Monday, January 18, 2016

Week 10 in Field - Faith Brings About Miracles!



This transfer in Srinakharin has been "slow."
It was not uncommon for my companion and me to be stumped at what to plan for the next day...
We needed to find people to teach, but we knew that contacting was neither of our strong suits. 
Thankfully, the Lord is merciful and somehow, we still had a handful of investigators: a referral, a walk-in, someone that the Elders turned over to us, and someone from English Class.
Unfortunately, two of them were dropped not too long after.
My companion and I knew that we had to change something if we were to be more successful in finding people. 
As we discussed how to find people, I remembered the 40-Day fast that our YSA branch had done back home for missionary work!
We decided that it would be a great way to get the members more involved, to have more unity in missionary work in Srinakharin and to show our faith to the Lord.
We also decided that it would be a fantastic way to get referrals from each of the members who fasted! 
So, with the help of our Relief Society President and Elder's Quorum President, we launched off our 40-Day Fast.
We asked members to sign up for one day to fast, and prayerfully consider one person that would be interested in learning about the gospel. 

This past week was our first week of fasting, and already we have seen more miracles than I ever hoped for!

On Friday, Brother C (from last week's blog post) spent an entire day out with the Elders! 
He went to go serve Sister Phan again, went to go visit an RCLA, came to Book of Mormon Class AND helped teach an investigator! Then...
For the first time in a year, he attended church with his son!! 
He is a completely different man than the man that I first met at his home, two months ago.
He is a man filled with light again! 

Also on Friday, we decided to prayerfully consider where to go contacting.
Sister Blaylock felt that we should go to soi 31, so that's where we went. 
It was a short soi, with a dead end in sight...
It didn't seem to look like much, and there weren't very many people. 
But, at the very end of that soi, was Fai. 
She had been to a different Christian church before, for activities, but agreed to come to ours on Sunday. 
And she did come!! With her 2 sons, her sister and her daughter! 
I could not explain the amount of joy we felt seeing them at church! 
They had a great time and stayed all three hours.

Other miracles that we saw on Friday came in little bundles of 2 year olds. 
While we were contacting, we invited a grandmother and her little grandson. 
We gave them an inviting card with the picture of Jesus and some children. 
The grandmother turned to the little boy and pointing to Christ, asked, "Do you know Him?" 
The little boy had been studying the picture, pointing to the little children as if out of familiarity, and when his grandmother asked him the question, he answered without hesitation, "YES!"
Another little girl who was walking by stared at the picture I gave her, her eyes glued to the Savior. 
As her mother tugged her along, the little angel turned back to look at us, eyes wide.
I have absolutely no doubt that these little children still remember Christ from their pre-mortal life. They were just there with Him after all! 

It's crazy to think that we all had faith in Christ before we came to live here on Earth. 
We all watched from above as Christ atoned for our sins in Gethsemane. 
We had absolute faith that He would be our Savior, and we stood on His side during the Great War in Heaven. 
We were strong enough to stand up to Satan. We won once before. 
It's really sad to think that so many people have lost their faith somewhere along the way. 
That's why I am a missionary now. 
I am missionary so that I can help even just one soul remember what they already know. 
The gospel rings familiar to anyone who is humble enough to accept it because it's the truth that we all knew before we came here to Earth. 
It saddens me to see so many people struggling in Satan's grasp here in Thailand, but there are also so many beautiful people who are ready to hear the gospel!
It is my most sincere prayer that I will be able to find them, and help them return to Christ. 

By Sunday, the first week of our 40 Day Fast was overflowing with miracles. 
The day before, on Saturday evening, Sister Blaylock and I decided to set up 12 extra chairs in our chapel with faith that those chairs would be filled.
To our utmost delight, we saw almost all of those seats filled with LAs and New Investigators who came flooding through the doors of our chapel! 
And to add the cherry on top, our 40 Day Fast Board was complete with at least one member signed up for each day! 
I know that this work of Salvation is only possible because our Lord is at the helm.
He knows who to seek and who is ready to accept the gospel.
And this work is not possible without the help of the members! 
Missionaries are only here to assist in teaching investigators.
Without the faith and help of the members, the work cannot progress! 
We need the members to stand up for what they know to be true and share the truths in the their hearts with those around them! 
I am so very grateful for the opportunity to witness the amazing miracles happening here in Srinakharin right now! 
When Saints are joined together in fasting and prayer, mighty miracles are brought about!







The story of the travelling hat:



















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