I feel like a real missionary now

Hey, I'm not sure if my email from last week sent, so here it is again:

Hey hey orang yang saya sayang,

First thing's first, what missionaries do here for handwritten letters is have the letters go to the Singapore address. It is:

Sister Ellen Wynn

Singapore Mission

253 Bukit Timah Road, 5th Floor

259690 Singapore

Singapore

It's also on my facebook cover photo if you forget. This means we only get mail about once a month or every 3 weeks. I think it's because the mail here isn't very reliable/no one really has addresses. Missionaries coming from Singapore to our area bring our letters and packages. Our Sister Training Leaders and ZLs are going to Singapore this week for leadership training, so they'll pick up our letters. Also, the APs flew in from Singapore this week, which means I got mail! Well, I only got one letter, from Brother Kirby, and it was so uplifting. Keep writing, missionaries love letters. Even if I don't get them right away, keep writing to me, promise? I will try to respond as soon as I can.

Well, I forgot to say last week that Sister Crichton got transferred to Kuching about 2 days after Sister LeBaron and I got here. It was fun trying to remember where everyone lived. Can I just say Sister LeBaron is a champ for white-wash training in a country she's never been in, and in a language she didn't really use much before? She spent the first 6 months of her mission in Singapore, where missionaries mostly speak English. I really appreciated Sister Crichton being here, but I'm kind of glad she's gone because I feel like I teach a lot more, and that's the best way to learn the language.

Also, we wake up at 7, and go to bed at 11 instead of 6:30 and 10:30 in most other missions. I don't know why it seems so much better, but it's awesome. Also, I waterproofed my backpack. And by that, I mean I stick all of my books and valuables in plastic bags. It's the cheap man's way to waterproof stuff. I learned my lesson from two P-Days ago from biking in the rain and all of my stuff got wet. I was just thinking how it hasn't rained since that day, then yesterday, Sister LeBaron and I left early to pick some less-actives up for church, and it poured the whole time we biked. I thought to myself, "I'm going to miss days like this." I also wore my hideous Crocs yesterday, and we were a little late to sacrament meeting, so you have to imagine everyone trying to be reverent in church and us walking in late, dripping wet, and the squelching sound of my shoes as I tried to find a seat.

What else? We live by a mosque, and if we're home around one of the 5 times they do call to prayer, we can hear the music from it. It's so cool! It really reminds me I'm in a foreign country...even though they have mosques in America too haha. The music is beautiful. Last week, I put a carton of 30 eggs in my backpack and biked home without breaking a single one. I'm getting really good at hauling groceries home on my bike. I have yet to try mangosteen or durian, but I have been eating lots of dragonfruit. I also have our phone every other day, and some days I have the keys. I love calling members and investigators and trying to confirm appointments in my broken Malay. Just so you know, the Malaysia mission phones are so archaic. I miss my qwerty keyboard, but my phone has T9 bahasa Melayu which is pretty cool. The Singapore missionaries have really nice touch screen phones. Pampered much? I have a picture with one of the APs and we're holding up our phones so you can see the difference. For a while, I was feeling pretty bummed because I teaching in lessons about 10% of the time, but I started saying things when there was an appropriate pause because I know the lessons, even if I don't say things perfectly. I talked to Sister LeBaron about it and now we have our lessons where I try and teach most of it, and she fills in whatever I forget or can't say. Usually, I just forget a word here and there. I'm learning a lot of Malay this way, and I really appreciate that Sister LeBaron is taking a backseat on the lessons so I can speak more. I've also been filling out the area book (whoever doesn't have the phone that day does the area book) and I've decided I never, ever want to be a bad area book keeper. It's so frustrating when there's not enough information or complete information on the teaching records. But it's okay, we figure if there's something we don't know, we just ask our investigator. It just makes a lot more work.

Kusnadi is slowly giving up cigarettes. Kami percaya kepada dia! He's doing great. I showed him a picture I have of Gerrit and talked about how he wanted to stop smoking so he could serve a mission, and with the help of the Atonement, he was able to do it. I also had time to show him all of my other family pictures and he loved it. He showed us his little bag of kidney stones that he had about a year ago. I've learned not to be afraid to promise people these huge promises, like if Kusnadi relies on Christ and understands it's okay if he messes up, he will be able to stop smoking. We also promised that girl, the one who takes care of all those kids, that she will be able to read one day. We are slowly teaching her. I almost cried in one of our lessons with her because her 18 month old started crying and wouldn't stop, and she told us he was hungry but she didn't have enough milk for him and her newborn. She lights up every time we stop by and talk to her, even if it's just for a couple minutes.

I went on exchanges with Sister Noorda last week, and I got to be "Senior Companion." I learned a lot from her. She only has a month left before she goes home, but she said the mission goes fast. Live up every day, and love quickly. Sometimes you don't have time to love slowly, so love your comps, investigators, and church members in each area quickly. It's easy enough because Malaysians love me so much, even though I can barely speak to them. I've been really good at conveying love to everyone I meet though. It's a language everyone speaks, because love comes from the spirit.

We had a great jungle adventure last P-Day. Our branch mission leader, Kevin, who served in Singapore, took us to a national park and we got to see beautiful waterfalls, huge ants, and lots of pokok (trees). The hike was hard, but so fun. We climbed up this sketchy wooden treehouse tower where the ladder at the bottom was broken. We didn't climb to the top though because I don't think it was built for 7 huge American kids to climb all at once. We also ran into a couple Australians, an Englishman, and a New Zealander who were in Malaysia for work, as divers and surveyors. We tried to talk more about what we did as missionaries, but the conversation never went there. As they were leaving, I had this thought to read a scripture to them, but I didn't act on it. For the rest of the hike, I kept apologizing and praying in my head that I would find them again. We did at the end of the hike, and I talked to Peter, from New Zealand (bonus: he was pretty cute), and Merrick, from Liverpool, who kept making jibes at me for trying to proselyte. He said "So are you going to try to preach to me now? And I said, "You better believe it!" I read them Mosiah 18:9 and we said our good-byes.

Kevin also took us to a replica of an Iban longhouse, and to downtown Miri for lunch.

I think I forgot to mention, before we left the MTC, the Indos and Malays sang the National Anthem. It was so pretty because a couple people knew the harmonies. I love my country. I also love my mission country. I am in love with Malaysia. Also, for our last district meeting, I read Alma 17:12-13, which reads, "And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth among the [Malaysians] to declare unto them the word of God.

And it came to pass when they had arrived in the borders of the land of [Malaysia], that they separated themselves one from another, trusting in the Lord that they should meet again at the close of their harvest; for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken."

I said I was probably the most vocal about missing my MTC district, but we were going on to do amazing things, and I was glad I got to get to know all of them, and that they needed to remember they were men of God, worthy priesthood holders. Of course, I almost cried, but I held it together enough for me to say what was in my heart. We are doing a great work. I sometimes wonder how each Elder is doing, but I know each one is being an exceptional missionary right now.

Some days, I know angels are carrying me and my bike over the bridge across the Miri river at night, because some days I'm so tired. The church is true. The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. I didn't always know that, but now that I do, I have to act on it. I wouldn't be here 8,000 miles away from you all if it wasn't true. I love the work. I love my God. I love my Savior. Talk to you next week.

Sayang,

Sister Wynn

Miri Boleh!

Apa khabar friends and family,

This week, I got chased by dogs, rode my bike in the pouring rain (Malaysian rain, the kind that goes in every direction, not the American kind), fell on a rusty fence and got a little puncture wound on my knee (thank goodness for tetanus shots right?), almost fell in garbage water but saved myself with my foot, so only my shoe got nasty, and we knocked on an Iban' couple's door but they were on drugs and scared us away but the woman also did a nice Iban dance for us from a distance. My legs are also covered in mosquito bites and I have bruises I don't remember getting.

I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but I am having the time of my life. Missionary work is the hardest, funnest, most rewarding thing I've ever experienced. Everything is so worth it. The trick is to embrace the chaos of it all.

I'm glad no one told me how hard missionary work actually is. Actually, I think everyone tried to tell me, but I was too naive and excited to listen. There's this giant bridge we cross every day from our house to our area, and it's on an incline. It never gets easier to cross in the mornings, but at night, we somehow push through, get up the hill, and coast all the way back to our house. I always say a little prayer of thanks for our selamat jalan on that bridge. Biking on the busy 4-lane highways (they're the equivalent of Commercial street in Salem, but with no hippie bike lanes) is surprisingly safe. Most of the cars slow down or move out of our way and I feel pretty safe. I also learned where all of the bumps, potholes, and gravel spots are in the neighborhoods in our area by now. The only thing I hate about my mission is how much the men cat-call us as we ride our bikes! They're either in their cars and call out the window, or on their mopeds, or on the streets, and every time they do it I feel sick. Ugh. But again, it's worth it to be in this beautiful city.

Last Preparation Day, after I emailed you, we went to Parkson's, a shopping center with a bowling alley, and bowled with the Miri 2nd branch so we could get to know them better. Even though I could barely speak to any of them, I had fun and I laughed with them when we all got gutter balls, and I would high-five them if one of us got a strike. On our way there, that's when it rained, so it took us an hour to get there when it normally would have taken us 30 minutes. That's what you get when you bike through 6 inches of water. We showed up soaking wet, like we had just jumped in a river or something. I looked at the scoreboards and learned the ward member's names as they bowled. Tricky, right? It's so important in missionary work to get the members on your side. If they like you, they will help you find their friends and families who they want to have the gospel. If they don't think you're working hard, and especially if you don't make an effort to learn their names, then of course they aren't going to have you teach their loved ones. One important thing I learned in the MTC is you want the Elders in your district to like you so they take you on jungle adventures, you want the senior missionary couples to like you so they feed you and give you rides to places, and you want the ward members to like you. But you DON'T want your investigators to like you too much. You want them to have a testimony of Christ, not of missionaries. There are a couple women we tried to contact, but they don't want to be taught anymore because a Sister missionary from a couple transfers ago was teaching her and she left. That's frustrating. Sister LeBaron and I are trying really hard to make sure we don't get too close, and that our investigators have good friends at church.

Ngian loves learning from us. She is a tiny Iban woman, and the first couple lessons with her, when she spoke, I kept thinking "Wow, I can't understand any Malay at all!" But it turns out she was speaking Malay mixed with a lot of Iban. She's been teaching us some Iban words. Like the word for food is makai, and the word for drink is mirup. We taught a couple lessons at Sister Tungalim's house (I'll send a picture with a little girl sitting in front of a wooden house, that's her house) and they made us Sarawak food! They made us these little shrimp crackers that were deep fried. We watched them make it in Tungalim's kitchen. It was a scene I'll never forget: this tiny little kitchen where my head almost touches the ceiling, and you can see the lake behind her house and though the cracks between the floorboards, and there was this little skinny orange cat sleeping on their floor. We also had Family Home Evening with them (Malam Keluarga) and since it was at night, we did it by candle light in their sweet little home. Ngian's neighbors harass her for taking the lessons from us though. They leave her broom at the top of her stairs to try and make her trip and fall down the stairs, and they call her a devil worshipper. It makes me so sad and angry. But we remind her that God loves her and will never forget about her, and she is His daughter. She doesn't seem too phased though.  Kusnadi is doing well too. We are helping him to stop smoking. He and his sons came to church for all three hours yesterday (instead of just 1 like last week) although he had to leave Sunday school a couple times to smoke. We also visited this one house that was in a state of chaos yesterday. This woman
lives in a housing complex and has one daughter, but she takes care of all of the kids who live there. There are like 20 kids and a million puppies running around, and the guys are always smoking like chimneys and we heard they're always drunk at night. We want to turn it all around. One of the guys, who is 17, took a Book of Mormon from me because I was reading a verse to the woman and he helped me finish reading, and I ended up giving it to him. He seemed pretty interested. It was amazing to see their countenances change when we talked about our message of hope.

Anyway, I'm out of time. We only gave ourselves an hour to email since our jungle adventure ran late.

I love you all. The church is true!

Kasih,

Sister Ellen Wynn

Selamat Datang ke Paradise

Keluarga dan kawan,

What. Just. Happened. These last few days were a complete blur. I was in Singapore a couple days ago and now I'm in Miri, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It reminds me a lot of North Shore Hawaii (Brother Simon would kill me for saying that but it's true). I think Miri is one of the nicer places in Malaysia, and of course they send sister missionaries here. But first I'd like to summarize my week.

Oh, and I don't have my current Miri address on me, but you all can go ahead and send letters to the Singapore address. I probably won't get them for about three weeks. What we do in our mission is if there are missionaries traveling to and from Singapore to our area, they just bring the letters the missionaries get with them. When Sister LeBaron and I left for Miri, the mission office gave us a few letters to give to the missionaries here. It's better to send letters to my actual address unless it's around transfer time. Even if I transfer, I'll get the letter eventually. 

The Indonesian and Malay speakers sang Army of Helaman in English and Indonesian in our last sacrament meeting at the MTC. It was one of my favorite experiences. The new Greeks (most of them are from Scotland, England, and France because it's easier for European missionaries to get visas in Greece) loved it. I recorded us practicing it a few minutes before, so I'll try to send it next week. It was hard saying good-bye to Sister Wenyi. She's probably on her way to Madagascar now. My trip over was good, even though it took 30 long hours. We took a train from Provo to Salt Lake, and there we met the English speaking Singapore missionaries. I got to see LA from above while the sun was setting. I pointed out my old school and surf spots to my friends. On our layover, I loved seeing all the missionaries light up when they got a hold of their families and loved ones on the payphones. It was my favorite part of this trip. I started to get frustrated because I couldn't find a working payphone, but Elder Starthearn and Elder Capener walked to the other side of the terminal with me (it's a long walk, that airport is HUGE) and we all got payphones. Elder Strathearn made me feel better when I was about to cry, and Elder Capener lent me his phone card when mine ran out of money because it wasn't working. It was nice to talk to mom, dad, and Mikel. I definitely teared up when I heard dad's voice. I kept the conversation short since I wasn't using my card, but all I wanted to say was I'm happy, tired, and grateful to be on a mission. And that I love my family.

We found Elders Parker, Jackson, and Liddle. I forgot I had tons of quarters in my backpack until I saw them, and they hadn't talked to their families yet. I walked with them to the payphones I used and gave Elder Jackson all of my quarters since he forgot to buy a phone card and wasn't planning on talking to his family. Elder Parker's little brother accidentally hung up on him, and he was worried his mom was sad, which broke my heart. But eventually he got a hold of her again. Then, Elder Jackson's phone hung up while he was in mid-sentence, so the three of us scrounged up whatever change we could find as fast as he could so he could say good-bye. I don't know what it is about missionaries, but I have so much Christ-like love for everyone I traveled with. Again, I was so happy to see how happy the Elders in my district were to talk to their families. It made my night.

We said good-bye to the Indos at their gate. I was especially sad to say good-bye to Sister Sperry and Sister Olsen. They were such great examples to me, but Indonesia needs them. Finally, at the end of our 6 hour layover, we got on our plane for the 15 hour flight to Hong-Kong. It wasn't bad. I sat between Elder Trudo and Elder Fowler. I gave Elder Fowler my window seat because I know how much it sucks for guys to sit in the middle of the row. I only slept for about 5 hours, and it was uncomfortable, but on missions, you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. In every way. I woke up with two blankets, which meant I somehow managed to steal Elder Trudo's blanket in the middle of the night.

We met the Mains at the airport, and they are some of the kindest, hardest working people I've ever met. Every time you talk to one of them, they make you feel like you're their only missionary. They have about 120 now, but we will have 176 by December. We loaded our suitcases in the vans the APs drove, and then they handed out Book of Mormons to give away on the train then we hopped on the MRT (the metro) to the mission home and chapel. I talked to lots of people, and a lot of them were really interested in why I was there and welcomed me to Singapore. Someone just straight up asked Elder Vincent and Elder Lambert for their copy. I wasn't able to give mine away because I didn't ask anyone if they wanted it. I made a goal to place it before I got to Miri though. I gave away a couple cards with the chapel address though. The Singapore chapel is gorgeous. I'll send pictures. I was so exhausted for interviews and stuff, and a little sad that my little district family would be going their separate ways soon. The 3 English speaking sisters and I went to a hotel for the night, and the Elders stayed at the mission home behind the chapel. I roomed with Sister Fa'aleiua, who's from American Samoa and is a convert. She is amazing. It was also nice to finally have a shower. The next day, we had an orientation, and I was asked to give a talk on helping people recognize the Holy Ghost when they feel it, along with Elder Fowler, Elder Jackson, Elder Lundquist, and Sister Fa'aleiua. Later, we were given the opportunity to share our testimonies. I eventually did. It was short and simple, and I also added how grateful I was for the people God placed in my life, like the Elders in my group at the MTC. I am a better missionary because of them. I mean it.

I finally got to meet my trainer, Sister LeBaron, and she is perfect. She's my age and we actually went to BYU together, but never met. She's done three years, studying neuroscience. All she ever does is uplift and inspire me. She said even though she's my trainer, we're equal missionaries and I'm just as qualified as her to do the Lord's work. We also agreed that P-Day is a day for jungle adventures, and we can sleep when we're dead. We are going to get along just fine. We went to Little India for lunch because she intuitively knew I wanted to eat with my MTC district. We went to this place called Ghandi's, and it was one of those places where you eat with your right hand. They gave us utensils because we were American, but yeah right, we didn't need them! The curry was so spicy, but so good. I said good-bye to my district, which was hard, but luckily in this mission we see other missionaries a lot because of visa runs. Sister LeBaron and I repacked our stuff at the Sister's apartment behind the chapel and mission office, and it was nice. The view from it was gorgeous. We then went to an appointment with Noel, an Indian man Sister LeBaron contacted a few weeks ago and gave a Book of Mormon to, but he never answered his phone. It turned out that he suffered a major stroke and was recovering. As he was looking for her card to call her, the Elders called him. I got to meet him and he showed us how his head was squishy because they removed part of his cranium to allow his brain to swell after surgery. We also met his mom, Sofina, and their Indonesian helper, Minnie, so we shared our message about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, half in English, and half in Malay. Noel knew that God has given him a second chance and was really receptive to our message.

On the train ride home, at one of our crossover stations, I placed my first Book of Mormon! We were waiting by a man named Cam, who is from Nepal but lives in the UK. He actually almost missed his train because he was talking to us for so long. His wife Ping was shouting for him to hurry, but he and his kids were laughing so hard. Sister LeBaron and I grabbed dinner at Tako Wow, this little Japanese place in the station with a mall. We got these crab cake things with octopus and prawns. The next morning, we ran around the chapel for exercise because she's perfect for me and likes to run. I got so sweaty in ten minutes that would have taken me 2 hours to get that sweaty in Oregon. Then we got ready and rode the MRT to the airport. We ran into Elder Fowler and Elder Capener and their trainers on the train. We got on our plane to Kuching, then  I said good-bye to my friends since they are going to Mukah and Sibu. My mission is really cool because of traveling, I can't tell you why unless you write me, but look carefully at my pictures. We got to Miri, and our jaws dropped at how beautiful it was. Sister LeBaron has never served outside of Singapore til now, and they whitewashed our area in Miri for some reason, so we're in this together. Our house is gorgeous, with 12 foot ceilings all around, and we live really close to a mall with a grocery store and internet kedai (cafe). Our roommates, Sister Crichton, Sister Thompson, and Sister Noorda got us all set up with bikes and groceries, and we went to Kent's Garden, this really yummy outdoor restaurant. I got Penang Keuh Teow, it's basically Malaysian Pad Thai and it was so good.

Yesterday was Sunday, and it was a blur. It's a 25 minute bike ride, and I'd never arrived to church so sweaty. I want all of you to appreciate how hard it is to bike in 90 percent humidity, and in a skirt. We have one of the only branch buildings in Malaysia in our area. I think there are 3 or 4 other buildings in the bigger cities. Sister LeBaron and I are in a branch with our ZL's, Elder Shutz and Elder Snyder, and the other Malay speaking Elders are in the 1st branch. They had us introduce ourselves during sacrament meeting, and I bore a simple testimony in Malay. I also said, "Please help us find people that are ready to hear the gospel and need it. I know my Malay isn't good, but I know God is helping me." It seems like everyone here is interested to know where I'm from, and guess I'm either Chinese or Japanese, but a mix, haha. There was one sweet grandma who gave me a hug, and everyone seemed excited that we were there. After church, we went to sacrament meeting in the Chinese group, because there was a Chinese woman there with three helpers, 2 from the Philippines and one from Indonesia who had a lesson with us. The Chinese speaking Elders serve there. During sacrament meeting, they handed me a headset because Elder Fabiano was translating from Chinese to English into a microphone, and I was supposed to translate from English to Malay/Indonesian to our new investigators. Sister LeBaron was translating for Julius, who the Chinese Elders found a few days ago, and she was sitting away from me. I gave the Elders a deer-in-headlights look, then told myself I could do this. It's not that hard to translate into a language I've only spoken for 6 weeks. Fake it till you make it, right? The Chinese group really liked Sister LeBaron and I, and we spoke mostly English to them, though a lot of them know Malay. A lot of them are from mainland China.

Sister LeBaron and I taught Nova and Cyntha in Malay, and Sister Cricthton taught Lolita in English. In our lesson, Nova cried as she told us how church and reading the Book of Mormon made her feel happy and helped her through her trials. After that lesson, we ate food the Chinese speaking Elders brought us and studied at the church. Afterwards, we headed to our lesson with Ngian, a sweet Iban woman who lives in a humble house with a tin roof. Some of these houses are super rickety and I always worry I'll break the little wooden bridge paths. After that, we taught Julius at Sister Wong's house. It's really cute because they're friends, even though she only speaks Chinese and he only speaks Indonesian. She told us whenever he talks, she just nods and laughs like she understands. At this point, I've taught more Indonesians than Malaysians. They might as well have taught me Indonesian at the MTC. Julius said he read the Book of Mormon until 4 am a couple nights ago, and his knees hurt from praying so much about it to God. He believes it's true. Our jaws dropped. There is power in that little blue book. I know it. People in Singapore asked me about it as I carried it.

Maaf that my email is like a novel, I just had a lot to say. I just wanted to end by bearing my testimony that I know God lives, and Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. Through Him, I can be forgiven of my sins. I know God is helping me with the language. In my lessons, most of the time I don't even remember what I say. I just open my mouth and the right words come out. Impressions on what to teach come to me as I teach and as I study. I know, I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true. I know because I read it and prayed about it, and cried over it and studied it. Because of that, I know Joseph Smith was a man of God, and a prophet and that we have a modern day prophet who guides us. I know this church is true. I somehow know even more than I thought I did since coming on a mission. I want everyone to be able to use Christ's atonement to be forgiven and have comfort. 

Anyway, I'm running out of time. I'll try to send pictures but no guarantee. I'm happy and healthy. Malaysia boleh!

-Sister Wynn

Update: Sister Wynn has made it to the mission field!

Greetings everyone! This is Mike, Sister Ellen Wynn's brother. As of Tuesday evening earlier this week, we got a phone call from her en route to the mission field during a layover in Los Angeles. It was really nice to hear from her for a little bit. This morning, we received an E-mail from Sister Wynn informing us that she has made it safely to the mission field. The following was what she sent in this very short E-mail:

Sister Wynn with Mission President and his wife.

Hey I made it to the mission home! I'm exhausted but happy. I'll email you next p day. Love you!


We want to thank you for your support and prayers for her. Your continued moral support will be very much appreciated!

Live as a district, die as a district

Sister Wynn's District, with Singapore and Malaysia flags in front of the Provo Temple.

Selamat pagi everyone,

Wow, it's true what they say about missions, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. Time is so warped here. Sometimes it feels like I've been here for only a couple weeks, other times it feels like I've been here a year. I can't believe I only have 17 months left on my mission. Actually less. The Elders in my district joke that I'm pretty much done with my mission, haha.

If any of you want to write me letters, send them before the 4th-ish because I leave Tuesday afternoon to go to Singapore! If not, send them to my Singapore address instead, but make sure to put an extra stamp on it. I'm getting trunky, but at the same time it feels like I know almost no Malay. I'm excited to meet people and realize I can't understand what they're saying, but no worries, even in those situations I'm all smiles. We got our travel itinerary on Friday, and we were so excited! We have a 6 hour layover in LAX, then a hour layover in Hong Kong, then we fly down to Singapore. It's going to take over a day to get there. I'm stoked. I love planes and airports. It runs in the family. We are traveling with the Indos to LAX, so our plane is going to be full of mostly missionaries. We are also traveling with the other Singapore missionaries who are English-speaking, who live over on the Main Campus. In our travel group, there's 25 of us. 

In other exciting news, we got our malaria pills last week, as well as our second round of Japanese encephalitis shots. I kind of like getting shots, so no big deal. Except this vaccine makes your arm so sore. Yay for preventative medical measures. Since we went up to Main Campus for our doctors appointments, we stopped by the Main Campus book store because that place is magical and way bigger than the store on West Campus. We were happy to see they finally had the Book of Mormon printed in Malay, so we bought some. Before, we were given copies in Indonesian. The other standard works, like our Bibles, are still in Indonesian, but hey, it's a start. 

I also cried for the first time at the MTC on Friday. Well, I cry a little every week, but these were tears of frustration this time. I was feeling pretty discouraged all week because I'm pretty awful at asking good questions in my lessons, even in English, especially in English, and I was feeling like I'm not a good teacher. I also had a bad morning full of little annoying things. I had to teach one of my teachers, Brother Horman. I don't even remember about what, but I was doing pretty bad. He could tell I was pretty bummed, and was trying so hard to spare my feelings but give teaching advice at the same time. I shed a couple tears and wiped them away really fast so my district wouldn't see, because that would be embarrassing. Long story short, I got over it, felt better, and accepted that sometimes I will have bad days. Not even bad days, just bad moments. I'm not a bad teacher, I know more Malay than I think I do, and I've only been a missionary for a month. It's okay not to be perfect right now. Anyway, Brother Horman and Brother Simon rock. I could tell they were amazing missionaries, and they're such good teachers. If I could come back speaking half as well as them, I'd be pretty happy.

For Sunday's devotional, President Nally (the president of the MTC) opened his address by talking about the rain last week and how because it was so dark and the rain was so heavy, it took some of us half an hour to walk home. He said as our branch presidencies waited for us in our classrooms, they admired our good spirits and in some cases, outright joy at having to walk home while being soaked. He said as we were drenched with rainwater, their faces were drenched with tears. It was really sweet. I really appreciate everyone that works/is called here at the MTC.

I love my district. I love my district. We are all such good friends and I have so much love for every Elder here. I will miss them once we get to the field. Brother Simon reassured me that I will see everyone more times than I can count in the field because of our visa trips and whatnot.

Elder Ferguson is from Birmingham, Alabama. Brother Simon calls him 'Bama Boy. He was our first district leader, and now he's our zone leader. I taught with him and his companion the first three weeks we were here. He acted in a huge production of Les Mis, and he acted with Samantha Barks. He played tennis for Weber State and had an IMDB page. He gave all of that up to be here. He's definitely the character in our district. He's so funny and says things like "janky" and "ratchet." It doesn't even make sense, but we all say stuff like that now. He once tried to say, "Saya lucu," in Malay, which means "I'm funny," but accidentally said "Saya luca!" which means "I'm pornographic/obscene."

Elder Liddle is his companion, and he's our other zone leader. He's from Highland, Utah, and he's really tall and really skinny. He's just out of high school and has these little Bambi eyes. He was really shy the first couple days, but he is so, so, so funny. He does perfect voice impersonations, and sometimes freaks Elder Ferguson out by doing his Smeagle voice in the middle of the night. My favorite is his smoker-lady voice though. He's also really, really smart and really humble. His Malay rocks. He and Elder Ferguson are like C3PO and R2D2 respectively.

Elder Vincent is from Pocatello, Idaho, and is one of the most genuine people I know. He studied Malay the most before he came here and is awesome at speaking it. He also knows a little bit of every language, it seems like. He's just good at languages and grammar. I wish I had that gift. I actually talked to him a little online before our missions and he gave me lots of good language advice.

Elder O'Bryant, aka Elder Whitelion, is his companion and is from Arlington, Washington. He is our resident computer genius, and one of the most lovable Elders. He's pretty quiet and has a low voice, and has the most contagious laugh I've ever heard. Though he's quiet, he speaks Malay really well. Elder Capener gave him the nickname Whitelion, and it stuck. Elder Capener, Elder Strathearn and I are currently working on teaching him to cartwheel. They flipped him over a couple weeks ago, but got excited and kind of threw him. From a distance it probably looked like we were beating him up, but in reality we were all having so much fun.

Elder Strathearn is from Houston, Texas, but Australian-born. He lived in Australia until he was 7, so sometimes his accent comes out on random words, like talk, prawns, and crayon. I teach with him and Elder Capener now. He is the guy who always makes sure everyone is included, and he always gives people the benefit of the doubt. I find myself doing the same since I've been around him. His Malay has improved the most, I think, because he's constantly practicing. One day at dinner, he found out everyone else in our district was proficient at another language except him, and he said while laughing, "This explains SO much!" He's pretty optimistic, but I think that inspired him to practice harder and now his Malay is rockin'.

Elder Capener is our new district leader. He's from Riverside, Utah, and he's also half-Japanese, except third generation. I joke that we're the same person, except he's way cooler than me. I'm pretty sure he could beat anyone up, he's pretty scrappy. He is amazing at basketball and baseball. He had a scholarship to play baseball in Northern California. He speaks Malay the most like a native. When I was asking him for advice, he told me to speak Malay with an Indian accent. It works. He saves our lessons when Elder Strathearn and I have no idea what our teachee just said.

Elder Jackson is from Lehi, Utah. The smart ones are also the quiet ones. He studied at Embry-Riddle, which really impressed me the first time I heard that, because it's a great school. He's the most diligent out of all of us. When the rest of us are goofing off around him during study time, his face is buried in his notebook or scriptures and he later tells us about what he learned. He also gets bored and mixes juice at the cafeteria, and we try it. So far, we have Rasberry Crappleaid, and 7 Deadly Sins. Our district is pretty sure he's a spy. He also knows a lot of Chinese and Swedish.

Elder Parker is from San Antonio, Texas, but he lived in Shanghai for two years. He is the perfect companion for Elder Jackson, because Elder Jackson is punctual, and Elder Parker is a free spirit. He makes fun of me the most, but is also so chivalrous and makes sure I'm okay. He's also the one that gets the most injuries out of all of us. He has two giant divots in his shin from jumping off a retaining wall the day before he reported.

I see these Elders as big brothers and little brothers at the same time, but most importantly, I see these men as men of God. Singapore and Malaysia are so lucky to be getting them. I'm so lucky to have met them.

I will miss the MTC when I leave, but I'm so excited to be in the mission field. I'm going to hit the ground running. I will miss these Elders, but we have lots of work to do.

Live as a district, die as a district.

West Campus, Best Campus.

Harap Tuhan sertamu selalu.

Sayang,

Sister Wynn