Dear Mom,
This past week has been so chalk full of miracles. It's truly amazing. I feel like the Lord has especially blessed us this past week. We've worked hard and planned our best, and despite everything that occurs out of our control, things always work out for the best. Least of all, this week we hit a record high of new investigators, lessons, and other such that I've seen in Surin. There's so much that has happened this week. We had the most people I've seen come to sports night in the park, BoM class, and church on Sunday.
One person we've been working with we met at his shop when my bike broke down one day. We stopped and talked to him and he talked about how he wanted his son to have better examples in his life and felt that we could help. We were finally able to meet with both his wife and his son. We're now good friends with them, especially his son, and he's making good progress. His friends aren't the best examples for him, but we gave him a For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and when we met with him again, he said he had kept the pamphlet in his shirt pocket to remind him. We ran into him while inviting on Sunday and with two more of his friends. He's introduced at least five of his school friends to us now. We also talked to him about serving a mission (he's 16) and we gave them inviting cards to give to people at his school. This kid really is a miracle. He is a bit of a rebel child who drinks and smokes, but knows what's right and seems to have a sincere desire to make steps in the right direction. My companion is really a little ball of fire when it comes to just about everything. He really is a tremendous example and there's a pretty big chance that when he's/I am gone, things will be quite different for all of the people we've been working with. I sometimes wonder how I can help people that I meet feel the same kind of friendship that they feel with him.
One day, we had a lesson in the morning, but they canceled and rescheduled later that day. At first I was sad, but in the end it all worked out. We had a potential investigator call us and asked if we could meet with her at the church at the time that our previous appointment canceled. She brought three other people with her and said she had been studied and learned all about Christianity, but had not been baptized. She said when we first contacted her on the street, it was a really amazing thing. She told us about how great of a miracle it was that she was actually able to come and meet with us. They were really accepting and it was a really powerful lesson. We were then able to meet with the other investigator and have a good lesson.
Another miracle was as we were waiting for an appointment to show up, we weren't sure if they would come on time before we had to return home, but right before we were about to return home, they showed up and we were able to teach them, and their girlfriend that they had brought with them that day.
We had a lot of investigators come to Book of Mormon class on Sunday and it was great to get some new investigators to come to church and meet some members, even if some people weren't able to come to church on Sunday. We even had three friends and family members come, too.
We were able to finally contact and visit an investigator that we had thought had lost interested a long time ago. We were able to visit in their home and discuss their concerns about their family.
We now have several investigators that are all in the same boat of needing permission from parents to be baptized. I know that it's a great thing to have people who have problems in common who can support each other and I'm sure that as we continue to work with these people, they'll be able to support, understand, and build each others faith.
Perhaps one of the biggest miracles was when we called an investigator that we lost contact from for over two weeks, and they actually picked up! They told us that they wanted to be baptized and we were working on helping them progress, but they had lost their phone and we couldn't let them know about the Stake Conference in Ubon. They finally answered, and we set up their baptism for this past Sunday. Everything worked against us for this baptism. The church in Surin didn't have any water. We needed to clean the font and on Saturday we talked to the neighbor who said we could use their water, but they didn't have any water either. They said we could come back tomorrow and they would have water again. We were frantic with the preparations and we went to the church early to clean and fill the font. We went back to the neighbor, but they said they didn't know how to work the water and the home owner was away. We resolved to go to a lake at a near by park if necessary. We were busy trying to figure out how we were going to have this baptismal service, calling LA members to come to church too, and taking care of all of the other investigators we had had church (our companionship had 10 people). Right before sacrament meeting, a member came to us saying that the neighbors had water! Right after the sacrament we cleaned the font and starting filling it. We met with the branch president, filled out the paper work, and then found out the the neighbor's water stopped working again and the font wasn't filled. Everything was working against us still up until the point when we found out that the investigator to be baptized actually had a problem that didn't come up earlier or in the interview and they couldn't be baptized in the end. It was actually really sad. They had prepared two sets of clothes of their own and had prepared everything for this. They brought a white dress of their own to be baptized in because the church in Surin doesn't have one of their own. I suppose the Lord know this person wasn't really fully ready and despite all the fighting we did, it wasn't meant to be - this week. It was a really crazy week, especially past couple of days.
Keeping everyone straight, knowing the needs of everything is almost like a circus sometimes, haha. This week, with all of our new investigators along with our older ones, we have a lot, a ton, to do to actually prepare people to build faith, repent, and to be baptized this Sunday. We'll have to see where this week leads us.
I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve here in Surin, in Thailand, at this time and for all of the many blessings, miracles, and experiences that the Lord gives us every day. I know that He is in His work 100% and he knows who he wants in His church. We've given out more baptismal dates and challenges than ever before and I only hope that we can adequately heed the promptings of the Spirit day by day to lead all of the people we've met to the waters of baptism once they are truly ready. It's hard to fully consecrate on the work all the time, but I feel that as we try the Lord will lift us to do more and become more than we would be able to alone. This week is going to be the last for my companion in Surin, and possibly for me too, so I hope we can make it a great one!
I wish you a great week too!
Elder Sun
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