3 weeks and counting

I think I'm starting to fall in love with a mission. And I am so happy. This whole month I have loved and and learned so much every day, but there have also been some times when I think, "Oh it'll be kind of nice to do the old things I used to love doing. Like go running alone or take three hours cooking an awesome dinner or talk on the phone with people I love..." or whatever. I wouldn't dwell on it, but sometimes thoughts like that would sneak into my head. But there was a point this week when I thought, "I don't want to do anything else other than this. I love it. I love the way it works." I'm so grateful. I hope it magnifies when I walk off the plane in Thailand.

Thai is still coming. It is so much fun. This week I was reading the scriptures in script! It takes a bit longer and I have to look up lots of words, but it's exciting that it's readable now, those crazy curly symbols. Sister Carper suggested we memorize Joseph Smith's First Vision in Thai, so we did! And we've been using it when we teach about the restoration in Thai.

It's so fun to speak Thai all the time. I really love SYLing. Josh said in his letter of love before my mission: "If you don't speak the language, you won't learn how to speak the language. Duh." Haha. So true, though! But it is a pleasure to do it! Thai's not very hard. There aren't lots of exceptions or anything so it's easy to memorize things. We were playing volleyball with some Korean missionaries (Americans going to Korea) and we were speaking some Thai, like "Good job" or "Hurry!" or whatever. And the Koreans kept asking us what everything meant. At one point, one of our elders said (in English), "You rock!!" And one of them was like, "What does that mean? Probably something like, you stink, or something, right?" Hahaha we all laughed and said, "That was in English!"

This week I have learned so much about the power of the Book of Mormon. Power. I've mentioned this before, but teaching is one of the most challenging things I've ever had to figure out. And I think it might take the rest of my mission and the rest of my life to really master it, but I think some things are starting to click. We teach "investigators" (who are really our teachers acting the part of Thai people they taught in Thailand) almost every day in Thai, so we get lots of experience preparing and executing lessons. We learned very early on how crucial the Spirit is to teaching. "If ye have not the Spirit, ye shall not teach" couldn't be more true, regardless of how much we know or even how strongly we believe in something. This week we tried something a bit new. Instead of just assigning a chapter to read, we opened up the Book of Mormon and read WITH the investigator, together, out loud. Oh man. This book is so true. It speaks for itself. It testifies of the Savior as the Savior. It invites the Spirit so realistically and so powerfully. It's impossible to deny and I will never deny it. I love this book, so so much. It has given me all I believe about the Savior and anything else important. If you haven't read it, start today:). You'll never never regret it.

Okay. I loooove you all!
Sister Roper