I'm doing good this week. We did have as fast of a week as we had with 19 lessons only 17 this week. That' s a little below average but that's because we had some stuff to do this week. This last week we had companion exchanges with the zone leaders. One thing that is a lot of fun is that in every zone one of the 2 zone leaders is in my MTC group. This one is Elder Porter. He is the one who knows the Becerras. Me and him had a good talk about how cool it was that Zach and Caleb got to meet up in the MTC. That's not something that happens very often. Then I got to thinking that I'm really glad that Connor is 4 years younger then me because if it were 2 it would be a four year wait until we saw each other.
Elder Porter and I had a good time working together in our area. I got a lot of good points to help here being the district leader, that will really help us as missionaries build our faith and our investigators to progress and have spiritual experiences a lot faster.
For example Elder Porter and I had time to go tracting/Inviting. As we were in a neighborhood that seem to be tracked a lot by the missionaries before we came, we met a man by the name of Wirat. He was in his 60's. We introduced ourselves and he invited us in his house. He said that he was looking at a termite problem, which here in Thailand if your house isn't cement then it is infested by termites. Needless to say his house was all wood. but he didn't notice the problem until a plug in the wall stopped working so he was trying to remove it. He had never done it before. I told him that I have and would do it for him. ( Thanks for redoing the house so much mom and dad, that's a skill that I did find a use for here, removing electric plug covers.) So after a few minutes and a numb hand from a shock, (he forgot to turn off the power,) I wasn't thinking, I was able to get the cover off to see the termite nest. Fact, if your house has a termite problem you can hear the termites move inside the wall. That was way weird to hear.
After we helped him to see where the nest was we started to have a conversation. We said after that we would like to share a message about the restored gospel. He was happy to listen. At the end we asked him to pray, here is a key point that we as missionaries here in Thailand have just learned recently: When you pray for an answer and do it according to Moroni 10:3-5 -- meaning that first you do it ( faith in Christ) next you do it because you really want an answer (Sincerity) Then if you get the answer whether or not you like it or not you will follow it ( real intent) -- you will get an answer. So when we ask an investigator to pray we make sure that they ask a question. For example, "Father in Heaven should I get baptized?", or "Father in Heaven, should I go to church?". If its done in the right way our investigators will receive an answer. So that was what we did with Wirat. One thing I have noticed is that if it is done right the investigator will receive an answer every time but might not realize what they felt was the Holy Ghost answering their question. With Wirat he got his answer but didn't understand, but before we left he said something that I don't think I have heard anyone that I've met on a invite say, "I want to study this more, and if it is true I will become a member of your church for sure". I'm excited to go back and see him.
Right now I don't remember if I have ever told you we have 2 investigators with a date to be baptized. One is named Sister I and the other is Brother Nipone. Sister I has a date to get baptized on the 12 of February and Brother Nipone has a date to get baptized on the 19th of February a week later. Both of them are doing really well. Our goal with both of them is to try and teach their families. They both are married but their spouses aren't ever around when we teach them.
Yesterday I had a interesting experience. So one of the duties of being a District leader is interviewing investigators to be baptized. Elder Brown and Elder Chew recently had 9 people from Cambodia transferred to them because the Elders from a different area realized that they lived in our area. They are all ready to be baptized, so its just a matter to make sure that everything is legal according to the law, meaning they aren't illegal immigrants, Thailand gets them too, imagine that, then interview and baptize. So yesterday I interviewed 5 people out of that group. 4 of them were children between the age of 8 to 12 I think... We're not really sure on the dates. and then their mother. The children have been in Thailand long enough that they can read and speak Thai really well. But their mother has a Cambodian accent. They all passed. With their mother it was a little harder because there was a little bit of a language barrier but with the use of pictures and speaking slowly we got through that. It was fun to listen to her talk because she spoke Thai like she was from the southern states. I almost expected her to say ya'll.
Sounds like you guys are all having a blast at home. Connor, nice job on you times. Dad don't get eaten by alligators, and Mom, I just got a letter this last week, that disturbs me a lot. Its nick-named "the Death Papers". It's from President Smith and the office and says that I will be traveling home on the 14th of June 2554 or 2011. That's really strange to think... I saw 3 of my companions receive their death papers. Anyways you don't have to worry about Sunday dinner only having 3 at the table anymore. Oh man what the heck happened to the last 2 years of my life. Make it slow down.
OK, that's it for today.
I love you all.
Elder Brandon John Holt
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