Dear Family and Friends, what up?! How's it going back in the U.S.?
It's going pretty swell here in Buriram. Things are still a little
slow, but we got a lot of good things done this past week. Tuesday, we
took the flier we had made for the Q&A activity, went and made copies,
and then spent a good amount of time passing them out at the
University. We spent quite a bit of time doing that this week. We
wanted to make sure that we were well advertised for Sunday night.
English class that night was pretty good. Mostly just the regulars
came (except Ay, which was a bit of a bummer (kind of)). The rough
part with English class is that we didn't get any new fliers at the
beginning of this transfer, so we haven't been able to advertise at
all. Hopefully it changes this week. Wednesday, we passed out more Q&A
fliers, and then had District Meeting. It was a good one. We discussed
the use of members in teaching and fellowshipping, and Sis. Rose was
our "special guest" at the meeting, and gave us some good tips and
insights. After the meeting, we switched off. E. Segura and E. Adams
went to Khon Kaen for a Leadership training meeting, and me and E.
Hunsaker stayed in Buriram. We did some inviting and found this
awesome guy named Egg. He was sitting on the curb with his friend (who
was visibly drunk), but he was sober, so we asked if we could sit down
and teach him for a few minutes right there. We introduced prayer, and
it was really cool because he basically taught it to us. He could be a
really good investigator. That night, we tried to see Mai, but
couldn't get a male there, so we went to see the Branch Pres. but he
wasn't home. Frustrating when so many things fall through, but oh
well. The next day, we spent some more time passing out Q&A fliers,
and then went and tried to see Egg again. He was there but was just
about to leave, so we did some inviting close to his house, but didn't
get anything. At around 7, we switched back, and me and E. Segura went
with Sis. Rose to see Golf. He just needs a friend, so that's what
we're trying to be. Friday, we met with Sis. Nong, and member, and
talked to her for a little while. She just always feels like she
doesn't have enough faith, so we're trying to visit and strengthen her
often. That night, we were able to see Sis. Mii with the Branch Pres.
Like always, she is doing awesome. We talked about repentance and the
Atonement, and she understands everything so well, it's like she's
been a member for a couple of years now. Then we talked about baptism.
She is now saying that she might not be able to get married until
February. She gave her husband a deadline of Valentine's Day. NO! She
needs to get married before then so badly, so that she can be
baptized! We'll be praying for her. We're definitely going to try to
get her an assignment in church to keep her going and strong. Pray for
her! Saturday afternoon, we were able to meet with Mai. We finished
teaching the Restoration, from the First Vision through the coming
forth of the Book of Mormon. Took it slow, and I'm pretty sure she
understood everything. It was a great lesson, and the Spirit was very
strong. And I love being able to see Mai's mom bear testimony to her.
Sis. Ooy is great! After that lesson, we went with Sis. Rose to visit
some LA's. First, we went to Bro. Pian's. We read in the Book of
Mormon and visited with him, then went to Golf's and did the same
thing. That night, we went and visited with the Branch Pres. Elder
Peterson, and Senior missionary, called and told us that him and his
wife extended their mission, and the first assignment they received
from Pres. Senior was to come and give some Leadership training to the
Buriram and Surin branches (I'm not surprised at all, they need it).
So they're coming the day after transfers, and we're having a big
meeting on Sunday. So we talked to the Branch Pres. about it and told
him that ALL of the leaders need to be there. I hope he gets in and
makes sure it gets done. Sunday was good, I love being able to partake
of the Sacrament. It definitely has a lot more meaning since I've been
out here. That night, was the Big Q&A Activity. We worked hard, made
sure the members were prepared, had some members prepare food, passed
out at least 500 fliers, and.....two people came. Two 14-year-old boys
that were brought by one of the young men in the Branch. Needless to
say, I was pretty bummed. But I think it was good for the members to
hear each other's testimonies about different concepts and prove that
they could pull together and organize something like this. Still
pretty disappointing though. Today was awesome! We finally did
something in Buriram for P-Day. We went with Golf (who came to church
yesterday and is no longer termed "less-active." Yeah!) and his mom to
a "mountain" about 20 minutes away. In Utah, it would be termed a
small hill, but it was pretty cool. It had a long, steep stairwell
that me and E. Segura walked up, and a giant Buddha at the top. Can
you say "Big Buddha"? After that, we went another 45 minutes to this
ancient Wat on the border of Cambodia (no Lex, I did not see Josh)
called Wat Phanom Rung. It's actually a Hindu temple, not Buddhist,
but it's pretty much all the same around here. It was way sweet! But I
am now beat.
So it is transfers week! I think I'll stay in Buriram (as it seems
some of you do as well), but anything could happen. We just know at
least one of us is moving. We'll know tomorrow. If I do leave, I
REALLY want to go to Krungtep (Bangkok) and experience the big city.
Buriram would suit me fine though. I think a lot of good things could
happen here soon. I just want another solid comp.
Dear Family and Friends, How's it going? It's pretty good over here in
Buriram. Super crazy that October is almost over (as a few of you made
mention in your e-mails already). Time is flying by! I'm almost done
with my fourth transfer (on Nov. 8). That's a quarter of the way done
with my time in country! This last week was a pretty solid one, got
some good things done. Monday, we had the opportunity to teach Sis.
Ooy's daugher, Mai. She is an awesome investigator, and should be able
to be baptized pretty soon, especially with the support of her mom. We
taught her how to pray, just kept it simple for the first lesson.
We're going to have to keep it simple. Sometimes Sis. Ooy and the
members that we invite to the lessons try to shove too much info. at
her at one time, so we'll have to be careful with that so that we
don't overwhelm her. We got to see her again on Tuesday, taught about
the influence of the Holy Ghost and how to receive answers to prayers,
and committed her to pray to know if Heavenly Father was real or not.
English Class was pretty good. A couple of less-active members came
and helped out. Definitely the key to getting LA's back to activity,
make them be ACTIVE. No one new came to the class, but it was fun
anyway. At the end, a few of us sang hymns while I played the piano.
Even Ay joined in! It was a good time. Wednesday was another hospital
day. Elder Segura had to go in for a check-up, so we spent most of the
day waiting in the queue line. Man, that place gets old. Thursday, we
went to Surin for District Meeting, and then me and Elder Adams came
back to Buriram to do switchoffs. We had a good night. We first taught
Sis. Mai half of the Restoration lesson. I got really excited when we
first got there because Sis. Ooy's husband was home (he's never home)
and came and sat with us. But when we started talking to him about
prayer, he "had to take a phone call" and never came back. Bummer, but
we'll get him sometime. The lesson with Mai was really good, and I
think she understood it all. She still hasn't prayed to know if
Heavenly Father is real yet, but we told Sis. Ooy to stay on her.
After that lesson, we went and taught Sis. Mii. We covered the Law of
Tithing, which she is totally willing to obey. Then we talked about
Baptism. She still isn't legally married yet, and now she's saying she
"hopes to do it by the end of the year." What the heck?! She is SO
ready! As ready as any investigator that I've taught (if not more),
and this is the one thing that is stopping her. I think it's just her
husband won't take the time to go and do it. Just a few hours off of
work is all it takes. Hopefully a miracle happens soon. Pray for her!
After we taught her, we went over to the night market and handed out
some mormon.org cards. Did I tell you that the website is all in Thai
now? They just barely finished it a while ago. So sweet! It's going to
make the work progress so much here. At the end of the night, we
celebrated with some hot bread and green coconut sauce. So good! The
food is Thailand is ridiculous.So many snacks and so cheap. I'm
putting on a little bit of a gut and some slight love handles, but I
work out hard in the morning to try to keep it under control. Friday
after studies, we drove back to Surin and switched back, then came
back to Buriram. Elder Segura wasn't feeling too well, so he took a
nap for a while, and then we went and saw Fuy and had him help us make
a new flier for the Q&A activity. I really hope it's a hit this next
time around. Saturday we went out inviting at night. We went and
knocked on a bunch of student apartment doors, but of course most
weren't home on a Saturday night. Sunday was really good. We got up
and got ready quick so that we could bike out to an LA's house. His
name is Golf. We invited him to come to church, and he did! Church was
great as always. Great way to start a new week. At night, we we and
visited another LA, Pian, with Sis. Rose. He definitely has a crush on
her. It was a good visit, hopefully he comes back to church soon. When
we got home we had an awesome experience. We were writing in our
journals and what not, and the power went out. So we lit a bunch of
candles. About 20 minutes passed by when we decided to pray. We both
said one, and when we were done, the lights immediately came on! So
sweet. Faith works! I can testify of that. Today is a chill P-Day.
Kind of a sketchy story, we were walking down a grass path that leads
to our gate when we were headed to e-mail. There were some stray cats,
so I chased them with my bike. Elder Segura was following me when I
heard him yell. I turned around and saw him running toward me, and saw
a big snake tale go under the fence. It was HUGE! And it tried to bite
E. Segura, it just missed. He said it came from the spot where I
pushed my bike when I was chasing the cats. SKETCH! We'll have to
start carrying a flashlight at night. So that's my week! Transfers in
less than two. I think I'll stay here in Buriram, just get that
feeling. It's tough, but a fun area. I just really hope I get another
good comp.
Favorite Scripture of the Week: 3 Nephi 15:9
Well, gotta go. The Church is True!
Love, Elder Sharp
Dear Family and Friends, Hey! How's it going? It's going pretty good
here in Buriram. Still kind of slow, but we had some very good things
happen this week (as I'm sure you can tell by my subject line).
Luckily, nobody was sick this week! That's probably the first time
since me and Elder Segura have been in Buriram. Why? I have no idea,
but I'm not complaining. Tuesday was good. We went and handed out more
fliers for the Q&A activity with Sis. Rose at the University. It
really doesn't work as well when all of the students are on break in
between terms though, just saying. That night around 5:30, we went and
started setting up for English class at the church. This family walked
in, a mom, dad, and 3 little kids. I'd never seen them before, and I
was so stoked! Finally! A family we could teach and baptize. I went
into a room for a second and said a quick prayer asking Heavenly
Father to help them feel the Spirit and become interested in learning
more about the gospel. About two minutes after that, E. Segura comes
up with kind of a bummed out face. He said he was really excited to
teach them too...then he saw the church logo on the guy's laptop. They
were members from Bangkok who had come up here to interview some CES
teachers and decided to stop by the class. So I guess Heavenly Father
did answer my prayer, just a long time ago ha. Wednesday was pretty
uneventful. We were supposed to meet with the Branch president and
that fell through, and so did all of our other plans basically.
Thursday, we went to Surin for District Meeting. The Zone Leaders were
there as well, and taught a really good lesson. It was all about
learning and lining up with the Lord's Will for us. I got that out of
a lot of conference talks as well, so it was good to have it stressed
a second time by them. Once we got home, we were supposed to go and
teach Sis. Mii, but the Branch Pres. cancelled on us last second, and
no other male members were free. So we decided to go and visit a
member who had called us earlier. She's having a tough time, and I
think we helped her out quite a bit. Friday, we had to go and clean
the baptismal font. It was pretty nasty, especially since it was
outside, but we did work and got it done. After that, we were going to
go and visit the Branch Pres. again, but he cancelled (again).
Frustrating. So we went and ate dinner, and then went with Bro. Diaw
to visit Sis. Bad. He's her brother, and the 2nd counselor in the
branch presidency, so it helped. We hadn't seen her and her family for
a while, so I'm glad that we got to visit. She still isn't married to
her boyfriend, and that's the biggest obstacle. But we got our foot in
the door again, and we'll be working hard to help them prepare for
baptism. After that, the branch pres. was finally home, so we went
over there and talked with a bunch of members about the questions we
would cover, and who would teach what for the Q&A activity, which we
had planned for the next night. People were very excited to help, and
it was cool to see. The next morning was probably the most stressful
morning I've had on my mission. We went to start filling up the font,
and the font spigot wouldn't turn on, so we had to rig up a hose
coming from inside the church, but it kept popping off of that spigot.
We finally got it to where it was working alright, so we had to fly to
the store to see if E. Segura could get his camera fixed (no luck),
then we flew back and saw that the font was only about half full and
there was only 30 minutes until the baptism, so we started using big
rice cooker pots to speed it up. Then a member broke the hose off the
spigot again, so that slowed it down even more. Sis. Rose rigged it
back up nice and tight with some wire (sad she could do it better than
two elders). After all was said and done, it was finally full enough
to where it would work (just a few minutes late). We had a solid
number show up for the service, and Sis. Ooy was so happy. That made
everything we went through totally worth it, easily. I'd do it over
100 times to see someone that happy. I was so stoked! That's where the
joy in missionary work is, when your investigator who you've come to
love finally comes out of the water, totally clean. That night, we had
the Q&A activity planned. All the members showed up ready to go,
and....nobody came. Yeah, that was super disappointing. Ay eventually
showed up, but we decided against doing it for one person. We're going
to try again in a couple of weeks and stress having the members bring
a friend. Sunday was really good. Sis. Ooy was confirmed. It was
awesome being able to use the priesthood and be a part of it. After
church, we went and visited a couple of Less-active members, which I
think really helped them. They just need to take the next step and
come back to church now. Today is a chill day. Haircuts and what not.
Sounds like everything is going good back home.
Well gotta go! The Church is true! (No matter if you're in Grants
Pass, West Jordan, Thailand, or wherever.) Love you all!
Love, Elder Sharp
Pics of:
Eating ice cream with Fuy, Sis. Rose, Sis. Tengmo at Swensen's
Baptismal service
Hello Fam and Friends! How are you all? I'm doing great here. This was
kind of a different week, but I loved being able to watch conference.
I didn't have the chance to watch it all on Saturday and Sunday, so we
got permission to finish up what we missed today. Just barely
finished. I'll tell about the week, then talk about conference.
Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much spent at the hospital. Elder
Segura had an intestinal infection during the floods last year and was
really sick. He's felt better for a while, but now he thinks it's
coming back, and the doctors think so too. So we'll be back to the
hospital again in a couple of weeks for tests. Those were LONG days.
Tuesday night we had English class. It was fun, but only about 7
people came, and they were all former students. It's a major bummer
that the class isn't helping bring in investigators, but as soon as
somebody new comes, we'll be right on it. Thursday night, I had to go
to the dentist to have a chipped tooth repaired. Big hole chipped out
when I was eating a pretzel, weird. Anyway, it wasn't too bad until
they started working on me. They put a cloth over my face with a hole
where the mouth was, so I couldn't see anything. I was TERRIFIED! You
know me. Luckily nothing hurt, and no needles (thank goodness!). I now
have a pretty new molar. Friday, we went to Surin to interview one of
their investigators for baptism, she passed. Saturday, we watched a
couple sessions of conference in the morning, then went inviting in
the afternoon. We got one less, a 17-year-old kid. He seemed pretty
interested, we're going to try and see him again. Sunday, two more
sessions of conference (for some reason the members didn't want to
stick around and watch the last session, weird), then we went with
Sis. Rose to visit a guy named Pian. He's an LA who could be a
potential ward leader in the future. Sis. Rose bore a very powerful
testimony, and I think he might come back to church next week. Pray
for him! Conference was AWESOME! My favorite talks were Holland's (of
course), Eyring's about the pavilion, Bednar's, and Pres. Monson's
about looking at all of our small blessings and "never post-poning a
prompting." Holland's was so great! It's like he was chastising me and
"my soul was harrowed up" (that's how it always feels when he speaks
right?) but I loved it! It makes me want to be a better disciple of
Christ. Eyring's really stuck out to me, but it's so apparent how many
pavilion's we can put in between us and God. We just need to change
our hearts to His will. Bednar's reminded me of another talk that I've
heard him give (can't remember where or when) but I love when he tells
us that we need to be converted unto the Lord, not just have a
testimony. Knowing the Gospel is true is a testimony. Conversion is
consistently being true to what you know. Pres. Monson's was great,
because we all have so many small blessings in our lives that we take
for granted. We need to appreciate all of them. Elder Andersen's was
also really good. Everyone has trials, but trials are meant to build
us up if we exercise our faith. Ether 12:6. Ah this conference was so
great. I can't wait until we get the Liahona so that I can read all of
the talks again. Carli, re-read Elder Nelson's talk as well as the one
I told you about. Ooy is getting baptized Sunday! Still not sure about
Mii.
Sounds like everything in Utah is going swell. I'm going to have two
new nephews/nieces within 6 months! Yeah buddy. Keep me updated!
Well, gotta go. Love ya! The Church is true!
Love, Elder Sharp
