Hello all!
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| Elder Kampenhout with recent from converts & members from Miri |
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| Sibu (taken from church window) |
So things are going well here. Elder Martin and I have been on the road every week. We average at LEAST 4 flights a week. It's kinda of crazy how much time we spend traveling. It's fun though. We have grown super close, and even though at first we had some pretty HUGE differences, we have been able to teach one another through example. It's kinda funny how that works. When missionaries tell each other that "you need to do this or that, or be like me", it rarely has good effects. Often times it creates rifts. But with Elder Martin and I we have been able to see one another's example, and take from it what we desire. It's been amazing to see the improvement :D With that in mind, I would like to stress the fact that we live the Gospel that we have covenanted to keep. That is one of the best ways we can do missionary work. Be the Charity that you read about, show the love that is so needed, and be patient, even as our Father in Heaven is patient with his children. In my pondering I have learned much about the role of Father from thinking about how Heavenly Father treats us. I have a feeling I will yet learn more.
But other than that, things are going well. Our investigator Enos has gone to church twice here in Singapore while we have been out of town, and is progressing well. He can't read hardly, but is trying. If we text him scriptures, or if he texts himself, he has a program on his phone that will read it out loud so he can hear it and know what it says. Oh the advancing technology! Enos is from Sabah, and it is way fun to teach him in Malay amongst a ward of English speaking Filipinos. The Indonesian/Malaysian community in our ward is very close knit, and super great at fellowship at church. I have never quite learned to appreciate the importance of fellowship until I came out on a mission. Its Gi-huge.
So as far as conferences, last week we had our Zone Leader Council, which was good, and then we went on splits with some of the missionaries in Sibu. We were also graced with the return of a former missionary, Elder Pace. He finished his mission in Sibu about 2 years ago, and came back with his wife to go on vacation. Well....vacation meaning taking the Elders around to show them all of the "lost coins" that were the members back in his day, and they dug up tons of new investigators who in turn came to church and wanted to be baptized. From the previous week, the church attendance more than doubled. It was incredible! The influence that one missionary can have is amazing. With the lessons taught, anyone could have read those scriptures, but when the missionary that baptized them read those scriptures, and lovingly and boldly invited them to turn their life around, it came with a greater force. All of this because a love existed between them. There was already a bond. I see this much like a bond between a parent and a child. The parent is the most influential person in a child's life, and that Love needs to be nurtured and grown so that when the storms of life arise, that connection will be strong enough so that the parent can guide and direct the child in a direction they need to go. So with that love existing, Elder Pace was able to stir his recent converts (of which are many) to a remembrance of their covenants. It was amazing to see.
Now everyone should see and respect the missionaries as messengers of Jesus Christ, but the world is just not that way. That is why each and every Elder, and member who has taken upon themselves the name of Christ, needs to start being like the Savior. In our actions, in the way we treat others, and in the very words we say. As my great soccer coach once said: "You can do better." Let us be better men and women for a better cause, because we realize what a better world we can help create. Maybe that better world won't come in our surroundings, but within our own hearts and homes. I love you all and know that life is the greatest thing we have been given. We should be smiling every day :D
Your loving Friend, Brother, and Son,
Elder Willem Kampenhout
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