Actual Mission Stories: Booksellers

Booksellers

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

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Date: January 1970 (Story by Duane R. Hurst, © October 1973)

[NOTE: This story is based on actual events, but I changed the names of other people involved.]

      January 16 in Huai Khwang, Samsen District, Bangkok, Thailand. Although it was the Thai winter, the afternoon heat already had me feeling hot, sticky and very thirsty. It was my fourth day in country and my senior companion, Elder Lyle, had me giving door approaches in this dusty, poor section of our tracting territory.

      We had been in the area all morning—up until returning to our house for the midday meal at 3:00 p.m. Now we were back in Huai Khwang, tramping up and down dusty sois (small lanes) in search of new contacts and hoping they would turn into serious investigators. It was quite usual for us to be invited inside homes and be asked to explain our beliefs; however, all too often the same friendly people would politely decline a chance to study further.

      In the late afternoon I knocked on a wooden gate and called for the “chao khong ban” (head of the house). Shortly, the gate swung open and a cute girl with long black hair greeted us with a sweet smile. She gave us a surprised look and asked, “Are you selling books?” I laughed to myself at the thought of being mistaken for traveling salesmen.

      Elder Lyle explained that we were missionaries. The girl, named Tiw, said that she was interested and invited us inside to teach her. Actually, we weren’t excited to teach another Thai girl since many already attended church meetings. Our goal was to teach families, so Elder Lyle stated that we would only teach her if the father also would study. Tiw asked us to wait while she disappeared inside her home. She came back and opened the gate for us to enter. The entire family waited to meet us.

      Although we directed the discussion at the father, it was easily obvious that he was being polite and not very interested in our message. Tiw was keen to know more and asked many questions. After our lesson ended she invited us to return again later in the week. Her father agreed to that. Thus began nearly two years of gospel instruction for Tiw and members of her family or friends. I taught many of them for the next 11 months, before I was transferred to a north Thailand town. We gave her an English Book of Mormon since it had not been translated into Thai yet.

      She continued to learn and attend church throughout her two-year quest to gain a testimony. Eventually, she became a baptized member. Tiw later became an elementary school teacher, an airline hostess, and married a returned missionary in the temple. To this day, she and her family are active in church and temple service. The “booksellers” did not make a sale -- they changed a life.