January 1, 2015

Dear Mom,

I love you so much! Sorry for not writing on Monday, our P-day was moved to Thursday last minute. I want to let you know that I love it here, doing the Lord's work. The scriptures that say the greatest joy is found in sharing the Gospel (DC 18:15) and we find our lives when we lose our lives (Matt 10:39) are so, so true! I love it so much here - everything about being a missionary. The places, the people, the teaching, the Gospel, Jesus Christ, I could go on for a while. The highlight of the week was by far the baptisms we had on Sunday and yesterday. I felt the Spirit so strongly. I honestly have a hard time trying to think of a happier time than in those baptism services. Whenever I think about that experience, the people, and everything and all the things they are and can be, I just get super excited and emotional. I'll try to send some pictures maybe next week. ซ.โช and บ.แจ็ข were baptized on Sunday and it was an amazing experience. We had a bunch of members there, all showing support, and I can't even describe it adequately in words. It just made me really happy and excited. I totally understand now why people say that baptisms are so great and why it's so emphasized among missionaries and at the MTC. (Mosiah 18:30). Baptism, the place too, brings back feelings of beauty and joy.

Later that day, we went to ซ.โช's house and celebrated her daughter's birthday.

With my limited vocabulary, I said that that birthday party was probably the best one I've been to and today was a very good day, the best day, and with my limited understanding I think ซ.โช said it was hers too because she was also celebrating her baptism. This helped put the icing on the cake and it make me really glad. We took a lot of selfies, ate some good food, sang happy birthday, and ate a birthday cake. We then had a district dinner prepared by Elder Suphan who is a very good chef. We also had another baptism service yesterday for Bro. Thompson. It was another exciting day, and it was so great to have those two recent converts there and so many investigators, too. When Bro. Thompson was baptized, you could tell that ซ.โช and บ.แจ็ข were super excited, too, because of what they had felt just a few days before at their baptism. We also taught on of those investigators that day who is planning on being baptized in two weeks. Bro. Thompson and ซ.โช were friends and she was on the edge of her seat as he was baptized. There's nothing quite like seeing a friend be baptized and feel the same way you felt when you were baptized. I am always so impressed with the faith and strength of our investigators who make changes in their lives to accept and follow Christ. They are sometimes the only one around them who know of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and are the only examples for their families and friends. When we were baptized at eight, we did not have an as difficult decision to make than all of the people who we are teaching now. I have such respect and love for these people. Even the members.

We have members who seem like they've been long time members who are super strong, but they are great examples and have amazing testimonies even though some have only been members for a few years, one year, or only a few months. It's amazing the amount of character these people have and just how great they are. Members really are the key to missionary work.

On Christmas, we also went bowling. It was my first time in awhile and I didn't play very well, but it was super fun. Some of us went ice-skating instead, but I figured bowling would be less of a disaster because I still haven't learned how to ice-skate, maybe one of these p-days I will.

I had my first taste of Thailand rain on the 27th. It was in the evening, after we had returned to our apartment, and it just suddenly started pouring down rain. We saw some lightning and heard a little bit of thunder, then the power went out in our building and the rain poured down. It was super exciting! People keep telling me to not wish for rain because after you're in it for a short time, it's as if you jumped in a pool. It rained so hard and it looked like the roofs of buildings were just big swimming pools.

The Monday after Christmas, some amazing people from my companion's old area brought us some Christmas gifts. It was so nice of them. They make my companion feel guilty because they're always doing nice things for the missionaries - taking them out to eat, etc. They also help out at activities, but they're still not interested in learning. Maybe someday they will - they'd be such great members!

On Tuesday, we had an amazing district meeting. I use words like amazing, awesome, great, etc a lot, but it's true. We have so many amazing, awesome, wonderful, great, happy experiences. Because the neighboring district is so small, we've decided to combine for district meetings. We traveled to their area and their district leader led it. Elder Klein, Elder Davis's MTC companion, is a really awesome guy and a great example. He's on of the people that make you want to say "I want to be like that some day". Anyway, he shared some great thoughts on the topic of goal setting - specifically about our desires. He gave us a great talk by E. Maxwell entitled "According to the Desires of [Our] Hearts". It really made me reflect and I got a lot out of that meeting. I felt the Spirit strongly in that meeting and we watched a cool video that was the theme of the TBM for November, I'll try to sent it to you somehow. The district meeting would definitely be a highlight. People shared great thoughts and experiences. Elder Hinckley told us about a goal board he had where he would write all the goals he's had and has completed and Sister Herrman shared about miracles and how our desires influence the miracles we receive. We then ate ice cream at a very fancy ice cream place - the fanciest ever and are now in the string of days of the New Year Holiday. On Tuesday night, we had English class and President and Sister Senior joined us. It was interesting because we were teaching 'conversation' English (basically slang/slurred words) which was really 'real' English. President Senior got up and helped us teach. In the end, he said forget everything that we just taught in the part of the lesson and we moved on. It was a funny experience.

KhonThais don't do a lot for Christmas, but they do a lot to celebrate New Years. Everyone is out of town and when we went out to invite or on a taxi ride, there's hardly anyone out. The roads were super clear and we made record time while traveling. We celebrate New Years Eve by having a baptism service. It was super cool and fun. The Spirit was strong and earlier I was wondering if the law of diminishing marginal returns applied to baptisms. I learned from that experience that every baptism is as good as the first. I also had the opportunity to teach and lead a Book of Mormon class where we read the Book of Mormon together. Even though I couldn't understand what was being read and had a hard time reading, I knew that what we were reading came from God and that when we read, we will be filled with the Spirit and it's through the Spirit that we can understand (1 Nephi 1:12).

Today we had a zone sports activity at an international school that a farang member works at. We played some mean tennis. Afterwards, on the way back, we fit ten full-size farang Elders in a car. It was like a clown car and we also had one person in the trunk.

I hope I shared enough experiences to entertain and uplift you. If I had my journal and a card reader, I'm sure I'd have even more - I'll just have to save some for later. It's only been a few weeks and it feels like we've done a lot, and we still have a long time left and even more to do. I'm so excited to see what the future holds and to have the opportunity to make the most of it. Just remember that what we desire and what we believe has a great influence on what we receive and ultimately what we will get out of anything we do.

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through Joseph Smith who was called to be a prophet of God by God and that he translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that through it - through reading and "[feasting] upon the words of christ", pondering in the heart the message it contains, and then praying to God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, with faith, if the book is true - we can know, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Book of Mormon is true and will receive a witness, even a divine witness, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I know that as we keep our focus on the Savior and always remember Him, we can be strengthened and guided in whatever our desires may be.

Elder Sun