"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!"
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| 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
