Sunday, October 29, 2017

Week #67: The Sewers Part 2 - October 17, 2017 – October 23, 2017 (Miri)

Luckily, Sister Vranes found her bike lock.
We're back to the sewers! This morning, while buying groceries, we were unlocking our bikes when the bottom bike lock thingy flipped out of my hand and into the sewers. This time, I willingly went in. It was an open sewer so we were looking all around for where it could have fallen. We then noticed there were beer bottles in the sewer that were pretty sunk in. We noticed a black hole, and prayed it was the bottom half of the bike lock. I jumped in. We got a small stick and pulled it out. Miracles! 

Other than that, this week has been superb! At the beginning of the week we had the special missionary meeting with Elder Meurs (Area Seventy), Sister Meurs, Elder Snow (church history), Sister Snow, President Lai (Area Presidency), Sister Lai and Elder Nielson (church history). I enjoyed it a lot. A lot of the focus was writing down your history. Elder Nielson gave a tremendous talk about the First Vision. Elder Snow included a lot of statistics with the Church History Museum and Church History Library. We flew to Kuching for one day. I've officially got 7/8 sister areas in this mission crossed off for visiting/serving for a day or more. I was determined to visit all of them, but now Sibu has opened up since last transfer. The missionaries in Kuching had a little meeting the night before this big meeting (between 3 zones and their outposts--the most missionaries together in this mission since President Simmons started) and one sister said, "It was really good. It guilt tripped me into almost
Sister Vranes and her bike lock in the sewers.
writing in my journal last night." Sure enough, the theme was missionary work and journaling. There is a quote, "Your mission is the MTC to life." Over time, I've learned a few truths about journaling. First, do it! Just get to work and do it. Write every day and you'll never regret it. Second, start from where you are, and then start going back. Sometimes, big things happen but it takes me a few days to start writing it down, so I start at the beginning and lose energy to finish. Just start with the most recent and you'll never have a problem. Third, only say positive things. This is most prevalent in the Book of Mormon. Many of the prophets have trials and challenges. They say the things necessary about their hard situation, but they don't go too in depth. This turns into venting, which just drains energy. Say what little you have to about the bad situation if you have one, but explain how you overcame it. This is what the Book of Mormon prophets did. They showed how they overcame their trial. This is something you owe to yourself and your future generations.

After the meeting, I received a new companion. Her name is Sister Cloud. She's from Rhode Island (last time she was at home though, they lived in Germany. Her dad is in the military.) She is a ball of energy, well driven, funny, and has spunk. I feel as I did back in the beginning of my mission with getting to work, but much more intelligent. I've seen so many miracles. I've been taken out of my comfort zone a lot these days, but I feel more bold and confident. Sister Cloud does a good job at making me feel as if what I do is good and important. She's very supportive. She truly believes in everyone out here. Her goal is to create good unity between us, the elders, and our home. She's very successful so far. I love it! I hope I can do the same for her and support her full-heartedly. My faith has just grown so much in the power of belief. She's creating a lot of power here by her belief in others.
Sister Vranes and Sister Cloud.

One miracle this week was Sunday. When we arrived back in Miri, we had a lot of appointments. We tried everything to get our two investigators to church and some less active members. One night, we called literally everyone in the branch that is thinking of coming to church to find a ride for a mother and her two sons to come to church. When it seemed hope was lost, we got someone to call us at 10 at night saying they could. We then tried to confirm with the mother, but she wouldn't confirm until 20 minutes before church. We then biked to the meet up point to show the member where to go to find the mother and her sons, with the plan that we would continue to church on our bikes. However, the member didn't show up. I totally spaced and forgot to tell them that the mother had confirmed. The mother finally got her mother to take her to church. We got 3 contacts in on the way, and 2 potential investigators. We showed up a little late to church, but found our investigator in class when we arrived. Four investigators (between the elders and us) showed up altogether. The branch is continuing to grow! It was an amazing miracle.

I hope you are all taking care. I don't have too much more time, but here is my spiritual thought. Read this talk, https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/10/a-yearning-for-home?cid=HP_FR_20-10-2017_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-A_&lang=eng


Saturday, October 21, 2017

Week #66: A Greater Purpose – October 10, 2017 – October 16, 2017

The past weeks have been crazy! Sorry all. Last week, I was in Singapore for my last Singapore Zone Conference! What? I'm officially down to two months of my mission left on Monday. Cool thing is I leave Singapore December 16, travel for 33 hours, and arrive in the U.S. December 16#timetraveling. Anyway, in Singapore we arrived at the mission office at 2 pm, emailed for a short time, bought cute dresses, and ate delicious potstickers in Chinatown. Singapore Chinatown is amazing! It's so big and goes on for a few blocks. We went there last time in Singapore, but it was so good we had to go back. I was planning on eating Mexican food (finally!), but we ran out of time. Thankfully, during Zone Conference, the senior couples fed us Mexican food #miracles!

For Zone Conference, our focus was our missionary purpose. It was good to go back to basics and remember why we are out here. There is a huge turnover in the mission right now. About 40% of the missionaries are new from 4 months ago until now. The turnover continues, and President Simmons' board is filled with many new faces for the next months. It's exciting. As we discussed our purpose, we learned a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Everyday, we recite, "Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them develop faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I've learned a lot about my purpose over my mission.

A greater purpose I've learned and discovered is God's purpose. My all time favorite scripture is Moses 1:39: "For behold this is my work and my glory-- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Learning about God can only come by learning about Christ. Don't get me wrong, there are many religions with much truth about God. By learning Christ's life and example, we can gain a clear and true description of who God is. Jesus Christ is the son of God. He is the only perfect human to have lived. He is the Savior and Redeemer of the World. He is the only Begotten Son. Through His life and example, we can come closer to learning and understanding who God is. As I've studied about Christ's life, everything He did was unselfish. They were purely for the good of mankind and according to the will of God. I am inspired to share this article in the new October Liahona called, "A Christlike Character" https://www.lds.org/new-era/2017/10/a-christlike-character?lang=eng I'm learning more and more everyday how God's purpose and actions are intended to show His unselfish love. Everything they do and ask of us are for the better us. We can truly become like God, to live a higher way and law, and to have true joy. .I cannot say it nor explain it better than Elder Bednar does in this talk.

I love you all! I hope you take care this week!


Sunday, October 15, 2017

Week #65: Thank you! – October 3, 2017 – October 9, 2017
 
Sister Sorenesen and Vranes with a memeber.

Sorry for the short message. I am currently in Singapore. We arrived this afternoon for Zone Conference, my last one until I come home! What?!

Anyway, this week was a blur. I was still getting over my cold for the most part of the week. On Saturday and Sunday, we watched General Conference. Everyone said it was amazing and let me tell you, it was! I enjoyed every moment of conference. Elder Hollands talk titled, "Be Ye Therefore Perfect--Eventually" was amazing! Throughout this week, while meeting people, we taught about conference. We gave everyone a piece of paper and said, "If you can talk to God for 2 minutes, what would you ask Him?" We invited them to bring this paper to conference and write the answer they hear. I did this myself and my answers were more than answered. This is my invite to you if you haven't watched conference, or even if you have. Also, for my spiritual thought, read this talk. I can't put into words how great it was and how much truth there is in this talk. The primary focus was the Book of Mormon, but also the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the secret to happiness. As one of my wise companions always said, "If you're not happy, your Gospel of Jesus Christ is broken." I know this is true.
 
Sisters Vranes and Sorensen with a branch member.
In this time out here I've had so much support, wise words of encouragement, and love. I can truly feel your love, support, and prayers out here. It is my turn to finally say thank you. Thank you for each one of you who has been in my life and supported me, whether close or from afar. I'm learning a lot more about God's perfect plan to place each one of you in my life and learn from your examples. Thank you for inspiring and encouraging me. I love you!


Saturday, October 7, 2017

Week #64: Breaking 50: September 26, 2017 - October 2, 2017 (Miri)

This week has flown by... I don't really remember what happened most of the beginning of this week. At the end of the week I got sick. I'm still getting over it. On Sunday, my faith in the power of prayer and desire increased. I had a strong desire to at least partake of the sacrament this Sunday. I was pretty sick. After prayer, I was better enough to attend sacrament meeting. My prayers and desires were answered. Our miracle was that we broke 50 in our number of people who attended sacrament meeting! When I first got to Miri, there was about 20-30 people. There was definitely a new energy in sacrament this past week. It was exciting. It just showed me that God answers the desires of our hearts. Anyway, sorry for the short letter this week. I'll write a better one next week. Love you all!