Hello Family.
The mtn tribe. They should get baptized next month (well at least 2 of
them). They still need to get married according to Thai law. But
they are doing well.
S. Ben's sister and family came
to church! Oh baby. They are doing well. The parents have
concerns about switching from buddhism but the daughters want to be
baptized. Last monday we had a pretty long lesson with them. Mak and
Marine (the daughters) told their parents they felt like buddhism doesn't count
as a real religion. The parents were a little shocked. I was
thinking, "Holler!" They brought up how the monks don't follow
any of the rules, how there are boxes to put your money in all over temples,
how buddhism is basically a business now. They brought up one monk who
owns jets and is loaded from all the money people donated (he fled to
America). Nutshell: the kids are disillusioned by the commercialism but
the parents are still clinging to tradition. Nuts, that sentence was
epic...look at me now.
The 13 year old: The
other elders are teaching him now. He came to English class and asked if
he could be baptized the following Sunday. He definitely has
desire. I explained how he needs to learn with the elders first. He
came to church again and is making friends.
The 1% taxi man: He never
showed up to his appointment and never answered his phone. I guess he
fits in with the other 99%? We'll pray we meet him again.
There is the update.
This week we had zone
conference. It was sweet. We learned about conversion. We
also learned exactly how many more Melchizedek Priesthood holders and baptisms
we need to get 4 stakes. It was a great 7 hours. Can you believe I
had a 7 hour meeting and said it was great? What the?!
Translation trainwreck: 29
White people came to church this Sunday. Holy wasabi! The problem:
we only have 5 headsets for the translation equipment. The solution: have
a missionary stand next to the pulpit and translate everything. E.
Campbell and E. Barfuss elected me to be the translator. Oh boy.
The 1st half of the meeting was a breeze; you know, just some announcements and
callings. The 2nd half was bad news bears. They started with
testimonies of a young man and a primary kid (both auxiliaries had big
activities this past week). The young man's testimony was ok. Not
too bumpy. The little girl's testimony, however, was encoded in
half-finished sentences and mumbles. I sputtered along, had some rough
patches, but made it through alive. Then the first speaker was up.
I saw in her hand a conference issue of the Liahona. My heart sank.
I was going to have to translate a conference talk...on the spot. To make
things worse it was Elder Holland. He speaks like an essay. 2
sentences in and I died. My brain refused to work. ADRIAN. B.
Ice (who works for the translation department) came to my rescue and translated
the rest of her talk. We switched off translating for the next 2
speakers. Oh how I love translating. It stresses the beans out of
me (totally just made that phrase up...feel free to use it).
I know that God lives. I
know He listens as we pray. I know He has given us prophets to lead and
guide us. Thomas S. Monson is that prophet.
Much Love
Elder M. Riley Creer
The Only
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