May 20, 2013
hey!!
i don't know where to start with this week! i can't even believe it's been only a week since Mother's Day...it feels like YEARS ago. and at the same time, week after week flies by, and i'm done with one transfer. i made it through! every missionary in thailand got to meet in chaengwattana so that we could meet elder andersen when he came. we got to meet with him on saturday, and then he spoke to all the members in bangkok on sunday. we had two of our investigators that came with us to hear him speak..sis. nuun and ping! i really hope it gave sis. nuun a kick in the pants. because she's totally ready! oh and ping had her interview this week and she's getting baptized this coming SUNDAY!! wooo! she's so cute. hopefully i can send you a pic when i get one. anyway, hearing from elder andersen was SO good. basically, he really emphasized that the saints here need to be faithful, and that in order to have a temple here, they need sufficient members to take care of the temple. aka...we're getting a temple here! it's not a matter of 'if' but 'when'! it makes me that much more excited to play a small part in helping the members here to prepare for that day. so exciting!!! i can't wait. it was really good to see my MTC companions when all the missionaries met together. it was like a giant reunion!
so like i told you last week, we went to a crocodile farm. i got to go fishing for crocodiles with raw meat and that was probably my favorite part. that and the time i got to hold a MONKEY! and now i've decided i'm getting a pet monkey when i get home. i loveeee them. oh and i rode an elephant too. nbd. today for pday we're gonna try and relax/ sleep because we had to lose a lot of sleep for travel time to see elder andersen. but we had it pretty good only traveling an hour or so. other missionaries in the north had to come 6-8 hours. ugh.
MIRACLES! i told you a little about sis. yupin last week. but she went from being semi-suicidal, to coming to church on Sunday! and she came to see elder andersen! it's amazing the change we've seen in her as she's starting reading and praying again. one day we went over there and she had a friend there that wanted to learn about Jesus. sweeeet. i love when referals fall right into your lap. i have seen time and time again that God provides. when there seems to be no way, He makes a way. we had a goal of 3 new investigators this week, and at the end of the week, right when i was thinking we wouldn't make it, we run into a dad and his two kids that want to learn. 3. God can make it happen, and He will make it happen if you ask Him.
so a few funny things from this week. we were getting some food at the grocery store, and i was searching everywhere for corn syrup, which i never found. but i was walking down the aisle and there was this little girl sitting in a cart by herself. her mom wasnt to far away, but when she saw me she look at me with big eyes and was like, 'uh-ohhhh'. i think she was a little scared of the giant white girl walking toward her. hahahah. one of our RC's this week said i 'phuud chat maag'. i misheard her and thought she said my thai sucks. but apparently 'chat' means 'clear'. phew. luckily my companion clarified that one for me. it's really funny here, because even though we speak very little, everyone we talk to tells us how great our thai is. they're probably lying, but i''ll take it. haha. so usually if we ask someone why they didn't come to church, a common excuse is because it was raining, or they had diarrhea. for reals. people are scared of the rain here, and will stay inside because of it. last thing: flirt to convert. we were at the mall for lunch, and this black guy asked us to go get shots with him. he was from africa and spoke english. we said we don't drink alcohol, but we drink water! haha oh wow. he asked if he could join us...so basically we had a nice little water date. but don't worry because we taught him a lesson and he said we would come to church and english class.
one thing i've been thinking a lot about lately is faith. who do we have faith in? a big problem in the ward i 'm serving in is that a lot of people hate the bishop. and a lot of people have issues with other people in the ward, so they stop coming to church. but many of them still have a testimony. if we have faith in CHRIST, we FOLLOW him by doing what He says. we never have to worry about what happens, or who we 'don't like', because if you believe in Christ, and that you're part of His church, it's all simple. It's like Elder Holland said in conference, God has only ever had imperfect people to deal with. if there's any imperfections in the church, it's not in the divinity of the work. love that! and i know it's true.
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