The Refiner's Fire

My new boyfriend ;)

So this week has been quite the doozy! I had the awesome opportunity to do a switch-off back in my old area Asoke!!! And while I was there, my "child" Sister Belnap was with Sister Beuchter...also another greeny...Yup..we made them do a greeny switch-off, but honestly, Sister Belnap is waaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond her mission age. She has been such a blessing because yes, she really is talented in both the language and her teaching abilities. So i was not even worried for a second when Sister Peterson asked if Sister Belnap was up to a greeny switch-off for her first switch-off. I knew she was up for the challenge, and they didn't die!!!! :) so i call that a success :) And it was such a blessing for me to return to my old area!!! I never quite realized the impact that those members and converts in Asoke had on my life! It was fun to see some old faces and lots of new faces that have come into the church since I served there! Just a testament to me of how fast the work is moving here in Thailand!

Got to do a switch-off back in my old area Asoke!!!!!

This week has been so great though! We taught a lesson with President ทิพ (Tip), our Branch President, and he just really really helped our investigator Brother อึง (Ung) who has been struggling lately....specifically with smoking, his family accepting the change in his life, and he wasn't sure if he could take every Sunday off from work. But President was just such a boss and brought in the 10 commandments, tithing, basically everything we taught that day, and pointed to how all of these things were for the benefit of his family, to help build them up and strengthen them as a family unit! It was so cool! Brother อึง  then committed to coming to church every Sunday AND to quit smoking cold turkey right then and there! He asked for a Priesthood blessing, and he has been using so much faith since we first met with him!!! And so far so good, he hasn't smoked since that lesson!!! :) and I know it's because he knows that he has a Savior always there beside him to help lift him up when he feels like he can't go any farther! Such a cool lesson. AND, he has a date for baptism THIS SUNDAY!!!!! So everyone pray really hard that the spirit works within him all the time so that he can combat the adversary's attempt to derail him! I know that with faith, Brother อึง will be baptized this week, which will open the door for his wife and son to be baptized as well!!! The church is so true!!!

Learned how to make kimbap...yup...Korean food...woops. Sorry family! I'll learn how to make Thai food eventually!

Not much to do on p-days lately...so we go bowling....and i still stink at it :(

For my spiritual thought this week, I want to talk about the refiner's fire. While I was back in Asoke this week, I met a really really interesting recent convert. His name is Mickey, and he was actually baptized in L.A.! He was baptized this past September, and a few days after his baptism...he really faced the refiner's fire. So a little background on this guy: He got his undergraduate degree from Stanford, and went on to do law school at Harvard...yaaa....he's a genius this guy. Then after working for a bigwig law firm for a while, he realized this was not helping him become the person he truly knew he had the potential to become...So he quit his job to do some soul searching, which led him to travel the world, including Thailand, where he met his wife. And he started this health center business back in LA and in Thailand. So one day while he was home in LA he was doing yoga, and he fell asleep in a position that cut off blood circulation to the bottom half of his legs to the point where he passed out. Hours later, his friends found him unconscious at home in this yoga position, and he woke up in the hospital, paralyzed from the legs down....But never, and I mean NEVER has this man lost hope. Slowly but surely he is regaining nerve function again in his legs, but as a result of that freak accident, in one of his legs he had to get the majority of his calf muscle surgically removed and so walking will never be quite as easy....ya....but seriously, this guy is such a powerhouse! He told us that he KNEW the adversary would try to tare him down after he was baptized, and boy was he right. But he has never given up hope or lost faith. Weeks later after being released from the hospital, Mickey was able to receive the gift of the holy ghost, and has found the church here in Thailand now! 

"The refiner's fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God." (Elder Quentin L. Cook) 

I know that quote is true. I know that Satan will try to do all that he can to tare us down, but with the help of the Savior, with never-ending hope and faith, those hardships can work for our gain. We can gain qualities of character and righteousness that will perfect and purify us for the day where we will stand before our maker, and He will welcome us in with open arms :)

I know this church is true and that God loves and protects His children!

Love always,

Sister Lam