Shoe Thief

Micah is busy right now dealing with a robbery of his home.  His shoes, camera, and about $100 in local currency was stolen in addition to a few other minor things.  I doubt that he will spend time writing this week.  He and his companion were not home at the time and he had thoughtfully kept a backup of his photos on a thumb drive that was with him and so he still has that information and his ATM card.  We are working right now to ensure that he has sufficient funds in his bank account to withdraw enough to buy new shoes, another thumb drive (to now backup the backup) and a new camera.  -- just thought the rest of you would like to know.

P Day

Today was preparation day which meant that we went on a little trip.  Today we went to Lambir National Park near Miri.  It is said to be the most diverse rain forest Eco-system on earth!  It was a very rigorous hike in a steamy jungle, so naturally everyone was soaked head to toe... after the first 5 minutes.  The hike had some very interesting foliage, but the most exciting, and frightening thing would have to be the leaches!  They were everywhere you walked.  If you stood still for more than like 10 seconds you would have like 5 on your feet.  My feet are bloody with little suction marks.  It is so gross.  From what I know of leech anatomy, they excrete a blood thinner that just makes you bleed out, so yes, very gross.  We took two hikes that day, one to a water fall and the other to the summit of one of the small, very small, "mountains."  After living in the Rockies, nothing is a mountain.  Anyway, they were surprisingly difficult.  It made me realize how out of shape I am!  All in all we had a great experience and the summit was so worth it, I hope that the pictures do it justice!

Elder Chong from Malaysia with Micah

Micah with his companion Elder Bodhaine

Today was preparation day which meant that we went on a little trip.  Today we went to Lambir National Park near Miri.  It is said to be the most diverse rain forest Eco-system on earth!  It was a very rigorous hike in a steamy jungle, so naturally everyone was soaked head to toe... after the first 5 minutes.  The hike had some very interesting foliage, but the most exciting, and frightening thing would have to be the leaches!  They were everywhere you walked.  If you stood still for more than like 10 seconds you would have like 5 on your feet.  My feet are bloody with little suction marks.  It is so gross.  From what I know of leech anatomy, they excrete a blood thinner that just makes you bleed out, so yes, very gross.  We took two hikes that day, one to a water fall and the other to the summit of one of the small, very small, "mountains."  After living in the Rockies, nothing is a mountain.  Anyway, they were surprisingly difficult.  It made me realize how out of shape I am!  All in all we had a great experience and the summit was so worth it, I hope that the pictures do it justice!

Perma-Wet and Old People

Well, this week has seen me getting wet nearly every single day, and then I got sick.  It has very literally rained everyday for long periods of time, and exactly at the moment I have to be out on my bike.  Anyway, Miri had its own very miniature version of Hurricane Sandy.  Tuesday of last week was an incredibly stormy day.  There was ridiculousness strong winds and buckets of water.  My companion and I got stranded in a Mall for a couple of hours.  After waiting, we stepped out and half of all the trees were uprooted and buildings were collapsed.  The weak architecture did not hold up for a lot of people living in wooden shack houses.  It created a lot of service project opportunities though, which was great.  Last week we helped to clear massive trees that had fallen down at a retirement home.  It was really a great experience, especially with a crowd of old people cheering you on. 

All in all things are quite good, I am used to being in a state of "perma-wet"  Its still a little crazy to think that I only have 6 months left!  It is a time warp here, everything in the real world seems to be moving so fast!  So many of my friends are getting married, crazy.  Anyway, have a great day!