"Courage, Brethren!"

Well well,

It's been a crazy week! The whole mission has been going loco! We had six emergency transfers happen! So poor President Skelton has had to deal with a bunch of problems. First of all, we had the emergency transfer with my companionship. My new companion, Elder Pace T, is from Mesa, AZ, and he is a really great guy. He works really hard, but also has fun at the same time. We have had a lot of success this week, the best week that I've had so far! We taught over a hundred lessons, and for the investigators that we have with a baptism date, well, it went up from two to eight, so we're working hard, but also working smart! We've been calling a lot of former investigators to see if they want to learn again, and it has been very successful! We also are contacting some of my relatives and parents friends to see if they are willing to learn! We're meeting with a couple of them later on this week, so hopefully something comes of it!

One of my favorite Elders got thrown in jail for a second time because of visa issues. He finally got out and is back in Singapore now, but he can't get back into Malaysia, so they are short of a Zone Leader there, and they're trying to work something out. One of our Zone Leaders in Singapore had to go home because of some family problems at home in Sri Lanka, where there is a civil war raging, so we're praying that all will work out for him. So, we've had a whole mess of Elders moving all around the mission! So, I'm now the longest-staying missionary in our apartment, so many changes! But, I know that the Lord has His hand in all of this, and we have to just trust and follow Him.

Been having headaches/dizzy spells these past couple of weeks, so I had an MRI done. The results seem fine, but if they continue to persist, I'll probably go back to the doctor for another consultation. The neurologist thinks it's just stress-tension headaches, so I guess we'll see how it goes and pray that all goes well.

Our investigators are doing well and are progressing. We have Aravin, who is praying about whether or not he should perform a couple of Hindu rituals for the sake of his family before he gets baptized, or to just go for it. We respect his decision either way, and I can definitely understand the situation that he is in. He will definitely get baptized though, because Michelle, his girlfriend, a member, and him want and are planning to get married in the temple, the house of the Lord! :) Prasanth is Michelle's brother's best friend who has been coming to Church and who has taken a couple of discussions. He has accepted a baptism date, but he has to work it out with his family, because he is only sixteen. While going through our list of former investigators, we found a report about a boy named Jovian, who was found by some sister missionaries three years ago. We've been able to meet up with him, and he knows that the Church is true! He came for Stake Conference and loved a talk that was given about it being a commandment that every worthy and able male of the Church should serve a mission. The only downside is that he has some problems with his leg and spine, so he has to walk with crutches. He has for the past six years. We are doing our best to help him reach the waters of baptism. He almost did three years ago, and we're not letting him go this time. He is a great kid, and we hope that all will be alright. The only problem is his family. His Mom is a staunch Presbyterian, and she is openly opposed to the Church. It seems that the problem that we keep facing in Singapore is the family. I guess it has both it's pros and cons. In Asia, the family really is the central unit of society, and we grow up with the mentality that family is always first, which is good. The thing that irks me a little about that is that people give up their free agency, their right to choose. It almost seems that they are double-knotted to their Mom's apron strings, and there is no way to get out of that tangle. Honestly, I really do believe that our biggest challenge that we face are the families of our investigators.

But, all we do is to go forth in faith. As it says in Doctrine & Covenants 128:22, "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.

We just need to go on to victory! We can all do our part to have all those around us have "a feeling of exquisite wonder for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and plant in them that seed of faith, hope, and charity, that will help them to know of the truths of this restored gospel. Have courage and faith, and the Lord will build the rest!

Do write! Take care!

"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!

"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,

"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! :)

"He Sees Into the Eternities"

Dear All,

Some of you might know, but the rest of you won't know this. I've been released from my mission at the request of my father. While I was training at the Manila MTC, my Dad called my Bishop, Stake President and Mission President, and informed them that he wasn't allowing me to serve a mission.

I had no idea about this till I returned to Singapore from training and found my parents waiting for me instead of the missionary couple who were supposed to pick me up.

The rationale that my Dad gave was that he couldn't accept the fact that an insitution could prevent him from seeing his son for two years, and not allowing him contact except though email and three phone calls a year.

I have been instructed to obey the will of the Patriach of my family, and as such, I have. Pressure has been placed on him by my relatives too, who don't understand that they are taking away my agency.

I am hurt, and confused, and distraught. But, I trust that the Lord will show me what to do in time, for I have learnt in the 3 weeks in the MTC that the Lord will bless thse who serve him faithfully, but in his own time. We just have to wait patiently, and know that he is there, and he knows all, for he sees into the eternities.

I have come to love him so much the more for the gift of his Son, and I know that he lives, and I know that my Redeemer lives.

I will be at BYU in three weeks, for those of you who are in Utah. So, I'll see you then.

Whatever happens in the future, I know it will be well as I trust and believe in the Lord.

Take care and God Bless.

--

Ee Chien

Obedience is the Price

Faith is the Power

Love is the Motive

The Spirit is the Key

Christ is the Reason