So Lately we have been working with this less active member here in Udon and he is one tough cookie. His name is กล้า (Glaa) and he has a lot of concerns and reasons that he isn't coming to church. He has lost his testimony of Joseph Smith and doesn't feel like he himself truly is a son of God. With these 2 main concerns, he has a lot of other little ones inside of them. My companion and I have been working with him ever since I moved in and he is definitely the hardest less active member that I have worked with. The reason that we do it is because for some reason we still have hope and faith that he will come back. He has been a member his whole life, he's an RM, has a family that are all members but his wife and kids are less active as well, and he is a former CES Seminary teacher. He knows his stuff and had to have had an amazing testimony and Elder Brown and I see that and are trying to bring it back. The hard part is, is that he is very hard headed and he isn't afraid to say what's on his mind. His concerns are so in-depth that he is afraid to tell them to people because he is afraid that they will make other people's faith weaker. He told us when we went to visit him last Saturday that he has told me and my companion more of his concern that he has told anyone else before. He said he is willing to tell us because he thinks that even if he tells us his concerns, it won't shake our faith. He hasn't let too many missionaries meet with him in fear that they will fall away. He has put a lot of trust in us to be the ones that will be able to bring him back and so with that trust we have been going over to see him once a week to try and talk over his concerns and bring his testimony back. It has definitely been a hard journey but we finally saw results from our continuous efforts. Saturday we committed him to come to church with us on Sunday and he committed to come. We weren't to sure how strong he was on his word but we believed him and yesterday we saw a miracle. As we were standing outside of the church greeting people, we there saw Brother กล้า (Glaa) ride in on his motorcycle with his sin, wearing a tie and a white shirt. Elder Brown and I just looked at each other in awe as we saw him walking up to the doors of the church. He actually came! It bore witness to me that caring enough to stick with him and teach him even though he has hard concerns is exactly what he needed. Maybe it wasn't so much of his doctrinal questions that he had but more of having someone to care enough to come and try and help him. I honestly don't think we have helped him too much on answering his questions on why things are the way they are but more of showing him that we care for him and we want him to come back. Seeing him come to church yesterday was a miracle and a huge answer to our prayers.
Well I'm out of time for the week but I just want you all to know that I love you and pray for you all daily! Talk to you next week!
Hey,
I have a question for you all. Here in Thailand, they have shops that make sports jerseys for way cheap and my companion gave me the idea to get matching family jerseys. What do you think if I got some of those for us? Would that be something cool? They would look like soccer jerseys and we could put whatever we want on them. If you decide you want to do it, let me know of colors and sizes. For measuring purposes, I wear a size large on the jerseys. Well just let me know what you think. I think it could be a cool souvenir to bring back but it all depends on if you would all wear them.
Steve
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Steve I love this story! You're definitely one whose faith couldn't be shaken and could have helped this man out. You're so great!! Love ya!
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