A week of staying on my toes

October 1st, 2018
15th month,  3rd week
Thailand, Bangkok, Thonburi Ward

samuel.montague@myldsmail.net (I would love to hear from you)



Well. It is slightly awkward to have forgotten to write my email last week. Not only is that my first time to forget,  my mother specifically asked about my week and I said I would write about it. And I did. I just didn't send it. Oops

But it has been an exciting week nonetheless.

President Hammond decided that this year with General Conference we should watch it all in English little by little during the week.  So on Sunday we can watch it with the members in Thai.  And honestly it was so great. We were able to take it in in smaller amounts so we never got to restless because we had longer breaks in between sessions.  And the members were very surprised when we didn't leave after they started conference in Thai on Sunday.

Honestly General Conference was great for me. I prepared a list of a number of questions before I started listening to the talks, because I have lots of questions and concerns.  And I had so many of them directly or indirectly answered. It was really interesting to see a lot of the key words in each of my questions continuously pop up in so many different talks. I think the most obvious and surprising answer was to my question about creativity. Which, if you've listened, there was an entire talk about using our creativity. But it was just so exciting and I loved it. Y'all should all read it too. 

A small miracle occurred on Saturday. I had not eaten breakfast, and it was a little bit before we were going to go to lunch. We decided to go down a small side road we hadn't before. Within a minute, we happened upon this big family that was outside cooking. We started chatting with them, and then they offered for us to try some food. I'm like I'd love to try some of your food. And then they kept giving me more food despite our protestations. I like to be blessed with free food.

Our mission President also challenged us to invite everybody, be it a member or a person we just started talking to or a person that's been working with us already to General Conference this weekend. The invitation totally makes sense, because the scriptures, what should we ask people to read all the time, are the words and teachings of the prophets. พอดี  We have prophets and apostles chosen by the Lord in this day and age, and they speak to us every 6 months. As important as the scriptures are for us to study and learn from, I can see why it might be important to invite everybody to come in here and study modern day scripture for specifically these next 6 months.

As we went out and did that, we saw miracles. Not all of them didn't follow through, but we weren't disappointed until yesterday! We were so hyped throughout the week as we invited people and they committed to going to church this Sunday with their family or their friends. And these are all people that we've started talking to for the first time.  People that we met on the street or bus. We had about 9 or so people scheduled to come this Sunday. Now of course in true missionary fashion none of them showed up, but it was an exciting feeling on Sunday morning when we realized how many people we had committed to come hear the Lord's Prophet and Apostles..

So we also watched the women's session, and that was a great decision. Besides being grateful for how empowering it was for women, there was so many powerful points that were presented.  I got so much out of the speakers, but something I did want to particularly mention comes from President Henry B. Eyring talk. He talked about the special role women play in everybody's lives, and I just wanted to give a big thank you shout out to the women in my life. Especially my mother and my sisters. I'd like to give a special shout out to my older sister Isabelle. She's been a Pioneer in our family as she's gone from step to step as the first one. What a power move Isabelle.

And while I wholeheartedly agree that you should all go watch and study.  Then study again all these talks from the Lord's Prophet and Apostles if you haven't already.  I actually want to invite you all to do something else this week. I had one of the missionaries that lives with me send me the link to the talk that he was listening to the other day. I listen to it last night and it is amazing. It is from a military chaplain training event, but it is very much applicable to everybody. I would encourage you to all watch it or listen to it with an open heart.


Conference Viewing Party
Thailand Sunset










Motorcycle Helmets are Everywhere



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