Hey there Dad!
This week should be relatively normal, at least for today,
but who knows? The Lord will bless us in His own time and will. If
investigators come on a P-Day, so be it! We'll teach them anytime! The Lord
requires our all, even so a willing heart and a willing mind.
I've started to keep highlights of the week, at least, the
highlights of everyday, week by week, so I can better remember what has been
happening this last week. But as far as hot... it's been hot since the
beginning of April... Hot season started about 30 days ago once it hit April.
Only the April rain showers can save us from such heat ð
.
As for the āđāļĢื่āļāļ
lightning.... If I got hit by lightning and died, as a missionary, clearly it
must have been my time to go, especially as a missionary, I will emphasize. I
know a missionary who got hit by lightning. He's still alive! I think I'll be
just fine... hahaha.
So highlights of this week:
Monday (āļ§ัāļāļัāļāļāļĢ์)
We got a referral in the middle of P-Day, to many people's
surprise, including me, and the members were already on their way to Ayutthaya
from Grungthep, so we couldn't just tell them no, so we went and taught them in
the middle of P-Day. The Branch President came with us so that was sweet (it
also helped us to feel more safe because we were unsure about the gender of one
of the people in the car...). The two investigators are a little far out, maybe
20 kilometers, but they're way good! They also want to refer their friends to
us so that's a true blessing. We'll be working with them a lot in the coming
week. Then we visited the McGeorges, who we shared a spiritual thought with and
then realized we only had 25 minutes to get home... from 7.8 kilometers away,
plus traffic. Well, needless to say, we made it back within the time limit,
making it to the church within 17 minutes! And the church is only 1 kilometer
away so that was fun. I hope I can be more in shape once I get back... ð
Tuesday (āļ§ัāļāļัāļāļāļēāļĢ)
...is what is known, colloquially, as
"Getwreckedday" which comprises of us going to Lopburi for District
Meeting and then getting back at about 2:00... maybe. It would be nice if we
got back that early ð
. So that happened. We
ate Swensens after lunch to wish Sister Pim a farewell before she went to the
MTC. RIP Sister Pim. We'll see you in another 3 weeks once you get back from
the MTC in the Philippines. Then we had English Class, in of which one of our
funniest members, Brother āļ้āļāļ
comes. We were teaching about weather, so he goes and says things along the
lines of...
Elder Abbot also got his drink stolen by the monkeys as it
went up to his bag and ripped it right out of his hands. Elder Abbot swung his
plastic 7-11 bag around with the monkey on it and then chased after the monkey.
In short, he almost got rabies before we told him to back off the monkies.
Think of it like this: 17 baht for a drink, and don't fight the monkeys. Or
1000 baht for a series of rabies shots to who knows where and fight the
monkeys. Take your pick. I'm not sure I want to see the monkeys when we come
back to āđāļี่āļĒāļ§.
"Go to hail!"
So that was funny, but we told him you can't stay
stuff like that... So that was our Tuesday.
Wednesday (āļ§ัāļāļุāļ)
I got hit by a motorcycle, and the lady was pretty mad but
nothing really happened so all is well that ends well!
Had a two hour lesson with some Christian investigators with
Brother McGeorge. Way long and not really beneficial... But we gave them a Book
of Mormon at least! They can speak English and can't speak Thai so that was
fun. We taught in English.
Thursday (āļ§ัāļāļāļĪāļŦัāļŠ)
We some guy get off a high place (about 10 feet in the air,
or 3 meters) on an excavator. Way weird. Meet a miracle Former Investigator at
his house. He walks out and literally in Thai says "Oh hello Elders!"
We were just at his house to teach his Dad, but this works too, so we're taking
it as a sign from Heavenly Father that we need to teach this son of God, so we
will.
Our RC said she wants her family to learn! So we're helping
her learn how to receive personal revelation for herself and how to help her
family through it. We have a lot of good resources from the last General
Conference, especially by the President of the Church and another talk by Elder
Larry Y. Wilson. We'll keep working with her and help her build the courage to
invite her family to learn.
We also put sweetened and condensed milk(which is kind of
thick here) on pieces of bread to eat as a dessert while we were planning for
the game night activity on Friday.
The Sister Missionaries (Sister Peterson, Sister Smith,
Sister Pim) also taught how to sew stuff, so I could finally sew my pants, and
my bag, and the whole world. Shoutout to the Sisters for helping me with life
skills (even though there is no way they can feasibly read this at this point
in time).
Friday (āļ§ัāļāļĻุāļāļĢ์)
Switch off in Lopburi, we went there right after a failed
appointment... but we interviewed someone for baptism and he passed while I was
there so that was way sweet! We also taught an investigator who I've taught
every single time I've been on a switch-off there.
On the way back home, we saw a kid pop a wheelie on his bike
for about 100 meters. So I was really impressed because he was on a bicycle and
did it for about 20 seconds so two thumbs up for the kid. ðð
We also met a recent convert who is less active, Brother
Name, which was very strange before we left Ayutthaya, so that was fun. Didn't
come to church though... ðĨ
Saturday (āļ§ัāļāđāļŠāļēāļĢ์)
Taught Sister āļāļēāļ.
Way fun, but got caught out in a rainstorm so we waited for the storm to blow
over before heading back.
It was Sister Smith's birthday! So we bought Blueberry
cheese cake, four pieces, for the four of us in Ayutthaya. We tried to be
sneaky about it but that failed so... It was still all ok! Everyone in the
mission is older than me though... I'm so young ð
(still
19...)
Sunday (āļ§ัāļāļāļēāļิāļāļĒ์)
Church! No investigators though.... Way sad! But we're
working on it. The Lord is blessing us with miracles so we're going to try to
work our hardest and hopefully see miracles in the future as well! Found one
new investigator after church so, so we know that the Lord is blessing us with
miracles!
(Highlight āļāļ)
I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve here in Thailand.
It's a lot of fun!
One thing that I have learned over this past week, is the
importance of integrity. When the Savior said that if we have the pure faith,
even as the size of a mustard seed, then we can move mountains. What does it
mean to have faith the size of a mustard seed? I'll come back to that point in
a bit.
When Jesus was ministering among the Israelites, there were
many instances of people coming unto him, asking to be healed, and many
instances where he went out and found people to be healed. Some people were
afflicted with demons, who had somehow entered into the bodies of the victims
and tormented those souls. But the demons and devils did something that was all
alike: They testified of the divinity of the Savior. They knew Jesus as the
Savior of the World, with a sure knowledge. They professed it and bore
testimony of it. However, this knowledge condemned them, instead of uplifting
them. However, we can look to the example of Peter for more insight. He alike
testified of the Savior, and in "Jesus the Christ" Elder James E.
Talmage wrote:
1.
How different was
their acknowledgment of the Savior from that of Peter, who, to the Master’s
question “Whom say ye that I am?” replied in practically the words used by the
unclean spirits before cited, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15–16;
see also Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20). Peter’s faith had
already shown its vital power; it had caused him to forsake much that had been
dear, to follow his Lord through persecution and suffering, and to put away
worldliness with all its fascinations, the sacrificing godliness which his
faith made so desirable. His knowledge of God as the Father, and of the Son as the
Redeemer, was perhaps no greater than that of the unclean spirits;
but while to them that knowledge was but an added cause of condemnation, to him
it was a means of salvation.—Abridged from The
Articles of Faith,5:97–99.
It was the change and actions of Peter that caused Peter's
faith and knowledge to have meaning. Let us beware of empty professions of
faith as warned of in James 2:19: "19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well:
the devils also believe, and tremble."
Remember, and reference back to an earlier verse in that
same chapter:
"17 Even
so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."
We must have works! And we don't necessarily need to have a
lot of faith, or even a pure knowledge have pure faith. What is needed,
according to what Elder Jeffery R. Holland said in April 2013:
" The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is
not the issue—it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have
and the truth you already know"
Let us have integrity toward the faith we do have and know.
Those things borne in our souls by the Spirit of God are of great value. Those
great eternal truths about the Book of Mormon, about this church, about
prophets and Joseph Smith, but most of all, about how Jesus is the Christ,
the Only Begotten and the Savior of the World. Let us demonstrate our
integrity to our Lord and Savior, to our Heavenly Father, and to Jesus Christ.
Do those things you know you should and don't do those things that you know you
shouldn't. Surely if we do so, we will develop the faith that we need to move
mountains, and become the people that the Lord needs us to be.
I bear witness that our Savior lives, that we have Prophets
on this Earth today, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that this Church, the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is the kingdom of God here on the
earth. I know that Jesus is the Christ and I am an ambassador, an emissary, a
representative of Him.
Thank you for all your love and support! I'll talk to you
soon!
