"Then Leave The Rest...."

hElLo!

Hope all’s well with everyone this week! It’s been a rather busy couple of weeks. Sorry about not having last week’s blog up. My Mom forgot to put it on. So who is the anonymous person who comments when it doesn’t go up for the week? Would you include your name the next time you make a comment, as in, this week?

Anyhow, Elder Taiamoni is back as a Zone Leader in Singapore because Elder Neil, whom I mentioned last week, is still not doing too well. He’s doing better though, which is great. Went on splits with Elder Richards this week. Since Elder Taiamoni and Elder Perrett are going home at the same time, they pulled one out so that the other could train the new Assistant. The last time Elder Richards and I lived in the same house, I was having my shingles outbreak, so Elder Richards spent three days in the house with me. This time, we went out. But first, we had to get the mail out with Liahonas to the areas in Malaysia. Unfortunately, we did not have enough stamps, so we had to go to the post office, and it ended up costing quite a bit.. quite a shocker actually. But, the missionaries need those magazines…

We’ve had a few good appointments this week. We are still teaching Pan, and she is progressing bit by bit. Last weekend, while we were on those splits, Elder Richards and I went over to teach her, and showed her the production Finding Faith In Christ, which was wonderful, because we really need to help her develop that faith. The Restoration and Plan of Salvation won’t really mean anything to her till she develops that faith in Christ. At the end of the video, she said that she felt something, but she wasn’t sure what it was… sadness… happiness… but we knew what was touching her heart. :) Elder Stone and I went over on Monday again, and taught more about faith. She listened well, and at the end of the lesson, asked if we could return the next day. We were excited! Went over last night, taught her about repentance and baptism, and challenged her again, but she declined. She said that she wanted to finish the third lesson first, then she’ll set a goal. So, that’s what we’re doing, progression step by step!

My pants split again so that wasn’t good. Need to eat less.

Met up with Joel again last week. Unfortunately, Edmond doesn’t seem too interested anymore. He got his friend to answer the phone and say it wasn’t his. Joel is doing well though. When we had our lesson with him, we talked to him more about the restoration of the Church and The Book of Mormon. He had been reading it and had some good question. The best part was that Germaine bore a wonderful testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. It was a beautiful, eloquent, and sincere testimony that I know brought the Spirit and that testified of the truth. Sometimes as missionaries, we take for granted what true testimony bearing is and should be. But then we remember when we hear one that is full of conviction, to know that it is the Spirit that teaches, that we really are instruments in the Lord’s hands. I suppose that sounds like a typical cliché/Sunday school answer. But there is truth and power in that statement. We’re meeting with him tonight!

I was commenting to Elder Stone that I had been rather annoyed with people correcting me often 9it seemed that way too me anyway), and he made a great comment that humbled me. First, I thought about how prideful I was for being so derisive of criticisms, but Elder Stone made a great comment when he said that when leaders bug us, it is because they see the potential in you, and they are trying to nurture it. That gave me a bit of comfort and peace. I’m really trying to learn to not bother what people think of me, but really focus on how I act and behave around other people, to do my best to be who I know I must be, and not worry about anything else.

The Sisters passed us a great referral. The man’s name is Samson and he’s from Myanmar. Even though he can’t understand much English, he really has a desire to learn. He’s Christian already so that’s a bonus. Even though he doesn’t have much, he’s just humble and happy. People have said to me more than once that the only people that seem to turn to the missionaries, or who let us teach them, are those who are poor and who have problems. After having thought about that for some time, I have come to the realization that that it probably a true statement. But, what of it? The reason why we have those people to teach is because these are the people who come to realize, through humility, that we can’t always depend on ourselves. They see that there is more to life than its normal ramblings. In the scriptures, it talks about those who are compelled to be humble, and those who are humble because of their love for God. Humility is an interesting thing, isn’t it? People often overlook that virtue.

We bumped into my old chemistry teacher from middle school yesterday. Actually, we had walked past her, and I realized that I really did know her. I felt really guilty for not talking to her, so we rushed back to the MRT, right where we were, and found her. She wasn’t too interested, but she was nice enough. And, I felt peace. Peace because I had done was right. I had, to my viewpoint, almost been like Peter, denying Christ and running away. So, my short lesson and testimony to my old teacher reaffirmed my faith.

Gave the district training this week! :)

Anyhow, Elder Perrett wants the computer, so I’ll finish up with a nice little thought that I’ve been focusing on.

I’ve been thinking this week about all the uncertainties in life, both in mission life, and post mission life. A quote kept coming back to me from a talk by Elder Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, that has helped me, and I leave it with you to ponder on this week. He said “put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to Him.”

Have a wonderful week!

Alma 22:18

The weeks seem a blur to me. More often than not, Tuesday rolls by without me realizing it. Sunday doesn’t rest either. People say two years is a long time, and it really is. But, it really is hard to fathom that I’ve been out for over a year now.

Anyhow, we’ve had yet another normal week. Well, normal in terms of the fact that we’ve been walking around, teaching people, and being happy missionaries. I guess you could see every week of a mission that way. But, nah, we’ve had a wonderful week. We talked to many wonderful people by the way, we were able to get a record-high twenty-one new investigators for the week, and we’ve had a wonderful time serving the old, learning and growing, struggling to be better.

We were able to meet up with the Filipino family again. They were great and asked some questions about the legitimacy of authority and all that. Sunday was a bummer because we had planned to have quite a few investigators at Church, and ended up only having Pan come. We did have a good English class that night though. We had our usual group there, and had a fun time teaching them. It’s a really fun thing to do, and it’s a wonderful service opportunity too. I really wish that we had more time for service. Serving in the office definitely counts as service though. I love the office. Have I told ya’ll that already. It is such a privilege to work with President Skelton, to draw from his wit and wisdom. It’s wonderful to see the Church run administratively, but still see how much the hand of the Lord is in all of it.

We’re working on rebuilding our teaching pool now from the baptisms that we’ve had the past three months. We spent some time contacting referrals from Salt Lake, which was interesting, because we always end up getting lost, and we can’t find our way back after we find the place! It really is an adventure with all this referral contacting. Missionary work is just pure fun. We call people to set up return appointments, and sometimes they don’t answer, believe it or not. Anyhow, when they call back, it always takes a minute or two to figure out who we’re talking to.

The big bummer that inevitable happens is that we have all these appointments planned, we turn up, and they aren’t there!

On Sunday, we met up with an interesting character named Jim, from China. Apparently he’s met up with a lot of Mormons before. Had some good questions, but some misconceptions that he couldn’t seem to rationalize.

We’ve had a bunch of really sick missionaries.

Unfortunately, one of our senior couples had to go home because the Elder developed cancer. Also, one of our single missionaries has to go home because of some brain problems. Ah, we’re losing too many missionaries and not enough coming in! We need more! It seems that challenges come no matter how faithful you are. The Lord definitely doesn't test us beyond that which we can handle, but he will test us and stretch us till we're malleable enough for Him to truly mold.

I've really been thinking about this past year. About how things have been, how things have changed. I've been seeing my shortcomings more and more, which is rather annoying at times, but I really am trying to change to be better. My temper is really short still, I really think pride plays a big factor. Oh, if I could be more humble. Working so hard for that, but it still seems to slip from my grasp every time I think I'm doing better. I suppose words can't adequately decribe what I'm trying to say. Anyhow... Alma 22:18. Read that and think about it.

Had our spring cleaning today. Well, I think I’m done for today.

Cheerio.

A Normal Week

So on our last all-day P-day, we played futsal, a indoor soccer game, which really hurt. I am out of shape. Trying to work on a light exercise (can't strain my heart too much), and diet regimen. We'll see how that goes.

We went over to Kai Xin’s place for her birthday last Wednesday. Her Dad’s a chef, and so he cooked a bunch of food for us to eat that was great. Well, it was Chinese food, so I enjoyed it. Through some scheming methods, I got Elder Stone to try some weird dishes. We were able to get to know Kai Xin’s family better, though her parents only speak Mandarin and Cantonese. They were really nice, and we enjoyed being with them. Hopefully, we’ll be able to visit sometime soon and have them be even more comfortable with the Church.

We had dinner at the Petersen’s on Thursday, and had Li Zhen and Joseph both come over. Li Zhen and Joseph are less-active recent converts, and they are pretty hard to get hold of, so it was wonderful to be able to meet up with them. They both agreed to come to Church on Sunday, and they did, so that was wonderful. That Thursday night, we had gone over with Li Zhen to the NUS Conservatory (since she’s a paino major), and heard her play some beautiful music. I’m now absolutely in love with Brahms Fantasias Op. 116. On Friday,we were able to meet up with Velmurugan. He’s doing as well as ever, and was really happy when we saw him, which made our day. Finished up with looking for the lost sheep, which was a relief. I actually do enjoy looking for these people. I’ve been going to places in Singapore that I’ve never been to before. We had an appointment in Boon Lay which we headed to, but they fell through for the second time, which was rather frustrating, but oh well, just takes it as it comes.

Sunday was good. We met up with Pan (not Ban), Pheonix’s wife, and we were able to finish teaching her the Plan of Salvation. Unfortunately, when she challenged her to be baptized, she said no, her reason being that she really didn’t understand it well enough, which I think was great for her to say. Hopefully, we’ll be able to help her along. I can definitely understand her having a culture shock moving here for Myanmar, being a newlywed, and learning about a new religion from two foreigners. She’s really sincere about learning though. She came up to us a few days ago while we were waiting for another investigator at her place and asked us how to pray properly. We were able to meet up with Li Zhen in the evening. We showed her a video of the Five Browns, which she enjoyed, and then got to watch her play the piano again, which was absolutely amazing. We headed over to our English class after that. When we told Li Zhen where we were doing and what we were going to do, she got all excited, so we invited her to come along, and she did! The class went well. We had Velmurugan (who shaved his moustache off and looks really young), Pan, Li Zhen, and a couple of Pheonix/Tun Naing’s friends. We did an evaluation session to gauge their level of English, which was fun, they all seem to be really excited.
Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal, just some finding and a single appointment, though we did find some good people, so we’ll be following up on them. Oh wait, Monday was wonderful because we contacted a great referral from the Philippines. Along the way, we stopped an Indian lady to ask for directions, and she was really helpful. She also agreed to meet us with her family sometime! Anyhow, the referral was really nice. There are four children in the family. Dad’s Singaporean. Unfortunately, the family goes back to the Philippines in a couple of weeks while the Dad will stay here for awhile longer. We should have contacted that family a few weeks ago when we received the referral! Ah! The price of procrastination!

Well, I hope that you all have a good week! I’m turning 21 in less than two months, crazy!

"I Have Overcome the World"

I’ll have to admit that I slacked off on writing my weekly email/blog last week. But, my two excuses are that 1) I was exhausted, and 2) There never seems to be a response to any of the emails or letters I write. I suppose those are rather excusing excuses, but, I have repented, and I’m writing one today that will make up for last week. By the way, who asked me on my blog where last week's one was?

Well, the highlight of last week was Velmurugan’s baptism on Saturday. We had been meeting with him so often, and the only setback was that his boss only let him go to Church once a month. Fortunately, President Skelton approved his baptism even though he only came to Church twice before it. Brother Kumar, our wonderful member, was able to perform the baptism. Brother Kumar has been instrumental in helping Velmurugan to understand all that we’ve been teaching him by helping us to translate what we teach from English to Tamil. We had the Assistants and another set of missionaries there, and we were privileged to sing When I Am Baptized, just as we did at Joe’s baptism. I absolutely love that song. It helps me so much to remember the child-like view that we have to have about life, about the concepts of repentance, and know that our sins really can be washed away, that I really do want to be the “best I can, to live with God again.” After his baptism, Velmurugan bore a wonderful testimony about the challenges he had to overcome which we had no idea about. Through Brother Kumar, he told us that during the time we were teaching him, his work permit in Singapore was about to expire and his company was not going to renew it because of some family problems he had. But, as he met us and learned about the gospel of Jesus Christ, about praying to a loving Heavenly Father and studying the scriptures, he was blessed and his work permit was renewed. What a wonderful tender mercy from the Lord. I was able to confirm him the next day at Church, my first time!

Speaking of tender mercies, I had been reading an article entitled A Quest For Joy, which talked about the joy that we search for and teach as missionaries. I had been having a rather tiring week, with a lot to do, and just being physically and spiritually exhausted. There was so much in that article that gave me a boost, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. A part of it that really stuck out to me helped me to understand the joy that we are supposed to feel as missionaries, that sense of the Lord’s love for us. As the author, Barbara Workman so eloquently stated “Missionaries may not wake up each morning bursting with joy, but they are out the door on time anyway. ‘Hard’ isn’t negative when you are a missionary. Why? Because when your feet hurt and you’re really hungry and the dogs are especially vicious and you are surprised to discover that you are happy anyway, you accept that gift of joy as a blessing from your Heavenly Father, thanking you for doing His work.” She goes on to talk about what joy truly is, and ends with a scripture that I will mention later.

We had our Zone Conference this past week, which was absolutely amazing. Sister Skelton gave a wonderful talk on the restoration of the gospel, about the First Vision, and how those words uttered by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith were the most marvelous words heard since the angel said “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, for he is risen.” President Skelton gave an amazing training on the last days. We went through the books of the Old Testament, the Book of Revelation, and the Doctrine and Covenants, and the prophecies fulfilled, and those yet to be fulfilled. He tied that in with our attitudes during these last days, about our attitudes as missionaries, and whether or not we were in the right mindset, if we really were seeing the plan of salvation as a plan just for the saints, or really for all the children of God. He made some wonderful remarks about the blessings that will come, but more about the calamities and suffering that the Saints and the world will have to endure before Christ’s second coming. It was mesmerizing, to be honest. Elder Judd, Elder Stone and I wrote a song for the conference, dedicated to President and Sister Skelton, entitled Isles of the Sea. Elder Judd came up with most of the lyrics, I added the bridge and the end, I came up with the melody, and Elder Stone came up with the accompaniment. It was a privilege to perform it. I really do enjoy it, and I really saw the hand of the Lord helping and guiding us through it. We only had fifteen or twenty minutes each night for a couple of weeks, but somehow, it all just came together. If you want a copy of the sheet music, just let me know and I’ll send it to you. President Skelton has allowed us to make it the mission song, so that makes me really happy. They enjoyed it too. :)
These are the lyrics to the song, we’re doing a recording of it, so just ask for a copy if you want!

Isles Of The Sea – The Singapore Mission Song
by Elder Shiloh Dean Judd & Elder Ee Chien Chua

1. Amidst the Oceans here we stay,
How long, we do not know.
The waves they break and throw us down,
The force traps us below.
But we fight on and carry through,
Our purpose, it is clear.
We journey through isles of the sea,
To draw our Savior near.

2. The winds blow fierce, a storm is nigh,
A threat’ning cloud appears.
The Savior is our only shield,
And strength despite our fears.
He strengthens us and moves our feet,
Along the seaside isles.
No enemy can stop us now,
Nor rocky ways or trials.

Bridge: It’s the people who we love,
It’s the people whom we serve.
Through the jungles and the streets,
We ride on though.
Lands and people we didn’t know,
Thought we’d never go.
But as we love and as we serve,
That’s all we know.

3. We love the Lord and walk His path,
In all His ways we’ll tread.
We’ll follow Him through raging storms,
When all His friends have fled.
We’ll stand by Him and waver not,
Although the tempest run.
Our mission, we ever know,
We’ll fight until it’s won.

End: The waves will guide us,
The storms will cleanse us,
We’ll be who he wants us to be.
Purified through rain and fire,
By the people whom we love,
Through the isles of the sea.

Unfortunately, Elder Stone fell sick soon after that, so we spent a couple of days letting him to get some rest and to recuperate. On Sunday, we got to take the mission van because Elder Stone was certified and he still wasn’t feeling too well, so we got to take the van for our appointments! We’ve been teaching Phoenix’s wife (Ban)! She’s absolutely wonderful and learning about the gospel. If you don’t already know, Phoenix is one of our wonderful Burmese members who helps us with everything. He went back to Myanmar, got married, and now his wife is here, so it’s wonderful! He is so happy! :) When we went over last night to teach another investigator, Ban came out of her room and asked us how to pray properly. T’was a great feeling.

For the days that Elder Stone was sick, I went on splits with the Assistants. Elder Perrett and I taught Ajay on Friday night, one of the wonderful referrals that we were given by the sisters. We were able to teach him more about the plan of salvation, and to bear our testimony of true and living prophets on this Earth again today. He had some questions and concerns, but we were able to talk to him about it because he is one who is really sincere and seeking to know the truth. We might even be able to play Badminton with him next week! :) Ajay is one of those people who we try to find day after day, those with a sincere desire to learn and to draw closer to God. The next day, I went with Elder Taiamoni and Tun Naing to a couple of appoints who both cancelled when we got there and were waiting for them. It’s so discouraging sometimes, and it didn’t help that I hadn’t had dinner. But, as I said before, there was a scripture quoted in that article mentioned earlier that has given me a new perspective of the absolute love and understanding that the Lord has for us. The Lord showed His love for me when I read that. I felt His love as I read Christ’s words as He told His Saints, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

I know that Christ will always help us, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

"Love Converts"

There's an amazing video about families on www.thinkfamily.sg that I would recommend watching really moved me and got me to understand that it is "people's imperfections, that make them perfect…." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw0s4C0g5SM)

We've had a pretty busy week, but busy is good, because it normally implies that we are being effective, and are accomplishing a decent amount of things.

Elder Kunioka, Elder Crofts, and Elder Walters headed home last week, which was sad, as always, but they are on to more things now! The Kunioka's came to pick their son up, and, when Sister Kunioka saw Elder Kunioka, she grabbed hold of him and just cried, which teared everyone up. It really gave me a deeper understanding of the sacrifice that missionaries make as they leave home for two years. It is an amazing to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ allows people to make those leaps of faith into the unknown. How grateful I am to be able to serve as a missionary.

One of my good friends sent a cassette tape last week, which absolutely brightened up my entire week!  We went on exchanges, which ended up being really messy, because we had an appointment late Thursday night, then we had to rush to the Stake Center to meet up with the other Elders. Anyhow, Elder Herbst and I made it home in time. Had a normal day at the office… wow... this week's letter seems really boring right now. It just doesn't seem to be flowing at all! Anyhow, we got to meet up with Seoko and Velmurugan Friday night. We're still working with Seoko to help him make his own decision about baptism. If he doesn't make a decision soon, we're going to have to drop him, as sad as that may be. Velmurugan did great as per normal. It was good to have Brother Kumar there again, because it is so much easier for Velmurugan to explain what we are trying to teach him.

Saturday was pretty busy. We had our weekly planning session, with an appointment midway through. When we got back, we had just enough time to finish planning, then we had to head over to a business school for an appointment with a referral that the sisters had given us. It was an amazing appointment because the investigator himself was amazing! Ajay is a man from India studying for his MBA, and is working for HP at the same time. But, the reason why he wanted to meet was because he wanted to find how he can get closer to God. He had a sincere desire and asked such great questions. He understood what we were teaching, and absorbed it well. He's meeting with someone from another Church too, which is great, because it's just good for him to be able to see the differences, and then to choose for himself what he knows is best. He is just one of those people that we search for during our missions, someone who has a sincere desire to learn about truth.

Sunday was ward conference. It was good, had some good speakers, and a ward lunch after Church. We had three appointments scheduled within a couple of hours so we had to go on splits. Had dinner with a member, then Elder Perrett and I headed to Bukit Gombak to go on splits with our Ward Mission Leader and his home teaching companion to visit some families. Elder Stone and Elder Taiamoni went with Han, a member, to teach a golden investigator that Elder Stone had contacted named Steven. Apparently, the appointment was wonderful. We're going to meet with him again tonight so I'm excited! They met up with Velmurugan after that for his baptismal interview, and he passed, so Velmurugan is getting baptized this Saturday, so we're way excited!

We headed to NUS after the office on Monday evening to look for Joe since his phone was off, and he was headed back to Shanghai on Tuesday. When we got to his doem, we found out that we needed a key to get to the right floor. We obviously didn't have that, so we climbed twelve floors to where his room was supposed to be, and found the door locked. When we got back down, we tried to ask the people in the management office if they would take us up, but they wouldn't. So, we said a prayer, then had dinner. Heading back to the elevator lobby, we weren't too hopeful with our chances of meeting someone who actually lived on the twelfth floor itself. So, we stood there for about five minutes asking some people going up to their rooms if they lived on that floor, with no success. Meanwhile, we randomly talked to a German man who seemed to be there both times we had been in the lobby. Anyhow, just as we were about to give up, I asked an approaching guy if he lived on the twelfth floor, which surprised him, because he did! We mentioned that we were looking for Joe, whom he knew, and he kindly took us up, and we found Joe! He had his line canceled, and he had gotten back Sunday afternoon from a trip to Malaysia, so he had not been able to come to Church. It was nice to be able to just talk with him for awhile. It was pretty funny at the same time, because he was sitting in his boxers, and, when Elder Stone asked if he wanted to put his clothes on, he said that it was ok. It was funny! Anyhow, we had a quick meal with him, then did some less-active member finding. Unfortunately, no one was home.

Had a good Zone training by the Zone leaders about being "equally yoked," being able to be diligent at finding, but working with the members also, not just working with them, but working with them equally too. It was good to be able to be reminded about how important members are, how essential members are to missionary work. Had to go on splits again, because we had two appointments at the same time. Ended up taking Elder Carpenter, one half of the office couple with me to go finding, and then an appointment with Seoko. Elder Carpenter didn't do too bad, considering the fact that he served in Scotland awhile back and only door-knocked there. Pheonix, our member, was already there when we arrived, so we dived right into the lesson about King Lamoni's in the Book of Mosiah. What I learned from the story as we read it right there and then was amazing. What I came to realize was, the reason why King Lamoni's father softened was because of the love that he saw that Ammon had for his son, and that is the same way we need to be with our investigators, members, and their non-member family members: that we must truly love the people, and thereby be able to help them change by example, pure example.

"And when he saw that Ammon had no desire to destroy him, and when he also saw the great love he had for his son Lamoni, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Because this is all that thou hast desired, that I would release thy brethren, and suffer that my son Lamoni should retain his kingdom, behold, I will grant unto you that my son may retain his kingdom from this time and forever; and I will govern him no more-" Alma 20:26

Love converts.