Another great week in the city of Johor Bahru. I am so grateful for my time in this city💎 and this country🇲🇾
As well as Malaysia. My love for Malaysia supercedes my words. Everytime I see the jalur kemuliaan, I feel immense pride. I genuinely wouldn't mind only getting two transfers in Singapore. The country of Malaysia is so special. No day is the same. The people, the epicenter of diversity, foods, languages, people. I have much to learn from this country regardless that the church isn't strong here yet. Indonesia just got their temple announced. It's definitely disheartening, I'm just not gonna lie. At least Singapore is getting one. One of the district presidency members I think gave a whole rant on Malaysia and its lacking church presence. That the members here need to do better. Me and Elder Page were talking about it as well. It would take a MIRACLE to get a temple here in Malaysia. Luckily God is a God of miracles. There's a lot of pro-Islamic Malaysian laws that make it very difficult for the church to grow here, but luckily the standard of truth has already been erected. I'm grateful I get to be in a country where the gospel has only been around for only 30-40-ish years compared to South America, central America, Europe, where it's been around forever. To be a pioneer missionary for a pioneer country (gospel wise) with pioneer members. Kitab Mormon (Book of Mormon) was only translated into Malay just back in 2018, by the way.
I pray that the Lord continues to bless me with extended time here. Hopefully AT LEAST three transfers here in Johor Bahru and many more opportunities throughout the next 16 months here in Malaysia🤟🏻🇲🇾
Betul betul satu tanah yang dijanji kepada saya oleh Tuhan.
📢ALSO📢
SHOUTOUT, ELDER RANDALL, FOR COMPLETING THE MISH. The man did it. Round of applause sila👏🏻 Orang yang hebat. My first trainer in Miri when I started my mission a couple years ago already. That's my guy. Was very hard to leave him and even more sad honestly to see him go. Anyways, he deserves a shout out. One thing I will say about my first trainer in Elder Randall was that I know the Lord placed us together. I don't know if he learned anything from me. Some fresh out-of-high-school, Junior comp, clueless, couldn't teach a single sentence about anything in Malay, didn't even know what PMG was, bringing my phone into the bathroom breaking standards and crying in the bathroom first Sunday in field, but man, one thing I really learned from Elder Randall was his hard work and diligence and his desire to be obedient. There's a quote from Gordon B Hinckley about hard work and it basically says if you're going through a hard time, just work. If you work and work then all your "problems" (and real problems, too, yes) (my problems at the time were wanting to be back home in OPK ripping an sharms lift and then downing a Baja blast from Taco Bell) such a problem, right? But jokes aside, he showed me that if you focus on the Lord and work diligently and be obedient, the Lord will always be there and provide a way. I'll never ever forget when me and Elder Randall in Miri, in the LITERAL jungle, went finding and got absolutely eaten alive by mosquitoes. I remember being so annoyed at Elder Randall. Like Bro, what are we doing, this isn't effective, there's no one out here, he could tell I was just not having it. So, we get to church early the next morning, and he sits me down and pulls up the first presidency message on PMG. Y'all can go read it yourself. It's too big to copy and paste here, but I was being a punk and just wasn't appreciating in the moment this kind gesture. He was super kind and said a lot of uplifting things. One thing he also said was, "Yesterday is over, no more finding in the forest, it's a new day." That interaction has always stuck with me. To all of our laughs in the Miri mansion together and to much more after the mish, thank you, Elder Randall. There's much much more I can say, of course. You have helped me so much. For that I am indebted. Love you, Andrew🫡❤️
📢ALSO📢
TYLER HARDY TO BOLIVIA🇧🇴 JOMLAHHHHH LETS GO. Man Satan is QUAKING at the thought of Elder Hardy stepping foot inside the borders of Bolivia and the city of Santa Cruz. Love you Bro. Bolivia is preparing for this summer when Elder Hardy makes his entrance, they simply don't have enough time to prepare themselves for such a man opening his mouth to random strangers all day. It's gonna be a movie, Bro. We're all so pumped🙏🏻🫡❤️🇧🇴🤝🏻🇲🇾
THE LORD IS HASTENING HIS WORK.
If y'all read this whole thing, then I don't even know what to say. I love you so much then. This email spans over 12/8-12/17. Our P-day is pushed back to today (Wednesday) because of Singapore Zone conference. I make these emails throughout the week and stuff and wow this one is genuinely massive. When you're in the most diverse mission in the world, there's stuff to see, yeah?🤷🏻♂️🇲🇾💎🐅
Monday: goated P-day. Got McDonald's, Auntie Anne's at the mall, bought a Christmas tree and decked it out. Was so hard to find a Christmas tree ngl, but we got it🫡 really tough missing Christmas with the fam but it's so worth it to be getting rejected by Chinese uncles and finding out if every other person is Muslim/Bangladesh/Pakistan every day ninety thousand times😁 On a serious note, it is truly special to be out here. To go through the mission. To learn, to be uncomfortable, to be stressed out, to have friends progressing, to push yourself, bike and find in the rain. In the heat, in the windy cloudy overcast weather biking up massive hills that make it impossible to pedal up. To bike 30 KM (18.6 miles) to go put someone on date all the way in Kota Masai. Flying around Masai on exchange, ripping Personal studies in the morning, locking in for language study. This is what a mission is about. Only way to deepen your conversion is to have active discipleship. Most importantly that the Lord in his infinite goodness has devised a perfect plan for each individual. The Plan of Salvation is something I have come to study and learn more about just over these last two weeks. The Spirit has impressed upon me I must learn more about the Plan of Salvation. I'm still not great at teaching it, but I was a lot worse. But this is what life is about. Free agency, the atonement, life on earth, our purpose, resurrection, judgment. All that. It's awesome. Elder Page shared an interesting perspective about most Christian churches and the confusion of them.
18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.
19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me (Jesus Christ) said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
As I was studying and pondering of Joseph Smith's First Vision, I am amazed of the Lord's directness and straightforwardness in denouncing all churches currently on the earth. If I were to say that during a finding block to an Orang yang sudah Christian, I would get holy water thrown on me by some Catholic or whatever they believe in at this point, who knows. It's not what Jesus taught and it NEVER will be. This is the true church. This has led me to be more bold in testifying. Anytime I call up a referral and try and get that return appointment, it's so important to stress why this church is different. Because they don't know why the priesthood authority is important and why it's needed. Back to my original point though. Elder Page was telling me that when people see these two white American guys pull up (even though everyone here in Malaysia thinks I'm from Germany, Great Britain, or Australia haha) they think, "Oh just another church" for them they may also think, "Why do I need Jesus? Why did this random dude come to earth and just give all these commandments? It definitely does seem confusing and not worth the time or hard questions with no hidden answers. And How would these two 19-year-olds have anything of importance to me? They probably don't even speak Malay or Chinese (👀) Anyways, I'm just letting the thumbs fly right now and the thoughts disperse onto the phone. It's how I learn from a week.
Thank y'all for bearing with me. The Plan of Salvation and the answer to the purpose of life which this church has is so so crucial. 2 Nephi 2 and 2 Nephi 9 have been exceptional chapters to study. Free agency would solve the questions that so many people have. Most religions out here just think some far-off figure spirit controls everything, that free agency doesn't exist, that actions don't have consequences. It's an unfortunate reality that some people live it, and they don't realize the wrongness of it. Satan is really really good at taking out responsibility. We see it in today's society no doubt. This is what the mission is teaching me. Responsibility. Being responsible for the commandment of serving a mission as fulfilling your Melchizedek priesthood responsibility. Being responsible for your future self, wife, kids, associates. Being responsible in knowing it's you versus you every morning you wake up. Every choice you make is yours alone. Free agency is a gift. We got it when we got bodies. That's why Satan is pissed and constantly throws things at me, the work, the members here, the world. I've seen it. I've seen contention in myself and others and the whole world. Since Satan doesn't have a body, he doesn't have free agency. I've always wondered why anytime I do feel great I always get hit with something bad.
11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.
12 Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.
All things are created with a purpose. If not so, God would be a purpose-less God and then he would cease to be God. So be responsible, work hard for everything you desire. The only thing in the way of the last six months of my life is irresponsibility (or Satan) not feeling like I didn't need to fulfill a duty would've kept me away from such a wonderful six months of my life. Has it sucked? Has it been super fun? Has it been comfortable, do I feel like it'll never end? I think you can answer those for me. Nevertheless setiap kita perlu majulah.
There's been so much Elder Page has changed my mindset on. Showing me that if I pass someone up during finding because of fear and they don't receive the gospel that they should've from us, then I will be held accountable and be judged for their sins. From that point on, I have yet to pass up a single person that was reasonably able to be spoken to. Has changed my responsibility factor for me a ton.
The Spirit teaches as I journal. I hope y'all can do the same. Keep looking for opportunities to serve. Be bold. As a member, we are handpicked by God to lead and light the way for people in the dark. God could but he won't snap his fingers and make every man, woman, and child a saint through the Atonement, but that's why it's our job and we're responsible now.
Anyways maaf yeah
Tuesday: Solid day. Exchanges with the Masai Elders in Masai. Went with Elder Fandi (a native from Sarawak, orang yang sangat lucu😭😭) and my guy Elder Workman who was in my MTC district back in Provo. We biked Thirty (three zero, 30, tiga puluh, treinta for you Spanish speakers) Kilometers all the way from the Masai apartment to Kota Masai to go and put someone on date. Elder Fandi carried with his Iban. Still can't even understand Iban. I hadn't heard Iban in forever as there's no Iban or Iban people in West Malaysia except for the little city of Masai. When I served in Miri, it's ALL Iban. (and Malay/Chinese, too, obviously) but all the members are Iban in Miri. They try to do their best to do all church services in Malay but all their second languages is Malay. Their first language is Iban. Some older Ibans don't even speak Malay. Here in Johor Bahru it's actually a English/Chinese branch. There's no Malay in the branch I'm currently in. Malaysia is so wild. My whole time here in Johor Bahru I don't even NEED to speak Malay to anyone. (Important to keep it up, of course) It's all English. Anyways we're not expected to learn Iban (it's actually discouraged in this mission, but some missionaries will study Iban) but it's nice to be able to understand it. And yeah, Elder Fandi He's Iban himself, so of course Dia sudah fasih dalam bahasa Iban. (Ibans are like the native Americans of Borneo. Ibans are all over Sarawak in East Malaysia) Anyways, we had a lot of fun. Went to this SUPER Muslim neighborhood, got cat-called multiple times, rejected probably even more, doing everything in our power to try and find Ibans or Chinese. We were over there for an appointment later in the night, so we just found dekat sana for a couple hours. We met a guy who was a part of the Bahaa'i religion. Local Indian religion, I think. We had a long contact. I shared Moroni 9:9 with him. How God doesn't change and how he's the same. Spirit was super strong. We had our lesson, put our guy on date, and then grabbed some burgers that, oh my gosh, were so good We biked the 15 km back to the house and got home at 10:00pm😭 what a day. Woke up the next morning and my back was just gone. Lower back was so cooked. Oh my. Tragic.
Wednesday: macam biasa. Usual day. Me and Elder Page reunited post exchange the next day and yeah had a solid day. We only had 45 minutes of finding. Taught a lesson with our on-date at night. Ate some famous Johor Bahru Nasi Lemak. Twas a hari yang bagus.
Thursday: very great day. Weekly planning again Carl's Jr. Absolutely leveled some chicken tenders, waffles fries, a shake, and like 2 and a half large cups of drink. Man. Wow. Only had like 50 minutes of finding. Had some really cool spiritual, powerful contacts. I'll keep this quick, but me and Elder Page go up to this food truck and there are these two Chinese guys and Elder Page is starting the trust building, (whole contact was in English) They're clearly not interested, I was low-key zoning out mid-contact, they said the usual that they were Buddhist, I've heard it a thousand times sudah. I swear the second I snapped out of the gaze, the words just flowed, I said, "Well, we know this message is for all of God's children, we know we are all made in God's image and that this message of the Plan of Salvation can bless you, so if you ever see us again, feel free to say "hello." They instantly start laughing at me. Now it's not what I said that was crazy. I've said something along the lines of that a million times. But the delivery was special. I literally felt the Spirit carry the words unto them. It was so cool. They proceed to laugh at me, but I know I did my job. It was such an off-guard laugh from them. I turn around to walk off, and we go on our way and Elder Page was like, "I like it, Elder, pretty straightforward"
"I fear God"
I did not say those words whatsoever. I didn't think to say those words at all. They just came out.
I felt the Spirit literally taking over my words. I feared God in that moment. I chose to open my mouth, and the Lord spoke for me. I know those Chinese guys were caught off guard, but they definitely felt the Spirit.
I feared God more than I feared those men.
The rejection, the laughing, the awkwardness. I felt none of it. I felt the joy from the Lord as I accomplished my responsibility in that moment.
Special special moment l'll never forget.
"In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me."
IMMANUEL
💱Friday: exchanges with Elder Moulton in Johor Bahru. Had so so much fun. We get along so well. Would love to be Comps with this guy down the line. He's awesome. ate some more Nasi Lemak with a member, found a good amount, didn't teach English class cause no one came. It was a great day though. We testify and find and teach so boldly together it's so awesome. We get along great. He was in Elder Barker's MTC district, (one of my companions in Miri) so I always tell him funny stories of my time in Miri and what Sarawak is like and funny stories of Elder Barker and yeah, it's always a great time with Elder Moulton.
🪑Saturday: such a chill day. Woke up, called fam for like 20 minutes for my dad's Bday. Happy Birthday, Dad, I love you. Hope it was good.
Went and ate lunch with branch president, filled out a lot of travel documents and arrival card and printed out travel things for our Zone Conference travel to Singapore. Literally just sat at the church the whole day, making the baptismal flyer and filling and printing our all-necessary travel documents for Singapore. Eventually taught our recent converts for an hour and a half, went back to JB selapas itu. Had dinner, went home, slept. Most santai, quick day in the field. Saturdays are always just the best. Sundays are pretty stressful, in my opinion. Most missionaries I think really enjoy Sundays and, yes, being around the members is great, but there's always so much going on. Didn't find for a singular second. Didn't do language study, no companionship study that day either. Just so chill. To have Saturdays like that is just so nice.
🌊Sunday: Sunday was crazy, had a baptism. It went great. This lady has been getting taught for genuinely like two years. One of my MTC Teachers actually taught this lady that we baptized, like a year ago. So crazy. She got baptized and everything went super smoothly. One of the members did it and did it all in Chinese when he baptized her. Didn't understand anything he said when he said the baptismal words, but the Spirit was of course super strong. Confirmed her a member in the circle, Spirit was sangat kuat.
Left quickly after church, got everything ready with suitcases, we ate a Lil, then off to the bus station. Met up with E. Fandi, E. Moulton and my guy Elder Workman. The 5 of us bussed up together and the ride was smooth. Was absolutely slumped the entire first half of the bus ride. Always nice to have the travel days, just get to relax sikit.
12/15 Monday: Got to see my guy Elder Randall the night before in the Puchong apartment and man that was awesome. Got to say my final goodbyes to him. We all stayed the night in Puchong in Kuala Lumpur Sunday night and then woke up and went to the Kuala Lumpur Airport and then stayed like 1/3rd of the day at the airport. Eventually got on the plane to Singapore. (Mind you, we could've been in Singapore Sunday night as Johor Bahru is literally an hour away) Anyways, was a lot of fun traveling with Elder Fandi, Elder Moulton and my guy Elder Workman. Masai trio is comedy. They make the traveling very bearable, very fun. Getting into Singapore was chill. Immigration didn't grill us too bad luckily. Getting past is always sketch. We're one of the few multiple country missions where we don't get Visas, so we always have to switch from Singapore to Malaysia and vice versa to renew our 90-day period stay in the country. That's why we do this big zone conferences that last half a week. It's for the stamps and stuff for the passport. It's so fire. But anyways Singapore Airport is just ridiculous man. Could spend the whole day in there. Best airport in the world for a reason.
Monday was awesome. Wasn't P-day so couldn't call fam but WOW, I keep forgetting how ridiculous Singapore is. Being in Shangchi was awesome, seeing the Jewel, the waterfall, just walking around, getting around Singapore using the MRT. At night, me and Elder Page dipped off and went to Shake Shack on Orchid Road. Everything is crazy decked out for Christmas. White people everywhere. So weird to see. Tourists everywhere. Orchid Road is like the Vegas strip of Singapore but just better haha. All the designer stores are on Orchid Road and it's just a famous road here in Singapore. Me and Elder Page just walked up and down it. Man, it was so awesome. What a night that was.
🇸🇬Tuesday- full Zone conference day. Wow what a day. Looooooong day. I think I'll tell y'all about it next week🫡 This is already a long email. I'll let y'all know how it was. I type this out throughout the week. I'm gonna send this email out from Changi because now we have to fly back from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and then bus down from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru (so ridiculous but whatever haha) Anyways, love y'all so much. Y'all are the best. Got a crazy headache right now typing all this after the Zone Conference. Boutta go Tidur. Anyways have a great week. I'll send another email just this next Monday. (Sunday for y'all)
Love y'all❤️🙏🏻
Elder Barlow🇲🇾