Getting Buckets . . . of RAIN!

People with glasses will understand this photo. 

[Mom comment: Look at their actual lenses.]

Pouring rain in this picture. 

Soaked to the BONE but not even cold this week. You see, the thing is that in Thailand, the gorgeous tropical land that it is, the rain is never cold - so it feels WAY good. The down side...as soon as it starts raining, it is so humid my glasses fog up, and I cant see anything. It is a good thing I have my chums or else I wouldn't be able to see anything. Every time we get out of a cold taxi, Elder Chamberlain and I have to walk blind for a solid 2 minutes... very entertaining (see pictures above).

Last week for P-day, we did some supermarket runs, which consist of us going and trying all of the new Thai candies. There are some pretty strange candies here... And this week, we are headed to some fabric stores and the tailor to get our custom suits made baby!!! WOOHOOO so pumped! 

ALRIGHT lets get down to the real business, shall we? HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

The Work: 

I would like to focus on three investigators today that made this week special. The first is Brother Samran. He is an old man who just showed up to church randomly in the middle of the day so we taught him a lesson about prayer. He has been an investigator for about 5 weeks now. He is small, bald, holds a retractable cane, and wears TOE socks with sandals - THE MAN IS A LEGEND. He is progressing slowly but surely. At first he was just interested in learning why we worship the way that we do...but over time, he has started to read the Book of Mormon. He has started praying.  He comes to church, and he feels like God is in his life. In our last lesson, he expressed his concern whether or not he had to tell his friends he was Christian. We said it was up to him.  But this means that he considers himself Christian - which is HUGE. Here in Thailand it is 95% Buddhist and 4% Muslim.  Christians are not really accepted in society full of idol worship. Idols are big here. They worship lots of images, necklaces, all manner of jewelry, monks... lots of things. And that is just the way they show their beliefs.

The other tender mercy this week was the chance we had to meet with Sister G. and Brother A., who are Pakistani refugees who live here in Thailand. They are working to send money back to their family in Pakistan. We met Sister G. while on the street contacting. She actually approached us and said - "You are messengers of God, no? I want to have you over for lunch where we can talk and serve together." We were shocked and of course said yes! As we met with her and her brother - I realized they have the most faith of any person I have ever met. They fled their country because they believed in God, and their culture was not accepting of that. As we were talking with Brother A, he expressed his beliefs like this: "We have faith in God. Things come our way, people die, terrible things happen, but we look forward. We keep our eyes exactly focused on God. We have absolute faith that he will make everything OK. He will direct our path just like he did with Moses." WOW. They agreed to reading the Book of Mormon, and we have found the book in Urdu so they can read it in their native tongue. This work is a worldwide effort. And whoever translated the B.O.M in Urdu - God bless you my friend your work was not wasted!

Pakora that was served to us by the Pakistani people! SOOO GOOD

Culture:

1. When taking the sacrament at church, both feet should be on the floor to show respect. Never cross your legs when important meetings are being held or when meeting with really old people.

2. Bicycles have an average of 3 seat cushions so that 3 people can ride. It is not uncommon to see little pedals on the front of the bike for little kids to pretend they are riding. So adorable.

Hilarious Thai advertisement.  We have no idea what is happening in the picture! 

A creature we saw after the rain one day - about 8 feet long called a "water monitor." They basically are giant lizards that just chill everywhere. Very scary!

My boy Tony the Tiger! 

 Crabs at the local market.

Funnies: 

1. While on the street contacting, a man told us I liked look David Beckam and that Elder Chamberlain reminded him of John Denver. Hahahahaha!

2. We secretly proselylize at supermarkets when it is raining. No one goes outside, remember? So they are all trapped in the supermarket. So naturally, we grab a little cart and put one item in it (usually a snickers) and then walk around asking people to recommend food to us. After they recommend random things, we ask them if they know about Jesus Christ. BOOM so fun! 

3. I fall asleep everytime we get into a taxi for longer than 20 minutes. Hahahaha. I don't know what it is.  When I am not going 100% of the time at 100 miles an hour, I sit down in the taxi and ALWAYS end up falling asleep... I feel so bad and apologize to God everytime. And sometimes to Elder Chamberlain for falling asleep on him hahahaha.

4. Elder Chamberlain Quote of the Week: "Why can't sharks be dinosaurs too? I didn't know dinosaurs were that exclusive.... those bigots!" Hahahahahahahah. 

Two Thai sister missionaries literally wearing bags because of the fear of rain. 

This wasn't for fun they were serious hahahahahah.

Spiritual Thought: 

Please take 15 minutes tonight and read 2 Nephi 5 [in the Book of Mormon] and think about how we can all live after the manner of happiness. President and Sister Johnson shared it at transfer meetings. (Oh btw I am still in Thonburi for another 6 weeks - yay!) The Nephites who lived after the manner of happiness did these 5 things - how can we do them in our own lives? 

1. Kept the commandments (v. 10)

2. Prepared themselves (v. 14)

3. WORK (v.15)

4. Temple worship (v.16) 

5. They were industrious (or anxiously engaged) (v.17) 

ENJOY! THERE IS SOME QUALITY STUFF IN THAT CHAPTER. 

I love you all! Until next week my dear family and friends... may God bless you all. Stay happy - Happiness is a choice! 

Love always,

Elder Smith-Driggs