Why do Malaysian names all sound the same?!

dear family,

so i hit eight months in a couple weeks. is that not crazy to you? wow, time flies. nick morley is over the hump now, as is andrew, and jacob frost is past 18 months. i wish i could make it go slower.

i can't believe the cougs! that's so crazy. 14th! why couldn't they do that last year?!! if they win a national championship while i'm gone, i think i'll kill someone. good to hear also that craig is still tearing it up. that kid is a monster. keep me updated on kevin's mission call. my guess is Singapore.

so we had an interesting experience this week that definitely would qualify for a:

WEEKLY REVELATION: so, elder kartchner is on his first visa run right now, but he had to bus there so we needed to go buy bus tickets on monday. since i've never had to bus, i have no idea where to buy them, so he called the zone leaders to find out where we needed to go. he's still not familiar with all of the names of places here, so when Elder Richards told him he needed to go to "Puduraya," what he heard was "Putra Raya." there is no place called "Putra Raya", but there is a place that is on the outskirts of Selangor (the state in which we reside) called "Putra Jaya." so, we took the three hour trip to Putra Jaya only to find once we got there that we were in completely the wrong place. what a fiasco. however, i did meet a really cool kid who lived most of his life in baltimore, and was able to teach him and get his number. it's interesting how people just happen to fall into your path... if there's one thing i've learned on my mission, it's that there are no coincidences in missionary work.

well, we got some poopy news this week. the father of the family we baptized a few weeks back lost his job and started drinking and smoking again. ARGH! this experiece has been the biggest roller coaster ever. his family went from being completely dysfunctional, to being amazing, and now it's back to the former. the branch has really stepped in though. we only have time to go there maybe once a week, but there has been somebody from the branch there everyday to help out.

we've got another baptism coming up this saturday, and then it'll be two weeks before we have another one because we'll be watching conference on the 11th and 12th (that's assuming the DVD's get here by then, but that's what the branch is planning on). i'm so excited for general conference! it's going to be amazing.

i'm so glad we have time to study in the mornings. i only wish we had more time. i had no idea how little i knew until i came on my mission. there is so much to know. i've been studying about the second coming a lot lately. EPIC! as is the book of mormon. there is so much in there, i don't know how it all fits on those pages. i love it.

anywho, the work here continues. we're teaching some amazing people.well, i love you all. tell TJ to stop being a sissy. only 17?(stitches) pish posh. just kidding, that's pretty nappy.

elder troxel

Pulled Pork ;(

dear family,

first of all dad, when you update me on how teams perform, you should tell me who it is that is getting their butts handed to them. i thought it was the cougs that got beat 59-0. i almost soiled myself. and then i read on and found out that they won! then i did soil myself. that's so sweet to hear that mike is getting playing time. i'm happy for him. he's a stud. if you see him tell him congrats from me.

it's also good to hear that mom's knee infection dealio wasn't a big deal. i'm always on the edge of my seat when i read stuff like that. but just hang in there mum, you'll be good to go in a couple months... until the next one happens. my knees are bad news too. we do a lot of sitting on the ground cross-legged here, and i can't go more than about five minutes before i have to extend my legs. stupid football. just kidding. i love it.

this week has been, as always, complete chaos. what mom used to say is completely correct, "if the church wasn't true, the missionaries would have screwed it up a long time ago." it's always amazing to see how when things fall through, heavenly father will always put you where you need to be to meet who you need to meet (if you're obedient).

we also got transfer news!!!!!!! i'm still not being effected =( just kidding, i love this area and we're doing excellent work here. i would be very unhappy if i had to leave now. since my last email, we've set at least 4 baptism dates. it's hard to remember them all, but i think that's it. our next one is a week from saturday, then we've got 4 or 5 set for the 4th, one for the 11th, 4 for the 18th, and 1 on the 25th. it'll be an interesting month.

the food here is so delicious! i don't know what i'm gunna do when i have to leave (just kidding, i do. i'll lose weight). i'll make you some indian food when i get back. is there any indian food places in provo?so update me on what's going on with The Office. oh, and in your next package could you send me a calendar? i really need one.

i'm not surprised to hear that Dan blew out his knee. the mtc is much more dangerous than people think. i saw a few people break bones and blow out knees while i was there.anywho, we're off to a lunch appointment. i love you all.

elder troxel

You Shot the Invisible Swordsman!

dear family,

everything is going great here. it was good to hear that the cougs stole a victory. that defense needs to shape up though. defense wins championships. but don't worry cougs, i get back in 17 months...

so you asked for more details about why elder taiamony got stopped and put in the slammer. well, mostly just because he's from new zealand. malaysians are extremely racist against really anyone who isn't malaysian or white. if your skin is darker, it's really hard for people here. that, and he had about a billion stamps in his passport from all the visa runs he's been on. the malaysian government is absolutely ridiculous.

but we had an amazing week! it was actually a really hard and frustrating week, but any week that ends with four baptisms is a good one. we spent most of the latter end of the week trying to put things together for their interviews and baptisms. it was crazy. but they made it, and it was nothing short of phenomenal. we had the service right after church on sunday, so almost the entire branch stayed to see it. i baptized the father (Silvan), and then his wife (Kamala), son and daughter (Deva and Thenmoli) were baptized by Elder Hector, Elder Kartchner, and this guy in the branch named KC who helped us teach them a lot. it was so amazing.

zone conference so far has been fun. we're going to carl's JR after this. we've moved from Chili's to Carl's now. both are sangat sedap (very delicious). so we'll be doing that after this, and then we'll go to the other elder's apartment and watch the best two years. it's an all day p-day, but we scheduled an appointment tonight so we can feel like we're being productive. should be fun. my interview with president skelton was good. he basically just told me to be ready for more leadership positions in the future. we'll see.

i don't know what that wonderful looking something was in the picture of Elder Cusick and the other missionary, but i want one. that seems to be my problem these days, i have an unquenchable sweet tooth. i've been running a lot lately, trying to burn off my ginormous love handles. slowly but surely... at least that's what i keep telling myself. it will be nice to get back into a gym.

so chels is in jerusalem now. wow. that would be amazing, but i can see how being there would be a bit distracting from the studies. just stay focused girl. and don't worry about shortening your letters; whatever you have to do to stay on top of your studies.

so elder kartchner finished his training. yippee. all that that means is that we only get an hour of personal study instead of 90 minutes.

things are really cookin here though. hopefully we can keep it up. hopefully i can stay here for longer. i'd love to stay here my whole mission, but it's not likely.

tell everybody i love them and i pray for you all setiap hari (daily).

love,

elder troxel

NOTE FROM DAD: The "wonderful looking something" was a picture of a some kind of french pastry that Elder Cusick sent home. I forwarded several pictures onto Jordan because I knew he would appreciate them. Here is the picture he was talking about!!

NOTE FROM SCOTT:
I had three heart attacks just looking at this picture...Thanks!

I Hate Technology

dear family,

well, once again my attempts to conquer technology have been thwarted. i had all but finished my email, and was trying to use this new device that elder kartchner bought to attach some pictures, when this message popped up and said that the internet explorer had experience some sort of error, and all of my unsaved work was lost =(

so, here we go for round two. thanks a bunch for the pictures of jackson. i think he looks more like Kimberly than Tj though.

good to hear that Timp is carrying on the tradition. hearing about the BYU games is trunking me out of my mind! but keep updating me. i want to hear how they are doing.

this week has been good. we had a crazy bad rainstorm this week, the first really bad one of the season. i don't exactly know what a monsoon is, but i think it might have been one. we could only see a few feet in front of us because it was raining so hard. and cars here love to splash you when you walk on the side of the street... especially the buses.

i'm still alive, so no worries there. we had a baptism last week and we should have 4 more on sunday. things are going really well. there's been some crazy changes in our district and zone. elder Taiamoni, one of the zone leaders (from new zealand) went on a visa run and couldn't get back into malaysia. when he got to the airport, they put him in jail for a day or two, and then sent him back to singapore and singapore only gave him 14 days. so their trying to get him a workers permit, otherwise he'll have to transfer missions. this is a crazy mission! so that means that we only have one zone leader. elder maynes from my district got transferred so now elder richards (the lone zone leader) is with elder pace, who has only been in his area for about a week. crazy stuff. but no changes for us luckily.

zone conference is monday and tuesday, so you'll need to get your emails off early. anywho, carl's JR is calling my name, and i hate this stupid computer... so everybody take care and be safe. '

elder troxel

ps, PLEASE send me a list of everyone's birthdays!