Week 97: Chocolate Cake and Sister Frog

It was kind of a rough week this week. A lot of appointments falling through, which is annoying. But that happens.

One neat thing that happened was meeting Sister Gope (which means "frog." I'm not sure how one gets named Frog, but that is her name). One night Elder Brown and I ended up with about half an hour left in the day before curfew. We decided that we'd go contacting real quick before the day was over. We walked down darkened streets and talked to a few people before deciding to head back home. With time getting short, we passed by a few women standing outside and invited them. One of them surprised us by talking about the Book of Mormon. As we talked more, we found out that she was actually an inactive member who'd been baptized many years ago. We got her number and were able to meet her this week.

She told us that she met the elders about 10 years ago and learned about the gospel. She loved it and got baptized. Then she got sick and had to go to Chiang Mai for treatment. She came back to Bangkok but didn't ever go back to church. I told her that I believed that it was more than coincidence that we met that evening last week, and she told me that she agreed. She told us that that night as she was standing there talking with her friends, she had the thought that the elders were coming. She told her friends that, and they asked who the elders were. She told them to wait and see. Sure enough, within a few minutes we turned the corner and started talking to them. It's crazy to me; after no contact with the church for years we ran into this woman and were able to meet with her and I feel like we were led. She came to church yesterday and was able to re-unite with some of the older members.

It's also an insight into how the Holy Ghost functions; there was no flash of inspiration telling us that we needed to turn down a certain street, we had no idea what was in store as we headed out that night. But God lead us to a lost soul who was ready to come back. Sometimes guidance from God comes almost imperceptibly, but it does come.

This morning we microwaved another birthday cake for Sister Ferai-ngarahd. Topped with sweetened condensed milk, because we didn't have any frosting. And a candle typically used in Buddhist ceremonies. Haha, it was awesome. They were way freaked out when we knocked on their apartment door and it took two minutes before they worked up the nerve to answer the door a full inch.

That's all I've got this week!

Elder Parish

1-2. Someone attempting to lock up their bike. I'm not really sure what was going on here. 

3. Elder Brown in action.


4. Microwave cake!

5. So I heard it rained in Utah...