"P-day in Chiang Rai was super fun! We rode ostriches! I almost
fell off mine. haha Those birds are evil for sure. They look at you and
you know that they are going to peck you. haha Scary! We also rode
some elephants."
"We were able to get a Balanced Zone again! I had an interview with President Senior last Friday during Zone Conference. It wasn't very long because we will be talking again in another transfer for my dying interview. He told me how great our Zone was doing and that it was a really good indicator of the Zone Leaders. He said that because of me, the Zone has been doing really well. He said that I bring a lot by my example and faith which shows that I am a great leader. Then it was over. He closed by telling me he was going to kick my butt in basketball on Monday morning and he did so shoooootttttt! haha"
"When we were at the Mission Leadership Council, Elder Black was
joking around and said that he had a desire to serve in the mission
office. Then right in the middle of the meeting, President Senior looked
at us and said that we should probably go do switch-offs in Burma
first. He told us to talk to him after the training. It was crazy! He
told us that he wanted us to do switch-offs in Burma and so we have been
getting everything ready for this trip over the last couple weeks. We
have been working with Elder Meeker with our visas and passports. We are
good to go and will fly down to Bangkok and then to Burma tomorrow. We
will spend all day Wednesday there and fly back on Thursday. The Burma
Elders said that we will be teaching a lot. I don't know how that will
go because we don't speak the language. haha It will be the first time
Zone Leaders do switch-offs in Burma. This is so exciting and wish me
luck!"
"We had to do so much stuff to get ready for Zone Conference. We had to order catering and make sure that everything was in good working order. It turned out really good. We talked about the new initiative called, "Because He Lives." Do you know about it? The mission department came up with it to help with the work all over the globe. Make sure that the whole family is a part of it and work together because it is revelation from God. We also talked about the fundamentals of missionary work such as; prayer, scriptures study, church attendance, etc. The best part was that we got to watch, "Meet the Mormons." I really enjoyed that! We had members join us for the movie. I was asked to give my dying testimony because it was the last Zone Conference for me. It was a hard moment for sure. I didn't cry too much, so that was good. haha"
"We also had District Conference. It was cool to see a bunch of people who still remembered me from Phitsanulok. We had to translate for everything and we were really busy the whole time. We had to help set everything up and plan with the District President. I do pretty good at translating because I do it all the time here and get a lot of practice. It is weird to think that I am one of the oldest missionaries in the mission and oldest Zone Leader as well. Because of this, I have a lot of responsibilities that fall on my shoulders. I have to make decisions on what to do, where to go and translating. I was also able to see Elder Bannakorn again! He doesn't shave anymore and has a calling as first counselor in the branch presidency. I even met his girlfriend! Two weeks and he already has a girlfriend. haha"
"We did a short switch-off in Chiang Rai. We had bus problems so we were only able to be there from 1:00 to 5:30pm. It seems like a fun area to serve in. I helped teach a new member and shared my testimony with some investigators. One of them I met again at District Conference. She is about 24 years old and very sassy. She is a cousin of a 19 year girl who really wants to be baptized for three years now. Her mom doesn't like the church and burned her copy of the Book of Mormon. The mom has cussed out Elders and members who try to talk to her daughter. She will disown her daughter if she joins the church. Super crazy! The cousin is on her own and goes to church, so hopefully this could be a pathway to help the girl be baptized. I talked to her for awhile and taught her the importance of what she is doing. I testified of God and that she needs to find him by truly asking in prayer. She says that she feels good after praying but that she isn't sure about the source of that feeling. I then told her about the Holy Spirit. It was a really spiritual lesson and I hope that she felt the spirit as well to help her with her answer. It will be the means of many coming into the church."
"We are teaching the Somphet family. It is Brother Somchia's younger brother's family. They all want to be baptized but have a hard time coming to church. It is frustrating. The family is very poor and last week we went to go teach them and ended up helping them build their house. It was super fun! I was welding things and walking on roof beams. haha"
"I was asked to write a letter to this kid in Utah. His older brother
came to Thailand and after sacrament meeting, he asked me to write to
him. He is thinking about not serving a mission and isn't quite sure
about what to do. I wrote him a letter and will send it today. Hopefully
something I say will help him to make the right choice."
"Love you all so much and I'll send pictures!"
Elder Jacob Smith
