Letter #80 - Week of 12 Aug 2009 - Missionary that gets to Swim!!

Hello,
Mr. Rausch's AP Gov class is awesome. It's hard work, but it can be a lot of fun .

Sorry to hear about Elder Bearnson's grandfather. He'll be in my prayers.

The past few days have been kind of hectic.

On Sunday, Elder Ip, an Elder from Hong Kong, came to stay with us because his companion Elder Pulver was going to Singapore for a visa. That was really convenient because then I had a companion while Elder Hall was gone (Monday, Tuesday, and part of today). Apparently Elder Hall's problem is just an ongoing strained muscle from too much exertion on that region of his leg. President Clark approved the doctor's suggestion to go swimming, so I'll have to spend some time watching my companion swim every morning.

It was fun to be with Elder Ip, especially when contacting Chinese people, because nearly all the Chinese in Ipoh speak Cantonese, which is Elder Ip's dialect.

Elder and Sister Spanos are getting transferred. They are needed in Sibu, East Malaysia, where one branch was recently split into three. They found out last Tuesday, and were asked to leave as soon as possible. Like they said, every time they think they have things figured out, something changes. I know they're in for a lot of surprises.

Cathleene continues to inch along. Another problem has come to our attention: she is involved with some sort of witch doctor. Hopefully we get that out of her life quickly. Anything that drives the Spirit away like that can really hamper all the work we've done for her.

I finally took a few pictures. First ones in a long time. I know I should take a lot more, I just don't. I'll try to send them in a minute.

I had a nice little lesson in the importance of heeding what the Book of Mormon teaches on Monday. As I studied Monday morning, I read Mosiah 10:1,4,5 "And it came to pass that we again began to establish the kingdom and we again began to possess the land in peace. And I caused that there should be aweapons of war made of every kind, that thereby I might have weapons for my people against the time the Lamanites should come up again to war against my people 4 And I did cause that the men should till the ground, and raise all manner of agrain and all manner of fruit of every kind. 5 And I did cause that the women should spin, and toil, and work, and work all manner of fine linen, yea, and acloth of every kind, that we might clothe our nakedness; and thus we did prosper in the land—thus we did have continual peace in the land for the space of twenty and two years."

I was thinking about the word cause. Although the people were good people, and surely hard workers, it was really up to their leader to cause these things to happen. If the king hadn't caused these things to happen, they would not happen. It's that simple. Through his coordination and direction, he had the power to cause great things to happen. I suppose that I, as a district leader, as a missionary, as a priesthood holder, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, also have the great potential to see things happen, but I need to cause them to happen.

On Monday, this message was vivid in my head, but far from my heart. I didn't know very far in advance that Elder Ip would be here, so I had to make last minute plans. I neglected calling a few people I desired to meet that night, figuring that one of them would surely be home. I don't need to tell you what happened, because it's obvious. I did not cause those people to be home by calling them and telling them we would be coming. So they weren't home. And because of that, I took poor Elder Ip (he'd never ridden a bike before last Monday) all over town seeing if different people were home.

A mission is a great place to learn important lessons. Think about the lessons you could learn from that one simple experience that made up just a couple hours of my 2 years. You could learn that Heavenly Father has things to tell us through the Book of Mormon. You could learn that a little effort to prepare for an event will save a lot of effort during the event, and things will turn out better anyway. You could learn that a Spiritual prompting should be heeded and not forgotten. And it may be that I learn later that due to my mistake, I was not able to help somebody I otherwise could have made a difference to.

Love,
Elder Muffler