http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w49_1a9X0Q
I'm happy. I never sleep well because this city is noisy but I'm okay with that. Last P-Day we all just played basketball and I was still feeling kind of melancholy, but I got to finally catch up with Sister Parcell. She was internally freaking out about being STL but she let me know I'm doing a good job and that we'll feel like ourselves again soon, so she's doing great. She said she ran into Elder Beckstrand because he was on splits with the APs and for some reason she felt like everything would be okay.
The next day I decided to start running again because everything hurt from inactivity, and I got to see Elder Hays and Elder Beckstrand playing basketball at the stake center, and Sister Parcell was right, for some reason, saying hi to them and having them be happy to see me and tell me Arnold got the priesthood last weekend made everything okay. I also got to see Elder Parker and Elder Lambert and Elder Allen in passing as they came through Singapore for MLC and I asked myself why I was so blessed to have such good friends. Elder Parker did the usual "Wow you're so dead!" as we realized I have less than four months to pulai back to America.
Also, Elder Ferguson and Elder Capener came in from JB for the week because Elder Ferguson maaay have a concussion (bike accidents tidak boleh!) and they're sitting next to me right now as we berbual kosong and Elder Ferguson keeps telling me to simmer down. They love me. I'm grateful to keep seeing everyone in passing. They came to our ward yesterday and ran into Elder Allen's dad, who's in Singapore for business. I was sad I didn't get to officially meet him because I wanted to tell him his son's an incredible missionary/zone leader and he and Elder Hays doubled our baptisms in Kuching Zone for the quarter simply by telling us they loved us and to strengthen our relationship with Christ. Hilarious story for the week: Elder Allen told his dad to tell all of the Malay businessmen, "Saya seorang pondan," and they all laughed at him. Best prank ever. Mancaaal sikit.
The elders I'm serving with, Elder McCarthy (from the NZ) and Elder Andrus (from Pocatello Idaho), are incredible. They love everyone so much. Elder McCarthy is our district leader and always feels so awkward because he doesn't know how to talk to girls, but I think I'm figuring him out. He loves the sisters in his district because he thinks the WORLD of his little sister back home, macam itu. Sister Opatha was sick last weekend and they went out of their way to drop off some food for us.
We set up a wedding for an investigator couple from China. It was so nice to see the church members come together and decorate, make food/the cake, photograph, and be willing to serve. The husband bore a sweet testimony yesterday in church about how kind its members are and said something along the lines of "When we get baptized." Service is true you guys. I love the members here so much. I've been trying to figure out how to show it.
We also had a dinner appointment with this really sweet young couple from Texas, and they invited their friends over to meet us. During dinner, Sister Opatha and I were both prompted to throw out our original lesson plan and show "The Hope of God's Light" instead. I told them they mattered and they are loved and everything good in their lives came from God. It really resonated with them and we left a good impression. Then during church yesterday, this couple shared their experience introducing their friends to the missionaries, so hopefully that'll inspire other members to have their friends meet us. In this ward, most of our work NEEDS to come from members. It isn't as effective for me to contact a hugely successful expat living in Singapore on my own. But lately I've been going HAM on contacting on the buses and MRT anyway because I need to do things to show the Lord He can trust me. I pass off most of the people who are interested in learning to other missionaries, but that's okay. They're all important.
I went on splits with Sister Fa, and like usual, it was just a whole day of feeling validation and love from her. I was pretty discouraged in the morning. On the MRT, people actually walked away from me as I started a friendly conversation, and I didn't remember it being this hard the last time I served here. I wanted to give up and actually cry, right there on the train, but then I heard the words "You stand shoulder to shoulder with Christ." And in my stubbornness, I talked to even more people until I was able to find those people who were interested in learning the gospel. They were really kind and Christlike to me. Tender little mercies.
In one of our lessons, we decided to go over the story of Enos. I asked Sister Fa's investigator what she wants more than anything else, and she said "Happiness." Then she thought about it for a while and cried for a little bit. I asked her to plead with Heavenly Father to show her the answers, just like Enos did. Lately I've been pleading with Heavenly Father to give me courage to speak to people, even when they're rude, and pleading to show me how to earn the trust of the members here because we aren't going to get very far without them. I found some answers this morning in the scriptures and PMG, and I'm excited to talk to the other missionaries about it so we can come up with a game plan for this month. Just you wait, missionary work is going to be on fire in 1st ward.
I love that moment in "The Hope of God's Light" where Todd Sylvester gets it. Like a light bulb switching on. I love his face when he realizes God is there and He never left him alone. I remember that moment when I finally understood that I was a child of God when I was 14, pleading for the answers, and then later when I understood that I have a Savior when I was 19 and all the guilt, fears, and regret was swept away. It's true, God doesn't come down in a lightning bolt, but it felt like it.
-Sister Wynn
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