WEEK 46 - MAY 27, 2018 - PHUKET

Another great week in the Land of Smiles! We've been seeing some great success and awesome miracles! One cool miracle came in an interesting way! We biked out to visit the sister who got baptized last Sunday and she lives way far out there. The road to her house also goes over a bunch of hills so it is a great workout to say the least. On the way there I heard a "pop" from the back of my bike, looked around and saw nothing wrong, and kept going. We got to their house and taught the sister and as we were leaving we noticed my back tire was indeed flat. We're out in the middle of nowhere and the closest bike shop is back next to our house. The member we just visited gave us a small pump to use so I could ride my bike for a few minutes, stop, pump it up again, and keep going so that's what we did. While struggling to get up a small mountain we had someone pull their car over and got out to talk with us. It turned out to be a member who had moved to Phuket several years ago and didn't know there is a church here now. She was so excited to see us and asked us for the "Mormon Bible" cause she lost hers. It was cool to see how God got us in the right place at the right time to meet with her! Continuing with the story, a few short pit-stops later Elder Manwaring looks down and notices he too has a flat tire and his is even worse than mine! Now we're really stuck. After a while of walking, a kind soul picked us up and helped us get back to the bike shop. It was quite the experience to say the least, but we made it to our next appointment on time, so that was another miracle.

Last night while riding our fixed-up bikes we saw a guy wearing a pretty sweet shirt! He was wearing none other than a Brigham Young University shirt! Me and Elder Manwaring flipped out and pulled a quick u-turn to go talk to him! He was pretty confused at first but he let us take a picture with him. After talking with him for a bit he willingly invited us to his house next week to teach him about Jesus! We're really excited to teach him!

This week we did a branch family history activity which was super cool! I owe a huge thank you to my grandparents for being so diligent with family history! I benefitted so much from their effort. I was able to go through a lot of my ancestors and read stories and experiences from their lives that my relatives had put on their profile. It was a really neat experience and I felt really close to my ancestors. I encourage you all to try that out this week. Go through and read about your ancestors and you'll feel closer with them and you'll feel their love for you as well! 

We have been teaching a man named Brother Awoo who is the husband of a recent convert. He quit smoking, tea, coffee, and alcohol all in one day! He tries really hard but he doesn't understand super well but this week everything started to click for him! He watched the Restoration video and we talked about the Plan of Salvation with him and he got really excited to go to the temple with his family! He is super excited to get baptized this Sunday!

While walking my bike back home I looked down at my sunburned hands (which is actually super painful) and then at my broken bike, and then at the approximately 2 mile walk back home, and then at the people driving by who still don't always know what I'm saying, and for a split second thought "What am I doing here?" but as soon as that thought came to my mind, an answer came too which said "Because it's true!" I am here because Jesus Christ lived, died, and lived again. I'm here because He has restored His true church and He wants His children back with Him and I am able to help in that process. I love being a missionary!

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