Elder Narin Rakmak Returned With Honor.....and left Aaron behind...5555555

Elder Aaron Proctor has had such fantastic companions. It started in the MTC and has continued through his mission. Each of those companions has helped him grow and become the missionary and person he is. Some of his companions have returned home. In fact three of them have, the most recent- Elder Rakmak. 

 Elder Rakmak finished his mission a week ago (February 19). He was Aaron's first Thai companion and they connected in such an awesome way. I remember talking to Aaron on Christmas Day how Christmas Eve had been for him and he told me that the two of them had been kinda down. They had worked all day without any success and the Christmas spirit seemed to be missing. However, the two of them managed to turn the day around, sipping hot cocoa in cool 60 degree weather.

At times, more often than not, Kuhmpawapi can be a really tough area to work in. The missionaries are well known and are, as always, easily recognized. Often they are not welcome and meeting new people can be hard. Those two elders have worked hard and have made an impact. 

They encountered much wild life and kept fun alive. I remember one time asking Aaron if. "Having a brother in arms" helped make the rough life easier. He empathetical agreed. Telling me how grateful he was for his wonderful companion. 

When Elder Rakmak left, I sensed some sadness and it felt that Aaron was pretty much ready to move on as well. I though it might be hard for him getting a new companion in an area where he had made a best friend. He stayed on and I think that was not too, too easy for him. 

Since returning home. Elder Rakmak has started to communicate with us. In fact, we are working on getting a skype connection going where we can teach each other, our respective languages. He misses Aaron terrible, just as Aaron misses him. I think they have established eternal bonds. Elder Rakmak has sent us a couple of pictures of Aaron that are posted below. 

Thank you Elder Rakmak! We are glad you are Aaron's friend!


 

February- Myanmar is open for missionary work!

Well as you have heard, I am still in KHUMPS.... but fear not for I shall be here for only a short stay. I have received confirmation that I am leaving in 3 weeks, no doubt about it!! Really, I am ok with staying. I have to show the world this area can grow! (The area really has grown over the past weeks.)

Yeah, so this past transfer an amazing thing happened..... BURMA(Myanmar) IS OPEN. We have people in Burma the whole area is open. The church is translating the Book of Mormon into Burmese right now. THE WORK IS HASTENING ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(So, here is the cool fact about this Myanmar situation.... earlier in Aaron's mission, the church started having English classes in Myanmar. There were some problems and the program was shut down. So this is truly a huge step forward. Up until this point, mostly senior missionaries had served in Myanmar. Having Elders there is a miracle!)Our whole mission is now open. Another cool tidbit..... Aaron's mission included Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Since he got there. Laos and now Myanmar have opened to missionary work. It is so very exciting!!!)  Oh yeah and President Senior is in Hong-Kong  right now. Something is "abrewing"! I went to Bangkok and what not. It was jolly good fun to see friends and what not!

Missionaries in the states, they just need to walk around and ask people to be baptized! It is simple.... because when you overcomplicate the gospel, nothing gets done!! Yeah so really this whole week was about transfers. Sorry not much more exciting than this!

February 16 - Do you want to get baptized in 30 minutes?

Twas a mad week of pure madness of people running around and running away from us because they don't want to hear what we have to say! It's funny..... Gravity it is always our enemy when we want it to be our friend ......It hates us always and makes us fall and get up again yeah.
Well in the end everything will be alright!!No animals tried to kill us......... I almost died a couple days ago because a dog was chasing me and I was off balance because we had a lap top. I almost got hit  by a motorcycle- needless to say I was cross. (Note....he had just told me that he had not been killed by an animal....sigh!) 

 

Well I  will know if I get transferred, tonight...... "Tonight,  tonight there's a party on the rooftop of the world!" It should be exciting!  All is well that ends well right??Either way, I will go to Bangkok with my companion on Wednesday.

Well, in some rather exciting news....... we had a baptism this weekend. It kinda came as a surprise. Our investigator was interviewing on Saturday and it wasn't going good. The computer stopped working, she had a head ache because she was quitting coffee cold turkey. We were like ok come back tomorrow and we will get you interviewed. She came and was interviewed in the second hour of church. Satan did everything in his power stop it from happening. There were problems with the computer.  Heck, even the power went out at the church! But through faith and prayers the interview was accomplished. She then had to have another interview because of something and she passed as well!! Then our District leader and Zone leader called at separate times to see if she was going to be baptized on Sunday. We looked at her and said ,"hey do you want to be baptized in like 30 minutes?" She said yeah!!! So we rushed around filing the fount and getting the clothes and speakers ready and what not/ Then she GOT BAPTIZED!!!! It was pure madness!! Super fun!

Let's see tender mercies of the week.... Well all I honestly can remember about this week, is the baptism, because it was a tough week .This baptism was possible because a lot of help from this side and from across the veil because well she was not positive if she wanted baptism any more!

February 9- a stray dog named Joe

Elder Aaron loves animals...but especially dogs. He has one named Harley here at home. For the last couple of weeks, if not more, he has talked about a stray dog that has been following them around- they decided to name him Joe. Joe has been a great source of comfort for Aaron. The dog has shown him affection when it was most needed. 

WAT DI Mumzy

Well it sounds like in the worst case scenario we are safe because well we can make impure water clean!!  Aaron is referring to his brother's science fair project that is a water filtration system. The project moved unto District level)Sounds like a spiritual lesson ......YOU NEED TO HAVE FAITH  and persist and have patience because in the end you become clean and pure and what not.

Speaking of naps......I WANT TO TAKE ONE TODAY, because.... well I woke up at 5:30 to go see the red flowers-sad thing was, well we got lost a few times and by the time we got there we were super tired. We had ridden our bikes for 10 kilometers- and when we got there we did not have enough money to go and actually go see  the lake..... then we biked 7 kilometers home again.. yay Morale of the story..... ask people!




Well this week was a killer because well we are hitting the wall with opposition but Elder Wilko showed us we have done the impossible here. We have made this area grow every month. It's very exciting!!! The good and the bad huh.....

Well good, this week as father will tell you is I  did not get mauled by  monkeys....

We had a random lady call us after finding a baptism card on the ground, she wants to BE BAPTIZED.

I asked him how he had seen the Lord's hand in his life that week. Here is his answer...

well I am still alive.... I have seen the Lord lift me when I get low, because well here it's easy to get low because everyone wants to shut you down and make you not work. In the end, the Lord sends something your way to pick you up, like a stray dog that wants to play after having a crushing blow of rejections back to back. The dog's name is Joe. He is awesome. He just makes you feel good when no one shows up to church. 

A Cow Gone Crazy....... and a lost phone........

Many missionary mom's don't hear about their child's mishaps and adventures until he or she gets home from their mission. Well, Elder Aaron keeps me up-to-date on mishaps and adventures... and I am glad- why? Because I can see the Lord's hand in his life and how he continuously gets protected. Elder Aaron has always been the type to put others' safety before his own. Whether it is keeping children safe by going after a snake with a machete, running after a wild boar with a taser, or trying to safe the people of Kumphs from a cow that has run amok in its street...... what is a mom to do other than pray her heart out and to remind her son that there is only one of him and she needs him to get back home safe in 15 months. All I can say is.....Be still my soul! :-)

So here is this week's exciting report.....

Well this week in review ......It was a very refiners fire week.  We hit opposition out the wazoo. But all is well because...... well it is a new week - that means new opportunities to teach and preach as missionaries do!! 

 

Basically this week was spent in Udorn doing business and what not! Monday try to relax did not have enough money to relax! Tuesday district meeting- basically telling us that we are awesome and what not! Wednesday..... this where the fun begins!!!!! Left the phone on Tuesday at a McDonald's. Reason being is that the District president took me and Elder Rakmak there to talk with us about our area and we can do. I took the phone out and put on a seat and forgot it there. We were about 30 minutes out of Udorn when Elder Rakmak said, Hey where's the phone? Needless to say I about died when I realized I had left it in a fast food/ not fast food restaurant. Needless to say we asked someone for a phone and called the elders there. They went to go pick it up for us -we returned to get it on Wednesday, Thursday nothing much happened except that we invited all day!!! 

 

Then on Friday Elder Proctor figured he was a superhero..... and would go and save a cow running through the streets. It tried to kill me. It did not succeed because..... well the Holy Ghost saved me nothing happened to me. It had a rope, I grabbed the rope and started leading it and then I made a mistake, I walked in front of its face and it leaned its head down to rush me. The cow lowered its head in a attempt to gore me but luckily the spirit quickened my hands I turned around in preparation to grab its head and horns. It was about 3 inches away. It stopped and turned around and sauntered away! I was very lucky! (This is the part when I started to breath again...)

 

Let's see on Saturday went back to Udorn to translate for a high council man. I translated for three hours yeah it was super crazy!!!!!! Then after that was Sunday where nothing to large or scary was seen or heard except that it was a very hot day and everyone was hiding from the sun. I had a 14 year old take or try to take a sneaky pic of me it was funny! I think this is how a teenage heart throb feels. It's scary everyone tries to take pics of me super sneakily but it never works!!!! (Since his companion is Thai- there really are not any other white kids in the area at the moment- so yes, Elder Aaron stands out just a bit..)\

That was my week.... sadly no teaching happened, because well we have no investigators at the moment.... yeah we are trying to get some new ones!!

Brian his younger brother really misses him at the moment. This is how he responded- I thought it was quite sweet...

Dear Brian..... the house is not empty I am there in spirit and before you know it I will be back and we will have many grand adventures. 

Elder Aaron has been on his mission for 9 months now. Crazy how time flies! We miss him but would not want him to be anywhere else.

 

It is a phone booth...remember those??

 

 

Dogs and Wild Boars......oh my! ~ January 26

This week has come and gone it was really tough week of roughing it in the outback as Brian would say. An exciting moment of the week was when a dog attacked my foot! Yeah buddy it was probably one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me yet! Ah but I sense your worry rising already! All it did was put a little cut into my shoe. After that I chewed the dog out and it ran away. Back into its house, where we went and invited the family that lived there. It was pretty funny- the dog refused to come out from under the bamboo table. It was very afraid of me! The Lord protected my foot from being savaged i guess! ;-) That was the exciting part of my week! 

 

I also got lost in the wilderness of กุมภวาปี! It was very good, beside that Satan made both of us sick and we could not receive a return appointment with any of our investigators. They are all afraid of baptism! We have not taught a lesson in a while. I have started writing in my journal like Star Trek "Star dates" now! Just to keep things exciting and interesting!! 

 

I ran into a wild boar. That was very frightening! We were just walking back home and we saw this black thing next to our house starring at us. As we got closer we realized that  it is a WILD BOAR! Elder Rakmak proceeded to pull out his taser and I pulled out my slingshot. Then I realized that if I use my slingshot all I would do is to make it angry. So. I put it away. Then I took Elder Rakmak's taser, walked a little closer, turned it on and got ready to fight a boar! It proceeded to hide back in the forest.  Yay for awesome adventures in the wilderness of Thailand!! 

 

I finally fixed my bike as well! It is finally ride-able again!!Yesterday I was chastised through Mormon's messages and what not that I need to have patience with myself and with everyone else as well. This week we honestly felt like Alma in Ammonihah . No one wanted to hear what we had to say anymore . It's a little tough, needless to say the past two weeks have been hard. I have started to complain a little. I really want this place to grow but I seem to be hitting a dead end with every path I take .

 

We have a dog now! He is a stray that follows us wherever we go.

We have had people run away from us because they don't want to here about the gospel that's always fun!! I just have to work and see what is going to happen!! I will keep rocking it!!!