check it!

that's right.  STILL HERE.

the Punjabi man that let me make naan bread:) he said this week he will come to church.

this is HUGE! in west malaysia the name of the church has never been able to be posted on the outside.
this is the first time!!

his name is amad.  he is a boss.

unfortunately, I am closing my eyes.  but this was after they dolled us up.  we went to eat banana leaf.  mmmmmmmmmmm I'm going to miss this food.  miss eating with my fingers also.  it's so much easier.

denial

so. I don't know what to do with this. my last mission email ever, right? it doesn't feel real enough to write like it's my last one. 
so I'll just write like I normally do.
I remember last week Gibbons told me to expect to see miracles in my last two weeks like I haven't seen before. I have a lot of examples of just that. but maybe I talk about two of them. so first, Rose. not sure I mentioned her before...she is african. she had beautiful african hair wrapped the african way like they did it in tanzania so I started talking to her about that. I invited her to church, she came  that sunday, but when she came she told us about all the anti stuff she had heard. it was pretty heavy. we tried our best, but we were fairly certain that she wasn't gonna come again. well, saturday night rolls around and I call her just to invite her to come to church again, and she says she would! and she did! just like that. she said she didn't like the stuff she heard but she can't deny the feelings she has at church. and in sunday school she very actively participated in the whole class as if she had been a member for a long time already. she's incredible. and she's insanely beautiful. and she is one miracle, I think. 
the other miracle involves Amika. I'm pretty sure I've talked about her before. she was a miracle find when we were faith finding. and now she has come to church twice. but the first time we met her, she mentioned an experience she had with some "missionaries" (not sure what church) that came and talked nonstop about baptism and how she needed to get baptized again. she didn't like that one at all, and she made it clear from the beginning she was gonna have none of that from us. which worried us! haha. we come to help people prepare to be baptized. you know? so we prayed a lot about that and how we were gonna go around that. so then this past sunday she comes to church, and a members son had just turned 8 so it was his baptism. and tooooons of people came. and it was really special. and amika stayed to see it. well, after, I asked her what she thought and if she had any questions. and she said, "well when I was baptized I was a baby with water on my head. but you guys do it, like....the same way jesus did in the movie. is it?" so then I explain to her we follow his way because we are his church. and she tells me about how much she loved it and the feelings she had and then she says, "I would like to be baptized. is it okay??" hahaha. which, of course, was a MIRACLE to say the least. so she'll be baptized soon too:)
also, elvis is getting the priesthood!!! and the other night we were teaching him and his two best friends, which want to be baptized as well, and we told elvis after he got the aaronic priesthood he would be able to baptize them. WOW! they were all so amped on that!!!! again, I selfishly hate that I won't be here. but it will happen and it will be a miracle. oh, and elvis went out and bought two pairs of mens trousers and two more ties for church. haha. he wants to look good!
this is a funny one, since its been a while. so many many weeks ago, I bought this very obnoxious creepy looking cat toy that meows and his eyes light up when you turn it on. it's loud and obnoxious. but I bought it so I could put it on sister pinkston when she was sleeping. which I did, and it was awesome. it was such a big hit, a few weeks later we did it to gopinath, which was awesome because all she did was pick it up and chuck it at me. haha. so we had been saving this cat to wait for a good time to do it to noordy. we didn't want to do it too early for fear she'd think it was like hazing or something. so we kept waiting. it never felt right, and we just weren't gonna do it. until one night rhodesy steals it and decides to put it on me. I'm dead asleep, and in my dream I see this cat in my face meowing at me. I guess it was going off for some 5 or so minutes without me waking up. finally I wake up, halfway, recognize what was happening, so I turn it off and roll over to go back to sleep. but then my sleep was very rudely interrupted by rhodesy's mad giggles coming from her bunk bed. when I say mad, they were mad giggles. so loud. her laughter was what woke me up completely from my sleep, which I was quite annoyed about. I think we all were. but she couldn't stop. so I yell, "pull it together rhodes!!!!!!!!!!!" and immediately fall back asleep. I think she laughed the remainder of the night cause she was quite tired the next morning. haha. her fault! it was funny though. we both occasionally start laughing all over again about it.
also, this was cool. we went to see our investigator balu at his shop yesterday, it's the place I bought all my indian outfits. and we also love eeeeeeveryone that works there. it's a party every time we stop by. they usually give us something or dress us up or whatever. but yesterday we walked in and I had just bought tied jasmine flowers that the girls always wear but I didn't know how. so they sat us down and did our hair for us and gave me these huge elizabeth taylor style clip on earings complete with the sticker on our forehead and they were dying. I guess we are indian already. the switch has happened:) but we walked around like that the rest of the day and I loved it. I must go to india ASAP.
I'll end with a cool quote that mum had given me in a card at the very beginning of my mission. I wonder if you even remember. "the mind determines what's possible. the heart surpasses it. follow your heart." I have reflected on that a lot this past week and it has touched me all over again. the heart is important. I try every day to get my heart right. and I really think the heart, or love, is like, the catalyst for everything. if theres love for what you're doing, you do anything to accomplish your goal. and you accomplish it. 
well, I guess this is it. 
I love you all. 
see you soon.

hooray for pictures

this is the place I got all my indian clothes made. and I'm wearing a saree.  and it was BEAUTIFUL! I wanted to get one but it's a little grand for any occasion I will be going to. but the lady next to me is a doll and she is awkwardly holding my hand:)  haha

Batu Caves!  really it's a hindu temple, but it has this big statue and then a thousand stairs going up to another couple of shrines to pray at.  it was awesome.

while we were waiting for the other missionaries to get there I borrowed a mans bubble gun and started trying to scare rhodesy:)

this is at the top of the caves.....

and again......

these men are from Iraq.  I told them I was from Las Vegas, apparently they have all been and they love it, because they sat and talked for about 10 minutes and randomly they would yell "viva Las Vegas"!!!!!!!

very typical......I was getting antsy from waiting for everyone

the train ride home!!! gopi, me, noordy (officially known as sister Noorda, she is a greenie) and rhodesy.

I can't believe the time. really I can't. it hasn't hit me yet.
do you remember last week? I'm pretty sure I told you about amika. we found her knocking? she is punjab indian and christian? I think I did. anyway, she came to our district conference this weekend and she loved it so much. aaalllllllllll of the indian woman in our whole district came and they all spoke in their language together and laughed and exchanged phone numbers and blah blah blah. it was incredible. she loved it so much. now everyday she texts us and she will get baptized. unfortunately I'll be gone, but it's good. 
also, lya is back!!! she got back on monday so we went and taught her and everything. she is just as crazy as always. I missed her so much. she's reading her scriptures every day:) and she loves church even more after going to it in indonesia. 
sorry. I'm being boring. my mind is kindof heavy today. is that right? hard to focus. 
the last two days were quiet epic though. monday night elvis insisted on taking us to eat since I'm leaving soon. so we went with him and his best friend and our investigator, steefn. we went to this pakistani restaurant that I wrote a bit about in my email with the pictures. the food was pretty good, although homemade pakistani food is much better. the men were scaring me. we were in a sketchy part of town. but the sweet part of the whole night was elvis. he has changed so much. he is so sweet and full of love for everyone. he is getting the priesthood this weekend and he will be so good. he's excited to bless the sacrament and baptize steefn. but we were sitting there, waiting for our food, and beggars started coming up to us. this is typical, sooooo many beggars here. its sad but you just have to push them on. sometimes I buy them lunch but in the handbook it says something about not giving money away. so anyway. three times a man would come up and ask for money, and elvis would kindof politely shoo him away. but then one time a woman came up, asking for money, and elvis looked at her, smiled, gave her some money, and said a sweet thing to her in arabic and the lady was so happy. and then we carried on like nothing happened. he didn't say anything. but rhodes and I were both sooo impressed with him and the compassion he has for woman. I dare say that is not a natural feeling for him, being from pakistan. at least all of the men we have met from there, its just maybe their view or perhaps just the way they are accustomed to treat woman is not according to the way Christ taught us. but elvis showed how much he has changed by that small small act. and then later, after we had eaten soooooooooo much food, and rhodes and elvis had a chicken eating contest, he paid and insisted he buy us ice cream. I thought I'd get off the hook by saying I'm allergic, but instead he bought me three chocolate bars. hahaha. I said elvis! too much! we don't need so much! and he said "no! you study bible all the time! you need food! when you get tired, you take! eat, bible, study!" haha. it was so cute. his english is much better already too. anyway, I could brag about him for long time. so I'll stop. but he is changing, and it is a miracle to see. OH! and I almost forgot. he told his family in new york about the church and they want to go. so he asked us for the address and everything. so he's doing missionary work already. AH! I love him. 
also this is cool, so fauzia is johnsons wife. she has a very intense story. I will tell you when I get home. but she is very lonely. a whole lot of indescribable pain in her life. she doesn't take to being taught, so we started trying to serve only. she knows we love her though, especially me. we have this bond. but we went there yesterday to "learn to cook" but really to help her cook. she's 8 months pregnant with complications and she has to make sooo much food. and pakistani food takes forever. anyway, so we went to go cook with her. so all day we talked with her, and she got to talk to us about stuff, we laughed, she told stories, she loves to cook so I think she had a good time teaching us. it was one of the most....hm. one of the most love filled days of my life. asher and faris were there and they were helping and taking care of their mom and we were laughing. it was just nice to feel love in their home, since it has been so long since it has been like that. I'll remember it forever. I've never seen them so happy.
oh! and I met my new mission president and his wife, president and sister mains. they are incredible. all of our investigators kept asking who they were because they spoke so humbly and beautifully at the conferences. it was quite the shock at the gross difference between him and president clark. they came in humble and wanting to love. they are full of love. president mains even bore his testimony in malay, which was a very simple broken malay testimony, and he was saying it to people who really don't speak malay that much, but I think that touched the people too. that he would try to learn the language. I don't know, I don't really know how to describe him. other missionaries have said he is entirely by the book. which I'm not sure about, I haven't seen it. the only thing that struck me was how humble and loving him and sister mains were. so I'm very happy to have them. they're incredible.
I don't know if I have any funny stories today, perhaps I'm just not in a funny mood. I can't believe the time.
I'm excited to see you all though. I love you so much.

it was awesome

me and sis rhodes riding an elephant.
i'm so tired now!

INTENSE is a good way to describe the last few days. lets start with a brother anthony moment. he will get a shout out a little later too, but this one was a classic. he's quite the scrawny man, and he always is having problems with his socks. he either rolls them over 50 times to get them to stay up, or the other day, my most favorite solution of his, use a zip tie!!!! yep, he used zip ties around his calves to hold up those blasted socks. I asked him where he got that idea and he said you could use a ziptie to fix anything. when I get home I'll do the research and see if I agree with that. so our little miracle moment of the day occurred on sunday. so actually sundays sometimes are the hardest day for us, they are always the most stressful. so we usually try to have appointments all day so its a bit more relaxed. but unfortunately, or fortunately, this sunday we didn't have any appointments. so right after church we went out on an adventure to explore these really ancient looking green apartment buildings I have wanted to do for forever. actually cool sidenote, the building literally had a huge tree growing in to the wall. I didn't know how that was possible but thats what was happening. anyway, so we knock and knock, got legitimately yelled and chased out of this pitch black staircase from the 3rd floor by an old chinese auntie that did not want to hear "christian" actually quite sad to think about it, one day she's gonna have to own up to that moment, but it was also quite....quite typical. so that was fun. but anyway. so we keep knocking, we met all of like, 20, christian people from myanmar. they were adooooooorable. not super swift with english, but it was a pleasure to meet them. they let us in and all of us sat in a circle on their floor and they gave us drinks. it was just really really sweet. and then right after, it was quite dark at this point and we were in a sketch area, so we were about to go back when I see this door with a picture of jesus on it. BAM! we rarely see doors with jesus. usually something arabic from the quran, or hindu stuff, or buddha. so when we see jesus, we get amped. so we knock the door and this beautiful indian girl ushers us in to her house sits us down gives us some drink and then sits down and says, can I help you? so we talk to her for an hour. she was going through a really really hard time so she said it was a miracle we came. there are a lot more details involved in that conversation but lets just say she is beautiful and we're gonna help her fix her heart. I'm running out of time!!!!! okay. I'll end with the really intense story. so. we get a call from brother anthony. come to this place at this time, I want to introduce you to this person. so we go there. turns out, he wants to introduce us to 10 people. 10 older christians. crazy old christians. that their job is running a church. hmmmmmmm. so we are a bit outnumbered and not at all what we were anticipating the meeting being like. so we sit down. we try to say a few words, ask a few questions, but instead, this crazy pastor man and his wife start yelling at us. well, yellingpreaching at us. quoting the same typical verses all these churches quote. of course, interpreted wrongly. to which we quote some from the bible, proving theirs wrong, and what not. in all actuality, that is a very bad thing to do. bible bashes never go over well. so mostly we just sat there and were entertained by this chinese pastor yelling and shaking his body and throwing his arms all over the place and "praising the Lord" it was ridiculous. I wanted to go. rhodes was thoroughly entertained. and anthony was sitting and closng his eyes. I think asleep. they highlights would be them talking about speaking in tongues. the gift of tongues. and that means you speak in satans language that sounds like parseltongue, if you're a harry potter fan. I said I don't do that and would never do that. they told me that I hadn't reached a spiritual place yet and to go home and pray for it. I said I'll go home and pray to never speak in satans language. it was funny. I was being very blunt and they just kept going. meanwhile this random man on the side is trying to sneakily take pictures of us, but unfortunate for him it wasn't so sneaky. so that was fun. so I excuse ourselves to say we need to leave, when they all stand up and rush forward to us. seriously, I didn't think I had space issues anymore after living here, but they were TOO close. they kept saying "let us pray for you!!!!" and I said they can pray for us in their hearts and that would be great. they insisted. rhodes gave them permission. we were both curious but I was mostly terrified. so one starts praying. all of them, hands to the sky, waving around, and she is doing the typical yell to Jesus type prayer. haaaard not to laugh to be honest. but then, instantaneously, they all broke in to "tongues" so there were ten voices all around us speaking and chanting in the most creepy sounding language thing ever. I felt satan. it was so bad I couldn't control it but every muscle in my body started to contract and my face was in pain and I could not stand it. so I grabbed rhodesy and we RAN out of there. in the middle of the prayer. in the middle of the prayer of satan tongue, we ran. into the pouring rain. and we didn't stop running for about 15 minutes. I have never been that....disturbed. I don't think. ever in my life. so we had to find an alley and prayer and only then I slowly started to feel better about life. it was terrifying! and to think they think that that is the true way to talk to god! they don't even know what they're saying!! ick. it was horrible. I'll remember it forever. oh, but one of my favorite quotes from one of the men. in response to, how do you find the right church? "ANY PLACE WHERE CHRISTIANS ARE CHARISMATIC, BIBLE BELIEVIN, BORN AGAIN, AND TONGUE SPEAKING, IS OKAY!!" hahahaha. it makes me wonder who or what these guys are converted to. I feel bad now, didn't mean to bash other churches. in fact, I don't even know what church they were from. it just amazes me sometimes how far off people can get. I think about some of the hindu people I have met that pray to statues but they are some of the most humble spiritual and beautiful people and I can't help but feel they are closer than those guys. but not supposed to judge. anyway. even though there was a lot of frustration involved with that, it was still a good story!!! and I'm out of time. but I only have two more weeks now to email. isn't it weird? have to think of something good. I love you! love you love you.

some photos

this was a petrified lizard that we found underneath all of gopinaths books on her desk.  I decided to immortalize him, and name him, of course.

Rhodes on the phone with Bro Anthony.  Looks familiar?

Me on the phone with Bro Anthony.  we were trying to figure out where in the heck we were supposed to go.  I think I've told stories and maybe sent a picture of him before, so I'll let your imagination run on what this was like.:)

Elvis in his new duds!!!!!!  I think he looks very GQ.

so it has been a long time again since I've written a weekly update. sorry guys. I forget a lot. get all excited about everything else. this week was fun. had a few funny moments. maybe I start with those. exhibit A: the other day we were trying to meet this long time inactive member from portugal. we had a portuguese book of mormon we wanted to bring him. so we set off for his house. and of course, typical malaysia style, thunderlightningrain! storm! black skies, a complete downpour. so we start ruuuuuuunning to try to get out of the rain and also to dodge the lightning that was literally all around us, and I'm booking it. I am in the lead. umbrella right in front to block the wind and the rain. so I'm sprinting. first, like a flash, my umbrella hits something and flies behind me. immediately following was my forehead. I like fall over on my butt, completely confused at what just happened. turns out, I ran into a sign. well, under a sign, and my umbrella and forehead got knicked. hehe. so I stand up, gash in the forehead, all confused, laughing, rhodesy behind me dying of laughter, and then all the sudden, this very nice sparkly BMW flies past and hits the huge puddle in the road, right next to me, and I am engulfed in a wave of nasty malaysian rain/sewage water. literally 10 seconds after I had regained composure from my fall. that was epic. exhibit B: I think it was last week. it was the end of the night, we were going to bed. in our beds. I was praying. I say long prayers, for the record, and turns out rhodesy thought she would be smart and try to scare me or something. oh, actually, she wanted to steamroll me, since I did that to her once. do you know what steamroll is? like you roll over someone when they're in bed? haha. its funny. anyway. she wanted to do that to me. so she's waiting behind me for me to finish praying. now, it is pitch black. can't see anything. also I have no glasses on so I legitimately can't see anything. I get done praying, I go to do a little back stretch right before I lay down, when I hear this supernatural demonish noise right in my ear. RIGHT IN MY EAR. right after I was done praying. in a pitch black room. with no glasses on. my reaction was this, a blood shriiiiiillllllllllllllllllllllllllling scream and my body collapsing on to my bed. I could not even move, I just kept screaming. tears were streaming out of my eyes. and rhodesy collapsed over and fell onto the ground because apparently I screamed right in my ear. the other sisters came running in because they thought I got electrocuted. literally I think one minute and screamed and cried. and then I had to go sit outside. still crying. and laughing, at that point. but definitely still crying. I couldn't even stop. gopinath scolded rhodesy for scaring me so bad and rhodesy just kept laughing and laughing and laughing. its still hysterical just thinking about it. it was terrifying though. exhibit C: this one also involves me and rhodesy at bedtime. I guess it was late one night, we were both already asleep. I don't know if its a mission thing or I've always done it but I guess I sleep talk a ton. and so does rhodesy. so a few nights ago, (the sisters recounted to us later) we were both asleep and sleep talking again. however, I was teaching a lesson. they said I was teaching correct principles with the correct words. they said it made sense. like it was real. they thought I was awake. and I guess I'd speak and pause and then be like "rhodes! come on its your turn" to which rhodes, also asleep, would reply "jensen! I'm too tired! I don't want to teach right now!" so I guess I finished the lesson up by myself, when at the end I go, "rhodes, you at least need to say the closing prayer." and then rhodes, gets on her stomach, in a semi-praying position, and says a prayer. in her sleep. me also in my sleep. so both of us, asleep. talk about unity, right? we never stop working!! so on a non funny note, actually this week was really cool. two of our recent baptisms made me really proud. so lya, she is indian but from indonesia, and she had to go back to indonesia two weeks ago. she called us on sunday, sooooo excited to tell us she went to church in indonesia and she saw lots of people she already knew!!!! so that made me very happy. a recent convert, back to hometown, and still found and went by herself to church. I was quite proud of her. also elvis, I'll try to include a picture. we got him a white shirt and tie and he looks so sharp now. on sunday he stood up and bore his testimony about jesus. it was soooo sweet in his broken english. but he was beaming so big, and the branch loved him so much. and then yesterday he helped us teach a lesson and he bore such a powerful testimony. he's on fire!!! whenever you see him he is just grinning so big. he said he wants to serve a mission. he is already 24, so I'm not sure if that can, but I told him to talk to president ford. wouldn't that be sweet if he did!!!!! he's incredible. and, that is my week. not much time left. I love you all though! so very much.

one more picture

June 26, 2012

enjoying a cool treat

pictures

June 26, 2012

the sky is white from pollution. but it's a beautiful park.  with lots of cute turtles that live in the water.

rhodesy found a 100 dollar bill on the floor.  equivalent of maybe......30-35 bucks?  we were amped.

this is a fruit bowl.  THE most delicious treat in malaysia.  you're looking at shaved ice, sweet condensed milk, fruit, jelly......

me and rhodesy on a bus.  looking good.  she braided my hair really sweet.

for the blog. check it.

June 26, 2012

so I have to start off that the news of kj has broken my heart. I wouldn't admit otherwise, but there was a touching moment just barely. I started to read the email and couldn't even finish because I was bawling so bad. hard to catch my breath. rhodes of course immediately looked over and tried to figure out what was going on, but this sweet boy that walked past saw me and he stood by me for a second and put his hand on my shoulder. lots of love. but I loved kj, just like a brother. it's devastating to think that the world has one less kid like him. but he was incredible and so I know without a doubt where he is now. I can picture him being in the spirit world and being a missionary since he didn't get to here. no doubt he will keep changing peoples lives on the other side. but there is still a lot of love and sadness for him and for his family coming from malaysia. they're in my prayers. 
so funny thing, this week I fell on two different occasions. they're worth noting because both were quite embarrassing. the first, we had just taught esther, one of my favorite people in malaysia, and we were walking back to the train together. I had been feeling very woozy all day, and it was 7pm so I was aaaalmost spent. but we were walking, and I kept feeling like I had no idea what was going on. haha. hard to describe, but I was not connected to walking or whatever. so then we start walking down the stairs, and my legs went weak and I fell down about three stairs. quite gracefully they said, I didn't show my undies. but esther screamed and picked me back up so I immediately started walking down them again, only to fall down one more time. granted, this is a busy train and I was surrounded by concourses of people. everyone saw. every time esther screamed a blood curling scream. and I hardly remember anything from it. just the feeling of falling. haha. very funny. 
so my next humiliation was yesterday. so johnson is a member and we teach him and his family, and his sons faris and asher are basically the loves of my life. especially faris. ohhh I love them. but they really really wanted us to play football. soccer. with them. so one day after our lesson we went out to go kick the soccerball around. granted, I'm sure you remember, I can't play any kind of sport for the life of me. I tried to remember the tips on kicking the ball that I got in the past, but I still was lousy at best. but I started to get a rhythm and faris was so proud of me because I kept doing good ones. he was yelling for me. so I was getting excited! oh! and keep in mind that we were surrounded by arabs watching us, and probably not the most halal thing ever to see a girl in a dress playing soccer with the boys. so anyway. I'm getting excited because I'm kicking them good and he kicks one far, so I'm running running to get it and feeling waaaaaay cool for a second, when I roll my ankle and just completely eat it in the middle of the field. everyone saw. I swear I heard a collective "AAH!!" from the crowd. I couldn't even stand up because my foot hurt so bad and my pride hurt even worse. faris comes sprinting over yelling SISTERRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and he basically throws himself on me while I'm laying there. haha. it was cute. quite humiliating. I have got a swollen foot and a few bruises to make it worse. but it was fun while it lasted. it was actually bliss while it lasted. just running around kicking a ball with my two little pakistani brothers and rhodesy and elvis. yes. it was bliss.
I am quite tickled because elvis and richard are getting baptized this saturday!!! I'm not sure I've talked too too much about them...so I want to share a few fun things about them. 
so elvis is christian from pakistan. he's twenty....four. twenty four. a referral from brother johnson. when we met him, he was very quiet, very serious. he has read the entire bible four times already. but everything we taught him he just listened to and accepted. when we gave him a book of mormon (they even have them in his language!) he immediately started to read and accepted it was more scripture. he said he prayed about it but he already felt like it was true. but he was always very quiet and serious. but then after a while, he started smiling a bit more. and he can speak malay and no one else at the house can so he started to be really funny and make jokes in malay because only him and I could understand. then he started smiling a ton and being a loud mouth and super super sarcastic and funny. he played soccer with us and he would kick it soooooooo hard at rhodesy to which she almost always died and then she'd yell and he'd just laugh and say sorry. he has a belly that literally looks like there is a beach ball under his shirt. but he has gone to church every single week since his first time. he is just way sweet. way dedicated and way humble. but my favorite thing ever ever is his little...line. he says it every time. we will talk to him about our next appointment or an activity or this or that, and he never objects or anything at all, all he ever says is this funny accent-full statement, "what time?" like elvis, can we see you on tuesday? what time? there is an activity at church, want to come? what time? elvis can you help us do this? what time? he is so easy. 
now richard is also waaaaay rad. he actually is hysterical. he is this old chinese man that is a referral from THE coolest chinese man named brother anthony. he is our branch mission leader. anyway. richard is just as crazy and eccentric as anthony. he is the one that has memorized the bible. in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he has bible tourettes. random moments he will break out in verse. but he is super super sweet and super super solid in his faith. he is another one that everything we taught him, he just accepted. no issues or anything. last time we saw him we were asking him the baptismal interview questions to prep him, and we got to word of wisdom. he of course knew everything with absolutely no probing or help. and then just to make sure again, we asked him if he was still living the word of wisdom and hadn't had any coffee or tea or anything, to which he replies. "no. no. absolutely not. how could I? I hate coffee. I despise it. I actually have a very bitter relationship with coffee, you know? I hated a man once and he loved coffee. no no no. absolutely no coffee." actually that might not even sound funny. but it was hysterical. typical richard. he had heart problems and got put in the hospital for about a week, not sure if I mentioned....but he was so devastated because it made him miss his original baptism date. every time we went to visit him he'd double check that we could do the baptism the second he got out. and he'd always call us and tell us something new and cool he learned from his book of mormon reading. haha. he's like a grandpa. I love him.
we've been teaching a lot of really really cool people lately. keeping very busy. it's bliss for a missionary.
and thats my week.
you are all in my prayers. love you so much. 

pictures from June 19, 2012

the past few days the sky has been white with pollution and it is really hard to breathe!!!! we can't even see the building in front of us, it's so nasty! so we look like bandits.

brother anthony.  he is the singular most greatest person in malaysia.

us and the woman we are teaching.  i will tell you more about her next week.  we're wearing the shirts she gave us as a gift.  she is intense.

this is a text from brother anthony.

for, THE BLOG

so sorry, been a while since my last update. life gets going really fast. 
so the past few weeks have been a blur. I'm trying to think of some of the highlights....
okay maybe first I'll share a few funny things about our latest "faith finding" (proselyting) experience. we don't go knocking too much, there are a few other ways that have proven to be more effective than just knocking and reciting a little spiel, but on occassion we still do. which was what happened the other day. it was a HOT day, as the days lately have been record highs for how hot it is. so it was hot, we had been going for....2 hours I think? 2 hours going on a day and a half. and thus far there had essentially been no success. but we had told God we would do knocking until a certain time, and it wasn't that time yet. so we carried on. but this time, decided to throw a little game in like rhodesy and I quite enjoy doing. so when knocking usually you switch off doors. so one door I'll knock and take lead, the next door she will do. the game is as follows: as the person is knocking the door, the other person says a word, any word, and the person talking has to incorporate the said word into her contact. hehe. so I'm up first, and rhodes says "pickle". great. so this little 15 year old fat chinese kid in his undies opens the door. thus it was already funny enough to break into a fit of giggles. adding the heat, the exhaustion, and the impending doom of the word pickle. so I'm talking to him, best I can, and he is just, so, chinese. so I finally go "okay, sometimes in life, you get into a PICKLE" intending to talk about how the gospel can get us out of a pickle. but you know me. couldn't hold it in. so I broke down in giggles. face bright red and head in my hands. poor rhodesy had to do damage control because of her choice of word:) it was funny. it was very funny. so then rhodesy was up next. determined to get her back for her crappy word, she knocks and I say "elephant." she immediately puts her head down with a sigh. how was she gonna use that one? so this chinese college age boy answers the door. and in front of the door, I might add, are like shades...so you literally can only see his outline. so she's talking to an outline. and shes rambling, rambling, when she says "you know? sometimes theres just an elephant in the room." to which he replies, instantaneously, "WHAT?!" and she goes "uh, anyway when we repent then we.......blah blah blah." nothing was gonna bring it back from that. points go out to her though, she didn't even laugh. I think she panicked, if anything. another slightly comical experience from the same day involved a mainland chinese atheist. rhodesy goes, "have you ever wondered where you came from?" to which she responds, "yes. china." and a swift slam to the face. we hardly got around the corner before we had to laugh it off. 
we have been getting along quite well though. we've got a fair share of really excellent people we are teaching. some coming out of nowhere, prepared and ready. a fulfillment of the promises in the scriptures that angels are preparing hearts. one of which being an adorable chinese girl from sabah named esther. I immediately loved her because of her name. she's a model and she loves jesus. the first time she came to church the entire congregation turned and stared gapingly at her. she is beautiful, of course. but beauty is not something that is lacking in malaysia. whats different about her is the light that she exudes. 
something that was devastating to me this morning was that I finished reading Jesus the Christ. to say obsessed would perhaps do an understatement for my experience reading it. I took it, five pounds and all, everywhere with me so if I ever sat on the train by a muslim I could pour over it. it would be impossible to say just everything that stuck out to me about it, or perhaps I should say, the life of Jesus, but something that particularly touched me was the way that he died. I have heard before that he died of a broken heart, but I never really understood everything that went into that. According to Talmage most people who were crucified died a very long, exhausting, death, as they suffer from awkward positioning of their limbs, lack of water and food, and their organs explode or something like that. not to mention that the rain and the wind and the sun beats on them, birds come and gnaw on their skin, meanwhile passerbys watch as if its something more of a curious thing instead of the slow and public death of a person. anyway. so Christ was different. in proof that He really is the Son of God, he had surprising vitality and energy as he was on the cross. He said various statements, every one of which said with power and conviction. including the last line, and then He "gave up the ghost." but in the back in the note section of the chapter, it says that christ literally did die of a broken heart. something about how when the stupid man came and stabbed him he hit his heart and out came blood and water. or coagulated blood and plasma, as cases in medical history have been the same. people with broken hearts and then as a result the blood is pooled and separated like that. something or other. now I'm forgetting exactly. better you go and read it yourself. 
it will change your life.
I knew before, but I think less naively now, that Jesus is the Christ. the Son of God. the Saviour of the world. 
and on that note, perhaps one more funny story. unfortunately, this is again a rhodesy-ism. so we are out and about, and this boy our age is standing on his balcony, we are walking underneath, and he yells at us. we chat a bit when he yells, "DO YOU RENT HERE?" and rhodesy, bless her heart, instantly ecstatic replies, "YES!!!!!!!!!! I DO HAVE RED HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I had no words for her. 
needless to say, we laugh a lot, have a lot of fun, work really hard. we're quite happy. if I might speak for the both of us. if not, I at least am quite happy. 
and thus it is.
I love you all!

pictures of us when we went to the wedding

so a quick post this week. 1. we got invited by a member to go to an authentic Indian wedding. which, of course, we went to. and got all dressed up for the occassion. I have never seen anything like it! I won't lie, makes me want my day to be all big and over the top just like theirs! I was thinking "my big fat greek wedding" the whole night. but I guess my big fat indian wedding also can. the actual ceremony was a hindu ceremony, which was interesting. very hot, very complicated, lots of incense and flowers and fruit and praying. the bride was wearing this red sari dress with henna and tons of make up and jewelry and flower necklaces. it smelled incredible. the rest of us just sat and watched all of the things being done. the actual reception was beautiful as well. bollywood music was BLARING in this huge hall covered with christmas lights and beautiful tables and a stage and a cake and so much cuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyy. everything sparkled, especially the bride. we got our photo with her, and we actually even made it in to the wedding DVD from our presence at the actual ceremony. there you go! immortalized in malaysia. yeah. it was really a beautiful night though and I felt so spoiled to be there. I'll send a few photographs for you to check it out. too bad I can't figure out how to send video clips. 2. so basically, I could write an entire post on Lya, the girl that just got baptized. she is the identical mixture of me and sister rhodes, in this more than beautiful and incredible form. but she is so strong, so faithful, so sassy. ah! I just love her. we had an activity after church on sunday and we had to help cook and she was tearing it up in there. all the members were calling her, asking for her to help, and she was so happy. happy as a clam. she was glowing. so then on monday we teach her about the temple. of which she was sooooooo excited about. it was a great lesson. but then after we went to grab some dinner, and we were just chatting, and she goes "OH!!!!!!!!! JENSEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to ask a question." I immediately knew what her question was. and, of course, she asks, "did joseph smith really have 36 wives???" aiyo. we explained to her as best we could about the history of polygamy in the old testament days until now, and said that when God feels it's necessary, people are told to practice. when it's done, He says the word, and its done. something like that. and she just sat there thinking. and then she said something like, "okay. I don't like it. but I think I understand it. my husband better not try anything on me!" hahaha. we laughed together and I was just really touched that she finds some anti, and instead of immediately freaking out and running away, she confronts it, thinks about it, and is okay. basically, she is the greatest human in malaysia. who is from indonesia, and moving to australia. phew. 3. there is this man, he is an older chinese man, his name is richard. he is going to get baptized next weekend. basically, he is the epitome of a crazy sweet chinese uncle. when we teach him, I have to bite the inside of my lip quite frequently because of the hysterical things he says. he has memorized the bible. which is incredible, actually. he learns very fast and he loves everything. and he's humble. but because he has memorized the bible, when we teach, instead of speaking his own words, he uses direct quotes from the bible. he often does it to try to stump us up. just for giggles. but the greatest thing is, I have read the bible! and God gives me my words!!! so basically, what he wants, is someone to speak scripture to him. so when he quotes the bible, I quote it and the book of mormon right back. usually this is done in a very loud voice (he speaks VERY loud) and passerby's always stare. the member we bring, he is the one that gave us the referral. he comes and just shakes his head. or he joins in and starts yelling scripture at me or at richard. and beautiful rhodesy smiles sweetly and offers very good interjections whenever she can get a word in. they are the most exciting lessons ever. 4. is something that I read in my studies a few days ago, and it has stuck with me a lot. I don't have a ton of time to explain it in a beautiful way, but you can do your own study and figure it out even better. so its in luke, chapter 7. verses....I think 36 start until the end. but its about Jesus getting an invite to go to a pharisee's house to eat. he's sitting down, and the pharisee obviously didn't give him the royal treatment because he didn't do the typical wash your feet, oil your head, kiss you type of a deal when a guest comes. which is typically expected. but nonetheless, they eat. then this girl comes in, who there are speculations about who she really is, but doesn't matter. this girl who has "many sins" comes in and washes his feet with her tears and her hair, kisses his feet, and anoints them with oil. the pharisee thinks something smart about this girl, and Christ steps in to stick up for the girl. or to stick up for the right, I guess. he says the pharisee didn't do anything to serve him, and the girl "who has many sins" does. he gives the short parable about the people with the debt for 50 and 5000 or something, and that the person with the bigger debt will have more love than the one for 50, if their debts were forgiven. then he goes on to say that the girl, who has many sins, has been forgiven, for she loved much. and I had never really thought much about that story before, but I think it's incredibly beautiful. yes its important to do what God has asked us to do. but it's also about the heart. where your heart is. who you really love. what you will do to show that love. about being humble, full of love, etc etc. anyway. I am out of time but I wanted to share that. I love you all:) have a good week!

us at Lya's baptism! yay. what a day.

my nice "artistic" photograph ... I bought some cacti the other day.  reminds me of my roots.  they sit on my window sill by my desk.  cute, kan?

this was taken this morning.  QUIIIITE the storm we had.  lightning and thunder and rain like you wouldn't believe!

drains, the old fashioned way!

so not too much time.
but a few cool stories.
the first. so it was when sister kubota came, and I was with her. we were going "faith finding". which is different from just "contacting" or what is it...proselyting? anyway. faith finding is just what it says, it involves faith. we say a prayer, ask God or tell God where we feel impressed to go, seek more guidance, we tell how long we will be there and things like that. make sure God knows we have the time, we're committed, we're trying to listen to any inspiration we receive, and we're dedicated to finding someone prepared. I'm not sure if that made sense but I'm gonna keep going. so after our prayer, an area popped in to my head. setiawangsa. however the elders who had our area before said not to go to that area, there is no one that we can teach that lives there. the whole area we can't teach. but that was the place that came to my mind. I told kubota, she said we just go. so we went, and there were rows and rows of nice nice terrace houses. we wandered and wandered, and sure enough, eeeeeeeeveryone was unteachable. all the houses. finally we stopped to ask this man if there were any christians or hindus or buddhists that lived in the area. he said there was one house at the very back that was chinese. so we walked straight there to find it. we knocked on his gate, turns out, it's a young chinese christian family that lives there. we had a very good conversation with them and are going back on saturday. the entire time in that area, we only found them that were teachable. but it was a miracle we found them. isn't it? I should share more experiences like that, I feel guilty sometimes because I feel like I've been out here so long sometimes I get more calloused about special experiences like that and don't share them. but I felt like sharing that one. and just saying, that miracles are constantly around us. that God listens to our prayers. and that he takes us to where we are needed.
another funny experience. so, lya, our most favorite investigator ever, got baptized on sunday. it was perfect. actually, the pre and post baptism were incredibly not perfect. but the baptism was perfect. so it was sunday after church, and sunday morning we got to the church to check on the font and all of that, and I look in, and there are two huge butcher knives at the bottom of the font. yeah. obviously the option to strip down and swim to the bottom to pick them up wasn't appropriate. so I ran and got a rake and it took about 15 minutes of me using my very uncoordinated hand-eye coordination skills to bring up the knives without them slipping through the wholes in the rake and plummeting to the bottom all over again. so that's how the baptism started. it finished by the drain being broken, making us have to take two hours, and countless trips of carrying buckets full of water and then throwing them out the window down the hall in the kitchen. by the time that was all over, I was so wet I might as well have taken a swim. it was exhausting, but also hysterical. we laughed a lot. I tripped/slipped a few times. very gracefully, of course. the miracle of that being that after hunching over and using very poor body mechanics to do it all, the next morning I wasn't even kindof sore. nothing on my body hurt. which is abnormal. abnormal, or miraculous. but aside from the two hiccups, it was the most beautiful baptism I've ever seen. lya is 26, she is indian from indonesia. she's incredibly smart, loud, charismatic, beautiful. her faith is so strong. she was a referral from a member and we only had to teach her one month. she started coming to church every week and she had no problem with word of wisdom, she had been paying tithing to her church her entire life so she already had a testimony about that. she was the most prepared person I have ever met. but anyway. after the baptism and she got changed, she bore her testimony. she said that before she walked into the font, she was in the bathroom waiting. and she knew that brother brown was waiting for her in the water. and she said she felt a power coming from the font. she said she prayed, and it just felt so light and bright and strong. and when she went in to the water, and came back out, she very literally felt like a new person. we had another investigator that was there, and she turned to me and said that lya's countenance was different when she came out of the water. and it was true. lya was glowing. more than I've ever seen someone glow after their baptism. 
it was amazing.
being a missionary is, just is. there aren't words. or I just haven't figured them out yet.
I love you all. 
it's getting scary that the p days seem to come faster and faster and I think I'm on single digits for the weeks left. 
aiyo.
but I love you.

Brother Johnson's whole family.  AH!! Words don't convey my love for them.  I hope you can meet them one day.  I love them, I love them.  They are holding the picture we gave them.  Originally the picture was very small and old, it was from a few days after their wedding like 15 years ago.  I guess it was one of those "1, 2, 3, surprise kiss her moments because it wasn't a staged picture and hearing them tell about it is soooo cute.  We saw the picture, I snuck it away and we got it blown up and got a frame and they were seriously so excited about it.  It made me want to cry.  It meant a lot to them I think for someone else to tell them how amazing it is that they love each other so much.  They have an incredible marriage.

Me and Sister Fauzia.  She is the greatest person I have met in my entire life.  I love her with  my whole heart.  I'm wearing traditional clothes from Pakistan.  She loved that:)

The baptism!  Man and Aung, and then us and Elder Meister.

they seek the cure of cancer!

heeeeeeeey family.
so, for the present conditions, sister kubota and sister.....blast. I don't remember her name. scratch that I just asked rhodesy, sister burtis. are here from singapore to go on splits with us this week. I had burtis yesterday. I get kubota tomorrow. I might have a story or two next week, but bottom line, I love sister rhodes. I've got two months left, I'm praying I just get to stay with her until the end. 
so for the highlights of this week. I'll start with the most exciting, a couple that we have been teaching got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay! it was a beautiful baptism. their names are man and aung. they are refuges from myanmar. did I tell you about them already? I feel like I did. but if I didn't, a cool little tidbit. aung's family used to be the royal family or the family in charge in myanmar before the military stepped in. his pictures of his dad and grandpa and stuff they are always in front of valentino stores and posing in front of a line of sports cars. now they live in a one bedroom apartment in KL. quite the change. and another cool thing about him, he was actually buddhist. sister man has always been christian. but they are refuges because in myanmar, he wanted to go to church with his wife. and I guess they didn't like that. so they threw him in jail a lot and made all sorts of crazy threats. so they're refuges because he was buddhist, wanted to go to church. and now they are baptized. it was so adorable. all the pictures we took they were holding hands. after the baptism when they both had an opportunity to bare their testimonies, they decided to do it in myanmese. so only those two could understand. but the spirit was so strong, and the love was so obvious. they both stood up for quite a while, and both times as one was speaking, the other was smiling and crying. it was precious. they are moving to america in a few weeks, so we get to talk to them a lot about preparing to go to the temple and they get amped. ahhhhhhh I love missionary work. 
this week we also had a lot of very stressful/funny moments with members telling our investigators things. for example, in the middle of a lesson on the restoration (which we had already prepared the member for, told them what we WOULD be talking about, and what we WOULD NOT be talking about) and regardless, two times with two different members they cut in right as we were talking about prophets, and added their interjections on the church's stance on homosexuality, coffee, and later, the three kingdoms of glory. one of the members, bless his heart, even pulled out an ancient little picture flipbook I'm sure missionaries used long ago. courtesy of said book, it was very easy for him to go from God, to joseph smith, to word of wisdom, to kingdoms of glory in 45 seconds or less and with just a few flicks of the hand. the lessons were both epic fails. rhodesy was getting very red in the face, and I was having a hard time keeping a straight face. aiyo. bless their hearts! as mom would say....
something else cool. so sunday night, we were going over our schedule for the next day, and we didn't have anything to do early afternoon. which is also a rotten time to try to go knocking because no one is home. so I pulled out the phone and called sister mckinley, and expat member who is in the process of moving to singapore now. I told her we had an hour or two to spare and we wanted to come help her with whatever she needed to pack or clean for their move. so the next day she picked us up and had to run to the grocery store on the way. we go in to the grocery store, rhodesy helped her carry her basket and I was contacting some of the malaysian workers that worked there. I think she noticed and like that, because when she was checking out, she looks at me and goes, "this is raj kumar. he has helped me every time I have come in here. you should teach him." and then she goes "raj, this is sister jensen. she is incredible. you meet with her and she will tell you how to be happy." later she told me she had never thought of referring him to the missionaries, but standing there she realized he would be perfect. and just like that, we had a referral from an expat (which most missionaries say is impossible) and a new investigator. we're meeting him next week. sweet! but after that we went home and helped her scrub her kitchen down and it was really cool because she just shared words of wisdom with us the whole time. she's an incredible lady with an incredible story and it was really cool to sit and talk with her. one of my favorite things she said was, "sister jensen, you're a bit eccentric. you need to marry someone eccentric too." and so I was like what! I'm already crazy, don't I need someone to balance me out? and she goes nope, you need someone just as crazy as you. your life will be fun. hahaha. I liked that. we'll see.
and unfortunately this email is going to be a bit dry for you guys this week. sorry. I'm lacking on funny stories and the creative juices to dress up not super funny stories. maybe next week.
but I love you all?
I love you all so much. 
oh ps.
the subject line of this email is a direct quote from this crazy lady who was yelling at me about all the reasons that her church was the true church. that one was my favorite.