From: Braydon Carter <braydon.carter@myldsmail.net>
Date: Sun, Sep 9, 2018 at 10:04 PM
Subject: 09/10/2018 Just keep swimming
Well Howdy ;)
Holy cow has it been an eventful week. I can't wait to tell you all about it . There's just to many stories not to share from this week!
I need to start off by letting everyone know of the changes that come along with me coming to the field. It is very very different from the MTC. Out in the field we still have P-Day on Monday which is on everyone's Sunday back home ( for the most part ). The big change that we have here is about emailing. It turns out in the mission field. ( and this is for most missions ) you only have an allotted time that you get to email. For us in Singapore it is 2 hours. That is said to be a lot of time compared to some of the neighboring missions, as well as we can only check all of our emails during those two hours as well. So I really need to use them effectively. With that being said I probably won't be able to do a lot of the chatting like I did when I was at the MTC, instead I am really going to focus on making sure the group email is big, and something that most everyone can benefit from. I am not saying to not email me personally but I am letting everyone know if I don't respond, it's because we are on a time crunch!
But anyways,
I MADE IT TO SINGAPORE!
From the second we landed in Singapore, that's when the rush happened. Everything seriously went by so fast. We were greeted by the Mission Presidency as well as the two AP's. They helped get all of our luggage and throw it into the back of a van, and then asked us all to walk back to the airport for a quick brief of the day. From there Sister Rowley ( The mission president's wife ) told us that it was our job to make it to the mission home, and that as we were doing so it was our goal to pass out a pass along card, as well as a Book of Mormon. They paired us up with some of the Elders in the ward, and we were on our way. Just like that jumping into missionary work. As a side note I have to say, I'm a pretty social guy. But these Elders were nuts, I kid you not when I say they talk to everyone in their path. I was terrified, you can't just walk up to someone and talk to someone right? WRONG. I found that out very quick. It was about an hour to get to the mission home and the hour was just full of us trying to talk to people on the MRT there. ( Which is a massive transportation system they have here in Singapore. ) As we did so I was able to talk to people, and actually use my Chinese quite a bit. I talked to a couple of people in Chinese, and I ended up passing out my Book of Mormon and my pass along card out. I FELT AWESOME! I was a missionary now! I was blessing and helping other people come to Christ and partake in His blessing. Although the funny thing is when I told the AP I had passed both out, they responded by saying " great! I have many more in our backpack." WOW, they were serious here, it's not a one and done kind of thing it's a bring as many people closer to Christ as you can.
Then we made it to the Mission home. Which is just right behind our Church here. The " Mission Home" Is actually the top floor of the second church building. All the other floors are chapels and classrooms for the church. We then had training for most of the rest of the day. They brought us in, greeted us again, and we had a good welcome meeting. Although I must say, all the rumors are true, Singapore is hot and humid, but like every building has the BEST AC in the world. I am almost freezing every time I go in doors. But it feels good a lot of the time. Then after that meeting we all headed back to a little home in Pasir Panjang where we unloaded our stuff and got a good night rest. The next morning we headed back to the mission home to finish up our training. Which everyone was really excited for because at this meeting we got to hear about 2 very important things, first where were going, and second, when in the world do we get our phones. ( Geez those youngins) And so we went through out the day anxiously waiting, and then THE BIG REVEAL! Where we we are heading next! Where the rest our our adventure will take us! We were all excited to know where we were going! I GOT ASSIGNED TO SITIAWAN! It's a area in west Malaysia! I was a little unsure of the area, because the night before I had some of the older missionaries in Singapore tell me of the really good Chinese places, and that wasn't one of them. But I had later found out that where I am going is a Mandarin branch and a TON of Chinese people. SO not only will I be able to grow my Chinese but I will be able to grow the branch as well! I could not be more excited. A little bit more about my area, is it is called an outpost. What that means is we are the only two missionaries in that area, and we are pretty far from any other zone. So it will just be myself and my companion killing it, in a little area called Sitiawan. I can't wait until I get there. You read right. I can't wait until I get there. I am not there yet.
Let me explain. So after we found out where we are going our mission president let us know that all of us new missionaries are going to stay in the area until this next week. It's because we have our zone conferences this upcoming week, and he didn't see the point of having us all going out and then having us come back in one or two days. Which at first I didn't like because it means I won't have my device till Wednesday, but as I have been here I have had the best time, and that decision and really been a blessing. So that night, they paired us with missionaries in the Singapore area that we would go out with until zone conference. I got WAY lucky. I got paired with the two AP's just like Dwight from the office, I have been the assistant to the assistant and it has been stellar! They are both the coolest Elders. One of them is named Elder Olive, the other is Elder Johnson, and I kid you not I have been blessed to be by there side. I'll talk a little bit more about why it was so great here shortly. But they are just known as the Elders that just go after it and kill it, when I was with them this week I have no doubt we talked to almost 200 people a day, just getting to know them, their background, and inviting them to come to church. It has been amazing.
I can't share all of what happened, I don't have enough time, and I also think Gmail might crash if I try to type it all out. But some of the highlights of this were going out and finding. Elder Olive and I went out the first day which was just awesome. I was still a little nervous, but he gave me tips, and we just talked to hundred of people. In the mission as we go out, we have 2 purposes. To try and let as many people as we can know about the great message we have to share, and the other is to try and teach some lessons. We call it OTS. Or ( Oats) On the spot lessons. This is where if some on is interested enough we will just sit down with them and teach a 10 minute lesson. Those are actually my favorite part. Especially when you can really connect with the people. One of my favorite ones this week was with a teenager named ZiJie. The story is as we do missionary work, a lot of the things we can do to progress those we teach is through the devices we have. So most companionships have set times to get all their tasks done for the day. Well I, not having a phone, wasn't able to do to much at that time. So a very cool experience that I had, is the two AP's stopped at a 7-11 to sit down and do all their tasks for the day. As they were doing so I noticed a ZiJie, and started to talk to him in Chinese. Then we started chatting about religion and then I asked if he had some time that he might want to learn some more. He said he did, and I went for it. I taught him the whole restoration, and was able to teach him how to say his first prayer, and gave him a Book of Mormon with a challenge to read it. It was so powerful and strong, and it just made me love the work more and more. Here's a picture one of the AP's took of me unknowingly while I was teaching:
Some other cool things I was able to do with them is experience is going to dinners with the some of the Members here in Singapore getting to know them, and having a good meal. One of the members that we met was an expat who had this awesome apartment, where we ate some good waffles. Here's a photo:
If we are not being fed by the members, we just really go out every meal. Everything is really decently priced here and Singapore, and it's really easy to just pick it up and get back to work. I was able to go to a little restaurant where they give you all your food on a really hot skillet and you cook it, it was really really cool. Everything here is just so interesting:
Overall this week has been so amazing. Even though I am kind of living out of a suite case for now, I have had so many good experiences. Out of everything that has happened in the last week, I have really learned that hard work pays off. That as you give it your all that blessing will come and many miracles happen. Elder Olive, which is the senior companion for the AP's told me as we were out finding that he loved my energy. He said he had no doubt in his mind that I was going to be a leader in this mission and that I had amazing potential to really shape and form how this mission will be over the next two years. He pleaded with me to stay obedient and to work hard. I told him I was going to go for it and be a world changer. He made me so confident in my self and really just excited to get out there and do the very best I can. I was able to watch these two this week, teach so many different lessons, and text and call so many people that they have found on the street. It was an amazing sight to see that if you give it your all, many blessings come from it. I was able to witness them baptise 3 people on Sunday, and see the joy of not just the new converts, but the members. It was a really good reminder that God loves each and every one of His children, and as we go to Church, Pray, and Read the scriptures. ( CPR ) He will bless our lives. God has amazing plans for us. I have such a strong testimony of this now, I have to be honest in saying that this first week wasn't easy. I got discouraged, and often wondered if I was doing good, but as I was literally able to see lives changed, day to day, because of this message it makes you fall in love with the work. I have no doubt I'm getting lost in the work and I love it. It's a beautiful opportunity.
I promise you all that although we have trials, and many hard things happening in our lives. Even though it may seem incredibly hard now, God is really just building us, to do great things, and become incredible people. I seriously can't wait to get out to Sitiawan, and just love the member's there, and hopefully turn a branch into a ward. I promise that as you trust God, He will lift you, He will guide you. He is our loving father in heaven and He loves you with an eternal love. Follow and trust Him, and I promise life will be all the better!
I love you all so much!
Elder Carter
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