Transferred to Korat!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve visit with Jake on Skype. It was the highlight of our holiday. We found out that he had been transferred to Korat, which is East of Bangkok and the 2nd largest city in Thailand. He is serving with Elder Sanguansak from Thailand. There are only two Elders and two Sisters serving in Korat, so they are super busy and cover a large area. Jake is excited for the change and the challenge ahead.

"I don't have much time today and already talked to you on Christmas, so I will just tell you the highlights of the last week!"

"Yes, I have a Thai companion! It is going to be such an exciting transfer. I am going to get so good at the language because I will have to use it all the time. Elder Sanguansak is awesome and very funny. He is a little trunkie but that's ok because I am not and I'm here to work. He will just have to work with me. haha  He is Esan, so he speaks Lao as well. I hope I will be able to learn it so I can communicate with Grandma when I return home. It's hard, but also very worth the challenge and I am up to the task. God is only trying to improve me and I've already learned so much being in this companionship. We have good conversations about family and things that have happened on our missions so far. It is way cool!"

"Korat is very fun. It is nice actually having a church building to teach people at. The area is so huge! We have so many investigators that we can't teach because they live too far away. There is a branch in Korat and the members are very nice and inviting. We get a lot of referrals from the members. It seems like everything done here is much slower. President Senior said that it's time that we start doing things different than how it use to be. I'm going to change the way things were done. We are going to get Korat moving a lot faster for sure. I have plans to get many baptisms here and many more coming to church."

"I have already seen a lot of miracles here. This morning we had a lady come to our house. She said that she was having problems and that one day last week, we said hello to her as we biked pass and she knew that we were people of God and could help her. That's right! It's very cool! Even the language has been a miracle. I still struggle a little but I have been able to communicate a lot lately and understand a lot too. I asked the Lord in my prayers that if he would give me the gift of tongues, I would make sure to do his work the best I could and I'm pretty positive he answered my prayer. He is doing it his way and because of that, I have to make sure I give my all for Korat. I just hope I will be able to get it all done in my time here."

"On Christmas, after talking to you, we had to go to the mall and sing Christmas songs for all to hear. It was fun. Then we taught a lesson to an investigator who is planning to be baptized this Sunday. Her name is Sister Jeep and she is way solid."

"English class has been awesome because they now have English people teaching them and I made it fun. I don't think it was really fun before. I have plans with the ward mission leader to get about 50 more people going to English. The ward mission leader is way awesome! He is so willing to change things. We had a meeting with the entire ward council and we talked about the ward baptism goal and everyone said 24 because the sisters will get one and the elders will get one. I was all haha... no! We will get two a month! Everyone was all surprised and then got super pumped. The ward mission leader leans over to me and says, "It's possible and I know how to do it." He is way cool. He wants to make a class where the RCs go to during church to learn all the lessons over again because that is what the Preach My Gospel says new converts need. It is going to be way cool in Korat! I can just feel it!"

Elder Jacob Smith

December 16, 2013

"Last P-day we were able to go to the Big C and ice skate! That's right, ice skating in Thailand. It was very strange and really fun though. The ice skates here hurt much more than the skates in America and they also stink really bad. haha  We also had family home evening and based the lesson on Christmas and it's true meaning. We all shared a little passage that testified of Christ for each of us. It was very spiritual and a fun day."

"On Tuesday we had Zone training meeting. The Zone leaders told us that we got 110 baptisms last month and almost every single companionship got one. It was so awesome! The real purpose was to get the entire zone praying and unifying eachother. I really think that happened. Then they told us that President Senior wants everyone to get balanced this week and get one baptism and one rescue. That is so much! President Senior is going to put really high expectations on us now that the temple here is so close. In the month of January, he wants to have 200 baptisms, which means every companionship needs to get three baptisms each to achieve this goal. So I'm like, "Let's do this!" It's totally possible. This temple is going to come and it's going to be awesome! Afterwards, I was so pumped up that we went inviting and I got two names that were pretty solid."

"Wednesday, we went to meet with the Bishop and he brought up a concern about Lat Phrao. The only members that go there are the members that already go to Bangkapi. We need to start getting the less active members there. Then we had a meeting to discuss the ward missionary training we were going to do. We are going to train them on how to read the scriptures with less actives and recent converts. We basically act out the first four chapters in 1st Nephi. It was really good and we got everyone laughing. We did this because we want to make the scriptures fun and for them to want to read it. That is what Elder Wilson from the 70 told us to do. It was a real success I think. Everyone loved it and is on board to help with the reading."

"Thursday we did our weekly planning and then headed off to find a less active members house. We found it but it ended up being in Bangkapi, so it doesn't help our Lat Phrao, but that is fine. Then we went to teach Sister Biw. She is an investigator that wants to be baptized, but she goes to school and can't get to church. She has a huge testimony of the plan of salvation. Her dad died and she received an answer that she will see him again. I know that she will be baptized for sure."

"Friday we were finally able to teach Jirasak! He fell off the radar ever since he went to the hospital. Then we went contacting and taught Sister Biw again before heading to the Christmas play in Asoke. The play was fun to watch and we had to sing Christmas songs during the intermission. We did pretty ok for a couple of white boys. haha  We didn't get home until about 10:15 that night."

"Saturday, we did a service activity where we had to carve away the paint off a wall. We had four lessons in a row planned but they all cancelled on us. It was super frustrating. I noticed my language getting better because I had to call a bunch of people and I actually was able to talk to them and make appointments. I even got one person to go to church the next day. It was so cool! We were able to teach Sister Yewy and the skater kid Joe who committed to go to church and he actually showed up! Then we went to eat at a member's house and they made spaghetti.., of course!"

"Sunday was a good day. We had two investigators at church! One was Joe the skater kid and Nok, who is a lady I contacted and invited to church. We didn't have much time so the Sister missionaries had to teach her. We taught Brother Oat about Samuel the Lamanite. He likes all the stories. Then we headed to Lat Phrao where I was the speaker and spoke on Christlike love. I had planned it on Friday, so I was able to speak Thai enough to actually do a good talk. I was really happy and everyone said it was fantastic. I was really blessed for sure. Sister Biw showed up and we were able to teach her. We told her that she could be baptized next week and she lit up so brightly. It was a week full of miracles."

Elder Jacob Smith

December 9, 2013

"This P-day we went shopping for hard drives for Elder Hartman and Calderon and then we went to the church to watch videos and transfer stuff to the hard drives. Nothing too exciting. We got a call from the Zone leaders saying that we have to be home at 6:00 because of the things happening in Bangkok."

"Last Tuesday, we went to get Brother Graph and headed out to the Big C to find some people to teach. Our appointments canceled on us so we contacted more and then went home to make calls for teaching appointments. Our teaching class was on emotions and it was so fun. Elder Yuen says that I always make it fun. All you have to do is play some fun games and be really outgoing like in PLT. The people love to play the games. If you are happy and laughing, the students like it and keep coming back."

 "Wednesday, Elder Hartman got really sick and had to stay home. Elder Calderon and I went contacting at the University until we got kicked out. haha  They were surprised that we could speak Thai. Afterwards, we had district meeting in Lat Phrao which was really good because Elder Yuen is a champ at these meetings. We talked about using time wisely and planned church and FHE. Then we went to find Brother Oat. His friends that he works with have been trying to get him to smoke and we had to tell them to stop. They listened to us and Brother Oat was happy about it. Elder Yuen asked me to stay home with Elder Hartman so that he could go to correlation meeting with Elder Calderon. So I stayed home the rest of the day. We just studied and watched Mormon Messages."

"Thursday we met with the Bishop and was taught Thai by Sister Sawangwong. I love learning from her and just wish that we had started sooner. We went to eat at a Vietnamese place that was so good and not expensive and then went to teach a new investigator. He is pretty solid. He didn't go to church this week because he was out of town, but he will be there next week. Afterward, we did splits again with Elder Yuen and this time I went with him to a teaching appointment. We taught a new convert, Brother Jom. He wanted to know why the Prophets of old carried walking sticks everywhere? We just said that it was symbolic because we really didn't know. haha  It's funny what people ask us. Later, Elder Calderon and I went to find this skater kid that we have been working with to come to church. He seems real interested and I feel that he will go this week."

"Friday we went contacting and then to teach Sister Yewy. We taught her about the law of chasity and expressed the importance of baptism. Then we taught Sister Mee Lek again. I love going to her house because she feeds us so much fruit. We also had sports day where we had two investigators show up. They are Brother Oat's friends. We are going to keep working with them."

"Saturday we had a service activity. We cleaned a member's English classroom. We showed up late because we picked up Brother Graph and then got lost finding the place. We worked for three hours and found a duk gah. It is a huge lizard and if it bites you, it is over! It latches on and you have to go to the hospital to get it off. We were all scared when it started to hiss at us. We finally chased it away, but it was an intense battle. haha  That night we went to this really high society place where everyone is really rich. We met a family that is interested in going to the Christmas activity in Lat Phrao. I may never see them again, but that would be so cool to baptize an entire family."

"Sunday none of our investigators showed up at Bangkapi or Lat Phrao. It was a bummer, so we taught our recent converts and then headed off to go contacting with the members. We went to the university and I got two names that seem interested. It is really fun going contacting with members. It is a different experience, but I like it. That was my week."

Elder Jacob Smith

Thanksgiving in Thailand

Jake is so happy and excited this week! They met the November mission baptism goal the very last day. He had much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving in Thailand! Jake mentions eating spaghetti that he didn't like. Just some FYI, he has never liked spaghetti in any form.

"It has been an awesome week! Monday, we sat at home and watched movies like "The Testaments". The Elders from Bangkapi came over and we went over to Lat Phrao for family home evening. They really helped us out. The Sisters also came to play games like charades, but the opposite where everyone gets up and tries to act it out. It was really funny because we used a lot of words that the Thai people didn't really know. haha  Brother Graph was the funniest!"

"Tuesday we met with the Bishop like normal and then were taught by a Khon Thai that serves in Bangkapi. She taught me a lot of things that I didn't quite know. It was really good. After that, we met with the Bangkapi members to plan Thanksgiving dinner. They asked if anyone knew how to make pie and I said I could if you give me a recipe. They all just laughed at me. Then I said I'd make jello and I thought I knew how, but I think I'm mistaken. haha  We headed over to English class where we had a good lesson on communication. I love to teach English because we always have fun and laugh a lot. They will ask the weirdest questions sometimes. haha  We watched our production of Johnny Lingo and it made everyone laugh. It was so bad and I am a terrible actor! haha"

"Wednesday was Brother Oat's baptism interview. We had district meeting where we talked about corrupt communication and how we could apply this talk in the Lat Phrao Ward. It was really good and I really love Elder Yuen. He is such a good leader and reminds me a lot of Dallon. We went to buy the jello we had to make from Tesco. We couldn't really boil the water, so we put it in the microwave for awhile and then added the mix. We stirred it, put it in the fridge and then headed out to teach Sister Yuy. We then went to Bangkapi for coordination meeting and Brother Oat's interview. I said a prayer that he would pass and he did!!! It was such a great feeling and he could get baptized this Saturday!"

"Thursday was Thanksgiving! We cleaned the apartment which was sooooo dirty and nasty and I just had to clean it. Then I checked the jello and it was liquid. I just said, "Yupp", and put it back. haha  We weren't even phased. We knew that the jello wasn't going to work. We went to teach Sister Yuy and pick up Brother Oat and take them to the Thanksgiving activity. It was so fun. We told the story of the Pilgrims and made puppets with members faces on them. It made everyone laugh and we used them to tell the story of the first Thanksgiving. I like what they call it in Thai. They call it "Thank you God Day". We ate lots of chicken and some pie and a Chinese dish that I didn't know what it was. We also had mashed potatoes and ice cream with corn in it. It was a nice meal."

"Friday was mission zone conference, so we headed to Saponsune. We had a member of the 70 speak to us about using the Book of Mormon the most effective way. They told us something awesome, which was that our mission got 100 baptisms in one month and still more because the week wasn't over yet. Normally it is about 40 baptisms a month, so it is a big improvement! We then were fed Spaghetti. It was awful! Thai version of American spaghetti. That's not right! We didn't get home until about 6 and then we had a lesson with Sister Yuy. The President also gave us two cds to listen to. One was a Christmas cd that we can only listen to until the 31st and then it has to be destroyed. haha  The other was church music and it wasn't the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! haha"

"Saturday was a way awesome day! That morning we had a service project at a members house where we helped make her classroom nicer. We painted and found out that her roof was about to collapse because of termites. It was bad. Then we went to the white man neighborhood where Elder Hartman was born to have Thanksgiving with his family friends. It was like being in Utah! White people everywhere, a nice toilet, carpet, couches and everything. It was so nice! The food was amazing and I got so stuffed. We finally left to go to Brother Oat's baptism. It took us 30 minutes to get there and we were stopped dead in traffic at one time. I said a prayer to ask God if he would separate the cars like he did the sea for Moses and after that we started to move. I was so happy! God really does answer prayers and sometimes not like you want him to. We made it just in time and I gave a talk on Faith. Apparently, it was the best speaking I've ever done. Then Brother Oat was baptized and it was the most amazing thing. The blessing of seeing him grow and be baptized made me so very happy. Another soul saved and I felt that God was proud of us. It was so cool!"

 

"Sunday we taught enough lessons to get balanced this week. This has been a really successful week. I asked the district to give me a blessing to help me to understand the language and Elder Calderon did it for me. I've been feeling discouraged and now I feel much better. I know I can do this with Heavenly Father's help. I love you and can't wait to talk to you at Christmas!"

Elder Jacob Smith

Red Shirts/Yellow Hat!

The missionaries are doing so much work to try to meet the baptism goal for November. Jake is doing his best to accomplish the goal and has had some fun experiences to share this week. The worst of it was that his ATM card was shredded at the bank and he ran into a Red Shirt gathering wearing a yellow hat!

"Monday we had a chance to go to Asoke and speak with President Senior. He told us that the mission is like a roller coaster and that the funnest part is the way down and told us to enjoy the way down. He also said that the reason for "Bovember" was not that every companionship got a baptism, but that every companionship felt loved. The mission would be unified by everyone checking up on eachother to see how they were doing and it really did work. The entire mission is praying that we will be able to get a baptism in November. President Senior said that the baptism is just the bonus.  He said to not worry about it, but not to stop trying to get a baptism. After, we had family home evening and it was fun. We just hit eachother with bang and it was everywhere. I didn't get any pictures because my card is full. We had an investigator show up too. We didn't get a chance to teach him though."

"Tuesday we went to meet with the Bishop and then went back to Lat Phrao to have a district meeting. Elder Yuen is a fantastic district leader and he really knows how to bring the spirit to his lessons and meetings. We are lucky to have a missionary like him in Lat Phrao. At English class, we acted out the play Johnny Lingo and it was so funny. Everyone was laughing and having a great time. We even did makeup because one of the members is a makeup artist. I was Mr. Harris. Afterwards, we taught our investigator. He is going through a hard time and is super depressed. We just talked to him for an hour and told him that the gospel was going to help him. We bore powerful testimony."

"Wednesday we finished our studies and decided to go to a stadium to contact. What we didn't know was that this was where the Red Shirts gather. They are the people against the King and they all wear red shirts. We were biking by and, at first, I thought it was like a football game or something. When we got to the middle of the place, we realized that it was a Red Shirt riot and they are violent people. The scary part is that the other party is the Yellow Shirts and Elder Calderon looks at me and says, "Dude, you are wearing a yellow bike hat!" AAAHHHHH! I was freaking out! I looked around and everyone was looking at me really angry. We booked it out of there as quick as we could. haha  That was quite scary. Later, we went to teach the ward missionaries about how the change in finding was happening and we did a little activity where the missionaries were the regular people and they had to come and try to get us to accept the gospel. It was fun to see them come up with different ideas on how to share the gospel. It worked really well and they all enjoyed it. They now understand that what we are doing is very important and they will help us even more."

"Thursday was Brother Graph's birthday. Instead of partying, he spent the day helping Elder Calderon and I teach from 12 - 9. That was amazing! He is a great member. We taught this girl who works for Brother Israel as a maid. She said that when she cleans, she would read the Book of Mormon and that it always made her feel good, so she wanted to learn from us. She is super solid and hopefully she will be able to be baptized. We then went and to do a finding activity where we wrote "Do you believe you can be cleansed from sin?" on it. We had people vote and then would introduce Baptism and it worked pretty well. We got about 5 people who were interested. One was named Boss and he really is the Boss! haha  At the end of the day, we had a lesson with Brother Oat. I told him that he needed to stop smoking. There were about 7 other people there who shared words of encouragement with him. I then gave him a picture called "Lost and Found" and told him that we would all leave the room so he could be alone. I asked him to pray to God and write down his covenant with him. When I left, I fell to my knees and prayed to Heavenly Father for Brother Oat. I felt the spirit so strongly. When Brother Oat let us back in, I took his card that he had written his covenant on, and told him that he did not make this covenant alone. I had everyone there sign it too and that we would always be there with him. We are his family and he can count on all of us. He has stayed true to his covenant and has an interview on Wednesday! YESSSS!!"

"Friday we went contacting and then to eat with Brother Graph. We taught Sister Yuy (the maid), and Sister Lek and then headed to sports day. There we taught Sister Wasana and played some fun games."

"Saturday we taught Brother Boss, Sister Yuy and Sister Mone. Afterwards we went to the ATM and that was where the machine shredded my card. It froze up and never gave my card back. We had a Book of Mormon class which was super good, but right in the middle of the lesson, my chair broke and I fell. Everyone was laughing and I will never hear the end of fat jokes. haha  We taught another lesson with Brother Oat about the plan of mercy and told him that even if he messes up, he can always ask for forgiveness."

"Sunday was quite the day. We had no one show up for church. Everyone was gone and it was really frustrating. We headed to Lat Phrao and went around for an hour and a half just looking for people to go to church with us. I had to translate for Brother Isreal and it was really hard and I'm hoping that what I said was close to what he said. haha  We had a meeting with him afterwards and he said that my language is getting a lot better. We went contacting at the mall and then to the skate park where Elder Calderon showed off some of his moves."

"It's been a good and stressful week, but it was full of blessings for sure. We have plans for 3 baptisms in December. I love and miss you all so much!"

Elder Jacob Smith

Lantern Festival

Jake says that he loves being in Thailand. He is hot, sweatty, and struggling with the language, but he is having the time of his life. He shares that missionary work is hard and he is often stressed, but he wouldn't want to be doing anything else right now.

 "It has been a really stressful week for me and I really don't know why, but I was on my knees a lot. The language is tough and for some reason I felt like I couldn't do anything this week. I felt like I had no communication with anyone and the members were making no sense to me. It was tough and so I turned myself over to the Lord. I now know that I can do anything. Some blessings come soon and some come late. Everything is fine and I'm doing good again because I finally found out how to be the best missionary ever. My will, my desires, my wants, and my needs, need to be the Savior's. We give tithing and fast, which is the Lord's. We give him our time, which is also his. The only thing that he wants, that is not his, is ourselves. Give yourself and he will pave your path. That is what I did this week. I surrendered myself to the Lord and he can do what he wants with me because I am his and not my own."

"In November, every single companionship in Thailand has to get a baptism and we are struggling. We have one dater who was suppose to get baptized last Sunday, but he has not answered us and didn't show up to church. We had another golden investigator, but he went to the hospital for some health problems and could not go to church. He can't be baptized because we only have one Sunday left and he needs to go to church twice. We have one more man that we met contacting. Our miracle! He is having family problems and wants to change his life around. We met him last Saturday. He came to church and we taught him and he said that he would meet with us today. He is our last hope. He has a date this Sunday, so please keep him in your prayers and help him to understand the things we are teaching him are true."

"Pretty much we have been super busy contacting everywhere all week. Tuesday, we got a video from the APs that is super cool. It's like a mormon message where Elder Holland is speaking some powerful words while the song, "You can see the Miracles when you Believe", from the Prince of Egypt, is playing in the background. At the end, it shows all the baptisms and WOW! it is the greatest feeling to watch that. It was way cool! For English we watched Johnny Lingo and it was funny explaining the story to the Thai people. haha"

"Wednesday, we rode our bikes contacting and found this really high outdoor mall. It was cool and we talked to some people. I tried some bamboo ice cream. We also said "hi" to some pretty actresses, but from a distance. haha  I wonder what they were thinking? A bunch of foreigners waving at them like crazies. haha"

"Thursday, we taught a guy who has been in English class for 3 years and has finally started learning from us. We really emphasized the church and I think we scared him into going because he is scared that he will be damned. haha  Then we saw another miracle where we had to teach a girl but had no men to help. We called maybe everyone on our phone. On our way to teach her, we saw in front of us, Brother Jom who was baptized that very Sunday. He was a member and was able to help us teach and it was awesome!"

"Friday was crazy! We contacted all day and then headed down to sports day. We had an investigator there that is about 15 years old. We were teaching Sister Wasana and when we came out, he was sitting on the couch with everyone around him. I guess apparently, that a 19 year old member freaked out at him and full on decked him in the face! Then while he was on the ground, kicked him! Everyone freaked out and started to chase the guy out. The guy is a member and I don't know why he did it? I am worried about both of them. This will be hard on the member too. We will have to wait and see what happens."

"Saturday we went contacting and found Woot, our miracle. Then we went to a Karaoke party at Bangkapi. I think it was apostate, but it was approved by the Bishop. haha  We didn't sing but it was still fun watching. haha"

"Sunday was fun. We had 4 investigators show up and one person accepted a date for this month, Brother Woot! We taught 4 lessons and then were late to church at Lat Phrao. It was ok though. Afterwards, we taught a girl who was the Sister's investigator, but she moved to Lat Phrao and now we teach her. She goes to college on the weekends, so she can't go to church. She was able to go to church today because it was a holiday. It's Lantern Day! The sky looked just like the Tangled movie. We were given permission to go celebrate and I have lots of cool pictures. It was so beautiful outside and we even let some lanterns go and it was awesome! It was a blast! I love you all!"

Elder Jacob Smith

P.S. - I was so happy about Chiara's baptism that I started to cry!

No Longer a Trainee!

Jake sent some fun pictures this week. It's nice to know that he is working so hard and also having time to enjoy his surroundings. He wanted us to know that he is officially no longer a trainee.

"Monday was super fun because we went to the Alligator Farm! We watched the alligator show and took a picture with a tiger and a monkey. It was super cool. Afterwards, we went to the ocean and hung out there awhile. It was fun but we got caught in traffic on our way back which ruined our family night. Only 3 people showed up. The ride home took 2 hours and we just talked the entire time. It was good bonding time for our district."

"Tuesday, we went to meet with the Bishop, but he cancelled on us, so we ended up doing our studies and then had district meeting. Last week, Elder Yuen, gave us each a topic on Christlike attributes that he thought we have been blessed with or that he had seen in us since he has known us. He gave me Faith. I had to give a talk on Faith to the district and it went really well. After the meeting, we went contacting and then went to teach our investigator who has a goal to be baptized on the 17th of this month. We haven't been able to get a hold of him, so we don't know what's up with him. We taught English and then went home."

"Wednesday, we went to Bangkapi to meet with the Bishop and went to lunch with the other Elders. We ended up contacting for 4 hours because our correlation meeting was cancelled. We also taught Brother Oat. He came up with a plan where we would call him at 9, 12 and 6 to check on him, and then after work every day he would come with us to all our teaching appointments. It is cool because I prayed that he would have a change of heart and I really think that the Lord answered my prayer."

 

"On Thursday, we taught a new investigator who is about 60 years old. He wants to get baptized. I have never met someone who understood the Restoration so well. He even asked the perfect question when we were talking about all the new churches that had developed and caused a lot of confusion. He looked at us and asked, "So who is going to be the one to fix this?" We were like, "What?! That's the best question ever!" After the lesson, we went contacting again over the bridge to the other side of the Klong. We went to the top floor of this tall 33 floor building and could see pretty much the whole city. I was so mad that I didn't have my camera with me. On our way back, we ran into some white people and helped them get a taxi. Then we taught Brother Oat again and went home."

"Friday morning we went to go teach Sittichai and he actually showed up. Then we went to teach Sister Meelek. It is fun to teach her because she is so nice and loves to help me with the language. I lead the lesson on the Wise Man and the Foolish Man and did a cool object lesson that everyone liked. Then we went to sports day and I had splits with Elder Yuen. We taught Jupjep again! I lead the discussion and committed him to be baptized and he said no. It was super sad, but it had to be asked because we needed to know who to focus on. We are still going to teach him and hopefully when Brother Oat is baptized, he will follow the example of his friend."

"Saturday after our studies, we all went to eat at Sukishi! It is a sushi buffet and cost me about 15 dollars. It was sooooo goooood! We will go there every time there is a baptism in the area. The other Elders had a baptism that day. We also went and taught Brother Oat again and Jupjep was there, so it was awesome."

"Sunday was a good day. I love Sundays. After church in Bangkapi, we took a 6 year anniversary picture. Then we went to church at Lat Phrao. I got up and spoke on Faith and it went good. Last Sunday, Brother Graph gave me the teaching job for today, so I taught Sunday school. I had to teach about the creation. Everyone laughed at my struggling Thai, but they also helped me to speak, so it went well and I liked it a lot. We went contacting again and met a skater who had learned from the missionaries years ago and he has a Book of Mormon and prays every night. We are hoping to start teaching him. When we finally got home, we watched the Mormon Messages dvd that you sent me. It's fun to watch those even when we watch them over and over. haha"

"It's been a good week. I love you all so much! Don't worry because things are going alright. I have the Lord on my side and I just need to keep showing my faith."

Elder Jacob Smith

Happy Halloween!

It's fun to hear about how the missionaries get creative in their proselyting and activities. They are building some great memories with the members and investigators. Even in Thailand, Halloween was celebrated with donuts and watermelon carving!

"This has been a good week. We had a couple fun things and activities that I'd love to share with you."

"Monday, instead of going shopping, we went to the post office and mailed some letters and then went to eat with the Zone leaders at Sizzlers. It's nice to go there to get a cheap steak or something close to it anyways. haha  Later in the evening, we went to family night.  Family night is one of my favorite things to do. We played a game called Zip Bong, where you look to the person on your right and say Zip or person on the left and say Bong. You have to do this without showing your teeth and it is super funny."

"Tuesday, we went to Bangkapi to meet with the Bishop and see the other Elders, which is always fun. After our meetings, we went to eat at Tesco where we found some Flamin' Hot Cheetos! It was so awesome!! We ate that and then went to finish our studies and go to some appointments. Nothing was too promising. One guy that we see nearly every day, said that he would love to learn of other religions, but he cannot change because his family would be upset if he did. He is like 50 years old. We had English class again and I was in charge of the conversation part of the lesson. I did awesome and they loved it. I love to teach English because it is so fun and I make many friends there. It's nice too because I can speak English! haha"

"Wednesday, we had our studies and then went to a district meeting. Elder Yuen is such a great district leader. He talked about finding "the one" when you are out contacting. It's where you are specifically looking for that one person who will accept the gosple. I did it this day and it worked out great. We found that one person. We were contacting and were not getting anything too great when we received a call from Brother Graph. He asked where we were and we told him we were at the Mall. He asked us to come to the third floor and that he had someone there for us. It was a girl about 20 years old and she is from the Phillipines. She doesn't speak Thai, but she wanted to learn more of the Mormon church. She said that she had met with the missionaries when she was very young and didn't understand much, but now she wanted to learn more. It was so cool! This is all because some missionaries planted a seed. She is super golden and we can not lose her. She doesn't have a phone, so it will be hard to get a hold of her."

"Thursday was Halloween! After our studies and weekly planning, we went shopping for the Halloween party that I had planned. It was so fun! We carved watermelons and had a donut on a string eating contest. We played a bunch of fun games and it was such a blast! We also had so much food leftover. I even dressed up, but no one else did. They all laughed at me, but I just owned it of course! haha  Cleaning up afterwards wasn't too fun though. haha"

"Friday, the Zone leaders came to do a finding activity where we just go and invite people to be baptized. I'm not sure how much I liked it, but it seems to work because I got a lot more contacts and people's numbers. Then we went to eat and go to sports day. We were able to teach Brother Oat again. It was nice because he has been gone on a trip for so long. I want him to have a good member friend or father figure and to read the scriptures every day. I want him to be baptized before I leave."

"Saturday we made some phone calls to the people we contacted on Friday. We went to teach this one guy that walked up to us and said that he was already learning with missionaries from Asoke. He is a cool guy and lives in Lat Phrao. We decided that we would teach him because the other missionaries would probably give him to us anyways. Well, no because they called us and got super mad that we were trying to take their investigator. He should be ours, so that was weird and we are still going to teach him. He will have to choose who he wants to keep teaching him. We will have to see."

"Sunday was super cool because we had investigators show up for church. One kid came and got along with everyone. He is 15 years old and was hitting up on all the young women. haha  We had 5 lessons to teach and then we went to church in Lat Phrao. We had a testimony meeting and I shared mine. The Elders said that they thought my testimony was amazing and that my testimony was the reason Sister Wasana chose to be baptized. I read in my Patriarchal blessing that by my testimony, I would bring people to the church, so that is way cool. After church we taught Brother Oat again and gave him a blessing."

"That was my awesome week and it was fun. Hopefully, I'll get better and better at this language!"

Elder Jacob Smith

1st Baptism!

This week Jake was excited to share about his first convert baptism. He and Elder Calderon are working hard and have been punching the pavement all week. The time is paying off and their teaching pool is growing. Jake is happy and starting to experience the fruits of his labor.

"I finally got my first convert baptism this week on Sunday! It was so awesome!! Her name is Sister Wasana and she is so cool. I was able to see and teach her from the very beginning and then watch her be baptized. I was not able to baptize her because the Bishop here says that he has to choose who baptizes. I could feel the spirit so strong and it was awesome to see her go into the water and come out clean and smiling. It was an amazing experience. I can't wait to bring more people unto Christ and into the fold again."

Sister Wasana's baptism day

"We walked a ton this week just contacting. My feet hurt from all the walking. haha  We walked from 5 to 8 in one direction just contacting who we could. Once we went down this sketchy alley and Elder Calderon was saying that it looked just like the Esan. Well I said that this is the city and so we left pretty quick. haha  We got a couple contacts, but nothing too promising."

"We also got lost this week due to my awesome Greenie direction skills. haha  We were going to the office and stopped by a Mall to call Elder Jones for directions from there. He told me to get on the MRT and go one stop over. Well, I didn't know what the MRT was, but I knew it was a train. We get on the skytrain and went so far away! We were so lost and I asked some Thai people where the MRT was. They said it was an underground train. I basically did a face palm and we headed back to the Mall where we started, so that we could finally get on the MRT and get to the office. The cool thing though is when we were heading back, a Thai lady came up to us and asked if we were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We said yes and she told us that she went on vacation to Chang Rai and met the missionaries there. She is really interested in the church, but doesn't know where to find it in Asoke. We took her name and number and will give it to the Asoke Elders. Sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways. Maybe the whole getting lost was actually a go and find. We eventually got to the office and didn't even get a new phone. I guess the one they were going to give us was worse than the one we had already."

"We've had some really cool investigators. There was a family that went to family night who we just met contacting about three days before. They traveled about 50 kilos to get there from where they were on vacation. They came to family night before they went home. They are pretty awesome, but it's hard to get them to come to anything else. They work all day everyday like everyone else in Thailand. We will keep working with them. We also have another family where we know the kids and Aunt. We are trying to find where their mom works, so that we can teach them. We also have many referrals that are pretty solid, but everyone is new and we have not taught them yet."

"We met some skater kids. We go and see them every once in awhile to see if they will go to church, English class or family night. They always say that they work or would rather skate. They are cool though and love the fact that we are "falungs" and can speak Thai. I don't know if they like me that much because I'm not a skater, but Elder Calderon is, so luckily we have that in common."

"The language is going really well. I still struggle and there are a lot of things that the Thai people say that I don't know, but I am starting to get the jist of what they are saying. The language is so hard and I love that I can even speak the little bit that I do. Hopefully by the time I skype you, I'll be able to have a lot more words and be able to talk to Grandma. haha  I'm looking forward to that!"

"The other missionaries are cool. Elder Yuen is a great guy and reminds me of Dallon. Elder Hartman is cool too and it's fun talking to him because he knows everything from back home. We do language study together so that we can help eachother out. Elder Calderon and I teach well together. I am eating good here. I think that I've been more hungry because Elder Calderon is smaller than Elder Johnson, so I'm not eating as much as I use to. haha"

"Well, that's about it this week. We aren't doing anything fun today, but maybe next week. I love you so much and miss you all to death!

Elder Jacob Smith 

A New Companion

Jake had a last minute unexpected transfer this week. Elder Johnson was called to Loas and his new companion is Elder Calderon from Florida. Jake is leading the area after just eight weeks! He was not prepared for this change and is feeling overwhelmed. There is a lot of adjusting to be made, but he is doing his best. They were also disappointed to find out that the church was broken into and robbed.

"This has been a long and super hard stressful week. Monday, I went to get my suit (I look super good in it btw! haha)  Then we returned back home and went to a family night. Elder Johnson and I and the other Elders, played a weird game where we line up and you have to act something out, kind of like telephone. The person on the end had to guess what it was. It was super funny and I was so good at it. I guessed right every time like a champ! haha  We were all trying to guess who was going to leave the area and who was staying. My guess was that Elder Passey and Elder Marshall were going to leave."

"Tuesday, we went to eat with Brother Israel and then I had to go renew my visa. It took forever, but I was able to see some people that I knew. After that, we finally got the call to what was happening. I was right! Elder Marshall and Elder Passey were leaving and me and Elder Johnson were staying. Or so we thought.., at 9:30pm on Wednesday, we get a call from the Zone leaders saying that there was a last minute revelation and that Elder Johnson was going to leave as well. Transfers were tomorrow! ahhhhh! We were up all night packing for him. I was not prepared for this to happen."

  

"We get to the transfers meeting and everyone was confused. There were APs and Zone leaders becoming trainers and then it gets to me and they say that my new companion is Elder Calderon. Elder Passey was called to Bangkapi and Elder Marshall went Zone leader to Pakkret. Elder Johnson was called to go to Loas! Then it hit me.., I have to lead the area now! This is so crazy! It is a brand new area and we still didn't even know our way around that well. I am basically in charge and there is so much that I have to do. I am super stressed! I was able to see all the other Elders from my MTC district, so that was fun. We also got two new Elders in our area. They are Elder Yuen and Elder Hartman. Elder Yuen was a zone leader in Roi et and Elder Hartman is a new missionary from Draper."

"Elder Calderon is cool. He is very calm and a "sabay" guy. He is hispanic and from Florida. He speaks fluent Spanish and English. He is really good at the Thai language too and he has only been here for 5 months. He is a skater and loves talking to the skater kids, which normally I wouldn't do, so that is a plus. He also really wants to ride bikes, but it is too dangerous here."

"Friday, we did some weekly planning and then went over to teach Sister Mahlek, who is way cool. Then we went to go to sports day. When we got there, we found out that the church had been broken into and robbed. They took the computers and other techno stuff. It was insane! They broke through a window and climbed through the ceiling panels to get into the rooms. There was no one at sports day and all the members were distracted by the robbery."

"Saturday, we taught Sister Noot and then went contacting. We said a prayer and then headed to a market place and found a couple cool people. We walked so much and I was so hungry because Elder Calderon just likes to snack all day. Lately, I just say that it's time to eat and we'll stop. Afterwards, we went to teach Sister Wasana at Sister Oh's house. It was a good lesson and Elder Calderon teaches a lot differently than Elder Johnson. I tried hard to help teach, but I was super stressed and it was giving me a headache. However, I bore my testimony and I could feel the spirit so strongly and Elder Calderon said that he could feel it strongly too."

"Sunday, there was a big meeting in Asoke, but we just watched it from Bangkapi. It lasted two hours and was in Thai. We taught Sister Wasana the last lesson, so she could be interviewed this Wednesday for baptism and I think that she is ready. We will meet with her again on Tuesday to review. I'm super excited! We contacted again for 5 hours straight and we found many people that seemed promising. Oh the many blessings from the Lord when you are being diligent. It has been super long and super stressful, but I know that everything is going to be alright. Thanks for the packages and I love you all so much!"

Elder Jacob Smith