what a miracle-filled week!
it started out with munday. i accidently wrote sunday on mondays page. we couldn't have that for eternity... so it got changed to munday. and what a fantastic munday it was! emailing my favorite peeps in the whole wide world. ate some food. went shopping. watched some mormon messages... then went and toured the wats in KPP. we even got a special tour from a nice old monk. apparently kampheangphet is where the (4) buddhas came one time, and they left a footprint. if you looked up "buddhas foodprint" you could probably find out more about it that i did. i can understand most regular conversations that go on. as soon as people get excited (and talk super fast) or when they start talking about something "deep" my comprehension goes out the window. then comes the REAL test. of trying to stay engaged enough to re-enter the conversation when they say something i DO understand.... will i ever understand thai? is the question i frequently ask myself. it's got to be a gradual thing. there has never been a moment where it just "clicks". but i do have moments like in 'the best two years' where i will have a conversation, and then it gets over, and i think WOW! i got ALL of that. big smile.
we have a weekly spelling test in our district meetings. which basically consists of me.... guessing how to spell things in thai. i mean... when you have like 6 different letters that make the 'd' sound at the end of a word... it's just a matter of luck in guessing which one you use. and of course, when it is my turn to pick the words... muahahahaha! this week i actually picked somewhat usable words... but you never know when you'll need to know how to say "robot" either! just saying... what happens if war of the worlds was actually a thing?
i know you all love hearing about brother gamon. the crazy man. who is actually very sweet and buys us coke because it was hot outside. we were reading in 1 nephi 3 with him, because his book of mormon reading is... slow. he read until 2 nephi, but didn't even know who nephi was. that is a bit of a problem. so we made him start over. but in reading 1 nephi 3:7 he says, "i, nephi said unto my father, i will not go and do..." and sister mullen and i just start saying ja bye! ja bye! (it means WILL GO! WILL GO!) just wanted to make sure he got the RIGHT message out of the scripture...
we met an investigator. his name is tawan. (that's how it sounds in thai.) he spelled it for us... thaval. i don't get thai spelling. sometimes when i am asking people how to spell their names, they will spell it for me in thai. doesn't help when i call them back and am asking for "thaval" instead of "tawan". spelling in thai from the get-go. much better idea.
anywho. he was legit. met him saturday. came to church sunday. met with him tuesday, taught him ALL the commandments. he's believed in god for 40+ years. none of his family is christian. we made an appointment to go to his house on thursday. he said he'd come and pick us up.... no.... we'll follow you there! had to explain the rule... he was like ok! so we go to big c. he's waiting at the bus stop... and when we walk up, he pulls out HIS bike. so we all biked back to his house. the old 62 year old... outpacing us missionaries. it was embarrassing! ;) then we taught him the plan of salvation and gospel. he was even reading in the book of mormon. so, in the end - we had 2 lessons, 1 interview, and he got baptised yesterday! definitely a miracle.
every week we have a scripture study class on thursday nights. usually... we just read through the scripture passage and ask if anyone has any questions. they always say no. so we started quizzing them. they didn't know what had happened! (we were reading about when nephi prophesies that the chief judge is dead.) so we decided to have them act it out. to make sure that they understood everything. so much fun.
the next day (friday) we taught cute little sister somjeet how to bear her testimony. she had to write it down so that she could practice. (probably better than gamon getting up and turning it into a prayer...)
but miracle #2 (ok... that's a lie. there were a LOT more miracles than that.) but last week we told Brother Dot Com to keep asking his parents until they said yes. even if it took him the next 3 years to get the ok. he said he would. and his parents said YES! and this is all happening the week before transfers. so of course we spend days trying to organize everything and asking for permission to baptize a 15 year old. who comes to church early, loves helping us with lessons, invites his friends to church... (yes, this is the same list that i gave to president when i had to call him. scariest phone call of my life!) and we need most priesthood here. and he said yes! so dot com got baptized yesterday too.
it was a good day.
we've had a goal to get 40 people at church this transfer. most of the time it sticks around 25-30. but yesterday we had 37! with a little help from people coming in from the branch presidency and friends of the unit leader... but still. 37! and turns out that one of the elders investigators brought his two daughters... they came and stood outside for a bit but didn't know it was the church, so technicallllllly... i guess we had 40 there. briefly.
and i ate crocodile yesterday. we didn't have crocodile seasoning... so it probably tasted a little bit more like chicken...
so. transfers are coming up this week. and in thinking toward that ominous, life-changing event, i must reminisce on the wonderful things i've learned over the last 10 (? really???) months. D&C 111:2-3 was a really cool find this week. i learned that no matter where you are, there are people to find. that even in a small city that only has one grocery store... there are still people there. people that the church needs. and the people that we (quite literally) ask to be baptized every day... it is just a matter of time until they say yes. until they decide that they want to learn too.
usually i have a hard time finding spiritual nuggets during church. mostly because i spend so much time trying to understand the language. but i got one yesterday.
if we don't have the spirit with us, satan will enter. we don't need to invite him.
it got me thinking. we ALWAYS must invite the spirit. he's a polite spirit. he comes when we are seeking him. but satan's a little (a LOT) rude. he comes in, whether we invite him in or not. they have us calling our investigators EVERY DAY. i thought - hey! this is excessive! but the more that i do it, they more i realize why. they don't want these people forgetting why they gave us their number. if we let them forget about us... forget about all those wonderful feelings of curiosity they had... satan steps in. so we keep in touch. making sure that they meet with us. that they keep committments. that they keep all of those good feelings! and do even give satan a chance to get in the door!
that's about it for this week!
but miracles are real. mormon 9.
it starts with faith.
but you also need a little hope.
and charity. don't forget about charity.
(you can see how my personal study goes...)
thank you for all of your prayers, your examples, and for being missionaries in whatever field the lord has called you to serve!
love you all!
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