This week flew by way fast, we had a member of the 70, Elder Funk come visit Thailand on a little mission tour which was a good time. We went up on Thrusday to Khon Kaen and had a meeting in this nice hotel with good free food so that was nice.
As for cool thailand stuff this week- yesterday we were cutting down forests at an LA house which was a blast- i felt like joseph smith hackin' away at tree trunks with a crazy like tree-blade-knife thing.
Joyem is a stud- he kinda reminds me of the thai version of zane. Well this week was a typical week full of teaching about jesus, and seeing miracles. I think one of the coolest/biggest answers to prayers that we saw this week was with sister faa- the mom who got baptized 2 weeks ago, and wasn't sure because she wanted to pay off her full debt that she had (which was the crazy like mafia debt where she was paying what started out as 600 baht a day and turned to 1250 baht a day... and that was just the amount she had to pay daily basically to stay alive...) so anyways her debt was a crazy huge burden on her shoulders as she takes care of her cute twin 10 year olds as a single mom. She is so strong its crazy- but anyways last week we taught her again about fasting, and the blessings that can come from prayer and fasting. That sunday she fasted, and the next day she ran into a way old friend of hers from her childhood, and talked for a while, and then one thing led to another, and her friend found out about her crazy debt, and offered to be the "mediator" and pay it for her, and have her be in debt to him instead. It was literally exactly like the story of the debtor, where christ is the one who comes in and pays our debt for us as our mediator. It was such a huge miracle- her debt that seemed like would never end is now planned out to be finished by the end of the month. It honestly felt like a burden was lifted off our shoulders as well- such a sweet blessing and testimony to the power of fasting.
Another cool story on answers to prayers- Brother Hann, one of our investigators whos getting baptized next week, he invited his friend,Shutter, to come to church this last week and meet with the elders. the first lesson with shutter, Joyem and i were on splits so i wasnt in the lesson, but Joyem told me that he taught about prayer, and extended the commitment to pray, and shutter declined. ahhaha he was just like, no i wont pray. And so Joyem said he promised blessings and then that was that haha. But then the next time we met with Hann, Shutter came too, and Hann was like, yo shutter tell the elders about your prayer- and so he told us the following: "I decided to try it out and pray the other day, it was about midnight, and i prayed for the first time in my life. I prayed that God would help my find a job. I have been looking for a while to no avail. But yesterday i saw my prayer answered..." He's washing cars now- which for a 15 year old is pretty good- and then his prayer in our lesson was so real and tender- it went something like this, "Heavenly Father... I havent seen my mom in over 5 years. Please help me to be able to meet my mom again. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." The power of pray is real- and answers don't always come immediately, but sometimes they do, and it's a solid faith builder especially as a missionary, when we see so clearly the hand of the lord in our investigators lives.
Final cool miracle/lesson i learned about forgiveness. One of our investigators is struggling to quit smoking- and this last week Joyem and I had seen the new series that the church has done about "12 steps" in addiction recovery, and so the other day we shared it briefly with him as i had to translate anything that we shared with him- but we went thru the 12 steps, and i felt inspired to have him write down on a paper all the people that have ever done him wrong, write their names on a paper, and decide then and there to forgive them all. then write down the names of people he has done wrong, and go try to make restitution with them. 2 days later we met up with him again over some buffet icecream, and he told us his experience. He practically bore testimony of the neccesity of forgiving other before we can be forgiven. He said he saw one of his old freinds yesterday that he hadn't talked to in a long time, mainly because of something that happened between them in the past, aand the grudge was mainly being held by our investigator. But he said he had already decided to let it go and forgive this person, and our investigator spoke of the peace and freedom he felt as he met with his old friend, again without any grudge or hard feelings towards him. I dont know if that story makes sense, but to bring it all together it reminded me the parable of the unforgiving debtor... here it is in its fulness:
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
23 ¶Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
God's lesson was so clear, as was the forgiveness he felt. A nice faith builder in the truth of this principle- we must forgive to be forgiven.
Well other than those super cool things that went down, we had some nice family parties with part member families, including a sweet little FHE with my homie B. We had a nice little family dinner and discussion with their family, and my hope is that they get baptized because they are the coolest people ever, but they have some concerns. It was pretty funny though- as B was drinking a little bit of alcohol that night- he asked me, "elder champ, are you going to get married for real?" and i was like yeah, one day, and he was like "really..... okay come inside with me." haha so we walked into their house and looked me in the eyes and was like "okay be real with me.... are you seriously getting married?" hahahah i just love B so much. I said yeah im for sure gonna get married, and he's like "okay wait here". he came and brought out these two super super nice quality fabrics, what he said are his favorite, and said he was going to make me two ties out of them as a gift. So that was way sweet haha. You make some way cool friends on a mission thats fasho. My dream is to see his family baptized before i leave Korat- it would bring their cute little fam so much joy- oooooo to come back and see them at the temple! So much happiness its unreal!
Alright well that was our week in a nutshell. I love you guys! God is real, and he really is a God of miracles. Thailand is sick and the church is true!
Elder Chamberlin<3
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