"And it shall come to pass that the life of king Noah shall be valued even as a garment in a hot furnace; for he shall know that I am the Lord." Mosiah 12:3
December 2nd, 2018
1 year, 6 months
Thailand, Bangkok, Thonburi Ward
samuel.montague@myldsmail.net
So we've been meeting with this Cambodian security guard who we came across on accident when we went back to find one of his coworkers. But this person is actually very interested and has been praying since day one and has recognized help that has come as a result of those times he has prayed! Any time we teach him anything, without asking he will teach it back to us and relate it to concepts he already knows and translate it into Khmer. Shoutout to google translate for helping us share some new concepts and my friend from the MTC( Elder Daniel Blaine Tuft) who is in Cambodia and sent us how to actually pray in Khmer.
We have now finished with our massive English training, and now it is up to us to implement the practices we learned. It is not easy to change how I plan English class and it has helped me understand the feelings and thought processes of those that I teach, as I have battled at least mild bouts of procrastination and laziness, thoughts of how the way I planned before worked well enough and how I'm already good at doing that and no real need to switch, etc. I have striven to force an open heart and to really try to apply the principles I taught; this is a unique situation that has given me serious insight into how those I teach feel and honestly, deal with the natural man inside each of us.
Mosiah 3:19
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
All the good stuff comes to those who open their hearts and are open to change and seek improvement. In Ether 12:27 the Lord reiterates this principle. If we were perfect and didn't have weaknesses, there would be no need for humility or reliance upon the Lord. So God gives us flaws: physical abilities and appearances, personality traits, knowledge, beliefs, and economic, cultural, or social circumstances that we can improve on.
Back to this week! The large group of kids we have been working with have been interesting. As we finished teaching the lessons we need to and have approached their baptismal dates, their attitudes and actions have exposed their testimonies at their various levels.
-โชค (Chok) has been so excited for baptism! He is overjoyed at the prospect of switching religions, following and learning more about Christ, and being a missionary in the future. He passed his interview on Saturday and was going to be baptized yesterday at church . . . except he didn't show up for sacrament? We were really confused because we had gone by that morning and reminded him to bring everything to church and to be their on time. Apparently, 2 of the others from the friend group had woken up early and were hungry (and didn't have anywhere near his testimony). So after showing up late they all went back home to eat then came back for the second and third hour. They were really weird and we were so stressed and disappointed. We had a talk about how everyone needs to choose for themselves and have the actions that follow our beliefs and that will lead us to the eternal destination that we should want to get to.
-การ์ตูน (Cartoon) wants to be baptized. She follows those around her at times, which is sometimes good and sometimes not. When she is around Chok, she reads her scriptures and is motivated to not drink tea. When she starts spending time with Cream, they will run off together and she is doesn't demonstrate the same commitment. We are working with her to help her have a testimony of the truth.
-เอิร์น (Earn) is one of the younger and smaller ones in the group. She is also more easily influenced, so she is excited and wants to be baptized, but will also follow the others sometimes which can be frustrating when they are following their old habits.
-ครีม (Cream) is losing interest now. I have charity and I love her and want the best for her which is why I get frustrated with some of her choices. She said she has gotten "bored" of church and the activities we hold throughout the week, leading to her running off and finding a corner to play on her phone or listen to trap music We've let her know that she does have agency and she doesn't have to come to meetings or activities, but if she does she should at least be in the room where the activity is being held. his past week there was a brief glimpse of hope and joy and she was well behaved and participated.
- We've also taught some of the adults in this group, most notably Cream's parents this past week (everyone always hangs out at either their store or house). While Elder Halversen was reviewing the Baptismal Interview Questions, I had the opportunity to start teaching แม่อิ๊ด (Momma It). We were having a great discussion about the Plan of Salvation and the difference of doctrines between our religions and how she can get an answer. She had to semi-briefly get up to take care of a customer. She came back, and within 20 sec of us talking again, her husband came over. The rest of the conversation was me and พ่อทิน (Poppa Tin) hashing it out.
He truly follows the Philosophies of Man. He went off on so many tangents about how this life is just a mirage, everything is just done through nature, how he has studied so much and he has concluded that this and science are what's true, and that Buddhists had an advanced knowledge and so much other stuff. I ended up referring everything back to the Book of Mormon.
That because I know it is true and that is why I gave up all the stuff I did to teach others about it and all he had to do was read it and pray about it. I tried appealing to his knowledge side and gave a comparison on how the world used to be "flat", but we have the actual truth that it is now round. Just because they believed that it was flat their science of the time didn't make it so. As they gained knowledge and the correct tools their understanding changed to fit actual truth.
I gave him the example that while I was at college I was only able to find out what a substance was through following lab instructions and experimenting. He was like, just remember this conversation when you are older and you will see the light. So I understand his perspective is different than mine and he has more life experience, however it didn't want to even listen to how he could approach a study of the Book of Mormon to see if he could see it is true and not just depend on what I'm saying. Sometimes it is a little disheartening and frustrating when we are so condescended to and brushed aside.
I'm just like, I'm not some little hippy American that has come here to teach about Jesus because that is was I grew up with and what my parents believed. I wouldn't be paying the $10,000 to be here for 2 years, in the middle of my colliegate education, to do that, sacrificing cars, dating, family, friends, work, etc. Yes I grew up in this church, but I am only a 2nd/3rd generation member; there are 3 separate generations that have obtained lasting conversion. And lastly I am not uneducated. Yes, I don't have the life experience and wisdom you do (those 2 other generations to tho 555), but I'm not stupid! He was acting like I was just going in blind faith and that I didn't know anything about the world. Homeboy please. I speak 2 languages. I have an associated degree summa cum laude or whatever. I (was) studying neuroscience at one of the more renown and prestigious universities in the world. I paid my way through a year of college, all the while saving enough money to pay for 2 years of unpaid volunteer work in a foreign country. Bud. Sit yourself down. You work construction and your wife operates a drink stand and massage parlour. Not to bash those professions, Thai people, or Buddhism, but sometimes we are so condescended and brushed aside and it is frustrating.
As you might have guessed, this has been a fairly frustrating and stressful week. Things haven't been working out as we hoped, we've been loaded with more responsibilities, and nothing we do seems to have desired effect.
One item that has become a little harder is the MAAS360 (the monitoring program the church installed on our phones) has freaked out again and knocked out the voice to text function. This was the primary way I wrote out my weekly reports and lessons. I'm sorry for last week's truly terrible email. But also all our apps crash now and neither slide nor regular typing on our phones completely work - causes SO MANY TYPOS :( So I caved and got a bluetooth keyboard for my phone. What a mental health TREAT. It is so much fun typing and I am able to quickly and effectively do all my stuff now.
This all happened within a couple of days so at the height of my frustrations yesterday, we had companionship study. I ranted a little, but I wanted to be more productive. So we spent a little extra time in study and below is what we came up with during our study. Feel free to use the following list generously with whomever you come across.
DO YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN THE PROPHET? How's your testimony in prophets?
• God is either there or not. The church is true or not. Find the truth, get your answer, then decisively and forever act upon it. https://www.lds.org/study/
• The prophet is how old, he has finished it how many times, he is scripture, and he still reads daily.
• He speaks to God and Christ and sees them face to face on occasion, has spiritual experiences and prayers that no one else can be present for, and he meets regularly with several different groups in the temple, and he still prays often.
• Would the prophet go in winging general conference or just not go because he doesnt feel like magnifying his calling? So why do you? He was completing his medical fellowship while he was called as a stake president. There are many other general authorities, specifically those in the Quorum of the 12 of were completing master or doctoral programs and degrees, working, and raising their young families as they were called to be EQP, Bishops, Stake Presidents. Why are you too busy to fulfill a calling?
• Our current prophet was a world renown innovative heart surgeon, who regularly administered life saving surgeries in critical conditions. Do you think he would have his faith and testimony to be a prophet if he didnt regularly go to church? His job was to literally save lives. What is your excuse for not going to church?
• President Nelson has referred many several people to be taught and many have been baptized. Why aren't you doing member missionary work?
• President Monson went into a Priest Quorum in the last years of his life, and told the group of boys how he hoped that all that he had done (redid scripture formatting, was a prophet, bishop at 22ish, cared for widows from his first time being bishop until each of those 90 or so ladies died, mission president) was enough to make up for not serving a mission. What's you're reason again?
• The president is the head and the face of the church. They receive criticism for anything related to church doctrine or policy. People attack them. For their physical wellbeing, they have to have bodyguards. They don't get น้อยใจ- in fact they go out and teach everyone to love one another (something they do best). Elder Holland recently spoke on how dumb it is to place your eternal salvation at risk because of a disagreement or misunderstanding or annoyance. Is it worth it?
• The prophet, apostles, and general authorities are all retired. They all focus on the work of the Lord full time. Most of the longest serving people have been serving the church full time longer than their original careers. The prophet is 94. Many of the Quorum of the 12 are similarly aged. They are still working. Relentlessly. Why are you so lazy- you haven't retired. You're not anywhere near the dozens of decades of membership and service they've clocked in.
We had a few great things happen this week. I just wanted to go type crazy this week. Also, it's winter? Last year in Chiang Mai this meant actual chilly temps and jacket wearing all day (outside of 10:30-17:00). Here, it means cool weather, nice breezes, and basically what the temperature should always be in Bangkok.
What a very long and in your face email. Sorry for the soapbox "stumping". Basically, being a missionary means so much and this work is literally everything and it is frustrating when you know this but other people act like they don't or can't feel the truth.
Say a prayer!
1 year, 6 months
Thailand, Bangkok, Thonburi Ward
samuel.montague@myldsmail.net
So we've been meeting with this Cambodian security guard who we came across on accident when we went back to find one of his coworkers. But this person is actually very interested and has been praying since day one and has recognized help that has come as a result of those times he has prayed! Any time we teach him anything, without asking he will teach it back to us and relate it to concepts he already knows and translate it into Khmer. Shoutout to google translate for helping us share some new concepts and my friend from the MTC( Elder Daniel Blaine Tuft) who is in Cambodia and sent us how to actually pray in Khmer.
We have now finished with our massive English training, and now it is up to us to implement the practices we learned. It is not easy to change how I plan English class and it has helped me understand the feelings and thought processes of those that I teach, as I have battled at least mild bouts of procrastination and laziness, thoughts of how the way I planned before worked well enough and how I'm already good at doing that and no real need to switch, etc. I have striven to force an open heart and to really try to apply the principles I taught; this is a unique situation that has given me serious insight into how those I teach feel and honestly, deal with the natural man inside each of us.
Mosiah 3:19
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
All the good stuff comes to those who open their hearts and are open to change and seek improvement. In Ether 12:27 the Lord reiterates this principle. If we were perfect and didn't have weaknesses, there would be no need for humility or reliance upon the Lord. So God gives us flaws: physical abilities and appearances, personality traits, knowledge, beliefs, and economic, cultural, or social circumstances that we can improve on.
Back to this week! The large group of kids we have been working with have been interesting. As we finished teaching the lessons we need to and have approached their baptismal dates, their attitudes and actions have exposed their testimonies at their various levels.
-โชค (Chok) has been so excited for baptism! He is overjoyed at the prospect of switching religions, following and learning more about Christ, and being a missionary in the future. He passed his interview on Saturday and was going to be baptized yesterday at church . . . except he didn't show up for sacrament? We were really confused because we had gone by that morning and reminded him to bring everything to church and to be their on time. Apparently, 2 of the others from the friend group had woken up early and were hungry (and didn't have anywhere near his testimony). So after showing up late they all went back home to eat then came back for the second and third hour. They were really weird and we were so stressed and disappointed. We had a talk about how everyone needs to choose for themselves and have the actions that follow our beliefs and that will lead us to the eternal destination that we should want to get to.
-การ์ตูน (Cartoon) wants to be baptized. She follows those around her at times, which is sometimes good and sometimes not. When she is around Chok, she reads her scriptures and is motivated to not drink tea. When she starts spending time with Cream, they will run off together and she is doesn't demonstrate the same commitment. We are working with her to help her have a testimony of the truth.
-เอิร์น (Earn) is one of the younger and smaller ones in the group. She is also more easily influenced, so she is excited and wants to be baptized, but will also follow the others sometimes which can be frustrating when they are following their old habits.
-ครีม (Cream) is losing interest now. I have charity and I love her and want the best for her which is why I get frustrated with some of her choices. She said she has gotten "bored" of church and the activities we hold throughout the week, leading to her running off and finding a corner to play on her phone or listen to trap music We've let her know that she does have agency and she doesn't have to come to meetings or activities, but if she does she should at least be in the room where the activity is being held. his past week there was a brief glimpse of hope and joy and she was well behaved and participated.
- We've also taught some of the adults in this group, most notably Cream's parents this past week (everyone always hangs out at either their store or house). While Elder Halversen was reviewing the Baptismal Interview Questions, I had the opportunity to start teaching แม่อิ๊ด (Momma It). We were having a great discussion about the Plan of Salvation and the difference of doctrines between our religions and how she can get an answer. She had to semi-briefly get up to take care of a customer. She came back, and within 20 sec of us talking again, her husband came over. The rest of the conversation was me and พ่อทิน (Poppa Tin) hashing it out.
He truly follows the Philosophies of Man. He went off on so many tangents about how this life is just a mirage, everything is just done through nature, how he has studied so much and he has concluded that this and science are what's true, and that Buddhists had an advanced knowledge and so much other stuff. I ended up referring everything back to the Book of Mormon.
That because I know it is true and that is why I gave up all the stuff I did to teach others about it and all he had to do was read it and pray about it. I tried appealing to his knowledge side and gave a comparison on how the world used to be "flat", but we have the actual truth that it is now round. Just because they believed that it was flat their science of the time didn't make it so. As they gained knowledge and the correct tools their understanding changed to fit actual truth.
I gave him the example that while I was at college I was only able to find out what a substance was through following lab instructions and experimenting. He was like, just remember this conversation when you are older and you will see the light. So I understand his perspective is different than mine and he has more life experience, however it didn't want to even listen to how he could approach a study of the Book of Mormon to see if he could see it is true and not just depend on what I'm saying. Sometimes it is a little disheartening and frustrating when we are so condescended to and brushed aside.
I'm just like, I'm not some little hippy American that has come here to teach about Jesus because that is was I grew up with and what my parents believed. I wouldn't be paying the $10,000 to be here for 2 years, in the middle of my colliegate education, to do that, sacrificing cars, dating, family, friends, work, etc. Yes I grew up in this church, but I am only a 2nd/3rd generation member; there are 3 separate generations that have obtained lasting conversion. And lastly I am not uneducated. Yes, I don't have the life experience and wisdom you do (those 2 other generations to tho 555), but I'm not stupid! He was acting like I was just going in blind faith and that I didn't know anything about the world. Homeboy please. I speak 2 languages. I have an associated degree summa cum laude or whatever. I (was) studying neuroscience at one of the more renown and prestigious universities in the world. I paid my way through a year of college, all the while saving enough money to pay for 2 years of unpaid volunteer work in a foreign country. Bud. Sit yourself down. You work construction and your wife operates a drink stand and massage parlour. Not to bash those professions, Thai people, or Buddhism, but sometimes we are so condescended and brushed aside and it is frustrating.
As you might have guessed, this has been a fairly frustrating and stressful week. Things haven't been working out as we hoped, we've been loaded with more responsibilities, and nothing we do seems to have desired effect.
One item that has become a little harder is the MAAS360 (the monitoring program the church installed on our phones) has freaked out again and knocked out the voice to text function. This was the primary way I wrote out my weekly reports and lessons. I'm sorry for last week's truly terrible email. But also all our apps crash now and neither slide nor regular typing on our phones completely work - causes SO MANY TYPOS :( So I caved and got a bluetooth keyboard for my phone. What a mental health TREAT. It is so much fun typing and I am able to quickly and effectively do all my stuff now.
This all happened within a couple of days so at the height of my frustrations yesterday, we had companionship study. I ranted a little, but I wanted to be more productive. So we spent a little extra time in study and below is what we came up with during our study. Feel free to use the following list generously with whomever you come across.
DO YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN THE PROPHET? How's your testimony in prophets?
• God is either there or not. The church is true or not. Find the truth, get your answer, then decisively and forever act upon it. https://www.lds.org/study/
• The prophet is how old, he has finished it how many times, he is scripture, and he still reads daily.
• He speaks to God and Christ and sees them face to face on occasion, has spiritual experiences and prayers that no one else can be present for, and he meets regularly with several different groups in the temple, and he still prays often.
• Would the prophet go in winging general conference or just not go because he doesnt feel like magnifying his calling? So why do you? He was completing his medical fellowship while he was called as a stake president. There are many other general authorities, specifically those in the Quorum of the 12 of were completing master or doctoral programs and degrees, working, and raising their young families as they were called to be EQP, Bishops, Stake Presidents. Why are you too busy to fulfill a calling?
• Our current prophet was a world renown innovative heart surgeon, who regularly administered life saving surgeries in critical conditions. Do you think he would have his faith and testimony to be a prophet if he didnt regularly go to church? His job was to literally save lives. What is your excuse for not going to church?
• President Nelson has referred many several people to be taught and many have been baptized. Why aren't you doing member missionary work?
• President Monson went into a Priest Quorum in the last years of his life, and told the group of boys how he hoped that all that he had done (redid scripture formatting, was a prophet, bishop at 22ish, cared for widows from his first time being bishop until each of those 90 or so ladies died, mission president) was enough to make up for not serving a mission. What's you're reason again?
• The president is the head and the face of the church. They receive criticism for anything related to church doctrine or policy. People attack them. For their physical wellbeing, they have to have bodyguards. They don't get น้อยใจ- in fact they go out and teach everyone to love one another (something they do best). Elder Holland recently spoke on how dumb it is to place your eternal salvation at risk because of a disagreement or misunderstanding or annoyance. Is it worth it?
• The prophet, apostles, and general authorities are all retired. They all focus on the work of the Lord full time. Most of the longest serving people have been serving the church full time longer than their original careers. The prophet is 94. Many of the Quorum of the 12 are similarly aged. They are still working. Relentlessly. Why are you so lazy- you haven't retired. You're not anywhere near the dozens of decades of membership and service they've clocked in.
We had a few great things happen this week. I just wanted to go type crazy this week. Also, it's winter? Last year in Chiang Mai this meant actual chilly temps and jacket wearing all day (outside of 10:30-17:00). Here, it means cool weather, nice breezes, and basically what the temperature should always be in Bangkok.
What a very long and in your face email. Sorry for the soapbox "stumping". Basically, being a missionary means so much and this work is literally everything and it is frustrating when you know this but other people act like they don't or can't feel the truth.
Say a prayer!
 |
| Cleaning the font - for the baptism that didn't occur |
 |
| Puppies are a great conversation starter |
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| Christmas is coming |
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