hey goons whats up!<3
christmas season here in udon is getting pretty spirited, we took a nice pic in front of the biggest and possibly only christmas tree ive seen in udon.
quick question- where did that picture of barni come from? who posted it? such a great dude.
Yeah so this week has been great, the work just keeps flowing on- the transfer is already over which is pretty crazy. it ends a week early because of christmas so we'll have transfers this thrusday, and my short time with hancock will most likely be closing to an end. It has been a great 5 weeks of sweat and tears though- tears because i had the sweet opportunity of learning to cook some delicious "Drunkard Spaghetti" some way delish thai spaghetti dish while i was on my switch off down in gumpawapi. i was cutting the onions and i've always heard of that myth or whatever its called that when you cut onions you cry, but its the first time ive ever experienced. so that was cool- makin history over here.
this week was also "bike for dad" week, which was a big celebration for fathers day (really the kings birthday), and so there was some fun festivities going on for that as well. people would ask us if we would be biking for dad this weekend, and of course we were haha, just another tpyical day cruisin around on hour shiny 2 wheel rides haha.
Acool story this week is about a new investigator named Joy- we contacted her about 2 or 3 weeks ago near one of our LA's house. Then she was somewhat interested but pretty busy so we got her number, taught her a little lesson about prayer and who god is, and then we took off. we stopped by her house a couple times throughout the next two weeks and she wasnt ever there. then this last week we were in the neighborhood again, and her little shop was open. so we walked in, got some icecream, and sat down to catch up with her. Turns out she remembered our names after those 3 weeks from just meeting with us once, pretty cool, but then even better was that she has been praying everyday since then. way impressive, so anyways thats her story, which is of course, to be continued, hopefully all the way to the baptismal font and beyond. she is way full of faith. i think hancock put it best when he said shes gonna be the future relief society pres or something. her faith (even though right now its in buddhism for the most part) is so steadfast, she told us she loves "doing boon" which is like paying for blessings practically as buddhist people will donate money to the temples so monks can live there and what not. and so anyways she is talking about how much she loves supporting the monks, right as there was a monk walking in her little shop who was buying cigarretes, and then walking back to the temple- hahaha which is, just like for us christians, very against what buddha taught.
we had 2 other homies named "name" and "oom" who we had invited from this night market earlier this week, that came to the church this week on tuesday. at first they came thinking they were just learning english hahaha, i guess i didnt explain well enough that we teach english on tuesday, but only from 6:30 to 8, so regardless the beginning of the lesson was a little more difficult to get going, but by the end of it we had them hooked on the idea of a savior. so we set up another appointment to meet the next day, they had prayed, and this time they accepted a date for baptism. of course there is still a lot of progress to be made, but i love seeing those miracle investigators- they even brought 2 of their friends to come this last time we met too. its not always that easy but it sure makes you happy when it is- God truly has prepared his children.
We had a way fun lesson with our RC's mom this week as well. She is in the whole idea that "every religion teaches us to be good" which is basically an excuse that she doesnt need to change from buddhism. we gave her a tour of the church, and it went well, then we end up sitting down for a few minutes to teach her as well and shes still throwing down the whole "all religions are good" idea. I think these are some of my favorite lessons to teach, because you can testify so powerfully of why it is so important that we have a savior, why we NEED jesus christ. i also always think of one of my favorite pres. senior quotes, "i would rather die full of faith [living a full great and happy life] and be proven wrong, then die completely without any hope or faith, and be proven right." from any perspective you try and take it from, believing in jesus christ, is just so clearly the best option. its the way to a happy and fulfilling life, and if faithful, a happy family, and eventually on to eternal life. so anyways we got her with that, and she admitted that it did sound pretty good. so we'll see if we can help her get that motivation to make some changes in her life to prepare to follow christ into baptism- we haven't met with her yet again this week, but hopefully God's working on her and she'll come around.
Last story- A cool contact we had last week named "Aew". shes a christian already, and off the contact she wasnt super interested in our message it seemed like, but she really enjoyed me talking to her sister on facetime. we got that little friendship formed, and i challenged them to come to church this week. she didnt show up. this saturday on my switch off with elder curtis, we were having a day just completely full of fall through appointments, and falling back on just riding around inviting. we are about to head back to the church for a correlation meeting in another 30 min or so, and we happened to be near Aew neighborhood. as we are cruising quickly down the worn out street on our bikes, with the sun slowly setting on our exhausting day, i got the impression to turn left into her street and see if she was at home. we do, and have the chance to meet with her, and we teach her. It was one of the most powerful 10 minute restoration lessons i have had in thailand. she connected so well with joseph smith in her experience of wanting to know which of all these christians churches are true. she asked us for a book of mormon before we could offer it. here in thailand most of the christian churches are kindof like old-time catholic churches before john wycliffes time where the preachers will read from the scriptures, but most members in the congregation dont have scriptures for themselves, because they are pretty expensive. so she was way excited when we told her it was free. The spirit touched me way powerfully in that lesson and we know she felt it too. so that was another great miracle of the week.
I love being a missionary, and Udon is such a great place to serve. i feel blessed, espcially these last couple weeks as the weather has just been so prime. we walk out and its sunny but with a nice crisp cool breeze that hits you right as you walk out the apartment.
Jesus christ is our savior! He lives! its wierd being here in thailand where the chirstmas spirit just isnt quite the same, but thats alright. we still have the two greatest testaments that he lives, the bible and of course the book of mormon. way grateful for modern day revelation, and the love and guidance that our prophet and apostles give to us. the church is true, and thailand is amazing<3
i love you all
elder chamberlin
