North to Chiang Mai

Jake's letters have been real short since he became a Zone Leader. Mostly he is in a hurry and will answer personal questions from his family and tell a little about an investigator or recent baptism. Although, it can be disappointing to not get a lot of information, we are comforted to know that he is happy, healthy and loving his mission.

"Well yupp, this week we had transfers and I did move. I'm still a Zone Leader and now serving with Elder Black who was my pii in the MTC. He is from Oregon. It is way cool for sure! We are all the way up North in Chiang Mai! Yepp, I'm back up North. It is really cold here. I mean like every morning I wake up freezing! haha  I'm super excited to be here and to help grow the church."

"This week was not real intense other than transfers. Traveling here took 12 hours by train. I slept most of the way. I was surprised to be transferred and didn't expect it at all. They took me out and left everyone else there. There are now three ZLs in Pakkret. I didn't really get to say good-bye to anyone, but that's ok. I did get to talk to Matt a little at transfers. He is now companions with my greenie, Elder Parker. That should be fun for them. haha" 

"We had a baptism this Sunday. He is 20 years old and lives really far away. It takes him 2 hours just to come to church and he comes faithfully once a month. There are also 4 or 5 kids here getting their mission calls right now. One opened hers yesterday and she was called to the Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission! That is where she has always wanted to go. It was way awesome to see the entire ward there to support her in her calling."

"I really don't have much to say. I spent most of the week traveling and getting to know the area. I think I may die here. I came here and everything just clicked for me. There is something here for me. I don't know what it is yet but I really like it. I already like the members, branch president and RCs. I have felt a lot of joy in being here so far. I would be just fine ending my mission in this area. I really love it. I want to make this the best area of my mission where I use all the skills I developed as a missionary. I'm excited to see how it plays out."

"I'm sorry I don't have much to talk about. I hope that you will forgive me. I sent some pictures for you. That is me in my new suit. haha  Today we are cleaning the house. We share it with Elder Christensen, who was in my group and Elder Hinkley, who is related to Gordon B. Hinkley. Also, Sister Ellis, who served with me in Pakkret and Sister Remington from Canada are here too. I love you all so much!"

Elder Jacob Smith

Happy Holidays!

We had a nice visit over Skype with Jake on Christmas Eve. It is always our favorite gift of the season. He is happy, healthy and loves being a missionary in Thailand. His language is incredible and he has a difficult time translating to English. The Elders were going to spend the day making a new suit. He mentioned that he has lost 15 lbs because his diet mostly includes som dum (papaya salad). We didn't get an email from him again until New Year's Eve when we weren't expecting to. The following is the email he sent.

"Hello family, It has been a great week! We were able to have 4 people baptized this past Sunday. One guy is really cool and disappeared for awhile but came back and we were able to teach him everything. He is 40 years old and works a lot so it took awhile. However, he is amazing and has a really great testimony. The other three people baptized was a family! It was a mom and her two children. It was really awesome and they make me so very happy. The kids love the church and all the friends that they have made here. The mother loves that the gospel is so family centered and is very happy that she was able to join the church. She received an answer that God is real and loves us. What made me so happy was that they called me the day before the baptism and the kids asked me to baptize them. We already had someone asked to do it but they begged me to do it and so I was happy to. Also we found out that the mother has been doing family history for years before she even met the Elders. She has tons of people that she can do names for in the temple! So sick!!"

"We also met a guy from California. He is a Christian and says that he loves the Mormons but that we are all deceived. He wanted to talk to us more, so we made a dinner appointment with him. He tried so hard to destroy our faith and prove us wrong. Before we left, we had him commit to reading the Book of Mormon. He is a really nice guy but will still call us up to try to get us to leave Mormonism. It is a big eye opener to experience this type of situation. Everything that he said was just lacking and I could really see how the apostasy happened. His heart is hardened and he wouldn't accept to read the Book of Mormon or to even pray and ask God. Weird. I'm glad that I have a testimony that is strong and unshakable. No matter what he said against the church, I know what I know and cannot deny it."

"We didn't do anything for New Year's. We are celebrating today by going and doing nothing. haha  Also I may need a little bit more money to get my suit. haha I love you! I'm certain your holidays are going great. I'm super glad I don't have to deal with the snow though! I miss you all."

Elder Jacob Smith