miracles.

Janurary 5, 2014

there is something weird that happens to the time. i thought that tuesday was the longest day in the history of... ever. and then it's monday again. i don't know what happened.

so after we left the stinky, school-sluffing-pre-teen-infested internet cafe... we went and ate... meat. more meat than should be possible for two girls. for an hour and a half. thai people love their food. (this wasn't thai food... it was a korean restaurant. and they just kept bringing out more and more meat...) for all those carnivores out there... be jealous. 

so i have something to say this week. about miracles. 

we have been blessed. many many times. and i think i need to say a little bit in gratitude to the heavenly father that makes them possible. 

we went contacting last week. here in the thailand bangkok mission, we are required to contact for two hours every day. especially focusing on inviting people to be baptized. with the goal of having 200+ baptisms this month, they are really focusing on trying to find those elect that are ready to be baptized. and we are seeing miracles happen. so sister phelps and i had been struggling getting out contacting in. it was hot. we were tired. and we just weren't loving contacting. but we decided we needed to be better. we decided to go to the park and talk to people there... we assumed that people at parks don't have to be anywhere fast... maybe they'd be more willing to talk to us? so we went. got a couple on numbers. nothing really promising. we were getting ready to leave, and we saw a guy standing on a bridge. let's go talk to him. we walked up. two tall white girls. asking this guy if he knows what baptism is. he says he's buddist. isn't everyone? but we end up getting his number and arranging to meet with him later that week. we thought, after we left, that the elders didn't have a baptism for the month... so we decided to let them teach this guy. a few days later, he shows up at the church, thinking that he was going to learn english...... oops. i don't think we told him that. well. he's at the church now! the elders teach him. and... he's great. so great. asking us questions about receiving forgiveness for his sins and how to pray. no one showed up for english on tuesday night (because it was the new year... and new years here is SO big. bigger than christmas.) no one showed up. but tom did. so we had a little english lesson. and a little church thrown in. he is still learning. he is going to be baptized. he doesn't know that yet... but we do.

getting balanced key indicators is big here. if we don't get balanced... we don't really see baptisms. so we really focus on getting balanced every week. i know that heavenly father is aware of our goals. we need two investigators at church. and most of the time... the people we call... don't come. grrrrr. (ooops. not very missionary like...) but for some reason, we have had miracles every week. 2 random football (soccer) players we met at the bus station, someone that we called on a whim, 2 investigators that we had dropped, 2 people we met in a different area on an international visit that decided that they needed to follow jesus after the new year. every week. it's crazy. and a miracle. 

i know that heavenly father is the reason why. and i know now, more than ever, that i didn't know how much heavenly father always wanted to bless me. how much he wanted to send miracles into my life... i just wasn't asking for them. 

i'm asking now.

and i testify that he gives them freely. 

so. we are definitely blessed here in pakkret. we want a temple here! and it's going to happen. i feel so blessed to be able to be a part of his work her in southeast asia. it's different. and hard. it's weird that most people haven't heard about jesus christ. and you can see the difference that comes into their lives when they accept the gospel. we had a man that we started teaching a few days ago come to church yesterday. he came up to us afterwards and thanked us for the experience. he said that he felt like his life was an empty glass before... and that we had filled it. woah. something that every missionary wants to hear. i guarantee it! :) i was floating for the rest of the day. we also had another investigator that bore his testimony about him knowing that the church is true. now we just need him to get a visa... 

in other news. we teach english. funny things always happen when you try to speak a language that is not your first language... (i should know!) 

yeah... you know those things... it's called... a sky-crapper? right?? (us. laughing hysterically.)

the members take good care of us. i think they know that we americans like our mexican food...

taco night at sister chao's.

santa paying for our food at que pasa. (aka the owver, a less active named alex.) 

miracles abound. 

the work is working. (still)

i love thailand.

i love you all!

and god loves you most. 

have the best week ever!!!

sister ellis

Korean meat buffet

 

me. and cats. not my most pageant-worthy picture ever... sorry

my talk for church (I don't know how I get talked into talking to Sundays in 2 months!)

 

I love Thailand.