A week of miracles in the land of miracles!

This week was another awesome week in The Best Mission! Elder Bunker and I continue to work hard, and to invite everyone we see to learn about the church. It's been tons of fun, and we actually had two switchoffs for this week, so it was pretty fun stuff.

Last Monday, after emailing, we headed over to a flooded turf soccer field, and played soccer with some 40 odd other missionaries. It was a straight 3 hours of absolute fun. It was way nice to actually get up and run for real. We have a treadmill at the gym we go to, but it just isn't the same as running for real, and actually moving somewhere, so that was really nice. Also, FHE was way fun, the members here are great, they love the missionaries, and they make great food.

Tuesday, we spent a lot of time inviting. Actually a lot of our week was spent inviting. We had alot of people this week that cancelled appointments, so that was sad for us. But we were able to teach a semi drunk security guard about the plan of salvation. His parents had died recently, and so it seemed to comfort him a little bit, but I'm not sure how much he understood, he was just a little loopey. But the spirit was there, so that's good. In district meeting we set the goal of bringing 24 investigators to church this week, since we will have 10 hours of general conference that they could make it to. That would be about 8 per companionship. We have learned by experience here that when you faithfully set high goals, and then work as hard as you can to achieve those goals, then the Lord makes up the rest, and you can experience miracles.

Wednesday, I switched off with Elder Manwaring, our district leader. He is a way good missionary, and an excellent teacher. It pretty much rained all that day, from the time we got up to the time we got back home, off and on. First off, we headed over to Central, which is pretty much a big mall here in Thailand to meet with an investigator, and then ran to the church to meet with another, and then back to Central to meet with a potential investigator who actually couldn't meet with us. So we went back to the church. It was a wild goose chase for a little bit. (The church central aren't all that close to each other) Plus it was pouring rain, so that made things interesting, but this is missionary work, so we had fun because it's the best!! The street to the church flooded again, and we had a very nice couple who gave us a ride so we did not have to wade through.

Thursday, we spent alot of time in the apartment. We had to do our studies, and then we had weekly planning, and today we called every investigator we had, and had to drop a couple. It is sad to see what happens when people lose the desire to learn because as missionaries, we know that the Lord loves everyone individually, and if we will just trust Him, and do what he says, we can be soooooo happy! At the end of the day, we taught English, which is always tons of fun. It is humbling for me to teach, because so many people come ready to learn, and write down everything we tell them. It makes me think about how willing I am to admit I don't know something, and then do all I can to learn it, humbly. Food for thought I guess.

Friday, I went to a different area with Elder Nance, our zone leader for a switchoff. It was way fun. Elder Nance is a super smart missionary, and a very good teacher. We first taught a referral from Elder Khanakham, an area 70 here in Thailand. He had lots of questions, so that lesson lasted like an hour and a half. It was super long. Then we had a couple more lessons, an older lady gave me a tie, and we went to sports night, and played the legendary chairball game. It's basically a combination of handball, ultimate, and basketball, and tons of fun. I have attached a video.

Saturday, we spent most of the day watching conference. Then it started raining, and so all of our appointments fell through. My Uncle Thales, a dairy farmer in Burley likes to say, "If you want it to rain, just cut the hay." In Thailand, I can say, if you want your appointment to fall through, it just needs to rain. Weather. Thai people really don't like the rain. We got back to the apartment after calling and Uber to get us out of the street of the church, and went home. On the bus, I invited a Buddhist monk. He seemed way interested in learning about our church, unfortunately, we had to get off before I could set an appointment. So that stinks. Cool guy though.

Sunday was great! A lot of conference, and great food. The members here are great cooks, and make food every week after church. Pretty much our whole day was conference. We had 3 sessions to watch today. (Priesthood/General Women's Session is viewed on Sunday here). But before that, we taught a super humble guy who liked the messaged we had to share. Then after conference, we taught a super crazy lady. I don't know how to even begin to describe it. She was just wacko. But it's ok. Jesus Christ loves us all infinitely and individually.

One miracle of the week for me is as follows: I was riding home on the bus, and had the impression to talk to the lady next to me, and so I began a conversation with her, and invited her to church. She didn't accept the invitation, but seemed interested in our english class. Anyways, she asked why I was here in Thailand, and I explained that I was a missionary. She was also confused as to why I could speak Thai. She asked if I was ลูก ขรึ้ง which is basically are you half Thai? I was caught off guard because I didn't think I was speaking all that clear (ชัท), but she thought I was! So tender mercy right there!!! Gift of tongues is real.

Spiritual thought this week comes from conference. I honestly forgot the speaker, (embarrassing I know) but the apostle that talked about the atonement, and the sacrament, it could have been Elder Bednar, but they made the comparison that the broken bread could have several different meanings. We all sin differently, and we are all different, we all heal differently, we all need different kinds of help. But NO MATTER who we are, the Savior will help us!!! As his ordained witness, I know that to be true. He suffered for everyone's sins, individually. He did everything to help us to return to him, and His love is infinite. I testify that if we will follow Him, and trust in Him, we can find peace and happiness everyday of our lives.

Have a great week!!!

Elder Ellsworth

pics flood, and our nice couple that gave us a ride

switchoffs with elder nance

and some social commentary, lots of people on their phone this morning on the subway