East Malaysia is Where It's At (Transfer News)

Nama berita kita wai,

That's right, I'm bringing back my Iban again because tomorrow I'm hopping on an airplane and going to Kuching! Kota Sentosa branch! I'm so excited! I'm finishing Sister Bourgeoise's training (can you believe President Mains and the Lord trusted me with another new missionary?) But like always, transfers are bittersweet because I LOVE my Filipinos and I'm going to miss serving with them so much. Singapore is kind of a magical city, but the nice thing is we always come back. I fly out tomorrow though.

How cool is it that I can say the entire city of Singapore was my area? I'm grateful for the good friendships I've built here, and for my immersion into Filipino culture (definitely did not see that coming before I came on my mission). Sister Hansen and I are making a trip to Philippines: 2015. I'm going to miss speaking to the very, very interesting bright people here, like Italian surfers, Spanish architects, Indonesian Hindu accountants, Singaporean-Chinese models, and so on.

This week was exponentially better in every way. We got to visit so many people, and get to know our church members better. It makes me even sadder to leave, but such is the life of a missionary. I'm going to miss Sister Hansen and Sister Zhang so much. They are my friends for life. Sister Hansen and I had so many good times, so many laughs. I'm grateful I got to be her trainer, but let's be real, she trained me. I'm a better missionary for her example. We were saying sweet things to each other like "You're a good comp," and "I'm gonna miss you," but then we'd say, "Ew, we're such sister missionaries."

I'm really going to miss working with Elder Toney and Elder Robinson. They are incredible teachers, they always invited the spirit simply by their presence. It was always good to see them after a hard week when they got home from Malaysia. It's like seeing your big brothers and have them tell you you're doing all things better missionary than you think you are. They gave great talks in church yesterday, Elder Robinson talked about Alma 13 and how angels come in the form of guys in white shirts and ties and name tags (or in the form of Sister Wynn and Sister Hansen) but angels come in the form of church members too, and told an incredible story about a couple people he taught and baptized in KL. Elder Toney talked about how important member missionaries are and how much he loves them and how missionary service has changed him. He's really good at showing love to everyone, members, investigators, and missionaries. They both ask the most inspired questions. Eh I'll see them in 2 weeks when they're on exchanges in Kuching.

Well I'm out of time, but next week I'll tell you about how fun it was playing ultimate frisbee on the beach and about us being in the sketchiest clinic ever until 1 am because Sister Zhang got bitten by a cat. Oh and I converted my weight from kilos to pounds (I weighed myself at the clinic out of boredom) and that was a mistake. Singapore makes you fat. So worth it. And then I'll tell you about my new adventures in Kota Sentosa.

Semoga berjaya to you all, here's to new jungle adventures!

Love, Sister Wynn

Epic...

Constantly Risking Absurdity

Ka musta po,

Wow, minta maaf that my emails have been downers lately. I figured out my problem (besides being turned too inward when I should focus on other people).

So in looking at my life in retrospect, I realized maybe I'm just a little bit crazy. I kinda had to be to play lacrosse with a bunch of boys, flip my life upside down to move to Hawaii, and flip my life upside down again to move to California, and then flip it again to come on a mission. I think everyone who comes on a mission has to be a little nuts, or maybe we just have a lot of faith.

There's a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti about a tightrope walker, and the beginning says,

Constantly risking absurdity
and death
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat

I think the last couple weeks were hard for me because I lost a little of what makes me the missionary version of myself. When I first got to Singapore, I was very bold and unapologetic in proclaiming the restored Gospel to people. It didn't matter who, strangers, or people who we are teaching. I would make plans without a surety that they would happen, but had the faith to follow through on them, and it worked. I once told this guy on the MRT that the Gospel is like Dr. Pepper. Sure, he's tried Sprite, and Coke, but never Dr. Pepper. I can't describe what it tastes like to him, he's just gotta try it himself. His gorgeous lady friends told me there's no way I could believe in what I can't see, and I said "Sure you can, by the way you feel."

I think I made a good impression on them because they invited me to party with them at Chinese Gardens, but I said can't because I'm a missionary...haha. As I jumped out of the MRT, I turned back to them and said, "Try Dr. Pepper!"

I've told people "Take a chance on us missionaries. What do you have to lose?" I've been bold (and loving) in asking people to come to church, read their scriptures, try prayer, and it works. For the last week of this transfer, I've committed myself to doing that again. Alma, Amulek, Paul, Ammon, and the sons of Mosiah were a little crazy. They had to be to get the amount of work done that they did.

This week was even harder than last week. We had an appointment at Bukit Gombak, which was insanely frustrating, and then we took a cab to Tampines, which was clear on the other side of the island. I tried to contact our cab driver, but he went off on this weird rant about ghosts and I cried because it was the last straw. Everything went wrong all week, but Sunday was INCREDIBLE. So many miracles. Our ward members are amazing in putting together our Mini-MTC activity, we had lots of less actives and investigators come to church, and we really love our ward members. We spent our free time Saturday making Valentine's for everyone at church to tell them we love them.

After church, we went contacting because Sister Zhang wanted to get out of the house. I hate contacting. Other missionaries said I'm really good at it, but it is my personal belief that straight contacting, for the sake of doing something, anything, with your time, is not an effective use of your time. So while she was doing that at this REALLY pretty park up at Yishun, I called ward members and booked our week full of appointments. Hear that? That's the sound of me high-fiving my comps.

On Friday, Sister Zhang went on splits with the Woodlands Sisters, so Sister Hansen and I bought a ludicrous amount of chocolate and ate our feelings in our blanket fort. We had a really good pass off lesson with Elder Lambert and Elder Stratfold. Well I guess I should say I had a good pass off lesson with Elder Lambert, because he found us an incredible little Indonesian lady who really wants the Gospel in her life, and Elder Lambert and I were the only ones who bercakap-ed the bahasa Indonesia. It's always cool to teach with the elders from your MTC group. They grow so much. Elder Lambert definitely has an Indonesian accent now because of all the time he's spent in Singapore. He was always an amazing missionary, even at the MTC. He just has so much love for everyone he meets. I think he's going West after transfers. He's the last elder from our group that hasn't actually been to Malaysia. Oh and it's really fun to see him get hit on by everyone in Singapore.

P-Day last week was fun. Not that we're supposed to be competitive...but my team won and Sister Hansen's team lost. Not that I rub it in her face or anything. In our last round, the other team was in jail except for Sisters Waldvogel and Alfrey, so Elder Crosland and I ran to their side of the gardens. He took off running, and I was his decoy. Sister Waldvogel tried tagging him out but I ran towards her so she got distracted. He grabbed the flag, got cornered by Sister Alfrey and a rose bush, said, "I'm going for it!" and lept through the rose bush. Like a gazelle. We found a couple other people from our team, and set up an offensive screen so Sister Alfrey couldn't tag any of us out. Victory is ours. (Even though Elder Crosland was bleeding like crazy and we had to dig a couple thorns out of his hands).

Here we are in Singapore, constantly risking absurdity for the Lord. This week is going to be a good week. They won't even know what hit 'em.

Berkerja keras, bermain keras (work hard, play hard).

-Sister Wynn

Zzzzz.....

Men of God

Ka musta po everyone,

Sorry I've been spelling it wrong, I don't have Tagalog study materials like I do for Malay. The two languages are really similar actually. And all the Elders who've served in Sabah tell me there are TONS of Filipinos in KK. This is why KK needs to be opened to Sisters (it's never gonna happen. Rosak hati saya...). I love my Filipinos. I love my Ibans. I miss my Ibans. I don't know how long it'll be until I'm in East Malaysia again...but maybe in the meantime I'll conquer West Malaysia. Oh and I hope my dad forwards the picture of the map I drew. It makes my mission make more sense, I think.

This week was the hardest week of my mission. I'm so stressed I'm physically sick. I haven't been getting much sleep, and I have a headache and stomachache pretty much all the time. Somehow Sister Mains found out I was sick so she called me this morning, which stressed me out even more because she's the last person I want to bug. Being in a trio is hard, having an area where the work is slow is hard. But even though I have bouts of unhappiness, know that I'm happy. I LOVE being a missionary, it's the happiest work there is. Even when it's hard. I know I'm going to miss being a missionary when it's all over. This P-Day is much needed though. Capture the flag at Botanic Gardens. My favorite P-Days are the ones where we just gather together and have a good time. Its nice because the other missionaries understand just how hard the work is here in Singapore. We all agree it's very much worth it though.

To those of you who've sent me letters, THANK YOU so much! They were much needed, and you were definitely inspired to write what I needed to hear. It just goes to show how much Heavenly Father loves all of us, and how much we need each other for love and support. You can't have known I was going to have a hard time two weeks ago. Ew, sorry I sound like such a downer, just know that right now I'm laughing with my comps in the internet kedai. Laugh and pray, that's how you make a mission great.

A little old Chinese lady punched me in the butt at the grocery store last week. It was pretty funny. Oh Sister Zhang told us that they don't actually eat fortune cookies in China...it's not a real thing. I quote Sister Hansen, "This is literally the worst day of my life. My whole life is a lie." She was more upset that I was. The best quotes from Sister Zhang this week were, (in talking about her future husband): "Where is he now? He's stupid." And, "If my boyfriend looks like this, I will punch him in the face."

Oh, a couple Elders want me to marry their brothers. One of them plays football for BYU. I'm down. I think it's their way of saying, "Sister Wynn, let's be friends forever." Probably.

We had Brother Rawson, the writer and narrator of The Joseph Smith papers address us Saturday night and I learned SO much about church history! We actually ran into him, his wife, and travel guy at the 7/11 at Newton because we hadn't eaten so we wanted a very nutritious taquito (filled with deep fried cream cheese and jalapenos) to tide us over. We showed them to the church because they were lost, and even though we were really late to choir practice, it was all good. I conducted the missionary choir. That was a fun experience. We sang "The Spirit of God" and the Sisters had this really pretty counter melody part.

Anyway, I love the people I serve with. The Elders here really are men of God. "And after he came men also were saved by faith in His name, and by faith, they become the sons of God." They pick me up when I'm feeling blue. I got so much good advice from them as I told them about our struggling area. And they reminded me that I'm doing all things better than I think I am.

This week is going to be better. Jangan putus asa. Pujilah Tuhan!

-Sister Wynn

Opportunities

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Ours was pretty lame, mostly because we don't go to a Chinese ward and all of our members were working through it. But we caught a pretty cool show from our balcony. The people who live across the street from us hired a sweet group who did acrobatics and had one of those huge dragon things. You know like in Mulan, when the Huns pop out of that dragon thing? Yeah, I saw one of those. Except it lit up with colorful lights. It was sweet.

We knew the Chinese Sisters were being transferred (their transfer cycle is weird because of their visas), so we might have stayed up a little late and eaten junk food and had a good time... Pictures coming soon. We saw sweet fireworks from our apartment at Marina Bay again. We also had interviews with President Mains this week, it was so good for me because we had TWO MORE investigators drop us, but we got one of them back. The one who builds super computers. President always is so inspired, and he said everything I needed to hear. The Mains always make you feel like you're their own kid, but they trust us so much and treat us like friends too. Kind of like how my parents treat me. It's nice.

That night, Sister Tai called President Mains to schedule her interview, but she had him on speaker and the rest of us were listening. She said, "President, can you tell me where my new area is? Pleaaase?"

He said, "I'll tell you during your interview... Okay I'll just tell you now. You're going to Miri."

All four of us yelled, and I think it surprised him because he didn't know we could hear the conversation, haha. As he said goodbye, I yelled "Oh my gosh!" one more time. Mission presidents have got to love their missionaries. We dropped Sister Tai off at the airport this morning and maybe cried a little, but I'm so excited because she's going to my old area. I love her love her love her. As she left, she said, "I've never been so sad to leave my roommates. We're all like a family."

I love the Singapore airport. It's one of the most beautiful and artistic. Well I just love airports in general. Partly because all the guys in my family are obsessed with planes, but I think it's also because I feel so secure. My earliest memories are of being on planes with my family, flying back and forth between Japan and the US, and Maryland and Idaho. I associate my biggest milestones with airports. I associate them with my greatest adventures. I'm so blessed we get to FLY to our new areas when we get transferred.

Anyway, now Sister Zhang is in a trio with us! I love her and I'm glad she doesn't have to move. To be honest, I'm a little nervous, but we are going to DO WORK in 3rd ward. We told our ward members yesterday we're getting a new companion and they're so excited. Sister Zhang's conversion story is INCREDIBLE. Ask me about it sometime, but it's not one of those things you can just type in an email.

Frisbee was awesome last P-Day. We split up into districts and had four teams, but the Chinese Elders adopted us. Not that we were keeping score because we're not supposed to be competitive...but we rocked it. My favorite part of the day though was when Sister Zhang and Sister Tai arrived. Sister Zhang had a suitcase she bought from Mustafa's, and when Elder Frey and Elder Black saw that she was carrying a ton of stuff, they immediately stopped playing Frisbee and RAN to help her. They took her bags and I ran up to her and gave her a huge sweaty hug. Mad respect to the elders in this mission. We take care of our own.

That night, we had a dinner appointment with Sister Noemi and Brother Dino and Elder Toney and Elder Robinson. It was way less awkward than our last dinner appointment with them, and we kind of made it home on time haha. The Elders were in KL this week, Sister Hansen and I missed them (in a totally professional and platonic way (I have to be careful what I say or we'll get the Lock Your Heart talk again haha)). On the way back to Singapore, their flight was delayed so they got upgraded to Singapore Air (those punks) and Elder Robinson ended up sitting next to the president of Louis Vuitton Asia. Fancy people live in Singapore...

That reminds me, I got peed on by a dog this week. It was this little annoying white dog wandering around our street so I picked him up to find the owner. In my mind, I was thinking this would be a great contacting opportunity. Sister Hansen and I went to the fancy houses across the street from us, and went to the parking garage under the condos and saw Ferraris and Mercedes and other cars that are worth more than anything I'll ever own. We ended up finding the owners, it was these three Filipino maids who work at there so we gave them our card. They were so grateful because they'd been looking for their boss's dog for a while. It paid me back by peeing on me, but good deeds go unpunished, right?

This week was hard. I was talking to Elder Hunsaker last night during weekly reporting and he said a lot of things I needed to hear. I was asking him how he stays motivated, because I was really lacking due to our area not doing very well. All of our investigators who aren't in the Philippines over Chinese New Year dropped us. It's like a punch to the gut. He said you just start by acting. He also asked, "Well, what do you think Heavenly Father is trying to teach you?" I said patience, and being a good missionary despite challenges (aka enduring to the end). I feel pretty guilty because I feel like I didn't take the opportunities to grow this week. Some days I just wish I could be in Malaysia again. Missionary work is hard everywhere, but Singapore wears on me. But then I tell myself I can be a good missionary anywhere, and if I'm not good here, then I won't be in Malaysia either.

I also got to talk to Elder Jackson on the phone because he had a referral for me! Its always great to hear from my MTC elders, he's so much more chatty than he was. He loves being a trainer and he's doing good work in JB. Not going to lie, I love getting referrals for my MTC Elders so I have an excuse to chat with them and see how they're doing.

This week I was thinking about all of the wonderful opportunities I have. I'm on a mission in the first place, which is the best thing I can be doing right now. Not everyone gets this opportunity, and I've gotten to serve in beautiful jungles, and now in a beautiful city. But I think about other opportunities I've been given within my mission. For example, I get to serve with the APs. Elder Toney and Elder Robinson are incredible missionaries, and there's so much I learn from watching them teach. Not only that, because they have to jaga all the other missionaries (unfortunately more than they should), I get to see how Christlike and kind they are. They are charity personified. I try to tell them that as much as I can. They really are men of God. I also had Sister LeBaron as my trainer. Everyone should be jealous of me (but thou shalt not covet, haha). It came as no surprise to me that she became STL. I was thinking about her and reading her letters last week, wondering if I was really bratty to her and if I was a good enough companion to her. Right then, she called me to see how I was doing and to tell me she misses me. What an answer to my prayers. I also got to live with Sister Tai, a native Malay (and Tamil and Chinese) speaker, even though I'm serving in an English speaking area, which has really helped me with my accent. Sister Hansen and I rode the MRT with a recent convert, Collin, from another ward, so I decided to ask him about his conversion, what he liked about the missionaries who taught him and what he thinks us missionaries can do better in teaching. He told us to always find investigators a friend in the ward as fast as you can. And to love and be patient.

I also get to serve in a wonderful ward with receptive and loving people. I don't know what it is, but Filipinos are so warm and loving and accepting. I do feel like I belong to a family when I go to church. And they understand how important they as members are to missionary work. I think maybe I've been given this opportunity to see how ward auxiliaries and missionaries can work together, because in my old area, the church is so new that we're still trying to build the foundation. Anyway, consider me half Filipina. I love them with my whole heart.

I guess I'm trying to say I'm really grateful for all of the opportunities I've had to serve with such amazing people and to learn from them so I can be a better missionary and a better person. My advice to any prospective missionary is to take advantage of those opportunities. This week, my luck is going to turn around. We haven't swept our floors since New Years because supposedly if you sweep right after New Years, you sweep your luck away. I'm not superstitious, I'm just trying to embrace the culture. And it's not luck at all, I've got God on my side.

Wo ai ni (love you),
Sister Wynn

P.S. Go Seahawks