gawai!

I thought I had just escaped holidays that kill missionary work when I left Penang (aka Chinese New Year, Vesak Day, Thaipussam...) then I come here to Gawai.  It's a big deal.  It's the festival to celebrate the harvest in Iban and Bidayuh cultures and it means a lot of eating, drinking, and balik-ing kampung (going back to the village where you were born).  What does that mean for us?  No one to teach and a lot of Word of Wisdom problems for our investigators and members.  We visited a family last night and when we walked in, there was a man passed out in the middle of the floor.  After he woke up, he just laughed and said, "Mabuk mabuk.  Gawai!" Translation...."I'm drunk.  It's Gawai!"  Apoooo.  The Branch President chewed him out pretty much and reminded him that we wouldn't even have Gawai if it wasn't for the Lord, so the guy reached down to show him the cross hanging around his neck and President basically told him not to use that as an excuse.  He listened attentively for the rest of the lesson :)

There's been crazy rain lately also, a lot of floods in the kampungs. It's not so fun to ride bikes in.  But better than being stuck in the traffic when it's raining like we had to do last week with the senior couple.  Two hours in the car to go about 5 km. 

We're teaching an awesome family right now, Acha and her kids, then her sister and kids, and their dad.  We'll just call them Acha and co. because it's 7 plus all together and I'm still trying to get down all the names.  They are getting ready to be baptized at the end of June, just working on some Word of Wisdom stuff now. They're so good though!  I love going to their house.  We pull up and all the kids run out yelling, "Sister!!"  So I'm in love.

We found a girl last week (Jong) who is part Iban part Chinese and we've taught her a few times.  Yesterday while teaching her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and baptism, she remembered that she was baptized when she was 12.  (When we first met, she said she was Buddhist, not Christian.)  Apparently one night, a guy came through her kampung calling out for people to follow him and be cleansed...so yeah.  All she remembers is she was cold and didn't know who Jesus Christ was.  So we invited her to get baptized again the same way Christ did and she's on date for the end of July! Same day as Jessica...a girl we found a few days after I got here, who is already half-way through 1 Nephi!

In other news, my companion got hit by a car! And I was behind her so I watched it all happen.  It was so scary!  I looked up and saw a car hit a bike and the girl on it going tumbling across the road.  I thought it was some random lady on a moto and freaked out, thinking, "Oh my gosh that lady just got hit!"  Then I realized that lady was a white girl...not too many of those around here....and that's when it set in that it was my companion.  She's ok…miraculously, just a bruised butt, which isn't so good when we sit on the ground for all of our teaching appts.  But she'll be ok.

That's all I have time for.  I love you all and hope you're well. Selamat Gawai!

Sister Norton

HFI

one of our investigators and their home

acha's family 

one of acha's kids. 

he's adorable.  doesn't talk but getting better at his high 5

the sidewalk near a member's house :)

kampung where one of the members lives.  

a view of the main govt building and the sarawak river

mana kari saya??

I miss my West Malaysia food!  There's an elder serving here who is from Butterworth (near Penang), so we daydream about curry together.  Poor kid is Indian and hasn't had curry in almost five months.  And I thought I was dying.  Hopefully that doesn't sound too racist.  I'm not.  I love my tambi.  

Ok ok so here I am in Kuching!  I LOVE KUCHING!  I already feel so comfortable here.  And I have two great companions, Sister Lor and Sister Parker.  Sister Lor is Hmong and Sister Parker is from Salt Lake.  Sister Lor was trained by Sister Wong who I lived with in Singapore so I'm happy every time she does something to remind me of her :)  I just love it.

There's a lot of good things going on in our area (Stampin).  We're teaching a lot of people and I can't believe how many new people we find to teach every single day.  People are so easy to talk to here. So nice and friendly.  And everyone is Christian! Or at least it seems like it's the majority.  Everyone is Iban.  I'm still not so good with speaking Iban....because I can't really speak any at all.  But my Malay is finally to the point that I've been waiting for for my whole mission, I don't really need to think much about what I'm saying, just talk.  So I'm grateful that I got the help right when I finally needed it.

So yeah, we just walk from appointment to appointment in the kampung (village) and stop and talk to everyone on the way. Senang saja!  I can't believe the kampungs though, I've never seen people live in conditions like these.  In some parts, they don't even have electricity.  But they have such good hearts!  So yeah, things are going well here.  Hopefully I can give you some more details or stories when I write next week.  I hope you're all doing well!  Enjoy the pictures of my newest area.

Love you!

Sister Norton 

HFI  

is the ground moving?

another earthquake?  nope, just a delirious companion.

it's been a crazy week.  now i understand why they don't tell you transfer news until just a few days before you're moved.  rewind real quick to last week....i knew there was a transfer coming up this week, but it was just an elder transfer so none of the sisters expected anything.  i felt like i was going to be moved though.  i told sister song about it and told her i thought i'd be going to kuching to join sister lor and sister parker and that sister wilson would be coming to be with her in penang.  friday night, we get a call from our district leader and it wasn't even a surprise.  exactly as i had predicted.  freaky.  so i was all stressed friday night thinking about leaving (turns out i really love penang and the people here), then the next morning the ap's called to tell me i wouldn't be leaving on tuesday as is the norm, but i would leave on friday so sister wilson could stay in singapore long enough for zone conference.  it's been twilight zone all week knowing i'm leaving but not leaving yet...i wish i wouldn't have known a week before i'm actually leaving.  torture.  but it's given me a lot of time to spend saying goodbye to members and recent converts and investigators.  we've had to eat unreal amounts of food this week.  unreal i tell you.  i think they maybe liked me here.

it was so good to talk to you, family!  sorry the microphone wouldn't work and it was a crappy camera.  but i'll see you soon anyway.

i'll just tell a story real quick and then i need to hurry off to run some more errands.  i think maybe i told you all a week or so ago about L, the guy we met in the elevator who was so interested in hearing our message.  we finally met with him last thursday night.  we had dinner and the conversation started out nice and hopeful with him talking about all these grand life and religious questions he has.  then he started talking about all the things he knew about mormons, turned and attacked us and our "naive faith," then went on to counsel us, because "he too used to be young and confused like us."  goodness it was a long hour of a lack of faith.  i was crushed when i got home that night.  i mean crushed.  i don't know why, i just felt so sad for him.  but i went to bed thinking about how grateful i am for eyes that see the light when it's right in front of me.  i was grateful for yet another opportunity to stand up for what i believe in, testify of it, and feel the calm assurance that it is true as the words are still coming out of my mouth.  it reminded me of president monson's talk from last fall, "dare to stand alone."  i know this is the right path.

i am excited to send you some updates from kuching next week!  i'll try to get some good pictures for you all.  i love you and hope you have a good week!

sayang,

sister norton
hfi 

 jenny and her kitab that she just finished reading!

 me and shobina, meethra & treesha,

daughters of our newest family on date to be baptized in penang!

me and iswari with her girls, hillary & danielle. 

wonderful members who are excited to meet my family

and make sedap curry when we come back! 

me and ming sin (ms) who will be baptized on the 26th!

kia haal hay

I have a new love for everything Pakistani.  The food is incredible, the people have hearts of gold...did I mention the food is amazing?? I got to visit a member in KL with Sister Jensen last week who is from Pakistan.  It was so nice.  Mom, Dad, we have an invitation to his house when we come back to Malaysia in a few years.  He insisted.  He taught us some Urdu and the guards at our building are from Pakistan, so we've been having a grand old time trying it out on them.  I think it means so much to people when you make an effort to learn their language.  

It's been a long week, lots of bus rides to and from KL last week (with cockroaches on the bus...) and to and from Ipoh yesterday for a zone meeting.  I think I'm done with buses now, thank you.  KL was so great.  It was so good to see Jensen.  I'm so proud of her and the work she's doing there!  It was really inspiring for me and helped me get some fire back, once again.  I think we take turns boosting each other up when we need it.  And zone conference was incredible.  It was tailor-made for me.  Ahh so emotional though, the AP's and President and Sister Clark all gave their "dying testimonies," because this is their last zone conference before they go home next month.  

Here's some other highlights from the past week:

My recent convert, D, gave her testimony in church for the first time on Sunday.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing as she stood up there and encouraged the members in the branch to believe in God and know that He loves them.  Absolute fulfillment right there. I couldn't have had more joy.  Then after church we went to visit J (other recent convert) at her house with some members.  She's almost done with Ether now!!  We both gushed over the story of the brother of Jared and it just completely filled me with light to know that she loves the scriptures and she understands them and applies them to her life.  It's a missionary's dream come true :)

We met with P once we got back from KL and she's still doing well. She said she had shared some of the things we had taught her with her family and they were so happy to hear about it, so we're going to visit them all on Saturday morning!!  This could be the family I've been praying for for seven months.  I'm so excited.

Oh and finally....my Mandarin name tag is on its way!!!!  Meet the first, non-native-Mandarin-speaking-sister in the Singapore Mission! Ever I think.  Anyway, President approved it, so it's done.  I'm still a Malay sister, but now I get a special name tag so the Chinese can notice my name tag and speak to me :)  It's coming along ok I think.  Dax better be there when I call on Mother's Day so I can show off.

I think that's about it.  Sorry, things are getting boring around here it seems.  But it's still good I think.  I'm still happy.  I hope you're all well.  I love you.

Sister Norton

HFI 

Penang.

 The tall building in the background on the right hand side

is where the Butterworth Branch is located.

 Sister Song and Sister Norton with Darla, who is in Mikelle's

grandparents stake in St. George, Utah.

(... such a small world!)

 A glimpse of Sister Norton's world ... downtown Penang,

 ... and more of downtown Penang.

kena pick-pocket

Saturday was a rough day for us.  A member in the branch wanted us to meet her friend who cuts hair, so the logical thing was apparently to have her cut our hair.  As I was sitting in the chair, she and Sister Song were conversing in Mandarin and I overheard her telling her that she learned how to cut hair from a book.  She reassured me that her hair was "curly" also.  (The ponytail twisted a little bit.)  So things didn't go so well.  Sorry, Amy.  I'll need a haircut again when I get home.  A year of growing out my hair (it was more than half-way down my back when it was curly!), down the drown.  Or more like all over the floor of her "salon" in her flat. I was maybe a little bit down.

Later that night our phone was stolen.  How?  Let me share with you the usual procedure for getting on a bus in Penang.  The bus pulls up and hoards of people gather around the door in a clump.  The door opens and the shoving begins.  I'm not afraid to make my way through as long as it's not an old auntie or uncle.  There's no concept of a queue so you have to act fast and don't mind if your personal space is invaded.  So there you go.  We had the phone before we got on the bus, we didn't have it after.  It was so awful of them.  We needed all those numbers, this is peoples' salvation we're talking about!  The worst is MS's number had just changed and we hadn't updated it in our area book, so now we have to wait for him to contact us (hopefully before his scheduled baptism next weekend), because we have no way to contact him.  I was so bummed.  

Other than that we've had a pretty biasa week.  Oh, except that the whole island of Penang is now ours and we have two apartments from which we can choose to stay in.  The elders are gone.  There's a shortage of missionaries right now so they pulled them out and put them in different areas.  Twice the workload for us, but we're excited to attack it.

So updates on people...hopefully MS will still be on for 12 May.  We met an awesome potential on Monday, L.  He was in an elevator with us and saw our name tags so he took us to get a drink real quick and talk.  He's been on a journey lately "finding God," so we're going to meet with him once we get back from KL.  Sounds promising I think.  We met with another Jehovah's Witness yesterday and I think we scared her to death because all of the stuff she usually uses to tell Christians they're on the wrong track we agreed with, then taught her the Restoration.  There was a look of, "Shoot, what if they're right?" on her face.  Hopefully she'll let us meet again.  And that's about it. We're in Kuala Lumpur now for Zone Conference.  Maybe I'll have more exciting stuff next week.  

I love you all.  Have a good week!

Sister Norton

HFI