First we'll start with the remaining few pictures from our trip 3 months ago with family and friends. Wow, time really fies.






4 people can fit in the back of a taxi!!
That's real love!!












The tallest mountain in Southeast Asia, Mt. Kinabalu. It was great to feel cold again!!
Thought we'd never say that.















You really need a 4-wheel drive vehicle in Borneo!













Preaching to our driver. Yup, in shorts. Still need to make the time!















The famous twin towers in Kuala Lumpur. We're tall, but not that tall. Its great when visitors come, then we get to see parts of the country we live.

















Our swingin' party at the missionary home.










Our congregation picnic at the end of April. Below: Ken's failed attempt to be a star goalkeeper.















Here are a few shots from our recent getaway, anniversary time. The real paradise of Malaysia. A small island called Tioman. 2 hour drive and then an hour ferry ride.



























Now for the real life. Hope you enjoy some of the experiences. Not many pictures of that.

News from Malaysia…since we last wrote we’ve had some exciting times. Just in the short time we’ve been here a lot of growth has happened. Our little English group that we’ve been working with became an official cong May 1^st.

Everyone was so excited, especially since just last year there were only 4 pubs. Now the other local language fields, Tamil(an Indian language) and Malay, can get more attention. There are 7 Tamil studies coming regularly to the mtgs, and about 10 Malay speaking studies. So we’re hoping to have a Malay group and a Tamil group form soon, perhaps in the next few months. Then who knows what language we’ll end up doing…

Our city of 2 million now has 6 congs, 3 English, 2 Chinese, and 1 Tamil. But the branch has a goal of at least 20 congs. That might be a while, but we’re eager to see how things keep growing.

We just enjoyed our first branch visit to our M home. The BC coordinator and his wife came down and spent 3 days with us. It was very encouraging. They are from Australia and have been serving here for 14 years. In our home mtg together we talked about the field, and that our legacy should be Bible studies. Since we don’t know how long any of the M’s can stay, we want to leave behind a strong foundation of local br/sis who can carry on, if the government decides one day not to extend our visa. We also had a 10 percent increase for the month of April, and we're closing in on 3,000 pubs. So lots of exciting things happening.

Two weeks ago we stopped at a park to wait for one of our studies to come back home. But she never showed. When we went to go start our car, it wouldn’t start. It’s been having this qwerky problem lately, we have to wait about 1 hour and then try again and it starts. Maybe its moody, we haven’t quite figured it out yet. So we decided to go sit in the park, under the one gazebo, and study for the book study while we waited. A few minutes later a young Chinese man walks up and sits down across from us. We start a friendly conversation with him and it turns out he is a Christian. And he has been wanting to better understand the Bible. Hmmm, what a coincidence. We go into our literature cabinet in the trunk/boot of our car and pull out a teach book and a Bible. He was so excited. We showed him the table of contents and he chose chap 11 on suffering. We then demonstrated the study arrangement with him, and made an appointment to meet him the next week in the park. He shows up with his books and a friend. After that day we were joking that one of the angels pulled a wire so we couldn’t go anywhere.

Another interesting experience, I was waiting to pick up Sue outside of a studies apartment. I pulled out my small Bible and was preparing for the Bible highlights. An older man walks from across the street and stands outside of the shop next door. I couldn’t tell if he was Malay(since we can't preach to Muslims) or not so I just kept reading. But he keeps staring at me for a few minutes, so I smile at him. So he walks over and asks are you a Missionary? I’m one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He’s also a Christian, so now I can safely proceed. He’s never hear of JW’s before. But he converted to Christianity a few years ago, after his whole life being a Buddhist. Ever since he’s wanted to know more about the Bible and wants to read and study everything he can to get a better understanding so he can help others. I told him I have just the book for you. Once again go fishing in our special lit depot, and pull out the teach book. He volunteers at a local church sponsored community center, and he has all these ideas to improve elderly people’s lives, and get them to come to the center. I asked him, what if you could give them something everlasting. He looked at me quite puzzled. I showed him the first few pages and read those scriptures to him, and made arrangements to meet him to study together.

Back in December we met an Indian woman walking on the street in the territory we were working. I offered her the local magazines and she readily accepted. She said she recently converted to Christianity. She gave us her address and we made arrangements for a RV. The next visit we placed a RQ brochure with her and a few more mags in Tamil. Over the next few months we couldn’t find her at home. Then in March we finally made contact again and she invited us in. Her husband’s cousin’s wife(sounds confusing) was also there. The two families live together. Her and her husband also converted to Christianity only a few months back. We gave them each a Bible teach book, and started the study then, using the preface. They also were having a weekly Bible study with their pastor, but they were eager for us to come back. The next few studies were excellent and after the 4^th study, the woman we met on the street, said her husband loves this book and brings it with him to work everyday to Singapore. “Can you please bring me another book, so he doesn’t keep taking mine?” No problem, can arrange lah! The following week on a Sunday, the whole family shows up at the KH on their own. They still had the address from Memorial invite. After the mtg, he said that he loves that book, and he wanted to know who is this man that’s coming to my house.

Wed night we had our first study, he picked chapter 11 on suffering. The other family, sat in, the wife was reading the para…saying that Satan is the real ruler of the world. She was shocked. She read the sentence 4 times just to make sure she understood it right. It was like her eyes were opened.

Our studies with him usually end about 11:30pm, sometimes later. He has so many questions. It makes for a nice long day. He’s already asked me to take him preaching, and he has his own RV’s, giving them books and literature. He bought a briefcase for himself just to carry around all the publications he has now. He was off from work last week, and so we studied 4 times! We’re really praying to Jah that he and his family can keep making good progress.

Here's our lone picture of one of our Tamil studies. They prepared a nice meal for us after our study.

Until the next time….