There's no such thing as baby steps. This is real life. The time to prepare for right now has passed. Steps are steps. And who are we to judge or name someone else's progress because it's different from our own. Just a thought given to me by my companion. There's no way to really teach and help a child learn to walk. You could give them a walker, but that is just a crutch, an aid. The child needs to experiment and learn for themselves and find something that works. If they find out that walking along the side of a couch works, then awesome. Amazing because the child continues to experiment and had found that out for themselves. It seems harsh, maybe a bit heartless that you aren't helping the child. But if you did, would their be any progress in within the child? Probably very little. It's like the same reason butterflies push themselves out of their cocoons, they need to go through that trial and experience that struggle because their wings need whatever that fluid is to be pushed into every part. If you "help" the butterfly and pull it out of the cocoon, really you just inhibited it. Yeah. Not too sure where this thought is going, I think it sounded better in my head. But this is how missionary training has been so far. This is a great exercise in learning to trust in God and in being guided to the Spirit. Nothing AMAZING comes easy.
Okay lets hear some awesome stuff...
Do as the Thais do-aka fit as much stuff into your bag (I fit a 40 pack of ramen, a few bags of oatmeal and milo, and 2 loaves of bread into my bag. It was amazing, and on sale. Or fit as many people as you can on a moped. This weeks record that I saw? 7 people. One moped. Im talking a full family here. No van necessary. No seatbelts either....
So the rain. Hm. Yeah. Yeah. I never remembered to wear any of my stuff. So weehaa who had soaking wet shoes this week? THIS ELDER. I mean its only bad at first. Just dont stop biking in the water or else you fall over and get even more wet....Oh and always buy ponchos that have long sleeves. Ponchos with the sleeves, thats the way to go when you're biking. So yeah. Ponchos are very important, umbrellas stand no chance in Thailand. What else about the rain? Its wet. Its cold, roads flood. And sometimes they flood so that two days later when every things is already "dry" there are still areas flooded. And you still get soaking wet when its sunny. Yup.
LANGUAGE! Surin is weird and on the border with Cambodia. People here speak their own thing. Its not really Essan, not really Thai, not too much Lao, surprisingly quite a bit of Cambodian apparently, and this all means I still don't understand but hey. I focus on the Thai I know and am currently learning and I think it'll work out. I'll be fine, it's just an interesting thought because I ask my companion what a person said and he'll just tell me its not important because its not even Thai. Go figure.
Fish Friday-Every Friday so far, I've bought a fish, and that's my dinner. I love it, and I always forget to take a picture of the fish.....sorry
SHINING MY SHOES-Every time I shine my shoes, they end up getting wrecked. Like biking through flooded streets or like even just giving service and then i step in this quicksand/mud mixture. Maybe its a sign...
Also Asian candy. It is just so amazing. You know the Hi chew candy is legit when it comes in the silver metal wrappers and not the regular white plastic stuff, its the little things that count.
Spiritual thoughts...
D&C 64:31-34
2 Nephi 31:13-21
Like I said, I want you all to go and just try read these scriptures. See what you can get from them. Each person will get something different, and I can guarantee that you will receive some kind of guidance if you seek with sincerity the help from the Lord.
Take it easy, have a blessed week, here's a picture of something that I ate. Mind over matter.
Aloha,
Elder เอลลิส
Forward Ever. Stopping Never.
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