Week 19
Such a great week filled with many blessings and miracles from God. I am constantly reminded of God's goodness and the importance of counting our blessings when disappointment comes around. I don't want to write too much about this week so I will keep this relatively short.
To start, there is the huge festival that has been going on all week in Phuket where they don't eat meats, walk the streets all day, throw fireworks at each other, and lastly put swords and other things through their mouths. It is honestly the grossest thing ever but also insanely cool :)
Well the church is all finished and let me just say it is the biggest blessing!
With the new building, we planned on starting up a lot of new activities for the branch. English class began about 2 weeks ago, but we planned on creating a scripture class on Thursday nights and a sports night on Saturday nights. I had been inviting people all of this week to come to these activities and I couldn't wait to see the result. I was so excited for these activities, however we ended up having 1 person come to English, 3 people at the scripture class, and no one showed up to sports night. I sat there waiting and waiting for people to come, watching the minutes pass by, and gradually my hope turned to discouragement. I decided to say a prayer and immediately I began to remember all the blessings that I have already been given. I felt comforted that the Lord truly knows how I was feeling and that He was with me.
We are having a big party this next week that we have planned a lot for it this week. It will be an open house for the new building and our mission president is coming for those 2 days. I believe this branch is just on the verge of sprouting and will continue to grow immensely in the next couple of weeks!
This week my trainer wanted to give me the opportunity to plan and act as a "trainer" for 2 of the days. So on Wednesday and Saturday I was the one in charge of calling everyone, setting up appointments, traveling to places, leading all the lessons, and so on. It was a little exhausting but worth the experience. On Wednesday I invited หนึ่ง to be baptized and then on Saturday we invited แนน and her sister พิมพ์ to be baptized as well...and they all accepted a date. I am so excited for these people and their desire to become a member of Christ's church. The work had been slow at first, but I believe the Lord is finally rewarding us for our diligence and hard work.
This Sunday was AWESOME! First, it was the first Sunday at the new building. The spirit was so strong and I could definitely feel a difference between this actual building and a hotel room. Second, we got to hear the living prophet and apostles speak to us. They are truly called of God and lead and guide us in these latter days. The translation in Thai comes a week later, but I didn't mind because we got the opportunity to watch conference with the incredible members. Third, we had some investigators at church this Sunday. It was almost impossible to get people to church at the hotel, but what a blessing it is that we have a church here. I am so excited for next week because it will be the first time we have an actual church meeting in the new building!
Other miracles and things I am grateful for:
-Coincidentally we found one of our investigators at work and gave him the Book of Mormon. He has been reading everyday and asking a lot of questions
-Almost got wrecked by a car, but I'm still alive
-This world and this island I am living on
-The Thai people put swords and poles through their cheeks and dont bleed, scar, or feel any pain
-My family and friends
Love
Elder Lowe
1) I live on an island. How cool is that!
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| Robert on Phuket |
2) The Thai people literally putting swords and poles through their mouths
3) basically the same thing. I just think it's really cool
4) Cool Missionary photo haha
Robert, The Missionary!
