Chinese New Year, Transfers, English Class Blitz

It's that time again. Happy Chinese New Year! It's Sunday evening, and we're surrounded with the sounds of war. It's not really a war, but it sounds like it with all the fire crackers and fireworks. It doesn't seem as bad as last year, but then, it's not midnight yet. The sights are pretty much the same so I don't have any new pictures to share; however, I discovered a haiku on the internet about the Chinese New Year celebration in Sibu. I thought I'd share.

Visit Malaysia Year Haiku - Chinese New Year Eve In Sibu (State Of Sarawak)

Chinese New Year 

the cops turn a deaf ear 

to the fire crackers 

Chinese New Year 

home for those intense dizzying 

auspicious fire crackers 

Chinese New Eve 

the sky a scene of US 

invasion of Baghdad 

Chinese New Year 

firecrackers blast away old year 

lighting up the new 

john tiong chunghoo

The sounds of war continued late into the night and really picked up at 11:50 PM. This is when they woke me up. I have no idea how much our next-door neighbors spent on fireworks and firecrackers, but they didn't let up until about 2:00 AM! Sherrie was blessed with a sound sleep. The sounds and light were quite the distraction of me. The sounds throughout the city started dwindling at 2:00 AM as well. It was nice to get a little sleep. There have been some sporadic fireworks this morning, but not like last night's display. I will be needing a nap later this afternoon.

The good thing about Chinese New Year is that we get to visit friends. We were able to visit President Chua Huat's and his family at their home. This is the first time that his daughter, Charity, has let me hold her. Is she cute or what?

Elder Bodell, Charity, and Sister Bodell

Transfers were announced Monday. We are happy to know that Elder D will be coming from Mukah to replace Elder A who is moving on to Singapore. The rest of the district is staying the same. Those who are here now will be those who see us off in about two weeks. Elder T, who has been in Sibu since he arrived in the mission field several transfers ago, made a prophecy in joking that he would stay here until we left. His prophecy has been fulfilled. It may be for our benefit. We sure love and appreciate him!

It has been a rather slow week with Chinese New Year celebrations going on. Many of the stores were closed all week. The missionaries decided that they would have an English class flyer blitz Thursday evening before the class on Friday. We were invited to come along.

The blitz took place on the street of the biggest mall in Sibu, the Wisma Sanyan. We all had our assignments. Sister Bodell and I had a bench in front of the mall while the Elders took to the street. We were able to talk with a few people and invite them to the class. We thought for sure that a grandmother and her grandson would come, but they didn't. Maybe next week? This blitz did not produce any new students for the English class. Hopefully there will be more next week. It's probably a good thing there were any new students because two of the Elders were ill and couldn't teach.

Sister Bodell prior to the beginning of the blitz

As I said, it's been a slow week, but the next two weeks will probably go by pretty fast. Monday we are flying Kuching for a few days. This is our last time to be together with some other senior couples that we have grown to love and appreciate, but more on that next week.

FYI: We leave Sibu two weeks from today, flying to Singapore. We'll spend Monday there, then fly out early Tuesday morning bound for home, arriving in SLC later that afternoon. It's amazing what time zone changes will do!

Until next week . . .