Sister Wynn's E-mail from December 28

Inu rangga guys?

Been working with a Penan family. None of them speak a lick of Malay except for one guy and a little girl, but boleh tahan. Or however you say that in Penan. The less active guy in that family wants to berubah hati lagi and bring his whole family to church. Repentance is real you guys.

Anyway, Christmas in Sawarak was unreal. Also kind of ridiculous, but all of us missionaries survived without getting kidney stones or appendicitis. On Christmas Day, we went rumah ke rumah and ate so much food. So much heavy, greasy, delicious food. And so much soda. The days surrounding Christmas were so hot too. We only had one ridiculous half hour bike ride from Krokop to Senadin, but it was welcomed because I think we all wanted to mati. Christmas night, we biked back to the church for Cindra's baptism. Super cool because Sister LeBaron and I started teaching her a year ago, and then the Chinese elders picked her back up a few months ago. She looked beautiful and bore a sweet, short testimony about how happy she was that she got baptized.

Christmas visits

It was so nice to Skype my family the day after. I don't know where I'd be without them, they just told me to keep my head in the game and leave it in the field. They keep me grounded. My dad also mentioned that I have this perfect image of them in my mind, and in reality it's going to be pretty boring when I'm home haha. It's true that we idealize our families on our missions, but to me, my family is perfect. And I've missed them so much since meeting so many people who don't have a family to lean on. But essentially they want me to forget about them for just one more month. My mom told me not to bring home lice or tapeworms. They told me to get back to work after my hour on Skype was up. Love them.

Skype with the family

So I thought Christmas festivities were over and I was planning on using Friday to recover and eat only pure foods like water and fruit, because I felt so horrible and greasy after all the noodles and rice and kari ayam and sugar. But man, was I wrong. We got roped into visiting even more church members from branch 2. I was happy to see them and catch up with them, but I was force fed so much more food. Then we jumpa-ed a couple more houses. I really thought I was going to die. Then the next day, I thought we could finally rest, but we had one more house to visit. Then Sister Pitts and I visited some less actives up north and shared a sweet little Christmas lesson from Matthew 2 about the wise men.

I love how the wise men were like stake presidents from the middle east, sent to witness Christ's birth and then return to tell their congregations that He lives. And I love how they immediately fell on their knees to worship Him, and gave Him the most precious things they had, frankincense, gold, and myrrh. We asked everyone we visited how we can follow Christ today, because obviously we don't have a star to guide us today. We also asked what gifts we can give to Him this new year. As for me, I'm going to give my whole soul to sharing the news that He lives and loves these people.

On Saturday, we went back to the church for another baptism, well, for a lot. Sister Fonbuena and Sister Pullicar continued teaching the kids of some less active families Sister LeBaron and I used to teach, and they were able to be baptized by their dads. So much white. Best Christmas gift ever. How lucky am I to be back in Miri? How lucky am I that God allowed me to meet the people I did?

Baptism

We met with some investigators on Christmas eve in case they wanted to balik kampung, and one of our investigator dads got hit by a car while he was on his moto that morning! We ran into his friend who told us, but we found out he was okay and just a little scratched up. The silver lining was we were able to meet with his wife, who told us she had been praying and knows The Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God. And also everything that we had been teaching them in our very broken, belum lancar Malay was true. Everyone committed to praying harder for safety, and it's been sweet that as we've been jalan-jalaning around Miri, everyone is super concerned for our safety. They always tell us hati-hati jalan.

After church, I had the honor of helping Dividson, Patrick, and Darrell do their mission papers. They filled out their forms in paper, and I rewrote it in pen and explained some stuff to them since the forms are all in English. My heart swelled with joy seeing how excited and nervous they were. A couple moments I never want to forget: Me snatching Dividson's papers from him because he was messing them up as he erased things. "You are such a boy."

And when I asked Patrick "Apakah cita-cita kamu?" What are your occupational goals/life ambitions?"
All of them said in a sing-songy voice, "Menjadi orang kayaaa. Become riiiich." It was so funny.

Also, they kept puji-ing my handwriting. "Cantik tulisan tangan kamu." I don't know what I'm going to do without my entourage of Iban homeboys validating me all the time.

As hot as Christmas week was, the last couple days, it's been so rainy. And so cold. Last night as Sister Pitts and I proselyted, we shivered. On the way home, it was pitch black and started raining harder and harder, so I started yelling the words to "Come come Ye Saints" as the rain stung my eyes and lips and teeth. Chee-hoo.

I love how the members here think missionaries are heroes. We're not, but they love us like that anyway. Harap-harap I always live up to that expectation.

2014 was a good, good year. I'm so blessed in so many ways.

xo Sister Wynn

Miri Christmas

Selamat Christmas everyone,

It's a Christmas Miricle! I'm hilarious. Never in mission history has a zone been unaffected by a transfer until now. In the words of Elder Stewart, "We've avoided the all-knowing gaze of President Mains."

"Everyone, good job staying under the radar." said Elder Fowler.

Lots of Christmasy things going on. We went to the last night of Youth Conference and got to see all our youth perform their way cool tradational Sarawak dances,  I got to see Nayan and Subyia, now converts, at the Christmas party, we got a Christmas tree for the house, we've been caroling with the branch a million times. As we've contacted people at their doors, Sister Pitts and I just break out singing Christmas songs.

And they LOVE it.

"Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die.

Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth."

And then we yell the chorus. "Hark! The herald angels sing! Glory to the newborn king!"

Caroling

As a zone, we decided to do secret Santa between the missionaries, and I get to be Elder Geilman's secret Santa, which I'm stoked for because he's the nicest 18 year old boy ever, still kind of new in the mission so he doesn't have a million souvenirs already, and may or may not be the great-grandson of President Packer (I'll be sure to send him a sarong or something haha).

Sister Pitts and I have been focusing on rescuing less-actives lately, because I've been rescued too. Rescued by my parents, the missionaries in Glendale, by incredible YW leaders, Sunday school teachers, my seminary teacher, and by Christ. It's been underwhelmingly easy to find them, and even though many of them hid from the missionaries just a few short months ago, they were ready to let us in and expressed sorrow for not being able to come to church. A lot of them still read their scriptures every day, and it's usually a work or transportation issue that keeps them from coming to church. For whatever reason, Sister Pitts and I felt impressed to leave many of our less actives alone last transfer and to find new investigators through our own efforts, but this transfer it seems like we're supposed to focus on reactivating them. Lebih senang because that means I get to spend more time in people's homes for my last month here. I love the people here. Have I expressed that enough?

The elders, the senior couple, Sister Pitts, and myself were able to visit a member in the Miri hospital from Bintulu. Elder Ferguson gave me a call a few days ago to let me know and then we figured out the logistics of getting us there. I love that we take care of each other. I love the Priesthood.

I'm grateful for all of the emails from my friends and family expressing how happy they are I'm here for Christmas. Christmas in the mission field is the best. But it's also hard. So, so hard. Lately I've been longing to be home, so it was nice to get reminders from back home that this is the most important thing and to get my head back in the game. Christmas and missionary work are synonymous.

"The Son of God became a man to enable men to become Sons of God." -C.S. Lewis

I'll see you guys real soon.

Merry Christmas, love you guys to the moon and back.

xo Sister Wynn

Mana Ada Dead

Hey guys,

My dad is right, I had a blast in Singapore. A lot of last's, last good-byes, last testimony. But tenang hati aku. We flew out Monday and like always, had good dalam conversations with my friends on the plane rides. Made new friends. Caught up with old ones. We met up with Kota Kinabalu zone in Kuala Lumpur and I'm starting to get what Ammon went though when he was reunited with the sons of Mosiah in Alma 27.

Final Zone Conference: soon to be departing missionaries.

Miri Zone (and part of Bintulu Zone) are Xscape room champions. Except we all failed. The sisters did the Harry Potter room and we were so close to escaping, we were on the last step yelling out spell names and we ran out of time...but after that I sherpa-ed for the sisters and took them for good eats and shopping at Little India. It's funny how after serving there a couple times, you learn all the shortcuts with the buses and get to places a LOT faster.

Xscape champs.

That night for the zone activity, we made candy leis for service and put together Christmas bags for orphans. I'm sure there's pictures floating around somewhere of me, Elder Ferguson, and Elder Jackson absolutely failing at making them. Seriously boys are stupid. But there were a couple times they made me laugh so hard I cried. I love those young men. It's like reliving the MTC all over again.

I got to catch up with so many people and there wasn't enough time to really tell everyone how much I love them, but I'm so blessed with incredible friends who are missionaries as well as the people I'm serving all over Malaysia and Singapore. So, so blessed.

The actual zone conference left me feeling a little unfulfilled because President Mains only talked to us for a couple minutes, and I think I along with all the other missionaries were thinking "Talk more! Tell us what to do better!" But it's okay.

I gave my departing testimony along with the elders from Sister LeBaron's group. All of the testimonies were so good. So humble and repentant. I said something along the lines of how as departing missionaries, we all want to say something profound and meaningful, but I hope I just invite the spirit with a humble testimony. One thing I thought about reflecting back on my mission was how I've been blessed to meet so many people from all over the world and teach them the gospel, and meet so many missionaries who are an example to me. And how the Lord has blessed me with the capacity to love so many people so much. I talked about how in my inadequacies, my prayers have turned into pleas for help, and how Heavenly Father qualifies us in our weaknesses. We are always a child of God. That knowledge is what's carried me through my life and through my mission. I know God lives.

I didn't know who Jesus Christ was until I read The Book of Mormon.

And that's really all I said. It was short and sweet and anticlimactic. (A couple of my friends have a recording of it somewhere so I'll track it down sometime.)

We had a nice Christmas program and afterwards, our zone activity was to go caroling at a mall. We were all apprehensive about it at first, but we got there (laughing all along the way) and it was the same mall I caroled at last year. I went to the front desk to tell them we were there, and when I got back, the elders had lari-ed to get some food. Go figure. So me and the other sisters started singing off the balcony. "Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains." The elders slowly wandered back and joined us one by one, and it was the prettiest as the chorus got louder and louder. As we sang hymns and popular Christmas songs, a lot of people stopped to listen to the random white kids. We made so many people smile. It was nice to feel the spirit and have other people feel it too.

Zone Activity: Caroling at the mall.

We got back and I said my good-byes. All throughout the zone conference, everyone teased me. "Wow Sister Wynn, you're dead!" I didn't mind. Throughout the zone conference, I just felt God's love. And I got tons of pictures with all the missionaries from Malaysia because they're my favorite. The church is going to be just fine here because of incredible people like them. Future branch presidents, and later bishops. There were a lot of zones that had a layover in Kuching, so we split off from there. My goodbyes were unceremonious, and mostly in passing as we went through security and immigration. But I didn't mind because I'm more of a see-you-later type of person anyway.

We landed, got home and got back to the grind. I love stepping off planes in this mission, putting my tag back on, and immediately doing missionary work again. It makes me feel like a fancy, very important business exec or something. This week was good. Tough, but good. One of our investigators who we dropped because he's pulling knives on our other members randomly had this change of heart, stopped drinking and smoking and hanging out with his sketchy friends, and came to church. He told us he still wants to be baptized, so we're working with him. God works in mysterious ways, and sometimes He converts people through Alma-the-Younger experiences. I shouldn't talk, my conversion sometimes seemed like a huge slap in the face, because I needed it.

I went on ghetto splits with Sister Fonbuena yesterday because Sister Pitts and Sister Pullicar were sakit and it was like good old times. The primary did their Christmas program in church and I kept tearing up because they were so cute. One of my investigators didn't want to meet with us and said, "No. I'm not going to ikut. I'm Anglican!"

"I don't care. And God doesn't care. You're a child of God before you're an Anglican or an Iban or a Dayak." He still didn't want to ikut but we'll get him back.

We then went to Sister Fonbuena's area to Pujut 8, and I got to see Satam and Rungi and ALL the saudara mara and they were happy to see me too. They've since rebuilt their janky kampung house and now they have this nice house with straight edges and a tall ceiling and a beautiful porch for the kids to play on. This is what the gospel does, it elevates us above where we're at.

Last Sunday, the night before we left for Singapore, I had the best, and hardest fast of my life. I won't go into too many details here but I testify that God qualifies us in our weaknesses. Again, my prayers have turned into pleas for help. Help to find the right door to knock on, and help to say what we are supposed to say to soften the hearts of the people we speak to.

Mana ada dead.

Here's to the best 6 weeks of my mission coming up.

xo Sister Wynn

P.S. TRANSFER NEWS: Everyone in Miri is staying! :) Which is awesome because these missionaries and I make a pretty good team :) Looks like I was born here and will die here! <3

In lieu of Ellen's email Dec. 8 - Fwd: Sister Wynn

Dear Friends & Family:

We didn't receive an email from Ellen this past week because she was traveling from Miri on Sarawak to Singapore to attend her last Missionary Zone Conference.  She warned us last week that she might not have the time nor opportunity to drop an email.  However, we did receive an Ellen related email from a Sr. Couple (missionaries who are typically retired adults that have volunteered to serve a mission together), Elder & Sister Hadley, who met Ellen at this Zone Conference in Singapore this past week.  I responded to their email, and those two emails are what I am sending out this week in lieu of an email from Ellen.  My response to the Hadleys appears first below, and their original email follows that.  The connection they discovered with Ellen is evident in their post.  I have also attached a two pictures of Ellen, that the Hadleys kindly attached to their email.  I did this for the benefit of you folks from Ashton.  As you can see from the photo, there is absolutely NO DOUBT that Marie Hadley is from the Myers clan, right down to the color of her hair.  I thought it was very kind of the Hadleys to take the time to drop an email and the photos of their encounter with Ellen.

I also received an email from the Singapore Mission this past week and was informed that Ellen has a release and return date.  Apparently she is scheduled to return to us here in Salem on Jan. 28.  Hard to believe it has already been a year and a half.  We are trying to get into the Christmas spirit here.  Hideko has done a good job getting our outdoor lights set up and Mikel did a great job with the tree.  I was EXCELLENT in a supervisory capacity.  We didn't go with any Christmas socks on the mantle this year because our newest cat, Link, proved that they wouldn't stay up and survive his onslaught.

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of holiday seasons.

As always,
Todd

Brother and Sister Wynn,

Sister Hadley and I are Public Affairs missionaries for Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. We met Sister Wynn last night at a Zone Conference and wanted to report she is an awesome missionary. We were excited to hear she is an “Idaho” missionary because that is where we are from. Then when we found out you are from Ashton, Sister Hadley was thrilled. She is Glenn and Nina Myers oldest daughter. You may know Darla, or Ron, perhaps you are even younger.

Your mother was Marie’s young women’s leader when she was 16. She remembers camping at Bear Gulch with your mother and still has great memories of her.

Thanks for sharing your daughter. She is a great missionary

Elder Hadley


Dear Brother & Sister Hadley:

Thanks so much for your email and kind words about Ellen.  It always amazes me how small the world, especially in the church, can be.  I have lived in more than my fair share of cities all around the world, but Ashton will always be considered home.  I love to get back there every chance I get.  Obviously, I know the Myers well.  I am Darla's age and went to school with Kathy, Darla and Ron (we called him "Mose").  Mose and my little brother Alan were best friends, so he was my good friend too, and we were all together a lot.  I still see Darla every once in a while when I am in Rexburg and need to go to Deseret Book for whatever reason.  I always thought, and continue to think, of Darla as a salt-of-the-earth type person.

Nina was mine and Alan's Trail Blazer leader.  I can't ever remember her doing anything else.  She was a good one.  Always had great activities planned, Klondike Derby, camping, cattle drive, etc. and started many boys, including us, on their way to becoming Eagle Scouts.

Thanks again taking the time to write.  Best of luck in your continuing missionary activities and hope you have a Very Merry Christmas.

Todd

Grateful for Grace

Nama berita kita wai,

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. It's cool that I got to spend both of my mission-Thanksgivings in Miri. This year, the Risers, the most kindhearted, Christlike senior couple in the history of senior couples, had all the missionaries over and we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner. It felt like home.

A world away from us biking to Pizza Hut last year haha. Fun memories from last week that I forgot to include: Sister Pitts almost getting tagged twice on the highway and our prayers of gratitude for the safety, a guy on a moto trying to grab my hand/my handlebars as I was biking on the highway, and our spare tire falling off the Niah Caves Party Van on our P-Day excursion last week. The driver kept on driving, even with the sound of metal scraping against the road. I yelled, "Um sir, I think it would be a good idea to stop." A couple hundred meters down the road he pulled over and fixed the van.

Party van!

I promise this place is magic.

I've had a million thoughts swimming around my head this week so I hope I can articulate them well. Today is my 16 month mark, I can't believe it's December already. I can't believe it's December again. I should send a quick text to Elder Fowler. Last week, Miri hit its baptismal goal as a zone and the week before, Sibu zone hit its goal. I'm on the best team ever of missionaries. Hand-picked by the Lord.

We passed off all of our investigators to Elder Sheranian and Elder Hill. It was hard to let them go, and of COURSE they all came to church yesterday, and none of Sister Pitts and my investigators did haha, but sikit demi sikit we're building the membership around the church. Boys are so smart. In our pass-off lessons, I took notes on how the elders teach because they teach SO simply and clearly. Repentance = Berubah hati. Also Elder Sheranian is our new district leader and he says he's going to rule Miri with an iron fist. I call his bluff because he secretly loves us. Boys are so stupid. One of our investigators dropped us because he got drunk and got into a fight with one of our members (who is a youth) and pulled a knife on him and now is malu to meet with us. But men are usually pretty good about getting over that kind of stuff, right? Forgive and forget?

I had an interesting spiritual experience a few days ago. We were teaching a less-active part member family, and the dad was so drunk. He was so obnoxious and kept interrupting the lesson, and I saw how much his teenage daughter was bothered by it. She and her neighbor ignored him, and we kept teaching, but all I could think was "I hate you. I hate you so much. You are such a loser." My anger drove the spirit away, so I immediately prayed for charity. "Help me love this man for a little while." I had this feeling of peace and love come over me, and I knew that everything would be okay. And I thought about how the Lord loves me with a perfect love, even though I'm imperfect.

We have such a daunting number of less active members to work with. I got way bummed and asked the Miri 1 missionaries, "What's even the point?" I raged for a little bit more about how I want to move the stupid rock, I don't want to be satisfied with just pushing on it (if you know the metaphor, I know the rock isn't supposed to move on my own, but still) and I don't want to be satisfied with coming home from my mission saying "Wow, that really changed me. Good for me." Someone added they understood they wanted me to feel like I helped build up the church in Malaysia.

I got over it pretty quickly after praying for some humility. I think towards the end of my mission, I just want to do well. But instead of focusing on doing well, I need to say, "Lord, thank you for doing that, and thank you for letting me help." We as missionaries and members of the church just need to be worthy to do the work, and try to get out of the way as the Lord does it on His own anyway. I'm just grateful I got to be a small part of the conversion process for so many people I love.

A lot of missionaries keep wrecking my Malay lately. I don't know why, I feel like I'd been doing pretty well (yes I have a really American accent when I speak) and the members and locals say I'm doing alright. But I feel like I'm kurang for how long I've been out. My self confidence kind of crumbled yesterday, especially as I gave an impromptu talk. (I talked about the story of Christ appearing to the apostles at the Sea of Tiberias). But I learned a valuable lesson, that fear and doubt drive the spirit away just as easily as contention, irreverence, anger, etc. and I recommitted myself to having a "fake it till you make it" attitude like I adopted at the start of my mission.

I am grateful for grace. The Grace of Christ. It's what makes me bike faster and farther than I am capable of on my own and it's what gives me the capacity to love the people I cannot. Grace is what gives me the spirit. And the spirit speaks perfect Malay.

Yesterday in church, I looked at all of the members, these saints, and realized how much I was going to miss them. I love these people so, so much. To ridiculous amounts.

Love you all. See you soon.

xo Sister Wynn

Sister Wynn's E-mail from November 24

Nama berita kita wai,

Tenang ati aku. Just got back from the Niah Caves. The elders just sauntered into the internet kedai, looking fly in their white shirts and ties (for anyone who knows them, Elders Stewart, Fowler, Sheranian, and Hill are pretty dope).

Niah Caves

Saw lots of critters, like bright red millipedes, snakes, bats, cave bugs, the Bintulu elders, etc. The hike and boat ride and caves were super fun. Good company.

Boat ride

Miri is pretty wild. We met up with the elders to find some less active members in an obscure river kampung, which involved us riding our bike through a driving school (a couple of our members are taking driving lessons and I joked about how funny it would be if they accidentally tagged us), hoisting our bikes over a concrete fence, jumping said fence, crossing a sketchy wooden bridge, and trekking through the jungle while we got eaten alive by the mosquitoes. It was fun smacking everyone and telling them I was just trying to kill the mosquitoes. Hehe. I got everyone's blood all over my hands though, day in the life.

We asked all the neighbors, and it seems like everyone is way less active, Muslim, or don't remember the missionaries. It was pretty unfruitful, but still fun nonetheless. Sister Pitts and I got kena hujan-ed and sampai-ed another family's house soaked and cold. We got to know some of our church members better, and as I was puji-ing this family for being incredible and talked about their conversion stories, I said something like "I knew Christopher and Dividson when they were still investigators a year ago, and they're still the same, but different. They glow. But they're still the same hilarious, irreverent, flirty people I've ever met."

To which, Dividson said, "That was totally Christopher! Like that time he said you were pretty at English class? I was like 'WHY did you say that to that sister missionary?! What were you thinking?'" I died laughing. I also got to meet Dividson's cat, this fluffy white snooty little creature, and we thought it was hilarious that he spoils this cat. "It's my boss." I get it.

Also, in talking about conversion stories, one of the men said, "Before I had the gospel, I sinned so much. I never killed a man though. I almost did once. I stabbed him."

I spit my milo out and they laughed so hard at my reaction. "WHAT?! You stabbed a guy?!" Such a fun night.

The next day, I went on splits with Sister Hales and I told her Sister Pitts and I want more investigators. So we're going to get them. We went to Krokop, an area that hasn't been focused on in a few months, but has lots of flats and is closer to the church and the city bandar. We went to a river kampung looking for less actives, and asked a neighbor. We talked to her and I handed her a pamphlet. She told us she wants to learn, but she wouldn't be comfortable having us in her home because she lives with a bunch of angry drunk guys. Then she told us we really should get out of there. She was right. We had an experience that makes for one of those hilarious mission stories, but I can't write about it here because it is kasaaar. I've sworn off going to river kampungs though, they are sketch.

Anyway, we knocked a few doors here and there, and got into tons of them. Met exactly who I was looking for, people who are willing and yearning to change. Kingdom builders, people with transport, and men who love their families.

The biggest miracle from this week is our six new investigators, and more to come next week. People are hungry for the gospel. We found this storage house with thousands, literally thousands of eggs, and a bunch of employees loading them into trucks. I asked if any Christians lived in the flats above, and this really nice guy named Mega showed us to a room with a couple really nice Christian guys that said we could come back. I asked if he was Christian, and he said buuukan, so I assumed he was Melayu. The next day, I mentioned it and he said "I'm not Muslim, I'm Hindu!" So I gave him a pass-along card with a picture of Christ on it.

Anyway, this egg place (tempat telur) is basically a dorm. It has rooms to sleep in and a shared kitchen and bathroom. One section of it is a total frat, haha, with all these single guys running around in towels. They get squirrelly and malu when they see us though haha. We came back the next day, and one of the guys introduced us to his friends and neighbors in another section. And they were all families! Four families, plus a few single people. We keep going back for lessons, and they keep introducing us to more of their neighbors.

I asked one of the dads how he felt after the Restoration lesson, and he said, "I feel...really confused...but also really happy."

I laughed and said, "Yup, that's about how you should be feeling right now." Welcome to conversion! This is missionary work, haha, bringing people to Christ in a foreign language that you don't actually speak all that well. But it doesn't matter because the spirit qualifies the dorks like me to become powerful teachers. And our lives collide with the lives of random people in usually hilarious ways and they're converted and everything to them changes forever.

Because we're doing a lot of our finding in Krokop, we're trying to pass off our other investigators up north in Lutong to Elder Hill and Elder Sheranian because we forgot Elder Sheranian's birthday this week, and what better gift than an incredible person to teach? And also because they're all men, and they live a lot closer to the elders. It's hard because we love our investigators so much, and they're ALL on date for baptism in December, and most of them have been coming to church and are golden. But it's one of those it's-the-right-thing-to-do situations and we trust that the Lord will help us build up the area around the church. It's a little scary to essentially start over from scratch, but it'll be worth it to have investigators and eventually strong church members closer to the church itself.

Life is good. It was good seeing all my friends from Bintulu zone today. It was good having so many people interested in learning the gospel this week.

Love you all. Anang mancal.

xo Sister Wynn

In an Instant

I'm a bird. I'm a bird and they clipped my wings. WHERE is my bike?! I'm pretty useless without it. There's only so many people Sister Pitts and I can see on foot/by (very unreliable) bus. But apa boleh buat?

Update: My bike finally arrived this morning. It was a glorious reunion and I pointed out to everyone how light and fast it was as I carried it (still in its bike box) into the house gleaming.

Last week, Sister Fonbuena was waaay sakit with a fever so we used her misfortune to our advantage and used the Miri 2nd sister's bike for a few days. Then Sister Pitts also got a fever, so I went on ghetto splits with my mission grandchild, Sister Pullicar. I took her around her area because it's my old area and you never forget where the people you love live. We visited this family who was active last year but now is inactive and I caught up with the mom and we pleaded with her to come back to church. Maybe when she's ready, in her own time.

Sister Fonbuena gave some directions to a water kampung at Pujut 4, so we went over the river and through the woods, uh jungle, to find a potential investigator. We asked some neighbors, who didn't know, but we ended up getting their contact information too. Then we saw a sweet lady walking down the boardwalk and asked if she knew a Maria. "I'm Maria."

"Oh, well that was really fortunate." She led us back to her house, and when we asked why she wanted to learn more from the missionaries, she said it's because she wanted to learn how she can better follow God. We can help with that. Then Sister Pullicar proceeded to teach this awesome Restoration lesson pretty much by herself. (We taught like 3 Restoration lessons in a row that day haha). She doesn't have greenie power because it's like she's not even a greenie. Her Malay is better than mine.

We jalan-jalaned to my area and met up with Elder Sheranian and Elder Hill, and tried to find some church members in kampung Sealine to help us find less actives and investigators because the four of us knew exactly no one. I found some boys maining some bola (playing soccer) and asked, "Aye, boy, ada ahli-ahli gereja kami dekat sini?"

"My mom." We found a chain of families, some active and some less active and got to know them a little better. Then that night I got us lost trying to find our 1st counselor's house by some warehouses. Gaggal. But it was still fun.

The next day, Sister Pitts and Sister Fonbuena still had fevers, and I spent the whole morning vomiting, which was annoying, but then Sister Pitts and I dragged ourselves out of the house and biked up to Lutong because we hated that missionary work wasn't being done in our area. The next morning, we were both hampir mati, so we stayed in and cleaned up our area book. I consolidated a lot of records and made the information easier to read, drew some maps to people's houses (because Sarawak isn't about having real addresses), and made the teaching records as easy as possible to follow so the next missionaries will actually be willing to find the people we love, haha. We have been going crazy being stuck in the house with paperwork, so it was nice that all my pleas to heaven for my bike to sampai were answered.

Sister Pitts and I put another family-man on date, a guy who's missing part of his cranium (I don't know how I always manage to find people missing parts of their skull on my mission). I vaguely remembered Sister Pitts mentioning he drank, so when I asked, he said he completely stopped last week because he didn't like the way it made him feel. I didn't realize the magnitude of this miracle until I got home and looked at his teaching record, and Sister Pitts was kagum (sorry I forgot the word in Iban) about it and said he was an alcoholic for years and it destroyed his family. Other missionaries had given up on him, and I wouldn't have focused on him, but God can change hearts in an instant. He ALMOST went to church yesterday. He dropped his son off on his moto and felt malu and drove away. Darn. Our other investigators are doing well and really enjoyed church. A tender little mercy for us not being able to meet with them as often as we liked.

Yesterday, Elder Fowler's and Elder Stewart's bike tires got stolen (pics attached). We shouldn't have laughed, but we did.

Like always, church was good. Sunday school for both branches is full, to the back of the classroom now. I had this moment of trying not to cry all over myself because the church has grown so much in one short year. Miri is the promised land. The culmination of all the missionaries' work here may have made this the coveted place to serve now (in your face K.K.).

Love you. See you soon. Jaga diri.

xo Sister Wynn

Conquer Hearts, Save Souls

Coming into Miri.

Nama berita kita wai,

I'm sitting here at the internet kedai with all the little Malaysian kids playing CoD and I'm freezing and soaking wet. Udah kena ujan. It is SO good to be back in Miri. It feels like I never left, but I do feel different. Sister Pitts is an amazing companion and udah pandai jakuh Iban even though she's only been out three months. My area is beautiful.

Soakin' wet!

We just moved houses and it's weird to have an upstairs and so much space. Even living with 5 other sisters. Good news, we have a companionship of Chinese-speaking sisters here now. I'm also living with Sister Fonbuena again and she's training, and has the cutest companion. We have a good looking family line going. We're seeing how long we can go before she figures out I'm her grandma in the mission. There's also a new Chinese speaking sister. We met them as we got back home, covered in sweat and kampung mud, and as we were introducing ourselves, the power went out. We exclaimed, "Welcome to Miri!" The water wasn't running either, so Sister Pitts and I came to terms with the fact that we might be going to bed without showering. Luckily, the power came back on around midnight, but I love how anytime there are brand new missionaries, crazy things happen to them.

Our new house is about a block and a half from the church, so I STILL have to bike like half an hour every day to get to my new area haha. I'm just never going to get away from biking huge distances I guess. But I get to bike right through my old area, not a bad trade. Elder Stewart and Elder Fowler are my ZLs, it's nice to serve with someone from the MTC again. Elder Sheranian and Elder Hill are awesome to work with, Sister Pitts has been showing all of us around and introducing us to members. A lot of the members in my branch remember seeing me around, and they love pointing out that I'm a lot skinnier and more pandai bahasa Melayu now haha. "So you're saying I used to be fat and stupid."

My bike is still in Kuching...crossing my fingers that it'll get here soon because I miss it. Sister Fonbuena's (formerly Elder Rasmussen's) bike has been wrecking me. Just like old times, I say a prayer that I'll survive as I cross the Miri River bridge. Today, it was while trudging through six inches of water as it cascaded downhill. On days where I can't use Sister Fonbuena's bike, we just bus up to Lutong and Sealine and Senadin. We never know when the bus will get here, and apparently they stop after dark, but it's fun riding those janky, creaky buses and talking to all the friendly people here. Then we just jalan kaki around our kampungs and I meet members, teach a few lessons, etc. Transfers week is always like surgery in a battle field. You just make do with what you have. Like I said my first week in the field, embrace the chaos of it all.

My first night back, we swung by the church to teach English class. I saw these two ten year old boys who looked kind of familiar, then I realized it was Winsely and Rexman! They were a little taller, and so sweet and polite. "Sister Wynn? How are you?" They were happy to see me, and it was all I could do to not burst into tears right there because they are members of the church now. I met another hebat church member who's only been a member for a few months, and he said Brother Irak was the one who invited him to learn the gospel.

Chruch was tenang. I ran into so many people from the 2nd branch and I'm sure I felt like Alma when he was reunited with the sons of Mosiah. Selina and Monicca are really active now, and they straight up cried when they saw me. I told them "Anang menangis, kalau kamu nangis, saya 'kan nangis!" I said hi to Apai Sigat and Sister Belaiya and she held my hand for a long time, and then we decided to trade shoes. They were stoked I could actually speak a little more Iban now.

Then down the hall, I spotted Brother Irak in his white shirt and tie. He stopped when he saw me, and I walked directly over to him in slow motion and gave him the firmest handshake I could. "Apa hal Irak? You're a church member now." We caught up and I teased him for being SO stubborn when he was an investigator and for never coming to church, and he laughed and apologized for not understanding how life-changing the gospel was sooner. And now he's 1st counselor in the branch presidency. To this day he is still one of my favorite people I've taught.

I said hi to his wife Wynndy and she looked so natural fulfilling her calling in the primary, trying to herd her kids into a classroom. I thought my heart was going to explode with joy. There never was happiness like what I felt this weekend.

The branch that Sister LeBaron and I worked so hard for back when I was a brand new missionary grew. Same with my new branch. The people Sister Anderson taught got baptized, they're strong members, and a handful of them are going on missions. Our branch mission leader, Dividson, still remembers me from back when he was an investigator. He's counting down the days til he's been a member for a year so he can go on a mission as soon as possible. "Dividson, why do you want to go on a mission?"

"Because I think about everything Jesus Christ has done for me and berbaloi to tell other people about the gospel, it's not even a sacrifice." He said it so matter-of-factly.

Sister Pitts and I put a couple family-men on date for baptism last night, because this is Sarawak, and despite all of its problems, there are good men out there who love their families and want to change and want to help build up the church. We made our game plan for the next six weeks, which involves winning over the hearts of our strongest members because we love them, and having them help us find their friends to teach and reactivate. We need to find more families, especially the ones with dads who can help build the kingdom in Miri. There's no shortage of work here.

Saying goodbye to everyone in Singapore was hard. I miss the 1st ward already, even though it was such a hard area. When we told WML John the transfer news, he said, "Can you swing by work for one last Quiznos dinner?" The five of us had so many good laughs, John said more profound things about missionary work with his sarcastic Scottish accent, and offered to fly me back out to Singapore after my mission because he needs a babysitter for his kids so he and his wife can actually go out for once haha.

Elder McCarthy (who is now a zone leader in SG, called it) gave one last incredible district meeting. He asked me to share why I came out on a mission and I said the simple answer is because I love Jesus Christ and the Atonement is real. I think of all the opportunities Heavenly Father gave me to grow and to finally decide to come on a mission. It doesn't matter if people think our testimonies are indoctrinated or recycled. This is real. This is the most important thing, for the rest of my life, to share the gospel. I wish you could have seen the glow on Irak and Wynndy and their kids. They are so changed, all in one short year. This is what the gospel does to people.

At the end of the meeting, Elder McCarthy did the hakka for us one last time (he said he probably won't do it anymore because some Maori words sound like English swear words haha) and we all said our goodbye as we went to our new areas. I'm probably going to finish my mission here in Miri, and you better believe I'm going to make these last 3 months count.

Wish me luck.

xo Sister Wynn

Right Back Where We Started (Transfer News)

Hello everyone,

I hope life is so good. Last P-Day, my roommates and I naiked the Marina Bay Sands hotel and saw all of Singapore from above. What a beautiful city. I forgot to mention the P-Day before we went tomb-raiding in one of those escape-puzzle rooms and pretended we were archaeologists. Have I mentioned I love my mission friends? Sudah? Seribu kali lagi. Sister Parcell called me and STL-ed me good and basically told me to snap out of my melancholy. I love that girl.

I started seriously working out again on the 29th, because that was my 3-months-to-go-mark and I don't want to come home a blob and have all my friends and family think, "Aw Ellen, the nice returned sister missionary. She has such a sweet spirit." Just kidding, I haven't gotten that fat, but a little muscle tone in my arms would be nice. We made a cute cake for Elder McCarthy's birthday week to make up for the fact that we were his worst district ever and forgot. Sister Opatha and I cut out little giraffes to put on it because he's tall, and I made a card that said "Stand TALL, you're a son of God." And then I pasted a giraffe on it. Turns out giraffes are his favorite animal. We gave it to him during district meeting and he got all weirded out because he hates attention but it was still nice. As per usual he gave another inspiring, encouraging district meeting. I always feel the spirit.

On Halloween I celebrated Mikel's birthday and my 15 month mark quietly, and in the evening we went to the Peterson's house for homemade pizza. They were all dressed up as Star Wars characters and we all geeked out about Star Wars for a while and committed Sister Opatha to watching it after her mission. "I love you."

"I know."

They gave us SO much American candy that I haven't seen much less eaten in a year or so, and we gave tons of it to Elder McCarthy and Sister Opatha so they could soak in the magic of the holiday that is feeding our kids tons of processed sugar. Elder McCarthy lost all control and ate so many Butterfingers. The next morning we all found ourselves at the stake center for exercise time. I felt so sick from all the sugar and tried to not look like I was internally dying as I sprinted back and forth. Elder McCarthy tried to work out but wanted to die, all the while Sister Opatha and Elder Andrus laughed at us.

Sister Opatha and I had a good week in that we helped a lot of our less-actives and investigators. It feels good to know we've helped them develop a habit of scripture study even though they're SO busy, but it's important especially because they're busy. So many of them have these huge hurdles to jump over and it's cool to see how their scripture reading is allowing them to have stronger, self-sustaining testimonies. I hope everyone I've taught can still have their testimony that God lives and Christ is our Savior if everything else in their lives fail. I hope the same for myself, because in the end, that's all we have, right?

Church was miraculously so good. We've been meeting with the presidencies of all the auxiliaries (this week, Sister Opatha and I met with the Primary, Relief Society, and Young Women) for the primary purpose of seeing how each auxiliary can do missionary work, and also earning their trust and support. I also asked the bishopric if we could have 10 minutes of their time during their meeting. It was a little hectic making sure our progress record was flawless and detailed (with specific action items and who we want to carry them out) but they were happy to have us and backed our ideas. I had been pleading in my prayers for it to work. Meeting with all the presidencies has been working because all of the leadership in the ward was very warm and supportive during ward council. It was a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. It was comforting to sit with the Elders and John and feel like this is our team and present our game plan.

We had three potential investigators come to church because other missionaries serving in Singapore brought them. Two guys from Ghana, who asked our roommates on the MRT, "How can I be saved?" and also this gorgeous ex-pat from Vietnam. The general theme during all of our meetings was about missionary work, which means we're seeing the beginnings of the ward culture being changed to be more missionary-minded. Looks like a miracle to me. It's nice because even though these members are so busy and have these daunting personal and family challenges, to me, they are perfect.

And I'm not afraid to promise that if they do missionary work, they will see miracles in their own lives.

Man, I love these people.

One sister said in sacrament meeting, "We have all the truth. It doesn't make us special, it makes us responsible."

I was reading the story about Helaman's stripling warriors this morning, which was exciting because before then I was trudging through the boring war chapters. I got to Alma 57:25 and teared up a little when it talked about how all two thousand of these young men survived the last battle. "Nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also to the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds."

For some reason I immediately thought of my MTC elders, my brothers, and all the other incredible missionaries I've had the privilege of working with. These warriors were young. They were like my friends, and I wondered what hardships my friends have been through since we've been out here. I thought about all the stories of them being mugged, harrassed, crow-barred, and hit by motos, and on top of that everything they sacrificed to be out here and their trials at home. I thought of personal conversion stories and the ones I heard from missionaries this week made me a little achy. Conversion is a painful process. I like what Spence-man wrote to me a few weeks ago, that we're bound to sustain a few wounds. But it's okay because the Lord recognizes our sacrifice and He protects us. So it's all okay. Rub some dirt in it.

How beautiful are the feet in the kampungs of Miri are she who bringeth good tidings of good? Who says, in Iban, "Rajamu hidup. Memang Dia ada!"

I'm going back. Miri, balik kampung!

Yang benar,
Sister Wynn

Walking through hell all smiles

Hey guys,

This week was still pretty hard. Every day I'm figuratively getting kicked while I'm down. I wonder why the first year of my mission was pretty easy (don't get me wrong, it was still hard in different ways), tapi tiada banyak masalah, and the last six months have been excruciatingly hard. I can't wait to have good chats with Heavenly Father after I die and figure out if I learned everything I was supposed to when He wanted me to haha. I showed my roommates my pictures from the rest of my mission and even with weeks like this, I'm grateful for every day. I've had an incredible mission. It makes me sad it's ending fast. Sister Opatha has been a good companion to me and is way patient with me being bummed all the time.

Despite the setbacks, I think one thing I'm supposed to learn here is how to be a kingdom builder. The church members in the Singapore 1st Ward are true saints. They have incredible families and we've had a handful of new families move in from the States or Europe or wherever, and the first thing they ask the bishop is "How can we help?" I'm starting to get what true charity means as they invite the missionaries over for dinner and offer to give us their food (which they import from America) and their time, even though they're all incredibly busy with their careers and their families. I feel silly offering to help them because they help the missionaries more than we can ever thank them for, and they usually say the same for us. They are willing to take the time out of their schedules to meet with us, or to help us reactivate people who've fallen away, or help us teach our investigators. They love missionaries and they understand missionary work is important, even though ex-pat life is usually pretty transient. I see these families and hope I can be half as wonderful as they are when I have a family of my own.

That reminds me, we had dinner with a new family who just moved here from California, and because the dad works for the embassy, they offered to give us cereal from the States, and they gave us real American milk. I just love it so much better than the boxed kind I drink here haha. And as we were leaving, they said, "You're from Oregon right? Take some Tillamook cheese!" It's the little things.

Another thing that gives me hope every week is meeting with our ward mission leader, John. He is the sassiest Scotsman I've ever met, and straight up brilliant. If I remember the story right, he got sick of college so he quit, shrugged, and built his own company in Singapore. Because why not? He was also an incredible missionary. He served in the UK, and while the other missionaries were teaching about 5 lessons a week, he'd average about 40 lessons a week because he knew how to work with the church members and ended up teaching their friends. P.S. His wife is gorgeous and perfect and from England (blessings of being a good missionary you guys). He's been really good about helping us get into the minds of the church members, and in turn the members have been talking to their friends about the church and about maybe meeting the missionaries. It's funny to see him roll up from his office wearing jeans, a half-buttoned white shirt, and Adidas classics in the fancy financial district of Singapore with all the suits and ties. He tells us "There are all these high end restaurants over here, but I just like Quiznos. Why? Because they make my life easy." Who is this guy?

On one of these days where we met with him to discuss our investigators (and the general lack of missionary work happening in our area), Sister Opatha and I were feeling pretty down because, like I said. There was no way our WML could know, but he told this story from his mission that made us feel better. Something along the lines of how he doesn't know why certain missionaries are put into hard areas, or why really good, obedient missionaries go their whole missions without getting any baptisms while others get dozens, and then he acknowledged that the area that we were in was hard to be in. Then he realized he went into a tangent and went back into talking about our mission game plan again, but internally Sister Opatha and I recognized how inspired he was and that it was nice for the Lord to give us encouragement. Even if it was through a sarcastic Scottish guy haha.

Yesterday we all forgot Elder McCarthy's birthday and I feel pretty horrible about it, even though he intentionally didn't tell anyone because he hates attention. He found out Sister Opatha and I ran out of food so he and Elder Andrus promptly forced us to take their food. I'm lucky I get to serve with the most Christlike elders in the history of missionary work (no offense Ammon and Alma). He's a whole 19 years old now, to which I said, "Wow, I remember when I was 19..." It's weird to be reminded he's so young, because he's incredibly kind and mature and it's weird to think that young men can carry themselves the way they do at such a young age. (Also it sucks being reminded that I'm an old lady in the mission now). But every now and then I remember how young they actually are when Elder McCarthy reminds everyone he doesn't know how to talk to girls haha. I had a way good chat with him this week where he recounted his horrible experiences from boarding school and I shared all of my bad experiences from my "lowly public school" and we had a good laugh.

Everyone, thanks for the sweet emails this week and last week. They were really encouraging and it freaks me out how a lot of you said things I've been thinking about this week. I was thinking of the lyrics from a way cheesy The Script song about walking straight through hell with a smile. It came out when I was stranded in Pasadena and I would go running to it, and as embarrassing as it is to admit, I kind of loved that song. I loved the image of cruising through hell and giving Satan a wave because nothing he does matters. Mikel wrote this to me this week: "I know you; you always seem to have a smile on your face even in the midst of adversity. You keep doing that and you'll shine brighter than anyone else and people will notice that and will develop a curiosity as to why you're smiling when everything else sucks. THAT makes you an inspiration to us all." He's sweet.

There's also the song:

That soul that on Jesus hath leaned on for repose,
I will not, I cannot desert to his foes.
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never forsake.

Love you guys.

People throw rocks at things that sparkle (think about it).

Happy Deepavali everyone!

xo Sister Wynn

Sakit hati, aku lemah sangat

Hey guys,

Well I'm depressed (in the sons-of-Mosiah sense of the word and not the clinical sense) but like always, how would I grow if the mission was easy? The work here is HARD and I've been feeling so inadequate lately so I'm not going to talk about that stuff. Luckily Sister Opatha is way good about picking me back up.

I had my interview with President Mains this week. I didn't have the heart to tell him I miss Malaysia and rather told him I hope he knows he can send me anywhere and put me with any companion and I'll make it work somehow. I meant it but as I said it my heart kind of had this sinking feeling and I wondered to myself why I'm so self-sabotaging.

He and Sister Mains attended our ward with their son yesterday, and I don't know why it was so weird for me to see them as normal church-goers. I think it's because they're in Malaysia half the time.  It's weird that they actually live in our ward. Elder Ferguson dubs our ward "the fat ward," not because the members are fat (in fact, they're all actually pretty beautiful and insanely successful temporally and spiritually) but because the missionaries who serve here get fat off of all of the incredible food the members make for us. For those of you who were concerned about my health, know that all the good American (and Mexican) food they're feeding me is plumping me right back up. We also noticed that all four of us missionaries are skinny as twigs, so it's a good thing we're here.

We had a zone activity on Thursday evening called "The Singapore South Zone Blitz."  We all met up at City Hall, went on exchanges, and conquered the nation. Sister Proffit and I walked and talked to incredibly prepared people and found ourselves all the way by Little India and Bugis. I thought it was cool that we knew the city well enough to feel our way back using the buses. We met up with our zone again, and Elder Harr and Elder Anderson took us to this field that was surrounded by all the skyscrapers in the business district of Singapore. It was night time by then and it was so beautiful. We sat and talked about all the miracles we saw that night and committed ourselves to being more bold in talking to everyone.

I talked to a really sweet Melayu lady and she told me my Malay was good and that I had an Indonesian accent, but it's good because it's more polite-sounding. Sister Anderson also told me all of the members in Kota Sentosa branch said I had really good Malay. Mana ada, because I feel like my Malay is still pretty mediocre, but I'll take it.

I had a couple cool spiritual experiences this week that I won't go into too much detail about. For our district meeting, Elder McCarthy asked us to think about the weakest part of our testimony, then to study and pray about it for a few minutes, and then boldly testify of it in front of everyone. I was already trying not to cry when it was my turn, but I stood up and said with all the conviction I had that I know God numbers His people, and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to everyone, not just the members of His church. We all felt pretty vulnerable but it was one of those experiences where we felt closer.

I was praying one night to be more Christlike, and thought of all the missionaries I admired and how frustrated I was that I am a little irreverent. But then I had this thought that I can still be Christlike and lighthearted, that I can still be kind and laugh a little loud, and I know that thought didn't just come from myself. I was grateful for the feeling that I was doing all things better than I thought I was.

One of the fun things about serving in Singapore is I get to meet some of the most fascinating people. One of my favorites this week is this Indian lady we talk to every once in a while. She hangs out at the bar called "Bojangles" by the church, and she's really fair-skinned. I didn't even know she was Indian until she told me because she speaks almost perfect English. She just sits outside of the bar most days, sipping a beer. In one of my conversations with her, she told us all about how she learned at a Catholic school by Irish nuns, and about how she's lived all over the world. She commended us for our missionary work and said, "You girls are doing a damn good job."

I had to chuckle a little and was grateful that at least somebody was kind to us.

Yesterday at church, our potential investigator who was invited by another mom had a good experience, so hopefully that'll turn into something. Thank goodness for awesome member missionaries. As Sister Opatha, Elder McCarthy, Elder Andrus and I go around strengthening the members, we realize how busy they are but we're grateful they're trying to share the gospel with their friends (a hint to all of you guys back home). Also, watch out for that ebola.

xo Sister Wynn

Sister Wynn's E-mail from October 13

Selamat P-Day everyone,

I apologize in advance if this email is singkat. I just turned to Sister Opatha and asked, "What did we do this week? Did anything exciting happen?"

But I'm long winded, so I'm sure I'll find stuff to write about.

Last week for P-Day, we went to the beach, each, and Sister Parcell and I got to show off our ultimate frisbee skills from all those P-Days playing ultimate the last time we were in Singapore. I'm living the dream. There's a good group of missionaries in Singapore. They're all so young though and they love reminding me how soon my mission is ending haha. We went to Baja Fresh with Elders Capener and Ferguson beforehand because we were carting them all around Singapore, so I thought I was going to die running around on the sand.

Also, I guess Elder Ferguson's concussion wasn't good, so he got emergency transferred here from JB, which he was bummed about, but Sister Parcell and I were ecstatic because it's like the old KL district is reunited!

Um this week was biasa sahaja, talked to about a million people and invited them to learn about Jesus Christ and of course no one was interested, did service at the YWCA, ate some incredible food at member's homes, had a couple lessons.

General Conference was SO good. It was weird hearing it in English this time around, and it was weird thinking this would be my last conference on my mission. I loved how some of the talks were translated from other languages. I love that this church is all over the world because everyone is a child of God. I love the humor. I love and sustain our leaders.

On the way to the chapel, my roommates and I came across this guy screaming at his girlfriend, and she was just standing there bawling. I stopped and almost said something, but then we kept walking. I asked Sister Proffit if we should ask if they're all right, and we almost did, but we didn't. And I regret it. I thought of all those times I was yelled at by a crappy boyfriend or someone and would have appreciated some to rescuing.

I might not be my brother's keeper, but I am my brother's brother.

I feel like since I've been back in Singapore I see more stuff like that and it makes me grateful for the gospel and the peace that comes with it, but what's the point if I can't even intervene and use it to help someone?

Tender little mercy: Sister Opatha and I worked SO hard this week. We planned our week carefully and had meaningful activities for all those empty hours, and talked to everyone, everywhere, all the time. We were exemplary missionaries. But nothing came from it.

But then a couple members called us about some families they met in passing in the ex-pat community,and they're interested in learning and finding a church. I'm a believer that if we labor, God will do the work.

XO Sister Wynn

Tired But Not Weary

Hey guys,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w49_1a9X0Q

I'm happy. I never sleep well because this city is noisy but I'm okay with that. Last P-Day we all just played basketball and I was still feeling kind of melancholy, but I got to finally catch up with Sister Parcell. She was internally freaking out about being STL but she let me know I'm doing a good job and that we'll feel like ourselves again soon, so she's doing great. She said she ran into Elder Beckstrand because he was on splits with the APs and for some reason she felt like everything would be okay.

The next day I decided to start running again because everything hurt from inactivity, and I got to see Elder Hays and Elder Beckstrand playing basketball at the stake center, and Sister Parcell was right, for some reason, saying hi to them and having them be happy to see me and tell me Arnold got the priesthood last weekend made everything okay. I also got to see Elder Parker and Elder Lambert and Elder Allen in passing as they came through Singapore for MLC and I asked myself why I was so blessed to have such good friends. Elder Parker did the usual "Wow you're so dead!" as we realized I have less than four months to pulai back to America.

Also, Elder Ferguson and Elder Capener came in from JB for the week because Elder Ferguson maaay have a concussion (bike accidents tidak boleh!) and they're sitting next to me right now as we berbual kosong and Elder Ferguson keeps telling me to simmer down. They love me. I'm grateful to keep seeing everyone in passing. They came to our ward yesterday and ran into Elder Allen's dad, who's in Singapore for business. I was sad I didn't get to officially meet him because I wanted to tell him his son's an incredible missionary/zone leader and he and Elder Hays doubled our baptisms in Kuching Zone for the quarter simply by telling us they loved us and to strengthen our relationship with Christ. Hilarious story for the week: Elder Allen told his dad to tell all of the Malay businessmen, "Saya seorang pondan," and they all laughed at him. Best prank ever. Mancaaal sikit.

The elders I'm serving with, Elder McCarthy (from the NZ) and Elder Andrus (from Pocatello Idaho), are incredible. They love everyone so much. Elder McCarthy is our district leader and always feels so awkward because he doesn't know how to talk to girls, but I think I'm figuring him out. He loves the sisters in his district because he thinks the WORLD of his little sister back home, macam itu. Sister Opatha was sick last weekend and they went out of their way to drop off some food for us.

We set up a wedding for an investigator couple from China. It was so nice to see the church members come together and decorate, make food/the cake, photograph, and be willing to serve. The husband bore a sweet testimony yesterday in church about how kind its members are and said something along the lines of "When we get baptized." Service is true you guys. I love the members here so much. I've been trying to figure out how to show it.

We also had a dinner appointment with this really sweet young couple from Texas, and they invited their friends over to meet us. During dinner, Sister Opatha and I were both prompted to throw out our original lesson plan and show "The Hope of God's Light" instead. I told them they mattered and they are loved and everything good in their lives came from God. It really resonated with them and we left a good impression. Then during church yesterday, this couple shared their experience introducing their friends to the missionaries, so hopefully that'll inspire other members to have their friends meet us. In this ward, most of our work NEEDS to come from members. It isn't as effective for me to contact a hugely successful expat living in Singapore on my own. But lately I've been going HAM on contacting on the buses and MRT anyway because I need to do things to show the Lord He can trust me. I pass off most of the people who are interested in learning to other missionaries, but that's okay. They're all important.

I went on splits with Sister Fa, and like usual, it was just a whole day of feeling validation and love from her. I was pretty discouraged in the morning. On the MRT, people actually walked away from me as I started a friendly conversation, and I didn't remember it being this hard the last time I served here. I wanted to give up and actually cry, right there on the train, but then I heard the words "You stand shoulder to shoulder with Christ." And in my stubbornness, I talked to even more people until I was able to find those people who were interested in learning the gospel. They were really kind and Christlike to me. Tender little mercies.

In one of our lessons, we decided to go over the story of Enos. I asked Sister Fa's investigator what she wants more than anything else, and she said "Happiness." Then she thought about it for a while and cried for a little bit. I asked her to plead with Heavenly Father to show her the answers, just like Enos did. Lately I've been pleading with Heavenly Father to give me courage to speak to people, even when they're rude, and pleading to show me how to earn the trust of the members here because we aren't going to get very far without them. I found some answers this morning in the scriptures and PMG, and I'm excited to talk to the other missionaries about it so we can come up with a game plan for this month. Just you wait, missionary work is going to be on fire in 1st ward.

I love that moment in "The Hope of God's Light" where Todd Sylvester gets it. Like a light bulb switching on. I love his face when he realizes God is there and He never left him alone. I remember that moment when I finally understood that I was a child of God when I was 14, pleading for the answers, and then later when I understood that I have a Savior when I was 19 and all the guilt, fears, and regret was swept away. It's true, God doesn't come down in a lightning bolt, but it felt like it.

-Sister Wynn