Amazing week here in THE VALE™️
Momentum has been kept up, sangat banyak lessons still being taught, members are continuing to help. All without my companion not even being in the same country as me still. Elder Ives will get here at some point🥲 (Update: He finally came Saturday morning) Shoutout Elder Wright for losing his passport and absolutely holding it down here in THE VALE™️ with me.
MET UP WITH ELDER IVES ON SATURDAY🙏🏻
SHOUTOUT BROTHER ALEX, our ward mission leader is LITERALLY my dad, but Chinese, and it's the best thing ever. He speaks English, too. The way they act and talk/laugh are identical, it's so awesome. Brother Alex and I are just super tight now. Oh my one of my favorite members I've been around.
Speaking of members and parents...
SISTER JOY, MY MOM HERE IN SEASIA🌏 in Johor Bahru💎 the greatest place of all time my Mallorca🇪🇸, my Antonia, my promised land, SHE'S GETTING BAPTIZED🌊
I'll never forget meeting her over the phone as a media referral waiting at the bus station in JB for Elder Page on 11/28/25 and even from the start, she was so awesome. Finally, after all the details being worked out with the Asia Area Presidency and all the legal conditions worked out
SHE CAN BE BAPTIZED.
Obviously, a little sad I can't be there for it. Elder Page and I taught her a lot and were the Elders who found out she was illegally living in Malaysia, which has prevented her from being baptized.
But as we know for those who wait on The Lord, He provides. It just goes to show. I'm far from my actual parents and it's tough but certain people out here are placed in my life and the Lord provides, and I feel like I just have the support from not only my actual parents memang but these wonderful members as well.
I've seen and her 13 year old son's lives change, who she says he looks up to all the Elders that have served in JB, and her whole family has well has been changed by accepting Jesus Christ and his gospel.
306 days left of this. Let's keep it going...
MARILAH
P-day: P-day was awesome. Got Five Guys and went inside the US embassy with Elder Wright to renew his passport. Super cool to be in there. Had a chill P-night. Started the night off with a call. Taught our friend Neha. She's awesome. Went to Serangoon and found for 30 minutes. Met a new friend. his name is Marcus. Grabbed some GYG🇲🇽 and went home and then had another call at 9:30pm. Lesson went great. Great great P-night. So important to start off the week strong like that.
Tuesday- Tuesday was awesome other than the end. Exchanges with my guy, Elder Myers. He's been serving here in Singapore since early November. So my entire time here in Singapore we've gotten close and been around each other a lot. He was also my DL for a transfer, too. So wild. We had a great day though. Memang he wanted to do this exchange so he could sleep over at Compassvale apartment and have the claim that he's slept at every Elder's house in Singapore😂 Also, we just wanted to go together. We haven't done an exchange since April/May. Had a great day. DCM was cool but felt super small because we're still missing everyone (including my companion, Elder Ives) that are still awaiting their work passes to be approved. (I'm writing this Friday morning and all these new Elders and Sisters trying to come in with work passes has still yet to be approved)
DCM was fun, went out to Paya Lebar, THE SWAMP🐊 if you will, we did all of our makan, studies, and counsel first though. Elder Myers as ZL has just been super supportive and I was telling him about the area and all this new success and what we've been doing and what Elder Hull and I did to make this happen. It was great. Called a new referral friend who's super cool and we've been teaching him a ton this week actually. Then met up with our recent convert in person at Mcds in PLQ. Vincent's so awesome. He always really wants to know where all the Elders are from. Memang I showed him my house in OPK and all over OPK on google maps😂 After that, we went out and did actual missionary work. Just playing. Missionary work isn't just finding all day for 7 hours. Found in Paya Lebar for an hour and then went to Serangoon for an hour and a half. Right as we were about to end our time finding in NEX, some NS cop bros came up and stopped me. (NS=national service. Yes, Singapore does have a national service because of its low population. I don't know all the ins and outs about it, but I guess after some time doing army stuff, you can just become a patrol cop, not like an actual real deal police officer but at least like a smaller one in a sense) So these four younger guys come up to stop me. Ruined the whole mood and momentum we were having. I IMMEDIATELY handed them my work pass. Like I was yelling at Elder Myers (who was far away and it gets pretty loud so I was telling him to come over) to come and give them his work pass too. They didn't even ask for it I just gave it to them. Because they wanted to pull the "permit card" "you need a permit to do this." I shut that down real quick though because you obviously do not need a permit as we are not selling anything. Anyways, all it was, was that someone filed a complaint. So they send the NS cop bros after us. They probably think we're scammers or what not. Who knows. It doesn't really matter. People are afraid of what they don't understand.
Now, if we were wearing proselyting clothing and a badge, then that probably wouldn't have happened. Because we would've looked like actual missionaries instead of two random white guys selling something. But again, who knows. Wasn't a big deal and they let us go. I was pretty quiet the rest of the night. Elder Myers really likes to annoy and tease, and I wasn't having it. I respected the fact though, he had a positive attitude still and was smiling. The end of the night redeemed the day though for sure. We went home and had two great lessons back to back with our on-date and with our other friend who we met that night in Serangoon. Gabriel is so awesome. Solid day.
Wednesday- GREAT DAY. WE BOUNCE BACK.
Started off the day slow going to Punggol. Kinda just walked around for an hour, wanted to take it slow from last night. Ate and did studies, went to THE BROAD SWAMP (Paya Lebar literally means swamp broad from Malay), lurked for an hour and a half. Singaporeans were getting ran down, that's all you need to know. Taught our guy Karan for like 15 minutes. Kept finding for a little and then had dinner at PLQ. Had two great back-to-back calls. Went back home and called another one of our friends, which was great.
The Third Ward Elders have been having me do calls with their Filipina friends and they always completely surprise call me at like 10:00pm😭 They have so many people to teach, we get to help out. It's so awesome. Did that call and called it a night.
Also, At PLQ in Paya Lebar in our afternoon finding block, I stopped a guy that looked JUST like my Stake President back home, President Gillis. So wild😭 actually looked so identical. Shoutout Pres though🙏🏻
Thursday- super chill day filled with zero finding and a lot of lessons + weekly planning. Elder Wright and I started off the day calling our recent convert for like an hour. I was cleaning the house while Elder Wright and him were just talking and getting to know each other. Lost track of time and I was like, "Hey, we gotta wrap this up start teaching him something."😂😂 Finally got out the door and went to thee PLQ. PL stands for promised land not Paya Lebar. Because it has a WINGSTOP with a lot of chicken for us to consume. That we did.
Did our studies and planning. I did all two hours of weekly planning by myself because my companion is not within the same country as I. I miss Malaysia, if I haven't said It seventeen times already.
(July 20th cannot come soon enough🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾)
Anyways, called our guy Karan again. Absolute beast. Punjabi legend. He says yes to literally anything I say. It's so awesome. I've confirmed him for church like seventeen times, so if he doesn't come memang he's getting dropped😭
Anyways. Left and went to Kovan. Super random place we never go to because there's nothing there except good Makan places. Elder Hull and I found only one time in Kovan, and we literally just walked around the entire province and talked to no one. Good times with the restrictions.
We had a random 30 minutes before our member meal and we were waiting awkwardly outside their gate, we were also teaching a friend at the same time. I had a prompting to just start finding and have Elder Wright teach the entire lesson by himself. I didn't even tell Elder Wright. I just started walking and lo and behold, I stumbled upon this guy named Elton. He's super awesome. All I did was invite him to church and he said yes. We exchanged numbers and we ended up teaching him the next night. He's so awesome. Awesome miracle. He even texted us and thanked me for stopping and talking to him. Really cool.
Our member meal was actually the most awesome thing ever. We walk in and the house is pitch black. We knew we were visiting these older members but I'm like, "Is anybody even home? 😭" We walk in and this awesome older man welcomes us in. His wife comes down the stairs slowly. He kept calling it his humble home. It really was. Great house. This sweet sweet woman. Apparently she was going through chemo. She was in a lot of pain and she was like falling asleep in her chair. I felt so bad. They got us the most humble of all meals.
A brown packaged bag of Chicken rice. Singaporean classic. They love it here. I'm not a fan of rice though, and i wasn't hungry so I gave it to Elder Wright. It just goes to show how awesome these two are that they still made the effort to provide what little food they could.
This woman proceeds to absolutely praise us and just talk us up like we're the greatest two humans to ever walk this planet for the next hour and a half straight. It was so awesome. We just left feeling like the man. She said I had a booming voice and that I should continue to keep using it and to declare repentance.
She told me to get on the wall and to continue to do so.
I felt the Spirit so strong. That's why I'm in Singapore. I'm not the nicest dude ever. It's a miracle I even made it out. For her to say that it just hit so hard. Just to keep going. To keep using my gifts and talents. The law of consecration.
That's all I tell myself whenever I start finding man.
Get up on the wall.
There's a fat bus stop full of Singaporeans absolutely glued to their phones in Serangoon. They know who you are and they do NOT want to hear what you have to say. Because it makes them uncomfortable.
Get up on the wall.
There's a MASSIVE crowd absolutely pouring out of the MRT in Bedok. I have a headache because I've been yelling over the sound of bus engines for the last hour and a half + running down as many people as I physically can. I can barely feel my mouth.
Get up on the wall.
Anyways, man, we went home after that and the second we stepped out at 8:30pm into the insanely humid and hot night, we called our on-date. Lesson went great. Elder Wright taught the entire thing in Mandarin.
I still don't know any mandarin and I can barely speak Malay. I type a couple words on a Google notes app every week, but if you threw me in Sarawak, I would actually not understand anyone.
Shoutout being a glorified state-side Elder only speaking English in a big city for almost the last year🙏🏻
I WANNA SPEAK MALAY AH🇲🇾
Anyways, our guy Ong is progressing so well, it's so awesome. He's such a beast. Went home and then called our guy Gabriel. Who we found the other day. Call was amazing. Taught him the entire restoration and he was loving it. Hopefully, he can come to church on Sunday.
Friday- Friday was great. Out the door went super far, close to Changi (the airport) we went to expo to try it out. Wasn't great finding, so we went to Tampines. Makan, studies. The Switzerland and Algeria. Didn't watch too much of it. I thought it was so funny that every dude on the Swiss team is African. Let's go.
4th of July🇺🇸 Saturday- "19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations"
What a day. Met up with Elder Ives at the church in Newton around noon. It was so good to finally see him and start talking with him. We've instantly clicked and he's such a chiller.
Funnily enough I found out he's a ¼ American🇺🇸 👀 his grandma is from St Louis😂 Love him already though, there's already been multiple times I've had to ask him to repeat himself because if you know me, I am HORRIBLE at accents. I can't do them. I can't speak them myself nor can I understand that well when someone has an accent.
We went back to Buangkok, dropped everything off and got ready. Went to the church and met some members which was awesome. Got him on the Whatsapp. Went to Paya Lebar and taught our friend Shi Xiong. Ate and did studies. Opened my fast as well. Found in Paya Lebar. Elder Ives grabbed some Wingstop and we headed home for the night. Finished off the night with two lessons. It was great.
THE SABBATH
- the Sabbath was amazing. Church was awesome. Sacrament was awesome. Brother Alex is just so awesome, man. Our Ward Mission Leader. Actually my guy. He's just so real and helps us so so much. I genuinely would love to be a ward mission leader one day and just work close with the Elders and help with the work the way he does. So awesome. He literally grabbed our on-date immediately, went downstairs with us, and taught the entire lesson in Mandarin for us. He also took our other friend, brought him into a room, and he was just talking and building trust with him before we even got into the room. We taught our friends after church and then afterwards went home, MAKAN, ripped the P-study, changed out of our clothes that actually shows we're missionaries and changed into polos that show we're not missionaries. Went to Bedok and did some finding. Had amazing finding and met awesome people. Went to Serangoon and had a great time as well. Taught a friend. Met really cool people. Went back home and grabbed the food at the church on the way. Had like three more calls that night. Elder Ives has been awesome just raising the bar for sure.
🇺🇸 I'm so grateful to be American. It is truly God's country. I've always loved America and now combined with a gospel perspective, it truly is the promised land. I still love Texas. I love Kansas. Tuhan Selalu memberkati Amerika.
I talk very highly of Malaysia and it's people and yes, Singapore is nice but America is just the country that has it all. Great people, patriotism, cultures.
🇸🇬 I love Singapore and it is very nice yes. This is a great place to come on vacation. But there is very little patriotism in Singapore outside of the month of August. Chinese Singaporeans are known to be super reserved, quiet, timid, and private people. As someone who is the opposite of all of that, it drives me crazy when I'm ignored. I barely get hands to the face. It's just straight up culturally acceptable here to just ignore people. It's super super frustrating. I've talked to a lot of Singaporeans about it and they all say that's just how they are. It is what it is. I can't change culture man. But it's pretty tiring. Let alone the deep embedded cultural influence of Buddhism and the ancestral influence of worshipping ancestors. Grown men and woman feel like they cannot use their free agency and choose Jesus Christ. Some guy told me the other day they don't want to come to church because they're Chinese. Literally because of ethnicity. It's just how it is. So I'm sorry if on my emails I just dog on Singapore all day. I just give my entire might, mind, and strength to these people and I'm trying to give my heart. It's just really hard. That's why I'm here also. It's why I have a work pass. I just gotta learn to love these people even if maybe most of them have absolutely zero desire to build relationship with deity.
🇲🇾 Malaysia is obviously great and amazing and I can literally talk about Malaysia all day long. It's my place. It's where my life has changed. It's where I've experienced life and learned about life and have grown up in my young adult years, but it is just super limited by the government, unfortunately. Limited free agency to choose. Very unfortunate. Muslims cannot convert. We know one day the Lord will intervene. Malaysia will get a temple. Tunggu for a second.
Here's the thing
🇲🇾 Malaysia: has faith✅ but struggles with works❌ Free agency in Malaysia is completely taken away for 66%+ more of the population (all the Melayu Muslims) The other 33% percent are the only people we are allowed to work with.
🇸🇬 Singapore: has works, super successful hard working society✅ (Singapore's national motto is literally MAJULAH SINGAPURA which literally means onward Singapore from Malay. It's all about progress for them, not taking time to look up) and yeah, Singapore has little faith❌
So that's why the Lord wants us in the middle. We need faith✅ AND works✅ And if you try telling that to a Singaporean Christian, they'll run off before you even get a chance to say Jesus Christ.
🌏 I am just so grateful to serve in Asia though. If you have served in Asia or southeast Asia you ARE converted. Obviously not all, but still like Asia converts you. You learn and meet and experience SO many cultures and religions, it's actually wild. I cannot mention every single little thing and tiny tidbits of information I've learned all on an email, unfortunately. Asia is just so legendary. If I got the choice, I wouldn't have even looked in the direction of Asia on a map for my mission. Shoutout Asia. Specifically southeast Asia. Mainland and Maritime Southeast Asia.
It truly is THE WORLD.
And it's all over.
YESUS KRISTUS RAJA DAMAI KITA
NAIK DINDING SELALU
🇲🇾Penginjil Barlow🇸🇬
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