In your face Satan

Hey guys,

Selamat Hari Raya! What a good way to begin the week. As per usual, things are going really well in our area. We are in a World Cup Situation, and we are behind, but I love a good underdog story.

I'm exhausted spiritually, emotionally, and physically, but what's new? Haha I wouldn't have it any other way. God's hand is in everything, EVERYTHING we've been doing. I'm on fire, this is the best missionary work I've done so far in my mission, I hope I keep improving my teaching and language skills. Even when things are hard.

I'm a fan of secret kampungs. Elder Scott told us about one missionaries haven't visited in a while, he didn't know about it until one of our members moved there last transfer. Then I found some old teaching records that had some addresses there, so Sister Callor and I decided to check it out and find these people. We knocked some doors (have I mentioned that I LOVE knocking now? Cute little sister missionaries have a lot of success knocking in Sarawak it turns out) with the hope of finding these former investigators / gaining new ones by having people help us find their neighbors. Sister Callor made eye contact with a guy who was parking his moto. He looked at us for a while, then jumped inside his house. We ran to his door and saw some faded pass along cards taped to it, so we knocked and knocked. Eventually his kids opened the door, and we were invited inside, and it turns out they were a less active family who haven't been visited for a while. We visited with them for a while, then continued on our merry way.

The next house we knocked had some crosses above it, so we asked this sweet Bidayu woman if she knew the people we were looking for. She invited us in, and we were able to meet her super nice Indonesian husband and their four happy kids. We shared a little bit about eternal families and read a verse from The Book of Mormon, and asked if they wanted their own copies. I kicked myself because I didn't bring one to give out. They gave us some food and drinks and were worried about us because of the rain. They told us to swing by tomorrow. We got chased by dogs on the way out of the kampung, and it stormed the whole way home, but berbaloi. We did, and I put a note on the stack of them saying (in my best Malay) "This book will change your life." We were invited in again and they fed us a little. They asked if we were okay and safe on our bikes. It made me think of D&C 84:89-91 "And he who feeds you, or clothes you, or gives you money, shall in nowise lose his reward. And he that doeth not these things is not my disciple, by THIS, ye shall know my disciples."

The dad flipped through his Book of Mormon copy and said, "So this will change my life huh?"

"Brother Dion, I promise you this will change your life." Saya berjanji.

On Sunday, we walked with his wife and kids the whole 40 minutes to church no problem. He had work. They loved it, and they all already had friends from work and school.

I am never missing a single Sunday ever again.

So many of our investigators are doing well. Last night, the husband of one of our members straight up told us he would go to church, but he's malu because he doesn't know how to read. I said, "If you can marry your wife, you can muster up the courage to come to church!" His wife gurau-ed and said he and one of his friends REALLY want to come to church, but they're too scared too. We can work with that. Sometimes I forget that social things hold us back. It's scary walking into church when you don't feel like you know anyone, or anything. Anyway, I love this family. We try to talk to good people. Good moms and dads, people who are already disciples of Christ.

Also, we found another less active through divine help. Sometimes I just throw random teaching records into my bag anticipating going to that area that day (the Stampin area is HUGE, we are tackling it sikit demi sikit) because we don't know where everyone lives #whitewashing (I hope you liked my picture of me with my huge map). It was 9 at night, and we were over by the Hill of Death in the industrial part of Kuching and we maybe had time to see one more person. I racked my brains and flipped through my papers and called everyone. I had a former investigator, the son of a recent convert. I dialed him, no answer, but I dialed his mom and she said to swing by. It was hard finding our way in the dark and the haze (lots of fireworks going off lately because of Hari Raya) but by some miracle we got there and she was so grateful to see us. She said she hasn't been to church in a while and cried when her work schedule changed so she had to work on Sundays. Her sons, the ones who were learning from the missionaries dulu get back from Indonesia after Hari Raya.

As I've pushed to do one more thing each day than I think I can, and as I've recommitted to be exactly obedient, and be fully consecrated, I've seen so many miracles, personally and in my missionary work. Every day I'm grateful I came here. Satan has been trying to get at me personally, attacking my self esteem, discouraging me, etc. but I won't let him win. I think really good things are about to happen in Stampin branch. I LOVE going where the Lord wants me to go, it's so easy (and hard at the same time haha) when you're worthy of the spirit. Every day, as I prepare to go out, I say, "Point me in the right direction, and I'll run to the tape." You just do what you're told to and you see the miracles.

-Sister Wynn

Be Still

Nama berita,

Well from what I gathered from everyone's emails, the world is getting progressively more messed up. I saw the news about MH17 briefly in a member's home, something is going on with Ukraine, and I guess the Philippines have something going on with the island of Borneo. All the missionaries in Sabah are asked to be extra careful. As per usual, no one cares politically about Sarawak, so all is good over here.

Our zone leaders saw the victim of a hit-and-run on the way to church yesterday, someone was hit by a moto and died. Poor kids. Every day I'm grateful for the gospel in an increasingly chaotic and evil world. I'm grateful I'm serving in a place where everything is pretty senang. How many times in the scriptures does the Lord tell us to be still in the midst of it all?

We had a really good week. Miracles still haven't ceased. I'll tell you if they do but don't hold your breath. Ramadan is still going on, some of the elders are trying the ramadan fast because they're crazy. When I make small talk with the Melayus who are fasting, they tell me they're so hungry, and I tell them to tahan and jangan putus asa.

By some miracle we met/exceeded our goals this week as a companionship. Heavenly Father must really love the people we're teaching because His hand has been in everything we've been doing.

Sister Bourgeois went home on Thursday and it was one of the harder days of my mission because she's pretty dang amazing, but I smsed all of her mission friends her contact info this morning so we can continue to bug her with missionary humor, haha. Also because everyone here thinks she's incredible. She and Sister LeBaron had a hard transfer when they were serving in Stampin branch. In the words of Elder Scott, "Those girls went to hell and back." They had a golden family they were teaching who dropped them without much of an explanation. Plus the whole Sister-Bourgeois-getting-hit-by-a-car-and-wrecking-her-knees thing.

But the Lord works in mysterious ways, and while Stampin was closed to sisters last transfer, this was what was going on: This cute Iban family of 7 rewatched the Restoration DVD those nice orang putih missionaries left them, and they talked about how wonderful it was that Joseph Smith was a real prophet. "What's the name of the prophet today?" one of the twins asked.

Everyone looked at each other. They couldn't remember what the sisters said. "I'll call Sister LeBaron." Madeline, the mom, said. She picked up her handphone and dialed the sisters. "Sister Wynn? No I'm looking for Sister LeBaron."

A few minutes later, the phone rings again. "Sister LeBaron? What are you doing in Ipoh?
Anyway we can't remember the prophet's name. Thomas S. Monson? Okay, cool."

Queue Sister Coward and I walking into their house a few days later. We talked about prophets, and I asked, "So do you believe Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet?"

"Yes."

"So do you believe this is Jesus Christ's true church restored to the earth?"

"Yes."

"Uh...do you want to get baptized by someone holding the priesthood?"

"Yes, of course!"

Sister Coward and I looked at each other, jaws open. I live for moments like this. They picked their baptismal date and we geared up to help them get there. After the lesson, we ate some good Iban food and they played the Restoration DVD in the background. In the scene where Joseph sees God and Jesus Christ, Nayau, the dad says, "This is where he finds the truth."

One of the twins said, "This is the part where he sees angels."

The other twin punched him and said, "No, he sees God and Christ, duh!"

The whole conversation was funnier in Iban.

I love you guys. I love being a missionary.

-Sister Wynn

Rescue

I don't know about you,
but I'm feeling twenty-two,

Everything will be alright if
you keep me next to you
(and by that I mean the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost)

You don't know about me
but I bet you want to (because I'm a white girl in Malaysia on a bike and I'm pretty strange looking but you're compelled to talk to me)
Everything will be alright if we just keep biking, and preaching, and sweating and praying
like we're twenty-two oo oo

You know you miss this dork. I had the best birthday week. THIS was the best week of my mission. It was hard, and Sunday night I collapsed in exhaustion at the end of it, but I gave everything I had. I threw my whole soul and heart into helping the people, and we saw so many miracles because of it. It felt good to give an accounting of my week to the Lord and to feel like He was pleased with what I did. I tried my best to make every hour, every second, meaningful.

But first, let's start with my birthday. I got so many SMS's and calls from my friends throughout the mission. They're so good to me. I hope they'll have me as their friend forever, I totally get why people love their mission friends. The kids here understand exactly how hard the work is at this point in time. We had Zone Meeting, and Elder Hays and Elder Allen, two of the most articulate 19 year old boys I've ever met, gave an awesome training. (I'll send my picture of my notes from it if I have time). The week before, they asked everyone in Kuching Zone to prayerfully make a goal for baptisms in our area by the end of the quarter (September 30). Sister Callor and I thought and prayerfully decided on 3 baptisms, based on who we had already met. Because we're re-opening Stampin branch for sisters (it was closed for 6 weeks) we don't have a lot of people to work with. And the elders in our branch are kind of starting from scratch too. I love it.

At zone meeting, the elders gave the agenda, and then they talked about our baptismal goal for the whole zone. They flipped their whiteboard over and there was a big 27 on the back, made out of envelopes. They had us each take our envelope and open it. Ours had a 3 inside, and under it, they wrote "Don't be surprised when you get 5." I love that they believe in us. They asked us to get to know our Savior better, and do everything we could to become more like Him this transfer so we can help others. #rememberthename (Elder Hays really likes inspirational hashtags). They also asked us to pray for belief. "Help thou mine unbelief."

That night, Elder Scott and Elder Stowell took us to Sungai Laru for an FHE with a couple Iban families. We shared our testimonies and ate good, good food, and then President Mains called me so he and Sister Mains could sing "Happy Birthday" to me! I put them on speaker phone so they could sing with the Ibans, it was so cute. Tire saya kena flat on the way home, but it was all good because Sister Callor and I had a good heart-to-heart as we walked up all those hills.

On Friday, we biked to Batu Kawa so Sister Callor could menjelaskan about some of the people in that branch to the new Batu Kawa elders (who are taking over her previous area) and I never want to hear anyone say Batu Kawa is far because it's not that far from Kuching, haha. By some miracle and thanks to my handy dandy map I got us there. We had a couple hours free we weren't anticipating, and so we decided to go knocking. I've never knocked doors for the sake of knocking without a church member before, but none of our potentials were showing...potential so we decided to take matters into our own hands and find us some new investigators. We had no success and I was pretty bummed because I hate rejection.

I was already making excuses in my mind to Heavenly Father, saying, "I did everything I could." But then I remembered to pray for belief, and apologized for lacking faith. Then our luck turned around and we were able to meet with the neighbors of a couple church members in Tabuan Dayak, who are now investigators, and after that, we had just half an hour to knock some more doors. We went to a secret kampung Elder Scott told us about, and on the first door, this nice man and his roommates let us in. Super devout Anglican, loves his family back in kampung, works in Kuching because there are better jobs here, a little apprehensive at first but warmed up to us. In other words, a kingdom builder.

Saturday night, we were short of 3 investigator lessons to reach our goals, and at the start of the week, we didn't even have 3 investigators to work with. We frantically flipped though all of our old teaching records to find anyone we could meet and see if they were ready to progress. Sunday evening, we met with a former investigator of Elder Paker (remember him from the MTC?) and I got to call him (he's a zone leader in Bintulu right now) to figure out where this family lived. "Bike over the sketchy sewer and on the house to the right, there should be tons of broken glass." He's doing well.

We also met with one of the elders' investigators because they weren't able to, and Sunday night, we were short just one lesson. I thought of a potential investigator Elder Scott introduced to us a week ago, so we went to her house. We knocked on the door, and a sweet Bidayu woman and her kids answered the door. Turns out we knocked on the wrong door, haha, but we were able to exchange contact info with this girl and she invited us back. The lady we were looking for wasn't home though. "Well, we could go home and call it a week, or we could pray and rack our brains and think about any other investigators we might know."

I thought back to the beginning of the week, where Heavenly Father PROMISED us we could hit our goals for the week. And we promised Him we'd do it.

We prayed and we both thought of the same part member family. We swung by to see if they were home, and they let us in. The dad, who sat in the corner last time we listened, and had dropped the previous missionaries, warmed up to us and we had a good lesson. We laughed along with him and his daughters and he said we could come back.

As I biked home, exhausted, my heart swelled with gratitude. We had three or four days this week where we didn't have any lessons at all because we were being shown our area/showing Batu Kawa their area/meeting church members and we had set ambitious goals for an area that was previously closed. For a sec there, I didn't believe we could do it, but I will show you a God of Miracles. And I know we can bring three precious souls to the waters of baptism by the end of September. We promised, and He promised.

On that note, we got a text from the zone leaders this morning saying our zone not only met our goals this week, we exceeded them. #YoungGoHards2014

Oh and my favorite song right now is "Rescue" by Yuna, a cute litte Malay girl who is gonna be big in America one of these days. "She's got life in her veins, she don't need no rescuing she's okay."

Can't you see that she's walking on air?

-Sister Wynn

First I obey, then I understand

Nama berita kita waaai,

Only in this mission could you see the Kuala Lumpur skyline from your apartment one day and then be transplanted to the middle of the jungle in Sarawak the next. I live in the jungle now. It's serine.

The last week, every aspect of my life has been out of my control, and it's a terrible, humbling feeling, and a good learning experience. Take for example, my flight from KL to Kuching, haha. I prefer to be at the airport 2-3 hours before my flight, but sometimes the stars don't align and I missed a flight for the first time in my life. It was hectic trying to get a flight/trying to transfer the APs' miles to me in a country where customer service isn't really a thing, but speaking Malay as a white kid goes a pretty long way. (Yes for all intents and purposes I'm white here haha).

That was the lowest point of my mission, so I told myself it can only go up from here, right? I was tempted to buy a ticket home to America, but instead I just prayed to be Christlike and kind and patient to all the people who weren't willing to help me. At one point, I heard in my mind, "Ellen, you need to trust me." So I said I will.

When I got transfer news last week, I had this sense of urgency that I'm supposed to work harder in Stampin branch than I have in any of my other areas, and it's pretty daunting but I'll do it. My body aches and there are so many less active members, so many family problems, the biasa Sarawak stuff, but I'm finally starting to get that I'm STILL reserving too much for myself (a year into my mission, aduh) and I've made it a goal to be a consecrated missionary.

Anyway, it's nice to be back. So many of my friends from my old zone are still here. Elders Capener, Allen, and Reynolds are sitting behind me at the internet kedai, Sisters Fonbuena and Hansen are both here, my mission kids! Sister Callor is an angel.

I'm gonna puji Elder Scott for a sec, he's extending and is finishing his mission in Stampin. It's been so nice having him show us more of our area, I've learned SO much about effective, smart missionary work in the 3 days he's been passing off investigators to us.

I'm grateful my bahasa Melayu and Iban came back pretty quick, can't say the same for my biking muscles, haha. I'm gonna tell my grandkids it was uphill both ways in this area, because it's true! The hills burn so good.

Saying goodbye to KL was hard, but we had an incredible last week. We naik the Petronas Towers, and then a member family in Cheras, who's distantly related to the Burrows, had me and Sister Parcell, and the cheras Elders over for dinner.

Life is good. I'm happy. I'm outta time, see you next week (when I'm 22).

-Sister Wynn

P.S. "To believe that weaknesses and deficiencies in your character are unchangeable is to reject the central truth of the plan of salvation."