The Cereal Thief, JK!

as always, things are going pretty good. the last couple of weeks have been harder for me for some reason, but things are looking up. sister petty and i are getting along (even though she eats my cereal sometimes. i don't really mind, but it is like eight ringgit a box, i mean, come on, that is precious stuff) and we've started to go to the gym every morning, so i'm getting back into running. in the mtc i got really bad shin splints, so now i'm working myself up really slowly, it feels good. i miss running outside.

we had zone conference just this past week, and a member of the seventy came and talked to us, he is the area authority for asia, and he told us a lot of interesting things, that i think dad will especially like to hear. the asia mission area hold around half of the world's population, and there are more mulisms in our area than in the middle east and north africa. isn't that crazy? because malaysia and indonesia are huge muslim countries with big populations, and places like bangladesh, and even pakistan might be in our area. also he said that malaysia is the ninth fastest growing mission right now. cool huh? take that, all you south american missions!

i think we might be getting close to having a stake in malaysia, which would be so cool. it would not be in KK though, they are still too small. but there is going to be a temple here someday, and when that day comes, i will be so stoked. also when they finally print the book of mormon in malay will be a very good day.

anywho, just thought you would like to know that kind of stuff. they are making some changes in our mission, too. for visa runs we are supposed to go through in missionary clothes, and we might even start wearing our tags here. that would be crazy, i'm not sure if i like it. i bet other missionaries don't even think about there tags, but i think it is a lot easier without them. because we already look different, i mean, we are the only white people here, dressed up. and it is so much easier talking to people and bringing in the gospel, sort of slidding it in to the conversation. the other day i was talking to a girl, just about her, and what i was doing here. i said we just go around and teach people about our church. and then (like it had just occurred to me) i said hey, maybe we could come to your house, and teach you a little bit! and she said yes. but i feel with the tags our purpose would be staring people down. maybe not. maybe i'm just afraid of what i'm not used to. we will see if we will eventually have to wear them.

it is really good to talk about the gospel all day, about the thing that will help people the most. sometimes, when i walk into an apartment complex which is huge, i feel there is no way we could even have the time to knock this whole thing. and then only a few people would be willing to even listen, its like how much good can we really do, we can't even begin to make a dent. but then you work a little, and you carve out a little, and you find someone awesome that makes the whole thing worth it. so missionary work is hard and very good. i just need to get better at it, hehe. (listen to me, i have everything all figured out over here)

sister renee harrison

Maylay is Crazy !

wow. i seriously can't believe that tracy is graduating. i can still remember when we went shopping for books my first semester at byu, and when she showed us her little carol. and now, she is all done. what is her plan for this summer? how long are she and marc staying in utah? and tell me how spark is getting a long. i quit over a year ago, crazy.
anywho, this week was really good. i introduced sister petty to saturday's warrior. my new favorite song is the missionary one--big surprise. here are some choice lines:
'with our swords of truth we plunder,
slicing wicked men assunder,
we are something of a wonder, in our humble way

sometimes i feel like that. also:
'crooked generation,
will you scoff at ordination?
we are warriors by a right, so respect us if you please'

yeah.

so anywho, i discovered something new about missionary work this week. it is a freaking roller coaster ride of emotions. i think i felt like this at the beginning, too. but this week, it seemed every day had really high highs, and pretty low lows, too. it is exhausting. I think missionary work is pretty stressful because important things are riding on your everyday activities, and your skills, too. so sometimes i would feel like i couldn't do missionary work, i didn't know how to help people, i can't speak. but then other times, i would feel like this is the most awesome thing i could be doing, and i don't ever need to worry as long as i'm trying hard. and sometimes my malay is spot on, and lets face it, the members are awesome here, you can't help but have a good time when you are around them. last week it seemed like i went up and down and up and down. but i really think it will even itself out. i think because i have a new companion right now things are harder, but they will smooth out. i think me and sister petty could do pretty good here, she is a really good missionary, and she wants to work hard. she only has three months left. i wonder if i will kill her off here in sabah, which would be awesome because i would be here for a heckalong time. or i might get transferred before she leaves, which means i only have one or two months left here. transfers are crazy because right now there are only ten sisters, and so you can sort of guess what might happen. but you can also drive yourself crazy too. the good thing is, all of the sisters here right now are pretty cool, i think i could get along with any of them.

hmm, what else? we have two awesome investigators right now. one, farini, is the most golden i have yet seen. she is eighteen, and super cool, and in our second lesson, she told us she already had a testimony of the book of mormon! so some things are hard, but you can't really complain when you have people to teach like her. she is a blessing to teach, who knows why we were the ones who got to meet her.

ok gear shift, no pun intended, do you want to know another reason why malaysia is so awesome? dvds are dirt cheap here. there are no copyright laws. they have had avatar on dvd for weeks now, it costs less than three dollars for a really good copy. thats less than seeing it in the theater! so, if you want any dvds, i bet i could get them to you before they were out of the theater in america. just let me know. what good is having a daughter in malaysia if she can't send you really cheap movies? no good, thats what.

well, sorry this email is all over the place, but malaysia is doing really good. its always summer here.

love, sister 'sounds like a sabahan' harrison

Renee' has a new companion !!

So transfers happened last week, and now i am with Sister Petty, i knew you would be stoked, mom and dad! the only sad thing is that i was pretty sad sister richey left. she was so fun and we really got along, her last week in KK was so fun! for example, for some reason, she had tons of money left in her account, so we had lots of eating out, lots of mango lassies (at five ringgit a pop-but it is worth it) and even mcdonalds take out, when sister richey had her very first big mac. (mcdonalds delivers here, its awesome, and a little hard to resist. but don't ever order the breakfast, no mcgriddle and no syrup for pancakes. we learned the hard way.) also i will miss dance parties to church music, and watching saturdays warrior (as well as the SW karaoke-i love dvd special features)

its hard to go from all that to someone you don't know at all, but i really think sister petty and i will get along too. Missionary work seems completely turned on its head though, because now that i am the one that knows everyone, and is showing sister petty around, i have to lead a lot more than i had been doing. and things like talk on the phone in malay and everything! its only really been one day, but i already feel like my malay has gotten a little more solid, its easier to understand and to get things out. one cool thing is that sometimes i know some words that sister petty hasn't learned yet, because she has spent her whole mission in sarawak, the words i know are sabah specific. its kind of cool to look back and see that i've actually learned a lot. but enough about malay.

this week is going to be a hard one i think, just as we are transferring everything over and getting used to each other. but we have some really good investigators now. One girl is so good, she had a dream about the book of mormon last night! and last week we just happened to meet this guy that had learned everything up to the baptism interview, he had some problems, and stopped learning, but now he wants to get baptized again, awesome! and one sad thing, do you remember the deaf guy, simon? he is so good (he even payed fast offerings on sunday) but he can't get baptized for six more months, so i probably won't get to see it, which is so sad..

hey did you know that Kuala Lumpur means something like 'muddy river end'? crazy.

Renee's First Baptism, Waa-hoo !!!

this week has been really good, and there are a lot of things going on. this Saturday was my very first baptism! I think i have probably already told you about it. We baptized a Filipino woman named Irene, who is the sweetest little lady. she bore her testimony at her baptism, how when we first started teaching her, she wasn't really interested, and how her feelings changed, and how she felt when she decided to be baptized. It was so cool to hear her. she is pregnant, and i think the baby is coming next week. the sad part is that she doesn't have a husband, and she has to give the baby away. so i think these next few weeks will be really hard on her. but I'm so happy she got baptized before she had her baby, so that she has all of these things to help her through.
the other person we baptized is a kid named Terrance, he is about twenty two. he is super tall and skinny, and is sooo quiet. he doesn't say hardly anything, but he is just willing to follow all the commandments and come to church, and you can see that he is happier. we want to teach his little brother so he will have someone to come to church with him. he is really cool too.

so. they are the first baptisms. it is so weird to have recent converts to worry about, its kind of exciting! and it is so cool to see them come to church. (although that has only happened once.. its only been one Sunday, ok?)

we haven't seen conference yet, because we don't have a satellite, they are sending them on dvds, so hopefully we can see it next week. (we are teaching a deaf man right now, so hopefully we can get a sign language copy too, that would be so cool)

the next bit of good news.. remember when i went on splits for the very first time, and i was super scared, but it turned out okay? we met these ladies who just showed up for the lesson, and they are awesome! she showed up for the church the very next Sunday, book of Mormon in hand. we were teaching her, and it is so so good to find someone who wants to learn. who is willing to read and pray, those are the lessons that are the best. they live in this ghetto part of town. just a dirt road with trash everywhere, and all of these wood houses super close to one another, most of them up on stilts. to get to her house, we have to climb this huge hill. at night when we leave, there are no lights, and it is like we are in the middle of the jungle. its crazy, (but don't worry, if it is at night, we always bring a boy with us)

i almost forgot! i got the package you sent me yesterday, and let me say, it was awesome, there are no other words to describe it. thank you so much for sending it, and including everything that i had ever asked for! we have already watched Saturday's warrior, and loved every minute of it.

Waa-hoo! Sister Harrison is a teaching machine !!!

i want to tell you about the first time that we went on splits this week.

first off, i was super scared. petrified, even. I mean, actually going into people's houses with a member, teaching the whole lesson, giving commitments, the whole nine yards. add to that the fact that every time i ask a question, I'm not sure i will understand the answer, and if they want to tell me a whole story, there is no hope for total comprehension. so i was worried, to say the least. But get this, it went awesome! i was so scared when we went to the first house, we were supposed to teach the plan of salvation to one person, but three other people showed up who wanted to be taught, (one of them i had never seen before, the other two we had met, but had a hard time working with their schedule) anywho, so i had to teach about prophets and the restoration. i was super scared, but as we just started talking about heavenly father, and how He loves us, it was all downhill from there. the spirit just came in, and it was so good. and the lady whom I'd never met before, she was the best one! she didn't know where the church was, but i told her that her neighbor was going tomorrow, and she could just follow her. and the next day, who was at church? she was! it was so cool, she was so happy to be there, and she had brought her book of Mormon and the restoration pamphlet we gave her too, it was so cute. so, it turned out to be a really good day, and i had nothing to worry about.