this week. it was a good one.

August 31, 2014

 

lots of stuff happened. 

but it really does feel like every week... builds up to a sunday. you go out... meet people. invite them... meet with them... and then - sunday. is the day of TRUTH! whether they come or not tells you a lot about what to do with them in the future. 

an interesting thing about my planner this week comes from the war chapters in alma. (it mostly has to do with all of the thai words that i was learning this week - which all come from the war chapters.) words like traitor... tactics... attack, disobey, fight against... probably not words that i would have picked out myself... but definitely needed in order to read the book of mormon! we'll see how it helps my proselyting skills...

we had an interesting district meeting. the meeting itself was normal. the conversation that followed was very interesting. and i learned a lot. our senior missionary brought up the idea that is very common here in thailand: "all religions teach men to be good". and they do. they, in essence, help people to step up from the telestial kingdom to the terrestrial one. churches have the power to do that. but no one has the power to help men to go from the terrestrial kingdom to the celestial kingdom. except the restored gospel of jesus christ. i thought that was interesting. and it hit me again how similar everyone is. everyone really is trying their very best... for what they have been given. and i feel honored and privileged to help other people get to the path that will help them to reach the celestial kingdom. even though my part is ever so small and really... i don't do anything. sometimes i just feel like the vanna white that sits there and points - here! it's here! and heavenly father does the rest. he prepares them and he leads them to us.

which leads me to another awesome "thing" of the week. (i call it a thing... because i don't really know what it is. miracle? testimony? blessing? all of them.) we had a day when we needed to do a lot of contacting. part of it was because we didn't have any appointments, and the other part was because we needed to find people to teach. so find we did! i had felt like the night before i needed to fast. don't know why... i just felt like i needed to. so, saying my prayer at 10:28 that night, i started my fast. (kinda grumbling inside about why he couldn't have told me sooner so i could eat lunch...) but willing to do it. i woke up the next day, studied about fasting. impressed by the idea that POWER comes from fasting. i like this idea........ it ended up that sister brown had also had a similar impression when she was studying about needing to fast. so we decided to fast together. about the people we were teaching. that we wanted to get baptized. to help us to get some of that power that was promised. it was a great day! i think we ended up getting 16 numbers. (a pretty hefty amount for walking around and talking to people...) 

every day, sister brown continues to teach me. about faith. about diligence. about trying new things. and the thing is: they WORK! i think it's the faith that comes behind it... but when you have faith - god makes ALL things possible. it's amazing. and i'm super lucky. 

on saturday night we were trying to get an investigator to the church so we could teach her... then get her baptized on sunday... it seems like god and traffic had other things in mind. she is pretty awesome thought. wants baptism SO BADLY! it's cool to get an investigator like that for a change. that was the one that found US. that calls US to ask when she can be baptized... and is willing to change everything for it. (more updates next week. we'll see how it all goes...) 

the worst thing about church is the stress. whether it is calling investigators to make sure they're coming... to trying to wrangle them all and make sure they stay there and that they are having a good time/making friends... whew. and then. i get asked to play the piano in sacrament meeting. (i thought that was all over!!!) but no. so they tell me i can use the auto setting... too bad it's tempermental and likes to play it's own music. and then i have to try and figure out how to change it back to normal... and then start playing myself halfway through the song...... ugh. if i could have banged my head on the keyboard it probably wouldn't have sounded too much worse... ;) 

but we survived. people didn't apostatize because of the music... so everything is still ok. 

that's pretty much it. 

 

my companion. very ingenious. ;) doesn't like her bag falling while she is riding her bike.... 

this is what they put in the somtam. i normally don't eat these things... but with a thai person looking at me with those big eyes.... i couldn't say no! :/