seriously flew by. It was so great to be able to talk to all of you on
Christmas (Eve). Everyone pretty much is exactly the same as I
remember them (except for Zack and Ava), and that is just fine with
me. Just the good 'ole fam. Ah I'm bummed though. When we were
skyping, I couldn't think of any questions to ask (you know me), but
afterwards I thought of a ton of stuff we could've talked about. Oh
well, you all keep me posted very well, so it's all good. It was
pretty hard to say goodbye, but I got refocused pretty fast, mostly by
remembering that I have the greatest family in the world and I'll be
skyping again soon. This time I'll make sure and think of stuff to
talk about BEFORE it happens. It's weird to think that's it's only
about four and half months until we'll skype again. That time is going
to pass so quick. That day, we met the Bang Khae Elders at the mall
and got some Coldstone (they wouldn't do Sizzler). It was good though!
The weird (and sad) thing was, that nobody at the mall new it was
Christmas Day, even though everything is decorated. Anyway, this week
flew by! The past two have. I can't believe this transfer is going by
so fast, but I guess I'm always saying that. A ton has happened here
already. The Sunday after I arrived, one of our investigators, Sis.
Donut, got baptized (why I didn't remember to tell you about it when
we skyped, I don't know)! It was a great service and we had a couple
of other investigators there who had come to church for the first
time, so it was perfect timing. Donut got confirmed yesterday, it's
always an awesome experience to be in the circle for those kinds of
things and exercise the Priesthood. Oh, got to play the piano in
Sacrament meeting yesterday. I didn't realize how much I was going to
miss it until it was gone. Felt good. The area is doing pretty well
right now. We're seeing a lot of miracles happen, and finding some
good investigators. Working in Bangkok is definitely different than
working out in the Isan though. Here, you find people on buses rather
than going door-knocking. It's a little intimidating, but I'm getting
better at it. Just gotta open my mouth and proclaim the Good Word. The
main investigators we have right now are name Jume, Dukadan, and
Champ. Jume is an awesome investigator, she just doesn't really know
it yet. She had come to English class a couple of times, she came to
the Christmas party, and she was one of the investigators that was at
Donut's baptism. We were finally able to sit down and teach her this
past Wednesday night and introduce prayer and God. She's really
receptive, but scared to commit to anything because her family is very
Buddhist. We committed her to pray and she accepted. She had told us
that she had been feeling pretty sick that day, so at the end of the
lesson, one of the members that was in there suggested that we give
her a blessing. It caught us a little off guard, but Jume seemed
pretty into the idea of getting a blessing from two guys holding the
Power of God. So we quickly explained what we were doing, told her it
would work according to Faith, and then blessed her. She said she felt
very good about it. The next day, the miracle showed. Me and Elder
Oakeson were going around looking for new apartments, and she called
us to thank us and tell us that she was feeling 100% better. Now if
that's not a sign from Heavenly Father, I don't know what is. We were
able to meet with her again on Saturday, and we explained more about
the priesthood and some other stuff. She said something "weird"
happened that day. She said her parents always invite her to go to the
Buddhist temple with them, but for some reason they didn't that day,
so she was able to go to the church. Come on! She is having so many
miracles happen to her. She just needs to act on her Faith. Dukadan is
also a good investigator. Elder Oakeson has taught her once, I've
never actually taught her. She came to church on the day of the
Baptism, and she loved it all. She went away this last week for the
New Year, but we should be meeting with her this week for sure. I
think she'll be baptized this month. Pray for her! Champ is a guy that
the Zone Leaders met that actually lives in our area. We met with him
once last week, just kind of reviewed what he's learned. He went away
this last week as well, but hopefully we can catch him this week. Pray
for all of them please! We have some more potentials that we're
working on as well. The Lord is definitely preparing our area. The
thing is, we realized that our area is HUGE and Pres. Senior wants us
to move somewhere more centralized. We're looking for a new apartment
right now, but there's so many particulars that have to fall into
place, it's a long process. This past week, the Samut Bragan Elders
called us and told us that they have apparently been working in our
area for quite some time now (probably a couple of years) and the
leaders wanted to fix it. We looked at a map to see where they were
working, and man...it's far. We had to go out there on Thursday to
talk to a member and convince her to go to Thonburi for church instead
of Samut Bragan. We left our apartment at 11:30 and didn't get back
home until 8:30. 2 hours each way. Hopefully we can find an apartment
that will lessen the commute, because there's some investigators we
have to visit down there as well. Doing good with the new companion,
Elder Oakeson. We don't have a ton in common other than we like to
have fun while we're working (don't worry, not too much fun, just
enough). That's fine with me though. It's a good learning experience.
The Ward is good. We have a lot of good members, and quite a bit more
organization, being that it's a ward and not a branch. It's nice to be
able to focus a little more on investigators rather than the members
than I've been able to in the past.
Can you believe it's New Years already? Goodbye 2012. We have to be
home tonight before 7. Apparently it can get pretty sketchy in Bangkok
around this time (don't worry Mom, I'll be good). What festivities do
you have planned?
Well, Happy New Years! Gotta go! Love you all! The Church is True!
Love, Elder Sharp
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