Week 71: That number's getting pretty high...

So it was incredible that we were able to find Jackie, that 42-year LA. He's been to church every Sunday since we found him. But back then, all the records were on paper and since then his record has disappeared. The senior missionary that taught him all those years ago did not actually baptize him, so we don't have witnesses of the actual ordinance. In short, he has to be re-baptized. We recently exhausted all trails to his record, so he doesn't know yet. But he's been worried about it, so I think it'll be good for him to be able to make that re-commitment.

A couple highlights this week...

We met with a couple that's been LA for 10 years or so, Boonlud and Laa. It was interesting to see, because Boonlud had been branch president, and they've been to the temple together. I believe that they initially went less active because of some drama in the branch. They decided to go back, but then they got mobbed by a gang and had to go to the hospital and couldn't make it to church. Then next time they decided to go back, Sister Laa got burned pretty badly from some hot oil, and they once again could not make it to church. In the end, they decided that they would stop trying to go to church for a year or so. Those two years became three, then four, then ten. They stopped reading and praying, and their faith and confidence in God disappeared. We'll continue trying to help them, but it was an example of how diligent we have to be with the small things. As soon as those slacken, faith and dedication follow. "Pray always, lest you enter into temptation and lose your reward."

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this: one day, my companion and I had a lot of free time. We moved through some neighborhoods, and met a family out in front of their house taking the stems off of peppers. We weren't doing a whole lot, so we decided to just try and serve them. They thought we were really cool, so they let us join. We just chatted and de-stemmed peppers for an hour or so, and didn't initially teach a whole lot. They let us stay for dinner, and the father told us how grateful he was to have genuine servants of God at his home. We left having made some good friends. They were pretty interested in English, so we went back a couple weeks later and gave them a flyer, and asked if we could go back and give him a Book of Mormon. He said we could. So, we went back and taught the Restoration, which he thought was great. We visited him again this week, planning to teach another lesson. They were out picking the stems off of peppers again though, so we just helped them out again. It's been a bit of a different approach for me, but it's been cool to just go out and help them, to be able to serve them regularly. He once again was very impressed, and very grateful to have true representatives of Jesus Christ over to his home. He told us that he couldn't go to church, but that he's reading the Book of Mormon every day. It'll be interesting to see where things go.

Chaad's family has been hard to get to; we actually haven't met them since teaching the Word of Wisdom. They're kind of in limbo right now, not really progressing, but not rejecting. We hope to be able to meet them this week, which I expect will be kind of a make-it-or-break-it lesson.

Until next week!
Elder Parish

I didn't take very many pictures this week...
We went and took pictures with tigers with President Johnson today though, which was pretty awesome.