No, Christianity and Islam are not the same thing...in case you were wondering

September 13, 2010
On Saturday we were out inviting and a lady invited us in to teach a short lesson and gathered her family - her husband and two kids. She has three kids but one wasn't there. The husband fed us some sort of strange food with gooey stuff in the middle of a leaf. I really don't want to know what it was. But it wasn't entirely nasty. Anyways, they are a really cute family. On first lessons we usually only use about 10 minutes and introduce the concept of covenants - baptism and then how that can lead to being with your family forever when you make covenants in the temple. The mom was all over it. The kids were kind of paying attention - the daughter had heard that Christianity had an ordinance to wash away sins so she piped in for a minute. The dad listened but I don't know how interested he really is. We asked the mom to say the closing prayer though and it was amazing. She said "Heavenly Father, please help me be with my kids forever. In the name of Jesus Christ amen." Then she had a smile on her face that I can't even describe. It was so cool.
Another cool new investigator is named Goon. Yes I am serious. That is her name. As in that story where the good fairy comes and turns little bunny foo foo into a goon. I got quite a kick out of it, to be sure. Anyways, we went to the first lesson and she told us that she thought Christianity and Islam were the same church. What?!?!?!?!!! I have never had someone think that before. But I asked her what she knew about Christianity and she was like "I know you have a month of fasting" and I was like, "actually, that is Islam" and she was like "aren't they the same church?" "Why no - no they are not." We got that one cleared up pretty quick.
Random fact about Thailand - monks are out and about early in the morning - they wander around and people give them donations of food and money and such things. Usually we don't see them a lot because we are not out in the mornings. But I am sitting right next to a window and watching them all walk by in their bright orange robes. It is pretty cool. They don't wear shoes. They must have some pretty sweet callouses. The other day there was a monk walking by and I reached into my bag because I needed some pass along cards and he thought I was getting a donation for him. So he stopped and was like Thank you! Just picture the awkwardness of that situation. I can't give a monk money! I can't give anybody money! Much less a monk! So you have a Christian missionary staring at a Buddhist monk who thinks that the missionary is about to give him money. Finally I just said "Sorry - I don't have anything" and he kept walking. I hope there weren't a lot of people that saw that one. Awkward! For future reference - never stick your hand in your bag when there is a monk walking by. Unless you are intending to give him money. Just some tips on Thai culture.