Niah Caves

So yesterday all the missionaries in Bintulu went to Niah Caves, a cave system near our house.  It was a way cool experience, it was about a 1 hour hike in the jungle to get to the entrance of the caves and then a 40 minute hike in the cave to get to the other entrance of it.  It smelled like bat guano, so not a nice smell.  And, there were these giant crickets the size of mice, that was freaky, not to mention bats, everywhere!  It  was one of the sweatiest hike of my life and absolutely enjoyable.  I managed not to get any mosquito bites, and then we got back to base camp and I got bit twice!  Anyway, here are some pictures of the day.

The cave entrance 

BBQ party the night before the hike 

BBQ party the night before the hike 

The crocodile infested river we had to cross 

The boat ride... 1 minute long 

Hiking through the jungle 

Us on the big rock 

Beginning the DECENT 

The Exit 

Baptism Oops!

(A story as told by another missionary serving with Micah)

This was a funny experience last Saturday evening.  Elder Putnam and his companion, in preparing for 2 baptisms, actually forgot to turn the faucet on in the baptismal font and it takes several hours to fill!

So when they got there, they went into panic mode to get the font filled with enough water to baptize.  Luckily those being baptized were a 13 yr old boy (who looks 10 or 11) and an 11 year old girl, so they didn't need to fill the font to capacity.

Still, they enlisted the kids that were there to help and they all thought it was a fun activity.  

We had just driven 2 1/2 hrs from Miri so we didn't arrive for the 7pm baptism until about 7:20 and this is what we found, so after taking a video, we entered into the rush to get it ready.  If you look closely, you can see one of the kids even dropped his large bowl in the water and had to climb down to retrieve it.

Elder Putnam was practically soaking wet with sweat but at least he had a smile on his face.  He had me use his camera to take a longer video, but I don't know if he'll be able to send that home any time soon.  I thought his family would get a kick out of this.  It was pretty hilarious, but not unusual in East Malaysia!

Mom

PS  I also attached a photo of the 2 who got baptized with the Elders..... after everything calmed down.

Sarawak

So today I thought that I would talk a little about the history of Sarawak, the state that I am currently serving in.  Sarawak is rich in history and is predominantly Iban in nationality.  The Iban race has been on the island of Borneo for longer than anyone can remember.  They are most closely tied to head-hunting that any other native nationality on the island.  Because of this we hear a lot of legend and stories.  One legend is that, when building bridges, the Ibans would use skulls to reinforce the bridges.  They were like good luck charms that protected the bridges.  And, they didn't use just any kind of head, it had to be the head of a beautiful virgin.  So why do I share this with you all?  Well, there is just such a bridge that I walk across quite frequently, and it is sturdy!  It’s a beauty, entirely made of wood and very old, still usable.  So, either the Ibans are just really good at making bridges or America needs to start investing in some virgin heads.  I think this could really lengthen the life expectancy of all our infrastructure.  It’s something to consider.