Dear Mom,
It's great to hear from Cindy's kids! I remember how cute and nice they are, but I'm sure a lot has changed since I last saw them. You'd probably also be surprised how cute Thai babies are. We also play a lot of soccer. Tell Zoey and Tayton we'll play for sure. I want to know what monstrous contraption Kelton can come up with.
I also love the words Sister Sun shares in her emails and the challenge she issued everyone to experiment with virtue. She's much more elegant than I could ever explain, but I definitely agree that what comes out of us, starts within us. In order to truly allow the Atonement to change us, it must start with the desire of our hearts and must change the very nature of who we are. We had zone training this last week and we talked about desires. A desire is much more than just a want, it's a deep, lasting, passion. In order to change our hearts and desires, we not only must stop negative things, but we must replace them with good things. Must be anxiously engaged in something positive or we will flatline in our eternal progression or, even worse, start moving in the wrong direction. I would recommend reading this talk by Elder Maxwell about the desires of our hearts: According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts.
This Saturday and Sunday, Elder Holland is going to be coming to Thailand. All of the missionaries will have the opportunity to talk with him. I'm excited to have the opportunity to hear from, and meet with an apostle of the Lord. As I thought about how I could prepare by reading the scriptures passages and coming up with questions, I also realized that perhaps a good way to prepare to meet him would be to read more about his life and experiences. As we prepare our hearts and minds to receive inspiration from an Apostle of the Lord, it just makes me think about how we should be constantly preparing to receive revelation from the Spirit every day.
Sorry for the cut off sentence. Sometimes my thoughts run much faster than I am able to even understand. At first, she was very strong in the other church. She didn't really seem to accept very much and seemed stuck to the other church. When she started to open up a little bit and came to our church, the minister at the other church called her and asked where she was. It was a critical decision making point and she said how she didn't go to any church one week because she didn't know. She then went back to the Hope Church for a week. She felt bad for leaving the old church. We were worried that we had lost her, but we kept meeting without, despite how inconvenient it was sometimes. We would meet her at her restaurant which was kind of loud and would have a lot of people there sometimes. But, now she has a lot of faith, has really opened her heart more and seems very willing and accepting. She is even going to close her shop so we can have a baptismal service this Wednesday.
This week was a very fantastic week. We've seen continual success throughout the week as we've tried to always work more diligently. It's easy for my companion, he's very diligent, but at times I feel it is difficult to place the most important things first and balancing all of the things that need to be done, but I feel that it's almost a blessing when one is too busy as opposed to having too much idol time.
For the most part, we've been very busy each day and have had many blessings in the work. On Monday, morning we met with the parents of a long time member and hope to share the gospel with them to open their hearts. We also met with other new investigators on Monday. They are so good and nice! They were very, very shy at first and were interested in learning English, but we've meet with them numerous times this week and they even came to church. They read everything we give them and have so much faith already. They're willing to learn, change their lives, and have made friends at church very easily and have said that they want to be baptized. However, they're only around the ages of 14 so they're pretty dependent on their parents for rides to and from church, but every day they're so willing and as they continue to grow in faith, they'll be strong members for sure.
One investigator that we've been working with for a while has had a problem with smoking for as long as we've known him (for nearly over 10 years he's been coming to church), but just this past week he says he hasn't smoked once. He's quit for a few days in the past, but would start up again, but I believe that this time his heart has truly changed. He was always a nice guy, but just didn't have any confidence in himself that he could do it. We've been trying to help him build up his faith and rely on the Lord.
For the three investigators that are going to be baptized very soon, they're all still good. Even though with all of the stress, business, and crazy things that come up in their lives, they're still willing to make the Lord the priority in their lives. They all came to church on Sunday, met the Branch president, and continue to grow in understanding and testimony. The zone leaders who interviewed them even said that they were impressed.
One of them was unfortunately unable to be interviewed before the zone leaders had to leave, but they came to the church as soon as they possible could. They live far from the church, but was one of the first ones at church on Sunday, too. We've met their mom, and little sister. She would tell us how she would talk to her friends about this religion and her beliefs, but her friends wouldn't understand. I also love hearing the stories of faith that these people would share with us. All we do is introduce it, but when the people we teach take it, apply it, and have a true desire for it, then the miracles and spiritual experiences happen.
One, reoccurring theme that I've noticed in the work and as I've been reading around the end of the book of Helaman is how diligently Satan works to stop people from seeing, accepting, or finding truth. We've been trying to get everything set up and prepared for the baptism service with interviews, clothes,etc, but something always seems to wrong. We've had a meeting in Buriram, then in Bangkok, and several over obstacles come up whenever we've tried to plan something. Also, the interviews didn't go as expected, but faith and diligence always prevail.
We had a large English class on Tuesday, and a lot of investigators come too! One investigator who we had bet with before, but lost contact with, also came back. They apologized deeply that they were so busy and had to go out of town, but they said they had much more free time now and was willing to meet. This person also came to church on Sunday despite also having to go to school immediately after Sacrament. It's so amazing to see the desire and faith that people have. This person's mom is also interested and we were told that as the mom would read, she would ask many questions that our investigator didn't know and would then ask us. We first met this person near the beginning of last transfer. She recently became Christian because her mom was Christian. We taught her a few times, but then she stopped answering her phone. She would say she's busy, and couldn't meet, but then I would almost also call it a change of heart that caused her to want to meet more. She said she hadn't read the BoM much because not long after we gave her it, her mom asked to read it. She also came to English class, sports night, and church. I believe that she will be baptized.
We also met with two other new investigators who we street contacted. I think the majority of the time, it's very hard to get people contacted on the street to agree to meet and make a specific appointment, but these two kept it and are over the age of 18 this time. They showed good interest when they came and I can very much see them progressing well. They had to also learn on Sunday so couldn't go to church, but that day before we met with them, they said that they were too busy and couldn't come, but as soon as they found out they could, they called us back and said they could meet. They came on time, they listened well. Like many people, they didn't have much knowledge of Christianity. We had a good lesson with them and they accepted well. Their names were Lettuce and Ant.
This past Sunday, we may have had more investigators at church than I have seen in a very long time. On top of that, most of them they came on time. The funny thing is that they were all investigators that we've been working with for a while - none of the people who we had called the day before who said they would come came. One of the investigators to get baptized, S Aam, didn't come on time. It made me extremely nervous. I remember that I felt very anxious and worried. Also with S Gaew (Cup). If they didn't come to church, they wouldn't be able to be baptized on their dates. But they did come, and stayed for all three hours.
This next week should be full of much fruit to harvest that have grown from this past week. I'm very excited for all of our investigators right now and I know that the Lord allows us to be partakers of the joy in the fruit of the harvest as we exercise faith in Him by working diligently according to the Spirit.
Thanks for your tremendous, stupendous, and literally unbelievable example you wonderful mom. Your son,
Elder Sun
I have a great desire to write and share the amazing stories of all of the people we're working with because of how much I love all of them so much and am truly impressed at the changes that some of them have made in their life, but there's not enough time and no way to begin to explain about them. The small details are less important, but the true conversion that takes place in the hearts of the people is what matters most.
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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