WEEK #46 - Grateful for Feet

Good morning!

Weeks just fly by soooo fast!!

It's almost JUNE!! Coming up on my year mark...

One of the youth in our branch, Sister Emmielda, just got her mission call! I remembered exactly the feelings of that moment. She had a lot of support from the branch, friends, and other members. She got called to serve in the Singapore mission! I will probably come across her sometime again! I'm grateful for all the support I received from every one of you during my mission call opening.

Elder Tan had to do a visa run, so we were in the BERTIGA! (tripanionahip). Brother Ing took us out to a seafood restaurant. He ordered SO much!! We had delicious crab and prawns, and sea cucumber. Ever tried the last one? It felt like I was back home on the East Coast :)

We met with Brother Kenny, a teenager who was recently baptized. We are working with him to share the gospel with his friends! We had him pray for who he should share with, and he had a name pop into his head! He stood up with his hands in the air and said, "I love revelation!!" Sweet experience.

We met our branch president at work! 

A lot of missionaries were gone for exchanges, so District Meeting was moved to Friday. It was really good! The title was: "No other reason for the season." We are in the "missionary season" of our lives, so we have to give it our all! We compared our purpose to that of Joseph Smith. When Joseph Smith was visited by the Angel Moroni, Joseph Smith described what the Angel Moroni spoke to him about: "He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;"

Joseph Smith needed to translate this record (later known as the Book of Mormon) so that everyone can receive additional truth from a loving and living Heavenly Father.

The Angel Mororni warned saying that "I must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other motive than that of building his kingdom; otherwise I could not get them."

This can be applied to missionary work!

We must have no other object in view in" serving a mission," otherwise we could not" return with honor." It was an interesting discussion!

Me and Elder Bennion laying down on the ground and singing "there is sunshine in my soul today"

After district meeting we had lunch literally right next door. When we came back to the church, our bikes were gone!! There were 8 other bikes there, but they only took ours. Yikes!!! We walked everywhere to look for them. It's all good! That's why I'm grateful I still have my feet for walking!

That same day we were planning to go to on of our farthest areas, Tudan. It's an hour away on a bike ride. There is a taxi called a grab, so we took grab. The problem was, grab's map doesn't reach out to Tudan. We took a guess and luckily ended up very close to our member's house! It started pouring rain, and we couldn't find a way to the member's house. We got to a gate and asked for the owner to open it. He opened the window, looked at us, and shut the window haha. We couldn't climb over the fence because it would ruin it. So we went the opposite way, going through the jungle in the dark. We came across a river, it was 20 feet long and 5ft deep. We saw a teeny tiny bridge. By bridge I mean a 2 by 4. We had to take it. We made it across! We finally made it to the members house and had a great lesson.

I had exchanges with Elder Tan! He was my companion in Cheras. It was great to be with him again!

We taught one of our members children who is 9 years old. We taught him how to pray. When we asked him how to begin, he said: "you say hello?" It was so hilarious, I was dying!

Everyone NEEDS to have a good week this week because God's purpose is for you to be happy.

Love y'all!

Love,
Elder LaRose

WEEK #45 - God Gives Us Weaknesses for Our Benefit

Hello Everyone!! Just another great week!

Not too much happened this week, but all is well.

I am really beginning to love being a District Leader! I have a personal influence on others testimony, faith, skills, and energy! The title for District Meeting was: Devotion over Promotion. I went over the requirements, qualifications, expectations, magnifications, and blessings of our calling as missionaries! When we came out on a mission, we received a "ministerial certificate" that indicated, by President Monson, that I have been ordained to preach the gospel. We talked about the difference between a worldly certificate and a heavenly certificate. What's the difference?

A worldy certificate is temporary and normally has an expiration date. A heavenly certificate is permanent and has an exaltation date haha. It was a good discussion.

English class finally started up! We did some advertising at some schools. A good amount of members came ready to learn!

As missionaries, we talk with everyone! That means EVERYONE. We were riding our bikes along the rode, and this man in a truck passes us with his window rolled down. I smile and wave at him. He smiles and waves at me. I get a feeling I need to talk to him. He starts speeding up. I start speeding up. I grab onto his truck. He looks at me. I look at him. I shared with him about the Book of Mormon. He said he already has a church. I smiled and gave him our card. He then drove away haha. It's always fun to share the gospel at any time and place!!

When you want to make things hard for yourself 

On Sunday we met Brother Ingin and his family. They have been church members for 11 years. They have 7 children in all. One of their daughters just received her mission call! She's waiting for it to come in the mail. One of their sons is 24, and just started coming to church again. We are working with him so he too can serve a mission. They are kingdom builders for sure.

 My companion works so hard he works himself to sleep. 


It was a great week! Love you all!

WEEK #44 - Mothers Are the Best!

Well hello Everyone!

I'm excited to email you today, there was a lot of stuff that happened!

On Monday, we did a family home evening with Jiki, a recent convert. All 15 of the youth came and shared their testimonies. We were able to share the story of Joseph Smith but acted it out! We compared Joseph's Smith's experiece to light and darkness. When Jesus Christ established his church, the light bulb was on and shining bright! After Jesus Christ was killed and His Church was lost, there was no light. Joseph Smith lived in a time of darkness. There were so many different churches with conflicting doctrines. So, we told Jiki to turn off all the lights. It was pitch black. We picked Jiki to be Joseph Smith. We read James 1:5 that says, "If ye lack wisdom, let him ask of God." So, Joseph Smith lacked wisdom! He prayed to God, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. Elder Schindler and Elder Bennion stood over Jiki and shined a powerful bike light over him. I said the First Vision (Joseph Smith's experience). It just seemed real. I felt the Spirit very strongly confirming that this experience really did happen. I hope all have had this same confirmation too.

Remember Brother Ing? He's that Chinese less active member who just walked into church one day. Well he had us over for dinner! His wife was phillipino, so guess what she cooked? CHICKEN ADOBE! I haven't had it in 5 years. It was reallllly good.

We had house inspections on Thursday. Guess who passed? We didn't! Just kidding. We got an A+. Thanks mom and dad for teaching me life skills!

Ever since there has been a lack of missionaries, We have been going to both Malay and Chinese areas. We got news that a Chinese elder would be coming to Miri. It is Elder Tan!! He was my companion in KL! Previously, he was my District Leader, and now I'm going to be his district leader! Good to see him again.

We did some English class advertising on Friday! We are going to start it up again and see how it goes. Anyone want to come learn English? My English has declined due to my immersion into the Malay language  :)

Elder Young Yen, one of the missionaries serving in my mission, is a 271 lbs Samoan. He heard some news from other missionaries that I liked to wrestle. So, he challenged me to a wrestling match. It was interesting. Wrestling really is all about skill. I got a nice single leg on him and pinned him in the cradle. Good match though😂

On Saturday we were just walking to boulevard where we saw one of our PIs. This potential investigators name is Greyson. We asked if he still wanted to meet and he said, "Do you have time now?" We excitedly said yes! It turns out to be one of the best first lessons I've ever had. He completely understood the Restoration. He's like, "Ya so Jesus Christ's Church was lost, and people still wanted to follow God so they did it in the best way they knew how. With the creation of many churches, the full gospel was taken from the earth. Joseph Smith was called of God to bring back Jesus Christ's original church!"

My first thought was, "ok where are the cameras. Where is the script haha."

He is amazing.

On Sunday we met with a bunch of youth! They are all really excited to serve missionaries. We taught 5 simple ways to prepare for a mission!
1. Pray every day
2. Read God's work everyday (especially the Book of Mormon)
3. Come to church every week
4. Follow the missionaries
5. Share the gospel with family and friends!

These simple 5 steps are not just for missionaries, but for every member of the church.

Last but not least, This past Sunday was mother's day. I am so grateful for my mother. She has done so much! It's sad that I realized that the most when I'm the farthest from her. My greatest advice is to love your mother! Happy Mothers Day :)

I got to FaceTime my family today. It is always bitter sweet. They are so supportive and willing to help me with everything :) They are doing good!

Hope everyone had a good mother's day and week! See you next week.

Love,
Elder LaRose