Week 83: The Power of the Book of Mormon

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are excited for this new year! For me, I didn't do really anything special for the new year, but I have made some great goals and I'm excited for a new beginning again. I have been in Thailand since 2018, so it's very weird to me that this will be the year that I go home. I'm excited to serve with all my might these last 5 months! 

This new year I'm really excited to focus my studies on the Book of Mormon and just really dive into it. We have been focusing our finding efforts, teaching efforts, and our studying on the Book of Mormon and I've seen so many miracles already. I'll share 2 really quickly...

First, my companion and I were visiting a member and at first he wasn't there because he was a little late to our appointment. However, a man was passing us and we started talking to him. We got to know him and I asked if he got anything cool for Christmas last week. He said he didn't get anything and it just so happened that I had a wrapped Book of Mormon in my hand at that time. I gave it to him and he opened it and we got to talk about the Book of Mormon and how it has completely changed our lives. He loved it and wanted to start reading it with us right then and there. It was such a miracle and it strengthened my testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon! 

Second, I was walking down the street and I saw some people lifting some boxes into a truck, so I stopped and helped them out. One of the guys, out of nowhere, asked me what church I'm from. So I told him and he said he loves reading books, including the Bible. I told him I had another book, called the Book of Mormon, that I would give to him the next time we met. He was thrilled and told us that he would meet us at the church! I believe the Book of Mormon opens people's hearts and is such a powerful tool in conversion. 

On Friday, I got to switch off in an old area of mine. I got to go back to Don Muang for a day and switch off with Elder Halversen again! It was so much fun because I got to visit so many people that I taught and show Elder Halversen some of the LAs that I visited while I was there. I saw Sister ซี (See), Brother เพชร (Pet) and Sister กิ๊ก (Gig)! I love that area and the people there so much! 

Lastly, I want to talk about 3 cool individuals and families we are teaching. One, is a little 9 year old boy named น้ำแข็ง (Nahm Keng), who is so ready for the gospel. We gave him the children's Book of Mormon and he had just been reading a ton from it. He was recounting the story of Joseph Smith and Nephi to us better than all the adults that we teach. He loves the gospel and he loves praying! 

Second, we are teaching this one family that has a ton of kids. The dad's name is โกฮัง (Gohang) and the mom's name is แก้ว (Gaew). They have such great faith and want to be baptized, but we haven't got the dad to come to church yet. We hope that the Lord will provide a miracle and help them get to church soon!

Third, สุวัฒน์ (Suwat) and his family. His son พัช (Pat) is actually a recent convert and wants us to teach his family, including his dad, aunt, and sister. The dad is progressing so much and is just the nicest guy, and his sister comes to church and has told us she wants to be baptized. I'm really excited for this family and for their desire to learn more about Jesus Christ and how to follow him. 

I'm so excited for this new year and for all the miracles in store! I hit my 19 month mark today, which is just crazy! I love you all and may God bless you this year. 

Love, 

Elder Lowe 

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Watermelon for the APs:  Elder Sunsion and Elder Lowe

Week 75: Trust in the Lord and good things will come

Hey everyone!!! I have hit my 75th week on my mission it's so crazy! I can't believe it's going so fast! This week was transfer week and I will be staying with my companion, Elder Despain. Not too much changed which I'm happy about because the other Elders in my house are all way chill. 

On p day last week we got to ride elephants!!! Last time I rode elephants was last year on my first transfer so yeah it's been a while. This time the elephants went in the water and started spraying water everywhere. How sick is that!!

This week I switched off with the Assistants to the President. We left for Bangkok on Wednesday night and switched off on Thursday. I switched off with Elder Butnon, who is Thai. He is so so good and we taught a lot of cool people. We taught this one person who was an investigator about a year and a half ago, but then was dropped due to a lack of interest. However, she showed up at church 3 weeks ago and the Assistants began teaching her again. Her name is Sister See (ศิ) and she is about 45 years old. We taught her the restoration and bore powerful witness about revelation and authority from God in these latter days. She wanted to know if we had that authority from God. We told her we did so she immediately asked if we could give a blessing to her daughter because she has been pretty sick lately, and so we set up an appointment for Saturday. She said that I had to be the one that gave the blessing, but we told her I'm actually from a different area. She then told us that she would wait for me to come back to Asoke so I could give the blessing. 

Elder Butnon and I could both feel the spirit as we were teaching the lesson, and its obvious that she felt it too. I love having the Spirit with me at all time; it is such a blessing! 

Our zone did so great this transfer and we saw a ton of miracles. I got the opportunity to do a lot of baptismal interviews this week and the people I interviewed were so fire! They are so prepared to be baptized. I actually got to teach one of them about a month ago on a switch off and they have changed so much. I am amazed how much the gospel changes people and how it blesses people's lives in tremendous ways!

I love working with the members and that has been a huge focus in my mission lately. We have worked with our ward mission leader, brother ปอ (paw), who is so fire. He loves serving the Lord and is always excited to go visit his brothers and sisters who have walked off the path just a little. Brother paw walks a path of discipleship and is an example to me of what true charity means. He sacrifices so much of his time to the Lord to work with us. On Monday, we bought a ton of Sarapao (a Thai snack - meat or cream wrapped in dough) that everyone loves. We took all of the Sarapaos around to a bunch of members and we got to see their faces light up. It's almost Christmas time and we want to light the world and serve everyone we can! I just love the people and the members here. They are honestly the best. 

I love you all so much. Oh yeah! We had the opportunity to visit a member pretty far away this week and they are having some hardships in their life. I got to share from Proverbs 3:5-6 that we just need to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and he will direct our paths. She started crying and realized that she just needs to have more faith and remember all that the Lord has given her already. I love the pure and understanding heart of these people. They are incredible examples to me of what a Christian or true disciple of Christ really is. 

Alright have a good week everybody! You are in my prayers.

Love, 

Elder Lowe

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