Of course, it is still ridiculously hot, exactly the opposite of Utah
from what I hear. Do I miss the snow and cold? No, I cannot say that I
do, so I'll bear with the heat. This past week was a great one. Went
by very quickly, as it always does. Can you believe that today I have
been a missionary for 10 months? 10! It's definitely going by faster
than I expected it would, so I'm trying to live it up. Anyway, last
Monday, we went to the mall and got some McDonalds, along with a
little grocery shopping. Had to get some sparkling cider of course to
toast in the new year! We then went to the bishop's house for dinner.
His wife, Sis. Cherry, made green beans and carrots, mashed potatoes,
and barbecue pork ribs. Oh man, that was good. Definitely one of the
best farang dinners that I've had since I've been here. We then went
home, because we had to be home before 7. Let's just say that everyone
started drinking pretty early, and there were A LOT of drunk people
out. Once we got back to our apartment, we went up on the roof and
took a couple of pictures. Bangkok looks pretty sweet at night,
especially on New Years. We planned and chilled for a little bit after
that, and were planning on going to bed...we just never really got
around to it. 10:30 is close enough to midnight, right? We toasted the
New Year in with some cider, and then watched the fireworks from our
window. Bangkok was seriously exploding! Fireworks everywhere for
almost half an hour. Way sweet. Tuesday was pretty good. We went to go
and look for new houses, but forgot to take into account that it was
still New Year's Day. Everybody was closed. So we made our way back to
the church. We taught Jume again that night. We basically focused on
the fact that she couldn't be Christian and a member of our church,
and still do Buddhist ordinances. She was still a little iffy, but
understood well. We decided we should commit her to baptism, but she
wouldn't do it because apparently she is terrified of water for some
reason. Later that night, we had English class. Pretty chill, not a
lot of people because most everyone was still out of town for the
holiday. Wednesday was a solid day. District meeting in Bang Khae.
Elder Thomas gave some great instruction. He told a story of how his
grandpa restored a 1951 Chevy, and wouldn't accept anything but an
original piece. He told us that that is how we need to live our lives
and build ourselves up. Never accept anything but the best. Don't give
in to the cheap or easy things. Always live up to the best standard.
It was a great message. That night, we were able to meet Dukadan. We
decided to give her the Restoration. Man, that is a lot of information
that we threw at her, but she's a very smart person, so I'm not
worried. She's an awesome investigator, because she personally asks
the members to share their testimonies and experiences before we even
have the chance to. You can tell she really wants to learn for
herself. We also gave her a Book of Mormon, and committed her to read
and pray about it. She'll get baptized in the future for sure.
Thursday was a LONG day. After studies, we went to look for houses
again. Finally they were open, so we got to look at a couple of rooms.
We found one that would do well for us. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms (I
would love to have my own bathroom), fully furnished, etc. The only
problem is that it might be a little too expensive (MOST everything is
cheaper here, except for housing in Bangkok and electronics). We're
going to talk to Elder Jones, the Senior missionary in charge of
finances, about it today and see what we can do. If he gives us
permission, we're definitely moving this week. I do not like our
current apartment. After that, we met Bro. Bay (Pe on FB) at the
church, and the 3 of us went down to PhraPradeng, the place that we
went to last week. Took about an hour on the bus to get there, but we
had a little time to kill, so we went and saw a member. We then went
and visited Som (she's the reason we went down there). She was a media
referral, who apparently lived in St. George with a Mormon family for
a while as an exchange student when she was 15. We taught her and her
Sister. It seemed to go really well, and we were pretty pleased with
it. The next day, we called her to follow up, and she said she wasn't
interested at all. Bummer! She seemed like she was going to do so
well. Friday, we did switch-offs. I went to Bang Khae with Elder
Thomas. It was pretty good, we taught a few of his investigators. We
were also going to "soap-box" it for the first time, but we couldn't
find a place with enough people for it to work. I will definitley do
it sometime though. The next day, Saturday, one of their investigators
interviewed for baptism (she passed), so the Zone Leaders were there.
I got to talk to Elder Char, one of the elders who went into Udon when
I white-washed out. Apparently two of my recent converts there have
gone less-active. What the heck?! I hope that will change soon! I
really want to go back to Udon as a Zone leader if I get the chance.
After the interview, we went back to Thonburi. We had sports night at
the church, me and Elder Oakeson played against (and dominated)
everyone else in dodgeball. Then we were able to meet with Sis. Donut.
We reviewed the importance of the Sabbath Day and the Sacrament since
she's a member now. We then got to meet with Sis. Dukadan. Now that
was a great lesson. She had read all of the introductory stuff in the
Book of Mormon, and was about to start into 1 Nephi. All she wanted to
know was information on the Book of Mormon, so we gladly obliged. I
felt like the Introduction would be the best place, so we opened up to
it. We read a few of the beginning paragraphs to explain what it is,
and then read the last to show what benefit it would have for her. She
was very interested, asked great questions, and committed to read the
chapters on prayer that we advised. We were thinking about extending
the baptismal commitment, but neither of us felt it was right. Awesome
lesson though, and the Spirit was very strong. Sunday was great! Sis.
Dukadan was able to get out of a meeting that she had at work for a
little bit and come to Sacrament and half of Sunday school, so it
definitely showed she was committed. After church, we were able to
teach the niece of a member. Her name is Fuse (but pronounced Few),
and her sister's name is Morphine. Now those are sweet names. It was
an introductory lesson on God and prayer. Later, Jume was able to come
to the church and meet (apparently she had a meeting or something, so
she couldn't come to Sacrament). We had another great lesson with her.
When I was on switch-offs, E. Oakeson was able to teach her the
Restoration and give her a Book of Mormon. She said she had read in
it, and then had some sort of vision, so we talked about that. We
helped her see the blessings that would come from Baptism, extended
the invitation again, and she accepted! She WILL be baptized on the
27th of this month. Please pray for all of my investigators! Oh and
Champ has pretty much disappeared. None of the missionaries has seen
him around. Bummer.
So sounds like New Years was pretty chill. That actually sounds really
nice to not have all the stress of planning a big party. And Happy
Birthday Momma!
Gotta go, the Church is True!
Love, Elder Sharp
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