"Hey Family, Happy New Year! This has been an interesting week, however we did get a baptism, which is super awesome!!"
"On p-day we didn't really do too much. We went to the mall to get supplies, played some air hockey and then headed to the church to meet with the members for family home evening. We all went to this hut and it was so fun! It was straight up Esan and in the countryside. There was food like sticky rice and music. I have pictures of me singing Thai songs and completely just ruining it because I had no idea what I was saying. I just acted while I sang and everyone was laughing and having a great time."
"Tuesday, we did our studies and then headed to the church for district meeting. We talked about dealing with people's concerns. Afterwards, we went to the Save One, which is a huge market that has everything. We switched a BB gun that Elder Sanguansak bought because it was broken. We then went inviting and met a girl that spoke perfect English. It's funny, but you don't meet people here like that every day. I invited her to church. We went to teach English and no one showed up because of the New Year. New Years is huge here and everyone goes on vacation this week."
"Wednesday, we taught a recent convert and then went over to a member's house. Her name is Sister Gope and she feeds us every day and calls us her children. It's really awesome. She is always inviting us over to eat and she is a great cook. We found two people contacting and taught them."
"Thursday, the Zone Leaders came to train us from the meeting they had in Asoke. Their names are Elder Gibbons (from Alta!) and Elder Williams, who is Khon Thai. Sister Jeep also had her baptism interview. She will meet with President Sangsawan on Friday for a final interview."
"Friday we taught two more investigators and then helped Sister Jeep set up Skype for her interview. We had another appointment scheduled for the same time as the interview, so we had to split with the Priesthood. I went to teach Sister Dukdaa. I wasn't prepared for the lesson so I don't think it went too well. I was discouraged because I struggled teaching in Thai. I know that I need to prepare to be able to teach by the spirit. When I got back to the church, I found out that Sister Jeep passed her interview and we rejoiced together!"
"Saturday, we met with a member that lives about 1 hour away. We left at 8:00 in the morning. The member is really strong, but can only go to church once a month. He lives in the countryside. He lives so far away and doesn't have the money to get there. After teaching, he fed us some sticky rice and I was able to lay in a hammock. We also explored the farm and found a Samarai sword and a cross bow! We had fun and there were so many cool things to see. I love the Esan! We traveled home on a bus that was so crowed that I was literally standing on the stairs. The ride was super hot and then we got stuck in traffic for 3 hours. It was terrible! We got home about 6:30 and went to clean the church for Sister Jeep's baptism and helped Sister Gope get ready for Sunday."
"Sunday was very busy. We had to get everything ready for Sister Jeep and then teach three lessons to get balanced for the week. We were running around like crazy. It was also fast Sunday, so I was starving all day. haha We taught our lessons on the Restoration and it went really well. I made a picture book to help them understand what we were teaching and it worked great. It was a hard week, but we got things done!"
"I love you all so much!"
Elder Jacob Smith
