Children's Day and a Baptism

Sister Y's baptism.

by Elder Sowards

Our Zone Leaders taught the importance of baptism in a way I had not considered. “Go and baptism" are the first words Jesus told Nephi when he visited the new world. There are six times that Heavenly Father has spoken to mankind, and four of them, the messages is: “Repent and be baptized.” What does this say about the importance of baptism?

Joan made chocolate chip cookies for the zone training, and they went fast. What does that say about the value of freshly baked CC cookies?

Sister Y was baptized Sunday! We have been involved in her missionary lessons and it is a joy for us that she has accepted baptism. She is a student and is holding a weekend job--a very busy girl. She is already a great addition to our branch.

Thai names are a challenge for me to pronounce. Sunday, I sustained several callings and set several members apart in their callings, having to get their names right. We called a deacon’s quorum president and 1st counselor, and a full Beehive presidency. We finally have youth to staff these callings.

Saturday was Thailand's Children’s Day--a day to take children to visit fun places and give them gifts. Thailand has no Christmas! We held our youth activity (Joan's last post) and most of our youth still came. That evening, our home community held a New Years/Children’s Day party in the small park almost in front of our house. We went to check it out and soon found ourselves sitting with a bunch of not-so sober men. At one point they gave me a microphone and asked me to say a few words to the people at the party. I tried to politely be brief and let them know we liked being their neighbors.

Ever wonder what elders look like
when they are writing home on P-day?
Intense.

On Saturday we received from the mission a used free-standing kitchen cabinet and a stove-range and oven. We were so excited to install them today. To our surprise and disappointment, we discovered that the stove is gas! We don’t have gas outlets in the kitchen or on the property. We though we had it made, as stove/oven combinations are hard to find. 


We are having a great learning experience. Please leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!
-E. Sowards