Week #60: Humble Confidence (August 29, 2017 – September 4, 2017)

Eating delicious ice cream.

This week has been amazing! The past few weeks have been rough. It seemed we were having no success, but that changed. On Tuesday, we were getting to work when some of our members started calling us and invited us to visit later that evening. We couldn't believe it. That rarely happens, like only twice before. This continued throughout the week, and we were actually invited to their homes to teach their family and friends. I was beyond surprised and amazed. It also helped that it was National Malaysia Day, a public holiday for most of the week. 

One miracle day was visiting a pig farm. Our members were having a relief society activity, visiting a pig farm. Only two of our members showed up, but one of the members had their whole family and a few other families join. It was a good way to get our faces and the church out there. The farm we visited also was a family owned farm, where we fed some wild boars. It was none too crazy. Our member who drove us wanted us to talk to one family a lot more, so we stalked her sister's car, who was driving them, all the way to their home. Our member is a little quirky and would fail at being an undercover spy. They called their sister, had them follow us for ice cream (but it was closed), and followed them the rest of the way to the family's home. We then visited a suspension bridge. The bridge was inspired by the Canadians and was designed by our member's uncle. We also walked on rocks. It's an Asian therapy called foot reflexology. There is a path of rocks in the ground you walk on, and the more it hurts, the more your body is toxic. My body is very toxic...but that's ok, it was the first time I finished the whole path (I usually only get two steps in and wimp out :) Anyway, since it was holiday, many people were at the park. One group of people wanted to take pictures with my companion. They also wanted pictures with one of our members who is half English, half Malaysian. They became famous within two seconds. We were then fed vegetarian food and Malaysian ice cream (it's kind of like otter pops but flavors such as plum, mango, dragonfruit, etc.) This group of 50+ people was a family reunion that followed Confucianism. They don't believe in killing, and that is why they are all vegetarian. We handed out a bunch of Free English Class flyers (it's one of the services we do in our mission), and our number. It was a miracle!

Fun activities with church members.

On Saturday, we had promised a member they could ride with us. They live a good 30 minute bike ride from our home and had no way to get to us to obtain one of our extra bikes. Neither my companion nor I had coasted a bike before, especially that far away. It was a very busy rode towards their home and it just felt unsafe. We were debating what we could do to make it up to them. We didn't really have set appointments for that day as well, and were worried they might just be riding in the hot sun with us around Miri, looking for people to talk to. As we were debating, Sister Sorensen shared a quote her dad said to her, "It is better to get it finished than to have it perfect". I thought it was profound. We decided we had to break the news to them, but would make it up over ice cream. We went out that day unsure of what we would do/where we would go. While on the hunt for some medicine, we felt a prompting to talk to some slow-cooking potential investigators. It turned out to be exactly what we needed to do. One of them we invited to English Class. Another one was home and just appreciated the fact that we thought to come back and talk with them. This guy is hilarious because he's from New Jersey, randomly living in Malaysia, has never heard of Mormons, has lived in most Muslim countries (including Afghanistan), and makes/sells homemade wooden slingshots to scare away the dogs. It wasn't perfect, but it was definitely a Spirit-led day that was finished and worth it.

Overall, this past week has taught me a lot about opposition. There needs to be opposition in all things--like good and bad, happy and sad, joy and pain, etc. The past few weeks have been rough, but it made this week so much more worth it. I really appreciated having a miracle-filled week, and it made it so much easier after all the "bad weeks" to notice the great week in the middle, the golden nugget that makes it all worth it.

Sister Vranes says hello.

As for a spiritual thought, I read a talk in the April 2017 General Conference, "The Greatest Among You" by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. In this talk, President Uchtdorf explains the meaning of "humble confidence". Humility is the Christ-like attribute the missionaries in my mission are focusing on and developing. In a planner I was given by a previous companion, she had written the note "humble confidence". I didn't understand what that meant, until I read this talk. In the talk, President Uchtdorf tells a few stories of these great people who did a lot for a cause, and should be rewarded, but were not. It would be easy for them to have a sense of entitlement. It would be easy for them to protest, to cry, to murmur and tell the world and become martyrs. Yes, it would be easy, but it takes humble confidence to not do so. Humble confidence is described as doing what's right and what you're supposed to do without having to be rewarded. It takes trusting God that all will be right and rewarded in the end. It may not even be in this life time. It includes having integrity. It includes virtue. It includes becoming Christ-like. 

One of the stories in this talk is about a stake president, who was preparing for a pioneer celebration parade. During the time of preparing, this stake president was released. When it came time for the parade, they asked for volunteers to help in this celebration. They were told to dress up in work clothes, bring a shovel and their truck. When the morning of the event arrived, the former stake president arrived ready to work, and was told to be pooper scooper. This former stake president happily did so because, in President Uchtdorf's words, "He understood that one kind of service is not above another". This former stake president exemplified humble confidence. No calling, no job, no service is greater than another. They are all forms of remembering and serving God. When I think of these things, I am reminded of an EFY song called, "Not So Little" by Nik Day. One of the lines goes, "Every little good thing you do, makes a little change in you." Sometimes we think the reward of the things we do will be great, and we hope to even get applauded. I know it's humble confidence that lets us know that the reward IS great--the reward is becoming like our Heavenly Father through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and having a place by his side in eternal life.