Happy Easter! I hope you all had a good one. I'm working Sister Fonbuena into the ground but she seems pretty happy about it. We visited all of our less active families and sang "Dia Bangkit" ("He is Risen") to them which really invited the spirit because Sister Fonbuena is literally perfect and has the voice of an angel. Oh and she's also AMAZING at Ultimate Frisbee. This is why we are best friends. We took President Mains' suggestion and taught about Easter and how incredible it is that Jesus Christ overcame death (physical and spiritual) for us, and how repentance is a gift and not to be afraid of it. (A lot of our less-actives are malu about coming back to church because they're worried people will think they're bad people for going less active, but it's okay! The purpose of church is to feel close to God. So many of them want to come back so bad though). I know I'm FAR from being perfect, thank goodness for repentance because it means I can change to become a better person.
Sister Fonbuena's Malay/teaching skills are amazing. She doesn't need me. Well I like to think she does a little bit, haha. It's cool because usually, in lessons, you think of the spirit always telling you what to say. This week, I've had a lot of experiences where in a lesson, I would want to say something, because I'm really chatty and long winded, but I heard a voice in my mind that said, "Wait." So I did, and Sister Fonbuena would testify of whatever gospel principle we were teaching about and it was exactly what our families needed to hear. At one point, in an Easter lesson with Johari's family, the power went out and so we had a candle-lit lesson in a humble little kampung house by the river (my favorite). She ran out of words for teaching, paused, and bore a simple testimony of how much Christ loved that family. After the lesson, she said, "Wow I made a lot of grammar mistakes in that lesson..." and I asked her if she saw the tears in Johari's eyes as he realized what she was saying was true.
The spirit makes up for our inadequacies.
It rained and rained and rained this week (as seen in my pictures). After district meeting, we were at the KDC, and Elders Strathearn and Scott took off for a lesson in the pouring rain. As they left, we saw a bright flash of light and the crack of thunder at the same time. We ran outside and yelled, "Elders, come back!" A few minutes later, they did, completely soaked. We told them we're glad they didn't die, and Elder Scott said as they were leaving, "everything went white, and I saw lightning strike a tree 20 feet in front of me and the top part of it exploded."
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| Standin' out in the rain |
Oh a couple weeks ago, while I was in a roundabout, I almost got tagged by a car that was trying to enter it because it was dark and they didn't see me. I dodged it and thought, "Well that was terrifying." Then it happened two more times in the same roundabout. I dodged those cars too, yelled back at Sister Bourgeois, "Did you see that?" and as I checked my lights I realized my front light had run out of batteries. So yeah, those prayers you all say for the missionaries? They work. I'm also a fan of my guardian angels.
Also, another cool experience I had was this last week, after taking Sister Fonbuena all over Kuching's 8-lane highways (merging in and out of traffic). As I chugged along on my little bike, I prayed and prayed and prayed with all my might that she would be safe, feel safe, and not be tired. I would do anything for that girl. She said, "Wow I'm not as scared as I feel like I should be." It was amazing to me to see how my prayers are answered.
And know that there are days when we feel your prayers.
This week was a little heart wrenching because I love the people here so much. In visiting one of our church members, I found out from the mom that her late husband hit her daughter when she was about 3 years old, making her bleed from the nose. The mom talked about how hard it was being a single mom, and she's homesick but moved from Indon to Malaysia so her daughter (now 16 and wants to go on a mission) can go to school here. But she said tidapa, because Christ strengthens her. Memong hidupan ini susah. One of our investigators had a baby last week, but it was a stillborn. That hurt to hear about and we haven't been able to see her since then.
We had a little miracle (which I believe is a direct result of me redoubling my efforts to be exactly obedient) where one of our former investigators, Mundil, SMS-ed us and said, "Sisters, dapat bantu saya? Can you help me?"
I had never met him, he kind of disappeared when Sister Bourgeois and I were here, but it turns out he went back to Indonesia for a while because his father and brother died, and when we met with him, he was expressing a lot of sorrow. He also wanted to stop smoking so bad. We told him about eternal families, and said we believed in him, and he said he still wanted to be baptized so we helped him start preparing for that.
Even though this work is hard because you see the saddest parts of peoples lives, it's worth it to love them. The locals and missionaries both. Some of their stories bring me to tears. I love them all. And it's okay because we have Christ. Like I said before, EVERYTHING unfair about life can be made right through Christ. He lives to wipe away our tears. He lives and we shall conquer death.
I love being a missionary because all I do is love people and tell them how much God loves them, how He loves us so much He gave us a Savior.
-Sister Wynn
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| Soaked... |
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