Week 41: Mushrooms and Improbable Circumstance

This was a good week. We've been working with less-active members, and did get a new investigator (and a half?). Less-active lessons are often a little dicey. They know they're supposed to be going to church, and typically don't like the elders telling them that they should be going. It make them hard to meet with, but we've found some success this week. As I've mentioned, it's a bit tough to plan lessons for them because we often don't know why they stopped coming to church, and what they most need to hear. The general strategy we've been employing is sitting down and talking about how they felt when they were learning about the gospel and the feelings and changes that occurred when they were keeping all of God's commandments. Almost unfailingly, they remember about how things went alright, and they were generally happier. Discernible light comes back into their eyes. Then we read some applicable scriptures and commit them to start reading again. An interesting note is that most people keep praying, even if they don't do anything else.

We got a call from an investigator (he's been an investigator for almost a year, and hasn't really progressed from where he is now) earlier this week. He asked if we could meet with him. Usually he's pretty hard to meet with because he works a lot, so we were pleased to go meet with him. He's about 35 and has really bad eyesight, so that's a challenge for him. His wife, who is a member, recently ran away with another man, and he was very distressed about it--as well he should be. He wanted to know what to do about it. I was a little nervous, because that kind of stuff is outside of our role as missionaries; we're not supposed to counsel members on personal issues. We told him that we couldn't tell him what to do, but we could help him feel better about things. We proceeded to read Alma 38:4-5, and the story of Limhi's captivity and how God didn't take their burdens away, but made the people strong enough to bear them. We talked about how this trial might not just disappear, but God could help him bear it. The spirit was very strong, and he said he felt much better. I felt like the discussion was guided. At one point, I was moving along a train of thought, and realized that I didn't know the word I wanted to say next. As I started trying to think of a way around it, the word slipped out of my mouth. It was a word I'd written down a long time ago, but hadn't really committed to memory. I feel like that was something brought to my remembrance.

We contacted our new investigator, Kemtong (which is a type of mushroom), on the street last week. She was selling cakes on the side of the street, and she was one of the ones I didn't expect to see again. Man, she is a fireball. But a righteous fireball, so that's good. She loved the lesson (lesson 3 on faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end), and boldly participated. She asked questions that led to us teaching the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity in the first lesson as well. She also brought her granddaughter, who's 10-ish. Kemtong really liked the idea of repentance. She told us that years ago, she drove a relative to the hospital, not knowing that this person was going to get an abortion. She said that that event is the biggest mar in her life, and she has felt bad about it every day since. We talked about how she doesn't have to feel bad about it, and that she can be forgiven. I have a lot of hope for her.

Something I've begun to appreciate more about the gospel is the versatility or applicability of it all. Over and over again, with investigators, recent converts, and less-active members, we're using the gospel to solve problems. I realized that we keep doing that. We meet with someone, they have a problem, and we use principles of the gospel to address it. Just about every time, they walk away feeling uplifted, comforted, and grateful they came. It works. I've realized that at no point in my life have I ever regretted following principles of the gospel.

That was most of this past week. Thank you all for your love and support!

Elder Parish

1. I talked about teaching a Thai kid basic Algebra some months ago. Then he left for Florida in the U.S.A. Somehow, he and my friend serving in Oklahoma met. I never expected these people to be in the same photo. Man, that's nuts.

2. So this guy is awesome. He's 82, and has been a member for 5 months. We met at his house to teach him an after-baptism lesson. He was out working in his banana garden (you can't see it really well in this picture) when we drove up. He loves the gospel and the joy it brings in his life. He bike a couple kilometers to church every week.

The bulk section of Buriram. This woman sits, cuts, and sells pineapples all day.

Sometimes this is how we get around; a three-wheeled vehicle called a duk duk.