Elder Santeco: Thailand Week 78: Udon

Adventure time!

We spent most of our time everywhere but Udon. Hahaha.

Met up with the Laos Elders; Elder Saunders and Cheney.

I had the wonderful opportunity to do a switch off with Elder Hunt down in Asoke. He's an amazing missionary. Always up about with helping others feeling God's love. It was quite a switch off. Several things fell through. But at the end of the day, we had a total of 10 amazing lessons and 7 new investigators. I gained a better understanding of how attitude really plays a huge role in missionary work. Being in Bangkok, where there's people everywhere. It's pretty easy to be discourage by the repeated rejection. But, I realize that the fact that we are out and trying to help others feel happy... we obviously need to show that we are happy! It was a really fun day doing all we could to do to brighten other's people lives.

I also was able to do a switch off with Elder Decker up in Nong Khai. It was a blast. We spent majority of the day out and inviting, but we had fun doing it. Some cool things that happened: A drunk guy said that he wanted a better life, so we shared a message with him. However, he didn't seem all there. Therefore, Elder Decker will meet up with him again in an upcoming day.... We had several people come up to us and asked to learn about Jesus Christ... I got honked at for no reason. It got Elder Decker and I all confused... It was a such a good day.

The miracle of the week is Sister จิ๊ก. Ever since Elder Lovelock came in, we have been working with her pretty often. She has been progressing tremendously. There were several miracles that I saw in her conversion.

1. In our first lesson, she wasn't interested into our message at much. She was making a lot of comparisons between her religion and Mormonism. So it wasn't until we started sharing what was different between the two religions that she gained interest. What got her wanting to know what this Mormonism is, was when her friend Sister Ming (an Recent Convert), mentioned that in the Book of Mormon the translation of time was wrong. She was confused to see why it would start with a bigger number... be like 588 - 570 B.C. When we explained to her how the time was referred to before Christ, Sister Jik was also listening. That was when Elder Lovelock pulled out the the first chapter of the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi... Which took place about 600 B.C.. Meaning that the religion of Jesus Christ has been on earth longer than 2600 plus years. That's where Sister Jik clicked. "That's a long time!" She then started asking a lot of questions... "What is this book? Where did it come from? Who wrote it?" We gave her a commitment to pray to God.

2. In the next lesson, we followed up on prayer and decided to review it. She was first confused on how we don't have any graven images or anything of a sort when we pray. After explaining that prayer is, she came to understanding that prayer is more than requesting blessings. It is communication between God and her. It made praying more personal to her. At the end of the lesson, she said an amazing prayer. In her prayer she asked the missionaries to come back and to learn more. She wants to learn.

3. We talked a lot about faith in Jesus Christ. It was an amazing lesson. At the end, she asked us... "How can I build my faith?"... We gave her Alma Chapter 32 to read.

4. Saturday night, we called her and asked if she would be able to go to church. She replied, "No." She had to take her son to school. In fact, all of our investigators had something come up and said that they would be going to church.

5. Sunday morning... Just right after the opening prayer was given... Sister Jik walked in. Elder Lovelock and I looked at each other and couldn't help but smile. In sacrament, the speakers talked about the Holy Ghost and it's role in our conversion. During Sunday class, we talked about faith in Jesus Christ. It was perfect. I feel like Sister Jik enjoyed it. Sister Jik was our only investigator at church. She's the one.

I can't believe I just wrote this much for Sister Jik. It's practically a Teaching Record already. Haha.

Brother Taw and his family were given to the Sister missionaries. They will be taking care of him now. We felt like they would be able to work with him more since we were always out of Udon. They came to church yesterday as well. :)

It's been a crazy week. Numbers are low. But, we are going to use that to push ourselves to do better.

The Lord is so good. I know that God is real. He's our Father in Heaven and only wants the best for us. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is true. I know that this gospel is more than just a religion... it changes lives. It holds more value than money could ever buy. I love being a missionary. Along with seeing others in the process of conversion, I see myself also being converted. :)

I love you all!

- Elder Santeco

Trip to Laos.