This week's email may be short because this week felt fast and I can hardly remember what happened!!
FIRST OFF my next P-day will be Saturday because Elder Holland is coming to the mission this Saturday and Sunday. SO I will not be emailing next Monday. All the missionaries in Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos are leaving their areas Friday to make the trip to Bangkok (in my case a 7 hr bus ride #classic). I am soooo stoked to hear Elder Holland speak! He is speaking to just the missionaries on Saturday, and then on Sunday he will speak to all the Thai members. People from Chiang Mai say they are going to come on Sunday...so man, am I excited!!
This week Sister Nok made us some delicious Thai food for dinner Wednesday night. She says it is the first time she has made food in a very long time, but she wanted me to try her cooking. Guys, Sister Nok is awesome. I have probably spent almost everyday with her here in Mahasarakham, as she LOVES to help the missionaries...and she is so good at it too. I ask her questions about missionary work all the time! haha
The rain has been crazy here lately...so crazy in fact that when I was talking to one member she said the rain in her house is up to her shins! I was like, "how do you sleep?" And she said, "Oh, my bed is on a tall frame, Sister Rem, and I don't mind the water because sometimes a family of ducks will come swim in our house and they are so cute."
This week we taught an investigator we met contacting at some shops. She is from Indonesia and has lived in Thailand for 5 years (she married someone Thai). She is already Christian and has been to our church a couple of times. She is curious as to why our church seems so different. We explained the restoration in Thai (which is funny as it is everyone's second language), and it just didn't quite make sense. We were confused as to why it hadn't gone so well, but decided to come back a couple days later with an Indonesian Book of Mormon (which we had ordered). All I can say is that the Book of Mormon changes everything! We explained a bit about the restoration again, and just testified about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We also had her look up and read a bunch of scriptures in Indonesian. Every time she would read a scripture she would tell us how much she loved it, and you could just feel the truth of it. We went away from this lesson realizing how simple things are. When we explain simply (as she doesn't know gospel terms) and use the Book of Mormon... all makes sense and is clear. Another thing I know is that Heavenly Father wants us to
hear things in the language of our hearts.
This brings me to my thought of the week. Here is a quote from a talk I read in my personal study, "When Astronauts began to go to space they quickly learned that ballpoint pens do not work in space. Immediately scientists and inventors went to work on the problem. Millions of dollars and many hours were spent trying to fix the problem until they finally came up with a pen that could write anywhere, and on any surface. But what did the astronauts do in the meantime when the problem was being fixed?? They simply used a pencil." I laughed a little while reading this, but then thought how much this applied to me. Sometimes we all rush around a little to much, trying to make things so complicated...trying to find complex solutions to simple problems. Life is not meant to be so hard and complex. Sometimes our troubles are not worked out all at once, issues we face may drag on...but in the meantime we can just use a "pencil"...we can simply do what we know, and trust that all will work out. I know that the Lord is in this work and in our lives. He is at the Helm and is leading us.
I love you guys!
Sister Rem
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