Even though it was February or March of that year, it was a sweltering day on my mission (they all were) and I was street contacting with my companion Elder Wengreen (this is Matt, if you hadn't already guessed). We were walking down a street talking to every man we saw and having no luck. It was nearly time for lunch and I decided that no matter what, I was going to get an appointment with the next male I saw. As we passed the next house I saw a young man inside and thought, "to young and it is illegal to knock doors in Thailand, so skip it." But an oath is an oath even to oneself, so I did what I should do, I walked right into the house (without knocking), approached Num, gave him a Book of Mormon, asked him to read 3 Nephi 11 and told him that I would return the next day.
The next day we returned and sat down to read 3 Nephi 11 with him, confident he hadn't read it. At the same time his sister was getting us water, so I asked her to join us an we would read it together. At this point she told me that she had already read the chapter and them some. So yeah, I got excited.
I was able to teach Nok and Num for the next few weeks before moving back to Bangkok just prior to their baptism which was sad to miss, but here is a picture of them on that day.
Now fast forward 11 1/2 years to last week. I was trying to find an old friend and found that he had a facebook page. So I thought, maybe I am a bit old for this, but I will bite the bullet and join up on facebook so I can locate this friend. Once I signed up, I immediately had a request to be friends with a mission buddy (which took me by surprise I must say). This lead to an avalanche of friend requests among which was Mayura Seesarn aka Nok, who was still very strong in the church and doing her best to keep Khonkaen strong. Anyway, I came in contact with her again on a really hard day and it turned everything around for me. The icing on the cake was this picture below of Nok at the Hong Kong Temple (she is on the left). There is no greater reward for missionary service than temple attendance. Thanks for staying strong Nok.
7 comments:
I love it!!
That is so great Matt.
Oh, and Congrats on another girl!!!
What a blessing! I have yet to succumb to the world of Facebook, despite many a friend's recommendation. Maybe one of these days I'll give in. Tell the girls we're excited to see them (and you and Stacie) in just a few weeks.
That is awesome and the temple makes it perfect. Thanks for serving a mission and finding the people you did.
oh, I love it! Yeah for Nok! (and for Khonkaen!) And I'm going to go find you on facebook right now :)
That is so awesome Matt! Thanks for the story.
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