Kuching and Kota Kinabalu

r

NOTICE THE BANNER MADE JUST FOR THIS OCCASION

FRONT PAGE OF THE NATIONAL PAPER

We are home from a week of travel. Last Monday afternoon we flew to Kuching, the capitol of Sarawak in the southern part of the state. We met with several different NGO', with one of which, a Rotary Club, we had a handover ceremony on Wednesday. It was very well done with about 15 wheel chair recipients attending, speeches, thank-yous, press taking photos, a nice lunch. The newspaper article was in color on the front page the next day. Wow! There is great potential for a variety of projects out of Kuching such as vision care, hospice, and clean water projects. The handovers resulting in 8 newspaper articles all with pictures and all in the first section of the papers. Some in East Malaysia recognize LDS.

RECIPIENTS OF NEW LDSC WHEEL CHAIRS

Kuching is an interesting city. Historically it is where the Rajah lived from 1845-ish until about 1950's. The Rajah was British hence Sarawak was ruled by British rule. The rajah made efforts to keep peace by British standards and tried to eliminate head hunting. The palace and fort are still standing and we could see them across the river from out hotel. There is also a new multi-million ringget legislative building and the city is preparing for a gathering of all heads of state of Malaysia. That gathering normally takes place in Western Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. Another thing we enjoyed was watching the boats on the river. A boat race is scheduled for next week and they were practicing right in front of us. These boats are replicas of the native war canoes, very low to the water, brightly colored, and long. One canoe will hold 30 men. They each have a paddle and they paddle in unison and chant. We could hear them before we could see them. Sometimes we would see 6 or 7 at a time out there. They remind me of the dragon boat races but they are not in dragon boats. One evening almost at sundown a downpour of rain hit with lightening. Wow! you should have seen them paddle for shore.

ELLEN IN FRONT OF THE CAT STATUE

 IN KUCHING WHICH MEANS CATS

TYPICAL OF THEIR LOVE FOR COLOR

THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN FROM OUR HOTEL
WINDOW OF DRAGON BOAT
CREWS PRACTICING IN THE
KUCHING RIVER

From Kuching we flew to Kota Kinabalu which is the capitol of the northern state of Sabah. It is a resort town with water sport attractions and hiking up Mt Kinabalu which is the highest peak on the island of Borneo. Mt K is about 12,000 feet high and is climbed daily by guided group only. There is never snow on the granite peak but sometimes the climber's water will freeze. The South China Sea in KK is clean and beautiful blue with white sand beaches. In KK we met with the senior missionary couple to let them know what it is we do and ask how we could help them in their work. We also met with a Rotary Club president (there are 7 RC's in KK) and with the director of Cheshire Homes, a home for disabled people and learned of their needs and how we can help them. We had a few hours of down time before our flight home on Saturday afternoon. We got home in time to go to the grocery store and get fresh milk---well, it isn't really fresh but it works---and fruit.

Bill has been a bit under the weather Saturday and today. Seems he probably picked up something in one of the many restaurants in which we ate. He is taking it easy today, sleeping a lot and babying his tummy and hopefully he will be able to hit the ground running tomorrow. We have so much work to do.

CONSTRUCTION WORKER USING ALL HAND TOOLS

THE JOB SHACKS OF THE WORKERS 

JUST IN FRONT OF OUR HOTEL...THEY LIVE THERE WHILE 

WORKING ON THE HOTEL REMODEL

Meanwhile, we have a new missionary in our branch, we have zone conference coming up this week, and we have several projects to get written up for submission, finish up a project with the Salvation Army/Lovehaven, wheel chair handover in Miri, a 2 hour drive north from here on Wednesday AND THAT IS SABRINA'S BIRTHDAY!! Happy Birthday, Sabrina. We love you.

ELDER HART, BEEN IN BINTULU 11 MONTHS

We have traveled every week this month except one. We are ready to stay home in Bintulu and get things organized and written up and see some results of our efforts. We have seen the whole range of culture and economy and classes of people from Kuching at the south end and Kota Kinabolu at the north end of the island. The water off of KK in the North end is just as beautiful if not more than we have seem in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Florida or Hawaii. In fact we are told that KK is the number one spot in the world for scuba diving. Maybe we will get a chance to do a little snorkeling eventually up there, who knows?

BILL HOLDING SON OF OUR NEWEST MEMBER....
A SUPER GUY...WILL BE ONE OF THE LEADERS 
OF THE CHURCH IN BINTULU

We notice some very regular readers of our blog from some places we don't know anyone. Like Wautoma, Wisconsin, Denver, Roslindale, Mass. That's just fine but we would surely like to know of your interest or how you know us?? Please leave a comment soon if you are from one of those spots just for fun. No one is excluded.

First Handover Ceremony

WHEEL CHAIR HANDOVER IN BINTULU

ONE OF THE BENEFICIARIES A SIX YEAR OLD BOY

WE PROVIDED 250 CHAIRS IN THREE SIZES TOTAL VALUE 30,000RMS

Hi to all of our followers. We had a good week---as usual. On Friday evening we attended the baptism of 4. One of our converts of about 3 weeks baptized his wife and daughter. We also had Lily Lidia, a young woman expecting her first child in about a month; and Christopher anak Pilet (that is Christopher, child of Pilet) who is a child of record. I get to wash the jumpsuits and towels after a baptism. Some thoughtful person bought the biggest fluffiest white towels for our branch to use and it takes forever for them to dry in this humid climate. That is NOT a complaint!

We worked a great deal on preparations for our first Wheelchair Handover Ceremony all week. It was 18 July, a Saturday at the Park City Everly Hotel which is the best hotel in town. We made plans to have a luncheon for between 30 and 40 people and invited the other senior couples, the zone leaders, our 3 branch presidents, and about 25 people the Rotary Club asked us to invite who are community leaders and business people. Here it is the custom to send out the invitations and then call to remind them a few days before the event. So I did a bit of phone calling. We had to confirm the number with the hotel by Thursday and by then I had only 32 confirmations so gave them the number of 35 to 40 to prepare for. Elder and Sister Anderson, our Singapore mission PR people planned to come and do a presentation on the church. However, they had to cancel but gave us the power point presentation so we could do it. Friday and Saturday morning people kept calling saying they were coming.

So we got to the hotel and the room they have set up for us is absolutely beautiful. By then we were thinking there would be more than 40 people coming. So they moved in a few more chairs and we were ready to go. People started to arrive, and they kept coming. It was great! I think we had 50 plus people there. Everyone had a chair except for me and I used one of the wheelchairs.

The presentation was great. Bill did a great job of introducing our guests and talking about what we do here in Malaysia. We had one of the wheelchair recipients as a guest of honor---a little 6 year old boy accompanied by his very grateful parents. That was kind of special.

Our Zone Leaders told us they made some contacts and the other senior couples met and schmoozed with community leaders. We feel that it was a very successful event.

What a relief when it was a success. That was our first but we are thinking that other closing ceremonies will probably not be so elaborate.

This evening we are having a little impromptu party for one of our elders who is being transferred tomorrow. He has been here for 11 months!! He isn't going far; just to Miri which is in this district so we will see him again---like next week when he comes back for zone conference.

Bill here:
This was our first attempt at doing a handover. It went well. We had many leaders of the Bintulu community and government and hospital and businesses there. The hotel did a marvelous job on the room and banquet. It was all very colorful and professionally done. We were very impressed with the whole event. We showed a power point and a DVD that ties LDS Charities and our church together. Most there did not have any idea that the two were connected. Five of the 50 there asked the missionaries, (we had the ZL's there) for more information. We are making head way in bringing the church out of obscurity. We had 4 members of the press there taking many pictures and we think it will be in the papers today.


We fly to Kuching today and then Kota Kinabalu on Thursday for two more handovers. Then the following week to Miri for another. Sometime in August for another. Then back here in Bintulu for the last for awhile.


We are currently working on developing a large water project involving a few thousand people in several different locations including the Humana schools. Also we are meeting with an eye surgeon tomorrow to explore a possible vision project. SO we are busy and in and out of the airports and taxis alto. It is wearing on us old people but it is fun to interact with non-members of our church and learn about their lives and challenges and help those they feel need help.


We miss the visits we use to make to our members homes. That was very rewarding but this is what we are her to do is to work on projects and help the poor and needy who mostly are not members of our church.


We received the best package this last week. It had amongst other things a DVD that our kids put together of pictures of our family from the very beginning about 42 year ago. It was so fun and also emotional to watch especially when we are on the other side of the world. That is the best DVD we own and we have already watched it twice.


The branch leaders are actually conducting meetings using an agenda!!!!! WOW. I could hardly believe it. I couldn't praise them enough. I talked to the priesthood about not giving long prayers as we were taught in general conference,and they immediately have changed that too. The clerk knew how to turn on the computer Sunday and mostly do the finances himself including using the mouse!! Progress. It was very rewarding to see.

First Three Months Mark

SINGAPORE HOTEL

SAME HOTEL FROM THE INSIDE

This week we hit our three month mark. The time is going by so quickly. It seems that we just arrived and it also seems like we have been here for a long time. We spent two days in Singapore last week.
We would have never afforded this hotel any other time. The rates are low because of swine flu and the economy. So we took advantage. Probably never get to do this again. It was very nice.

DOING WHAT WE DO---TALKING IT UP WITH THE ROTARY LEADERS

We have a new mission president and we met him and his wife. We also spent a day in Kuching meeting with Rotary Club members there who we partnered with several years ago on projects. They are excited to resume the relationship with LDS Charities.
The small white building in the center is the old fort from the time when the Rajah ruled Sarawak. The old palace (astana) is still there as well and maybe we will get to see it sometime.Charles Brooke was the last Rajah to rule Sarawak. His family ruled for many years. A fascinating history to be sure.

We have started a temple preparation class for our branch. There is only one couple in the branch who have been to the temple and we would like to change that. How else will we ever get a temple built here in Bintulu?? Tonight we taught the lesson about the plan of salvation and it was interesting to watch the faces of the members which told us that much of what they were hearing was brand new. It was a reminder that they are new to the church, new to Christianity, new in every way. One young man who attended our class was baptized less than 48 hours ago. They are so hungry for the gospel and they want to do what's right. They humble me.
SYLVESTER'S BAPTISM

These are some of our branch members---Brother Joseph,Junis, Elder Hart, Sylvester, and President Mudus. Kneeling in front is a man who was baptized 2 weeks ago.l Just about every week we have a baptism. They are so hungry for the truth and when they hear it they are ready. They are so strong and dedicated.

This week we have a young elder in our district who has dengue fever. He has been in the hospital for about 6 days but came home today and is now confined to home for a week. That really is hard for his companion so we are trying to help. Any suggestions from you return missionaries? Take them pizza. Do their laundry.

We find that we are extremely busy as our humanitarian projects are taking off. We talked with President Clarke about it. It is GOOD but it is hard on us old folks.

Tawau, Semporna,and Lahad Datu

THE DOCK FROM BUMBUM

THEY LIVE ON THE WATER

We spent two days with him and his staff visiting a few of the 105 schools and learning of their needs. At each school the children greeted us, "Good morning, visitor" in unison and at the top of their lungs. Most of them sang to us as well. At one school they were practicing a ethnic dance to perform at an upcoming competition. Very fun to watch. I don't know if Bill can get video footage of that on the blog or not. One of the schools is on the island of Bum Bum, just off the coast near Semporna which is a big scuba diving place and we saw more caucasians there than anywhere else we have been for the last few months.

HUMANA SCHOOL STUDENTS

ELLEN TALKING TO THE STUDENTS
WITH TEACHER TRANSLATING

Our first night we spent at a 'resort' at which Torben had arranged for us to stay. It was a good hour drive to get there, in the dark, in the jungle. Each turnoff took us to a more and more primitive road. Thoughts of kidnapping went through my head and I also had a heart-to-heart with my Heavenly Father telling Him we are on his errand and asking for His protection. Not to worry; we arrived at a place like you have never been. I believe it is a plantation estate which is now a resort. It was OK.

HAVING FUN WITH THE CHILDREN

The highlight was being awakened by the chattering monkeys at daybreak. They fed us breakfast and we were on our way to visit schools and to meet up with Torben and his wife Rosalyn and go to Bum Bum. That was an adventure. It happened to be raining when we arrived so we waited for a bit in a market but the rain continued and soon the water was swirling around our feet along with anything else that would float. So Torben got a boat for us and we went on down to the harbor which was just a cement bulkhead that the boats would pull up to. It took a little doing to get down to the level of the water, climb onto the boat---long and narrow, with a power engine and leaks---and we were off to the island across a short stretch of shallow water. At the island we had to climb up onto a 'wharf' using the structure of the wharf to climb on. (I was being a good missionary and wearing a skirt so that was interesting.) Then down the wharf along which are built the homes of the people who live there. Some of the homes are built out in the water. We were told that the people are so connected to the sea that they like their homes built on the water.
We spent quite a bit of time talking with Torben and his wife about their needs and how LDS Charities can help them. Tuesday night we spent at the Dragon Inn which is built like the homes over the water. The shower drained right into the water below our room. The room was beautiful if a bit primitive; built of wood, shuttered windows, and beautiful sea shell lights. Wednesday we visited more schools and the HUMANA office in Lahad Datu.
Yesterday we came back to Tawau in time to have a great American dinner cooked by Sister Thomas. We have tried to make phone connection with a member of the Rotary here but they are not able to meet with us or don't want to meet with us. Whatever. So today we sort of have to relax. We spent the morning with the elders, (Elder and Sister Thomas left early this AM for Singapore on visa run.) and they took us to a market where I bought a 30 inch strand of pearls for RM 40. This is where they get the pearls---right here on the Celebes Sea.