I Love MyLDSMail!

dear family,


myldsmail leaves me speechless. anywho, i did get to read your email before it kicked me out, so i was lucky today. oh man, i have a lot to tell you. you asked a lot about president clark. well, apparently some time ago he decided that he wanted to go around and meet all the elders in his first week, but because it's nearly impossible to get to every place in the mission, the assistants planned for him just to go to the big cities, and to bring all the elders to him. i guess he didn't like that idea at all, and so he for all of week travelled to every single missionary house in the mission! i don't think president skelton ever saw most of the missionary apartments the whole time he was here.

he also met with the leadership of every single branch and district in the mission. he got to Kuching on thursday night, and met with all of the leadership in the district here. that won him some HUGE brownie points. then he came and met with each missionary in their apartment on friday morning. he is really cool and a lot more up beat than president skelton was. we didn't get much time to talk with him because he had to catch a flight to sibu, but i quite enjoyed the visit with him. i think dad was right though, there will probably be some pretty big changes.

in speaking of changes, we found out some crazy news. elder palfreyman's group goes home today, and there was an elder named elder Romney who was serving here in kuching that is going home as well. we were excited to hear who would be replacing him. we always find out about transfers on thursdays, so when the assistants called on thursday morning, i knew what it was about. we did our mid-week reporting with them, and then they told us that they had some news. this is how the conversation went:

elder richards: "...we've got some transfer news for your zone. elder Wall will be coming to replace elder romney."

i was really excited to hear that, because i'm pretty tight with elder Wall and i haven't seen him forever...

but then he continued, "elder griffin will also be leaving kuching 3rd branch."

"oh really?" i said. "where to?"


"He'll be replacing you, because you are going to Bintulu on monday."

ADUH! transferred again. i now sit in an Internet cafe in Bintulu, Sarawak. i guess they really like me here in east malaysia. honestly though, after the shock of hearing that i was leaving again after not even 3 months, i was really excited to come to bintulu for many reasons. first, i'm companions with elder Gulbrandsen. i don't know if you remember me ever mentioning him, but he's probably the most successful (numbers wise) missionary in the mission. he really knows how to get things done. plus, we're good friends, which makes things even more fun. second, bintulu is famous for being the craziest jungley place in the mission. and it's true! i fell like i'm in the jungle book right now. it's so awesome! third, i freaking love ibans! fourth, i'm back in the same house with elder semana! i love that guy!

oh yeah, that reminds me... apa hal lah?! how come he got whitney's senior picture before me? no, but it's super fun being back together with all of these elders. elder semana is now training an elder named elder Stewart. apparently his dad used to be mayor of provo or something... i dont' know, that's what he said. he's really green (really green), but he's also pretty cool. the only bad news about all of these changes is that elder gulbrandsen is going to be leaving in august to be assistant (SHHH, don't tell him. he doesn't know), so i'll have to learn the ins and outs of the area pretty fast.


it's good to hear that everybody is doing well. i got to read beau's email to his family. he sounds like he's doing really well. do you know when andrew gets home?

so, i haven't gotten any packages since christmas i think. oh, just kidding, i did get the deodorant one in kuching (thank heavens). i think it's only because i've gotten moved around so much. i hear that a couple of them have arrived in singapore from other areas though, so i think that one day i might get them. it may be when i go home, but i guess that's better than nothing...
i cant' really think of much else. i'm doing well here in my new area, i'm still fat (but i did go running yesterday), and i still love borneo. i think that's it. i love you all!


love,
elder troxel