Joshua's Song of Singapore: Week 5: Butterworth, Malaysia

Butterworth Week One

Hello everyone! I hope that everyone had such a fantastic week! It was so fun to read about everything that you guys are doing...as usual, our family is continuing to be awesome!

This week was super fantastic! On Monday, after I emailed you guys, we went and played sand volleyball. It was really fun, but it was so hot. We were out in the sun for about two hours and working out plus being in the humid furnace of death (Singapore) made me sweat more than I have ever sweated before in my entire life. But, it was really fun. On Wednesday, my companions accompanied me to the airport and then sent me on my way to KL. Flying by myself was kinda weird, but I talked to the guy next to me before he dozed off, and then I wrote myself a letter to open after I am done with my first transfer. In KL, I met Elder Pack and a senior couple that serves in KL. Then, we flew to Penang, and then a senior couple drove us to Butterworth. (Penang is the island, Butterworth is the land across from it). Butterworth is the coolest place ever! There are lots of Chinese people here, so I have been using my Chinese a lot more than I did in Singapore. There are also a lot of people here who speak Tamil, and some ethnic Malay. The food is so good!! Nasi lemak is a kind of Malaysian curry that is really good, and I also like roti, chicken rice, Mangosteen, and so many other great things! I still haven't tried Durian or stringray head (:P), but I tried a hundred year old duck egg today. It wasn't as bad as I thought. One of the best things about Butterworth is the weather! It is really hot, but not overwhelming. It also rains a lot, and there are lots of thunderstorms, which are so cool!

Butterworth is very different from Singapore. In Singapore, there were four wards, and each had around four hundred people, many of whom were businessmen (or women) who had gone to Harvard or other very prestigious places. Butterworth's branch, however, only had eight people on Sunday. I gave a talk and played the piano, Elder Pack played the piano, and then we taught second and third hour of church with no warning. It was kinda crazy, but I felt very happy to be able to help the branch. The people here are very humble, and they find joy in the small things in life, which I appreciate. Also, instead of taking the MRT everywhere, we have been biking, which has been super awesome! Biking is fun! Also, the water here is not clean, and we only have one filter, so little things like brushing your teeth are a lot harder because you have to walk to the filter to clean your toothbrush. Oh well, if that is the worst thing that I have to complain about, I guess my life is not bad la!

Elder Pack is a really great missionary! We got along well together from the first time we met, and he is a great example to me. He is from Colorado, and he also came straight out of high school, so he has been out for about ten months total (five of which have been in Butterworth). He is very diligent, and he is helping me a lot to study Chinese. Our apartment is very nice...the view from my bathroom is so nice! You can see Penang island, as well as all the ferries that go across, it is so pretty! Our apartment is also full of bikes...the past four Elders (who were all Elder Pack's companions) have been kicked out of Malaysia by the government, so they didn't have time to pack up their bikes, so they are still here.

At times, missionary work can be very discouraging. The Chinese here is very different from what I was used to in China, and there is still so much that I want to learn. I am also adjusting to just talking to everybody, and focusing on helping others. That being said, even though it is discouraging at times, I absolutely love life here in Malaysia. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here, and I really can feel God lifting me up at all times, but especially when I need it.

I love you all so much! I hope that everything is going well, and I will talk to you next week! I have really learned that reaching our goals boils down to little decisions that we make every day, and so I hope that you will all be able to make the small decisions now that will lead to big blessings in the future! I love you more than words can describe!

Best,

Elder Weatherford

Spiritual Experiences

This week, we have been able to teach a lot of people, which has been really spiritual! We are teaching one man who is so sweet...he is around seventy years old, and he wants to join the church so badly, but he is still overcoming a fifty year addiction to heroin. I can't imagine how hard that would be, but he has such amazing faith. Even after he relapses, he tells us that he knows God can help him overcome. It has helped to boost my faith so much. There was one day that we were praying together, and I just felt such a strong love for Him. I think that, for a second, God let me see him like He sees him, which is somebody who has infinite potential. It was such a wonderful experience!

This week has also been full of little tender mercies. There was one day that I was feeling discouraged because there is still so much that I want to learn (especially with Mandarin), and then I felt prompted to talk to this one man who was standing by his moto. I spoke to him in Chinese, and it went really well. He didn't want to learn about the church, but it helped me to feel less discouraged and to find hope that I will be able to become the person that I want to be one day.

I testify that the Lord's tender mercies are in all of our lives, we just need to look for them. I was not good at seeing God's tender mercies in my life before my mission, but my mission has helped me to see them so much more. Whenever we are feeling down, God gives us little chances to pick ourselves up, I know it! I would encourage you guys to look for these little mercies, because I have found so much peace through looking for them whenever times are hard.

I love you all so much! I am so grateful that we are family!

Best,

Elder Joshie Dubs Weatherford

A visitor to Butterworth sent us these photos of Elder Weatherford and Elder Pack.

This is what he said about the two missionaries --

"This is Dan Evert from Tempe, Az. I'm traveling for work touring factories and meeting with my supply chain team in Malaysia and went to church in Penang this morning and met two wonderful missionaries, and I trust you know one of them very well! :) Elder Weatherford and his companion Elder Pack were awesome today. This was your son's first Sunday in Malaysia and he spoke in sacrament meeting, with only 11 in attendance to introduce himself and shared his testimony of the Book of Mormon. He played the piano for one of the hymns in sacrament meeting and with his companion taught Sunday School and a combined third hour. Elder Pack's mother passed away from a car accident about two weeks ago, and traveled home for the funeral and immediately returned to be your son's trainer. The Branch President today expressed his love and respect for Elder Pack and the way he handled this trial . . .your son is in good hands with his companion. I just wanted to send a quick message after meeting these awesome Elders. I may try to meet them for dinner this week before returning home on Friday. Thank you for having an awesome son willing to serve a mission. I'm including a few pictures that I hope you enjoy . . . the church meeting place is small, and the most unique thing was the baptism font in the kitchen . . . I've never seen that before! -- Dan Evert"