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This week was unbelievably packed! Let’s just get the awkward moment of the week out of the way. Monday night I got a call from the office elders who were putting in baptismal records and they said, "You are the one who taught Kanun, right?" "Yes...", "well it says here that she was born October 15th 2007…and she was baptized the 5th of September. That would make her 7 when she got baptized." I started freaking out a little because her mom told me at least 10 times that she was 9 years old. I guess I forgot that people here don't really remember ages or birthdays. So we are going to have to baptize her again. Whoops.
We had the most break through lesson with Sister Pat. The other day I asked her who Jesus Christ was. She said she didn't know anything except that he is the savior. I asked her what that means and she said, "Honestly, I don't know." After that discussion I was so upset because I swear we taught her about him at least 10 times! I reminded myself that it took me 19 years to get to my understanding of the gospel. So as we sat down with her again, the first thing she said was, "I get it. When we pray, God will answer our prayers but maybe not in the way we thought he would answer it." She then explained some beautiful experiences she had with prayer. Since we were on such a high note we decided to watch, “Finding Faith in Christ”. By the end of it she was in tears. I asked her, "What does Jesus Christ, our savior, mean to you?" Her answer literally brought tears to my eyes. She said, “I know that Jesus Christ took on all my mistakes and pains and afflictions so that he can comfort me and save me from my sins." After she said this we all just sat there feeling overcome by the spirit. She was crying because she finally understood what her “savior” meant and I was crying because SHE finally understood what her “savior” meant.
On Monday we went to the white Buddhist wat in the mountains which happened to be 2000 stairs straight up. I could hardly walk for 2 day after that. It was way fun though!! Wednesday and Thursday I was traveling to and in Bangkok with Sister Nethercott to renew our visas. All the missionaries we saw just couldn't stop reminding us of what was happening in the next couple weeks. It was good to see everyone.
On Friday we went and visited the children- Waa and Tacktie who live 2 hours away. We brought the Elders with us to interview them. We played with Kway in the water, and had fun little bike races. It’s always so cute when they say, "Sister... are you going to come back next week?" They planned to get baptized this Sunday but Brother Sombat, their grandpa, told us that it is probably going to have to be the 8th because they have no money to get down to church this Sunday. The kids were crushed, but knew that sooner or later they would get baptized!
On Saturday the whole day was full of ward activities. In the morning/afternoon we had sports and they get really competitive here. It was literally war--Blue vs. Orange. Even the old ladies were getting into it! We played from 9:00 until 3:30. In the morning they had relay races and tug of war and in the afternoon they had sports. Near the end they were having a girls’ basketball game and everyone was dying laughing because I just stood by the basket and kept rebounding it over and over because I am so much taller than all of them. At about 5:00 we started getting ready for Halloween. In Thailand everyone thinks that for Halloween we dress up only as ghosts. So when I walked in as a cat they were all confused and asked, "What ghost are you...?" HAHA! We had a bunch of games planned--eating weird food and the game where you put your hand in the box and it’s creepy, slimy spaghetti for worms, etc. Thai people have a lot more courage than Americans do. The person in charge told us that our games were WAY too boring. So she brought eels and frogs and millions of worms for people to grab and also hundreds of bugs for them to eat. I was in shock that they just did it!!!!! Here's another shocker for you…I ate some crickets! It was a great Halloween.
I have realized there is honestly nothing better than the gospel, feeling God’s love and the Holy Ghost. The times I am teaching or learning about the gospel are the times I am truly the happiest. I have one more solid good work week in my area and I am going to "lift up my voice as with the sound of a trump, both long and loud…preparing the way of the Lord!" I'm going hard and strong and giving it my all! I am SPRINTING to that tape. Ready....set...go!!!!
Have a great week, love you all! I will be sending my last email next week! จุ๊บจุ๊บ :)
- Sister Herrmann
PS Watch this fun Thai video about working through problems to the end! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU
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