This was a good week... a big highlight was Anton's baptism. He was ready. After he passed his interview last week, we sat down and had a really spiritual lesson on prayer. The kind of lesson where you just feel God's love and you just want to connect with Him. We set personal goals on how we would change our prayers so we could have more meaningful experiences. Anton then said the closing prayer and you could tell something had changed for the better. It was awesome!
His baptism was two days later (this past Sunday) and it was great. There was a good amount of people that came. Anton was ready. He was baptized, and then after he changed his clothes he stood and gave a humble testimony about how he'd been wanting this for a long time. How being close to God isn't easy, but lately somehow he's found the strength to do what he's needed to do. He's seen a difference in his life. He bore testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It was so awesome!
Another awesome thing was that the drain in the baptismal font wasn't working. So we, along with two other missionaries, a member named Amon, and then Anton, decided we had to empty the font by hand. We found a bunch of buckets and started hauling the water out of the font into the church's kitchen, and we dumped the water out the window in the kitchen. It was crazy! There was so much water. We probably dumped around 150 buckets full of water. It was hard work, but it was so much fun also. Anton was glowing with peace and joy as he helped empty the font. He really earned his baptism :) We laughed the whole time. It was something I wish everyone could experience... voluntarily doing grueling physical labor (kind of) alongside those we love under the light of our brother having just entered the waters of baptism. It was so happy and it felt good and satisfying. We all got a little wet. :)
Another highlight was something I actually wasn't there for. The Sister AP's went out with us for one more day after I last wrote, and something really cool happened! There's this man named Dr. C who I called last week--he had met with missionaries before but stopped for some reason. Well I set up an appointment and then Sister Pinkston went to it with Sister Kubota. They came back and told me a little about his story, and I am way excited to start teaching him. He is a heart surgeon by trade, a Harvard graduate actually. He was raised Buddhist. Sister Pinkston says he is a sweet man. They shared about eternal marriage/eternal families, and about a living-day prophet. He said, "Why haven't I heard this before?!" He accepted a baptismal date! I'm excited; I get to meet him soon. Great things are ahead.
One amazing and very relevant thing about Jesus Christ is that he is full of second chances. It is never too late. His arms are opened wide, and He will take you as you are and will lift you up no matter where you are coming from. He is full of second chances, with healing in His wings. I testify of the power He has to heal our hearts. He lives. I feel it every time I search to feel it, every time I pray.
Sister Gopinath
This week was quite fun. The Sister AP's* came to do splits with us, and yesterday I was with Sister Kubota all day (she is known as the most intense, hardcore sister missionary in the mission :) ). It was great, we had fun. Our appointments canceled so we called some people from the area book who I had never met but had been contacted by missionaries before, and three of them agreed to meet us later this week! Then we went out and explored this part of Cheras I'd never been to before... it was a mostly Muslim area, but we found a place with a few Buddhists and Hindus. I wish I could put a picture here of that neighborhood. It was a really cool place... like a city-village in the rainforest. It was the least civilized part of KL I've been to yet. There might have been a dirt road also. It made me miss KK. :)
After that we went to a member's house for dinner. We shared a message and asked if they had any friends that we could meet, friends that could start learning the Gospel. Brother Kung said that he had a friend who lived nearby who said he would come to church sometime, who we could meet. We then made a plan to go visit that friend later that night, but right at the time we were going to go see him, that very friend showed up at Brother Kung's house! We talked to him and invited him to start learning about Christianity (he is Buddhist). He agreed to meet us next week at Brother Kung's house, already knowing our purpose because of his awesome friend who always talks about the Gospel with him! Missionary work is the best especially when members are doing it!!
The other Sister AP is now Sister Burtis, who was with me in the MTC! It was so fun to see her again. I love her! I have been reflecting back on my experiences in the MTC and in KK--both of those places seem quite far away, and they were difficult for me at the time but now I look back and I feel only sweetness and happiness and love. I look back on the first half of my mission as a very valuable and meaningful time. Now instead of seeing the hardships, I can see/focus on the things that I've learned, which are precious to me, which I couldn't have learned any other way.
Anton (from Nigeria) is getting baptized on Sunday! :) So excited! He's awesome. The Gospel Doctrine teacher, Brother Renner, is going to baptize him. They are good friends, we are really excited!
(Next week I will write a better email... I will come prepared with stories from the week. There are always stories, but I need to prioritize which ones are the best ones/should make it into the email home.)
The Gospel is true! Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior who satisfied the demands of justice, who paid the price in full, the price we could not pay ourselves. Because of that, if we follow Him, we can be redeemed, cleansed, freed from sin. I'm forever grateful for that, and will be continually more grateful as my life goes on.
Sister Gopinath
*Assistants to the President of the Mission
This week was great. Especially talking to family makes for a great weekend. I love and miss you all. I have an incredible, incredible family.
Miracle! Deba has been struggling to quit smoking... and this past week he got sick with a bad fever, and hasn't worked in a while (also hasn't met with us in a while). I called him yesterday and asked him how he was, and he said he still was very sick. I asked how his smoking was going, and said that he has totally stopped since he got the fever. YEAH!!! This is a gift from God! If God's way of helping him stop smoking is getting him sick and withdrawing him from it that way, also can! I am fine with that :) This is a springboard opportunity for him to continue progressing. I was super excited.
To be honest, I don't have many updates/things I didn't already talk about on the phone... tomorrow I am halfway through my mission. What a strange thought. So much has happened, and so much is still coming. It feels fast at first, but it also feels like an eternity when I think of all I've experienced here. I'm really grateful that God sent me here. There's nowhere I'd rather be.
Here is something I read yesterday, that has been on my mind.
"'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ' (Gal. 6:2). The law of Christ, which it is our duty to fulfill, is the bearing of the cross. My brother's burden which I must bear is not only his outward situation, . . . but quite literally his sin. And the only way to bear that sin is by forgiving it. . . . Forgiveness is the Christlike suffering which it is the Christian's duty to bear."
This struck me for a few reasons. I felt like this is really relevant to me, because as a missionary, I'm quite aware of, or sensitive to, sin. At the same time, I am required to carry a lot of love in my heart and to act on that love. I am required to carry a lot of burdens, and a lot of those burdens come from sin - perhaps most of them. I am learning again how to forgive. Usually it's not because someone did something directly TO me (it usually has nothing to do with me personally), but that someone inflicted themselves by doing something wrong and therefore, I am hurt. The natural response is to withdraw. But as a missionary (and also in your role of friend or family member), that cannot be. We can't withdraw whenever someone does wrong, because often when someone does wrong that's when they most need love. People change, repent, usually to follow feelings of love. And for me the only way I can give that is if I forgive them -- God will forgive whom he will forgive, but I personally need to forgive everyone. That is the way to bear others' burdens when that burden is sin. This is the Christian way. It is not easy, but it is required, and a very healing thing. It's healing not only for the recipient of the forgiveness, but especially for the one forgiving. When I forgive someone, the poison inside of me is lost and replaced with soothing peace and strength. I'm a big fan. Maybe we all find someone in need of our forgiveness, and follow Christ by forgiving that person.
Sister Gopinath
Hey! So updates... last week we had our last Zone Conference together with President Clark. Zone Conference is so inspiring... it's like EFY for missionaries. I have very bittersweet feelings about President Clark going home at the end of June... we probably won't see him again before he goes home, because our mission is so big (he has to take an airplane to go to each Zone Conference). He is such an amazing mission President. I trust him and love him a lot--he does literally ALL he possibly can for us and for this mission. He has the Spirit of God with him. He gave an inspiring conference about how to receive revelation/inspiration. He bore his last testimony to us that he knows there is a living God, and that truth is eternal. Truth stands unchanged no matter what we do, or how other people respond. It strengthened my faith.
Also a number of other very strong young missionaries are going home in June as well. Some of our very strongest Elders are leaving us. The mission is becoming full of green/new missionaries... I forget the number but soon, something like like 75% missionaries here (including me) will have been here for less than a year (or something like that). We are hoping for miracles, hoping to do things this area has never seen before.
I finally got a nametag in English! It's really exciting to be wearing "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" after wearing "Gereja Yesus Kristus Orang Suci Zaman Akhir" for 9 months. They're the same, of course, but I grew up knowing the English name :) And now more people will be able to read and understand my nametag. Yes!
I have been sick for the last 3 days, and have had to stay home for a lot of it so there's not actually a ton of news. I will update you about Anton (from Nigeria), though.
Anton, like I mentioned, has been reading the Book of Mormon. As we've met with him, we've realized and really seen that he has changed. The way he carries himself has changed. The way he talks to us has changed. The questions he has have changed, as well as the answers to questions we ask him. He has become more open, loving, trusting, kind, receptive... a lot of things I can really describe in words. He is amazing. I asked him if he himself has felt a difference in his life lately, and he said that yes he has. He said he feels like God is all around him. We taught him about faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost the other night, and he said on his own that he feels like these things would complete change a person. He talked about a change of heart, and linked it to the feelings he's been experiencing lately. He connects all these "dots" on his own, and I know it's the Spirit of God. He's awesome... he can/is preparing well to be baptized at the end of the month.
That's the biggest thing going on lately... we are trying to help people like Devi and Kripala to stop their smoking. They are both doing well. Kripala didn't smoke for almost 3 days, which is more progress than he maybe has ever done. Going from 2 packs of strong cigarettes a day to zero for three days... it's amazing. He is finally finding the motivation and strength to change.
I read somewhere the other day that "love is not in possession, but in participation." That really stuck with me for some reason. That just because I am "a missionary" doesn't mean I am automatically filled with love for all people, or just because I hold the position of being someone's older sister doesn't mean that I don't need to show my love. The virtue is not in standing in the role. That is the thing--showing love by participating, by ACTING in that role as a loving sister, as a loving representative of Jesus Christ/missionary, as a loving friend, daughter, or whatever else I am to someone. It is by actions, service, participation in others' lives, reaching out--not respected labels alone--that I experience that love. As we take action by prayerfully serving and reaching out those who need us, we are filled with the love of Christ. I've felt that in my life; it's something I am working on every day.
Sister Gopinath
So, good week! Anton got baptized on Sunday, and it was a really nice service. He was really ready. My favorite part was that he decided on his own to fast on his baptism day... wow, he is solid. He has such a good heart. He bore his simple and deep testimony after he was baptized, just saying, "I believe in Jesus, I believe the Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon are true, and I will follow Jesus all my life." It was awesome. There were some investigators there who were really touched, and also members and missionaries who were touched as well :)
One of those investigators is another one named Anton; he is from Nigeria. He is great. He should be baptized in a few weeks, and he's been really making progress although we've only known him a short while. We have him a Book of Mormon and he has been reading it every day. We asked him if he's been praying about it, and he told us on Sunday that he feels like he got an answer. He said he was on the way to church that morning and thinking about it, and he just got a feeling that it was true and that he believed it. He then had a really good experience at church and also at the other Anton's baptism, which was after church. He called us after and told us that he got every Sunday off of work for the next month, and that he wants us to start seriously teaching him--texting him scriptures and questions every day so he can learn it all. We've got work to do. The Spirit of God works on people in ways that seriously do amaze me.
We have another investigator named Donald, who is from Myanmar. He is good and just confused about all the many different doctrines he's been taught throughout his life. Interestingly enough, I think teaching him is the closest to teaching people in the US that I've experienced, from what I understand. He is educated and religiously experienced, an intellectual man, and just is trying to figure out whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and whether or not the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Our lessons consist of him asking us questions, reading us verses from the Book of Mormon that confuse him, and then us answering his questions with scriptures (or analogies/personal testimony). I've been amazed at how much the Spirit has helped us teach him. Always, something he says highlights a Gospel principle, and almost always a scripture comes to my mind, or to Sister Pinkston's mind. Neither of us are "scriptorians," so to say--we are definitely both more like the weak and humble category--but something always comes, something always flows, so question after question gets answered. It's one of those things where before my mission, I would never have been seriously able to picture myself being able to do it. But the Lord cares enough to help us. Our lessons have all gone well so far, and he is reading and praying. He said on his own, "I don't know if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I need to pray." My happiest moments in teaching are when the investigator makes a connection like that on their own. Very cool.
Life is good, KL is great... I love being a missionary. It's not without it's challenges, but like life in general, it's worth it in the end and you wouldn't actually change any of it.
2 Nephi 25:29.
Sister Gopinath
So another miracle week. You know how I dreamed about how we would invite Devi to be baptized? Well, we did it, and it happened just like my dream, only better. We taught the doctrine of baptism and he understood well. He was looking at the ground thinking, and I asked him, "Would you follow Jesus Christ by being baptized?" He then looked me in the eyes and said, "Of course!" as if he'd just been waiting for someone to ask. We told him what needs to happen and we made a plan for him to quit smoking. He is amazing. Yesterday we met him again and he told us, "I love Jesus. Not [just] now--long time already. If I no meet you, I don't know how to follow--I don't know anything. Now is my chance. Now is my time to get [on] my straight path to God." I feel so privileged to be teaching him. Oh, also we gave him a Book of Mormon this past weekend and he is already halfway through Mosiah. That's right.
We also had another miracle in that someone named Anton called us and wanted to meet up. We both had no idea who it was, only that in the phone his named was saved as an investigator. So we met him at a park, and found out that he was a former investigator who could name off all of these missionaries--he told us he "was supposed to be baptized" but it didn't happen because he couldn't come to church for a while, and he got lost after some missionary transfers (which is frustrating). But we talked to him more and invited him to be baptized again. He made sacrifices to come to church on Sunday and he has been diligently reading the Book of Mormon.
Also, we have a baptism coming up this Sunday. :) Anton, the sweet Chinese man who works at McDonald's. He had his interview last night at the church, and there were strong feelings of love in that building. We are really excited for him. On Sunday he packed and brought a sandwich from home to church so he wouldn't have to go out and buy anything after church. He has great faith.
Life is great. We have some things good things that are going to be happening.
So now... spiritual thoughts? I heard an analogy-story this week that left an impression on me. There was a man who worked for a train station, and a fork in the road at which the train tracks split. He was in charge of flipping the switch whenever certain trains came, so they would go in the right direction. One day the train was coming, so he flipped the switch. But soon he noticed that something wasn't right--there was a piece of the track that was out of place, and would be a disaster if the train ran into that track--all the people on the train would die. So he ran outside to manually pull the track into its proper place and hold it there until the train passed. The train was approaching, and as he was holding the track he noticed his young son on the track a little way off. He was now faced with the decision of whether to hold the track together and save all the people on the train, or save his son and let all the people on the train die. He chose to save the people on the train. His son was killed, and everyone on the train lived. But no one on the train realized what had happened. No one had seen the little boy playing on the track, and no one noticed the father lying on the side of the track weeping.
This is like our Heavenly Father, who sacrificed His Son, Jesus Christ. Imagine how He feels when we don't recognize or believe in or partake of the Sacrifice that was made for each one of us. How must He feel when we don't think about that Sacrifice every single day of our lives. That because of Jesus Christ and what he was subjected to, each of us may live.
Romans 8:32-39.
The main difference with this story is that in real life, that Son rose again three days later. I know that He lives and through Him and the Infinite Love of Him and His Father, we can be free and live forever, if we will but follow Him.
Sister Gopinath
So this week was crazy! First of all we have a new investigator who I am in love with (missionary kind of love, haha). His name is Deba, and he is from Bangalore, India (the same place as my family!!). I don't even know what to tell you first. He has been in Malaysia for 7 years, and he met Sister Pinkston and her old companion a few days before I got there (but I was there the first time we went back) because the way they usually went home was blocked off and they were lost. So, he helped them and told them they could come by any time.
So Deba lived in Kalkata (Calcutta) for a while when he was younger and lived on the same street as Mother Teresa. Yeah, he personally knew Mother Teresa and her example left an impression on him. So although he was raised Hindu, since he was young he has had a soft spot for Jesus Christ. He told us the first time I met him, "I am very interested in this. I don't know anything, and I need you to teach me." We invited him to come to church, and he told us, "I have to go there. I will definitely come!" And he did come. He came, and it was the first time he had ever been to a Christian church in his life. He saw pictures of the Savior on the wall, and we sat by him in sacrament meeting and he followed along with the hymns. Our mission president, President Clark was visiting our branch this Sunday, and gave a wonderful talk about the Savior. Afterwards, President Clark came and talked to Deba, asking him what he felt about church. Deba said he felt a sense of unity, of familial love. And then yesterday we met with Deba again and I asked him myself what he thought about church. He said, "I was not nervous. Even [though] it was my first time, I didn't feel scared. I was calm, you introduced me and sat by me. And when I was in the church, I thought to myself, 'I feel like I have been here before. I feel like this is not my first time.' This Sunday I will come again and I will understand more." I wanted to shout to the world my love for this person!!! He is SO prepared. We stopped by and gave him a Book of Mormon, which he already has a great respect for. We taught him who God is and taught him how to pray, after which he eagerly offered the first prayer he had ever given in his life. He said, "Heavenly Father, I am so happy. I am so happy about Jesus Christ." And that was his prayer. AHHHH!!!!! And he is from my dad's hometown!!! There's nowhere I'd rather be than here. This morning I woke up, dreaming about how we will invite him to be baptized tomorrow. Prepared souls. So much love.
Also, this week I went to Singapore to "chop visa" and went out proselyting with a few of the sisters in Singapore. It is legal to teach Singaporean Malays (they are Muslim), and so I went to a lesson with a Singaporean Malay man named Zul (say Zool). It was a very different experience, never having taught anyone from his culture/mindset before. He was very sweet, has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and wants help to stop smoking so he can be baptized. We testified of Heavenly Father's love and awareness of him, and of the power of prayer in overcoming temptation. When you testify of something as precious as that, to someone individually, you see that person differently. I loved him in a way I had never loved a Muslim before (because of not being able to teach them until this time). It was a sweet experience, with feelings I hadn't felt before. God's love is real. He loves each and every single one of His children.
I found an amazing quote yesterday, and I want to share it and I'll end for this week. It's about spirituality.
"Every noble impulse; every unselfish expression of love; every brave suffering for the right; every surrender of self to something higher than self; every loyalty to an ideal; every unselfish devotion to principle; every helpfulness to humanity; every act of self-control; every fine courage of the soul, undefeated by pretense of policy, but by being, doing, and living of good for the very good's sake--that is spirituality." - David O. McKay
That's how people prepare... prepare to meet the missionaries, prepare to be baptized or have a family or receive a place in God's kingdom. Through those choices.
The Gospel is true.
Sister Gopinath
