This is Sister Rosanna's home. Notice we sit on the floor with no shoes on.  They make these beautiful woven traditional pieces of Iban ceremonial costumes and sell them.  A middles comes every month to pick them up and pays her for them.  We are taking them to some craft stores to see if she can sell them direct, cut out the middle man, and make more money.  We have been to several stores, but no decision has been made yet. Some stores have said no and some have not responded yet. They lady holding the baby is Sister Rosanna's mother who is visiting from the Kompong.

These are parts to their ceremonial costumes for the Ibon tribes. They are hand woven. We bought 3 pieces from her.

 Elder Scott on the right, then Sister Rosanna and then her mother.  Elder Scott translates for us.

 Sister Tai  and Sister Callor brought over cheese cake and a card for a Mother's Day surprise for me. Sister Tai is from Malaysia.  She speaks Chinese, Indian, Malay, and English and she wants to learn more languages.  She is fluent in all of them.

 Sister Collar is brand new out. This is her first area. She is learning Malay also.  She broke her nose before she could come so she had extra time to learn the language before she got here. She is a little ahead of us. And she speaks it every day, which we don't really get a chance to do.

For Mother's Day we were invited to President's Ero and Sister Molly's house for dinner. They are the wealthiest members here. This is their kitchen.  Nice Huh???  We made medium cooked roast for dinner, mashed potatoes, etc. Yum!! This is where Jr. lives, the little 3 year old that is so cute. We went to his birthday party in the last pictures.

 Sister Molly is middle on the right and her daughter is to left.  They flew to Salt Lake City for the daughter to be married in the temple there. They could have gone to Hong Kong or Manila, but went to SLC. He owns real estate and Palm Oil Plantations. We love them very much and they are very kind and helpful to us.

 They are singing a song at my request. They are pretty good. Molley on the left, and then two of her daughters. She also has a son ready to go on a mission.

This is the market in Lundun. The vegetables are laid out so beautifully. Had to have a pictures.

 Picture doesn't show how beautiful it really looked. We bought some green onions, cucumbers and bananas.

This is the market where the man introduced the girl as his slave. She is from Cambodia and is in the country illegally. So he gets her a work visa, but he owns her for 3-4 years. I wonder how much she understands??? Maybe a better life than she had at home.Who knows. But it's still sad.  Remember Riley that was finally able to get  baptized? He is in the same situation. Maybe Human trafficking--I'm not sure.

This it the famous flower!! Only blooms for about 6 days.  This is late in it's blooming.  Should be bright red. This is a male flower and it is smaller than than the female which is usually 3-4 feet across.  They are pollinated by a certain kind of fly. We saw a fly on it.  It smells really bad and attracts the flies.  There are some more buds in the park, that will bloom in 5-6 more months. The ranger at the park came and talked to us and showed us around. There were Japanese jeep parts scattered in the under brush from WWII.  And he said the Japanese came to his grandfather's village and demanded food and the grandfather said no, so they tied his hands behind his back put him on his knees and chopped his head off.  Nice story huh?

We have been calling and calling about when it was going to bloom. Someone told us not until July, then we heard in Church Sunday from a tour guide that they have been taking groups for 4 days and they are through now.  So Monday we took off to see it. We climbed a mountain to see it because Elder Przybyla got the wrong instructions. It was actually very close to where we parked. I think I heard a horn billed bird, but it was way up in the trees.

One of the Sisters got bit by a spider. We had to take her to the hospital late one evening. They squeezed green puss out of it. They put her on antibiotics and sent her home.  After we got all the way across town and home, she called and wanted a blessing. We had to go find some Elders and take them with us and back across town to give a blessing.

 Went to a Sister in Branch's house for a RS homemaking craft day.  They were teaching us to make beaded bracelets.

 This house is in the Kampong near her house.

This is in the same area and not very far from where we  live, about 2 minutes away. It's unbelievable and so sad.

We just got a nice letter from an Elder that got transferred to another area.  He said he really enjoyed getting to know us and talking to us.  It was 2 pages. It was so nice of him to do that.  He is from Cedar Hills.

Yesterday, since we are the only Senior couple here right now, we got a call from a set of Sisters that needed recused. She has a spider bite that two days before they had squeezed green pus out of it, but it wasn't getting better and was really painful.  We went and got them and took them to the hospital.  On the way, she says she was hit by a car today while riding her bike. She flew off the bike and hit the ground.  She said she was ok from that, but we had the doctor check out both things.  She was given topical and oral antibiotics, and she will be fine.  They had not eaten all day, so we fed and took them home.  We just got home and they called and said she wanted a blessing. So, we called a set of Elders and picked them up and took them with us to give her a blessing.  Then back across town to our apartment, and now it's 10pm.  We asked the elders if they had dinner and they hadn't--so we made a quick stop at big M. This was only from 5pm until 10pm.  Most of the time our day is like this.

In the morning, after talking to family for Mother's day, we took off for a national park to see the famous Rafflesia flower at Gunung Gading National Park.  Will post pictures later. We climbed to the top of a mountain, but found out the flower was at the bottom of the mountain. Oh well.  It only lasts 5-7 days, and we got there on the last day.  But we still have pictures. It won't bloom again for another 7 months--from some other buds. This park is about 1 1/2 hours from our apartment. 

There is only one town between here and there, and it's the last town on the map out there, called Lundun. We stopped at a beautiful market, pictures to come.  I bought some vegetables from a man that spoke very good English.  As we were talking he asked about the Church and how he could learn more. (We don't have missionaries in that area).  Then he introduced a lady to us from Cambodia  and called her his SLAVE.  I will tell you about that later.  She really is a slave, sorry to say.

Then we went on to the park and saw the head guide there. He also asked about the badge and the church.  Then he started telling us about the flower and showing us around.  There are remains of jeeps and stuff from WWII laying around in the mountain.  Then he said the Japanese came to his village and demanded food from his grandfather. His grandfather said no.  They tied his hands behind his back and cut his head off. 

Just a quick note.

Our friend who is in  Madagascar on a mission was asked by his Area President to write his feelings about serving a mission in Madagascar.  He just finished typing 10 page when he accidentally erased it instead of saving it.

They went to bed in tears, and prayed about it  When they got up the next morning there was a note
on his computer that it was in his chip board.

And he found it.

What do you think happened?

We went out driving one day and find this bridge to a Kampung--which is a village out in the jungle usually built by a river. I did see a motorbike go over it and kids coming home from school. So nosy us, we had to go see the Kampung and see what it looked like. The bridge was wobbly, but I went anyway.

It wasn't a short bridge, as you can see.  The Kampung wasn't too bad.  The home were pretty nice and there was one little tiny store in there. They had just gotten water.  The walks had cracked open to put the pipes in, etc. People said hello, and didn't seem to care we were there, but I bet we were discussed at dinner time.

This is man's name is Raphael Scott Ahabeng. He lives out in a Kampung, in a very nice home because he is wealthy.  We heard about him from his sister when we did the tour of Kuching, a long time ago.  We finally went back to see her and tell her he wouldn't return our phone calls. She called him on the spot and made an appointment for us for the next day, so we drove out there. Not too far from our house--maybe 1/2 hour. You can google him; he's very famous and his paintings sell in NYC, London, etc. I bought the little one so I could bring it home, but the big one has 3 birds in it. He does mostly abstract.

Across the road from where he lives is his mother's house.  She is the lady sitting down.  She is 102 years old.  She was working in the garden when we walked over there. She remembers everything and is a very sharp lady.  She gave us some bananas off her tree. What a choice experience.

This is Reily at his baptism. This is the young man that had a problem with his visa and passport and almost was not allowed to be baptized.

The man in the chair is Bob Wilkinson.  He is British but has lived here for 39 years.  He is the man that brought the church to Malaysia.  He is very well-known by non-members and members alike.  This is his birthday party. There was so much food there. Because he is British there was a lot of Western food that was so good.

The Elders showing off.  We are moving another Sr. Couple this day. So they are all in work clothes.

I wanted to give the Sister missionaries something that said I was thinking of them. Inside are some hair clips and stuff.

The  Moulders and us have treated the missionaries to lunch after Distict missinary meetings every Tuesday. This restaurant is Called Gourmet Sausage.  It was fantastic!! I had barbeque ribs and I'm going back for more.

You have to know about Jr.  He just turned 3 years old and he is a really cute little boy. He is so kind and sweet.  They had a big birthday party for him.  When you go anyone's house you have to take food.  So I bought these cupcakes for the party.

 This is Jr. and he loves airplanes and you can see how big this cake airplane it.  His grandfather is one of the few very wealthy men in the church here.

Dad had to speak at a Priesthood meeting on Saturday night in the District here.  This is a pictures of the group that attended

We went to the Boy Scouts of Kuching meeting. It is very well run and organized. They were British before independence, so they have had Scouting as long as America has.

I

Hi Sister Nissie. She is the one that we got a sewing machine for so she could start her own business.








Our door got Heart-attacked by the missionaries for taking them all out to lunch.

In Sister Nissie's house with her sewing machine all set up and ready to go to work.  This is one of our favorite success stories. Notices no shoes on. No matter what home, no matter how humble, you take your shoes off before you walk into their home. The girls are in their school uniforms.

This Brother Jeff. I heard about him before I ever got here.  He drives the missionaries that live way out to District meeting every Tuesday and other places too.  Just before we got here an Elder was killed in a bike accident with a car. He holds himself responsible because he wasn't driving them.  (He shouldn't, but he does).  He will probably not have to pass go, but will go straight to Heaven.