HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND BEGINNING OF DECEMBER!!!!!! Not sure how we got here, but apparently it's the last month of this year. Okay. Just take a deep breath and try not to freak out!
So here's the news on àºÃÕéÂÇ: We got a hold of her on Monday and she was PERFECTLY fine. We always freak out over her when we always know that she'll be OK. haha Anyway, we met with her and she even helped us teach some investigators! She came to a District Meeting with some other recent converts to explain why she decided to be baptized and what her conversion was like. This is what she said: "I would always see these white people talking to people at the market and I couldn't tell if they were crazy or not. But one night the sisters talked to me and I followed them to the church." Then Elder Barfuss asked: "Why did you decide to follow them?" She said: "Their smiles. They looked like they were happy and I wanted that." Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! She was scheduled to get the Holy Ghost on Sunday, until we called her on Friday and she was like, "Sisters! I'm not in Bangkok! I'm on my way to Chiang Rai (wayyyyyyyyyyy up in the North of Thailand) for work! I won't be back until Monday!" WHAT. That's when we started freaking out again. So we got permission to have her be confirmed in Chiang Rai. We called the Chiang Mai Zone Leaders and got it all set up. So then on Saturday we called her to tell her the plan and she said: "sisters! I won't be in Chiang Rai on Sunday! We're actually moving to Nong Khai on Sunday!" WHAAAT. So then we had to call the Chiang Mai Elders AGAIN and were like, "Hey... can we cancel that order for the Holy Ghost up in Chiang Rai?" And had to call the Nong Khai Elders and tell them that they were getting a new RC on Sunday. @_@ So she has to wait another week to get confirmed. This girl will NOT let me rest in peace. On Sunday we fasted that she would settle into the Nong Khai branch alright and get confirmed. Ohhhh dearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
So our pirate has set sail.
I'm gonna miss that girl. :(
So now I'm going to jump into a really great story, but I have to set it up first. A couple English Classes ago a Pakistani couple came to our class. They were pretty obnoxious. haha They would answer all the questions before any one else could and were kind of overbearing. We were like, "sheesh who are these people?" We didn't think about them again until they showed up with their two daughters and son on Sunday for church! We'd just assumed that they were Muslims, but apparently they were Christian! So we all had to translate for them in all of the classes. The daughters are my age and they were SO sweet. It was such a pleasure to translate for them. They told me that their family are refugees from Pakistan because the fundamentalist Muslims were trying to kill them for being Christian. :O So we didn't see them again until the next English class when the dad came and was like, "Sisters. We want to have you over for lunch. My daughters, they too much like you."haha Soooo cute! So the next day we took a taxi to their apartment.
We could tell that this was a rich family, so we were a little surprised to find that they lived in a pretty dumpy apartment complex. And this is why: their WHOLE family is here. EVERY ONE. They have an entire floor of the apartment building rented out for their whole extended family. There's like, 30+ of them. They were SO good to us! They treated us like guests of honor and fed us amazing Pakistani food. I encourage you to find Pakistani food as soon as possible. It is amazing. They wouldn't eat with us.... so we ate while they all watched....it was pretty awkward. haha And they kept piling food on our plates. Hahahahha We ate so much. I thought I was gonna die. The dad told us his story: in Pakistan he was an attorney for Christian people. In Pakistan there is a law called the Blasphemy Law. It means that anyone who strays from fundamental islam can be killed. So there's a lot of persecution in Pakistan, and he was a big proponent for the repeal of the blasphemy law. He pulled out all of these news clippings of him and all the protests that he led. One day as he was leaving his office he was shoved into a van. He said he was hanged and tortured for 3 days,and when they were done they just dumped him on the side of the road and left him for dead. Some one found him and he recovered in the hospital for 7 weeks. After that he took his whole family and fled to Thailand. They're here until their visas run out and then they have to go somewhere else.... who knows where!
The dad said at one point, "Pakistani Christians are the strongest Christians." I have to say that I don't disagree. That's NUTS. His family has such amazing faith. They told us that they really like the "mormon church" and ever since coming to our church they've quit drinking tea and coffee because they know we don't do it. Amazing, right? So after the meal, we shared the message of the Restoration with them. They laid out a mat for us to sit on (our "stage"), and then laid mats in front of us and gathered the WHOLE family into that tiny room. So basically we were sitting before 30 of the most beautiful people I've ever seen waiting to hear us teach about the Book of Mormon. It was amazing. They gave us pillows to place our scriptures on, because they give respect to them by putting them on high places, and all the women wore head scarves 'cause they wear them to worship.
That was the first time I'd ever taught the Restoration in English. It was simple, because the dad had to translate every few sentences into Urdu, but man, it was POWERFUL. There is nothing like testifying in your own language. It was an amazing experience.
Unfortunately I don't think we can keep teaching them because they're refugees, but maybe someday when they've settled somewhere and it's all worked out they can get baptized. I love that family SO MUCH. I just can't even tell you how much they inspire me. I'm so grateul that I've had this opportunity to get to know them.
We've found a few new investigators who are all excited to be baptized! They all have to wait until after the 15th, though. :( Sad day. One girl has to wait for February because she's 14 and kids have to come to church for 3 months before they can get baptized.
For Thanksgiving we went to Brother Dominique and Sister Becky's house with all the Elders. There was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and a cheeseball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They got it all from this big American restaurant in Bangkok. It does a Cajun-ey twist on American food and it was sooooooooooooooo good! I got full really fast, though. I forgot that American food is more filling than Thai food. haha I had an excellent Thanksgiving!
This year I'm grateful for my family, even though I can't be with them right now. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to serve in Thailand and especially for the opportunity to serve ÊоҹÊÙ§, which has taught me SO much! I've grown a lot as a missionary since coming here. I'm grateful for President and Sister Senior and all that they do for Thailand. In November we had a big push to get the mission unified by having every companionship get one baptism each. We normally get 30-40 baptisms each month, and there are around 80 companionships. We were expecting 80 baptisms, but we got 109. That was amazing. The Lords work is picking up in Thailand! Amazing things are happening.
But most of all I'm grateful for Jesus Christ, and His atoning sacrifice. I've seen His grace and mercy change my family and many, many people here in Thailand. It's amazing!
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was awesome!
Sis Zaugg
No comments:
Post a Comment