สวัสดีคะครอบครัวที่รัก!
:)
The ward in
Chiang Mai is amazing! It's actually still a branch because it's not a stake up
here yet. But, in Chiang Mai there are two branches. The first meets at 9:00 am
and the second meets at 1:00. We are over the second branch with the zone
leaders. It's fun having 1:00 church. I really, really like it. It makes it easier
to get people to church in the first place, and it gives us time to invite and
to make lots of church calls. The branch president is so great. He is
so willing to serve and help everybody and he just has this kind, calming
presence. I feel like everything just runs smoothly here and there's a lot of
love and kindness here. I LOVE it here! And there are definitely a lot of
tourists! We have a couple falang families that are here with the military and
school. They are cute! In fact for FHE tonight we are going to the Darting's
for Hawaiian Haystacks and cheesecake! Wahoo!
Yesterday at
church a falang couple in their 60's or so came because they have a fly-fishing
company here in ChiangMai and in Burma. They're based out of Logan. Fun to talk
with them!
I've been
hearing about the Open House in Bangkapi from the members on fb and I wish I
was there for it! Sounds like it was quite a big deal!
So, this was
such a great, amazing, crazy week! I don't even know where to start, so much
happened. I guess I'll start with Tuesday: Training from Pres. Senior and switch-off's
with the Chiang Rai sisters! Awesome, awesome day! So, President and Sister
Senior have been traveling around the country visiting districts to give more
one-on-one training! It was so wonderful. There were so many awesome
things that I learned, but I think the take-away message I got from it was that
we need to be showing more love to the people we teach. As a mission we have
become very good at teaching people for baptism, but maybe we need to be focusing
more on teaching people for conversion. Pres. and Sis. Senior really stressed
that we need to be showing our love and charity for our investigators by asking
"inspired questions" and identifying their real concerns. In this
mission we tend to baptize people really fast and that's totally fine. Pres.
Senior talked about how we don't need to slow down the time it takes to prepare
people for baptism, but we do need to maybe take an extra ten minutes in a
lesson, or give them a random call, etc... to just listen and understand them.
Help them know we love and care for them and are willing to
do whatever we can to help them along their conversion process. It was so
wonderful!
We did a few
role plays and then went and grabbed lunch together. Afterwards, we switched
off with Sister Barber and Holmes. We stayed here in Chiang Mai for it. I spent
the day with Sister Barber- she is just the best! Loved working with her! She's
a great teacher and I learned a lot. Right after the training we had an
appointment with one of our recent converts, Brother Dtong. This guy is so
awesome. He and his family moved to Germany about 4 or so years ago. His family
wanted him to return to Thailand to be a monk so he came, but with no intention
of going to the wat. He came to the church one day looking for work and he met
with the missionaries and ended up getting baptized. Anyway, President Senior asked to come help us teach in the lesson. I was a
little nervous, but it was such a great experience and a confidence boost! I
really tried to apply what we'd just learned from the training. haha Pres.
Senior had some great insights and scriptures and Brother Dtong had awesome
questions! A really great experience! So those were some of the highlights from
Tuesday and switch-offs.
So, we had
quite a few investigators this week: First off was Th. from Cameroon! I ran
into him while we were inviting at a mall and he agreed to meet with us. He
originally was playing soccer for Buri Ram, but had an injury and now he buys clothes/shoes/accessories
from Thailand and sells them back to Cameroon. Anyway, he said he is not
satisfied with his religion and wants to learn more about our church. He is
reading the Book of Mormon in French online!
This week we
were able to meet with S. a couple of times! Sis. Tilley contacted into him
a week or so before she headed home. He then moved to Bangkok, but then last
week we just barely found out that he'd changed his mind and is back in Chiang
Mai! He understands what we teach very well and willingly keeps all the
commandments! He has a goal to be baptized in September. He couldn't come to
church yesterday because of work, but he's working on getting that squared
away! So, we have a lot of hope for S. and are so excited and grateful to
be working with him!
Another
wonderful investigator is Dt. We invited into him a couple weeks ago. He
has met with us a couple of times and really likes what we teach. He came to
church last week, but did not come yesterday. Hopefully we'll meet with him
soon.
Also, we have
another investigator named F. She wants to get baptized, but was a little
hesitant about it. We were trying to figure out what the problem was and it
finally came down to the fact that she was afraid of getting dropped in the
water! So, we assured her she'd be fine and now she's way excited to be
baptized.
We had quite a
few new investigators come to church on Sunday for the first time, but I'll
write more about them next week once we have the chance to meet them and teach
them more! I really feel like we are being so blessed right now! Exciting time!
So grateful!
This week we
also had a lot of awesome opportunities just to spread a little light to
people. We met with a lot of travelers and foreigners that were very interested
in our work. We met with some Chinese tourists, a German couple, and a man from
Canada. We had really nice conversations with them all and were able to
introduce them to the church and our beliefs. After talking to all these people
Sis. Bentley and I just felt so happy! These people are now at least a little
closer to Christ and have the information to contact the church in their home
countries.
Anyway, we had
two Chinese tourists come to the church one morning while we were there. One
was a man in his 50's named Zh. and his niece in her 30's or so named L.
One of the elders had invited them and they randomly showed up at the church.
We were the only ones there so we gave them a tour of the church. It was the
neatest thing. When we walked into the Sacrament room both of them just gasped
and then paused. They really felt the Spirit, but of course they did not
understand it. Zh. asked if he could take a picture so that he could remember
how he felt here. They were so receptive and excited to learn. Zh. even told
us that if we come to China he will let us stay at his house and cook us food.
They are so cute! Anyway, L. came to church on Sunday. Zh. was not able to
come. The elders are taking care of them. They'll be here for a month, so
they'll be coming on Sundays and meeting with the elders during the week! So
amazing! Really spiritual experience!
Okay, lastly,
our very exciting news: Sister Bee was baptized! This girl is just so amazing!
She had met with elders in the past on the street but was not interested in the
message. However when a Christian lady came to the university and prayed with
her class she said she felt something different and began researching God
online. Well, she remembered the elders and decided to come to our church a few
weeks ago. She accepted everything so willingly and happily. One day we met up
for a lesson and she had been fasting all day long. Another time we were explaining
the baptismal covenant and the Gift of the Holy Ghost and she literally
clenched her fists and started shaking because she was so excited! On the day
of her baptism she was just beaming! She told us that before she was baptized
she never gave much thought to life, but now she has direction and understands
her purpose and she feels more like an adult. Sister Bee is so amazing. I love
her so much! She was truly prepared to receive the gospel. She's also made a
ton of friends. One thing that I just love about Thai people is that they
welcome everyone in so happily and quickly. People that enter the church here
feel like their part of the family from day one and they all become very close.
It's so amazing! I LOVE THAILANDDDDD!!!!
So, this was an
awesome week! This email doesn't even cover it all, but I need to get started
on pictures.
Oh big news!!!
I found a REAL brownie... a real, chocolatey, sweet, dense, chewy brownie. With
nuts!! In heaven! I think this may be my first real brownie since I left the
MTC.
I
love you all so much! Have an amazing first
week of school and have safe travels and run fast!
Love,
Sister Stevenson
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