One thing that I have learned from my experience out here in Malaysia so far is that contacting is hard. The houses here are different than they are in Utah, and almost everyone has a gate, small courtyard, and then their main door. When we go house to house, we ring a doorbell and then shout through the gate to the people in the house, sometimes trying to yell over a barking dog haha. It is hot (see the pic where I am finally starting to get some sun :) and a lot of the people have already seen us before, so they often aren't too interested.
But the great thing is that there are different ways to contact, and we were walking around some shops on Wednesday when a young Chinese man waved us over. He is 21 and he is a young "Entrepreneur" for this new company that deals with stocks. It basically means that you invest, and then your stock splits when the market goes down so you still gain money... or something like that. I am not entirely sure how it works but basically he just sits outside a coffee shop all day and watches his stocks- because apparently it is working. When we met him the first time he got us both cokes through his phone.
Although a lot of our time was spent talking to him about his company, and him trying to get us to join :) we were able to share message of the Restoration with him. He expressed that he had been seeing Christian missionaries before (different church) but that he was going to convert later because his parents didn't approve. He already knows a lot about Christianity in general (big blessing) and we were able to set up an appointment with him for the next day, along with two of his friends. The next day we were able to teach one of his friends the Restoration lesson (this time in Chinese) and our investigator also jumped in and explained some things to his friend based off what we had taught him the day before... pretty cool.
We were expecting him at church but he didn't show... I still have faith. Speaking of church though, our branch president asked us to speak on Sunday and it went pretty well. I talked on how modern prophets can help us to strengthen our faith in the atonement of Christ. It went well and I was able to fill up 20 minutes of time with maybe an hour of preparation: not something I would have been able to do previously.
I want to bear my testimony that I know that living prophets are important. In my talk I brought up two ideas about how living prophets can help us - 1. they can clarify doctrine and 2. help us to apply it to our lives. I also know that the prophets remind us of things we need to be reminded of, and through modern revelation we know more clearly God's will as contained in the scriptures.
The Atonement is infinite and can help us to forgive, remove sin and negative feelings, as well as make us better. This is something that I am discovering more and more, as I realize more and more often how much I need the Savior. Wherever you are in conversion, know that conversion is a process and be patient with yourself. I know that through the truths of the restored gospel we can feel peace in this life, and know how to gain salvation in the life to come.
Sincerely
Elder Allen
PS I had some wan tan mee this week - super good. Also routi suse (Indian food) and pao (Chinese) is super good (and I have no idea how to spell any of them). The picture is of wan tan mee.
Mary's note: The second picture is of Royal City Klang Mosque and was built on the request of the residents of Bandar Klang, mostly business owners of Pasar Jawa. Hence, the mosque is better known as Masjid Pasar Jawa (Pasar Jawa Mosque). Though it looks old, it was built in 2009. It is a major landmark of the city.
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