From: Braydon Carter <braydon.carter@myldsmail.net>
Date: Sun, Dec 9, 2018 at 10:24 PM
Subject: Getting lost in the adventure 12/10/2018
大家好!
Hello Everyone!!
I seriously hope that everyone is doing super well. I can't even imagine what it's like in Utah right now. Or in the United States in general. Sometimes when we are talking with people, they will ask us about stuff that's going on right now, and we will have no idea. It's all just a mystery for us missionaries.
Well anyways, this week I have A LOT to share. It has been an adventure of a week with just a whole lot that's happened and even more that has been learned.
This week, as most of you know, my companion and I headed off to Singapore for Zone Conference which was just awesome. Something way cool was we actually ran into the IPoh sisters which are in our district in the airport and had the same flight to Singapore! It was pretty awesome to have our whole district together. Here is a photo of all of us on the plane!
It was so cool to see all the missionaries from our zone, to hear all of their stories and to just learn from each other. During this Zone conference, we celebrated Christmas which was way fun! It's crazy to me to think that Christmas is just around the corner. They don't have anywhere close to the decorations, or advertising like we do. Or maybe I'm just hidden from it. As we were singing and celebrating I was like whattt it's already Christmas. I learned so much from zone conference. It was awesome. I was also able to stay in Singapore for a couple days while my companion had additional training and that made it that I was able to go out on splits with some of the Elders in Singapore. The coolest part is that the Elder I went out with is named Elder Petersen and he was in the MTC with me. It was so sick to see him, and just hang out with him for the day doing missionary work.
But for me as I was in Singapore the biggest thing I learned was while I was out finding. I'll show this photo of what I learned and then I'll explain why it stuck out to me so much.
This photo was taken while I was on what's called the MRT in Singapore. The sad part is, in all reality, that photo might as well have been a video because there wouldn't be a whole lot of difference. As I was riding on the MRT, I was shook that there was probably easily 1000 people on that train, but it was absolute silence, like even more so than a library. No one talks to each other, no one interacts, just looking down at their phone, or with their earbuds in. It made me sad to see that millions of people are around us every day that we completely ignore to a piece of technology. There are so many people that struggle with confidence, and have life problems that need other's help, but so many people would rather turn to a piece of technology than the people around them. I felt as if I was on the set of the walking dead. Took me by surprise really... As I was pondering this I came across a quote that I loved. It says:
"We need to learn how to control our phones, not let them control us"
As missionaries, we have pretty strict rules with our phones. One of them being that we should try and always have a clear purpose when using them, as well as using them to benefit us, not to distract us. I also love that our mission president almost every time we meet with him says:
"A distraction doesn't have to be evil to be effective"
It's so true... and I see that everyday. As I was also in shock, and pondering this situation, I was taken back to a memory of me and my Uncle Larry as we went on a trip to Mexico. We were standing by the ocean looking at what seemed like a world of water. And as I was standing with him there I asked:
"Why do you think God put so much water on the earth, and so little land?"
Then I will never forget the wise words of my uncle as he said:
"Because God knows we need each other, so he put us close together"
I could not agree more with those wise words. And I know it's so true. We need each other. To help each other in times of need. It time of struggle, and build each other up. So I write all of this for a purpose. I am begging all of you to take a second to just ponder.
Do you control your phone, or does it control you?
And as you come up with and answer I beg and plead, please control your phone. The people around you need you. They need physical people to talk and council with. Please this week just go out and try to reach out to a friend, or a new friend. Maybe even try the old fashion way like visiting them at their house. I know like my uncle said. God put us together for a reason. Go find that reason. Go find your purpose!
Now for the kind of funny thought / story for the week. So to make a long story short, I'll just say traveling isn't the easiest thing. Immigration likes us sometimes, sometimes they don't. As my companion and I were traveling back to Malaysia, we ran into some problems. At first when we were at the counters they were confused to why we left only for a couple days and then came back. So they politely asked us to go to the immigration office to get things figured out. Which then led to us to talking with the immigration officers. They said that my companion needed to go back to Singapore and I could stay. So we were split up. There's not much more detail I can go into. But now I am in a place called Puchong [Google Map] for the next little bit. And it's quite possible I'll be moving again. I'm kind of just the moving Elder right now which is kind of awesome!!
So right now I am with these 2 Elders named Elder Pack, and Elder Teng. And they are sooo sweet. I love them. And we've all really just become really good friends throughout the last couple days together. Elder Pack is from Colorado and has been out over a year, and Elder Teng is from IPoh and he's been out since May. They are soo sweet! And I have loved working with them, especially because their Chinese is both very good. Which makes things really fun. So for now I am here in Puchong, living it up!
Anyways, I have one last thought for this email. So as I have been in Puchong, Elder Teng has this super awesome song, I'm not even sure how to explain it but it's like a pump up song with a bunch of cool conference talks. Which led me to come across one of my new favorite conference talks in the whole entire world. It's basically just this talk about working really hard, staying positive and not giving up. Here is my favorite quote from it.
"When the Lord said, “Lengthen your stride, quicken your pace, heighten your reach, widen your vision, and stretch your capacity,” he was in reality saying “expect a miracle,” for these are the stuff from which miracles are made."
I just love this quote. I'm not going to say much more about it. But what can you do this week to see a miracle. I picture Heavenly Father as a person with a big bag of miracle to give out, we've just gotta reach out for them.
Anyways. I love you all so so much! Thank you for the love and the support. Like always the prayers are felt. Also if there's anything you want to hear more about let me know. I am trying to send out weekly emails that are nice and detailed that not only are a good read, but as well as give others a good idea of what missionary work is like!
我只想见证， 我知道神，我们在天生的父爱我们每一个人。我也知道他给我们彼此来帮助彼此。我知道当我们花一点时间帮助别人，神会祝福我们。我也知道透过帮助别人我们又能感觉非常快乐。你们现在有什么机会帮助别人呢。我也知道当我们学到怎么用我们的手机我们会成长很多! 这件教会是真实的，而且我答应你们当你们过来教会，读摩尔门经和祈祷，你会有很多的快乐在你的生活中。我爱你们。 谢谢支持我!
Love,
Elder Carter
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