But not really.
Because we got to meet with POOM.
Oh my gosh.
I love him.
I. Love. Him.
Poom is my favorite.
I want to be his mom or like his best friend or something. A couple weeks ago on that split with Sister Whicker, I noticed a kid sitting on a seat across the aisle from us with a Thailand flag keychain attached to his bag. We were with a less active, so Sister Whicker stayed and talked with her while I approached him and asked where he was from. He was, indeed, from Thailand and I explained that, once upon a time, my brother had served a mission there! I asked him what he was doing here in Germany, and said that he's here as an exchange student (which roughly translates into something along the lines of "I came here to learn about the gospel, duh"). I told him what exactly it was that I'm doing here in Germany and invited him to meet with us and learn more about Jesus Christ and although he comes from a Buddhist background, he said yes and gave us his number!!
Oh my gosh.
I love him.
I. Love. Him.
Poom is my favorite.
I want to be his mom or like his best friend or something. A couple weeks ago on that split with Sister Whicker, I noticed a kid sitting on a seat across the aisle from us with a Thailand flag keychain attached to his bag. We were with a less active, so Sister Whicker stayed and talked with her while I approached him and asked where he was from. He was, indeed, from Thailand and I explained that, once upon a time, my brother had served a mission there! I asked him what he was doing here in Germany, and said that he's here as an exchange student (which roughly translates into something along the lines of "I came here to learn about the gospel, duh"). I told him what exactly it was that I'm doing here in Germany and invited him to meet with us and learn more about Jesus Christ and although he comes from a Buddhist background, he said yes and gave us his number!!
After this Joseph character fell out, we shot him a text and asked him (Poom) if he wanted to meet up...and he said yes! The earliest he could get to hauptbahhof was 2:30 and we had another appointment at 3:00, but we decided to go ahead and meet with him, anyway.
Best. Decision. Ever.
We sat down with this kid and talked all about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ...and oh my gosh he's just the most humble, teachable person I've ever met in my entire life. At one point, he shared the most incredible little story with us! He said "one time before a futball game in Thailand, I said a prayer to God and as soon as I did, it felt like he was standing right next to me. Maybe I made it up, I don't know, but that's how it felt"
Pause.
CAN I JUST SAY SOMETHING RIGHT NOW?
HOW COOL IS THAT?
HOW. COOL. IS. THAT?!
ROMANS 8:16 COMIN' ATCHA LIVE:
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, THAT WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD.
Poom doesn't have a Christain background.
Why would he have prayed to a god that he didn't believe in?
BECAUSE THE SPIRIT LET HIS SPIRIT IN ON A LITTLE SECRET—THAT GOD IS
HIS HEAVENLY FATHER. Gosh I love the spirit.
Okay.
Unpause.
Sister Ferris and I (we were on a split!) assured him that he most definitely did not make that experience up, that God most definitely IS there, and that we're never as close to him as we are when we pray. At the end of the lesson, we asked Poom if he would pray—and I'm about to turn on caps lock again—BECAUSE IT WAS JUST THE GREATEST THING OF MY WHOLE LIFE. This is what he said:
"Dear Heavenly Father, this is Poom. I would like to be healthy on my exchange this year. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen" DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER, THIS IS POOM, IS THAT NOT THE SWEETEST THING YOUVE EVER HEARD?! I kid you not, Heavenly Father’s love and excitement that His little Poom had just spoken to him was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I pretty much lost it. So did Sister Ferris. I repeat, one of the absolute greatest lessons of my entire life.
We had a bunch of other super cool appointments this past week, but that one takes the cake for sure. We were in meetings all day Thursday (zone training in Dortmund) and Friday (MLC in Frankfurt), both of which were wonderful. I gave a theme about family history at the training, which was an amazing opportunity. I learned SO MUCH. Here were some of my findings as I studied: We missionaries get WAY frustrated with members sometimes because it seems like they just don't care! We're told we can't do this work without them...yet they seem so apathetic or say they're too busy. The frustration we feel is EXACTLY how missionaries on the other side of the veil feel when we—the members here on THIS side of the veil—don't participate in family history work! Another thought the spirit shared with me: I can't tell you how many missionaries I've talked to who say "my biggest fear is that I'm going to fall back into my old habits and ways". Well...this is how we can prevent that from happening! If family history work helps converts stay strong and on the straight and narrow path (and statistics prove that it most definitely does), we can be sure it'll do exactly the same for us—especially considering that it's out here in the field that so many of us experience that "mighty change of heart" referred to in the scriptures . I'm so grateful for family history work and for the opportunities I've had to use it in my proselyting efforts, as well as the opportunities I'll have to REALLY get involved in it in just a few months from now!
I love y'all lots!
Hope you have a great week (:
- Sister Terry
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