ANOTHER WEEK IN PARADISE

Where Ellen cooks.

THIS IS THE KITCHEN OF A SMALL EATING PLACE IN BINTULU

Typical downtown scene.

Joseph's family, one of our first visits.

The "blocks" where most of our members live. There 25 blocks housing 80 families each.

Our first visit to a long house. No lights, no furniture,

 but sweet spirit and fun all by candle light.

It is Tuesday afternoon and we just got home from our district meeting. They are pretty good---we've been to 2 of 'em now---and after the meeting the other couple and we take the elders out to lunch together in the 'shop lot' where they have little cafes. All the cafes are open on at least one side so there is a little breeze. They are rated A, B, or C for cleanliness; A being the cleanest. To show how clean the eating utensils are they are all brought to the table in a glass of hot water. If you need a knife you have to ask for it---standard is a fork and a soup-spoon-size spoon. We had lemon chicken and pineapple rice. Not bad. We also had a drink called 'a pink panther' which is grape syrup in the bottom of a tall glass which is then filled with Sprite. We usually don't use our straws because sometimes they have been used more than once. I do not care for carbonated drinks and prefer water to anything else but I am learning to drink sodas because I know they are clean especially if I open the can.
After lunch Bill and I walked through their local market and bought a bunch of bananas and a pineapple. They are so good. However, I take all fresh fruit or vegetables home and run them through the chlorine water and rinse with purified water. We also like the large globe grapes, watermelon, and we get a few citrus fruits, too.
Keith, you asked what interesting kinds of food we have had here. They like to fry their food---rice, vegetables, meat, fruit---so if we eat in a cafe that is what we get. We tried a new fruit a few days ago and I think it is called salad (sal-odd" with accent on the first syllable). It is about the size of a large kiwi with brown scaly skin I peeled off with my fingers. Inside are 2 or 3 sections of white fruit that is smooth and looks sort of like almond-shaped pieces of potato and tastes something like apple or pear. Yum! It has a smooth shiny dark brown almond size seed in each section. I have seen them in the market in a bunch like grapes but didn't know what they were. Next time I see them I will get some. We have also eaten some lamb, lots of chicken and fish. They have cucumbers and grow corn but the ears are small and look similar to the ears of corn you can buy for salad---baby corn.
The markets have lots of greens for sale. None of them look familiar to me so I don't know what to do with them. I have eaten some kind of green that looked like fiddle-head ferns that was cooked with garlic and was really good.
Sunday evening we went with the elders from our branch to visit some members who have not been out for a while. Basically, they have had their feelings hurt in the past. Bill talked to them about repentance and told them to 'get over it'. He told them that when they stand before the Savior, having their feelings hurt will not be a good excuse for not attending church. They all agreed with him and said they would be back.
These people live in what they call the 'block'. The block is a cement building, 5 stories tall, stairways going up in the middle courtyard to each level. Each block has 80 apartments and there are about 25 blocks in a very small area. That is 2000 families. Each apartment is a main room and 2 bedrooms with a little bathroom (about 5 x 5 feet). They have electricity, running water, and some have a ceiling fan. They have cement floors which the residents cover with a heavy contact paper so they can keep it clean. Some have tiled the floors in their homes. Most don't have furniture or if they do it is just a couple of those plastic chairs we use outside. Some have a little clothes washer and all hang their laundry out the window.
In the homes we visited many had a little plastic container with live fish swimming around. These are their pets. Some of the fish are like our aquarium-size tropical fish but others were up to 8 inches swimming around and around (3 of 'em) in a gallon-size jug of murky green water. I suppose that is better than a furry pet. There are lots of dogs here and out where we visited they are small, mangy, and on the prowl. The cats here aren't much better. They are all skinny and not what you would want to pet. The cats all have either kinked tails or short stubby tails. The elders say that is because the kids try to pull the tails off the kittens (sorry, Aunt Evelyn).
Last night we had an appointment to have FHE with the RS president and her family who live in a longhouse. A counselor to the branch presidency took us. A long house is the traditional (jungle) home of the Iban. It is 2 levels with the top level for living and the ground level for storage---think chickens, piles of coconuts, sacks of rice, the family scooter. We had to park out on the road and walk in over a rough trail which was washed out in places so had some narrow boards criss crossing and balanced between the 'banks' to walk on.
It was about 7:30 pm so not quite dark and we managed the trail OK. So to get to the upper, living level we climb a steep, well...., I guess you could call it a stairway. It is just boards like a 2 x 4 for steps, shaking from side to side as we climbed. At the top we entered into a lo-o-o-ong covered porch. This extended the length of the longhouse which Bill says is about 150 yards long. This one we visited housed 48 families living in a string of apartments side by side. When the kids get married they add a house to the end. Nice plan??
So we found the family's door and were welcomed inside. No electricity, no furniture. We take our shoes off at the door and sit on the wooden floor covered with the contact paper. They used 3 candles for light. Sena has four sons age 3 through 15 and her husband got home just after we arrived. Just after the opening song it started to rain---and it poured---on their metal roof. We couldn't hear anything but it stopped after a while. We had the lesson and played a game and she served us Milo, which is their hot chocolate, because it was raining so we needed something warm to drink. We were dripping with sweat but we drank it.
So after visiting we said our selamat malam's and left. Now it is really dark and no light but the rain had stopped falling from the sky. Now it was just falling from the trees we walked under. After a bit our eyes grew accustomed to the dark and we could see a little but not before I stepped in a puddle of water well over my ankles. Just keep on going. Those boards were a little more difficult to manage wet and in the increased darkness but we somehow got down the trail without falling on our butts or spraining an ankle. So on my shopping list is a flashlight and an umbrella (not sure an umbrella would do any good in that downpour).
We love it here!! We are having great experiences. And the Church is so true. It blesses the lives of the Iban so much. It gives them hope. It helps them learn to love and serve one another. I am so glad to be here doing what we are doing.
Love to you all. We try to NOT think about you too much. (I'm smiling)
I am (Bill).Actually I love seeing pictures of home and the grass. Christine is cutting my grass. I consider that a privileged job Christine. We have a full schedule each week. We are working on some welfare projects that are fascinating to even think about. A possible water project on the Island of Bum Bum off the coast of northern Sabah. A humanitarian organization has built a school to serve the natives which consists of Indians that live off the ocean and the land. about 20,000 that have no clean water. We will see where that goes. We will need to go visit first.
The Branch is going to have a typical Iban celebration the end of this month. It will include traditional dancing as they did around a pile of heads they removed from their captured enemies. It will be colorful but no heads. They are pretty excited about it and want me to dance with them in all the get-up including a loin cloth!! and Head dress. That will be a picture you don't see.
I wish I could include more pictures but the internet is very slow in uploading. You will just need to visit with us when we get back. Wow that is a long ways away.

So what do we do all the day long. Well we visit the members in their homes,(that's the most fun), we visit governmental and non governmental (NGO's) organizations seeing how we can be of help in their country, shop for groceries and stuff; this takes a long time cuz we have to go to a bunch of diffenent places to get what we could in one place in the US. We venture further out trying not to get lost but getting acquanited with the country. We attend church and district meetings. We visit with the other couple once a week. We do a whole lot of communicating with our leaders in Hong Kong and Singapore. Conituing to get set up with the different utilities and needed equipment. Study the lessons and the scriptures and how we can strengthen the branch. Oh also we are still figuring out how to call out of the country. Just a few details like that left to do.
We really love those few emails we do get from those dedicated followers.
Keep them coming.

Love Bill & Ellen