Hello
Family!!!!! This week has gone by faster than I thought it would, and it is
amazing how much I have learned this week.
We started
learning script this week. So so so so crazy! It's beautiful, but totally
foreign to me. There are 3 classes of consonants (44-ish) and I have the high
class and some of the middle class somewhat memorized. And then we've barely
scratched the surface when it comes to vowels. AND then there are the
tones...... So much. Yes, I am stressed. Hahaha. But, let me tell you about the
blessing in my week, because they weigh out the stress by a lot!
Last week we
had a new elder come into our district. He is from Thailand, going to San Diego
speaking Laotian. He doesn't speak English though, so it has been interesting
trying to communicate with him. He helped me study the script characters a
little though and taught me to always start with the circle first.
We also got new
investigators this week. The first one Phat (Pat) is a single mom and is kind
but shy and doesn't always keep commitments. Gob on the other hand is hard
because he has already learned the missionary lessons, but is very Buddhist and
just seems very detached from us. Even though he doesn't like us, we are
determined to see how we can help him be happy.
I have been
really thinking a lot this week about how I can help make the gospel applicable
to the people that I get to teach. Applicable as in how they fit into the Plan
of Salvation, and how they can see for themselves how Jesus Christ can help
them in their life. Many
Thai people believe in reincarnation, and I think that It would bring so many
of them meaning and purpose if they knew that they could be with their family
forever! That is why a temple in Thailand is so needed! It will strengthen the members and be
a light to all of south east Asia! I
hope and pray everyday that more progress with temple can be made, because it
has been almost 3 years since the announcement of the Thailand Bangkok temple.
The new
buildings here at the MTC are incredible. We
walked around them and looked at all of the beautiful murals. They have many study places with
soft music playing and an amazing mural on one side, and then an accompanying
scripture to go with the scripture story that the painting is of, and then
there is a question to ponder. I'll
try to get a picture next week.
The artwork
makes me cry when I see it. In class sometimes, when our teacher can tell
that we need a break, we'll do "Thaizzercise" where we'll say a word
in Thai like 'repentance' (Kanklabcay) and do an action with it and repeat
after the person who is leading. It's hilarious!
I got the
package you sent yesterday!!!! Thank you thank you thank you soooooo much! That
brightened my day almost as much as seeing an Elder in my district get his very
first letter in the mail! It almost made me tear up. His parents are inactive I
think and I really don't know what the situation is like, but all I know
is that yesterday he got his first letter, sent by his companions dad. But
anyways, I shared the smarties with some of the americans haha. I just told
them they were like M&M's.
How is
everything going with end of school year stuff going on?
Yesterday, our
teacher could tell that we were stressed, after having taught TRC (it went ok
this week). He showed us the video of Jesus Christ suffering for our sins and
pains and heartaches, and then being crucified. I can never watch it without
crying. After it was over
he told all of us that we had lost focus on what matters most. We (my class/district) have been
focusing more on the language and relying on our own strength. Our teacher reminded us that we
need to rely on Christ more, because He has power to do anything with Him, we
are so much more effective and better teachers. I realized that I wasn't putting
in as much effort into my personal gospel study as I was with
language, and my lessons haven't been as good this week. It is my goal
this next week to rely on Jesus Christ and become perfected in Him (Moroni
10:32)
One scripture
that has helped me a lot this week is D&C 6. Read the whole section.
It's amazing :)
I wrote earlier
this week "I feel as though I am illiterate and am learning to read for
the first time - like a child. It
is both a difficult and beautiful experience. I
am God's child learning how to read for the first time." I don't know if
that makes any sense, but that is how I feel. I am so absolutely excited for
the day when I can understand Thai and Script. The first word that I
"read" (more like recognized one of the characters and then looked at
my Thai Script chart and searched for each symbol one by one) the word was
Nephi. God is working in my
life. I know it. He is
working in your life too. I
am very slowly piecing together what he wants me to learn, bit by bit. I have been looking for little
miracles each day, and they are hard to find sometimes. But I KNOW that got is
working miracles in me. and that he will make me more than I could
ever imagine, if I trust in Him more and lean not to my own understanding.
There are so many miracles in the making, and I don't know what they will all
be, but I know that it will be a miracle when I can speak and read Thai.
I love the
Gospel of Jesus Christ so much and I already love the people of Thailand so
much too! So many of them need the gospel so that "they may know to what
source they may look for a remission of their sins." ( 2 Nephi 25:26)
Read the Book
of Mormon. "The words of Christ will tell ye all things what ye should
do"
2 Ne 32:3
Love Sister
Peterson
