From: Braydon Carter <braydon.carter@myldsmail.net>
Date: Sun, Jan 27, 2019 at 8:27 PM
Subject: AppendiPenang 01/28/2019
Date: Sun, Jan 27, 2019 at 8:27 PM
Subject: AppendiPenang 01/28/2019
大家好!
Hello Everyone! I hope that you are all having a really good week. Man oh man do I have some stories for you this week!
To start off, my companion and I had the most fun, greatest P-Day. Something really cool about our companionship is that we both have a go-get-them attitude as well have fun while we were at it. Not only that, but we both LOVE Chinese. We both love the culture, and the people, and learning all about them as a people. We decided that we wanted to do something super exciting on P-Day, so we decided to hop on a ferry and head to an Island called Pankor [ Pangkor Island ]. Here are some pictures on the way:
To be completely honest, we had no idea what was on the island. We woke up in the morning and had a spur of the moment thought to go. As we were on our way, we found out that there was a really big Buddhist temple there [ Fu Lin Kong Temple / street view ] and it automatically caught our attention. The more you know Chinese, the more interesting the culture and the temples are. You start to catch a small grasp about why they are the way they are as people, and how they look at life. Here are some pictures of the temple we visited:
Because we were on an island, we obviously went to check out the beach. We aren't allowed to get in the ocean, but we were able to get on the sand and look at the beautiful view. I found out while I was there that there is a Hard Rock Cafe Resort on the island, or I think they have their own island, and me being the dreamer and entrepreneur I had 2 thoughts. One is that I hope my uncle Blaine can get a time share there to have us all go when I get home. My second thought was I'm gonna get some time shares here in the future, and then I can visit my mission :)
It was a really cool adventure to jump right into the culture and see what kind of things interest people here. It really kind of made me fall in love with Malaysia even more. The most exciting part of the whole journey is we had no idea where we were going. We just went. We talked with natives on the streets and made it a super awesome P-Day.
Now to get on with the rest of the week. We woke up the next day and my companion was not doing hot. At all. In fact, it was very obvious that he was sick, and he, like me, thought he was superman and decided it was no problem, let's just get out and work. We headed to the church and some things happened there that made it very obvious that we needed to see the doctor. To make a long story short, we spent a lot of time in a hospital bouncing back and forth between doctors until we finally found out that my companion had Appendicitis. I think it's kind of a miracle because, for those of you who are close to me, you would know that I had that same problem just before my mission. I was able to care for him and help him to the best of my ability. He ended up having to have surgery. It was amazing to see that the church really does trust missionaries. I got a call from the mission office that basically said, "Here's what you need to do for him. Let us know when it happens." I was able to serve my companion, to the best of my ability, giving the mission office hourly updates, as well as taking care of admitting him and insurance. It was really a tender moment for me. It goes to show that everyone needs someone that can help them when they fall down. It was, honestly, the coolest thing in the world to be the mother figure.
As all of this was going on, we got a message from our mission office talking about a mini transfer that was going to take place just two days later. There have been a lot of changes in our mission and we needed to change some things up with missionaries to match the needs of the mission. For my companion and I, we knew that we were going to leave Sitiawan. That's partially why we went to an island on P-Day. But what we didn't know is where we were going. As I was sitting next to my companion in the hospital, I saw that letter and saw that we were both going to be moving to Penang [ Penang ]. Not only going there, but we are doing something called white washing, which means that no missionary is staying there, we will be coming in and picking up where the previous missionaries left off. And Elders haven't been on the Island of Penang for a really long time. So we are now opening up the island of Penang for Elders. We obviously wouldn't be leaving right away, but we ended up leaving on Saturday afternoon, and we are now currently in Penang.
That's a lot for one email, and I feel like I could just go on and on about the adventures and what happened this week. But from this whole experience I had some pretty eye opening things happen.
I learned that God really loves and trust us so much. Regardless if we are 19 year old boys who have moved across the world, a new convert, someone who is learning about the church, or even life long members. He trusts and loves every single one of us. To the point where He has trusted us to build the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth today. I also learned that He needs us to love everyone. Literally, when He said to love our enemies, it wasn't a suggestion. Part of why we left Sitiawan was because some of the members didn't want to solve conflicts that had been affecting the whole branch. It was sad to see that one member had humbled and softened her heart, and another member couldn't find the strength to do it. There is a reason the first commandment is to love God with all our might, and the second is love they neighbor as thyself. I have seen how, if we could just do those 2 things while we are here on earth, it would make massive differences.
I want to end with my testimony that I know God lives. He is our literal Father in Heaven that wants to helps us grow, as well as help us be happy. I know that as we turn to Him, and love Him with all our might, He will bless us. I also have a strong testimony that as we treat each other kindly and love each other that everything would work out. I love a quote from Tony Robins that says, "I found out if I help everyone around me get what they want, I'll have no problem getting what I want." I think that's very true in a gospel because, as we help others feel the love and help and serve them, God will bless us in our lives as we put others first.
I love all of you so much! Feel free to email me! I miss talking to a lot of you! I am praying for you and hope that some of my strange experience can leave an impact on the live around me!
Love,
Elder Carter
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