Nov 16 to Feb 1

November 16th,

This week has been one of the roughest weeks of my mission.  This area has so much potential.  We can all see it and are really wanting to see miracles happen but it seems that satan is fighting us so much this last week with anti materials and with people not wanting to meet or do anything.   By the end of the week, both my companion and i were beat.  Sunday after church with literally had no hope... The next day, we lay in bed not wanting to even get up.  We were emotionally drained.  Despite all of this, after a minute of laying there, both of us jumped out of bed.  We decided that even if we had no plans and had nothing to do.  And even though we felt no body wanted to talk to us we would go out and do something.  It didn't matter what.   So we left the house

As we got on the train we met Yaep.  He is Buddhist but willing to learn we got his number.  Then we stopped at the next train stop and got off.  We were on a mission to try and find a less active member.  We went to his house (wasn't there) and then started to go back to the train and it started raining.  So we slipped under a pavilion to talk about our next step.  It was there that we met 4 men from Nepal all wanting to learn!  We gave then whatever material we had (2 books of Mormon and some pamphlets) and they all seem super interested.  We got all of there numbers.  We were off again to go find another less actives house (he was not there because he moved) AND on the way back we met Parker he is from Korea and was interested in Christianity.  He said he wanted to bring all of his friends to our Christmas party!

That night we told the other Elders about the miracles that had happened that day and they loved it.  Then this morning one of our members texted and said that they had a referral for us that was from china!!!!!!!!!!~

We are back on the game!! We are going so hard to make everything happen here and we are really trying to build the area up!

November 23rd,

We are started to see a lot of progress in our area!  We went from zero to improving quite a bit!  We met a girl named Lucy on the train.  She is 24 and from Beijing china.  I asked her about her about the book she was reading, about her life and where she thought she came from before this life.   She didn't really have an answer.  So I bore my testimony about God being her eternal Father in Heaven.  She loved it and said she felt such peace as i was talking the next day she wanted to meet up and talk about our church!   We shared with her the restoration and she is very willing to learn! 

Another miracle -  Rico and his Girlfriend Eunice are wanting to get married but Rico is Buddhist and she is Christian.  They don't want to get married without understanding each others religions first.  She really wants Rico to get baptized! She actually was attending another church for a while and then Friday she was praying because she didn't know what to do... when Elder Holmes and Elder Hord called her.  Previous elders had contacted her and gotten her number and left it for them.. When she got the call she felt like it was an answer to her pray and she came to church for "marriage counseling" with our Branch President.  President Toleman (who is a beast) brought them in and told them that the prescription he would give them is to take the missionary lessons.  They want them in mandarin!  That is where we took over!:)   They are great!   it has been a great week!! love you guys so much!!!

Oh ya about immigration... after about 6 and a half hours of interviews with different government officers here I was approved to stay here for the normal amount of time! so that is good!

This area is very difficult, we can’t knock on doors.  We can really only contact on trains and streets and work off of referrals.

We are going to an ex-patriots house for thanksgiving.  An ex-patriot is someone from the USA, England or Australia that is living here while working.  The family that we are going to is from Draper. 

November 30th,

I am still here in Malaysia!   This week has been rough!  It has been full of ups and downs lost of cancelled appointments and so forth!  It has turned out ok!

Some highlights were we have a new investigator named nelson.  He is pretty cool lots of great questions!  

We met with our “Beast” branch president today.   The reason…a workout plan.  I am not in the best shape anymore. He showed us a good work out plan and let me tell you.... haha we are in for a wild ride the next couple weeks with the plan he gave us!   We are using a thing called the fireman trainer that he is letting us borrow!  He is such a winner at life!  I am not sure how he does everything he does.  He really is a great example!  I really hope that i can stay here a while and become good friends with him!  He works for a company called melaloqua or something like that.  It is a health food company.  He is the sales rep. for all of south east asia!  So maybe after the mission i can work for him!  Another thing is he is big.  6'2" and solid muscle!!   He made the work outs we were doing seem easy!   Oh and the senior couple here convinced me that i need to get married one year after my mission.... haha so i commited to it!... well yep that is about all!

About Thanksgiving…It was really good! sorta! we had texas pork chops!  it was really good! and such!  not as good as home but it was pretty good!  we had some mashed potatoes too!!!  haha that is a first!  hey would you guys look up what food has lots of protein in it? so that way i could buy some!?? oh also i am going to singapore this week on the 3rd we also go next week too!

I feel much like a car with a manual transmission.  I am going very strong right now and very fast.  If i take my foot off the gas and loosen up and relax.... i will have to shift down to get started again! and i don't want to shift down!:)  So stay out of my way!

This area is mostly Cantonese Chinese but most people that speak are successful people.  In order to be successful in this area you also need to know English.  So, not only do I speak the wrong language, but those that do want to be taught by the English speaking elders and sisters.   

The few that do speak Mandarin, are either in their cars driving to and from work or are in their homes.  Since we can’t talked to them while they are in their cars and it is illegal to knock on their doors, we need miracles to contact anyone. 

  

December 7th

This week has been uh.... worse!  We aren't really sure how it just keeps not working out, but it does... the week ended yesterday with my comp and I literally stuck in our house because we were locked inside without keys!! (the doors are keyed on both sides) We decided that we would go crazy and clean the house to find the keys.  However, we never found them.  The house is really clean though!!   We made our study room better for good studies!  We talked about our area and how we can change things!  Something that we have decide is that we have 3 areas but really have only been working in 1 PJ.  So this week, we are going to try working in the Subang which is the area next to ours that is also is one of those 3.  We also found a scripture that is now our companionship scripture Luke 5:4-7 “we have been toiling and laboring with little to no visible success but as we read that together we decided that the Lord is telling us to go again and "Let down our Nets" so we are going to do that!:) we also prayed and called people to set up appointments. (5 new ones this week and 1 for next week).  That is more then we have had our entire time here!  The other elders finally came home and let us out.  Despite not getting out, we had a miracle day.

  

We head out for singapore this week wed thurs and fri. for zone conference!  i didn't have any problems coming back in to kl this last time so i doubt they will give me trouble this time! as for the chinese we are reading the scriptures together to improve our chinese! :) we are in 1 nephi 4 he reads in pinyin and i read in characters!

anyways how is everyone there?? oh and i got my package!~!!!!!!!!!!! holy cow i love it so much!!!  it is great!!  haha i have been so happy and now we have a tree!!  that is great!!  haha i hung it up!~!  i love it!!!

haha trust me we didn't want to stay inside!! we wanted to go out we were thinking of ways to bridge the 18 story drop to get out!

  

December 14th

Well just to start out i will tell you about the week so far!  We went to singapore for zone conference and that was heaps of fun! we all really learned alot! we went caroling at a mall there and found that when we sung songs about the savior people (about 20 or so) would stop and listen but when we would sing songs like jingle bells people ( 2 or 3 or so) would stop for a minute and smile then leave so it was interesting that the people in singapore still could be touched by the light of Christ!!:)

We finally met with Amieilia and her daughter heng yi she lives in the subang branch and is a less active but her daughter is 9 and hasn't been baptized yet so we went to go teach her and see how she was doing! we played a matching game that we made like 10 minutes before the lesson and she really opened up and it was great! we finally got her to start liking us before we left! she was a little shy at first but that is ok!  we also had the christmas party and that was great! scott came and ate some good food! we also went to brother ravi's home for dinner and it was so goooooddd!! he also called mom but mom didn't answer....:( so mom if you got a phone call on like friday morning it was from brother ravi! so that is that!! we have transfers today nobody really knows what is happening yet so we will see! i think we will be playing soccer and rugby and ultimate frisbee today as well!! so yep.....

December 21st

So this week we finally have been making progress on meeting with people and finding stuff to do! Scott we took over to our branch presidents house and made some ginger bread houses and we also met with Amelia and her daughter son and husband and taught then about Joseph smith the investigator is amelias daughter named yong qing(9) and son(7) and husband amelia is a member but none of her family is so we are working with them.  They attend subang branch but we are in charge of that branch as well! so that is cool! i showed them a magic trick and we had lots of fun!  so everything is going good!  we are preparing for Christmas!  we will be going to the hartmans on christmas night to have a dinner and that should be alot of fun!:) we also just finished a big rugby game with our branch president and a couple members! so it was fun!! so yep!! 

  

December 28th,

This week was sure interesting! we mostly were running around helping people.   it didn't seem like people were much interested in meeting with us but they all wanted help so that was good!  we also helped some elders move and we had a great Christmas party.  We went and visited a family! The hartmans they were great! so happy! brother hartman was a tad bit stress but we shared a message and had a good time!  they have a new born baby and he is just going crazy because he is suppose to be on vacation but has to keep working! we gave him a blessing and that was that!

so yesterday at church was good we were introduced into the subang branch and they are willing to accept us and start having us work in their branch with the chinese people so that is great! we also went to a service project Saturday night and help set up for a party, where they were giving away school supplies for kids in need! it was great!  i spent probably 30 minutes in a hunched over position feeling up cups of juice for about 400 people +refills haha so that was great! my back is feeling great.... not!;) well that was about it!

tofu??? that is all i eat over here! haha do you not like it??

it taste like whatever it is cooked with! i could make some when i get back it is really good! and super cheap and easy to make!!

most people cook it with chicken and serve it with it, so is like another piece of chicken!;)  ya it isn't too bad! haha ok i will practice cooking it now!!;)

  

Jan 5th

 This week we have done alot of stuff! it has been kinda a crazy week

we went and looked at the new building they bought for the chapel.  We helped out with a huge service project!  Elder Sabin and i moved all the food and boxes into the church before it and then the next day we made humanitarian kits for the people suffering because of the flood.  I also sorted out our supplies, and pulled out all the extras so we can take them to the church. (I did that while everyone in the house decide to take a nap).  I also have become a bug killer and I am currently on the hunt for all bed bugs, because the guy that they paid to kill them didn't do his job so i am fixing it. 

there was a baptism in the Subang branch.  I also now have this lump in my neck and Elder Valentine tried to cut it out but it didn't work... he just made me bleed..

Jan 11th

“Derek, why are you on a mission?”

First of all to answer your question I do know the why.   Knowing this was my goal from the beginning.  It is to always be about my "Father's" business, Jesus was 12 years old when he traveled with his parents to Jerusalem. On the way back to Nazareth, Joseph and Mary noticed that Jesus was not “among his kindred and acquaintance.” They returned to Jerusalem, and “after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, and they were hearing him, and asking him questions” (Joseph Smith Translation, Luke 2:44–46). 

As i have pondered many days on my mission why i am out here? what i am doing? and how am i suppose to do this? I always am encouraged by one of my favorite quotes it says "As you define your goals and plan for their achievement, ponder the thought: The past is behind—learn from it; the future is ahead—prepare for it; the present is here—live in it.

At times, all of us let that enemy of achievement—even the culprit, self-defeat—dwarf our aspirations, smother our dreams, cloud our vision, and wreck our lives. The enemy’s voice whispers in our ears, “I can’t do it.” “I’m too little.” “Everyone is watching.” “I’m nobody.” This is when we need to reflect on the counsel of Maxwell Maltz, who said:

“The most realistic self-image of all is to conceive of yourself as made in the image of God.” You cannot sincerely hold this conviction without experiencing a profound new sense of strength and power."

Many of our Priesthood men today are also committed to their “Father’s business.” They are becoming favored of the Lord through studying the scriptures, living the commandments, and preparing themselves to be worthy of the temple and of missions.

The Book of Mormon teaches us of other young men who were favored of the Lord because of their faith and obedience (see Alma 56:19). These were Helaman’s 2,000 stripling warriors.  “They were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.  “Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:20–21).

The parents of these young men, known as Anti-Nephi-Lehies or the people of Ammon (see Alma 23:16–17; 27:26), had covenanted with God to lay down their weapons of war. But their sons felt an urgency and responsibility to defend their families and freedom (see Alma 53:16–18). Like Jesus, they increased in favor with the Lord because of their faith and obedience.

I love this story from president monson! 

Like some of you, I know what it is to face disappointment and youthful humiliation. As a boy, I played team softball in elementary and junior high school. Two captains were chosen, and then they, in turn, selected the players they desired on their teams. Of course, the best players were chosen first, then second and third. To be selected fourth or fifth was not too bad, but to be chosen last and relegated to a remote position in the outfield was downright awful. I know. I was there.  How I hoped that the ball would never be hit in my direction, for surely I would drop it, runners would score, and teammates would laugh.

As though it were just yesterday, I remember the moment when all that changed in my life. The game started out as I have described: I was chosen last. I made my sorrowful way to the deep pocket of right field and watched as the other team filled the bases with runners. Two batters then went down on strikes. Suddenly, the next batter hit a mighty drive. The ball was coming in my direction. Was it beyond my reach? I raced for the spot where I thought the ball would drop, uttered a silent prayer as I ran, and stretched forth my cupped hands. I surprised myself. I caught the ball! My team won the game.

This one experience bolstered my confidence, inspired my desire to practice, and led me from that last-to-be-chosen place to become a real contributor to the team.

We can experience that burst of confidence. We can feel that pride of performance. A three-word formula will help us:Never Give Up.

To answer your question I am on my Mission because of Love, Love for Our Lord, and love for our Father in Heaven!

Love,

Elder Fletcher

ps. I am doing great this week we have met so many people that want to learn!! and we are pumped for this next week people have set up to meet with us every day!! that is awesome going from 1 appt. a week to 7 is a great improvement!!:)

  

January 18th

Well the lessons all canceled this week... except 2 so that was good!:) 1 more then normal! his name is Tang! but we have to pass him to the other chinese elders... maybe! we also have a bunch of referrals that we have gotten this week!

We can see this area with a lot of potential but it is still right on the edge of exploding!  Transfers are right around the corner, so my companion and i did something a little crazy.  We set a goal for 1 baptism this week!  We are going to work our tails off to get it!   All we have to do is find some one who is prepared!   This is what our zone leaders told us to do so we did it!:)

We have this lady named Annila that we will be meeting with!  She is from china and has lived here for 10 years as a Teacher, she is a PHD and was teaching chinese at the biggest univerisity here in KL. (she is also insanely rich). 

We are hoping for a great last week! because my visa runs out the week after next so i will have to leave! not really sure where i am going or what will happen but it is in the lords hands and that is all that matters! Pres. Mains just called and wished me a happy birthday!

About my birthday…haha i don't know what to do!!!:) everybody has been asking me what i want and what i want to do and all i want or want to do has to do with missionary work! that is my desire!:)  i did get my card!  It was very nice, i loved it!

  

January 25th

We have transfers this week!   This week everything has sorta flopped!!  the lady alinna from china is moving to east malaysia! but scott came back except he slept in and couldn't make it to church.  But I did have a great birthday!  i went and bought you guys tons of presents! you will love me when i come back home!!:) hopefully...

this week we are sorta just waiting to see what happens with transfers i will let you know when we get them!

yep so i am probably getting transfered but i don't know where yet! i am getting kicked out of west malaysia so we will see! and because i want to share everything over here with you guys!!:)

he said they might try sneaking me back in to west malaysia to open another area..... i am not to thrilled with that thought! i actually scares me!!

for sure July 15^th is when I will be coming home.

Just IN….they are trying to sneak me back in west Malaysia.  I am getting transferred to a different part of kl called puchong.  I will let you know how this goes.

  

Febuary 1st

Everything was basically over shadowed by Saturday!

I took off to Singapore Saturday morning at 5:30 in the morning... and then i spent the day with the Chinese elders down there and helped them teach some lessons, Elder Clark and Elder Warner so that was interesting.

I saw Ramona and Dong kai and Eric!  They are all doing really well! it was great to see them again!  They were all trying to help me with learning more and more Chinese!  Anyways it was alot of fun! and the whole day i was really nervous because i was going to be flying back Saturday night!

Well my flight left at 10:20pm.  I landed about 11:10 and then i went to immigration... they questioned me for about and hour or so and i made it out by 12:30am with a 90 day Visa!  so then the night got really interesting... haha

I thought i would just grab a taxi back to the house and my journey would end there, (also keep in mind this whole time i didn't have a companion) I got in the taxi and he was going 40 kph on the free way about 25 mph.... about 20 minutes later he was rear ended by somebody...

He called another taxi for me and they picked me up and asked where i was going i told him very near ioi mall and so he kept driving and i told him puchong area and he said he knew the place and kept going eventually after a while we showed up at the ioi city mall and he then took me to the marriot hotel... i told him that this was the wrong place and that i need him to take me to ioi mall not ioi city mall about 40 km difference... but he didn't know where that was but the taxi driver at the marriot hotel did so he offered to help me and then he drove me back home... i walked in the door at about 3 am.... i still am so tired... 

Anyways my new area is amazing so much work!! so many prepared people to learn!! some names are Abby and Melody both are most liking getting baptized on feb 28!!

 My new companion is Elder Brown, he is from Ogden Utah.  He was mtc comps with elder sabin, his mom is from Hong Kong! and

i am still trying to improve my chinese!! it needs to be better!!

This week we are going to meet with tons of people and help them all want to be baptized!!

Long over due update from Malaysia

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

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

First Baptism - Transfer to Kuching

July 20th

So my Chinese is starting to be better then my English... is that a problem? I can’t read traditional Chinese very well but my simplified Chinese is improving.   I am starting to listen to Chinese church music. It is the best.   It is so much fun!! We are having a blast! So I have been thinking that I want to live in China for a while and work there. Maybe. 

I lost my card reader last week.  I am not sure it might have fallen out of my bag or I left it plugged into the computer last week... oops!! 

This is what happened this week!

1. Elder Wang and I have had almost every conversation in Chinese.

2. Elder Wang and I got 2 new investigators Sunny (Ramona's Friend) and Shelly ( A referral from President Clark (The mission president before President Mains) ) so a little scary!

3. Ramona Finally finished her big test

4 we had so many dinner appointments with members

5 we went knock... found 1 person at the very end of the night... it was the best feeling EVER! 

6 we took tons of pictures

7 we went with our ward on an adventure in pulau ubin.

8 a member gave me a sweet suit! 

9. my Chinese is getting loads better

10. my personal study was amazing Romans 5 is my new favorite chapter! so before my year mark i want to have read completely the Book of Mormon for the 3 time the D&C the POGP and the new testament! right now i have finish the Book of Mormon and the POGP i am in section 133 and 2 corth. so i am working hard to finish them! but I have really started to learn to set better goals!

July 27th

I am glad that you guys are doing well.   I am glad you guys enjoyed your time with the Chinese students they seem really good.  Lack of communication is a big thing! Or the language barrier! I have been trying to break that down my whole mission I don't want a language barrier between the people I am serving and me! 

Well this week has been great! We are really trying to set goals and go out and get them done! This week our house has been really trying to live all the rules in the white hand book! Also we have been trying to work as hard as we can! It is great! We have been finding so many new people and so many new opportunities!

Well some great news Ramona has been thinking about moving her baptismal date up and this week she brought her dad to church and she is going to bring both her mom and dad next week! Her dad is working here but her mom came in from china yesterday night. Her mom will be here for about a month so that is really cool! Also the Yang family is doing really good we just have started teaching them and they came to church yesterday! It was great! We went to a buffet of Chinese food and it was really spicy food! It was probably the spiciest food I have had my whole mission but it was really good!

Well that is about it from this side of the world!

Love,

Elder Fletcher

Aug 3rd

Something that I have learned on my mission is that my mission will never be Easy because the Lord loves me and wants me to grow.  In Romans 19:5 it says; for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.  This is talking about Adam and Jesus!  Because of Jesus’ example we can all be saved!  Something that I have been focusing on this last little bit is "Because of Him" I want to make sure everything I do on my mission and throughout my life is because of him!  

This last week has been the hardest week I have ever had on my mission but it has been the best week I have ever had on my mission. The work here has picked up dramatically we are teaching so many people. Our days are extremely busy and it is hard to find time to take a break and just breathe. I'm not really sure how I have time to write you this email.  I just wanted to let you know that Heavenly Father really does love you and knows what you are going through! :) I know that sometimes missions have some unexpected changes and some trails but is all for your good! D&C 121-124 talks a lot about that and has always helped me out when I am in a rough spot! Just be patient and trust the Lord is at the helm he knows what is going on! I love going to the top of the skyscrapers here in Singapore and looking out over the city because it gives me just a glimpse of how God sees us! And I know that he is watching us just like a father would watch a new born baby!:) 

Love your Son Elder Fletcher

Aug 10th,

Thanks for the recording; I loved hearing everyone’s voices! That sounds like a fantastic day! (He is speaking about the day his sister and husband were sealed in the temple)  I am so happy that you guys all have been working so hard so that you can be worthy to go to the temple! you guys are all amazing examples of Jesus Christ.  thank you for all that you are doing and for the wonderful and amazing opportunities that you are taking advantage of!

Well this week has been absolutely superb. we have been working really hard and doing are best. Ramona was baptized on Friday and received the Holy Ghost on Sunday at church it was such a neat experience! After her baptism she bore on of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard! It was amazing! Elder Wang and I worked very hard to make everything go just right! Well that was such a great feeling! her mom also loved seeing it very much and has expressed to be baptized as well but she has to go back to china next week... but then she said that she wants Ramona to go to BYU and then she will come visit her there and can get baptized in America so that is pretty cool!

We also celebrated National day! It is basically Singapore’s birthday! We Were able to find a less active named Xiao ai and now we are like best friends with her now so that is great.  We are working to get her to come back to church and start participating more!!

Well we really have been seeing a lot of miracles happen in Singapore and so we are really excited our ward is really getting behind us and supporting us! Every week we go to like 2 or 3 different member’s houses and have dinner and can bring investigators it is such a great help! We also have ward missionaries called and they all are so excited to help us work! It really has been a great week! 

Transfer News:

Singapore exploded because Heavenly Father saw the effort we put in and now I have to go do it all over again..... ha-ha ok well I got this! This is the second time i have to whitewash train.... I just got transferred.... to Kuching.... I’m training again...

Go to go,

Elder Fletcher

Aug 17th

Well my companions name is Elder Pierce and he is a stud he loves to speak Chinese so that is good! He is doing very well adjusting haha.  He has lots of questions.  We have a lot of different places to go here in Kuching and it is pretty cool! and a lot of people are very friendly and willing to listen to us!! We are whitewashing and it is pretty crazy trying to find everyone and everything... 

I am not sure what happen my eye is infected with some sort of Asia virus that is different then pink eye I’m not sure exactly what it is but it just knocked me out like I have no energy and it put a cloud over my eye so I can't see out of it... but it is getting better with the medication so that is good!

By the way, the Chinese elders are few, but we are doubling by December.

Well love you guys so much! Keep up the good work! 

June 8th to July 13th

June 8^th

This last week I have been trying to learn chinese at a new level.  I can communicate with anyone and understand just about anything, but i want to be better.  I don't want to come home with just a missionary vocabulary.  I want to be able to speak like a native and just have fun with it!  So, i have a renew desire to study and learn chinese better!

Also i want to be opening my mouth more and talking with everyone! it is amazing how much better i feel when i do that! Not much really has happened this week! i do have a visa run coming up on wed. the 11 so that will be fun! i am heading off to Indonesia.

i am doing good health wise! maybe a little on the mental side.  I might be a little wierd but that is ok! i have been working hard! and i will keep my Heavenly Father involved!

keep up the good work and if you get a chance to read the july liahona read the very last page right before Thomas s. Monson! it is really good!:)

June 15^th

My week has been great! we have been just going crazy trying to help our investigators.  It has been great!  some life advice: never judge anybody! we are all out here to learn and we are all out here for the same purpose remember that everyone can repent even if they are trying to do what they should be! i have to do it everyday! haha i am not the missionary i should be! i should be talking to more people and i should be inviting people constantly to make and keep commitments! but i love the fact that i can repent and change!

well something that is really cool in chinese! is the word 悔改 so the first character is 悔 it can be broken up into 2 parts 心 and 每 which separately is heart and everyday then next character is 改 which means to change so when you put them together it means repent! or everyday change your heart! so consistently get better!:) everybody can be doing this! and it is so great to just love people into doing it! you are a great mother and father! Keep your head held high and you knees on the ground!:) I read this quote today during personal study it is from Elder Richard G Scott it says " To become what you want to be, you have to be what your want to become everyday." it makes me so happy that we are able to just keep progressing! well i hope you had a great week!

Hey Dad, Happy Fathers Day!!!!!

i was reading your letter from last week!! and i am so glad! ulu emailed me this week! i was so happy for him! i can't wait for him! there was alot agaist him going out on his mission that just means that he will be an even better missionary! he is so powerful when he speaks i have no doubt that he will just do wonders! i will be on the front row of his homecoming! he is such a great example to me! and i am trying to be bolder! i can rest when i get home!

Elder Frey is our zone leader he actually is my grandfather in the mission i actaully am what you could call royalty here! because he was trained by one of the best chinese elders ever and then elder frey trained elder mitchell and elder mitchell trained me and we are all the first borns if you will in that line.  elder frey goes home in just a little bit.

no transfers so no worries! im stil in singapore! well i have too go now! but i love you guys! keeping being awesome! bye bye

Love Elder Fletcher

June 22^nd

Hey you guys! i can't believe it snowed it is the middle of june! almost july! that is crazy!

well some things that happened this week is we are having a hard time trying to get our investigators to do anything, but we were contacting out at china town and as i was talking to this old chinese man (Mark) about the church some members came up and started talking to us well it was a mom and a daughter and the daughter just got her call to taiwan and the mom was so happy! haha then they gave us some chocolate shakes and some durrian well then Mark got up to leave and i was like oh no! but then he came over and asked for my name card and something about our church! it was great!

i met james on the train this morning! he is a christian and wants to go teach the gospel to the jews he just got back for michigan that this how i contacted him i saw his shirt it said the lake of michigan and yep haha i told him that my cousins family lives up there! Steph's husband!

then i got on the train to chinatown and i met lucy, Yuling, and jessy they are all family yu ling had a baby that was 9 months old i told her about my beautiful sister that is pregnat and they just loved talking to me and thought my chinese was great! haha they said i sounded like i studied in china because of my accent. when i told them that i studied personal and in singapore they were amazed then they ask how long i have been learning i told them 11 months and they about fainted haha! that is basically every contact you have in chinese! everybody just goes crazy for white guys that speak chinese! haha well now i am here!

oh and our investigators Ramona and Isabella have been taught all the lessons and now just want to finish the book of mormon before they get baptized!

i love talking with people if i ride the train or a bus and dont talk to somebody i just feel like the worst person on the earth!

what would you suggest for us to do with our investigators that have been taught everything and just want to finish the book of mormon but are reading very slow? haha i know it doesn't matter if i get the baptism but if the keep delaying i feel like something could come by and destroy their testimony! and i don't want that! one of them is in 1 nephi 25 and the other one in in jacob??

i was thinking a mosiah 18 and saying look you don't need to read this book all the way there to know that it is true and this is what you need to do! and ask them to commit to be baptised in 3 weeks and pray about it right there with us but it needs to be super spiritual!

“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” (Michael Jordan)

 

June 29^th

Hey Family,

This week is transfers so i will let you know what is up! Well this week has been sad... all the chinese elders in singapore have had the worst luck with setting up appointments and keeping investigators.. this week isabella dropped us... she said that she wasn't ready and that there was something wrong with the church... that was really sad... well we thought we were going to lose ramona and lily too when isabella said no but they both still have desire to learn so that is good!

we met with Hanfei and she brought a new friend so taht was good! and we went out to get a pass off lesson from the english elders but she never came! but there is still hope! well I have alot of cool presents that i have gotten for everyone! and i will put some sneak peaks on the pictures! well my week was ok i have learned alot we had zone conference this week the topic was repentance i had to give a talk it was ok! i shared Either 12:27 about how we all came on our missions and now more then ever i have learned my weaknesses and god has been showing me them so that way i can humble myself and repent and become better! well it went ok i just shared about how that has really helped me in my mission so that was cool!

Well the pain from a couple months ago is coming back.... i think it might be due to stress because it happened up in miri when diana told us she wouldn't be able to get baptized and it happened again this week right after isabella told us she didn't want to learn anymore.. so i am not sure i don't want to tell president yet because i don't want it to affect transfers but i am going to email and tell him today after transfers come out so no worries!  i am trying to learn all i can from the tough moments!

we are going to play on the beach today and it just rained so it wont' be to hot! that is always nice! and i know the package is here but we could grab it yesterday it because it was sunday! but i do know it is here i am going to grab it tonight!

Transfers just came in, I am Staying in Singapore and Elder Wang ( from china is my comp) yess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  he is like 2 months younger then me! haha it is interesting that I have never hand a companion that had worse chinese then me!

Love you guys to so much thank yo for the support! you guys are great! I love you so much! is there anything that you want from here i like dad got alot of cool chinese things but what else is there be thinking! oh and something i want in my next package is........... home made cookies!!!!!:) love you guys!!! take care talk to you next week!

July 6^th

so i got my package!!! holy cow!!! that is so much!!! haha i love it so much thank you guys!!

oh the humidity!! well i have basically gotten used to it... so it will be weird when i come back and it will be all dry!! i got the youngs letter and just finish writing them back, i just need to go buy a stamp! and then i will send it off!

well this week has been abosolutly crazy!!! we have just so much work now!! Elder Wang and I went to chinatown one night and everybody that we talked to was from china and wanted to learn about the gospel! it is insane with in 30 minutes we had passed out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon and taught them the first lesson they all had so much interest in everything! and want to learn more! we didn't have any more copies with us so we just used pamphlets and just tried to talk to everyone! it was crazy! we talked to so many people and we got so many numbers then later that night we went to a party and we talked to tons of people there and alot of them came to church! one said that she wouldn't be able to make it but told her friend about it and her friend really wanted her name is Miao Miao. she loved it and wants to learn so much!

This week the Lord has decide to bless us and we have just seen mirical after mirical! it was insane! we can't all that has happen!

well something interesting.... my companion can't speak English... so everything i say to him has to be in chinese or else he doesn't understand! and when ever somebody speaks english to him i have to translate for him... haha so this has just been great he has been helping my chinese so much and it is just great! members say that his accent is rubbing off on me because i sound like a person from china!

oh and in other news I am now having an eat off with some chinese people! they said that i couldn't eat hot stuff so i am used an ancient chinese idiom and then they challenged me to a spicy eat off! haha so that will go down this week!

well that was the short verse of my week! i feel like Mormon when he says that he can only write 1/100 of what happened this week! but no worries my journal might contain 2/100 haha! hopefully i try not to forget anything!

haha the highs and the lows are crazy! i really does show that the Lords hand is in everything! because we need those lows with out the Lows we would not appreciate the highs and work as hard as we are to keep it high!

Love your son/brother,

Elder Fletcher

July 13^th

Hey Family!! i am doing pretty good today sorry i am so late at emailing my companion was struggling this morning he is a little sick!

Speaking of your foreign exchange students: Tina and Rain! I am uploading a voice recording for them! it should be good!

 

 Voice Recording

 

Here is the translation of the voice recording:

hi, im elder fletcher i know you guys are at my house, sorry i don't know your names, but i am very happy you were able to arrive at my home. right now i am in Singapore being a Chinese missionary i hope you guys like utah. if you guys have any questions you can come and ask me. right now i want to introduce my family, my mom likes to quilt my dad likes to drive jeeps my older sister is pregnant her husband likes to fish my younger sister likes school and i like to speak Chinese. i hope you guys are able to enjoy your short time in my home. but remember keep everything clean also clean the toilet, don't flirt with my sister. when it is night time don't be to loud. and before you go to bed don't forget to pray with my family. remember I Am Elder Fletcher. after my mission we can play football together also remember send me an email.

If you try writing the words that they don't understand they might be able to pick it up because people from china learn how to write and recongnize words but they don't know how to say them or hear them! it but the written language they comprehend a little better!

Abbi, i dont' know why but i woke up in the middle of the night last night and had the feeling that you need to remember that God loves each of his children and really does know each of us individually! I wrote this down last night in my journal so i wouldn't forget!   I love you so much!

wow that is so amazing about all the gifts your Chinese kids gave you.  people from china are so nice! i don't have a nice pair of chop sticks! but i am planning on buying some sometime!

I learned a lot this week and i am trying everyday to get better and better! this week we have been working with alot of new investigators and potentials and been trying to help them all learn! we also had a lot of appointments at members house and activities with members! i hope that you guys are going to have a great week this week too!

Love you,

Elder Fletcher
 
God is at the helm! he loves each of us! and will show so much