Love Never Needs a Visa

Nama berita kitak waiii,

This week was great. We brought Alice and her way nakal kid to a lesson at Winnies, and their kids played and spilled Horlick's all over my Gospel Art book and kept grabbing our mini earth pictures. I thought for a sec how fun lessons are and how after a while, kids running around smacking each other (and sometimes me) and how we as missionaries just get used to embracing the chaos of it all.

We just went around this week finding people as per usual, and we found a couple new families, nine new investigators total. A couple weeks ago, I took a wrong turn and we found ourselves at Miri Vocational College and the flats across from it. We call them the Fruit Flats because they're all named after fruits. We found a nice family in the Cempadak (jackfruit) flat and a couple others in the Rambutan and Rambai flats. So cute. And it turns out they all work for the government.

We roped the elders into helping us paint an investigator family's house in Tudan, but I think they got more paint on me than on the walls. But service works.

Miri as a whole had seven baptisms on Saturday. It was the elders' turn to bail out the font. I will weirdly miss how none of the baptismal fonts work quite right here haha. The pump to drain the water has been broken for a few months now. I was especially happy for Elders Hill and Sheranian, they baptized the sweetest, most pandai kacau couple ever. And even after they received the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday, they still kacaued me relentlessly in Gospel Principles class.

Saturday night, I barfed again, because, Malaysia, and I was awake most of the night anyway. Sunday morning, I woke up hurting and pretty mad, and one of our pseudo investigators called and asked if we could walk with him to church. We haven't counted him as an investigator yet because he doesn't speak that much Malay, but he's the dad of one of our less-actives. So we biked over to his house, and I was pretty grumpy the whole way there. But I had the thought, "Just enjoy the rest of your time here." Of course, he wasn't ready and was rocking a dirty shirt and cut off jeans. I kind of snapped, "You need a white shirt." He went back into his house and came out with a white polo and said, "Is this okay?"

I softened and said it was, and then he came back out with slacks too. He looked adorable, this tiny little old man who just wanted to go to church with us. I dreaded walking the whole way to church because I was in so much pain, but we were able to ask another family down the street to take him to church. Biking to church, I prayed for forgiveness as my heart swelled with joy. A man at church is a man at church. And when was my mission ever about me?

It was hard starting to say my good-byes yesterday. I'm more of a "See you soon" kind of person anyway. I got so many nice pictures with me and the members from all three branches here for kenangan. I love them. Said good-bye to Rita and her kids and neighbors as the boys ran out the door to play soccer. Put a couple investigators on date for my lesson as I promised them that following Christ will help them understand everything good in life comes from God. And life will get even better. And they said yes.

Said good-bye to Chrosper and Laju and the saudara, and Kanan and Septia. A couple times I teared up as I said "Kami jalan dulu."

This morning the missionaries ate at Madli's for breakfast, knowing our tight zone was going to be destroyed this transfer. These are good kids and good missionaries.

The Miri Zone.

It doesn't feel like I'm going home and it probably won't hit me until I see my family.

Well, not much else to report on. We're planning on saying good-bye to some more people today. Life is so good. I have loved every day of my mission and I'm still baffled by how much Heavenly Father loved me enough to send me here even though I'm so imperfect and don't feel like I deserve the experiences and blessings and joy I've had in my life.

But I'll take it. I love the people of Malaysia.

See you soon.

xo Sister Wynn

Sister Wynn's E-mail from January 19

Nama berita guys,

I hope you're excited to see me in a week with my crazy tan lines, rice belly, massive biking muscles (that means my butt), greasy hair, and lack of social skills. It hasn't really hit me that I go home so soon and it probably won't hit me until I see my family. The members in both branches have been asking me to make sure I swing by their homes before I go home. Have I mentioned how much the members here are saints? I love them so much and if it weren't for my family and the temple I'd want to stay here forever.

There was a night where we borrowed the elders' bikes because the STLs were borrowing ours, and it was pouring rain and pitch black and I have never been more terrified in my life. Especially in the roundabout. With brakes and a light that don't work. But in those moments where I thought "Hmm maybe people can't see me" I prayed more fervently that I wouldn't die. This week I realized one of the biggest, most underrated miracles in our mission is we get into accidents less than we should. Because the drivers here are nuts.

Tudan is a magical, magical place. I went on splits with Sister Coward and we decided to explore Tudan, which I previously heard was a maze of rumah kayu (true) and that sister missionaries should never go there at night. But in the afternoon, we talked to a lot of nice families and taught them a little bit while asking them around for some of our less actives. I probably never would have ventured out there except our relief society president was telling us she was thinking about some of her sisters out there who she hadn't seen in a long time. So I volunteered us to rescue them. Anything for the church members here. Also, this splits day locked in Sister Coward's and my friendship, and she promised to take me to the shire after our missions. NZ 2016  baby!

We broke over 100 people at church. Turns out visiting less actives and asking them to come back to church because we need them and they're great works. Last night, Sister Pitts and I had a fluke day where we biked all the way up to Lutong but all of our appointments fell through. We tried to visit a member of the branch presidency, but he was at kampung. The Elders' investigators, a way cute young couple who are getting baptized this week, saw us in the pouring rain and invited us in. We had a good time laughing it up with them.

I should also mention after we walked into Gospel Principles during church, all of the elders' investigators, AND my investigators, started teasing me relentlessly. The elders turned them against me! But it was all in good fun and if you can't take the heat, stop hanging out with Ibans. Because they're relentless pengacaus.

Albert and Attilla made us a nice meal of noodles, and they dared me to eat a whole chili pepper. Elder Sheranian did it first, and said he was fine, so obviously I had to do it, and my tongue actually felt like it was bleeding. I started crying and Sister Pitts got the whole thing on video.

Eating whole chili peppers!

There are days where I'm tired. Really tired. And my stomach kind of always has this dull ache because Malaysia is slowly killing me. But I love it here so much and I know I'm going to miss my mission so much. It's like you're biking along a highway as fast as you can and then you crash into a brick wall. I imagine that's how it's going to end. It just stops.

One thing I've been thinking about lately is how the gospel is about courage. Courage to talk to people right away about how much they need Christ in their life, courage to stand up for what's right, and not what's popular, and courage to live the gospel even when it's hard.

I'll be going home to a place where being religious is not popular. Being spiritual is, but not religious. And being a member of this church is not cool, or really tolerated by some people. But God's commandments are God's commandments, even if laws or personal opinions say otherwise. And I'm grateful my mission has taught me to be fearless because I've defended my beliefs, and more importantly, Jesus Christ, time and time again here.

I'm also grateful for the eternal perspective. The STLs asked me to share a couple thoughts during a devotional they gave to the sisters (because they think I'm a wise and experienced missionary haha) and I said something along the lines of

The difference between everything and nothing is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So I will continue to work myself into the ground for the people here, for the people I love back home who need this, and for everything the church stands for.

Wow that was way cheesy but it's true, I'm a missionary forever and ever and ever. I want to give my whole soul to God because that's all I have to give.

See you really soon.

xo Sister Wynn

Feeling like a dog on some days!

Run to the tape

Nama berita kita wai,

I can finally say I got bitten by a dog on my mission. It took a chomp out of my thigh and it hurt SO bad. After I stopped chasing it around the kampung yelling at it, I surveyed the damage, thinking I had to be bleeding. My skirt had a huge tear, but my leg was completely fine except for a little bruise. I'm gonna miss those little missionary miracles.

Well, our elders are secret geniuses (and as we discovered last Monday, not bad at karaoke or rapping in Malay or party rocking). Elder Sheranian gave us a training on how to door contact, and the zone leaders pitched in and gave us tips. I rolled my eyes but we decided to try it out this week. Two families and ten return appointments later...

Pitts and I did the math and we realized more than half the people we contact let us come back. I think it has to do with the pleas we send to Heaven to help us before we start knocking doors. I've never knocked so many doors on my mission before. It's cool because I've gone from the mindset at the beginning of my mission that only the best missionary work comes from referrals from church members to realizing most of our members found the church because missionaries showed up on their door. Knocking works great here. Still not the best way to do missionary work (that comes from us regular members) but pretty dang good. My knuckles are sore.

The best is when we knock on people's metal gates with our keys. I just kind of slam my palm onto the gate slowly and ominously while Sister Pitts laughs at me.

My favorite is this sweet Melanau family we found. (Melanau is a bangsa from Mukah).We have a husband, wife, daughter, son-in-law, other daughter, and a bunch of little kids. And maybe grandpa too if he wants. They recently have been wanting to learn about Christianity, so it was good we showed up on their doorstep. There really are people wanting and ready to learn the gospel out there. I love finding those people. Sister Pitts told me she always lets me teach about Christ's life because I get so into it in lessons. I use my Gospel Art Book (the one with all the beautiful paintings) and show people how Christ was among the people and He healed them and comforted them and befriended them, and He does the same to the people we teach. There's a series of Christ lifting people up; lifting up Jarius' daughter, lifting Peter out of the sea, lifting the man at the pool of Bethesda, and I tell people Christ can lift them today, just like He's lifted me.

The Atonement is real you guys. I've been using it a lot this week as I've been sick and sad and feeling like a pretty useless missionary. There are moments where I have pangs of sadness because I don't feel like I'm good enough, but then these thoughts are placed into my mind that of course I'm good enough, I'm good enough because of my divine origin, and I can be made better because Christ was the perfect example. Also I'm surrounded by amazing people here (members and missionaries) who say kind things to me or about me in passing and don't realize how much it means to me.

Favorite moments:

Winnie, one of our moms, came to church for the first time in her whole life. Everything at church fell apart and was disorganized, and we got dragged away from her to babysit primary, and her kid tried to be in primary but ran out crying because the other kids made him cry. I was really frustrated with the lack of organization and fellowship yesterday, but in asking her about her experience, she said, "I. Loved. Church. I'll definitely be back next week." And that's how I know the church is true. Because even though it doesn't have all the neon lights and facilities and budgets like the other churches here, the spirit makes up for anything else we lack. And her family is making us dinner this week.

Biking to the internet kedai today with Sisters Pitts, Fonbuena, and Pullicar. I was biking next to Sister Fonbuena by Bulatan Park and said, "I feel like we're in that montage of all the roommates biking through the tulips in The Best Two Years." This morning, Sister Pitts and I stood on a chair on our flooded porch and sang "How Firm a Foundation" as the Miri 2 sisters joined us. Dorky but way fun to yell all seven verses to our neighborhood.

Visiting Irak last Monday, who is the new branch president in Miri 2, and telling him how awesome he is (even though he is definitely internally freaking out). It was nice to visit his home again and feel a stronger spirit there. Also their new carpet is blue. They kept all the pictures/notes I ever sent them, and Irak told me how much it meant to him that Sister LeBaron and I taught his family.

I think what Heavenly Father is trying to teach us to push through the bad stuff. Even when we're tired. And even when we're sick. I'm working myself stupid over here but my favorite days are the days I come home exhausted because I did everything I possibly could. Don't worry, we rest when we need to.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

Love you. See you soon.

xo Sister Wynn

Like a fire

Apa khabar and selamat tahun baru!

Sister Simon, my favorite, snuggliest, kindest, best friend Indonesian missionary ever finished her mission today. We had the whole zone bike to the cafe next to our house this morning and had a nice farewell breakfast of paus.

Last week, Sister Pitts gave me an intense look and said, "Sister Wynn, I have a crazy idea. Let's be exactly obedient this week."

"Challenge accepted."

We assumed that as we strove to be more obedient (mostly getting to bed on time) and worked harder, miracles would just fall into our laps. But it seemed like the harder we tried, the harder things became. As our back up plans and back up back up plans fell through, I became really discouraged. And to add to this sad, sad, situation, it rained and rained and rained this week. But we pushed through it, and we talked to everyone we ran into, told them our message and how important it is. And I didn't even say they would like it or it would bless them, I told them "You NEED this."

"So banjir means flood... Good word to know here!"

We taught a really educated Iban lady who teaches at a university (the kind of person we need to build the church here) the restoration lesson, to no avail. Also, I think I offended her because she told us we were wasting our time trying to teach the already strong Christians and that we needed to find the poor and destitute in the surrounding kampungs. She said it as a nice suggestion. "No, I'm going to continue to find strong Christians until someone listens to us. We need them to help build the church before we can help the poor here. So I'm going to knock on all your neighbor's doors." Oh well, apa boleh buat?

We found some more less actives and along the way, former investigators, one of which said she almost joined our church but couldn't get over the whole coffee thing and said we were sombong for not drinking coffee. I explained a commandment is a commandment whether we like it or not haha. We taught and retaught people, hoping something we said or did would induce a change of heart, but to no avail. Several times this week, I told Sister Pitts "Tell me no effort is wasted."

"No effort is wasted."

One night, we prayed ourselves to these flats over by a string of Buddhist temples to knock one night after every other option was exhausted. Sister Pitts said, "Well at least there's gotta be some Buddhists living here and these people can't ALL be [people we legally can't teach.]"

We knocked on a couple doors and asked where the Christians lived. "No Christians here, we are all [people you legally can't teach]."

"Okay, thanks. Selamat tahun baru."

I shot Sister Pitts the dirtiest look but it was so funny. We laughed it off and figured even though we had nothing to show for those hours, we learned what we were supposed to.

New Year's Eve, I came home so exhausted. I slept for a couple hours only to wake up to the sound of fireworks going off all over our neighborhood. I watched them for a while and then passed back out.

I've been sick all week, and the day we biked up north to work in the elders' area a little was a nightmare. Everything fell through and all our less actives/recent converts didn't really show any desire to come to church this week. Sad and jaded, we left their homes. At one point, we met up with the elders and I vomited right in front of them. But we laughed it off and trudged through the bajir (flood) that is Miri.

I also accidentally contacted this crazy man who told Elder Hill "Follow me. I have something for you." and proceeded to give him an old school missionary name tag from elders long ago. There are some crazies in the world. That reminds me, Sister Pitts and I got harassed by the resident drunk of a kampung last night. Not anything terrible, it was just dark as we were leaving and of course he was standing there right in our way. He scared me only because I didn't see him. I wedged my bike between us, high-fived him and wished him a selamat tahun baru and ran off. Sister Pitts wasn't as lucky haha.

But as terrible as some things were this week, as we pleaded for the Lord to help us, He graced us with incredible new investigators (Indonesian designers who are fluent in English and live in Bandar Miri) from the Chinese sisters. And many less active members and investigators just miraculously showed up at church.

Another unforgettable mission memory for the books: Sisters Pitts, Simon, Tui'one, and myself biking home from downtown Miri from our last appointment on New Year's Eve. As we biked by the restaurants and bars, we cheered and yelled "Yeah 2015!" like Polynesians as the rain obliterated us.

The floods and rains and hard times can't drown the light of my fire or the sparks I've kindled (2 Nephi 7:11 or Isaiah 50:11). It's been promised to me that my mission will get even harder, but it's okay.

Floods with smiles all around.

As Jeffrey R. Holland said, "Look at the flame in my soul and the fire in my eyes." I've got nothing to lose and it's an incredible feeling. Go hard or go home am I right?

Love you guys.

xo Sister Wynn