Monday, November 4, 2013

Another week in the neighborhood

Hello other side of the world!

Today is odd because I'm having difficulties remembering spans of time.  As in what happened this week and what happened last week...after a while it all seems to run together.  Like this little tid-bit of information Sister Ng reminded me of this morning:  Christmas is next month.  WHAT??  I get to Skype with my family next month??  How's that for a nice surprise!  Apparently in Thailand they play lots of Christmas songs.  I find it odd and ironic, but hey, if they want to spread Christmas cheer for all to hear, have at it!  It is still weird though.  It's still hot here - not quite as rainy but still hot.  We talked about weather in English class this past week and I thought it weird that most of our students like Winter the best.  I'm not quite convinced that their winter is the same as ours...

What else, what else.  Well, we got a Senior Missionary couple in our area this week!  They're from Orem and super nice.  Turns out they will probably stay in Chiang Mai most of their mission!  Sister Ng and I met them at the church when they first arrived, and it was an odd feeling being a "more experienced missionary" receiving the "greenies".  Heh.  And I just finished training this past week!  Happy 3 month mark in country to me!  We took them out for dinner at the same restaurant I went to my first day in Chiang Mai. I think they survived!  We also had to break the news to them that neither of us have ever seen a clothes dryer in Thailand.  Even in appliance stores.  WELCOME TO THAILAND!

Yesterday we had quite the surprise.  An investigator that we dropped over a month ago called us.  At 6:25 in the morning.  Neither of us were awake enough to answer it.  Then she called again at 8:20 and told us she was at church.  We were SHOCKED.  She came on her own.  The Elders gave her a baptismal date for this month.  We'll see how she progresses!  She said that last time we saw her (which was a complete disaster and almost resulted in us being stranded 45 kilos away...remember that?  Yep, same person) she felt really really guilty.  She knew that she had rejected the things that she knew to be true.  Yep, she came back, on her own!  

I think the biggest thing I learned this week is the importance of being myself and working as the Spirit directs.  Sometimes we feel like people see the way we work and know that they would do it differently, but I know that we are doing what God wants us to, and that's all that matters!  We are simply made to be instruments in His hands, and as long as we strive to do as the Spirit directs, then we can't go wrong.  We are called to be who we are, not who others think we should be.  I am reminded of the Mormon Message about the currant bush.  Sometimes God cuts us down because he knows what we need to be.  He has a vision for us that sometimes we can't clearly see.  But he is molding us every day to become more perfected servants.  That's all I can ask for Him to do - to help me be what He wants me to be, even if that includes poking and prodding at my faults until I decide to do something about them.  

Well, I can't believe I'm out of time already!  Sorry it was "short" this week but know that I love you all!

Love,
Sister Norrell

No comments:

Post a Comment