MTC

 I wasn't expecting to have a P-Day for a while, but turns out that P-Days for our district are on Fridays!

I am absolutely loving it here at the MTC! From the moment that I first got off the plane in Salt Lake this has been an incredible experience! It looked like missionaries had taken over the Salt Lake Airport. There were large groups of up to 30 missionaries in different parts of the airport, all heading off in masses to their different assigned areas. I ate shish kabobs and cheesecake with Jeanna and Tammy and their kids, then they dropped me off at the MTC. The initial drop-off was a lot less scary than I was expecting. There were missionaries there to help you with your luggage and show you where to go to get your name badge, meet you companion, etc... May 22nd was a significant report date for the MTC, because it was one of the few times in history that there have been more sister missionaries than elders reporting! The MTC was originally built with the expectation that there would never be more than 7% sister missionaries. Right now the MTC status is 45% sister missionaries. My companion and I sat with a senior missionary here at the MTC for lunch yesterday, and she was telling us that it used to be that when you walked into the MTC it just looked like a bunch of penguins walking around- there's quite a bit more color now that there are sisters. We met our branch presidency last night and they told us that the entire feel of the MTC has changed- there's more laughter, more smiles, just a completely new energy that the church leadership is amazed at! Something else they told us that really surprised me is that the MTC really isn't that crowded right now. They called us the "calm before the storm." There are 2500 missionaries here right now. By the end of the month there will be about 4000, and the number of missionaries will reach 7000 by the beginning of July!!! What an exciting time to live in!!!!!

My companion is Sister Cunningham. She is quirky, sweet, and has a way cute accent since she is from Alabama! I'm getting along well with her, especially since we're still getting to know each other and we're constantly together. One thing I'm realizing is that even if some of these people I'm with aren't people that I normally wouldn't be best friends with or connect with right off the bat, when you're learning the gospel with them and you have the same purpose, that just doesn't really matter. For the time that you are working with them, you just appreciate the things that make them unique and love them anyway. Sister Cunningham and I have our first "teaching appointment" tonight after we get back from the temple. We are teaching a woman named Kristine. She has one five year old daughter and her husband is a member, but he is inactive. The whole family attends a Lutheran church, but they aren't quite feeling "fulfilled" from their church so we are going to pay them a visit. Both Sister Cunningham and I are thinking we will teach Kristine the first lesson, because the lesson has a lot of principles that Kristine will be able to relate to (the gospel blesses families, she already believes in God and the Savior, etc...) but we also want to try to emphasize the restoration and the Book of Mormon in this first lesson. We are going to challenge her to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know that it is true.

The MTC is absolutely exhausting! I've gotten very little sleep in the last two days, and every day is a 16-hour day that is absolutely packed with different activities and workshops. It's so worth it though. There is so much power here. There's power in numbers, and there's power in the hearts of so many individuals all being turned toward Christ at the same time. There's power in prayers constantly being offered at every corner, and there's definitely power in hearing hundreds of missionaries sing "Called to Serve." Regardless of there being so many people, every single one of these missionaries matters individually. I love hearing the different reasons of why each missionary decided to serve a mission. There are multiple sister missionaries in our zone that had amazing spiritual experiences the night before the age change happened. They would have these experiences and be confused because they felt so strongly, without a doubt, that they were intended to go on a mission, but they knew that they weren't old enough. Then the overwhelming age change happened, and here they are! There are a surprising number of elders who are converts, or don't have family in the church, or have part-member families, yet here they are!

Anyways, I wish I could write more. There's just no way to explain everything that has been going on here. A few of the workshops and teaching experiences we have done just can't be put into words either- you just have to be here at the MTC experiencing it to understand. I wish you could come and meet Lawanna and George, and help us try to teach them. You would feel so much love for them if you were here!

I guess that’s about all for now. I can't wait to hear from you next Friday!

Love, love, love, Sister Slade

Welcome Sister Slade!

This blog will now be featuring the posts from Sister Britney Slade, another member of the Putnam family.  Sister Slade is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She is serving for the next 18 months in the Washington Everett Mission.

Last Post

I guess this is it.  This is the last time that I will send in a blog post to my most wonderful Aunt KaraLynne that has been gracious enough to post them for me.  I am grateful for everyone that has been a support for me and especially those who emailed and shared their time.

In regards to my mission I was thinking of describing word to describe it and this is what I have come up with: greatness, beauty, wonder, journey, shock, difficult, worth it, tropical, hot, humid, beaches, ocean, jungle, bestpeopleever, faithful, spiritual, Atonement, Jesus Christ.  All these words go to describe the best two years that I have ever had in my life.  I don’t think that I can overstate the magnitude of benefit this experience has had in my life.

Even though I am almost 15 lbs lighter than I was going out, I have a heavy load of experience and love that outweighs everything that I lost.  Two years of school?  Not a problem.  I can honestly say I have no regrets for going on a mission, and I never will.  I have a book of remembrance that I have passed around to all the people I care about and asked them to write a little and put a picture in it.  I fully intend to read it on the plane ride home.  The book is priceless just like so many of the picture, memories and experiences that I have had.  Would I do it all over again... maybe :)  It was hard!  I won’t sugar coat it, there were challenges along the way.  But the funny thing is, I can hardly remember any of the difficult stuff.  It fades away like a bruise on the knee, after a while, you can’t even remember which leg it was on.  But the happy moments, they're permanent, and difficult to forget.  What a blessing that is!

Words through an email fall short of what I really want to say.  I just hope you all are ready and willing to hear me rant about how great my mission was :).  Looking back I realized that many of my blog posts have left out things of a spiritual nature.  Perhaps that is because I have difficulty sharing them with white people, and maybe through the internet.  But, at any rate, just to make sure I am thorough this time I want to share an experience that has really made a great end to a great mission.

When I first got to Kota Kinabalu I was given the task of teaching a 35 year old lady that was just found the week before.  She was mean, angry, stubborn and confident.  Despite our best efforts, and those of the branch, she seemed set on being a loner.  When we taught her, she would argue.  When we told her we cared about her she didn’t believe us.  But, despite all of this, she continued to go to Church  meet with us, and read from the Book of Mormon.  For the longest time we were confused and unsure of the reasons why she wanted to learn.  Whenever we brought up baptism she  made no promises. We were ready to give up on her.  We thought to ourselves, we are busy and there are other people that need our time.  I’m not sure what changed in her, perhaps it was just the consistent visits or the wonderfully supportive members of the branch.  Regardless of what it was, this sister began to change.  She sounded different on the phone, she didn’t argue and best of all she accepted a baptismal invitation.  Everything was going great, we were so happy!  And then she asked me to baptize her.  And then I was even happier!

And now, I am happy to say that she was baptized just 2 days ago.  The last weekend in my mission and the last baptism in my mission.  It was such a happy day for her.  She bore her testimony afterwards and expressed a sincere and honest account of her conversion and believe in Christ.  I can think of no better end to a mission than to see her be baptized.

I am happy and content.  I hope with all my heart that everyone that is eligible to serve a mission do so.  You won’t regret it, you will be happy, I promise. I know that happiness can be eternal, just as our Heavenly Father's love is eternal.  I know we have a savior that lives and loves all of us, regardless of our faith or circumstances.  I also know that when our love towards Heavenly Father is but a fraction of his love towards us, the blessing are innumerable!  My love for my savior pales in comparison for the love he has for me, but he is merciful, and he still blesses my life.  I am grateful for the blessings he has poured into my life and will forever and ever be in his debt.  I hope this 2 year mission has been a small yet meaningful contribution to the great marvelous work of our Father.

 So, it is with heavy heart that I close this blog.  I love you all and can’t wait to see you!!!!!

Love Elder Putnam

Single Digits

Well the list of things to do never seems to get smaller as I reach the single digits of my mission.  I am not ready to write my dying email, so wait for next week.  I will say that things are not winding down as they say, but in fact moving at a lightning fast pace that has me exhausted. Next week we are planning a last fun trip to one of the more secluded islands off the coast of Kota Kinabalu.  It is called Pulau Gayana.  I will miss the ocean sooo much and jump for joy as I leave the humidity, then hit the ground hard as I realize that DC is just as bad.  Will I ever escape the humidity?!  Perhaps I will curse this blog post 6 months from now when I am in Provo braving the onset of winter.  But, as it is, I will not miss the heat. 

I have decided to give away almost all of my cloths to various people that need them.  It feels good to give away cloths that to me are trashed, but to others are very much still usable   I have also decided to give away most of my ties to each of the Priesthood holders in the branch.  These people mean so much to me and I just hope that I have made some sort of difference in their lives.

Well, have a great week, and wait for next week!

Craziness!

Hey it’s been a while!  I just want to update everyone on this last month of CRAZINESS!  About 3 weeks ago I was denied a visa at the border going into Malaysia.  After some long waiting and pleading I was given 30 days to leave the country.  So, yesterday I left the beautiful country of Malaysia for a conference in Singapore with the intention to try to get back into Malaysia after the conference.  I am pleased to say the I was given no problems at the border and that I will be able to finish my mission in Kota Kinabalu, the best place in the world!  Other than that life has been absolutely crazy busy.  As I approach the end of my mission I am in complete astonishment as to how fast it goes!  But at the same time I feel as though I have experienced so many things and cannot believe it all happened in a span of two years.  I have been in denial that its really going to end.  It wasn't until I was given my return ticket home that things started to get serious and sink in.  I will be flying home on the 9th of May and arriving in DC at about 6:30!  I'll be flying through Tokyo and Minneapolis.

In Singapore again!

Hey just here ready to leave the airport and taking advantage of the free internet.  We had a really great zone leader council and a lot got accomplished.  It is great to be in the fray of making mission policy and helping things happen.  Well, I had my subway and I’m ready to sleep in my own bed... which is actually less comfortable than the one I slept in last night, but still.  I’m one of the senior zone leaders so my voice is heard and taken into account a lot of the time, so that is nice.  There are a couple of young zone leaders that don’t talk to just don’t have anything useful to say. My group is a pivotal group in the mission and with us leaving the mission will lose some of the best teachers, language speakers and personalities.  We had a long discussion in the council about how the younger missionaries are really bad teachers and we talked about how we could help them improve their teaching skills and help them learn the language.

I go back to Singapore next week, then that same week I go to Tawau, and then the following week I go to Sandakan, and then the following week go back to Tawau, then go to Singapore the following week and then just keep on doing that cycle.  It makes it really difficult to teach people because we are never in our area.  And when we are in our area we have responsibilities that take us away from our own area.

Anyway, things are going great, love to hear from you guys on how things are going in Arlington.  It looks as though I will be flying into the Reagan airport, so just a heads up.  It’s not going to be that much longer!  I am having so much fun in my new area that I am more sad about my mission ending that I would have had I died in Miri.

Well, I got my stitches taken out and now the scar is in the healing process, it is possible that you will not even see a scar when I get home!

Love you guys!

Chinese New Year and a Transfer

I am very excited with loads of information this week!  There are three things that have happen, are happening or are going to happen that have really brightened my spirits and made me very happy.  The first is of course Chinese New Year!  It is a mad house here in Malaysia for what is easily the largest and most celebrated holiday in the country.  While Malaysia is a very culturally diverse country, the Chinese tend to be far more wealthy than any other race and therefore spend more money on the holidays that effect them.

For a Chinese person Chinese New Year may have some cultural value to it.  But for me, an onlooker, it is a very different experience all together.  First of all it is the only time of year that businesses close their doors and take a vacation (this is a pain), it is also the time of year when you can find the best deals at the supermarket and other retailers.  But most of all it is the time of year where Chinese people are scrambling around to try and bring as much luck into their lives as they can!  This means that they will give money to children (I’m still considered a child..), giving people oranges, having people over at your house to eat a lot lot lot lot of really really really really great food, and most of all, fireworks!  At midnight of Chinese New Year EVERY house will participate in setting off thousands and thousands and thousands of fireworks.  The noise is deafening!  It was the most in your face experience I have ever had in my entire mission.  The sky is just lit up with color, the streets are filled with fire-cracker smoke and all the Chinese people are having a great time.  It was so loud you could scream at the top of your lungs and not be heard.  This continues for about 2 hours.  There is no point in trying to sleep so I guess you have to join the festivities, even if it is 2 in the morning... :)  Suffice it to say it was a lot of fun!

The second thing that has happened and is going to happen again is the branding of my name here in Miri.  Let me give a little history of the Singapore mission.  Here in Malaysia people are having babies all the time, whether it is your investigator or your member, you are  guaranteed to have someone with a small child or one on the way.  This opens the opportunity of having you name stay in the mission field forever.  Yes, I am talking about having a baby named after you!  It happens on a regular basis, you just need to be in the right place at the right time and close relationship with the family with child.  Now the first baby was actually a girl and was named after my sister Misha.  The couple wanted to use my name but I told them, you can just use my sister's name, and they did!  Coming up in the month of March I am very happy to introduce you all to baby Micah Stewan anak Roni.  I will finally have a baby named after me, and I am very excited about that. :) My name shall live on for generations! ha-ha

The third thing is that I am getting transferred this week, and I could not be happier with where I am going.  I am headed to one of the resort cities of Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu.  Located right on the beach this city is beautiful and home to south-east Asia's tallest mountain, Mnt. Kinabalu!  It is a majestic peak that is the symbol of Sabah!  My apartment is the best part.  It is right on the beach!  We live in a high rise condo that is right up on the beach with a patio that overlooks the ocean and produces the most beautiful sunsets.  Maybe just as good or even better is the fact that for the first time in my mission I have a McDonalds that is within walking distance of my house!!!!!  I am really excited because I will also be zone leader which will allow me to take a monthly visit to my very first area in my mission.  This area travels a lot averaging about 1 plane trip a week, so I will be traveling and visiting old areas and getting to see new ones.  I could not think of a better place to die, I truly am in the Greatest Mission on EARTH!

I love Singapore Mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I hope that everyone at home is safe and healthy!  peace and prosperity to everyone!