New Area - Penang Island! A Visit to the Chinese Snake Temple (Week 37)

The new area is great and the food is awesome! There is a really cool member named Malvinder! He served in our mission and he takes us out to eat everyday! It’s awesome! My new companions name is Elder Jin. He is Korean and he is from Dallas, Texas so it’s good! 

Chinese "Snake Temple"

The food here is incredible! Where we live is in the penthouse of a condo for now. In 3 weeks President Mains Sister is coming into the mission to be a senior couple with her husband. They will live there. No, I don't think this area was hit by the tsunami. I'm not sure though. 

No, we aren't the first set of missionaries here. There have been missionaries here for years, but they have only stayed on the North side of the island. So we are getting a brand new condo in the South where missionaries have never lived or worked. It will be super fun! It will be very hard as well. We are literally starting with NOTHING!

This week we visited the Chinese Snake Temple. It was crazy! There were pit vipers everywhere and they are all poisonous! They are wild and free!

That’s not good about Utah [football]. They should let Travis heal. That is so dumb with an obstruction call like that! Ya, I might want a truck when I get home! haha.That is funny you showed Trina who is boss!! haha. She needs that sometimes! I'm excited for the package! Ya, I love the Ting's! They are so awesome! I want corned beef so bad! So I'm excited to hear that you just shipped me some! I love and miss you so much Dad! I can't wait for you all to come! When you do we will come to Penang! We will then take a boat up to Langkawi!! Google it! It’s supposed to be one of the nicest beaches in the world! I Love and miss you! Supposedly, Penang is very dangerous to bike here. I will stay safe!

Snake Temple, Malvinder & I

Hey Mom! Ya the Ting’s are the best. I haven't even been here in Penang very long and there is already so much great food here! I love the chicken rice here! It’s amazing! There is a member here who goes fishing EVERY DAY! He takes the missionaries a lot to help him catch his meals!!!! I know why I'm serving here now! This guy is a less active, so maybe I could be a good friend to him with fishing. So I'm super excited about that! I love Penang so far!! That is good about the girls playing volleyball again soon! That is so exciting about Brooklyn [starting to read]! I LOVE MY NEW SHIRTS SO MUCH! Since I have lost 23 pounds, they fit nicely!! They look good I think! I will let you know where to ship the next package. I actually don't need any new shirts for a long time now. It’s going well here. I love you so much and can't wait for you to come experience this place!

Gift from Barry's Bakery, right before I left for my  new area

Hey Maddie, I'm in one of the nicest places on the mission so it is awesome! Did Janelle have fun at the dance? I went to Sushi Monster my last week in Utah. It was good. I didn't have that sushi roll before. Keep doing good in school and work hard! I love and miss you!

Some of my favorite people at Barry's Bakery

Hey Lydia, It sounds like you had a good week! Sounds like your team had a great volleyball season! Yes, they do have Forever21 and H&M here. Lots of American stores! They have them all! That is cool for Abby’s brother. I'm still in the best mission on earth! Ya, the Ting’s are the best! I'm excited to see them when I get home! I love and miss you!

Hey Hannah, You better get that double soon! It sounds like you had lots of fun this past week! The Ting’s are great! They are way fun and Janelle she is the best! The food here in Malaysia is amazing also! Keep doing good. Hopefully you get to come here someday! I love and miss you so much Hannah! Keep doing good and choose good friends!

Hey Brooklyn, I miss eating grilled cheese. That sounds so good!! Ya the puppies will be fun! Halloween should be very fun! I love you so much Brooklyn! I miss you! Keep doing good with reading!

Love, Elder Stahle

Elder Oliveras & I, my first MTC companion
(from my first MTC entry in July 2012) at the last zone
conference

Snake Temple

Elder Jin and I, my new companion

Super good chicken & rice place Malvinder took
Elder Jin & I too

View from our condo, the penthouse

View from our condo. It is two-storys.

The kitchen in our new condo

Muslim Wedding (Week 36)

Muslim wedding

This past week has been very good! I got to go to KL on Friday and I did two baptismal interviews. They were really good. They were both girls, 18 and 12yo. They helped to build my testimony so much. I love doing interviews! I feel so close to Jesus Christ when I do them. Because I am actually representing him. Even though I represent him every day, but doing interviews is just a different experience! Last Monday, we were going to Sunway Pyramid Mall. We were trying to get a taxi to take us there and the guy told me 30 RM. I told him no way! I usually pay 10 RM. He told me that I am a very bad Jesus because I won’t give him a lot of money for his "family". A few days later we were taking another taxi to go to Sunway again. It was all four of us Elders. The other three got in and I was about to get in and then...the taxi driver floored it. I wasn't even in the car yet so I just screamed ELDER!! (hahahaha) It was really funny!

Me, after a morning workout

We had a good lesson with Jonathan. He is the kid we met at Sunway. It’s sad because he said he can't be baptized until he is 21! He is only 18 right now. He said it’s because his Mom pays for his schooling and everything. She would disown him if he left the Catholic church. He likes what we share with him! So hopefully that will change soon! He is a great kid! He really wants to learn and come to church.

Elder Misa also kicked in our office door this week because he lost our office keys. He tried to pick the lock for about 30 minutes. He has to buy a new one and it will be 500 RM!! The management handyman at our condo told us he could have opened the lock in 20 seconds!

Petronas Towers were pink last night. Strange.

So when I was on exchanges on Friday I was with Elder Scott and trying to find a less active. We passed a huge Hindu Temple. Outside of it they had four cement pads. One of them had wood on it and yes it was on fire. They were cremating a body! And all the smoke was blowing to the train station where we got off. It smelled so bad! All it smelled like was burning flesh and just nasty smells!!!

We got to watch the Priesthood Conference this week and it was very good. I loved all the talks!  We also got to go to a Muslim wedding yesterday! That was very fun and something I had never seen before. So it was really cool! I have never experienced anything like that in my life, ever! They had super good food and I ate so much Beef Rendan!! It was amazing!! I ate at least a pound of it! That is easily one of my favorite dishes here in Malaysia! It was one of our members daughters whom got married. She entered Islam. She used to be a member of the church.

Malaysia Peps

I just heard! I’m being transferred to Penang Island, Pengang, Malaysia!! [Pengang is known as the “Pearl of the Orient.] I'm training another new missionary. So it should be interesting!! Penang has really good food up there too! We will be speaking English. It is all English and Chinese speaking. I’m whitewash training. That means we will both be in a new area. I hear I might get a local from China! They covered his name so I will find out whom my new companion will be on Friday when I go to Signapore and pick him up. There are like five missionaries from China coming we hear. I’m also excited that I will be biking again! The transfer also said that I will start a new area. That means they are probably going to put us where there has never been missionaries before! So when I came to Puchong three months ago I whitewashed here also.

Our iPads are going to come soon.

How is Sister Sophie and everyone doing? This is so cool that they are right now--at our house! I’m so happy to hear that you invited them over for dinner to meet the family. 

[Anything you would like to tell the Ting family while they are here with us at our house?] Tell them I miss them a lot and I miss Janelle’s salty duck potatoes that we would eat on the port so much!

I love and miss you all and I love being out here.

Love, Elder Stahle

Baptism interview

Second baptism interview today

Package from the youth. Thank you!!

Huge snail. Biggest I have ever seen!

Sister of the bride, and Melody's best childhood friend

Cool dollar bill tie I got in the package from the youth.
I love it!

Homemade Nigerian Meat Pies (8 months)

Elder Stahle's 6 new name badges:

Top left is Chinese Simplified          

Top middle is Iban

Top right is Arabic

Bottom left is Chinese Traditional   

Bottom middle is English  

Bottom Right is Malay

This past week has been very good. Whoever, it was a lot slower than usual! We got to watch the General Conference Saturday and Sunday sessions. Conference was very good. I loved it. I was surprised how much was on missionary work though. And since they were, I can tell that God needs everyone to know that it is time to do more missionary work! Monday this last week we went and had a FHE. It was a really fun one! The members are from Nigeria and they made us homemade Nigerian meat pies! They were so good! I finally got some of my new missionary name badges also, I got them in English, Iban, Chinese, and my favorite one...ARABIC! It looks so sweet!

Elder Wiberg's parents had these pins made for each of us.
I will wear it for my homecoming and a member is
making me a beaded tie too.

There was a protest demonstration on Friday at the U.S. Embassy. I don't know why that happened. We were told as missionaries and all American's should not be in the area of the Embassy at all on Friday! We also had a great lesson with one of our investigators named Su Rin. She took us out to dinner after. We got this really good sushi, sashimi and teriyaki beef. It was really good! The menus there were so big that it was crazy. I sent home pictures of it.

My new Piano Guys CD's

On Wednesday afternoon we went and did some service for Sister Rose. We cut trees and painted her fence!  It’s the same thing that I did 5 1/2 months ago when I went on exchanges with the zone leaders! So it was like deja vu! We were finally able to meet with Johnathon this last week. We have been trying to meet up with him for over 6 weeks and we were finally able to! It was a great lesson and he had lots of good questions! The Book of Mormon was able to answer all of his questions. I also bought the new Piano Guys CD. It’s their Christmas album. They are so nice to study and work out in the morning to! I sent home some pictures on Thursday that I printed out. So be looking for those and I am also having Brother Adrian send another package for me hopefully today. It might be next week. I will let you know after he sends it. It will come by FedEx. There is a letter for each person in the family and then a gift for Dad! I went to send the pictures and I asked the post office if I could buy an envelope. They told me sorry we don't sell those you have to go to the alcohol store next door!  What kind of a post office doesn't sell envelopes?

The HUGE menu's

We had a good lesson with Brother Tho this week. It was a make or break kind of lesson where he needs to start to keep commitments or we told him we will have to drop him, which would be very sad. When we were at lunch we got to eat monkey! I have to admit it was not very good at all. I felt like I was eating a human the whole time! It tasted super gamey and rough meat with tons of little bones. It was strange but at least I can say I have eaten it now! Elder Misa and I ordered KFC 2 times in 1 night within like an hour of eating!! We were still hungry (haha)! It was KFC delivery it was so nice and it was the same driver as the first time!! He probably thinks we are fat pigs!! (hahahaha) Brother Rogers daughter was at Melody’s baby shower and she met Mom and the girls in Utah, and I met her yesterday at church. So that was crazy! What a small world!!!!!!!!!!!!

My normal day goes like this: Wake up at 7:00 AM - eat and workout, from 8:30 AM-12:30 PM - study’s, after that we go out on visits and most of the time the spirit guides us. We have to be back in the apartment by 10:00 PM. Then it all starts all over again! The people here work hours are like 12-16 hour days. It is ridiculous compared to our working hours in the U.S.! In a month they make about $300 US.

Monkey dish

Hey Dad, we were kind of busy because we had a lot of appointments! Teaching has been great this week we had a lot of good lessons where the investigators progressed a lot! We have one new investigator from handing out Book of Mormons. They are so hard here to get return appointments with!

The district is doing pretty good. Last night was ridiculous when I was reporting. Everyone is supposed to be home and be ready to report on Sundays by 9:00 PM, and no one in my district got home until at least 10:00 PM or later so I had to stay up so late!!!!!! I didn't go to bed until 12:45 AM!! Usually when I report I am in bed by 11:15 PM at the latest, so I was not very happy and so I sent out a text today and told them how they need to manage their time better because they made me stay up almost 2 hours longer than I needed to! So, I'm super tired today.

I can't believe that UTAH BEAT STANFORD!! GO UTES!! I told Elder Misa and he was so surprised and mad (hahahahhaha)!!!!!!! That is freaking crazy! That’s not good about the Braves. They come so close and then choke every year! That is exciting about Alex Smith doing so well for the Chiefs! Haha!! I'm feeling super good just still working out! Sister Mains said, no, I can't swim for my back, but that is okay. Ya I think I will be transferred. Everyone keeps telling me they think I will become a Zone Leader with this transfer but we will have to wait and see! We find out next Monday. That is the coolest story about Trina. HAHAHA!! I love you so much and I miss you. Keep doing good and feel better.

Hey Mom, It was a good week. Ya, we got to watch all of conference except for the Priesthood session. I have it on my hard drive so I have been watching them at home. We watched them at church on Saturday and Sunday. That is funny about Maddie and glasses! That is good about Lydia doing so well with volleyball. My back is doing good now and ya, still bruised. Thanks for all you do and can you send 3 more of those shirts in my next package? I love you so much and I miss you! Conference was great!

Hey Maddie, It sounds like you had a good week which is good!  And that computer is Mom’s now. I will get a new one when I get home. And don’t ruin my UA Jacket! I love you so much keep working hard in school!

Hey Lydia, It sounds like you are pro at Spanish! And you are playing varsity which is super cool! I'm doing very good and no my back doesn’t really hurt very much. My favorite food? Hmmmm.....probably cheese naan and roti canai with kaya! I love and miss you Lydia!

Hey Hannah, it’s good and I love almost all food here except nasi lemak! It’s not my favorite. It sounds like you will have a good Halloween! I love and miss you so much and you are a great sister! I miss real burgers and shakes!!

Hey Brooklyn, yes I am serving a good mission and that is so good you are starting to read and write now!! That’s great! You want to know what I will be for Halloween? I will be a missionary!! It sounds like you are going to be a cool power ranger! I love you so much and I hope you liked soccer this year! I miss you!

Love, Elder Stahle

Great Referrals From Members (Week 34)

My walk home everyday!

This week has been pretty good. We are starting to have a lot of lessons! Our nights are already booked a week in advance which is good! We are being able to get some referrals from members. The referrals we getting are from people that only really speak Chinese which makes it hard. We have to use a translator! I have definitely been able to experience the gift of tongues this week. We were teaching this new girl named Ejing. She only really speaks Chinese and when she was speaking I could understand quite a bit of it! My Chinese is coming back little by little so that has been awesome! And it was really cool when the members didn't know some gospel words in Chinese but I did and I was able to help them remember! I have only learned gospel words since I have been on my mission and I have learned quite a bit of them which is really cool!

Yesterday I got to confirm Anekwe in church! What another awesome experience! I felt the spirit so strong when I was confirming him and after I said “Receive the Holy Ghost" he told me that he felt so happy and has never felt so happy in his life! So that was a way cool thing to be apart of! Anekwe he also was given the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. He is very excited to get to bless the sacrament and do all of that next week! 

MMMM Delicious!!!

Transfers are on October 21, 2013, so in two weeks. We have been able to meet a lot of new people this week. We also lost some people which was sad. Roger who we have been teaching for the past 3 weeks he just returned to Ghana on Friday. He is so good and he is going to meet with the missionaries in Ghana now! So hopefully he will continue to grow! I hope we get to use Facebook soon. I have so many people who I have met out here on my mission and the only way to keep in contact with them is by using Facebook! It has been fun to see all of the times the Holy Ghost is in my life as a missionary. Since I have been here in Puchong I feel like I have been having the Holy Ghost help me a lot more in my lessons and just throughout the day. It has been really cool to recognize.

A guy we gave a BOM to!!

Hey Dad, I am excited to watch conference this next weekend! It sounds like it was a good one. This week was pretty good and very busy which was nice! That is really strange that they put priesthood on normal TV though. That is crazy that there was snow on the grass! Trina - she is a really good dog. Are we going to breed Trina more than 1 time?  I will most likely keep a puppy from Trina for myself!  That is cool about Dave and Carol. That should be fun for you all to see their family while they come up to Utah. Elder Misa and I were at the mall the other day and they had on the Detroit and A's game and we watched some of it!! Haha... I felt like I was back home! We saw it at TGI Friday’s (hahahaha)!! That sounds way funny with Trina and the laser! That’s not good about Utah. If we wouldn't have thrown so many interceptions we might have won!  That is awesome about Lydia playing varsity now! Oh ya! I almost forgot. So the new Branch President here in Puchong he used to sell printing presses and the company is from Germany. I want to say it was called like Heidelberg or something [and he was right!] ! So that was pretty cool! You will have fun talking to him when you come! I love and miss you so much!

Some more great food in Puchong!!

Hey Mom, well it sounds like the family had a very busy week once again! That sounds like the normal Stahle fashion though! Dang sounds like you will have a busy day tomorrow with Lydia’s volleyball team breakfast! I miss American breakfast so much! That is super cool about Lydia playing varsity now! I love to watch her play volleyball! That would be fun for the girls to play the guitar and play some instruments. I hope all my kids play the piano.Ya, you can go through and scan my Facebook stuff. That is fine. We can't use Facebook yet but hopefully very soon! We are supposed to be getting iPad's here in December or sooner! Maybe even as early as this Zone Conference on November 5th! My back is doing good. I saw the doctor on Saturday and he told me to not lift heavy things. He gave me a note to swim now for exercise so I have to ask President Mains if that is okay. And no, no new foods this past week! I love you too and miss you!

Hey Maddie, My week has been great! Yes, accounting is very easy! Where are you going to apply to college at?? Love you and I hope you get to come here to Malaysia!

Hey Lydia, it sounds like you had a really good week! I’m so proud of you that you get to play varsity now!! You have earned it! I miss you too! Good luck in your game tomorrow. I know that you will do great! Against Kaysville...that will be a good game! I love you Lydia. Keep doing good!

Hey Hannah, I miss you too and wow you are so close to getting an iPhone! Which phone do you want to get? I think a boxer puppy would be cool! Junior High is going to be fun and you still have a long time till you get there! I love you and miss you!

Hey Brooklyn, Wow I can't wait for Trina to have puppies too! And it sounds like you had fun at the pumpkin patch that is so good! Yes, it is good to know our phone number. Keep doing good in school and I love and miss you!