Week 43: Miracles in Surin! May 22

สวัสดีคับทุกคน พวกคุณเป็นยังไงบ้าง! Sorry everyone, I haven't emailed in a few weeks. I guess I've gotten a little lazy with these emails haha. But yeah, Surin's actually been way good lately. Elder Lindley and I have been seeing a lot of good things going on here in this area. Sometimes I don't always notice the miracles and blessings that we experience, but when I stop and think of the things that I've been a part of and the things that I've seen, I realize that the miracles and blessings really are in this work. But aside from that, let's start with some of this past week's craziness. On Monday night, the power in our house went out. In every district, we have a houseleader who deals with the house money. Our houseleader (it wasn't me) didn't pay the electricity bill so they shut the electricity off. Yay! You guys might be thinking "ok what's the big deal, just deal with it". No. When the power goes out, that also means that the AC goes out and if the AC goes out, then you're most likely in for a rough night. It's HOT here guys, and humid. A night without AC would've been the most miserable thing ever so our district decided to sleep in the church Sacrament room that night instead. Even though I slept on hard ground that night, it was ten times better with AC in the church than without it back home haha (and yes, one of the APs said it was ok). Some of the people we talk to ask us if we live at the church and so the other day one of our new investigators asked us that and I was like "yeah we don't... for the most part" ha.

Last Sunday, Elder Lindley and I had two baptisms for our investigators, Sister Obaw and Brother Mobai . They're grandkids of one of the members here in Surin and they're seriously so awesome. They're a little hard to teach at times and they can be a bit stubborn, but they're memory is amazing and they have faith in the gospel. It's interesting teaching kids because you have to try to teach simply in order to help them understand the message your sharing. For example, when we had to teach tithing, we used candy to explain that we pay ten percent to the church (1 out of the 10 candies haha). This gospel is for them as well and they deserve to know that they have a Father in Heaven that loves them! This past Sunday, we reached a church attendance record of 63! Woohoo! We usually get around 40 members at church, but yesterday was a lot different! We had some of our investigators come as well. Sister Baam and Sister Theh are cousins that we're teaching right now that have baptismal dates for this upcoming Sunday. They live about 70 km away from the city, close by Cambodia. They're so awesome! They stayed at a member's house this past Saturday night so that they could come to church on time the following morning. What a sacrifice. I know that the Lord will bless them as they continue to sacrifice for the Lord. One of my favorite scriptures is 3 Nephi 13:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." I know that when we put the Lord first in our lives, we'll be blessed. Heavenly Father is blessing us every single day. Just look around and think about the good things that have happened to you this past week!! I know that God lives and loves us. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. The church is true. 

Elder Rawlinson