This week, it hasn't rained once.

Dear Mom,

Highlights of this week are: we served a member by digging a cementing a drainage ditch. First rate construction. We also had a decently large english class. We even had more people show up after I took the picture. Good stuff.

The investigator who was going to be baptized was 14. We met with her the Saturday before to teach her the rest of the required lessons. She accepted everything and was willing to keep all of the commandments with no problems up until the Law of Chastity which she said she couldn't keep. We were devastated! But still, she can repent if she has amble faith, which am sure she does and she can overcome whatever temptation or trial is placed in her way. Sufficient faith and true repentance can "wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts" (Mosiah 5:2).

Anyone under the age of 18 has to get parent/guardian permission to be baptized. They sign a permission form saying that they have permission. When her grandma realized how good of a thing it was to have her get baptized, she was more than willing to allow it and I'm sure that one day in the not too distant future, she'll want to learn, too.

A miracle that has happened this week is that of continued miracles each day. Every person that accepts us when inviting is a miracle in itself. As for large miracles, a person that I had invited a few weeks ago finally came to church and met with us everyday until he had to leave to Laos, but will be coming back today. He accepted and understood everything very well and we were able to teach him so much. He's a really nice guy. We were able to teach a friend of a member, a few referrals from a street contact/english class, finally meet with someone who has come to church three weeks in a row but had never met with us, another person I had been calling for a long time, a street contact who had a lot of questions and seems really good, and taught another investigator all of the missionary lessons. I'd say that these things are pretty large miracles and a change from weeks past. Whenever we go out, I tell myself "I believe in miracles, I have faith that miracles can happen, I have faith in miracles, I have faith in miracles". It helps to center and focus my thoughts. When our thoughts are totally consecrated, we give our will entirely over to the Lord and He can then make miracles happen. 

I also just found out that another one of my RC's from Bangna has shared and taught all of his family members. He accepted everything and was baptized in just two weeks. The Lord really did prepare him to accept the Gospel. Anyone who can put up with my language/teaching abilities is very prepared already for sure.

I wish everyone back home the best and congratulate Diana! Weekends are always difficult days to get people to come to things. Even church sometimes.

Elder Sun

These are some great scriptures I've come across about Christ, love, service.

2 Nephi 33:6-7 - "I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. 7 I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgment-seat."

Mormon 3:12 - "Behold, I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them, according to the love of God which was in me, with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them"

Jacob 2:3 - " And ye yourselves know that I have hitherto been diligent in the office of my calling; but I this day am weighed down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of your souls than I have hitherto been."

This week, it hasn't rained once. Picture

I also love this video!!

When I listen to this song and watch this video, I feel such intense love. When we are ever struggling through anything difficult, we can remember that we are loved. When we feel the love, the pure, intense, burning love of Christ, we can then begin to feel it towards others. An indescribable passion to share. I love the lyrics of this song. I love being a missionary. I love sharing the Gospel. I love these people. I love our Savior. I love you mom.

2 Nephi 4:21 - "He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh."

Mosiah 28:3 - "Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble."

Alma 31:35 -  "Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee."

Moroni 7:48 - "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." (I like this chapter a lot)

I also love this video!!

It highlights people!!! I love these people so much!!!

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=89453D95EA205426&id=89453d95ea205426%21350&v=3&authkey=%21AJ5SeVYuFzIISX8

Hi! Pic 2

Hi!

Give it a whirl. These recipes may not be original Thai though. I don't know enough Thai to ask people how to cook though.

B-Day Cake

 

Today is the 18th Pic 3

Today is the 18th Pic 2

Today is the 18th

Dear Mom,

This week has been a pretty interesting one. The work is still slow, but we had the opportunity to go on switch offs with our zone leaders and I got to see an amazing example from them.

A fairly long term investigator that we've had couldn't get baptized yet because she couldn't get permission from her grandmother. We fasted for her and a few days later we called her and she said she got permission and can get baptized this Sunday! It's so exciting!

We have two other investigators who are both really good and have accepted dates to get baptized. We've done a lot of heartfelt praying and fasting and have seen these miracles as well as the little miracles that we experience everyday. I can honestly say that recently I've rediscovered the power of prayer combined with fasting.

As we were leaving the internet cafe last Monday, someone came up to us, asked if we were missionaries, and said that he had just moved to Surin from another area and wanted to keep learning the gospel with us. What a miracle!

A member who was just baptized a little over a month ago brought a friend to learn with her and at first she said she didn't want to learn, but at the end she said she wanted to get baptized. That friend then brought two other friends to learn.

About a month ago, I called someone I had contacted on the street and invited him to come to church with us that Sunday. He said he was going out of town and would have to see if he had time, he was very busy. This person said they really didn't have time and usually people who say they just don't have time aren't actually interested. However, two weeks later, he called us and showed up to church. He's never learned about Christ or come to church, but he said he wanted to try it out and even asked us if he could pay donations to the church. What a nice guy.

There's so much more, so many more little miracles, that occur more frequently than we think. Even though I really can't speak Thai well or know what to do, there is always good to be found at the end of each day.

Oh, and I forgot my birthday. I hung that banner, we ate ice cream, and we had a mini party with some of the members. It was a great surprise.

And I also gained a greater appreciation for the pancakes you made us kids.

We visit and call less active members and do all we can to help them come back to church. There's usually some reason that they stop coming and by working through the members with love, they usually come back. I just heard that in Bangna there were 25 LA/RC's at church there. That's a lot!

Elder Sun

I forgot that this was a really great video!

Had a short opportunity while printing a talk for a lesson...

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=89453D95EA205426&id=89453d95ea205426%21197&v=3&authkey=%21AJ5SeVYuFzIISX8

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=89453D95EA205426&id=89453d95ea205426%21362&v=3&authkey=%21AJ5SeVYuFzIISX8

Watch it (both of them)! If I could possibly write and share how I feel about this, I would. But I just can't adaquately describe how I feel in words!

Thank you for all you do/have done/will do!! Pic 3

Thank you for all you do/have done/will do!! Pic 2

Thank you for all you do/have done/will do!!

Dear Mom,

I appreciate hearing from you every week. Your words and encouragement always help to lift me up and start out the week. I've definitely learned a lot - even if my language ability is super bad and I have my mom's sense of direction and memory, haha. We help a lot with the ward leadership. The missionaries are both the Relief Society and Priesthood leaders. I don't do much myself (not being able to understand very well), but we are quite involved with teaching every Sunday and with meetings. The branch in Surin has been here for over 20 years now, but there aren't many strong members or people or have stayed around (either moving or going LA) or it's not a ward yet. Right now, there are several people with mental problems that make up a large group in the branch. I drink a lot of water because on days it doesn't rain, it's super hot and I'd hate to have problems from dehydration. We get asked to not invite out side of some places unless we have signed permission or something. The baptism picture was in front of the building, and there are a ton of elephants in Surin. Just yesterday, while inviting, we ran into a ban walking his baby elephant. I did get your package. Thank you so much! I'll make sure to put up all the decorations tomorrow!

Lately, we've been struggling to find people to teach and work with. We've been pretty discouraged and frustrated lately, but I know this is the Lord's workb and He's still leading it. Some of the few members that are strong have truly amazing conversion stories. One person who is super strong that we thought was a member for a long time actually was just baptized last transfer by the other companionship. She rejected the invitation to come to church several times, but then randomly came to church one Sunday with a lot of questions and asked when she could get baptized by the end of the first lesson. Another member also came to church on her own without even being invited. She said she had passed by the church several times and this time felt like something/someone controlled her to go inside. She's only 14 and very strong. Sometimes the Lord leads us to people, and sometimes He leads them to us. I know that He is in His work. Right now we're just trying to figure out how we can be more in His work, too.

Alma 17-26 is probably the best
example of missionary service. Here's a story I read about having love for people. After King Lamoni's conversion, Ammon and King Lamoni ran into King Lamoni's father. Amonth the events that transpired, the old king "saw the great love [Ammon] had for his son Lamoni." This extraordinary love helped preare the old king to also hear the gospel message. How will people know you are a disciple of Christ? WIll it be by your knowledge? Will it be by your command of the sciprtures? Will it be by your public speaking skills? How will people know? Jesus answered that question for us "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). We can "Pray unto the Father will all the energy of heart, that [they] may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ." (Moroni 7:48)

I really love this talk: https://www.freelists.org/archives/ourlunchgroup/11-2013/pdfdQPoSP5qZl.pdf. Read it.

"There is no sacrifice, only consecration"

"Your Life's Greatest Work is You"

"To believe that weaknesses and deficiencies in your character are unchangeable is to reject the central truth of the plan of salvation. You are not cast in stone. You not only can change but you do change all of the time. You are a dynamic, changing, evolving being. You are always changing. You never stay the same. You cannot stand still."

Charity seeketh not her own
"...the good that you do, will do you no good, unless your heart is right. Unless you have charity."

After a misison, a missionary "...may still go to college and then to medical school; he may still perfect a back flip on a snow board; he may still play on a college athletic team; he may still return and marry his girl friend, but not now. He boxes up all of those plans, wishes, wants and desires and puts them on a shelf in his closet at home with all of his clothes and other things. When he returns he will unpack all of the boxes. He will find that some of the clothes he doesn't want anymore, and he will give them away. When he unpacks the box of his wants, wishes, dreams and desires he may find that there are also some of those he doesn't want anymore either." In our lives, we need to figure out what things our on our shelves that are old and don't want anymore in order to become the best we can be. Just read the talk, it's good.
"Just give it up. Surrender your will to Him. Unconditionally. Withhold nothing. Turn it all over to Him; all of your desires, wishes, dreams and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just in your behavior. Trust in Him. Trust Him who knows all things. Trust Him who has all power. Trust Him whose love for you is perfect. Trust Him, who alone suffered, paid and atoned for your sins, and for your weaknesses as well. Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more, than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. He will create a God."

President David O. McKay once said something like this: "The greatest battles you will ever fight will be within the silent chambers of your heart" That is the battleground between what you want and what the Lord wants. If you surrender, if the Lord wins, you win also. If you win, if your will prevails, you and the Lord both lose. The only way to win is to lose."



Elder Sun

Other thought:
Win hearts, then lead them to believe.

Elephant Village pic 2

Elephant Village pic 1

We also went to the famous Elephant Village in Surin today. Here are a few pictures.

04-05-2015 Pic 2

04-05-2015

Dear Mom,

Right now, Surin is doing okay. It's very different from my last area. The Branch President is pretty great, but other than that there's not much of a ward leadership. There's a relief society presidency, but only a few strong Priesthood holders and the group that is most active is mostly young and consists of a lot of recent converts. It's both super hot, and rains a ton. It's difficult to invite because we got kicked out of a few places and people here really don't go outside at all during the day because it is so hot. When it rains, it pours and everyone hurries away. We went and visited a family when it started raining and before we could get very far, we were riding through water over our bike pedals. It was quite difficult. Not to mention hazardous for our scriptures.

It sounds like the stake's goals are a lot like ours. It's great to see that the work is similar across the world.

You may be a stranger to some people, but you're a nice stranger, too.

It's cool to hear from Kenny and about the competition. I'll have to put it on the list of stuff to do in another 18 months or so.

This Sunday we watched a video for all of Southeast Asia from Elder Neilson as like a Stake Conference I think. We also had a member of a family baptized on Sunday!

I hope all goes well and see you Mother's Day via Google+ (or Skype) at 09:00 my time 19:00 your time.

Love,

Elder Sun

The dog's name is Mickey.

There are streaks of rain in that other picture from last week. The lady that works there helps teach us Cambodian.