Joshua's Song of Singapore: Week 18: Butterworth, Malaysia

The Ballad of Butterworth Week Fourteen

Good morning (evening)! I am so happy to be writing to you guys, and it is so crazy to me that another week has gone by!

This was a really good week! The beginning of the week was pretty normal. After we emailed, Elder Anglin and I went shopping, got haircuts, cleaned our apartment while jamming to some Tabernacle at Temple Square music, took a nap, and then went out for the night. On Wednesday, we had a really fun bible study with a few of our members and Brother Teh, who was recently baptized. On Friday, we taught a fun English class that was all about Halloween, and we had all the students simulate trick-or-treating. And then, on Saturday, we cleaned up the church and got ready for our two baptisms on Sunday; we also filled up the font, which took quite a long time but it was really fun to be with the members.

And then, Sunday was such an amazing day! First, we had Moong Kau's baptism at 9AM. He called us at 8:45 and said that he was having some moto problems, and so Elder Anglin and I were really scared that he wasn't going to make it to his own baptism. But, we said a prayer, and Moong Kau made it in time and he said that there was a nice guy who helped him push his moto to a shop and helped him get it fixed! It was a tender mercy. And then, after church, Sister Emy was baptized. I had the opportunity to baptize her, which was so amazing, except that her name was really hard to remember haha. We call her Emy, but her full name is super long because it is an Indian name, so it has her given name, father's name, mother's name, and surname in it. Let's just say the easy part of the name was "Rajamanikam" haha :P I felt the Spirit so strongly, especially when I saw Moong Kau come out of the font with a big smile on his face. After the baptisms we had a potluck, and then Elder Anglin and I went out to teach some people, and then went home and packed for Zone Conference.

We are actually leaving for KL in a few hours, and we will be there until Wednesday. And then, we have District Conference in Ipoh this week, so I am pretty sure that Elder Anglin and I will go down to Ipoh on Saturday, and get back Sunday afternoon. It is going to be a crazy busy week, but very fun!

Elder Anglin is doing really well! He is continuing to adjust to missionary life (man, that first transfer is tough!), but he has a really diligent spirit and is really strong. He is a really cool guy; I am lucky to be living in Butterworth with him!

I love you all so much! I am so grateful for all of you, and for the amazing influence that you have on my life. I missed you all a ton this week, but I am grateful to be here in Malaysia. Malaysia is honestly the weirdest place ever...but I love it with all my heart! But, as much as I love Butterworth, Malaysia, I love you all even more! Have a great week!

Best,

Elder Weatherford

P.S. I forgot to tell you, our haircuts were crazy. We went to a Tamil haircutting stall, and it started off normal, but at the end, they like slap your head, massage your eyes, pop your neck, and flick you. It was the weirdest thing, but it was actually quite refreshing!

Spiritual Experiences

This week has had a ton of really cool spiritual experiences!

The most spiritual part of my week was by far the baptisms on Sunday. After Moong Kau was baptized, he just had such a big smile on his face, and it absolutely melted my heart. I was just thinking how cool it is to be able to be present at his baptism. He had been addicted to some really heavy drugs for 50 years of his life, but he was able to overcome all of that through Jesus Christ, and be baptized. It really made me think about how much we can change, even if it seems slow.

I also have been thinking a lot about this quote from General Conference: "If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God...anyway."

At times, I feel the whole "spend years building, someone could destroy overnight." It can seem like we put in so much effort into something, and then it ends up falling through regardless. But, what I try to remember is that God sees everything, and He will not let all of that effort go to waste. God blesses us so much, and so even if we cannot see the immediate blessings of our effort, they are there, and we will not regret all the hard work we put into anything.

I love you all so much! I hope you all have a great week!