Hi family!
Interesting title, right? So I'll tell you
about all the crazy things I saw first, and then I'll tell you about the
amazing miracles that happened this week. Because they’re awesome.
But first of all I can't believe it’s fall back
home. I want the leaves to change colors! This morning I was renewing my visa
and I got to wear a sweater inside because it was air conditioned...so I figure
that was about as much fall and winter as I will get around here haha.
Ok, so on to the dead things. This week I saw
(in no particular order) 1) dead pigs. My neighbor decided to turn his garage
into a part-time butcher’s shop, nights only. So Sister Weed and I walked past
on our way home the other night and there were just like 10 pig heads sitting
on a folding table. Awesome. 2) a dead kitten. Just sitting on the sidewalk. It
smelled bad. 3) a dead gecko in the church. We were cleaning the baptismal font
and I found it in an electric box. It was literally just a skeleton with the
weird little suction cups on its toes. 4) I was brave and killed a cockroach
this week. 5) lots of smooshed frogs.
This week, in no particular order, I was told:
1) I was beautiful, 2) I was sexy (yes, that one came from dear Crazy Gaew, the
bishop’s wife...and she wouldn’t let it drop for a good 20 minutes), 3) I was
surrounded by a heavenly light, and 4) I was “Forever Young.” It’s amazing what
actually wearing a little make-up does for your self-esteem. Hahaha.
So that’s it for dead things and beauty. Now on
to the miracles :)
THIS SATURDAY BAM GOT BAPTIZED. MY
GUUUUUUUUURL! She is seriously the cutest thing that ever existed. It was such
a good day. I was trying to figure out how to explain her and how she just
accepted the gospel so readily, because I still don’t quite understand it
myself. But I read a talk this week by Elder Holland that helped me get it. He
said that when you bear testimony, it will bring back an echo of things your
investigators already know. Bam heard that echo from our very first lesson. She
defied all the odds, because let’s face it, 13 year olds aren’t always excited
to go to church for 3 hours on Sunday. But she is. And she is the happiest I’ve
ever seen her, and I am so happy for her :)
This week I gained a real testimony that the
Lord is preparing people to receive the gospel in Thailand. On Tuesday in
English, I saw a man who had never come to class before. He seemed to really
enjoy the spiritual thought when we closed, and I had the overwhelming
impression that I needed to talk to him. I was tired, there were 6 million
other things I needed to do, and I wasn’t feeling super confident in my Thai
that day. But the Lord brings the blessings when you go one step farther than
you think you can, and because I talked to him, we now have a golden
investigator who is getting baptized in mid October. In our
first lesson, he told us he had never seen the missionaries before and that he’s
never seen a miracle, either. He came to Bam’s baptism on Saturday and was so
excited about it. When we were talking after, he said, “Mine is coming soon! I
am so happy!” He told us about how he feels goosebumps when he prays or reads
the Book of Mormon. It’s so great. He understands everything we have taught him
so well. After the baptism, we taught him again and in his closing prayer, he
said “help me to have eternal life through the temple.” He was referencing a
phrase that the bishop used in his remarks at Bam’s baptism. He talked about
how through the temple and through being sealed to her eternal companion, Bam
would be able to receive eternal life if she lived worthily. When Na (our
investigator) closed his prayer, he looked at us and said, “Sisters...what’s a
temple? I see a building in my head...it’s tall and has three spires...” Sister
Weed and I just looked at each other and raised our eyebrows. I pulled out the
photo of the Salt Lake temple that I have in my bag and showed him. He looked
at it and almost started to cry. “Sisters. That is the building I saw in my
mind.” We all had goosebumps. It was amazing.
So yes, the work is good and solid, my visa is
renewed for another 3 months, and I am happy and well and surrounded by a
heavenly light. :)
So much love,
Sister...I don’t know. Haha. Hughes. :)
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(Sorry, my card reader must not be working? No photos again...I'll do my best to have some next week!)
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