Sacrament hymn as the Elders were trying to figure out how to make the piano play on it's own. The relief on their faces was almost comical.

I had to leave Sacrament meeting early so I could attend Branch 2 Branch Council meeting at 9:30, Temple Prep at 10:00, and Branch 2 Sacrament meeting at 11:00. Later we had a seminary council meeting at 3:00 PM and dinner at our house with four of our Elders. At 6:00 PM we were out to Brother Steven's to visit with him and see his new baby.

Brother Steven and family

This is a great family. The boys' names are
Peterson (oldest) and Pitrikson.

After dinner we hurried home to get a load of laundry done before setting off for Singapore early Monday morning. More about that next week.

The Gospel is true. I have a firm testimony of that.