this week. was an interesting week for sure.

July 13, 2014

lots of stuff happening. it started off with a trip into downtown bangkok. running around and seeing all of the people trying to rip off the "farangs" (the white people) by charging them WAY too much for things. it's funny when they realize that you can speak thai. then they start being nicer to you. and the prices start going down. here's a discount for speaking thai! here's a discount cuz we're friends... it's pretty fun stuff. we had an appointment for that night... who never showed up. that's the depressing part of missionary work. the people that sound so awesome... that never show up again. but that's agency for you. (is it bad that people's agency is my pet peeve?)

tuesday brought a lot of interesting news. it seems as though bang khae is a really crucial part of the mission right now. (how is it that i never see these things until i'm right in the middle of it???) they just made the bangkok north "district" into a stake! and bang khae is going to be the center of the next stake in the west zone. so... we get to district meeting on tuesday and hear all of this BIG news about how important our time is here....... and i left feeling oh so blessed? definitely overwhelmed. and once again in awe of how much heavenly father seems to trust me. 

 

they want us to have 150 people at church. right now we're sitting at around 70-80. so... we either get another 70-80 investigators at church each week... or we go and find some members that aren't currently coming. we've got our work cut out for us. but the really cool thing was yesterday at 8:45, we had 6 investigators at church! 2 of them walked in and asked me if i remembered them. they were two people that we'd invited... who didn't give us their phone number and said they'd stop by "if they had time." (this usually ALWAYS means "not interested") WOW. what a surprise! then i had to recover really fast by saying YEAH! of COURSE i remember you! ahem. 

 

we definitely felt the blessings this week. by thursday... we basically had one investigator to plan for. so... we put off planning til sunday, hoping that all the people who said they were going to come would come! and YES! they did! 

(fist pumps in the air) 

 

basically the rest of the week was spent inviting. met some good people. some creepers. some potentials. but it's always the "sunday" business that gets us. but we did realize something this week. if you want to get people to come to church on sunday, you have to invite with that end in mind. if you want to find people to baptize, you have to look for those people that WANT to be baptized! so our list continues to grow. baptizeable. come to church. can actually meet with us before sunday... the portion of the population that this applies to continues to get smaller. but ever more so ready. 

friday. was july 11. anywhere else in the world... this day might be just an average day. but not in thailand. not for sister norrell and i. because july 11 is 7/11. did we go to 7 and get a slurpee? yes. did we spend too much money at 7 buying snacks? maybe... but that's ok... because "our diet starts tomorrow!"

 

 

my favorite comment of the week was the branch president saying 'my GET'... (he used the thai word for "not" = my and the english word... then went on his merry way with his conversation.) he almost sounded like a missionary serving in thailand. i can tell you though... it makes it really difficult to translate for someone who likes to mix thai and english. especially if their english still sounds like thai. what word was that? i have no idea... i'll just make up something about faith and repentance that sounds like it should be a part of the lesson..........

i got a really cool quote from an RC this week. it goes like this: Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees. 

do i love it or what!? there are so many times when i do not feel like i measure up to the qualifications for this work. that there are so many other people that could do it so much better. but i love this quote. because even a week one like me still has power over satan. we never need think that we are alone. because we have the savior of the world on our side. and nothing can beat that. 

 

ok. enough with the spiritual stuff. (just kidding) but some more funny moments of the week. 

there is this child. his parents bring him in during sacrament meeting, and he has a little roller-thingie that they put him in. anyway... so the child goes around and around and around and around all sacrament meeting. (don't know if i mentioned this before.) it's pretty funny. but yesterday he was free and crawling... all over the podium... in front of the podium... it was pretty funny to watch him. then... he started growling. and i swear he barked. 

 

i love church so much. 

oh. yeah. 

 

i will now speak on พูดผิดs. (this sounds like "poo-ed pits") just don't try to visualize this and you will be alright. 

you did. didn't you? 

essentially what it is... is when you say something wrong. a very typical thing in the life of sister ellis. and thai doesn't make it any better. like when you are inviting someone to come to church. the use of the word "cow" has many different meanings depending on the tone. including: rice, to enter, to kneel, him/her... let's just say you use this word (and all variations) A LOT. and they are usually spelled different. but the pronunciation is exactly the same. cow. 

anyway. while asking someone to "cow bode" (meaning to enter the church) you have to be really careful not to tell them "cow pode" which means corn. is it any wonder why i always get so many strange looks while i am talking to people? 

the last one for the day... instead of telling someone to "dress modestly" to come to church... i gave them a pre-emptive law of chastity lesson by telling them to "marry successfully"...........

oops. 

 

oh. cool thai fact for the week.

the 3 hour church block? started in thailand. (thank you thailand for not having to go back to church 3 different times every day!) 

 

i love you all! 

thanks for being so stinking awesome. 

xoxo

sister ellis

so hot here that they DID cook an egg on the sidewalk!