hewo family!
I FREAKING LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! things here are great. don't worry, i didn't starve to death. i've been building up fat so that i can survive in times when i don't have food, just like grizzly bears. but seriously, i've noticed recently that i'm developing a ponch! all my muscle is gone, and now i've got a gunther! horrible. the food here is so delicious and cheap though. i can't help myself.
this week had it's ups and downs, just like every other week. probably the best part was that we got to do exchanges with the zone leaders. i got to go back to KL with Elder Houston monday and tuesday while Elder Palfreyman and Elder Clark stayed in Klang. Elder Houston is such a stud. he's the one that fought in Iraq for a year before he came. he would load the mortars and he also would stop cars and check them for bombs at checkpoints and stuff. if anybody tried anything at all, he had to shoot them. CRAZY! he's an amazing missionary though and i always learn a ton when i'm with him.
WEEKLY REVELATION: when sitting on a rail, if you start to fall off backwards, don't try to turn it into a sweet trick... you'll only end up hurting yourself more. mostly your pride.
We had our first bike wreck in our companionship! of course, it wasn't me. elder palfreyman ate it the other night when he hit a huge mud puddle. he jacked up his hand a little bit (nothing bad, just a little scrape), but we ended up getting a guy's phone number because of it. all's well that ends well i suppose. i thought it was hilarious, but he didn't find it quite as amusing as i did. it's all good though, as you might have inferred from my weekly revelation, he got to see me fall backwards off of the rail at the bus stop the next day. and yes, i did try to turn it into a sweet trick... and yes, it did just hurt more.
well, right now we've got five people on date. Ram (who is being baptized on sunday) from Nepal, Deb from Nepal, Bhakta from Nepal, Madan from Nepal, and Raymond from Ghana. Yeah, I might as well have been called to serve in Nepal. they're all pretty solid though, so i hope they can make it.The work, as always, has it's ups and downs, but i love it. i love the people (even when they call the police on us). Mom and Dad, i hope you are planning on serving one because it's amazing.
Whitney: I was so pumped to hear that prom went well! oh man, i don't think you realize how excited i was. i'm glad you had fun. high school was so fun. make the most of it while you can. DO YOUR HOMEWORK! you'll remember it your whole life... until you get that old person disease that makes you forget everything. but lets hope that doesn't happen for awhile.
anywho, that's pretty much all. is mandy about ready to pop yet? she's due in may right? send me pictures. how about kim? is michael dating anybody? IS WHITNEY DATING ANYBODY?! anywho, i'm very safe and happy, so no need to ever worry (mom). i love you all.
elder troxel
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
What's That Smell?
Note from Dad: Sorry about the late post, for those who check right away, as you will see the email system was down for quite a while. It's up and running now!
hello family!
wow, i almost didn't get to email today. we came here this morning and the website was down. we came back again after we went shopping and it was still down. we decided to give it one last try before we go to dinner and it worked! yippee skippee!
so this last while has been pretty rough. the last week and a half or so have been incredibly unsuccessful. we had to drop three of the people that had baptism dates because they won't keep commitments. we did our best to commit a lot of people to come to church, but only one showed. that was a bummer and a half. sunday is like the result day for the week, and when you only have one at church it either means you didn't work very hard or it's been a poopy week. it was a poopy week. we have a huge teaching pool and we find new people every day, but getting people to keep commitments is the hard part. elder daines (the new assistant) called us and suggested we do one of the exercises in preach my gospel to help us work on our commitment extensions. we did it along with some role play and the result has been amazing. we went out on monday and set three more baptism dates and everything has been really good since then. all three of the dates we set were with new investigators that are really solid. i hope they make it.
money has also been short. i wrote about this in my letter home, but you won't get that for about a week, so i'll write it again. they're re-doing the way that they give us support. they've given everybody debit cards and they'll just put it on those at the beginning of the month. the only problem is that we've been budgeting to get support money on the 26th, so we have to just grind it out until then. i've got about 35RM to last eight days. i've got faith though. as it says in 1 Nephi 7:12, the lord can to all things if we have faith. no worries.
WEEKLY REVELATION: there are pretty much 5 smells in malaysia: 1) feces- whether it's human or animal, it haunts you where ever you go. 2) urine- people thing it's so funny to pee in elevators and in stairwells. personally, i don't see the attraction. 3) BO- deodorant is the least purchased item in malaysia. 4) exhaust- this one is the best of the five, but it's still horrible how polluted it is here. 5) cigarettes- i don't know the exact percentage of smokers in malaysia, but it has to be right near 50%. moral of the story: I LOVE MALAYSIA! but not the smells.
i had a really cool experience yesterday. we spent most of the day trying to find this lady that was referred to us by church headquarters. we spent forever looking, with no luck. i suggested to elder palfreyman that we pray, and i asked that if we couldn't find the lady, that we would be able to find someone who would progress towards baptism. we didn't find the lady, so we walked back to the train station. as we came down the stairs, i noticed a guy looking at us, so i went and talked to him. to make a long story short, i talked to him the whole train ride home, gave him a tamil book of mormon, and he's coming to church on sunday. it was really cool. prayer answered.
Whitney, tell kahea to email me and give me his mailing address. have fun at prom! i hope you get the letter i sent to sometime this week. it's hilarious. take a ton of pictures for me.
i don't think i'm going to get the package, and i wept when you told me there was two packages of beef jerky in it. POOP! yeah, sending them to the mission office is probably best. although i did get a package from chelsie there. just hit and miss i suppose. in the next package, do you think you could send some high endurance red zone old spice? three or four. as i said, there isn't much selection as far as deodorant goes here.i love you all. stay safe. take pictures =)
elder troxel
hello family!
wow, i almost didn't get to email today. we came here this morning and the website was down. we came back again after we went shopping and it was still down. we decided to give it one last try before we go to dinner and it worked! yippee skippee!
so this last while has been pretty rough. the last week and a half or so have been incredibly unsuccessful. we had to drop three of the people that had baptism dates because they won't keep commitments. we did our best to commit a lot of people to come to church, but only one showed. that was a bummer and a half. sunday is like the result day for the week, and when you only have one at church it either means you didn't work very hard or it's been a poopy week. it was a poopy week. we have a huge teaching pool and we find new people every day, but getting people to keep commitments is the hard part. elder daines (the new assistant) called us and suggested we do one of the exercises in preach my gospel to help us work on our commitment extensions. we did it along with some role play and the result has been amazing. we went out on monday and set three more baptism dates and everything has been really good since then. all three of the dates we set were with new investigators that are really solid. i hope they make it.
money has also been short. i wrote about this in my letter home, but you won't get that for about a week, so i'll write it again. they're re-doing the way that they give us support. they've given everybody debit cards and they'll just put it on those at the beginning of the month. the only problem is that we've been budgeting to get support money on the 26th, so we have to just grind it out until then. i've got about 35RM to last eight days. i've got faith though. as it says in 1 Nephi 7:12, the lord can to all things if we have faith. no worries.
WEEKLY REVELATION: there are pretty much 5 smells in malaysia: 1) feces- whether it's human or animal, it haunts you where ever you go. 2) urine- people thing it's so funny to pee in elevators and in stairwells. personally, i don't see the attraction. 3) BO- deodorant is the least purchased item in malaysia. 4) exhaust- this one is the best of the five, but it's still horrible how polluted it is here. 5) cigarettes- i don't know the exact percentage of smokers in malaysia, but it has to be right near 50%. moral of the story: I LOVE MALAYSIA! but not the smells.
i had a really cool experience yesterday. we spent most of the day trying to find this lady that was referred to us by church headquarters. we spent forever looking, with no luck. i suggested to elder palfreyman that we pray, and i asked that if we couldn't find the lady, that we would be able to find someone who would progress towards baptism. we didn't find the lady, so we walked back to the train station. as we came down the stairs, i noticed a guy looking at us, so i went and talked to him. to make a long story short, i talked to him the whole train ride home, gave him a tamil book of mormon, and he's coming to church on sunday. it was really cool. prayer answered.
Whitney, tell kahea to email me and give me his mailing address. have fun at prom! i hope you get the letter i sent to sometime this week. it's hilarious. take a ton of pictures for me.
i don't think i'm going to get the package, and i wept when you told me there was two packages of beef jerky in it. POOP! yeah, sending them to the mission office is probably best. although i did get a package from chelsie there. just hit and miss i suppose. in the next package, do you think you could send some high endurance red zone old spice? three or four. as i said, there isn't much selection as far as deodorant goes here.i love you all. stay safe. take pictures =)
elder troxel
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Lost and Found
Dear family,
i'm so pumped to hear that TJ and Kim are having a boy! i knew it! that's going to be nuts having a mini TJ running around! i bet he drools too. just kidding... but seriously. how's little aubrey doing? when is she due again? i hope both mandy and kimberly are doing well. tell michael to get cracking.so about the packages... i haven't gotten one from you guys, but i go two from chelsie. the thing about sending them straight here is that unless it fits in our mail box, i'm not quite sure where it goes. but it's bound to be around somewhere. i'll ask the guards about it when we get back and update you about it next week.
as far as visa runs go, they usually try to pair us with somebody else who's visa is expiring around the same time. when we go on visa runs, we have to wear normal clothes and look as touristy as possible. they just changed how we do visa runs actually. in the past, missionaries in this area just travelled by bus there and back (5 hours each way), but they've had a lot of trouble with the visa checks in Johor Baru, so they're bussing us in and flying us out now. quite a tricky situation, but heavenly father blesses his servants, so things will always work out.
this week started with a bang; i got lost for the first time on my mission! Hooray! it was on thursday with elder roberts, because elder palfreyman hadn't gotten back yet. we went to teach a guy named Gopal in the morning and rode our bikes. after the lesson, he told me that he and elder foster usually let gopal ride one of the bikes because he has to go to work right after. separating from your companion is never a good thing, but disobedience seems to be running rampant in the PJ district. there really didn't seem to be any other option though, so i gave in and let gopal ride my bike and i ran. i don't know the area, and all elder roberts told me to do was run up the hill past the round-about. i got about a five minute head start and took off towards what i thought was gopal's workplace. i ran for about ten minutes and still hadn't seen them pass me, so i stopped and waited. after a few more minutes of not seeing them, i came to the conclusion that i'd gone the wrong way and ran back to the round-about. there was another street that had a hill, so i ran about a mile up that street and really felt like this was not a place where i was supposed to be. i said a quick prayer and felt that i needed to go back to where i had been. so i ran back to the round-about and up the first street. i ran to the point where i had stopped the first time, and there sat elder roberts. i was glad to have found him, but i wasn't a very happy camper and i was extremely thirsty. the moral of the story is always speak up for what you know is right. this experience could have easily been prevented if i'd of just spoken up and told all 6'5" 225 pounds of elder roberts that he was wrong. but hey, it makes for a good story.
there is a couple in our district named the Shaws. they're from australia and they are hilarious! they say the funniest things. and it's not that they're even that funny, it's just that the words they use are so weird! for instance, sister Shaw threatened to give elder roberts a "cripple nipple" the other day. in english, that translates into a "titty twister" or "purple nurple." i thought that was so funny, so i thought i'd tell you. cripple nipple.
WEEKLY REVELATION: pass-along cards are better in the hands of investigators than in the pocket of your white shirt in the washing machine... there are many mysteries about washing clothes that i have come to know since i've been on my mission, and i'm sure there will be more.
this week wasn't as successful as our last few weeks. people just didn't seem to be interested. it's been a good lesson in patience though. last night we were tracting, and i was testifying about the book of mormon to this budist guy, and he started laughing right in the middle of it. i was so angry. i'm pretty sure i started foaming at the mouth, but luckily for that guy, elder palfreyman stepped in and let me cool off. it's been good for us to struggle a bit though. how can we know the good if we don't know the bad? things will get better as long as we keep working hard.
in the next package you send me, if you could throw some cotton socks in there, i would greatly appreciate it. that australian guy at mr. mac had no idea what he was talking about. wool socks in malaysia? moron. just kidding, but they're falling apart.
anywho, i hope all is well. i love you all! thanks for the prayers. the people of malaysia REALLY need them.
Elder Troxel
i'm so pumped to hear that TJ and Kim are having a boy! i knew it! that's going to be nuts having a mini TJ running around! i bet he drools too. just kidding... but seriously. how's little aubrey doing? when is she due again? i hope both mandy and kimberly are doing well. tell michael to get cracking.so about the packages... i haven't gotten one from you guys, but i go two from chelsie. the thing about sending them straight here is that unless it fits in our mail box, i'm not quite sure where it goes. but it's bound to be around somewhere. i'll ask the guards about it when we get back and update you about it next week.
as far as visa runs go, they usually try to pair us with somebody else who's visa is expiring around the same time. when we go on visa runs, we have to wear normal clothes and look as touristy as possible. they just changed how we do visa runs actually. in the past, missionaries in this area just travelled by bus there and back (5 hours each way), but they've had a lot of trouble with the visa checks in Johor Baru, so they're bussing us in and flying us out now. quite a tricky situation, but heavenly father blesses his servants, so things will always work out.
this week started with a bang; i got lost for the first time on my mission! Hooray! it was on thursday with elder roberts, because elder palfreyman hadn't gotten back yet. we went to teach a guy named Gopal in the morning and rode our bikes. after the lesson, he told me that he and elder foster usually let gopal ride one of the bikes because he has to go to work right after. separating from your companion is never a good thing, but disobedience seems to be running rampant in the PJ district. there really didn't seem to be any other option though, so i gave in and let gopal ride my bike and i ran. i don't know the area, and all elder roberts told me to do was run up the hill past the round-about. i got about a five minute head start and took off towards what i thought was gopal's workplace. i ran for about ten minutes and still hadn't seen them pass me, so i stopped and waited. after a few more minutes of not seeing them, i came to the conclusion that i'd gone the wrong way and ran back to the round-about. there was another street that had a hill, so i ran about a mile up that street and really felt like this was not a place where i was supposed to be. i said a quick prayer and felt that i needed to go back to where i had been. so i ran back to the round-about and up the first street. i ran to the point where i had stopped the first time, and there sat elder roberts. i was glad to have found him, but i wasn't a very happy camper and i was extremely thirsty. the moral of the story is always speak up for what you know is right. this experience could have easily been prevented if i'd of just spoken up and told all 6'5" 225 pounds of elder roberts that he was wrong. but hey, it makes for a good story.
there is a couple in our district named the Shaws. they're from australia and they are hilarious! they say the funniest things. and it's not that they're even that funny, it's just that the words they use are so weird! for instance, sister Shaw threatened to give elder roberts a "cripple nipple" the other day. in english, that translates into a "titty twister" or "purple nurple." i thought that was so funny, so i thought i'd tell you. cripple nipple.
WEEKLY REVELATION: pass-along cards are better in the hands of investigators than in the pocket of your white shirt in the washing machine... there are many mysteries about washing clothes that i have come to know since i've been on my mission, and i'm sure there will be more.
this week wasn't as successful as our last few weeks. people just didn't seem to be interested. it's been a good lesson in patience though. last night we were tracting, and i was testifying about the book of mormon to this budist guy, and he started laughing right in the middle of it. i was so angry. i'm pretty sure i started foaming at the mouth, but luckily for that guy, elder palfreyman stepped in and let me cool off. it's been good for us to struggle a bit though. how can we know the good if we don't know the bad? things will get better as long as we keep working hard.
in the next package you send me, if you could throw some cotton socks in there, i would greatly appreciate it. that australian guy at mr. mac had no idea what he was talking about. wool socks in malaysia? moron. just kidding, but they're falling apart.
anywho, i hope all is well. i love you all! thanks for the prayers. the people of malaysia REALLY need them.
Elder Troxel
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Visas
dear family,
how is everybody? that's so awesome that whitney got asked to prom! and yes, i do read your letters dear sister and i really do appreciate them a lot. keep them coming! also, the child mentioned a check...
this week was crazy, just like every other week here. we are finding so many people! the week before last we had 19 new investigators. last week we had 21 more! the hard part is weeding out all the ones that aren't going to progress at all. things are going really well and we're working our buns off. we need to work so much harder to keep up with all the investigators though.
i can't remember if i told you, but elder palfreyman was made district leader this week because the previous one (elder clark) became one of the zone leaders and the previous zone leader (elder daines {who we lived with for my first week in KL}) was made an assistant. lot's of changes going on. right now elder palfreyman and one of the other elders in our district are in singapore on visa runs. every 90 days we have to go to singapore to get our visas renewed. it's pretty poopy because it really throws off our groove. so right now i am in a three-some with elder roberts (new to our district) and elder maynes (who doesn't even have a companion at the moment because he's getting a greeny on friday). all three of us are from three different areas so it's really confusing who has what appointments at what time and where. CHAOS! elder palfreyman gets back tomorrow though so everything will be good.
Chinese people are so hilarious. Elder Palfreyman and i go to the park and fun every other day, and there are always these chinese people there doing the most ridiculous things. they call them "Chinese aerobics." really all it consists of is a lot of arm rolling and some "repulse the monkey" type moves. they are so hilarious. next time i go to run, i want to take my camera with me.
in speaking of cameras, this next memory card is going to be awesome. i took some epic photos and videos at Batu Caves during zone conference. there were monkey's everywhere! i took a video of one tearing open elder peirson's bag of peanuts. i can't wait for you to see it! it's only half full though, so you'll just have to wait.
i haven't been able to see conference yet. the way it works is they send us a recording of it and we watch it a few weeks later. we got lucky and get to see it this next saturday and sunday. i'm pumped. i heard it was good... but i guess it always is.
When is mother's day? i'm pretty sure it's in May, but what day? the way i'll probably work is i will wait to call until it's monday morning here, so it will be sunday night there about 6 or 7 o'clock. but that's a ways off, so it's not too big of a deal at the moment.
WEEKLY REVELATION: if you take the wheel guards off your bike (so it will go off jumps better, of course) and ride through the mud, your shirts get really dirty. Good thing i have tide pens!
the only other thing i would really like to have (besides a lot of hostess products. SEND ME HOSTESS! please) is my line of authority. i don't know how you go about doing that, but if you could send me one it would be very nice. maybe you could laminate it???
WEEKLY REVELATION 2: water is not very good for paper... especially books.
i hope everything is going well. i can't believe robbie is going to manchester! that's so crazy! i'm sitting here in public internet cafe, and i screamed out loud when i read that! good on ya, mate. if you could pass that on to robbie for me, that would be great. also tell him to stop being a bum and write me!
i love you all. stay safe. -elder troxel
PS- i forgot to tell you that if i have recieved any packages, elder palfreyman will bring them with him from singapore, so i'll let you know next week. rumors are that i have a couple there though... BUT SEND HOSTESS DOUGHNUTS!
how is everybody? that's so awesome that whitney got asked to prom! and yes, i do read your letters dear sister and i really do appreciate them a lot. keep them coming! also, the child mentioned a check...
this week was crazy, just like every other week here. we are finding so many people! the week before last we had 19 new investigators. last week we had 21 more! the hard part is weeding out all the ones that aren't going to progress at all. things are going really well and we're working our buns off. we need to work so much harder to keep up with all the investigators though.
i can't remember if i told you, but elder palfreyman was made district leader this week because the previous one (elder clark) became one of the zone leaders and the previous zone leader (elder daines {who we lived with for my first week in KL}) was made an assistant. lot's of changes going on. right now elder palfreyman and one of the other elders in our district are in singapore on visa runs. every 90 days we have to go to singapore to get our visas renewed. it's pretty poopy because it really throws off our groove. so right now i am in a three-some with elder roberts (new to our district) and elder maynes (who doesn't even have a companion at the moment because he's getting a greeny on friday). all three of us are from three different areas so it's really confusing who has what appointments at what time and where. CHAOS! elder palfreyman gets back tomorrow though so everything will be good.
Chinese people are so hilarious. Elder Palfreyman and i go to the park and fun every other day, and there are always these chinese people there doing the most ridiculous things. they call them "Chinese aerobics." really all it consists of is a lot of arm rolling and some "repulse the monkey" type moves. they are so hilarious. next time i go to run, i want to take my camera with me.
in speaking of cameras, this next memory card is going to be awesome. i took some epic photos and videos at Batu Caves during zone conference. there were monkey's everywhere! i took a video of one tearing open elder peirson's bag of peanuts. i can't wait for you to see it! it's only half full though, so you'll just have to wait.
i haven't been able to see conference yet. the way it works is they send us a recording of it and we watch it a few weeks later. we got lucky and get to see it this next saturday and sunday. i'm pumped. i heard it was good... but i guess it always is.
When is mother's day? i'm pretty sure it's in May, but what day? the way i'll probably work is i will wait to call until it's monday morning here, so it will be sunday night there about 6 or 7 o'clock. but that's a ways off, so it's not too big of a deal at the moment.
WEEKLY REVELATION: if you take the wheel guards off your bike (so it will go off jumps better, of course) and ride through the mud, your shirts get really dirty. Good thing i have tide pens!
the only other thing i would really like to have (besides a lot of hostess products. SEND ME HOSTESS! please) is my line of authority. i don't know how you go about doing that, but if you could send me one it would be very nice. maybe you could laminate it???
WEEKLY REVELATION 2: water is not very good for paper... especially books.
i hope everything is going well. i can't believe robbie is going to manchester! that's so crazy! i'm sitting here in public internet cafe, and i screamed out loud when i read that! good on ya, mate. if you could pass that on to robbie for me, that would be great. also tell him to stop being a bum and write me!
i love you all. stay safe. -elder troxel
PS- i forgot to tell you that if i have recieved any packages, elder palfreyman will bring them with him from singapore, so i'll let you know next week. rumors are that i have a couple there though... BUT SEND HOSTESS DOUGHNUTS!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Get Down with the Sickness
hello family!
first of all, no need to worry about me not getting an email from you last week mom, i'm a fairly patient man. i got too many to read this week, so i'll have to wait until next week to read the second half of yours this week. but everything here is still great. i got sick for the first time yesterday. it was really weird and it came out nowhere. i had the squirts like crazy. i'm over it now pretty much, but i'm still really out of it so forgive me if this letter doesn't make very much sense or isn't grammatically correct.
so how is the office going? has there been any new episodes? anything crazy happen? are pam and jim still together? what's going on with dwight and angela?!
that's so funny about chelsie and alyssa. elder palfreyman is so smitten by here it's almost gross. in fact, it is gross. he didn't appreciate dad's little joke about michael very much. i thought it was hilarious! excellent work dad. (Note from Dad: I wrote in Jordan's letter that Michael and Alyssa really hit it off and appeared that they were going to start dating...then put "just kidding".)
i've decided that a week and a half without a p-day is way too long. we've been out of food for five days. it's been fine though, we've just had to eat out for all three meals. it's cool because mcdonalds delivers here, so we just ordered and had them deliver to our room when we were done exercising. as far as prices go... if you compare economies as if dollars and ringits (malasian dollar) were the same amount, most things are a lot more expensive. a mcdonalds meal is usually about 15-20 ringit. one dollar is about 3.2 ringits though, so most thing are really cheap according to american dollars. clothes really aren't all that much cheaper, but there is a place in singapore that taylors suits, so if i'm ever in singapore just send me your sizes and stuff.
oh ps- my debit card doesn't work in malaysia so my emergency fund isn't going to do much good unless i'm serving in singapore. it's all good though; we get 700 ringit a month for support. i had about 50 left over from last month, so i should make it again this month. if for some reason i don't, i can just call the senior couple and tell them my situation and they can get me more.
as far as teaching goes, this week was amazing. we taught some epic lessons. i also gave a blessing and had my first baptism! the baptism was so cool, especially since i got to actually perform the ordinance. the water was filthy, but at least it was warm. the fellow's name is Gyanendra Bahadur Basnet. he's such a studd. he's from nepal and works at the panasonic factory. which brings me to my next point: there are sweat shops in malaysia! it's ridiculous. they bring thousands of people in on contract from nepal and india for three years at a time and pay them 4-6 ringit an hour. that's like two dollars and hour. it's pretty much slave labor. but it's good for the work because nepalize people are really receptive and they will be excellent missionaries when they go back to nepal.
that's pretty much all i have to say... but i am running low on that norelco cream stuff for my razor, so if you could send me some of that, that would be fantastic :) i love you all! be safe.
love, elder troxel
Note from Dad: We received Jordan's memory card from his camera and we will be posting a slide show along with some video that Jordan took. I will post a couple of photos now but stay tuned.
Jordan out tracking, nice neighborhood!
A view from the balcony in Subang, 17th floor.
At least someone is doing the studying!!
first of all, no need to worry about me not getting an email from you last week mom, i'm a fairly patient man. i got too many to read this week, so i'll have to wait until next week to read the second half of yours this week. but everything here is still great. i got sick for the first time yesterday. it was really weird and it came out nowhere. i had the squirts like crazy. i'm over it now pretty much, but i'm still really out of it so forgive me if this letter doesn't make very much sense or isn't grammatically correct.
so how is the office going? has there been any new episodes? anything crazy happen? are pam and jim still together? what's going on with dwight and angela?!
that's so funny about chelsie and alyssa. elder palfreyman is so smitten by here it's almost gross. in fact, it is gross. he didn't appreciate dad's little joke about michael very much. i thought it was hilarious! excellent work dad. (Note from Dad: I wrote in Jordan's letter that Michael and Alyssa really hit it off and appeared that they were going to start dating...then put "just kidding".)
i've decided that a week and a half without a p-day is way too long. we've been out of food for five days. it's been fine though, we've just had to eat out for all three meals. it's cool because mcdonalds delivers here, so we just ordered and had them deliver to our room when we were done exercising. as far as prices go... if you compare economies as if dollars and ringits (malasian dollar) were the same amount, most things are a lot more expensive. a mcdonalds meal is usually about 15-20 ringit. one dollar is about 3.2 ringits though, so most thing are really cheap according to american dollars. clothes really aren't all that much cheaper, but there is a place in singapore that taylors suits, so if i'm ever in singapore just send me your sizes and stuff.
oh ps- my debit card doesn't work in malaysia so my emergency fund isn't going to do much good unless i'm serving in singapore. it's all good though; we get 700 ringit a month for support. i had about 50 left over from last month, so i should make it again this month. if for some reason i don't, i can just call the senior couple and tell them my situation and they can get me more.
as far as teaching goes, this week was amazing. we taught some epic lessons. i also gave a blessing and had my first baptism! the baptism was so cool, especially since i got to actually perform the ordinance. the water was filthy, but at least it was warm. the fellow's name is Gyanendra Bahadur Basnet. he's such a studd. he's from nepal and works at the panasonic factory. which brings me to my next point: there are sweat shops in malaysia! it's ridiculous. they bring thousands of people in on contract from nepal and india for three years at a time and pay them 4-6 ringit an hour. that's like two dollars and hour. it's pretty much slave labor. but it's good for the work because nepalize people are really receptive and they will be excellent missionaries when they go back to nepal.
that's pretty much all i have to say... but i am running low on that norelco cream stuff for my razor, so if you could send me some of that, that would be fantastic :) i love you all! be safe.
love, elder troxel
Note from Dad: We received Jordan's memory card from his camera and we will be posting a slide show along with some video that Jordan took. I will post a couple of photos now but stay tuned.
Jordan out tracking, nice neighborhood!
A view from the balcony in Subang, 17th floor.
At least someone is doing the studying!!
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