This week marks the end of my training, and in a week I will have been in Malaysia for 3 months! It is crazy that I have been here this long, and it is not so much that I still feel new in Malaysia, it is that I still feel new to missionary work. I still have so much more to learn, and definitely a lot of Chinese as well, but I am also really excited for the learning and changing that is to come. Overall, I think that I am most grateful for this experience to learn who I am, and to grow and become better through the challenges that I face.
In my last week in training, we saw some cool miracles in a few different aspects of missionary work, and I felt the spirit a bit more than I believe I have in other weeks - which is a big blessing :).
We had a lot of appointments scheduled for the earlier part of the week, and so we did not have a ton of time to contact and find potential investigators (not that I am complaining, it is a huge blessing to have a lot of lessons, even if some of them fall through, as they always do). Overall, I feel like our lessons went pretty well, and one of the elements that I noticed that was a little better was our ability to teach simply. I have really come to appreciate simple teachings, because it is only when you really understand a principle that you are able to teach it simply.
One cool experience of the week happened during our weekly planning sessions. We got a call from one of our investigators who asked us to come right away and visit one of her friends. We had an appointment scheduled for the next hour, but we asked if we could come after that and she said yes. When we got to where we normally meet her, we were able to meet with her friend, a nice old lady who has recently converted to Christianity. She shared with us that she had lost her daughter, and she wondered why that happened to her. She also expressed the desire to find the true church of God. She asked great questions and I felt the spirit as we talked to her, teaching me how much the Lord loved her. We gave her both the Restoration and Plan of Salvation pamphlets, but didn't get much time to talk about them before she had to leave.
We were able to meet with this referral again, later in the week. When we started she told us that she had read the pamphlets, and that she had felt the spirit as she had read them. She asked us about the Book of Mormon because she wanted to read it, and when we gave it to her she said "thank you, but I don't have money to pay for it." Once again I felt the spirit during that lesson, especially as we shared the first vision account. My main concern for her is her ability to come to church... she lives far away and we don't have any members who live out that far.
Another highlight of the week came when, after trying our hardest with investigators, less actives, and members to find people to teach, we found ourselves with a whole day to contact. We decided to try out the bus system and go to an area that is a little farther away. We found 10 potential investigators that day, and one of the last ones we were talking to, after we had gotten his number, stopped us as we were beginning to walk away and asked us if he could us his girl friends number!
Another fun contacting story happened yesterday. We were talking to a Chinese girl and she asked us how we could know if the church was true (which is a great question that I have never been asked before :). I asked her how she knew that Buddhism was true, and she thought about it and wasn't sure :). Then she talked about feelings in her heart, and we were able to connect that to how the Holy Ghost talks to us.
Anyways, lots of really good lessons this week and great spiritual experiences. Transfer news came in while I was writing this email. I am in Klang for another six weeks and so is Elder Rogers! Apparently it is pretty unusual for the trainee and trainer to stay together after the training is complete. I am really excited for the progress we are seeing here and I am glad that I can still serve with Elder Rogers!
This week I have been studying the Conference talks and I really liked Elder Uchtdorf's talk (go figure) called "How Great the Plan of Our God." Basically, when we have spiritual experiences and times of revelation, we sometimes become complacent or accustomed to our marvelous knowledge or experience. He talked about how we need to remember our awe for the things of the gospel. I have truly found this to be true in my life. When I thank the Lord for the experiences that I have, and consciously record those experiences, I am more able to experience them in the future.
The Church is true.
Sincerely,
Elder Allen
I totally slacked on pictures for this week...so here is a cool pic of the case I made to keep my planner dry (from sweat and rain). Also, a member bought us antler headbands... I am not sure how we will use those :)
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