Expert Trackers

     

     Man this week flew by, just like the last few weeks. 

     A church member took Elder Duke, Brother Love, and I to a floating market. I was really stoked at first,

but then when I got there it was a little disappointing. I heard was there were boats that sold cool stuff, but they cancelled the boats because people kept falling in the water. It was still pretty cool though, we fed some fish, goats, and ate lunch and watched a bunch of happy old people sing and dance on a small stage. I saw a woman selling a bunch of wooden frogs with a spiked spine and a stick in it's mouth. I have seen many people selling those, which I don't understand why they are popular. Then she demonstrated, and

my mind was blown. She pulled the stick out of the wooden frog's mouth, and stroked the stick on the spine. It sounded EXACTLY like a frog's chirp. I bought it immediately for a dollar. Thai people are so clever.

     I saw an anti-smoking billboard, and below I saw the website and it said stopforking.com. I didn't know forking was a problem in Thailand. Stop forking! This has been a public service announcement from the country of Thailand.

     We have a few church members that we have lost contact with. Their phones stopped working, and we have little information about them. So guess what? We spend some time tracking them down. We called one church member that never picks up her phone, and surprisingly she picked up her phone, and said she lived in a certain street. When we went to her street the next day, we called her and then she picked up, and then her phone died. So we had to find her the old fashioned way: asking people in that huge neighborhood. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, but miraculously we found her. We had something like that happen the next day as well.

     Flashback: One day I was waiting to cross a busy street, and was not paying attention at one point. Someone grabbed my arm and started escorting me across the street. I looked to my right and it was an old Thai lady who was about five feet tall, escorting me across the street.

     When I am inviting others to learn about Christ and/or English, some Thai people struggle and try to respond to me in English, despite me asking them in full and complete sentences in Thai. Some people say: "No... no... busy.... I... go...." in English. Almost every missionary in Thailand has also gotten the reply "I am Buddha!" in English as well.  Man there are a lot of Buddhas in Thailand.  

     Some people have asked me, so what to you do on missions? What you do do as a missionary?  Well, it actually depends on where the missionary is. Our main purpose is to find and teach the restored gospel to people, and to help them come unto Christ.

     Here are some of the responsibilities that I have to do when I am in Samutprakan:

1. Find people; teach them about the restored gospel

2. Teach English

3. Find inactive church members; help them any way we can.

4. Help and serve church members, and strengthen their faith.

That's just a few things that I do.  Missionary work isn't easy. It can get really hard at times. But it is worth it. Very worth it. I have seen many miracles happen in missionary work, and get to help many people as well. I have read my friend Cannon and Jonathan Degraw's emails in the last week, and they have shared some amazing, mind-blowing miracles they have seen in their work too. Also, as I read other missionaries' emails they shared many other miracles as well.

     Despite hardly running at all on my mission and losing my endurance, despite not getting to be on social media, despite learning a very hard language, despite struggling, despite missing my friends, family, and America, despite not listening to my favorite music and watching my favorite movies, it's all worth it. Serving a mission is worth it. 

     Much Love from Thailand,

     Elder Brinkerhoff