Week #41

Hello!

Well, Thailand is doing good. I heard from a member that there was fighting between Cambodia and Thailand. Angkor Wat was built by the Thai's but is in Cambodian land. It is very old and a very famous wat. That is all that I know about it. This last week has been pretty good and this next week will be fun as well.

Monday: Just a normal preparation for the two of us here in Buriram. Went out teaching in the evening and came home without anything. For some reason lately, getting lessons Monday night has been kind of hard.

Tuesday: We went to Surin in the morning for the weekly district meeting with the other Elders in our District. It was fun and then Elder Campbell came back to Buriram with me for an exchange the rest of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. Taught the usual English class and taught Bee afterwards and had a really good lesson on prayer and receiving a spiritual confirmation.

Wednesday: This was a fun day. We taught and old guy, 70+ years. He was drunk and we asked the question, why do you drink? He then went into an explanation of being a soldier in the Vietnam war. If I understood right, he saw a mother and a father killed while the children watched. He broke into tears and kept saying "mai ow", which translates to "no want". It was very sad and touching and as we continued explaining about Christ and the Book of Mormon, and the Atonement, his countenance changed and was practically begging for the book. We happily gave him a copy. He went from sad to happy and hopeful. It was the most amazing change I have ever seen. Then we taught another lesson right after to a couple of guys who happen to live 20 km from that spot, each in the opposite direction. They were fairly interested, I just don't know how to get out and teach them...we only have bikes...oh well. Then another lesson with Bee. We talked about how important church is. We have been trying to get her to come to all three hours of church. So after a good conversation, we knelt down and prayed and after we had waited and pondered in silence, Elder Campbell spoke through the Spirit and practically prophesied. If she went to church all 3 hours, she would receive an answer and her restaurant would sell better than usual on a Sunday. If she did not attend all 3 hours, then the restaurant would have somehting dangerous happen and then the place would have problems. Way crazy lesson.

Thursday: Was only able to teach one lesson. We taught the old guy from the previous day and he is very hard to teach, mainly because he is old. Although he has an unconquerable faith that God exists. Pretty cool. We had the usual planning for the next week.

Friday: Taught some good lessons that day. They turned out good. Mainly lots of follow up visits and checking up on investigators. We taught one lady and her husband and beforehand we were talking about Thailand and learning the language and I was able to spit off some Loas and Cambodian that I had learned along the way. They thought that it was funny that these two weird looking white guys could do all that. Needless to say, that opened them up to our message. It was fun.

Saturday: Taught the old guy from Wednesday again and invited him to attend church and that we could have a member some pick him up if it was needed. He told us he was not ready to attend church. Interesting answer I thought and we tried to explain that we worship God and church and that we could help him do that. Still said no. Maybe next week. Also taught a cool guy that was very interested about what we had to teach. We gave him a soft baptismal commitment and that he would be baptised if it was true. It was great. Then we taught Bee again. talked some more about church and she said she would try the 3 hours.

Sunday: A good Sunday. Oh the day before we meet a kid and his mom come into the chruch just when we happened to be there. Usually the church is locked and closed. They came in and the 15 yr old kid asked what it would take to be a member. So we quickly invited him to church and that we could talk more and explain more then. He went to all 3 hours and we had a lesson afterwards and he now has a baptismal goal for the 19th of March. He had just returned form Russia as an exchange student and while there attended the Russia Orthodox church. There isn't an Orthodox church here in Buriram, so somehow, he was lead to us, just when we happened to be at the church. It was very cool. He reminds me of Nate Harris when he first moved to Eden Prairie. Then Bee went to all 3 hours as well. That was sweet. Taught another lesson during the day, went home and at 7pm got on a bus to Surin for a Tuesday Zone Conference.

That is all for this week!! I love you all!

Elder Ackerman