Woot!
I'm done with my In-field training and I am now a fully trained missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! :)
As for the week, we had a great week in terms of people who we were able to teach this week, and our lessons with our investigators have gone pretty well. With the Oon family, we were ably to teach Brandon and Christopher, the two younger brothers of Alex. For some reason, Alex seems to have lost interest, but Brandon is doing great! He has been getting his Mom to bring him to Church every Sunday for the last few weeks, so we are definitely very happy with his progress. We will just have to continue working with him and hope that his parents consent to him being baptized when the time comes. We got caught in the rain on the way down and got pretty wet, though we were able to stay sufficiently dry, because a woman who was walking happened to have two umbrellas. We were able to talk to her and she said that she had already met with the Sisters before. Hopefully, this particular meeting will re-spark the flame in her.
Elder Nixon, one of our Zone Leaders, headed back home yesterday! It was definitely sad to see him go, but we now have Elder Tuckfield, and he is also a great person. Went on an exchange with him on Monday, and that went really well, especially since we have a lot of the same interests. In addition, he is also good friends with one of my best friend's family.
We were able to go over to our Elders Quorum President's home for dinner on Thursday, where we able to discuss less-actives. In addition, I was able to talk to his inactive son, who I knew very well and who used to be very active in the Church. Unfortunately, he has fallen by the wayside, so we'll just have to try and get him back on the path again. He is still a great kid, and says that he remembers the good feelings that he had at Church. Unfortunately, he doesn't really know what to do about it anymore.
Taught, Alex, my grade-school friend once again. We don't really know what to do anymore since he won't commit for Church, and since he's already been taught so many lessons. I guess that we'll just have to try and work with him on that, though he is in Thailand for the next week or so.
Aravin, the member's boyfriend, gave a us a surprise when we met up with him late last week. We had been pondering whether or not to ask him how he felt about the Church and whether or not he wanted to be baptized. Before the lesson, he told us that he needed to tell us something, and we weren't sure what to expect. He said then that he wanted to be baptized! Oh! That was wonderful! He just has to work on his family, but he is a legal adult so he doesn't need their consent. He has to figure out how to explain to them his decision, because there are certain rituals that he wants to do one last time, like fire walking! We know that he will receive an answer as he prays about it, and we hope that that answer will be good.
Changes! Elder Pace S. is being transferred to P.J., Malaysia, tomorrow. It definitely is bittersweet because he is/was my first companion, and we did alright together, though these past couple of weeks, and especially these past couple of days have been pretty stressful. He wasn't working too hard, and the leaders started noticing, so we talked to him about it, and since then, has been a very angry person, and it has been very tense between us, such that I got sick, and have had high blood pressure because of that. But, I still think he is a good guy, it will be nice to have a change though. My new companion, Elder Pace T. comes in tomorrow. The members are going to have a ball of a time when they see that they have the same last name. Change is definitely good. And I guess we just all have to accept that wherever we are, they is a reason for it, and we have to look at the bigger pictures. Changes can really be for better or for worse, but I guess we just take them as they come. Perhaps what I have learned the most in these past three or so months, is as Victor Frankl said, "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
We will be having Stake Conference on Sunday, so that definitely should be great. District meeting was wonderful as per normal. Elder Colvin taught a lesson on what our purpose as missionaries really is, and that was a good refresher, to remind us what our purpose and duty as missionaries.
I guess that we'll have to see what this week brings!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
"Just Like Chopsticks"
School!
Well, not for the next two years anyway. :) Had a great week! We ended up having the best numbers in the district, and we felt that it was a great accomplishment, being able to teach more people and planting the seed of the gospel in their hearts. We had a great preparation day last week, then ended up spending the rest of the day contacting in Toa Payoh, a town in our area. We never had had too much success in the area before, but we decided to try it out. We're definitely glad we did, because, among the sea of people who weren't interested, we found a girl by the name of Karen who was really friendly and gave us her number so that we could schedule an appointment with her to finish sharing our message of the Restoration.
Elder Pace and I had some disagreements, and he brought up some points that really made me think. Some members have mentioned my immaturity to him, and it really got me thinking, that I really do need to grow up and start being serious, especially while serving as a missionary of the Lord. I hope that I grow and learn and start being the man of God that I can and would like to be. I definitely have been too playful at times, though it can be hard sometimes since I'm surrounded by my friends, the people who I grew up with. I guess that isn't an excuse, I am a missionary and can do better than that. I just wish that sometimes peopleb wouldn't be so judgemental.
The rest of the week went great, as I mentioned earlier. On Thursday, we met up with Jun Ying, and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the steps that lead to salvation. Once again, he was receptive to it. The only problem that he has is to talk to his parents about it and get them to agree. We are praying and hoping that it will all work out. That night, we were able to teach a member's family, and some of their friends more about how families can improve communication, and one of their friends was particularly interested. We'll definitely have to see if we can get a hold of her again. Oh! We saw a man doing calligraphy, with his feet, and on his head! It was amazing! Bought a piece from him. We were able to teach Brandon Oon, Alex's brother, on Friday. He's only ten, but he asked some great questions, and we believe that he really understood the concept off the Restoration. We showed them the DVD, but he was a little distracted, so we left it with him to watch it, along with his family. Brandon is our star investigator right now! He really has a desire to learn. Oh! Bumped into four of my friends from high school, who were all headed out to have a fun weekend. Elder Pace and I talked about how we really can't differentiate the weekdays from the weekends anymore because it is the same schedule. We really do get confused. More often than not, we gets our days mixed up. Such is the life of a missionary!
Spent Saturday doing a lot of walking. Started off with making our way to a member's home to teach her boyfriend, but we had time, so we decided to look for a couple of inactive members to visit. We stopped by a mall, and I decided to get ice cream from Swensens and fries from MacDonald's. Well, the ice cream machine at MacDonald's. Anyhow, dumbest idea ever. Don't know why I decided to do that, way unhealthy, and I didn't feel too good after that. We headed over to the member's place after that and taught Aravin. They fed us first though. Great food, and I regretted more than ever then, that I had those snacks. The lesson went really well. He said that he reads the pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation at night to help him calm down from work in the evenings, because he feels peaceful and calm as he reads the pamphlet. We ended the night off by looking for two people who said that we could visit them. Turned out the address was fake. Definitely wasn't the best use of our time.
Sunday was as per normal. Had Church. One of our recent converted brought a friend, well, a French man whom he is rooming with. The ward missionary who was teaching, unfortunately, taught like the french man had been a member for 10 years, so Elder Pace and I had to keep explaining to him what the different words and terms meant. We were also able to teach him a short lesson after that. That night, we headed over to a member's home for dinner. Good food. All the members really do cook wonderful food and we really appreciate it, because we get good food, and it helps us to keep on budget. We also found out that Singapore won a silver medal in the Olympics in table tennis, the first Olympic medal in 48 years, so I was definitely happy about that.
Taught Alex, my elementary school friend on Monday. Finished up the video The Testaments, though he still hasn't come to any conclusion about whether or not anythign we are teaching is true. I guess we'll just have to continue doing our best! Went over to the Petersen's home for dinner. They are moving back to the expatriate ward, so this was our last meal over at their place. Brother Petersen brought up a very interesting topic as he talked about Singapore's "caste system," where there are certain people with "iron rice bowls," and a "white horse" to ride on. It was really interesting, and we talked about how, even though the people give up certain rights when they sign the "social" contract withthe government, Singapore is an amazing place. It is clean, corruption-free, low crime, state-of-the-art health care, along with an amazing education system. It's wonderful to be able to serve here in Singapore.
Tueday went well, District Development Meeting was wonderful and very inspirational. Elder Colvin taught us on how to go from "Zero to Success in Faith, Hope and Charity." While we were starting up the discussion, Elder Shute made an amazing point when he said that our goal as missionaries is to baptize and confirm people into the Church, but the real goal is to get them to the temple. , that this work is really about temple work, and we shouldn't be satisfied till our investigators reach that stage, and we see that success in missionary work, in ten to twenty years, both in our lives, and in the lives of our investigators. We went on to talk about those three attributes, faith, hope, and charity. We talked about having the faith that leads us to action, that allows dedicated service and obedience in exactness. There was a great phrase that was brought up, that even if we don't have the confidence, we "fake it till we make it," till we have that confidence and faith as we continue to do whatever is needed of us. We then talked about hope, about how hope "is the anchor of our souls," that hope overcomes doubt and fear. We have to have hope to overcome that doubt and fear that would otherwise poison our minds and faith. We need to have that hope, because that attitude is needed. We can obey, but if we do not have hope, it cannot work! Hope is a "personal thing" that we need to have, to have faith and hope that theLord knows us, that he sees all, that he knows the trials and tribulations that we go through. Sister Shute brought up the point that faith is believing that can help us, hope is believing that God will help us. Lastly, we talked about charity. Charity is to have a love for the people, and seeing each one of them as children of God. Charity is loving the people so much that we will do anything to help that person and his or her family to the Celestial Kingdom, helping them to the end to live with the Lord and their families forever in eternal happiness. Charity will change our lives.
We were able to teach my Aunt after the meeting. Well, Elder Pace taught her about the Plan of Salvation, while I taught a second cousin of mine that I don't think I've ever met, about the Restoration. The lesson went very well, and we hope that we can teach the both of them sometime soon again. Elder Pace and I were discussing the lessons afterwards, and he talked about how my aunt has really been reading the pamphlets and asking insightful questions, so that's definitely wonderful. We had a good number of lessons the rest of the day. We had some time before an appointment, so we went to Orchard Road, where I ended up spending about half an hour or more talking to a man named Yong Cai about his beliefs, and sharing the message of the Restoration, since he is Christian. It went really well because he asked some really good questions, and he found what was being taught to be logical. He told me of a Church that he went to that he felt was not good at all, and how he just read the Bible because that was striaght up, the word of the Lord. I came up with a though, that the Bible and The Book of Mormon work just like chopsticks. You can't use one without the other. They work hand in hand. The day ended off with a good appointment with Gopal Lama, a Neplalese studying here. Unfortunately, he heads back to Nepal the first week of September, so hopefuuly we can find the Church for him over there.
Well, yet another week! I'm done with my training in the field on Sunday! :) Thanks for all those who have been writing. For the people who have left comments annonymously, would you be willing to let me know who you are? Thanks! Take care and have a wonderful week!
Well, not for the next two years anyway. :) Had a great week! We ended up having the best numbers in the district, and we felt that it was a great accomplishment, being able to teach more people and planting the seed of the gospel in their hearts. We had a great preparation day last week, then ended up spending the rest of the day contacting in Toa Payoh, a town in our area. We never had had too much success in the area before, but we decided to try it out. We're definitely glad we did, because, among the sea of people who weren't interested, we found a girl by the name of Karen who was really friendly and gave us her number so that we could schedule an appointment with her to finish sharing our message of the Restoration.
Elder Pace and I had some disagreements, and he brought up some points that really made me think. Some members have mentioned my immaturity to him, and it really got me thinking, that I really do need to grow up and start being serious, especially while serving as a missionary of the Lord. I hope that I grow and learn and start being the man of God that I can and would like to be. I definitely have been too playful at times, though it can be hard sometimes since I'm surrounded by my friends, the people who I grew up with. I guess that isn't an excuse, I am a missionary and can do better than that. I just wish that sometimes peopleb wouldn't be so judgemental.
The rest of the week went great, as I mentioned earlier. On Thursday, we met up with Jun Ying, and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the steps that lead to salvation. Once again, he was receptive to it. The only problem that he has is to talk to his parents about it and get them to agree. We are praying and hoping that it will all work out. That night, we were able to teach a member's family, and some of their friends more about how families can improve communication, and one of their friends was particularly interested. We'll definitely have to see if we can get a hold of her again. Oh! We saw a man doing calligraphy, with his feet, and on his head! It was amazing! Bought a piece from him. We were able to teach Brandon Oon, Alex's brother, on Friday. He's only ten, but he asked some great questions, and we believe that he really understood the concept off the Restoration. We showed them the DVD, but he was a little distracted, so we left it with him to watch it, along with his family. Brandon is our star investigator right now! He really has a desire to learn. Oh! Bumped into four of my friends from high school, who were all headed out to have a fun weekend. Elder Pace and I talked about how we really can't differentiate the weekdays from the weekends anymore because it is the same schedule. We really do get confused. More often than not, we gets our days mixed up. Such is the life of a missionary!
Spent Saturday doing a lot of walking. Started off with making our way to a member's home to teach her boyfriend, but we had time, so we decided to look for a couple of inactive members to visit. We stopped by a mall, and I decided to get ice cream from Swensens and fries from MacDonald's. Well, the ice cream machine at MacDonald's. Anyhow, dumbest idea ever. Don't know why I decided to do that, way unhealthy, and I didn't feel too good after that. We headed over to the member's place after that and taught Aravin. They fed us first though. Great food, and I regretted more than ever then, that I had those snacks. The lesson went really well. He said that he reads the pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation at night to help him calm down from work in the evenings, because he feels peaceful and calm as he reads the pamphlet. We ended the night off by looking for two people who said that we could visit them. Turned out the address was fake. Definitely wasn't the best use of our time.
Sunday was as per normal. Had Church. One of our recent converted brought a friend, well, a French man whom he is rooming with. The ward missionary who was teaching, unfortunately, taught like the french man had been a member for 10 years, so Elder Pace and I had to keep explaining to him what the different words and terms meant. We were also able to teach him a short lesson after that. That night, we headed over to a member's home for dinner. Good food. All the members really do cook wonderful food and we really appreciate it, because we get good food, and it helps us to keep on budget. We also found out that Singapore won a silver medal in the Olympics in table tennis, the first Olympic medal in 48 years, so I was definitely happy about that.
Taught Alex, my elementary school friend on Monday. Finished up the video The Testaments, though he still hasn't come to any conclusion about whether or not anythign we are teaching is true. I guess we'll just have to continue doing our best! Went over to the Petersen's home for dinner. They are moving back to the expatriate ward, so this was our last meal over at their place. Brother Petersen brought up a very interesting topic as he talked about Singapore's "caste system," where there are certain people with "iron rice bowls," and a "white horse" to ride on. It was really interesting, and we talked about how, even though the people give up certain rights when they sign the "social" contract withthe government, Singapore is an amazing place. It is clean, corruption-free, low crime, state-of-the-art health care, along with an amazing education system. It's wonderful to be able to serve here in Singapore.
Tueday went well, District Development Meeting was wonderful and very inspirational. Elder Colvin taught us on how to go from "Zero to Success in Faith, Hope and Charity." While we were starting up the discussion, Elder Shute made an amazing point when he said that our goal as missionaries is to baptize and confirm people into the Church, but the real goal is to get them to the temple. , that this work is really about temple work, and we shouldn't be satisfied till our investigators reach that stage, and we see that success in missionary work, in ten to twenty years, both in our lives, and in the lives of our investigators. We went on to talk about those three attributes, faith, hope, and charity. We talked about having the faith that leads us to action, that allows dedicated service and obedience in exactness. There was a great phrase that was brought up, that even if we don't have the confidence, we "fake it till we make it," till we have that confidence and faith as we continue to do whatever is needed of us. We then talked about hope, about how hope "is the anchor of our souls," that hope overcomes doubt and fear. We have to have hope to overcome that doubt and fear that would otherwise poison our minds and faith. We need to have that hope, because that attitude is needed. We can obey, but if we do not have hope, it cannot work! Hope is a "personal thing" that we need to have, to have faith and hope that theLord knows us, that he sees all, that he knows the trials and tribulations that we go through. Sister Shute brought up the point that faith is believing that can help us, hope is believing that God will help us. Lastly, we talked about charity. Charity is to have a love for the people, and seeing each one of them as children of God. Charity is loving the people so much that we will do anything to help that person and his or her family to the Celestial Kingdom, helping them to the end to live with the Lord and their families forever in eternal happiness. Charity will change our lives.
We were able to teach my Aunt after the meeting. Well, Elder Pace taught her about the Plan of Salvation, while I taught a second cousin of mine that I don't think I've ever met, about the Restoration. The lesson went very well, and we hope that we can teach the both of them sometime soon again. Elder Pace and I were discussing the lessons afterwards, and he talked about how my aunt has really been reading the pamphlets and asking insightful questions, so that's definitely wonderful. We had a good number of lessons the rest of the day. We had some time before an appointment, so we went to Orchard Road, where I ended up spending about half an hour or more talking to a man named Yong Cai about his beliefs, and sharing the message of the Restoration, since he is Christian. It went really well because he asked some really good questions, and he found what was being taught to be logical. He told me of a Church that he went to that he felt was not good at all, and how he just read the Bible because that was striaght up, the word of the Lord. I came up with a though, that the Bible and The Book of Mormon work just like chopsticks. You can't use one without the other. They work hand in hand. The day ended off with a good appointment with Gopal Lama, a Neplalese studying here. Unfortunately, he heads back to Nepal the first week of September, so hopefuuly we can find the Church for him over there.
Well, yet another week! I'm done with my training in the field on Sunday! :) Thanks for all those who have been writing. For the people who have left comments annonymously, would you be willing to let me know who you are? Thanks! Take care and have a wonderful week!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
"Salvation Is Not A Cheap Experience"
Hey!
We've had a pretty decent week. A couple of setbacks with a couple of our investigators but also some progress. We had an investigator from China who we were teaching, and she was doing really good till we asked her the baptismal interview questions. That's where she started to rail on about how strict the Church was and how she doesn't want to be baptized because the Church is too strict. We tried explaining to her that they are guideposts to make sure we don't go off the cliff, but she didn't seem convinced. She said that she might join the Church sometime. In the meantime, she said that she would continue reading the scriptures and praying, so we'll see how she does with that. I guess all we can do is hope and pray that she'll eventually see the light. Met up with Alex, my grade school friend, to have lunch with him. I think that it's important not to just bombard them with doctrine. I think some missionaries treat investigators as statistics, but they are people! Children of God! It was nice to just talk about other things.
While we were taking the bus that same day, we got on a bus, thinking that it would take us to, well, where we wanted to go. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so we ended up taking a huge detour. But, we did find someone who was pretty interested, so hopefully that works out! On the way home, as we were walking from the train station, it started drizzling. Suddenly, the rain just started pouring down on us. Elder Pace and I took off running, but I had to stop because I ran out of breath. Oh, we got completely drenched. You really do run into all sorts of different situations on your mission. It was really fun though. The simple things in life really are the best.
On Thursday, we headed over to the Shutes for lunch and had a great time over there. Elder Roberts and Elder Parker, the Mandarin Elders, were supposed to come, but never turned up. After lunch, we taught an investigator in Chinatown, then headed over to a food center by the Church to have dinner with a few members and an investigator. When we got there, we saw Elder Roberts and Elder Parker. Since we had some time, we sat down to talk. I was talking to Elder Parker while Elder Pace was talking to Elder Roberts. Turns out that the reason why they couldn't make lunch was because Elder Robert's Mom passed away unexpectedly. It was so shocking to hear, and I was deeply saddened by it. It also made me think about how much I love my parents and how much they have done for me. Funny how it takes an event like that to get you to really appreciate and understand what the most important thing in life really is. I love my family so much. The other thing that that news got me thinking about is how blessed we are to have knowledge about The Plan of Salvation, that, because of Heavenly Father's love for His children, we can live with our families for all time and eternity. I just hope that I can do my best now to show my parents just hoe much I love them and appreciate them. When I was growing up, I was always getting into arguments with them, especially my Mom, and thinking that it wasn't the dumbest thing ever, how strict my parents were and how I never got my way. Only now have I come to realize that I love my parents so much for all that they have done for me, how much my family has done for me, including my uncles and aunts. I just hope that I have enough time to repay them for all that they have done for me. The material things of this world are really nice to have, but they really don't matter at all if you don't have your family by your side. I have found true happiness and joy in my family. How grateful I am to have such loving parents and family members. Well, after talking to the Elders, we headed over and had dinner.
Church didn't off too well because all our investigators didn't turn up, so we ended up going to another class instead of the normal class we go to for investigators and recent converts. We were supposed to teach, but there wasn't any class, so I guess we'll teach next week. Anyhow, while we were helping out with the lesson in the other class we attended, one of investigators did turn up! Yook Kuan, who I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, is Malaysian Chinese who we have been teaching in Mandarin. We've passed her to the, Mandarin Elders, but we were able to teach her one more time after Church. We were talking to her about the Plan of Salvation and answering her queries, when she suddenly broke down as she talked about her childhood, and how it horrible. She asked why she had to born into a family where there wasn't any love. We explained to her that it was because God knew that she could handle it, and that now, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, she can overcome it. She is a really great lady. As she talked about her hardships and tribulations, I once again thought about how lucky I am to have a wonderful family I have and how much the Lord has blessed me.
The Bertasso's, who used to live in Singapore, came back to visit. Brother Bertasso just finished his assignment as Mission President of the Brazil San Paolo North Mission. Anyhow, the point I'm trying to make is that the Church world is really small, because it turns out that they are buying my previous BYU Stake President's house in Utah. Went over to the Tan's home for dinner. Brother Tan is the Stake Patriarch. Anyhow, they also invited Elder and Sister Shute over, along with the Oon family. We have been teaching their sixteen-year old son, Alex. Brother Oon went to BYU but isn't a member, while Sister Oon has been inactive. Anyhow, we were able to fellowship them, even though Alex wasn't there. Brother Oon is the CEO of the Singapore Sports Council so he was telling us about Singapore's position in the sporting world, along with how we're doing in the Olympics. Ate a bit too much. Elder Shute says he's done trying to keep me on a diet. Oh well.
Elder Pace hasn't been feeling to well the past couple of days. He came down with the flu, but he's doing better now. On Monday, we were able to meet up with Alex, my grade school friend, again. We taught him about the steps in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, well, part of it, and watched part of The Testaments, a movie made by the Church about Christ's appearance in the Americas. Thought it went pretty well. We'll be praying for him.
Yesterday was great! We had district meeting with our new District Leader, Elder Colvin. Elder Colvin has been serving in Malacca, Malaysia, for the past year and a month. That is very unusual. He was very excited for the change. He taught a great lesson on needing to put in our very best as missionaries. He took excepts from a couple of talks by Elder Jefferey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I took the liberty of taking an excerpt from one of the talks because it is so powerful, and it talks about how much effort we need to put in. The talks are directed as missionaries, but they apply just as much to every member of the Church. He said,
We must try our hardest while doing missionary work. We can do it because it will never be too hard.
Anyhow, after lunch, we up the hill to the Oon's house. It was drizzling, but we made it up without getting to wet. It was getting way dark and windy though. Alex wasn't home, but his younger brothers were. Brandon, the middle kid, said that he would like to meet with us also so that's great! Their neighbors were listening, and, as we were walking down the hill, they offered us a ride, and we accepted. Hopefully we can teach them sometime. They're way nice!
We ended off the day with Ming Lee, reviewing what we have taught him so far. He still hasn't read The Book of Mormon, but he has prayed once. We're hoping that he starts reading and comes to Church! Well, have an awesome week!
Till next Wednesday, take care! Do write! Thanks to all those who have been writing! :)
We've had a pretty decent week. A couple of setbacks with a couple of our investigators but also some progress. We had an investigator from China who we were teaching, and she was doing really good till we asked her the baptismal interview questions. That's where she started to rail on about how strict the Church was and how she doesn't want to be baptized because the Church is too strict. We tried explaining to her that they are guideposts to make sure we don't go off the cliff, but she didn't seem convinced. She said that she might join the Church sometime. In the meantime, she said that she would continue reading the scriptures and praying, so we'll see how she does with that. I guess all we can do is hope and pray that she'll eventually see the light. Met up with Alex, my grade school friend, to have lunch with him. I think that it's important not to just bombard them with doctrine. I think some missionaries treat investigators as statistics, but they are people! Children of God! It was nice to just talk about other things.
While we were taking the bus that same day, we got on a bus, thinking that it would take us to, well, where we wanted to go. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so we ended up taking a huge detour. But, we did find someone who was pretty interested, so hopefully that works out! On the way home, as we were walking from the train station, it started drizzling. Suddenly, the rain just started pouring down on us. Elder Pace and I took off running, but I had to stop because I ran out of breath. Oh, we got completely drenched. You really do run into all sorts of different situations on your mission. It was really fun though. The simple things in life really are the best.
On Thursday, we headed over to the Shutes for lunch and had a great time over there. Elder Roberts and Elder Parker, the Mandarin Elders, were supposed to come, but never turned up. After lunch, we taught an investigator in Chinatown, then headed over to a food center by the Church to have dinner with a few members and an investigator. When we got there, we saw Elder Roberts and Elder Parker. Since we had some time, we sat down to talk. I was talking to Elder Parker while Elder Pace was talking to Elder Roberts. Turns out that the reason why they couldn't make lunch was because Elder Robert's Mom passed away unexpectedly. It was so shocking to hear, and I was deeply saddened by it. It also made me think about how much I love my parents and how much they have done for me. Funny how it takes an event like that to get you to really appreciate and understand what the most important thing in life really is. I love my family so much. The other thing that that news got me thinking about is how blessed we are to have knowledge about The Plan of Salvation, that, because of Heavenly Father's love for His children, we can live with our families for all time and eternity. I just hope that I can do my best now to show my parents just hoe much I love them and appreciate them. When I was growing up, I was always getting into arguments with them, especially my Mom, and thinking that it wasn't the dumbest thing ever, how strict my parents were and how I never got my way. Only now have I come to realize that I love my parents so much for all that they have done for me, how much my family has done for me, including my uncles and aunts. I just hope that I have enough time to repay them for all that they have done for me. The material things of this world are really nice to have, but they really don't matter at all if you don't have your family by your side. I have found true happiness and joy in my family. How grateful I am to have such loving parents and family members. Well, after talking to the Elders, we headed over and had dinner.
Church didn't off too well because all our investigators didn't turn up, so we ended up going to another class instead of the normal class we go to for investigators and recent converts. We were supposed to teach, but there wasn't any class, so I guess we'll teach next week. Anyhow, while we were helping out with the lesson in the other class we attended, one of investigators did turn up! Yook Kuan, who I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, is Malaysian Chinese who we have been teaching in Mandarin. We've passed her to the, Mandarin Elders, but we were able to teach her one more time after Church. We were talking to her about the Plan of Salvation and answering her queries, when she suddenly broke down as she talked about her childhood, and how it horrible. She asked why she had to born into a family where there wasn't any love. We explained to her that it was because God knew that she could handle it, and that now, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, she can overcome it. She is a really great lady. As she talked about her hardships and tribulations, I once again thought about how lucky I am to have a wonderful family I have and how much the Lord has blessed me.
The Bertasso's, who used to live in Singapore, came back to visit. Brother Bertasso just finished his assignment as Mission President of the Brazil San Paolo North Mission. Anyhow, the point I'm trying to make is that the Church world is really small, because it turns out that they are buying my previous BYU Stake President's house in Utah. Went over to the Tan's home for dinner. Brother Tan is the Stake Patriarch. Anyhow, they also invited Elder and Sister Shute over, along with the Oon family. We have been teaching their sixteen-year old son, Alex. Brother Oon went to BYU but isn't a member, while Sister Oon has been inactive. Anyhow, we were able to fellowship them, even though Alex wasn't there. Brother Oon is the CEO of the Singapore Sports Council so he was telling us about Singapore's position in the sporting world, along with how we're doing in the Olympics. Ate a bit too much. Elder Shute says he's done trying to keep me on a diet. Oh well.
Elder Pace hasn't been feeling to well the past couple of days. He came down with the flu, but he's doing better now. On Monday, we were able to meet up with Alex, my grade school friend, again. We taught him about the steps in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, well, part of it, and watched part of The Testaments, a movie made by the Church about Christ's appearance in the Americas. Thought it went pretty well. We'll be praying for him.
Yesterday was great! We had district meeting with our new District Leader, Elder Colvin. Elder Colvin has been serving in Malacca, Malaysia, for the past year and a month. That is very unusual. He was very excited for the change. He taught a great lesson on needing to put in our very best as missionaries. He took excepts from a couple of talks by Elder Jefferey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I took the liberty of taking an excerpt from one of the talks because it is so powerful, and it talks about how much effort we need to put in. The talks are directed as missionaries, but they apply just as much to every member of the Church. He said,
"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is
this so hard? Why doesn't it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why
aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in
angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t
the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all
day and all night in the baptismal font? You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary. “Missionary Work and the Atonement,” Ensign, Mar 2001, 8
We must try our hardest while doing missionary work. We can do it because it will never be too hard.
Anyhow, after lunch, we up the hill to the Oon's house. It was drizzling, but we made it up without getting to wet. It was getting way dark and windy though. Alex wasn't home, but his younger brothers were. Brandon, the middle kid, said that he would like to meet with us also so that's great! Their neighbors were listening, and, as we were walking down the hill, they offered us a ride, and we accepted. Hopefully we can teach them sometime. They're way nice!
We ended off the day with Ming Lee, reviewing what we have taught him so far. He still hasn't read The Book of Mormon, but he has prayed once. We're hoping that he starts reading and comes to Church! Well, have an awesome week!
Till next Wednesday, take care! Do write! Thanks to all those who have been writing! :)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
"The Trick"
Magandung Umaga! (Good morning in Tagalog)
Well, we had a pretty great week! On Wednesday evening, we were able to meet up with Lacey Nymeyer, an LDS swimmer who is participating in the Olympics. It was awesome to see that our Church members are doing so well all around the world, no matter where they are. The Lord truly blesses His people as they obey His commandmemts and heed His command.
On Thursday, we met up once again with Jun Ying at his girlfriend's home. We were able to show him the video of The Restoration. At the end of it, he said that it was "cool." I'm guessing that in teenage lingo, it means that it was great and that he liked it. The family invited us to stay for dinner, so that was really good, as we were able to talk to Jun Ying in a normal setting, instead of just always in missionary discussions. I have come to realize that with investigators, you can't just keep bombarding them with the gospel. Rather, you have to be their friends too, because they really aren't just another baptism statistic. The people who we teach, and the people all around us are all children of God! In the evening, we met up with Ming Lee, our referral from Salt Lake. Glen Lewis, the recently returned returned missionary, helped us to teach the lesson. We thought that it went really well. We also found out that one of his colleagues is a member of the Church. The member met up with us at Church on Sunday and offered to host us and Ming Lee the next time we taught him, so we'll be doing that tonight. We are going to the Woodlands, where my high school is, so it's going to be nostalgia hitting me from all over, especially if I end up bumping into some friends.
On Friday, we went over to Elder and Sister Shute's place for lunch. If I haven't mentioned it before, they are vegetarian, and the food that they make is absolutely delicious. If they cooked for us everyday, I really do think we could go vegetarian! As such, I've been trying to eat healthy. No more sweets, and definitely no sodas. I now give Elder Pace my dessert, and he gives me the Asian food that he doesn't like to eat. It's definitely a fair deal. Well, in my opinion at least. After that, we went over to the Church to teach my grade school friend, Alex, again. We showed him The Restoration video and discussed it for a short while. In the evening, we were able to meet with Alex Oon, one of our star investigators. We taught him about the steps needed to follow in Jesus Christ's footsteps, and challenged him to be baptized. He accepted the date for August 23rd! Unfortunately, he couldn't make it to Church on Sunday so we might have to push it back a week or two.
Saturday was the ward talent show! That was fun to watch and we had a great time with the members' performances. There was a whole range of those performances, from a Hokkien (Chinese dialect) to a hilarious skit by the Petersen boys. Brother Edward Cheo, the Ward Assistant Mission Leader, also invited an acapella group comprising of his ex-students to perform for us. They did a great job, and hopefully we will have time to teach them sometime. We also had a couple of investigators there, so that was great! After that, we grabbed a quick dinner, then met up with Bao, a Vietnamese man who is studying International Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS). It took a bit of work understanding and teaching him, but I believe that we got the point across, and we'll be teaching him again in Saturday.
We got off to a great start on Sunday! On the MRT (train) ride to Church, I struck up a conversation with a lady from Indonesia named Priscilla. She converted to Christianity a year ago and was heading to her Church. I talked to her about the Restoration, and asked her if she wanted to come to Church sometime. She said she was going to be baptized in the other Church in a month. Talked with her awhile more, then asked her if she just wanted to come to Church with us for the day instead. Surprisingly, she said Yes! And she did, she told us after that that she had had a great time. We are working on having her come to our Church from now on. In Priesthood meeting, we talked about perfection and the steps to attaining it. More often than not, we often think that we need to be perfect, instant perfection, much like instant gratification. What we learned was that the thing to realize is that we can't all instantly reach perfection. We learn bit by bit. We have to learn the scales before we can compose a symphony, we have have to know our colors before we can paint a work of art. In the same way, life is a journey where we learn through mistakes and experiences, and the gospel, to strive to reach perfection. President Hinckley loved to quote Jen Lloyd Jones, where he said that
On Monday, we went Arcadia Road to contact a referral from Melanie Tidwell, one of the members who used to live in Singapore. She had talked to her neighbors about the gospel and desired that we share more with them. Unfortunately, they weren't home, so we left a note and a pamphlet. While we were walking there, there was a noise in the trees. Elder Pace freaked out and screamed, which shocked me also. We started booking it in the opposite direction from where we were going. It was hilarious, something you see in the movies but never think that it'll happen to you. After that, we were able to meet up with A lex, my grade school friend, once again. This time, we taught him about The Plan of Salvation. He is an intelligent kid, so intelligent in fact, that we covered topics such as the Millennium, which we normally never cover until they are much further in the lessons, or have already joined the Church. Once again, he said that he could see the structure and sense in it, but he still says that he isn't really into organized religion. He has been reading from The Book of Mormon though, and he has been praying about it. I guess that we can only hope and pray that the Spirit of the Lord will touch his heart. In the evening, we headed to the Petersen home home for dinner. They are an expatriate family that has been assigned to a local ward to build it up, but they might be moving back to the expat ward soon. We'll definitely miss them, both for the amazing food that they always make for us (they let us request what we want to eat!) and also their company and friendship.
On Tuesday, we had our last district meeting with our current district leader(DL), Elder Hatton. He is being transferred to Kuching in East Malaysia. He has done an amazing job as a district leader. His lessons were always inspirational and amazing, and I hope that our new DL will live up to his standard. In this week's lesson, we talked about being "among the prophets." In the Book of Samuel in the Bible, it was asked of King Saul, whether or not he was "among the prophets." The answer is yes. What Elder Hatton was leading up to was that in our own way, we are all "prophets" in our own right. As we live worthy of the priesthood authority that we hold, we can receive revelation for ourselves, and the people we have stewardship over. As missionaries, we hold stewardship over the areas that we serve him. Our duty is to be obedient in exactness, to be diligent in the work that we do. As we do so, we can be in our own way be numbered "among the prophets."
Headed to Subway for our last lunch with Elder Hatton (for awhile at least). I got a wrap for the first time instead of bread. It wasn't too bad, but I would recommend just staying with the bread instead of getting the wrap. We met up with Marleney, a recent convert, to review with her the things that she was taught before baptism. She had some questions that run into deep doctrine, about the concept of Heavenly Parents and so forth. While we tried to explain it to her, she just couldn't seem to accept it, and so we counseled her to do what always works if we do it in faith. We told her to pray, to ask God if what we taught her is true. In a very real sense, all that we learn in Church really can only be testified and confirmed to us by the gift and power of the Holy Spirit of the Lord.
Anyhow, in the evening, we headed back to the apartment at Arcadia Road, as I mentioned earlier. We bumped into a helper who used to live next to another LDS family, and she was very friendly. We were able to get her contact. When we got there, we knew that they were home, but it took them awhile to open the door for us. When we asked for the two people whose names we had, the lady who answered the door said that they had no idea who we were talking about, in a rude way, though their last name was tiled on the wall in their front porch area. We left disappointed and frustrated, especially since we had walked all the way down this long road to get to them. But, the Lord blesses his servants, I believe, if they do his work with faith and diligence. When we got into the elevator, there was a friendly Nicaraguan lady in there, who said that she had seen us before in Nicaragua, and had learned a little before. We asked if she wanted to learn again, but she said that she was a very staunch Catholic. After chatting for a couple more minutes, she agreed to meet. She was a great person to talk to, because she said she didn't mind learning about what we taught, and seemed pretty excited about it! We had am little more time, so we decided to walk a distance of three or four bus stops before we took the bus home, and to see if there was anyone to teach. There was a young man who ran past us, but after a few minutes started running back towards us again. So, as he passed us, I started my first running contact. As the three of us ran, I taught him the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel. It was really fun, and the best part about it was that he was actually listening and responsive to it. We were able to get his number, and hopefully we will be in contact with him soon. The best part of the day is that we ended up with fifteen other people/lessons taught!
As I said, we had a great week! I learned much and grew spiritually. I have been shrinking physically, having lost about 8-9 pounds since the start of my mission. Well, got to head off! Do send a letter or a blog comment if you have the time! Thanks for reading! Take care and Godspeed!
Well, we had a pretty great week! On Wednesday evening, we were able to meet up with Lacey Nymeyer, an LDS swimmer who is participating in the Olympics. It was awesome to see that our Church members are doing so well all around the world, no matter where they are. The Lord truly blesses His people as they obey His commandmemts and heed His command.
On Thursday, we met up once again with Jun Ying at his girlfriend's home. We were able to show him the video of The Restoration. At the end of it, he said that it was "cool." I'm guessing that in teenage lingo, it means that it was great and that he liked it. The family invited us to stay for dinner, so that was really good, as we were able to talk to Jun Ying in a normal setting, instead of just always in missionary discussions. I have come to realize that with investigators, you can't just keep bombarding them with the gospel. Rather, you have to be their friends too, because they really aren't just another baptism statistic. The people who we teach, and the people all around us are all children of God! In the evening, we met up with Ming Lee, our referral from Salt Lake. Glen Lewis, the recently returned returned missionary, helped us to teach the lesson. We thought that it went really well. We also found out that one of his colleagues is a member of the Church. The member met up with us at Church on Sunday and offered to host us and Ming Lee the next time we taught him, so we'll be doing that tonight. We are going to the Woodlands, where my high school is, so it's going to be nostalgia hitting me from all over, especially if I end up bumping into some friends.
On Friday, we went over to Elder and Sister Shute's place for lunch. If I haven't mentioned it before, they are vegetarian, and the food that they make is absolutely delicious. If they cooked for us everyday, I really do think we could go vegetarian! As such, I've been trying to eat healthy. No more sweets, and definitely no sodas. I now give Elder Pace my dessert, and he gives me the Asian food that he doesn't like to eat. It's definitely a fair deal. Well, in my opinion at least. After that, we went over to the Church to teach my grade school friend, Alex, again. We showed him The Restoration video and discussed it for a short while. In the evening, we were able to meet with Alex Oon, one of our star investigators. We taught him about the steps needed to follow in Jesus Christ's footsteps, and challenged him to be baptized. He accepted the date for August 23rd! Unfortunately, he couldn't make it to Church on Sunday so we might have to push it back a week or two.
Saturday was the ward talent show! That was fun to watch and we had a great time with the members' performances. There was a whole range of those performances, from a Hokkien (Chinese dialect) to a hilarious skit by the Petersen boys. Brother Edward Cheo, the Ward Assistant Mission Leader, also invited an acapella group comprising of his ex-students to perform for us. They did a great job, and hopefully we will have time to teach them sometime. We also had a couple of investigators there, so that was great! After that, we grabbed a quick dinner, then met up with Bao, a Vietnamese man who is studying International Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS). It took a bit of work understanding and teaching him, but I believe that we got the point across, and we'll be teaching him again in Saturday.
We got off to a great start on Sunday! On the MRT (train) ride to Church, I struck up a conversation with a lady from Indonesia named Priscilla. She converted to Christianity a year ago and was heading to her Church. I talked to her about the Restoration, and asked her if she wanted to come to Church sometime. She said she was going to be baptized in the other Church in a month. Talked with her awhile more, then asked her if she just wanted to come to Church with us for the day instead. Surprisingly, she said Yes! And she did, she told us after that that she had had a great time. We are working on having her come to our Church from now on. In Priesthood meeting, we talked about perfection and the steps to attaining it. More often than not, we often think that we need to be perfect, instant perfection, much like instant gratification. What we learned was that the thing to realize is that we can't all instantly reach perfection. We learn bit by bit. We have to learn the scales before we can compose a symphony, we have have to know our colors before we can paint a work of art. In the same way, life is a journey where we learn through mistakes and experiences, and the gospel, to strive to reach perfection. President Hinckley loved to quote Jen Lloyd Jones, where he said that
"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of timeWe went home to have our scripture study and rest, then we went over to Brother Cheo's home for dinner where we got to make our own popiah, a local "wrap." They also invited over the Low's, another family from the ward that I really like. We had a wonderful time over there. The Cheo's and Low's are going to Malaysia on Saturday since it's Singapore's National (Independence) Day and it's a three-day weekend. We joked about going and they asked us if we wanted to come! Unfortunately, we had to tell them we weren't allowed to. Both familes are really fun to be around and we always have a great time over there. After dinner, we went around in a circle and bore our testimonies, then we shared a quick message with them. I love how fun can be combined with spiritual things. They do no t have to be separate. Religion does not denounce fun and humor, rather it just calls for respect and reverence when required, and good humor when the occasion calls for it.
running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts
don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just
ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual
toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.... "Life is
like an old-time rail journey -- delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and
jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts
of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
On Monday, we went Arcadia Road to contact a referral from Melanie Tidwell, one of the members who used to live in Singapore. She had talked to her neighbors about the gospel and desired that we share more with them. Unfortunately, they weren't home, so we left a note and a pamphlet. While we were walking there, there was a noise in the trees. Elder Pace freaked out and screamed, which shocked me also. We started booking it in the opposite direction from where we were going. It was hilarious, something you see in the movies but never think that it'll happen to you. After that, we were able to meet up with A lex, my grade school friend, once again. This time, we taught him about The Plan of Salvation. He is an intelligent kid, so intelligent in fact, that we covered topics such as the Millennium, which we normally never cover until they are much further in the lessons, or have already joined the Church. Once again, he said that he could see the structure and sense in it, but he still says that he isn't really into organized religion. He has been reading from The Book of Mormon though, and he has been praying about it. I guess that we can only hope and pray that the Spirit of the Lord will touch his heart. In the evening, we headed to the Petersen home home for dinner. They are an expatriate family that has been assigned to a local ward to build it up, but they might be moving back to the expat ward soon. We'll definitely miss them, both for the amazing food that they always make for us (they let us request what we want to eat!) and also their company and friendship.
On Tuesday, we had our last district meeting with our current district leader(DL), Elder Hatton. He is being transferred to Kuching in East Malaysia. He has done an amazing job as a district leader. His lessons were always inspirational and amazing, and I hope that our new DL will live up to his standard. In this week's lesson, we talked about being "among the prophets." In the Book of Samuel in the Bible, it was asked of King Saul, whether or not he was "among the prophets." The answer is yes. What Elder Hatton was leading up to was that in our own way, we are all "prophets" in our own right. As we live worthy of the priesthood authority that we hold, we can receive revelation for ourselves, and the people we have stewardship over. As missionaries, we hold stewardship over the areas that we serve him. Our duty is to be obedient in exactness, to be diligent in the work that we do. As we do so, we can be in our own way be numbered "among the prophets."
Headed to Subway for our last lunch with Elder Hatton (for awhile at least). I got a wrap for the first time instead of bread. It wasn't too bad, but I would recommend just staying with the bread instead of getting the wrap. We met up with Marleney, a recent convert, to review with her the things that she was taught before baptism. She had some questions that run into deep doctrine, about the concept of Heavenly Parents and so forth. While we tried to explain it to her, she just couldn't seem to accept it, and so we counseled her to do what always works if we do it in faith. We told her to pray, to ask God if what we taught her is true. In a very real sense, all that we learn in Church really can only be testified and confirmed to us by the gift and power of the Holy Spirit of the Lord.
Anyhow, in the evening, we headed back to the apartment at Arcadia Road, as I mentioned earlier. We bumped into a helper who used to live next to another LDS family, and she was very friendly. We were able to get her contact. When we got there, we knew that they were home, but it took them awhile to open the door for us. When we asked for the two people whose names we had, the lady who answered the door said that they had no idea who we were talking about, in a rude way, though their last name was tiled on the wall in their front porch area. We left disappointed and frustrated, especially since we had walked all the way down this long road to get to them. But, the Lord blesses his servants, I believe, if they do his work with faith and diligence. When we got into the elevator, there was a friendly Nicaraguan lady in there, who said that she had seen us before in Nicaragua, and had learned a little before. We asked if she wanted to learn again, but she said that she was a very staunch Catholic. After chatting for a couple more minutes, she agreed to meet. She was a great person to talk to, because she said she didn't mind learning about what we taught, and seemed pretty excited about it! We had am little more time, so we decided to walk a distance of three or four bus stops before we took the bus home, and to see if there was anyone to teach. There was a young man who ran past us, but after a few minutes started running back towards us again. So, as he passed us, I started my first running contact. As the three of us ran, I taught him the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel. It was really fun, and the best part about it was that he was actually listening and responsive to it. We were able to get his number, and hopefully we will be in contact with him soon. The best part of the day is that we ended up with fifteen other people/lessons taught!
As I said, we had a great week! I learned much and grew spiritually. I have been shrinking physically, having lost about 8-9 pounds since the start of my mission. Well, got to head off! Do send a letter or a blog comment if you have the time! Thanks for reading! Take care and Godspeed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)