This week was great! First off..... we got BALANCED KEY INDICATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the first time since Sis Reedy left!!!!! It felt soooooooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooooood! Like, it's nice to achieve the "numbers" but it's nicer that those numbers reflect how we're helping people come unto Christ 'cause balanced numbers means there were two investigators at church, two investigators preparing for baptism and a lot of other things. My purpose as a missionary is to bring others to Christ, and it just feels so great when I'm fulfilling my purpose. :)
So probably the craziest thing right now is that this is the last week of this transfer. Transfers is next week! I'm not sure when or how that happened, but my 'lil Sis Downs is almost all growed up! I feel like my first 9 weeks in field was wayyyyy longer, but maybe this was how Sis Reedy felt... I'm really not sure what's gonna happen at transfers. My zone leaders are like, 90% positive that I'm moving, but I dunno! There's a definite possibly that I could stay in Don Muang longer. I try not to think about it... 'cause it isn't really relevant. I try to always remember President Uchtdorf's talk about not waiting to be happy:
"We shouldn’t wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available—all the time! Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect. “This is the day which the Lord hath made … ,” the Psalmist wrote. “Rejoice and be glad in it.”6
Brothers and sisters, no matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something in each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it."
Lately I've been really enjoying spending time serving with the members of my branch. I've really learned to love these people SO much as I've taken them teaching, taught them, and found ways to serve them. It's ABSOLUTE truth that the best cure for feeling down is to serve others.
Sometime during last week we had zone training! The focus was on our decision to take the Lord's work seriously and to never waste a minute, because right now this is His time, not ours. The people we serve here will face judgement someday.... but so are we!! At first I was getting kinda freaked out and I was like, "oooooOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" But then I realized that I don't have to be scared 'cause I'm already taking this seriously and I'm always striving to be better. The Lord knows my weaknesses, too, and that's what the Atonement is for. What really struck me the most in that meeting was when they started talking about "inflection points", which I guess is fancy math language for a certain point that a line that's moving in a certain direction must choose which direction it's going to change: up, or down. Right now in my mission I feel like I'm at an inflection point. I feel like pretty much my whole mission I've been struggling with self-criticism, little to no success, and fear. It's been hard to have faith that things will get better when they really never have. And now I'm at the point where I have to decide: am I gonna keep letting my faith dissipate and give up in the end and fall, or am I going to choose to walk with faith and rise above the challenges I face every day? I decided to choose the latter. I'm not sure when or how things will change, I just know that they will. That's the great thing about faith. haha
Ammon's story in the Book of Mormon has really bolstered me up lately. When he and his brethren went to teach the Lamanites they didn't really have any success at first..... In fact it was kinda miserable for them. They were spit on, cast out, stoned and thrown into prison. Eventually they were thinking about turning back, but they had their own inflection point when the Lord commanded them to go back and teach. So they did! They didn't know what was gonna happen or how things would turn out, but they chose one day to have faith in God and keep going. They knew that the Lord didn't call them to fail.
27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about toaturn back, behold, the Lord bcomforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with cpatience thinedafflictions, and I will give unto you success.
28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.
29 And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their asynagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been bstoned, and taken and bound with cstrong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again.
30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our ajoy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.
I don't know who I'll help on my mission. Maybe my only convert will be myself, and that's kinda the attitude that Ammon and his brethren had in the beginning. In the end they converted almost the entire Lamanite nation, which is SO COOL! I don't think that I'll convert all of Don Muang. haha But this story still helps me feel that I still have time to see success in my mission. Granted.... I don't know what kind of success, but it gives me hope. :)
OK Sorry that I just wrote a talk..... moving on.
We've had some cool experiences contacting after that zone training. One day we had an hour to go contacting and felt that we needed to go to the giant park that we used to teach a former investigator at. The weather was sooooo nice, but the only people that were there were creepy guys fishing..... But we decided to walk about the giant pond anyway. haha After a while we were pretty reisnged to the fact that there was just no one that we felt safe talking to, until we crossed a bridge that one random lady was hanging out on. We nonchalantly just stood next to her and pretended to watch the kids below trying to fish with really long branches that they'd fashioned some string to. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact and it was kinda awkward but we were like, "We haven't talked to ANYONE so we gotta at least try." I ended up making conversion about fishing.... I don't know how because I've never studied fishing vocabulary before... She was actually pretty friendly! At the end I was reaching to grab a picture of christ to give to her and I noticed that Sis Downs already had one in her hand. It was a picture of Christ being baptized- one that we neeever use. I was like, "uhhhhhh oook!" Luckily we were at a pond so we we kind of related the picture to that. But weird enough she was interested and we taught her about baptism and she said she wanted to learn more! Crazy!
Yesterday we were waiting outside of a giant apartment complex for some members to show up so we could visit some less active members. This homeless guy came up to us and started speaking perfect English. Apparently he'd worked in America for 26 years as a plane technician until the company was forced to close and he lost his job. Things started to get sketchy when he started to swear a ton and demanded that we name the 10 commandments. We were like, "uhhh... we have to go" and then he gave us his card which was a note card that he'd written on. He said he's a consultant for everything in the world, only he used more colorful language. haha So we got out of there pretty speedily and ended up sitting next to a girl smoking on a bench. I was about to start a conversation with her when her mom came over and started talking to me! They said they'd be interested in learning and made us check out their coffee shop which is ADORABLE. It's like... a real restaurant! You never see those in Thailand. We got a return appointment for tomorrow and we're gonna teach them and they're gonna feed us hot chocolate and pizza. YEahhhhhhhhhhhh :D
In Thailand we have to wait a whole week to watch conference so that they can translate, so I still haven't seen it! I can't wait! They actually have a problem getting members to watch conference here, which is so sad!! I love conference.
Love y'all!
Sis Zaugg
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