It only hurts when you stop, Greenie power in Surin, LA work!, & the struggle of being a 54 in a 44 world

It only hurts when you stop. 

Literally. You're moving at lightning speed rushing from appointment to appointment only to have some people not show up, but that's alright cause you can't look back. Can't stop won't stop. Making phone calls. Following up on commitments. This is a rush. Oh yeah. In the moment you feel amazing, you've got all this power. Then at night when you walk in drenched from sweat, it hits you. Wow. I'm way exhausted. Oh but sometimes you go so hard that like you accidentally invite an Less Active member (LA) that's also a Return Missionary (RM).... Just the way we like it in Surin!

Spiritual thought this week.
Comes from a book called "Our Search for Happiness." If you have a copy of this book read it. If you don't. Get it. It will make you a happier person. But if you don't want to read a whole book well there's also D&C 123. With a special emphasis on verse 16. Just love the imagery. Really hits home with anyone that loves the ocean.

Greenie Power yo. 

We got two greenies in the house out here in Surin. It was good serving with the one and only Elder Kawin but now welcome to Elder Daley! He's an awesome missionary and we were both in the MTC at the same time. How sweet is that! Yeah, great things are happening in Surin.

LA Work.

So there's this analogy that a ward is like a pond. But if La's don't come back to church there's like a leak in the pond. So there are two ways to fill the pond, through baptisms and also through bringing LA's back to church. One of the best feelings is getting a call from your LA saying that she's finally ready to come back, and then you show up to church and you don't just see one but you see a few more. And then they keep on coming back! These people are noticeably happier in their countenances because they have the Gospel in their life.

So I crashed my bike this week. 
But not really bad...Just enough to crack my RD and RD hanger and this was Saturday afternoon....So I had to go look for a new bike cause if I don't have a bike we pretty much shut down in the area. Go to the bike store and they only have 44cm bikes. When I was riding, the smallest frame I would ride was a 52, but I comfortably fit a 54-56. Yeah.....Well I mean a smaller frame generally means it should be lighter right? We shall see. I'll make sure not to ride into any sidewalks again.....

On the food adventures this week. 

I ate some stuff off some trees. My companion is from Laos, he points at plants and says it's edible so I try it. The members absolutely love how willing I am to eat anything. Haven't gotten sick yet so....I guess I'll continue with this adventurous eating.

So our water also got shut off. 

There was a lot of flooding and like we get a call from a member telling us to fill up our empty drinking water jugs cause they're shutting the water off for a day and a half.....So yeah. It was an experience. Having running water, even if it isn't totally drinkable, is a legit blessing people. Count those blessings. They're there.

Elephant stories this week huh....
Well biking back home I saw an elephant with some reflector tape on it's tail. That was pretty interesting. Didn't bike into it this time cause I saw this bright thing swaying back and forth.

Went out to see some sites. 

Decided to try and take some pictures. Not sure what more to say, cause the pictures sorta say it all.

Meet Sister Cat. 

She had called us on a Sunday afternoon saying she wanted to learn about Jesus Christ. The next day she gets into a motorbike accident. Then the day after we begin teaching her. Her house is a bit far out, but we always faithfully made a trek out each appointment. There was a week where she had stopped answering our phone calls so what did we do? Give up? HAH NOPE. We actually just showed up at her house right before she would leave to pick up her kids. Such an amazing woman. We would go and teach her, and really the only thing holding her back from being baptized so soon was us, the missionaries. We weren't able to meet with her and finish all of the discussions. But hey, God works in His own time, at His own will. And she was baptized this week. And shared one of the most honest and amazing testimonies ever. Although I didn't understand every word she shared, I did feel of that great love she has for our Savior, Jesus Christ and this Gospel.

Nothing great came easy, and nothing easy is all that great (except for street food).

Have a blessed week! Keep the stoke alive!

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.