Dear Mom,
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I feel like this week was another week of great miracles! I truly love being a missionary. On days that are slower or on p-days, I often study about the amazing awesomeness of missionary work. The true joy that we feel and share and the awesome opportunity we have to be apart of this work. I feel the truth that this is the thing that will really bring us the greatest joy - loving people, sharing the Gospel, and helping people become familiar with our Father in Heaven.
This past Sunday we had four people baptized. Three were in a family who told us how great of a miracle it was that we found them. I talked about them a little bit in my email last week. We first contacted the mom, asked if she wanted to be baptized. When we first met with her, she called us on Saturday morning, said she was at the church, and asked if we could meet with her. We opened the church for her and the people she brought and had a great first lesson. It was very touched hearing her story. She said when we first contacted her, she had actually had a desire to be baptized and had had the chance to study a lot about Christianity, but never was actually baptized. She said it was the Lord leading her and opening the way for her to meet with us because of how she was able to come to church. She said she felt like her two daughters should also come with her. One had a skin condition that she had since she was little. Her condition caused her to be very shy and didn't have any friends. We felt very sad for this girl and we gave her a blessing right then. We found out her condition improved greatly from that day and this experience added to the faith that they already had. The three of them live pretty far from the church, but we visited them regularly and they were baptized this past Sunday. It is really a miracle and a great story that I can't adequately sum up. They have had a hard life, but have strong faith and testimonies. The mom isn't actually their real mom. She is like a foster mom who has taken the two kids in since they were around eight years old. They lived in harsh conditions, they way my companion described it, it was pretty much a prison literally on an island. There have been many miracles that we've seen in the process of helping these people prepare for baptism.
The boy baptized is the family friend of a really strong family here in Surin. He understands a lot for his age and is pretty much a bundle-of-fun 12 year old. He for sure has a great future in the church as he continues to grow in testimony and can help the rest of his family, too. He has an uncle that looks after him that is like a father to him. They have a great love for each other and I'm sure this boy can help his uncle stop drinking and be baptized, too, so they can live together forever.
This week has been a bundle of miracles and unexpected events from the beginning. We thought my companion would be leaving on Monday, but when we went to the bus station that day, they didn't have any tickets to the place where he was going to go. We ended up decided just to let him stay here and keep working until the end of the transfer. The past weeks recently have been filled with miracles and being able to stay for him was just another drop in the bucket of the many miracles of the Lord. Our area now has a lot, a lot, of investigators that we are trying to work with and help feel of the love of the Lord and progress towards Baptism.
On Thursday, we got a new mission president,President Johnson. He's an older guy who has served in Thailand in the past. I love being a missionary, helping these people, and I love you. I know the Lord is preparing people to hear the Gospel, and has prepared Thailand, to bring about many, many miracles in His church. I'm grateful for your testimony and I know that through you, the Lord has prepared me, too.
Perhaps another thing that not so much as a miracle, but a great experience to learn from is that each one of our investigators really have personal challenges and concerns. While I wouldn't call it a miracle because of the hardship that some people face, but the opportunity to learn from our trials really is a miracle. Some people the Lord has prepared so well that all we do as missionaries is teach a little, they understand everything, and come into the church quick. Sometimes it seems like we have 'easy investigators' that are prepared super well, but everyone faces trials in life. One investigator has run into a problem with her husband not supporting tithing. Very against tithing. They are okay and can support everything else, but this. We had an investigator (another one) get into a car accident and the RC driving the car now has to face their parents whose car the stole. We have some investigators who have a hard time excepting some principles here or there and some who still haven't seen the importance of religion, Christ, baptism, etc. No matter what obstacles appear, I consider it a great miracle to be able to be a missionary, learn, help others, teach, grow in my own testimony by helping build others, testify of Christ, preach repentance, baptize, develop Christ-like attributes, see the powerful examples of missionaries, members, and converts, hear the powerful testimonies and stories of the Lord performing miracles among his children, see the fruits of faith and repentance occur in people's lives, and everything everyday makes everyday just a great day.
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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