January 11, 2014

Dear Mom, people back home, and to whom it may concern,

This past week has been great as always! One of the highlights was definitely last P-day. We went to a zoo called Crocodile Farm. They had a ton of crocodiles and we got to hold and feed baby tigers! They were so cute! We also saw an elephant show and got to feed elephants! It was super fun. We went with our district, a neighboring area, and a few members. Watching people's reaction to the baby tigers pretty much made my day. What impressed me from all of these fun experiences was the truth of the teachings of Heber C. Kimball when I studied about why are LDS people so happy. Some people are so cheerful, pleasant, lively, good-natured, and light-hearted and we can keep this nature when we remember even the simple doctrines of what we believe. This Gospel is a glad message. Our Heavenly Father's plan is so often called the great plan of happiness. I recently read John Bytheway's book 'How to Become an Extraordinary Missionary' and I found this talk all about happiness. Whenever I think about people who I think are often extremely happy often wonder why and the answer always comes back to it's in our nature and "men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). I loved taking some time to study about happiness in my personal study time. -"Happiness lies in living the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" President Gordon B. Hinckley.

After our farm trip, we taught a new investigator, บ. แฃมป์ (not to be confused with the บ. แฃมป์ that is an RC or the บ. แฃมป์ that we contacted this week). He's someone that I contacted and is super cool. We taught him a simple first lesson about prayer, the Godhead, and got to know him. We also said he felt good. We taught with ช.พิณ again and he responded well and seemed genuinely interested but doesn't have any Christian background or knowledge so he asked a lot of questions as we went. ช.พิณ helped to explain a lot of things. -Teaching with members is very helpful - especially in a foreign language.

Something I noticed in that lesson is that we used what we call 'weekly language milestones'. Some of the things we do and the rules seem kind of silly or not useful, but I realized that nearly always right after being tested on them earlier (in this case just that Morning), that I would always use them and would be so thankful that I did know them. The milestone was teaching prayer and that day I tried to do just that. Last week it was How to Begin Teaching points from Preach My Gospel and we also taught those. Everything we do is totally connected, even though sometimes it doesn't seem like it. All the experiences and unique individuality will enable us to help people in ways that no one else can. -The Lord is preparing people to hear the message and He is also preparing each of us to share it.

Every Monday night, we also have a Family Home Evening activity at the church. We'd love to have members have FHE with their own families, but since a lot of people can't, we hold an activity at the church. We always invite all of our RC's and have a good time bonding with everyone there. Sometimes it feels like we should always be out inviting and working, but what's great about missionary work is that no matter when or where you are, you can always being doing it. Missionary work isn't just inviting, contacting, and teaching, but it's also important to strengthen the members by sharing spiritual thoughts and uplifting them in whatever it is we're doing. By doing so, we can build strong relationships of trust and love when we balance going out and staying in. -We can do the work wherever we are and like in Alma 25:26, people can be converted in the wilderness and can be taught anywhere.

Some great experiences have also come when we were inviting. On Tuesday, we were supposed to teach a few lessons, but no one showed up. We were super disappointed, but in the end, it was almost kind of blessing. We were able to go out and invite where I had the most success inviting yet. We didn't have a lot of time, but I was feeling great and when we went out, we were so blessed. I had a goal to invite as many people as I could and to not stop. I ended up with a record amount of phone numbers from one day and had gone through several stacks of inviting cards from my pocket. We only had a short time and yet we were able to accomplish so much! That itself was a tremendous blessing. As the session drew to a close, my companion said it was time to go. After every stack of cards, I'd make a new goal to get rid of it, but I had one more card left still. I really wanted to get rid of it and accomplish my goal, but every person I talked to wouldn't accept and we were running out of time. I remember saying a simple prayer to help me accomplish my goal and the very next person I talked to accepted it and gave me their number. This simple experience was a small miracle of the day. -Prayers are truly answered according to our desires and on the Lord's time.

In the district meeting on Tuesday, we learned about service and how when we serve others, it's truly how we can turn outwards. -As we focus on others and forget ourselves, we truly find ourselves (there are a lot of scriptures on this...somewhere).

Another great example of the Lord's hand in our lives and the work is when another person did not show up to their appointment with us, we were disappointed and didn't know what to do for sure. We went out and invited but also stopped at a little copy/print shop on the way. There we met a nice worker who was interested in learning about our message. This was a great example of finding prepared people who are put in our path. On Wednesday, we had a great time inviting. I remember this experience because the first three people I talked to were all interested and gave me their numbers. Usually people just say 'no' and keep walking. As we came back to our apartment for the night, we realized we didn't have keys and had to wait outside the door. It was a little inconvenient, but as we waited, the neighbor who lived just across from us came down the hall. We had never invited or seen her before and when we did, we was super nice and responsive. If we had not been waiting there or acted on the prompting to try to invite her, we would have missed out on a great opportunity to find someone. I'm always impressed at the blessings and opportunities we have because of the way somethings just work out. -The Lord is literally putting putting people in our paths to find and is leading us to them. 

We met a ton of people, some really cool and some kind of sketchy. Apparently being ลูกครึ่ง (Luug khrueng/half-child) is very attractive in Thailand and I often run into people who I want to be interested, but I don't think they're interested in the message or meeting for the right reason. We had someone who we called invite us over for dinner and was obviously a little sketch. We told her we have rules and she said 'Oh, no. Don't worry. I just want to be your friend." This was on Thursday and as we were inviting down the street, a youngish woman runs up to us and asks if we needed any help. We probably looked a bit lost, two ฟร้่งs (farang/foreigners) talking to everyone. She spoke English very well and we told her we were inviting people to come to church. She was a little hesitant and first and kept listening to us because she was impressed at our language ability. She eventually asked the basic conversation questions like were I was from and such. I'm not sure where the conversation was going, but she said "You're handsome. Very handsome". It was quite awkward and since I didn't know really enough of the language, I just went back to talking about the Gospel. At first I was quite impressed and that she was very nice to come over to help us and was going to be interested. We ended up getting her number. Later, I thought about how we are encouraged to have the Spirit with us so strong as to "shine in our faces" (Mosiah 13:5) and perhaps when people see something about us, it's the Spirit that makes us look different. 3 Nephi 2:15: the curse was lifted and their skin became light. Perhaps it wasn't a literal change, but a spiritual lightening. Also had an investigator at church do the same thing. I would just keep talking about baptism and not really say anything about it. -when we have the Spirit and are striving to be righteous, people will see it.

Friday's highlight was a coalition meeting where I still don't understand much at all, but it was a good period of time - before and after the meeting. -look for something good in all that you do and you'll find it for sure.

On Saturday, we didn't go out much. We spent a lot of time at the church teaching and making calls to invite people to come to church on Sunday. We taught some great people and I'll say again how I just love all the people here.The members are great and helpful. Oh, and Saturday was วันเด็ก (wandek/national children's day). Being a new missionary, I'm often called my trainer's (or phaa's/father) child (or luug). There's a lot more, of course, but not enough time, sorry. The highlight of the day and Sunday was another great experience with prayer and how prayers are answered, similar to my MTC experience. We had district dinner and since the end of the transfer is soon, we shared photos and I didn't have many. It was great learning about everyone and we're called to serve not just investigators, but also members and other missionaries, too. The thoughts for Saturday and Sunday would be -We need to work hard, but also with the Lord (not always working harder, but sometimes smarter) -When we focus on others rather than ourselves is when we can actually utilize the Atonement (if that thought isn't confusing).

กับรัก, (With love)

เอ็ลเดอร์ ชัน (Elder Sun)