Other than the sore throat that was tryna cramp my style this week it was a week for the books fersure
Tuesday night Elder Chamberlin the greenie had to teach english class solo because the sister missionaries didnt get back from an appointment (in another city) on time, and of course kandun doesnt really speak english, but not to worry, hahaha my thai class learned some very valuable vocabulary that night.
Thursday night elder kandun and i hopped on a bus down to bangkok to go renew my visa. the ride down, aside from the bus running out of blankets and me not getting one haha, was okay. we got to bangkok at 3 am and just expecting i guess elder kandun to have a plan, we show up to bangkok with no where to go hahaha at 3 in the morning. fortunately some nearby elders answered our call for help and we got to sleep on their nice kitchen floor for the last 3 or so hours of the night. friday morning was a blast getting back together with all the MTC district group. hugging elder dunnaway was like hugging a brother. Ate some mexican food at que pasa to celebrate and then we were off returning to p-lok. fun little mini trip.
this week our numba one investigator has been sister little, and her grandaughter cartoon. they are literally just like thee golden investigators that anyone hopes to have. like alot of times when you follow up with people on their prayers, or scripture reading they will just say "yeah its pretty good, i feel good about it, etc" like pretty surface level whatever responses, but sister little is so rad and just loves talking about the peace that she has when she prays and how she is so grateful for the knowledge that she has a heavenly father that listens to and answers her prayers, or when she comes into the church- the peace she feels, or her love for reading the scriptures with her grandaughter, etc. SO RAD! they are getting baptized this sunday woo! and then sister cheek is also way good. i think all of our investigators really like conference this last weekend- i know i did.
general conference was way good! idk if it was just because im a missionary or what, or maybe i just wasnt as attentive as a kid haha, but it seemed like every talk was so powerful and had a good lesson to apply either to my life now, in the future, or to help an investigator.
i think my favorite speaker as usual was elder holland with his story of john and jimmie going rock climbing, one brother hanging on the cliff edge with no way to make that final move to safety and so he takes a jump for his life, and there is nothing there. he starts to slide thinking death is imminent, until the hands of his brother come and grasp his arms. life isnt just us hanging on the edge of a cliff waiting for our time to end, christ is there to save us, to bring us up to safety. he gives us hope and peace. ahhh so rad. he just speaks so powerfully its impossible not to feel the spirit when he speaks. you know that talk is going to get turned into a mormon message... president uchtdorf on grace was supppper good, and his talk about the potemkin village as well- took me back to my european history days. the many many talks about family, marriage, and fatherhood- also very good. i liked a quote from elder zeballos "man cannot be contempt with mediocricy once they know that excellency is within reach" and from Elder pearson who when he spoke reminded me of ben, "average is the enemy of excellence" and "hanging in there" isnt a principle of the gospel haha. but i think my favorite session was sat. afternoon- with elder ansersen talking about the indian chief that asked the doctor if he knew how to dance haha (super good message i liked it), elder renlund about being a latter day saint- a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying, and then elder ringwood speaking about his favorite book of mormon hero shiblon, which of course reminded me of you dad. took a lot out of conference this weekend and it gets me so excited to get the gen conference edition of the liahona hahha which is so funny to think. so much good stuff ill stop there and just invite the fam to watch/read a gen conference talk each week maybe for family home evening each monday. from elder Teixeira "how are we using technology to deepen our understanding of crhist?"
oh yeah big news: im staying in p-lok for the next 6 weeks ayyye and kandun is moving. ill miss that rascally little thai man companion- he is such a stud and im way grateful for all he has taught me and is still helping me learn.
Today, tomorrow, and the day after is songkran in thailand (thai new year) and everyone goes all out- thailand just got turned into like a giant water amusement park with everyone wearing there hawaiian shirts and water just getting thrown at you from everywhere haha idk way but the tradition is that its just a big 3day waterfight. and they really love seeing a "farang" (white boy) ride by on his bike so they can splash me its like double points or something... hahha forunately i made it to the internet cafe this morning with minimal damage.
i had a super cool study this morning in alma 5-8... and it is so cool to see the lord guide me whether its in my studies, in finding people to teach, in teaching, etc. because in my personal reading i read a chapter that is straight up perfect for one of our eternal investigators that has finally actually met with us the other day.
sunday was super cool, we went to visit brother guitar's family- and they live way up high in the mountains. there is like a little village of 8 houses and they are all family, cousins, etc. i thought that was way rad. did a little bit of service for them and then took off to our dinner party we had at sister nancy's house. super cool week, excited for this week, and am excited to see that baptismal font get filled this weekend too ayyyyye- gonna be getting a new comp too which is exciting so stay posted on that. yeah ill shoot some pics from this week and sukothai last monday- way good week.
love you fam, friends, love hearing from you all. i love being in thailand and i love serving the thai people they are so awesome i just love it. i am grateful for jesus christ and his atonement, super grateful for conference this last week, the messages shared, and the invitations to have christ have a bigger part in our life. i know this work is the lord's work!
your one and only,
Elder Chamberlin<3
Kind of curious what vocabulary Sam taught in the English class....I'm guessing it is some Tesoro High School slang. Can't imagine.
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