it's amazing. i'm as nutty about starting a new planner as i was about starting a new journal.
and already, the names that we had planned for this last week have changed. those people stop answering our phone calls, we find new investigators, they have their own issues... it is a truly never-ending cycle. and it's even better when you find one that sticks. one that wants to be baptized!
we had many miracles this week. i just want to thank everyone who sends their prayers this way. we are definitely the recipients of more blessings that we deserve. god is very good to us.
first of all. we have a goal to have 40 people at church. the closest we've ever gotten was 32ish... and that was with the help of a bunch of visitors from the closest branch (the branch president and his wife and another family... brought like 10 people). but this last week, we had 29 people at church! all on our own. it was definitely a miracle. and even more so because they stayed after my talk. (i mean... anyone who has to sit through 15+ minutes of me talking... deserves blessings. i don't know how my companion does it!) this was coming from last weeks... very dismal number. we knew where everyone was. they just couldn't come to church. and this week - we had 5 investigators show up! it just shows to me how god is the one doing this work... and that he will bless us if we continue to work hard and never give up!
other miracles of note:
goal stopped answering his phone - but he was replaced by A (เอ), Me (มี่), and Som (ส้ม). three new fantastic investigators. of course... they do have their issues. but all of them want to be baptized. even the crazy A... who, when we told him about the law of chastity, agreed to live it, but had problems not with telling his girlfriend they couldn't sleep together, but in making sure that he kept his thoughts, speech and actions pure. i mean, that is a great goal. but then he started going off on - so if someone wants to buy my food... and i want to sell it, but if i tell him that it's delicious and i know it really isn't??? that was his problem. hmmmmm.... i don't think that was the point of that bullet......
other than that. he drinks cocoa and milk instead of tea. and he says he likes it.
atta boy.
som is amazing! we taught her. she's already christian. but she just moved here from chiang mai and didn't know where to go to church. so we snatched her up! we decided to teach her about the restoration, and after we taught about priesthood, and explained that her baptism... wasn't... wasn't... that she needed it to be done with someone holding the priesthood of god found only in THIS church. it was cool. she just nodded and basically asked when she could be baptized. now we're just working through the fact that for whatever reason she can't get married to her boyfriend of 10-something years. (she'll need some good prayers.)
friday... we got grounded to our house. i don't know how much everyone else in the world is in tune with thai politics and stuff... still probably more than me. we just get a text on friday saying that we can go to the church if we have appointments, but other than that, we need to be at home. we had a morning appointment with som, but then had to come home... and after cleaning, updating our area book... yada yada yada... and eating rice and an omlete for lunch... we were out of things to do. that's when the elders called. and asked if we wanted to play uno.
that's where the next 4 hours of our day went. sitting in the hallway, playing uno.
and after it was all over... i would have begged to go contacting!
that's weird.
they texted us saying that saturday was a "normal workday", but that we were still grounded to the church. no contacting. ouch. it was a looooooong day at the church. but we did manage to keep pretty busy. super duper cleaned the church. got rid of all the crickets in the kitchen. (if we don't kill them they start chirping during sacrament meeting....)
i was supposed to be writing my talk... but just like in english... it didn't happen.
church was great. still no contacting. but the miracles still came! i think god might have been pitying us a little bit for being stuck inside all day... but we got two calls heading home on saturday night. one from a girl named cat. (i'd scratched her number off my list because she said she was always busy!) she said it was her birthday sunday, and for her birthday she wanted to go to church! the next number was from sister mullens aunt. (she's half thai) who said that she was coming to church! woah. it was cool. almost too many investigators at church to know what to do with... but our awesome RCs stepped up to the plate to be fellowshippers!
i think the hardest thing is when people are so close - but something is standing in their way. sometimes they are easy concerns to solve... other times they are not. but we just need to have faith that god is in control. and that if this is the one time that they can come to the church, to feel the spirit, we need to make it so that they want to come back when the time comes.
it hit me yesterday. how a lot of these people here don't know what they are worshipping. they believe in a higher being... but they are buddhist because their parents are. because everyone else is. the cool thing is when you meet someone that knows there is a god. that believes in him already... and you are just there to guide their knowledge. to teach them the truth. it's amazing! you are the one that helps them to develop a relationship with god and jesus christ. you teach them how to pray. how to build that relationship. and then you watch them blossom. :D
it also struck me yesterday, how we shouldn't be looking for the so-so/lazy buddhists. just because we think they'll convert more easily. the really strong members will probably come from really strong people of other religious faiths. the ones that give everything they have to their religion. they put their whole heart into it. they just haven't been shown the truth yet.
we had a really cool experience with sister mullen's aunt yesterday. she came to church, i watched her sit there and take notes, and when we were able to sit down and talk to her later, she expressed concerns about problems starting in her family if she "were to be baptized". oooooooh! she is sooooooooo close! you could just sense it. she needs some prayers too.
this gospel changes people's lives. but it does more than that. it changes the people. from imperfect, flawed people - into people who are perfect through christ and his atonement. it's amazing. i've seen it happening in my own life. through the course of this mission. i know that my thai needs to work. my teaching always needs work. my mood needs some work (especially on those hot days when all i want is to go inside and drown myself in ice cream from dairy queen...) my appearance... probably could use some tlc too. but god is in this work. and despite all of my shortcomings. despite all of my flaws... he is still able to do his perfect work PERFECTLY. it's amazing. and i love it so much!
i think that's it for this week!
love you all!
sister ellis
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| dinner on the river |
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| I think it was the wind... |
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