The Faces I See...

Hello my dearest familia (not forgetting Spanish yet)! The majority of my mission is interaction with other people... so today I have decided to send a ton of pictures of people I see... nearly every day. 

Also - HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DAD. 

10 things that I like to use to describe my father, Ben Driggs: 

- Interpretive Dancer 

- Chef 

- Entrepreneur 

- Good dresser 

- Model 

- Board game junkie 

- Critical thinker 

- Mathematician 

- Comedian 

- Home teacher

I love you Dad - Happy father’s day!!

The Work:

This week was really rough as far as the numbers go. We didn't get a single member present investigator lesson. But we DID have the opportunity to visit a lot of Less Active members, which was awesome, and we actually got a couple of referrals out of that, so great! Our capacity for love was expanded, our love for our Heavenly Father grew, and our prayers became more sincere and more urgent... as far as I am concerned - this week was amazing and helped me grow a lot. I love my companion Elder Young - he is a spiritual ROCK, and it has been tremendously encouraging to work with him as we grow together in teaching and personal conversion. 

I love Elder Young. He is so smart, and he has such great insights. We tried so hard to see what we were lacking this week. Honestly missionary work, as I have alluded to before, is most of the time hard work. As Elder Smith’s dad always said - "Action is what creates the result.. always has been, always will be." I believe in that principle! SO Elder Young and I did our best to just go and work this week! It was exhausting, and I just crashed every night... mentally and emotionally exhausting. Lots of tears.... this week was just awesome! 

The Culture:

People do dishes here in big buckets of water. There will be an average of 3-4 bins of water. You wash the dishes in the first one, dunk them in the second one which is soapy, wash them with your hand in the third bucket with the semi-clean water…then give them a rinse in the 4th bucket. (That is the hi-tech way of doing it).. most people have just 2 buckets. Yay. 

The Funnies:

- Brother ปอ calls me in to a meeting and says, "Elder, I saw your family dancing in London! They are so funny. I want to meet them! Is that your dad dancing like a funny dude?".... I was like - yes.. yes it is.. he is the MAN. All of the missionaries saw it in the district along with some other members. They thought you were so funny Dad hahahahaah

(If you want to see the hilarious dance video my mom posted about my dad for Father's Day, go to my Facebook page - Abraham Smith-Driggs - and look at a public post my mom put on my page on June 10. Feel free to share it if you want fun dads you know on Facebook to see it and to feel inspired to be their silly, crazy selves with their kids.)

- Elder Young keeps a count of how many mangoes he eats on his mission. He has only been in Thailand for about 4 months, and he has already eaten 140! 

Spiritual thought:

I am so grateful for tender mercies. I was feeling a little down this week, and after English class on Tuesday night I was just done. It had been a way long day, and my body was exhausted and we were discouraged... it was 8 pm and we were going to go invite cause we had no appointments. We get out of English class, and I get a call from Brother ปอ. He says "Hey elder. I just left some hamburgers on your bicycles... I hope you have a good day!". I almost cried as I went to my bicycle... where two KFC chicken burgers were waiting there. I said a prayer of thanks, sat down in the middle of a park with Elder Young - and we ate our burgers and talked about how discouraged we were for Thailand. But that there was always hope. It was a tender moment. What a tender mercy from the lord. Brother ปอ (Baugh) was just being a nice guy and leaving us burgers (which are expensive BTW)... and it gave us the strength to get through the rest of the week. I am so grateful for these tender mercies and would challenge you all to look for the little things in your days that make your life better. As we hold on to those little things, we can make it through with confidence that God will keep providing for our needs.... sometimes we just need a burger to keep us going. Thanks Brother ปอ. 

I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers for me. I can feel them. When I feel like I can’t go anymore, I pray for help and can literally feel the power of all of your prayers. Thank you. Thank you so much! 

I love you Dad - HAPPY FATHER’S DAY.

-- 

Love the Lord and Laugh, 

เอ็ลเดอร์ สมีธ-ดริกส์

Elder Smith-Driggs