From: Braydon Carter <braydon.carter@myldsmail.net>
Date: Sun, Nov 18, 2018 at 8:19 PM
Subject: Happiness is just a Smile away 11/19/2018
Hello Everyone!!
I seriously hope everyone had an amazing week! I know I had a lot of awesome things happen this week for me. I can't even imagine what the weather is like in Utah. Over here, the weather feels like 100 almost every single day. But as my companion and I check the weather in Utah, we see some temps that are unheard of here.
Anyways, this week I have some good things to share that I really hope will helps others at home. Or will just come across as a good story to be able to read throughout your week.
I have to start off a little dark to get my point across. I think a lot of people think missionary work is sunshine and rainbows. Especially because as missionaries we do our best to try and stay positive and share the positive parts of our mission. But some times the day to day isn't so easy. There's a lot of emotion, hard work, and thought that has to go into everyday. Sometimes when things don't go as you would like, you get frustrated or discouraged. I know recently for me I was getting frustrated at some seriously pretty little things. Like to the point that if my companion was chewing to loud, I would have negative thoughts. Yes, I know that's pathetic, but it's how some days were going. I noticed that I was going through this negative cycle a lot more than I wanted too and I didn't like it at all. I knew it wasn't who I was or who I wanted to be. So I decided to jump into a book that we as missionaries receive called Adjusting toMissionary Life. It has a lot of tips and advice on how to get through some of the trials that may come as a missionary. For me, I read a lot about how I can be more positive and enjoy missionary work. And it came down to two things.
Focus on the moment.
Learn to smile.
Super simple things, but for me this week, it was life changing. It brought me back to an experience when I went to work with my dad. That day they had a lot of problems being reported which made it so my dad and his coworker needed to do a lot of work. I remember specifically a guy came in and had mentioned he had a pretty big problem and my dad and his coworker just started laughing. I was wayy confused. So I asked them, "Aren't you mad or stressed from all this work?" And they replied saying, "Well, sure it is hard, but if we were to die right now I want to die laughing, not being frustrated." That blew my mind. It really is a matter of how we choose to look at things.
So I started to apply this to missionary work. From the advice from this book, as well as a line I remember from Tony Robbins saying, "Motion creates Emotion." That made me to decide this week that every time I would start to feel this negativity come along I would do two things:
1st: Focus on the now. How can I control what I am doing now. What am I not in control of? And how can I be the best and happiest I can be now.
2nd: Smile. Every time I was frustrated I would force a smile, and the stress and frustration just seemed to flow away.
That seriously changed my perception on missionary work. And, well, just life. Life is all about the journey, not the destination! Here is a photo that I took this week that will help describe how I feel as a missionary:
I know this happiness comes because of all of the lessons I've been able to learn as a missionary, as well as knowing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the impact it can have on our lives. I promise all of you as you keep doing CPR ( Church, Prayer and Reading ) You will see a lot of changes little by little!
Now for some fun stories for the week. This week was a little bit different, but in a really fun, good way. We did A LOT with our branch president this week. It seemed like almost everyday we would call him up, or he would call us up, and we would talk about the branch and missionary work. We did a lot of the work together. He even grabbed a bike and decided to come with us as we visited with people!!
It has seriously been a blessing to be able to serve with him and just be really tight with the branch here in Sitiawan. It has shown me how Wards and Branches should be. Just a big family with a whole lot of love for each other and the Gospel.
Also this week I had a super cool experience at church. As a pre-story, I was told when I got here that all of our translation equipment was broken and unable to be used. As we were doing some service and cleaning our building on Saturday I thought I would give it a look and see what the problem was. That led me to finding out that there wasn't a problem. We got all of our translation equipment back up and running!!! At church, I was super excited to be able to let an elderly couple that is from Australia know that we got it fixed up and now we can translate for them! Little did I know I would be used. A LOT. It started off with me having a talk, which is cool. I like talking. And I did it in English and Chinese so that everyone would understand. It was a little bit of a longer talk but it was still good. I felt good about it. Then, as I sat down, Sister Lee, an older Chinese lady, came up and said. "Hey, can you translate into English for me?" I said of course, brought out the headsets, and gave it to the people who needed it. It wasn't the easiest thing, especially because she had a nitro boost attached to her speech, but I was able to translate from Chinese to English. Then I sat down again and the Brother from Australia said, "Hey, can you come up with me and translate into Chinese?" So I stood by his side and translated in Chinese. It was seriously so cool. Especially to see that God really does need all of us and he will use the gifts and talents that you have to bless the lives of others.
My final story for the week is just kind of a cool, fun story that I think people might get a smile out of. On Sundays, we and the branch president like to go visit members. It is good to say hello, get to be friends with them, get to know them, build a trusting relationship. Well, last night, we were able to go visit one of the coolest houses in the branch:
This house's name is "Gentle Lady" and it is the yacht of our Australian members who sail around the world. They stay in Sitiawan for a long time to do some repairs as well as they like the branch here and want to help. It was super cool getting to know them. They were actually baptized quite a while ago and helped build the first church in Perth, Australia. It was super cool being in a boat, getting to know a family, and just hearing their stories of traveling the world, and their faith in the gospel.
It just goes to show that everyone is so unique, but, no matter what, the gospel can bless your life and will add a whole new kind of happiness. I love all of you so much and I am so grateful for the blessings and joy I have gotten from all of you.
这个星期真的帮助我很多。我很快地发觉，当我们寻找喜乐的时候我们会边的快乐。我知道这个教会给我很多的快乐，也帮助我客服很多的挑战。我知道我们在天上的父亲爱我们。祂想要帮助我们客服每一个挑战而困难。我知道透过祂的福音我们可以找到那个快乐。透过祈祷，读摩尔门经，而过来教会给神一个机会祝福我们。我爱你们。
Love,
Elder Carter
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