Week #53: Revelation! – July 11, 2017 – July 17, 2017 (Miri)

It was a Spirit-filled week, ending with the greatest revelation of my mission, the water heater! I'm kidding, but it was one of the best discoveries I had made in the Miri home. Every area I have served so far has had a water heater switch right outside the bathroom, but Miri was a time of endless cold showers. On Thursday, after staring at the water heater in the bathroom, and staring at a mysterious switch in our study room (which I learned to never touch mysterious buttons/switches in KK or a guard will come up to your apartment at night thinking there is danger), I discovered the wondrous connection! I'm never taking warm water for granted, ever again!

Anyway, this week was truly Spirit filled. We had yet another baptism, and Sister Montague skyped in from Arizona (because she finished her mission a couple of weeks ago) at 4 am. Our new convert, J--- is so cute! She's Filipina, and since our church is the English speaking branch, we have a lot of Filipinos and Chinese that attend. Her baptism was all in Tagalog. I was not able to understand a word, but the Spirit was so strong. I could really feel the testimony and faith of each of the Filipinos that participated, and it was incredible. In this mission, we get a lot of Filipinos who work in Malaysia, and they are just so ready for the Gospel. One elder joked that there are two things Filipinos are just meant for, basketball and the Gospel. It's true though:)

As for a spiritual thought, I am reading through an old General Conference, October 2015. One talk I read yesterday morning and was reminded of was "My Heart Pondereth Them Continually" by Devin G. Durrant. This speaker starts out with a clear distinction of his earthly and spiritual calling, an investor and disciple of Jesus Christ, respectively. He challenges his audience to do two things that will have a major impact on them, physically and spiritually, that are like bank deposits, that will only add up. The first challenge is literally making bank deposits--save money every week. Many of us understand how this will have a positive effect and overtime will produce significant results. The second challenge is to "ponderize" a scripture every week. Perhaps this rings a bell. This is a made up word combining ponder and memorize. Just like the bank deposit, ponderizing a new scripture every week is making spiritual deposits, which over time will add up and produce significant results. I invite you to read this talk and ponderize a scripture this week. I am going to start as well with my senior year seminary theme, Doctrine and Covenants 6:33,36 :)