Today was stake conference. Seeing as how we are the only international ward in all of Thailand the conference was obviously in Thai (except the couple speakers who could only speak English(visitors from the states.)) No worries though, they gave us these sweet headphones so we could listen to someone translate it to English. It was pretty cool because this Thai lady was sitting next to me and every time we sang a hymn, her in Thai and me in English, I could but help think about how awesome it is that we are from completely different worlds and yet we have everything in common because we are sisters in the gospel. Happy Moment :)
Anyway, that's not what I wanted to write about. What I really wanted to write about was this family I met today when we gave them a ride home from church, a mother, a father, and their daughter who's probably about 7 or 8. The Family is Iranian and they were forced to flee from their country when they joined the church. If they had stayed in Iran they would have most likely been killed for betraying the faith of their country. Speaking of, I'm not exactly sure how they learned about or joined the church, I'm pretty sure we don't have missionaries in Iran for that very reason. I wanted to ask them but the mother was in such a fragile state that I didn't want to risk upsetting her. Anyway, so I guess they are officially recognized by the UN as political or religious refugees (I don't know if religious refugees is actually a term) Their hope was to only have a short stop over here in Thailand before they continued onto the states where the wife's brother lives. Things haven't been running smoothly though and they've been stuck here in Thailand much longer than they originally anticipated. They whole situation has had it's wear on the wife and she hasn't been able to get out of bed for a month. Even still, this morning the whole family got up and left for church two hours early so they could get there on time for their little daughter to be able to sing with the other primary kids.
When it was all over and we were driving them home I just so touched by the spirit of their family and all they have had to endure for their faith. They honestly are modern day pioneers. I was especially impressed with the father who has literally been holding their family together since they got here. I watched as he caressed his wife's cheek as she feel into an exhaustive slumber on the front sleep and the way he interacted with his daughter as she played with Laina on the back seat. It was all very touching.
Obviously I don't do the story justice, especially not this late at night when I'm trying to hurry to bed. It was a truly humbling experience though which caused me to reflect on how much I take for granted in my life. Especially when it comes to the gospel. I'm so grateful there are people like them in this world who can show the rest of us what it truly means to believe in something.
Well, there are many other things I could write about but I think I'm just going to end it there. I hope all is going well back home and that everyone is safe. If there are more typos than usual in this post (yes, I am aware of the fact that there are usually typos in my posts) it's because I'm not going to take the time to go back over it. I hope that hasn't distracted from the story.
Anyway, Goodnight!
Carrie
I love this story. How did they join the church? Where in the States are they headed? Will they come to Utah? Adding them to my prayers. Great story!
ReplyDeleteOk, so I asked Lynette how they learned about the Church and she said they learned about it after they had already arrived here in Thailand. So I guess they didn't flee their country for religious reasons (that makes the story slightly less dramatic)but the fact of the matter is still that they can't ever go back or they would be killed and the are recognized by the UN as refugees. They just found out that they will be allowed to move to the states sometime before Christmas and Yes, last I heard they were hoping they could move to Utah.
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