Volleyball turf wars

4-13

Hey family,

I listened to conference this week oh and I forgot to tell you about your son playing volleyball! So my first p-day here, we went to the beach and played Frisbee and Volleyball. We were playing around, when some guys came up and wanted to play on the nets... (little did we know that they were professional volleyball players) So, we told them we would play them for the court. We got on one side, and they were on the other. The match ensued. It was me and 2 big elders on the front and we were killing it. We beat them 21 to 14. J They are now new investigators because we said that if we beat them then we get to teach them about the gospel. We had to pass them off to the English speaking elders, but that is ok. It was awesome.

The weather in Utah sounds nice, it has been so hot here and then we have smashing rain. You will have to send me some pictures of your yard work. My companion is eventually going to San Jose California. His brother is going to Hong Kong. I think their mom is really busy right now trying to get their visas ready.

So my investigator is going back to China... it was so sad to see him go. We are still chatting with him online while he is there. And we are still teaching him. Shhhhh!!!! don't tell anyone!!

We finally figured out what was making my kitchen smell funny. It was a rice cooker full of maggots and rice that had been sitting there for 5 weeks... so before I came to Singapore... so gross. I will attach a picture.

 

Mom your birthday present is almost done! Tell Abbi 你好！

How is my Jeep. Hopefully it is ok. I miss driving it around. Does it still smell like me? Abbi said it smelled like me.

(Referring to his new ties that we didn’t recognize that he was wearing in pictures.)

They are just from other missionaries and some members. I compliment their tie and then they usually ask to trade. The members just take it off and give it to you, even if you refuse. It is crazy! My clothes are great and my shoes are great! They only reason that shoes are not good is when you don't take care of them. There was a missionary that I met before my mission that bought shoes from Walmart because he didn't have much money. He put insoles in them that helped his feet feel comfortable. He polished and protected them every week and they looked like they were fresh out of the box. They were 2 years old! So, it doesn't matter what you by as long as you are diligent in taking care of them. I am so happy that I have the shoes you guys sent me, they are so amazing and I love them! You guys are the best! We made all the right choices in clothing. In fact you sent me with all the right stuff! I have my testimony and my scriptures. And that is the most important.

Love you mom you are awesome!:)

get feeling better!:)

我爱你！

Elder Fletcher

 

4/20

Dear Family,

This week has been pretty good, we have a new investigator we are working with. She is great. She has tons of awesome questions and wants to understand everything. She already is starting to develop an awesome relationship with our members. Right after we finish our lesson, Ray and her went on a date. Ray has been the member working with her. Ray is a return missionary. We just have to finish helping her understand the commandments. We are trying to do our best to find new people to teach. We have been working together on Chinese and improving our Chinese. I am doing great and it sounds like you guys are too.

Other then that today, we are going off to the zoo, It sounds like we will have lots of fun today at the zoo.

Hey, I found a present for Abbi, but I haven't bought it yet.

Tell Mike that I hope everything is ok, and that his jeep will get back to normal. Speaking of Jeeps, please take some pictures of mine and send them to me.

Look up “William Kellie Smith” and see if we are related to him, he owned a castle in Malaysia.

Love you guys so much!

Elder Fletcher

 

Out 8 months

Family,

Sorry for not emailing you at the usual time, we went to a trampoline park before emailing.  So how is it going? How are you guys feeling? I am doing better.  I feel tons better!

We haven’t seen conference yet.  It will be so much fun to hear from the prophets.  We found a new investigator and are doing great things.  I set a goal to talk to 200 people this week.  I am already working at achieving it. :)

Regarding you hosting a Chinese Student. You should have them email me. It will help my Chinese.

What did you have for dinner with Ulu? How was it?  Is he excited to go on his mission? What language will he be speaking?  What is he feeling like? I am jealous you get to go talk to Ulu.  I would love to speak Chinese with him again.  What?  He ate my fish?  That is ridiculous!  Hey by the way, I just bought you a gift.  You will like it, but you will have to wait for a while to get it though.

Can you believe that I just hit 8 months on my mission? 1/3 of my mission is over.... ahhhh! crazy time!  It is going by way to fast, I want it to slow down.

I just talked to a guy from China.  He is 19 years old and is making $10,000 a month as a business consultant for a English business here.  It is so cool! He said that he has a couple friends that want to learn about Christianity.  So, we are working on that.  He told me that my Chinese is better then his English and that I could do the job he is doing better then he could.  haha!

That is cool that Abbi is quilting.  Well something just came to me.  I have 1 year and 4 months left and....when I hit my year mark... Aug 7.... I will be one of the oldest Chinese speaking missionaries in the mission.  5 of the 13 Chinese speaking Elders go home in the next 4 months... ahhhh...crazy stuff!

Ya, I am doing great!  My companion Elder Liew is doing great.  I am trying to be Captian Moroni to this kid.  I am trying to inspire him to talk to people.  I have to lead by example.

So a cool story: I saw these 2 Buddhist monks and I went and talk to them.  I was like (this is all in Chinese)
Me “Hey whats up? Do you speak Chinese?”
Them “Yes I do, do you speak Chinese?,
Me “Yes we speak Chinese, where are you from?”
Them “We are from China?
Me “Are you Buddhist?”
Them “Yes”
Me “Cool, I teach people about Jesus, lets meet on Wednesday at 7 and we will talk more about this.”
Them “Ok can”.
Us “This is my number what is yours?”
Them “This is our number.”
Us “Cool, alright bye.”  hahaha it is was cool!!

it is really cool what the Lord can do with you if you will just show that you love him and make that first step of faith!

well i love you guys so much!  and
慢慢走！爱，
邱长老

In Singapore

Dear Family,

Love you guys so much! This week has been crazy trying to get everything going. We came into our new area in Singapore. We basically have the south east of Singapore. Ya it is pretty big area! We have a third of the island, and apparently this is a pretty permanent change from the sounds of it. I will be here for a while. As for the illness, I have no idea why it isn't getting better, maybe because I have been so stressed.

Thank you so much for the blessing Dad. I feel a lot better about the challenge in front of me.

While walking home last night, we started a conversation with a girl who was out walking. We hope she gives us a call today. She was crying when we saw her, it was so sad. We couldn't really talk to her much, because it was getting dark and it would have been really weird. So we just asked if she needed help, and asked if she wanted us to walk with her because it wasn't safe outside. She said no, so we let her be and gave her our card.

Well there is a lot of senior couples here. It would be cool if the guy you met at Lava over the weekend knew one of them.

I have recently learned that my Mandarin is not so good, so lots more practicing for me!!:)

My new companion is a lot of fun. He helps me speak Chinese like a ton. I am getting better. We are going to do great together. He is a native and he is Chinese so he has been showing me some cool things about health that I didn't know before. I am showing him how to build muscle and he is showing me how to be healthy haha. He has me drinking warm water yum :) He is great and I love him already. He is from Ipoh.

Thanks for letting me know about Kyle coming to Singapore. I will have to look him up.

I am looking forward to talking to you on Mother’s day. It is crazy, after this mother's day I will only have 2 more times of skyping you before my mission is over. It is like half of my mission is over..

well I love you guys so much! I am doing great! Just getting settled in!!:)

 

Derek

My new companion is behind the bowl with the camera.