Week 66: That's two thirds!

This week...this week we contacted a few new people, dropped some more, had some good lessons, had some bad lessons.

The most satisfying was when we finally got to meet with Chaad's family again. I'd been concerned that they didn't want us back so they kept making excuses why they couldn't meet, but it turns out that they're still interested in learning and progressing; there have just been a lot of things going on. So that was a huge relief for me. Before following up on their reading of Alma 32, we asked them why they have faith in the things we've taught. Brother Chaad responded "สัมผัสได้" or "I can feel it." That was so good to hear, and to see them beginning to recognize the spirit. We moved their date to March 13th. There are going to be challenges, but they can make it!

We also met with Brother Song's family for the third time. They're already Christian. Last Sunday he asked his preacher about the Book of Mormon, and got a little scared, so we had to do a sort of damage control. I think he was worried that we wanted him to stop reading the bible and read the Book of Mormon instead. By the end of the lesson, he assured us that both records and churches were good and true. I never thought I'd have an investigator that believed so completely in the Book of Mormon but not the restored church. It's part of the Thai culture that "every religion teaches you to be good" --80% of the people we talk to. My whole life, it's always been a question of "which religion is true, and how can we know?" and I was a bit unprepared to encounter "Every religion is good and true, so there's no reason to change anything." The idea that there's ultimate truth is kind of lost on most people, and somewhat difficult to convey. But, the work goes forward.

While sitting at a stoplight, I invited some guy and gave him a pass-along card. Later down the street, he had pulled off and waved us over and invited us to his house. That never happens. We were on the way to another appointment, so we just dropped by and asked to come back later, which he was excited about. He might be a little crazy, so we'll see how that goes!

I hope you all are doing well. I'm doing pretty well, and am really happy to be with Elder Cheney.

Until next week!
Elder Parish

1. There were some questions:
The woman's name is "ปู" which is pronounced as "Boo," but incorrectly and unfortunately Romanized as "Poo."

2. We biked up into the mountains to teach an investigator in his village. We were disrupting some major flow. These kids loved us and were excited to receive their own pass along cards.

1. The water at our house turned brown for a day. Not sure why.

2. Bet you've never seen this on a McDonald's menu: Mcนำ้ตก (a Thai dish).