Dear family,
How was thanksgiving? For thanksgiving we went to a Farang restaurant that we reserved. They pulled out a very very European styled dish that started with smoked salmon and continued on to turkey, gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. It was delicious. It was only missing Mom's rolls, jam, pie, the rest of our family, and seconds.
But I would like to express how awesome Thailand is. But I can't because it's so awesome. Elder Prat made an interesting observation when he visited us. He said that us missionaries are now sealed to Thailand. He instructed us to love the people, the place, the culture, the language.... And I am sure that he could make the same observation and give the same advice to all missionaries around the globe for their own specific missions. I am glad that mine is Thailand. There is something special about it to me personally. A mission is the greatest thing.
In another three days The Kingdom of Thailand will be celebrating father's day, the King's Birthday.
So, I am curious. I have been left in the dark for a long time. How are our cousins?
A few weeks ago I had the special opportunity to interview one of the Sister's investigators for Baptism. I read through the list of questions and asked questions to get an idea of the strength of her testimony and the sincerity of her repentance. She has a strong testimony. I felt the spirit as she testified. But then as I came to a certain question I knew instantly that there was a problem with this one. I got a sort of sad, even sickly feeling as I read it. So I asked the question and then pressed a little further to understand what the problem was and sure enough there was a problem. After finishing the rest of the questions I came back to that one and we discussed what she needed to do in order to prepare herself further. That experience was a strong witness to me about God's love for his children. He needs us to be clean, 100%. Sometimes we might have a doubt or a question that we avoid facing because we don't want to. But it's the best feeling to be able to face our fears and come out conqueror clean. When Jesus traveled through the crowd it was Virtue that came out of him and healed the woman because of her faith. Then the Savior came back to her and told her that she was clean. Virtue has power. We can be confident in any situation if we have virtue.
I love you all. Always.
-Elder Lilly
Dec 2, 2009
Nov 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
Dear Family,
I love serving the Lord. I feel like my eternal perspective has changed. Everyday is full of miracles. Every day at the end of the day I feel grateful that I had the opportunity to learn and enjoy that day. There really is no more satisfying work than this.
I love teaching too. And I love the scriptures. Everyday my companion and I just eat the scriptures up in our personal study and then have enlightening conversations about what we learned afterward.
Quoting Sister Larson: "Does it get any better than this?"
Yesterday we had the opportunity to learn from Elder Pratt from the Quorum of the Seventy and one of the overseers of the Asian sector. I was pleased to find out that we were doing most of his advice in our District already. One thing that he stressed was the importance of having a KNEELING prayer with our investigators as well as with our companions before we leave the house, and every morning and night. We hadn't really had kneeling prayers with our investigators. Usually we would be sitting down criss-cross applesauce on the floor or sitting on a chair. Right after we got back from the conference (which is three hours away from our house) we had a kneeling prayer with one of the recent convert members. He said that it was his first time having a kneeling prayer. Somehow kneeling down automatically opens our hearts or humbles us a bit. It was a good experience. I can't wait to have kneeling prayers with all of our investigators.
So, Happy birthday SPENCER!!!!!!!
and Happy thanksgiving. I really wanted to give you something for your Christmas-thanksgiving-new years-birthday celebration. Unfortunately sending things takes a lot of time. So until then just know that in the spirit of the times I'm thinking of you and celebrating for you on this side of the world.
...And I'm always praying for you.
Love you all,
Elder Lilly
I love serving the Lord. I feel like my eternal perspective has changed. Everyday is full of miracles. Every day at the end of the day I feel grateful that I had the opportunity to learn and enjoy that day. There really is no more satisfying work than this.
I love teaching too. And I love the scriptures. Everyday my companion and I just eat the scriptures up in our personal study and then have enlightening conversations about what we learned afterward.
Quoting Sister Larson: "Does it get any better than this?"
Yesterday we had the opportunity to learn from Elder Pratt from the Quorum of the Seventy and one of the overseers of the Asian sector. I was pleased to find out that we were doing most of his advice in our District already. One thing that he stressed was the importance of having a KNEELING prayer with our investigators as well as with our companions before we leave the house, and every morning and night. We hadn't really had kneeling prayers with our investigators. Usually we would be sitting down criss-cross applesauce on the floor or sitting on a chair. Right after we got back from the conference (which is three hours away from our house) we had a kneeling prayer with one of the recent convert members. He said that it was his first time having a kneeling prayer. Somehow kneeling down automatically opens our hearts or humbles us a bit. It was a good experience. I can't wait to have kneeling prayers with all of our investigators.
So, Happy birthday SPENCER!!!!!!!
and Happy thanksgiving. I really wanted to give you something for your Christmas-thanksgiving-new years-birthday celebration. Unfortunately sending things takes a lot of time. So until then just know that in the spirit of the times I'm thinking of you and celebrating for you on this side of the world.
...And I'm always praying for you.
Love you all,
Elder Lilly
Nov 18, 2009
klap Trap
Dear Family,
Yes, the pictures failed to send, and it may be a little while before I can get them back again, but rest assured that they will come.
It's weird to think that another moves has passed away and that this is the first time that I am e-mailing with my new companion. It feels like we've been companions for a long time already. I suppose a week is a long time? Well, my new companions name is Elder Milton. He was in the group after me in the MTC so I kinda already did know him. We are doing great. We are excited to work. And we share a joy in serving.
Elder Milton is from Virginia. He is the youngest of five.
Yesterday we had another service project in the rice fields. This time we bundled up rice and carried the bundles together into a huge pile. Afterward we ate grilled chicken, sticky rice, papaya salad, pork jerky, and mandarin oranges. We sat together on a deck by the water Thai style while enjoying the cool weather and the great feast. And, whose field was it? It was Elder Manop's Dad's field. Elder Manop came home to Korad. Once we were mission companions in Ayutthaya and now I got to serve him in Korad. It's fun calling him brother Manop instead of Elder. Heh heh
One thing I am glad of about having Sisters in our District, other than their openheartedness and great service is that they help me to a certain degree with socializing with females again. Ayutthaya, as I mentioned before, is full of females. Sometimes we have to be cautious and even avoid some people a little bit because they are particularly flirty. I haven't had any problem understanding Thai people for a long time, even super drunk Thais who don't speak clearly I can understand. But there was this one girl in Ayutthaya who was a new member and still didn't understand the boundaries; who was so difficult for me to understand. It must have been a blessing of some sort because she eventually backed down. I'm sure I was a little awkward around the Sisters when I first came to Korad. Now that that's over, hopefully I can remember for when I get back home. :p
Well, we continue to work as hard as we can. We see miracles every day. We see the tender mercies of the Lord every day. Just today we had the unexpected opportunity to go lift some large and heavy sheets of tin for one of the elderly men in our Branch (half way around the world and I'm still the mover). We didn't have very much time and I had only been to the man's house once. The first time I went my companion got lost looking for the house. But, today as we headed out I said a prayer and asked for help to get there in our time schedule. We headed out traveling for about 20 minutes on bike and basically went straight there. We were able to help him in less than thirty minutes and get back in time for our appointment.
I love you all very much. I'm doing great, and the work is going well.
It's a beautiful season.
Love,
Elder Lilly
Yes, the pictures failed to send, and it may be a little while before I can get them back again, but rest assured that they will come.
It's weird to think that another moves has passed away and that this is the first time that I am e-mailing with my new companion. It feels like we've been companions for a long time already. I suppose a week is a long time? Well, my new companions name is Elder Milton. He was in the group after me in the MTC so I kinda already did know him. We are doing great. We are excited to work. And we share a joy in serving.
Elder Milton is from Virginia. He is the youngest of five.
Yesterday we had another service project in the rice fields. This time we bundled up rice and carried the bundles together into a huge pile. Afterward we ate grilled chicken, sticky rice, papaya salad, pork jerky, and mandarin oranges. We sat together on a deck by the water Thai style while enjoying the cool weather and the great feast. And, whose field was it? It was Elder Manop's Dad's field. Elder Manop came home to Korad. Once we were mission companions in Ayutthaya and now I got to serve him in Korad. It's fun calling him brother Manop instead of Elder. Heh heh
One thing I am glad of about having Sisters in our District, other than their openheartedness and great service is that they help me to a certain degree with socializing with females again. Ayutthaya, as I mentioned before, is full of females. Sometimes we have to be cautious and even avoid some people a little bit because they are particularly flirty. I haven't had any problem understanding Thai people for a long time, even super drunk Thais who don't speak clearly I can understand. But there was this one girl in Ayutthaya who was a new member and still didn't understand the boundaries; who was so difficult for me to understand. It must have been a blessing of some sort because she eventually backed down. I'm sure I was a little awkward around the Sisters when I first came to Korad. Now that that's over, hopefully I can remember for when I get back home. :p
Well, we continue to work as hard as we can. We see miracles every day. We see the tender mercies of the Lord every day. Just today we had the unexpected opportunity to go lift some large and heavy sheets of tin for one of the elderly men in our Branch (half way around the world and I'm still the mover). We didn't have very much time and I had only been to the man's house once. The first time I went my companion got lost looking for the house. But, today as we headed out I said a prayer and asked for help to get there in our time schedule. We headed out traveling for about 20 minutes on bike and basically went straight there. We were able to help him in less than thirty minutes and get back in time for our appointment.
I love you all very much. I'm doing great, and the work is going well.
It's a beautiful season.
Love,
Elder Lilly
Nov 11, 2009
Giaw Khaaw Sanug Mak
Dear Family,
And so another moves has passed away like as it were a dream. And very unexpectedly Elder Blaustein is moving. That's happened to me quite a bit. I can't seem to hold on to a missionary companion for more than a single move. It's been an awesome experience working with Elder Blaustein.In order to show our faith in God for the last week and a half we have spoke nothing but Thai together. I feel like I have grown in Faith in Jesus Christ and Love for my Savior and the Thai people to a greater extent in the period of time that I have had to work with him.
Several things have happened in the past week. We have found some new investigators who we can work with who could possibly get Baptized in the next move. We gave M's wife as a referral to the sisters after he got baptized and now the Sisters are giving us Penapa's children as referrals for us as she prepares to get baptized within the next two weeks. I will probably have the joy of interviewing her this Saturday or Sunday. Her preparation for baptism has been a great trial for the Sisters. They have shown so much faith on her behalf. Aside from the district meeting that we had on faith I also let the Sisters Borrow that very same CD by Gene R. Cook that Aaron gave me. They seemed to like it even more than I did. They listened to it over and over again as they were struggling to help their investigators progress-- and especially Penapa. Thanks again Aaron!
We had the opportunity to Giaw Khaaw this week. That is to say... we harvested rice. The field is President Gosong's field. The people in the pictures include My district: Sister Bradfield (taller), Sister Larson, Elder Blaustein, and I, President Gosong, his's wife Meow, his Dad, and his' son Noah.
And so another moves has passed away like as it were a dream. And very unexpectedly Elder Blaustein is moving. That's happened to me quite a bit. I can't seem to hold on to a missionary companion for more than a single move. It's been an awesome experience working with Elder Blaustein.In order to show our faith in God for the last week and a half we have spoke nothing but Thai together. I feel like I have grown in Faith in Jesus Christ and Love for my Savior and the Thai people to a greater extent in the period of time that I have had to work with him.
Several things have happened in the past week. We have found some new investigators who we can work with who could possibly get Baptized in the next move. We gave M's wife as a referral to the sisters after he got baptized and now the Sisters are giving us Penapa's children as referrals for us as she prepares to get baptized within the next two weeks. I will probably have the joy of interviewing her this Saturday or Sunday. Her preparation for baptism has been a great trial for the Sisters. They have shown so much faith on her behalf. Aside from the district meeting that we had on faith I also let the Sisters Borrow that very same CD by Gene R. Cook that Aaron gave me. They seemed to like it even more than I did. They listened to it over and over again as they were struggling to help their investigators progress-- and especially Penapa. Thanks again Aaron!
We had the opportunity to Giaw Khaaw this week. That is to say... we harvested rice. The field is President Gosong's field. The people in the pictures include My district: Sister Bradfield (taller), Sister Larson, Elder Blaustein, and I, President Gosong, his's wife Meow, his Dad, and his' son Noah.
Nov 4, 2009
Happy Halloween, hello overcast.
Happy Birthday to Camille and Aaron. And soon to be Kate the great.
How are you all doing these days? It's barely November but our ward is already planning our super Christmas activity, and they have been for quite some time. Some new good news is that our branch just called eight new branch missionaries. Now that the fire of service and the Spirit are being spread throughout the branch we will get to focus our energies and make new sacrifices in order to help others to come unto Christ.
So I have a story. But first I must mention about our crazy next door neighbor named Dennis. He is indescribably himself, and very quotable. He is better than quoting a movie. Dennis is about 70 years old. He doesn't have teeth but remarkably he doesn't need them. He chews everything from hamburgers to steak with the bones of his gum. He has the craziest stories about fighting in wars, helping the king, and the queen, and Korat, and everyone, as well as stories about karate, being a doctor, being a guitar star trainer, building trains, and being a Templar Knight. It is also notable to say that he has pictures and other evidence to back up all of his stories. He's been working with "The Mormons" for over seven years. Mostly all he does other than smoke is related to one service project or another. He has a great heart. He just needs to completely forsake his rowdy days and come unto Christ. He gives everyone nicknames (except for me, I still don't have one). Also, he buys us tons of expensive farang food (foreigner food) for us to eat for free. He wants to take Elder Blaustein and I to go shopping for a nice suit. After all he used to be the best dressed in Thailand. Actually he still is. "They call me Old Handsome."
I'm pretty much out of time because we just got back from visiting a snake farm and watching the Snake show, but I wanted to describe a little bit of the fiasco that we had with looking for a new house. A member showed us a nice little house that she felt would work for the sisters. I, having no previous knowledge about houses or prices or contracts, desired to look at other locations so that I could at least have something to compare this house to. With some options I could make sure that I was choosing the best location. Also, Elder Petersen gave us a budget of 8,000 Baht per month for rent, and the house was only 6,000. I figured that maybe there was somewhere that was better and more fit to the sisters needs. So we went around and looked at several other houses and compared all of them. Another location looked good and the lady was willing to put the house for rent instead of sell it, so we considered that house. But it still didn't look that great to me. Another place close by was big but way old. It smelled funny when we entered. Then another option came up. This house was very new and very nice looking house. It had everything we needed. It seemed like an answer to our prayers. I talked to the landlord about the contract and pricing and asked her to put in another air conditioning system and a few other things. After figuring our the contract and rewriting it several times the landlord decided that she would like to live there and have us rent another house that was just about the same design and was just barely built. We looked at it, but I felt like her house was the better option so we asked if we could continue on with her house instead. She agreed. She was going to go to Bangkok that weekend which meant that she could buy the furnishings but naturally she needed to sign the contract first. We went to print out the contract but we ended up wasting time at one internet shop which wouldn't bring up the contract because of an illegal version of Microsoft Office. There were other stores but none of them had a printer. The last store had a printer, but it was full. We waited a bit for someone to leave and when we finally entered the store and tried to print out the contract, the printer was slow. Because that all took so long we had to change the appointment. The weekend past and we were ready to sign the contract again. However, by this time the Sisters who are the ones who are actually moving expressed that they didn't feel good about the house because of the location. The house was a little far from the church, and we heard that that area had a lower elevation than the surrounding area and thus it floods every year during rainy season. By this time we have only three more days left before the end of the month when we have to move. I had already scheduled an appointment to sign the contract with the landlord and was about to leave when the Sisters called and said that they met with a member and found another location. All along I am trying my best to follow my feelings and find the best option for the sister. For some reason as soon as they called about this new house I felt like I needed to cancel with this Landlord that we had been working a deal with for the past two weeks. So we biked over and canceled with that Landlord (she was a way nice lady too) and went to look at the new house that the sisters found with the member. We go to look at the house and lo and behold, it's the very same house that we first looked at but with a different member. Up to this time I had done well to avoid the stress from the situation and had worked things out well, but now I could feel the weight of stress increase on my shoulders. We continue on to talk to the landlord to work out a deal with her. The landlord had talked to the member whose name was Nui. Nui worked out a nice deal and the rich landlord agreed to giving us all of the furnishings that we wanted for an increase of rent from the origional 6,000 per month to 7,000. But Nui didn't do very well at correlating with me, and so when I went to go talk to the Landlord I found the most shamelessly greedy and unpleasant person I have ever met before in my life. She put on a big show. She was "stressed and "tired" from work and had very little time to work with us because she was "busy." She expressed how we were asking for too much from her and she wanted us to lower the amount of furnishings. She felt that the contract was unagreeable because of a little tax deal that she wouldn't understand because she didn't care to listen to me. She tried to push the need we had to move by telling us that she might not even put the house for rent anymore, but she'll leave it as a visitors house for when her friends come to stay. She was clearly playing the game to save money. I did my best to work with her and successfully worked out a temporary change to the contract, but did not do any signing. Then I talked to Sister Nui who's phone was off that morning and she explained to me that the Landlord was nice to her because she did something big for her in the past, and that actually 7,000 Baht is a lot for a house. Even though my budget was 8,000 she explained that her house is 3 stories and she is only paying 3,000 for it. She also explained that she had been looking to find another house all morning. Long story short, she found one. The landlord was very rich, very comfortable, and very open-hearted to accepting whatever our needs were. And the brand new house ended up being only 5500 per month and close to the church. The only downside is that it's a pretty small house. But the sisters love it, and after a little more convincing and work, she signed the contract. I feel like I learned a lot from the entire experience, and I am sure that the Lord needed me to learn a lesson from it to prepare me for the future. Last Saturday we moved the Sisters into their new house and we moved into the Sister's old house, and cleaned both places. The Lord continues to bless us and answer our prayers for more faith. I am just glad to get back to 100% missionary work again. It's the best.
I love you all. Keep reading the scriptures and following the spirit.
Love,
Elder Lilly
P.S. Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat.
Dennis is going to take is suit shopping. What is your opinion on me getting a suit?
How are you all doing these days? It's barely November but our ward is already planning our super Christmas activity, and they have been for quite some time. Some new good news is that our branch just called eight new branch missionaries. Now that the fire of service and the Spirit are being spread throughout the branch we will get to focus our energies and make new sacrifices in order to help others to come unto Christ.
So I have a story. But first I must mention about our crazy next door neighbor named Dennis. He is indescribably himself, and very quotable. He is better than quoting a movie. Dennis is about 70 years old. He doesn't have teeth but remarkably he doesn't need them. He chews everything from hamburgers to steak with the bones of his gum. He has the craziest stories about fighting in wars, helping the king, and the queen, and Korat, and everyone, as well as stories about karate, being a doctor, being a guitar star trainer, building trains, and being a Templar Knight. It is also notable to say that he has pictures and other evidence to back up all of his stories. He's been working with "The Mormons" for over seven years. Mostly all he does other than smoke is related to one service project or another. He has a great heart. He just needs to completely forsake his rowdy days and come unto Christ. He gives everyone nicknames (except for me, I still don't have one). Also, he buys us tons of expensive farang food (foreigner food) for us to eat for free. He wants to take Elder Blaustein and I to go shopping for a nice suit. After all he used to be the best dressed in Thailand. Actually he still is. "They call me Old Handsome."
I'm pretty much out of time because we just got back from visiting a snake farm and watching the Snake show, but I wanted to describe a little bit of the fiasco that we had with looking for a new house. A member showed us a nice little house that she felt would work for the sisters. I, having no previous knowledge about houses or prices or contracts, desired to look at other locations so that I could at least have something to compare this house to. With some options I could make sure that I was choosing the best location. Also, Elder Petersen gave us a budget of 8,000 Baht per month for rent, and the house was only 6,000. I figured that maybe there was somewhere that was better and more fit to the sisters needs. So we went around and looked at several other houses and compared all of them. Another location looked good and the lady was willing to put the house for rent instead of sell it, so we considered that house. But it still didn't look that great to me. Another place close by was big but way old. It smelled funny when we entered. Then another option came up. This house was very new and very nice looking house. It had everything we needed. It seemed like an answer to our prayers. I talked to the landlord about the contract and pricing and asked her to put in another air conditioning system and a few other things. After figuring our the contract and rewriting it several times the landlord decided that she would like to live there and have us rent another house that was just about the same design and was just barely built. We looked at it, but I felt like her house was the better option so we asked if we could continue on with her house instead. She agreed. She was going to go to Bangkok that weekend which meant that she could buy the furnishings but naturally she needed to sign the contract first. We went to print out the contract but we ended up wasting time at one internet shop which wouldn't bring up the contract because of an illegal version of Microsoft Office. There were other stores but none of them had a printer. The last store had a printer, but it was full. We waited a bit for someone to leave and when we finally entered the store and tried to print out the contract, the printer was slow. Because that all took so long we had to change the appointment. The weekend past and we were ready to sign the contract again. However, by this time the Sisters who are the ones who are actually moving expressed that they didn't feel good about the house because of the location. The house was a little far from the church, and we heard that that area had a lower elevation than the surrounding area and thus it floods every year during rainy season. By this time we have only three more days left before the end of the month when we have to move. I had already scheduled an appointment to sign the contract with the landlord and was about to leave when the Sisters called and said that they met with a member and found another location. All along I am trying my best to follow my feelings and find the best option for the sister. For some reason as soon as they called about this new house I felt like I needed to cancel with this Landlord that we had been working a deal with for the past two weeks. So we biked over and canceled with that Landlord (she was a way nice lady too) and went to look at the new house that the sisters found with the member. We go to look at the house and lo and behold, it's the very same house that we first looked at but with a different member. Up to this time I had done well to avoid the stress from the situation and had worked things out well, but now I could feel the weight of stress increase on my shoulders. We continue on to talk to the landlord to work out a deal with her. The landlord had talked to the member whose name was Nui. Nui worked out a nice deal and the rich landlord agreed to giving us all of the furnishings that we wanted for an increase of rent from the origional 6,000 per month to 7,000. But Nui didn't do very well at correlating with me, and so when I went to go talk to the Landlord I found the most shamelessly greedy and unpleasant person I have ever met before in my life. She put on a big show. She was "stressed and "tired" from work and had very little time to work with us because she was "busy." She expressed how we were asking for too much from her and she wanted us to lower the amount of furnishings. She felt that the contract was unagreeable because of a little tax deal that she wouldn't understand because she didn't care to listen to me. She tried to push the need we had to move by telling us that she might not even put the house for rent anymore, but she'll leave it as a visitors house for when her friends come to stay. She was clearly playing the game to save money. I did my best to work with her and successfully worked out a temporary change to the contract, but did not do any signing. Then I talked to Sister Nui who's phone was off that morning and she explained to me that the Landlord was nice to her because she did something big for her in the past, and that actually 7,000 Baht is a lot for a house. Even though my budget was 8,000 she explained that her house is 3 stories and she is only paying 3,000 for it. She also explained that she had been looking to find another house all morning. Long story short, she found one. The landlord was very rich, very comfortable, and very open-hearted to accepting whatever our needs were. And the brand new house ended up being only 5500 per month and close to the church. The only downside is that it's a pretty small house. But the sisters love it, and after a little more convincing and work, she signed the contract. I feel like I learned a lot from the entire experience, and I am sure that the Lord needed me to learn a lesson from it to prepare me for the future. Last Saturday we moved the Sisters into their new house and we moved into the Sister's old house, and cleaned both places. The Lord continues to bless us and answer our prayers for more faith. I am just glad to get back to 100% missionary work again. It's the best.
I love you all. Keep reading the scriptures and following the spirit.
Love,
Elder Lilly
P.S. Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat.
Dennis is going to take is suit shopping. What is your opinion on me getting a suit?
Oct 28, 2009
Dear Family,
Last Sunday our investigator named Em got Baptized! I forgot to mention that he passed the interview in my last letter. Oh well. The speakers called Em their brother as they spoke to him and bore their testimonies. Em's entire family came to the Baptismal service. Early on Sunday morning Brother Tahm prepared a large bouquet of flowers to be placed under the stand for Em's Baptism. Altogether the members really made the Baptismal service a special occasion. I think that the Branch in Korat is growing. There's a fire in the members. More and more we are seeing members serving each other and asking us for opportunities to serve.
I believe that in my last letter I spoke about praying for three names from a list of each of the members in order to find out God's will concerning which members we need to teach. Our aim was to teach them in order to receive referrals from them. But two of the names that we prayed about were not on eachother's list of three. So instead of teaching a referral lesson we decided to visit those two names and have family home evening with them. So last Monday we planned to go visit brother Owe. The hour before our appointment another one of our investigators called us and we met him and taught him at the church. This unexpected appointment put us behind in our plan and we therefore did not have enough time to bike over to Brother Owe's house. Instead, we called a Tuk Tuk driver to come pick us up. But we didn't call just any Tuk Tuk driver, we called our investigator named Guu. Guu is so poor. He lives or rather sleeps in a small hut. He has to pay rent on his car that he uses to ferry people around like a Taxi. Between the rent on his hut and his car he has very little money left over to spend on food and other necessities. Some days he might make good money, but then another day he might not get enough money to even pay the rent. If he doesn't make enough money during the day then he needs to drive during the night too. Usually he gets about 4 hours of sleep. So as you can tell, he rarely has time to come and learn with us anymore. But on this most auspicious of nights, he stayed. Brother Owe was just what he needed. The lesson we taught was about the power of faith. Guu has already learned all of the lessons necessary before Baptism but he is struggling with quitting smoking. Because he wasn't progressing , we set him aside for a time, and stopped teaching him. I think that this Family home evening lesson helped Guu in his need. But we might not have thought about holding a family home evening with Brother Owe had we not prayed about the list of names.
The Sister's are experiencing many mighty miracles as well. The last lesson that I taught in our District meeting was about Faith. I used several principals that I learned from a certain talk by Elder Greg Cook that I got from Aaron to help in teaching. It was a powerful lesson. The Sister missionaries said that they were filled with faith during the day when they needed it. They are teaching Em's wife named Sally. Sally has a goal to be baptized on the last Sunday before moves. She needs to meet with the sisters 3 times a week in order to succeed in her goal but her only day off is Sunday. Any other day is not sure. But, thus far they have been able to meet with Sally on every appointment. When all goes as we hope, Em will be the one to baptize her.
Love ya,
Elder Lilly
Last Sunday our investigator named Em got Baptized! I forgot to mention that he passed the interview in my last letter. Oh well. The speakers called Em their brother as they spoke to him and bore their testimonies. Em's entire family came to the Baptismal service. Early on Sunday morning Brother Tahm prepared a large bouquet of flowers to be placed under the stand for Em's Baptism. Altogether the members really made the Baptismal service a special occasion. I think that the Branch in Korat is growing. There's a fire in the members. More and more we are seeing members serving each other and asking us for opportunities to serve.
I believe that in my last letter I spoke about praying for three names from a list of each of the members in order to find out God's will concerning which members we need to teach. Our aim was to teach them in order to receive referrals from them. But two of the names that we prayed about were not on eachother's list of three. So instead of teaching a referral lesson we decided to visit those two names and have family home evening with them. So last Monday we planned to go visit brother Owe. The hour before our appointment another one of our investigators called us and we met him and taught him at the church. This unexpected appointment put us behind in our plan and we therefore did not have enough time to bike over to Brother Owe's house. Instead, we called a Tuk Tuk driver to come pick us up. But we didn't call just any Tuk Tuk driver, we called our investigator named Guu. Guu is so poor. He lives or rather sleeps in a small hut. He has to pay rent on his car that he uses to ferry people around like a Taxi. Between the rent on his hut and his car he has very little money left over to spend on food and other necessities. Some days he might make good money, but then another day he might not get enough money to even pay the rent. If he doesn't make enough money during the day then he needs to drive during the night too. Usually he gets about 4 hours of sleep. So as you can tell, he rarely has time to come and learn with us anymore. But on this most auspicious of nights, he stayed. Brother Owe was just what he needed. The lesson we taught was about the power of faith. Guu has already learned all of the lessons necessary before Baptism but he is struggling with quitting smoking. Because he wasn't progressing , we set him aside for a time, and stopped teaching him. I think that this Family home evening lesson helped Guu in his need. But we might not have thought about holding a family home evening with Brother Owe had we not prayed about the list of names.
The Sister's are experiencing many mighty miracles as well. The last lesson that I taught in our District meeting was about Faith. I used several principals that I learned from a certain talk by Elder Greg Cook that I got from Aaron to help in teaching. It was a powerful lesson. The Sister missionaries said that they were filled with faith during the day when they needed it. They are teaching Em's wife named Sally. Sally has a goal to be baptized on the last Sunday before moves. She needs to meet with the sisters 3 times a week in order to succeed in her goal but her only day off is Sunday. Any other day is not sure. But, thus far they have been able to meet with Sally on every appointment. When all goes as we hope, Em will be the one to baptize her.
Love ya,
Elder Lilly
Oct 21, 2009
Reporting in
Dear Family,
This Morning our hair cut took about two hours long. That is including the hair washing before and after the cut. I feel like my hair is cut so evenly that it could take the scrutiny of a Hollywood camera up close. And it smells good.
Yesterday we enjoyed sharing experiences with each other at our zone lesson in Mahasarakham. One of the main topics of discussion was about prayer. I feel amazed as I look back at the multiplicity of my prayers that were answered in the past year. The Spirit really can direct our prayers and we are sure to get an answer. Our prayers really can be a spiritual experience, especially when accompanied by scripture study and pondering. I am reminded of the story of Enos whose soul hungered. He was brought to pray all night and all day until the voice of the Lord came into his mind. But then he was not satisfied with his own salvation alone but he prayed for his brethren the Nephites. The answer he received was that the Lord would bless the Nephites according to their diligence to keeping the commandments. Enos let the answer to his prayer increase his faith, and his soul was still not satisfied. Finally after the third time the Lord grants an answer to Enos' prayers according to Enos' desires because of his faith in Christ. What I find to be especially interesting is that Enos' desires were that if the Nephites just happen to be destroyed and the Lamanites not, that God would preserve the records so that they might bring the Lamanites to faith in Christ--which is in history what actually happened. How in the world did he know to pray for that? His prayers must have been directed by the spirit.
The more I read the scriptures the more I feel the truths of the Gospel sink in to my soul. So often I will be talking with Elder Blaughstein and we will be discussing about simple truths that we learned from the scriptures. And the truths seem so much more evident. Then what we discussed from our personal studies together has so often been the exact topic that those we teach needed. Then the spirit confirms the things that we talked about from that morning one more time in the lesson. As we leave from that appointment I feel the need to say a prayer of thanks and I can't help but smile at my companion in amusement and feel grateful that we had the spirit with us in our studies that morning. These kinds of experiences are very special to me. And I feel obligated to work harder for being blessed with them. One of the impressions that Elder Blaughstein and I feel to do is to pray for service opportunities. I hadn't thought to do that before. All our work is service. But serving as you're serving on a mission is even better.
Thanks to the simple advice of my oldest brother from when we lasted talked on the phone together, Elder Blaughstein and I had another special experience. We separated into different rooms with a list of over 30 names of all the brethren in the Branch. Then we prayed to find three names of people who God would have us teach. When we came back together and looked at the names that we prayed about separately, two of the three names were the same.
I love you all!
Love Elder Lilly
P.S. We found a house and the Sisters are going to move in. Then we will move to the sisters old house. Also our neighbor is crazy!
This Morning our hair cut took about two hours long. That is including the hair washing before and after the cut. I feel like my hair is cut so evenly that it could take the scrutiny of a Hollywood camera up close. And it smells good.
Yesterday we enjoyed sharing experiences with each other at our zone lesson in Mahasarakham. One of the main topics of discussion was about prayer. I feel amazed as I look back at the multiplicity of my prayers that were answered in the past year. The Spirit really can direct our prayers and we are sure to get an answer. Our prayers really can be a spiritual experience, especially when accompanied by scripture study and pondering. I am reminded of the story of Enos whose soul hungered. He was brought to pray all night and all day until the voice of the Lord came into his mind. But then he was not satisfied with his own salvation alone but he prayed for his brethren the Nephites. The answer he received was that the Lord would bless the Nephites according to their diligence to keeping the commandments. Enos let the answer to his prayer increase his faith, and his soul was still not satisfied. Finally after the third time the Lord grants an answer to Enos' prayers according to Enos' desires because of his faith in Christ. What I find to be especially interesting is that Enos' desires were that if the Nephites just happen to be destroyed and the Lamanites not, that God would preserve the records so that they might bring the Lamanites to faith in Christ--which is in history what actually happened. How in the world did he know to pray for that? His prayers must have been directed by the spirit.
The more I read the scriptures the more I feel the truths of the Gospel sink in to my soul. So often I will be talking with Elder Blaughstein and we will be discussing about simple truths that we learned from the scriptures. And the truths seem so much more evident. Then what we discussed from our personal studies together has so often been the exact topic that those we teach needed. Then the spirit confirms the things that we talked about from that morning one more time in the lesson. As we leave from that appointment I feel the need to say a prayer of thanks and I can't help but smile at my companion in amusement and feel grateful that we had the spirit with us in our studies that morning. These kinds of experiences are very special to me. And I feel obligated to work harder for being blessed with them. One of the impressions that Elder Blaughstein and I feel to do is to pray for service opportunities. I hadn't thought to do that before. All our work is service. But serving as you're serving on a mission is even better.
Thanks to the simple advice of my oldest brother from when we lasted talked on the phone together, Elder Blaughstein and I had another special experience. We separated into different rooms with a list of over 30 names of all the brethren in the Branch. Then we prayed to find three names of people who God would have us teach. When we came back together and looked at the names that we prayed about separately, two of the three names were the same.
I love you all!
Love Elder Lilly
P.S. We found a house and the Sisters are going to move in. Then we will move to the sisters old house. Also our neighbor is crazy!
Oct 14, 2009
ghgg
Dear Family,
I am listening to conference right now. Heh heh heh...
I am so grateful for the opportunity to be on a mission. I have felt so happy and learned so many little important lessons that help me and will be a blessing to me for the rest of my life. I feel grateful that our family can receive blessings for my faithful service. I don't fear the future. I feel excited and humbled to do the lord's work.
Our vision for Korat is that we hope to spread the happiness of the gospel to the new converts, the less active members, and especially to the strong active members. We hope to spread the messages taught in the scriptures about giving service and following Christs example. Yesterday we taught one of the recent converts a very short but powerful follow-up lesson. He connected the principals from both lessons and as soon as we felt the spirit strongly we prayed together and left. I know that the spirit had confirmed our testimonies and had been the teacher of that lesson. I could feel it. I could see it in his eyes. I hope that he will apply what was taught.
We had a great opportunity to have family home evening with the Branch President. He is such an important person; has such an important role in the church. We ate together and read certain scriptures that were meaningful to us which spoke about trust in God together. Then we visited a less active member together. I hope of all people that he will feel of our love for him. I hope that our service will lesson his burdens.
Working with Elder Blaughstein has been really fun. Today we carefully planned out a day full of activities. This morning we woke at our usual morning hours and immediately cleaned the house up. Then we changed clothes and set out to play basketball again. We invited our investigator and his friends, our branch mission leader (he's a short Filipino guy), and a few other guys that were around who we invited to play too. It was great fun, and as usual we did very well together. Then we came home, showered, ate some food and set out to "the Mall" with one of the members named Ratana. We ate Ice Cream with him and his Nephew. It was pretty amusing to see him eat his super sweet Ice cream with a smile on his face. Then we invited him over to the "free massaging chairs" in the Mall and we just sat down for about 20 minutes getting a massage. I couldn't help but laugh as the chair started shaking Ratana back and forth. He seemed a bit out of place in such a huge expensive mall. His home is more of a shack with chickens feeding around it.
Speaking of chickens. In Zelda they have really weird looking chickens that have their back tail feathers sticking straight up. I've seen some of those chickens up here. I'm no expert, but I'd venture to say that those are Asian chickens.
To Kara, I found a package and I'm sending you the Guitar. Happy Birthday. And for Mom, I think that it's great that you are receiving a calling in the relief society presidency. I certainly understand much more about the importance of the Relief Society in the ward from my experiences here. The Elder's quorum President is like the Branch President's right hand. But If he want's to get anything done all he needs to do is give the Relief Society President a call. Then there's sure to be action.
Unfortunately this year we didn't have an opportunity to watch conference in English. We were very disappointed as we were all looking forward to conference with excitement, hoping to see it in English. The Thai is okay, but a monotone translation doesn't do justice to the conference talks. Yet even through the language barrier I still felt impressed by the spirit. But then I felt sorry for Elder Blaughstein and Sister Larson as they are both new to the country. My translating the translations back to English did not do any justice to the talks either. As Sunday came around we prepared. We printed out a copy of all of the talks in English. Then we read them together.
I love you all, I have some great experiences I would love to share with you. And We have some good investigators.
Love,
Elder Lilly
I am listening to conference right now. Heh heh heh...
I am so grateful for the opportunity to be on a mission. I have felt so happy and learned so many little important lessons that help me and will be a blessing to me for the rest of my life. I feel grateful that our family can receive blessings for my faithful service. I don't fear the future. I feel excited and humbled to do the lord's work.
Our vision for Korat is that we hope to spread the happiness of the gospel to the new converts, the less active members, and especially to the strong active members. We hope to spread the messages taught in the scriptures about giving service and following Christs example. Yesterday we taught one of the recent converts a very short but powerful follow-up lesson. He connected the principals from both lessons and as soon as we felt the spirit strongly we prayed together and left. I know that the spirit had confirmed our testimonies and had been the teacher of that lesson. I could feel it. I could see it in his eyes. I hope that he will apply what was taught.
We had a great opportunity to have family home evening with the Branch President. He is such an important person; has such an important role in the church. We ate together and read certain scriptures that were meaningful to us which spoke about trust in God together. Then we visited a less active member together. I hope of all people that he will feel of our love for him. I hope that our service will lesson his burdens.
Working with Elder Blaughstein has been really fun. Today we carefully planned out a day full of activities. This morning we woke at our usual morning hours and immediately cleaned the house up. Then we changed clothes and set out to play basketball again. We invited our investigator and his friends, our branch mission leader (he's a short Filipino guy), and a few other guys that were around who we invited to play too. It was great fun, and as usual we did very well together. Then we came home, showered, ate some food and set out to "the Mall" with one of the members named Ratana. We ate Ice Cream with him and his Nephew. It was pretty amusing to see him eat his super sweet Ice cream with a smile on his face. Then we invited him over to the "free massaging chairs" in the Mall and we just sat down for about 20 minutes getting a massage. I couldn't help but laugh as the chair started shaking Ratana back and forth. He seemed a bit out of place in such a huge expensive mall. His home is more of a shack with chickens feeding around it.
Speaking of chickens. In Zelda they have really weird looking chickens that have their back tail feathers sticking straight up. I've seen some of those chickens up here. I'm no expert, but I'd venture to say that those are Asian chickens.
To Kara, I found a package and I'm sending you the Guitar. Happy Birthday. And for Mom, I think that it's great that you are receiving a calling in the relief society presidency. I certainly understand much more about the importance of the Relief Society in the ward from my experiences here. The Elder's quorum President is like the Branch President's right hand. But If he want's to get anything done all he needs to do is give the Relief Society President a call. Then there's sure to be action.
Unfortunately this year we didn't have an opportunity to watch conference in English. We were very disappointed as we were all looking forward to conference with excitement, hoping to see it in English. The Thai is okay, but a monotone translation doesn't do justice to the conference talks. Yet even through the language barrier I still felt impressed by the spirit. But then I felt sorry for Elder Blaughstein and Sister Larson as they are both new to the country. My translating the translations back to English did not do any justice to the talks either. As Sunday came around we prepared. We printed out a copy of all of the talks in English. Then we read them together.
I love you all, I have some great experiences I would love to share with you. And We have some good investigators.
Love,
Elder Lilly
Oct 7, 2009
Hello
Dear Family,
I am very very excited about my new area. I moved out east in the Isan to a place called Korat. I believe It's the second biggest city in Thailand other than Bangkok. If you would like to take a look at it from Google earth then you would need to type out it's full name... Nakhon Ratchasima. I'm here with my companion Elder Blaughstein and then we have two sisters in our district: Sister Bradfield (she was in the group behind me in the MTC) and Sister Larsen (She is being trained by Sister Bradfield.) We are a happy district. Elder Blaughstein is a big guy. He was a serious football player back home. He has a scholarship waiting for him to get home, but he's not sure if that's the path that he want's to take. Where ever the Lord leads him, he'll go. When I said he is a big guy I meant his thick bulging muscles. He's actually about 5ft 5inch tall. Some Thai people are even taller than he is. Some. Today we romped some of our Thai friends at basketball. It was the first time I've played in a long time. Right now I'm sore. It feels good. I was the tallest.
I love Korat already. The people are different from those in Bangkok. A lot of people speak a different dialect. The members are amazing. There are a few members who are such great examples to everyone. They love the gospel, live the gospel, and serve with willing hearts. A few days ago one of the sisters in our branch fasted for more opportunities to serve God. She then came to the sisters and asked when their appointments were so that she could help teach. After she helped teach she then asked when the sisters had appointments for the next day so that she could go help again. That's the spirit.
As usual we started the moves off by forming a vision of where the work can go in the future. Do you remember when I referred to President Dodge's request for us to make a vision for our lives? How are we doing at fulfilling our vision? I am excited for ours. I hope that you are still on the path to fulfilling yours too. God certainly has prepared a mission for us to accomplish in our lives that utilizes our talents and abilities. How great God's trust is in us.
This Moves I have learned a lot about how a branch is supposed to function. We are setting plans that will heavily utilize our time with members. We will be teaching and strengthening the members that we have (and especially the recent converts) and always asking and encouraging them to take part in service and missionary work. We are going to try and have a member present in all of the lessons that we teach. We have always tried to invite a member to help us, but we will work even harder to accomplish that goal now. I realized from helping sister Pawn in Ayutthaya that it is soooo important that the investigator has a real friend that will love them, and sit by them, and help answer all of their questions. Well, now I know what kind of a member I want to be when I get home.
Another great thing about Korat is that there are about 80 people who attend church every sundaym and there are plenty of Priesthood holders.
Well I gotta go,
I am excited for conference!
And I got the paper Mom, and signed it. I still need to find a way to scan it and send it in.
Also we are looking to move our house here.
Love,
Elder Lilly
I am very very excited about my new area. I moved out east in the Isan to a place called Korat. I believe It's the second biggest city in Thailand other than Bangkok. If you would like to take a look at it from Google earth then you would need to type out it's full name... Nakhon Ratchasima. I'm here with my companion Elder Blaughstein and then we have two sisters in our district: Sister Bradfield (she was in the group behind me in the MTC) and Sister Larsen (She is being trained by Sister Bradfield.) We are a happy district. Elder Blaughstein is a big guy. He was a serious football player back home. He has a scholarship waiting for him to get home, but he's not sure if that's the path that he want's to take. Where ever the Lord leads him, he'll go. When I said he is a big guy I meant his thick bulging muscles. He's actually about 5ft 5inch tall. Some Thai people are even taller than he is. Some. Today we romped some of our Thai friends at basketball. It was the first time I've played in a long time. Right now I'm sore. It feels good. I was the tallest.
I love Korat already. The people are different from those in Bangkok. A lot of people speak a different dialect. The members are amazing. There are a few members who are such great examples to everyone. They love the gospel, live the gospel, and serve with willing hearts. A few days ago one of the sisters in our branch fasted for more opportunities to serve God. She then came to the sisters and asked when their appointments were so that she could help teach. After she helped teach she then asked when the sisters had appointments for the next day so that she could go help again. That's the spirit.
As usual we started the moves off by forming a vision of where the work can go in the future. Do you remember when I referred to President Dodge's request for us to make a vision for our lives? How are we doing at fulfilling our vision? I am excited for ours. I hope that you are still on the path to fulfilling yours too. God certainly has prepared a mission for us to accomplish in our lives that utilizes our talents and abilities. How great God's trust is in us.
This Moves I have learned a lot about how a branch is supposed to function. We are setting plans that will heavily utilize our time with members. We will be teaching and strengthening the members that we have (and especially the recent converts) and always asking and encouraging them to take part in service and missionary work. We are going to try and have a member present in all of the lessons that we teach. We have always tried to invite a member to help us, but we will work even harder to accomplish that goal now. I realized from helping sister Pawn in Ayutthaya that it is soooo important that the investigator has a real friend that will love them, and sit by them, and help answer all of their questions. Well, now I know what kind of a member I want to be when I get home.
Another great thing about Korat is that there are about 80 people who attend church every sundaym and there are plenty of Priesthood holders.
Well I gotta go,
I am excited for conference!
And I got the paper Mom, and signed it. I still need to find a way to scan it and send it in.
Also we are looking to move our house here.
Love,
Elder Lilly
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