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