Thailand Week 92: Khon Kaen (ขอนแก่น)

So much happened! But again, can't share it all. ไม่มีเวลาพอ

A weird selfie of myself. 

Brother Poo is doing great. The last time we followed up with him, he was in Mosiah 7. He says that he carries his Book of Mormon around with him and reads it during the small breaks throughout the day. This past Sunday, he stayed for all of the meetings after church (Which he regularly does every week), and was involved in planning for activities for the church. Hahah. He's going to be a great member. We were able to finish up the commandments with him, and was really happy to him share what the commandments means to him. The Lord really does great miracles in our lives. Everyone is excited for his baptism!

We went to Bangkok for Elder Nielson's paperwork. That took the whole day. But during the day, we were able to come across many foreigners. Elder Nielson really impressed me as he constantly opened his mouth and share the message of the Restoration with them. There was great boldness in how he shared the message as he talked to them. I could feel the power in his testimony every single time he shared it. He's a great missionary. He'll be moving to Bangbuathong, and will be begin his journey in the cities. He'll do great.

I learned a lot from him. Elder Nielson is a great example of faith. I have never met a more obedient missionary in my life. He is always seeking the Lord's will and willing to do whatever the Lord commands of him. The Lord will definitely do great miracles with him. 

I have been reading the Book of Mormon more than I have ever done. I have read up to Mosiah 10 and am still planning to finish the Book of Mormon (in Thai) before I finish my mission. It's going to happen. The impressions and feelings that I get from the Holy Ghost as I read, really has built my fire to teach repentance, and baptize converts. The Book of Mormon is amazing. I know that the Book of Mormon is true.

One thing that we are working on is that... We are focusing on finding families. <3 I love families.

I love you all.

I'll be staying here in Khon Kaen and will be training. :)

The Lord is so merciful. I know that He lives! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

- Elder Santeco

Brother Poo and Brother Arm (Our Branch Mission Leader) went shopping with our bikes.

Sister ออย got confirmed and Brother สัน got baptized! The Sister missionaries are doing great!

We visited Brother Paw (เปา), our investigator at the hospital after his surgery. Brother Poo also tagged along. Haha.

An LA, Brother Git (I can't spell it), whom lives in another District, miraculously passed by us along the road...then drove us to the church to drop off pineapples. We were able to teach his student, เต้ย about the Plan of Salvation. (We ran out of POS pamphlets). It was an amazing lesson. We all felt the spirit. He wants to come to church. He wants to be baptized. But lives really really far. I know that the Lord will provide a way for him. :)

Brother Poo and Brother Arm prepared Sushi for Sunday's lunch.

This is Sister Lek (เล้ก) at the Thanksgiving party. I don't have a lot of pictures from the activity. Sorry!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Thailand Week 91: Khon Kaen (ขอนแก่น)

Working and Sweating

It's a great time to be in Thailand and to serve the people here.

I love talking with the people in Thailand. As I get to talk with them, my personal testimony that I know that everyone is a child of God grows. There are still several times that I am not able to actually hear what others are saying, because I'm usually outside, sweating. But it's amazing as we talk to others and are able to notice the small impressions from the Holy Ghost that helps us discern on how we can help them. 

This past week, I had a switch off with Elder Tuttle from Udon. He's an amazing missionary. During planned and unplanned lessons, he would do really well at opening up his scriptures. I don't really have a marked scripture in Thai. That's not smart. During the lessons, I would feel impressed to share a scripture, but I would have to take several seconds to find it. Since the switch off, I have opened a new Book of Mormon and started marking it. It's fun. It's pretty late during the mission, but it's better to start now than never.

I have realized how amazing it is to efficiently utilize the Book of Mormon during lessons. There is heavenly power within the Book of Mormon as we read and ponder upon it. I also started the 90 day challenge for the Book of Mormon along with several other members. It's so exciting!

Brother Poo is doing great. While using the Book of Mormon, he has really opened up. He's been reading (Read up to 2 Nephi 10ish), came to church, was able to see a beautiful baptismal service, and wants to feel this "peace" that he has all the time. We shared a scripture and helped him understand that he can have just that and more. During third hour, we talked about helping recent converts and less actives... Brother Poo asked me, what is a recent convert? I explained that it is those that are new members of the church. He then asked, "Oh! Like me?", I laughed and said, "Just not yet"... and explained afterwards. The Lord is amazing. Brother Poo is realizing the Lord's hand in his life.

The work is amazing. The Khon Kaen members seems to be closer than ever. A lot of them are really opening up and reaching out to help out to our investigators not because we asked them to, but because they love God and they love his children. It's so good to be here in Thailand.

There is so many reasons to rejoice! I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. He is the way to eternal happiness. I know that His church has been established once again on this earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all!

- Elder Santeco

P.S. There's actually a lot that happened this past week, but I don't have time to write about it. Hahah. Love you.

Thanks Sister บ๊อบ for last week's เทียวing.

Sister ออย got baptized! It was another great day in Thailand!

Love you! BYE

Thailand Week 90: Khon Kaen (ขอนแก่น)

Renewed.

This past couple days has been tough. It seems that we're scrambling to get everything done... but in the end, so little gets done. Whew.

But in the past couple days, I have seen the wonderful mercies of the Lord as everyone comes to church with a good ol' smile on their faces and leaves the church with an even bigger smile on their faces.

Thanksgiving is coming up. I don't know if I told you, but I was called to be the 2nd counselor in the Branch Presidency. Our District President recently took initiative to get the missionaries to fill in the positions to help strengthen the branches. It's a lot to juggle, but it's been a blast!

Khon Kaen is amazing. I am excited to see the branch continue to grow.

This past week, we have been inviting all to come unto Christ. Including members. We visited a good amount of members this past week. We visited Brother TongSuk (ทองสุข) one day and Sister Lek (เล็ก) another day. We also visited a large group of KKU (Khon Kaen University) students, Sister Ohm (ออม... from Roi et), Sister Kim (ขิม... from Gumpawpi), Sister Ing (อิง... from Khon Kaen), and Brother Paw (ปาว from Gumpawapi)... It's been a fun week. This week is also going to be another great one.

"22 And it came to pass that we did come down unto the tent of our father. And after I and my brethren and all the house of Ishmael had come down unto the tent of my father, they did give thanks unto the Lord their God; and they did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto him." 1 Nephi 7:22

I've been impressed at how often Lehi and his family gave thanks to the Lord. There's so much to be thankful for. It's amazing to see how merciful the Lord has been to us. I know that God loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

LOVE YOU!

- Elder Santeco

This is Brother Tongsuk. :)

Thailand Week 89: Khon Kaen (ขอนแก่น)

A lot happened.

Halloween night was a blast! It was the first branch activity that I had here in Khon Kaen. At the end of the night, everyone left the church with a smile on their faces. I was not able to carve out a watermelon, but it was great to see people's determination to design it. :)

We were able to visit Brother Chay and Youri (ชัย/ยูริ) and their kids at their house this past week. They also happen to be the winners for the watermelon carving. They are a really cute family. I got a video of the parents singing a song for us, but it'll take a very long time to upload... so I'll hold off on that. They really opened up to the missionaries and in return, they were inviting their friends over for the lesson. It was great. We got to meet Sister แบ๋ม, a close friend of Sister Youri. She listened in to the lesson was more than happy to learn more. :) I love families.

This past Friday was the last night for Loy Kratong, a Thailand tradition. I was able to attend it last year in Lopburi with the members, but I've missed it this year. But that's okay. It was an amazing night. We missionaries thought that there wouldn't be anyone coming to sports night, so we decided to plan to clean up the church instead. But a lot of the members and investigators actually came to the church for Sports night. Elder Nielson was pretty firm on cleaning the church first, so that's what we did. We shared a spiritual thought, then went to work. I decided to made it game to do it within 10 minutes, and it worked out great. Afterwards we played games/sports the rest of the night. It was fun. :)

Saturday. We decided to visit a former investigator, Sister Yok (หยก). She's great. She shared her experiences with the missionaries and enjoyed it. She's been reading and praying and believes that Heavenly Father loves her. We invited her to trust in the Lord and pray to know how she can make it to church on Sunday. She was more than happy to do it. Afterwards, we decided to do something new for Elder Nielson... doing studies at a park. We decided to bike to a nearby park. Early in the morning, there was hardly anyone there. But we did see a few. We talked with them. We met Brother Naam (น้ำ). Spiritual lesson. He comes to the park quite often in the morning. He opened up and told us that he felt that there is a God, but isn't that sure yet. We introduced him to prayer and was really willing to pray. We have an appointment with him this Saturday. After having this miracle. We biked around looking for somewhere to sit down for studies. We found a spot and just as we were about to park our bikes, Elder Nielson requested to use the bathroom. This is where the other miracle happened. We biked to the park's bathroom and Elder Nielson walked inside. I sat down outside and started talking to a man named Poo (ภู). After talking for a bit, he shared that he has actually been invited by the missionaries many times when he was in Sakon Nakhon, but wasn't free at that time. Now that he's in Khon Kaen, he's free! He made it really straightforward that he had his religion and that all religion was good. As the conversation went on and Elder Nielson joined in on the discussion, he wanted to know. He wanted to know if our message was true. He wanted to know how to pray. We explained and then invited him to pray in his own time. He said he would. (And he did!) Then out of nowhere... Elder Nielson invited him to church! In my mind, I was panicking a bit... but then Brother Poo said, "Sorry, I'll be in Udon." MIRACLE! We told him that we have a District Conference this week and that it's actually tonight. He then asked, where? I explained it... since it was my last area. Then MIRACLE! I remembered that I had one inviting card in my shirt's pocket... and it happened to be the Udon's card with a map to the church. MIRACLE. He said, "I'll be there." And he did. He came on time. He also came on Sunday. And Monday for a short lesson(He returned to Khon Kaen at the same time as us... พอดี) and he came to English class yesterday. On monday, He shared several spiritual experiences. He said he feels like he's changing, and everyone else around him is also noticing it. And best of all, he's reading and praying. :) He has a date for December 3rd.

Hearing from Elder and Sister Evans, President and Sister Johnson was amazing. Along with all the other speakers too, people preparing on their missions and President Tiger. I had a lot of impressions as I listened to them. It was great.

Another miracle. Elder Evans committed us to focus on teach to find. And when we returned to Sister หยก's place the following day... she gave us 6 new referrals. We taught one of them, Brother Grung (กรุง) whom is an awesome new investigator. He was hesitant at first, but really opened up and wants to meet again. He also gave us an additional referral. It's been great. Elder Nielson is so diligent. He's very good at making lists and making sure it happens. He talks about the list all the time. Literally all the time. I sometimes feel like it's too much and overbearing. But it's great. I'm learning so much from him. The Lord is making things happen as we work diligently.

Life is good. I love the missionary life.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

- Elder Santeco ☀🌮

That was a very long message. :) There's actually more that happened... I should write it in my journal. :)

Some of the people that came for sports night. :)

This is Sister หยก. Amazing investigator.

Zone inviting at a nearby park in Udon. :)

District Photos as well.

We match. We match.

It was so good to see all the Udon members again. :) 

LOVE YOU ALL!