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Write Elder Stahle!  Here is his contact info:

Email address:  clark.stahle@myldsmail.net

Send letters or packages to:

**See address listed on home page, under "about me".

Meet my new companion (Week 19)

Elder Stahle, Klang Missionary

This past week has been pretty good! It has been very busy because Elder Robinson was moving out and Elder Dailey was moving in. We had a lot of stuff that we had to do! We were not really able to do a lot of missionary work. We need to get Elder Dailey a bike but we will probably do that on Wednesday. The air here has been so terrible. In Indonesia they are burning trash and their rubber trees right now. So the air here is really, really bad. You can’t even see a 1/2 mile here. It’s so bad we need to go buy masks today. We haven’t seen the sun in about a week!  I don’t feel like I can ever get a full breath of air.

The locals told us that this dirty air will be like this for possibly the next 3 months! It is so bad the church was full of smoke yesterday. Also in Singapore there is so much smoke there that there is ash all over the cars and streets.  Every morning we wake up our house is smoky and smells like burning rubber and plastic! I know this can't be good for my health!! Contacting is impossible because no one wants to be outside in this air and they won’t answer their doors. So missionary work has really slowed way down here!

The dirty air and smoke.

We got dropped by an investigator this week. He told us Mormonism isn't for him, so he doesn't want to learn anymore. And just other things happened this week that I can't really talk about but, lets just say I feel very disappointed. This past week we were on the bus going to have interviews with President Mains. There was an immigration guy on the bus going around asking everyone for ID and passports. He found 3 illegal guys and so he took them to the front of the bus. One of the guys when the bus stopped he jumped out of the bus and took off running. It was so crazy!!

One of the Elders I was in the MTC with, he was in a place called Muka and he hurt his back and he has had a back surgery before. They sent him back to America yesterday!!

Elder Dailey, my new companion

Elder Dailey and I went to go see a family and they speak Bahasa only. So we had to speak with them in Malay! We both were really surprised how well we were able to speak. That was a great confidence builder!!!! We also went to the store later that night and had like a 10 minute conversation all in Malay. It was so cool and I feel a lot better about Malay. I feel like before that I would just rely on Elder Robinson. Now I can’t do that so I’m already seeing the benefit from being with Elder Dailey!

KL District, before transfers

We ate these whole fish, filled with fish eggs.  Not too bad
actually.

Ya, I’m very happy I’m staying here in Klang! President Mains said that they have only done this one other time since he’s been here [meaning, put two missionaries together that have been out in the mission field for less than 3 months each]. The previous time that he said that he did that was when one of the Elder’s was a local and spoke fluent Malay. He told us that he prayed about Elder Dailey and I a lot and he said, "I felt very very impressed that the Lord needs you two together at this time for some reason. I don't know, but I trust his judgement.” So we are feeling kind of overwhelmed, but also very good. We feel very ready for this challenge and experience! Ya, I did know Elder Dailey in the MTC. He was in the other District, so I didn't know him very well. He actually went to the U for a year so that is very good!! We get along really well. And you know where would need to freeze over before I ever go to BYU! (hahaha)

Delicious Japanese dinner with beef from Australia

We have a new investigator who we contacted on the bus. He is from Zimbabwe and he is really cool! He has such a cool accent! Hopefully we will get to meet with him this week a couple times. The work is good just kind of slow right now. We are actually getting some people that we used to teach who kind of went missing and they want to start to learn again.  Ya, being a senior companion you have to pretty much lead lessons, plan days, find out things to do if lessons fall through. Pretty much do a lot of things. When I was in training it was me who just let Elder Robinson do everything. So it is a huge role change. I have to learn to grow up really fast and become super responsible which I feel is very good for me already!!!

That seasoning I sent home you can make it with beef, and usually rice!!  I may need to buy new pants soon. Mine are getting so lose! My waste is probably a 32 now.  I'm on my last notch in my belt and my back is getting so much stronger! The stingray wallet is super cool!!  I’m glad you like it! We have been eating cereal for breakfast everyday. It’s alright. The milk is weird because they heat treat it so much that it can sit on a shelf for 3 years before expiring!! I love you so much Dad! Keep up the good work and I can't wait for you guys to come here to pick me up!

Hey Mom, it’s pretty daunting to be senior companion already! I'm ready for the challenge! I have already seen a big change in myself since I have come out here! Our condo is always super clean and I love it!  That's good you talked to Elder Robinson's Mom! Now that he is zone Leader he will get to go to Singapore once a month for a meeting with all the Zone Leaders in the mission with President Mains. Sister Ting said she really wants to meet Brooklyn and she thinks all the girls are so cute! She wants to meet everyone!! That should be fun for the girls to go to volleyball camp! I couldn’t find any of that meat stuff so maybe I will have to send some home in my next package.  The candy is really bland here and is strange, I think! Ya that bag I got for you I thought it was so cool! Everything I sent home for the family I want to say cost like maybe 130 US.  It is so cheap to live here...I love it!!  I will get a Sarong soon and send it home! Every missionary always gets one!  I love my mission so much and I easily have the best mission on earth!! It is so much fun!! Today we are going up to Batu Caves and we can play with monkeys there! That's where the Indians all go for Thai Pusam. That's where they put like the sword and metal rods through their mouths and cheeks its crazy!! But that's back in February so maybe when you and Dad come get me we can go see it!! I love you so much Mom and I love being out here, even though this is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, I love it!

Hey Maddie, not too much is new. I already wrote about it before (haha). I love you!

Hey Lydia, I lose track of the days so easily here cause everyday is church! Be careful with all the glasses! Keep helping at home with everything! I love you so much and miss you!

Hey Hannah, I hope you like all the stuff I sent you all! Keep getting better at volleyball and softball! I love you so much and miss you!

Smoke again from our apartment

Hey Brooklyn, I am having a great day on my mission! I love you so much Brooklyn.  Have fun this summer because you will be starting school soon!! I love you so much!

Love, Elder Stahle

Staying in Klang, Sr now! (4 months)

This week has been pretty good here in Klang! We had quite a bit of appointments so it was a good busy week. Leong left and went up to a island up north to be a swim instructor.  He's set on being baptized on September 8th because that is his birthday. He knows that the Book of Mormon is from God. He loves reading The Ensign from Conference in Chinese. He is just doing awesome! Well, today we find out about transfers in about 30 minutes but, everyone here doesn't think that I will leave. We will just have to wait and see!! Elder Robinson will probably leave because he's been here for 7 months! It actually wasn't very hard for me yesterday at church because I just don't feel like my time here in Klang is done yet.

Elder Stahle with Area Authority Elder Chan and his wife

I just heard that I'm staying in Klang!! My new companion is Elder Dailey. We were in the same MTC group in February. So since we are same group but this is my area I'm the Senior Companion!! So it will be the Elders Stahle-Daily show!!  Elder Robinson was just called by President Mains to be the new Zone Leader in KL! So Cool!!

I freaking loved Singapore!! The food there was so good! I got a shaved ice with sweetened condensed milk all over it with fresh strawberries!! So it was like 2 Sing! It was so good!  Singapore is a lot better than NYC I think. It is super clean. It just feels super safe there and really nice everywhere! Pei Wei doesn't even compare to the food here. Haha.. I'm sorry to say, but it will be so good when you guys come to get me and get to eat the amazing food here. I think it would be cool to get transferred to a Malay speaking area but, it's just not time for me to go to a new area yet. I definitely want the challenge and am ready for it!

Elder Stahle, Leong and Elder Robinson

I had a strange flesh wound I got last week on my foot. It hurt so bad to wear shoes for like a week! Whatever it was, I scratched it and made it worse.  Arizona? I could handle the heat now since I've been living in Satan's playground for the past 3 months! I love you so much Dad and Happy Father’s Day!!

Hey Mom, I'm doing really good. Just living the missionary life!!  I got the package and I love the sunglasses.  They look so sweet! Yeah.  Everything was in it that you shipped! That's good that it’s a nice day there! We always like to say "it's another nice sunny summer day in Malaysia!!" It never gets cold here unless you are under an air con! I miss candy bar cake so bad!! Next package can you send me like fajita spice packets. They are good to eat with hard boiled eggs! I don't need it anytime soon so don't worry about it right now. I miss the mountains! The air here lately has been really bad and dirty. When we bike it feels like knives in our eyes!  I'm okay not getting transferred! I have one of the biggest beds in the mission! That should be fun to go to the cabin! I really miss the cabin! That is good everyone is staying busy.

Group leader Wong family (he's like the bishop)

Yes!  Mom's homemade toffee inside!!

Hey Maddie, its been going good! I'm not nervous about transfers at all because they are not in my control. I miss and love you!

Hey Lydia, summer is never boring! That is cool you're getting new shoes, that should look cool! I love you so much.  Have a good week.

Checak lizard

Elder Robinson destorying my bike box!

Hey Hannah, I miss American food still a lot!  Keep helping with the dogs and with stuff at home! I love you and miss you!

Hey Brooklyn, I love you so much you should get the package soon.  That is so cool you got Anna's old iTouch. I hope you have a good week at home! I love you Brooklyn!

Singapore Visit to Renew Visa (Week 17)

Elder Stahle with his MTC buddies

So this past week has been pretty good. Very busy with a lot of traveling! We went to Singapore and that was awesome! I got to see so many of my old friends and Elder Olivares was there!!!! It was so good to see him! When I saw him he almost cried! He said that he was praying daily that he would get to see the day that I would be out here in the field serving with him! He bore his testimony during the testimony portion of the Zone Conference and he said some way nice things. He said how he was so proud of me for coming back out. Elder Gotfordson was there also. The flights to and from Singapore were good. They were only about 40 minutes. They were nice and short! 

We didn't really have many appointments this week. What we were able to squeeze out of it were really nice.

The Singapore Group

Elder Stahle tying to catch a french fry

It was so much fun to see Elder Baranov and everyone! So many people said that they could barely recognize me!! (haha)  They told us at Zone Conference that they are now calling “English speaking only” Elders and Sisters. So that all of us Malay speakers won’t have to serve in English areas. So we can put our language to use! So, August 1st is the day we get our first batch of English missionaries. So, I kind of want to serve in Singapore next before they change it to English only missionaries!

We had a pretty amazing experience that really helped my testimony grow. I’ll tell you about it later because I’m short on time. Saturday we went and did service for Sister Ting. It was so hot and the building had no air cons, so it was way hot. We moved about 10,000 folders. It was like a human centipede thing to get them from the 4th floor to the ground level. I don’t think I have sweated that much in my life!! My shirt was so wet! I easily could have wrung it out!!

Elder Olivares, 1 of my 2 companions
that I served with in the Provo MTC in July 2012

Hey Dad! Happy Father’s Day!! Singapore was so much fun!!! It was way easy for me to renew my visa! Those 5 Muslim guys didn’t bug us anymore and I don’t think that they will. So hopefully that is the case! It’s very nice to know that if we do everything that we can that the spirit will help to make up for everything else. And to also know that we are being protected by God. No, I still have not gotten the package yet so hopefully it will come today or tomorrow! The language is okay. It’s getting better everyday. Just not as fast as it could if I was in a all Malay speaking area. We will actually find out next Monday where we are going. Transfers are on the 20th. I will let you know next week. 




Man, I miss real American food [he is missing Moochies Sandwiches]! We just eat rice and curry everyday. It gets so old so fast!! We had the Subang Elders and the PJ Elders sleep over at our house last night. We went to McDonald’s and we got food.  It was so good!! Ya, I love it over here, I would totally want to work here!  I could see myself living in KL!  I love you so much and keep doing well!!

Elder Stahle and Elder Parker (He's from Arizona)

Hey Mom, That is was cool about Anna's family. That is crazy about the statistic with all the Sister missionaries. I love being over here it is so much fun! That is cool that everyone is doing so well in sports and everything. 

That is so funny about Brooklyn wanting a birthday party like that!! Haha.. It is so cute! 

I loved Singapore! It was so cool. We were out walking around and there was about ten F16 US Jets flying around!! They were kicking in the after burners. It was so loud and so awesome! We went to Chili’s and got unlimited chips & salsa and strawberry lemonades! We drank so much it was awesome! Yes, I love President and Sister Mains! I love Singapore! I saw so many Lambos and Ferraris and tons of Massarati! I love it so much! I love you so much Mom! Hopefully my package comes soon!! I love you!!

Hey Maddie, All the missionaries said that you are a beautiful daughter of God! They would want to date you but, you’re too young!! Hahahaha. So your friend that is coming here, is he called to speak English? Ya, there are always cool things happening here!  I love and miss you Maddie. Keep doing good at home!

Elder Stahle with Elder Gottfordson, 1 of my 2 companions
that I served with in the Provo MTC in July 2012

Hey Lydia, it is summer and I can’t believe June is already 1/3 of the way over! So that means another month is about to go down for my mission total!! That is so good that you went and did baptisms!! Make sure you are reading and praying daily, it has made my days so much better when I do that in the morning! I love you so much and stay safe. I miss you!

Hey Hannah, I miss you too! Ya, I bought another pair of clear lens Ray Bans, but you girls need to share them and be very careful with them! Don’t fight over them!! I love you and miss you Hannah!

Hey Brooklyn, I love you so much and I bought you such a cute little chinese girl shirt that is blue and silky!!  I got you a way cool key chain for your back pack! I love you Brooklyn.

Love,

Elder Stahle

Me with Elder Meister (He's from Australlia)

Our business cards we made.  They look awesome!

Investigator (Leong) took us to this super good,
but expensive korean bbq place

Opportunity to Baptize VJ (Week 16)

Elder Stahle and VJ

VJ's baptism

Well, this has been the craziest week of my mission by far! Where do I start? Yesterday, I had the opportunity to baptize VJ and it was awesome!! The spirit was so strong and VJ shared his testimony after. It was an amazing testimony! He is such an awesome guy! We were teaching VJ on Wednesday and he said he was having problems sleeping at night. So we asked him if he wanted a blessing. We gave him a blessing and right after he said he felt calm and at peace. It was such an awesome experience! So after that when we were leaving his house we ran into 5 Muslim Priest type guys. They told us how we are not allowed there anymore because it is owned by the Malaysian Government. They told us that people have been complaining about us...because they can see us!!! That was crazy! They would not let us leave. They kept on not letting us leave. They told us, when we were there last week that there were 6 white guys walking. But really, it was only Elder Robinson, Elder Meister, Elder Parker, and myself. But they said 6 so maybe we had angels walking with us! It’s pretty cool to think about that. There is no way you can mistake 4 people for 6 people.

We decided to go contacting because all our appointments fell through for the night. We ended up being at the right place at the right time and met a man. He only texts and calls us when he is drunk. He texted us last night at 2:30 AM and told us he wants to take us out to get beers. It is very sad the situation this man is in! Oh ya, we have another investigator! He told us when he met him how he knows the Book of Mormon is true. He has an amazing testimony about prayer and how it has helped him. He said 1 Nephi 8 talked all about the tree of life and how happy it made him to read that!

Hey Dad, my week has been pretty good! There has been a lot of crazy things happen this week! That is so exciting that Grandma and Grandpa had their 56th wedding anniversary! Tell them I love them and that I miss them both so much! I hope the Spurs destroy the Heat!  Hahaha!!  I love you so much!

Hey Mom, I miss American food so much!  That is crazy Maddie got to go to that concert! I am always tired here!! Yup 4 months already!  My release date right now says January 29, 2015. That is not a solid day. They don’t give you a solid day until you have 6 months left. No, I don’t need waterproof socks.

Hey Maddie, that is cool you got to go to the concert and what does it mean she acknowledged you?? What kind of camera do you want? It’s going great here! I love and miss you! It’s crazy school is over.

President Chan and his wife with VJ

Hey Lydia, That is fun you got a Lagoon pass! I still hate Lagoon though. Haha!! That is good that you like horses now. I love you so much have a good week. I miss you!

Hey Hannah, I miss BBQ ribs and sounds like you all had a busy week! Keep doing good in all your sports and helping out at home! I love and miss you!

Hey Brooklyn, I’m happy you are happy! And that you are taking care of the dogs. You have a fun week too!!

I love you Brooke!!

Until next week!  

Love, Elder Stahle

Malaysian Sunset

Someone's order of over 100 burgers, fries and apple pies