Dear Family,

 

Elder Furr and Elder Hood really wanted to spend some time on this preparation day to go to Surin and see the Elephant show. But renting a car would have been much too expensive for the two of them and for other reasons Elder Booth and I decided to go too.  So I got to go see the Elephant show and ride elephants again. :p The shop there had some pretty good classic Thai items that would make good soveniers so I bought some.  I sometimes feel a bit weird spending money on that sort of thing. It's not something I normally do. But, it's all good. 

 

This past week went by faster than usual... and that's saying something. We went to Bangkok again for our Zone Leader council meeting. On our return we traveled to Buriram and switched off there for a day. We saved a lot of time and a long journey by going to Buriram first. But the sacrifice was not being in our own area for a longer period of time which is hard on it's progression. Some of the people that we wanted to visit had to wait for us to come back which makes following up with them even more difficult.  After we contact someone for the first time it's best to follow-up with them or try to visit them again within a day or two. But the Lord is merciful and he let Elder Booth and I to meet a couple new families on Saturday and Sunday.  I hope to help at least one more family to come unto Christ before I return home. If I don't move next week then it's possible for me to accomplish that. 

 

I know I've written about how important it is to know the culture, and about how I've been trying to notice it and record it for posterity's sake. During this last Zone Leader council meeting President Smith talked about the mission culture. He explained that it's the zone leaders that set the culture of the mission. Which culture is sort of a series of beliefs that drive our actions. I was pondering about the mission culture and about how I would like to see the mission culture change.  Currently there are two days set apart where everyone is supposed to speak Thai or for the Thai missionaries English and only that for the entire day. Or at least it was that way before and now it's not 100% clear as to what we should be doing.  I would like to see all of the missionaries immersing themselves in the culture and motivated to speak Thai all the time and then maybe English inside the house. I would like to see missionaries eating the weird meals and trying out some of the things that Thai people do differently. I have grown a lot of love and appreciation for the Thai people, esspecially when I am immersed in the culture.  These things are important to me, partly because I'm part of setting the missionary culture.  Whether it changes or not I hope every one learns to love and understand the people.  They are so funny too. Heh heh

 

I'm glad the reunion went well. I find it ironic that Diana get's married to a Dentist and now she has braces. I'm glad that the Lord provided the means for our family to return home safely. I'm sure there was something that we could learn from that experience. The Lord's tender mercies are great. He certainly is in the details of our lives. I've been recording the Lord's tender mercies in my journal and it is quite amazing.  

 

I gotta go now. Later.

 

 

Love,

 

Elder Lilly