Hi.
Long day of traveling today. Have you ever noticed that traveling makes you really tired? I think I finally figured out why. Driving in a car/bus/train/etc. makes you bump around a lot. You have to use a lot of muscles to keep your body in the same place. Very exhausting, especially in Thailand. Buses in Thailand are pretty "sketch" usually. Typically the floors are made out of wood and the ceilings are made out of aluminum (makes for nice hot temperatures in the sun.) Sometimes they have air conditioning, sometimes they have fans, and sometimes they have nothing but windows that don't roll down...sigh.
Luckily today was a really good bus, we had air and nice comfortable seats. Today for preparation day we had a zone activity in Kohn-gahn at the king cobra farm/reservation. Yes, cobra farm! It was fairly amusing. Lots of big snakes. They put on a snake show where guys would battle with the snakes. It looked terribly dangerous. That is a big difference between Thailand and America. If I saw that farm in America, I wouldn't be too worried. I would know that the trainers were licensed and that everything was perfectly safe; but in Thailand things are different. Most of the trainers had missing fingers, and their was no safety precautions. Fun stuff.
Needless to say, that took up the majority of my day today. Meaning I only have about 5 minutes to write this email. So sorry again, I seem to always be out of time. I should have time to share one story.
I've figured out the number one problem of missionary work. People do not understand the Restoration. People do not understand that we believe that we are the only true church. People do not understand the magnitude of Joseph Smith seeing God and Jesus face to face.
Once they understand the restoration, they are faced with a choice. They either have to think we are crazy or they have to investigate further. There really is no middle ground. Either Joseph Smith saw God or he didn't. If he didn't oh well.... If he did, that is a pretty significant event that should effect most peoples life. Once they understand the restoration, the rest of our message has meaning. The rest of the doctrine is so significant because if Joseph Smith saw God, then the rest is true.
Anyways, we have been teaching nothing but the Restoration lately. Over and over again until people get it. We had success with this method with a family we are teaching. They weren't very interested. We had been teaching them for about 3 weeks, and they were very complacent, but once they understood the restoration they wanted to meet with us, they wanted to keep commitments.
To make a long story short, they started praying as a family. Last time we saw them we had their 9 year old daughter say the closing prayer of the lesson. It was a very powerful experience.
I know that through the Prophet Joseph Smith the Gospel was restored to the earth. I know he saw and talked to God and Jesus Christ! I am so grateful for this knowledge and testimony.
Anyways, I got to go. Talk to you in a week, I'll be in Bangkok next week for moves. See you then. Love you.
Love,
Elder Brown
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