Monday, January 25, 2016
It's cold.
Dear Mom,
This past week has been full of amazing things. We've had another great Sunday. It was freezing cold here in Thailand (I discovered how much I really cannot endure cold weather anymore) and also rainedon Sunday which lowered our attendance, but despite that, we still had over 90 people at church, many miracles, and a great baptism.
I have seen how the Lord truly does prepare things for us. Sometimes it does not feel like we have to do a lot of work because of how much the Lord really does lift us up and enables us. One investigator whose phone broke so we haven't been able to contact them more at all recently keeps 'magically' showing up at church. We've been worried about him a bit, but he came to church yesterday, got the gift of the Holy Ghost, and helped us teach. He's a very quite kid and although we've been worried about how 'deep' his conversion is, we had him help us teach and he shared several powerful thoughts that also helped our other investigators feel the Spirit. We didn't even need to 'poke or prod' him. Just at the right moments he would share short, powerful testimony and clarification. My companion and I were both surprised that he could speak up like that. A similar miracle was an RC who spoke in sacrament meeting whose older sister we are also teaching. This RC is also someone who is super shy. I think I've never heard him say more than a few sentences. Whenever he would help us teach, he would give very, very short responses. The talk he gave, was very, very good and not short either. I think everyone in the congregation was surprised. When we talked to his sister afterwards, she said how completely shocked she was that her brother could speak like that. It was great to see the example of her brother's lack of fear and strong faith boost her's.
The baptism this past week was great. We've been working with her for several months, ever since I left my last area and when I found out she was here, I was way excited. We've been helping her know that God is real and that the church is true. After several weeks and much prayer, she now has a strong testimony and we had a great baptismal service. She brought her mom and some family friends came and visited too.
We've had focused on studies and missionary work on charity and love this past week. Without charity, we are nothing. If we do not have charity, the Spirit cannot have influence in our lives and we will be unable to do missionary work, receive guidance from the Lord in our lives, and will be unable to return to live with God. Two things that I learned that have stuck with me this week about charity and faith is 1)both are a gift that we must seek and pray for and 2) we cannot assume that others know how much we love them. We must show the love we have through our words and actions. Just like faith. If we do not exercise our faith and nourish it, it will die. If we do not use our spiritual gifts, we will lose them.
This week, we'll have zone conference and many more miracles very shorty. I love you so much and please let me know if there is anything you would like to know that you.
I love being a missionary and I love the people we are serving and most importantly, I love our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ.
-We went back to Surin and rode elephants again. Flashback to the past.
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, January 18, 2016
Roi-et
Dear Mom,
--
This past week has been one of good growth and prayer for me. It's always interesting looking back on the past and seeing how fast time has gone by and also recounting all of the amazing things that happen each week. Since coming on a missionary and striving to become a missionary has made me think about how many things I have never noticed or fully appreciated before. I feel like from all of the many things I've been able to experience and do has really made me see the world differently and really learn to appreciate so much more - even the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
There is never a short of experiences to recount or things learned from week to week.
This past Sunday, we had three baptisms in Roi-et. I am always so impressed with the strength and faith of new members of the church. When hearing people share their testimonies about the Lord and their love for God, it really helps strengthen mine. It really shows the converting power of the Gospel when these people who, never knew God before, after learning with the missionaries for only a few weeks, can honestly say that they know God is real. The Spirit works with the hearts of those that the Lord has prepared. In some ways, these experiences seem like a miracles. However, we know that we can expect miracles. Sometimes this amazing conversion that takes place makes us surprised, but it's also something we believe and expect because it's true. I had the chance to read in the January Liahona, and I was touched by the amazing stories that occur in people's lives as they have prayed and pondered the sciptures. These 'amazing conversions' that occur are not always rare occurrences. Many times answers to our prayers do not come all at once in one big flash of light and understand, but just a rising sun, it'll come and when that realization is made we can enjoy the warm rays.
One amazing miracle that occurred with one of our investigators is also something that makes missionaries very excited to hear. We have an investigator who was dropped before and wasn't super interested. The missionaries previous had lost contact for a while, but we were able to meet her once near the start of the transfer. After that, we lost contact again and she was never super interested. After numerous attempts to call and help her, it seemed fruitless. Then, out of the blue, she calls us and says she is coming to church to meet with us. Of course we say yes and meet with her. The first thing she says after we say an opening prayer with her is that she had an amazing experience the other day. She told us that she had prayed the day before and received an answer and knew that God was real. She never told us exactly what happened, but the change in her countenance, seriousness, and earnesty to learn was very clear.
I have definitely seen the significance of finding the elect, those who have been prepared to hear and understanding when it is someone's time. The only issue is, we can really only know when someone's time is as we learn to follow the subtle promptings of the Spirit and act out of love. We can never indoctrinate people into the church or expect only teaching to accomplish the task of converting. It must be based on and centered on the Atonement of Christ and the Spirit. In all we do as missionaries, we can only invite and challenge others to act. Those that are willing to act with faith are promised an answer when the Spirit is invited into their lives. I feel so happy about this. "when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men."
Another awesome experience was going out to visit less active members and looking for investigators with members. We were able to find new LA's to work with that we didn't even know were out there. We went out to visit our 'usual' LAs when the member says 'let's go and visit this person'. We went and they were very nice, accepted us well, and we can see the testimony that was still there. This member also took us to visit a few people that they had talked with before. We met them and they were very willing to listen - what a great miracle from working with members. But the miracle didn't stop there. As we were visiting this referral, we met with another person a long the way. It turns out that she believes in God and want's to be cleansed from her sin, too. She was very happy to have met with us and seemed genuinely interested. Also, it so happened that she thinks she's free pretty much everySunday morning พอดี.
As an act of invitation, if there is anyone who does not know whether or not God is real, whether or not He loves us, whether or not Christ is our Savior, or whether or not the Book of Mormon is true, I would extent a humble testimony that all of the aforementioned is true and encourage the same to seek for an answer as many have done before.
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
11:04 PM (18 hours ago)
Monday, January 11, 2016
Miracles!
Dear Mom,
I could start out my letter by just saying that Sister McCuen's letter was awesome. I am always keeping an eye out for miracles that the Lord gives us and puts in our path. There literally are so many things the Lord gives us and allows us to experience for us to grow that I've started a new goal to write in my journal more often, but just to only write some of these amazing things down.
For sure one of the greatest blessings of sharing the Gospel with others, is being able to see the change that occurs in the lives of those who experience the healing and enabling power of the Atonement of Christ. Being able to see the change and the progress of others is one of the biggest benefits of being a missionary. This past week, we've focused heavily on a few investigators to help them progress. It has been amazing to see these people progress in the Gospel and as they continue to exercise their faith and grow in their desire to come unto Christ, they experience a literal change of heart and seeing this happen is a tremendous blessing.
One investigator we teach seems to be able to remember every detail we teach and wants to apply it, too. Every lesson we review what we had introduced from last time, and they can remember it all. It was so great as we were talking about the temple with them. They had such a strong desire to go to the temple ever since we introduced it to them. We asked her "what do you remember about the temple?" and they answered "I want to go so bad" and went off about all the many things that made them excited. Unfortunately, they're going to another province this Sunday so can't be baptized, but next week for sure.
Another investigator has much, much faith. She, like many investigators, immediately quit drinking tea and coffee since the day we introduced the WoW. A lot of faith. When we taught the LoC, we learned that she had a kid when she was 16 and she felt so guilty/sorrowful when we told her that that was a serious sin. She was so humble and repentant. When we taught her the 10 commandments, she had no problems except a Buddhist necklace that she wore 24/7 to remind her of her dad who had to move away since she was little and hadn't seen for several years. She said she couldn't take it off. We encouraged her to keep all the commandments of God and invited her to pray about it. She kept saying how she couldn't do it, she could keep all the commandments, but couldn't keep this one. We gave her homework to take time the next day to read the scriptures, study about it more, and really pray about it. The next day we saw her, she wasn't wearing the necklace and said that she followed the homework we gave her and put the necklace away in a drawer. This was also a miracle in the strength of members in helping teach because it was definitely the support of the members that helped her make the decision and build up the faith. We then taught a lesson on tithing. We promised many blessings, explained tithing and asked "After you're baptized, will you be willing to pay a full 10% tithe". She said "yes, of course." No hesitation or second thought. Unfortunately, this past Sunday, they were out of town visiting with family so couldn't come to church on time, still came to church as soon as they could on Sunday morning. Due to traffic and travel time, they didn't make it to sacrament meeting, but will be baptized a later week.
The stories could go on, but I'll end with one last investigator. He read over 300 pages in the BoM in two weeks and said he really wanted to follow Christ. He has changed his life around a lot, came to church, got a job, and immediately set a goal to cut back on smoking and stop drinking.
--
I know this church is true and that God lives. He is our father and he loves us. That is the message. He sent His son to die and atone for us so that we may have a chance to return to live with Him. When we learn about His son and place Him as the center of our lives, we will be making happiness the center of our lives.
DC 18:10,15-16 "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!
ขอแสดงความนับถือ, Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา Missionary
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย Bangkok, Thailand Mission
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Here in 101.
Dear Mom,
--
So right now I am in Roi-et. Translated it is the number 101. The area here is great, there are amazing members who help all the time. My companion is just out of training, and he's so hardworking and Christlike. It's a trait I've seen that distinguishes the good missionaries from the great ones. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. It was, and still is, great here. We had a great ward Christmas party, and had a good time celebrating around the New Year, too. Most people only celebrate for New Years and not Christmas, but it was great spreading the Christmas cheer. I feel like everywhere we go, no matter the time or place, we can spread cheer because we have the message of great hope.
This past week was marked with miracles and blessings. As far as the work, we met with many investigators and many of which also have dates for baptism. We also had four baptisms just this past Sunday. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and declare the Gospel. One large miracle that I think we've seen is a good increase in the number of other lessons we've received and success in invited. We have so many potentials to work with that I feel like the Lord is definitely constantly sending people our way and putting people in our path who are ready for the Gospel. We talk to and invite hundreds of people a day, some of those give us their phone numbers, a few of them actually meet with us, and of those a few really progress.
I have not much to say other than I love being a missionary, I love the Lord, I love Heavenly Father, I love you, and I love the Thai people.
ขอแสดงความนับถือ, Sincerely,
เอ็ลเดอร์ ซัน Elder Sun
ผู้สอนศาสนา Missionary
ศาสนจักรของพระเยซูคริสต์แห่งวิสุทธิชนยุคสุดท้าย The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
คณะเผยแผ่ กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย Bangkok, Thailand Mission
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)