Letter #6 Week of 19 March 2008 - Zone Conference in KK

Hello,

Things just keep getting better for me. I think the most amazing part of being a missionary is having the companionship of the Holy Ghost always. It's an amazing feeling.

I should probably explain why you are getting this a day and a half earlier than normal. I am now in Kota Kinabulu for a Zone conference. Elder Dhillon and I flew in last night, and we will fly back tomorrow night.

This zone conference has been so much fun for me. There are some really great elders in my zone. It has been fun learning and playing with them. It's kind of funny how you have connections with pretty much every other elder you meet. One of the elders, Elder Haycock in my zone is a cadet at the Air Force Academy (he's been out since about September). He's not the only missionary in the military in my mission. We've got two marines who went to Iraq. One was only a truck driver in the reserves, but the other one was in combat during his tour. One of the elders, Elder Grant, is from Medford, Oregon. Actually, he found a connection to me before I ever found out he was from Medford. He was best friends with Garret Fiddler, the center that moved to Doherty for his senior year and is now playing basketball at Yale. I met Garret at James Allen's house. Elder Grant doesn't think he knows the Trapps, but the name sounds familiar to him. Obviously, there are also a few people who are attending BYU.

This week has been kind of hectic. One of our investigators, Rosalina, has been coming to church for quite a while and has a very strong testimony. We hadn't planned on baptizing her any time soon because she was supposed to take a trip to the Phillipines. The trip got cancelled, however, and she's very ready for baptism, so we've been trying to get the rest of the lessons taught and all the arrangements for her being baptized this Saturday (the 22nd). She lives a long way from town, so we've spent a lot of time on a bus to her house. Last week, when we went to her house to teach her a lesson, one of Rosalina's catholic cousins, Corazon, was there. We asked if she would want us to teach her, and she agreed, so we taught her about the Restoration, and we will be going back for some more lessons. Well, when we went back to teach her on Tuesday this week, Corazon was not there, but a different cousin, Esperanza, was there. Apparently, Esperanza had taken the discussions from the missionaries back when missionaries first came to Sandakan in 1998. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and really loves our church. She was just lost off the radar. Apparently, the other elders never told her about baptism, so we asked her to be baptized. Normally, we try to set a baptism date as soon as possible (the main consideration being that she needs to attend sacrament meeting three times). For some reason, though, Elder Dhillon set the date as April 19, rather than a few weeks earlier. Then she said, "Oh, that'll be a great day. That's my birthday!" Inspiration is fun.

It amazes me how humble and meek the people here are. When we tell them about some of the more difficult things to do, like keeping the sabbath day holy, or living the word of wisdom, or the law of chastity, I have not yet heard a single person say "no" (or "tidak") It seems like they either already know that they should be doing what we tell them to do, or they are just so willing to recieve the Gospel that it is not an issue.

I sent some pictures through the mail last week. I hope they make it within a week or so. I think you'll like them.

Kota Kinabolu is a gorgeous city. The elders here have an apartment right on ocean front property ten stories up. I thought we were staying at a hotel when we first drove up to it. Today, we played futsal as a zone. It's indoor soccer played on a much shorter field. It was a lot of fun and very tiring.

I'm glad to hear about Joe and Mark getting their mission calls. They'll both be great missionaries.

My language is coming along better. The rate at which I am learning is speeding up. When I first got here, I couldn't really learn new words or anything as people spoke because I didn't understand anything anyone said. Now that I know some words, I can start to piece together sentences, so that I can pick out an individual word that I don't understand, and ask my companion what it means.

The way that I've been learning the language is pretty simple. A lot of people read grammar textbooks, or get a lot of value from reading or hearing the language spoken. For me, it's simply a matter of memorizing. I take note cards, and write as many words as I can on them, and pull them out while I'm sitting on a bus and run over them in my head twenty or so times. What has really helped me in learning words is that I took a lot of biology classes, especially anatomy, and so I have had to go through memorizing hundreds of terms before. I've found that's the way it has been with a lot of things: it seems like I have had experiences to prepare me for each specific aspect of my mission.

A scripture that has really clicked for me this week is Mosiah 7:18-19: "18 And it came to pass that when they had gathered themselves together that he spake unto them in this wise, saying: O ye, my people, lift up your heads and be comforted; for behold, the time is at hand, or is not far distant, when we shall no longer be in subjection to our enemies, notwithstanding our many strugglings, which have been in vain; yet I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made.
19 Therefore, lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God, in that God who was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and also, that God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and caused that they should walk through the Red Sea on dry ground, and fed them with manna that they might not perish in the wilderness; and many more things did he do for them."
I really like a lot of elements of those two verses. I like how it says in the first verse "our many strugglings, which have been in vain". A lot of what held me back from being happy in my first week was vain strugglings. I just kept thinking about home, and I kind of felt that because I couldn't speak to the people, I wasn't really doing anything. However, I've learned to trust in the Lord, expect challenges, and just work as hard as I can. I've also learned to lift up my head and rejoice. This has been one of the best weeks of my life. Sure, I can't always participate by talking the whole lesson. But I can certainly pray silently for my companion to know what to say, and for the Spirit to touch who I am teaching.

Yang benar,
Elder Muffler