Thanks for the insights

Hi All!

Well, apparently the last couple months in Malaysia have been the worst drought the country has seen in years.  I didn't know that.  I thought it was just hot like always.  I was about to get to murmuring, but then I read emails from Sister Edwards, Sister Broadbent, Elder Nieman, Elder Fronk and others who have been snowed-in or iced-in recently, and I changed my mind pretty quick.  I'm praying for all you missionaries in the eastern States, Europe, and Korea that you'll be safe and that opportunities to hasten the work will still come of recent events.  I don't know if anyone else's family prints/forwards these letters to you in the mission field, but if so, I want you to know that your own letters and insights about missionary work, and your strong faith have been a great strength to me, and given me occasion to laugh out loud, for which I'm very thankful.  Keep up the amazing work! (or, if you're Chinese, 加油!)

Finally, the drought here has ended! Following the wild brush fire that started outside our apartment building yesterday (it erupted at 8:00 AM, and when the fire department didn't come all day, it was finally put out by our tireless security guards at about 9:30 PM), rain started to fall this morning.  And boy, did it fall!  I'm surprised they let us enter the internet kedai (that's "shop," one word of my growing vocabulary in Bahasa Malay) in our sopping clothes.  I'm sure they'll clean up the puddles/lakes under our chairs after we leave...

Well, this week has been marked by a lot of personal improvement in contacting.  I have been practicing in role plays (...woo...) every day, and we have spend long hours at the malls near the immigration checkpoint.  I don't really know how "tabling" feels, because that's illegal here, and I don't know what having doors slammed on me feels like, because people just talk to us through already closed gates, but I do know what all-day rejection feels like.  I'm really glad that there's more to missionary work than just contacting, but that's what we focus on, in our district.  I've found it so helpful to find small miracles to increase my faith every day, and to find small things to laugh about when nothing else is going my way.  It's true that little things matter, for the Lord works by small means to bring to pass great things.  It's amazing how much my day will brighten just by finding someone on the bus who speaks Chinese and simply being able to talk to them about their life, or by reading a bad translation on the instructions to our rice cooker.  I'm so glad that I've been able to see that the Lord is in the details, and His hand is in every day of my life.  I know the work we missionaries do is true, and I'm excited to be a part of the hastening of it in this time!  Love to all the Elders and Sisters around the world whose letters I've received, and even those I haven't heard from.  You're all in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Baer