Week 33: Street Dogs and Teaching Sauce

We baptized Sister Mii yeserday (at the same time most of you were watching fireworks!). She's been an investigator for months now, and has finally made it to baptism. The turning point in her investigation was when she started really reading the scriptures and praying every day. She looked great on Sunday, and I'm very excited for her.

I've learned some good things coming into this area. One of those things is about the street dogs. There are street dogs all over the place, and if they bite you you have to go to the hospital to get rabies shots, which is like a three-week process and not any fun. The dogs love chasing after people on bikes or motorcycles. It was kind of terrifying to have big dirty dogs chasing me down, nipping at my feet. Especially because the faster I flee, the harder they pursue. But I learned that--counter-intuitively--all we have to do is slam on the brakes and they go running off with their tail between their legs. Stupid dogs.

While inviting one day, I talked to a young man who was smoking, so I asked him if he wanted to quit. He said that he did, and we sat and talked for a bit. It turns out that he was Christian already, but hadn't been to church in a long time. He said his name was Sauce (except with a Thai accent it sounds more like "Sod"), and we've been teaching him for a few weeks now. It's not all the time that we get to meet street contacts again, but he came and was willing to learn. He smokes, works a Starbucks, and lives with his girlfriend. He has a sincere desire to follow God, but isn't sure that this is the way to do it. In our last lesson with him, we decided not to introduce anything new, and just address concerns. That made it tough to plan, but I had him in mind while doing personal study. We began teaching with a vague plan of how things were going to play out, but not really sure. It ended up being a great lesson that was led by the spirit. My studies in the morning ended up going right along with what he needed to hear, and I could see that he felt something. I have a lot of hope for him.

I've been working with a less-active member Ann for the past few weeks. She hasn't been able to meet with us, so we just talk over the phone. When I first called her, she was really sarcastic and not willing to change anything. She's made some great progress, and recently told me about how she feels bad about not going to church, but doesn't feel welcome or ready to go back. She was grateful for the calls.

I called another less-active member Gae last night. We read on her record that she really liked scriptures about charity, so I shared Moroni 7:47-48 with her. She said that was her favorite scripture (what a crazy random happenstance!) and she really opened up. She was very happy that I called, and said she was open to meet with us this week.

I was surprised that these less active members answered the phone, much less listened and in turn were edified by the gospel. The word is powerful, and touches people.

Elder Parish

1-2. Sister Mii's baptism. And most of the active branch.











I went and toured another wat.


















Another two holes in my tire. One couldn't be patched, and led to buying an entirely new tube.