I think everyone has weeks where they look back and think...wow...that felt like a month. Haha, but don't get me wrong, it was a great week. Transfer week always seems a little long, so much happens. We got 3 new missionaries in the city. The new sister in our flat is Sister Sonbundnak from Thailand, and the ONLY Thai missionary we have in the mission. And I believe, the only Thai missionary we've had in this mission for years, she's amazing! The only member in her family, she only learned English for 6 weeks in the MTC but she's so willing to learn and she's learning quickly, she's like a sponge! We love her AND she said she'll cook us whatever our hearts desire. And we all know Thai food is my favorite, I almost cried when she said that. :)
Well basically it raining pretty hard almost every day this week, but we trecked around in our little umbrellas and met some great people, I'll share one experience...
We had just left the teaching center and were on our way to central station. We were at a cross walk and there was this Asian girl next to me with the coolest shoes I've ever seen. I had that little nudge..talk to her...so I commented on her shoes and she said, "Oh thanks! I didn't get them here, I got them from Taiwan where I am from." I was so excited and started talking to her in Chinese and she was so relieved because she hardly speaks English and she hasn't been able to talk to very many people here. She's been here for 2 months and is learning English. So, I invited her to come to our class and other activities and she came on Friday night to game night! I had a really good conversation with her and told her what we do as missionaries. She was a little quiet and then said, "I really want to learn..." :D After game night, she sent us a text and said, "Thank you so much meeting me, I really happy today, I have time to meet every day!" That is like music to my EARS! She's adorable, we're seeing her tomorrow.
We had a baptism on Saturday! Our investigator ________ was baptized, it was so wonderful. But it was quite a stressful week leading up to his baptism. Tuesday we met with him, just reviewing a few last things, and he brought up a pretty major concern. He read some things online and isn't sure if he believes in prophets. Our hearts sank...all I could think was, "Oh no, why NOW, TWO DAYS before your interview to be baptized?" I didn't say that, but that's what I was thinking. So we took a deep breath and told him that we'd meet with him the next day to teach him more and help him resolve his concerns, but we made it clear that obviously, if he doesn't believe all the things we're teaching him then we'd need to re-think his baptism on Saturday. So I went into stress mode, haha.
We invited one of our senior missionaries to join us in the lesson with him the next day. He's a really sincere man and is just really good at listening and helping people resolve concerns. So the three of us all prayed together and planned this really great lesson about prophets etc, etc. We get into the lesson and just let the spirit guide us. We ended up testifying about the Holy Ghost and the power of prayer and how God loves us and answers our prayers, etc. We said to him, "We can all kneel and pray right now and you can ask Heavenly Father if all the things we've been teaching you are true or not, and you can know right now. It was really quiet and he just sat there thinking and finally he said, "I want a new life, I'm ready for baptism, I believe these things, I don't need to pray again, I believe." Wow. I felt like crying, it was amazing. You could literally see his heart soften and everything was fine. Our prayers were answered and we saw a miracle.
The following day he had his interview with President Howes and everything was great, President Howes said he was the most sincere man and just the nicest person ever. We're like, "WE KNOW!!" He's great. haha. He even brought a chocolate bar for President Howes. Unfortunately, he HATES chocolate, haha but we didn't tell him that :) too cute. The baptism was great, the spirit was so strong and I couldn't have asked for more.
On Friday we had what's called "Friday Forum" and usually there is a guest speaker who comes and talks about how the gospel has blessed their lives and then there's a free lunch. So there was a professional boxer who was originally supposed to be coming to speak to us but his wife was in hospital so he had to cancel so at last minute. All the missionaries were asked to each prepare a short testimony/talk of how the gospel has blessed their lives and to share it at this forum. Needless to say, it was amazing. The spirit was so strong, everyone who knows me knows that I don't cry often but I was a MESS. All of us were, it was so spiritual. I shared an experience that I haven't even thought about for a long long time. I shared my testimony how I know that we have guarding angels all around us who protect us, and that we also have the Holy Ghost to be our constant guide and comforter. And as I testified I could feel that what I was saying was true. I hope all of you know that, it IS true. Heavenly Father loves each of us so much, and he keeps his promises to us.
I love all of you, time is a bit short today as Sister Campbell and I have to travel to the mission home for Mission Leadership Council, should be great! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Raitt
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