Dear Family,
As for the title, I suppose I should explain. No, I'm not particularly
trunky. BUT! We definitely hacked down a GIANT TREE that fell down in Sis Jan's
yard this week. We had machete's, axes, giant Thai knifes, and the like. As for
me, I wielded the large clippers. But we vastly underestimated the blister, ant,
and scratch benefits of chopping out and PULLING OUT a giant trunk. Once we got
the whole thing hacked up, we went for the doozy. The trunk. Which just so
happened to have roots one foot thick. It was ridiculous! And with 7-8 of us, we
still didn't get it out! So that's this friday's adventure again. So
great.
Other than that, this week was graced with a nice cold. Both in weather and
in health. But didn't stop us from getting our goals we had made! Everyone in
our district made balanced this week. You know what that means?? We're making
legit "The District 101" sport jerseys finally. It was what we planned to do.
101 stands for Roi Et, because, well, thats what the name means!
I don't even know what week this is, if I were to count. BUT, this week
makes 6 months for me in country. I got here for conference weekend, and now
it's conference again! We watch it this weekend. I'm super excited!
We also threw a surprise birthday party for Elder Tatton this week. And
then the next day, a mix up occurred and somehow we were having another birthday
party for him and Brother Bah, who just got baptized like last week. So we
planned a surprise party, cancelled it, and then in the end surprisingly had one
anyway and it was legit!! So that was the time I surprised myself with a
surprise party by accident. Enough miscommunication turned into a great party!
Tell me someone else you know that can surprise themself with an unexpected
surprise party that they planned themselves. HA. ..... ("Tell me someone who
bought more cookies than me!!!" -Despicable Me "Take that tiny toilet!!")
One day this week we went and ate a real Eesan lunch at Sis Duanjan (Moon)
's house with her family and her sister. Turns out her sister and her daughter
are less-active! That sunday they both came back and are making preparations to
be ready for the temple next year. Yesssss. I love when people recapture their
vision.
I have mixed feelings about transfers. Everyone here is kind of getting a
little nervous about it because nobody wants to leave here. It almost feels like
getting voted off the island. Either way, if a single person moves (which they
will no doubt) the district will automatically change around. Just kinda how
morphing works. But then again, with change comes more opportunities to
progress. So I'm mixed. If it were up to me, I'd want to stay here. I really
feel like there's a ton more I could do for 9 more weeks. Whatever happens will
be what's meant to happen. I definitely learned that 1. From my parents 2. From
last transfer. I had no idea I would be leaving Bangkok after 24 hours and BAM
here I am in the greatest place in the most rewarding point of my mission so
far.
Either way, there's always stuff to improve. I'm happy to go where I'm
needed. But until then, I will be finding, teaching, and baptizing those who are
so ready here in Roi Et! And I will be doing it with a marshmallow sling! ....
That may be our pday activity today.
As some funny things that have happened this week:
We taught a lesson to our family we're helping to go the temple altogether,
(the same man who wants to be named Fernando Sancho) and while I was teaching,
Sis Packard had her little eyes on a mouse running around the kitchen behind
them. Then, a cricket was on my shoulder for 5 minutes straight. THEN, a lizard
came right next to my face, ate a bug, and ran away. THEN as we left, that
cricket had somehow returned to my back AGAIN, and I rode my bike across the
street for another 5 minutes going about 20mph before Sis Packard rides up,
smacks it off my back, and we realize we had crossed the highway street with a
lucky cricket. Needless to say, I felt .1% less safe after my Mulan creature was
gone! :p Hahaha.
We held our very first sports night at the Roi Et church this saturday--
HUGE SUCCESS! Tons of people! And it even got one of our member's nephews to
come, who then came to church and primary the next day! YES! His name is Okie.
And he is a porker. Soooo cute. He doesn't say much, but he loved primary. And
he wants a kid's picture book of mormon like his cousin Biw!
Oh yeah, two more daters this week!! Biw and Yuuy! We took Sis Faa out on a
bike ride out to find Yuuy and the lesson went great, regardless of it being in
her relative's hair salon with hair dryers blowing. So it was kinda like this
(talking loud over the sound): "THE HOLY GHOST SPEAKS WITH A VERY SOFT VOICE AND
CAN WITNESS... etc etc." It was kinda ironic, but in the end she just wanted to
be baptized.
Talk about ready. She was a miracle in herself! We lost track of her
because her number changed, then as luck would have it, she saw us riding by on
the street where she was tending her cousin! The same little boy doing the
superhero poses for us, if you remember Doon. Anyway, she just so happened to
see us at the perfect time, RAN AFTER US down the street, and we finally got
back in contact. Oh man. It was a miracle. Then we had KFC with a little member
who is 11 and afraid of going to primary with the other kids to try to get to be
friends better. We knew she loved fried chicken. So we brought it, and by the
end, she burped in front of us. So I'd say we're friends.
Unfortunately this week was also school-term's end, so basically a huge
pool of our investigators, including our 2 daters, went home until the end of
the month! BAH! This is like BYU during December!!
As a last note, a very very very very old member stood up in Relief Society
yesterday to bear her testimony. She got up, with her no teeth, grasping the
whiteboard, and said: "Thanks to the Lord! Thanks to the Lord! HALLELUJIAH!
HALLELUJIAH! Amen." like.... probably 7 or 8 times until she sat back down. It
was priceless. No teeth, all gums, but 110% sincere.
I love this.
Love,
Sister Painter
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