Dear Mom,
Happy Thanksgiving! The branch is planning a Thanksgiving, and pretty soon, a big Christmas activity. I hope your holidays will be great, too! It's crazy to think that this will be my second Christmas/Thanksgiving. Oh how time has flown by. I can't sum up how I feel better than Sister McCuen did in her email. I'm grateful to be a missionary, feel love for people, and learn to rely and trust on the Lord.
Sakon Nakhorn only has one district. Elder Blad could be related to the Blads that we know...I actually never thought about it. What are the Blads' names? Oh, and I'm way, way excited for Sister Sun!! And for Diana to move to Wisconsin.
Focusing on what the Lord wants me to do helps me keep my challenges/responsibilities in perspective. There are many, many things to do, and we can do all things through the Lord. The things that are least important get pushed to the back burners until time comes around. Sometimes that means eating meals, buying groceries, or washing clothes. When we follow the Spirit in our decision making, we are guaranteed to not make the wrong choice.
I feel like the biggest cause of decrease in church attendance and baptisms is a combination of the Lord's will and the will of His servants. He can do all things on His own, for sure. He allows us to take part in His work to learn, grow, and make mistakes. The Lord is very patient in letting imperfect people preach His perfect Gospel. We don't have to do it alone, however.
This week I've learned a lot from all of the missionaries in our district. This past week our companionship has had a semi rough time with teaching appointments and filling our time with meaningful activities - just things that test our faith. I've definitely learned the value of patience and effective planning. Training and being a district means a lot of planning, accountability, and stress. It definitely feels very different to be planning mostly everything everyday and having to know and do so much, but the Lord qualifies those He calls as we rely on Him.
The small things can make a big difference. Small acts of kindness can show a lot of love. Little problems with obedience can bring to pass big results over a period of time. Whenever I think about investigators who may not be progressing, I think about what it is that we can do in order to be more obedient, have the Spirit more, and then what their needs are. As a mission, we have been challenged to do a '40 day fast'. Pray, and seek for personal relevance about what we can do to be more consecrated to the work. To change whatever it is that we need to in order to be able to have the Spirit with us more and become closer to the Lord. It is, has I have noticed these past few weeks, very, very difficult. I repeatingly find myself kneeling at the end of each day and asking for forgiveness for the same weaknesses that I've been working to overcome since the beginning. Change is hard. For Alma the younger and many others, it was exceeding painful, but the end result is the joy and Spirit that we receive as we come closer to the Lord.
One major miracle that we've seen this week was on last Monday. As we were making a lot of calls trying to meet with new investigators, we were able to meet with a really awesome, interested man, who has progressed a lot in just a short amount of time. We first met him two months ago, but could never meet him. He has since met with us everyday this past week and has accepted the challenge to be baptized. I believe this obvious, large miracle, is a major sign of the Lord's mercy in our lives, evidence of people who are really ready to accept the Gospel, and the fruits of exact obedience and having the Spirit be the focus of teaching. All of the lessons with him have been "smooth" and I can honestly say that the desire of those who are prepared to learn is such that their attitude is one that is conducive to the Spirit as well. Our experiences with him is one of the things that has made me look at how we teach as well. The 'training' videos that we received at transfers have also had a large part in changing how I've looked at teaching. While we are teaching the gospel, consider carefully the concept we are teaching. Teach it simply so that our investigator cannot fail to understand it. Then, make it clear through our enthusiasm for the concept that we truly believe it. While teaching, we consider how the principle not only applies to the investigator, but how it applies to us. We teach in a way that the Spirit not only bears testimony to an investigator, but to us also. When the Spirit bears witness to us as we teach, the influence of the Spirit will also be felt by the investigator and bear witness to them as well. If the Spirit bears witness to us while we are teaching, the Spirit will also bear witness to the investigator. The Spirit will testify to both us and to the investigator, and we will "rejoice together." Conversely, if the Spirit does not bear witness to our soul each time you teach, then we can't expect the Spirit to bear witness to the investigator. This is a thought that President Johnson shared with us from D&C 50:17-22. The key is simplicity, conviction, and the Spirit.
There are definitely many other things that have occurred this week that I would consider miracles. We had an LA that we've been working with for a while come back to church. There are many people who have experienced conversion and felt the power of God's love, but over time just allow distractions to have too large of an influence in their lives in place of that spirituality that used to be there.
I am continuously impressed with my companion, Elder Blad. He is always working hard, looking for ways to improve, and also has a fine-tuned ear for the Spirit. I am often surprised at his wisdom that he shows in studies. He is also making great progress in his language ability. He is beginning to becoming more confident and not as afraid to open his mouth. Sometimes I get into a bad mindset that since he's new and doesn't know how to do/say a lot I need to make up for it, which is true, but at the same time, pushing him out of his comfort zone is one thing that will make him grow the most.
Tomorrow, our zone leaders are going to go on switch offs with us. They are going to split us up so we have three companionships. I'm excited to see how much we can get down with three companionships and for the feedback on what we can do better from the zone leaders. When we also get sisters in Sakon Nakhorn, I guess it will be like this, too, so it'll be a 'test-run'.
We have many investigators that we are trying to work with and will continue to see miracles as the Lord's hand is revealed to us.
What I read this morning:
Helaman 3:24-27 "And it came to pass that in this same year there was exceedingly great prosperity in the church, insomuch that there were thousands who did join themselves unto the church and were baptized unto repentance. And so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure. And it came to pass that the work of the Lord did prosper unto the baptizing and uniting to the church of God, many souls, yea, even tens of thousands. Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name."
As I thought on the spirit of Thanksgiving that we'll have this week, I thought about all of the support and love that so many have for missionaries. I'd like to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts that many have shared with me. I would ask for prayers focused on our investigators and the members. We appreciate the prayers that people offer the missionaries, but don't forget investigators too.
-We helped an LA serve food at a school. People are so unaccustomed to foreigners. It was entertaining to see their reactions. Also, because it's a small world, we get to meet the same people again.
-We finally finished building the branch president's house. He had his first FHE on Monday.
-We met a ton of LA's this week. Some don't like the church anymore. Some love the missionaries a lot. A few of those want me to be their son in law.
-We had our first branch council meeting in a long time. Yea! for more power to the branch. Planning Thanksgiving/Christmas.
-I find it weird when people answer their phones in the shower.
-We're going to eat dog today.
-The Lord is in every aspect of our lives.
-We'll have miracles on the way as well as Sister Missionaries.
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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