One significant lesson we taught was with a devout Buddhist man who let us in to demonstrate that he's open-minded. We initially sat down and taught him off of the invite about the Godhead. He supported everything we said, but wasn't convinced that it really affected him because he's Buddhist. It was quite a challenging lesson; he always tried tying everything we said back into Buddhism and support the claim that every religion is the same, so it's not important what anyone believes. We ran out of time that day and had to leave, but asked for a return appointment to introduce more. He agreed, but we didn't have a lot of confidence in his progression.
Well, we got to meet with him and teach a full Restoration lesson. At first it was the same story; and he was jumping around all over the place trying to poke holes in our lesson. But when we got to Joseph Smith's experience, he got quiet and let us speak. Words flowed and the spirit was there as we testified of God the Father and His Son, and the Restoration of the Gospel. We testified that Buddhism may be good, but it was not correct. He paused and we could see the words sink in. He spoke again, but was no longer challenging and he told us that this was worth studying more. I was impressed by the weight that our words had, and the effect of the spirit in confirming truth. I can't say if he will get baptized or even if he will progress further, but I can say that he felt the confirming witness of the Holy Ghost that evening.
Along a similar thread, I've been perplexed by a common misunderstanding we encounter here; that of relative commandments. For instance, Buddhist people hold that they can't kill any living thing because it's a sin. Not even a mosquito that's biting their leg. But if you're Christian, no problem, because in Christianity it's not sin. They'll even say "No, it's ok for him to kill that fly because he's Christian, so for him it's not sin." As if the definition of what constitutes "sin" is up to the individual, defined by man. I guess this stems from a lack of understanding about a supreme being who has established over-arching expectations for all of His children, regardless of where they were born or what they believe. And I am grateful for this understanding.
Pokemon Go made it to Thailand last Saturday, and we are beginning to see the first signs of voluntary enslavement to mobile devices on a whole new level.
That's it for this week!
Elder Parish
No pictures today because my SD card has been corrupted. Hope I can fix that...
Actually I had my companion send me this one. Who knew that this is the guy who created the universe?
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