Dear Mom,
Thank you so, so much for your words and wisdom. It really is something that boosts my motivation and enthusiasm. You are so wise in your years. Happy birthday! I'm so sorry I haven't sent you anything. I hope it was a super, super great day. Here in Surin, we had two members who had birthdays, one on Saturday and one on Sunday and our Branch president's birthday is today. I'll attach pictures of the festivities for you. Don't worry too much about late emails, it just means I'll have double the next week. Oh, and the Gospel network is growing still! (see below). I also love hearing the experiences of Hermana Sun.
I love Pres. Kent Sager's analogy of dancing and music. I really love Mosiah 5:2 which talks about a mighty change of heart. I really have studied hard about what true conversion is. What really is a 4th missionary, what real repentance is. It's the music we can feel, and not just hear. It's the message that we share with investigators. It's the true love of Christ. It's the reason for the Atonement. It's the purpose of life and the point of the Gospel. Sometimes, as missionaries, it's too easy to focus on baptism, or on future goals, or numbers, or any of the little things, but the thing that is the most important is the change, the true conversion, that happens/needs to happen in the lives of investigators/converts/members.
I really enjoy and love the power of music. Here in the TBM, we're not allowed to listen to much music, but that just makes me so much more grateful for music. We sing everyday as a district and the songs on Sunday have so much more meaning to me now. I believe on my mission, and really in my life, I can remember very few times I have cried. The majority of them have been because of the Spirit through hymns and good songs.
I'm so glad your garden is doing good. Be sure to send me a picture of the giant harvest of cucumbers!
This week has been a blast. Every week, every day, is a great day I feel like. We see so many miracles happen in the work that I'm amazed the work isn't just exploding. I feel the influence of the Spirit so strong as we humble ourselves and put all of our entire mind to the Lord's work. Whenever I read the scriptures now, I can say that I truly feel different. I see so many new and different messages from every passage of scripture that I study. My mind often takes verse and relates it to an investigator we are teaching or about missionary work in general. I love studying the scriptures. Just a few days ago, I was also reading the scriptures during language study. Usually when I read in Thai, I don't understand anything. I usually just read a chapter or two a day to say that I'm reading in Thai everyday. However, I read in Jacob 5 in Thai and I had an honestly tremendous experiences. I always remember people saying how the Isaiah chapters are the hardest to understand and a few weeks ago I had an RC ask me about Jacob 5. That happened to be where I was that day and as I read, I realized that I was actually understanding - in Thai. I was able to pull out meanings that were personal to me and could apply to our investigators. I could feel the Spirit testify to me about truthfulness of this work. Laboring in the vineyard, dunging the trees, obeying the master. I can sum it up all at once, but as I read, I had to stop numerous times because I began to feel so overwhelmed I started to cry. It was truly a remarkable experience.
Also this week, we were able to meet with several new investigators and see some powerful faith of these people who were just starting to learn about Gospel. It's truly amazing the preparation that the Lord does in preparing the minds and hearts of people to accept the Gospel. I feel it almost too difficult of a task to try to cover it all, but also that it would be doing an incredible injustice to the experiences if I didn't try.
On Tuesday, we taught a group lesson with several investigators about the Plan of Salvation. We seem to frequently run into the problem of having to teach group lessons when people show up late and others early.
Another blessing is that we are still able to meet with people that I first contacted in this area. We get people's numbers, but they always say they never have time until one day they finally meet with us. All of our new investigators this week have come from very old contacts.
One miracle person is a sister แอ๋ม (Aam). She's 17 and super nice. She also has really nice parents that we're going to try to meet with, too. She accepted everything really well and when we invited her to learn more and be baptized, she accepted without hesitation. When we met with her the second time the very next day, she had read several chapters in the BoM which she studied and marked up. She's made several friends at church already and loves learning.
We taught sister แก้ว Gaw for the first time on Saturday. We had two appointments with her before, but she didn't come both times. We made another for 4pm on Saturday, and she showed up several hours early because she had time. We fortunately had an appointment at that time who didn't show up and we were at the church. She's 17, super nice, and said that she woke up, showered, and came straight to the church. She also came to church the next day for Sacrament meeting.
We had two people who kept saying they didn't have any time to meet because they work and have school. A blessing that I've seen is being more bold in my conviction to meet with people. It's too easy to just give up/give in and just say "Oh, it's okay, maybe next time." But this time I spoke more over the phone and they said they might be able to meet immediately after work is over - they didn't give a specific time and I wouldn't have been surprised if they didn't show up. They did show up, and we did teach them. When the Spirit directs and when we have boldness with love, we can give commitments and trust in the Lord to do His work. At first they were very, very shy and were very hesitant to go into the church. During the lesson, they seemed to loosen up and feel more comfortable. The person I had called brought a friend. Both were also, 17. I'm not sure why, but so many of the people we've meet with this week are 17.
Another miracles is also related to scripture study. One morning, I was reading about the example of Moroni, good stuff. I didn't think about again, until we went and visited an LA family. We had a appointment fall through, so we had to think about who we could go visit. We called a few people, but no one would answer or weren't free. Then we called one person they said sure. The one person that answered was actually a person I had just updated in our area book the evening before. I had just found out that the person in our area book was related to this LA who also had a daughter who I knew, but didn't know was related. I had found all of these connections out just the day before we went and visited them and we didn't even plan to visit them. When we went and visited them, we ran into her daughter and caught up with her. She, I found out, was actually friends with another investigator of ours that we've been teaching and friends with another person that I had ran into and invited several times at the park by the church. It was a crazy relationship tree. The investigator was actually friends with the son of another investigator we met. Everyone knows each other, haha. When we finally visited this LA family, we were able to do some service, yard work for them, and share a Gospel message. When we first sat down and started talked with them, they said how they were reading in the scriptures everyday from the BoM for kids that has the pictures in it and had just read about Moroni last night and the wars that were happening. That was exactly what I had studied. That was a pretty crazy coincidence. This family and that visit was also probably the most American/Stateside style visit/family that I had ever seen/done in Thailand. They had a nice house - styled like American and the lesson went like an American one as well. It was such a flash back home, haha. We then played a little foos-ball with the son. It made me also realized how similar people are, no matter where they may live. The mom's concern was for her daughter and worrying about her having better friends. It really seemed just like an American visit. This whole family then came to church the next day! Last I heard, the whole family was very LA. It rained really hard the morning of church, and many, many didn't show up, but this family did; the whole family. It was such a great thing to see that this family still had faith and sought after good things.
Also, we went on switch offs with the zone leaders on Thursday. It was way good. I learned a lot about testimonies and the scriptures.
I apologize for the long letter and I hope you enjoy reading it,
Elder Sun
ขอแสดงความนับถือ, Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา Missionary
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย Bangkok, Thailand Mission
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