Malaysia

Hello!! I'm doing great! I love it out here. It hasn't rained too much this week, only 3 or 4 times, but when it rains it pours. It pours super hard, but it hasn't lasted for more than an hour. I haven't had to change at all throughout the day, you just stay wet because you don't go back to the apartment after you leave in the morning, but we have good umbrellas, so it's not too bad. Our area is pretty large but we don't visit most of it because it's too far. The Elders Quorum president lives more than 3 hours away by car. Since I'm in KL (Kuala Lumpur), I don't use a bike, we just use public transport. We have a fair amount of friends but only a few that are progressing. We will be having a baptism for Lavinia next Sunday. She is 9 and from a part-member family. Church was pretty sweet. Typically there are 40-60 members, but it's not too consistent since many live far away. This week, we had 4 members come who hadn't been in years and 3 nonmembers. All of them stayed for second hour and we taught them and another 10 members in the Gospel Essentials class. It is all in English, there are a few members who know Chinese, but they speak Cantonese and Hakka. A couple are trying to learn Mandarin though. My companion is super awesome. Elder Zaleski is from Tooele and I believe he has an older brother and two younger sisters. He has been out for one transfer more than me, and he's a super motivated Elder with a lot of diligence, it's going to be an awesome transfer. We get along super well. His last companion was a little like my first and didn't talk a lot, so he's enjoying how much I talk, for now at least. 😂 Our apartment is pretty nice for the most part and it's just the two of us. We usually go to a grocery store in a nearby mall for food, we have a washer at our apartment, and we hang-dry our clothes. Luckily, I haven't needed to get a new phone and hopefully it stays that way. Mine should work fine. Also, I got access to my new area the night I arrived so it worked out pretty well. Though honestly, there's not a lot of info in this mission (maybe not in foreign missions overall). Due to data privacy things, we can't even record what happened in contacts or lessons, we can only select what principles were shared and invitations were given, no notes, super sad. Miracle: There were honestly tons of miracles this week. We had a couple of random people show up to church who either hadn't been in years or were never members, it was crazy. Also, this week I felt like I should talk to a certain guy on the LRT (train) and it turned out he lived in Auburn, Washington the same time we lived in Maple Valley. He went to Green River Community College and may have been there about the same time as Derek. He's interested in meeting and learning more and possibly joining us for church and us joining him in Bible studies with his friends. Challenge: We can't teach Muslims in Malaysia and they are the majority of the population. Teaching in public/on the train isn't really allowed either, so you've got to be more low-key and it's just a bit of an adjustment. Good News: We have a ton of people planning to come to church next week and we have two baptisms next week, one member, one convert, so we're hoping to start teaching a lot more people from it. Love ya! Elder Wardle

Petronas Towers With Elder Zaleski

Kuala Lumpur

Our Church

A Downpour

Great Chicken and Rice