Elder and Sister Kearon's visit, March 2026

Elder and Sister Kearon were visibly moved as they exited their car and walked toward the wide stairway leading up to the second floor of the church building in Vientiane, Laos. On the steps stood the members of the small branch, dressed in their Sunday best, with some wearing traditional cultural attire, eagerly waiting for the chance to meet an apostle in person.

The members greeted the couple with a respectful “nop,” pressing their hands together at chest level while bowing their heads. Elder and Sister Kearon paused to take in the reverent scene, returning the nops with warmth.

After a group of Young Women presented them and President and Sister Johnson, the area leaders, with a beautiful bouquet of cut flowers for Sister Kearon and leis for the other leaders, they ascended the stairs and took their places among the members for a group photo. Inside the chapel's entrance, everyone received a personal greeting from Elder and Sister Kearon as well as President and Sister Johnson.

Following a few testimonies from local members and the Johnsons, the Primary children sang a beautiful rendition of "I Am a Child of God" in Lao.

Sister Kearon gave a short talk where she reminded us that contention is not Jesus’ doctrine, that He wants us to live in love and harmony. She also emphasized that next to the temple, our homes are among the most sacred places, and that Jesus’ Spirit can be more abundant in our homes as we focus more on the Savior.

After her talk, Elder Kearon began his remarks by expressing how he felt the children's testimonies reflected the truth of the song—that they know they are children of God. These were the voices of future missionaries sharing their testimonies.

He acknowledged that he cannot adequately express the love he feels in his heart but knows that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. The incredible faith and devotion to the Savior was felt. Reflecting on his journey, he mentioned that at the age of 26, while learning about the gospel from missionaries in London, he felt a deep sense of peace and attributed it to the missionaries themselves. However, he later realized that it was much more than that. When he received a blessing from a friend, he experienced something beautiful and profound—an extraordinary lightness of feeling, love, and wonder.

That same overwhelming feeling returned when he saw the Lao members on the stairs. It is indescribable; the love felt is more than his own—it is the love of God and Jesus Christ for us. He noted that Paul faced similar difficulties in expressing his feelings. Words cannot adequately describe Heavenly Father’s love.

Elder Kearon expressed gratitude for the members’ goodness, for living the principles and practices that the young children sang about, and that Elder and Sister Johnson and Sister Kearon taught earlier. He reminded them that while we will not be perfect, we must continue striving for more faithful and devoted lives.

He conveyed love from President Oaks and the Twelve Apostles, noting that it had been too long since a member of the Twelve visited Laos. It seemed fitting to be prompted to visit Laos shortly after the passing of Elder Holland, who may have advocated for this trip.

Pointing to the beautiful roses on the pulpit, he compared them to the members of the branch. The flowers are a symbol of love and celebration, looking beautiful from a distance. Each member is like a rose; however, he cautioned against putting yourself, brother, sister, husband, wife, parent, child under a microscope. Instead, appreciate the beauty from a reasonable distance. Everyone is a precious child of God, and we should avoid contention.

President Oaks recently spoke about humility, a challenging concept to define. It involves subordination, putting others before ourselves, and avoiding the pride that leads to negative moments. Hopefully, the congregation has recognized this.

Elder Kearon described the Plan of Happiness as beautiful and encouraged everyone to see themselves absolutely in the plan. We should be surrounded by that plan, which brings peace, love, and joy—even during difficult times. It surrounds us and is central to our lives.

Heavenly Father wants us to experience eternal joy, to deepen our understanding, and to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. He urged everyone to find time daily for scripture study and prayer, noting that covenants draw us closer to the Savior.

Elder Kearon expressed gratitude for the wonderful teachings and the light emanating from the members. If you feel your light isn’t as bright as you wish, identify and fix what is wrong. As you address challenges and strive for greater understanding, you will not be pulled back down.

He shared an analogy about a specific type of crab caught and placed in a bucket. While in the bucket, the crabs do not interfere with one another, but if one tries to escape, the others pull it back down. This behavior mirrors human nature. You may encounter family members or friends who try to pull you down. Be ready – resist it – be happy.

In 1 John 4:16, it states, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” This is so true. God is love. It is what they felt when they arrived and saw the members on the stairs.

Elder Kearon emphasized how blessed they felt to experience some of Heavenly Father’s love for us when they saw the members. Even if we are not perfect it is a blessing to have everyone present. God sent His Son to help with that. He encouraged everyone to focus on Christ and to seek Him daily, recognizing themselves in the Plan of Happiness. Each day offers a fresh start.

He reminded them that the fruit of the Spirit includes joy, peace, love, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith—our true blessings. Heavenly Father gives more freely than we understand. He sent His Son to help us understand and save us from death and sin. We are all children of God.

Apostolic Blessing:

- See yourself as a treasure of God

- Respond to and trust your best impressions and inspirations

- Feel the enveloping love of Heavenly Father and the Savior

- Be blessed in your studies, work, and family life

- Cultivate love in your heart for your brothers and sisters

- Embrace a love that is beyond description

It was a wonderful opportunity for the Lao members to be able to be so close to and speak with a servant of God. The last time an apostle was here was 2006 when Elder Jeffrey R. Holland dedicated Lao for the work of the gospel. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2006/06/news-of-the-church/jeffrey-r-holland-dedicates-laos?lang=eng

My personal favorite picture of our branch because Craig is in it 💕 He was the official photographer, so he took all the other pictures. Elder Kearon asked one of the men who came with him to take this so that Craig could be in it.

The official branch picture. Love, love, love these people! The chapel is on the second floor.

A young woman presents Sister Kearon with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Everyone is greeted by Elder and Sister Kearon and Elder and Sister Johnson, our area leaders, as they enter the chapel.

Our cute Primary choir singing I Am a Child of God in Lao.

Our brand president's wife, Kong, translating for Sister Kearon.

Our branch president, Tiengsack, translating for Elder Kearon.

Most of the Hmong members in our branch, I adore their traditional outfits! There are coins in them that tinkle when they move. The clothing makes them hot, so they do not wear them regularly. I wish they would!

Craig and I with the Kearons.

Surprise! This man who travels with Elder Kearon is married to a cousin of Steve Harshberger, a good friend! The world is SO small!

Ancient Eastern Medical Treatment

I take medication that inhibits my body from making estrogen. This hormone has anti-inflammatory properties and lubricates the joints. Because this medication makes my estrogen levels so low, my joints are stiff and achy, especially the knees. Advil helps temporarily, but I do not like taking a lot of drugs.

Because we live in Asia I thought I would try acupuncture. Friends who have been treated this way say it works, so I went to the medical center that builds and finds recipients for the wheelchairs we donate. They have doctors and offer a few medical services, one of them is acupuncture. Our friends there were more than happy to introduce me to the doctor.

I was not convinced it would help, but thought it would not hurt to try it. This is my experience -

The receipts from the consultation with a doctor and the first treatment. The cost for the first treatment includes a bag with the needles, massage gel, alcohol wipes, and two gloves for the nurse to use. The total cost for this was 307,000 LAK (less than $15). The subsequent treatments cost 150,000 LAK for the treatment and 20,000 LAK for the needles, a total of 170,000 LAK (about $8). You cannot beat the price.

This is the acupuncture room. The nurse sits at the desk in front of the door in the back of the room when she is not working on someone. You see two of the four tables where patients are treated. The chairs on the left are for family and friends who are waiting. On the wall there are charts with different points highlighted depending on what problem you need to be treated for.

The nurse is putting the needles in my knees. They are long and very thin. You barely feel when most of the needles are inserted, a few of them feel like a pin prick, but once they are in you no longer feel them.

After the needles are inserted she attaches electrical cords to some of them. 

It looks like tiny jumper cables for a car are attached to me. 

If you look closely you can see the needle closest to the camera vibrate. When the nurse first turned on the electricity I was not prepared and jumped a little. She was concerned she had turned it too high, but I was just surprised. It is a strange pulsating sensation. The treatments last about 30 minutes. After the nurse removed the needles she massaged the area with the massage gel and helped stretch the leg.

That was the first two treatments. The third one was a little different. The acupuncture part took about 20 minutes. After the nurse removed the needles she added cupping. This is when small glass cups are heated and attached to your body. The heat in the cups create suction so that they "stick" to you. It was a surprise to me that it was part of the treatments as that is completely different from acupuncture.

Here the nurse is heating the cups and attaching them around my knees.

That is a lot of cups on such a small area 😳 There is pressure from the cups as they are glass and feel heavy, and there is a lot of suction. It was more uncomfortable than the needles, but did not hurt.

After the cups are removed you look strange for a few days 😂 

After the first two treatments I could feel a slight improvement, but after the third one there was a marked difference. The pain was more manageable. The fourth treatment was acupuncture only, and I am amazed at how much I have improved. I have one more treatment before I see the doctor again, then we will see how frequently he wants me to have them done. Now I am thinking I need to try this for the neuropathy in my feet! 

I believe in modern medicine, but there is something to some of these old remedies - and I prefer less invasive procedures, and fewer drugs. If you have issues - try acupuncture (after consulting with your doctor of course)! You may be surprised at how helpful it is.

Our Favorite Pho Restaurant and Fun Friends

We are fortunate to live close to many good restaurants. Craig has been on the hunt to find the best pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) restaurant, and keeps coming back to this one. They do have delicious food! There is only one dish on the menu, beef pho, so this is where we go when one, or both of us, has a craving. It costs about $2.33 for one bowl, so we go there quite frequently. We cannot make our own food for that price.

It is close to our home, and the best way to get there is to walk. We love walking through our neighborhood. There is much to see and we find many fun people, some who have become friends, on the way. In the video at the end of this post you will see some of what we see as we walk, as well as meet some wonderful women who gather for lunch almost daily.

This is what Craig and I call a three wall restaurant. There are three walls, and the fourth is open to the street. They are usually higher end than a two wall, and always higher than a food stand that does not have walls, and most of the time no place to sit and eat.

You order your food from the woman in front of the blue wall, then you walk over to the red table to get your greens and other things to put in your soup, or eat on the side before you sit at a table.

This is where you order your food. You just need to tell them how many bowls you would like to buy.

My lunch 😋 You add the sprouts, basil, and lemon juice to the soup and eat the long beans on the side. You can put the peanut sauce and whatever else you want on a piece of the lettuce and eat it. There are condiments on the table. Craig and I both like to add chili oil to make it spicy. 

In the video you can see snippets of where we walk to the restaurant. These were taken on our way home. Most of the roads are dirt, but the bigger road where you see a motorcycle and a car driving is paved. The roads look bad here because they are putting in flood abatement. It is very much needed, and should be helpful for the next rainy season. They are also upgrading the road surface to asphalt on some of the dirt roads.

The fun and kind women stopped us a few months ago to ask if we wanted to join them for lunch. We had already eaten, so told them we were ເຕັມແລ້ວ (full already). They told us that maybe their food would be too spicy for us, so when we told them we like spicy food, one of the women laughed and said ບໍ່ເຜັດ ບໍ່ແຊບ (not spicy, not delicious). It is something we have heard many Lao people say, and I decided I wanted that on video, but did not think of it until after we had left. So some time later I had Craig take a video of them as they were saying it. Unfortunately I had to coach them this time 😅 So that is what they are saying - "if it is not spicy it is not delicious." 

How we live

This is our apartment. It is on the fourth floor, and it is a nice and good sized home, conveniently located in the town of Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR. There are many restaurants and shops within a short walking distance. The landlord is fantastic and takes good care of their property. If something needs to be fixed they are there almost immediately. It is a serviced apartment, so there are two wonderful women who come and clean three days per week and change our sheets once per week. We wash our clothing and towels, cook when we do not eat out, and wash the dishes. The helpers wash the dishes if we have left them in the sink, so we make sure they are all clean before they come. They do not need more work than they already have.

It is convenient that the Deseret International Charities' (DIC, the church owned NGO we are known as here) office is on the third floor right below our apartment. 

Our apartment is on the top floor.

The top corner is our home.

Parking area underneath the building. There is  always a security guard at the opposite end from the camera.

We even have a small koi pool behind the security guard.

The stairwell up to our floor. These are great for cardio workouts. 

I love the tiles in the hallway on our floor.

Looking through the front door into our apartment.

The living area.

Kitchen/dining

Office area and the front door.

Kitchen looking towards the secondary bathroom. The kitchen does not have hot water, so we scrub the dishes well with lots of soap and water. The blue dome on the counter top is a water purifier. The water here contains a lot of chlorine, so it is a good idea to use one of these for drinking. 

Secondary bathroom with a wet shower. Turning on the shower makes a big part of the bathroom very wet. The sink only has cold water, but the shower has a water heater on the wall.

Balcony off the kitchen. It is where we hang our laundry to dry.

Same balcony. This is looking out at the driveway you see in the first couple of pictures.

Our bedroom. There is a second balcony behind the curtains.

The bed after our helpers have put on fresh sheets. This is a weekly battle 😂 They like to put the duvet so that the long end is at the feet.

We prefer to have our rear ends covered when we sleep, so we turn the duvet around - every week. They probably wonder what is wrong with the strange foreigners 😆

Here are our kind friends who take such good care of our home 💗

Our master bathroom.

I do not believe the owners of our building are Christian, but they have decorated for Christmas  💗 

It looks very cute 😊

Christmas tree!

They even put lights in the bushes along the driveway 😍

I wonder if they intentionally paired the song with the sign 😂

A toe tapping food delivery advertisement in our elevator 🎵

Spiritual Heart Health / Companionship / Team

I have wanted to share the gospel since I heard it was possible for me to serve a mission after my conversion at the age of 16. As a convert in Sweden where the church was very small, I did not know how to go about applying. Just as I turned 21 and thought seriously about asking our branch president what to do, I instead was on my way to California to meet Craig and his family. I was supposed to stay three weeks, but we married six weeks after I arrived. I did not serve a proselyting mission, but found a different way to serve - I had Craig and our beautiful children. It was a wonderful trade, but I love the gospel and hoped I would eventually be able to give back for all the blessings I have received from my Heavenly Father and the gospel.

Craig and I feel blessed that we are healthy enough to now serve as senior missionaries, and although I miss my family tremendously, I am happy to have my favorite person and companion to serve with. We have been married almost 46 years, but it is amazing how much you still learn about each other when you are together 24/7. It seems we have grown closer in the eight months we have served so far.

I thought of Craig as I was reading a talk by Elder Ronald M. Barcellos from the October 2025 General Conference called "The Lord Looketh On the Heart." I love this talk; it is a great reminder of how to live a Christlike life by improving the spiritual health of our hearts. These are his suggestions:

💗 "Strengthen your relationship with Christ" 

He says that "the Savior warned that while many are called by Him, few are chosen 'because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and [they] aspire to the honors of men.' Do I make the Savior a priority in my life? Is my eye single to His glory in all that I do?" Are we really working on building our character and becoming more Christlike, or obeying for the sake of obedience? 

Elder Barcellos also suggests we treasure up the scriptures in our hearts. Scripture study is not always easy to fit into a busy day, but that and prayer are the best ways to get to know Christ and how to become more like Him. Some days we have more time than others. On busy days, do we take the time to ponder on even one verse? To be honest, it is something I personally struggle with. Although it may not be ideal, listening to the scriptures has helped me tremendously in my studies.

He quotes one of my favorite scriptures: "Have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received His image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" I love the visual of having His image in our countenances and can see that happening as we change our hearts. There is a light shining from those who strive to be like Christ.

💗 "Serve God and others . . . with a sincere heart and with real intent."

Elder Barcellos says that "The quality of our thoughts and words is a good indicator of the purity of our hearts." He also reminds us that the Savior warned Samuel that "man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Are we serving others because we want to be more Christlike, or because we want others to see how good we are? What is our motive?

💗 "Align your will with His"

"I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desires of their hearts." "Our Heavenly Father desires more than mechanical acts of obedience and service from His children." He knows what is in our hearts better than we do. We are blessed that we have the capability to learn and grow to help our hearts become more spiritually healthy.

"But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned." That does not sound pleasant, but again, we are blessed with a kind Savior who loves us and knows that we are here on earth to learn. Once our hearts are aligned with His we are more likely to understand what He needs and how to do His will without needing to be commanded in everything.

This talk reminds me of something C.S Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity. In it he talks about The Cardinal Virtues. He argues that God wants more than mere obedience; He cares more about our character, and wants us to become people who naturally produce obedient behavior. Isolated acts of obedience do not make us virtuous, but character is revealed in consistency. I read somewhere that a poor tennis player might hit a great shot occasionally, but that does not make him a good player. The best way to become consistently good is to listen to Jesus Christ our teacher, practice what He teaches us, and to hopefully eventually "experience [a] mighty change in [our] hearts."

I am grateful to have a missionary, as well as life, companion who consistently strives to become better, is good and loving, who prefers to serve and counsel behind the scenes, who takes joy in helping others shine, who expects more from himself than others. My companion is honorable, and one of the most honest people I know. Being with him makes me want to become better, and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father who guided him to me. I cannot imagine a better person to serve with. My prayer is that if you do not already have this kind of companion, you will find him or her.

Elder Barcello's talk:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/10/14barcellos?lang=eng

Best Sabbath 💖

December 14, 2025

Sunday is usually my favorite day of the week. We go to church, learn how to become better and more Christlike, and see family and friends. Today has been one of my favorite Sundays. ELEVEN new members were baptized in our little branch today! ELEVEN!!! I have never seen so many be baptized all at once like this and it was amazing. With almost the whole branch watching, it was not quiet the whole time, but the Spirit was very strong. 

The most spiritual and humbling part was when our elderly sister in the wheelchair was baptized. She was so sweet and humble as she let three sisters help her into the water, a young father lower her into the waters of baptism, and then carry her out and up the stairs to her wheelchair. 

After the baptisms they all bore their testimonies, and although Craig and I could not hear and understand a lot of what they were saying, we could feel the Spirit and their sincerity. They all had big smiles on their faces as they came back out to join us after they changed back into their Sunday clothes. 

What makes this extra special, is that the church is not allowed to proselytize here. These sweet people feel the Spirit and see the great examples of their family members and neighbors. They notice how the gospel has changed them and are anxious to receive the same blessings. 

Our little branch has close to 100 attending each week, and we currently have 11 full-time missionaries who have left Laos to serve in different parts of the world. These are strong and faithful people and we are so happy to be here to not only serve them, but also learn from them. We are better for knowing them.

Here are our newest members before the baptisms with the branch president on the left, a grandmother on the right, and a mother in the back middle of the picture. (This picture provided by President Tiengsack.)

Snuck a picture before the baptisms.

One of our newest members with her grandson 💗

Our missionaries and where they are serving.