---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Braydon Carter <braydon.carter@myldsmail.net>
Date: Sun, Oct 21, 2018 at 11:09 PM
Subject: It's not about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward. 10/22/2018
Hello all!!
It has been a good time here in Sitiawan! My companion and I are slowly becoming better friends every single day and I see miracles every day in the work. I don't have many crazy stories from this week, but I have a really funny story to share. Then I have some good pictures to share as well:)
So this week wasn't the easiest finding week. Sitiawan is a very special city with a whole lot of culture and background. I find this out more and more every single day. To kind of explain Sitiawan I would have to say it's like the old town Lehi. It only really has two main roads that we stick to. Those roads also lead to other little cities all around the area which many people from those areas come to Sitiawan to work and to eat. There are all sorts of people here. To start off, there are 3 major nationalities here: Malay, Chinese, and Indian. There are some other small denominations in the area as well but those are the main three. Because of that, there are also a whole lot of different religions. Some of the main ones are Christianity ( Yes really, I'll explain ) Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, and a lot of younger people that will say they are 一半一半 which means half and half, and they don't really chose a religion.
( Sorry for the history lesson, but it helps explain the area :) )
This has led to a lot of diversity. For the most part, everyone has to learn Malay in school because it is the law. But outside of school, a lot of the time they remain with their people. The Chinese with the Chinese, Malay with Malay, so on and so forth. Now I won't say thats how all people are, but the majority of the time it's this way. This makes it so there is a lot of diversity among culture, as well as religion. They all have their own beliefs and, from what I've heard, a lot of the time they will just keep it that way. From what I've heard from talking with people, a lot of people here are very closed minded, they completely reject each other's ideas, and for the people who are devout, their beliefs will not stray. None of this is a bad thing at all, I don't want anyone to think me writing this means this is bad. All of these people are very, very friendly people that are loving and helpful. They just have their set ways in all things, not just religion. But over 100 years ago this area also had Christian missionaries come and start the first Methodist Church. ( There's a museum my companion and I are excited to go to ) A whole lot of people started to convert to Christianity. To paint a better picture for you, I want you to think of an average Utah County City. Think of how many churches we have. Now imagine they are all different. That's how Sitiawan is with Christianity. Within a 15 minute bike ride on one of those roads, you can find 8+ different churches. This had made it so there are all kinds of Christianity here too. This has led to a lot of conflict between each other, as well as to different religions. This is what makes them so closed off. So many people have been forceful in sharing in the past, and there's so many different beliefs here that, in a way, it's impossible to know what is true. So I think a lot of these people decide to just cling on to what they have and not be moved.
Now, to get back to the point, this makes sharing a little hard. Some people will look at us in disgust, some people will wave us away, and a lot of times they will see Jesus Christ on our name tag and will say " I already know about all of Christianity, no need." This week was one of those weeks. A whole lot of people did not want to talk to us. Which is totally OK. I think, honestly, if I had 2 strangers come up to me, at the first I would push away too. But we had a pretty awesome miracle come out of it.
Missionaries will often say really specific prayers to show their faith in God and to ask specifically for help in finding people. For example, we may ask in a prayer, "Help us find a Chinese man, who is wearing a green shirt, who will accept us and this message." One day, that's exactly what we did. We were having a lot of rejection that day and no one wanted to talk top us. We prayed and asked that specific question. Get ready for a good story :)
We were walking a long this food area, trying to find this Chinese man wearing a green shirt. We had stopped and talked to a few others too, and nothing. Still nothing. But we weren't going to stop. We kept searching, looking through all these people eating to find the one. As we were searching, a Chinese man in a green shirt saw us, smiled, and waved us over. I was freaking out at this point. First, he met our description perfectly, and second HE WAVED US OVER. He wanted to talk to us, and he had a 22 year old daughter that also wanted to talk to us too. I was just freaking out. This might of been the biggest miracle of my life. We went and talked to him for a second ( he also spoke English ) and as we were talking with him he just loved us, like in a really weird way. He and his daughter had an almost weird attention towards us. Being filled with the spirit, I said, "Hey, mind if we take a seat?" He pointed to the seat and said, "Go ahead!" Elder Duzett and I started to try and figure out why they were so interested. We asked a lot of questions to get to know them better. We had found out they they just came back from Indiana. They have a house over there. Then the daughter said that she also attended BYU-Idaho. At this point, I was literally freaking out, like I had a tremble in my voice I was so excited. I asked "Woah! What made you want to go there?" She responded by saying it sounded like good place to go to school. I followed up by asking, "How are the people there? Did you like them?" I asked this because when I last visited that area I had heard over 90% of the people in Rexburg are members of the Church of Jesus Christ. She responded, "They were all super nice." Then I paused in awe, seeing so many doors to start sharing a message. But I figured, ehh lets dig a little deeper. I said, "At BYU-Idaho, we have a lot of members that attend there. Have you heard of our Church before?" She told us that she had and she had gone with friends before. She also told us she had met with missionaries in Indiana... Oyak... At this point I was about ready just to get them dressed in white and walk to them over to the church. So we talked for a little bit more and I asked if she had ever met an Elder named Elder Wadley, or a Sister named Sister Lemon. She hadn't. But they were literally gold, with halos over their heads. I was so excited that I didn't even know where to start. Then my companion asked, "Wait, are you members?" The dad smiled and said yes they were. HAHAHA. It was seriously so funny, but it all started to make a lot more sense. Although that's not where the miracle is. So we continued to chat with them to find out more about them. We found out that they also live in the area, but they mainly live in a different area and attend church at a different branch. As this was all going on, and I was still trying not to laugh, the Dad asked us, "Want some people to try?" To make a long story short, we had found out he has a whole lot of family that lives 30 minutes from our house. He ended up giving us 7+ referrals and said, "Go take of those few. Then I've got some more people I want you to talk to." WOAH. One man in a green shirt turned into 7. I like it. So we are going to visit them all this week. Just goes to show God answers our prayers in some weird ways but His way is also better.
Now for my spiritual message for the week. To start off this message, I'll share a picture:)
This is our branch. It's really super small. A lot of times at church, we have less than 20 people there. But they are so awesome and the spirit is so strong. It just goes to show, it doesn't matter how many people you have, but as you choose to follow God and his teachings, the spirit will show you and testify of amazing things. I have loved seeing their love for each other. It's almost exactly like a family. Sometimes there will be rough patches where there are some feelings that go around, but there is always a love. A love to follow God and his teachings. My companion and I try to visit a family at least every week, just to keep them motivated as well as build our relationship with them.
And what I want to say is our Branch, or our Wards are really our families. Don't ever take it for granted. Although they may have trials, Family is Family. Our Branch President this week, the cute guy in the white shirt flashing a peace sign, shared his testimony during sacrament this week. He reported that he will be leaving to work in Singapore. He wants to better his English and save money to go on a mission. His testimony was so powerful. He shared how he loved the branch so much, and begged the branch to keep working with each other, that we needed each other, and that as we do so we will see miracles. To go along with that message, our zone leaders invited us to focus on some things for this transfer. One of them being to focus on all of the good and what you have, not the opposite. That led me and my companion to think, "Why are we here in this area? Why are we companions? Why are we with this Branch?" Everything has its reason. God places us where we are meant to be. I know that's true. So this week, don't focus on all the things that aren't happening, or that you don't have, but on the very moment you are in right now. God has blessed us with time. Use it carefully. Its precious. Don't use it in sorrow our hatred, but rather love and joy. Build up the people around you, enjoy their company. There is a reason your in it. Go find that reason.
我也想分享我的见证。我知道我们都有挑战，我们都受苦。 但是我也知道神，我们在天上的父有一个奇妙的计划。祂想要我们有快乐。祂想要我们有圣灵同在。这个星期，我检验非常谦卑的事情。我这个星期努力专注于学习福音。神为我们的教导。透过学到那些事情，我发现了，当我们有圣灵同在的时候，我们有比较多快乐。我们有耐心，也有喜乐。我也偷过专注于福音更快的学习中文。透过圣灵的力量，我们没有不能的事情。我爱这个福音! 我这道是真实的。奉耶稣基督的名阿门。
I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Carter
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