Korat is on fire!

Phii Ow's Baptism April 25, 2010

Korat is still on fire - we have ten progressing investigators and tons of new ones that have promise.
Phii Ow's baptism went off with out a hitch. It was perfect. There were members there and investigators and the font filled in time and the speakers were good - just a great baptism all around. We were worried because she can't use her left arm (she got in a car accident a couple of years ago and cut a nerve) but the branch president was aware and did a perfect job of baptizing her. She was so happy. She got a day off for her baptism - she has never had a day off before and she just happened to get one on the day of her baptism. She did not think that was coincidence and neither did we. She bore her testimony afterward and was adorable - she said that she believes in God (that will never cease to be a miracle to me - she didn't two months ago). Her testimony was short and sweet and then she turned to sit down and remembered that you are supposed to say in the name of Jesus Christ amen but she got a little flustered and said "in the name of the Holy Ghost". She realized it and fixed it. But it was really adorable. I love that lady.
The bad news is that Phii May didn't get baptized on Saturday. There was a certain leader in the ward who was concerned that she hadn't really left her boyfriend and he managed to get it postponed. He just doesn't know the whole story and it's too bad he had anything to say about it. President Smith is stepping in to help out and hopefully her baptism will happen really soon.
Phii Boo is still amazing. We have already taught her the first three lessons. It is weird to move so fast - we usually only teach 2-3 principles in a lesson. But she already has a great background and has read the BOM and all the pamphlets so it is basically review. She didn't come to church on Sunday and we were a little worried but we found out that she went to her old church to tell them that she wasn't going there anymore. She is really "full speed ahead" if you know what I mean. She brought two friends with her to the last appointment and they both became new investigators. I think she is going to turn into a referral machine. She is telling everyone about us and bringing all her Christian friends and telling them about the BOM. It is really a huge miracle.
It's time for Sister Hulme to go home. I'm sad because I'm really going to miss her. We have had so much fun together. She promised to keep in touch and I know she will, so that will be fun. The two options it looks as though she will be replaced by are both awesome, so it will all be great!

A crazy, wet Thailand

I think I must start with the water fight. I have never seen anything like it in my life. We went out Tuesday morning in our shorts and t-shirts and got a bucket of water dumped on us a couple feet from the house. It was still getting started at that point. We went to a member's house who lives on a busy road. They had a huge bucket of water with a hose running into it and then we each had little buckets that we would fill and throw at people. You throw water at all the motorcycles and bikers and walkers. Then people come by in the back of trucks and you have little wars - they stop for a minute and you throw water at each other. Some people were throwing really cold water. That felt good though - it is after all the hottest month of the year. I can honestly say that my entire body was wet within about 5 minutes of this. And then people will get out of the car and smear baby powder on your face. That freaked me out the first time. They usually ask permission and then just smear away. Because we are farangs we are instant targets. People really want to get us. It is so much fun. After a good couple hours of this, we met up with some other members and bought water guns at 7-11. Mine broke the first time I used it so I traded it in for a bigger and better one. It had a backpack that held the water and if you held a little button down there were two nozzles that sprayed two ways. It was a pretty sweet water gun. We just walked into the center of Korat and got plastered. I have never had so many people touch my face in all my life. We just got hit with buckets of water over and over again. It was so much fun. We wanted to get in the back of a truck but there were no members doing it and we figured getting in a truck with someone we didn't know wasn't a great idea. Man it was fun. Everybody has work off and is just partying. Fortunately the first day (the day we played) is usually the most tame - after that it gets a little too crazy - a little too much alcohol. The second days we made sure we had long things to do. One day we went out to a members house and pretty much watched the elders help them build a house. We weren't much help there. But we taught their daughters (they are recent converts) so that was good. We managed to stay dry until the way home - from the church to our house (about a five minute bike ride) we got about 9 buckets of water dumped on us. We were completely soaked. It was crazy! Luckily we had study right then so we got in pajamas and hung our clothes out to dry. After that we got a taxi and went out to meet a new investigator. Taxis are a good idea because people can't throw water at you. They try to get you to open the door. But we don't

Ok. Now for the truly exciting news of the week. WE HAVE TWO BAPTISMS THIS WEEK! Phii May has officially split from her husband and passed her baptismal interview with flying colors. She is getting baptized on Saturday and getting the Holy Ghost on Sunday. Then she is moving to Bangkok. She has more faith than I have truly ever seen. She has nowhere to live and no job. People keep telling her that she is going to have to crawl back to her boyfriend and she told us that she tells them that they don't understand that she has God on her side and that with Him she can do it. I honestly think she has more faith than anyone I have ever met. We still don't know what she is going to do. But she is definitely getting baptized. She has been investigating the church for five years now and has such a strong testimony. I just can't believe I get to be a part of it. Elder Parkinson is going to baptize her and it is on his birthday. Isn't that just wonderful?

Phii Ow also passed her baptismal interview with flying colors. No surprises there. She truly is amazing. She is getting baptized on Sunday. She stopped coffee cold turkey and agreed to pay tithing and truly has a testimony. I love her so much. She just never ceases to amaze me and never ceases to be adorable. She is really ready for this.

A cool little tender mercy - my favorite hymn in the world, as you may know, is How Firm a Foundation. Particularly verses three and seven. (It actually might be four and seven in English - the verse about Fear not I am with thee) Anyways, When we were setting up the baptism programs, both Phii May and Phii Ow picked that hymn. Isn't that cool? We decided it was not a coincidence. After we set up the baptism program with Phii Ow, we were riding away and getting sentimental about our week and the miracles and then we got attacked by a stupid little yippy dog that scared us to death and ruined the moment. Typical Thailand.

There is a really cute old man that lives across the street from us. He sits on his porch all day. Sister Hulme started going to visit him and singing to him and we have been going over every couple days since I got here. We just stay for about five minutes - we chat and then we sing a hymn or two. It has become the high light of his life. He gets really excited when we see us and the lady that takes care of him said that he is only in a good mood if we come. He also told her that he wants to be a Christian because we are Christian. He is the most adorable thing. He is in his 80's and definitely shows it. A couple days ago he patted our heads. This might not mean much to you. But you must understand - you don't touch people's heads in Thailand unless they are your children. So him patting our heads meant that he considers us his children. we pretty much cried after that. He has really become a special little friend. I have a picture of him to send next week too.

We met Phii Boo - she is the lady that ran into the Elders and said she already has a testimony of the BOM. We were having a really hard time getting a hold of her. We decided to try and find her house - she had drawn a map and written directions, which we couldn't read, so we went to what we thought was the general area and started asking people. After asking about 12 people for directions, we found two little kids who knew her. They let us follow them to her house. We called her and she didn't answer so were going to leave and then the two little kids started screaming into the window. Finally a little girl popped her head out and said her mom was asleep. Naturally we were going to leave - the two little girls told the girl to wake her mom up. Turns out that was divine intervention. Phii Boo came to the window and screamed when we told her who we were. She talked about a mile a minute for a good half hour. She showed us her BOM - it is completely marked up and she has read the whole thing. She came to church yesterday and told us that she felt really good and knew it was the true church. Whoa. That doesn't happen super often. She wanted a Doctrine and Covenants and wants to get baptized. We were like, well, we can arrange that. But we have to teach you first. I think she is a pretty promising investigator, if you agree.

Our whole world is getting turned upside down because of Son Kran - the big water fight. We basically can't do any work - we are just trying to line up service projects and we have to get inside the house early. Tuesday is the first day of Son Kran so they made it our P-day and we are working on Monday. It is going to be crazy. Son Kran just really throws life off here.
We also got two other new investigators this week - they were from inviting. One lady has lupus and when she found out I was a "nurse" she went and got all her lab results to show me. It was really cute. She just really opened up to us and really responded to our message. She needs Jesus Christ! (Just like everyone else). When we were biking away we were just like "holy cow - I love her." Her name is Dew (like the rain in the morning). Our other new investigator also has potential - she lives alone and has expressed the need for religion to comfort her. She already believes in God because she says that she can feel someone when she is alone and someone told her it was God and she believes that. Heavenly Father really is preparing people all over the world! We just have to find them.
We have a recent convert named Mint that plays the violin. I told her that I do too and she wanted me to play it for her. I played a couple of hymns and I have now been recruited to play in a fireside tomorrow. Apparently there are a couple of members with extra violins lying around. Random. Then it turns out that Elder Dearden is a violinist as well. Small world. It was actually really fun to play the violin (even though it was a pretty crappy violin). I miss the violin and it felt good. One member really freaked out about vibrato - violinists aren't common here and he had never seen that. He kept asking how I did it. Pretty funny.
Get this! I am doing switch offs in Lopburi this week! With Sister Mark! Korat and Lopburi always switch off - I am just really lucky that I get to go back to my old area. We are going to eat at my favorite restaurant and visit Phii Ruay and I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I will tell you all about it next week!
I love you all so dearly. Thanks for all the emails. You are all fantastic!
Sister Webb

PJ!!!

PJ!!! Is he not the cutest human being you have ever laid your eyes on? I love him. We were at his house yesterday and we were praying at the end of the lesson and we were kneeling and I had my head bowed and I felt a presence and I opened my eyes and he was lying on the floor with his face right under my face looking at me and making faces. I started laughing pretty hard. Unfortunately I was the one saying the prayer. Oh well.
We did switch offs in Lopburi last week. It was a blast. I didn't get to see a ton of people but I did get to see some. We went to the end of correlation meeting so I saw Brother Buncuu and Brother Aladin and some other members. Unfortunately I didn't get to see Phii Ruay or Sister Baew. That was kind of disappointing. Apparently Sister Baew moved (not far - just down the street) but she is in the process of moving and hasn't had time to really help the sisters teach or go to correlation. But I got to play with Sister Mark. It was so much fun. We just talked and talked and talked. We met with a new investigator that I hadn't ever taught. I also spent half the day switching off with Sister Wanlapa - a Thai. She is a huge amount of fun and it really helped me to have communicate in Thai all the time - It was good. Brother Aladin and Sister Aa helped us teach an investigator. I don't know if you remember, but once I told you about a lady that we ran into in a supermarket that was dressed like an elf and shouted random phrases in Japanese - well she is now an investigator! We taught her. She was awesome.

Son Kran

At another Thai Festival with a Thai Guard who wouldn't smile.

Anyone for a country-wide week-long water fight!? (Google Son Kran {or SongKran} and see some pretty amazing images of what Thailand will be like next week.)
Our whole world is getting turned upside down because of Son Kran -- the big water fight. We basically can't do any work - we are just trying to line up service projects and we have to get inside our house early. Tuesday is the first day of Son Kran so they made it our P-Day and we are working on Monday. It is going to be crazy. Son Kran just really throws off life here.
We also got two other new investigators this week - they were from inviting. One lady has lupus and when she found out I was a "nurse" she went and got all her lab results to show me. It was really cute. She just really opened up to us and really responded to our message. She needs Jesus Christ! (Just like everyone else.) When we were biking away, we were just like "holy cow - I love her!" Her name is Dew (like the rain in the morning.) Our other new investigator also has potential - she lives alone and has expressed the need for religion to comfort her. She already believes in God because she says that she can feel someone when she is alone and someone told her it was God and she believes that. Heavenly Father really is preparing people all over the world! We just have to find them.
We have a recent convert named Mint that plays the violin. I told her that I do too and she wanted me to play it for her. I played a couple of hymns and I have now been recruited to play in a fireside tomorrow. Apparently there are a couple of members with extra violins lying around. Random. Then it turns out that Elder Dearden is a violinist as well. Small world. It was actually really fun to play the violin (even though it was a pretty crappy violin.) I miss the violin and it felt good! One member really freaked out about vibrato - violinists aren't common here and he had never seen that. He kept asking how I did it. Pretty funny.
Get this! I am doing switch offs in Lopburi this week with Sister Mark!! Korat and Lopburi always switch off - I am just really lucky that I get to go back to my old area. We are going to eat at my favorite restaurant and visit Phii Ruay! I am so excited I can hardly stand it!! I will tell you all about it next week!
I love you all so dearly! Thanks for all the emails. You are all fantastic!
Sister Webb