Hey Everyone,
Last Monday we ran around in the morning and by running, I mean literally we ran. We did our exercise and then we had to go to the hospital because Elder Ferrence has rabies shots to go do. After the rabies shots appointment, we went to the computer lab and emailed and stuff. And then after that we went home and changed and went and got some Mexican food for lunch. But I didn't have any money because I lost my ATM card, so I had nothing for lunch that day. I am cheap and I lost my ATM card and I was already in debt to Elder Ferrence for paying for all the meals before that. I ended up paying Elder Ferrence like 1,700 baht because he had paid for a lot of stuff for me, like food. Anyways, after that we went to Bro. Munn's house and visited with him and talked about Joseph Smith and that kind of stuff. And we ended up walking around and talking to people and inviting for the rest of that evening.
Tuesday we planned on meeting with Bank in the morning, our dater. But he's kind of been weird lately and so we might not be seeing him. We went and visited this RC. The RC is doing great, but the area around her house is not. They're redoing this canal thing and it's kind of destroyed their little place. Later we had district meeting and then ate together as a district. That evening we went and visited one of our investigators, studied, visited some more investigators and then we came to the English class and had a fun English class. Then we got on a bus and headed down to Bangkok and I did not sleep that whole night because there was a movie on the screen next to me. So of course I watched the movie all the way down without audio. It was hard to fall asleep on that bus.
On Wednesday we had MLC (Mission Leader Conference), which was just great. We got into Bangkok about 6:30-7:00 in the morning. We got over to the assistant's house, jumped in the shower, had breakfast (some pancakes) and then talked about how we can help our mission be better and all that stuff for like six hours. Then president interviewed us. President is just awesome as usual. After that we went and got Taco Bell for dinner before getting on another bus in which neither of us slept very well.
We rolled into Chiang Mai the next morning and we were both just out of our minds exhausted. We did some inviting in the morning and then came back and did some planning for our zone conference. We got it all figured out and then we went and visited with one of our investigators who doesn't quite understand the restoration and we helped him with that. Then we got some food from a member because she gives the missionaries free food at her shop and then we went and visited another investigator. We sat down to do our studies and we honestly, we both took a nap for like an hour and a half because we just could not stay awake once we sat down and we were just gone. Later we visited a new investigator that we just called up randomly and he's way cool. We also taught this other guy that's way cool. He knew the missionaries like 30 years ago. He was apparently good friends with them and got in contact with us cause he wants to get in contact with this missionary (from 30 years ago) but we haven't been successful with that yet. Then the Caspers took us out to dinner and we talked with them for a little bit and then we visited an RC and his sister. She's doing pretty good. We read the introduction to the book of Mormon with her. Then we biked all the way to this mall to meet with this dude and he was not interested and so we came home.
Friday we got up, went to the hospital, got a rabies shot :), got our zone conference planned out and did our studies. We got some food at a member's house to taste test for zone conference. We did our weekly planning, visited a couple of investigators and then began our switch off. Our switch off did not go as planned because we had an important meeting with an investigator that night and an important activity to go to. The elders quorum activity that was important took all night long, which was more than we bargained for and none of our investigators showed up that we had hoped to come. That was way sad, even more so as a switch off. So that was disappointing. But the next morning was way good. We had two appointments that morning but they fell through and pretty much everything we planned that morning fell through so we spent the whole morning inviting in a neighborhood. And Elder Holme, who I was switching off with, is a great missionary. So we found some good people to go back and try. We got back and because we had district conference that evening, a bunch of missionaries had showed up. They were there around noon and a member gave them money (this is illegal!) and so what's going to happen when you give a bunch of elders money but they're going to go and spend it on food. We went to this way nice burger place called Rock Me Burger and the member paid for it and it was really good. We also brought an LA there, so it was a good missionary activity. After that we visited an RC; we're trying to help him prepare to get the priesthood, but he still doesn't quite get it so we're helping him. We studied, visited a couple of our investigators and then we finished the switch off and then Elder Ferrence and I had to run to go get the food for zone conference. We came back for the last little bit of district conference that night (Saturday session).
Sunday morning was a little bit "wunway," and " wunway" means chaotic, like crazy. We got up that morning and we all headed over to the church. All the elders, like 10 of us, slept over at our house. And so we got up, got to the church and we were sitting there waiting for conference to start and we're saying hi to everybody. And we had this investigator that we've been working with for forever show up to church and we were way pumped for her. There was a new member meeting that we went to in the morning to help new members feel happy and welcome and all that stuff. And then we had district conference starting at 10. I was getting ready to just enjoy the session of conference. There's an elder in our mission named Elder Julander and he's been here a long time, which means he's pretty good at the language. He's also going to die in a month (return home). He sits down and there's a member that's like,"Elder, can you translate? Our translators aren't here." And he goes, "Yeah, yeah, I can translate. That's fine. Are there people that usually translate that are going to come?" And he's like, "Yeah, I'll go get them." And then so I'm sitting here doing nothing and then this same member walks up to me, he's like, "Hey, Elder, can you translate?" And I was like, "Uh, sure. Yeah." So he pulls me out and I sit next to Elder Julander, Elder Julander kinda looks at me and he's like, "Wait, what's going on?" And I was like, "What happened?" So he told me what happened. And I was like, "Well I guess that's when you know you translate for your branch a lot." So we spent the whole two hours translating; Elder Julander and I switched off every talk. We translated from Thai to English for the English speakers in the ward and that was pretty entertaining. There's a member of the mission presidency up here named Pres. Tiger and he gets really animated in his talks and speaks really fast and uses higher language, higher vocabulary. And as I was translating this talk, I really got pumped too. I was excited. I was just as excited as he was yelling into the microphone and it was really fun. After that we had a huge pot luck and some way good dinner. Then we had a little surprise because there's two missionaries whom I really respect and they came back and visited us, Elder Blocker and Elder Earl. Elder Earl was the assistant last year in January and Elder Blocker was a zone leader in my greenie area and I have a lot of respect for both of them. They're way cool. And so they wanted to do some missionary work. And so Elder Ferrence and I switched off with them for about an hour or so and went and taught a couple of investigators and it was really fun. And then we came back and zone conference started. For about two or three hours, President Hammond trained us. And what I mean by that is he taught about the godhead and their nature and all that stuff. It was really cool. After that we had a peanut butter and jelly dinner and then we came back together and we all bore our testimonies about Heavenly Father and how we know that they're there. It was a pretty powerful meeting. It was really good.
My spiritual thought this week comes from a quote from Joseph Smith about revelation and the holy ghost. It's been really fun to be a missionary and to learn how the Holy Ghost works with me personally. And I really like this quote from Joseph Smith about pure intelligence flowing into you. I really like this quote a lot.
"A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus." -Joseph Smith
Another thing that I've really felt as a missionary, is I've learned that the holy ghost communicates with feelings. Especially as a missionary, I've learned that when he communicates something that's true, he doesn't necessarily tell you that it's true, like the words, it's true. But when you, have those warm fuzzies or you just feel at peace, that's one way to really know that whatever is going on is true. What we're talking about is true. And that's the feeling that I had all of that zone conference when we were talking about our testimonies and all about God and his role, and it was a really, really cool experience.
See you next week over and out,
Elder L.
Last Monday we ran around in the morning and by running, I mean literally we ran. We did our exercise and then we had to go to the hospital because Elder Ferrence has rabies shots to go do. After the rabies shots appointment, we went to the computer lab and emailed and stuff. And then after that we went home and changed and went and got some Mexican food for lunch. But I didn't have any money because I lost my ATM card, so I had nothing for lunch that day. I am cheap and I lost my ATM card and I was already in debt to Elder Ferrence for paying for all the meals before that. I ended up paying Elder Ferrence like 1,700 baht because he had paid for a lot of stuff for me, like food. Anyways, after that we went to Bro. Munn's house and visited with him and talked about Joseph Smith and that kind of stuff. And we ended up walking around and talking to people and inviting for the rest of that evening.
Tuesday we planned on meeting with Bank in the morning, our dater. But he's kind of been weird lately and so we might not be seeing him. We went and visited this RC. The RC is doing great, but the area around her house is not. They're redoing this canal thing and it's kind of destroyed their little place. Later we had district meeting and then ate together as a district. That evening we went and visited one of our investigators, studied, visited some more investigators and then we came to the English class and had a fun English class. Then we got on a bus and headed down to Bangkok and I did not sleep that whole night because there was a movie on the screen next to me. So of course I watched the movie all the way down without audio. It was hard to fall asleep on that bus.
On Wednesday we had MLC (Mission Leader Conference), which was just great. We got into Bangkok about 6:30-7:00 in the morning. We got over to the assistant's house, jumped in the shower, had breakfast (some pancakes) and then talked about how we can help our mission be better and all that stuff for like six hours. Then president interviewed us. President is just awesome as usual. After that we went and got Taco Bell for dinner before getting on another bus in which neither of us slept very well.
We rolled into Chiang Mai the next morning and we were both just out of our minds exhausted. We did some inviting in the morning and then came back and did some planning for our zone conference. We got it all figured out and then we went and visited with one of our investigators who doesn't quite understand the restoration and we helped him with that. Then we got some food from a member because she gives the missionaries free food at her shop and then we went and visited another investigator. We sat down to do our studies and we honestly, we both took a nap for like an hour and a half because we just could not stay awake once we sat down and we were just gone. Later we visited a new investigator that we just called up randomly and he's way cool. We also taught this other guy that's way cool. He knew the missionaries like 30 years ago. He was apparently good friends with them and got in contact with us cause he wants to get in contact with this missionary (from 30 years ago) but we haven't been successful with that yet. Then the Caspers took us out to dinner and we talked with them for a little bit and then we visited an RC and his sister. She's doing pretty good. We read the introduction to the book of Mormon with her. Then we biked all the way to this mall to meet with this dude and he was not interested and so we came home.
Friday we got up, went to the hospital, got a rabies shot :), got our zone conference planned out and did our studies. We got some food at a member's house to taste test for zone conference. We did our weekly planning, visited a couple of investigators and then began our switch off. Our switch off did not go as planned because we had an important meeting with an investigator that night and an important activity to go to. The elders quorum activity that was important took all night long, which was more than we bargained for and none of our investigators showed up that we had hoped to come. That was way sad, even more so as a switch off. So that was disappointing. But the next morning was way good. We had two appointments that morning but they fell through and pretty much everything we planned that morning fell through so we spent the whole morning inviting in a neighborhood. And Elder Holme, who I was switching off with, is a great missionary. So we found some good people to go back and try. We got back and because we had district conference that evening, a bunch of missionaries had showed up. They were there around noon and a member gave them money (this is illegal!) and so what's going to happen when you give a bunch of elders money but they're going to go and spend it on food. We went to this way nice burger place called Rock Me Burger and the member paid for it and it was really good. We also brought an LA there, so it was a good missionary activity. After that we visited an RC; we're trying to help him prepare to get the priesthood, but he still doesn't quite get it so we're helping him. We studied, visited a couple of our investigators and then we finished the switch off and then Elder Ferrence and I had to run to go get the food for zone conference. We came back for the last little bit of district conference that night (Saturday session).
Sunday morning was a little bit "wunway," and " wunway" means chaotic, like crazy. We got up that morning and we all headed over to the church. All the elders, like 10 of us, slept over at our house. And so we got up, got to the church and we were sitting there waiting for conference to start and we're saying hi to everybody. And we had this investigator that we've been working with for forever show up to church and we were way pumped for her. There was a new member meeting that we went to in the morning to help new members feel happy and welcome and all that stuff. And then we had district conference starting at 10. I was getting ready to just enjoy the session of conference. There's an elder in our mission named Elder Julander and he's been here a long time, which means he's pretty good at the language. He's also going to die in a month (return home). He sits down and there's a member that's like,"Elder, can you translate? Our translators aren't here." And he goes, "Yeah, yeah, I can translate. That's fine. Are there people that usually translate that are going to come?" And he's like, "Yeah, I'll go get them." And then so I'm sitting here doing nothing and then this same member walks up to me, he's like, "Hey, Elder, can you translate?" And I was like, "Uh, sure. Yeah." So he pulls me out and I sit next to Elder Julander, Elder Julander kinda looks at me and he's like, "Wait, what's going on?" And I was like, "What happened?" So he told me what happened. And I was like, "Well I guess that's when you know you translate for your branch a lot." So we spent the whole two hours translating; Elder Julander and I switched off every talk. We translated from Thai to English for the English speakers in the ward and that was pretty entertaining. There's a member of the mission presidency up here named Pres. Tiger and he gets really animated in his talks and speaks really fast and uses higher language, higher vocabulary. And as I was translating this talk, I really got pumped too. I was excited. I was just as excited as he was yelling into the microphone and it was really fun. After that we had a huge pot luck and some way good dinner. Then we had a little surprise because there's two missionaries whom I really respect and they came back and visited us, Elder Blocker and Elder Earl. Elder Earl was the assistant last year in January and Elder Blocker was a zone leader in my greenie area and I have a lot of respect for both of them. They're way cool. And so they wanted to do some missionary work. And so Elder Ferrence and I switched off with them for about an hour or so and went and taught a couple of investigators and it was really fun. And then we came back and zone conference started. For about two or three hours, President Hammond trained us. And what I mean by that is he taught about the godhead and their nature and all that stuff. It was really cool. After that we had a peanut butter and jelly dinner and then we came back together and we all bore our testimonies about Heavenly Father and how we know that they're there. It was a pretty powerful meeting. It was really good.
My spiritual thought this week comes from a quote from Joseph Smith about revelation and the holy ghost. It's been really fun to be a missionary and to learn how the Holy Ghost works with me personally. And I really like this quote from Joseph Smith about pure intelligence flowing into you. I really like this quote a lot.
"A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus." -Joseph Smith
Another thing that I've really felt as a missionary, is I've learned that the holy ghost communicates with feelings. Especially as a missionary, I've learned that when he communicates something that's true, he doesn't necessarily tell you that it's true, like the words, it's true. But when you, have those warm fuzzies or you just feel at peace, that's one way to really know that whatever is going on is true. What we're talking about is true. And that's the feeling that I had all of that zone conference when we were talking about our testimonies and all about God and his role, and it was a really, really cool experience.
See you next week over and out,
Elder L.
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