September 1, 2013
Dear Family!
This week I seriously am smiling because I'm
about to laugh about everything that happened. I can some it up with one phrase:
"I have the best district." Whenever we are with them, I have never laughed
harder on my mission. Life is so happy here.
So I actually want to
start with my favorite experience first because it was seriously too funny and
awesome. So we live just the two of us in a tiny little house that looks like it
came from the movie "UP". Its a nice little house comparatively, but at night we
always get so creeped out. Weird stuff, just us, the works. Doesn't help that we
live next to a big giant open field. :P But the worst is that our door actually
doesn't shut proper, so it's hard to tell if the lock is even doing anything. So
when we open and close it, you have to ram into it. It's ghetto.
So
last night as I had turned off the lights, it just didn't feel good in the
house. I tried laying in bed and just didn't feel good about the dark. We were
both creeped. And then as I'm about to make myself fall asleep, I hear a big
BUMP and the walls shake, shaking my bed a little.
Are. You.
Serious.
So my first thought is the front door. That's stinkin scary. So
I pray and I say the same quote of comfort in my head over and over. I tell Sis
Packard about the sound and she's like, "Stop. I'm freaked out." So we try to
decide what to do while not making any noise or turning on any lights, in case
someone actually IS in the house. I decide to call the Elders. They live about 8
minutes away. So they say to hold on a second and they'll come check it
out.
So they get there and call me and say they're at the front door. I
ask if anything is suspicious? Nope, gates locked. So we come down totally
weirded out still. The Elders are on their bikes in their shorts and stuff and
Elder Yuen says: "We brought some... weapons... just in case."
So
we see them and I burst out laughing. Helmets on, red lights on their bikes
flashing, and the 4 of them with their "homemade" weapons. One had an umbrella
flashlight, the other had a pocket knife, one had brass knuckles (HAHA are you
serious?) and the last one flipped out a switch blade. I just about died
laughing. Then they went through our house to check everything they could. They
got rid of every last supsicious anything they could find by throwing them over
the fence.
... Or trying. Elder Tatton, our district leader, takes
the bag of stuff we had taken down the first week that we had hidden away, and
says: "I threw discus in highschool!" and launches it towards the fence to send
it over. Yeah, it hit the fence and the bag exploded with a ton of stuff flying
RIGHT BACK INTO our backyard. So Elder Cahoon (brass knuckles) hopped the other
fence and had to go get the stuff himself again and throw it
over.
So anyway, after the Elders checked the house they said they
actually felt like our room was the place that felt the safest and best. Then
they both told us that they got the same thought, and I looked at them so
unbelieving! They impression they had both gotten when they prayed in there
together was the quote I had replayed in my head over and over!
I
looked at them in disbelief. It just goes to show that God really does listen to
prayers. I know the spirit was in our room keeping us safe and happy, from
whatever scares we might have. It was way cool. We all had goosebumps after now
it is one of my favorite experiences I can remember on my mission. AND our house
feels so safe now.
God really does listen!
Other than
that, we had
miracles!
We actually found the houses of two people
we thought we'd never find! One is now our investigator, and the other... well,
she's crazy. But at least we found her house! Accomplished!
Both
our younger investigators got permission to be taught! I wish their families
were in this town so we could teach them too WITH their kids.
I ran
out of my missionary fund. So I was living off of my trainee's stock for a bit.
Then the day we both ran out, I reached into my bag... and found 100 baht that
was NEVER THERE! So we were able to eat!!!!!
We had an amazing
training conference, and it was hilarious because they did roleplays in these
hilariously realistic outfits. They even hoisted a king onto a table in a dress.
So great. I felt the spirit all day that day. It was so helpful to know what I
need to do to be better-- this week is seriously already planned out and busy.
IT WILL BE SO AMAZING.
But this weekend was the craziest-- the Area
70 of Asia President Gong came and talked to just my zone. Then we had district
conference with the surrounding areas to get Roi Et into a STAKE!!!! A stake!!!!
And our recent converts and less actives that we haven't been able to find or
contact came!!!
And then there's Alice. She is 13 years old. She
spoke at the conference and said that in her classes, some people don't like
talking to her because she doesn't want to talk about a lot of the things THEY
want to talk about. She is standing as a witness of God at age 13-- and the most
amazing part? She RADIATES LIGHT. -- and she brought a friend yesterday who we
are now teaching!
So there you go. Now I'm off to eat ice cream and watch 17 miracles with
"the best district".
I LOVE MY LIFE! I am so happy! It's a rollercoaster and way hard, but I am
finally finding that I can be happy all the time if I want to be!
Love,
Sister Painter
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