Hey! Inviting is fun!

November 14, 2010
So we had a good week here in Srinakarin. Let me tell me about my new philosophy for my mission. We don't have a lot of investigators. Or at least we didn't at the beginning of last week. So one morning I say to myself, "self, it looks like there aren't going to be any baptisms before you die" So I ponder that thought. Well, honestly it was a little sad, but i think to myself that we have been working hard and freakish things keep happening to our investigators, so it is not like I am super down on myself. So then I tell myself, Well, I have another six weeks before I die. I am going to tell as many freaking people as possible that families can be together forever. After that, I am not going to worry - I am going to stop worrying about number of lessons we teach and how many investigators are progressing. Obviously I still want them too, but I am not going to worry about it. So that is my new philosophy. Armed with that in mind, we hit the streets. Turns out it works. We got six potential investigators two days in a row - the normal is 2 or 3. Yesterday was epic - we taught five lessons and got six new investigators, including a cute little family where the dad was glued on our every word and excited to try family prayer. Other new investigators included two older women, a young mother who seemed quite willing to try something new to find "true happiness", and a friend of two investigators that we were already teaching. It was a sweet day. We taught all day.
I told you about Boot last week - she walked into church with her friend Taw. They are both great but Boot is really really great. She has prayed every day, read the scriptures every day, and was at church again yesterday and already joking with the members. She feels right at home at church. She readily accepted a baptismal date - she was really cute - I was like "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and get baptized" you know - the whole spiel and she was like "I don't have any white clothes". I take that as a yes. After we explained that we provide the white clothes she was all over it. Her friend Taw is a little slower but we have her to thank for all of them being at church.Yesterday she told us that she has passed by our church hundreds of time - daily - and that she never thought she would go in. Then one day she decided to go to church. Seriously. That was it. Then they were two Sundays ago. Yesterday they brought a friend and another little girl. They said they are working on Boot's older brother and trying to get him to go. Seriously - they are referral machines.
So anyways, we had a really good week - lots of new investigators. A couple of new investigators from last week showed some signs of progression - have started praying and reading. We are working on getting them to church - the perennial problem.
Have a great week! I love you all!

Lucky Ducks

November 7, 2010
We have had a great week this week! We actually taught the gospel a little bit. That was great stuff. Lets start with our sweet new investigator - a lady named Wanna. We invited her last week and it was one of those really easy invites - hi we are missionaries. Do you want to learn more? Yes. Ok. Can we come back on Tuesday? Yes. Ok. Sounds lovely. So we went back on Tuesday and this lady is adorable. She is in her 40s and single and she lives with and takes care of an older couple. She was all over the first lesson - so in the second we committed her to baptism and she accepted. She is awesome. We might have a bit of a problem with church of course. She takes care of these old people who have doctors appointments like every 2 minutes. So yesterday she had to take them to the eye doctor but she said she can go next week. Anyways - she is pretty cool. We are excited about her. We also had another cool experience that day - we were inviting and a girl said that her friend really wanted to be Christian - and that she would be at her house the next day. So we went back the next day not really knowing what to expect. We honestly weren't really expecting anything, to be honest. But she was there and really excited. She is a Burmese refugee but she speaks Thai. She has believed in Christ for a really long time but hasn't known how to become a Christian. After all this excitement we found out that she actually doesn't live in our area. Bummer. But we gave a really sweet referral to the Asoke Elders. Lucky Ducks.
Yesterday at church we had three "walk-ins" - people just wanting to check it out. That happens a lot here because the church is out on a huge street - prime location. These three are AWESOME! We taught them last night and I am really excited about them. They are relatives of some sort and live in the same house together. One had their little grandson with them. Their names are Taew and Boot. I really think they will go somewhere - Taew said that she has been invited by missionaries several times but had never let them come back or gone to church, but then when her friend (Boot) said she wanted to go to a Christian church, she knew right where one was because the missionaries had told her. Sounds like they are being prepared to me :) Neck was also at church - she is so sporadic. She is the funniest lady. I love her. I just wish she was a little more consistent.
We got some sweet new investigators - One of them is a lady that has been learning with the sisters on and off for a long time. She is really awesome. She is from Laos and has a problem with her visa so she couldn't get baptized but I guess that is going to be all cleared up in January. She still has some other stuff to work through but she is really cute and I already love her a lot. Her name is Toy. After that we taught some other new investigators. One wasn't really interested, but the others were good. The last ones were a mother and daughter that I really like - they seem pretty interested. So Saturday was a really good day.

The new Thai BOM came out yesterday - it is really sweet. They have a triple combination all nice and gilded. The new translation is interesting. They used words that no one knows. Trying to make it more formal I guess. It will be an interesting transition. We all have to re-memorize D&C 4 and the first vision - they both changed a lot. The new book is a lot nicer - the font is a lot easier to read. So that is nice. Everyone at church was freaking out yesterday. Fun day.

We can help with that. Really we can.

Sister Eyestone with "Hopper" the frog.

October 31, 2010

We got two really sweet new investigators this week - a mother and daughter. The mom is named Pim and the daughter is Mook. Pim said that she has always wanted to be Christian because she loves watching movies about Jesus but has never been sure where to go or how to become Christian. We can help with that. Really we can. She is already "soft committed" to baptism - meaning she said she would get baptized but doesn't have a date yet, and is firmly committed to church - she practically committed herself - she was like - I have always wanted to go - and now that I know you, I won't be scared to go. So we are excited about them.
As for other investigators - Nok and her family are still doing well. Well, Nok is doing well. The rest of the family is falling off a bit. Last time we taught, I asked if Nok believed in God. She said that ever since she had started reading the BOM, she believed - that she could feel Him while she read. And she said "So now I can say that for sure - I believe in God." It was really cool. The dad and son haven't been praying. The dad is kind of in and out of lessons - the little twins make it hard for everyone to stay focused. They didn't come to church again yesterday. Bummer. We are working on that - Nok is really worried because the twins are still breast feeding and they are a little hard to handle because there are two of them. So it is understandable. We are meeting them again tonight. Yay.
We also got another sweet new investigator yesterday - a lady called in the middle of the week and wanted to know what time our church was. She came yesterday and we talked to her for awhile after and she said that she wants to know the "details" of our church and that she wants to come every week. She really liked it. She has been Christian for a year and just moved to Bangkok from the Isan. She lives with her younger sister. Her name is Ann by the way. We were going to teach her after church but then her sister called and said that she had forgotten her keys so Ann had to leave and go let her in the house. Bummer. That is ok because we are meeting her tonight. Yay! So she is awesome too. We figure we can get her baptized pretty quick. : )
So as for sweet news of the week. They are opening VIETNAM to missionary work. Can you even believe it? They are going to start sending young missionaries there - but only people who are of Vietnamese descent. And it will be like Mongolia - they can't proselyte. They will just work through the members to get referrals and teach English. But I think that is pretty sweet. One of my zone leaders is 100% Vietnamese and so when Elder Perkins came for a mission tour he told him about it - said that if he had gone on a mission a year and a half later he would have gone to Vietnam. I think that is pretty crazy. Who would have ever thought that we would get missionaries into Vietnam? The Gospel is true people! And it is moving forward!