our week in thailand was a ton of fun- whats new... and this next week is gonna be even crazier, elder holland shows up friday so there will be a lot of fun stuff to do in preparation.
this last sunday was chaotic it was so stressful haha but in a good way. Elder Slabaugh had to interview 3 people that were getting baptized that day, and so i went on splits with my napalean RC and taught in the time period between the International Ward and the Thai ward. (international is in english at 9am and thai starts at 1.) There was a lot of investigators that showed up, and people that needed looking after bc they had never come before, and then other people who wanted me to go to teach the investigator class in english but then we had thai investigators that were tryna get taught, and then i was getting calls from people trying to find the church, etc., all while my companion was interviewing people- so yeah it was a pretty stressful morning. We had 20 investigators at church though- such a cool miracle from God.
One of the cooler stories from this sunday was a member from a branch in north bangkok- she had invited 6 of her coworkers to come to church who lived in our area, and came down to come to church with them. It was also fast and testimony meeting- she went and bore powerful testimony, and then testified of the joy that comes from sharing the gospel. she said at first she was way scared to even bring it up to one friend, but then after talking to one, all the sudden she had invited 2, then 3, 4, 5 and finally 6 of her friends to come- and they all came! it was a super good experience, and a good opportunity for the thai members to see the joy and blessings that come from missionary work. You don't have to have the name badge to be a missionary.
Four baptisms this sunday- it was a super happy day. One of those who was baptized, she actually lives in Egypt and will be going back there. After finding the church for her over there, she realized it would be a 5 hour drive there each sunday, but she said it like "yes only a 5 hour trip! i can make it every sunday!" she has so much faith, and has been an awesome example to those around her.
Another girl that got baptized this week was baptized after her dad's experience in another part of thailand. He met with the missionaries, was able to completely change his life of addictions and full of issues, and saw the blessings of following his Savior. He called his daughter here in Bangkok and told her about what he had found, and his daughter was baptized two weeks later, testifying that "i never thought my dad would or could ever change his life around, so when i heard that he did, i knew it was true." They were all so great it was a way spiritual sunday.
Our monday miracle: the sister missionaries (sister alley and sister T who i actually served with both of them in Phitsanulok a couple transfers ago they are way awesome) called us monday morning and said that there was a girl that wanted to meet at the church at 3 that had randomly called them- and they wouldn't be free. So we were out and about doing our officely elder duties, taking a sister a missionary who had just arrived to get her blood work done, and get pictures taken etc. (stuff we hadn't planned on doing that day) and it was sweet to see the Lord's Hand in our day as we had to pass by the church at around 1:30 on the way to the photo place, and ran into the potential investigator who had just arrived at the church. The sisters had said that it didn't sound like she was going to come- but we ran into her and shortly after taught her- and she is SO GOOD! She is here from nepal as well so i practiced my nepalese (namastay) haha, She has been so prepared. after watching the "Bacause of He Lives" video, i don't think i've ever had an investigator get so emotional. Like she broke down into tears and could barely speak, so my companion and i waited, and she finally said that she has gone through so many hard bad things in her life, and that she had felt so alone, but that she now felt so strongly of his love. She is one of those prepared investigators that you don't even have to ask them how they feel in lessons, she will just tell us that she feels so warm inside, a feeling she can't explain. We told her that she could have this love and light of Christ with her always- that first step is faith and repentance unto baptism. She was so excited to accept a baptismal date. The next time we met with her on wednesday she asked if she could just get baptized this sunday! She is way golden- the type of people nana was telling me to find right before i left.
At FHE with the members on monday we played some scripture golf and it got pretty competetive especially between slabaugh and I, ahah im sad to say i lost to slabaugh- i'm forgetting alot of the memorized scriptures that i don't use very often- and so losing has inspired me to work harder to memorize scriptures. Scriptures are so powerful. The scriptures have the answers to literally every concern. It's interesting that pretty much all the time- the investigators and even the recent converts who don't progress are the ones that we find out aren't studying the scriptures regularly. It's rare to find an investigator that keeps that commitment and doesn't progress towards baptism. The Book of Mormon is such a powerful tool in missionary work and is so true its ridiculous
We had some late nights preparing for MLC (mission leader training stuff) on thursday. We caught up with a few old investigators, 2 of my favorite from China who are just so good and will be coming to church this sunday, A lot of cool stories, i wish i could write them all but we got some big plans for today- its Wolfley's last real P-Day here in Thailand. crazy... i'll share them another day.
Oh one last thing! A new family came into the international ward the other day from San Clemente, and they will be living here from now on. They are actually from australia but are just the coolest people. They invited Arne, wolfley, slabaugh and i all over to dinner a couple nights ago. There house is a little far away but in thee most beautiful coolest part of Thailand. Like is you google search "cool thailand pics" you will find pictures probably taken off their huge building. it was way fun going to visit with them, and really funny talking about their experience in san clemente while they were there for 3 years haha. They actually were here for a little while a year back when Elder Clarke was an AP, and they said it was funny how everytime they come here they meet people from home. Anyways a way cool visit and they are gonna be a powerhouse family in this ward.
Slabaugh and I and doing great, i love the kid so much, he's a stud. I have been way blessed with such great companions.
Yeah thats all i got. Love you and hope you all had a fun week at powell, and that jake threw a backflip ;)
Oh also i would invite you all to look back on past journals or read from past spiritual experiences you have written. I did that this week in some of my studies, from some stuff back in the MTC, and it is just so powerful man. Journals can be pretty sucky to keep at times, but it's so worth it. a couple quotes i can still remember from Elder Bednar and different speakrers that i had wrote about in the MTC...
"The most spiritual part of prayer is what you do after you say amen"
"Trials are opportunities to build our faith and turn to God." This one reminded me of the "Refiner's Fire" mormon message- so intense and so good. There were a couple others but i can't remember them right now. God is real and He loves us so much it is insane! His arms are always stretched out open to us- and i know that is true more and more as i serve His children.
Elder Chamberlin
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