Hey hey Dad!
Tell Sister Peluso to be careful! I
don't have that long before I'm going to come back after all! At least until
Kaleb gets back though!
So this week was a blur! Second
week down, lots of appointments, not a ton of inviting, in all honesty. Having
a trio here means we combined the two area books, so we have way too many
investigators to allow for a lot of inviting time. The evidence is given by the
fact that we had 7 investigators at church this last Sunday. That's a ton! We
have a plan to get one more, who is the dad of 2 of our investigators, but
we'll see about that as the transfer goes on!
I got to take over the advanced
English Class on Tuesday. That was a lot of fun! The other two classes, the
kids, and the basic class, have set programs to go by, and teach by, and
basically have to teach from no foundation, while making it fun. I don't know
if I could do that. What I do know, is that I can teach normal English, in the
way that I learned it at school. It was a lot of fun basically reciting the
concepts I learned from all 13 years of school, all the way until now. So
that's pretty enjoyable! I have a loose structure, but these people have
questions of their own, so I try to answer those as well. Lots of fun!
After that, we were teaching, and
teaching, and teaching. Still working on Brother N, but he's getting better!
Really trying to get him to stop smoking, and drinking coffee. We're making
progress though! Young investigators are great. They're pretty polite, and they
almost all have a baptismal date! One is happening next transfer, but one is
going to happen on the 15th or so. We have 4 total, so we're working on the
other two, and seeing if we can teach their Dad as well!
Understanding is great, and
pretending to understand everything is also great! Because I'm pretty dark now,
if a lot of folks think I am native now. It's a lot of fun just to interact
with them in that way.
For the greatest part of it all:
Food Poisoning. That was an experience. It was the most awful Night/Day cycle
I've ever experienced in my life. I can guess where I got it from, so we might
seldom go back there as often, if at all. Headaches, nausea, and about 30 bathroom
trips. I'm thankful for that tylenol that you sent me, because I was taken out
on Saturday. It was awful. But I made it through, and the other Elders got to
make a lot of phone calls to a lot of people in our area books. So, it all
worked out!
I told the Mission Nurse, because
we have to get permission to stay indoors.
Life here looks comfortable, not
the most clean nor very affluent, but comfortable anyway. People are happier
with less, and people are happy to interact, do whatever. You don't take for
granted the toilets for sure. Sakon Nakhon isn't very wealthy, but they often
have what they need, and are happy in places that I think look sketchy
sometimes, which is great to see. It's not shocking to see it, but it's fun,
and enlightening, to see people here, like this.
I just need to make sure to give
100% of my heart! Doesn't mean seriousness all the time, but I feel it does
mean not being indifferent, and really caring!
Always have to work hard! That's
what I learned from Track, you have to go after what you want, with everything
that you have. Only then will we have success. Same with learning Thai! Always
trying, but always remembering that I have to keep my will submissive to what
the Lord wants, for this is the Lord's Work, and we, as missionaries, are
instruments, bound to preach the word as moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and what
we know is right. Only then can we speak miracles, in Thai, or in any other
language!
I try to keep a good attitude all
the time! I really appreciate Prathaan Johnson though. He's so great, and I
know he cares for all his missionaries, top, to bottom. I recently heard that
Heavenly Father knows exactly which Mission President we need!
All right, not much for this week,
but that's it! Love you a ton, and talk to you soon!
- Elder Collin Decker
