Joshua's Song of Singapore: Week 30: Butterworth, Malaysia

The Ballad of Butterworth

Hello everyone! Today was an exciting week....all I can say is that missions are crazy!

Well, I guess I can go into a little bit more detail haha. On Tuesday, we got special permission to bike to Penang and have our "District Council" meeting in person, and then we did language study together with the Penang Sisters. It was fun to see them and spend some time with other missionaries. Don't get me wrong, I love Elder Anglin to death, but sometimes after us two being the only two people surrounded by goofy Malaysians in Butterworth, it is nice to see some new faces. On Tuesday night, we met with this cool lady who is originally from China, but now lives in Malaysia. She is from close to Beijing, and so her Chinese is so goofy because in northern China they add "r" to so many words. She kept saying the word for soda, and it took us a while to realize what she was saying haha. She has a lot of friends coming from China for Chinese New Year, and they all want to learn about Jesus Christ!

On Wednesday, we met with William again, and he committed to try coming to church, reading the scriptures, and praying for 1 week. Haha, we were glad to hear he is willing to try, but we hope to extend it to more than one week. And then on Thursday, we met with Chitra. Her lessons are so fun because we will say one thing in English, and then our member present will spend like 4 minutes translating into Tamil, and then he will say "OK" and then we continue. This week was about the Law of Chastity, so we would say something like "God loves families" and then wait for a few minutes, and then say "Families are important" and then keep waiting haha!

On Friday, we had English class and we played a fun game where we blindfolded each other (using our ties) and then had to lead each other through an obstacle course using English. It was quite the adventure! On Saturday, we had the opportunity to meet with CY again, and she is doing so great! She really has seen the blessings of praying everyday, is excited to read the Book of Mormon, and wants to share the Gospel with her family so that they can come closer together. (In Malaysia, a lot of people have names like CY or CK or AK because they choose the first letter of their Chinese name...hence Chi Yee becomes CY).

Sunday was also really good! We had a great time at church, and then we went and knocked on some doors. It was really nice, but it was SOOO hot...luckily a nice Buddhist man let us inside and gave us some Japanese probiotic yogurt drinks to cool down. And then, we went to go visit some of the members of our branch who haven't been to church in a while, and we met this nice Indian lady who only spoke Malay and Tamil. We talked to her for a little bit in broken Malay, and then she asked us to pray for her. So, I attempted to pray in Malay, and it went something like this: "Heavenly Father, thanks today friend speak, please bless family have good life, Jesus Christ, amen." It wasn't the best prayer I've said, but the Spirit was there!

I love you all so much! Sorry that this week's email is so long...hopefully you all had lots of crazy/wonderful moments as well and that you saw and felt God's love. Thank you for all of the support and love. I am sending mine to all of you, no matter how far apart we may be. Love you all!

Spiritual Experiences

This Tuesday, when we were getting back from Penang, we biked by a guy who had a flat tire on his moto. I have been there done that and know how painful it is, so we stopped and offered to help him push it up the road. He declined, but we talked to him for a bit and then invited him to church.

The rest of the week passed, and then on Sunday he texted us saying that he could come to church. And then, while I was giving a talk in sacrament meeting (and reading something from off of my phone) he started to call, and I thought "Oh man, I wish I could answer right now and help him find the church." But, even though I couldn't pick up, he found the church and was able to attend!

It was amazing to see that through a simple act of showing our care for one of God's children, we were blessed with a miracle. I was really grateful, and I was grateful for Jacky (that is the guy's name) and his sweet spirit.

Miracles can be hard to see if we are not looking for them, but when we consistently pray and rely on God, we really can see His hand in our lives. Love you all!

Love,

Elder Weatherford

P.S. On a not so spiritual note, the reason we are emailing so early is that today there is an Indian festival that we are going to. I am actually TERRIFIED to go...this is the festival where they put chains in their backs and pull stuff and put swords through their bodies and all that. But, there is free food, so Elder Butterford will be there!