Just close your eyes and pray

Salamat Pagi from Borneo.  We hope and pray you are all doing "baguse" (great) as they say here in Borneo.  I thought I would try to impress you with my Bahasa Malay.  Are you impressed?  Well don't be because I know very little Bahasa but I keep trying to learn a word a day.  So far I think I've learned um like 10 words.  I'll keep working though.  The Elders here are very helpful but all the locals want you to speak English so they can learn and practice their English.

We made one trip into the jungle last week.  It wasn't too far out.  It was only about 1 1/2 hrs out of KK.  It was by far the roughest, toughest, bounciest, worst road I have ever been on.  It was like a Disneyland ride.  I just closed my eyes and prayed.  We had to cross this river three times:

The first time we crossed was the deepest.  The driver put a blue tarp clear across the front of the 4WD to keep the water out of the engine.  It was quite deep.  I just closed my eyes and prayed.  Notice the hill and mud we had to go up on the other side.

About another 30 minutes jolting and bumping and grinding along we came to this fine stretch of road:

That is pure mud and ruts.  Our driver tried three times to get up this hill, but the 4WD just kept sliding and slipping.  Again, I just closed my eyes and prayed.  We all had to get out at this point and continue our journey on foot.  Our shoes were soon caked in mud and in some places your foot sank up to your ankle.  Yecchh.  When we got off the road we could see the village of Tiku that we were headed for:

Isn't that a beautiful picture.  It was so pretty when we could actually see the village, our destination.  Before we could go down to the village we had to cross the river again, but this time it was by suspension bridge:

The bridge is actually about 150' up.  It sways and you must be very careful where you put your feet.  As you can see in the picture, the boards are not in the best condition, they are broken and cracked and sometimes not even there.  This time, I just prayed, didn't dare close my eyes.  When we got to Tiku we talked with a villager named Moses and his family

They are such cute children.  Moses and his wife actually have three more children who were away at school for the week.  Such a poor humble home.  We think we can help this village get clean water by giving them new pipes and helping them with the dam they have built in the stream.

Some of the homes in Tiku.  Again, I closed my eyes and prayed for these people and I prayed we could bring them clean water and that someday they would be able to hear from the missionaries about the living water they can have in their life.

The next day after getting back from Tiku we put together the school kits and the hygiene kits for the three Indonesian schools we are helping.  Both branches combined for a joint Fellowship Night and they really dove right in and helped us so much.  There is no way we could have done 300 hygiene and 300 school kits by ourselves.  The members LOVED it.

First we all put on our "Mormon Helping Hands" vests.  These were a big hit.

The members would grab a backpack and head on down the school line where others put the items in the backpack.  Then they headed out the door and across the hall to get the hygiene kits:

After they had the school supplies and hygiene kit in the backpack, they put them in the empty room next door.  I should have taken a picture of that room.  It's amazing how 300 backpacks can fill up a room.

This is one of our little helpers, Evan.  He was so excited to be able to help and everyone made sure he got his backpacks filled.  He was happy to be helping like the big kids.

Some of the branch members who helped l to r:  Pres. Ng (mostly there, by the door), Sis. Audrey, RS Pres. KK1 branch; Sis. May Lin, YW Pres. KK2 branch; Sis. Ervinna, RS Pres. KK2 branch; Sis. Juliza, wife of Pres Harun KK2 branch; Pres. Fausto, 2nd Counselor District Presidency and Mary Ling, wife of the district president and institute teacher KK2 branch.

It was a very successful activity.  We love the branch members for all the support they so willingly give.  They love to serve.  So again, I closed my eyes and prayed for the branches and all the wonderful people in KK.

Thank you all for your comments.  It's good to know someone is reading the blog.  I hope it gives you a little insight into what it is we are actually doing out here.  If you ever have any questions, please let us know.  We will try to answer you. We love staying busy and we love serving in Malaysia.  It truly is the "Greatest Mission on Earth".
E/S Read