Karsten's Adventures in the Kingdom of Thailand: 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