Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Week two (song) at the MTC!
Week two (song) at the MTC!
We had our last lesson with our
"investigator" Sombad. Even
though my companion and I knew he wasn't real, it was kind of sad to stop
teaching him. I don't know if it’s being
set apart as a missionary or just a deeper understanding of the gospel here at
the MTC. I’m sure in the field it’s so
easy just love the people (Thai). One
thing they really stress is developing Christ-like charity, aka love for all of
God’s Children and as I’ve prayed daily for this ability, I’ve seen it start to
develop in me. A lot of what I've
learned and done this week has revolved around this message.
We got three new "investigators"
that we’re teaching. So far my companion
and I have only taught one. His name is
Samaad. My companion and I have been
practicing opening a lesson... i.e. getting to know our investigator, asking
him questions, etc. instead of just jumping into a lesson. Our focus in lessons should be the people, so
they recognize we are trying to help them.
Despite the language barrier we're trying to ask more questions...though
we usually can’t understand the answers. The amazing part is, though we don't really
know what investigators are telling us, through the spirit, we somehow know
how to respond.
My testimony of prayer has also increased this
week! For some reason, the Sisters in my
district and I have been losing everything…no, like forgetting stuff. Like walking to class and the magnets on our
name tags will randomly fall off. Or
we’re jogging around the MTC and we lose our room key. It just falls out of someone’s pocket. Every time, after searching and not finding
the item, we've prayed. Sometimes in
desperation. Almost instantly we find what we are looking for. The Lord is
looking out for us! At least I
haven’t lost my mind or hair (LOL @ Dad).
Well, I'll send pictures later and maybe a
video of me speaking Thai ....if it will work.
Love,
Second Hand-Written Letter Home
Second Hand-Written Letter
I am going to try to memorize
the baptism invitation in Thai tonight and hopefully tomorrow will be better,
language wise. I know when I am being
reverent and letting the spirit help me, I do better. Tomorrow, I’m just going to have to remember
to keep the spirit with me.
Love,
p.s. Today was much
better. My companion and I taught our
investigator about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. We tried to use the simplest words
possible! It went much better. J
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Week one at the MTC!
This has probably been the busiest and most spiritual week
of my life! In my written letter home I
said, “so much is going on here, it’s crazy!
I am always going going going…”
The first thing we did when we arrived at the MTC was meet
our companions. My companion, Sister
Maughan, is from Montana Thailand California
For the first three days, my teachers only spoke Thai, part
of a full immersion method or something.
At first it was stressful, especially since we taught our first lesson
in Thai on day three. Now that they
speak English and Thai, I can look back and say it made me a better speaker. J
We started teaching a progressing investigator (who's
actually an actor) on day three. Since
it was all in Thai, I was soooo nervous! My companion and I taught “Som Bad,”
our investigator, about God and his love for us. I was worried the spirit
wouldn't be there because we were basically incapable of understanding his
responses, but I definitely felt it helping me know what to say and remember
the words I had been taught.
After our first lesson I was definitely discouraged I
couldn't understand anything he said.
When we talked to two of the elders in my district, they told us they
forgot how to pray, in the middle of their prayer. They opened in the name of Heavenly Father
and immediately closed the prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. J That made me feel better.
Lesson two went ok.... ten times better. We taught Som Bad how to pray, which is
ironic because I learned to pray in Thai some 24 hours previously. We asked him to give the closing prayer to our
lesson. He didn't want to but then we
told him we would help him. He
agreed. He looked really shocked when we
asked him to pray but he actually did.
When you remember that he is an actor, it’s really funny, no one else in
our district asked him to pray. LOL He was probably caught off guard. He made us tell him what to say word for word,
but sometimes he would say more than what we asked him. He really does know how to pray in Thai.
On Monday, we taught our third
lesson. My companion and I were probably
a little cocky after how well our second lesson went, but we were quickly
humbled when we told Som Bad that we were prophets and spent the rest of the
lesson clearing that up. It was really
hard because we couldn't understand 3/4ths of what he was saying.
LOL But once again, the Elders came to the rescue of my self esteem. How? Because one companionship in the other district tried to explain baptism to there investigator, but instead of saying you go under the water and come out clean, they said you die under the water and come out a ghost. J LOL Needless to say, he declined the invitation to be baptized.
Despite the disaster of our lesson, my companion and I did
give him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read and pray about it. Cross you fingers that he does. Sometimes these actors like to be difficult
and prepare us for non-golden Investigators. :-(
Much more to follow…Pictures with names and labels are in the works.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Called To Serve
I have been called to serve in the Bangkok, Thailand Mission and I report to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) on August 14th.
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