October 29, 2012

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