Week 7: I Have a SECOND Companion Now!

This week has been insane! First off, I somehow forgot to mention that Dallin H Oaks came to speak to us for one of our devotionals last week. It's great to have general authority come because of how much they have to share with the missionaries. He talked a lot from "Preach My Gospel" and about the importance of teaching the Plan of Salvation to others. Every question we have in life can be answered through the Plan of Salvation and it really is the foundation of our gospel. On another note, last Monday we had our first skype lesson with a guy from Thailand. It was so cool! I can't remember his name but he's from eastern Thailand in a city called Udon. We taught him for about 30 minutes on faith and obedience. In all honesty, I was a little nervous that my Thai wasn't good enough for him to be engaged in the lesson like I would've liked but he was understanding of all of that. Something that I've learned since being here is that the more I try to focus on the person I'm teaching and just try my best to love the heck out of them, the more I'm able to get a certain point across that I want them to understand. If I focus too much on saying things right (grammar, tones, etc), I'm not able to focus as much as I want on who I'm teaching and the Spirit isn't as strong. It's still important for me to make sure what I'm saying makes sense, but I shouldn't focus all my attention on worrying about it.

Aside from that, Elder Christiansen and I got a new companion on Wednesday. We're now in a trio! His name is Elder Stevens and he was in a fast-track program for the past two weeks before he joined us. He's half Thai and is fluent in the language. The mission president didn't want him to fly alone and make another orientation meeting just for him so he'll be heading to Thailand with our district in a couple of weeks. I cannot express in words how much Elder Stevens has been an answer to my prayers. He's helped me with the language more than I could've ever imagined and I've progressed more in this past week than I have in probaly the past month I've been here (I'm not exaggerating when I say this). He's been to Thailand 14 times! His Thai is better than the teachers here!! The Lord has seriously been so good to Elder Christiansen and I for pairing us up with him and I'm so thankful for all that I've been able to learn from Stevens already.

Our new Thai district came in! There's 6 sisters and 1 Elder. I think I might have mentioned them a little bit  in my last email. The one elder in the group goes to class with all the sisters but sticks with one of the other guys in my district for everything else. They're all great missionaries. One of them is actually from Burma (a country right next to Thailand) and came all the way to Provo to be here in the MTC. Seriously though, it's been so great to have more people here going to the same place as us. The elders in my district are offically Phii Thais (the older group) so we've been trying to help them settle in and get used to life here. And yes, we made them watch the "School Bus" video and yes, we made them eat hot peppers as "initiation". As of wednesday, we'll be the oldest district in our zone. It's weird because I feel like I'm still getting the hang of all of this and now I have to be an older example to the other elders in our zone. 

I have a lot more I could write about and not too much time, so I just wanted to share one more thing with you all before I finish. On Saturday, one of our teachers taught us about the Plan of Salvation and he really tried to get us to understand the importance of helping our investigators understand it. Every single person on earth must receive baptism in order to receive eternal life. When he told us this, I was just like "dang that's intense". But really though, it's not that I have to go to Thailand because I want to share the gospel with others, it's because I HAVE to. I've been called as a missionary and my purpose is clear, it is my obligation to bring others to this gospel because of how much is at stake.  One of the elders in my district said something to me that I really liked. He said "why would the Lord make a goal that is unattainable for most of us to reach? He would not do that". I know this to be true with all my heart. Heavenly Father wants nothing more than for us to live with Him again. Please never forget that. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and if anyone of you guys think you're not good enough to live with God again, you are not alone. Perfection is impossible, but your best effort in all you do is manageable. And it's through our best effort in life that allows us to be with Him again. I love you guys. This church is true. Have a great week!

Elder Rawlinson

Game plan for soccer today awhh yeahhh