Hey! I really hope that I can make sense of what I'm about to write...we're in the mission office right now and it's kind of crazy, so I keep getting distracted. Sorry :) First, my parents send the best letters in the world. Thank you guys! I love reading them. You crack me up. Ricki's wedding sounds like it was wonderful! So happy for you, buddy!
Hey mom, you said that you saw a link for the Compassvale Chapel on lds.org, surrounded by skyscrapers? Those are HDB flats (government subsidized housing). It's a very residential area. Welcome to Singapore haha. And that chapel is about 15 minutes away from where I live! Just google Mustafa's. I'm right up the road. It's fun :)
Want to hear the most amazing thing? Remember Deborah? She was living here in Singapore and learning about the church when we first got here. She was the one that asked me if I ever feel embarrassed wearing a nametag. We had a chance to teach her a few times before she returned to the states. SHE AND HER THREE SONS GOT BAPTIZED LAST WEEK. I cried when the ward members told me. You're always told that you never know what happens to the seeds you plant, it was such a blessing to know about this one. She's such an amazing woman. So happy for her.
We met with our new friend, Mr. S. last week. He's Christian and he tends to call anyone who isn't Christian an infidel...makes for a pretty amusing lesson. We'll try to work on the whole love for everyone deal. He's really sweet though. We're excited to meet with him more.
Last Friday was the beginning of the Lantern Festival for Mid-Autumn Festival and we got to go to the Chinese Gardens to see all the lanterns with L and her husband, K! L has been praying more and more and is loving having that be part of her life now. K is a bit critical of it, but he's still nice and willing to meet with us to learn more. But L left for China today, so we'll see how that pans out.
A member in a ward invited us to meet with his friend, M, on Saturday. They're both in Secondary School so we had to have permission from her parents. This young man gave her a Book of Mormon about a year ago and she's read more than half of it on her own. She's grown up basically atheist and never really thought about God. The deal is she became friends with many of the young men in the expat ward here and she wanted to know what they all seemed to have in common to give them such strong morals and a positive outlook on life, and they have all been sharing more and more about the gospel with her over the past few months. She had so many questions for us, I loved it. She's not sure if she'll be able to meet with us again (her mom wants to know everything she was taught before she agrees to let her see us again) but she wants to. And she wants to come to church. So, right now we're just praying for her and encouraging her to pray for the desires of her heart.
On Saturday night, F invited us over to her flat for dinner and a short lesson. She is so lonely, it breaks my heart. It's a really slow process with her, so we haven't really gotten past the Restoration. Her faith is amazing though. She is constantly talking about her Savior and listening to Christian music. Being at her house was a little bit of an eye-opener for me. Her expressions of faith are very different from what I've grown up with and been comfortable with all my life, but it made me realize that it was extremely honorable and I could probably learn a lot from her devout expressions of faith. She shows it more than many Latter-day Saints, and I think we could all learn from that. We shouldn't ever be comfortable in our progression towards Christ. There's always more room to grow, and we can learn so many lessons from people not of our own faith.
We were supposed to meet with N at the Compassvale Chapel yesterday, like usual, but we got to the chapel and realized we forgot the key. It ended up being a huge blessing because N invited us back to his home to meet his family instead of just cancelling the appointment. And then, he prayed for the very first time with us. Huge progress. Sikit sikit lama lama.
Last night we had were able to meet with L & E again and just set out our expectations. They both married into LDS families and have been around the church and members for years. Unfortunately, they've felt very pressured and offended on occasions, so it was progress that we even got an appointment with them. They made us this wonderful dinner and then we just laid everything out on the table. I told them that we don't want any elephants in the room (trying explaining that one to someone whose first language is Tagalog...), that we know the church isn't a new thing to them, and that we know they already have strong faith in Christ. We don't want to meet with them to destroy that faith, we just want to explain what we believe and let them make the decision if they think they could add it to the truths they already know. Something triggered something, because the ice melted almost instantly, their body language did a complete 180 and they just opened up to us and told us how grateful they are that we were wanting to listen to them and let them learn at a slower pace. We've got standing appointments for every Monday night, so we're excited :)
NG finally texted back!!!!! She can come to church next week. Updates later. I cried once again.
We made a paper chain to count down to my birthday! Birthday month starts in two days! I've been gone six months...crazy huh? I've got to go or we'll be late for the Hari Raya BBQ! Selamat Hari Raya! I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!
Sister Norton
HFI!
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