A week of pitted appointments, of biking barefoot, of the hottest weather that I think Thailand has ever seen.... and yet... it just keeps getting better and better!
ps. this is the point where 1. i stop writing with capital letters (far too time consuming) and 2. bring my journal downstairs because i couldn't remember what happened this week for the life of me...
this week was another one of "those" weeks. the ones where you make all of these appointments, you confirm, you go to the church.... and they never show. thai people have a thing with time. sometimes they will show up 45 minutes to an hour late... and just saunter into the church. agh. so it makes us feel like we can't leave even after a half hour - what if they did show up? it was an epic journal entry on wednesday when TWO people actually showed up to their appointments.
and. i didn't even know it. but i hit halfway this week. that was a very strange feeling. especially since i hadn't really thought about it at all. i got a package from home... "not to open until may 15th"... don't know how i didn't put that one together! it seems weird. i never thought i'd get to this point. i think i assumed i would either end my mission as a greenie... or suddenly be a seasoned, fluent thai-speaker. the work in the middle... that continues to take me by surprise. ;)
but it was weird. after all the hours and hours and hours and hours and (guess what?) MORE hours of contacting... we got to friday. hey! more contacting. these weeks are rough. when we have amazing investigators... that decide not to answer their phones. maybe they got in a horrible scooter accident and they can't use their hands any more? or maybe their phone fell into the river on their way to our lesson... and they got lost................
we like to be hopeful. but then we get realistic and go find more investigators.
we are really blessed here. with the members. the investigators. all of it. something i've had to learn is the "letting go" part of teaching people. with the current way that we are teaching... you don't have time to hang on to investigators that aren't progressing. we are looking for and teaching people that want to be baptized. and they want it soooo badly. which is weird... i never would have expected that in a predominately buddhist country. but there are people that tell us that they always believed that there was a god. we were just standing there in front of big c to invite them to learn.
i feel a little bit like i'm rambling today. but it is so good. it is always so good. i realize more and more how much heavenly father is preparing people to hear his gospel. and that we all can and will have the opportunities to share it. i had the thought that i had invited a lady too many times (there are some employees that literally walk back and forth in front of big c. typically we just keep inviting them.) but i decided i would just smile at her and ask her how her day was. at first she just looked surprised. then she smiled. about the third time she passed by, she stopped and asked me what we were doing. it's weird sometimes... we get into a groove of doing the same thing over and over and over... thinking there is only one right way to share the gospel. but i can guarantee that there is as much power in a smile as there is in asking somebody to be baptized. (just don't be afraid of doing the latter!) we CAN promise them that their life will change. we CAN tell them that god will help them. and it's a wonderful thing.
ok! that's it for this week!
have an awesome week!
oh. ps. the mission just ok'd facebooks for us missionaries.
WE AREN'T ALLOWED TO ADD PEOPLE FROM HOME.
so. you can look at it. you can follow it. but don't be sad if i don't friend you. i would love to... but this is a tool of our work here.
thanks!
ซิสเตอร์ เอลลิส (this is my facebook name)
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| a strange fruit called ngo... ngah... there is no way to write that in english... |
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a thai attempt at a pastry. pastry perfection...does not exist here. ;)
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