WEEK 4 Chiang Mai

Dear Friends and Family

This past week was so weird. I met almost someone new everyday, from a different country. It was weird. I met a man on Monday, his name was George W. He was from Germany. Elder Chris and I were walking down the street and this first thing he says to me is, "I see you again", I've never met you ha. Well we talked for a few minutes about what we were doing and how he kind of knows about us. I told him to get on Mormon.org to find the church near him in Germany. All I could think is that Elder Pilling will meet him and be like oh this Elder in Thailand told me to go here. I dont know if that will happen but it would be cool. One of the last things he said before we left was, Tomorrow will always come. It is so true. If you have a bad day or if something goes wrong you can always count on tomorrow coming and it being an new day. Tuesday we met a guy in this place we call China Town. Again we were walking down the street and I just said hi to some guy and he turns and says ," Do you know where I can find a walkmam? I have been living here for 16 years and I cant find them anymore." I was like those are soo old! I didnt ask why we wanted one but he said I know you, MORMON right? Yes. Yeah you and your "team" have been here a long time huh? Yeah well how old are you? 21 and 19, by gosh you dont look that old, you are just a young lad. This is exactly what he said. I asked his name and he said Buzz. Then we went on our way. Then Wednesday some white guy was like you are going to hell and then later that day another white guy was like," Park City Utah", and I was like what are you getting at ha ha! 

That same day, Wednesday, Elder Chris and I went to the hospital because Elder Chris wasnt feeling well and was sick. We only went to the hospital because one of the ladies at church who is from America and watches out for us told him to go. Well she was inspired. We were sitting down waiting to go into this room to talk to the doctor when a door opened and out came a man. Elder Chris and I both look at each other and say at the same time "Eric Pratt". The man that we gave a blessing to not even 2 weeks ago. He was up and walking around. He came out of the room, look right at us and went to the counter to talk to a nurse. I looked at him and he looked at me and kind of waved. Then we went and sat down. I said to Elder Chris, should we go and talk to him and he was like no. So we did our thing, talked to the doctor and went to get his medicine. We walked down the hall and then not even a min later Eric follows. He doesnt sit down next to us at first. Elder Christ went to the counter to get his stuff and that is when Eric came and sat down next to me. He talked for a few minutes and he asked how I was and I told him I was glad to see him up walking around. He asked us are you the two that my parents sent for? We said yeah dont you remember? He said no. He said that he cant remember anything that happened. We were like oh that is totally okay. He said all I can remember is two guys dressed in white coming to my room and that is it. He told us on about the 6th or 7th that he told the doctors to take him off all meds and he wanted to see which ones werent working and right before they put him back on he said that he felt normal again. Anyways he was up and walking around and looked completely normal to us. It was a miracle to see him again. I didnt think we would see him again. I was thankful that we were inspired to go to that hospital. 

This past week at our district meeting we talked about on pg 98 of PMG Where should I go? What should I do? and What should I say? I can tell you what the spirit will surely guide you in all things. Elder Chris drew a line on the board and said make a picture out of it. We all took turns drawing different pictures. He related it to sometimes it takes a little bite of faith and patience to make a picture happen. He also said that sometimes we have to erase things to make things better. Such as getting rid of things or finding new friends or making big changes in you life. I know that the spirit who talks with our Father in Heaven will guide us in all that we do. I know if you are doing all you can to be able to listen to the spirit, you will know what to do for sure. 

Also this past week my companion wasnt doing good at all. Things for him just werent going well. He wasnt happy, didnt want to work and had a bad attitude. One night after we locked the church gate and I was like okay, Elder whats up? From that we talked and talked and about an hour and a half later we got things resolved. My companion had been acting like this since we started the transfer. All I know is that talking with your companion openly and truthfully can and will resolve things for sure. This goes for Elders, Sisters and even married couples. If you let things hold you back then no progression will take place. I did tell Elder Chris something, When I was in high school there was something that I just didnt like, that I was sad over and nothing was coming from my sadness. I told him it wasnt until I decided to make the change myself and tell myself to just be happy then things started to turn better. I was happier and I had more success. I am so thankful for all of your prayers that you have said for me and my companion. Thank you so much. This means a lot to me. We were able to get two new investigators this week and we were able to get balanced. We did a guy who was from another church. His job was to find material and bash about our church. He bashed for a while I guess from what I was told. All I can say is that he asked to be baptized. We are teaching right now and he is reading in the book of Mormon and is in Alma right now. This man is so great! He is doing so well and you can tell the stuff that he found has changed him a lot! This shows how much the true church can change someone. 

Thank you for all you have done for me. The support and all the prayers! 

Love Elder Hinckley

That salad I am eating with the red pepper is so freaking hot! It is so good though. That is ice cream in bread and there is rice in it. It is sooo good! We had our feet munched on by fish this past week! 

Foot Spa!

Foot Spas for everyone!

You place your feet into this tank of water, and the fish nibble away at the dead skin on your feet. Very ticklish!

Making food at a members home.

They call it waterfall!

Ice cream and bread together is delicious.

That's one HOT PEPPER!!!!!

Week 3 Chiang Mai

Dear Friends and Family

So during this past week my companion and I were able to go and visit some less actives in the ward. I thought about this on Monday. I told my companion that we should try and visit some less actives. I was thinking that all they needed was a few visits from the Elders to help them feel that they are loved. I sure wanted all the people to feel that they weren't forgotten. So Elder Chris and I hopped on our bikes and we followed a member to the house of this less active member. Now the member we were following didnt know exactly where this member lived but the general idea. So we followed this member on her motorcycle through this narrow corridor I guess you could call it and we followed it for what seemed like forever until we popped out the other side. The member turn us around and we followed the same path that we took and this time we took a left instead of a right. We then traveled this narrow corridor till we came to the end. We had found the members house. When we got there, there was a dog barking and these really high walls. We called for the mans name and he poked his head out the window. He came outside down the stairs. This man didnt really want us to come over, you could tell. Now before I go on I do need to tell you that I called this man a few days before to ask him to come back to church and what he told me was that he couldnt because he wasnt able to walk. He had just gotten surgery done on his leg and walking wasnt really an option for him. This is a big reason I wanted to visit him. On with the story, so some of the first words out of his mouth were, what do you want? Can I help you? I just told him we wanted to share a simple message with him. So I shared a scripture with him (2 Nephi 31:20) and told him that at times it is hard to endure to the end but we can all do it with the help of Christ. We talked more and more and my companion shared a scripture and the man was starting to warm up to us more and more. It was really cool to see! By the time we were done we were laughing and just having a good time. We invited the man to come back to church and to the wedding we would have on Saturday. The man offered a closing prayer and we were on our way. I cant tell you if we did anything for that man but what I do know is that I sure felt like I did something right. I felt like I was doing what Christ would have done if he were here. I was very thankful for the opportunity to find this man and invite him back to church. 

Elder Chris and I were able to visit some other less active members who own a restaurant...well we might have to visit them more ha. We went with another member to visit these other two less actives. They are such great people! We talked about church and the priesthood and they said they pray and read often which is great. They just said that they work on Sundays but we will try and do the best we can with that. They only way we found these two less actives was through members help. We asked for a referral from a member and he told us about two less actives. That was good enough for me. Members can play a big role into helping us find those lost sheep or the ones that have just gone astray. Yesterday we had a fireside about helping bring back Melchizedek Priesthooders. It is really vital to us getting a temple in Thailand. If we can help those brothers come back and help those that dont have the priesthood prepare and receive the priesthood we will have a stronger foundation to support a temple here. It is a slow process but with the help of the members we can get the ball rolling faster!

Also this past Saturday we had a wedding, and the man that we visited came to the wedding and saw members that he had missed. That was really cool to see! I saw my first wedding in Thailand. It was at the church. Us missionaries had been helping a little to get this all set up. I think a lot of the branch was involved in. It turned out so great! I think both the people that got married were a little stunned ha. It was a great turn out. We all went into the chapel and there were two speakers and then someone in the branch presidency married them and then they kissed each other....on the checks ha. This little wedding made me think of: Families can be Together Forever. I dont know if they will be able to go through the temple soon but we believe that through temples and Heavenly Fathers plan we can live with our families forever after we die. That is a great big reason I came on my mission. To help families be together forever. I want to help complete families and those part member families as well. I am so thankful for this knowledge about families. I love my family and I am grateful that I will be able to live with them after I die. We are all one great family. He are all apart of  Heavenly Fathers family. Families is where we grow, have fun, laugh, have good times and bad times, where we get to enjoy each others company and where we get to feel that sense of belonging. I truly testify that families can be together forever. I challenge you all to try and go to the temple this week and feel the love that Heavenly Father has for you in the temple. 

Right now my companion and I dont have much as far as investigators. We have been having a rough little while getting people to church and new investigators. Its okay though, it doesnt mean that we are doing bad it just may mean that we need to step it up! That is what we will do! Work harder and step it up. I dont want to look back on my mission and have regrets. That will not happen. Work everyday, all day till my time is up. 

Well talk to you soon. Take care and have a great week!

Love
Elder Hinckley

 

A Mong Village

Beautiful flowers surround this home.

Dress up with Elder Christensen.

The one set of Sisters went with us.

I had a great time here in the village.

I got to go cross bow hunting.

A random little boy swimming.

A feast of fish and what looks like chicken legs.

I got to attend the wedding of this couple.  My first Thai wedding, it took place in our church.

 

Week 2 Chiang Mai

Dear Friends and Family

I was very amazed at this last week. We get a call Tuesday night and its from a lady in the office. She was telling us how a man was in a accident and his parents wanted someone to go and see him. Then we get a call from another person in the office about how there is the same man who needs someone to go and check on him. So we thought okay okay we will go see this guy right after studies. We had to go to a new hospital and my companion thought he knew where it was so I followed him and we biked and biked and couldnt find it. I dont know if I dare say because my mom reads my emails but we had to bike on the high way the whole time. Anyways my companion finally called someone and they said we biked in the wrong direction. So we had to turn around and go back the way that we came and then some. Okay after about biking 13 Kilometers we finally made it to the hospital. I was sweating so bad ha! It was intense! Well we found the room where this man was staying. We got to the door and didnt really know what to do. We knocked and no answer. We knocked again and no answer. So I just decided to walk in. I thought I was walking into a hotel from the look that the room had. There was another room where a man was on a hospital bed and a women sleeping on the couch next to him. So we decided to leave the room. At this point we didnt want to wake the man up but we knew someone had called for us to go and see him. My companion said let me write a note and we will come back when he is awake and I said that we should wait for a few minutes. So we waited and sure enough a nurse comes walking down the hall to his room. She goes in and then comes out a few minutes later. She looks at us and asks if we are friends with the man inside and we said yes. She said okay they have been expecting you. So then the lady that was in the room came out told us to put these masks on and to come in. We followed the lady to the room where the man was. The man in his mixed English told the women to leave the room. Elder Chris and I just stood there and waited. The man looked like he was in a lot of pain. He said my parents sent you here huh? Yep they sure did! He went on to tell us all that he could remember from the past week. Traveling, playing golf, getting hot and cold and getting medicine. So then we just talked about where we were from, how long we were here and so on. He told us that when we talked it causes him to shack and have mini seizures. So at times we had to wait it out for him to respond. We came to the initial question, Eric what can we do for you? He said my parents want you to give me a blessing. We asked if that is what he wants and he said yes. Elder Chris gave the first blessing and I gave the second blessing. It was such a great opportunity. We finished, talked for another minute and went on our way. I cant tell you how spiritual that was. I woke up a few days before asking the Lord where we wanted me to go. He answered my prayer by leading me to this man, Eric. I cant tell you how important it is that you are ready to perform something (blessing) on a seconds notice. It is also important that you are worthy to do such things as well. I hope and pray for this man and that he recovers. The doctors did say that he had H1N1 but then tested him again and said he had H5N1 which is not as bad. I am thankful for the Lord and that he answers my prayers and guides me on where to go and what to do. 

As my companion and I were out tracking the other day we came across a rock climbing shop. It had all necessary tools to go rock climbing. Hats, harnesses, ropes, clips (big hefty clips that wont come undone) and so on. I thought about all this stuff that I was looking at. I thought about how it is important that you have a lot of tools to help you stay safe when you are doing something that can be dangerous. I think of a video clip that I saw in seminary. It showed a man who was climbing with out any tools. No hat, no harness, no rope. It was really dangerous because is showed this man falling. Well it didnt really show it but it is the impression that the video gave. Then is showed two other people. They had a lot of gear. All the essentials to be safe. They got to the top of their rock I guess you could say and then they were successful. I thought about this and how I in high school and had a lot of tools to keep me safe. We have the tools because it what will keep us safe. We need to take advantage of the tools that we have. Even if you are "Experienced" doesnt mean you can climb without tools! Even the most experienced climbers climb with tools. What tools do we have? Seminary, Book of Mormon, leaders, prayer, prophets so on and so forth. I just thought it was a great thought. 

Also this last week we had another training on the training that President Senior gave us the week before. We talked about scriptures and how we need to back up the scriptures and not how they need to back us up. The scriptures give us the Words of Christ, the purest form of testimony and when we use them or read them they invite the spirit. It is a great tool to use. Alma 31:5 and Luke 4:18 are the scriptures that we used. Then we talked about a big goal for this year. Our mission president wants us to redouble our efforts and redouble everything. Our goal for baptisms this year is 4,000! Dang that is a lot but with the help of activation, referrals, and part member families this is all possible, D&C 127:4. Right now is an important time to work really hard and accomplish this goal. I am excited because there are other goals he wants us to get. 2 baptisms next month, 3 in April and 4 in May. It will require effort from everyone! No one slacks and no one jerks. Have you ever heard shop till you drop well this is "Work till you Drop". I am so thankful to be a missionary! I do want to say one more thing. A mission is not all about baptisms. If you dont get them that is okay. It doesnt mean that you didnt work hard. I will still try and find those that have fallen off the path and help them back on. 

Well I love you all. Take care! Have a great week and Happy Valentines Day!

Love Elder Hinckley  

Elder Christensen and Elder Hinckley enjoying their P-day.

These advertisements were put up in an old diner we ate at.

These must be as old as my mom and dad, because I've never seen them before.

I love Chiang Mai Thailand.

These hands can give a lot of love and service.

Some more old advertisements in this diner.

Rock climbing store.

Not sure what this means but it was in the rock climbing store.

Yummy food from Diner.