Week 17 Buriram

Dear Friends and Family,

Well I am coming to the end of another transfer. Today I should know if I move or if I stay. This area that I have been in, Buriram, has taught me so many things. Things such as what I need to do as a missionary, how to work with the ward and how the Lord works. The 2nd or 3rd week here was really hard for me. I dont know why. The more I thought it was hard the harder it got. As I took time to study, to get on my knees and pray, I found that I could rely on the Lord so much more. As I relied on the Lord, He guided me. I have learned to have complete or more trust in the Lord. I like the quote from President Hinckley,"Get on your knees and pray and then get on your feet and work!" I found that I will have most success when I inquire the Lord and His will and then go to work. I cant do this work alone, its not possible. I need the Lord and His guidance just like a kid needs a parent. 

I have seen a miracle just yesterday. A man that I invited a while ago, actually my first transfer here has been coming to church for the past 2 months or so. He has not been taught once. I have a good relationship with this man. I called him a few times each week to see how he was doing and if he was praying and reading the scriptures. He asked me once last transfer if we drank alcohol. I explained that we didnt and that he can receive help to overcome his drinking problem. We finally got to sit down with him yesterday and teach him. I asked him,"Since you have been coming here for about 2 months now, how do you feel?" He said that he loves coming to church. He is so joyous when he comes. He feels as if this is a great big family. He told us his side of the story. He explained how when he went to Bangkok he saw missionaries. When he came back to Buriram he saw missionaries. He said,"When I met Elder Hinckley the first time at the walking street, he asked if I wanted to learn about Jesus Christ and I said no. The second time I met him near an out door market I accepted." He said that if I see the missionaries and meet Elder Hinckley twice it must mean that God is trying to talk to me. As we talked he explained how he wanted to quite drinking. He said since coming here I have gone from drinking everyday to drinking once a week. I feel as if I have better health and Im happier. We taught him the Gospel of Christ and he accepted a date to be baptized right there. He said he will want to take time and to study with the missionaries. The spirit will help you know truth. He will guide you. As you can see I didnt make him do anything. I was just the tool that helped him come to church, where he felt the spirit. He made the changes himself and saw it was making a difference. I do not take credit for what has happened. The Lord is the one who shall take it. I am just his missionary doing his work. 

Yesterday as I was riding my bike I thought about the work that I am doing. I thought about what will happen to all those that I teach? Will they get baptized? Have a better life? Will I see them again? I thought to myself that you cant measure your success as a missionary. You have no idea if the lady that you taught will have a daughter who will grow up in the church and then go on a mission and baptize a family, who will have a father that will be bishop over a ward. I could go on, but do you see the affect it could have. You dont know how many little seeds you will plant in your life or as a missionary. A missionary said that he didnt baptize a single person in Buriram. His work paid off though. He asked many times for a girl to come to church but never did. About a year later another missionary asked her to come to church and she went. She thought to at least give it a chance. She got baptized. Now she is a strong member here and thanked that first missionary who asked her so many times before, just this last week. Those little seeds you and I plant will grow. Each day until they are mature and ready. One day they will bare fruit. If you are a missionary or a member and you dont think what you are doing is bringing anything, just wait! I promise that your efforts do not go unnoticed. Dont give up hope. You will bring forth fruit that is most sweet above all that other fruit. Alma 32:42 I love this scripture!

I was able to teach some missionaries on the subject of prayer this last week. It was a great topic. Some may say that prayer is easy, why do we need to talk about it? Or others will say, my prayers are never answered. Prayer is essential and a commandment. My studies taught me a lot about prayer. I read a talk from last General Conference titled "Priesthood and Personal Prayer" By Henry B. Eyring. Wow what a great talk. Also from the 2013 Liahona "Improving Your Personal Prayers" By Kevin W Pearson. What a great study! I want you to ask yourself, Right now how are your personal prayers? Are you saying the same thing over and over again? Also think who you are talking to. Now I dont have the time to quote the talks but I hope that you will take the time to go and read them. I want you to know that you are speaking with your Heavenly Father and he deserves a good prayer. Do you take time to listen before you end your prayer? Those precious moments before you end are a time when the spirit will speak to you and when you will receive he guidance you need. What if you want your investigator to come to church or you are asking Heavenly Father for help to overcome an addiction. Are you just going to say, "...and please help me quite smoking or help him come to church in the name of Jesus Christ amen." You may not. Elder Bednars wife gave an answer, the answer lies is the specifics. You and I need to pray specifically. Meaning pray and explain what you are going to do. I am going to quite smoking so I will go from 7 a day to 3 a day or help George talk to his boss and help him understand why the Sabbath is important. Do you see what I am saying? Be specific when you are praying. If you pray specifically you will get a specific answer, in my opinion. I have so much to say about prayer but I dont have the time. Since I have studied about prayer I would say that I think more about who I am praying to and what I want to say. I pray with more of a purpose now and try to align my will with Gods will. Prayer is something we must do everyday. In a moment of need the Lord can give us guidance if we have been humbly submitting ourselves to the Lord through that pattern of prayer everyday. Think about your prayers and think how you can make them better. Pray for thanks, you dont need to ask for anything sometimes. Just remember it is Heavenly Father you are praying to so make it count. I encourage you all to try. 

Love,

Elder Hinckley

Eating the most delicious mangos for breakfast! 

 

Delicious mangos for breakfast.

Look at the ray of sunshine that is next to Elder Hinckley. Not really sure what is going on.

 

Week 16 Buriram

Dear Friends and Family,

This past week sure paid off. I have to thank you for all the prayers that you sent my way. I can sure tell you that those prayers sure helped us this week to reach our goals for our area. We had two days where we couldnt work in our area so your prayers helped a lot. Thank you very much! There was so much that I thought about and so many miracles that happened. So much to say. 

One of our investigators this week asked some really great questions as we taught her the Plan of Salvation. As we taught this lesson I thought to myself what does she need. I said a prayer in my heart as we taught, to know what she needed to hear. As we talked about the Spirit World I had a great feeling to say that she can help all of her family when she is baptized. I told her just a little bit about the temple. She can get baptized for her family when she goes to the temple. At this point I could tell that the spirit took hold of the lesson. We didn't explain all about the temple but enough for her needs. I had a calming presence come over me that told me she got what she was looking for. 

As we explained the rest of the Plan of Salvation I explained how when she does special ordinances in the temple she can have an eternal family in the Celestial Kingdom. Throughout the lesson I told her many times that Heavenly Father loves her dearly and wants her to return to live with Him. He wants us to have happiness in this life and the next. I told her that I want her and her family to enjoy happiness forever. This is one great reason I came on my mission. To help families be eternal. I want all the people that I teach to enjoy the gift of living with those that they love forever. 

She asked a great question. She asked why do you use the word endure? What do I have to endure? We explained how we need to endure the commandments given to us. Endure our trials and our weaknesses. It takes time to fully understand endure. Some will endure more than others at times. I explained how when we endure and keep the commandments we will be blessed and be happy. Enduring at times is hard, yes, I understand. No one ever said that enduring would be easy but it is possible. We told her that she needs to endure so that she will be able to have eternal life 2 Nephi 31:20. When you press forward even when times are hard that is enduring. You cant just sit around thinking that is enduring. You have to show forth effort that you are trying to endure this problem or this trial. Enduring is not easy to understand and I dont think that I fully understand it either. That was a great question and one that I am still thinking about today. 

In our quest to find less actives and help them come back to church we know that it is not easy. In a lesson this week with a less active he told us that he wishes he would have found the church earlier so he could have been an Elder. I know that man knows that this church is true and that it can change lives. With another lesson with a different less active things got a little intense. We asked some questions and he gave his answers. His answers were very smart, wise, he used big words and lots of actions. Elder Parish and I knew about this man already so before we taught him we said a prayer to help us know what to teach, ask and say. My companion asked him a specific question and he went off talking about other, not relevant things. I had a warning from the spirit that told me I had to stop him or we wouldnt ge that lesson taught. As he was giving a well animated answer I told him to stop. I asked if he really understood the question. I looked at him and told him that what we were teaching was so important and that he really needed to listen. I told him that we are not here to waste time. We are here to help you get back on the right path! Everything we are teaching comes from Heavenly Father and your Savior Jesus Christ. He sent us here to help you specifically. I told him that he needed to really listen to what my companion had asked him. Now I didnt yell, get mad or anything like that. I was calm and let the spirit guide me in what I said. As I said what I said I could tell that the man knew what I was saying was truth (Alma 32:23). He knew it and couldnt deny it. The influence of the spirit was so strong at this point I knew that the lesson we prepared would get taught. It ended up being one of the best lessons we taught with this man before. I testify that prayer is so necessary!! We didnt know what to do, so we asked for help. Be sensitive to the spirit and heed the warnings He gives you in the minute He gives them to you. 

As I have been serving here in Buriram I have thought about how each one of use need to understand our purpose and magnify our callings. This is because I have had time to try and work with leaders more effectively. If we can understand why we have a certain calling then we will have a better idea of what the Lord wants. I know so many people who have callings or who are missionaries who just go through the motions. What is that going to do for them? Now you must know that I am not a perfect person. At times I have gone through the motions as well. I know that I need to magnify my calling though. You may wonder why do I have this calling? The Lord called you there for a reason. At times I think we get to comfortable, that we dont magnify our callings as well as we should. If you feel that way I want you to think about some questions I have thought about. Are you going above and beyond what you are being asked to do? Have you gone out of your way to help others? Have you thought about the will of the Lord? What do you think the Lord has in store for you? I truly believe if you are doing all that you can to magnify your calling and trying to understand it you wont become to comfortable. Like missionary work. Did I understand my purpose as soon as I was a missionary, no probably not. I have had to learn what is was and how I could magnify my calling. If we arent willing to give 100% what does that show Heavenly Father? We cant wait around for someone to tell us what to do. We have to seek the Lord and His will. We have to serve out of love for others. 2 Nephi 22:2.

To go a long with that we had a lesson on Heavenly Gifts. I associated gifts with talents. What talents or gifts has the Lord given you? Are you using your gifts? I know that we all have gifts or talents from the Lord. As I have grown up with many different people to help me learn and grow I have learned a lot of new things. If it was splitting wood or given service with my dad to building a chicken coop to building a waterfall or remodeling a house. Whatever I have done I have learned so much and gained so many new talents. With those talents I was able to get more talents. I used those to help all I could. I know that we can get more if we use them. We too need to improve our talents. Maybe we are really good at sowing or cooking, well work on it. Get good! The Lord as provided so many things for use if we would just use them. These gifts or talents will help us, you, your friends and family. I encourage you all to think about the talents you have and how you can improve. I know we all have some and can improve. I know I can improve as well. I still have a lot to learn. D&C 46:8-11, 82:18. Who will you share your gifts with? 

Love 

Elder Hinckley

What missionaries do at zone conference 

Red pepper mustache.

Apples for dessert.

Watermelons

A nice dinner prepared for us.

A good friend for life.

Week 15 Buriram

Dear Friends and Family

Another week has gone by and I feel like I just wrote you all an email. This past week was a great week with some good miracles that happened. It wasnt an easy week. A lot of scheduled appointments didnt come through and lots of people didnt come. Hey thats okay. They just are not ready yet. They need to mature a little bit ha. 

This last week we taught one of our investigators and lets just say that a miracle happened. The first time we taught Sister Dingdooy she took a baptismal date right away. I could tell in the last lesson that she felt the spirit. In the lesson just the other day she said she felt something that she couldnt describe. Before we taught her the Restoration Elder Parish and I said a prayer together to help us to teach to her needs. When we got in the lesson everything unfolded just the way it needed to happen. I think in every point we mentioned that Heavenly Father loves her so He has given her these things. When we asked her what she was feeling she expressed that she had a indescribable feeling. She said both times I have meet with you Elders I have felt really good and loved. I know that she was in tune with the spirit. We couldnt have taught that lesson without help. I know that the prayer that we said, just Elder Parish and I, really helped that lesson and really helped our investigator. We explained that the feeling she had was the Holy Ghost and He would help her know and understand truth. Such a great miracle! 

We do have a few other investigators and they are doing great. They have their own miracles that have happened this past week but so much to write. We do have 2 daters that are looking good for baptism right now. The women I just described and a man. Getting investigators right now inst the easiest. It is a struggle all over the mission, not just for us. We meet numerous people every single day and no one wants to listen. I need to get money, Im hungry, I have problems, Im not free and so on. These people dont know that I can help them. We are representatives of Jesus Christ. We can help with anything. 

In our search to help less actives come back to church we havent had all the best of luck but we are making progress. Just a little at a time. We finally got to go meet a less active at this mans house. He lived forever away! We get to his house and we start talking to him. He started to talk about all sorts of things. From other religions to our church here in Buriram to, in his mind, Buriram being the biggest church in all of Asia. It was very boring and I looked at Elder Parish and we both had the same look. We need to get this under control. He wouldnt really give us any room to talk. Maybe just a sentence or two. We talked about the Sabbath Day. We finally got him on a subject that we could discuss. He said, Oh I worship Christ here at my home. I told him thats great that you do that but you need the sacrament. We invited him back to church but said no. He said there are people at church he doesnt like. He said they are stupid people with stupid thoughts. Elder Parish told him that Heavenly Father loves everyone regardless of what they may think. This man told us I see Buriram hasnt increased its numbers. I was there forever and it didnt grow. We asked him to come help us but he said no. This man didnt understand why we were there. We told him that we were there to help him come back and to help him repent. We tried all that we could. I found a scripture, one that went well with our experience 2 Nephi 9:28. 

Working with them takes more than missionary efforts, it takes the ward and its members to help someone come back. 

While inviting this last week a man told me that people like me have already come to talk to him. I asked, So what did you think. He said my friend read all your stuff and yeah. I said well do you want to learn about what Jesus has for you? He said I know I know, Im not interested and went on playing on his phone. I told him that this was way important. He didnt say anything. Before I left I told him to open his heart up the next time someone is inviting you to learn about your Savior Jesus Christ. I was like how can you not accept. I just thought okay, he just not ready yet. He needs more time. That day was a day of inviting. We invited so much this day! We had no one to teach that whole day. Hours of inviting! We planted a lot of seeds. I would say we planted a whole field of seed ha.

We got a referral from a member the other day. A person who has been invited before. She the first time was like, I already have a church! I dont want to talk right now. Now she telling us that all her church teaches in hell, fire and damnation. She told us all she wants to do is go to church and feel good. Go and feel like I belong. This is a referral in progress. We got this from a member at church who has had a few good and bad things happen this last week. In her words, so busy Elder, so busy! Ha. We shared the scripture 2 Nephie 22:2, Trust in the Lord and dont be afraid. It was a great one for her. She is busy with work, she fell off her motorcycle, she might move and her son just got baptized. Which the baptism was great!! That scripture really helped her. She looked at Elder Parish and I and asked why do I find so much comfort from you Elders? I said it could be the reason we are called at a young age to share the gospel. We dont know tons but we arent the same as if a 30 or 35 year old was to come out. I dont know why either. The Lord loves his missionaries and is willing to help us help his children. 

Lots is going on here. We need to work really hard these last two weeks because we have a lot of meetings. Miracles happen everyday and I know that things are slow right now. It is okay. Getting discouraged will only bring you down. Diligence and Patience will help you move forward with great effort! Got to keep our heads up too! Keep Calm and Do Missionary Work! ha 

Love 

Elder Hinckley

So many college students doing I don"t know what! So many! 

Buriram sunset.

If you remember Elder Hinckley taught this young man how to tie his own tie. Now he has gotten baptized.

 

Week 14 Buriram

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week Elder Parish and I saw so many miracles! Thank you for all the prayers and fasting you do for me and my investigators. I hope you will continue to pray for the people that my companions and I teach. We taught a new investigator this week who said she was looking for the right church to go to here in Buriram. I was only able to meet her because she was a referral from my RC Sister Nooy. This new investigator was a friend of Sister Nooys friend. This lady met with us and explained how she didnt know anything really about Christianity. She is of another religion and her husband was Christian. She wanted to learned more so we taught to her needs the very best that we could. She is a great lady. We have only met with her once but she is doing well and I know that if she seeks to understand and know for herself she will receive answers! 

Another investigator we taught had a bike problem this week. Well she called us and said that she had a flat. She was a little ways away from the church. So we hopped on our bikes and finally found her after about 7 min. Her bike at 2 flat tires with so many thorns!! Oh my goodness!!  We helped her pull out all the thorns with the leather man I had brought with me. Its a great tool, every missionary needs one ha! Well we finished that and the next step was to get her to the church. I called a member and asked if she could come pick up our investigator and her bike. The member saved us a lot of time! We were able to go to the church and teach a wonderful lesson and give her a date for baptism!! That day was a day of miracles!! This past week our teaching pool of investigators as gone up. From about none to about 6! It it great to see that our efforts arent going unnoticed! I know that all we do doesnt go unnoticed but it i great to see success! We planned this week and we planned for about 40-45 people! Wow!! We have a lot of work cut out for us this week! We can do it! I know it! 

I was able to share some thoughts with another district this last week. I was able to study 1 Nephi 8. Do you know this chapter? Oh this chapter in the Book of Mormon is so great! We talked about how Lehi desired his family to come and partake of the fruit. What could the fruit be? Also about how we need to obtain the straight and narrow path. We also compared the people that cling to the iron rod and the people that hold fast to the iron rod. How are they different? Also about what the mist of darkness could represent. Something else that I like is that many are called but few are chosen. Will you be one that is chosen? We are all called but will we hearken to the call? I had something to say just about every verse in that chapter. Such a great chapter! I really want you to think for a minute who do you know that you could share the fruit with? Do you want the fruit all to yourself ( It could get moldy) or do you want to share some wonderful fruit that could really help someone? I want you to think for a minute why you were converted to the church and if you arent yet converted think of what you like about the church. Why do you like it? Has this fruit, the church, helped you strengthen your faith and understanding about your Savior Jesus Christ? I know you all have something to say about the church. So share it with those that you love! I know that as you desire others to come partake of the fruit you will be strengthened in every way. I challenge you to read this chapter and think of those who are your family, friends and co-workers who need Jesus Christ. 

Elder Parish and I had an idea this week to try and help and LA. We had a little extra time one day. This one LA doesn't want to talk to us at all. We thought that a nice note with a scripture on it, telling this LA how we want to help in anyway possible with some fruit would be a great idea. Now you cant tell me that a nice note with fruit wouldnt make you happy. Well we planned it all out. We planned just to put it on this LA's desk at this persons work and leave. This person happened to be there. Anyways we proceeded to put it on this LA's desk and the LA said, NO I will not have this. Take it away. I dont want it. We set it down for and left. I dont know what the LA did with the note or the fruit. I hope the LA read it and ate the fruit. Made me feel kind of sad that this person would just reject us without seeing what we had to say. That is okay, this person just isnt ready yet. I think about how it will take time for this person to open up. That is okay. This person has home-teachers and friends close by that can be supportive. We thought this was a great idea. We might write a note to this person every week to see if it does anything. It could fail, yeah or it is really help this person come back. I dont know. We will find out. Elder Parish and I have been working really hard to work with LA's. It's not the easiest. I know it takes a lot of work and effort! We cannot do it alone!! 

Yesterday at church so many miracles happened!! We had 5 investigators at church! We had an LA come back! We had some other small miracles. I think the biggest one was that in priesthood they announced that we would be having home-teaching!! Oh boy! This made me so happy! As one brother was teaching about home teaching and what it was. They priesthood brethren were not being as respectful to the brother who put this all together for us. That same brother asked me what I had to say about home teaching. I stood up and I started to speak. As I spoke a very powerful spirit entered into the room. The brethren fell silent. I bore my most powerful testimony I could about home teaching. It is more than just going once a month to members homes to teach or hang out. It is a chance to help with their challenges, to teach from the scriptures/gospel lessons and to build relationships and to serve them! I said that they need to go above and beyond their calling and serve more than needed. When, at home, I saw the people I home taught I stopped to talk to them. I asked if I could serve them. I did all that could to help them. I want all the people I teach to know that I love them! There are so many members/families that need YOUR help. If they dont accept you then you keep trying. Why would you stop after one try. Oh they didnt accept us or they told us to go away. Dont stop there! What would Christ, our Savior do? I had a neighbor that I served every since I was about 14 or 15. She wasnt a member. I did all I could so that her life was easier. Even if it was checking the mail, taking the trash out, cutting the grass, clipping rose bushes, what ever it was, I really loved this lady. My dad came to me one day and told me that she had passed away. I was crushed! I served her till the day that she went from this mortal life. It gave me great pleasure to serve one of Gods children. It doesnt take great acts of serves to do home teaching. You first need to know why you are doing it then everything will follow! Home teaching needs to get done, every month! NO MATTER WHAT!! If you dont have time, make time. Ill be blunt. It is something that Heavenly Father as presented to us. It is something important to Him, it should be important to us! I know that if you do it, home teaching or visiting teaching you can do it. You will be inspired and know what to do. 

Things are looking up for Elder Parish and I! We must be faithful and obedient still. No breaks! 

Will you please pray for Boowa, Ding Doy, Day, Nuch, L, Kemtong, Um, Da, Oy, Mew and our recent converts and less actives members please?

Love,
 

Elder Hinckley

We made some home made french fries last night! Oh, it brought out my Idahoan side!! 

 

Karsten out in the rice fields of Buriram.

An alleyway we used to help invite people.

Slicing up potatoes for a meal.

Using my culinary skills on these potatoes.

French fries in Thailand.