From Karsten Hinckley
Teaching in Thailand
Miracles! When I first got to Bangna I found English
referrals in my desk and I almost didn’t call any of them. I was prompted to
call them though, and I found one man out of the 10 or 15 that were in my desk.
After a 30 minute conversation with this man he asked me, "Do I need to
get baptized again?" From that day I prayed for this man. He has had a
question whether Joseph Smith was a prophet or not. After 3 months of praying,
fasting, and working with this man he got his answer. He was baptized
yesterday! During his testimony he said, "The missionaries never gave up
on me." I felt a great feeling of satisfaction from that. I had so much
joy for him! I gave him such a big hug!
Another woman was baptized as well. I will tell you a little
about her story. Two years ago, she prayed to God. She asked, "Help me
feel of your love and to know when I find it." After that she met the
sister missionaries. They talked to her about the Book of Mormon, but she
rejected it. A few weeks ago she met one of the missionaries in my house. He
asked her about baptism and she told him that she had already been baptized. A
few days later I guess I met her (I really don’t remember meeting her. We meet
a ton of people every day.). She gave me her number. What she thought was, "Oh
he will never call, so sure I’ll give him my number." I called her three
times and she said no all three times. I then crossed her out of my planner.
One day we needed to find another new investigator, so Elder
Noyce and I looked through our planners. I found that lady I crossed out of my
planner. I called her and, after a few minutes of talking, she agreed to meet.
We met with her and explained how the Gospel has been restored by a prophet
(Joseph Smith). We asked her to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.
Between the time she got her answer and our first visit, she went back to her
old church. She said," I just felt really bad. I didn’t like what they
were talking about at all." One night after praying, she was awakened by a
celestial presence. She told us, "I don’t know it if was a dream or real,
but I got my answer. A bright light came into my room and I was awakened. I
woke up and couldn’t see a thing. I shut my eyes and tried to go back to sleep.
A voice from the light said, ‘Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and the Book of
Mormon is true.’ Elders I got my
answer." She has told us a few times that she feels Gods love when she is
here. She was baptized yesterday! I am so happy for her!
