Monday, September 28, 2015

The last few days of the transfer

Dear Mom,

This past week was super great, full of miracles, tender mercies, and good work. We were very blessed this week and  were able to meet a lot of people. This past Sunday we were blessed by being able to see three people enter the waters of baptism. Truly a great miracle and experience. One of them have an interesting, unique story. One of them had learned with the Elders and had come to church for quite some time up until a few days before his original baptismal date. He got into an accident which prevented him from being baptized on that day. I'm not sure what happened, but a long time passed even after the accident with no one contacting him. One day, a member talked to us about him and took us to visit him. He suffered great memory loss from the accident, but the things that he could remember were God, Christ, and baptism. He is under the care of his mom who isn't a member, but she was more than happy to allow him to be baptized because it is something that he really wanted and made him happy. It was quite a miracle and wonderful to see how the Lord has a plan in everything. I'm sure that for some reason, he wasn't quite ready at first, but now his example is able to touch the lives of many people at church as well as his mom.

The other people who were baptized were all referrals from members. I believe that the reason this area has seen much success is because of the diligence and desire of the members to share and help others. We have been working with numerous family members and friends to try to work alongside the members and help their friends accept the Gospel. Several members often say how badly they want their families to come to church, but they don't know how. We try to help them be examples, invite them, and always invite them to pray for the families, but sometime I feel that there's not much we can do if they don't open their hearts at first. It feels like there's not much more to do than to be patient and continue to show love.

One common concern that frequently comes up is respecting the family tradition and not wanting to go against what others may think. We have another investigator who was interviewed and was set to also be baptized this past Sunday, but Sundaymorning she said that she really wasn't ready. She has not yet elaborated why, but she has had problems with her family not supporting her decision to be baptized.

Earlier this week, Elder Tee gave us a talk on consecration and a talk on a successful missionary and told us to tell you what we thought. He asked us to come up with what makes a successful missionary in a sentence or two. We took some time in companionship study to review the talks and discuss consecration to the Lord and His work. It made me reevaluate the way that I've been thinking about missionary work. I believe that a successful missionary is one who seeks and does God's will. Being a successful missionary involves learning, repenting, and improving. The only real 'measure' of success for any individual rests with that individual and with God. It lies in our personal commitment and conviction to become what the Lord would have us become. Each of us as missionaries have to have a vision for our mission. What do we want to get out of our mission and then be committed. When we align our vision with what the Lord would in-vision for us, we can accomplish that thing and we will be successful. We will have the Spirit with us and we will be able to touch the lives of others. Exactly what PMG says.

We continue to help people build faith, invite them to repent, and try to do the Lord's will in all things.


-- 

ขอแสดงความนับถือ,                                           Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน                                                        Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา                                                                 Missionary 
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย         The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย                                   Bangkok, Thailand Mission

Into the last week of this tansfer...

Dear Mom,

Thank you for your weekly letters and for your always inspiring words. This past week has been one which I have learned a lot. It was a week of plans falling through and unexpected changes. But despite everything that it seemed Satan was trying to throw at us, we've managed to pull through okay. The Lord continues to bless us and I feel so grateful to be able to see it. This past week we've done a lot of switch offs. For two days, my companion and another missionary traveled to Ubon. All daySaturday we were running around, and Sunday was a hectic day, but the week was also full of blessings and many miracles. This past week I think I've relearned many lessons on patience and faith. I have to keep this email very short due to time, but coming into this last week of the 6 week cycle, we are resolved to work extra hard in order to see an increase in miracles. It's a 'race-to-the-finish' as we reach the 'home stretch' of the transfer and we have much to do.

The past week we've helped the Branch President build his house, had a baptism, went to a fancy market in Mukdahaan, played minute to win it at a hospital, and went on many, many switch offs which also involved riding in the Branch President's motorcycle cart numerous times. I'm excited for what will happen here next week.


-- 

ขอแสดงความนับถือ,                                           Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน                                                        Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา                                                                 Missionary 
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย         The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย                                   Bangkok, Thailand Mission

Monday, September 14, 2015

Fwd: This past week in Sakonakhorn


Fwd: This past week in Sakonakhorn

Fwd: This past week in Sakonakhorn

Dear Mom,

This week I'll keep it short. It was an awesome week. On Sunday we had three amazing people be baptized. The people who were baptized were all amazing miracles from the Lord. Each of them have a lot of faith and willingness to follow Christ. When we were teaching each of the commandments, they showed an incredible desire to change their lives and be baptized.

I've definitely seen the Lord's tender mercies this past week. Despite losing a couple of days of work from zone conference in Udorn, it hasn't slowed down the work at all. The zone conference really made me think about teaching and how important it is. Sometimes I feel that I can't teach very clearly or when investigators don't understand, I feel like I made a mistake, but for changing up teaching and trying to improve, it's not always going to go 100% smooth. When trying to push one's self in the language as well, for sure people aren't going to understand, but as we stretch our selves, we grow the most. That's the thing I've learned the most this past week. The week was full of many events of notable worth, but it all boils down to "I love being a missionary". When we strive to teach by the Spirit and are bold in our testimony, we don't have to worry about anything else. The Spirit is the teacher and we are simply vessels.

We don't have much time today so I'll summarize the week. We killed chickens, went on companion switchoffs, took a two day trip for zone conference (which was really good and all about faith/diligence/teaching/temples), three people were baptized, had a fun and busy week.


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

Monday, September 7, 2015

Extra Pictures

Extra Pictures

Here are some additional pictures.

-- 

ขอแสดงความนับถือ,                                           Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน                                                        Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา                                                                 Missionary 
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย         The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย                                   Bangkok, Thailand Mission

Extra Pictures

Here are some additional pictures.

-- 

ขอแสดงความนับถือ,                                           Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน                                                        Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา                                                                 Missionary 
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย         The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย                                   Bangkok, Thailand Mission

Another good week out in the Isaan

Another good week out in the Isaan

Another good week out in the Isaan



Dear Mom,

We continue to see many miracles each day. This past week has been especially eventful as we continue to prepare people for baptism. We had two more baptisms here on Sunday and several more lined up for the rest of the transfer. Things have been awesome this past week. We took a trip out to visit an RC, and they had us teach four other investigators as well. Our companionship is working hard and I'm always excited for the future. It's quite a great thing to see how many active RC's and members there are here. Sometimes, as missionaries, it's too easy to get caught up in the negatives or only see how many people don't go to church. Just the other day we were doing some work withe the MLS which sometimes feels like a list of people who have stopped coming to church. But as we take on a positive outlook and remember that this is the Lord's work and His church, we can be led to success and feel of the joy and enthusiasm of missionary work.

The investigator baptized this past week is Brother James. He's a very, very nice and humble guy. He had first come in contact with the missionaries over a month ago, but never made a lot of progress. The first day we met him was actually because the other elders were going to teach him. The other elders ended up getting sick so we  taught him instead.  I'm not sure what changed that sparked his desire from the last time he was met with, but when we met him, he had a great interest to learn and accepted a baptismal date.  Our companionship taught him from there and he progressed rapidly towards baptism. I know it was because of the Spirit and the Lord's timing that worked with him. He has also invited us to teach his girlfriend.

This Sunday, we at around 90 people and church. The number keeps steadily increasing and we had several less active members come back. We also had a lot of investigators come, too. The daters we have for next week are very solid and we have even started meeting with their friends and family. I'm super excited for each of them as they continue to come unto the Savior and prepare to enter into a covenant with Him. We are just the messengers, just the tools in the Master's hands, but the hearts of these people have been opened and the Lord has changed them.

Overall, things have been really good this past week. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to serve in Sagonakhorn with Elder Noyce and the rest of the district, too. I can see the amazing examples of each person and can tell that I can really learn a lot before the transfer is over. Elder T is Thai and is a great example and district leader. He is always fun-loving and when he teaches, he does so with a power of the Spirit that is so strong. This week, we have zone conference so we will be traveling and receive some training. The theme is on diligence. PMG says diligence isn't just working hard all the time, but doing it with enthusiasm. An all-day every-day grateful attitude. When we are diligent in keeping our covenants and diligent in becoming more like Christ, we are promised similar blessings as Nephi. 1 Nephi 19-20 "And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart. And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper"

I'm am always so very grateful to hear of the experiences that are happening in the lives of people back home. It seems like everyone is off getting married, going on missions and what not. Sometimes we have investigators who are sitting on the fence. Sometimes they'll lean one way or the other, but usually the fence itself is solid. How interesting.

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

Sunday, September 6, 2015

The Second Week In Sagonakhon

The Second Week In Sagonakhon

The Second Week In Sagonakhon

Dear Mom,

I love being a missionary. We were very blessed by the Lord this past week and have seen many miracles and success. It's quite an amazing thing. I was told that our zone leaders said that our area is the 'most productive' in the zone and I know it's because of the Spirit that the Lord pours out on us and the members here. There is a member/missionary relationship here that I haven't seen before. A real desire among the members and branch president to invite others to come unto Christ.

This past week we've taught, visited, and called a bunch of people. A lot of the week was spent preparing for a huge activity that we had this last Saturday. It was a massive party/talent show where people sang, danced, played games, ate food, and had a ton of fun. We had many, many people there - including investigators and LA members. Several of these members also came to church on Sunday. It was a great experience and wonderful to see some LA members come back. My companion also baptized his first investigator yesterday. I was touched to hear his feelings and experiences from it that made me remember my time as a greenie which was filled with similar experiences...he said that "he had never felt the Spirit more strongly than when he lifted her up out of the water". There are experiences with the Spirit that are so...at the least emotionally touching that your joy is full, are overcome with the Spirit, "the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire", etc

This past Sunday was a really good one where we got to see the fruits of our labor this past week. To sum up...

This past week we were able to visit with the mom of one investigator. This investigator has learned for a while, has a baptismal date, and we were finally able to meet their mom. They were so excited to be able to have the missionaries introduce the Gospel to their mom and it was such an amazing opportunity to see such enthusiasm and desire to share the Gospel. You could tell that they earnestly wanted their mom to have experiences and be familiar with the Gospel that they had experienced.

We have a handful of progressing investigators that we are working with and several daters lined up. Some of very solid. Each one truly a miracle and a blessing. These people aren't just another person to teach, but literal sons and daughters of God, our brothers and sisters, who need what we have and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be in the Lord's work. This is His church and His work and glory. I feel that it is a marvelous thing that He trusts us enough to allow us to have a part of it.

We have an investigator who accepts all that we tell him and who has a sincere, earnest desire to be baptized, but is stuck in a difficult situation - he is married to a young girl who is pregnant and whose parents will not allow them to be married.

Brother Maty is a friend of an RC. His friend brought him to church to play the piano. We asked if he was interested in learned about our church, and he is. He came back the next week too and we talked about him being baptized. He accepted a baptism date and now the only problem is that he lives about an hour away from the church by car.

Perhaps one of the biggest miracles that have occurred is the story of an investigator (Bro James) and the way that hearts are changed. He has learned for a little over a month, but up until recently he hadn't been progressing very much. We've meet with him a few times, and now has a desire for and a date for baptism as well.

This last Sunday, our district saw two people baptized - mostly due to the members bringing friends and family to learn. In our companionship, the investigator baptized was a 12 yr old girl who has been coming to church regularly for quite some time. She, and a group of friends, were brought in by a member and has stuck to it. Out of few of them, however, she expressed a sincere desire to learn and an appreciation for the Atonement. She recognized that even at that young stage of her life, that she needed the Atonement and did not want to have any burden of sin in her future.

This is a brief summary of this past week and I'm excited for the weeks to come. I wish there was more time to count the blessings that we've seen, but suffice it to say that the Lord will continually bless us as we follow Him and we are always indebted to Him. It's a never ending cycle of blessings! Mosiah 2: "he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever".


-- 

ขอแสดงความนับถือ,                                           Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน                                                        Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา                                                                 Missionary 
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย         The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย                                   Bangkok, Thailand Mission

Bangna

Bangna

-- 

ขอแสดงความนับถือ,                                           Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน                                                        Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา                                                                 Missionary 
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย         The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย                                   Bangkok, Thailand Mission

The past week and a half or so...

The past week and a half or so...

The past week and a half or so...

Dear Mom,

I'm sorry to hear about the McCuen's grandma. I hope she'll recover as good as new in no time at all. I would also be interested to hear about how Sabrina is doing in the preparing for her mission, in the MTC, and then in Japan. That's super exciting.

Eyes are very strange organs. They seem to change more often than one would think. However, your spiritual eyes are always continually getting better even if your physical eyes can't make up their mind.

I also enjoy receiving emails from Diana and Tygan. I still have a hard time believing it took so long for them to tie the knot, haha.

I don't mind not being the center of attention some times. I take plenty of pictures that I don't need to be in them. I am always very impressed with the conversion stories of so many people that I get the opportunity to meet from being a missionary. So many people are converts in the church in Thailand that I sometimes feel that there are miracles all around us - and how true that is. The Lord knows exactly who He wants in His church and when. For missionaries, it is just a matter of being intune to the Lord's will and helping that come along. Sometimes we meet people who are pushed up to the wall of faith, and sometimes their faith isn't strong enough at that time. But the seeds that were planted by the missionaries in the past, members, and from experiences that they have will always begin to grow and swell in their heart. Some plants take a long time to grow and others mature quickly, but as the master of the vineyard prunes, dungs, and works according to his time, the branches will begin to produce much fruit. I was told of one investigator here who learn a lot, but then lost contact, but numerous times that person would come back, learn some more, but then be lost again. Although they were never dropped, they kept showing up on Sunday because in their heart, they can feel the seed sprouting and it leads them back. This process may happen over several years, but I know that the people who fully open their hearts and do not reject the promptings and movings of the Spirit will recognize and heed the voice of the Shepherd.

Most people who have to learn on Sundays is because they learn special. They have special school, like Saturday school, in order to get ahead in school, or make up for loss in education in the past.

That special musical number must have been really good! They are all very skilled singers. Here in Thailand, but people would agree that Thai people are not good singers. It's always interesting to sit and listen in sacrament meeting. Here, we don't have anyone who will play the piano, but I've learned how to play the piano a little bit since being out. I would recommend learning how to play the piano - it's actually a very useful skill and I've always been jealous of those who have that amazing music gift (and the patience to learn, too, because it gives me a headache.)

Last Thursday, we had transfer meeting again. I moved from the Elephant city and am now in Sakonakhorn. It's in the Northeast corner of the Iisan. In Surin there were many languages, here there are even more. I'll have to remember what Laos I can from my past companions and get to work learning some Iisaan. I didn't even get much chance to learn Cambodian or Madarin, haha. I'm very excited for this transfer and for the opportunity to be in a new area and have new experiences. This past week has been great.  I feel like I ended my time in my past area strong and am working on getting to know this area. I still have the worst sense of direction in the world, but I can tell that this area is special, for sure. I'm excited to work here and look forward to what will happen next.

I'm not sure what is is about this area, but a bunch of people think I look very much like a Thai person. A bunch of members said I was very handsome and was surprised when they found out I wasn't from Thailand. They asked me a bunch of questions, asked to see pictures of my family asked about dad, told me my mom must be very beautiful and loved the pictures I showed them. Moving to this new area has really made me see how diverse Thailand is. It's pretty much like America with the diversity of languages and people even if not as diverse, it's still pretty cool to see. All of the members love the missionaries and are super nice. We ate more food with members here in the past few days that I did my first transfer in country.

I was very excited to see the pictures of the Meridian Temple's progress! That's very exciting. I can also practically envision the progress on the Thailand Bangkok temple. It feels so close, but so far away.

I'm especially grateful for Elder Holland's visit. His words are always powerful and full of inspiration. His visit definitely helped to kindle my fire more. I am often afraid of making mistakes, doing the wrong thing, or unsure what the Spirit is prompting me to do, but when I remember to just focus on the important things and make the most of every moment, there's no need to worry.

This area has a large branch and great members. I've already met so many people and even though I can't remember everyone's names, I can definitely see the Spirit and faith in them and am excited to work with them.

My companion, Elder Noyse, is so amazing, too. I'm training him, but he really already knows how to be a missionary. He's firm in his conviction and likes to work hard. He's extremely friendly to everyone around him, has a great personality, and is a great example of Christ to me. He told me about the story of his conversion and even though I don't really know him, I know it's going to be a good transfer. We have several investigators that are progressing well and even though there are not very many members, that are a lot of active ones which is great.

We ended last transfer with a buffet which was a lot of fun. When I left Surin, we had a lot of investigators who were progressing very well and had several people lined up to be baptized. I'm excited to hear back from Surin and everything that'll happen there. Because we emailed very early last week, there's a lot that has happened. I was able to go visit Surin last Saturday during the Elder Holland visit. I was able to catch up with a lot of people and a bunch of RC's. It was great to visit my greenie area again. It was basically a really busy last couple of weeks. We taught, worked, played, traveled a ton, and did a lot of packing.

The most exciting things to sum up that happened these past few weeks would be: we went to an RC and investigator's house and helped them clean up their pond. It was quite and interesting boating experience. Also, we tried to kill a chicken with our bare hands with no success.

I am training again (follow-up) training. My companion has been out six weeks, but since he was the only Elder in his MTC group, he was very prepared to come out - not to mention that he works very hard and is very diligent.

It's always hard to move, but saying goodbye is just opening a new opportunity to say hello another day. Each move (This is only my third), seems to be easier than the last, and I think of 2 Nephi 33:7 - "I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgment-seat." D&C 16:6 "And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen." That's why we're out here.

Love you lots,
Elder Sun


The person on the bottom right of the buffet picture is an investigator. =)


-- 

ขอแสดงความนับถือ,                                           Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน                                                        Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา                                                                 Missionary 
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย         The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย                                   Bangkok, Thailand Mission