AMAZING AUGUST in FULL SWING!

Every member got a handmade missionary tag as part of the launch of Amazing August

(note from Elder C's mom: I just love the enthusiasm and energy these elders put into this effort! Heartwarming!)

Hello everybody!

Amazing August is in full swing, and we feel the members are ready to go go GO! We're stoked on life.

As some of you know, our prophet President Monson focused a ton last year about how members and missionaries need to be working together in a way they haven't been in the past. hasteningthework.lds.org is evidence of this! Well, in the Singapore Mission, we know members are key. Without the members in missionary work, we're like Brazil without Neymar and we get smashed 1-7 every day!!! But with the members, we're Germany. hahaha So! We've been working hard to get members involved in helping us share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with their friends and share the blessings we enjoy so readily.

In Miri, we just did a similar thing to Miracle May, like what Sabah Zone did to enlist the members to help with missionary work - and essentially what Elder Yang and I did in Tawau a few months ago. This time we called it Amazing August - and we felt it really helped. In Malaysia, the church isn't that strong yet (we're working on it), so sometimes the missionaries are asked to teach the classes at church. Well, if we're gonna be teaching anyways, we might as well teach them about missionary work, right? So we grouped all the men and women and youth together and went over the Why of missionary work for the first 30 minutes, then perhaps the most important thing, the WHO of missionary work! We are the teachers as the full-time missionaries, and the members are the ones who can find for us the best people to teach. So we let them know not only are they needed on the team, they ARE the team! Without them, we can't be successful.

Then, we split up into smaller groups and talked about the How of Missionary work, about how the members can share the gospel in a casual way, testifying about experiences and blessings, not doctrine, etc! The members seemed pretty excited and ready to go get out there and do missionary work. Lastly, we defined success - opening our mouths to our friends and families, not having them eventually get baptized, though that of course is the eventual goal. (If any other missionaries reading this wanted to implement this in their own area, you could probably do an epic fireside and share it like that.)

The second the meeting was over, a member walked up to us, told us he wanted us to teach his brother, and then proceeded to bring us to his store right then after church! The brother is interested in learning, and we have another appointment with him tomorrow. We feel really good! Literally, immediate results.

It seems that the prophet is right on - right now IS the time to get missionaries and members to work together.

Elder Stewart and I are working well together and feel pretty good that our area can eventually grow and progress! We have now received a ton of referrals as a result of this Amazing August (especially from our awesome youth) and we have hoped and prayed and fasted that the referrals will be prepared!!! So we have faith that's going to happen.

The work goes forward and God is always with us! I know Christ lives, and He loves us and stands at the door knocking. His love is unfailing. He doesn't care about what we've done or where we've been, only that we are willing to walk with Him in the future.

Malaysia Boleh!!

Love you all!


Elder Clay Coleman

One more photo from Brendon's baptism last week. Love that kid!