Halo Keluargaku,
This week was pretty good! Just working on figuring out how this whole missionary thing works. It's funny, you'd think after being out here for almost a year I would have mastered the process, but almost everyday I'm still learning something new. Just the other day I was studying lesson 1 during personal study, that's right, the first lesson, the one I teach every single day, and I was just realizing there's still so many places I can improve with it! There's just so much progress that can always be made, but I think that's a little bit of what makes it exciting. I
t's funny that you've mentioned that alarm sales job a few times recently. It turns out that Elder Whittaker was actually a pretty successful alarm salesman the summer before he came out on his mission, so, he's got all kinds of awesome people skills we've been working on applying to the kampungs of Malaysia. Some things work and some things don't, but it's super fun to have a companion with lots of good ideas. There's lots of obstacles to overcome here in Tawau, but it's not fun if there isn't any kind of challenge, right?
So the Mission President is actually coming down to our area this Friday. President decided to change our Zone Conference schedule to only one time every three months (instead of every six weeks) and during the off time he wants to come and visit every single area in the mission. Crazy! So, it means we're going to have some company here in Tawau this week. President actually wants to follow us to a lesson. A little bit intimidating, but it should be a good experience. President is always really nice and helpful.
The work is moving forward. We're improving everyday, and it's been amazing to see the Lord do his work in this part of the vineyard. I know more than ever that this gospel is true, but most of all I've come to realize that knowing that for yourself is a profoundly personal experience. No one can really persuade you that the church is true, no one can force you to know, no one can know for you, your testimony is totally 100% your own responsibility. It's all about how willing you are to try, and to act. That's all it really depends on, our exercise of faith. The Lord's promises are unfailing so we can know absolutely that anyone who really wants to know for themselves the truth, it's available for them if they'll just be willing to act. That's been a fun realization to come to.
I love you all so much. Thanks for all your support, it's meant the world to me. We're working hard and the field is white!
Love you so much!
Elder Blissett
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Pictures
Durian...yum!
Water Kampung, which is kind of like a village of houses built on stilts up out over the ocean. *That* is a really cool place.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Progress
Halo Keluargaku,
The first week with my new companion (my "son" as we say in the mission) has been totally awesome. He's a great elder and I think in these last few days we've been working harder than ever and are really starting to see a lot of progress in the area. So, I'm super excited and I think he is too.
I have a huge announcement! I finally ate the first durian I liked :D! Ta-da! It's kind of a major rite of passage in the mission to finally like durian, so I feel like this is a big step forward. Poor Elder Whittaker though, I think there is a lot of culture shock in the first couple of weeks and I haven't taken a lot of mercy on him. He's been really good though, a total trooper and he's adjusting fast. He even managed to get down some of the durian without losing his composure.
The work is going awesome! This last week we were able to put two new solid-looking investigators on baptismal date, so we're starting to think before long at all we're going to start seeing more baptisms come out of this area. We're both feeling really motivated. It's been awesome to see Elder Whittaker come into the field with that MTC fire and I think things are going to start turning around fast here. We're still seeing miracles happen in the work here all the time which is a huge blessing and a great motivator to keep at it.
This last week we were contacting near to our apartment, just getting ready to get home when I stopped one more person before we turned in. He turned out to be Christian and actually was willing to meet us the next day, so, when the time came we headed out to go find him. He actually wouldn't give us his phone number, but his house turned out not to be too difficult to find which turned out to be a huge blessing in itself. So, we sat down with him, one friend, and his wife and had an absolutely awesome lesson. His wife espcially was looking very eager to learn more which was super great, until we found out that she and her husband were going to "camp" that very day and would be gone for at least three months. The other friend would be leaving in a few days more. Garbage! But, hoping to get something out of it, we asked if they had any friends we could meet. The first two said no, but the third told us we could come back around 4 and he'd take us to go meet a friend. So, we went pretty far away to go tracting, ate, and, I'll admit, by the time 4 came around I'd totally forgotten we were supposed to go meet our new friend. Well, we ended up (not really by coincidence I think) deciding to go visit an investigator who lived close by this guy and ran right into him sitting on his front porch. We turned out not to be too late so he still took us out to meet his friend (who lived in the far away area we'd just come from :D). Well, in short it turns out this almost-forgotten referral turns out to be awesome, and we actually even put him on date to be baptized the very first time we sat down with him, something I've never done before. So, the Lord is in this work and he's watching out for us. Good to know we're not alone.
Anyway, these kinds of things are happening all the time. We're going to succeed here in Tawau and I feel so blessed to get to be a part of it!
Love you all so much!
Elder Blissett
The first week with my new companion (my "son" as we say in the mission) has been totally awesome. He's a great elder and I think in these last few days we've been working harder than ever and are really starting to see a lot of progress in the area. So, I'm super excited and I think he is too.
I have a huge announcement! I finally ate the first durian I liked :D! Ta-da! It's kind of a major rite of passage in the mission to finally like durian, so I feel like this is a big step forward. Poor Elder Whittaker though, I think there is a lot of culture shock in the first couple of weeks and I haven't taken a lot of mercy on him. He's been really good though, a total trooper and he's adjusting fast. He even managed to get down some of the durian without losing his composure.
The work is going awesome! This last week we were able to put two new solid-looking investigators on baptismal date, so we're starting to think before long at all we're going to start seeing more baptisms come out of this area. We're both feeling really motivated. It's been awesome to see Elder Whittaker come into the field with that MTC fire and I think things are going to start turning around fast here. We're still seeing miracles happen in the work here all the time which is a huge blessing and a great motivator to keep at it.
This last week we were contacting near to our apartment, just getting ready to get home when I stopped one more person before we turned in. He turned out to be Christian and actually was willing to meet us the next day, so, when the time came we headed out to go find him. He actually wouldn't give us his phone number, but his house turned out not to be too difficult to find which turned out to be a huge blessing in itself. So, we sat down with him, one friend, and his wife and had an absolutely awesome lesson. His wife espcially was looking very eager to learn more which was super great, until we found out that she and her husband were going to "camp" that very day and would be gone for at least three months. The other friend would be leaving in a few days more. Garbage! But, hoping to get something out of it, we asked if they had any friends we could meet. The first two said no, but the third told us we could come back around 4 and he'd take us to go meet a friend. So, we went pretty far away to go tracting, ate, and, I'll admit, by the time 4 came around I'd totally forgotten we were supposed to go meet our new friend. Well, we ended up (not really by coincidence I think) deciding to go visit an investigator who lived close by this guy and ran right into him sitting on his front porch. We turned out not to be too late so he still took us out to meet his friend (who lived in the far away area we'd just come from :D). Well, in short it turns out this almost-forgotten referral turns out to be awesome, and we actually even put him on date to be baptized the very first time we sat down with him, something I've never done before. So, the Lord is in this work and he's watching out for us. Good to know we're not alone.
Anyway, these kinds of things are happening all the time. We're going to succeed here in Tawau and I feel so blessed to get to be a part of it!
Love you all so much!
Elder Blissett
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Training
Hey mom! So sorry I didn't get to e-mail you yesterday. I had a really crazy day coming into Singapore, but yes, you're right, I have a new companion. I'm actually training, which is way super awesome! So, last week I was junior companion, this week I'm taking over the area with a missionary fresh from America! His name is Elder Whitticker, and he is very tall and built like a football player. I think he's going to terrify some people in Sabah, but we're going to get along really well!
I have to run to training now, but I love you so much! I'm super excited to train, I think it's gonna be awesome.
OK, I'm doing good!
Love,
Kevin
I have to run to training now, but I love you so much! I'm super excited to train, I think it's gonna be awesome.
OK, I'm doing good!
Love,
Kevin
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
An Average Week
This week was... well, pretty average actually. Tawau is getting to be such a roller coaster that it's actually getting hard to say how things are going! We're looking really up one second, really down the other, and then really up again the next. That's a little bit how the whole mission has been so far, but things seemed to have been magnified a little bit. What's not changing though is that Elder Stewart and I are both trying to work as hard as we can, and, regardless of how the teaching pool looks, I think we've been able to keep in pretty high spirits. So, hopefully things will get a little more stable, but even if they don't we'll just do our best and count on the Lord to make up the difference.
My Malay is coming along! It's funny, I think I spent a lot of the first part of my mission concerned that I was never going to learn the language, and now that I've gotten here things seem to be just moving along on their own without me really having to worry about it much at all. So, good news I guess!
I think I've been getting a little bit more used to the food here, or at least Elder Stewart and I are finding better places to eat. It was tough to go from Ipoh (known for having some of the best food in the mission) to Tawau (which is not). But, looking brighter everyday, right?
There's a chapter in Preach My Gospel called Christlike Attributes, that covers 9 attributes of Christ we should strive to develop as missionaries. It's super good, and interesting to realize that striving to become like Christ is really kind of just a road map to how to be truly happy. Isn't is funny to think it's that simple, but that's really kind of all that matters in life. The world puts emphasis on so many things that seem to matter so much right now, when really, in the end we'll just be taking ourselves and our families to the Celestial Kingdom. It's a nice wake up call.
OK, I love you all so much! I'm doing well. Still happy. Pray for the work to move forward here in Tawau, we could definitely use a little extra help.
Love you so much! Talk to you soon!
Elder Blissett
My Malay is coming along! It's funny, I think I spent a lot of the first part of my mission concerned that I was never going to learn the language, and now that I've gotten here things seem to be just moving along on their own without me really having to worry about it much at all. So, good news I guess!
I think I've been getting a little bit more used to the food here, or at least Elder Stewart and I are finding better places to eat. It was tough to go from Ipoh (known for having some of the best food in the mission) to Tawau (which is not). But, looking brighter everyday, right?
There's a chapter in Preach My Gospel called Christlike Attributes, that covers 9 attributes of Christ we should strive to develop as missionaries. It's super good, and interesting to realize that striving to become like Christ is really kind of just a road map to how to be truly happy. Isn't is funny to think it's that simple, but that's really kind of all that matters in life. The world puts emphasis on so many things that seem to matter so much right now, when really, in the end we'll just be taking ourselves and our families to the Celestial Kingdom. It's a nice wake up call.
OK, I love you all so much! I'm doing well. Still happy. Pray for the work to move forward here in Tawau, we could definitely use a little extra help.
Love you so much! Talk to you soon!
Elder Blissett
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)