hey everyone! and hello to half of my family that is probably on a plane to AFRICA right now...??!!??!! also thank you for sending me pictures of Paris. i'm a little bit jealous, except for when i saw doonis all bundled up and freezing, and then i remembered i'm in thailand where it's warm and wonderful. but i'm sure you'll be enjoying some of that same weather in a day or so. by the way how hot is it in mauritius right now??
so here's some things i learned this week. some of them are kind of dumb and petty. some of them are really deep. like things i wished i had learned way sooner. but even though i'm slow, God is always showing me new things. oh isn't life just beautiful. anyway, here they are:
so there is a certain market street that we go contacting on ALL the time. like every day. and i learned that there is a crazy man who lives (actually i don't know if 'lives' is the right word) on the street. but anyway, he's always around. and i think he has a weird obsession with me or something. my first encounter with him: he walked really close by me and then jerked his elbow up in front of my face, making me jump back, obviously. and then he just laughed, and laughed. and laughed. and then i saw him a few more times that day, and every time he saw me, he would kind of jump toward me, because he knew it was hilarious if he could scare me. so i learned to just ignore him. he walks around without any shoes and is always wearing crazy outfits. the next day i saw him, i was talking to someone on the street about baptism, and i see him marching down the street. like literally marching. and his hand was pointed in a gun shape. and he was marching straight toward me. i think i almost hid behind the person i was talking to...i didn't know whether to laugh or to run. the next day i saw him he was walking in the middle of the huge busy street that's in front of our church, with cars passing on either side of him, honking and swerving, as he yelled things at them as they passed. well he must have gotten out of that safely, because i saw him again today. he was yelling something at me in Thai, and i didn't really understand it at all. then he started throwing coins at me. he followed me into the 7/11 and gave me 5 baht. luckily sis. holmes and i were able to sneak out while he wasn't looking. so he keeps our lives interesting.
i learned that i am VERY out of shape. actually i think i already knew that. but we had a zone sports day today, and we had it at a school that the one of our members teaches at. all of the sisters found an indoor basketball court where the school team was practicing. they wanted to scrimmage against us so we agreed. hahhahaha. that was our first mistake. after a few times running up and down the court with all the quick little thai girls, i was about to dieeeeeee. we didn't really keep score, but i'm pretty sure they beat us. long story short, i'm definitely taking a nap today.
since this email is becoming way too long, here's the last thing i learned. i am NOTHING. this is God's work. I've always thought that if i worked hard enough and long enough, if i'm skilled enough and teach well enough, then we will have success. but it's not true. not at all. rather than grinding myself into the ground, i've learned that it is about faith. i need to have more faith that God can do all things, and He WILL. i still don't really know how, but i'm working on giving him my WHOLE self, my whole heart. our mission has a goal for 200 baptisms this month. that's impossible. if we work alone. but God will do it. we just have to be His hands. And that's why I'm gonna tell you right now that we're going to see a baptism on Saturday! Her name is Da and she is amazing. Here's a little quote that I really love from Elder Eyring..."I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up and paid up for the cause of Christ. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops me. And when He returns for his own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be clear."
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