Well as always I don't know where to even start. I know I'm gonna miss so much good stuff. I am loving it so much here in Srinakarin! Me and my companion are best friends it's awesome. Seriously we have the same thought process on anything and even though it's been so short I feel like I've known him my whole life and we are gonna be friends for a long time. It makes working hard so much fun when we are both on the same page. He is an insanely hard work and to be honest I thought I was too but being with him has helped me talk to EVERYBODY every where we go and just sharing brief testimony of our Savior. It has been way fun and SUPER rewarding. We come home and plan at night then just pass out and go to bed like an hour early cause we are exhausted.
A new change in the mission is that we are no longer trying to focus on going out and finding the elect on the streets. We had 2,000 convert baptisms in Thailand last year which is CRAZY comparing it to the past. Well, President Senior has felt impressed that we can double that number this year, but it won't be through going to the mall and getting some random guy to come to the church and get baptized. It's going to be through going to those 2,000 converts, and working with their families. Thailand is preparing to have a temple in the near future, and we need to start working on building the eternal families that will fill it. I'm super excited to see where the mission is now heading because retention rate has been pretty bad but now I think if these part-member families start getting baptized retention is going to fly and we will have 4 stakes in no time AKA TEMPLE.
One way we will start to help families more is through the My Family booklet. I don't know if anyone at home knows what that is? I sure didn't when I was home. But it's an awesome book that makes it really fun and easy to get your family temple work started! I think it will be huge as more and more people here gain a knowledge and testimony that they can save their ancestors that had no idea Christianity even existed. People are getting excited for this temple I can't even explain it!
The timing for this hastening of the work came at a perfect time for me and Elder Visser! A mom and her daughter we have been teaching, Sister เล็ก and her daugher นานา got baptized! They were found a couple weeks ago and have been completely golden. It has been one of the first times on my mission where somebody has wanted to get baptized for the blessings they know they will receive eternally, not because they will be washed from sins right now. It's remarkable. Sister Lek, the mom, has a husband but he isn't ready yet for this Gospel, but both of them have been praying hard for him because they both have a testimony that families can be together for ever. At their baptismal service yesterday we sang Families Can be Together Forever and the Spirit was so strong. They both shared powerful testimonies and were so genuinely happy. The ward already loves them and they have many friends. I'm super excited to have them be confirmed this week and move on to the next goal: going to the temple with their whole family. I am confident it will happen! Pray for them and her husband! Miracles do happen every single darn day.
Another cool thing that has been going on recently is a young man in our ward brother เตม(dem) preparing to be a missionary. His family is all sorta less active but he comes to church every week with his mom and nobody even notices, they are always just sorta there. So me and Elder Visser decided to visit them one day and they were way excited to have us! We found out his older brother and dad are both Melchezidek Priesthood holders but don't go to church because they don't like the members there. We also found out even though brother Dem is just some punk looking kid with a huge pony tail and mustache, he's got an INCREDIBLE testimony and wants to serve the Lord soooo bad! We have been working closely with their family to help him prepare and in the midst of all of this, both his brother and his dad have come back to church! It's so crazy how every single person at church whether you notice them or not are all going through their own stories and you can see miracles if you just take the time to work with them. Today we are going with him to go get his pony tail cut so he can get started on his papers. I'm super excited!
Lastly something I really liked before I attach some pics and get going, is something one of my old Zone Leaders said that I thought back on this week and it really helped me push to the next level. He said, "When you have 5 minutes at the church to wait for an investigator, you should be outside inviting every person that walks by. I'm not saying you will see anyone be interested or get baptized, but you WILL show to Heavenly Father your desire to work hard and do His will." This week we worked super hard and even though we didn't meet many people on the streets that were interested, we had more than 10 investigators come to church which is sooo good! I know it's because we both were determined to show Heavenly Father we wanted to work in every situation.
I'm sorry that was a huge email with a whole lot of seemingly boring stuff and nothing funny but thanks for reading if you did. I'm you think these emails are super annoying tell me it can be arranged for you to not be bothered ;) As always I love you all :)
Today I'm going to a crocodile farm which is my FAVORITE place to go in Thailand ever since I was like 5!! I'm so dang excited :) Mom will you send me that pic of me holding the monkey from when we went a couple years ago?
-have i mentioned that i love yall -i'm 1/3 the way done with my mission. -i never spell check my emails sorry if their sloppy -im the tallest kid in my district -"silence can not be disquoted"
1. legendary
2. this guys just being a clown hanging on some wires
3. selfie
4. another selfie + cute grandma
5. the BAPTISM of course
