Why?

A Thailand friend recently asked me why am I going all the way back to Thailand with the blog?

My answer: Have you ever had a time in your life that so much happened that it was disorienting? That is Thailand for me. So much of my time and efforts revolved around the refugees, and that alone was bewildering.

As many of our refugee converts were sent back to Cambodia by the Immigration police, we could only hope that they would keep their new-found faith to build the kingdom of God in their homeland.

That left approximately 33 Cambodian families in the Asoke English ward.The Bishop asked me to go to their homes and do needs assessments. I went with the missionaries. I saw their “homes” – small cement rooms, no windows, prone to flooding. I spoke with them, as best I could, with missionaries translating for me. I learned that most of them were political refugees fleeing for their lives. People who protested communism and were burned out and persecuted.

Some of the refugees were taken to immigration prison. One Nepalese family, including four young girls, spent 2 1/2 years of their lives behind bars. They were members of our ward, and as such, I visited them every week bringing them vegetables & fruits and the Friend magazine. Our ward visiting efforts always included two visitors with each of us requesting either the husband or the wife. That way, both of them could come to the holding chamber and see each other. (They were obviously not held in the same cell.)

It was a hard way to live, and we were anxious for them. Some ward members even offered to pay their plane tickets back home, but this offer was declined. There was nothing for them in their home country. Their only hope was an assignment to a free country. They clung to that hope, and their new faith, like a life raft.

As new members in this last dispensation, these refugees are part of the gathering of Israel. President Nelson has said concerning the gathering of Israel,

Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel.

Russell M Nelson, Oct. 2020

While refugee life is shocking and disruptive, some good can still come to them. Missionaries provide a message of hope, and the church often provides a helping hand in food and resources.