Study and Miracles - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.
 

Dear Family and Friends,

We were blessed with some great success. We were able to find a lot of people, and we have a couple investigators that we feel could be baptized this transfer if they decide to. I have been increasing my faith by taking time to try to ponder the scriptures more. I have also been receiving a lot of cool revelation as I study their opposites. One scripture that I flipped around was Moroni 7:42. Originally it reads "Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope." after you view its opposite it becomes "Wherefore, if a man have doubt he must needs have hopelessness; for without doubt there cannot be any hopelessness." It is interesting the different insights you can get from studying the scriptures this way.

We had a super awesome miracle this week. After English class we were teaching some of our investigators who attend the English Class. There was another student who was kind of lingering around so we pulled him into the lesson and taught him also and he loved it. It's cool how sometimes God brings people to you and how he prepares them. When he first came to English class he was not ready but after further exposure to the church for a few weeks he was willing to open up and learn. 

Our member work is improving we ended up being able to teach a member for the first time in a long time here and she was way excited and is allowing us to bring an investigator to teach in her house next week. We also got a referral from a member in Sitiawan, and the referral is someone that I had met and played bowling with in Sitiawan back in February who now lives in Singapore and lives right by our house! Crazy! Maybe they weren't ready then but I hope they are ready now. We are meeting them on Thursday and are way excited :)

Love,

Elder Avery

New Assignment  - September 18, 2016

Gifts of the Spirit  - October 2, 2016

New Assignment - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.


Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! I love the second ward. I love being a district leader too. This week was a good week. Elder Boud is doing great. I also found out he and Jared know each other. Elder Boud went to Bingham. Elder Shirley and I only speak Chinese. I already feel like Elder Boud's Chinese is improving a lot. He is not afraid to talk to people. We are talking to everyone and already are seeing a lot of success. We are shooting for three baptisms this transfer. And I am committed 100% to it.

This morning I was reading the end of The Book of Mormon. Mormon laments over the destruction of his people. He says that they were fighting with all of their strength and energy but they were still losing because they would not repent and would not put their strength in the Lord. This truth is true with all of our daily battles in life. When we put our strength in the Lord we will still have some battles that we lose but ultimately we will win the war for our soul. If we put our strength in ourselves we will win some battles but ultimately we will lose the war for our soul. It comes back to pride and faith. Are we willing to submit to God and are we willing to trust God when the war is intense and we have lost some battles already? Yes.

This week we found two awesome new investigators. The first one was named C**W**. We met him Friday night. He was from BeiFang China. He was so interested in what we had to say that when we met him on the train he got off the train so that he could keep talking to us. He came to a baptism the next day and we were able to teach him after the baptism. That was way cool! It's been a while since I have taught anyone from Northern China so it was hard to understand at times, but overall I think it went okay :)

The second new investigator was Z**. We met her at China Town on Saturday night and she came to church the next day. We were really surprised at church when we found out she is only 14 years old. It sounds like there is a tough parental situation at home and her mom just lets her roam around Singapore all day.

The member work here seems stagnate except for in the YSA. We are working with the Ward Mission Leader, he is going to start setting up appointments for us to meet with at least one member family a day. Also I don't think anyone has tried to mine the goldmine here at all. We are going to meet with the Bishop Wednesday to go through the ward list and identify which less active families are the first on his list for us to find.

Love,
Elder Avery

Medical Challenges - September 12, 2016

Study and Miracles - September 26, 2016

Medical Challenges - Elder Joshua Avery

 By Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.

This week Elder Avery sent a voice recording. The following is transcribed from the voice recording:  

Alrighty everyone, it's time for Elder Avery's weekly summary.

Monday was kind of interesting....had to go to the doctor. Same with Tuesday. We were supposed to go to Kuching on an exchange, but I was still waiting for some test results, so Elder Harker went by himself and I got to go with the Singapore Zone Leaders. It was a good day. We talked to a lot of people, and they probably got the most potential investigators that they found in one day for a very long time. That was super exciting.

The next day I went on a full day exchange with the Singapore Zone Leaders while Elder Harker was gone, and it was a really good day. We only had one lesson and the rest of the day was finding. We felt the Spirit and got to testify and talk to a lot of people.

Thursday Elder Harker came back, and we got to meet with our investigator, W**. If you remember, he's a young guy with a Christian background. After that we went out and found some people.

Then Friday we had a good lesson with our investigator, M**.  He was really excited and came to church on Sunday wearing a white shirt, a tie and slacks. He's getting ready to get baptized next month.

We have an elder in Sibu who is having some heart problems. He's a really nice elder named Elder M**.  He's new in the mission, is a really great elder, and he's having some heart problems. But he came here to Singapore and spent the night with me and Elder Harker. We had a really good time. We really enjoyed getting to know him. He's a really nice elder. A really good guy.

Saturday was a busy day. We had two new investigators that day. Me** is 15 years old with a little bit of a Christian background because he goes to a Christian school. He seems pretty solid. We followed up with his Book of Mormon reading and he said he read the first bit and it was very engaging. That made me excited because you don't find many 15 year olds who read the Book of Mormon for the first time and find it very engaging. So that was good!

Then later that day we ended up meeting with a girl from Myanmar named N**. She's Chin, which means she has a Christian background. She read part of the Book of Mormon, she understood it pretty well, and said she liked it. We taught her at a member's house, and we were able to read the Book of Mormon together with their family. She seems like she's doing really well.

Then after that we also were able to meet with G**. He's doing good and progressing toward baptism. He'll be baptized in two weeks.

Sunday, in the morning, we got to meet with Sister E**. She's doing amazing! She's getting baptized in two weeks, and is reading the Book of Mormon very consistently. She's from Indonesia and is giving lots of referrals and is so excited for her baptism.

Also on Sunday I was able to meet with Sister R**. She's doing so well. Elder Spurrier and I found her. Her husband is still struggling with quitting smoking, but I told them don't worry about that right now. Just focus on reading the Book of Mormon everyday because that will get them in a better spiritual place, and then we can work harder on the Word of Wisdom.

We had a way cool lesson last night with Sister W** M**. We've been trying to meet with her for the longest time, and she just broke down crying. She shared some things with us some things in confidence that helped us understand better where she is at, and we were able to give her a blessing. She seems to be doing good.

Then we were also able to have a dinner appointment at the bishop's house, and were able to teach another investigator named M**, who is also from Myanmar. He is Buddhist, and is willing to learn, and he is really smart. He gets the apostasy and restoration - that really clicked with him. We just need to get him to read the Book of Mormon.

And Sunday was also a really great day because we had lots of investigators at church. We should be having three baptisms in the next two weeks. We also got transfer news today, and I'll be getting transferred to the Singapore 2nd Ward, which is the Chinese ward. I think President was originally thinking he was going to send me to Malaysia, but after some medical stuff he's assigned me to stay in Singapore, and serve in the 2nd Ward. So we'll see how things go from here.

So that's my week. Numbers wise it was one of our best, and it was only a half week. We're doing great with our finding, having great lessons, lots of people coming to church and progressing toward baptism. We feel like we're on the right track. Love you!

(Note from Elder Avery's mom: The results of the medical tests he mentions turned out to be a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. After counseling with President Simmons and medical professionals, Elder Avery chose to remain in Singapore for the last weeks of his missionary service. He was released as an Assistant to the President, and assigned to train a new elder in Singapore.)

Stake Conference and New Friends - September 4, 2016

New Assignment  - September 18, 2016

Stake Conference and New Friends - Elder Joshua Avery

 By Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.

This week Elder Avery sent a voice recording. The following is transcribed from the voice recording:  

So, it's time for me to talk about my week. This week was a pretty amazing week. Numbers wise, it was the best of the transfer. We had stake conference, and had a lot of people come for stake conference.

On Monday we had Elder Evans come, and wow, was that awesome! He shared really neat stuff about missionary work, and how to find and teach people, and gave us cool talks to read. And we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council). And in MLC he called us out, and said, "You missionaries really don't know what repentance is." And we were like, "Oh!" And then he taught us about that. I'm not going to try to explain it because if he ever saw my explanation on of it he'd think I really didn't understand it. So I'm going to be studying that for the next little while. Elder Evans was just amazing. He talked about when he was a mission president in Japan, and the experiences he had there. It was just really, really cool.

On Tuesday we found a lot of people. I went on exchanges with Elder Stratton in KL (Kuala Lumpur). He's from Arizona, and he is just amazing. He blew me away! He works so well, and I just don't know how he does it. He has awesome faith, and is a really fun elder. All our lessons fell through that day, so we just talked to people all day. And we found A LOT of people. While we were on that exchange, Elder Harker and Elder Orgo (sp?) were teaching one of our investigators at a park, and they heard a gun shot. And that's really weird in Singapore, because people aren't supposed to have guns, so they were like, "What?!!" But what had happened was a raven had built a nest in a tree, and in Singapore if a bird builds a nest in a tree they call a guy, like an exterminator, who goes out with some kind of gun and shoots the nest out of the tree. During the lesson, they heard him shoot several times, so it must have taken a bit to get the nest. But in Singapore people don't have guns, so the guy must have only shot one a few times in his life, so he must not have been a very good shot. But it's okay, it's a very safe country.

Wednesday we were able to teach Brother M**. He's doing really well! He's a young man we've been teaching for a while and he finally finished most of his exams. He's progressing and we're really happy with that. We also met a nice man named Brother O**. We'll see how he progresses.

Thursday we had two lessons. We taught our friend, G**, which was way awesome. He's progressing toward baptism and attended stake conference. Every time we teach him something he accepts it. We taught him about the temple this week, and he loved it. We also taught one of our investigators, W**, and he's just a super nice guy. He's 21, and he loves Jesus Christ. He wants to read and pray, and he comes to church. He's just really sincere, so we're so happy for him.

Then Friday, we didn't have many lessons so we were able to find a lot of really cool people.

Saturday we ended up teaching G** again, which was awesome. And we had stake conference, which was really, really good. Right before stake conference, Sister S*, the stake patriarch's wife, had her baptismal interview. She won't be baptized this Saturday, but the next Saturday. And G** should be baptized the week after that, and will our other investigator, Sister E**.  So they'll all be baptized in the next three weeks.

Then yesterday we were able to find some cool, new investigators. Stake conference was great. President Simmons spoke, and told the stake about missionary work and how we're doing things. Pretty much the whole stake conference was about missionary work. They had people who are leaving on missions speak, and people who got back from missions spoke, and the stake president talked. And he said, "Missionaries are always asking what they can do. I'll give you two things you can do. Work with bishoprics on activation. And bring people between the ages of 18 and 30 to institute." So we're going to start bringing a bunch of people to institute and doing a lot of activation. It will be fantastic!

We taught Sister E** before stake conference, and she's doing fantastic. We taught her, she understood it, and we asked her how she's feeling about baptism. She said she can't wait, and wishes she could be baptized sooner. It's always really exciting when an investigator feels that way. And then afterward, she had some referrals, so we sent the elders who live by her friends over there to meet them. Then she introduced the zone leaders to 10 of her friends who live in their area, and they are all Indonesian and Christian.  So the zone leaders are excited about that.

I had to go on a little exchange with the Chinese elders. We had a missionary named Elder Levitt here with us for a few days. So Elder Harker and Elder Levitt went to teach one of our investigators, and I heard that lesson went really well. And while that lesson was going on, I went out with the Chinese elders to do a baptismal interview. And I also got to help with a mission prep class, and it was so fun to speak Chinese again. After six months of not using it that much, I was a little rusty, but it was really fun.  I could still get around the things I needed to say.

Then we ended up going to a family home evening at the stake president's house, and we were able to take our investigator W** to that. I think he really like that there were a lot of people his age. He was way excited. He loved it.

Then last night there was an investigator that Elder Harker and Elder Orgo found when they were on their exchange. They're from Myanmar. They dad and daughter are Buddhist. We didn't get to meet the wife last night. She was gone. And we also got to meet one of the other tenants living there who is Christian. They were just all sincere, and committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. They accepted our invitation to be baptized when they find out it's true, so we're excited about them. They are a way awesome family.

So that was our week. It was amazing. Remember who you are, and make good choices. Bye.

An Awesome Week - August 21, 2016

Medical Challenges - September 12, 2016