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