Dear friends and families,
Thank you so much for the support. I wish I could do more to thank you
all. May God bless you! I will keep you in my prayers. I thank God
everyday for your support and provision for this mission.
I've been praying and asking God for ways to teach investigators of
the church to come to know of God. I've been searching for others
examples and inspirations, but felt that something is missing. Later
on in the week, I started to realize that I can study people's ways of
teaching, however I also realized that it becomes very personal when
we study our own stories. It becomes very close to heart as I study my
conversion story and how I can apply what I know to help others know
of God. The things I experienced in my conversion.
Roughly 2 years ago, I was in my freshman year of college. I was
sitting at a table outside the school's cafe. Then I got a phone call.
As soon as I hung up the phone, I felt helpless, feeble, and afraid. I
didn't know what to do, but I remembered how a friend of mine had
told me to pray to God. I went in a corner and didn't know how to
approach God but closed my eyes and allowed God to direct my life at
that moment. I asked God to help me, because I knew that my own
ability and power would never be enough. And if he would, I'd give my
life to him. God saved me that moment. Through the grace of God, I was
saved. I am humbled to know that I can have this privilege to serve
God, to let other people know that they can be saved as well. A
couple of weeks later, a friend of mine had asked me to watch a video of
a talk from one of the apostles of the LDS church. I felt inspired and
wanted to learn more about this man, Jesus Christ. I contacted the LDS
missionaries. I didn't understand of what they taught. It
seemed...crazy to believe it all in a short period of time. But I
wanted them to come back because it felt good to learn about Christ. I
just had this good feeling. From that day, my faith in Jesus Christ
began to grow. I feel humble how God had prepared me to meet Him and
to come to know of His Son. I feel humble that God allowed me to face
that trial of my life, so I that I was left to surrender myself to
Him. I feel humble that I became converted unto Christ through that
experience and before even knowing much about the life of Jesus
Christ. I am a convert to the church and I'm soooo blessed to have
your help. I still don't know much of the scriptures and some
doctrines of the church. I can speak Khmer, but I am still not very
familiar with the Gospel language. I have along way to grow in knowing
how to teach people in Khmer language about the Gospel. Ha A loooong
way to grow. I am prideful at times. I look inward when in my selfish
states, rather than to look outward to help others. But I know that
through The Atonement of Jesus Christ, I have the potential to learn
and grow. I know that True conversion can change other people's lives
because when looking at my reflection, I've have seen how Jesus has
changed my life.
At times, my companion and I think about how God had prepared others
to meet him before we even teach them. We realized that no matter what
we say and teach, the conversion isn't real until they experience it.
I realized how experience is life changing. There is a quote by Maya
Angelou that says something a long the line of " people may forget
what you said, they may forget what you did, but they will never
forget how you made them feel. People must experience Jesus Christ
and even the smallest pieces of His Atonement, the price He paid for
an eternal gain, so that we can experience true conversion. That's how
we hope to teach, for them to experience it themselves.
I am learning a lot haha so much about my own disabilities and
weaknesses here. My own pride and such. I used to think: Man, I'm
setting a side so much of my life. It was all about me and my
sacrifices. Like giirrrrl, get ova yo self!!! While here at the MTC,
It hit me that many people sacrificed for me, my families, my ward,
and Christ sacrificed for me so that it can become possible for me to
go on this mission to share the fullness of the Gospel. I am realizing
that what I truly need is to give up my own strengths and completely
rely on the Lord's strength. An internal sacrifice. God is teaching my
companion and I a lot on what we don't realize about ourselves.
Brothers and sisters, I know that there are things in this world that
we don't understand and are still unanswered.…even until our deaths,
but know that there is a great God and He has a plan for each of you.
I will depart this Tuesday and will arrive on Thursday. Haha, Cambodia
is a Pacific Ocean away! man time flies by...like umm a fly :/. But I
am leaving the training center with many great memories and learning
experiences that I'll neatly roll in my suitcase for the rest of my
life!
I get to see God's miracles everyday. So three of my classmates (
sisters) sat down on a bench by this man. He isn't a member of the
church but was invited to be at the MTC . So the three sisters started
a conversion with this man. They taught him about the general concept
of God, Jesus Christ, and the LDS church. The man wanted to know more
about how God can help him in his life. So the Sisters consistently
set up a time for them to meet with him. They told me about this man
and I asked if I could join in the lessons. So the 3 sisters,my
companion, and I set aside some personal time to meet and to teach
him. This man's name is Marco and is in his 50s. He came from Peru and
is pursuing degree at BYU. Man, almost every lesson, I felt like he's
the missionary. He teaches us so much about his life experiences. He
read the Book of Mormon in Spanish and even taught us about how God's
spirit taught him! I remembered a lesson we had with him that was
really powerful. We were just tearing up throughout the entire time.
Now Marcos had polio which made his life physically challenging.
Marcos is crippled from the waist down. Almost all of his life, he
struggled with self worth. He talked about true identity. He said that
he may not be the best looking man,but his wife loves him deeply. He
compared himself to how he is like a spec of gold powdered with dust.
His testimonies have opened my eyes to how this man is truly converted
unto the Lord, Jesus Christ. I testified to him that to be worthy is
never to be perfect. As we teach him, he realizes that his physical
flaws are his beauty. He told us that he'd rather have his wife tell
him that he is unattractive, but she loves him anyway than to say he
is handsome and she loves him. "Tell me I'm ugly but you love me
nevertheless." Because of God's love, Marco's life has changed. He is
starting to see how God sees him. It made me humbled because one of my
purposes was to help others see God the way God sees them, that Marco
is His child and Marco is loved. That God loves us all.
We invited Marco to be baptized this weekend. Before we even finished,
He surprised us that he would get baptized on the 15th of oct. We were
filled with joy because we knew that This man is an example of true
conversion.
We were all a bit sad because we could not make it to his Baptism. But
he promised us that he would write us every Monday and send us his
baptism pics. The spirit of God taught him. The 3 sisters, my
companion, and I just happened to be fellow travelers on his path to
his Conversion.
Well my time is up. Farewell, America!!!!
Thank you all so much.
With much Love and gratitude,
Sister Sok
This is Heidi from Germany. She is one of the investigators we taught.
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