District Conference

"Elder Roberts and I have not been able to do a lot of contacting because we haven't been able to get his bike. His ATM card wasn't working and he couldn't get any money out. He's been emailing his mom and the bank so hopefully, we'll get it working today."

"This week we had District Conference in Udorn. It is about two hours from Khon Kaen. During the general session, I was sitting in the back with Elder Roberts. I could tell that he was really bored from not understanding anything, so I started talking to him. Then in the corner of my ear, I heard my name called. I looked up and the District President was looking at me from the pulpit. He asked if I would come up to the stand. I pointed to myself and he nodded. I was so confused and walked to the front. They wanted me and a few other people to talk about how we were personally going to help in the work of the Lord. Apparently, everyone else was told about this beforehand, except me. President Senior made a last minute decision to call me up. As I sat there, the other missionaries were making faces and laughing at me, because they knew. haha  I just sat there and said a prayer to say something that would help the members understand the importance of the work. I was the last of 5 people to speak. I got up and told everyone that I will do what I have always done and invite everyone I see to come unto Jesus Christ and be baptized. I looked around at the other missionaries and said that I think I speak for all the missionaries. We are ready to work and to serve. We are here to help. If they need help in the work of Salvation, then that is why we are here. If they need help home teaching, then we will help them. Don't be afraid to ask us. I then said that they need to work as one with the missionaries. There isn't missionary work and then member work, but only God's work and we need to come together in order to perform miracles in the lives of the people in Thailand. I then bore my testimony and sat down. The rest of the day, I had people come up to me and tell me how much they loved what I shared. They told me it was inspired and just what they needed to hear. President and Sister Senior told me that was exactly what they wanted the members to hear. It felt really good. The members also told me that I spoke super clearly and clean Thai. It was comforting to know because, most of the time when I am nervous, I don't speak as well."

"I got to see Elder Vance again at District Conference and that was really fun. I haven't seen him since he left for Laos. He came up to me and was so happy. It was nice to see him as well. He told me a story. About a year ago, he was at the Que Pasa restuarant when he got the call that he would be going to Laos. He was freaking out about it and needed to quickly go and tell his mom and get everything ready and settled as soon as possible. He saw the line to pay and it was really long and he started to panic. He was praying for comfort when I looked at him and said, "Hey, here let me just pay for you. I got you!" He then handed me the money and left. He said it was an answer to his prayer that everything would be fine. After sharing this story, he hugged me and told me that he wished he could go back to the MTC and be my companion again. Just goes to show you that you don't know how much good you really do. It was really nice talking to him. I didn't really see anyone else. I realized that I am so old in the mission that I don't know a lot of the missionaries. haha"

"Elder Roberts and I decided to go contacting one day. We said a prayer and then Elder Roberts looked at me and asked where the Spirit was telling me to go? I said I didn't know, so let's go left. haha  We started walking and were trying to find a short cut that took us to another street we saw. We passed one street and Elder Roberts asked if this was the short cut? I told him I thought it was a dead end, but he thought it was the right street, so I said let's just go and see. The whole time I knew it was a dead end, but I felt that we should still go. The first and only person we saw was at the last house at the end of the street. It was a little old lady who had not been able to go to church because it was too far away. We told her about our church and that she wouldn't have to walk far to get to it. She agreed to go next week. That was an interesting guide of the Spirit. It gave us motivation in our contacting. Hopefully, she will witness the spirit and be baptized."

"We have another lady investigating as well. She was going to come one day, but then had her boss call to tell us that she couldn't make it. It was weird. She made another appointment for the next day and showed up and brought her boss too. They started to give us a sales pitch for their job which is a full on triangle scheme. They talked for about 20-30 minutes and at one point, Elder Roberts and I looked at each other and decided to just leave. Then the boss said she had to go run some errands and left us with the investigator. She quickly finished up what she was telling us and told us that she was ready for the church tour now. We were surprised and brought her in and she loved it. She accepted a date to be baptized on the tenth! Way cool!! She even brought out paper and pencil to take notes as we taught her. What a miracle because we have been trying really hard to get some daters. We got some training from the Zone Leaders and they want us to get 4 baptisms per companionship in the month of May. I believe we can do that."

"I know that I need to go hard core these last few weeks of my mission. I will not slow down. I will make sure that Elder Roberts knows what a successful missionary is before I die! I love you all so much!"

Elder Jacob Smith    

Khon Kaen

"As you already probably know, I am in Khon Kaen. I am a District Leader and training. My thoughts about this are "thank goodness!"  I love being a DL. It is less stressful and I feel that I can do more to use my ideas to help the area. After being a ZL for six months, it is nice to only have to look after one area. It is weird to not know what is going on around the mission though. My new son and companion is Elder Tyler Roberts! I already know that he is Tori's friend. He told me that he talked to her before leaving on his mission. That is really cool. He showed me pictures of him in Nitro Circus and he is so insane! Elder Roberts is doing really good and we get along great. The District is a little different than what he is use to hanging around, but he is starting to understand the humor and it is fun to see him adjust and change. haha  The other missionaries in the District are Elder Nelson, who was a Greenie in Rangsit with me, and Elder Bush. I was his ZL in Don Mueang, so I already know them and have already started to implement some ideas to help the branch here. One is to start a mutual youth program. There is also a Senior Missionary couple serving here. It is Elder and Sister Lyon. Elder Lyon was the 22nd missionary to ever serve in Thailand and he speaks Thai really well. He is also the first counselor in the branch presidency. Sister Lyon is always so happy and is really funny. She makes such delicious treats that I will get fat! I think they really like that I came in with ideas and ready to work. I really like them and will enjoy working with them. I feel like I came into this area really well. This is where Matt (Elder Boonmee) and Elder Parker served last. the members here love them. I already have people that know who I am because of them. It is really funny hearing all the stories about them. Matt was a ladies man and had some investigators fall in love with him. haha  It is really funny!"

Grandson (Elder Nielsen), Son (Elder Parker), Father (Elder Smith), Son (Elder Roberts)

"I played in Songkran, but didn't take any pictures because they would have been destroyed! It is crazy in Chiang Mai. It was way fun though and we got soaked! We only celebrated Monday and then had to go back to work which was hard. Then having to travel down for transfers took us from 6 am to 8 pm. It was the longest bus ride ever and I thought I would die! At transfers, it was weird seeing Sister Holmes go home since I saw her come in. I'll be following her out soon. This really sucks that it is so close now."

"The sister of Elder Khanakam (the first Thai Area Seventy), that we were teaching, should have been baptized, but I'll have to wait for some news on that. I'm sure she did because I told them and she was interviewed already. We did a lot to prepare her and I would have liked to be there for that."

"This last week has been great. We have really gotten a good start. This area is recovering from some bad Elders about a year ago which really hurt the branch and lost their trust. I immediately want to show all the members that we are here to lift the burden. We have the good support of Elder Lyon too and he is doing a lot. As a District, we have come up with some ideas to help the branch. I made sure that the missionaries here are focused on baptism and member relationships. I also made a goal to see as many families as we can that the Branch President wants us to. I feel that having good relations with the members will give us lots of referrals. This is what we are working on at the moment."

"I'm way happy to be in the Esan. The food is so good!!! I don't really have to learn Lao too much. It is all pretty basic. I'm sending you some pictures from my trip to Myanmar. I love you all!"

Elder Jacob Smith

   

The Lone Zone Leader

"Sorry it has taken me so long to send an email. These last two weeks have been great and so busy!"

"First, I'll tell you about my visit to Burma. We left on Tuesday morning and got there around 6:00pm. The Elders picked us up and we headed straight to the church. This is where they live. They gave us some longyis (pronounced loan-jis) to wear. It is a tube of fabric that you wrap around yourself to wear instead of pants. It is traditional Myanmar clothing. The missionaries have to wear it with a white shirt and sandals. They can't wear socks, shoes or a tie. These are considered rude because it is showing off how rich we are and doesn't help the image of the church. What was worse is that I couldn't even wear my name badge because I was only visiting and didn't have a work visa. At one point, we went to this market and it was really fun. The streets there are so insane! I almost died because no one stops for you and you have to pay attention. We helped teach English class and met a lot of members and investigators that I was able to help teach. They are really cool people and it was so fun. They told us the history of the church there and it was really interesting. At one time, the church was super successful and then went so apostate that all the members were excommunicated. I'm glad the church is back there now. Leaving was really sad." 

"Right after we got back to Thailand, Elder Black was called to be an office Elder for the last two weeks of his mission. We went to MLC which was all about preparing the people for the temple. When the announcement came, we were on our way back to Bangkok. It was midnight and everyone was freaking out. They told us to tell all of our districts, so I called everyone. They were not too happy to get woken up until they heard the good news. haha  It was way cool. Then all of a sudden, I had a confirmation that this now is crunch time. I need to do everything that I can to fight against Satan because he will be working really hard to destroy the work. We are all excited to get this temple and it makes me feel that I did something good to help this to happen. I'll be working as hard as I can this last transfer to be super consecrated to the Lord. We show our gratitude for the temple by getting to work and setting a goal to get 200 baptisms this month. That's how we celebrate here in Thailand!" 

"I am a lone Zone Leader at the moment. haha  I am in a tri-companionship with Elder Tamang and Elder Hinkley. This last week was really busy because of transfers. I had to coordinate a bunch of people by myself. Because of Songkran, President Senior doesn't want anyone that doesn't need to go to transfers to go, including the companions of missionaries as well. I have to find out who is leaving, get them a companion and get them to transfers. This is hard because tickets are sold out everywhere for Songkran. Super stressful and I am still making plans right at this moment, but I got it. haha  Also, I am moving so I don't know where I'll be going."

"Happy Songkran! I'm going out to play in the water!"

Elder Jacob Smith