Rest in peace Elder Wyburg / I shook Neal L. Anderson's hand. Highs and Lows

District in front of the Provo, UT Temple

Apa khabar friends and family,

I know my subject line is a little somber. Some of you may have heard the news already, but an Elder in our mission, Elder Wyburg, got hit by a car while he was biking and passed away Saturday. He was serving in Kuching. The teacher for the other Malay district, Brother Blissett, taught him when he was here at the MTC a couple transfers ago. I've been keeping the family and his companion in my prayers. I was glad to hear the family seemed to be doing okay from their statement, but it's still really sad. However, I think everyone is grateful for the knowledge and comfort of what happens to us after we die, and that death is not the end.

On a happier note, I shook Neal L. Anderson's hand. I shook Elder Anderson's hand. On Tuesday. It was so cool. We were all speculating that an apostle would address us this week, but we all thought it would be Elder Holland, because he was here on Monday. He visited the district going to Argentina, which meets in the classroom below us. So while we were in class, Elder Holland was in the class below us and we were all freaking out. We loitered in the cafeteria in case he came in, but we never caught a glimpse of him. Oh well.

My kind roommates and companion saved me a seat in the choir because I was late getting to practice with my district. I got to sit in the second row. When Elder Anderson came in, we sang "Lead Kindly Light." It was so beautiful, especially when just the Elders sang the first verse. "Lead kindly light, amid th'encircling gloom, lead thou me on. The night is dark, and I am far from home, lead thou me on." I got goosebumps hearing them sing. I was so excited when I saw Elder Anderson walk into the Marriott Center. He has a youthful grin, where the other apostles have kind of a wise smile. Elder Anderson is pretty much always smiling. I love it. His talk was called, "First Love, Then Sacrifice." He asked us to think about what we loved, and what we would do for the things we love. He said, "We sacrifice for the things we love and love the things we sacrifice for." He related it to how much God loves us, and how He loves us so much He sacrificed His son for us. He also introduced us to an old missionary he had as a mission president in France, and that former missionary talked about how his dad wasn't a member of the church but eventually was baptized, and his family eventually got sealed in the temple. I cried a little at that part, because I keep getting these little reminders at the MTC that my family can be together forever. How comforting.

After we were done, President Nally said there was rain and lightening, so we were to stay and sing hymns until it passed, and Elder Anderson would shake some of our hands. We got excited, but I thought there was no way he would come up the stands to the choir, and he would probably just shake the hands of the missionaries sitting on the court. He eventually took notice of the Sisters in the choir and made his way towards us. I thought, "There's no way this is happening." But eventually, he made his way to my row, we stood, and he shook each of our hands. He gave me a warm smile, looked at my name tag, and said, "Thank you for serving," as he shook my hand. I couldn't stop smiling after that. It was so cool. The only other time I got really close to an apostle was when I almost ran into Elder Holland, literally, when I was at BYU-Hawaii. I was so embarrassed that I just looked up at him timidly and kind of ran away.

Sister Wenyi said something to him in French, since he's fluent in French and like 5 other languages. I have no idea what he said back to her. You would think after 6 years of French, I would remember something. Anyway, thank goodness for amazing roommates that save me prime seats. Thank goodness for lightening storms.

When my district left the Marriott Center, it was still pouring. The rain made me nostalgic. Believe it or not, I kind of miss Oregon, so it was nice to get a little taste of home. I discovered my whole district loved the rain, even though they had to get their suits dry-cleaned afterwards. We figured this was good practice for the tropical showers in Malaysia. And if our clothes didn't hold up here, they weren't worth taking on our missions. We were drenched by the time we got back to our classroom, but the walk home was so much fun we didn't care. Our district devotional review was uplifting, like always. It's where I learn the most about the other missionaries in my district, like their deepest concerns, thoughts, and hopes. That day has been my favorite here so far.

As good as Tuesday was, Wednesday was probably my worst, most discouraging day. Well, just the morning, the rest of the day was pretty good. I taught a lesson with Elder Strathearn and Elder Capener, and it went horrible! We weren't asking good questions and the lesson just kind of...failed. Lately, I've been feeling like my language abilities have plateaued. I feel like I can't learn any more words but I also feel like I don't know anything. I'm also terrible at asking good questions, so I've been reviewing and thinking up of good questions to ask investigators that help them apply doctrine to their lives. I also sound really, really American when I speak Malay, so I've been working with my teachers, talking super slowly to get the accent down. I've also been reading anything and everything in Malay out loud. Also, last week, I wasn't so diligent in my studying so I'm thinking that has to do with my inability to speak Malay...this week I've been working a lot harder to learn, which is good because the harder I work during the day, the more exhausted I am at night, which means I sleep better.

Yesterday, my district and I had to go to Main Campus to get our Malaria pills (yay!) so we stopped by the bookstore and were happy to see they were selling Malay Book of Mormons finally. Before then, we were given Indonesian Book of Mormons which isn't just the same. Our Bibles are still Indonesian, but oh well. Maybe they'll let us help translate it after our mission. Despite my setbacks, I'm still very much happy to be here. I have tons of pictures from this week. I apologize in advance that I can only send a couple pictures per email, but I do cherish those pictures. I love my district, I love my mission, I love missionary work. I can't think of a better thing for me to be doing right now. 

I love you all, thank you so much for your support through letters and emails, and just reading my weekly emails. My brother said a lot of you are keeping up with me, and that makes me feel really good. I promise to work hard and come home knowing I did everything I could.

Love,

Sister Ellen Wynn

Misi Singapura

Mubaligh dari Gereja Yesus Kristus Orang Suci Zaman Akhir

Rain in Provo. A little nostalgic for Sister Wynn since she misses Oregon...

Of former NFL players, tiny miracles, and missionary growth

Selamat pagi kawan dan keluarga,

First, thank you all so much for the emails and letters and love. I try to reply as much as I can but there's never enough time. I have a suggestion, you can use DearElder.com to email me, it's free (you have to make a screenname I think) and then they print out the email and give it to me the night of. I think it would be nice to get your notes throughout the week instead of just on Thursday all at once...hint hint. I really do appreciate all of the emails. They are so encouraging and you seem to say exactly the things I need to hear. As of Tuesday, I'm officially halfway done with my MTC stay! Three more weeks to go. I feel like there's still so much for me to learn. I am getting more comfortable speaking conversational Malay and hardly need notes as I teach the missionary lessons save for a couple vocabulary words.

I saw Sister Amy Chirinos all day yesterday. She got transferred from Main Campus to West Campus. I gave her a huge hug and was so glad to see her. Then, this morning, I saw Sister Alex Morgan, and gave her a huge hug, tried not to cry, and asked how she was doing since yesterday was her first day here. I can't begin to tell you how nice it was to see familiar faces from Salem. It's nice to have a taste of home, even though I should stop being a sissy because it's only been three weeks. I also saw Elder Austin Johnson at Tuesday's devotional a couple weeks ago, and a girl I lived with in the dorms at BYU who works at the MTC West cafeteria. And another girl from the dorms who's a missionary herself now. Small world, eh? Also, one day during class, a new MTC teacher walked into my classroom to train with the other Malay district, and I said, "Alex?!" He turned around and I awkwardly asked him how his mission was and how cool it was that he's an MTC teacher now. We went on a couple dates when we were freshman at BYU, and I had a huge crush on him, so the whole time we were talking, I guess my face was super red. So my district really likes making fun of me now for that. Perfect. At choir practice, I turned around and saw a Sister with the nametag "Sister Griffin" with katakana under it and exclaimed, "You're Sunny's sister!" We talked about how her sister served with my brother in Nagoya and how I went to school with Sunny. I'll send a picture that I took with her. It was so cool to meet her.

So the tiny miracle - last Thursday night, I felt myself starting to catch a cold, then all weekend I was exhausted and miserable throughout my classes because I had no energy. I was also coughing a lot and had a runny nose. It was terrible. On Sunday, I got a blessing, and immediately felt better. If you want more detail on that experience for me, ask my dad to forward you that email because it's personal to me and I wasn't sure if it would be good to put it here haha. But seriously if you're curious, ask, regardless of how well you think you know me.

Last Sunday, our branch presidency announced that we had 330 missionaries on West Campus now, and by October, the number should exceed to over 1,000 and then exceed the number at Main Campus. How crazy is it that we have so many missionaries willing to serve? Anyway, I'm glad I'll be gone for most of it, I liked having my small MTC campus. They're starting to fence us in and build gates, I don't like it at all haha. Here's an article I read about the growth: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-missionary-life Mikel, can you post it on my facebook, along with the video about the Elders? I think it really hits the nail on the head about why we're here serving and how our purpose is to bring others closer to Christ. I want all of my friends to see it.

For Sunday's devotional address, Vai Sikahema spoke to us about his mission. He played for BYU in college, and then was the first Tongan-born player drafted into the NFL. He played for the Eagles, the Cardinals, and the Green Bay Packers! Living with the Gilberts made me like the Packers so I was really excited when Vai said that. He continued his career as a sportscaster in Philadelphia and covers the winter Olympics. He said a couple things that made a profound impact on me. He said something like, "I've worn many iconic uniforms. I wore the iconic Green Bay uniform. I've worn a Cardinals helmet. I wore a BYU helmet. I wore an Eagles helmet. But none have been as important in my life as the white shirt, tie, and black name tag. The uniform of a missionary." He continued to say, "My career has taken me to many exotic locations. But they pale in comparison--pale-- to my mission in beautiful South Dakota." 

He continued to say we become advocates and ambassadors to the people we serve. We should love the people so much that we identify as one of them. If we serve in South Dakota, we should consider ourselves South Dakotan, Japan, Japanese, Texas, Texan. And so on. I know it sounds funny, but I hope I can consider myself at least in part Malaysian. I really think my mission will be that big a part of me.

Yet again, I'm out of time. I really wanted to write a little about each Elder in my district so you can get a sense of how wonderful, how funny, and how fun my district is. Maybe next week. Ever since I got my mission call, in every prayer, I say to God, "Look, I can't do this by myself. I can't learn Malay on my own, it's really hard. I can't learn the doctrine on my own, there's no way I'm articulate enough to teach the lessons by myself, or have enough energy to get through the day with all that I have to do. PLEASE help me." And He does. I'm so glad He loves us enough to help us do extraordinary, impossible things. Last week I heard we can't do this work (especially as young as we are), but it's not our work, it's God's work, and we're just here to help. This gospel is true. Injil ini benar. The church is true. Gereja ini benar. I love that the gospel gives all of us a way to access the atonement and we can be forgiven of our sins and feel peace and joy. I was pretty stupid not to utilize the atonement for some of my life. Never again. I can't believe how happy and how exhausted this work makes me. I love the missionary version of myself.

Hati-hati,

Sister Ellen Wynn

With Sister Griffin, whose older sister served in the Japan Nagoya Mission with Sister Wynn's brother!

Richard G. Scott Loves the Missionaries

Sister Wynn's "standard issue" name badge

Apa khabar friends and family,

I love P-Days because I get to think of home and what all of you are up to. I don't really have time to think about that kind of stuff except today, which is the way it should be. The Provo temple reopened again this week, so after email time, my zone is going up there. I'm very excited.

Also, as a side note, my letters from Oregon take 4 or 5 days to get here, which I think is weird, but I've accepted it, haha. Just letting you know. I guess if any of you have pressing matters, or just want me to get your notes quickly, you can use DearElder.com. I don't know how reliable it is though because Elder Jackson in my district has gotten those delivered to him, except those letters were supposed to go to a different Elder Jackson.

On Tuesday, during choir practice at the Marriott Center, there were rumors among us missionaries that we would have a general authority speaking to us. We thought this because the pulpit was set up differently, and there were some chairs set up on the basketball court. Lo and behold, as the devotional began, Elder Richard G. Scott walks in as we're singing the prelude music! So we stood up as we were singing. I really miss that about BYU/BYUH devotionals, being able to have general authorities talk to us. I will admit I cried pretty much the whole time he spoke. 

He first opened by saying, "Every good thing that happened to me in life happened because of my mission." He continued about how much we missionaries are thought about, and prayed for, and loved. He said we will NEVER regret serving a mission. He also spoke specifically to those of us learning a new language, that it's an extra burden, but the Lord will help us to do things we've never done before. He knows our capabilities. He will never abandon us. I really needed to hear that. He continued on with his talk about prayer. It's a very simple principle, but I learned so much. What stood out to me was how answers to our prayers usually come in small packets of confirmation along the way, not all at once. I lost it and cried a lot when he said simply, "God ALWAYS hears and answers your prayers." I was thinking a couple days prior about how there are a couple things I pray for every morning and night for years that haven't happened yet, so Elder Scott's remark was very comforting. He also shared that when he was on his mission, he hated praying next to his companion after companionship prayer, so he would wait until his comp was asleep and go somewhere nearby (still within sight of his companion, of course) and talk to his Father in Heaven out loud. I love that. I love knowing that we can talk to God like a friend, and that we can say everything that is in our minds and hearts. A few weeks before my mission, I started praying out loud while I was driving to places because that's when I would be alone. About everything. About the boys I was dating, about what my mission would be like, about school. Everything.

Anyway, Elder Scott also said God knows what we have the capacity to become. And as he was walking out, he yelled, "Be good!" It made us laugh so hard. He is a cute little old man. Then one Elder, who was crying like a baby, yelled back, "We love you!" and then we all said it. It was funny but also very sweet. Elder Scott said he wishes he could spend an hour talking with each of us individually. Before he spoke, the choir (I sing alto, believe it or not I got compliments on my singing, which is weird because I've always been a lousy singer), sang Jesus Once of Humble Birth. My favorite line to sing was "Once all things He meekly bore, But He now will bear no more." One thing I've been doing in my personal study is trying to understand our Savior. First, in Malay, "Savior" is "Juruselamat." I like that it sounds like Jerusalem, and also that the word "Selamat" is in the word. The root means safe. I just finished reading The Book of Mormon so now I'm studying Jesus' life in the four gospels. I just finished the sermon on the mount this morning. I've heard if you took all the goodness and charity and love of all the good people that have ever lived and will live, and combined them, it wouldn't even come close to how much love and charity Jesus Christ has for us. I love how our sole purpose as missionaries is to bring people closer to Jesus Christ. I'm fortunate that I've had people teach me about Him for most of my life. I hope the people I teach realize how much better their lives can be through Christ and His atonement. One thing I realized only recently is that the atonement not only takes away our guilt, but takes away pain, and sadness. I've used the atonement for the times in my life where I felt truly alone, but I never was.

Last Monday, the Greek-speaking sisters, Sister Tripi and Sister Silvenoinnen, moved out of our apartment to go to Greece. They are from Italy and Finland respectively. I miss them so much. I grew really close to them. On Sunday, they sang "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" in Greek and I almost cried. I know it seems like I cry a lot here but they are happy tears. I love Sister Wenyi. We have so much fun together. Lately, I've been swinging from the top bunk onto the bottom bunk in our room and she laughs at me. I've also smacked my head on our ceiling a couple times because there's only like 2 feet of clearance. Did I mention I love when it's her turn to pray for companionship prayer? She prays in French and it's so beautiful. Last night, she prayed in Malagasy though and it sounds awesome. I hardly see her unless we are at the apartment though since we're always with our districts. I'm still loving my district. These Elders are stellar young men and they are amazing missionaries. They are here for the right reasons and they are all such good examples to me. On a less serious note, there's not a single meal time where one of us doesn't almost choke on our food, because they are so funny. I've never laughed so much in my life. We are also getting to be better friends with the other Malay speaking district. In total, there are 17 of us going to Singapore and Malaysia. I'm the only Sister, haha. We found 4 other Elders going to our mission, but they are on the main MTC campus and are Chinese-speaking. Next week, I'll add a little about each Elder in my district. I love them all and we've decided to stay friends for a long time. For now though, their names are Elder Jackson, Elder Parker, Elder Vincent, Elder O'Bryant, Elder Ferguson, Elder Liddle, Elder Strathearn, and Elder Capener. 

Yesterday, after teaching a Malay speaking "investigator" (it's just one of our teachers who acts like an investigator they had while they were on their missions), I felt a little frustrated because I forgot to say a lot of things, like what our purpose as missionaries are and tying the whole lesson together. I thought that it would be so much easier to teach if I could just do it in English, but in Malay, if I don't know how to say something, it's not like I can fake it if I never knew the right words in the first place. Brother Simon, the one from Hawaii, said something along the lines of, "It's okay. Keep practicing. Even if you suck." I think that'll go on my quote wall. I got over my frustration and learned the words I needed to. Also, here are some notable language mistakes I've made: In prayer, I've said "Heavenly Pig" instead of "Heavenly Father" (Bapa is father and babi is pig), and "Tinggom, because of the atonement, we are free and can sin," instead of "Because of the atonement, we are freed FROM our sins." My teachers like to make fun of me for that one, haha.

One blessing of being a solo sister is that during language practicing activities, instead of practicing with a companion, I usually practice with one of my teachers, so I get to practice twice as much (in companionships one elder practices being the missionary while the other is the investigator, then they switch), and if I make language/teaching mistakes, they can correct me the right way. For example, yesterday, I got to teach Brother Simon why he should pray, and the blessings that come from prayer in Malay 8 times, being corrected the entire time, while the elders in my class only got to do that 4 times each. Sometimes they stick me with an elder to practice, and usually Elder Ferguson gets stuck with a teacher, which he says is super intimidating haha. Our other teacher is Brother Horman. I think they both love their jobs, and they miss every district that comes through the MTC. They've both been home from Malaysia for 2 years now. Brother Simon got to play with tigers while he was in Kuala Lumpur, so now our whole district wants to do that.

Sorry my email is so long this week. I hope it's pretty interesting. I'm still as happy as can be, I wear my black name tag proudly. I love that I get to wear Jesus Christ's name over my heart for a year and a half. So on prayer, saya TAHU kolau kamu berdoa, Tuhan membantu kamu. Dia sayang kamu dan mahu untuk membantu kamu ada kegembiraan.

Dengan sayang,

Sister Ellen Wynn

Singapore Mission

P.S. Main campus is like this foreign land to us. It feels strange to be there and I always run into the doors there because I forget that I need to use my keycard to unlock them. West Campus is Best Campus. West side!

MTC District at the Map

I didn't survive my first week, I thrived!

Keluarga dan kawan,

I loved my first week here! So as you know, I´m the only Sister in my district with 8 Elders. They have come to be my best friends. I love it! I can say for certain that each of them are here for the right reasons. I can also see how companionships (or lack thereof) are inspired by God because they are so perfect here. My branch presidency constantly tells the Elders to be nice to Sister Wynn, but they make me feel like one of their own. Each of them have served me individually multiple times, I think especially because I´m the only Sister, and it´s great. I try to do the same for them. My favorite experience so far with them was when we had an hour after service (we just cleaned our classroom buildings) where we had nothing to do, so we sat on the grass in the apartment complex and told our personal conversion stories.

I´ve also never laughed so hard or so much in my life. These Elders are so funny and so...normal! I´m not sure if it´s just MTC culture where we just think everything is funny from lack of media or if we really are this funny. I like to think it´s the latter. A couple days ago, Elder Jackson and his roommates gave me a blue skittle...just one, from a plastic bag. I thought it was sketchy but I ate it anyway. They also gave Elder Strathearn one. His first name is Adam, which is relevant to the story. They asked me what flavor I thought it was, and I said, ¨I don´t know, pomegranate? Blueberry?¨ They said that it was called Forbidden Fruit. It´s probably not that funny to you, but for some reason we thought it was hilarious. These Elders also do such a great job of dropping me off to my Sister Companions when I need to, usually at my apartment. I love them, but don´t tell them I said that because they´ll probably make fun of me.

There is also another Malay speaking district, so total there are 17 of us going to Singapore-Malaysia. I just got a new companion last night, Sister Wenyi, pronounced Wynn-ie. We thought that was so funny. She´s from France but ethnically Congan, and speaks French, English, Spanish, and Portugeuse. She is going to Madagascar, Malagasy speaking. This last week my companions were Sister Sperry and Sister Olsen, both from Utah and are going to Indonesia, Indonesian speaking. It´s crazy how similar Indonesia and Malay are, so I can understand a lot of what they are saying. I actually elect to sit with my district for meal times and Sunday meetings though, mostly so I can practice Malay and laugh lots.

MTC West is nice. Supposedly we are a lot more trusted to get to our classes and meetings over here, which is nice. I heard it´s a little less structured here than on the main campus, but we are holding up. We just got a new cafeteria and the food is delicious, though they are constantly building and adding new things here. I also feel like we´re outside more often, which is nice. Today, as a district, we´re taking the shuttle to the main campus to show the travel agency our passports, then run a few errands at the bookstore and stuff. Then we will check out Brigham´s Landing, the shopping complex the west campus missionaries can go to. Missionaries get 50% off Jamba Juice there. I´m all for that.

I also loved Tuesday´s devotional. It was about scripture study by Brother Jensen, a former member of the Quorum of the Seventy. I sang in the MTC choir, it was fun and the words to ¨Come Follow Me¨make so much more sense. Same with Army of Helaman. We walked to the Marriott Center as a district and got lots of honks and waves. The people in Provo really love missionaries.

Oh and I think we leave September 10th for Singapore, so here´s my updated address

Sister Ellen Loila Wynn

SEP10 SINGAPR

2023 N 900 E Unit 840

Provo, UT 84602

Well my computer is glitching so I will send pictures in a separate email. I love you all but I´m too busy and tired to miss you, which is a blessing. I did tear up when I saw how full my inbox was. It is nice to be reminded that I am loved and cared for, but I also need to remember that these next 18 months are not about me, they are about the people I teach. I have a greater appreciation for the Gospel of Jesus Christ now that I´m teaching. So many people have been searching for spiritual truths all their lives, and their lives have the potential to be 180 degrees different, for the better. I love that we´re learning to tailor our lessons to the needs of the investigators. Melalui kuasa Roh Kudus, kamu dapat menerima kebenaran tentang semua hal.

Jumpa lagi,

Sister Wynn

"Companions" while being a "Solo Sister"

Sister Wynn's MTC District

First three days have been a blast

Apa khabar kualarga,

Well this is kind of weird because I just learned that I could email you a quick email tonight to tell you I'm at the MTC safe and sound, but I already wrote you a letter with everything I wanted to share...so as you know, I'm on the MTC West campus at Wyview Park. That's where our residences are but our classrooms are in the apartment complex next to Wyview, called Raintree. The new cafeteria just opened on Thursday, and according to the missionaries who have been here for six weeks, it's way better than the Raintree cafeteria. I'm also a Solo Sister, which means I have two companions, but they are Indonesian speaking. I'm the ONLY sister in my district. There are 8 elders and me who are Malay speaking in my district, and 8 other elders who are also Malay speaking in another district. We're all going to Singapore. Because I don't have a true companion, I am allowed to pair up with a companionship of elders in my district during class and during meals, as well as during devotionals, sacrament meeting, and a couple other things. I typically eat with my district because they're my homeboys. It's kind of nice because if I get sick of my sister companions (I don't because they're awesome), I can just switch to elders. And if I get sick of THAT companionship, I can switch to another companionship haha. Sometimes I think Heavenly Father thinks I'm a boy.

Anyway, I love the MTC so far. The missionaries here are so bright and eager to learn. And they're so young! I'm the oldest missionary in my zone. The church is in good hands. I love how all of our gospel-centered lessons focus on our investigators and their needs, and how their specific circumstances affect how we teach them. Everything we teach needs to center on Jesus Christ. I've learned so much more Malay than any other language, and it's only been three days. It sounds more Arabic than Asian. I know how to bear my testimony and pray, and I taught my first lesson in Malay already! Anyway, I need to go since I was only given about ten minutes, but I will write a more elaborate email on Thursday, which is my P-day. I love you so much! I said this in my letter already, but I'm too exhausted to miss you and my friends. I do miss you, but I know this is exactly where I need to be right now. Saya tahu bawaha gereja ini benar!

Love,

Sister Wynn