8/31
All,
doing pretty good. this week was amazing!! we are just working really hard and we are seeing tons of miracles take place in front of our eyes! it is amazing to see!! we are really focusing on finding new people we have so much potential that we found this last week and this week we will take care of it and get them going but it is super nice!
Events that happened this week… johnny hasn't drank coffee and tea for 1 week! and we biked all over the place! We also just finished playing capture the flag on the beach you will see in the pictures! it is call bako nation park it is so much fun there! and beautiful! I am so sun burnt .
My companion and I love working hard too!
haha i run basically every morning and hit the gym for about ten minutes just super quick! hey so some interesting things..... hahah you told me to tell you when they happen so here they are!
i crashed on my bike because a car cut me off and cut up my hand and my elbow and leg pretty bad and ruined a white shirt... i was fine it was mostly my ego the cuts seem to be healing fine I cleaned them out and it looks ok! so no worries there! i had a helmet on so no concussion!
today while we were at Bako i was climb these rocks/barnacles bare footed....(stupid) and i slipped down a little and now have a pretty nice cut on my foot! my pinkie finger also got sliced up pretty nice but those are just like paper cuts i will clean it out when i get home but i can't walk right now very well but i can ride my bike so good thing im in a biking area!
oh ya i also step on a staple today and a thorn both went pretty far into my foot.... haha all three…the cut, staple and thorn all went into the left foot... :)
9/7
Dear Family,
This week has been very interesting! we have been seeing miracles with finding new people to teach right and left it has been amazing! it started out with Monday!
Monday we were so tired and sun burnt that it wasn't even funny but we went out after p day and tried to find people to teach at the shop lots here. It didn't seem to turn out anything but we were at least out working
Tuesday. still very sun burnt and not really able to put on a shirt haha i will send a picture but we went to district meeting and that was good then off to auntie mui and Ah long and then a over to the church to visit with johney
Wednesday. We went and helped bobo in the morning and she introduced us to her friend penny! then we went to go visit and investigator that some other elders passed us. well then went and checked on a family that lives next door to our investigators and went to get them a job! then we went to pres. teos and help him teach his friends!
Thursday. we biked out to batu kawa to go visit a less active with the sisters but the less active forgot we had an appt.... well that is ok we then went back and taught johnny a lesson!
Friday. went to go visit bobo and penny her friend well penny took us around and introduced us to lots of friends so that was awesome! the that night we had correlation meeting with Bro. Lai
Saturday penny and bobo fed us lunch after we help bobo clean her shop we then went and met with mr. jong and lilian (mr. jongs friend) she has interest in learning about the gospel! then off to setting up for game night and we had a former investigator call us out of the blue and want to start learning again we told him about the game night and he was the first one there! good turn out! 3 investigators and some members after that we went with pres. teo to help try and bring his son back to church!
Sunday Aunti moi ah long bobo and penny all came to church!! it was great after that we had dinner at brother victors house with pres ero! it was awesome! haha such a great time to fellow ship members!
all my cuts have been healing find i super glued my foot and it is doing better( less pain) so yep! my eye has been better for a few weeks now! :) love you guys
Elder Fletcher
9/14
Dear Family,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!
so this week was the moon cake festival so that was interesting. We sent a lantern up into the sky! we also visited a lot of our investigators. We are doing really well in our area! and are finding a lot of success!
this week we fasted with john about his baptismal date and he now feels really good about it! auntie moi is still coming to church and is really starting to enjoy the church service! Another investigator basically tore apart alma 32... not cool! he also had lots of questions about everything and seemed to want to prove our church wrong on every account! well that is ok because we bore our simple but stern testimonies and let him know that even though we don't have the answers to everything we know that it is true!
we have a less active who’s wife is from china! so crazy!! she cut our hair this week and we talked to her a lot and even though she doesn't have much interest in the gospel she will one day and that is important! we talked to penny about her baptismal date and she seems pretty excited to get baptized! so that is awesome!
this week we had lots of investigators at church so that is amazing!! this week i also got very sick i went from 82kg to 74kg.. that is 180lbs to 163lbs... so yep that was no fun but i am doing better now! still have diarrhea but no more throwing up and i can actually eat food!:) so yep this next week we are going to Singapore so that is going to be fun! yay more passport stuff!
Love your son,
Elder Fletcher
9/21
my week is going good! we just got back from the caves! but we are prepping everybody (Penny Johnny and Ivan) for baptism! they are all getting baptized on Saturday! it is awesome all of them are so willing and working so hard! we have really had a good week with zone conference and trying to get things figured out for our area! we had transfers today but nothing happened! we are still together! so that is awesome!! :) our branch also went crazy when they saw that we had 3 baptisms this week! haha they are starting to catch on fire! it is amazing! :) we are really trying to work hard and just be good!:)
ok so here is a run down of the week! Monday p-day we went and met with johnny that night and talk to him about baptism!
tues. we went out to the wind caves with our branch and had a great activity! it really helped our investigators!
wed. flew off to Singapore! had lunch with Ramona! that was awesome!
Thurs. zone conference! received the inspiration that we needed for our area!
Friday came back from Singapore!! but i got stopped at the border and only given 55 days here.. i have to be out by November 13! so we will see what happens the next transfers are November 7th or something like that!
Saturday we had a packed day just trying to see all of our investigators because they are getting baptized here very quickly! so hopefully!! but yep then
Sunday! tons of investigators at church! and the branch had a new excitement about them hearing about the baptisms!! so that was great!!! and today we went to the wind cave and croc farm with penny and bobo! i am going to have some missionaries send you pictures!:)
we are focusing on those 3 and just really making sure they are ready! daily contact and such! but Saturday at 7!:) we are also going to be working on bobo a little bit too!:)
9/28
My companion he has had stomach problems yesterday and the day before! No worries about my visa i am fine! like i said i can usually talk my way out of things! :) but ya they all got transferred out from the sounds of it.... that was just up in Sabah no where else is really having big issues! but ya we are really praying for the government to soften there hearts! well they might have to close some areas if it continues because we wont have enough missionaries! but who knows!
Cold there? It is still warm here haha it hasn't gotten cold for a long...... time.....
Well this week has been really good we had a baptism and we have just been stressing about that! we have really been focusing hard at setting things up and following through!! we have 17 appt. this week so that is great! now we just need to plan for them all and get members at all of them! but it was amazing to see miracles happen this week!
we really have been working hard at contacting new people so that way we can have new people to teach! when we got to our area six weeks ago we had 4 people that the pervious missionaries were meeting with and now we have close to 30 that we are meeting with every week! haha families are key to the Lords work! we want a family baptism here within the next 6 weeks!! so that will be great!!!
I know that a lot of what we are doing isn't us! but it is the Lord working through us! I have tried doing the Lords work my whole mission and how i think he wants me to do it.... and that was wrong... the Lord knows how to do his work and doesn't need me screwing it up! I know now that when we forget ourselves and put everything into his hands and say “i am yours… i will do what you need me to do”, that is exactly the moment that miracles happen but you have to do it! you have to exercise your faith.... if you don't it doesn’t work! i have loved being here and just seeing what the Lord wants!! Kuching will have a stake soon enough!:)
Love you guys,
Elder Fletcher
By the way… Ivan was Baptized this week
10/5
Dear Family,
This is Good ol' me still here in Kuching. This week has been great we have been working really hard with our investigators. Brother Tan is getting baptized this week and we are working with Bobo and penny for baptism and are really praying for them to have spiritual experiences! They love hearing about the temple and are wanting to go to America to go to the temple so that is awesome! Baptisms for the dead really touched there lives!! it is great! well something else that i have really seen this week is Elder Pierce stepping up to the plate on a lot of things he really is starting to get the hang of being a missionary! so that is great! I think we have missionaries coming in the next transfer and if that is the cause I feel that pierce would do great training them! Haha, I have basically turned the phone over to him and let him plan and set up everything and i am just here for the Chinese and the teaching haha! sorta!
Well I was up until 4:30 last night... that was no fun i was coughing up a storm... i felt bad for the other Elders i am sure it woke them up...
Well that is about it!
Love,
Elder Fletcher
OH YA!!!!!!!! I FORGOT! (Happy Birthday to you in chinese! )
ZHU NI SHENG RI KUAI LE, ZHU NI SHENG RI KUAI LE, ZHU NI SHEEEENNNGG RIIIIIII KUAI LEEEEEE, ZHU NI SHENG RI KUAI LE!!!
10/12
Well this week has been interesting all across the board!:) well i have seen the 1 blessing come from our bikes being stolen and it has been that the night they were stolen
i ran after the guys but really had no idea where they went, i was mostly just trying to catch up to them... i was hoping for anything... as i ran around talking to everyone i could about the bike in Chinese Malay Hokkien and English i came across a man named Ah boon he was out side smoking and I had the strongest impression that i NEEDED to speak to this man NOW, as i spoke to him it was not me speaking to him... it was absolutely perfect Chinese i had no idea what was coming out of my mouth as we conversed back and for what seemed like 10-20 minutes he handed me a bike and said that i could borrow this bike i told him thank you and left and continued on the search now on a bike.
Nothing came that night but i was up all night thinking about this man. I have never felt anything close to this on my mission at all. the next day we returned the bike but he seemed different and in a hurry we didn't get to talk very much and we told him thank you and as we left i was shocked by the fact that i felt so strongly about him in the first place... as the days past yesterday Elder Pierce and i were running through the Kampong (where we think the bikes are/were) we went up the road next to where ah boons house was as we were sitting there we notice he was out side we decide to stop by and talk for a minute his mom and daughter where there and they invited us in and gave us a drink we formally introduced ourselves to them and introduced ourselves as missionary of the Lord. we found out he was baptized on Saturday and had tons of questions about church and out why there are so many. We are now planning on continuing to visit him!:)
Penny is an investigator and is great she is getting baptized on November 13
Love,
Elder Fletcher
Elder Fletcher
10/19
penny is great! she always tells that she talks to you! no it doesn't bug me! she told us today she wants to be baptized in the ocean haha! This week was great we had Brother Tan get baptized and penny decide to get baptized for sure!
this week has been really good! Elder Pierce and i are doing great! we have been working really hard to hit our goals and to see success! this week we really have seen people either continue to have faith in the Lord or completely deny all miracles. it was very sad yesterday when we had branch member said that it doesn't matter who we baptize they will all be less active... i was extremely disappointed in this man.. He continued to tell us that each one of our investigators wasn't worth it. and that we shouldn't be focused on a baptizing people... (we aren't we are focused on the people we are working with and measuring the work we do by numbers)... as he continued to speak he tore down all faith I had in him
As i studied how chap. 13 of pmg this morning i came across this, "When converts are baptized and confirmed, they make sacred promises to obey and serve God and others for the rest of their lives. They become candidates for salvation in the celestial kingdom. To receive the promised blessings, they must endure to the end with faith in Jesus Christ. Church members are essential in helping new converts remain active and faithful."
President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “There is absolutely no point in doing missionary work unless we hold on to the fruits of that effort. The two must be inseparable. … Every convert is a great and serious responsibility”
I realized this morning that members are the reason why people in the past have gone less active. Members like this man are too prideful to go up and say hi and introduce themselves
Your son,
Elder Fletcher
10/26
Hey Mom Dad and Abbi,
Well your favorite son got another concussion this last week. it wasn't as bad as the last one, nor did i forget any memory.. but sure enough wed. night i got in a crash and hit my head.. i don't remember what exactly happened. I do remember my bike was under me and then it wasn't. I didn't think much of it except I had a head ache that wouldn't go away. I took medication even used the migraine stuff but nothing helped. So, on Saturday, i gave sister mains a call and she said that i should go in and get it checked. The doctor said that there shouldn’t be anything wrong and the headache should go away with in a week. He gave me some medication to help me sleep at night because i haven't been sleeping well.... today it got worse and i am not really sure what is going on i am so tired and my head hurts and i can't focus and i just want to sleep and do nothing.. just looking at this screen hurts my head... I will call Sister Mains again. I see an MRI in my future.
an update on the ward member.... Penny is getting baptized this Saturday!:)
Love Elder Fletcher
11/2
Dear family,
My headaches are doing a lot better. I have a little one today but they are no longer effecting our work! actually i wasn't able to leave the house and i had to stay in bed most of last week... it was boring! but it helped!
Penny is doing great! she got baptized this week I am pretty sure she told you! well it is great! I baptized her and Elder Pierce Baptized Audrey it was great! haha such a neat experience!
sorry i am emailing so late today. transfers aren't out yet! but we have transfers today! we have tons of potential for the next six weeks the area is exploding haha! i am pumped for whatever happens! :)
Love you guys
Elder Fletcher!
PS. if Penny comes to visit America, namely the temple, could she have a place to stay? like at our house? Thank you so much for all your prayers for my concussion, they really did help! to be honest it could have been a lot worse then it actually was and i felt stupid for even worrying about it! I am not sure about the visa if i don't get transferred today i will call and ask about it but a transfer would take care of it!
Penny is a stud and Audrey and her are best friends basically! and they have one good friend Pres Teo! so that is good! but the branch really needs to surround these people! and bring them in! that is 4 baptism in the past 4 weeks and they all need to be loved!!
transfers...... are in!!!!! i am going to KL: PJ i am training again and opening a brand new area!!
ahh i am so nervous!!! Opening and Training again...
11/9
Dear Family,
Well this week the good news is that… Elder Sabin and have arrived here in KL safely and in one piece, but not without some opposition (Satan)
Leaving Kuching last week i got in another Bike reck... not too bad and no concussion but i was about 5 feet in the air and i am sure an angel must have saved me because there was a nice patch of grass that i landed on just as a car screamed past me about 60 mph and about 6 inches from my head! Scary.
after that i was off to Singapore nothing too bad going in and picking up Elder Sabin (fantastic Elder btw). We started to head out and got on the plane all safely and then landed.... that is when it started to get rough...
I sent him through immigration first because that is what i was prompted to do and he made it through just fine and then... i went up to the immigration officer and he was quite upset with me (i told Elder Sabin before, once he was through immigration to go out of sight from me and wait for me). Unfortunately, he called over the guards to me and i was then escorted back into a room with some other men.
As I was sitting there( praying very hard) a woman across from me whom was also very stern and upset to the point of yelling at me, as I kept responding with the same answers . She was not very happy with me . She even told me "you needed to buy a ticket back to your country, right now." After she said this, a man came and tapped her on the shoulder and told her i needed to go see Mr. Lee.
I was then escorted back to what appeared to be Mr. Lee’s office. I came in and sat down. No one was in the room at first, but within seconds a Chinese man was in the room and looking at me. He sat down and ask me one question "why are you here?" my thoughts were racing for anything to say to get me out of the situation when all of a sudden i said in perfect Chinese "I am a Representative of our Father in Heaven and his Son, Our Savior, and I am here to share Their love with every person that I meet" the man looked at me and said "I will be back"
About 10 minutes later, ( but what felt like an eternity) He came back in and said "I can only get you 30 days here and you will need to report to immigration before those days are up, I wish the best to you, do not forget to share with them about living with their families for eternity". As i looked down at my passport and looked up again he was gone….
and then another man walked in and looked at me and said “well give me your passport” he looked at it and said oh you already have gotten this solved? and replied…”yes, yes” and he said that I could leave, as i stood up i saw his name badge and it said Mr. Lee...
Miracles do happen!!!! The lord wants me here!
Well about the work here
so far here we are opening up so we are starting from 0 and going up from there. We got 2 new investigators yesterday a family Peter, his wife and their 2 kids! so that is great a whole family!
we are really going to seek for referrals this week and talk to everyone that we can! I love you guys so much! and I know why i am out here!!:)
Love Elder Fletcher