pizza

Dear Family,

 

Hello Hello Hello. Well, this Saturday is indeed my birthday. I was reminded that my birthday was comming up during Zone Conference when they were announcing birthdays and... Woah hey that's my name their announcing.  Oh yeah, my birthday is coming up soon.  Now I'm making it a big deal in the whole zone so that we can celebrate seperatly together. In the same day we have set up a fireside at the church about the Atonement. I'm way excited for the fireside. We are asking everyone to come to the church in their sunday dress. I feel like the planning was done under the influence of the Spirit. Therefore am I confident about the success of the activity. Our purpose is to increase their Faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement.

 

This week was full of chaos in the Thai Government. The battle between the Red shirts and Yellow shirts has slowly started affecting us more and more. For the last couple of days we've been stuck in a country wide curfew. At first the curfew was at 8:00 but now it's at 9:00. The Red shirts have gone around burning the towncenters in each of the provinces. They havn't been able to burn the Town Center in Sisaket. The police have the place very well locked down with barbed wire and policemen everywhere.  We aren't affected too bad by it though. It's safe for us so long as we avoid that little section of the town. It seems to be an ongoing ordeal off and on off and on. It will be interesting to see how it progresses further.  These are the signs of our times.

 

Yesterday we went to another Buddhist funeral.  A huge storm broke out and it started flooding in the area that we were in. Then we had a blackout. I thought it made sort of a cool grim effect on the funeral. The rain was pretty loud though. We all escaped from the rain and lit candles inside the house. I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down next to several of the priesthood holders in the Church and talk to them about various things. One of the interesting concerns that they brought up was about how we can show love for those people that we visit, more esspecially those who we don't know very well or those who havn't come to church in a long time. "Clearly we don't need to tell them that they are missing church. They already know that. But what can we do to help them come back? When we invite them they don't listen" they asked me.  The answer I gave them stemmed back from something that I had read in general conference which I think I shared with you guys last week. The best way that we can help people to repent is to increase their faith in the Gospel.  Our faith increases when the spirit confirms the truths to our hearts. The members had been inviting people to come back to church but they hadn't been teaching those people to increase their faith in Jesus Christ and His Gospel. So nothing changed. I am glad to have an increased understanding of the importance of the gospel in teaching.

 

I love you all and thank you for your prayers,

 

Love Elder lilly

from Jennifer

Dear Family,

 

Today was a fun day. We played basketball, soccer, and ping pong at the church in Ubon. I really enjoyed playing basketball. It's been quite some time since I've played. Tomorrow is zone conference. We will speak about setting Visions, making goals, and planning.  I'm excited to have another opportunity to invite the Spirit and rely on the Lord for help in inspiring our zone. 

 

So, my companion has been having some personal health issues which has been an obstacle for us in our work together.  He will return home from his mission on the 28th of this month. That means that I will be in another three man team, and get two new companions. Right now I'm balancing helping my companion, working in my area, and helping out the zone.  It's been quite the learning experience.  There are so many valuable experiences to be gained from serving a mission.  One of the youth in our branch who had been deciding if he were to go on a mission or not had received a confirmation from the spirit and bore his testimony about how he knows that a mission is the best university that he could enter.  I agree.  It's so good.

 

Last Sunday Ahm passed his interview. He's moving to Prea before next Sunday. He'll have to get baptized in Lampang. I don't have any worries about him. I feel like he is the most firm investigator in the faith and truth of the Gospel that I have ever taught before. To me he gets it. There is so much power in the simplicity and truth of the Gospel.  It's what we need to accomplish in life. Some of the teachers at church don't quite understand the Gospel and their role as teachers in inviting the people that they teach to improve their lives. Some people still simply teach the lesson material without any goal or conscious effort to explain the Gospel truths and invite the people to change, which without that the lesson is lacking in focus and power. But with a commitment in mind which will help the learner repent and come unto Christ then the lesson becomes focused and it gains personal relevance and meaning.  

 

The scar from the 2  by 4 is pretty much all healed up.

 

As far as the Trek is concerned... I remember a powerful closing talk from President Thornock. I remember feeling the spirit extra strong as I served and studied in a peaceful and serene place. I remember walking for hours and eating soggy delicious rolls. I remember a lot. Overall it was definitely a worthwhile experience, especially if you go in with the attitude to serve and learn.

 

I love you guys sooo much. It was way good to talk to you on the Phone. Sorry I had to cut it short... I had a lot of things that I needed to accomplish.

 

Love,

-Elder Lilly

Testimony

Dear Family,

 

Wow, Jeremy is home already. That's great! I'm sure he'll mention how fast the time has gone by. That's a great mothers day present. 

 

Thanks for the stories about our ancestors. I had someone ask me about my Ancestors yesterday. I told her that my parents were about to send that to me.

 

So another moves has passed by. There are now 7 Thai missionaries in my zone. Elder Pituporn stayed here in Srisaket and he is on his last moves. That means that I am more than likely to stay here in Srisaket for the next moves period--but you never know. Elder Milton moved to the office and we welcomed Elder Hood into our District.

 

Last Saturday Ahm interviewed for Baptism. He is way ready to get Baptized but he will need to interview with one of the President's counselors first.  He shared his personal Testimony with us as we prepared him for the interview. It's such an awesome experience to see him get a Testimony and then progress so fast. It's a feeling that's hard to describe but it's a good feeling. And I get excited considering how when we remain faithful until the end we will see each other again with glorified and perfected bodies in the realms of God's kingdom.

 

We met a strange man a few days ago at the church. He wanted us to teach him but when we sat down he seemed to want to teach us his doctrine more than listen to us. When he spoke he would go on in speaking things that made no sense and wouldn't ever directly answer our questions. So we asked the Branch President to speak with him. Afterwards he seemed a bit angry but he left the church and we havn't seen him since. Meeting him was a stark contrast to hearing the open, joyful, and personal testimony of Ahm and also the members testimonies that we heard on Monday.

 

Elder Pituporn and I are doing well. I always enjoy setting up the vision for our area/zone. As part of being a Zone Leader we get the opportunity to teach one of the District Meeting lessons in each of the districs that are in our zone. President Smith would like the zone leaders to do whatever it takes to help the zone to progress. Some of our options are switching off for 1 day or 3 days or a week or whatever we need to do. I like having a lot of options. I've seen how one person can have a tremendous impact on those who are around him.

 

I suppose I should mention that last week we took part in a service project where we helped destroy the remains of one of the members houses that burned down. It was good fun. Unfortunetely we didn't have much for tools. Rather we used 2 by 4's to take down the burned remains. As I was weilding a 2 by 4 I hit a cealing board above my target which caused the board to reverberate and it hit me in the face. Ouch. I recall Michael once got hit by a 2 by 4. But, no worries. It was a small scratch. And it's basically all healed up by now. In the end we cleared the house and did a great service to the family in the Branch. Their Neighbors were wondering why they hired foreigners to help take down the remains of the house. :) They were able to explain that we were missionares.

 

I love you guys and I'll talk to you on Monday.

 

 

Love,

 

Elder Lilly

everyone says we love Cameron!

Dear Family,

 

The baptism was excellent. I was very impressed and satisfied with what a great sacrament meeting, Sunday School class, and Baptism that we had yesterday. Elder Milton and I both gave a short talk during the baptism and afterwards Nang bore a personal and meaningful testimony. She has seen some miracles in her process of learning the Gospel. Part of her testimony included an experience where she had asked the Priesthood Holders to give her a priesthood blessing of healing. Within three days of the blessing the stone that was in her body had vanished away and she was healed.

 

I feel like our district is catching the spirit of unity.  Elder Elwood helped to teach the investigator class this week. I remember having the feeling of cheer as I was desirous that he would teach with power and with the Spirit. I took part in the lesson and bore my testimony about the restoration of the Gospel. I remember having a similar feeling when Elder Milton came up to talk during sacrament meeting. It feels good to set aside all personal desires and unite to a righteous cause.  In that way we help each other grow. And we help the Branch grow.

 

I suppose we are like sponges. We constantly absorb in the influence of our surroundings. We also have our own influence. That's sort of the miracle of families and relationships that they can have such a positive influence on each other and lead each other upwards to better things.  The more we give the more we have to give.

 

Being a Zone leader involves a lot of travel.  Last Tuesday night Elder Staples and I traveled to Bangkok by train to renew our visas. Then we went straight to Surin to interview investigators.  Finally we came back to Srisaked for a night only to meet back in Ubon for more interviews and to switch back with Elder Pituporn and return to Srisaket the next morning. But, before Elder Staples and I went to Ubon we came to a large Neighborhood to invite people to come study the Gospel with us. We got some phone numbers and set up a few appointments. Yesterday Elder Pituporn and I went to teach one of the investigators that we had invited in that neighborhood. It turns out that that investigator invited most of the Neighborhood to come and learn with us too. So we ended up teaching a lesson to about six or seven people who came to learn with us. We'll go back to visit them again next tuesday. :)

 

That sunday we had seven baptisms in our Zone.

 

So that was one of our little adventures this week. On Sunday we had another Branch Council meeting. Perhaps some people feel like we have too many meetings in the church but it seems to me that the reason for all of the meetings is similar to the reason for the law of Moses. Many people come to a meeting just to fulfil the requirements of the Law. Then they miss out on the spiritual purpose of the law. If we understood and obeyed the spirit of the Law then the meetings would be short, productive, and uplifting experiences. Therefore, don't ever get descouraged about church meetings. But remember our purpose as a member of the Church and as sons and daughters of God.

 

 

Thanks for the great letters. I'm looking forward to hearing from Michael about his experiences. I really do love each of you and hope the best for you.

I would like to ask for a record of how our family ancestors were first introduced to the Gospel. It would be useful to share for some of the future first generation members that we are teaching.

 

Also if anyone were wondering what a good gift would be for my birthday... I don't know. Something tasty from home is always good. Aaron's and Nana's present was pretty sweet. I liked the pajamas... so soft.

 

Love ya,

 

-Elder Lilly

Package has arrived!

Dear Family,

 

Yaaay I'm so glad that y'all got the package I sent. The Pakamas are way sabaay (comfortable).

 

My investigators are doing great. Nang just passed her baptismal interview last saturday. She's ready to get baptised this sunday. I think that the baptism can help to really pick the work up  here in Srisaket as well because to put it simply... the power of godliness is manifest in the ordinances of the church.  Most people who see a baptism end up getting baptised themselves. :) We will do our best to make it a spiritual baptism.

 

Today has been excellent. We spent almost all morning cleaning the house. It feels excellent to have a clean house. I'm not sure when the last time was that the house in Srisaket was cleaned, sadly enough. I have been looking for the oportunity to deep clean it since I got here. The house is a little weird. It was designed with metal bars on a sliding door all around the house--over every window, door, and opening. Then the outside has a black metal fence and a black metal sliding gate. Indeed, it looks much like a prison. So we opened all of the drapes, cleaned up, opened the sliding doors and let the sun shine into the room. It's refreshing. 

 

Well, I feel like this moves is a time where we need to start focusing on faith again. Naturally without obedience there is no faith. In showing faith we need to pray more, work harder, and give more of ourselves.

 

Work is also part of faith. And work itself seems to have a way of fixing all of the problems. If we know how to work and we do it then we can accomplish almost anything.

 

It seems like the times where we don't really feel prepared to go out and invite are the times when the least people are outside. Then those times where we are prepared and happy and we talk to everybody are the times when people start popping up out of nowhere and there are more people who are outside of there houses, even when it is super super hot--which is often. That I believe is another witness to God's influence in our work.

 

The zone here is progressing. But It's just not yet to it's full potential. One companionship often gets the majority of the results for the week. That shows how much better the whole zone could be doing. But the Lord is blessing us greatly. And as we exercise faith and work work work the Lord will lead us to the things that we need personally and in our areas.

 

I enjoy some of the little things that are "so Thai." Learning a culture completely changes your perspective on how things really are. For instance if you first came into the country without a knowledge of the culture and someone was rejecting you by making excuses or running away or by avoiding you, you might get offended. But if you understand that part of there culture is to avoid rejecting you directly because they are trying to be polite and not hurt your image than you wouldn't get offended because you would understand.

 

I thankyou for your love and letters.

 

I love you and pray for you,

 

--Elder Lilly

oh what fun!

Dear Family,

 

Conference was pretty pretty awesome. Although, just like last time, it would have been better were it in English. I noticed the voices of some of the missionaries who had returned home already. Translating for general conference would be fun.

 

I'm here in Srisaket on the day before the Songran water festival. There are already people driving around in trucks and setting up booths to ambush people and soak them with water. Currently I am only parshly wet. Tomorrow I will be completely wet. Sadly this time of year brings around a corrupt tradition of drinking alchohol  with friends at night. Many families have children who start drinking while they are young.

 

The Lord has blessed us with some pretty awesome investigators. One of them is named Ahm. He is only 18 years old but he has shown a lot of maturity for his age--consitering that the Thai people don't consiter people adults until they are about 21 years old. He comitted himself to avoiding the drinking that goes on in the society. Indeed, usually drinking is a social thing. You drink because all of your friends do. We teach him everyday. Another one of our investigators is named "Ahn." She travels about an hour every Sunday to get to church. That's the Spirit!

 

Right now I am switching-off with the "Assistant to the President."  Which just happens to be Elder Bryant who was in the MTC class just before my group.  Today is a sort of abnormal day because of Songran (usually monday is a Preperation Day). This morning we walked along the side of the road and talked to everyone that we met. One the guys that we met opened his heart and set an appointment fir us to come back tonight. If we can, and we are infront of their house, we will ask to come inside and talk with them for 10 minutes. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true!  And it's so powerful. The more I understand it the more I love it. We enjoy talking with people and getting to know them. One of the people we talked to liked music. And he had a guitar. Elder Bryant played some songs from the guitar with him. Afterward he showed interest in helping his family so we set an appointment with him.

 

Speaking of family, from general conference there was a definite theme about families and specifically about raising kids. The Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. Our family is way blessed because of the Gospel. I carry the pictures that we took before I came to Thailand around with me all the time. Just today I showed a policeman a picture of our family--all nine of us kids along with Braden, Jade, and Crystal. Aaron is in there too... He just wasn't official yet. I didn't say much to him but I got his number.  Just about everyone that I show the pictures to says that our family is "Ob un" which means warm/happy.  What a blessing to be sealed together for eternity so long as we keep our covenants. There is nothing more important than that. I still pray for our direct and extended families to succeed in such great a cause. I especially pray that Kara and Michael will prepare quickly. Having a "companion" is all kinds of fun and you learn a thing or two from it. ;p  And a missionary companion can't compare to an eternal companion.

 

Well, the Lord is blessing us greatly. He always does when we obey him. It's that easy! I would advise Brandon and Justin and Jared to learn the Book of Mormon, to develop your talents that aren't involved with a computer (you don't get much use out of those talents on your mission) (plus you're way too good at that already), and to start practicing the mission rules or rather start practicing becoming more like Christ. For instance! Try not using any word that Jesus Christ wouldn't use for a day. Ex: G4y su(k etc. Last time we talked on the phone there was a lot of those words being used. I hadn't heard that kind of language in a long time.

 

Those things will prepare you for a mission. They will help prepare you for Eternal life.

 

I love you all soooooo much,

 

--Elder Lilly

Happy Easter

Dear Family,

Thanks for all of the wonderful e-mails. I really enjoyed reading them. My easter sunday was a different sort of rejoicing as we had opened our fast on saturday around lunch time. 

Last week I had a special switch-offs with Elder Milton. I was able to help invite in his area for the majority of three days. It was good to switch-off with an old companion of mine. We enjoyed talking about things that we learned from the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  We talked about different ways that we could improve our work to make it more sacred. Then we had the oportunity to apply those things that we talked about. We imediately noticed the difference in the power of our inviting. I believe that as we strive to make the things that we do more sacred that the Lord will pour out marvelous blessings. That's how it's been for me. The area that we are in has been struggling for quite some time. I took especial care to notice how the branch was doing and what things that we could possibly do to improve the work here in Srisaket during church. Elder Milton and I had the opportunity to talk about those things that we could do to help. It is very clear that the most important thing in our lives right now is finding the Holy Spirit and being worthy of His divine direction. Naturally we cannot force other people to change. It must start with us first, and then as we excercise faith the Holy Spirit will work through us to accomplish God's will for the Branch. I am amazed at what a great influence just a few people can have. The Scriptures are full of great examples of that. Tomorrow will be zone conference and Elder Pituporn and I will get to take part in teaching our zone.  I was asked to speak about The Power and Authority of your Calling. I'm glad to be able to help teach other missionaries about that power, which power is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Naturally we are excited for General Conference again. We are telling the world that the Prophet is about to speak to us God's holy will. That's pretty awesome.  Being a witness of God is a great joy.

Lately has been especialy hot and humid. Usually I can tell if a storm is comming early because it will become extreemly humid outside.

I love you all very very much. We were blessed with such an awesome family. I enjoy hearing about how great you guys are doing and how much fun you are having back home.

Sometimes I remind myself that I am in Thailand just to absorb how awesome that is and how much I love this place. It's not hard to put myself and other missionaries into a good mood. All I have to do is think... I'm in Thailand. :p

My prayers are for you all.

Love,

Elder Lilly

Life is great. Candy is sweet.

Dear Family,

 

Thanks for the pictures (from Crystal). 

I was able to print the article that you sent. I really enjoyed that talk. 

 

Life as a Zone Leader is quite different from life as a District leader. Personally, I really enjoyed being a district leader. I felt like my district was like my little family here in Thailand. We were blessed with many mighty miracles in our District. As a zone leader, our influence isn't quite as personal, but we do get to switch-off with every companionship each moves. One week of being a zone leader was good. Next week will be even better. There are five districts in the Ubon Zone, and ten companionships (that's a lot).

 

Right now I am serving in Eastern Thailand which is much different than Central Thailand. The majority of the people speak Isan/Lao, which is a different dialect of Thai. Luckily most people speak the central Thai language as well.  The Isan tones are way different than the Central Thai tones. 

 

Elder Piduporn and I switch-off with other districts about twice each week. The furthest district away from us takes about four to five hours of travel time to get there. So... we do a lot of traveling.

 

I really like how that after we had set a vision for our zone, and set a vision together as a district, that immediately the atmosphere changed and we noticed how the Lord was preparing a way for the vision to be accomplished.  When we gathered together for our normal district meeting we opened with a song and a prayer. But there was a special feeling of unity and strength as we knelt together one more time and prayed specifically for help in setting the vision for our area. I feel like the Lord accepted our prayer and the vision that we set together was revelation concerning the potential of our area. Now we have a written vision, goals, and plans that we will follow. It's a good feeling.

 

The Church is true!

 

As I was studying Preach my Gospel I noticed that in the Scriptures all of the Prophets testified of Christ. Naturally, they would. But even if they were explaining another principle of the Gospel they always testified of Christ. Sometimes as missionaries when we go out and invite it's tempting to sort of advertise the Book of Mormon (which we give out for free) and miss out on the opportunity to testify of Christ. But really, without Christ the book of Mormon would be nothing. But as we testify of Christ in connection to the Book of Mormon or vise verse, then we have more of an opportunity to invite with the Spirit and with Power.

 

I am enjoying my time here while it lasts. Thailand is a great place. They call it "The land of smile." I think that's very appropriate. Especially since most people struggle to pronounce the "s" at the end of a word.

 

Keep on working hard every day. I love you all,

 

-Elder Lilly

Dear Family,

This one will be short.

So, here's the news. Firstly I must say Happy Birthday to Dad and Justin. I'm glad you all had a fun time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. That goes to Rose too. Also, I must say thanks to Rose, I got her letter. I thought that was sweet. Also I got an unexpected package from Nanna and Aaron. YESSSSSSSSssss. Life is good. Elder Tom thought it was funny a few weeks ago when the mail came in a huge envelope and I made a show by punching my arm through it because it was empty except for the usual 24-month list. I wasn't really upset of course. It was good fun. He threatened to pray that I didn't get mail again in hopes that the envelope would suffer the same fate. I told him that he didn't need to pray. Heh heh

Now I am in Srisaket. My companions name is Elder Pituporn. Yessss, another Thai companion. President called us to be the Zone leaders over the Ubon Zone. We are working our hearts out. This will be an excellent moves. We will be switching-off with the Ubon district already, tomorrow. I have a feeling that time is going to start flying by even faster.

I love you all,

Elder Lilly

To my Loved ones

Dear Family,

Thanks for the words from Elder Busche's talk. That was an answer to my prayer for help. If you could send me a copy of the talk that would be very appreciated.

Being on a mission has helped me to maintain an Eternal perspective. It has helped me to notice the times that I am the most happy. It has helped me to prepare for the obvious difficulties that are coming up ahead. As I walk through the neighborhood I have opportunities to see all kinds of people and their life styles. I know which kind of life style I want to maintain. I know that the only way to truly be safe and receive a fulness of joy is through obeying the promptings of the Spirit.
I like Joseph Smith's teachings about revelation. He said that we need to obey the first promptings of the Spirit until a principal of revelation has developed in us. He also added that we should wake up every morning and dedicate ourselves to the Lord.

I believe that every moment of life is a trial that is pointing us to Eternal life. If we ask ourselves always what is it that God want's me to learn from this experience, then I believe our progression will accelerate much faster. I believe that the Lord can do mighty miracles. The Lord created the Earth, He created us, Through His Spirit He knows everything and has influence everywhere at the same time. Some of these things are hard to wrap our minds around, but that's okay. The Lord has given us His Spirit as our guide. That's pretty special.

I hope that our family will focus on an Eternal Perspective. Because today is a part of Eternity. And there's nothing else more satisfying, exalting, sacred, exciting our real than obeying God and His Holy Spirit.

Lets not waste time.

Love,
Elder Lilly