In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

Another Week

Not enough time!!!!

We've had yet another decent week. Nothing too spectacular.

Elder Teng ended up spending the weekend with us because he had his hand slammed in the door, so they kept him here for a few days to make sure that it was alright.

Met a few new investigators, which has actually worked out pretty well, especially since a few have been member referrals. Sister Regina is a really awesome member who helps us with finding those referrals. She is really humble and talks to everyone about the gospel. Unfortunately not all the members are like her. I guess humility really is key to missionary work.

We had ten at Church, so that was awesome, but we are struggling a little to set people on baptism date. Have to get them to meet up with us first. Got to go to a few members' houses, so that was nice.

Received another hate letter, this time two churches had their names listed on it though. It's rough sometimes, but what to do? Just do your best to spread the gospel the way you can, and with all your might! Haha, I sound like a religious zealot sometimes, but I have less than six months left! Have to go at it.

Sister Maureen, a member, had us meet with her nephew. He's really nice and I think will take the time to see whether we teach something that makes sense to him.

Learning day by day how to be more humble and patient, especially with people. Those really are my weak points. So how is everyone doing anyhow? Oh, right. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! We're going for dinner at the Clark's in a short while.

-Elder Chua

"Ideal Mormons" and "Desire"

This week has gone by really fast. With this one hour limit now, I keep forgetting to write out this weekly email, so it's going to be pretty short too!

Well, the week actually went by really fast. Since the other area in my district got whitewashed, I went to Church with them on Sunday, and I'll be going one more time this week. It's fun because I have worked in two of the three areas. It's been good to visit them. Monday and Tuesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Sederholm, my Zone Leader. It went really well, and we really do teach well together! We are still working on rebuilding our teaching pool. We have a couple of promising investigators, but we'll have to see how that goes.

Ethel got anti-ed again. She really must be someone that the adversary wants to bother. It really is annoying, well, more frustrating sometimes when things like this happen. I don't understand why people hate us so much. I guess I understand it, since it was all predicted in the scriptures, but sometimes, it would be nice if it were just a little easier. Heavenly Father will prepare a way for His children to return to live with Him if they want to though.

Shu Yang and Angel are two member referrals that we taught that are doing alright.

Met an Indian man who wants to learn, though I think it's more intellectual than Spiritual at the moment. Still open though.

Feline is a former that was taught in 2003 and 2006. We're now teaching her in 2009. Funny. She was Taoist when they first taught her, but now she's Christian. Go figure.

Robbie is another former we're working on. He's got good questions, but not the desire yet.

Speaking of desire, we met a man named AJ on Monday from the potential list. He was really friendly, but just said he had no desire to really learn about religious or spiritual things. He said that he had a lot of things happen to him. When we asked him if he was happy, he replied that he was content, then added that he was happy. But, it was painfully obvious to see the hurt in his eyes. Some things that have happened that have numbed him to the point where I think he just is thinking that "if there is a God, I don't want to know about Him because He doesn't love me." That really saddens me.

Did district training on "Ideal Mormons." It was a good reminder to myself that EVERY child of God has the right to learn, and then to accept or reject the gospel. No judgements on our part to decide if someone needs it. Zone Conference last week was good. Received training on teaching by the Spirit, planning, and remembering the Lord. Uplifting, really.

Working to help Elder Lamat with English and teaching. Rather frustrating sometimes, but he is trying. Good Elder. On my part, I need more humility and patience.

Well, not too much time. Got to go. Have a wonderful week. Thanksgiving next week!

-Elder Chua

A Spiritual Impression

We've had a pretty decent week, though I have yet another new companion, Elder Lamat. Elder Lamat is from Kuching, East Malaysia. He's a good kid.

My district's been going through so many changes lately. Elder Bukchuluun is going back to Mongolia because the government is not allowing anymore foreign missionaries to go into the country, so they are trying to get the locals back in. It's going to be sad. Oh well. He's excited for it. Hopefully things settle down soon. I'm going to stress out a little, trying to handle this companionship that consists of a new missionary and his companion who has never been a trainer, senior companion, and who has never served in Singapore. I'm sure that it will be fun.

Well, I don't have much time today since I forgot that I was supposed to write this. But, I will talk about one wonderful spiritual experience that we had yesterday.

Ethel finally was able to meet up with us after a couple of weeks. We had our appointment with President and Sister Clark in his office. Anyhow, we started off by answering a couple of questions that her anti friend had posed to her. It was good to be able to answer those questions for her. What it came down to was us testifying to her that we have living prophets and apostles once again on this earth. We explained to her that the only reason why we were teaching her, why we were doing this was because we knew that it would provide her the way for her to return to her Father in Heaven. It was while we were testifying of living prophets that I bore my own testimony. As I said the words I said, there came into my heart a conviction that what I was saying was fact. It wasn't even a warm feeling or anything, but rather something that told me that what I was saying was completely true. It was an experience that I have never had before, and it really left an impression on me.

This Church has the full gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christmas is coming up, I'm so excited!

-Elder Chua

Onward!

We had a wonderful weekend! Two baptisms are always wonderful! Brandon was baptized first, with me then baptizing Yuni! The really sweet thing was that I got to say the baptismal prayer in Indonesian, though it did take some practice to get that done. Brandon and Yuni were so happy when they were baptized, and the confirmations went wonderfully too! Thankfully, I confirmed Brandon, so I got to do that in English. They are so excited to be members of the Church. What a wonderful blessing.

Sister Catherine passed away on Thursday, so we went to her wake on Sunday. It's the third one I''ve been to in the last few months. It was especially hard to see Brother Woo and Shu Yan break down. It hurts when you see people whom you care for hurting so badly. I can only hope that the gospel which Brother Woo has so recently accepted will help him, and that Shu Yan will find peace as we teach her about the plan of salvation, and what it has done and can do for each one of us. These experiences have only helped me to appreciate my parents more. I'm glad that I've been able to recognize that they love me so much, and I only hope that I can reciprocate that love. It's definitely a far cry from high school when I thought the nagging and lectures were random bouts of frustration. Now I know that they were wonderful expressions of my mother's and father's love for me. After mission time is parent time!

We got to see Rhea earlier this week. She is doing well and is really excited with what we are teaching her. She is asking questions about some of our beliefs in relation to her Catholic upbringing, but we have been able to clarify and answer her concerns. She excited for her upcoming baptism, and we're excited for her too! Her employers, who are members too, are a great help. It's also good that her sister is a member of the Church.

Been on exchanges these past couple of days. A companionship in my district has been having some issues, so I counseled with them, and took them on splits to separate them for awhile. Throughout the two days, as I was figuring out what to do, I asked for advice from the Zone Leaders, the Assistants, and President. They gave some advice, but mostly, they left the decision up to me. It was a relatively new experience, but a good one, because it helped me to make decisions on the spot, and also to rely very much on the Spirit as I tried to figure out what the best decisions to make were.

As we were walking to the bus stop from our appointment with Rhea, we walked past a guy who was sitting at a table and waiting. Something told me to turn around, which turned into a good little lesson on the plan of salvation. As we sat at the bus stop across the street afterward, I watched as the man read the pamphlet rather thoroughly. It was, as always, a good reminder that everyone should have the opportunity to listen to the message that we share, and that there are people who are waiting to hear it. I only hope that I will not lose that zeal after my mission.

I think Pamela got anti-ed.

Patricia is doing alright. She has her priorities focused somewhere else ow, but we're still holding her interest, and has some really good questions, so we're praying that things will continue to progress.

Marna Lee is the helper for the Daynes'. I home taught them for two years while I was still in high school, so I got to know her pretty well. It took a couple calls to persuade her, but she agreed. We had a relatively good discussion, but we'll have to go slowly with her. Slow but steady wins the race!

Cisca is progressing slowly. We hit a road block with coffee, so we're working on helping her overcome that. We're going to get her to switch over to Mountain Dew and wean her off from that! She was actually fed coffee when she was a baby! No wonder she is having such a hard time getting off it!

Well, Elder Ng-Woon is training again so he gets transferred on Thursday. I'm getting my second non-American companion in a row, Elder Lamat from Kuching Malaysia. He's an Iban! (one of the tribes in East Malaysia). It should be fun!

Still working on trying to develop quiet dignity and a spiritual maturity. It's a constant upward struggle, but we go onward!

-Elder Chua