Hello Family that I love!
This week was fabulous.
We found a superb family. We met some more mountain tribe people.
We also scored pink vests for free. Yeah buddy.
Earlier this week we set up a
table out front of a nearby college. We passed out pass along cards to
students as they walked by. E. Campbell, E. Angkham, E. Barfuss and I all
went. It was way fun. E. Angkham (he's from Laos) was yelling
gospel truths in English. It was hilarious. We were pretty
bold. There was a taxi truck (mini-bus truck?) waiting at the red light
full of people. I jumped on the back step and asked them all if they knew
who Jesus was as I passed out pass along cards. They all stared at
me. Then the light turned green so I hopped off before it drove
away. Nutshell: for 2 hours we went hard in front of the college.
The most humorous part was when we encountered this angry black man. He
surprise attacked me from above. I had just finished talking to someone
and turned back to the table to see this pudgy black man demanding that I
explain the word mammon. I told him it means riches or worldly things or
something like that. He then told me to go home look up the word and come
back tomorrow and we'll talk about it. Thinking that he was confusing
mammon with Mormon I explained that Mormon is a name of a person. Then he
exploded. He started telling me that he believes in Christ, the Christ that
atoned for the sins of the world, that was crucified on Calvary, that is the
Son of God. I was confused. Did he think I didn't believe
all those things? So I ageed with him. Then he told me we needed to
have a Bible on our table so we could open it and prove what we taught. I
tried to show him how the pamphlets have scriptures in them but he wasn't
listening so I agreed with him again. I think he finally realized that we
weren't there to debate the divinity of Christ and started asking me where I
was from. Soon after he left. It was the most bizarre thing
ever. At first he was mega confrontational, but he was contending with me
about truths that I believed in as well. Then he flipped. He
started joking with me about Las Vegas. Then he left. Nutshell: He
must have some strange ideas about what we believe.
Free Stuff: This week E.
Campbell and I went to visit the police station. I had seen the
motorcycle taxi men wearing these spiffy pink vests. I wanted one.
So I asked some of them where I could buy one. They answered that the
police station was handing them out for free. Oh baby. I'm all over
free stuff. So a couple days later we went to the police station hoping
to score some sweet threads. Well they were out. Bummed I told them
about the free english program. The head honcho was really interested and
planned on taking his daughter. Then he asks why we want the mototaxi
vests. Glimmer of Hope. I tell him that I want to look fly when I
drive my scooter back in America. Then he goes to his desk and pulls out
2 vests from his secret stash! Victory. He then tells us to hide
them in our bags because they told everyone they ran out days ago.
To help the branch get pumped
on missionary work we planned a Dan Jones activity at the market next to the church.
We made some jumbo signs that invited everyone to come to church with us the
following day. We had about 10-15 members that came and helped us pass
out cards and invite people to church. It was sweet. None of the
people that we invited actually came but it helped the branch participate in
missionary work.
Sunday, E. Campbell and I went
to visit the mountain tribe people we are teaching. Their 5 friends came
and listened too. It was wicked! The problem was that most of them
spoke Thai very poorly and couldn't understand the Burmese pamphlets that we
got. There are 2 of them that understand Thai and Burmese pretty well so
we are just going to use them as translators for the rest of the tribe.
We tried to explain about God and Jesus and how they were different people (I
think that part made it past the language barrier), and about baptism (maybe
not so much was understood). We were using pictures, pointing to objects,
trying everything to get them to understand. It was rough business but
they are very happy people and fun to be around. If only we could talk to
them...
As we left their house we met
another burmese family that was interested and two more mountain tribe kids that
wanted to learn. Nuts, we might as well open a branch out there in
Burmese.
Weekly Study thoughts: Pride
starts us on the road to inactivity. We met a inactive man this week that
was so prideful. He was so proud of the things he had learned about
religions and what he thought was truth. Pride is not found in Heaven.
Reading the new Liahona and Helaman 11-12 helped me realize that Gratitude is
how we fight pride off. It is when we stop saying thanks to our Heavenly
Father that we start forgetting him. If we are continually grateful, then
we are continually humble and humility leads to obedience which leads to
salvation. Step One: Say thanks.
Well I love you family...a lot.
elder m. riley creer
the only
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