Sister Hamner is loving it!

Rachel and her district arrived in Singapore on the evening of Sept. 10. They met their mission president, Pres. Woo, and his wife, then were taken to the mission home and fed dinner. The next day, they had informational training all day and received their assignments. The mission president took them all to eat their first Hawker's meal (a variety of authentic Singapore and Malaysian street food). Rachel loved it! Thursday, they left for their various assignments throughout Singapore and Malaysia. 

      Rachel's first assignment is in a suburb west of the capital city (Kuala Lumpur) of Western Malaysia...a place called Petaling Jaya (PJ for short). Her comp is Sis. Dolenar from Arizona. The people there speak English most of the time, so she only speaks Malay when they ask her to (and they seem impressed with even the small amount she says she knows). They walk or ride the monorail system everywhere, making contacts wherever they go. She said there are lots of malls or shopping centers that they go to find contacts. 

      Sis. Dolenar and her companion before Rachel, found a contact that now Rachel is helping to teach...a single girl in her late 20's named Anh (Ann), from Vietnam. She came to Malaysia for her job and she has come to church with them a couple of times now. She has never heard of Jesus Christ before and is really excited to know all they have to teach her. Rachel's companion helped teach her how to pray for the first time. Anh is like a sponge, soaking up everything they teach her. Rachel is super excited! 

      Rachel and her companion were in a nice, large apartment when she arrived last week, but they had to switch apartments with the Elders this week because there were 4 of them in a little apartment. Luckily, Rachel didn't unpack all the way before finding this out. Lol!

     Rachel is so excited to finally be in the country to serve the people in Singapore and Malaysia! She is grateful to all those who pray for her and send her e-mails and/or letters of encouragement. All of the missionaries serving in Malaysia have to go back into Singapore every 90 days to renew their Visa's, so that is when she can pick up any physical letters or packages sent to the mission home. (The mail is not great in Malaysia.) She has her preparation days (P-day) on Mondays there (Sunday evenings for us...they are 12 hours ahead of Indiana time) and tries hard to email everyone back in a timely fashion. Thank you for all the prayers and support on her behalf! 

Watch out, Singapore! Here she comes!!

 It was Rachel's last weekend at the Provo MTC. She wrote and email, but it didn't come through to me, so I am writing a quick update on what she is up to right now via our phone conversation.  

     Rachel got to enjoy the temple one last time on Friday before heading to a country without a temple (yet). Monday she used the last half of the day packing up and getting ready to leave bright and early Tuesday morning for their quick flight to San Francisco, then a long 16 hour flight to Singapore. She called us from San Francisco (during their layover) to let us know she was safe and so excited to finally be heading to Singapore. 

       Later that morning we received a text from a kind stranger (and member of our church from Arizona) who was traveling to Singapore on the same flight as Rachel's district. He sent this picture of Rachel and her companion, Sis. Gordhamer, before they left. Then he texted us when they landed in Singapore to let us know they had all arrived safely. What a blessing that man was!

      Yesterday, they were in training all day at the mission home and received their assignments. We are anxiously awaiting to see where Rachel will be serving and who her companion will be. 

Sister Gordhamer and Sister Hamner waiting for their flight to Singapore

Watching Rachel's flight to Singapore

Getting excited...

Selamat pagi, kawan-kawan saya:)

(Good morning, my friends)

  Sorry this is so short, and I've been super lame about emailing lately (P-Days are way busier than I thought they'd be). Aside from being sad about the Coug's tough loss last night, I'm just sittin over here in the MTC with ants in my skirt, thinking about the 11 DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR SINGAPORE/

MALAYSIA, WHAT THE HECK. My district and I are soooo excited! Travel plans should be any day now, so we're all waiting eagerly for the email containing our travel plans. (*Side note from Mom:  she got these Friday evening. She leaves in the early hours on Sept. 10.) 

   My companion and I had the cool opportunity to skype someone from Kucing, Malaysia, named Jeff. It was a little nerve-wracking to be speaking to/trying to understand a local, but he was so cool and even introduced us to his ibu dan abang (mom and older brother). We shared a message about repentance and how we apply it in our lives daily to change and become better, and he gave some wonderful insights. I'm pretty sure at some point I accidently said that we can "mountain" repentance to change instead of saying "use repentance," since 'gunung' is mountain and 'gunu' is to use, but I'm sure he understood what I meant. Such a neat experience, technology is awesome.

  We also got to hear the roaring crowds witnessing the Holy War happening just across the street at the Edwards stadium (BYU vs. U). They were SO LOUD that we could actually hear them all the way from our residence. Crazy!

  So many times this week, I've recognized answers to my prayers. The ones when I plead with Him, the little ones I say in my mind before a lesson, even the ones in my heart that I didn't realize I had. Because Heavenly Father is all-knowing, He knows every desire of our heart. When we are striving to just be good and diligent, to be better than we were yesterday, he will be there to bless us in ways we never thought possible. He wants to bless us all the time! It's important that we not only take time to ask him for things and seek guidance, but also to recognize the his answers/tender mercies and show gratitude for them. I love the words to the primary song that says, "I feel my Savior's love in all the world around me. His spirit warms my soul through everything I see." I've found that to be true this week as Heavenly Father has shown His love for me in the smallest things. Pray to Him, sincerely. He will answer.

  I love you all, hope your week is baguslah (good)!

love,

sister hamner