Walking through hell all smiles

Hey guys,

This week was still pretty hard. Every day I'm figuratively getting kicked while I'm down. I wonder why the first year of my mission was pretty easy (don't get me wrong, it was still hard in different ways), tapi tiada banyak masalah, and the last six months have been excruciatingly hard. I can't wait to have good chats with Heavenly Father after I die and figure out if I learned everything I was supposed to when He wanted me to haha. I showed my roommates my pictures from the rest of my mission and even with weeks like this, I'm grateful for every day. I've had an incredible mission. It makes me sad it's ending fast. Sister Opatha has been a good companion to me and is way patient with me being bummed all the time.

Despite the setbacks, I think one thing I'm supposed to learn here is how to be a kingdom builder. The church members in the Singapore 1st Ward are true saints. They have incredible families and we've had a handful of new families move in from the States or Europe or wherever, and the first thing they ask the bishop is "How can we help?" I'm starting to get what true charity means as they invite the missionaries over for dinner and offer to give us their food (which they import from America) and their time, even though they're all incredibly busy with their careers and their families. I feel silly offering to help them because they help the missionaries more than we can ever thank them for, and they usually say the same for us. They are willing to take the time out of their schedules to meet with us, or to help us reactivate people who've fallen away, or help us teach our investigators. They love missionaries and they understand missionary work is important, even though ex-pat life is usually pretty transient. I see these families and hope I can be half as wonderful as they are when I have a family of my own.

That reminds me, we had dinner with a new family who just moved here from California, and because the dad works for the embassy, they offered to give us cereal from the States, and they gave us real American milk. I just love it so much better than the boxed kind I drink here haha. And as we were leaving, they said, "You're from Oregon right? Take some Tillamook cheese!" It's the little things.

Another thing that gives me hope every week is meeting with our ward mission leader, John. He is the sassiest Scotsman I've ever met, and straight up brilliant. If I remember the story right, he got sick of college so he quit, shrugged, and built his own company in Singapore. Because why not? He was also an incredible missionary. He served in the UK, and while the other missionaries were teaching about 5 lessons a week, he'd average about 40 lessons a week because he knew how to work with the church members and ended up teaching their friends. P.S. His wife is gorgeous and perfect and from England (blessings of being a good missionary you guys). He's been really good about helping us get into the minds of the church members, and in turn the members have been talking to their friends about the church and about maybe meeting the missionaries. It's funny to see him roll up from his office wearing jeans, a half-buttoned white shirt, and Adidas classics in the fancy financial district of Singapore with all the suits and ties. He tells us "There are all these high end restaurants over here, but I just like Quiznos. Why? Because they make my life easy." Who is this guy?

On one of these days where we met with him to discuss our investigators (and the general lack of missionary work happening in our area), Sister Opatha and I were feeling pretty down because, like I said. There was no way our WML could know, but he told this story from his mission that made us feel better. Something along the lines of how he doesn't know why certain missionaries are put into hard areas, or why really good, obedient missionaries go their whole missions without getting any baptisms while others get dozens, and then he acknowledged that the area that we were in was hard to be in. Then he realized he went into a tangent and went back into talking about our mission game plan again, but internally Sister Opatha and I recognized how inspired he was and that it was nice for the Lord to give us encouragement. Even if it was through a sarcastic Scottish guy haha.

Yesterday we all forgot Elder McCarthy's birthday and I feel pretty horrible about it, even though he intentionally didn't tell anyone because he hates attention. He found out Sister Opatha and I ran out of food so he and Elder Andrus promptly forced us to take their food. I'm lucky I get to serve with the most Christlike elders in the history of missionary work (no offense Ammon and Alma). He's a whole 19 years old now, to which I said, "Wow, I remember when I was 19..." It's weird to be reminded he's so young, because he's incredibly kind and mature and it's weird to think that young men can carry themselves the way they do at such a young age. (Also it sucks being reminded that I'm an old lady in the mission now). But every now and then I remember how young they actually are when Elder McCarthy reminds everyone he doesn't know how to talk to girls haha. I had a way good chat with him this week where he recounted his horrible experiences from boarding school and I shared all of my bad experiences from my "lowly public school" and we had a good laugh.

Everyone, thanks for the sweet emails this week and last week. They were really encouraging and it freaks me out how a lot of you said things I've been thinking about this week. I was thinking of the lyrics from a way cheesy The Script song about walking straight through hell with a smile. It came out when I was stranded in Pasadena and I would go running to it, and as embarrassing as it is to admit, I kind of loved that song. I loved the image of cruising through hell and giving Satan a wave because nothing he does matters. Mikel wrote this to me this week: "I know you; you always seem to have a smile on your face even in the midst of adversity. You keep doing that and you'll shine brighter than anyone else and people will notice that and will develop a curiosity as to why you're smiling when everything else sucks. THAT makes you an inspiration to us all." He's sweet.

There's also the song:

That soul that on Jesus hath leaned on for repose,
I will not, I cannot desert to his foes.
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never forsake.

Love you guys.

People throw rocks at things that sparkle (think about it).

Happy Deepavali everyone!

xo Sister Wynn

Sakit hati, aku lemah sangat

Hey guys,

Well I'm depressed (in the sons-of-Mosiah sense of the word and not the clinical sense) but like always, how would I grow if the mission was easy? The work here is HARD and I've been feeling so inadequate lately so I'm not going to talk about that stuff. Luckily Sister Opatha is way good about picking me back up.

I had my interview with President Mains this week. I didn't have the heart to tell him I miss Malaysia and rather told him I hope he knows he can send me anywhere and put me with any companion and I'll make it work somehow. I meant it but as I said it my heart kind of had this sinking feeling and I wondered to myself why I'm so self-sabotaging.

He and Sister Mains attended our ward with their son yesterday, and I don't know why it was so weird for me to see them as normal church-goers. I think it's because they're in Malaysia half the time.  It's weird that they actually live in our ward. Elder Ferguson dubs our ward "the fat ward," not because the members are fat (in fact, they're all actually pretty beautiful and insanely successful temporally and spiritually) but because the missionaries who serve here get fat off of all of the incredible food the members make for us. For those of you who were concerned about my health, know that all the good American (and Mexican) food they're feeding me is plumping me right back up. We also noticed that all four of us missionaries are skinny as twigs, so it's a good thing we're here.

We had a zone activity on Thursday evening called "The Singapore South Zone Blitz."  We all met up at City Hall, went on exchanges, and conquered the nation. Sister Proffit and I walked and talked to incredibly prepared people and found ourselves all the way by Little India and Bugis. I thought it was cool that we knew the city well enough to feel our way back using the buses. We met up with our zone again, and Elder Harr and Elder Anderson took us to this field that was surrounded by all the skyscrapers in the business district of Singapore. It was night time by then and it was so beautiful. We sat and talked about all the miracles we saw that night and committed ourselves to being more bold in talking to everyone.

I talked to a really sweet Melayu lady and she told me my Malay was good and that I had an Indonesian accent, but it's good because it's more polite-sounding. Sister Anderson also told me all of the members in Kota Sentosa branch said I had really good Malay. Mana ada, because I feel like my Malay is still pretty mediocre, but I'll take it.

I had a couple cool spiritual experiences this week that I won't go into too much detail about. For our district meeting, Elder McCarthy asked us to think about the weakest part of our testimony, then to study and pray about it for a few minutes, and then boldly testify of it in front of everyone. I was already trying not to cry when it was my turn, but I stood up and said with all the conviction I had that I know God numbers His people, and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to everyone, not just the members of His church. We all felt pretty vulnerable but it was one of those experiences where we felt closer.

I was praying one night to be more Christlike, and thought of all the missionaries I admired and how frustrated I was that I am a little irreverent. But then I had this thought that I can still be Christlike and lighthearted, that I can still be kind and laugh a little loud, and I know that thought didn't just come from myself. I was grateful for the feeling that I was doing all things better than I thought I was.

One of the fun things about serving in Singapore is I get to meet some of the most fascinating people. One of my favorites this week is this Indian lady we talk to every once in a while. She hangs out at the bar called "Bojangles" by the church, and she's really fair-skinned. I didn't even know she was Indian until she told me because she speaks almost perfect English. She just sits outside of the bar most days, sipping a beer. In one of my conversations with her, she told us all about how she learned at a Catholic school by Irish nuns, and about how she's lived all over the world. She commended us for our missionary work and said, "You girls are doing a damn good job."

I had to chuckle a little and was grateful that at least somebody was kind to us.

Yesterday at church, our potential investigator who was invited by another mom had a good experience, so hopefully that'll turn into something. Thank goodness for awesome member missionaries. As Sister Opatha, Elder McCarthy, Elder Andrus and I go around strengthening the members, we realize how busy they are but we're grateful they're trying to share the gospel with their friends (a hint to all of you guys back home). Also, watch out for that ebola.

xo Sister Wynn

Sister Wynn's E-mail from October 13

Selamat P-Day everyone,

I apologize in advance if this email is singkat. I just turned to Sister Opatha and asked, "What did we do this week? Did anything exciting happen?"

But I'm long winded, so I'm sure I'll find stuff to write about.

Last week for P-Day, we went to the beach, each, and Sister Parcell and I got to show off our ultimate frisbee skills from all those P-Days playing ultimate the last time we were in Singapore. I'm living the dream. There's a good group of missionaries in Singapore. They're all so young though and they love reminding me how soon my mission is ending haha. We went to Baja Fresh with Elders Capener and Ferguson beforehand because we were carting them all around Singapore, so I thought I was going to die running around on the sand.

Also, I guess Elder Ferguson's concussion wasn't good, so he got emergency transferred here from JB, which he was bummed about, but Sister Parcell and I were ecstatic because it's like the old KL district is reunited!

Um this week was biasa sahaja, talked to about a million people and invited them to learn about Jesus Christ and of course no one was interested, did service at the YWCA, ate some incredible food at member's homes, had a couple lessons.

General Conference was SO good. It was weird hearing it in English this time around, and it was weird thinking this would be my last conference on my mission. I loved how some of the talks were translated from other languages. I love that this church is all over the world because everyone is a child of God. I love the humor. I love and sustain our leaders.

On the way to the chapel, my roommates and I came across this guy screaming at his girlfriend, and she was just standing there bawling. I stopped and almost said something, but then we kept walking. I asked Sister Proffit if we should ask if they're all right, and we almost did, but we didn't. And I regret it. I thought of all those times I was yelled at by a crappy boyfriend or someone and would have appreciated some to rescuing.

I might not be my brother's keeper, but I am my brother's brother.

I feel like since I've been back in Singapore I see more stuff like that and it makes me grateful for the gospel and the peace that comes with it, but what's the point if I can't even intervene and use it to help someone?

Tender little mercy: Sister Opatha and I worked SO hard this week. We planned our week carefully and had meaningful activities for all those empty hours, and talked to everyone, everywhere, all the time. We were exemplary missionaries. But nothing came from it.

But then a couple members called us about some families they met in passing in the ex-pat community,and they're interested in learning and finding a church. I'm a believer that if we labor, God will do the work.

XO Sister Wynn

Tired But Not Weary

Hey guys,

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

Paradigm Shift Part II

Oyata kohomada?

Just practicing my Sinhala. Sister Opatha's been teaching me. She's like Sri Lankan royalty. Well more like a Disney Princess. When I moved into the apartment, the same one I lived in before and the same one I stayed at for zone conference last week, I looked at my roommates, these gorgeous, spiritual giants, and thought to myself, "Maybe one day I can be a Disney princess too."

Dad and Cloe, sorry I forgot to say happy birthday last week. I hope it was a good one. I promise I thought of you during zone conference.

This transfer was nuts. I've lost count of how many times I've had to pack up my bags and go, and it just gets harder to say goodbye every time. Tuesday night, I got a call from the APs telling me my flight to Singapore was Wednesday morning. For some reason transfers were on Wednesday this time instead of Thursday. I guess I sounded pretty bummed on the phone, Elder Plazier kept apologizing over and over even though it wasn't his fault because he's sweet like that.

Sister Callor and I crunched. I calculated that we had about 14 hours to pass off our investigators to Elder Poppleton, say goodbye to all of our wonderful members, pack our bags, clean our apartment, and sleep if time allowed for it. We showed him the homes of all of the families we've been working with. I said goodbye to Dion and Anthonia and their kids. We mashed our bikes up to Waterfront and back, Nayau's family wasn't home but we slipped our notes and keychains into the mail slot in their door and called to tell them about transfers. We stopped by Josephine's and I cried a little when I hugged her goodbye, then it was Sudau's family. Sister Intang and President Changgai threw together a quick dinner and I choked up when I explained to them what D&C 130:2 means to me. Said goodbye to Carlos and nenek too.

Swung by the TBD house and I told all the kids when they're scared or sad or hurt to always remember that they're a child of God and nothing can change that. Some of the families were already asleep so Sister Callor and I slipped our letters and pictures under their doors as best we could. Veronica and her kids were last because they live close to us. When I told her I was leaving I teared up again and she hugged me and said "Sis, don't cry. Memang jumpa lagi!"

I hate goodbyes. I'm more of a "I'll see you soon" type of person.

We got home, said a prayer of gratitude for the time we had in Stampin branch, and got to work. In the middle of the night, Sister Callor said, "I wish they didn't book our flight for tomorrow morning. I wish they didn't do transfers this way this time. "

We recently had a good conversation about proactive thinking versus reactive thinking and I said obnoxiously, "That's reactive thinking!" She laughed and I asked, "Is it all gonna work out?"
"It's all gonna work out."
"Is God in the details?"
"God is in the details."

By some miracle we got everything packed and cleaned and had a couple hours to spare. We got to the airport, and Raymond, a kid who's starting his mission, was with his family and they were saying goodbye. I saw Josephine again, and she was crying, which made me almost cry, and then I said goodbye to Sister Callor and Sister Leavitt and Elder Hays (all going to KL) and got out of there. I hate goodbyes. I sat by Elder Capener on the plane, duduk maneh, and we had yet another good chat. It seems like I'm always next to him on planes. I love that kid. He's gonna rock JB. We got his bike from baggage claim and racked our brains on how he was going to get it (still in the bike box) across the city of Singapore and into JB. But as usual things just work out. We high-fived and said, "Yet another successful transfer."

I saw Sister Parcell walking towards me in the airport, so I dropped my stuff and ran to her. It was a glorious reunion. I jumped on her and she picked me up and spun me around and she said "You've gotten so skinny! What happened to you?!"
"It was the tapeworms! I went to hell and back!"

And we kept hugging and laughing and I'm just rocking my P-Day clothes and this is all happened as President and Sister Mains and the new missionaries just stared at us haha. Sister Parcell is my STL in Singapore and we're excited to bring this city to its knees.

I forgot to mention last week, when Arnold was about to be baptized, it was storming like crazy. Rain and wind and lightning everywhere. Then the power went off in the chapel. He told Sister Parcell, "Satan's trying to stop me from being baptized, and I won't let him." Then I imagine he, this cute little Dutch grandpa, shook his fist at the sky and got baptized anyway.

I got to see Raymond and Jesper as new missionaries, two kids from Kuching who are starting their missions here. I teared up because they looked AWESOME in their white shirts and ties wearing their nametags, and I thought to myself that the church in Malaysia is gonna be just fine because of people like them. I finally said goodbye to Elder Capener and told him not to get crow-barred in JB. Tears sprang to my eyes for the hundreth time that day. He said the biasa "Don't cry Sister Wynn, if you cry, then I'll cry." Just like he always does during transfers.

I feel kinda alien back in Singapore. I'm living in the same apartment, same bed, but I'm not myself. But then I heard the lyrics "I'm a phoenix in the water, a fish that's learned to fly," and it made me feel a little better. I can't fail.

 I had a good attitude coming into the area, but it was easier said than done when me and Sister Opatha filled out our calendar. I was daunted by all the empty hours. Ex-pats are hard to come by in Singapore. Well, they're not, but the ones who want to learn more about Jesus Christ are. I miss being in people's homes, especially with families. I miss teaching. I haven't taught an actual missionary lesson in a week. But it's okay because God trusts me to be here, so I'm doing my best to do things that show I can be trusted.

The noise and the lights and the advertisements and the sheer number of people I talk to in a day is exhausting though.

We have an awesome investigator (really, our only investigator) from England who's almost done with The Book of Mormon and she's been coming to church for six months. She's just waiting for an answer, so I asked her if she's down to let us help her have spiritual experiences (i.e. recognize and understand the Holy Ghost) and she said she's down.

It was weird going to church with almost all Americans yesterday. I felt like such a foreigner. Ironic, right? I miss my Ibans, but I'm not Iban at heart anymore. I have to think and live and breathe like an ex-pat now haha. I introduced myself to all the members before church started and they are all so kind. And incredible cooks. I think part of the plan is for these dinner appointments to fatten me up. Also, advice to future missionaries: the first thing you should do when you get to a new area is shake hands with and introduce yourself to ALL the members. It's a really good way to earn their trust and get to know them.

I've missed contacting people on the MRT and on the buses but I've forgotten how hard it can be sometimes. But when I see these people I think about how they need to know they're loved and that they have a Savior. I see them in all white and it makes me feel a little better. I picked up something interesting that Elder Wilson says in his prayers. He always says, "Please help us to see things as they really are." Then I came across Alma 19:6 and I think I'm finally figuring things out. I hope this email makes sense.

God is in the details my friends.

XO Sister Wynn

Paradigm Shift (Liew's Baptism and Arnold's Baptism) (TRANSFER NEWS)

Hey everyone,

I wish our card readers worked at this internet kedai because our pictures from this week pretty much capture the essence of how insane this week was. It was one of those weeks that built me because I was so weak and so underqualified but the best part about missionary work is none of that matters because the Lord qualifies us. Every. Single. Time.

Sister Callor was so sick on Tuesday and I said, "I'm sorry, but we HAVE to get out and see Liew, and then we can rest." She was a trooper and we did. Wednesday we hopped on a plane and went to Singapore. I got to see my friends from Sibu zone in Kuching's airport, and they're doing so well. Before our activity, Sister Hansen and I stopped by Brother Keith's work in Raffle's Place and got to see him. Elder Hunsaker was also telling me there were tons of people he and Elder Plazier called from my list of people I contacted in Singapore who are now learning from missionaries, including this one girl who was strong in a different church, but stopped going because she had lots of unanswered questions. Right when she was praying for help to find truth, the elders called her. Elder Hunsaker asked if I remembered her, and I said, "Psh, no! I contacted thousands of people when I was there! But are you saying things I did nine months ago that I thought didn't matter actually matter? It's like the church is true or something."

And when I thought about it, I did remember contacting this girl on the MRT. And I remember calling her back and her politely declining being taught by Sister Hansen and I. It was good for me to hear because sometimes as missionaries we forget that we do a lot of good. And it was humbling because missionary work is like a relay race. I'm just impatient I guess haha, and I want to find, teach, and baptize everyone. But for most people, they come into contact with dozens of missionaries before they think, "Hm, there's probably something to these young kids and what they're promising me."

We also stopped by Baja Fresh because I was craving good old American mexican food, then I showed some elders the way to Chinatown because I like sherpa-ing the Malaysia missionaries around my old stomping grounds. I bought TONS of keychains for our members back here in Kuching. Love em.

Zone conference was so good. More than anything, I felt so much love from my mission friends, from President and Sister Mains, and from Heavenly Father. I've always been told I was a child of God, but it wasn't really anything that had meaning until I came out here. I got to see most of my MTC elders, and they've all grown so much. A lot of them are zone leaders right now, which freaks me out because I'll always remember them as 16 punk teenage boys with greenie fire. But every time I see them, my heart swells with love because of how much they've grown and how much they love their people. I also got to see a lot of old comps and roommates, and I thought about how much they influenced my life for good. Elder O'Bryant has probably changed the most. He, along with the rest of my friends, still make me laugh so hard I double over and start to cry, but he exudes so much more confidence now. He bore an incredible testimony about how he used to lack in desire to serve, and how he only came on a mission because it's a priesthood duty. But now his mission is the most important thing to him and he's lost in the work and we can all get lost in the work. And THEN, his low baritone voice got all shakey and tight and he teared up a little bit, and I was sitting in the front so I started to cry, and it was just a mess and I thought, "Dang it Elder White Lion!"

Sister Callor and I also played our duet of "I Am a Child of God" and we were so underprepared and nervous but by some miracle it sounded really good (again, Heavenly Father helping us out). I was only running on 9 hours of sleep for that whole three days because of my cold, but it was nice to know I can do hard things like being all over Singapore while feeling sick and still being happy about it. It's like a precursor to mother hood or something haha. My head hurt SO much on the flight back. Sinus pressure and high altitudes don't mix well haha, but it's okay.

The next day, we crunched for Liew's baptism, along with the elders' in our branch. Biking felt like hiking up Mount freaking Kilamanjaro, everything hurt so much and had we not had a baptism, I would have taken a sick day haha. The font was really dirty, so we rinsed it out with the fire hose, which made it dirtier, so I handed everyone a brush and I got in the mucky water and started scrubbing. My head started killing me, and I looked at the elders and said, "Please help me" and Elder Poppleton was a total sweetheart and kicked off his shoes, rolled up his slacks, and got to work. Everything went wrong with that day, which was okay because the night before, I said, "Gear up Sister Callor, there's a baptism tomorrow and Satan's gonna try and stop it!" But the baptism itself was wonderful and Liew even teared up a little because he was so happy. He is going to be instrumental in bringing his family and friends into the church.

All the while across the country in KL, Sister Parcell and all the missionaries and members were filling up their baptismal font bucket by bucket for Arnold's baptism. Remember him? The sweet little Dutchman I was teaching when I was there. He asked, "Why are you all doing this for me?"

"Because this is how much we want you to get baptized. This is going to change your life. We love you." Sister Parcell told him.

When I biked home that night, my head felt like it was going to explode, and my lungs burned with every push, and my muscles felt like jelly, but I didn't care because knew I was the luckiest girl in the world. Arnold and Liew were baptized. They have the Holy Ghost. Their lives are different for the better. I will spend and be spent (2 Corinthians 12:15).

C.S. Lewis said, "I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun, not because I can see it, but because by them I can see everything else."

XO Sister Wynn

P.S. Getting transferred to Singapore. 1st ward. Time to network with my Americans living in Singapore. I'm sad to leave but I'm trusting Heavenly Father.

The Parable of the Swell Window

Nama berita,

Well this past week was just crazy. We have a baptism this Saturday, and as per usual the powers of earth and hell are combining to keep it from happening. Come at me, Satan.

Come at me, Satan!

So on Monday, Sister Callor totally wrecked and hit her face on the pavement, HARD. I heard this horrible sound of metal on pavement, so I turned around and saw her crash on the ground. She hit a ditch on the side of the road as we were turning. I slammed on my brakes and spun my bike around, and ended up tumbling off my bike too (got a little bruised but I'm fine guys). I ran over to her and got her talking to me. I checked the side of her face she landed on, expecting to see tons of blood, but she was just a little bruised. She landed right on her maxilla and I was sure it had to be broken and that she had a concussion. I made sure nothing else was broken and me and this Chinese man dragged her off the road to the grass, and made sure she kept talking and kept her eyes open.

We said a little prayer together, and I didn't let anyone touch her or call an ambulance because I didn't want them to take us to some sketchy hospital and make it hard for the Pryzbylas to find us. They finally came, and we got to the hospital in Matang. By then she was feeling better.

No breaks.
No concussion.

This is one of the biggest miracles from my mission. I know God protected us that night.

I begged the Pryz's to take us to McDonalds afterwards, I was starving, and they humored me at like 1 am, haha. By the time we got to district meeting we were both running on 3 hours of sleep. Embrace those crazy days, right? We took it easy and sat in the house until Friday, so I was bored out of my mind. Cabin fever is real you guys!

Cabin fever?

On Saturday, I went on splits with Sister Tai, and it was fun. I did the usual Stampin-rite-of-passage day and took her all the way to Bintawa, then to the church. Hujung kawasan kami, why not? It was nice to catch up with her and remember all the fun times it was being roommates with her in Singapore. In an impromptu lesson, we showed pictures of Christ's life and tears came to my eyes as I testified of His love for this family (and some neighbors who sat in on the lesson). I'm not one to cry in lessons, because, gross, but that lesson was as much for me as it was for them. I'm grateful for Him, on those hard days, His life is what keeps me going. Gotta tell the world, right?

As you all can probably guess, the mission has been hard for me lately. THANK YOU so much for the outpouring of sweet emails. I should be getting my letters this week too. I love you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the thoughts, prayers, and love. I've been really depressed lately, but in one of my recent prayers, I just asked, "Heavenly Father, are things good between us?"

And they are. So I have nothing to worry about.

Anyway, little moments this week that made me smile:

(In a lesson with a less active and recent convert):
Me: So we have a baptism this weekend, can you guys come and show your love and support of  Liew?
LA: Uh tengok-lah, we might be busy or still feeling kinda--
RC: We'll be there.

(Before going to Liew's house to teach him the rest of the commandments. ALL of the Tabuan Dayak kids wanted to follow and fellowship):
Laren (11 year old boy): Sampit dulu. Let's pray first.

(Introducing myself to non-members at church):
Shirley (11 year old girl): These are my next door neighbors. They were learning from the missionaries before. This one smokes!
Me: Do you want us to help you stop smoking?
Potential Investigator: Yes. Please help me.

(Praying with Sister Callor about if we can teach 5 lessons in 2 weeks to Liew and see him to baptism):
Me: Heavenly Father, CAN we do this?
Me: I have a good feeling. Do you have a good feeling?
Sister Callor: This is happening.

Good things are happening in our area. It's like catching a wave. Best feeling ever, and you can feel the swells coming if you know what to look for. One of the most important things I learned in surfing is to be in the right place. If you're not, you look over and your friends are catching all the good waves. I guess you could liken that to obedience/following the spirit and having those miraculous right-place-right-time moments. And sometimes you fall off your board and get a little cut up on the reef (or your comp falls off her bike) but you need to keep going for it.

There's a swell coming in Stampin branch. Double-overhead. We've met so many incredible people who are willing to let us in. So visa renewals and injuries aside, this is going to be a good week.

Sayau ke dik.

Sister Wynn

P.S. Check out "Swell Window" by Zee Avi