Q And A Session

Dear Family,

Hello,
Some of my favorite Thai recipes include: Gaeng Madsuman (not sure if it's actually Thai or not), Phad gra phaw, Phad Thai, Khaw nio maa muang!
khaw man guy (that's pretty close to how you pronounce it), Gui diaw is good, Khaw moo daeng, then there's Naam doek, and soem tham...

The weather here is about like it normally is in Arizona. It's 90 degrees outside. Just throw in a lot of humidity and you've got the weather here right now. Right now is past the rainy season and before the fruit season and the hot season.

My shoes are holding up just fine.

I feel like what I know in the Thai language I know pretty well but I'm lacking a jungle load of vocabulary words. And I can always improve in everything else too, reading, writing, pronunciation... spelling. Spelling is particularly fun when you've got 40+ characters to choose from and a lot of them for the same consonant sounds too.

Yesterday was switch offs again. Elder Blackhurst and I switched off together again while President Dodge's assistance went with Elder Olinger and Elder Miles. On the particular occasion Elder Blackhurst and I went out inviting in a new area we hadn't gone to before and found a Golf Driving Range. There were some people sitting around the area so we went to check it out. We found a Thai guy who comes from Singapore and speaks English almost like a native. So we started talking to him in English while we were still in Thai speaking mode. It was really tough to express myself. It felt like I had been playing a violin for several hours and then suddenly switched to playing a guitar.
Weird.
As of now Sang and Naa are going through some really tough times. Sang started working on Sunday instead of going to church. And because He's out working Naa is stuck at home with no money or way to get to church. And because of this situation and because of several other temptations their financial and family relationship declined and they were forced to move. President Nopadone found there house and is taking care of them. The church can help provide for their temporal and spiritual needs. But before ye seek for riches seek ye for the Kingdom of God.

A lot of my old investigators we are discontinuing our efforts to meet them. I firmly believe that the Lord puts people that he has prepared into our path. I'm sure Satan puts people in our path as well. It's tempting to spend a lot of time helping those people that aren't progressing, really tempting. This is especially true because I know personally that what it is that I have to give them is exactly what they need. It takes a different kind of faith to stop teaching someone and to look for those who need the Gospel more because they are more prepared to receive it. That's about what our situation came down to.
So we went out looking for more. Right now we have a lot of interested people who we are going to go visit a second time and see if they are willing to learn further.

Also, my health is good.

Last week I had family home evening at President Nopadone's house again. It was such a good time, and the food was soooo gooood. President Nopadone has the best laugh ever. Then his wife Baa Bua, is such the plump cheerful mother who is always happy and you can just tell by looking at her that her cooking is good.

So, all in all things are going well right now. I think that I have progressed a lot in the work. I'm really just trying to invite people by loving them and explaining how I want to increase the truth that they already have and help them to be happy through what's made me happy in my life. I tell them how I feel about The Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it's been a blessing for my family. It's tempting to persuade people, especially now that I can speak and understand better than I could before. But that's not the way, and I can't really convert anyone anyway. I just carry the Mantle, and do my best.


Go forth with Faith!

Love,
Elder Lilly