30 weeks wow. Hebatlah
Another great week and, yes, I got a little too ahead of myself haha when I said I wouldn't be staying
BECAUSE I WILL BE STAYING IN THE GREAT CITY OF JOHOR BAHRU FOR A THIRD TRANSFER💎💎💎
Kemuliaan kepada Tuhan pada tertinggi🙏🏻
And to make it even crazier
ELDER PAGE AND YOURS TRULY STILL TOGETHER FOR THE NEAR FUTURE. WOW. PUJILAH TUHAN.
Shoutout the New Gem.
Great week, too.
P-night
- Monday night was great. Taught our recent convert that I mentioned last week that wasn't being ministered to well at all, and we had a long 45-minute call with her and some other members her age. So great. Felt great. She looked happy. We went and got some just delectable Johor Bahru nasi lemak and on the way home it completely fell off my bike and got run over by a car. So tragic. Great day though
Tuesday
- very great day. Did some night market shoplot finding and some gate knocking in neighborhoods above. Me and Elder Page are gonna start to branch out more and start switching up. This is my first ever time with a companion for more than just one transfer. So, we were talking together and we're wanting to switch it up sikit. It was great. Stated our purpose and fulfilled our responsibility. Mainly everyone we talked to were Chinese Buddhists. So many out here. Anyways we had three lessons that day as well and actually had a really cool miracle. Our reactivated friend that came to us was praying for help and told us to pray so he can find a job. Then come to find out when we meet with him next, apparently his son buys him a bus ticket to Penang because he just so happened to find him a job all the way up in Penang. So, he goes up there and we do a pass off lesson with the Penang Elders (who we just did a full-on exchange with the week previous) and yeah, the Penang Elders put him on-date.
I mean none of that is a coincidence. God exists. He's a God of miracles. He has wrought a miracle in this land just like he always does. I know because I have seen God work miracles in my life. I cannot deny it. Having a front row seat to the hand of the Lord is beyond my words. If you don't think the Lord can change your life, then you're just not giving him a try. All he needs is a little effort, a little faith and striving obedience. Anyways. Pujilah Tuhan.
Wednesday- nothing really crazy, honestly. Did some noon shoplot finding for an hour. No success. Did another hour of shoplot finding later in the day. No success. Did some gated neighborhood finding and got kicked out and almost got the cops called on us by this Chinese lady. Called the APs and they told us just to get out. Crazy. No success, of course. Disappointing today for sure. Three hours of finding and not a single good conversation that led to anything. Tired, feet hurt. Not used to walking that much, but aye all good. Majulah🤺🇲🇾
Thursday- beloved weekly planning day. Went to the same mall and Carls Jr for the 5th time now this transfer. Went and did some finding later in the day and genuinely every contact but one was all Chinese. I mean I just stand there and watch Elder Page speak Chinese for an hour straight. I'm just the gate knocker guy literally with my Keychain thing. It got really discouraging tbh. But we had our pass-off lesson I mentioned earlier on this day. Just had to explain it then. Because it is a 2-part miracle that spans over a couple of weeks. The Lord's timing is special. Anyways. Pass-off lesson was awesome and yeah, like I said, Penang Elders put him on date. It was all in Chinese, so once again sat there for 40 minutes and Elder Page translated. The Lord's definitely testing my patience. I speak my Malay so fast and formally even if Chinese people wanted to speak the little Malay they know, they genuinely cannot understand it. I don't even know. It's all good lah. Perlu Kesabaran dulu. Had a lesson with one of our friends that night that was solid. Just so hard for him to come to church, he lives so far. Biggest problem this mission has is transportation to church, by far. Especially in East Malaysia. Anyways.
Friday- Friday was actually hilarious. We found (tracting, I guess is the old term for it) for 4 and a half hours and didn't have a single conversation about the gospel. Every door shut on us. I didn't lead and finish a single contact until an hour into finding. I genuinely walked with Elder Page, used my Keychain, knocked on countless gates, they would come out and then Elder Page would have to speak to them in Chinese. Very much testing my patience. This is why Malay-called missionaries don't serve in West Malaysia. Anyways, that was crazy. Still a great day. Even after all the rejection, you feel so good knowing you did all you could. Just giving people a chance.
Saturday- same day as yesterday. A lot of finding. Johor Bahru isn't really an area where you find a lot, but our teaching circle is dried up so finding is always a constant need to find people who want to learn. Elder Page during our studies genuinely talked about southern Utah and St George for like an hour and a half straight. Didn't even do comp study just sat there and looked at Google maps, and this man broke down and talked about everything St George. This Elder loves St George, I actually have to get him to stop talking about it, it genuinely makes us so unfocused. Anyways, it was fun tho we just sit and talk so much. He's great, love Elder Page.
Sunday- Sunday was great. Church was great as always and so many people came. We had a linger-longer afterwards and some people from Singapore even pulled up. Did some more gate knocking and some shoplot finding.
Monday- (not P-day, Pday pushed back because of Zone Conference. Usually Zone conference is at the halfway point of the transfer, but it's pushed earlier because of the travel day to Kuala Lumpur for Elder Buckner, General Authority Seventy, Asia Area Presidency, anjing yang besar memang. He's going around to every mission in Asia and giving trainings and what he wants the missions to do and focus on. Especially for Malaysia.) MORE BUS RIDES, PEOPLE. The entirety of 24 hours wasn't enough, I guess, last week. All jokes, it was pretty chill bussing up to Kuala Lumpur. Always love seeing the big city, the capital city of all of Malaysia. The Petronas Towers, Merdeka Tower. It's all awesome. Slept at the Puchong apartment and you can literally see the Merdeka Tower and Petronas Towers at night from the shower. Best shower view of all time. Was talking with Elder Francis who is going to Miri and man, I was telling him everything I knew and remembered about Miri. Members, places to find, study spots, and he was just thankful to be going into his area with a solid base knowledge. It was great.
Tuesday- P-day in Kuala Lumpur. Interviews with President Ho was great. Super spiritual. Went around petaling Jaya outside Kuala Lumpur, had some food. Anyways I gotta send this email before 6:30pm so I'll update y'all how Zone Conference goes these next couple days. Love y'all
Overall, a great transfer. 45 days instead of typical 42 and I learned and grew a lot, and I mean it truly. Not just saying that just to say it. Every transfer I can look back at the start of each one and genuinely say, "Yes, I just learned or experienced something that will stick with me and that will help me." That's definitely what I want out of my mission for sure. It's not about the baptisms or the numbers for me, to be honest. I really have never cared. My mission for me is I focus on whether I'm growing or not and what I'm learning.
Onto Transfer 5. A quicker 39-day transfer. With no Zone Conference to rely on for a break. No looking forward to wasting days traveling to Kuala Lumpur halfway through the transfer--just straight 39 days of work. I love it. I love stepping out that door every single morning and getting in people's faces and telling them the truth. I love the conviction, the confidence, I know this stuff is true and I want others to know what I know. Telling What they need to change to and Why they need to change. It's just the best man. Just soaking up the awkwardness, the discomfort and just preaching Yesus Kristus. People see us and just absolutely take off. Man, what a sight to behold every time. They go out of their way to not walk in front of us. That's why I step out the door every morning. Because some people can't handle the truth, but we try to find the elect ones that will hear it.
Singapore is coming up here soon. At least with the work pass, but even then, I won't be an official Singapore Elder at least in my mind until I have been literally called by President Ho to actually serve there. Idk, that's just me. No, I have not served in Singapore yet. No, I am not going there yet officially. Malaysia will always mean more for now. One day the country of Malaysia will flourish like its neighboring fellow Asian countries. Malaysia is the only Asian country not to have a stake at all. It used to be the fastest growing mission in the world. Church leaders and us missionaries are doing all we can, I can guarantee you that. Singapore's absolutely on fire right now, at least. Malaysia not so much. I'm grateful I get to try and help lay a foundation. A firm one.
Elder Barlow🇲🇾
(Elder Moulton sudah pindah ke Sarawak memang susah, saya akan rindu dia😥)
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