4 Feb 2019 - An Island of Souls

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From: Braydon Carter <braydon.carter@myldsmail.net>
Date: Sun, Feb 3, 2019 at 7:06 PM
Subject: An Island of Souls 02/04/2019

你们好! 我希望你们的星期过的超好! 我这个星期有一些好的故事:)

Hello Everyone! I hope everyone had a really awesome week! I have some cool stories to share from this week that I hope everyone will enjoy. 

To start off my email, after I was finished my email last week, my companion [Elder Taylor] and I decided that we both missed Mexican food. We looked on Google maps and sure enough, right here in Penang, Malaysia, there is a good Mexican restaurant called Holy Guacamole. And it was so, so good! 

Then, we were able to walk around George Town and see some of the cool, old Penang art and see some things we don't normally see everyday as a missionary. It was really cool and fun. As we went throughout the day, we were able to talk with many cool people, including a man from China that does calligraphy. My companion and I ordered a calligraphy art piece with our names on it. 

During the rest of the week, we saw so many cool miracles and it has been so amazing to do the work of God. Not just by ourselves, but also to work with the members, and make a lot of cool plans. Basically, we spent the whole week meeting with and getting to know members, to better know how we can serve them, and to work with them. It was seriously the coolest thing in the world to see the amount of care and support church leaders have for their branch. It was especially cool because some of the leaders in our branch are Expats [expatriates] (which means they are from the United States but they do business here). It was really cool to sit with them and learn how to be a better missionary as well as what their ideas were to help the branch. The spirit was so strong as we were able to meet with these people, and discuss the needs of God's children here in Penang. 

But I saw three way cool miracles and was able to be part of three things this week that seriously just lit up my whole world. 

The first one is the YSA [Young Single Adults]. As missionaries, we have to be careful working with YSA because, as you spend time with them, you can slowly feel yourself falling out of missionary mode and shifting into party teen mode. But, it so important to work with the YSA because they really are the future of the church and will help the church grow so much, especially if they have a desire to. So, this week, we decided to have a meeting with the YSA rep and was able to work with her to set up all kinds of fun activities for the YSA and help them grow. One activity was a Steamboat night that we had on Saturday.  The activity was so eye opening and exciting. We were able to get to know all of them, and hear their conversion stories and their desires. I seriously got so excited when one of them walked up to me and started asking me questions about applying for a mission. As I heard this, my heart seriously almost exploded, and my spirit was full. It was in that moment that I saw the excitement and motivation for people wanting to grow the gospel. I saw that, as we go out and work hard, the gospel can literally change their lives. I saw the light and brightness in all these YSA. There is no greater joy than what comes from the gospel. 

My next thing is something that happened in a Grab Car [taxi, Uber, Lyft] on the way home. We had a Malay driver which means he is part of the Muslim faith which is totally okay. They are awesome people, but we aren't allowed to share the gospel with them. As we got in his car, we were able to exchange some words back and forth. He spoke little English and we speak little Malay, but we were able to talk with him a little. As we were talking, we tried to talk about him and his family. He explained that he was married for a couple years and hadn't had any kids yet, but wanted them in the future. After that, we didn't have much to say so we just enjoyed the ride back home until... This Malay man looked up at us and said. Actually, I had one baby one time. It was in my wife's stomach and it died after 3 months. When my companion and I heard that, we just went quite. We didn't know what to say, we were in shock a little bit. But, being very smart and loving, my companion asked what his name was. The Malay man responded saying Aba, and that he really liked the name Aba. My companion said in what was obviously a teary eyed voice,  "Hey. I want you to know that Aba is in a safe place now. You don't know what that means yet, but you will one day." As my companion said that, I quickly started to tear up and feel the spirit so strong. In that very moment, I knew that God really does have a plan for every single one of us. He loves all of us, and will take care of us now matter what the circumstance is. 

The last miracle is something else my companion and I were able to do this week. As we were visiting with some members, we ran into a family that hasn't been to church in over 9 years. It was a little bit strange when we went to their house because they quickly opened the door and said "Elders! Come in!"  As we talked with them, we found that they hadn't been to church because they can't speak English and we have an English branch. We didn't have a lot of time that night, but they invited us back to come eat dinner with them. We came back a couple days later and they were SO WELCOMING. We found that not many missionaries could speak Chinese with them, and that we were the most fluent missionaries they had met. As we counseled with them, and met with them, we found that they loved the church and believed it, but it was hard to come to church because they couldn't understand. We loved them and told them we would do the translations for them and they happily accepted the invitation to come back to church. As I was able to have this experience with them, it really helped me see that God knows who we need to talk to, and what we need to learn, and who we need to become to help others around us. I have a strong testimony of the Gift of Tongues and I know that God has blessed me with areas and companions that have helped me grow progressively to have miracles like that in my life. 

I want to share my testimony that I know that the church is so so true. Actually, this week I did a personal study and applied the SWOT analysis [Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats] to being a member of the church and whether or not it was worth it. As I did, I quickly realized that there are so many blessings and good things that come from the church. I also realized that any "Weaknesses" that I came up with were quickly erased because the gospel was able to heal or fix any problems or challenges that I came up with. The gospel is so real. God is our Heavenly Father and He loves us. I know as we follow Him, He will guide us to places we never thought we would end up. Places that will give us joy for now and forever. 

I love all of you so much.

Elder Carter

龚长老

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