Week 8

     Holy cow!  This week was amazing!
Tuesday we didn't really do a lot, but I memorized like 30 new words, so I was really proud of myself.  Also, we got to usher all the missionaries in the devotional and everyone was shocked at our name tags, it was awesome.

     Wednesday we had a lesson with our really stubborn depressed investigator, and we had prepared so much for this lesson.  We went in and used our God-given power to the fullest extent.  We knew he needed the gospel and we intended to give it to him.  We shared our testimonies and talked about what his family believes, then Elder Hinds testified again, then I shared Mosiah 27:28 with him, which is the initial conversion of Alma, and he was silent for a bit then looked up and said "Elders, you're right.  I need to change, I need God."  Elder Hinds and I were practically in tears at this point, then we asked him to pray for us and he said yes, and I lost it during his prayer.  He was so sincere and heartfelt about what he wanted God to hear, it was amazing.  He committed to do everything he needs to for baptism, and even is trying to stop smoking now. 
I know that lesson we shared didn't come from us, it was sent from God to bring Om Thawn back to him.  I'm only an instrument in the hands of the Lord! 

     I'll talk about the rest of the week later, I have to get my Laundry!  I'll be back on at 4 to send a couple more stories!  Lots of Love, the Church is true!!!  If you are receiving this I personally invite you to learn about this gospel, it WILL change your life for the better!!!

Elder Cameron Tolman


Alright, Thursday.  Really not a lot happened, we didn't have a lesson so we just memorized like 30 more words that day.  But we got back to the residence, and some Mandarin Elders that are musically inclined thought that it would be fun to get all their Elders together in the hall and have a concert with this one Elder that brought his ukulele.  In case you don't know, all of that is against missionary standard, not a single thing the were doing was in accordance with what they should be doing as missionaries that night.  Our room was a little shocked at how disobedient so many of Gods servants were being.   I went to get our zone leaders, and came back up, and there were even more missionaries in the hall!  I didn't know what to think, we were just in our room waiting for quiet time to start, and when it came they kept going!  That kind of made me mad, the quiet time is supposed to be a time that you give to God to learn how you can improve as a missionary, and they totally threw it out!  I went out in the hall at that point and got their attention, which is normally something I wouldn't do, there were more missionaries in this one hall than there were on our whole floor, but for whatever reason I told them that they needed to stop, and that if they weren't going to respect their own time then to at least respect everyone else's.  Of course someone retaliated and tried to get mad at me, then Elder Hinds yelled out "Hey, just listen, we can all recite our purpose together if you want!"  No one said anything after that, and after 6weeks, there hasn't been music in our residence for 4 days!
     The thing about this though, is that in one moment, God gave me courage to do something that I am not regularly capable of, and I was able to make a change in the spirit we are able to feel in our residence by speaking up.  It might not sound like a lot, but it was a big moment for me.
     Friday was regular, no lesson and a lot of studying!  Saturday we had a lot of fun with our teachers.  It was all language related so it won't make sense to anyone.  Just know that we have really spiritually prepared teachers that are really good at their jobs.
     Sunday we had our regular meetings, and I got to give an impromptu lesson for priesthood because no one prepared one and I'm in charge since I'm District Leader. Ha Ha!  It was really fun!  We talked about obedience!
     One other thing that happened this week was that a kid in the Thai district right next door to us started choking and it was really scary cause one Elder started running around yelling that he needed CPR, so everyone thought he was having a heart attack!  The Elder was fine, but it was just really fun.  Have a good week!!!  And you only have another week to grace yourself with the opportunity to send me a Dear Elder, it's a great experience to be able to have!  (That's my way of saying I'm desperate to get mail because I don't get any)

Niyiay Leeng, I get mail.  But  I really want to hear from y'all

Elder Cameron Tolman