Chiang Rai

Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:55:15 
Subject: 
From: bryan.todd@myldsmail.net


Hey Everyone! 

How are you all doing? I'm doing well up here in Chiang Rai. 

So Songkran is over, thank goodness. We were able to stay pretty dry from all the water this last week, but it was really hot!  Chiang Rai is a really interesting place. It feels really familiar too me; like a mix of San Diego, Arizona, Park City, and Sun Valley or something. It's really hard to explain, but it's great.

The work is kind of going a little slow. We don't have a whole lot of investigators, and we have been working really hard this last week to get out there and find people. One really important thing that I learned in Thon Buri is that no matter what we are doing, we need to constantly be finding those whom the Lord is preparing to recieve the gospel. No matter what, we have to talk to everyone. It is part of our purpose as missionaries, to "Invite others to come unto Christ..." And as we learn in cahpter 9 of Preach My Gospel, nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach. We can't help anyone repent and prepare for the ordinances of baptism and confirmation unless we have found them and begun to teach them! Finding is super important. 

We did a lot of tracting this week.  A lot of it. And we did teach a few people.  But for the most part we didn't have any luck. We're getting out and doing our best, pushing ourselves to contact that one extra person. I know that when we do that, we show our dedication. The Lord will see that we are commited to bringing souls unto Him, and then He will bless us with great success. We could sit inside and think of creative ways to find people all day, but when we are proactive and get out and work, going forward in fatih, that's when we really learn how we can find people.  It's the way we show that we are commited, dedicated servants of the Lord.

    This week, we had a special training in Chiang Mai. It was really good! Really good. It gave us another tool to use for finding, which is fantastic. It's actually somehting that Elder Wagstaff and I tried to do in Roi Et, but we weren't sure how. But In March President Smith called the assistants and had them put together a training on it. Family History!!! It's all about using that spirit of Elijiah. It's just like it says in D&C 110 

 13 After this vision had closed, another great and glorious ^avision burst upon us; for ^bElijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said:

 14 Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—

 15 To ^aturn the ^bhearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—

 16 Therefore, the ^akeys of this ^bdispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful ^cday of the Lord is near, even at the doors.

This is so powerful, and true. In Preach My Gospel, Chapter 9, there are 2 pages devoted to finding investigators through family history.  It's given the most, and probably used the least in the world, at least in Thailand. But we talked and practiced how to invite using family history and it was really good! If anyone has any cool stories about any ancestors of ours, I would love to hear them so that I can share them with people we invite. 

Chiang Mai was a really cool place, but there are a lot of foreigners, or "farangs" as Thai people call them. It's the same in Chiang Rai too. People just come to vacation.  So there are a lot of farang places to eat.  Elder Susi loves the farang food. The Thai food here is really good. I keep hearing about this one dish, khaw soi. It's a northern dish, and I hear it's really good!  I'm way excited to try it. 

So yeah, this week was really just a lot of getting out and puonding pavement, trying to find people to teach  One of our investigators is really solid! Her name is A. She is so good! She would be getting baptized too, except she has to work on Sundays, and her boss won't give her time off. She said she has to wait until July until she can talk with her boss's boss at a conference. But she is willing to learn until then. She wants it too! it's way sweet. She wants to be baptized for her salvation! That's the way it should be. Please keep her in your prayers. Please keep Chiang Rai in your prayers too.  Pray that we may find those the Lord is preparing. 

Well,  I love you all so much! Thanks for eveything! Go forward in Faith!
Love,
Elder Todd