Halo Keluargaku,
Well, we've had kind of a quiet week out here too! The Stake President was at church this last week interviewing people for callings in the new branch, so we're expecting the split to happen anywhere in the next couple of weeks, even though they won't have the new building done until next month. It's a really exciting time to be serving here in JB. People aren't always flocking to hear the gospel quite like you'd hope, but it's always fun and always good to be in the Lord's service.
Our investigators on date are still doing well. We might have to push them back a week or two, but for the most part everything is looking good. The biggest problem is that now they don't have a phone of any kind, so the only way we can get in touch with them is to go directly to their house, which is actually kind of far away. Oh well, we'll figure out a way to work through it.
We got a great referral from a branch member this last week. This branch member is one of the very best, she's seriously responsible for about half the people in the branch now. Anyway, things are looking really solid with him although he wasn't able to make it to church this last week because of a headache. It's so awesome to be able to get some help from the branch members. It makes a *huge* difference. So if any of you out there have any friends you think might be interested don't be shy to ask them if they'd like to meet with the missionaries. We need help, we can't do it all on our own! :D
Well I feel bad not really having any more news to report except that I'm falling in love with the scriptures of the restoration again. I've been reading the Pearl of Great Price this last week and it's unbelievable to see what even the brief 50 or so pages of the book of Moses and Abraham restore about our understanding of so many doctrines that are so debated in the world today! All kinds of information is there from the Pre-Existence to the origins of man to the antiquity of the gospel and even issues like the role of grace versus works. And the Pearl of Great Price is only just a small piece of what we've received from the restoration. Additional scripture is definitely one of the great blessings of being a member of this church. Plus it's a lot of fun!
Anyway, I love you all so much. Sorry I don't have more news to report. We're still working hard and seeing a lot of good things happen. I'm doing my best to sprint to the finish!
I love you all so much! See you soon!
Love you!
Elder Blissett
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Branch Splitting
Halo Keluargaku,
Well it looks like the family reunion was a lot of fun. I'm sad that I couldn't be there too, but I think we've had a pretty good week here too and that kind of seems to make up for it! Things have just been going a little bit better this week, we're catching some of the breaks we've been looking for. Missionary work is like that, up and down all the time.
Well, we've had a good start to the week, but things are still looking a little bit the same as they did last week. Our investigators on date are still looking really good to be baptized near the end of the month. They're working through everything really well and seem to have a real desire to be baptized. It's cool to see that and I'm excited to see how everything turns out for them.
Hey, I almost forgot the biggest news of the week! *drumroll* Our branch is splitting! Woohoo! That's actually great news, and we just found out last week totally unexpectedly that the branch will be splitting in the next couple of weeks. It's a great sign of the growth of the church here, and the best part of all is that the new location they want to put the newly created Masai branch in is a *lot* closer to the members and investigators who will be attending there. Anyway, it should be Elder Christensen and me serving in the Masai branch, so we're very excited. (Just a note, it's pronounced Ma-sigh, Ma like your Mama, and sigh like I sighed because I was sad). The branch actually applied to be split for the first time about a year ago. Anyway, since that time they tried a few different ways to split the branch, but they couldn't get the required First Presidency authorization for any of the split plans. Well, attendance has been going down so we though it was still going to be quite some time before the split. It turns out though that the split was actually approved about 4 months ago, but because of a mix up with some secretaries we never heard about it. Well, it's all worked out now and we should have a new branch in a matter of weeks. Very exciting and a big surprise.
Well, other than that, things are kind of just the same-old same-old. But I'm still loving it. Being a missionary is the best!
I love you all so much. Thanks so much for everything! Have a great week and I'll see you soon!
Elder Blissett
Well it looks like the family reunion was a lot of fun. I'm sad that I couldn't be there too, but I think we've had a pretty good week here too and that kind of seems to make up for it! Things have just been going a little bit better this week, we're catching some of the breaks we've been looking for. Missionary work is like that, up and down all the time.
Well, we've had a good start to the week, but things are still looking a little bit the same as they did last week. Our investigators on date are still looking really good to be baptized near the end of the month. They're working through everything really well and seem to have a real desire to be baptized. It's cool to see that and I'm excited to see how everything turns out for them.
Hey, I almost forgot the biggest news of the week! *drumroll* Our branch is splitting! Woohoo! That's actually great news, and we just found out last week totally unexpectedly that the branch will be splitting in the next couple of weeks. It's a great sign of the growth of the church here, and the best part of all is that the new location they want to put the newly created Masai branch in is a *lot* closer to the members and investigators who will be attending there. Anyway, it should be Elder Christensen and me serving in the Masai branch, so we're very excited. (Just a note, it's pronounced Ma-sigh, Ma like your Mama, and sigh like I sighed because I was sad). The branch actually applied to be split for the first time about a year ago. Anyway, since that time they tried a few different ways to split the branch, but they couldn't get the required First Presidency authorization for any of the split plans. Well, attendance has been going down so we though it was still going to be quite some time before the split. It turns out though that the split was actually approved about 4 months ago, but because of a mix up with some secretaries we never heard about it. Well, it's all worked out now and we should have a new branch in a matter of weeks. Very exciting and a big surprise.
Well, other than that, things are kind of just the same-old same-old. But I'm still loving it. Being a missionary is the best!
I love you all so much. Thanks so much for everything! Have a great week and I'll see you soon!
Elder Blissett
Life Pattern
Halo Keluargaku,
Well, things are going pretty well out here in the field. Our investigators who accepted a baptismal date are still doing well, although we had to move the date back to work out some details, but now they're still looking really strong to be baptized towards the end of July. In other good news the other elders here in JB are having a baptism this weekend putting an end to what has been kind of a small drought of baptisms in the area. So we're all really excited about that.
We had a small miracle yesterday. It was one of those everyday miracles out here in the mission field. We'd spent hours and hours out knocking and not really finding anything. A really tough day with a lot of rejection. Well, it was getting to the last few minutes we had to knock before we would turn back and go to do a baptismal interview for the other elders. Well, of course it would be right at the end of the day when a small miracle occurs and two of the last four houses we knocked turned into fairly interested new investigators. Just more on the theme of how Heavenly Father organizes the circumstances of our lives, I really feel like sometimes Heavenly Father organizes things so that you don't really find any new investigators until the last moment, just before you're about to turn around and go home. He pushes until you've given just about everything, and then the blessings come. That seems to be an interesting life pattern, and one that I've seen over and over again in my mission.
Well, other than that, things are moving along just the same. We're getting out and working hard and finding people and seeing people progress towards baptism. That's the life of a missionary, huh? :D Sometimes it's hard, rarely it's easy, but it's always 100% worth it. Something I wouldn't trade for the world.
I love you all so much. I'll definitely be keeping the family in my prayers. I'm so grateful for our family of faith!
Love you!
Elder Blissett
Well, things are going pretty well out here in the field. Our investigators who accepted a baptismal date are still doing well, although we had to move the date back to work out some details, but now they're still looking really strong to be baptized towards the end of July. In other good news the other elders here in JB are having a baptism this weekend putting an end to what has been kind of a small drought of baptisms in the area. So we're all really excited about that.
We had a small miracle yesterday. It was one of those everyday miracles out here in the mission field. We'd spent hours and hours out knocking and not really finding anything. A really tough day with a lot of rejection. Well, it was getting to the last few minutes we had to knock before we would turn back and go to do a baptismal interview for the other elders. Well, of course it would be right at the end of the day when a small miracle occurs and two of the last four houses we knocked turned into fairly interested new investigators. Just more on the theme of how Heavenly Father organizes the circumstances of our lives, I really feel like sometimes Heavenly Father organizes things so that you don't really find any new investigators until the last moment, just before you're about to turn around and go home. He pushes until you've given just about everything, and then the blessings come. That seems to be an interesting life pattern, and one that I've seen over and over again in my mission.
Well, other than that, things are moving along just the same. We're getting out and working hard and finding people and seeing people progress towards baptism. That's the life of a missionary, huh? :D Sometimes it's hard, rarely it's easy, but it's always 100% worth it. Something I wouldn't trade for the world.
I love you all so much. I'll definitely be keeping the family in my prayers. I'm so grateful for our family of faith!
Love you!
Elder Blissett
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Hari Gawai
Halo Keluargaku,
Well, this last week actually was a good one. We had a great conference in KL, I got to get to work with Elder Christiansen, and we're shaping up to having a good week this week. The zone leaders are down here on exchanges today and tomorrow too, which is always a lot of fun and very helpful.
Well, as far as news go, I think this week was pretty standard. We had a good time buying Elder Christiansen and new bike, I think this week we knocked into more drunken Ibans than I've met my entire mission, but other than that it was pretty normal. It's still the season for Hari Gawai and I guess that might be the reason for all the drunken Ibans. The actually holiday is only for a day or two, but the celebrations extend for about a month. We heard a concert going on in between some shops the other day so we went over to see what was going on. Well, lo and behold there was an open court filled with about a dozen Ibans doing the poco-poco (pronounced "pocho pocho." It's the traditional Iban line dance. Who knew that anybody had a traditional line dance? Anyway, you should try and find videos of it on youtube.) One of the organizers of the event almost immediately ran up to us and invited us to sit down and take pictures and everything, so we asked him what was going on. He explained that they were doing traditional dances to celebrate their Hari Gawai. I asked him, "Wasn't that over a week ago" to which he unabashedly replied something like "Yes, but we're still celebrating." Someone mentioned the other day that if you have enough "Last" Gawai parties you can get parties stretched out for a pretty long time. I kind of like the month long holidays though! It's a little bit like the Christmas Season in America.
Well, this week we've just been finding some more potential investigators. Unfortunately it looks like our Chinese family is not doing super well. The wife has told us a couple of times that she's having a really hard time accepting the Book of Mormon. We kind of halfway think that she was antied, but she's still friendly so we're not really sure. Anyway, her husband is still in Indonesia so we're just hoping he's having a lot better experience than her. We're still hopeful though!
It's been nice to work another week in JB. I think you really just come to love whatever you put a lot of work into, it seems almost inevitable. That's a great thing for missionary work though because you really come to love every area. It doesn't really matter where you serve, but just how you do it!
Well, things are going well. We're still working like crazy and seeing the Lord's hand in the work. We're just looking for a miracle in finding somebody who has all three of the necessary attributes of an investigator: Interest, Transportation, and work off on Sunday. It's a rare combination out here!
I love you all so much though. I'm having a great time out here and enjoying my mission more than ever. The work is still the same joyful stuff. I grow more grateful for the church and the Book of Mormon and especially the Savior with every passing day. Being a missionary is the best, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything I could have been doing back at home!
I love you all. Thanks for everything!
Love,
Elder Blissett
Well, this last week actually was a good one. We had a great conference in KL, I got to get to work with Elder Christiansen, and we're shaping up to having a good week this week. The zone leaders are down here on exchanges today and tomorrow too, which is always a lot of fun and very helpful.
Well, as far as news go, I think this week was pretty standard. We had a good time buying Elder Christiansen and new bike, I think this week we knocked into more drunken Ibans than I've met my entire mission, but other than that it was pretty normal. It's still the season for Hari Gawai and I guess that might be the reason for all the drunken Ibans. The actually holiday is only for a day or two, but the celebrations extend for about a month. We heard a concert going on in between some shops the other day so we went over to see what was going on. Well, lo and behold there was an open court filled with about a dozen Ibans doing the poco-poco (pronounced "pocho pocho." It's the traditional Iban line dance. Who knew that anybody had a traditional line dance? Anyway, you should try and find videos of it on youtube.) One of the organizers of the event almost immediately ran up to us and invited us to sit down and take pictures and everything, so we asked him what was going on. He explained that they were doing traditional dances to celebrate their Hari Gawai. I asked him, "Wasn't that over a week ago" to which he unabashedly replied something like "Yes, but we're still celebrating." Someone mentioned the other day that if you have enough "Last" Gawai parties you can get parties stretched out for a pretty long time. I kind of like the month long holidays though! It's a little bit like the Christmas Season in America.
Well, this week we've just been finding some more potential investigators. Unfortunately it looks like our Chinese family is not doing super well. The wife has told us a couple of times that she's having a really hard time accepting the Book of Mormon. We kind of halfway think that she was antied, but she's still friendly so we're not really sure. Anyway, her husband is still in Indonesia so we're just hoping he's having a lot better experience than her. We're still hopeful though!
It's been nice to work another week in JB. I think you really just come to love whatever you put a lot of work into, it seems almost inevitable. That's a great thing for missionary work though because you really come to love every area. It doesn't really matter where you serve, but just how you do it!
Well, things are going well. We're still working like crazy and seeing the Lord's hand in the work. We're just looking for a miracle in finding somebody who has all three of the necessary attributes of an investigator: Interest, Transportation, and work off on Sunday. It's a rare combination out here!
I love you all so much though. I'm having a great time out here and enjoying my mission more than ever. The work is still the same joyful stuff. I grow more grateful for the church and the Book of Mormon and especially the Savior with every passing day. Being a missionary is the best, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything I could have been doing back at home!
I love you all. Thanks for everything!
Love,
Elder Blissett
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
"I'm Not Home..."
Halo Keluargaku,
Well, this week was another pretty standard week out here in JB. No visits from general authorities or other famous people but lots of knocking and teaching. So it was standard, but pretty good!
One of the highlights was a lesson we had with a Chinese family early in the week. I think I told you about meeting them before. They're the family I told you had been praying for some comfort just before we knocked on their door. Anyway, they're still doing great and we had an awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon with them, the senior couple serving here and one of the branch missionaries. They're a family that's really sincerely searching for the truth (which I've found can be a really hard thing to find) and who are really committed to following whatever answers they receive, so I'm confident that they'll be getting the right answer soon. Unfortunately the husband has to go to Indonesia for business for about a month later this week, but we're still hopeful that everything is going to work out fine.
We've had some weird weather lately. Just the other day we had a day that was super overcast and very hot, but that never rained. It was really strange. Usually if you walk out of the house and it's a really hot day (which really just means it's a few degrees Celsius hotter, I think the temperature here just varies between 29 and 32 degrees, but it always feels a lot hotter!) you can almost be positive that it will rain that day. It's actually pretty predictable. So it was weird the other day to have a full day that was hot and cloudy without rain. The clouds were actually nice though, it's always better to have the clouds than the sun. The sun can be really brutal out here.
We had a fun contacting experience contacting and Indian man at his home just before he left for his job as a bus driver in Singapore. Well, we asked him if we could come back the next day and he told us a little bit reluctantly that that would be ok. So, the next day we start the fairly long bike ride in the hot sun to go out and go see him. Well, you can imagine our relief when we saw that his bus was still parked in front of his house, meaning that he hadn't left for work yet. Anyway, we walked up to the door and rang it, waited for a couple of seconds and saw just a flash of somebody walking out the front door and hearing a short of muffled gasp/shout. Well, that was strange we thought, but we figured he'd be coming back out in just a second after he grabbed the keys. Well, we waited there for a few minutes in the beating sun and... nothing happened. He didn't come back. After waiting a couple more minutes we retreated to some shade at his neighbors house and gave him a call.
"Oh hello friend, we're at your house right now and it's very hot. Do you think we can come in?"
"Oh uh, actually I'm not home right now. Ya, I'm visiting my relative"
It was at this point I realized that I was not only hearing his voice on the phone, but could actually hear him speaking inside the house. Well, after a short conversation (wherein he asked us to go visit him at his "relative's" house that was actually some distance away!), we just went on our merry way. Sometimes things don't quite work out the way you hoped they would, but at least it was funny!
Well, other than that, things are pretty much going the way they've been going here. We're still having a blast and doing our best to teach Heavenly Father's other children.
Anyway, I'm still loving it here! We're working hard and I'll be finishing up strong for sure!
I love you all so much. Thanks for everything!
Love you!
Elder Blissett
Well, this week was another pretty standard week out here in JB. No visits from general authorities or other famous people but lots of knocking and teaching. So it was standard, but pretty good!
One of the highlights was a lesson we had with a Chinese family early in the week. I think I told you about meeting them before. They're the family I told you had been praying for some comfort just before we knocked on their door. Anyway, they're still doing great and we had an awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon with them, the senior couple serving here and one of the branch missionaries. They're a family that's really sincerely searching for the truth (which I've found can be a really hard thing to find) and who are really committed to following whatever answers they receive, so I'm confident that they'll be getting the right answer soon. Unfortunately the husband has to go to Indonesia for business for about a month later this week, but we're still hopeful that everything is going to work out fine.
We've had some weird weather lately. Just the other day we had a day that was super overcast and very hot, but that never rained. It was really strange. Usually if you walk out of the house and it's a really hot day (which really just means it's a few degrees Celsius hotter, I think the temperature here just varies between 29 and 32 degrees, but it always feels a lot hotter!) you can almost be positive that it will rain that day. It's actually pretty predictable. So it was weird the other day to have a full day that was hot and cloudy without rain. The clouds were actually nice though, it's always better to have the clouds than the sun. The sun can be really brutal out here.
We had a fun contacting experience contacting and Indian man at his home just before he left for his job as a bus driver in Singapore. Well, we asked him if we could come back the next day and he told us a little bit reluctantly that that would be ok. So, the next day we start the fairly long bike ride in the hot sun to go out and go see him. Well, you can imagine our relief when we saw that his bus was still parked in front of his house, meaning that he hadn't left for work yet. Anyway, we walked up to the door and rang it, waited for a couple of seconds and saw just a flash of somebody walking out the front door and hearing a short of muffled gasp/shout. Well, that was strange we thought, but we figured he'd be coming back out in just a second after he grabbed the keys. Well, we waited there for a few minutes in the beating sun and... nothing happened. He didn't come back. After waiting a couple more minutes we retreated to some shade at his neighbors house and gave him a call.
"Oh hello friend, we're at your house right now and it's very hot. Do you think we can come in?"
"Oh uh, actually I'm not home right now. Ya, I'm visiting my relative"
It was at this point I realized that I was not only hearing his voice on the phone, but could actually hear him speaking inside the house. Well, after a short conversation (wherein he asked us to go visit him at his "relative's" house that was actually some distance away!), we just went on our merry way. Sometimes things don't quite work out the way you hoped they would, but at least it was funny!
Well, other than that, things are pretty much going the way they've been going here. We're still having a blast and doing our best to teach Heavenly Father's other children.
Anyway, I'm still loving it here! We're working hard and I'll be finishing up strong for sure!
I love you all so much. Thanks for everything!
Love you!
Elder Blissett
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Elder Bednar's Visit
Halo Keluargaku,
Well, Elder Bednar's visit was absolutely awesome! You were right, he came here right after organizing the first Stake in Indonesia, which in and of itself would be really awesome, but the talk that he gave us was absolutely awesome too!
The meeting was with Elder Bednar, Elder Pratt (of our area presidency), President Clark and all of their wives as well as all of the missionaries from West Malaysia, Singapore and Sabah. So all and all I'd say that there was about 100 people there, which made the meeting feel pretty small and intimate. It was awesome to see how Elder Bednar taught. He's a master at the art for sure! The whole session though basically just revolved around Elder Bednar asking us questions, and then us asking him questions! He taught us all about the pattern of teaching people by the Spirit and using questions inspired by the Holy Ghost by demonstrating it by example right there in the meeting. It was awesome! Other highlights included an apostolic promise that someday in the future we'll be able to look at the church in Malaysia and see that we were "laying the foundation of a great work" and that in the future the church is going to be a *lot* bigger here. He gave some great marriage advice, saying that we should "look for a woman who will reverence her womanhood" and who understands her role in the plan of salvation, and also taught us all about how to end a mission right. And all of that on top of teaching us what he actually came to teach us about teaching by the Spirit and helping people be agents for themselves in learning. It was a spiritual feast for sure!
So that was *awesome*, but this last week we had not only that, but also a great experience with meeting a Chinese family as we were out door contacting who is absolutely awesome. Again, it was one of those times that we were really surprised to be immediately invited into the house to share our message even though it looked like they were just about to head out. Well, we shared our message and I'm not sure entirely how much of it they understood, but at the end of the lesson they told us that they'd be praying as a family not more than five minutes before we came about a health struggle their father is going through and they really felt like we'd be sent there at just that moment as an answer to their prayers and as a comfort. It was awesome, and the best part is that they came to church this last Sunday. So, we're going to keep working with them for sure. Apparently the husband is going to Indonesia for about a month this week though, so that we'll be a struggle, but we definitely have a great start on good things happening with this family.
So in short, it's been an awesome week! We've received a lot of blessings from the Lord and I think that this is only the beginning for this area. Missionary work is more fun than ever. I was comforted to hear Elder Bednar tell us at the conference that we should basically be more lost about how to do missionary work on our last day in the field than we were on the first day (emphasizing that we just can't do this work on our own), which was a big comfort because sometimes that's a lot how I feel. But it's a blast, and I'm loving it!
I'm so grateful to be a member of this church. I know that it's true now more than ever. It was so powerful to get to hear Sister Bednar bear her personal testimony that her husband really was who he claimed to be. You know that she knows him better than anyone, and it was so cool to see how powerful her witness was. I love the church and I love the chance I have to come and share it with everyone else!
Thanks so much for your support. I'm so glad to hear that everything is going so well at home! I love you all so much!
Love you!
Elder Blissett
Well, Elder Bednar's visit was absolutely awesome! You were right, he came here right after organizing the first Stake in Indonesia, which in and of itself would be really awesome, but the talk that he gave us was absolutely awesome too!
The meeting was with Elder Bednar, Elder Pratt (of our area presidency), President Clark and all of their wives as well as all of the missionaries from West Malaysia, Singapore and Sabah. So all and all I'd say that there was about 100 people there, which made the meeting feel pretty small and intimate. It was awesome to see how Elder Bednar taught. He's a master at the art for sure! The whole session though basically just revolved around Elder Bednar asking us questions, and then us asking him questions! He taught us all about the pattern of teaching people by the Spirit and using questions inspired by the Holy Ghost by demonstrating it by example right there in the meeting. It was awesome! Other highlights included an apostolic promise that someday in the future we'll be able to look at the church in Malaysia and see that we were "laying the foundation of a great work" and that in the future the church is going to be a *lot* bigger here. He gave some great marriage advice, saying that we should "look for a woman who will reverence her womanhood" and who understands her role in the plan of salvation, and also taught us all about how to end a mission right. And all of that on top of teaching us what he actually came to teach us about teaching by the Spirit and helping people be agents for themselves in learning. It was a spiritual feast for sure!
So that was *awesome*, but this last week we had not only that, but also a great experience with meeting a Chinese family as we were out door contacting who is absolutely awesome. Again, it was one of those times that we were really surprised to be immediately invited into the house to share our message even though it looked like they were just about to head out. Well, we shared our message and I'm not sure entirely how much of it they understood, but at the end of the lesson they told us that they'd be praying as a family not more than five minutes before we came about a health struggle their father is going through and they really felt like we'd be sent there at just that moment as an answer to their prayers and as a comfort. It was awesome, and the best part is that they came to church this last Sunday. So, we're going to keep working with them for sure. Apparently the husband is going to Indonesia for about a month this week though, so that we'll be a struggle, but we definitely have a great start on good things happening with this family.
So in short, it's been an awesome week! We've received a lot of blessings from the Lord and I think that this is only the beginning for this area. Missionary work is more fun than ever. I was comforted to hear Elder Bednar tell us at the conference that we should basically be more lost about how to do missionary work on our last day in the field than we were on the first day (emphasizing that we just can't do this work on our own), which was a big comfort because sometimes that's a lot how I feel. But it's a blast, and I'm loving it!
I'm so grateful to be a member of this church. I know that it's true now more than ever. It was so powerful to get to hear Sister Bednar bear her personal testimony that her husband really was who he claimed to be. You know that she knows him better than anyone, and it was so cool to see how powerful her witness was. I love the church and I love the chance I have to come and share it with everyone else!
Thanks so much for your support. I'm so glad to hear that everything is going so well at home! I love you all so much!
Love you!
Elder Blissett
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