WEEK #55 - Reap the Harvest

Hello hello!

Pioneer day was on the 24th of July. Mormons were persecuted in Missouri and surrounding states and had to make the daunting trek across the United States. Pioneer day celebrats the Saints entering into the Salt Lake Valley. After much trial and tribulation, the Saints at last could live in peace and harmony. I am very grateful for the Pioneers in my family. They have done so much yet I only know so little. That is why family history is so important and contagious! Find out who you are.

The topic for District Council was titled: "Extend the date to open the gate." With the people we are teaching, we invite them to be baptized. We prayerfully pick a date in which they can prepare themselves to be baptized. In the scriptures it talks about baptism being the "gate" to heaven.

JESUS LOVES YOU

The majority of people that we teach have already been baptized. We help them understand that the authority to baptize, called the Priesthood (as held by Jesus Christ and His Apostles) was taken from the earth after the death of Jesus Christ and His Apostles. People's first baptism is very sacred and they made a special promise with God. With the proper priesthood authority God can now make a promise with them! I related my Dad's experience of being baptized in a different church. The moment he received an answer that the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, he knew he needed to be baptized again.

Bakin with the best apron ever!

On Wednesday we were looking around some houses trying to find some Christians. The majority of people here in JB are Muslim, Chinese, or Tamel. We were invited into the home of this retired chines man. He gave us some water and a really long explanation of why we shouldn't worry about teaching him. His exact words were, "Don't worry about me, go find the youngsters. I can't change." It was funny haha.

Shaves iceeeeeee

Brother Awie and his family are progressing really well. They have been coming to church and having spiritual experiences when reading the Book of Mormon together. We gave them the Word of Wisdom pamphlet the night before the lesson. When we walked into their door on Thursday, they all had smiles and knew what was coming. They all received the Word of Wisdom really well! Put quite simply, God gives us commandments to bless our lives. Obedience to those commandments brings those blessings into our lives. God has created our body and has given them as a gift to us. Through the Prophet Jospeh Smith, God has revealed another commandment called the word of wisdom. It encourages us to not partake of: alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, drugs, and other illegal or harmful substances.

 We are not salesman, we promise!

Sister Rohzana (the mom) read the pamphlet the day before. When Brother Awie asked for his morning coffee and tea, she gave him hot chocolate hahaha:) They are wonderful.

We did some exploring of new areas this week. We stopped near a restaurant looking for a place to do our studies. There were a group of workers there. One of them saw us and said, "sesat" which means "lost" in a rude kind of way. They, thinking we were tourists, didn't expect us to reply with, "tidak sesat, cuma kami nak cari tempat duduk" which means, "we are not lost, we are just trying to find a place to sit." Every worker just busted up laughing! They thought we couldn't speak Malay, but it was so hilarious haha. The joy of knowing two languages! It was a blessing for sure. We had a good laugh as we rode away.

When your bike gets stolen and don't want it to happen again. 


Long bike rides. Like really long. Long enough to where we take pictures with no hands!

Church is always wonderful. A good amount of people came this week which was amazing. Brother Awie's family came. It is always a wonderful sight to see Heavenly Father's children coming closer to him :)

Late night calling people for appointments along with journal and snacks :) 

Have a great week!

Mosiah 12:33

WEEK #54 - Less Worldly, More Heavenly

Hello Everyone!

Last Monday was fun. For reminders, every monday missionaries have what is called a "preparation day" or "p-day" for short. On this day, we can email our families, buy groceries, do laundry, and do recreational activities. On this past Monday, we went to an escape room. Now, I'm going to tell you a funny story. My mom is wonderful. She loves to be adventurous and try knew things. So one day, she decides to take us to an escape room! Fun, right? When we got there, all we could see was little kids. In the actual escape room, the workers were great actors: "Hurry hurry!! We have to find the key or else the room is going to collapse!" The teenagers in the fam rolled our eyes and played the escape room probably titled: "under the age of 10." It was a great effort mother, but the escape rooms in my life haven't been all that exciting.

This one was good though!! We did a  detective-style escape room where we were to steal a rubie and had to get past all these traps and codes and locks. We made it under the 1 hour mark.

That night we had an appointment with Susey! We met him at a night market (everyone sells fruit, vegetables, clothes, etc). He is from India but happens to be a 5th generation catholic!! Surprising! He asked a lot of good questions like: "Why are there so many bibles and churches?" "How can I receive an answer when I pray?" He really understood the restoration and was excited for the Book of Mormon. 

Brother Awie and his family are amazing! They are progressing really well and understanding the divine mission of Jesus Christ. They are excited to be baptized! 

We met with Sister Madeline Sa, a longtime member here in Masai. She has a cool story of how she joined the church. She has lived here her whole life. She had always wanted to go to church. A lot of religious people would always knock on houses around hers, but not a single time did they knock on her door. Finally, the Elders came :) They only spoke English at the time, so when they spoke to her she only understood one word: "Church." She was then able to come to church and to feel of the spirit there! 

During the night market, a man walked over to our booth. We offered him a free picture of Jesus Christ. He took it, looked at it for a while and then said, "Wow, Jesus is really handsome. What a handsome guy!" He then walked away. After that we were left puzzled and laughing haha. It's true though, Jesus is handsome! 

Normal travel in Malaysia

Our gang of bikers

Sunday was neat! It was Branch Conference, which means a leader of the church comes and gives a talk. President and Sister Rowley came!!! It was really good to see them. It has been a while since I was with them in Miri. The topic was on Temples. 

Many people have heard the phrase, " 'Till death do you part." Why does death have to be the end for a family that loves one another? 

In Temples, families and spouses can be sealed together forever. To be sealed means that God promises we can live with our families after this life if we faithfully keep His commandments until the end. I miss being able to go to the Temple often with my family. When I was a little kid, my mother would drive us to school. We would always drive past the Temple and sing the song, "I love to see the Temple." I am excited to go with my family again someday :) 

Remember, the more worldly you get the less Heavenly you become!!

Have a great week. 

Love,
Elder LaRose

WEEK #53 - Humbled by Heavenly Father

This week was one of the craziest weeks of my mission!!! There were a lot of miracles.




For starters, Monday night was insane. So, there was this one person learning about the Church named Ericson. He told us that his motorcycle broke down and had to stay at his work place until the time being (which is one hour away from the church). We tried waiting for his moto to get fixed, but after a couple of weeks nothing was happening. We were going to stop teaching him if nothing came of it by Sunday. Turns out on Sunday night we saw him at his house! He was borrowing the work place motorcycle. He just arrived Saturday night, and we set up an appointment for Monday night! We get there Monday and apparently he has a lot of family living with him. His uncle has a family of 7!! They all had just moved from East Malaysia to Masai. Brother Awie and Sister Rohzana (Ericson's uncle and aunt) were very welcoming. The first time we met Ericson, we picked him up from his house and went to the church. When we went to his house on Monday, Sister Rohzana said, "I've been waiting for you to come to my house and teach my family! I kept telling Ericson but he always forgets!" Hahaha. We began teaching them about the restored gospel, and during the middle of the lesson they said, "so how long will it take until we can be baptized?" Haha what a cool experience. They are a prepared family and are excited to receive the full blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Due to some changes from the First Presidency (our Prophet and his two counselors), District Meeting will now be referred to as "District Counsel." So District Counsel was great! The title was, "The Call to Urgency." God's work is urgent! We need to have a sense of urgency when doing missionary work. There is no greater cause! Elder Gould from the Johor Baru area gave his last testimony and training. He focused it on obtaining Christ-like attributes. Christ-like attributes are things like: patience, hope, charity, diligence, obedience, and humility. Our ultimate goal is to become like Jesus Christ. We do that by obtaining His attributes. I encourage you all to prayerfully consider which attribute you would like to focus on, and pray every day that God will give you specific opportunities to show forth that attribute.

We were encouraged by President Simmons to write a list of things to remember that we have learned from our mission. I made a "remember this" list from being out on a mission for 1 year. For those that have already served a mission, I hope this list can remind you of the precious lessons you've learned. For those who haven't served a mission, I hope this list will excite you to go on a mission! And for everyone else, I hope this list will help you remember what God has done for your life. :)

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED ON MY MISSION:
1. Humility: God is helping you do His work. We are not helping Him do His work!
2. You cannot do wrong and feel right.
3. Treat your companion like you would your future wife!!
4. Be simple in all things
5. Qualify for the Gift of Charity
6. Act on revelation!
7. Don't be cheap :)
8. Accept that God works through the power of the Holy Ghost.
9. Miracles are wrought by faith
10. There are many different ways to do missionary work. Different is ok!
11. The Book of Mormon is our daily spiritual medicine.
12. Prayers really are a conversation with Heavenly Father.
13. You can and will receive revelation at church if you search for it.
14. Be motivated by faith and not fear.
15. The mission isn't about you. Seek not the praise of man, but the praise of God.
16. Christ-like attributes are only obtained through the refiners fire.
17. Sometimes you have to let others use their agency to experience something for themselves.
18. The gift of tongues is truly a gift!
19. Regret is not Godly.
20. Feelings of discouragement, fear, doubt, and stress show distrust in God.
21. You cannot measure the good you do as a missionary.
22. Expect nothing from God, but understand He expects everything from you!
23. Don't fake it till you make it, faith it till you make it!
24. I am practicing, not failing.
25. Good is the enemy of Great: A desire to be a better person is good. A desire to be converted to Christ is great.
26. We need visions, goals, and plans for every aspect of our lives!
27. Prioritize what matters most
28. Heavenly Father already knows all your needs, questions, concerns, etc.
29. EVERYTHING is centered on the pure love of Christ. Without it we will fail!
30. Jesus Christ is the head of this Church. The Book of Mormon is true. This is the work of salvation.

Guess what!? We met our old uncle Chinese man again!! He came up to us really close again and said, "If you get married, you can't be a super hero!!" He's so entertaining haha.

I gave a talk on Saturday and Sunday!! It was on obedience. God's entire purpose for our journey on this earth is to see whether or not we will be obedient to His commandments. That's it! All of us already have a perfect knowledge of God's plan. Throughout our lives, God gives us a reminder here and there according to our faithfulness! 

Here is a scripture that really comforts me:

Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

Hold out faithful Brothers and Sisters, we will be blessed in all things :)

Have a great week!!

WEEK #52 - Year Mark Really Marks the Spot

This past week was very, very interesting. For one, I HIT MY YEAR MARK ON THE MISSION!!!! Can you believe it's already been a year? I know I can't. If you were to ask my honest opinion, I would say I've been out about 3 months.


I also hit my 20TH BIRTHDAY last Friday!! I am officially out of the teen years. Should I grow a beard or something? My older brother Kyler has been growing out a beard, and isn't gonna shave it until September. Go check it out. Time goes by so fast!







Insight of the day: for missionaries serving in the Singapore Mission, preparation days (our day to basically be a tourist) normally consists of going to the bike shop and getting something fixed. If you are lucky and go the whole week without any problems, then you can go and have some fun :) So last Monday, we were at the bike shop. But hey, still fun, right?


On Wednesday we had a cool miracle. We were looking for a members house in Bayan. When we knocked on the door, someone came out and said that they had already moved. We were bummed. We then talked to this lady and it turns out she used to live in Australia. There, she would invite the Elders over every Sunday and they would share with her! What are the chances? That was a God-directed miracle.

We went to Kota Masai on Thursday. I remember when I was a little scout, the cycling merit badge seemed very daunting because we needed to cycle 50 miles. After having being on a mission, I could easily pass off that merit badge. :D Kota Masai is around a 2 hour bike ride. We visited a member who hasn't gone to church in a while. We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with Sister Madeline. It was powerful. Do people really understand faith? Faith is not just trusting God but relying on His help when it's there, and doing your best when it's not there.

1 Nephi 3:7 "The Lord giveth no commandment until the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he hath commandeth them."

Do we really understand this scripture? Every commandment, if faithfully followed, will automatically bring God's help needed to overcome any challenges. I have been so impressed with the people of Malaysia. Some of them live in very poor circumstances. Some know if they come to church on Sunday, they won't have enough money for food the next week because of the expenses of travel. BUT THEY STILL COME. Somehow, miraculously, every week they have enough to eat. Isn't this true faith? Isn't this an example that God will always prepare a way for us? If we put Jesus Christ first in our life, and sacrifice for Him, then He will always provide.

In each of your individual circumstances, find what you need to do to have more faith :) Take that leap of faith. Wade into the water with both feet. Walk by faith, even when you cannot see. This is the joy of trusting our Loving Heavenly Father :)


I had exchanges with Elder Johnson in JB! I have been on exchanges with all three Elder Johnsons in the mission haha. The Chinese Elder Johnson was in Miri while I was still in Bintulu. Now we have the privilege of getting to serve with each other for a day. He is a really good Elder and I learned a lot from him.


On Saturday we did some English Class advertising! There was this huge gathering of Ibans from all across West Malaysia. They all came to celebrate the close of their month long harvest season called "Gawai." It was intense. There also, we talked to an Iban family who happened to live close by. We shared with them the Book of Mormon and promised greater peace in their family. We set up an appointment for Monday night! Also we ran into a guy who's father happens to be a member in East Malaysia. Two really cool miracles and we didn't even deserve it!

Fun facts about malaysia:
-the majority of people don't have fridges, so whatever they cook you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO EAT. Unless it is bad, I have never been scared to eat food, especially in abundance. But, now I am haha.
-You should never whistle inside someone's home. It will bring the ghosts in.
-If someone offers you food and you want to decline, you have to touch the plate. Otherwise it is super offensive!
-Walking inbetween two people (only while they are talking) is incredibly rude. So, you have to bend down with one hand almost touching the ground as you walk past, indicating to them that you are trying your best to be invisible and not a bother to their conversation.
-When someone goes up to give a talk at church, the first thing they say is "selamat pagi" which means good morning in Malay. The congregation then replies "pagi." It is kind of like when people say "aloha" and the crowd has to say it back.
-Anywhere and anytime, shoes cannot enter the house or store. Everyone takes their shoes off. When I went to an emailing store, we walked in barefoot! Very considerate :)


I hope all of you have hit your year mark in something, because I sure hit my year mark on my mission and it is great :) Have a great week!!

Love, Elder McKayd LaRose

WEEK #51 - Kong Fu Power

Hey everyone it's me, Elder LaRose!

Last p-day was a little crazy. We got permission from the mission to buy a microwave, because our current one experienced one too many bowls of instant noodles haha. When I looked in my wallet, I barely had enough. I left the grocery store with one ringgit, or 25 cents if I was in America. I went to an ATM to pull out some money from my personal card. I tried 3 different ATM machines. All of them rejected my card. The last one was a little more salty than the rest, and totally retained my card, so I was then left with 25 cents, no debit card, and the new debit card about 3 months away (because of the distance to ship things from America to Malaysia). I probably just forgot the pin code haha. Elder Judd is helping me until I can get out of my first debt crisis. Yikes!!



That night we had some cool miracles. We were riding past this park when a young couple waved at us. Here is a tip: When you wave at missionaries, WE DROP EVERYTHING AND COME SAY HI. So if you don't want missionaries talking to you, don't smile and wave haha. It turns out this young man named Elvin had met the missionaries in Sarawak (East Malaysia) like 3 years ago. He left his copy of the Book of Mormon in Sarawak, so he wanted to meet again and get another copy of the Book of Mormon!! Literally right after we said goodbye to Elvin, someone came up from behind us and said, "You are Mormons, right?" He is from Pakistan and has been to our church before. That was a surprise! There were miracles left and right on that sweet Monday night!



On Wednesday I had exchanges with Elder Gould. He is from Tennessee and Chinese speaking, so bilanguage exchanges are always the best! We were deciding where we should go that day, and both had blank minds. We both looked out the window, saw some big houses in the distance, and said, "Let's go there!!" So we did. We had to go through a jungle to get there, so that was fun. There were Christians in the housing complex, but their friendly security guard was a little perplexed when he saw two white guys telling him to let them in haha.


You need to find a reason to laugh everyday on your mission. Thursday was a day full of laughs. We were in a mall during dead hours. Dead hours usually are around 2-4pm where not many people are out and about. We were doing language study, and we hear this high pitched yell opposite us. This old Chinese uncle came over and said, "Hello foreigners! I need to learn English. Give me two years and I can learn any language!" He was hilarious. We talked with him for a solid 20 minutes. He lectured us about how the only thing we need is Kong Fu power. Every time he talked he leaned in real close to our faces and smiled his teeth less smile. Over and over again he said," no money no honey, all we need is Kong Fu power!!!" He made us actually hit his stomach. He said because he mastered Kong Fu he didn;t feel anything. It was very entertaining and very needed to give us a good laugh. Gotta love those old Chinese uncles!!

Remember that Iban holiday called Gawai? Yeah, it is officially a month long. It's like a month long Christmas. But everyday is a party. The branch had a "closing Gawai" party. It was quite fun! They have a tradition where they take a banana tree and hang little treats on it. Someone has to get up and dance in front of everyone, go around the tree, cut off a little snack and give it to one of the kids. They then hand-off the scissors to someone else who had to go up and dance. Cool stuff!

It is already July? Yikes!!! I will hit my year mark this upcoming week. Time flies by soooo fast. I feel like I've been out on a mission for about 2 months haha. I feel like my perspective has changed a lot this past year. I've been given a chance to be humbled :) Don't worry, I already apologized to my mom for not always cleaning my dishes or doing chores when I was asked to do them. After the mission I will do anything for my parents and family!!

Speaking of which, my mom's birthday is today!!! July 2nd. Happy birthday mom! You are still looking young and beautiful :)  Thank you for always making my life fun and exciting. There are not many people that constantly showforth the pure love of Christ to others. Most of the time people have conditional love, but I've been blessed with a mother who has constant love :D Love you mom!

Go have a great week!!

Love you all!