Karsten's Adventures in the Kingdom of Thailand: 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!