This week was really hot, really rainy, really fun! Not a lot to report this week unfortunately, but I hope you all enjoy some of the pictures. All the missionaries out there reading this... it's ok. We all know we only look at the pictures. (Sorry fam - they have been a little weak recently.)
Carved watermelon from a member at church...DOPE!
The Work:
Something I want to focus on this week is the youth in the church. First of all, we probably have as many youth in Roi Et as a Utah ward... I am serious people - the young men here... they are awesome. We taught them the word "brotherhood" in English, and whenever one of them makes a basket during basketball or someone says something funny, they all start chanting in a Thai accent, "Brotha huud...Brotha huud..." over and over again. Hahahahhahaha we think it is hilarious. The work is going great. We have a great bishop who supports the missionaries, and we are learning how to work together. His name is Suttabe (สุเทพ) which means "awesome angel"... and he sure is. It is way fun to work with him. Also...he wore a skinny tie to church this week, and the tie design was a "galaxy theme"... way sick!
Elder Khanakam from the Quorum of the Seventy came to visit. Great guy!
The Culture:
1. Common treat: Mango - all shapes and sizes - all times of the year... a la carte... all seasons, sour, unripe, sweet, sticky... delicious.
2. Everyone wears crocs... you go into the hospital... they all wear crocs there too.
3. No one exercises in the morning outside.... they do it inside their house or in the fields or at the park.
4. Everyone is Buddhist... except the Mormons :)
The Funnies:
So sorry. Can’t think of anything this week. I guess my companion is just a goober. He is way funny man. I LOVE Elder Smith!
Wet!
Tropic thunder -
Oh yeah...flooded everywhere last night.
Ponderizing very deeply but actually posing...hahaha.
There once was a lady who lived in a shoe...
We cleaned this house of an old lady and found 2 rats (alive - we haven't killed them yet but we did get bats...), 1 gecko and lots of little jinkjoke lizards, 343 coackroches that we killed with our tap dancing feet...and we cleared the whole first floor in only 3 hours....
Spiritual thought:
I was reading in the Old Testament in Daniel today, and I thought I would share something with you all...
16 “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
I am sorry I can’t take more time in giving you the background, but these three men are told to worship an idol, and they tell the king they won’t do it. In fact, the clause they use is, "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter"... it implies boldness, power, and confidence. Not only did they stand up for what they believed in, but in the next verse they testify of the divinity of their God, who stands over all other gods and idols.
Believe it or not, there are many idols here in Thailand. I see them every day. It is such a gift to introduce the one God, the all powerful God, and the God that can save us from our sins. He is real. He changes lives. For people who have never known him and for people who have known him for years...he is there to help guide us back home.
May we be more bold in professing our love for our God. May we be more bold is saying no. I hope we can be more bold in giving credit to the being who makes all things possible, our Heavenly Father. That is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I love you all and hope your week is full of trials... for in trials we grow. Enjoy the fiery furnace and endure it well for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you (Joshua 3:5).
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Love the Lord and Laugh,
เอ็ลเดอร์ สมีธ-ดริกส์
Elder Smith-Driggs
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