Or else everyone in the Sacrament Meeting congregation will start singing the chorus the second time through while meanwhile you are up at the beginning of verse two....and when you finally realize it you just have to keep going farther into verse two...so they all finally catch up to you....and then at the end of verse two you're not sure if you should fix your mistake and actually play the chorus twice this time, or should just do it the same way as last time, as in make the mistake over again (the mistake of playing the chorus just one time) because that's what they are expecting you to do because that's how you played the first verse....because all of this confusion and thinking will most likely end up in everyone looking at you in wonderment and there being a pause at the end of the first runthrough of the second verse's chorus....because of uncertainty...and then okay just back up to verse three....and then at the end of verse three, since it's graciously the last verse, you MUST play the chorus twice anyway....and finally...the song....is over. And so is your reputation as Sacrament Meeting pianist....hahahaha. Not that this happened to me or anything.....:)
Shout-outs:
JAMIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE LYNN ROPER JENSENNN!!!! Happy Birthday!!!! Everyone please make it the best birthday ever. Emails. Phone calls. Texts. NOT half-off valentine's day flowers. Visits to the home. Of course delicious cake:). I love you and hope the 15th treats you very very well:).
Shan: I love you! Wish Jamie a Happy Birthday for me:) For real.
Josh: Wish Jamie a Happy Birthday for me:)
Jen: I love you! Tell Jamie I said Happy Birthday.
Jamie: Put this on the blog so everyone knows it's your birthday.
Chris, Kayden, Trace, Brooks: Wish Mom and Wife a Happy Birthday for me!!!
Landon: Text Jamie Happy Birthday 7 times:)
Jess: HI hi!!! Text Jamie and tell her Bre loves her and Happy Birthday:)
Jordan and Haylie girl: Tell Jamie I said Happy Birthday. Call her and tell her to not answer the next time. ANd then call back and leave a message and sing her Happy BIrthday.
Beth darling: Tell Jamie I said Happy Birthday;)
Natalie or someone remotely related to Natalie wonderful Savage: WHERE.ARE.YOU.GOING.ON.YOUR.MISSION.I'M.DYING.TO.KNOW.
Whitney Houston: Peace out. I will always love you.
Aimee: I'm sorry about your brother-in-law:(. I'm soooo glad to hear about that blessing, though. Your service and attitude and testimony ARE helping your family, I know it:)
Seanny boy: I didn't know your body even made the chemicals for jealousy hahahahaha
This week a tuk tuk driver sang us Christian songs in Thai. She thought we'd like it because we are Christian too. We did like it:). It was funny...she was just singing her lungs out as we were driving down the road.
I'm really grateful because the members in our area are starting to like missionaries again. One little kid got up in church and talked about how he was grateful that we made him give a Book of Mormon to his friend and that we went with him and roleplayed before. His parents texted us a bunch to thank us:). A few called said that the ward feels like we are "action MAAG!" Maag means a lot or much. Haha isn't that cute? I love it. The bishop smiles at us and people like helping and are more apt to us helping. It's wonderful because missionaries have had a hard time connecting to this particular ward for some reason. All you gotta do, I'm learning, is pretend like they're already your best friend and that they love you a lot and just love them back. That is a lesson I learned from Mandy:) Thanks, cousin!
This week I learned (again and more) about how wonderful and true and powerful the Book of Mormon is. I am soooo grateful for this tool we have for missionary work. And life. And finding happiness in life. It truly is the best and only way. We are teaching a family, the mom's name is Gay and the dad's Nung and they said something this week that I've been waiting over seven months for an investigator to say: "It's so good. Every time we open it and read, we just don't want to put it down. I want to keep reading and learning more and more!" When we taught them about Joseph Smith and the first vision, we all got choked up. I received a strong confirmation of its truthfulness and so did they:). It was such a wonderful experience.
I love you all. Please read the Book of Mormon next time something good happens. And also next time something bad or frustrating or sad happens. I promise with 7898798787987% of my heart that it will help.
Looooove,
Sister Roper
Oh my! And Happy Valentine's Day!!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Another small miracle
I thought you would all appreciate this sweet letter a man in Shan's ward wrote in response to Breanne's letter today. .....
Sister Roper,
Generally when I receive your letters I just sit and laugh because I can relate to your experiences which remind me of when I served in Thailand a hundred years ago. This week however, your testimony of the Book of Mormon and its importance as a tool in missionary work touched me deeply. I served in Thailand from 1975 to 1977. In 1976 the translation of the Book of Mormon in Thai was finished and went to print. Prior to that, each missionary district had one copy of the Book of Mormon in Thai. It as typed in huge print on manuscript paper (size 11 x 14). It would literally take a wheel barrow to carry the entire Book of Mormon at one time. So, we would take, for example, 1 Nephi Chapter 1 with us and leave it with an investigator and then pick it up a week later and talk to them about what they read and then leave another chapter with them. And so it went. One chapter would be about 30 pages of this huge paper and it was cumbersome and heavy and very difficult to work with. Besides the fact that it was not the entire Book of Mormon. I know that many investigators were put off with this because it lacked any credibility in the form that we had at the time. Then the translation was finished and the Book of Mormon was printed. We had copies of the entire Book of Mormon that we could give to investigators. We could mark scriptures throughout the book and we could open the scriptures and teach from them. The nature of missionary work in Thailand changed exponentially for good. Words cannot express how much I love the Book of Mormon and how appreciative I was and am that I had the opportunity to use it as I taught the gospel in Thailand. I will be forever grateful to Heavenly Father for preparing Sister Silaksana for her chosen calling to translate the Book of Mormon into Thai. I am so grateful for Sister Silaksana specifically, and many others that had a hand in the translation of the Book of Mormon into Thai.
Sister Roper, you ROCK! Thank you for your enthusiasm, your wit, and your love of the Thai people. Most of all thank you for the great love you have for the Savior and for his work on earth which is so clearly evident in each and every letter you write.
Your brother in the gospel.
Jay D Turner
(So that you don't wonder who this strange person writing you is... my family and I live in your sister Shan and Jed's ward in Riverton, UT and met you I believe during your Christmas break from BYU, just after you had received your mission call to serve in Thailand)
Sister Roper,
Generally when I receive your letters I just sit and laugh because I can relate to your experiences which remind me of when I served in Thailand a hundred years ago. This week however, your testimony of the Book of Mormon and its importance as a tool in missionary work touched me deeply. I served in Thailand from 1975 to 1977. In 1976 the translation of the Book of Mormon in Thai was finished and went to print. Prior to that, each missionary district had one copy of the Book of Mormon in Thai. It as typed in huge print on manuscript paper (size 11 x 14). It would literally take a wheel barrow to carry the entire Book of Mormon at one time. So, we would take, for example, 1 Nephi Chapter 1 with us and leave it with an investigator and then pick it up a week later and talk to them about what they read and then leave another chapter with them. And so it went. One chapter would be about 30 pages of this huge paper and it was cumbersome and heavy and very difficult to work with. Besides the fact that it was not the entire Book of Mormon. I know that many investigators were put off with this because it lacked any credibility in the form that we had at the time. Then the translation was finished and the Book of Mormon was printed. We had copies of the entire Book of Mormon that we could give to investigators. We could mark scriptures throughout the book and we could open the scriptures and teach from them. The nature of missionary work in Thailand changed exponentially for good. Words cannot express how much I love the Book of Mormon and how appreciative I was and am that I had the opportunity to use it as I taught the gospel in Thailand. I will be forever grateful to Heavenly Father for preparing Sister Silaksana for her chosen calling to translate the Book of Mormon into Thai. I am so grateful for Sister Silaksana specifically, and many others that had a hand in the translation of the Book of Mormon into Thai.
Sister Roper, you ROCK! Thank you for your enthusiasm, your wit, and your love of the Thai people. Most of all thank you for the great love you have for the Savior and for his work on earth which is so clearly evident in each and every letter you write.
Your brother in the gospel.
Jay D Turner
(So that you don't wonder who this strange person writing you is... my family and I live in your sister Shan and Jed's ward in Riverton, UT and met you I believe during your Christmas break from BYU, just after you had received your mission call to serve in Thailand)
Monday, February 13, 2012
Pics :)
Butter, fo real
All newspaper, fo real
Favorite people in Roit (last area)
More fav people
Really cool outdoor mall celebrating Chinese New Year
All newspaper, fo real
Favorite people in Roit (last area)
More fav people
Really cool outdoor mall celebrating Chinese New Year
A day in the Lie
Oh my oh my. Missionary work is WORK! I love it. Work with soooo many countless, immeasurable rewards. Here's a typical day (actually these are all real happenings that I just picked out of this past week and created into one "typical day"):
a. Wake up and go running in our sweeeet exercise room:)
b. Go back and get ready for the day and have a wonderful personal study (I'm sooooo grateful for that allotted hour)
c. Share what we learned in personal study, in companionship study (that hour is always great, too) and plan out lessons or roleplay things we will be teaching. Like Joseph Smith's first vision or introducing the wonderful and important and simple ordinance of baptism
d. Study Thai for an hour....like 10 vocab words and grammar and reading the Book of Mormon outloud in Thai
e. Hop in a taxi and go go go!!!!! One of us calls and confirms/makes appointments while the other talks to the taxi driver...they're always surprised when one hops into the front seat:) haha. We tell them about how they can be with their families after they die or how there is a loving Heavenly Father who they can communicate with through prayer. It's so cool.
f. Get to an appointment, pray in the street before and hope we don't get hit by a motorcycle or fruit cart or bit by a dog while our eyes are closed (so far, so good)
g. Teach and bear testimony and realize yet again how applicable the gospel is
h. regardless of age or background or race or gender or needs.
i. The answer to how to have happines in life is the same for everyone:)
j. Accept and follow the Savior.
k. Pray after and thank Heavenly Father for the opportunity to teach and that the investigator will keep commitments and remember what they felt.
l. Get in a tuk tuk (I think a picture is attached maybe) and go to a members house (we are trying to visit members for a few minutes every day so that we can uplift them and show them how rewarding missionary work really is and that we want to help them share the gospel with those they love and also just help them and show them we appreciate them)
m. Take the peels off of roasted peanuts so they can put it in Somtam--this Papaya spicy thai salad that has...peanuts...and dried shrimp and sugar and ...yeah it's delicious after a few tries.
n. Lots of people prepare food all day long and then at night go to big outdoor food markets and sell sell sell! So it's a great opportunity to just hop over to their house, particularly Bun (who recently got baptized a few months ago) and her sister Rochana (who we really would love to teach) and help them prep food for Somtan. Last week Rochana's daughter asked me,
o. "Do you know how to draw beautiful pictures?" Haha so cute. I said yes and they wanted to know how to draw a police man. So I did it....my drawing skills haven't improved since 4th grade...seriously...but they still liked it:). And they came to church on Sunday!
p. Taxi over to another lesson or two and if they investigator isn't there or doesn't show we teach their neighbor or pass out English fliers (for English class).
q. Buy some papaya and eat it. And then help this really old lady with no teeth peel garlic. And she laughs at us and wonders why we know Thai. So we tell her. And then she says, "Gang, Gang, Gang." Which means "Skilled Skilled Skilled." Nice, huh!
r. Teach a few more lessons. Get caught on a scary road with lots of dogs in the dark...
s. so I sing Sister Monterrosa "Carry On" or "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today" as we hold our breaths and walk through.
t. No harm:) I don't know if they even saw us.
u. Call Phii Daah to pick us up at the church :) haha there are a couple pictures of him. He's a great chouffeur. And I'm always singing in the back. Like the Thai national anthem or the "Star Spangled Banner" or what have you
v. Teach our recepsha-man:) Great.
w. Get home. Drink wwwaaattttteeer.
x. Pray.
y. Plan. Pray.
z. Sleeeeee........p
I love you and I love missionary work.
Love, Sister Roper
a. Wake up and go running in our sweeeet exercise room:)
b. Go back and get ready for the day and have a wonderful personal study (I'm sooooo grateful for that allotted hour)
c. Share what we learned in personal study, in companionship study (that hour is always great, too) and plan out lessons or roleplay things we will be teaching. Like Joseph Smith's first vision or introducing the wonderful and important and simple ordinance of baptism
d. Study Thai for an hour....like 10 vocab words and grammar and reading the Book of Mormon outloud in Thai
e. Hop in a taxi and go go go!!!!! One of us calls and confirms/makes appointments while the other talks to the taxi driver...they're always surprised when one hops into the front seat:) haha. We tell them about how they can be with their families after they die or how there is a loving Heavenly Father who they can communicate with through prayer. It's so cool.
f. Get to an appointment, pray in the street before and hope we don't get hit by a motorcycle or fruit cart or bit by a dog while our eyes are closed (so far, so good)
g. Teach and bear testimony and realize yet again how applicable the gospel is
h. regardless of age or background or race or gender or needs.
i. The answer to how to have happines in life is the same for everyone:)
j. Accept and follow the Savior.
k. Pray after and thank Heavenly Father for the opportunity to teach and that the investigator will keep commitments and remember what they felt.
l. Get in a tuk tuk (I think a picture is attached maybe) and go to a members house (we are trying to visit members for a few minutes every day so that we can uplift them and show them how rewarding missionary work really is and that we want to help them share the gospel with those they love and also just help them and show them we appreciate them)
m. Take the peels off of roasted peanuts so they can put it in Somtam--this Papaya spicy thai salad that has...peanuts...and dried shrimp and sugar and ...yeah it's delicious after a few tries.
n. Lots of people prepare food all day long and then at night go to big outdoor food markets and sell sell sell! So it's a great opportunity to just hop over to their house, particularly Bun (who recently got baptized a few months ago) and her sister Rochana (who we really would love to teach) and help them prep food for Somtan. Last week Rochana's daughter asked me,
o. "Do you know how to draw beautiful pictures?" Haha so cute. I said yes and they wanted to know how to draw a police man. So I did it....my drawing skills haven't improved since 4th grade...seriously...but they still liked it:). And they came to church on Sunday!
p. Taxi over to another lesson or two and if they investigator isn't there or doesn't show we teach their neighbor or pass out English fliers (for English class).
q. Buy some papaya and eat it. And then help this really old lady with no teeth peel garlic. And she laughs at us and wonders why we know Thai. So we tell her. And then she says, "Gang, Gang, Gang." Which means "Skilled Skilled Skilled." Nice, huh!
r. Teach a few more lessons. Get caught on a scary road with lots of dogs in the dark...
s. so I sing Sister Monterrosa "Carry On" or "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today" as we hold our breaths and walk through.
t. No harm:) I don't know if they even saw us.
u. Call Phii Daah to pick us up at the church :) haha there are a couple pictures of him. He's a great chouffeur. And I'm always singing in the back. Like the Thai national anthem or the "Star Spangled Banner" or what have you
v. Teach our recepsha-man:) Great.
w. Get home. Drink wwwaaattttteeer.
x. Pray.
y. Plan. Pray.
z. Sleeeeee........p
I love you and I love missionary work.
Love, Sister Roper
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Lessons Learned
Okay so I've learned a few things this week:
1. If you are in a big huge beautiful hi-so mall with an investigator and your companion and trying to find a place to sit, and hoping that this place will magically be peaceful and quiet and....you pass like five furniture stores in a row that have lovely furniture and peace and quiet inside and no customers....and so you think that maybe you can just go in there and sit down and teach a lesson in the midst of this beautiful hi-so really expensive nice furniture...and the investigator is just laughing super awkwardly like, "Who is this nut case farang trying to teach me inside of a furniture store inside of this mall...." ...as I'm tip-toeing in and scanning the furniture to find a set that is as far from the workers as possible so maybe we can get like 7 minutes without an invitation to exit....Haha anyway. FYI, it turned out fine because we finally found a place (other than said furniture store) to teach. Anyway. The great thing about white washing is that there is tonnnnnns of stuff to learn. I guess that's just the great thing about life.
2. This is how to treat a missionary in your ward or if you aren't yet a member, in your area or on the street or whatever:
-Tell them they are great (even if they aren't yet. The fact is that they CAN be and your belief and encouragement will help them BE great).
-Thank them for their efforts, even if you haven't witnessed it yourself
-Assume that they are having a hard time because if they aren't that very moment, they probably had a hard day within the last six.
-Don't ask them questions about home or about what they are studying or about who they are writing or if they are dating someone.
-Offer to help them teach
-Help them teach, and when you do so, share short, powerful, simple testimonies that are ONLY related to what they are exactly teaching.
-Pray for them:)
-Ask them about their missionary experiences that past week
-Tell them you appreciate them.These are things I've learned from being in the Bangna ward. It's so wonderful that I'm here because I'm learning things about building the kingdom that will benefit me the rest of my life. So lucky.
3. 8 FULL hours of sleep doesn't ensure untiredness:)
4. It's possible to have a spurt of not liking rice. But...it's impossible to avoid eating rice:).
5. Sister Monterrosa rocks. And still studies her scriptures in Spanish. Isn't it rad that she's fluent in three languages??? She's so cool.
6. Despite how badly I want to help people taste and feel and power of the gospel and the knowledge of a Savior, they still have agency. Agency is a gift.
7. All the good things that happen in our life aren't necessarily directly related to our efforts: especially the measurable, visible things. It's true. All the good things that happen are simply and truly tender mercies; they are evidences of Heavenly Father's love and mercy. Material/temporal blessings aren't direct results from our faithfulness. Otherwise, all the most faithful people would also be rich and healthy. This just goes to show Heavenly Father's tender mercy: He looketh upon the heart. That is where true success and productivity and faithfulness is measured; and that is where it is definitely rewarded.
8. Prophets get stressed, too. Meaning, probably, that it's okay if we do. The true measure of our character and growth is what we DO with the stress or stressful situations. In Mosiah 26:10 and 13, Alma (who rocks) was "troubled" in his heart. But he didn't let this "troubledness" stick with him or drag him down. Instead, he acted. He "poured out his soul" to Heavenly Father, because he knew he couldn't do anything on his own. And then (this is the best part), "after", and only "after" he prayed mightily, he got a clear, powerful, loving answer (17 verses worth of it. How rad would that be.).
9. We can be Almas, too:).
10. I love you all so very very much. But I already knew that:).
Love,Sister Roper
1. If you are in a big huge beautiful hi-so mall with an investigator and your companion and trying to find a place to sit, and hoping that this place will magically be peaceful and quiet and....you pass like five furniture stores in a row that have lovely furniture and peace and quiet inside and no customers....and so you think that maybe you can just go in there and sit down and teach a lesson in the midst of this beautiful hi-so really expensive nice furniture...and the investigator is just laughing super awkwardly like, "Who is this nut case farang trying to teach me inside of a furniture store inside of this mall...." ...as I'm tip-toeing in and scanning the furniture to find a set that is as far from the workers as possible so maybe we can get like 7 minutes without an invitation to exit....Haha anyway. FYI, it turned out fine because we finally found a place (other than said furniture store) to teach. Anyway. The great thing about white washing is that there is tonnnnnns of stuff to learn. I guess that's just the great thing about life.
2. This is how to treat a missionary in your ward or if you aren't yet a member, in your area or on the street or whatever:
-Tell them they are great (even if they aren't yet. The fact is that they CAN be and your belief and encouragement will help them BE great).
-Thank them for their efforts, even if you haven't witnessed it yourself
-Assume that they are having a hard time because if they aren't that very moment, they probably had a hard day within the last six.
-Don't ask them questions about home or about what they are studying or about who they are writing or if they are dating someone.
-Offer to help them teach
-Help them teach, and when you do so, share short, powerful, simple testimonies that are ONLY related to what they are exactly teaching.
-Pray for them:)
-Ask them about their missionary experiences that past week
-Tell them you appreciate them.These are things I've learned from being in the Bangna ward. It's so wonderful that I'm here because I'm learning things about building the kingdom that will benefit me the rest of my life. So lucky.
3. 8 FULL hours of sleep doesn't ensure untiredness:)
4. It's possible to have a spurt of not liking rice. But...it's impossible to avoid eating rice:).
5. Sister Monterrosa rocks. And still studies her scriptures in Spanish. Isn't it rad that she's fluent in three languages??? She's so cool.
6. Despite how badly I want to help people taste and feel and power of the gospel and the knowledge of a Savior, they still have agency. Agency is a gift.
7. All the good things that happen in our life aren't necessarily directly related to our efforts: especially the measurable, visible things. It's true. All the good things that happen are simply and truly tender mercies; they are evidences of Heavenly Father's love and mercy. Material/temporal blessings aren't direct results from our faithfulness. Otherwise, all the most faithful people would also be rich and healthy. This just goes to show Heavenly Father's tender mercy: He looketh upon the heart. That is where true success and productivity and faithfulness is measured; and that is where it is definitely rewarded.
8. Prophets get stressed, too. Meaning, probably, that it's okay if we do. The true measure of our character and growth is what we DO with the stress or stressful situations. In Mosiah 26:10 and 13, Alma (who rocks) was "troubled" in his heart. But he didn't let this "troubledness" stick with him or drag him down. Instead, he acted. He "poured out his soul" to Heavenly Father, because he knew he couldn't do anything on his own. And then (this is the best part), "after", and only "after" he prayed mightily, he got a clear, powerful, loving answer (17 verses worth of it. How rad would that be.).
9. We can be Almas, too:).
10. I love you all so very very much. But I already knew that:).
Love,Sister Roper
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)