As tragic as the death of a parent is in the life of a child, Anan Eldredge has turned his own such tragedy into destiny.
As a child, Anan lived in a small Thai village in the historic Pichai district of Utaradit province, about 300 miles north of Bangkok. His parents - and his mother in particular - were well-respected in their village, and he remembers with fondness the great example she was to him.Ironically, it was at age 8 - the age of baptism for young Latter-day Saints - that the young boy's mother died, prompting earnest questions about life after death - questions that would eventually lead him to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Accompanying his desire for knowledge about the purpose of life was a strong desire for an education.
In striving for excellence, he became president of the student body at his school. "I had so many questions about the life cycle - you know, why are we here, where are we going - but no one could ever answer them." He continued to search for the truth, until one day, three American GIs on leave from duty in Vietnam helped answer the prayers the boy had been offering for so many years. The LDS servicemen told him about the plan of salvation.
"I had never heard about the word of God," he said. After talking extensively with the three serviceman for about six months, Anan joined the Church. After being converted, he was baptized by Lewis Eldredge, the father of a young friend he had met.
Lewis Eldredge was in Thailand on assignment with the U.S. State Department, and the family became so attached to Anan that they asked him if he would like to go with them to America to get an education.
"They said, well, the only way to do it is they would have to adopt me. I said, `Great, OK.' "
While the paperwork was being processed, Anan taught MIA to interested teens - "sometimes we had as many as 70 people show up." Six missionaries were later sent to Thailand, and Anan was able to tract with them for a few months before he left his homeland for America - a full-fledged member of both the Church and of a new family.
Four months later - with the ringing of the phone at the Eldredge family home in Long Beach, Calif. - another step toward destiny was beckoning. He was called to go on a mission to Thailand.
As one of the first missionaries in Thailand, there was much work to do in laying a foundation for the Church's future.
While there, he was able to use some of the stories he had previously helped the missionaries translate from the scriptures to tell people about the Church. It was the beginning of a translation effort that would continue long after his mission was completed.
He returned home to California to attend Long Beach University, where he studied business management and was married. Things went well for the young couple, and Anan planned to go to the Midwest to another university. But destiny stepped in once again.
At the invitation of his Thai family, Anan took his new wife to visit Thailand. While they were there, his former mission president asked him to stay with the family. He became director of the Church's distribution center in Thailand, and the couple stayed in Thailand to oversee, among other things, the language coordination effort. His responsibilities included refining the translation of and printing the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. Earlier translations of the Book of Mormon had been made, but Anan and a committee of Thais worked for months refining the translation so the book could be printed.
After five years as the director, he returned to the United States and, with some expertise he had acquired in Thailand, went to work at a gemology lab in Los Angeles.
After a stint in Kansas, he opened a jewelry story in Alaska. That's where he was when another call from Salt Lake City came.
Pres. Eldredge returned as president of the Bangkok Thailand mission in July 1988. The main focus of his effort here now, he said, is working with government leaders so the Church can someday proselyte there, and activating current members.
"We want to keep all of those new converts. If we can keep 80 percent of them, (at the current growth rate) within five years we can become a stake. Everyone is excited about this program, where we have husband and wife teams working mini-missions for six weeks, a minimum of 10 hours per week."
Pres. Eldredge said if he can get members involved in Church auxiliaries, he believes they will catch the spirit of the gospel.
He is pleased that the majority of leaders in the branches throughout the mission are Thais, though most of them haven't had the opportunity to go to the temple.
"You know what it costs to go to the temple in the Philippines - roundtrip? Only about $350. Yet most of them can't afford it - they're poor. But we're really working on emphasizing the importance of it."
