Dear Mom,
I'm so sorry to hear about Sister Richman's father. I love it that his example and life were so great that it had an impact on the nurses and I'm sure that it still has an impact to those that love him!
Tell the Featherstons and anyone that asks that I'm loving it and it's all going great!
I don't have a lot to say this week. We didn't do a lot because we were all sick pretty much all week. On Tuesday, my companion and all of the other Elders were sick and were recovering on Wednesday and then I got sick on Thursday which kind of threw a wrench in all of our plans. I'll just share a quick bullet with the highlight of the day after each day.
On Monday evening, we opened a members mission call to Australia! It was super exciting! This and all the other little things added up to make it a great day! It was a p-day and we didn't do much but explore around the Mega Bangna mall again, but we still had a good day taking it easy for the day.The highlights for sure were opening the call, hanging out at Mega, and I did manage to contact a few people while we were traveling around. -People are most beautiful when testifying with the Spirit (Elder Dallin H. Oaks)
We were sick Monday night and didn't really have a Tuesday until around 18:00 where the Sisters, Elder Suphan, and I taught English class. It was great! We had more people there than ever before and I think everyone had fun. We had a bunch of new people come and members, too. It was interesting because the Sisters ended up feeling sick too and couldn't help teach so it was just Elder Suphan and I, but since he's a khonThai he couldn't really teach a lot either so I had to try to teach almost by myself. I can usually only remember a few things from each day, but overall, the days are great, if that makes sense. Haha. -"What is said is not as important as what we hear and what we feel" -Elder Robert D. Hales, "In fact, I hope you forget what is said" -David A. Bednar, MTC devotional
My hair was also a subject of a lot recent events because I've been trying to do it recently which doesn't usually turn out very good. -Joy in the journey.
Wednesday: We had district meeting this day instead of Tuesday and we talked all about recognizing and understanding the Spirit. It made me think about ways that we prepare ourselves to better receive and then heed the promptings from the Spirit. I always learn a lot from our meetings and two things that stuck out to me were that experiences with the Spirit come naturally and that humility is like the catalyst for good. When someone experiments on the word, they are sure to have experiences that support it (Alma 32). Conversion is not a one time event or an overnight things. It takes time and when we allow the experiment to take root within ourselves, spiritual experiences will follow. I thought that this insight from PMG Ch.4 was something that stuck out to me and can really apply to our investigators and ourselves. By small things are great things brought to pass and by seeming small, frequent spiritual experiences are great conversions brought - both with the people we work with as missionaries and with ourselves. We are trying to help investigators have spiritual experiences and sometimes we think only about big turning points or specific experiences that will change them quickly. Sometimes it's hard to find the balance between looking for people who are ready to accept the gospel by immediately making changes and continuing to work with people who may need a little more time to become converted. What are your thoughts on this?
The second thought, humility, is that when we truly humble ourselves, we begin to put others first and we seek to do the things that Christ would do. We begin to do good and humility truly is the catalyst for good. I can't remember what from district meeting sparked this thought, but I remember feeling this resonate with me. The catalyst for good is humility. I wish I could remember more, but there was just so much great stuff.
We also had a great Book of Mormon class session. Everyone was involved and had a good time. We read a chapter together, discussed any insights or things that people liked, then split into teams and had a race to answer ten questions about what we just read together. We're not super creative when it comes to planning games and stuff for activities, so if you have or hear of anything good, let me know!
-Spiritual experiences come naturally.
It was right after BoM class that I didn't feel very good and I spent Thursday mostly resting. I was able to get up and move around, but it was a rough night. We made a lot of calls and did some planning, my companion ate at the church with the district as I slept on floor of the kitchen. I don't think I really ate anything that day and everything I ate the day before came up already, so I really didn't have any energy. From all this, I just remember how great and awesome everyone was around us. -Joy in journey, we can do hard things, turn outwards
On Friday I felt better, mostly a mix of dehydration, malnutrition, lack of energy and no appetite - just the usual sick stuff. Drank a lot of water and ate some rice and felt better. I was mentally good, but by that evening I was pretty much exhausted and went to bed early. -I'm not sure. I enjoyed eating rice. My new favoritest food. Hang in There by Lori S. Dawson
Saturday and Sunday were great days. I felt a little sick Saturday morning with an upset stomach and that constant feeling of throwing up, but after studies we taught in the morning and then went out to lunch with two people from my companion's old area. They're super nice and it was actually the first time I ate sushi - more than half a piece. It was pretty good and I was super glad that I was even actually able to eat! Later that evening we also had sports night at the church. It was super fun and was the first time we actually had a great turnout around the time that we started. It was another great day with nothing super specific, but it was just the general feeling of the day and all the little things that helped make the bigger things even better. -I believe it's less what you do, but more about your attitude while you do it, how you do it, and who you do it with. Kind of related and the first result from LDS.org Gordon B. Hinckley
On Sunday we had a baptism program! It was super amazing, like every time! But before that we had regular church, too. We didn't have a tone of investigators or anything, but it was still great! (see above). Two people were baptized and they both are super cool! One was an investigator for 6 months and the other for 4 years, wow! -Baptism, talking with members, I love the bishop's family, kanoms (treats)
Elder Sun
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