"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
