Monday, May 30, 2016

The last week of the transfer...

Dear Mom,

I hope everyone is doing great over there. It's the last week of the transfer here, and we're not sure who is moving. There is always some great excitement that comes around transfers time.

Our Bishop has asked us to tell you how much he is grateful for you. He thanks you for your great example and for your success in raising great kids. Our Bishop is very impressed with my companion and me and wants us to tell you he'll look after us well.

This week was especially good with Stake Conference and working with ward leaders. We continue to try to build up trust with the members and continue to see a great desire from the members to take part in missionary work. I feel like the next step is working with the members to direct this new desire and fire.

The church at Stake Conference was so packed! There were 560 people in attendance. We were so surprised and excited to see so many people come. So many traveled from other areas at 560 is actually one of the highest attendance we've seen in the zone. There is so much great work happening all over the zone. There were people crowded in the church all day, it was so hectic and crazy, but it was also just awesome to feel the good atmosphere and feel of the Spirit. We were so busy, we didn't even get a chance to eat yesterday, but we were able to talk to, see, and teach so many people. We had eight investigators there and were able to teach several of them who are continuing to progress. We were also able to interview a candidate for baptism, she was a really sweet, old lady in her 90s who has so much love for God. In the evening, we had a baptismal service. One super great miracle from that is the story of Sister Jane. Elder Curtis and I had actually taught her at first, but after a few months, we gave her for the Sisters to teach. A few more months later, she is now baptized with such a big change that has happened over that time.

A super amazing miracle that happened this week is the progress on the parents of an RC. This RC has been a member for around four months, and ever since they were baptized, they've been working on sharing the Gospel with their family. Missionaries and members have visited them fairly often, but it didn't look like the parents were making any solid progress. We had stopped focusing on them for this reason, but this RC still never gave up and continued to read and pray with them. The parents weren't ever against the church, but never saw the importance of it. They were completely fine being Buddhist. One day, we called this RC up and asked if we could meet with their parents again, and they said they were sitting talking about it and decided that they were all going to become Christian. We're not sure exactly what happened yet, but from what it sounded and looked like was the persistence and example of this RC as well as other members who never gave up on them had had a strong influence with these two parents. We were also able to teach an older sibling of this RC a while back. Their older sibling lives where there is no church and we were able to unexpectedly meet them because they were visiting that day. We found out that this RC's sibling has since read the BoM everyday and has started to go to a christian church every week and is now a declared 'Christian'. This family of miracles is such a great story that shows the importance and power of members doing missionary work. It just so happened that the day we had told them we were going to visit and teach them again was the same day an area 70, Elder Meredith, had planned to visit their home as well. So many things have seemed to line up well for this family and it has been such a blessing to get to work with them.

Our English class here is growing, slowly but surely. We've gotten several new investigators from it - it's such a great resource that we are still trying to implement better. We just went out with the Bishop and several other members to go inviting at a market on Friday where we handed out flyers and talked to a bunch of people for English class. We had so many people interested. We only went out for not even an hour and talked to so many people that were very interested.

We also went on a switch off with the Pakkret elders. I was with Elder Stevens and I was much impressed with his sincerity and genuine concern for everyone, whether or not they were interested in religion. He also asked people if there was anything they needed help with and established a good relationship with people so quick. I honestly feel that it is missionaries like him that we need in order to build up good trust with members, investigators, and everyone. We were able to meet many people who accepted us back because they could feel of his love and His love.

Two things I've learned from this past transfer are the importance of being genuine in who we are and also in our efforts to follow Christ. When we honestly and earnestly strive to become more like the Savior, we will have more charity, more love, more patience, and we will experience a chance wrought by the Atonement. After this, we can then be able to have a positive influence in the lives of others. Others will be able to see our example and our love and will be led to Him as well. If we wish to have more love for others, look to the Savior. There is no more powerful motivator than charity, the pure love of Christ. This requires us to be upright and firm in who we are and what we stand for.



-- 

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, May 23, 2016

Second to last week of the transfer

Dear Mom,

I am increasingly grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary. We've had so many awesome miracles this past week. We really are seeing so much growth and fire in the members. We've worked hard to show love to everyone here and build trust and I myself am continuing to see the power and importance of members. We've had three investigators who have been going through some trials, and some new members too, but it feels like by the time we even find out about their concerns, the members are already on the ball and helping them out. We have so many great, amazing members here who have great testimonies and experiences.

Brother Best was confirmed on Sunday. He is doing so well and continuing to progress in the Gospel. We had the opportunity to sit down with the Bishop and a few of the people we're working with. The Bishop was so helpful in helping them and he said he was also impressed with their strength. I'm so glad to be able to help people come unto Christ and help His church grow.

This last Sunday, we held a special fireside with all of the wards and missionaries here. It was centered on the theme "Hastening the Work" and member missionary work. We broke into groups and had different activities for everyone to do. Each activity focused on an applicable principle of missionary work from breaking down fears to going out with the missionaries. From all of the feedback we got from members and ward leaders, it went really well. Everyone had fun, but also learned good things. We also got quite a lot of referrals - with more to come for sure. We were told that usually when missionaries try to have an activity, there aren't a lot of people who come and the members aren't excited about it, but they told us that they hadn't had an activity that good before. Our part was a quick game with M&M's. It stands for Member Missionaries (or Members and Missionaries).

This past week, I had the opportunity to do switch-offs with a new missionary. He's a really nice, humble guy. I love seeing just how penitent and loving missionaries are. When I look at other missionaries, I am often so impressed with their examples even to me. It's been so long since I've worked with a new missionary and I learned so much from him. The biggest struggle for new missionaries is always confidence and the language. Even though he may not have been able to speak very well he still had so much power. He didn't say much all day, but when he spoke and bear testimony, I could feel that he spoke with his heart - the thing that is most important. I hope he can continue to build up confidence and his language ability while still being humble. He was a great example to me and I hope I can also do the same.

This past week the stake also held a young single adult camp. The missionaries didn't go, but we saw some great results from it. The day after the activity, we had a member come up to us and tell us there was a family coming to church on Sunday. The YSA's had invited a friend to go, who was then invited to come to church on Sunday, and they also invited their whole family. It was a way great miracle. They were willing to come to church even though they actually live over two hours away from church. There were several people who traveled far to come to church on Sunday. I am so impressed with what strong faith people have. They're willing to sacrifice so much - even some investigators. I know that the gospel is the thing that will meet these people's needs. Many people are seeking for happiness, peace, direction in life and the Gospel is what can meet these needs.

Next week we'll be having Stake Conference, I'm way excited to hear about the progress of the church in Thailand. Also, Transfers is on the 2nd. We also had the chance to take a small part in another wedding that was held at the church. This one wasn't a church wedding though so it had a different feel to it, but we were able to represent the Church during it and show good examples.

Picture of us outside a door is when we don't have a male member with us and we are not allowed to go inside.

Helping members move.


-- 

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, May 16, 2016

Wow, what a good week

Dear Mom,

This week was another great week! I loved talking with my family. I felt so impressed with their examples and their love. It was just a really uplifting and powerful experience. I feel like the importance of families is one thing I've learned while on my mission. There are a lot of things I never showed appreciation for enough and I think I have an even greater appreciation for my family now.

This week we also had two investigators be baptized, that was for sure a major highlight. In addition to that, we've been able to spend an increased amount of time with the Bishop and ward leaders lately. I believe it has resulted in a great start to the beginning of an upward trend in the missionary work. Last Sunday, we went out with the ward council members and visited many less active members. We saw the results of those visits this Sunday when 11 people of whom we had visited came to church who didn't really come to church very much. It was so great when we were able to sit down in ward council meeting and discuss the visits we did. Many members shared great experiences. I definitely learned the importance of visiting in the homes of members. More importantly, having members visiting in the homes of members. This is a method that we've talked about and have started to focus on - member missionary work. We had visited some of these people numerous times on our own, but it seems like when we went with members too, it was so much better.

There have been so many things that I have learned from just this past week. I feel like my Sundays, at least sacrament meetings, have been increasingly meaningful to me. As a mission, we have been trying to place an even greater emphasis on the spiritual welfare of missionaries. Sometimes, we get caught in a 'trap' of just doing work. President Johnson said "I worry about how busy you are on Sunday worrying about other people that you don't worry about your own personal Sabbath experience. Remember, the Sabbath is for you too, especially the opportunity to partake of the sacrament. Turn your focus to the Savior and to yourself during that sacred ordinance, and use it as a way to lift your soul. It will refresh you and position you to do even better as a missionary." I feel like I come out of sacrament meeting with a good spiritual uplifting. It makes me view everything so much differently. I often catch myself thinking of investigators and other people in sacrament meeting, but now when I do so, it's not a busy 'stressful' thinking like before, but calm, easy thoughts/revelation.

Our teaching of english that we're doing twice a week in Don Mueang seems to be going okay. It definitely looks like we're developing and growing it well. It's a great way to have members invite their friends and family in a warm, non-threatening environment. The members really like the idea of having activities there instead of the church and we'll be sure to get member support out here. We're thinking about trying to do many more things here, some YSA activities, a BoM class, maybe trying to start up a sports night. It seems like here in Thailand, many things are run by the YSA.

We were also able to do a switch offs with some great missionaries on Friday. I was with the District Leader, Elder Greenwood. I felt like he's a missionary who 'gets it'. We talked mostly on how to work better with members. We had a great member visit with him where we were also able to see some honest, good opinions from members on missionary work. He talked about how some members get 'tired' of missionary work and we discussed how we can help members kindle the fire to work. We decided we had to set a good, loving example and invite members to act. Two things I saw and learned that I really liked was that Elder Greenwood has a great focus on the 'why'. He focused so much that God loves us. I feel like he was a powerful teacher of that. I could tell that all the people we met with really liked him and could feel God's love through him. In each appointment and lesson, Elder Greenwood was very genuine and really got to know people. It made them then have a desire to know him, then have a desire to know what he was saying. I left like it was literally a perfect example of "People don't care what you have to say, until they know how much you care". We visited an RC/LA family, some ward leaders, then some other members. I felt like Elder Greenwood was an example of: "Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God will come to know God because they know you."

Time has flown by so fast, and now we only have two weeks left in this transfer cycle, it goes by so quick. It feels like I only just got here and my companion says he feels like he still has a year left of his mission.

B Best and S Uum were both baptized and are both way solid. I feel like they are so humble and have seen the Lord work mighty changes in their lives. Saturday and Sunday were great baptismal services.

-It's way cool that Sister McCuen met a Thai person in Japan. So many people we meet like to travel to Japan. The saints in Thailand really do have so, so much faith.


-- 

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, May 9, 2016

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Mom,

Happy Mother's Day! I am so infinitely grateful for Mother's, especially my own. I think one thing that has stood out to me the most from the last few sessions of general conference is the frequency that the speakers talk about families, mothers, and love. Love of God, love for God, and it of course makes me think about how great the love of Mother's is. I believe that the thing that gives God the greatest joy are His children and we are the thing He loves the most. He has given us families so we can feel of a type of love that He has for us for ourselves.

This week has been so great with special training and a whole slew of other things. We are getting moved in and more settled with our new teaching arrangements here in Don Mueang. It's been a rough transition, but is now looking way up. All of the members are on board and everyone here is so willing to help out, help teach, and have us visit them. We had a day this week where we spent around 9 hours serving, talking with, and visiting members with our Bishop. He is such a cool guy and wants to see the ward grow and progress. An interested principle that I've heard is to help fix a problem, we have to chop at the roots and not just the surface problem. We have to dig down and find the source of the problem if we are going to see real change and progress. I've thought about how we can do this without just addressing a problem in a 'too straight forward' kind of way.

The work here in our area is doing good. When we buckle down and focus on a goal, we seem to be able to achieve it. We have two investigators who are progressing well and have goals to be baptized this week - S Uum and B Best. We have a few others that are also progressing that we're working with. With all that we do, helping people come unto Christ is by far the most rewarding thing. Seeing the change in people's lives as they come unto Christ and begin to realize how much God loves them is for sure the joy that is mentioned in the scriptures. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a missionary and help others come to know of His love.

During this period, we are again refocusing on working with members and continuing to seek referrals. Just from talking to a few members and the Bishop here, and in other areas, church leaders seem to really like this new way of working. I think it is really just an essential new understanding of the importance of families, love, and how we help members with their missionary work. I like to think that as we come to understand the love of God, it will generate a desire in us to share the Gospel with those whom we love - friends and family - and we as missionaries are simply here to help members know how to share and to invite all to come unto Christ. I am excited to be able to work with members, but it is still something that I have not yet 'mastered'. We still need to find a good balance in the work and within our relationships with members. We are to help members have an enthusiasm for the work, but we meet to do it in a loving way and in a way that is appropriate to our callings. It's a balance that I have not yet figured out. We help them to see and realize, remember the blessings they have received, then encourage them to share with others. Just like investigators, we can't make them or force them to do anything, but we can kind of help nudge them in the right direction. Sometimes I feel like we just try to 'get referrals' or 'milk the members' instead of genuinely trying to 'help' them. I feel like sometimes we say more 'you need to share the gospel' and 'give us referrals' more than 'we genuinely care'. It's a hard balance.

I am confident that we can effectively work with members as we make it a priority to love the members more and remember the importance and significance of the calling that we all have, to share the Gospel. It's definitely not a chore, or a burden, but something that must come from a sincere, genuine heart/desire. Having that desire is step 1, but the steps after that are important too. Do everything with love and by the Spirit. That's the key. We'll work on applying these principles this week and I'm excited to see how it'll go. I would love to know how you are all sharing the gospel. If it's true that all members are missionaries, I think that that would mean that members are the best missionaries.


Picture: we had a wedding at the church last Saturday. It was way cool.

-- 

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, May 2, 2016

Mother's Day Week!!

Dear Mom,

I hope you had a fantastic week. Our days here are way busy and full of tender mercies from the Lord. We celebrate Mother's Day in August in Thailand, but we'll be able to Skype home Monday morning our time (Sunday evening over there - around 8pm). I'm very excited.

As I engaged in personal studies this morning, I glanced at my watch and realized that it is now May, the fifth month of the year. That means I have less than six months left of my mission. I thought about how fast time flies. In the mail we get 'death' papers at our six month mark and we sign a pledge that we will 'Sprint to the Finish'. There's a dual meaning in this. The last stretch is the stretch we need to work the hardest, and the stretch that seems to pass by the quickest. It's mind-boggling.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a missionary. There are far too many things I love to name them all, but I think the one I love the best is seeing lives truly change. The Atonement of Jesus Christ truly is the power needed to change lives. Not just a temporary, fleeting change that brings temporary happiness, but real, since, genuine change. I think of the experiences of Alma the younger, Nephi, Enos, the Lamanite people, and many others that we see in the scriptures. I think of all of the many conversion stories that occur all around us. I am impressed with the faith and dedication of the Thai members especially. I see the power of the Gospel working in the lives of others and in my own life.

This week we will have MLC and receive some new insight and inspiration. We've been working with an additional emphasis on helping members to missionary work themselves. We're also going to be focusing even more on our new teaching place here in Don Mueang. We moved deeper into the heart of our area and will hopefully have a great chance to work with the people our here more. We'll also have a chance to install flooring ourselves in this new room. It should make for a great learning experience.

The progress to establish a new stake is coming well and I'm also super excited for the coming up Stake Conference at the end of this week. One thing I've learned these past weeks is that it's true when people say that the church is a church of meetings. We've had a few days now where we've had meetings all day. What you wrote about how it is in your new ward sounds a lot similar to what we do here, too with the multiple wards and plannings. We've seen miracles in finding new investigators this week, and a handful we're focusing on to help progress well. This past Sunday we had a super cool baptism. There was an investigator who came to the church and has been coming on and off for about a year now. She wanted to get baptized, but some things came up and she wasn't able to come to church for several months. She then came back and was relearning. She had ups and downs in her experiences and has finally now made an important covenant with the Lord. I am excited for the next five months as my mission winds down, but also speeds up.

Stories of changing through Christ:
Alma 5
Helaman 15
2 Nephi 4
Alma 36


If I remember right, Diana loves to design things. Another thing I've learned is that, for the most part, Elders are not very good at designing things/making things artsy. It so happens that for our new teaching place, we'll be designing flyers and banners and such. If she'd be interested, we'd be more than willing to take some free samples.

P.S. Elder Parker had a very bad ingrown toenail and had to get it removed. They just yanked it right off. We had to go to the hospital a few times now. He's doing okay now, just a little bit of soreness.

Pictures
1. Teaching room at its bare minimum.
2. Book of Mormon class.
3. My companion. Elder Parker.
4. She was baptized that day.


-- 

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