Photos from Malaysia

Thomas sent home lots of photos and here are a selected few.

The first week in Sibu, Thomas and his companion, Elder Ajek, witnessed the baptism of one of the people they taught.

The second week there, Thomas went to Mukah, a coastal town nearby, for a zone conference, where the 10 young missionaries in the region met together for training and some activity.

Got up really early in the morning to catch the 5:30 AM bus to Mukah.

At a town square in Mukah.

On the Mukah coast.

With all the missionaries in the zone plus a local family.

Local musical performance at the park.

Giant swing.

Getting on the giant swing.

Malaysian canoes.

One of the luxuries in Sibu is a McDonald's fast food place.  Because Bintulu, the place where Thomas spent the last 8 months, does not have any McDonald's, Thomas is frequenting this McDonald's often during the first two weeks there.  One time, as documented here, the place was exceptionally busy and Thomas had to wait a long time for his turn to place the order.

The church is on the top floor of the building at the end of this street.

Here are a set of photos from Bintulu, during the last week of Thomas' assignment there.

Fishing activity with the men of the Bintulu 3rd Branch.

Getting the gear ready for fishing.

Not sure if Thomas caught anything.

Cooking the freshly caught fish.

Someone got a big one.

Over the three days between Thomas being notified about his move to the day of the move, Thomas visited lots of people he taught.

Making some kind of meat dish by mashing the meat in a wooden vessel.

Thomas trying his hands on making the ground meat.

 Last Sunday at church in Bintulu.

More family visits.

Thomas saying goodbye to the chef at a local eatery who had
been cooking Thomas' favorite dish for him all the time.

One of the family lived over the hill and
this is Thomas' last trip up the hill.

Thomas just moved to Sibu, East Malaysia

After 8 months in Bintulu, Thomas learned on Good Friday (22 April) that he was being transferred to Sibu, a city located at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan Rivers and about 100 miles southeast of Bintulu.  He arrived in Sibu on Tuesday (26 April), after a long ride by himself on the bus.  Thomas misses Bintulu already, especially the many nice people he worked with there.  Quite a few people wrote him goodbye letters, knowing that they might never see him again.  He was touched by the letters, in which they thanked Thomas for bringing the gospel into their lives and changed them for the better.

Thomas' new companion is Elder Ajek, who is from Kuching, the capital city of the State of Sarawak.  Thomas is really glad to have someone who knows the culture and languages well to be his companion.  He is going to learn a lot from him.

The church in Sibu is on the 6th floor of a building and this is the view of the city from the church.  The tall white building on the right is houses an internet cafe where Thomas emails us from.

Another view of the city from the church.  Sibu is a medium size city with about 250,000 people.  It has a large Chinese population because it grew out of a settlement founded by Chinese immigrants from Fuzhou (Foochow) in 1901.

The LDS church in Sibu has 3 branches.  Two are Malay speaking and one Mandarin speaking.  Thomas is serving in the Sibu 1st Branch.  He and Elder Ajek share an apartment with Elders Williams (from Georgia) and Chin (from Sabah, East Malaysia).

New Companion

After serving almost 6 months with Elder Bench, Thomas went to Singapore in mid-February to pick up his new companion, Elder Howell, who is a state champion distance runner and avid cyclist from Draper, UT.  They are working well together but Thomas is having a hard time keeping up on the bike with Elder Howell as they travel on jungle paths.

With Elder Howell new in the area, Thomas is taking more responsibility for the work.  He is stepping up to the challenge and is showing Elder Howell the ropes and helping him with the language.  Elder Howell is great and is adjusting well to the new environment.

Thomas sent home >200 photos a few days ago.  Here are some of the photos he sent.

On the way to Singapore to pick up new companion.

Elder Howell

At baptism service the night Elder Howell arrived in Bintulu (12 Feb)

With Elder Howell and Elder Orien

Late to appointment

Best dressed person in the jungle

Outing on "preparation day" to Sebauh

Trying rice harvesting skills

"Long house" near Bintulu

Long house

Interior corridor of long house

Walking down the street with "Bo boy"

Christmas and New Year in Malaysia

Over the last 2 months, Thomas experienced Christmas and New Year in Bintulu.  There were lots of activities at church and at members' houses.  The tradition is to visit people and every family feeds the visitors, whether the visitors are hungry or not.  Thomas enjoyed the food but felt like he was going to explode after visiting a few families.

Santa visited the Christmas party at church.

Another picture of the church Christmas Party.

The missionaries took part in a youth meeting at the Similajau beach.  One of the activities was a sandcastle building contest.  The elders built a pretty elaborate one.

Washing off sand after building sand castles.

Playing with the youth at church.

Thomas was able to work with a number of families.  One family has some really cute children.  The baby boy (they call him Boboy) loves to play the piano.

"Teaching" Boboy how to play the piano.

With a newly baptized family.  Kids' names are Rembula, Patricia and Boboy.

One of the things Thomas craved was cheese.  Abby found a wheel of cheese that's encased in wax and sent it to East Malaysia.  It survived the trip and it was a hit with the expatriates.

Cheese sent from home.  A luxury not found in Borneo.

Thomas rides his bike past this big project everyday.  They hear that fertilizer plants and aluminum factories and such are being built at this site.

A large tract of jungle cleared for industrial development.

Thomas went to Singapore towards the end of January so that he could renew his visa to Malaysia.  While there, he visited two families who took good care of him during his summer internship in Singapore in 2009.  He also made some recordings of children church songs in Malay for use in meetings back in Malaysia.

While in Singapore, Thomas fulfilled his dream of buying cheap ties.  He went wild and bought 11 ties for 22 Singapore Dollars (about $17.30).  When he got back to Malaysia, Sister Orien could not resist to do a "photo shoot" of Thomas with his new blue tie.  It was made artistic by photoshop.

Abby is real proud of Thomas for using all kinds of reflective materials, flashlights, and other bike safety gear while he rides in unlit country paths.

At the baptism of a new member.  Elder Bench, Thomas' companion for almost 6 months, will be leaving Bintulu for Kuching next week.  Thomas will be going to Singapore to pick up his new companion, someone who is fresh from the US.