Sawadii jow! (Up here in the north they say jow instead of khaa)
Happy Halloween! (They don't really celebrate but we have plans to make the day festive, don't worry. I plan on eating some pumpkin, you can get it everywhere.)
So I am officially serving in Chiang Mai for the time being. Not sure how long though. Could be a few more days or the rest of the transfer (which just started). We don't really know but it sounds like Saphaan Sung isn't out of trouble just yet so we're thinking at least a week or so longer. I flew on the Royal Thai Airline Dad, I thought you'd like to know :) I was surprised they flew us up in a 747, seemed kind of big for incountry but go-die (sure). Sis. Naegle and Sis. Sorge but when Sis. Naegle and I saw each other we just burst out laughing. We both cry really easily when we laugh so we were looking pretty ridiculous. This whole thing has been ridiculous but quite the adventure. From Tuesday to Thursday we went on switch-offs. Sis. Naegle took me around to teach members and formers that she taught when she was here last year. Sis. Yinn and Sis. Sorge went and taught the regular investigators.
Chiang Mai itself is pretty great. The variety of food choices is awesome! We had way good falafel and baklavah the other day at an Israeli restaurant, there's Mexican, Steakhouses, and you can even buy real cheese at a reasonable price. This also means there is real milk. That is what I asked for for my birthday. Surprised? The ward here is really big. It has boomed in the last year or so with about 53 baptisms, that's a lot in Thailand :) In Saphaan Suung we have about 60 or so members. Here they have around 150. They are planning on splitting into wards within the next 6 months. It's been cool to jump into teaching with new companions and also start with all new investigators. Not always easy but they have a lot of awesome investigators here as well. I do miss everyone in Saphaan Suung. Some of the people we didn't get a chance to tell we were leaving have been calling and checking up on us. The Elders are trying to keep track of the investigators in all 3 areas over there.
I got to meet Sis. Naegle's parents, we've eaten with them a few times, they're way fun. I also met this random couple from back home. The guy served here like five years ago and he knows Danielle's (my roommate) husband because he served with him in a few areas. His wife went to school at Brighton and knows Kortni. She told me she facebooked Kort and gave me a hug from her haha.
From the lessons we've taught this week I've realized how much RCLA (recent convert, less active) fellowshipping is. Because they were trying to use Sis. Naegle we taught an unusually large amount of RCLA lessons. I think it was 7. Our goal in Saphaan Suung was one and we didn't always meet it. My definition for someone less-active has also changed. I don't think I ever realized how many people are less active before the mission. Even at BYU. When we aren't following the commandments we are losing activity. This includes reading the scriptures every day, praying every day, going to church every week, fulfilling our callings. I definitely have missed days of reading my scriptures and forgotten to pray and most of us have those days. As long as we repent (an every day activity as well) and get back on track the things that most affect activity are going to church and fulfilling callings. I realize I had many friends that are great people, with strong testimonies that are very faithful and believe they are strong members of the church. They are, but they'd be fine with missing church every few weeks, no big deal. I've missed for no good reason myself. But when that becomes a habit, I can promise you that you gradually lose the Spirit more and more. You don't notice it until you reflect back. When we don't go to church we miss out on renewing our baptismal covenant, in becoming clean every week. I've grown to understand the importance of covenants and especially baptismal covenants, so much more here. It's a huge deal! When we don't go to church we aren't keeping our promise to build the Kingdom of God. Church is where we fulfill our calling it is where we fellowship others and support each other. I don't know, right now, I have such strong feelings about taking church for granted. Here, Sunday is nothing, I think I've said that before. It is one of the biggest sacrifices people make to join the church here. As a missionary you see how important each members commitment to come to church is. How if there weren't those members that were consistant and faithful in being there every week, this work would fall apart. The church would fall apart. We aren't obeying the commandments if we let other people hold it together. If those who were less active were reactivated and became those consistant, strong members, think about how much faster this work would move, how much stronger every member would be, how much more faith we could have in other people.
Okay, sorry for my rant. Not what I had planned on emailing about and not trying to condemn anyone here. Thank you Mom and Dad for being perfect examples of consistancy in going to church and fulfilling your callings. I didn't realize how much it affects the entire church. It was something expected of me my whole life so I can happily say that is one thing I've pretty consistantly done. I appreciate it more now then ever before.
Love you all!
Sister King
No comments:
Post a Comment