ARE WE THERE YET?

Our big news is that there is a couple who will be replacing us after we leave.  We are really happy to know that there will be someone to continue the projects and work with the Kota Kinabalu branch members and missionaries.  They will arrive a week after we leave but that is OK.  We can leave them lots of information about what we have been doing.  Hopefully we do not overwhelm them. 

So we have been continuing with all the things that we do.  We make visits, teach classes, and last week we got our last clean water project 'kicked-off' by making a visit to the kampung of Data Kakus which is 3+ hours out of Bintulu mostly on timber roads.  Keep in mind that we are in the rainy season and the roads are dirt or, more accurately, mud. 

OUR GROUP AT THE ENTRY TO DATA KAKUS

There were 12 of us who went out there in 3 Hilux Toyota trucks driven by men who live in DK so they knew the road.  Which was a really good thing because the road we usually take was washed out and we had to go a different and longer route.  We left Bintulu about 7:30 AM and arrived in DK about 1 PM.  We were met by Peter, the headman and his niece, Elizabeth both of whom we knew from our past visits.  

WAITING TO SEE IF THE ROAD WILL BE PASSABLE SOON

ELDERLY WOMAN RESIDENT OF DATA KAKUS

First we reviewed the project they are going to do.  The members of the community are going to do the work as 'goyong rotong' or working together for the good of the group.  Bill spent some time going over just what they will do to upgrade and improve their water system and then he had Peter teach it back to all who were present.  They will do just fine.  We are partnering with the Rotary Club in Bintulu and they will help with getting the materials.  Jawa, a teacher at the primary school in DK, will be our site monitor as he has access to the internet once a week to give us reports and send photos of the progress.  They didn't commit to how long it would take them to complete the work.  I sure hope it doesn't take too long. 


  

MAKING SURE THEY UNDERSTAND HOW TO DO THE PROJECT

ENJOYING A MEAL AT JAWA'S HOME

THAT IS DAISY KOH ON THE LEFT, E/S ORIEN ON THE RIGHT

ELDERLY RESIDENT OF DATA KAKUS

They always feed us at DK and then Elizabeth gave us a tour of the village as the two missionary couples from Bintulu had not been there or any place like it and were most interested in the peaceful lifestyle.  It was interesting to see children swimming in the river, a woman fishing with a net in the river, elderly people with the elongated ear lobes that were a mark of beauty until the 1950's, rice and pepper berries drying in the sun on rotan mats, shy but very curious children peeking at us, 

JUST BACK FROM THE JUNGLE FARM WITH VEGETABLES FOR DINNER

ELDERLY WOMAN IN DATA KAKUS

DRYING PEPPER ON A ROTAN MAT

THEY STORE THEIR RICE IN THESE STRUCTURES TO PROTECT IT FROM VERMIN

FISHING FOR 2" LONG FISH

RAISED WALKWAY THROUGH DATA KAKUS

DATA KAKUS

DATA KAKUS

A LOT OF LIVIN' IN THAT FACE

ANIMALS, FLOWERS AND WORK

SISTERS ZAFAR AND DAVIS
Just after a rain shower so we are wet

Proboscis monkey. The males have the long noses
and this is a grandpa.

We had a "P Day!" We had Sister Zafar with us for a day while her comp went to SIngapore to pickup a brand new sister missionary straight from the MTC. Wow, that has been a long time ago for us! Any way we went to the Zoo here in KK for her P Day. We saw some pretty neat animals, many of which we have seen in the wild, just not this close up.

THE SQUIRREL MONKEY

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL!!

WET BAT
I just love our new camera, it can even get the rain drops!!

THE RHINOCEROS HORNBILL

ORCHID FROM THE SING AIRPORT GARDEN

MORE ORCHIDS

We are still working with one family to get them to BYUHawaii and one RM also. The RM is the best baptizing missionary the Singapore mission ever had. He is being supported by some Senior couples stateside who have generously donated enough money so he can do this. The family also the same. We have been the conduit for the money and have helped them get their Visa and other things done. It was a much larger job than we thought it would be. But we have ben glad to do it and be involved. Tonight we will have a party send off for them. The family leaves at midnight and the RM at 6 am. They will be able to support each other in Hawaii.

IAN AND JUNEFER...FAMILY GOING TO BYUHawaii

NEW MEMBER, BRO FRANCIS, (FORTUNE TELLER) READING SISTER DAVIS' PALM

SUSAN AND FRANCIS' FAMILY AND THE MISSIONARIES

We visited with a newly baptized family. He is a retired fortune teller. He worked 15 years and retired very young from that business. He saw about he saw 20 clients a day. He also practiced Feng Shui which is determining where your furniture should be in your house and where you should sleep. Where Bill sleeps at home in 80% negative energy. Bill needs to sleep in the kitchen at home. That would be 100% positive energy. We just need to be sure he doesn't get Priestcraft going. Their home was very nice and comfortable. Comparable to a very modest conservative home in America.

GARY'S PARENTS AND FRIENDS

BRO GARY CARRYING HIS OLDEST SON FROM HIS PARENT'S HOME

IN KAMPUNG BARU (NEW VILLAGE) WHICH IS ONE OFTHE 

POOREST COMMUNITIES I HAVE SEEN 

GARY'S PARENT'S HOME

We experience quite the contrast here. Gary's parents live in a kampung. It is a little dirt road into a bunch of plywood homes. The walls are really single wall plywood. Not much separating the outside from the inside. We were surprised we could actually drive the car in and out of this place. There isn't much difference between the old forts of our childhood days and where these people live.

There is another family that lives under their house. If you look closely you will see the "basement"

The other night we visited with Jennifer who is 19 and her sister who is 16 and faithfully come every Sunday and also during the week to seminary. They walk about 1/2 mile then take a bus to the church. They were out of gas for the generator so we sat in their humble home around some candles to read the scriptures together.

OUR LITTLE CAR GOING INTO THE KAMPUNG

We have construction flaggers here!! Yes we do. They have a stick with a red sock on the end of it. They standout by the construction in the street and wave their flag vigorously. There is little to no warning about the closed lane because they are at the closed lane. Everyone seems to find their way around it and merges just fine without all the help we get in the US.

FLAGGER AT ROAD CONSTRUCTION SITE IN KK
HE HAS A RED RAG ABOUT THE SIZE OF A SOCK
AND HE WAVES IT LIKE CRAZY AND SMILES.


We will be going to Data Kakus this next weekend to take our contractor there and introduce him to the kampung and the project. He will oversee the goyong rotong, (the community works together) of rebuilding their dam and restoring the intake and supplying a couple of very large tanks. When he is done we will go there again for a closing and handover of the project. That will conclude our major water project for East Malaysia.

The next weekend we go back to Humana Schools to witness their Sports days and have a handover there as all the schools are completed.
We are compiling info for the next project which we hope to turn in before we leave so the next couple have something to work. As of yet no word of a replacement for us. We are down to 2 months and a few days. We are praying hard for another couple.

We come home on September 21. We leave here Sept 20. It will be very hard for us to leave this country and these people. They are so good and humble. We have learned so much from them. We try not to think about it too much. At the same time we are anxious to be re-united with friends and family. When we left Bintulu after only 5 months it was so hard we couldn't even talk about it without crying. We will have been here 13 months when we leave so it will be even harder. It has been very interesting and a blessing to be on the frontier of the church.

One of the investigators asked why there were so many people at the other churches in town and such a small congregation at ours? As if to say the largest church must be the right one? What if we are the fastest growing church in the world? Does that make us the right one? No, it is only the
spirit that can tell us which is true. And that has been the case with us as we have watched our testimony grow by leaps and bounds while serving here.