Because of Him (Transfer News)

Hey guys,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3TI4bYerU

I love being a missionary for weeks like this. Miracles haven't ceased, oh by the way we have a new investigator named Miracle. So much of life is good. Even with my runny nose (I blame Elder Rasmussen because he was sick first but forgive him because he's going home to Nashville this week) life is good.

Last Monday, the four KL branch missionaries decided to be cultured and we went to the Islamic Arts Museum. It was SO cool, but I think the gift shop was my favorite part. I love gift shops haha. For Tuesday's district meeting, Elder Ferguson made us play survivor with water balloons, and I just wanted to brag and say Sister Parcell and I won the water balloon toss while the elders got soaked.

Zone conference was this week, I will never get sick of jalan-jalaning to Singapore to see old friends. Ipoh, JB/Melacca, KL, and Sabah zones were there. I was grateful to hear the departing testimonies of some incredible missionaries I served with, Elders Fabiano, Toney, Robinson, Ung Cranford, and Rasmussen. I got to see a ton of Elders from my group and they're tearing it up. I got to see Sister LeBaron and Sister Bourgeois (who are serving in Singapore), plus so many other friends I made along the way. That reminds me, we saw Dorothy, our security guard from the complex we used to live at. When we saw her, we dropped everything and ran to give her a hug. The first night Sister Parcell and I got to the hotel, we collapsed on our beds and I said to her, "We have so many amazing friends here."

This was the most inspiring zone conference for me. It seemed like all the talks and trainings were for me personally, even though I know all missionaries need to hear things like that. I always walk away from zone conferences a better missionary, but this time, I WANTED to be better. "It's easier to run a mission than it is to inspire one." We were all asked to write talks on repentance. We need to live it so we can teach it. Repentance is an incredible gift, and throughout the week, I thought about how The Book of Mormon helped me understand repentance and the Atonement. I am convicted and converted to this gospel because of repentance, and because of Jesus Christ.

Elder Plazier is going to be an apostle. He gave a motivating talk on missionary work, and likened it to players on a team (perfect for the world cup). What stuck out to me was when he said, "Always, always, always be motivated by the why." Championship teams are motivated, championship missionaries are motivated by their testimony of Christ. "Follow this champion." Elder Hunsaker has grown up SO much from when he was my district leader in Singapore. It wasn't as hard to say goodbye to these wonderful missionaries as I tought it would be. President Mains talked to us about the Atonement, and he said, "It's carried me." It was weird to think that even near-perfect, inspired men like President Mains need the Atonement too. We all do.

Because of Him, right? Everything I am is because of Him.

By the way, how beautiful upon the industrial part of Stampin, Kuching, are the feet of she that bringeth good tidings of good? I'm going back to Kuching! I'm grateful because I biked through there with Sister LeBaron a couple months ago. Sad to leave KL, but grateful for my time here. Over and out.

-Sister Wynn

Berbaloi

Apa khabaaar?

It's amazing how much a nice email from your family can pick you up :) I was feeling a little melancholy throughout the week and especially this morning. I don't really have a reason, other than missionary work is hard haha. But like always, my week was good, life is good. Every once in a while Sister Parcell and I look at KL's skyline from our apartment and do a reality check. Do we really live here? How lucky are we? Tenang hati saya.

I really should develop the habit of saying a prayer of gratitude any time I'm feeling ungrateful. But I also remind myself feeling sad/homesick/tired every once in a while is normal. Everyone who's ever served a mission can relate.

Last week, the district went up to the Genting Highlands for our grand P-Day adventure. My favorite part was the ride up there, in our charter bus with the crazy bus driver through the valleys and mountains outside of the city. It took us half an hour to get there even though it usually takes about an hour. Elder Ferguson, true to his character, kept freaking out and was sure the bus was going to topple right off the mountain. The scenery was BEAUTIFUL. I would have been happy hopping off the bus halfway through the ride and hiking through the jungle. As we got up higher, the elders pointed out pine trees. It was the strangest thing to be reminded of Oregon in Malaysia. We hopped on a cable car, and we naik the mountain some more. We walked around the highlands and took pictures, etc. but like always, I just really enjoyed the company. Afterwards, the elders showed us their favorite ex-pat grocery store and I bought Hot Pockets for way too many ringgit but it was worth it. It's the little things.

Tuesday, the Weichers, one of the senior couples, made the whole zone, all 50 missionaries, enchiladas after district meeting. Enchiladas with real cheese. It was good to see everyone, especially from Klang and Puchong because they live jauh from the inner city so we don't get to see them very often. On Wednesday, no one could meet except in the evening, so we were thinking about cancelling one of our appointments, even though the Allen twins said they could follow us to our appointments. As I was racking my brain over what to do, Sister Parcell burst from the room and said, "I just had an idea. What if we go on splits?" My genius companion. I love inspiration. We each took a twin, Gweneth and Leisel, and had amazing lessons. How is it that 15 year old girls are already better missionaries than I am? It was fun to talk to Gweneth about what an American teenager in KL likes to do. I told her all one million reasons why I love being a missionary. It was really fun. We met up with Sister Parcell and Leisel afterwards and we got them ice cream because we love them and they're incredible.

Thursday, Janet and Ramel made us Filipino food because they know I've been craving it. I had the best pork adobo ever, I don't even care if I get fat. Ma sarap. On the way there, we accidentally missed our LRT stop but it was fine because I could see their flats from the next one over. As we walked, we thought that maybe this other LRT stop was safer because we wouldn't have to cross a bridge and go through a tunnel at night, and the street was well lit. On the way home, we went back the way we came and this man and woman stopped us and said, "Hey, you're the god of Mormon, right?" Sister Parcell and I, a little puzzled, said, "Sure, close enough!" and this guy proceeded to tell us he was given a copy of The Book of Mormon in Singapore, but lost it but had lots of questions and asked if we could meet with him. We got a return appointment and he said, "Sorry, I have to go do a business thing right now, but we'll take you out for sate sometime so we can talk!"

Sister Parcell and I walked away, jaws hanging open. "I don't get why this keeps happening to us." she said. Me neither, people contacting us instead of the other way around, and that just does not happen in missionary work. We decided it's because Heavenly Father loves us, but more so because He also really loves the people we run into. Sometimes we wonder if we're good enough, or deserve the blessings of teaching really prepared people. But Heavenly Father loves us, whether or not we think we deserve it, and I love telling people that. Friday, our district called our "second P-Day," because we didn't get any missionary work done... We went to the Puchong chapel and helped sew a quilt for the only woman in...Malaysian parliament? I'm not really sure, she's the only woman in some sort of government office here. It was really fun to sew. After that, our district sat in a hospital for about 3 hours while one of the senior couples who drove us got an MRI of her knee. I wish we could have contacted there, but we legally couldn't. After that, they drove us to get pizza, and we were in traffic for about 2 hours, but it was okay because we had a good conversation about how as a district, we would for sure survive a zombie apocalypse in KL and made a game plan for escaping. We ate good pizza, and afterwards went to the Pasar Malam (night market) at Jelatek. Sister Parcell tried durian for the first time ever, she flipped. Saturday, we did a combined Indonesian lesson for Deborah, and then she took us to a pasar malam by our house, and Sister Parcell and I bought a ludicrous amount of duku fruit and mangosteen for really cheap. She ended up giving half of it away to Deborah and strangers on the train (she is really Christlike) and we've been snacking on the rest.

I feel bad that I had so many bouts of sadness. In church yesterday, we were asked to help out in primary because I needed to play piano (which reminds me, Elder Rasmussen volunteered me and himself to play piano for sacrament and I will never ever ever forgive him). As I played through "He Sent His Son," a song I learned years ago in primary but haven't sung since, I almost started crying in front of all the little kids. The lyrics are so simple but powerful.

I learned my favorite Malay word a couple transfers ago in Kuching. "Berbaloi." It means, WORTH IT. Berbaloi when I'm sick, berbaloi when it wears on me that I can't legally preach to anyone on the train even though they're all good people. Berbaloi when appointments fall through, or when people reject my message. Berbaloi when I lose sleep over our investigators, berbaloi when I make mistakes. In Sentosa, our relief society president once asked me to bear my testimony and said (rough translation), "Why are you even a missionary? You used to be so pretty." (I laughed at this) "Your legs used to be pretty and now they're covered in mosquito bites. And you have to bike everywhere in the sun."

I told the sisters, "Berbaloi because I love all of you. I want the church to grow here. I want you to have a temple."

Berbaloi because we have a Savior, and He understands exactly how we feel. So I have no reason to be sad anymore. I have a great supportive family back home, I'm serving in the most beautiful city in the world, I'm doing the most important work there is.

Stay genked up, doji ni. Til next time!

-Sister Wynn

Can, Baby!

Selamat Hari Ayaaahhh to all the amazing dads out there!

I love my dad. He is incredible. He is the reason I'm trying to selflessly serve the people in Southeast Asia. When I have a hard day on the mission, when appointments fall through, and creepy men are being creepy, and people are trying to tell me my testimony is recycled and indoctrinated, and it's hot, and humid, and I'm sick, and when I even entertain the idea of going home, I imagine my dad saying "Leave it all in the field."

He would never let me go home because he knows my mission will change me forever and ever and ever. My dad is my missionary. He taught me that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that sacrifice is so worth it, to serve others and to be kind, polite, and courteous no matter what, and to always think of others.

Right when I got to KL, we were invited to Sunday dinner by a couple American families. I was telling them about my family, like how Mikel and dad served their missions in Japan and how Cloe wants to go on a mission and how we all go to BYU, etc. etc. and in passing I mentioned my mom's not a member of the church (and is actually Buddhist) because I think that's cool. Everyone was like, "Wow! No way!" and it actually made me feel a little weird, but then Brother Webber said, "That says a lot about your dad, that his kids are return missionaries."

I never thought about that before, how hard or lonely it must have been raising his kids in the church by himself. I'm not saying we're perfect, but I'd say my siblings are pretty good kids because of my parents. I could be worse, haha. When I washed up on my parents doorstep after living in California, kind of like the prodigal son (not that I was ever prodigal, haha) and said, "Uh I think I want to serve a mission..." my dad was the one who said, "Alright! Let's make that happen. I will take care of it."

This week was good. Our numbers weren't so good, but I'll explain why in a second. Last P-Day, we went to the Malaysian History Museum. It was pretty cool, but mostly I just loved the company. I forgot to mention last week, Brother Blissett, one of my MTC teachers, is in Malaysia researching languages (pretty sweet deal, eh?). He was at church because he served in KL. We asked him if he wanted to visit a less active member who he knew, and he ended up being our church-member-present in that lesson, haha. It was fun teaching with him, and because you don't always get the opportunity to teach with your MTC teacher halfway through your mission, I decided to take the opportunity to ask what I could do better. He said I was doing great, which was nice to hear especially because he knew me as a brand new missionary, belum pandai bahasa Melayu and memang belum pandai kerja misi.

We also had little miracles all over the place. We met with a church headquarters referral who is SO prepared. I don't understand why Sister Parcell and I keep having incredibly prepared investigators fall into our laps, except that God loves us and He loves the people we need to meet. We met her at work, she is a floor exec at a department store, previously Hindu but looking into Christianity because she had some amazing experiences with prayer. When we gave her her copy of The Book of Mormon, she teared up and said, "I didn't think that anybody would actually come." There are people out there who are looking for the truth. We also ran into the cutest Canadian girl yesterday over by the Petronas Towers who teaches English literature at a college. She asked what we were doing in KL and after we told her our purpose as missionaries, she gave us her number.

Yesterday, for Father's Day, the Moore family invited us over for dinner. They live right in the center of the city and have the most gorgeous view. They may also be one of the most fascinating families I've ever met. They've lived all over the world. Brother Moore made us ribs, and drumsticks, the perfect American dad man meal haha. He also made his famous watermelon lemonade (which reminded me of my dad's lime drink and made me a little nostalgic for home). Our little missionary message was from Doctrine and Covenants 123, and we mostly wanted to express our love and gratitude to them. I love the saints.

I also gave a talk on obedience, and drew from the story of Abraham and Isaac (how lame of a Father's Day must it have been to have to sacrifice your son?). I tied it into missionary work and told the members how much I, along with all of the other missionaries, loved them. If I could, I would build them a temple. I would build them a stake. I would do anything for them. But we can't do missionary work by ourselves. We NEED them to help us.

Last zone meeting, Elders Beckstrand and Rasmussen talked about The Miracle Model again, and we also talked about putting things in our box (ie distractions). Then they presented an idea, a game plan, that caused a stir. They said they presented this idea to the other mission leaders, and to President Mains, and I'm sure they consulted with the Lord. They got permission to try this in our zone. They asked us to only have lessons where a church member is present, and to cancel appointments if we can't have one. Our numbers are expected to drop initially.

You should have seen the drama. There were missionaries who listed all the cons of it. We won't be able to teach as much, sometimes members confuse the investigators, etc. But despite all that, Sister Parcell and I looked at each other and grinned, then to the zone leaders, and said, "Challenge...accepted."

They explained the purpose was to encourage members do more missionary work, because we love our church members, we want to strengthen the branches here, and strengthen our members, and have them receive blessings from helping other people. I would do anything for my church members, I will build them a stake, I will build them a temple. But the fastest way to that is to make our investigators the branch's investigators.

After the meeting, the zone leaders talked to me and Sister Parcell and said, exasperated, "Thank you for supporting us."

"Of course we support you, you're our elders." We trust our leaders. We trust President Mains, and we trust the Lord. What I love about Sister Parcell is she has incredible, stupid amounts of faith with me. We CAN get members to help us at every lesson, AND we CAN get two new investigators a week. It's not about the numbers, it's about the people behind those numbers and it's about bringing people closer to Christ. You don't have to teach to bring someone closer to Christ.

We've adopted a new saying this week (last week it was "Have miracles ceased? NAY, neither has God ceased to be a God of miracles."):

Can, baby! I love it because it sounds like something my dad would say.

Last night, Sister Parcell and I stayed up and talked about how great our dads are. We have plans to make them best friends because we think they'd get along. "The Adventures of Walt and Todd." I told her about how my dad always picked up random people who had car trouble in Maryland, how he always helped people move houses, and how when he was first counselor in the bishopric when we were little, and had long meetings after church, we'd wait for him if mom couldn't pick us up, and he'd say, "Thanks for waiting for me. I'm sorry you had to wait, but look at all the blessings we're receiving!" That always stuck with me.

Another thing that has always stuck with me was from when I was probably around 10 years old. For some reason, my dad took us kids to piano lessons that day, even though mom usually does. Sticking with tradition, we ate at McDonald's afterwards, except that day we were kind of at a ghetto-er McDonalds over by the metro in Rockville instead of the one in Redland. We were finishing dinner, and there was a younger man in a dirty orange jumpsuit asking the employees if he could borrow a phone to call a cab to take him to the metro, so he could go home. He worked at the recycling plant nearby. The staff was being kind of rude to him, but my dad overheard the conversation and said, "Sir, we're just about done, we could give you a ride to the station if you want."

The man was so grateful. I remember my 10-year-old self thinking, "This man is going to stab one of us. He's so sketchy, and dirty, and way too eccentric." Haha. But I trusted my dad. But we gave him a ride, and he kept saying, "You are angels, sent from the Lord! God sent you to me, thank you, thank you, thank you!" My dad is so Christlike. It doesn't matter what people look like, or where they're from, he will help anyone who needs it.

I send my love from KL, the greatest city ever.

-Sister Wynn

The Miracle Model

Apa khabar kawan,

I still can't get over how much people love when I chit-chat with them in Malay. They're like "WOAH where did that come from?" There were a bunch of nakal 12 year old boys on a bus that kept saying how pretty Sister Parcell and I were, and I looked at them and said "Apa lagi?" They freaked out and were so embarrassed and made fun of each other, it was so funny. It's wearing on me that I legally can't explain why I'm here. I've met so many incredible people who I can't proselyte to. It's kind of wearing on me, but what can you do?

This week was so full of adventures and miracles. Last Monday was our jalan-jalan to the Batu Caves. It was SO much fun. A lot of missionaries said, "Eh we've been before, you only need to go once. You'll see what we mean," but we convinced them all to go anyway. It was a blast. It's not what you do, it's who you're with. It was BEAUTIFUL. By far my favorite Hindu shrine. The monkeys were fun to feed (though a little scary) and the pigeons were fun to chase. I'll let my pictures tell the story, haha.

Group at the Batu Caves.

Monkey!

Chasin' pigeons!

Afterwards all the KL branch missionaries swung by Pasar Seni because one of our less actives works there. We had a little time to kill so while the elders got their hair cut (gotta look sharp to serve the Lord) Sister Parcell and I got our feet nibbled on by fish. Hilarity ensued. I didn't know I could scream or laugh that loud. But my feet felt sooo good after. Who would have thought fish could subsist off of the dead skin from people's feet?

Fish foot therapy?

Fish pool

For district meeting, Elder Ferguson talked about miracles, and how they're everywhere. It was perfect because I was just thinking about all the little miracles I've seen in KL. Sister Parcell and I aren't walking on water or making prison walls tumble down, but miracles are everywhere. Elder Ferguson likened little miracles to flecks of gold, and committed us to count 10 miracles or things we're grateful for every day. Sister Parcell and I started writing our miracles on the back of these sheets of paper that you can turn into stars, and even though they're small, they add up every day. But the bars-of-gold miracles still exist. Have miracles ceased? I say unto you, nay.

Our investigator from Holland is ultra prepared. Yesterday, he said he thought something was wrong with his heart because it felt so funny as he read the Book of Mormon. Then, he said, he realized it was the spirit. I tried not to let him see how much I was tearing up/smiling.

That reminds me about our Best-Two-Years moment the other day, Sister Parcell and I were travelling back from an appointment on the outskirts of town. It was already late and in kind of a sketchy area. We prayed for a bus to come and waited. And waited. After a half hour, I said, "Maybe we should pray again."

"Eh...okay, I'll say it." Sister Parcell prayed, and halfway through her prayer, we heard a bus roll by. We snapped our eyes open, looked at each other, yelled, "AMEN!" and ran after the bus. After we flagged it down, we hopped on and realized it wasn't even a normal bus that usually goes to our area, it was on its way back to the bus depot.

We also went to the World India Fest with one of our members. She let me borrow her panjabi suit. Then I ended up buying one there for super cheap. Pics to come.

At the Global Indian Festival

I realized yesterday in church that it was my one-year mark from going through the temple for the first time. That's the point of all of this, right? Miracles haven't ceased. Love you all.

-Sister Wynn

Rockin' the punjabi suit.

Kitten!

Ambil Hati, Ambil Berat

Ki haal hai,

That's "Hello" in Panjabi. Yup, the Singapore Mission is the best mission because you get to meet SO many interesting people from all over the world. This week was incredible. Sister Parcell and I make a great team. Then, us two combined with Elder Rasmussen and Elder Beckstrand make a great team. Remember that incredible amount of faith we had last week? It's paying off, because as we met with all of the people who were previously dropped, we ran into their friends or family members who wanted to know more about who we are and what we teach. So we got return appointments with them. We went to a birthday party of a church member and talked to their neighbors, a beautiful Indian family (well the mom was stunning, of course, the dad was kind of dorky haha. I love it). The dad works for HP and used to live in Texas. They were sad we had to go home because they were ready to have a lesson right there. We also had so many random people show up at church yesterday, like the sweetest man from Holland who Sister Parcell gave her card to in passing a couple weeks ago, and a couple former investigators, and the Indonesian friends of a recent convert. Elder Rasmussen and I translated for them during church, and afterwards, the two of us taught the restoration lesson to them in our best, albeit a little broken Indonesian.

"Please tell me you know the first vision in Malay." Elder Rasmussen asked me. He's been in KL forever now, but he hasn't needed to recite the first vision in Malay haha. I loved seeing our new investigators' faces soften as I told it to them with all the conviction I had. In the Malay translation, when Joseph Smith says, "I saw two personages whose brightness and glory defy all description," it translates into, "whose brightness and glory I cannot describe." Tidak dapat dilukiskan. E. Rasmussen loves that I'm around now because he said it's been hard teaching a lot of lessons in Malay/Indonesian by himself. That's why we go two by two, so we can testify of the truths our companions say. At first, I felt kind of bad Sister Parcell and Elder Beckstrand don't talk during our lessons, but Sister Parcell keeps busy and Elder Beckstand usually falls asleep because he's always so busy working himself into the ground for his investigators and the zone. Sometimes naps are good. Everyone I serve with is such an incredible example to me. I feel like I learn so much Malay and more importantly, my teaching skills get better from watching Elder Rasmussen teach. When Sister Parcell, Elder Beckstrand, and I were serving in Singapore together, during one of our zone meetings, the ZLs asked Elder Beckstrand why he was so good at contacting and how it seemed like he was ALWAYS talking to someone on the train, or as he was walking to an appointment. He said, "If you love the people enough, you'll want to shout the gospel in their ears." So yeah, that's why they're zone leaders in KL, they're hard working, amazing missionaries.

A lot of the less active members we've reached out to have said things that have hurt my heart. One had her heart broken as the missionaries she became friends with left, and another said, "When I was less active, no one reached out to me, so I'm glad you're here now." Sister Parcell and I have been working hard to get church members to fellowship each other and build friendships, because as much as we love the people here, as much as they're interesting, and kind, we can't be the ones they're friends with because we eventually leave. But I hate how it seems like some of these people were neglected, or on teaching records people wrote, "They're not ready to come back yet" because I feel like a lot of them are.

And God never gave up on me, so why should I give up on other people?

But a happy ending to this story, a handful of our less actives did come back to church after the first time we met with them and asked them to, and we contacted their neighbors/friends/family members as we did so. I went on splits with Sister Fa'aleiua, one of the English speaking sisters I came in with (we shared a hotel room our first night in Singapore, and we bonded over the fact that we were SO far from home), and she is an amazing teacher. She is a poly princess. My Samoan sister from another mister. We found one of our less actives in KL branch, then afterwards, we met with some members/investigators from PJ (Petaling Jaya) branch. She would say things to them like, "We were thinking about you this week, and we thought (this verse) would help you with (this problem)."

I love that. "We were thinking about you." How much love does that convey to a person? I learned so much from her, lessons in humility and in love. She also taught me a little Samoan, macam, "Malo UCE," and "Oute alofa ia oeeee" (I love you).

Ambil hati, ambil berat means "Take heart, take heavy." In other words, you have to win people's hearts so they trust you. So members trust you to teach their loved ones the restored gospel. So investigators trust you enough to change when you plead with them to. And you have to bear their burdens. Serve the saints (even the strong ones need strengthening and love) and serve the people you teach because that's what Christ would do. I love the people more and more quickly with each new area I'm given. I want there to be stakes here, and I want the members to have a temple here.

We went to the Allen's house yesterday for Sunday dinner, can I just say how weird it is to see a branch presidency with white people in it, as well as hearing the sacrament in English again? And Sister Allen made us salad. And chili. I was in heaven. I'm sure as I'm here, I'll tell you about all the wonderful American food I'm eating because that's so interesting. Oh also, I talked to a Brother who works for the embassy here. "I can make problems go away." Why do I keep meeting the most interesting people here?

Last P-Day, we played ultimate frisbee at a really nice stadium at Taman Jaya. It rained and poured. The field was so muddy and slippery and the elders kept falling all over the place. They'd launch the frisbee and I couldn't even catch it because I was laughing too hard at them falling. I couldn't even see because there was rain in every direction. There was a little lightening, at one point, we saw lightening strike one of the skyscrapers that surrounded the field, and the thunder exploded in our ears. I said a little prayer in my heart and was grateful there were so many buildings that were taller than where we were playing. I had the time of my life.

Today, we're going to the Batu Caves. This is my dream. When I found out I'd be a missionary in Malaysia, the first thing that comes up on google is the Batu Caves. I've been waiting for this day forever.

Love you all, see you next week.

-Sister Wynn

P.S. Saturday was my 10-month mark. Apa hal ini?