I love opportunities to spend time with and learn from church leaders. On Sunday all of the district leaders in Bangkok got to do a little study with Elder Gong. I got to sit opposite Elder Gong at the table and read the scriptures together. He taught us everything about studying and the scriptures. It was pretty neat. I learned to appreciate the fantastic ability to read the scriptures in a second language and the opportunity to see the gospel in a different angle. When you switch languages, some meanings are lost while others are found. And if you can study the scriptures in Thai you can learn a lot of new things that cannot be found in the English version. For example, we learn that the brother of Jared is Jared's older brother. Because in Thai, it is impossible to just say,brother, it must be clear whether older or younger. Fascinating!
In Alma 33:23 we read, "And even all this can ye do if we will." I always understood this as "you can do all things if you choose to do it." The Thai version looks like this: และแม้สิ่งทั้งหมดนี้ท่านย่
Which, if I was to translate it's meaning, means, "And even all this can you do if you are determined to do so." Woah. I love it! I've been running across things like this so much recently!
I have also noticed recently that when I read the scriptures in Thai they have more power to me than in English. As great as English is, sometimes the meaning escapes me. When I read in Thai every single word stands out to me, I notice little things I'd never seen before. I can feel the scriptures more in Thai.
I had been considering whether or not to spend time in personal study in Thai or not. This has been the subject of prayers and pondering for a long time. And then the Lord sent His servant to tell me face to face that I should study both languages together in a balance because being able to do that is a blessing.
We did some work this week, finding much more time to go contacting, which means that we have lots of people coming to church this Sunday. Yay!
The office is doing great. We've been getting out of the office at around 3:00 every day. We have to be really efficient with time because we normally have only six hours to proselyte.
Love you all,
Elder Osborn
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