Is this much fun legal?

hi mom and dad and everyone,

kuching is doing good and things are moving along. last week we only got two new investigators, which for this area, is not good, its a really low number. so this week we've been trying to do better, our goal is one new investigator a day, and we got one on Monday, and one on Tuesday, so far so good. we met a really cool girl yesterday, we knocked on her door, just said basically that we were from our church, and she let us right in, and got us Milo to drink, we shared a little bit, and she was very happy for us to come back. what?! that is all you could ever hope for when you are contacting. we almost didn't go knocking too because we didn't have that much time. crazy. seriously, the people are just prepared to hear the gospel, every day it is a testimony builder to me. i mean, sure, there are tons of people who just start shaking there heads when you try to talk to them and people who pretend they aren't home and everything, and then there are people who just let you right in.

yesterday was actually a pretty fun day, our last appointment was a birthday party for one of our investigators, Ah Mei, she is Chinese. we didn't have that much time so we were eating pretty fast, they made steamboat for us, which is a pot of boiling soup in the middle of the table, and you cook meat and veggies and stuff in it, so delicious. so we said, uh, sorry, we have to go.. and they said, no no, the cake, you have to sing to her! so they brought out the cake and we sang, and then we were stuffing the cake into our mouths, and i started sneezing like ten times, and it was almost our curfew, and we were running around a little like chickens with our heads cut off. and then sister Lim made me help her finish her cake because she couldn't. we were so full, because we had just had two appointments before where they fed us. yay for missionary work. it was a fun night and we rode home in record time. we were really glad we went because it was just her family and us, not that many people came. it was really nice, it felt like we were a part of her family. but don't worry, i still remember who my real family is, i love you family, and i miss you,

sister Harrison

Thanksgiving, Success and Singing

hi family

dang, sometimes i feel so far away.. Asher is going to school, what? Harrison can not only walk, but talk, too, what?! I've officially been out for a year now, i hope Xena still remembers me! anyway, the holiday season is officially underway here. I've been celebrating thanksgiving this whole month of November. "celebrating thanksgiving" means that when it is my turn to pick the hymn for companionship study, i choose from the 'praise and thanksgiving' section of the hymnbook. i just discovered that section, and let me tell you, this thanksgiving season is going to be a really good one.

anyway, we have had some good things and some bad things go on here in our little kuching world. we have some baptisms coming up, and for me it is the first family that i have ever taught, so i am really really excited about it. the wife, Simbut, just recently opened up and she loves church, and is reading the book of Mormon, when before, she would just sit and listen and her husband was the one to talk to all of us. so Sulin is the husband and Simbut is the wife and David is their son, he's eight. they are really cool and will get baptized in a couple of weeks. bad things, a family we have been working with for a long time, reni and tedong, we stopped by once a couple of weeks ago and they were drunk, i might have told you about that. last Saturday we had a really good lesson with them, they really want this in their life but struggling to make the changes. so that was way good, but then on Sunday, they didn't come to church. oh well, we are seeing them tonight, i will tell you how it goes.

oh one last cool story. last week we had some time because and appointment fell through so we knocked a couple of doors in that same apartment complex. usually knocking there isn't that great, it has a lot of Chinese (in my limited knowledge of the Chinese language, i know how to say, 'we're Buddhist' -wo men pai sin-) but we knocked just two houses. one had a girl named tracy, who actually said we could come back, and when we did, she was so good. she has lots of good questions, and has talked to lots of people from lots of different churches, which is usually a good sign. then yesterday when we gave her a book of Mormon, she got out her bible and stuff, and she already had a really old book of Mormon in her house. i seriously couldn't believe it. i guess it was her dad's, who lives in bintulu, which is like nine hours away. crazy! but she is cool, and i hope good things happen with her. if she gets baptized and if reni and tedong get baptized, those are the two craziest stories of how we found them. that would be really cool.

anyway family, i love you, i hope you have a good thanksgiving season, feed my picture some corn again??

sister Harrison

PS i made up a song on my bike that turned out pretty good, I'll share it with you. it goes to the tune of "my favorite things" from sound of music. enjoy

kitabs and bug bites and biking in dresses

sunshine and tan lines and sweaty blonde tresses

visiting Ibans and making them sing,

these are a few of my favorite things

oh malaysia, when i leave you,

i will be so sad,

but if i remember my favorite things,

then i don't feel so bad.

rice, chicken curry, and endless, hot summer

can't teach the Muslims, its really a bummer

and in melayu they haven't a thing,

Malaysia Malaysia makes me want to sing

oh Malaysia, when i leave you

i will feel so sad,

but if i remember my favorite things

then i don't feel so bad

Mufflers Hurt !!

hi family,

just another little weekly update. still here in kuching, still doing missionary work. oh yeah. still learning a lot. i woke up today, and i was just so happy, so i must be doing something right. we saw this family last night, Sulin and Simbut and their son, David, and they are so good. last week we saw them and talked to them about baptism, and they weren't really that sure about it, Simbut, the wife, said she was afraid of cold water. but they went to church and really really liked it. and when we saw them yesterday, we came in, sat down, and they asked us when they were getting baptized. awesome, we had this whole lesson prepared talking about the gospel, and why we need to be baptized, and if they wanted to get baptized at the end of the month, but bam, at the beginning, they asked, and we said, how about the 26th? awesome. this is the first family I've taught that really wants to get baptized and is really excited about it. it is so cool. dang, what a good gospel.

in other news, i burned my leg on a moto muffler last night, one was behind me, that i just was still hot, and i stepped back, and bam. that is the second time that has happened on my mission, the last time was in sibu, same scenario. ouch. now I'm going to have twin scars on the back of my leg. excellent. but everybody here has scars from motos, seriously everybody. so I'm glad i fit in that way.

today for pday sister lim was nice enough to let us go to the church, and she wrote letters while i just played the piano for like an hour and a half. i really miss the piano, i could remember a lot of stuff though, some pieces i memorized forever ago, and sort of a lot of that Ben folds stuff that i always used to play. good times, i didn't realize how much i missed it. so we may be at the church every pday after this.. haha.

okay family, i love you, have a good week,

sister Harrison

Now you know what MILO is.

hi family!

mom and dad, you are the best, thank you for sending me awesome stuff all the time, I'm sorry i always am asking you guys to send me stuff, but i am forever grateful. this week was really good, we finished up the training in Sibu, and we came back to dive into the work, only to have sister lim leave on Monday to go to Singapore to chop her passport. she has to go back nearly every month because usually they only give her thirty days, unless she gets an extension. but now she is back, and we are back, and we have some cool people right now. most of them are families, which is really cool, i have never really taught families before now, so i am really grateful we got to find them and have the opportunity to teach them. they are all having their own personal struggles right now, meaning that none of them came to church last week. lame. but hopefully this week will be another story, and my district leader says we have to be bold and everything, so we are working on that.

i'm glad to hear that mom is doing better, and that she is working furiously along with the orchestra, i can't wait to hear her! and also i am waiting on pins and needles to hear how lance's date went.. haha seriously tell me i want to know.

but family, i love you and things are doing really well here, have a good Halloween!

sister Harrison

PS. milo is a chocolate malt drink, sort of like hot chocolate but not quite. it is delicious hot or cold, i hear you can get it in America at the Asian market, so don't worry family, i will have you try it and you will love it too!

PPS

we live above elder and sister reidt, and sister reidt has been helping me do a little quilt (don't worry, all on pday) but its turning out pretty cool, and we included a picture.. hibiscus is the national flower, bunga raya love you fam!

Sibu Mission Training

hi fam, I'm writing you from the sibu, the city of my birth. we are here for mission training, and it is really weird to be back here. the last time i was here, it was January! insane, it is October right now. mostly everything is the same, same house same church, same email place. weird. time goes by way to fast, and i think i say that in every email.

the conference has been great, getting us really pumped up for work in our area, and it is really cool just to listen to the gospel. we saw (finally) conference last week, and it went by so fast. Anita and ain got baptized last week, and it was a bit of a nightmare, we had ady baptize her, he is our recent convert from September, and it was his first time baptizing, and lets just say that i lost count of the times he had to rebaptize her. at least six or seven. oops. i hope he is not afraid to baptize again, but at least she is baptized, and i don't think she'll forget that one any time soon.

the funniest thing happened on Sunday, we went over to tom's house, we are teaching his family, his niece and nephew are Bianca and martin, i may have mentioned them before. anywho, they never want to pray in the lessons, they are really shy about it, we have been wanting them to pray for at least two weeks now. tom finally prayed at the beginning, and we hardly even had to ask him. it was a really good prayer. so we asked martin to give the closing prayer, and we wrote an outline for a prayer in his book of Mormon, and said he could follow it as he prayed. so he agreed. and basically, translated into english, this is how it went, 'Heavenly Father, speak from your heart..' haha the whole family busted up laughing, even martin. they are such a good family, the only problem is that tom works every Sunday. but, he says after October his job on Sundays is ending, so we are excited for them.

love your favorite little Malaysian,

sister Harrison

Baptisms are Awesome !!

hi family, hi mom and dad,

guess what? we get to watch conference this weekend! cool, huh? but we are super excited, i can't believe it has already been six months since the last time i saw conference. dang time goes by fast. we are also having a baptism this weekend, so it is has been an awesome week. Anita and ain are getting baptized. the craziest story of how we met them. they knew elders a long time ago, maybe more than a year. but they saw some elders riding their bikes and yelled out to them, the elders stopped and got there number, and gave it to us. then like a week later, like an hour before church, i was calling people, trying to get people to come, and i just called them and told them about church, and Anita showed up with four kids in tow. so freaking awesome. since then she has come every week, and is super strong. she is from Indonesia, just like Ady, who got baptized last month, and Dorina, who got baptized in August. and not only are they all Indonesian, they are are they same dialect of Indonesian. sweet. they are starting a little Indonesian club. yesterday i met another Indonesian from the same place as them, so we'll try to get him converted too. and they are all super strong together, it is really cool to see. so baptism, conference, and next week we are going to Sibu for mission conference. crazy, i feel like I'm traveling as much as you guys are! it will be really cool to be back in Sibu, i haven't been there since January. Dang.

yesterday we saw these people we are teaching, Reni and Tedong, and Tedong, the dad, said some pretty cool things. first, i was asking him what faith means, and in effect, he said it is when we want to do good and don't want to do bad anymore. what a good answer. sure faith is when we believe, but is when we believe enough to follow, to change our lives. he is cool. we were asking them about baptism, and he said the only thing he is afraid of is starting to follow something, and then later not being able to follow it. so cool huh? usually people don't even think it through that far. so if he was to get baptized, he knows he is in it for good, that it is a real change in his life. we are excited for him. hopefully in a few weeks i will be telling you that they are getting baptized!

but i love you family, have a good week,

sister Harrison

It's the Rainy Season !

dear mom and dad, and the rest of the family too,

hi dad i like your email, and I'm glad hear that you are deliberating over my Christmas package, haha.

hi mom my favorite part of your email was when you said "we are enjoying your letters and emails immensely" i wrote this in the letter I'm sending, but two nights ago i had a horrible dream i was at home and you and dad sat me down and said that you hated my letters! crazy dream, huh? but i totally thought it was real, and i was crying in my dream and everything, so i am really happy that that is not the case. thanks for liking my letters. and don't worry, my dreams aren't all bad. last night sister lim said l was laughing out loud in my sleep. creepy, yes. it must have been pretty funny.

kuching is good. the wet season has starting in true Malaysian fashion by completely soaking us, and then as soon as we buy rain coats and drag them around with us everywhere, it has been as dry and hot as ever. I'll include a picture, we bought temporary bright yellow raincoats, that we wore over our bags and under our helmets, and they were billowing out in the wind. as if we didn't stand out enough. oh well.

next week we will be getting ready for a baptism, Anita and her daughter Ain. Anita is really cool. she comes to church every week even though she has to sit outside the whole time because her baby just cries and cries. he is such a sad baby. his dad is a big drug user, the first of it I've ever seen in Malaysia, and sometimes i worry that that is why he cries all the time. so so sad, but I'm happy we got to meet Anita anyway, and really happy she always comes to church.

i love you family, so much!

sister Harrison