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.
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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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