Today I shall begin with a short story. When I told people I was going on a mission someone told me this:
"If you marry a sister missionary you'll be a junior companion for the rest of your life"
Meaning if you go on a mission nobody will want to marry you! But don't lose hope! Our investigator has recently started praying for me. "Bless Sister Speas that when she returns to America she will find a good man who isn't Thai that she can marry." Well hot dog! I guess all you doubters can rest assured that I will get married despite my attempt at avoiding it through missionary service.
But if not... this mission is worth it. I know I'm where I need to be. Growing up I always heard the cliche missionary lines, "I don't know where I'd be without my mission" "best two years of my life" etc. I promised myself I wouldn't say them, but they do have merit. Sometimes I have to read through my mass email and delete all the missionary cliche lines because I promised myself I would never say them!
My favorite investigator (and yes I do have favorites) is doing his Masters in Civil Enginering. He needed help with a minimization problem, and I happily volunteered. I thought I would never miss math, but I was so happy I could've cried when I saw derivatives and integrals! He also brought us chocolate one lesson... maybe that's why he's my favorite...
You folks are always asking about the language. I think it's a kinda boring question, but I guess I'll appease the masses. I can no longer speak English like a regular human and I wonder if I can really speak Thai. I guess you could say I'm in the language Twilight zone. That or on the brink of creating a new language from being in said Twilight zone for so long.
We extend the baptismal commitment daily. It's a lot of fun when it's not in a lesson with an investigator. Sometimes we agree to commit the first person we see when we get off the bus. Sometimes we hand them a picture of Asians receiving baptism and stand and wait until they ask a question. Most of the time it's a pretty hilarious failure. But suprisingly this is how we are getting a stronger investigator pool with real desire.
Keep the faith! Keep believing! And to those out there reading this email that aren't members, go talk to the missionaries! Find out what I'm really talking about! I dare you!