Today is a Buddhist Holiday. Stores everywhere are selling these spherical dish things made out of banana trees with a variety of candles. Tonight there's going to be a huge gathering of people and at some point during the night they are going to cast the spherical objects that are tight like unto a dish off into the rivers. I have no idea what the significance is yet... I haven't asked, but It's interesting none the less. But the difficulty that arises from this crazy holiday is that all of the Church members want to participate in it. Despite the fact that it's fun to watch and participate in, and it's partly a cultural event in Thailand, it is a Buddhist Holiday. We aren't asking them not to go. It is indeed getting harder and harder to be a Saint. We ask so much of our investigators, changing their lives. We hope so much for them. And though being on the path to Salvation is hard, it is more rewarding than we can realize in our own lives. Being clean is one of the best gifts we can qualify for. And through the Gospel and the struggling there is Happiness and Peace. Elder Ewing and I have visited tons of members hoping to support them, and investigators hopping to teach them. Yesterday was the second time we have visited a member who was really struggling with his Mom who doesn't want him to go to church or be a member and He is stuck living at home trying to support her. He wants to go back to his home in Chaeng Mai. But after our visit and encouraging him he really did exercise his faith and read the scriptures, on our second visit he is the happiest I have ever seen him. Awesome. Last week I had a great Family home evening with President Tip and president Nope-adone, their families, and an investigators family who had 3 kids and 2 grand kids. We sat on the family room floor and had an awesome dinner with som thahm Thai style and Laotian style and gaeng mahtsamaahn and all kinds of amazing food. By the way carpet doesn't exist over here. Near the end of the night the investigator, sister Myoori, who is diabetic, fainted. She was out cold just before we were about to go home. We had just before taught a difficult lesson on Tithing and Fasting and this was an interesting opportunity to show faith and the blessings of God. So, Elder Ewing and I gave her a Priesthood blessing. Just a few moments later and she awoke and arose.
The Gospel truly blesses families. Salvation isn't easy, it can't be easy. It wasn't easy for Him. But there is so much joy in the Gospel. I've only been here for a couple weeks but I've seen a lot of miracles already. And I've also seen some of the craziest things that you never see back home. ..Random rat in the street that got ran over and is crusting day-by-day right by my house, the craziest houses, houses in swamps, there's these skeletal dogs that lie around the streets all day (at least they're not being eaten), tons and tons of plants that I never even seen in books before, a random guard house, and tons and tons more, I can't list them all. Spencer knows what I'm talking about. And I've eaten some weird things too. I'm one for trying them all.. mostly. The fish gut dog biscuit smelling ones I avoid if I can. They only have two kinds of cereal here: frosted flakes and corn flakes. Can't find any good cereal anywhere else in Thailand, or so my companion tells me. There's also a certain lack of chocolate. I think I have some coconut gelatin in the fridge right now...
Buuut I'm still doing well and working hard. We are up to 20 investigators with a baptismal date but we might lose a few who are having trouble with finding time to see us and getting through their struggles. We came up with a great method of getting the members more prepared to teach with us and we are also working on Preach my Gospel outlines that we can design lessons from with scriptures and impression included. It should help with preparing for our days a lot.
Well, I'm out of time again. Stay true!
-Elder Lilly-
-P.S. I need recipes from home pretty badly. Especially banana bread... I have some plans for that one. (getting that one soon would be helpful.)
-p.p.s I think Thai people think that cough drops are candy and candy is medicine.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Click to Enlarge
Current Location
Srisaket, Thailand
Bangkok Time
Map of Thailand
Click to Enlarge
Press PAUSE to turn off
About This Blog
On April 10th, 2008 Elder Cameron Bruce Lilly opened the letter containing his call to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints. He was called to share the gospel in the Bangkok Thailand mission after three short months at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT. He reported to the call on August 13th, 2008. From the time that letter was opened, he began to focus his life on preparing to be a representative of Christ in a land far away. You are here because you want to share in his experiences, and that is the purpose this blog hopes to accomplish. Here you will find his weekly letters (edited for spelling) along with any photos or videos that we receive. His location will be updated as we get new information. Above, you will find his current mailing address so you can show your support through letters of love, faith, and testimony. Thanks for visiting. Come back often!
1 comment:
I'm going to be a slight buzzkill here and tentatively suggest that diabetic people should probably not be fasting, and if they do it should be done carefully and with careful attention paid to thier blood sugar. They should not have to "pass out" to prove some sort of point. Not that I am not happy that you all felt it was a good experience, but......
PS I am glad you are having so many good and uplifting things to write about on your mission. I am a little jealous though, since I love thai food more than just about any other kind of food on the planet. Good luck!
PPS I know that the Holiday is not a Christian one, but imagine if you had to tell American converts they couldn't participate in Halloween or Christmas.....I think they are already making a massive cultural shift to have faith in the church at all. You may want to pick your battles. Just a thought.
Post a Comment