Sister Hammon: Week 33 - The Paint Job at the Hospital

Honestly one of my very favorite days happened this last week, and it all happened because of SERVICE. Just a quick background before I explain.

SCRAM

So my mission president is amazing and set out this plan for us to try to do every single day:

S- serve

C- contacting (on the street talking to random people)

R- RC (working with recent converts)

A- activate (trying to help less active members)

M- members (visit/have members help you teach)

I love this pattern because it gives us a small outline of what we need to accomplish everyday, and it helps us stay focused!

PAINT JOB AT THE HOSPITAL

So with the new schedule set out by the church we now have so much free time in the morning! Thailand has a very morning based culture, so this is amazing for our entire mission. The first day of the new schedule change, we left our apartment earlier than ever (8:30) and set out to go street contacting! We had a plan to go to this one market but we both 'randomly' decided to go to a different market instead.

We showed up at the market right by the hospital and started the day with an AMAZING contact with a man who truly seemed interested. After that I was so excited and was honestly talking to everyone with ears. We started walking past the hospital and I saw a man painting up ahead and went up to go contact him! While I was talking, Sister Panjaree offered to help him start painting. (You have to know that if you offer to help a random Thai person they will ALWAYS say "it's okay I can do it myself") But he didn't say that! So obviously we knew we had an in! He was reluctant, "You'll get so dirty" but we picked up the rollers and started painting!

The hospital in Sisaket is right by a pretty busy road and a large market so hundreds and hundreds of people passed us by. At first we just went along, quietly painting, but then people started to notice. (Seeing a falang girl in a skirt painting next to an older Thai man is not something you can miss fairly easily) And people freaked out! They thought it was the COOLEST thing they have ever seen. I have never gotten so many compliments in my life! After about 20 minutes the police chief found out and got every officer to come take pictures; tons of random strangers were taking pictures of us; we were given so many gifts! Face masks and gloves and Pepsi and 2 watermelons and Coke and Green Tea (that one was our favorite) and more! Honestly it was incredible, and I felt so happy!

What I realized is that in that hour and a half that we spent painting we taught the Thai people more about Jesus Christ than we could have ever taught them talking about our doctrines. They learned that we are truly here to serve and my heart was bursting with joy that I was able to truly represent my Savior as I sat in the burning sun wearing a skirt, painting the outside of a Thai hospital. It was an experience that I will cherish my entire life. We didn't get a new investigator out of it, but I know we made a difference. And that is what missions are all about. :)

Also, if we hadn't have followed the counsel of our incredible leaders, this would have never happened. Truly every aspect of this work is inspired, and I am grateful everyday to be apart of it.

The paint job!

Also I did it without ruining my skirt so perks to me

17 SECOND CONTACT

One thing that is AMAZING about Thailand is that literally everyone and their dog ride motorcycles. This makes it VERY convenient for missionaries on bikes to contact, literally all day everyday. Also the stop lights in Thailand have a countdown (convinced this is so missionaries know how much time they have to convert someone) Haha so every time I get to a stop light, I look at the time I have left, take it as a challenge, and try to get the person next to me interested. Sometimes we have 30 seconds, others 6 seconds but usually it's around 17. Here are how most of these go:

"Hi how are you? That's great, you're a child of God, we have a church *insert address here*, here's a pass along card, okay bye!"

Talking to random strangers about Jesus, it's the best.

ZONE CONFERENCE

First of all, pray for my mission president. He now not only has to do conferences every transfer but he looks after 3 countries, 2 of which are not open to the church. He basically meets with attorneys, interviews missionaries, holds a zone conference, meets with more attorneys, speaks in stake conferences, interviews more missionaries and travels ALL DAY EVERYDAY. (This mission is so hard because everything is so spread out, some stake presidents cover a 9 hour area span...)

Anyway President Johnson is incredible and I am convinced he is one of the 3 Nephites because I am fairly certain he doesn't need sleep or food. But he is amazing and we learn so much from him. This last week he really focused on setting our sights straight ahead so we don't get swept by the current (used a super cool canoe analogy) It really made me question/reevaluate how centered on Christ I am and what I need to do to change.

This week I want to challenge you to do 1 of the following:

-SERVE! It will honestly make you so happy I promise. Serve someone random or someone not so random

-Reevaluate you life and determine what you can do to better focus on the Savior

I promise as you do these things you will be blessed--so do it! Thank you for everything! Transfers are this week but I don't think there will be any major changes, have a wonderful week!

Much much love,

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