Week 3: New Investigators!

Hey everyone! Another crazy week in the books! First off, I forgot to mention last week that Russel M Nelson came and spoke to us in our Tuesday devotional. It was such a cool experience to have a general authority with us! Our district sat in the second row and we were basically the only ones without suits so we felt a little out of place but no worries (our mission doesn't require us to bring suits). Anyway, we could feel the Spirit so strong and it was an experience that I forget. This morning, the older Thai district left to Thailand! They're first headed to LA, Hong Kong, then Bangkok. They've been such a great help to us (the younger Thais) and we've really looked up to them. We all had a group prayer last night and Elder Krebs, their district leader, gave a flawless, perfect prayer in Thai. The Spirit was there for sure. I just hope to be able to get to that point  by the time we leave- which is in six more weeks! The time is flying by for sure.

So last week I mentioned how we now have three new investigators. Their names are Phii Paa, Phii Boy, and Phii Chay (the word "Phii" in Thai is used in front of someone's name out of repect to those older than you). Anyway, Elder Christiansen and I have been working hard at planning our lessons to teach them. It's such a cool experience because each of them have their own stories and personalities and it's been awesome getting to know them personally. One of them, Phii Paa, asked us if we pray to a Buddhist relic and we told him that we don't pray to an object, it's more of something you do that's in you heart. We were able to teach him how to pray. It took him a couple of times for us to teach him to get the hang of it. Seeing the people we teach pray is something so powerful. you can literally see the Spirit work in them as they bring themselves to prayer. Saturday, Elder Christiansen and I were able to teach a member from Bangkok and we taught her about faith- something that I've really been focusing on this week. At the end of that lesson, I bore my testimony in broken Thai and told her how much I know this church to be true. I told her that the reason I'm a missionary is because I love my Savior and i could feel the Spirit so strongly and I knew that my companion felt it and the lady we were teaching as well. I wasn't able to say much in the lesson, but I was able to tell her how I felt about this gospel and it makes me want to tell everyone about great this gospel is!!

One last thing that I thought was super cool is that the words "to obey" in Thai is "chxafang" which are literally the words "believe" and "listen" put together. When a lot of people think of obedience, I feel like they think it's a condescending thing. It's so much more than that. When we honestly believe that obedience will help us live happier and fuller lives, and we seriously just listen to our Father in Heaven, doing all the things He would have us do, obedience becomes enjoyable. It makes the gospel so much easier to live. I hope you guys all have a great week! Write me if you have time!

Elder Rawlinson