Week #71: When You Believe – November 14, 2017 – November 20, 2017 (Miri)

 

The Miracle Poster

This week started slow, but ended up being AMAZING! On our wall, we have a miracle poster, where we write miracles. It has some Christmas lights around it and at the top says, "There can be miracles..." This whole week was definitely miracle wall worthy. We started the week off right by watching 17 Miracles. I was bawling by the end, (mission tears you know). Jk, but it was a real tear-jerker. The first few days were really slow. On Wednesday, time picked up and we were biking across town (over 20 km to get to town) back and forth and back and forth. One of the amazing  miracles was I bought some stuff for my companion's birthday. I had it in a bag, but accidentally left it on a bench in the mall. We had left, biked a good 15 minutes, and remembered I had left it. We then returned and I found it on the bench, untouched. It was a miracle! We then left the mall and contacted a man from China. Let me tell you, Malaysian Chinese and China Chinese are wayyyy different. I'll never be able to communicate! It at least showed the man was very nice and patient :) He ended up leaving the next day. 

 

Enjoying the rain in Miri.

Another miracle was planning what to do on Thursday, when one of our members pulled up in their car. They brought a lot of delicious Chinese food (including dumplings) that her nonmember friend wanted to give to us. The nonmember friend heard our member's story of who we are and wanted to share her food immediately. The member then took us to their sister's home (a place no missionary has been allowed to enter until now) and we had a delicious lunch. We were able to teach our member's niece and nephew. Miracles!

When Saturday rolled around, the miracles and blessings were just pouring! We started  Saturday with a plan to meet six people with only two real set appointments. We weren't sure if the people would be home. As we started we found ourselves getting calls from other people for us to meet them. We were biking from one end of Miri to another. We were very excited and more than willing to do so. The lessons were certainly Spirit-filled, we were well fed, and we reached many of our goals that day. God really planned our day! Miracles.

On Sunday, the real miracles happened. At the beginning of the day, we were studying before going to church. My companion all of a sudden had a strong craving for a cookie. I started making cookies, when she made herself a microwave chocolate mudcake (it's very delicious by the way.) She satisfied her sweet tooth, and we left the giant cookie I made at home. After church, we had plans to contact all day. We are advised to do so since most families are home this day. We've been following this advice this transfer. Today, we were walking around a neighborhood. We found a home where a Muslim man lives. Because of Malaysian laws, we aren't allowed to teach Muslims. The man was very nice, and pointed us to a ton of houses we CAN contact. We had some great conversations, some were nice, some not so much, and in the end, none of the people wanted to learn. After a while, we came to a crossroads. We took a left turn. We were then called by a previous contact. During the call, we saw one of our English Class students. He ended up leading us to their home and mother. We set up an appointment to meet them and share more about the Gospel. It was a double hitter and a miracle. Afterwards, we left the neighborhood to meet our investigator. We had already had a lot of rejection, were a bit down, but prayed and left for our lesson. In the end, the investigator canceled, but we went to their work to say "Hi!" On our way, we found a girl who had just finished work. We taught her the first lesson, set up a return appointment, and gained a new investigator. It was a true miracle and tender mercy! God answers prayers. When we came home, we found out the other sisters had a miracle too. There are four other sisters who live with us. Two of them came home because they were feeling sick. Another two came home because they had a flat tire. They all had a hard time coming home. Two of them had a sudden craving for cookies and remembering the power of prayer, they prayed for cookies. They came home to find the giant cookie I made. The tender mercies of the Lord are everywhere. He truly makes a way and means so He answers all prayers, even though we may not understand everything at the time.   

Nighttime in Miri.

Church was amazing, as always. We taught a lesson about reaching out in love to less actives and recent converts. I continue to be amazed by the members of Miri. As I mentioned before, these are the pioneeers of Malaysia. The members seemed a little down because they see how hard it is to be a pioneer in the modern days. They told it how it is. It's hard. I admit that. I really respect and admire these members. We told them how much we love, appreciate, respect, and even look up to them because they ARE modern day pioneers. We realized they don't hear enough from the missionaries how great they actually are. We tried to remedy that and we could tell it really hit home for them as we told them of what they're doing right. I've definitely learned a lot over my mission of the power of positive words. Words are powerful. If you don't believe so, read, "The Ricciardi Letter" and "The Power of Your Words". These are amazing. As Sister Linda K. Burton said, "When was the last time you intentionally spoke kind words to each other?" I invite you today to speak kind words

Week #70: Vranish! – October 7, 2017 – October 13, 2017 (Miri)

Sister Vranes and Sister Cloud

The beginning of the week was a bit slow. Sister Cloud was sick in the middle. Then she had a missionary leadership training. She is a sister training leader. It was good to go out with the Miri 2 sisters again. We had a good time. I was impressed and amazed by their love and dedication. We went into town to meet one of my recent converts, and took the bus. We got a bit lost while walking for a while. I'm a bit directionally impaired and I had no idea where we were when the bus stopped. We walked a long ways, got soaking wet, and had 2 small umbrellas between 3 people (mind you these sisters are both about 5'10"). At times, we were jogging to make the time. In the end, our appointment canceled. The sisters didn't once complain. They seemed to see it was an adventure and we loved it. In It sure created some great memories. 

Saturday we tried to contact most of the day. We went to an area and started walking around the neighborhood for 2 hours. Many of the people there weren't super friendly. They said they were Christian already or Buddhist, big surprise in Malaysia. Not. For some background, Malaysia is like Utah in that it has a religious place of worship at every corner. The difference, unlike Utah, not all of them are Mormon chapels. There are Hindu and Buddhist temples everywhere, a Christian church around the corner, and shrines every which way we turn. There's a lot of diversity here. Anyway, we walked for at least an hour and a half by the time we stopped to know where to go. We prayed and opened The Book of Mormon. We read two verses. The verses talked about secret combinations. We joked for a little bit about the "secret combinations" in our branch, but there wasn't really anything to go off of. Then we saw a family coming out of their home. We decided to give the area one more try. We walked down to find an uncle washing a car and his two grandsons (one older, about 15-20, and the other younger, about 3 years old). The uncle was Christian and was trying to give us advice, but it wasn't going anywhere. Sister Cloud was very courageous and asked to meet the grandson, which we found out he was 18. The uncle happily obliged, told his grandson to talk with us, and went inside. We taught a quick, powerful, first lesson. He got a phone call in the middle and walked off. We silently prayed for him to return, which he did! We were amazed! In the end, he didn't want, but it gave us the boost and courage we needed. We counted it as a miracle. It was good practice, and we were much more confident. Miracles continued to pour out that day as we met our investigators, and even ate delicious vietnamese food for free. 

Tracting

Yesterday, in church, we taught a lesson about family history. As I was preparing for this lesson, I started reading some stories I brought with me about my family. One autobiography I read was my great-great-great grandfather, Jeremiah Willey. He was one of the ancestors who crossed the plains with the Mormon pioneers. I learned that he lived, knew, and served with the Prophet Joseph Smith. I'd been learning a lot about the pioneers. Last week and for this week for p-day, we watched The Work and The Glory, all three movies, and 17 Miracles. These movies give a great perspective on the pioneers and what they had to go through. It really brought a lot of appreciation in my life for them. If you haven't watched these movies, I would highly recommend them. Then you can start to understand the things these early saints went through. It also gave me a greater love, respect, and appreciation for the people I am serving now. Pioneers are the first people to lead the way. The Mormon Pioneers in the 1800's went through so much hardship. The members in Malaysia are the pioneers of this country. They are paving the way. I have such a profound respect for them and their trials. 

Another thing I discovered while doing my family history was where my ancestors are from. On my mom's side, I was told they were English and Irish. On my dad's side, I thought I was English and Scottish. Growing up, I visited a lot of graves with my parents. On my dad's side, there were graves that had the last name Vranish. I had assumed it was something that was changed when they emmigrated from Scotland. As I looked at my family tree, I learned my dad is second or third generation Croatian. That explains why "V" is in the alphabet (it's not in the Scottish alphabet). It depends on who the first one to emigrate from Croatia is (his dad or grandfather). I don't know now, but I am excited to learn when I come home. Many people, like my dad, in Malaysia, are second and third generation. Many of them are from China. As we were teaching, we have members from Philippines. One member, a Filipino, shared how his grandmother is a Japanese refugee from WWII that settled in the Philippines. There are so many cool stories, and rich history in finding your family. I invite you today to learn a story from a family member and write it down. You'll be surprised by your history.

Week #69 – Go District! – October 31, 2017 – November 6, 2017 (Miri)

Miri Missionaries

This week has been a great week! Out of this week, I would say we haven't gained a lot of success in finding people, but I've gained a greater knowledge, understanding, love, and respect for my fellow missionaries. We've become a lot more united since Sister Cloud has arrived, we've put in a lot more effort, and I've seen an amazing difference. This new perspective is towards my leaders, my fellow missionaries (especially in my district), and my companion I'm definitely reminded of the song in The Best Two Years that that's sung, "Don't you know? Can't you see? What your love has made of me?" This is a great movie by the way. I've felt a lot of love and support from my companion and my District. When they asked us when we should hold our branch Christmas party, my companion and elders immediately stepped in and spoke up to hold it before I finished my mission in December. Woot! Go District!

At the beginning of this week, we went to Batu Niah caves. It is an hour and a half drive from Miri, and are these amazing caves. We got in a good hike and saw some beautiful scenes. The senior couple was nice enough to drive all of the sisters there. It was definitely worth it! The rest of the week were full of little miracles. One day was a very rough, but after riding for 45 minutes to an appointment in pouring rain, that ended up canceling, we stopped by a place to dry off. We were outside a massage kedai, and they gave us some nice towels and a place to sit while we were warming up. It was so

Sister Vranes and Sister Cloud

sweet of them and a sweet miracle! When it seemed everyone canceled that day, we rode past one members' home, yelled his name as we saw him, and came back around on our bikes. He surprisingly came outside, greeted us, had a good laugh, showed us pictures of his new baby, and gave us some fruit. It turned our whole day around. Sunday, we started a music class. I felt a deep impression to do something with my music my whole mission, but finally had the guts to do it. It was amazing. The branch is so excited for this class. They are willing to participate very well. One member I was working with the past week played the closing song in church. It was amazing! He was so happy afterwards, and the members were so impressed. They encouraged him so much more. It made me so happy.

One thing we've been focusing on a lot is the Restoration in our lessons. I've used The Restoration video in some lessons before, but every single lesson I've taught this week is that movie. I never realized the power in this video. If you haven't, or even if you have, watch this video: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-07-004-the-restoration?lang=eng&_r=1

Week #68: October 24, 2017 – October 30, 2017

This week has been great. We had a few days of exchanges in the middle of the week. Working with Sister Steele was like talking/working with an old friend. She really made a focus of just making us feel loved and comfortable. I trust her whole-heartedly. Sister Mark was a hoot and we had many miracles that day. Our extra bikes weren't working, so it seemed we were going to go by foot. We were making plans when a pi called us. We'd been in contact the past few weeks, but she was in Penang for a while. The Miri 2 sisters contacted her and passed her to us. When she first got back, she called us and wanted to meet. She had a car and met us within walking distance of our home. She came to our lesson, and immediately asked for us to show her where the church was. We happily did so and gave a church tour. She drove us back and the next day set up a return appointment. Miracles!

On Friday, we had a Halloween Party for the Miri District. There was a great turn out and many pi's/investigators came. Unfortunately, my companion and I were held up with face painting most of the time (a huge hit by the way), and didn't see all the people who did come. I saw many peak their heads in from Miri 3 branch as investigators. It was amazing. On Sunday, even more miracles came up.  A long time former investigator, finally came to church. She was close to baptism at the time, but her parent wouldn't allow her to come. She was so cute and even invited us to her home for dinner that night. She knows what she wants, has strong faith, and isn’t afraid to go for it. 

On our way to this investigator's home, we were trying to find Jalan Desa Pujut. I know a Desa Pujut area, by another member's home, but this was a different area, very far away. On our way to try to find her, we went down the member's street to get to a middle road. On our way there, we spotted a lot of boys playing basketball. They turned around and we found one of our young men members. He hadn’t come to church today. At first, he was trying to kind of ignore us. Then, I felt to ask him if he knew where our investigator lives. He did. He pointed in a general direction. We were confused. Then he got his bike and backpack and rode us to their home, 15 minutes away. He was so so sweet about it. He was kind and we could tell he was really struggling and needs help. It was a miracle beyond miracle. We were given some papaya from another member that afternoon, and gave it to him and his family.

I don't really have much time to talk this week, but I'll write better next week. I love you all!