AIT #18: March 26, 2003
Sawutdee krup once more, hailing from here in Phitsanulok, the hottest part of Thailand. :) It's not too bad, actually -- heat doesn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. The work goes on because it must, regardless of heat, rain, etc. (Rather like the postal service.)
This week's big event was the district/zone conference trip up to Chiang Mai. We left Sunday morning at 1:15 for the train station. The train didn't show up till 2:30, though, and was further delayed, so we didn't arrive in Chiang Mai till 10:30. The district conference had started at 10:00, which was unfortunate, but mai pen rai -- there wasn't anything we could do about it. It was really neat to see mountains again as we passed through Lampang on our way up. Very pretty. After the district conference ended, everyone went to the church for lunch (the conference was held in a hotel conference room). That's the nice thing about Thailand -- everyone eats lunch together after church. President Slater interviewed us and then my district (Elder Segsan, Elder Burin, Elder Bevell, and I) walked around Chiang Mai, proselyting and taking pictures. It was a lot of fun.
Monday morning I had my first cold shower in Thailand. (The water heater in the four-man Chiang Mai house was broken.) We had our zone conference, which was mainly on teaching by the Spirit. The mission is now implementing Elder Ballard's recommendations (which he presented in the MTC over the past few months, starting when I was there). We're all writing our own outlines now, so that we'll be able to be more flexible when presenting the gospel. It's good and we had a really awesome discussion yesterday with a young couple, using an outline we wrote up yesterday. President Slater talked about the Restoration and how it's core to our church. I love the Restoration! It's so wonderful to know that God still lives, still loves us, and hasn't forgotten His children. The heavens are not closed. We arrived back in P-lok at 11:45 Monday night. So we're all recovering from the lack of sleep, but it shouldn't be too bad. As we were riding a tuk-tuk out to the bus station (side note: tuk-tuks are soooooo much fun to ride! Especially when they zip around other cars :)), Elder Bevell saw a Hebrew sign on the side of the road, so we stopped and ran to the place to see if anyone there spoke Hebrew. (He studied Hebrew for a year or two at BYU.) There was a 20-year-old guy named Yosi inside, whom we chatted with for a few minutes. I want to study Hebrew. :) But it'll have to wait till I return, since I promised to serve the Lord with all my heart, mind, might, and strength, and He didn't call me to speak Hebrew.
Last Wednesday, Elder Bevell and I spent four hours at Big C (Big C and Lotus are the two huge Walmarts here), making up a pamphlet on families to hand out to people. We teach English at the church every Tuesday and Thursday, and starting on Friday we'll teach at the Amarin Lagoon Hotel every Monday and Friday as well. Last Thursday I started teaching piano to one of the members here. Teaching piano is a lot harder for me than teaching the gospel or teaching English. But difficulty is not impossibility.
There are lots more motorcycles here than there were in Bangkapi, but lots less traffic. It's very nice. Did I mention that in my last letter? I can't remember; sorry if I repeat myself. People seem to be much friendlier here; at least, they say hi and smile a lot more. There are pickup trucks that drive around with huge speakers in the back, blasting advertising commercials and music. It's weird in a very funny way. I've hardly seen any snakes or spiders or anything, though -- so far the most I've seen is cockroaches in our bathroom. Oh, we did find a dead rat lying in our driveway yesterday morning. Hopefully I'll eventually have some good animal stories to tell.
Lately I've been thinking about what our goal is as missionaries. Baptisms are important, surely, but more important than that is conversion. To see even just one soul find Christ, really find Him, to see the light turn on in their eyes as they begin to love Christ more than anything else, as they yearn to read the scriptures and pray and partake of the sacrament, as they strive with all their soul to keep God's commandments and be faithful, as they cleave to the gospel -- this is where the real joy in missionary service is born. I can't describe how good it feels to meet people who are truly converted to Christ. It's the finest feeling in the world.
I've got a few scriptures I'd like to share. First, D&C 108:7 -- "Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings." Are we doing that? We're at war, spiritually, in an intense battle between good and evil. There isn't any time for tearing down; destruction is a technique of the devil. The way to win this war is by building up, by creating bonds of love that nothing can destroy. Criticism and contention sow spiritual plagues among us, and the only remedy is found in the Living Waters. Christ showed us the example; will we follow it? Helaman 5:12 -- "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." Christ is that foundation and this is His Church. I know that only through Christ can we quench the fiery darts of the adversary and find true rest unto our souls. "If ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26) If you can't, do whatever it takes to feel it again, to set your life aright and come unto Christ. The sacrifice is worth it.
That's all. Thanks for all the support. Stay strong in the faith and remember, "every member a missionary!" Member-missionary work is soooo important. No time left. Adios.
This week's big event was the district/zone conference trip up to Chiang Mai. We left Sunday morning at 1:15 for the train station. The train didn't show up till 2:30, though, and was further delayed, so we didn't arrive in Chiang Mai till 10:30. The district conference had started at 10:00, which was unfortunate, but mai pen rai -- there wasn't anything we could do about it. It was really neat to see mountains again as we passed through Lampang on our way up. Very pretty. After the district conference ended, everyone went to the church for lunch (the conference was held in a hotel conference room). That's the nice thing about Thailand -- everyone eats lunch together after church. President Slater interviewed us and then my district (Elder Segsan, Elder Burin, Elder Bevell, and I) walked around Chiang Mai, proselyting and taking pictures. It was a lot of fun.
Monday morning I had my first cold shower in Thailand. (The water heater in the four-man Chiang Mai house was broken.) We had our zone conference, which was mainly on teaching by the Spirit. The mission is now implementing Elder Ballard's recommendations (which he presented in the MTC over the past few months, starting when I was there). We're all writing our own outlines now, so that we'll be able to be more flexible when presenting the gospel. It's good and we had a really awesome discussion yesterday with a young couple, using an outline we wrote up yesterday. President Slater talked about the Restoration and how it's core to our church. I love the Restoration! It's so wonderful to know that God still lives, still loves us, and hasn't forgotten His children. The heavens are not closed. We arrived back in P-lok at 11:45 Monday night. So we're all recovering from the lack of sleep, but it shouldn't be too bad. As we were riding a tuk-tuk out to the bus station (side note: tuk-tuks are soooooo much fun to ride! Especially when they zip around other cars :)), Elder Bevell saw a Hebrew sign on the side of the road, so we stopped and ran to the place to see if anyone there spoke Hebrew. (He studied Hebrew for a year or two at BYU.) There was a 20-year-old guy named Yosi inside, whom we chatted with for a few minutes. I want to study Hebrew. :) But it'll have to wait till I return, since I promised to serve the Lord with all my heart, mind, might, and strength, and He didn't call me to speak Hebrew.
Last Wednesday, Elder Bevell and I spent four hours at Big C (Big C and Lotus are the two huge Walmarts here), making up a pamphlet on families to hand out to people. We teach English at the church every Tuesday and Thursday, and starting on Friday we'll teach at the Amarin Lagoon Hotel every Monday and Friday as well. Last Thursday I started teaching piano to one of the members here. Teaching piano is a lot harder for me than teaching the gospel or teaching English. But difficulty is not impossibility.
There are lots more motorcycles here than there were in Bangkapi, but lots less traffic. It's very nice. Did I mention that in my last letter? I can't remember; sorry if I repeat myself. People seem to be much friendlier here; at least, they say hi and smile a lot more. There are pickup trucks that drive around with huge speakers in the back, blasting advertising commercials and music. It's weird in a very funny way. I've hardly seen any snakes or spiders or anything, though -- so far the most I've seen is cockroaches in our bathroom. Oh, we did find a dead rat lying in our driveway yesterday morning. Hopefully I'll eventually have some good animal stories to tell.
Lately I've been thinking about what our goal is as missionaries. Baptisms are important, surely, but more important than that is conversion. To see even just one soul find Christ, really find Him, to see the light turn on in their eyes as they begin to love Christ more than anything else, as they yearn to read the scriptures and pray and partake of the sacrament, as they strive with all their soul to keep God's commandments and be faithful, as they cleave to the gospel -- this is where the real joy in missionary service is born. I can't describe how good it feels to meet people who are truly converted to Christ. It's the finest feeling in the world.
I've got a few scriptures I'd like to share. First, D&C 108:7 -- "Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings." Are we doing that? We're at war, spiritually, in an intense battle between good and evil. There isn't any time for tearing down; destruction is a technique of the devil. The way to win this war is by building up, by creating bonds of love that nothing can destroy. Criticism and contention sow spiritual plagues among us, and the only remedy is found in the Living Waters. Christ showed us the example; will we follow it? Helaman 5:12 -- "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." Christ is that foundation and this is His Church. I know that only through Christ can we quench the fiery darts of the adversary and find true rest unto our souls. "If ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26) If you can't, do whatever it takes to feel it again, to set your life aright and come unto Christ. The sacrifice is worth it.
That's all. Thanks for all the support. Stay strong in the faith and remember, "every member a missionary!" Member-missionary work is soooo important. No time left. Adios.
posted by Ben at 9:42 PM
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