The Spirit Converts

This has been yet another great week for Elder Rothwell and I. Being able to work hard and be happy is such a wonderful feeling. To be satisfied, to feel of your Heavenly Father love and joy is so peace-giving. We broke another record of ours with investigators on baptism date, which is slowly but surely translating over into baptisms! Leo Kong was baptized on Saturday. It was a great baptism, though we had to talk to a couple sets of missionaries who were there but weren't supposed to be, since it was in Chinese and they didn't have investigators there. Elder Rothwell and I are learning to be better leaders, trying to teach and inspire with love. It's a challenge!


Our investigators are moving along well, and the Zone has been doing great! We actually lead the mission in baptisms last week. But, lest I sound too prideful, we definitely could not have done it by ourselves. When we have great lessons, we know that it's because of the Spirit, because that's the feeling we have when we teach in unity, when the investigator is receptive, when the member testifies. The Spirit is the key to conversion.

Elder Holland has said,

"...the Spirit must be with you and you must teach by it when you teach because that is the way the lesson ceases to be your lesson and becomes His, becomes under the power of the Spirit a vehicle for lifting your investigators out of the temporal world. We are charged with the responsibility of getting people out of their ruts and routines, out of their problems and their pain, out of their earthly little arguments and ignorance and sins, and take them to the Gods — to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost — ultimately we are to take them toward their own Godhood. In short, we are to take them to the divine. And the Holy Ghost is the connecting link which the Godhead has agreed to give us here in mortality for that heavenly connection."

These last few weeks are going to be great! Going to endure to the end! I just hope that I can do all I can to be happy, to touch the lives of Heavenly Father's children.

I was reading in Mormon this week, and the 38th verse of chapter 8 caught my attention.

O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?

It was a personal reminder of the attitude and life that I need to live, to be humble and Christlike, to seek for the eternal, not the things of the world.

Well, I hope you all have a great week, as we are having.

-Elder Chua

"My Duty to God"

This has been another record breaking week. I am so grateful for the hard work that we have been able to do and the blessings that Heavenly Father has provided to us. We continued to get a good number of investigators and Church, and had a full week with lessons. We came home each day, exhausted but happy. We hope to be able to keep it up this week.

Well, Elders Stone, Mattox, Morgan and Sister Richey headed home today, so I am now the oldest (longest serving) missionary in the mission! It is unbelievable how fast time has gone by. From being a greenie, till now, I have learned so much, and am continuing to learn a lot each day.

I have had a problem with getting along with one of the Elders in my Zone, and I thought that it was all his fault. But, after another disagreement and a heart to heart talk with him, I came to understand his point of view, along with his feelings. It's something really important to learn as a leader, that listening is a lot more important than just telling.

Leo Kong is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday, which is exciting as usual. The other Mandarin Elders have three, which will be great! Along with that, Helen is progressing along well. We first met up with Helen last week. She loves Church and has already made some good friends. We have high hopes for her (better not jinx it though). I am glad that there are people are truly are ready to hear the gospel. It reminds us that there really are people out there who are searching for the truth. Sometimes, they just don't know that they are!

We got to watch General Conference this weekend, though we didn't get to watch all because I had to go to the doctors, then had to run between the English and Mandarin sessions because we wanted to watch it in English, but had to take care of our investigators in the Mandarin session. Tried to watch a session in Mandarin, but it was really hard to understand. Most of the talks flew right over my head. Shows that I have a long way to go with the language.

I especially enjoyed and was moved by the talk "The Divine Call of A Missionary" by Elder Ronald A. Rasband. He said:

Elder Eyring bore his witness to me of the love of the Savior, which He has for each missionary assigned to go out into the world and preach the restored gospel. He said that it is by the great love of the Savior that His servants know where these wonderful young men and women, senior missionaries, and senior couple missionaries are to serve. In the preface to section 14 of the Doctrine and Covenants, it states, “Three of the Whitmer sons, each having received a testimony as to the genuineness of the work, became deeply concerned over the matter of their individual duty." To John and Peter Whitmer Jr. the Lord said this: “For many times you have desired of me to know that which would be of the most worth unto you.” I suppose many of you young men have asked yourselves that same question. Here is the Lord’s answer: “And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father.

It is a wonderful privilege and duty to be able to serve the Lord. My duty to God is also my duty to myself. I hope that you all have a great week!

-Elder Chua

"A Ministering Angel"

The blessings that Heavenly Father provides to his children truly do come at the times when they need it. Our past few weeks, as I have mentioned have not been the best, but, this past week has been wonderful. The hard work that we put in has really paid off. This week was record-breaking week for Elder Rothwell and I, with 14 people at Church and 29 new investigators. They came as a result of the people who we've talked to, but also referrals from members. I think that Heavenly Father wanted me to remember that missionary work is not easy, because, as Elder Holland has said, "salvation is not a cheap experience." But, as we have worked hard, I have come to appreciate more what it really takes to be able to find those who are prepared to find the joy that "surpasses all understanding."

We have a investigator, Lansi, who we were able to teach yesterday. She had canceled a few appointments with us, and we had almost given up hope, but she agreed to come to Church. We found out that she didn't really believe in God because her Dad had been killed in a car accident a couple years before, even though he was a really good person, so she was trying to reconcile the concept of a loving and caring God with that. We talked to her about the plan that the Lord has for each one of us, and though we might not fully understand His ways, He has assured us that if we obey His commandments, we can find eternal life and happiness with our loved ones one day. She still seemed a little skeptical, but very sincere in her desire to find out. She asked us why we were giving our hearts and lives to this cause, so we shared with her Alma 31:32-35, and another one of my favorite scriptures, 2 Nephi 1:15. When she asked why I believed, it was a moving experience to be able to share with her why I love to serve the Lord. She going to read and pray, so we'll see how that goes! People like her keep us going!

Leo Kong is on track to being baptized! She has a great desire and understanding of the gospel, and she should be baptized in a couple of weeks. We also have a member referral named May who we accepted on date, and we plan to put quite a few more on date this week, including May's daughters. We received a referral from Taiwan, three girls who are studying here. Things are starting to look up. I am grateful for the blessings that Heavenly Father has showered on us this past week. The lessons that we have taught have been alright, but not particularly spectacular, mostly because of our limited Chinese vocabulary. But, the Spirit has taught with us and borne testimony of what we have taught, and that has made all the difference.

From all that contacting that we have done, a couple of girls who we had met called and asked to meet up. It hardly ever happens, and was another sweet blessing that lifted our spirits.

I was reading from the Doctrine & Covenants today and came across Doctrine & Covenants 7, where the Lord is talking about John the Beloved. The Lord said, "my beloved has desired that he might do more, or a greater work yet among men than what he has before done. Yea, he has undertaken a greater work; therefore I will make him as flaming fire and a ministering angel; he shall minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation who dwell on the earth."

I hope that I can do my best these last few weeks and have that authority and power to accomplish that which the Lord has asked me to do.

Have a great week! Here's a wonderful Easter Video!



-Elder Chua

What Is Happiness?

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.... it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness..." This has probably been one of my hardest weeks in the mission field, but it has also been one of the more spiritual weeks of my life. Funny how trials often draw you closer to Heavenly Father.

We had to drop a lot of our investigators, and almost EVERY appointment that we set up canceled. People weren't answering our calls and members couldn't. So, we spent most of the week contacting. Normally, contacting goes alright and people stop to listen. But, over the course of last week, no one would listen! No one wanted to stop, no one wanted to sit by us, no one even flashed a smile. It got worse when people started getting rude. One man whom I sat by said that he couldn't talk because he was waiting for a friend. Another two girls waved their hands in my face. Another guy gave me a dirty look, and tons of people just completely ignored me and Elder Rothwell. It got to a stage on Friday night When I was utterly discouraged. I had probably gone through twenty rejections, and it was hurting me. I thought, "Why won't people just stop and listen to me?" As I thought about that and wallowed in self pity, I thought about the theme of my blog, you know, the song, I Will Not Be Still. As I reflected on the words, it gave me a sense of peace and calm, to know that I am called of the Lord, and that though I can't do it by myself, He's there every step of the way. The first couple verses go like this,

I've never been the kind to testify,

I don't have the words his truth deserves.

But it's a simple thing he asks,

A worthy heart and willing hands.

He says if I'll make the choice,

He'll help me find my voice.

He calls me to serve and I cannot fail him,

The one who has given me all that I have.

I place my trust in him alone,

He knows the yearnings of my soul.

Because he believes in me,

I will go willingly.

It was then that I knew that my Heavenly Father loved me, yet another witness that I was doing his work.

I continued to sing the song softly, till it got to these lines,

Reaching the hopeless hearts who do not know his love,

Seeing their lives begin to change,

I know I'll never be the same.

For a moment, that caught me off guard, and got me back in my little rut. I reasoned with myself that none of these people wanted to change, they did not want to know His love. It was something that I thought the rest of the week.

We had some visa runners from Indonesia come in because there was a mess up with their visas in the States. But, they stayed for the week and got it all worked out. One of those visa runners, Sister Okamoto, wrote in my BR as she left, which I read later on. She said that the work that we do is the most important work, and that The Book of Mormon is true and changes lives! That hit me, along with the song, that there are lives to be changed. Many people might and will reject the message that we have to share, but we have to work our hardest to spread this message because of what the Savior has done for us and the world!

I'll admit,one of my faults this week has been that of being a little too trunky, which I can't be! I had two little boosts to keep me on the straight and narrow. One of them was from my friends who reminded me that I shouldn't be counting the days, but letting the days count! The second was from Sister Okamoto, who paraphrased a scripture saying that "TRUNKINESS NEVER WAS HAPPINESS!" Tis true.

Elder Rothwell and I did our weekly planning and resolved to do all we could to make sure that we can get as many people as we could to hear about this gospel, and these past couple of days have been great. Things are going better, people are listening more, we've had a couple good appointments. But, w still have the rest of the week, so we'll be working hard!

I love the mission. There have been days that I have wondered what I am doing doing this, but then always, and mostly realizing and knowing that this is how we, and everyone can find the happiness that our loving Father in Heaven wants for each of His children.

I hope that you all have a great week. Please keep Elder Rothwell and I in your prayers, we need it.

O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people. O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me.... yea, even all these wilt thou comfort, O Lord. Yea, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ. Wilt thou grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them because of the iniquities of this people. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ. Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.
Alma 31:32-35

A photo for ya'll, The Elders in the Singapore (2nd) Mandarin Ward
Elders Raja, Rothwell, Chua and Teng

-Elder Chua

Fast!

I think my long email/blog days are over! Do read the older ones when you can for longer ones! :)

Elder Rothwell and I gave our Zone Training yesterday, which was great fun to prepare and also to give. We focused on President Clark's training for the Zone Leaders, where we talked about being substitute teachers. We focused on:

1. Teaching by the Spirit
2. Preparation
3. Personal Worthiness
4. Quality
5. Focusing on the Investigator

We learned a lot as we prepared for the lesson by drawing from scriptures and Preach My Gospel, knowing what we can and should do to be better missionaries, and how to motivate our Zone to be the best that they can be. It really is in the teaching that you really learn. As we gave the training, there were all these thoughts coming into my head to talk about! It was a great experience!

We're still working on getting new investigators. We have a few that we thought would progress fast, but they are going a little slower than we thought. Bit by bit though. We're slowly getting our number of investigators at Church back up. It's a struggle, but it's the challenge that we are going to overcome!

The Stake put up a musical. Did a great job, though it was very Mormon cheesy, but that's why it was good! We brought two investigators that commented, while the prelude music was playing, that they didn't like that kind of music but preferred Lady Gaga. Somehow, one sat through all of it, and the other, most of it. I love the feelings that come from the Spirit. It is unlike any other, and it's hard to get investigators to understand sometimes that it is such an individual feeling.

Time goes so fast! We have to rush off again! The work continues to go on, and my Mandarin is slowly improving. I hope that everyone is doing well. Do let me know how you are all doing!

-Elder Chua