Sister Hammon: Week 61 - Saved by Saturday

So this week..it was good! As we were reviewing what happened we realized just how many sad things happened, but they were so sad they are almost laughable! Haha so here is a list of some events that happened:

-We were reviewing the baptismal interview questions with Brother Boonsong (supposed to get baptized this week) when he told us that he couldn't get baptized this week because he has to be a MONK. In Thailand it is the responsibility of the son to become a monk so the parents will be secured a place in heaven, and his other brother died, so now he HAS to. The church supports it so it keeps good relations with his family and he can get baptized after he finishes (around October) but yeah! Haha so no more baptism this week, but it's okay!

-Some of our favorite investigators invited us over for family home evening this upcoming Monday and we were so excited! We visited them and taught the 10 commandments (a sketchy lesson considering everyone and their dog worships idols) After we finished teaching they told us that they had to cancel our next family home evening appointment because on Monday they were going to be worshiping/making offerings at the wat...so yeah. We'll have to review that lesson haha.

-I was on switch offs and after having 4 canceled appointments we finally were meeting with an investigator and while my companion was in the middle of teaching about Joseph Smith our investigator says, "Excuse me, I'm just really tired, can you leave" Hahaha she said my face was priceless because my jaw dropped a little but I looked back and said, "Sure, we'll see you at church on Sunday!" Then we prayed and left. Hahaha life of missionaries.

-While on the same switch off ^^ a sister was riding my bike and apparently it kind of just fell apart..AGAIN. So I think that is a record. Sister Hammon and the broken bike part 3!

SO! Our week wasn't going as well as we planned, but LUCKILY we were saved by a Saturday! Right after Brother Boonsong told us about his monk-ship a member asked us if we had a free hour to run over to a nearby school and say hi to the kids in English. We followed the member on some sketchy roads to a school in the middle of nowhere and had the biggest tender mercy!!!

We were able to teach the cutest kids how to sing "I Am a Child of God" As I heard all the cute little kids singing my heart was SO FULL. The spirit was so strong and the kids were all so happy to see us. I know that each of them were able to feel a piece of God's love that day and it was DEFINITELY a needed boost for us:)

So that was Saturday morning, and Saturday night we were able to go to a BAPTISM! So for the past few weeks we have been teaching a woman named Sister Bla, and she has SO much faith! She works in Roiet but on the weekends she goes home to a tiny town called Yasothorn. The best thing for her to do is to learn with us in Roiet on the weekdays, but go to church in Yaso, but since we taught her, President gave us permission to go and see her baptism!

It was SO special! It turns out that her uncle was the old branch president in Yaso when she was a kid and so she had heard of the church. Then her family moved to Roiet and 20 years later she ran into the missionaries and remembered going to church as a kid and the rest is history! She was so willing to do all that was asked, all she needed was an invitation. I promise prepared people are out there! The baptismal service was so special. The ward honestly took her in as family. Such a perfect end to a rough week!

I promise we are both doing so well here in Roiet! I told all those stories more to explain more about the culture and help you laugh than to make you pity us haha! We're good, just normal missionary life. A quote that really helps in any situation like this is Elder Holland's classic, "The great thing about the gospel is that we get credit for trying, even when we don't always succeed." I know that sometimes we thing what we are doing is pointless, but in the end all that matters is that we tried! I love you all, and have an incredible week! (and that's my challenge for the week)

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Sister Hammon