Faith in Miracles

"The last two weeks have been really hard for our companionship. We went contacting every day and worked really hard for the past two weeks. I mean every day and I am so tired. I actually lost my voice the last three days and so my Thai is really bad. haha  I have no tones and even the other Elders can't understand me."

"We have lots of eternal investigators. There is this Burmese family who we have to teach really simple to and one of the family members, that speak Thai, has to translate for us, so it takes a long time. We had one investigator who told us that she is going to Singapore for two weeks and that she will get baptized April of next year. AHHHHHH! She wants Bannakorn to baptize her, but he will no longer be a missionary then. She says that she will just go to Chang Rai to have him do it. I guess we'll see what happens. Then we have another who is so ready to be baptized, but he is not legally married. His wife is 50/50 about it. We are going to meet with them tomorrow to ask why she doesn't want to get married. They live in a house about the size of Tori's room. Then we have one that we taught everything to, but she went to Chang Rai and says she is not ready to be baptized. It is so frustrating."

"Rangsit was able to get another baptism. It was the Sister's investigator. We have had a baptism every week this transfer. This is a complete miracle for sure! There were two people that the Sisters had prepared for baptism this week. One was taught everything, but had a problem with tithing. He tells us on Saturday that he wasn't ready and couldn't be baptized. The other person was golden but could only meet on Sunday for his interview and baptism. He called the night before and said that he got home late and didn't think that he could wake up, so next week would work better. This made us all really sad because it was our last chance of meeting our goal for a baptism a week. I was upset because I prayed for a miracle and I knew one was coming. Even after contacting and calling everyday for two weeks, not one person came to church and I was so downhearted. I fell to my knees and told Heavenly Father that I knew he will send us a miracle because we had done everything that we possibly could. I didn't know what the miracle would be, but I knew that we would have one. We had over 30 people, including investigators, at church, so we stared our insane teaching of trying to teach everyone that was there. The Sister's investigator that had a problem with tithing showed up and Sister Naray talked to him and said that he was still feeling the same way. I decided to go up to him and asked why he wouldn't get baptized. He told me that he was not pure and had sinned. I just responded by saying that of course, he wasn't pure and that he had sin all over him. haha  That's why he needed to get baptized! I testified of baptism and told him to go ahead and get the interview. He said that the interview would not be pure if he did. I then said of course it isn't pure! But God is and he could have the interview and then decide if he is ready or not. God will tell him through his servant if he is ready to be baptized. He then agreed to be interviewed and I said good. We got Elder Kohler to give the interview and the guy passed with flying colors! He came out of the interview and said that he would be baptized and he chose to do it today! YES!! We got everything prepared and he was baptized. What a miracle! I know that God used us to help this person. I learned that sometimes and most of the time, in order to see a miracle, we have to first take the first step and then the miracle can be brought to pass. Way cool that we were able to see that happen. I also learned that God has a reason for every thing and we may not always see it. Maybe I wasn't suppose to have any investigators come to church, so that I would have the time to talk to this guy and help him to get baptized. I don't know. Maybe working hard and not complaining made the miracle happen. All in all, it was faith that brought about the miracles. I love you all so much!

Elder Jacob Smith

Lessons Learned

"Sorry for being a day late. I went site seeing and didn't have time yesterday to write, so we got special permission to email today. I really don't have much time, so I'll keep it short."

"We had Zone Conference this Friday. It was really good and we talked about repentance and the Godhead. We learned that repentance is a change of heart or life style. It is not a list of things that we need to ask for forgiveness from, although it is a part of it. It has really helped to make the investigators understand the importance of repentance. We also learned from the Area 70, new ways to work with the members and leaders in the ward. It was cool to see him. Then I had an interview with President Senior. I talked to him about how much my mission has changed for the better in Rangsit. We had a great talk about how God prepares us and how we need to use Faith. I think he has seen a change in me as well. He said when he first saw me, "Elder Smith, something is different about you, but I don't know what it is." He then asked me and I said, "I don't know!" haha  The interview was probably the best one I've had so far.  I feel like I am finally the missionary that God wants me to be. I feel more experienced and know more of what I need to do. My desires have changed too. I love contacting and everything gospel."

"Monday we went to Lopburi. It was so fun! I played with the monkeys and climbed a huge mountain. It was a crazy experience. The monkeys were climbing all over me and one even peed on my leg. haha  The mountain had 3752 or something steps to reach the top. It was so high and steep. We also forgot to take water with us which caused a lot of problems. At first I was like, yeah I got this and was speeding up the mountain. Later, I realized that wasn't the best idea because I didn't stop at the rest areas long enough. We got half way up and were all dying of heat! We were sweating bullets. Elder Lodwick was the worst. We started talking about how dangerous it was to do this without water. We almost turned back, but then Sister Pawadee said that there was water at the top, so we kept going. We got like 3/4 way to the top and now the situation became dangerous. Two of the Elders had to stop because they were going to pass out from dehydration. I yelled to Elder Kohler and said that we needed to get to the top fast and bring down water for the others. It was insane! We sent Sister Naray up the mountain first because she is a long distance runner and had good endurance. We all knew she would make it. I was dying for sure. I was just about to give up when I finally could see the end. I kept thinking about the other Elders and knew that I had to get water to them. We made it to the top and grabbed some water and started running back down the mountain. Luckily the other Elders were alright and we gave them water and helped them get to the top of the mountain. We all made it and the view was great. The water was terrible, but life saving. There were a lot of temporal and spiritual things that we learned from that experience. I will have to tell you about it next time. Don't let me forget. It was something that I think God wanted us to learn. I love you all and I'm out of time."

Elder Jacob Smith

Setting a Goal

"This will be a short letter. Nothing really exciting happened this week. It was a tough week for the entire area, but we did still get 4 baptisms. The other Elders got two and the Sisters got two. We almost had one, but he still had some things to work on. We had another investigator that was almost baptized this week, but she is going to Chang Rai. She may get baptized there, so I'll keep praying for her."

"This Monday we just stayed at home not doing too much and then we taught an investigator. Tuesday we contacted again and taught an English class. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was all contacting. We were having a hard time getting our numbers. We got the members involved and Sister Boo (my RC) came through with 6 referrals. She told me that she was planning to be a missionary! She is my favorite person in the ward. We had 9 investigators at church for our companionship and 15 total in all. It is lower than what we've been getting, but there is always room for improvement. Our plan is to have the mission look to Rangsit and say, "Rangsit will move heaven and earth to get a baptism!" haha  That's the goal."

"The protesting is not big deal right now, so I am happy because I was nervous about being kicked out of Thailand and having to serve the rest of my mission in a lesser chosen mission like Chile or Texas. haha (These are his brother and Dad's missions) Until next week, I love you all so much!"

Elder Jacob Smith

Love God More

"This week started out normal and I was just killing it on contacting. I got more numbers than anyone the first day and that has never happened, so I was living it up. It gave me a push of confidence."

"We had a fun activity on Monday for our RCs. It was on the Plan of Salvation. We started out by killing everyone in a plane crash and it was pitch dark. They had to climb the stairs in the dark to get to the lowest kingdom. On their way up, we would stop them suddenly and teach about the spirit world, resurrection and judgement. We also gave everyone a random piece of paper that said whether they were baptized or not. If they were not, we asked them if they believed in Jesus Christ and would accept his gospel. If yes, then we would tell them about how someone on earth was baptized for them and they could enter into the kingdom. We had the Celestial and Terrestrial kingdoms as well. In the lower kingdom, we had two people talk about baptism and ETTE. It was dark there and had no air conditioning, so it was not a happy place. haha  The second kingdom talked about missionary work and the Holy Ghost. There it had air but no lights. The Celestial kingdom had air and lights and was on the top floor, so we opened the curtains and you could see all the stars which was way cool. There we talked about eternal families, family history work and temples. The Bishop was in charge of that. It was way awesome that even the members asked if we could do it for them on Sunday. It would be too hard to, but it was way cool though. I only have one picture of Elder Bannakorn as an angel. haha"

"During the week, we had an interview for one of our investigators being baptized and then went contacting. We had one lesson with this guy that had some strong addictions and we told him that doing those things would cast him down to hell. Well, he came to church and said he hasn't done any of those things again, so we'll see how that goes. Then we get a call that told us that we had to go home at 8:00pm. We found out that we were forbidden to go out of the house unless going to teach at the church. It lasted for three days! We were at the church all day long just calling people and doing nothing. Then we got together and came up with an idea to contact without going out ourselves. We planned to get the members to do it for us. We had a meeting with many of our RCs and members and asked for their help. We called them as Representatives of Jesus Christ and asked them to do the work. Lot's of them actually signed up for the work and I am sending a picture of them. We will see how well they do and if they have success, before we tell them that we can go contacting again. I really hope it works."

"This week, we were able to go see the Father of our 17 year old investigator. I contacted her at the beginning of the month. I asked her to read the scriptures right when I met her on the street and she read, "The olive tree is compared to the House of Isreal." haha  I then invited her to go to church that next Sunday and she never showed up. She did come meet with us that night and we were able to teach her and set a date for the 1st of next month. She told us yes, but when I called her again, she said that she was Buddist and would not go to church. Then she showed up at church and was befriended by Sister Boo, who is one of my RCs. They are now great friends and Sister Boo is teaching and helping her. Now the girl wants to be baptized which is so way awesome, but her parents will not give permission. We went to see them and they said that she had to wait until she is 20 and can choose for herself. She started to cry when her parents said no to us. I think she will choose to be baptized without her parents permission. Christ said that the gospel will sometimes cut you off from your family, but you need to love God more. We will see if she can be baptized when she turns 18 in July."

"This next week will be good for sure and I can't wait to see what adventures I'll be having. Maybe I'll take some pictures of it all! haha"

Elder Jacob Smith

Prayers Answered

"This week we had over 20 investigators to church! Elder Bannakorn and I also had two baptisms. They were two older ladies. One was very Buddist, but found more peace from prayer than anything else. She accepted everything that we taught her. She is the same age as Grandma and is the taller one in the picture. She understood sin and wanted to be clean. She passed her interview with flying colors. The other sister was opposite and harder. She would accept everything, but had a difficult time with prayer. She would always just say, "Father in Heaven, name Father Christ, dit men", that's it. haha  We went over it with her every time that we met. She couldn't remember who the prophet was, but she remembered everything about the Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom. She is a funny little lady that carries a huge bag everywhere she goes. She is a super strong old lady and won't let anyone help her. haha  When we taught her about repentance, she would say that she had no sins. We would keep going over to teach her about repentance and prayer and she would still just say, "Father in Heaven,...dit men". We went through the interview questions with her over and over. On Sunday, we were so nervous for her, but she went to her interview and passed! YESSSSSS! It was so stressful, but we both had this strong feeling that she needed to be baptized or we would feel super terrible. We were the only companionship to have a baptism this week. One funny thing is when we were talking about what they had to wear for the baptism, they almost just stripped down in front of us! haha  That was a really scary moment. I'm happy they were baptized. No one gets old people like that to be baptized, but we did. There were so many prayers that were answered for me and Elder Bannakorn. I know that God had a hand in preparing these women."

"Other than that, all we did this week was contact and call people. If you have any ideas that you think would work or be fun to do, I'd love to hear it. It needs to be something that we can do or say in the streets and be fast to get their attention to accept to be taught."

"Our girl we baptized last week received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday too. Elder Bannakorn got to do it and that was way cool. I think that Elder Bannakorn has a thing for her, but he won't admit it. haha  She is so awesome and will be an awesome missionary."

"Well that's all I have for this week. I love and miss you all very much!"

Elder Jacob Smith

Mother's Day Skype

The best present for Mother's Day is a call from her missionary. Jake Skyped us at 10:30 in the evening. He is still the delightful and funny person he's always been. He loves serving in Thailand and is so comfortable being a missionary. His language is great and he was able to talk to family members in Thai. His friend Brian joined us during the Skype and Jake was so happy to see him. There were three more baptisms in Rangsit this week and more on the way. The whole district is busy and doing well.

Rangsit is Booming!

"This has been the most successful week of my whole mission so far. It was an amazing week! Let me tell you about it. We go inviting and invite everyone to church or to be washed from sin. We get their numbers and call them every day for an entire week. If they say they will go to church, we call and follow up with them every day. It gets to the point where they know that it is us calling and they just say, "Yes, Elder" and that they will go. Then we ask them if they will bring family members or friends and if they know where the church is. It is always a different question along with asking if they are coming to church. It works really well. This last week we got 32 people saying that they would go to church."

"This entire week we had no daters and no investigators, save for one that was not really interested. We just kept going contacting and calling for hours on end. We had a weekly planning meeting and prepared for our baptism we got this week. His name is Dong and he is way cool. He has been an investigator for a year. He had some addictions, but we were able to help him to understand that he doesn't have to worry and that he could still be baptized if he would just stop right now and rely on God. He came to the next appointment with so much confidence and said that he was going to be baptized. He was baptized on Saturday and received the Holy Ghost on Sunday and he is so happy."

"I think this next week, we are going to take some pictures of us contacting so that you can see how and where we contact. We are doing it a new way by taking shifts. One of us stays in the ice cream parlor and calls investigators and the other goes outside and contacts, always switching every half hour. We will see how that goes. It should work better because sometimes we are on the phone for 2 hours just making calls."

"I was contacting on Friday on the way to a lesson and went up to this girl and asked, "Hey, have you ever gone to a Christian church?" She said that she did once but no one would help her understand. I told her that if she will go this Sunday, that I would help her. She said ok and I took her number. We contact everywhere we go, even on p-day. We went to Asoke to get some Book of Mormons and we found 5 numbers for the Asoke Elders. They were so surprised! haha We got them all in like 5 minutes."

Rangsit Chapel

Rangsit Freeway

"The really cool news is this Sunday we had 32 people who said they were coming to church. The other Elders had 30. Nine actually showed up for us and 7 accepted to be baptized! 2 this next week (including the girl that I contacted on Friday), 3 the following week, and 2 the next week. We have 7 daters that we will be teaching! It was amazing! The other Elders had 13 new investigators show up and the Sisters had 5. All in all, we had 43 investigators at church, including old, new and eternal. We had 120 people at church, so think about that!! President brought us up in his meeting and talked about our success. Everyone knows that Rangsit is doing awesome! We are not boasting in ourselves, but we are where God needs us to be doing what he needs us to do. We show forth our works so that others can see it and glorify their Father which is in Heaven. We are planning to get 40 new investigators at church."

"I can't wait to see how this week turns out. Everyone keeps telling me that this is going to be the area that changes my mission and I would have to agree. I have improved so much and I can work so easily and I like it a lot. I love you all and can't wait to talk to you at the end of the week."

Elder Jacob Smith