What a week! May 25, 2014

Elder Proctor

To say this was a crazy week would be an understatement. Tuesday, martial law was implemented. Luckily we had members from Elder Proctor's ward that kept us up-to-date on what was happening in their area. The reports we were getting were that, although he is serving in Bangkok, he is serving in a safe area. Thursday, a Coup d'Etat was declared. Friday, the missionaries stayed inside. The rest of the week they had been allowed to meet their investigators and to teach their English class. By Sunday, all restrictions were lifted. The situation continuously changes. We received a reassuring email from the mission office. 

Here is an update from our missionary:

Well all is well it just a little harder to get work done the hardest thing is not being able to invite. You see all these people and you want to talk to them and spread the good word. But we have been banned until today from talking with anyone. We also were told to avoid soldiers, it is kinda a big deal!It as been crazy, we have not been able to really work well because of the curfews but we are going along. I guess we have been getting appointments and what not. We have 72 hour kits to keep us safe so we are good right now no worries!

Well, things in Thailand are going ok. I guess we really will have to wait and see what happens. I have no clue as to what will happen...... so we will continue to press on and wait.

Well not a lot  happened this week. We just taught a lot and sat around, because  we could not really do anything. Friday, we were inside all day. We were doing this workout called "Convict Conditioning". It was super fun! Then we napped and sat around and played card games. We did not have much to do. We called loads of people and asked if we could meet with them. But in the end, we ran out of that option as well. It was a fun week though, doing switch- offs with members because there were to many people to teach yesterday. It was quite fun! 

It was raining yesterday and we were talking about faith and I said,"God wants you to use your faith." Right after I said that "THUNDER"! It was Epic! 

Due to the coup, we have not moved, yet.  I think we will move pretty soon, just got to wait a little bit It is like a safe haven "bubble" where we live. No worries mum,  the scariest thing here is the Khlong(open sewer)  We are down to 3 investigators now. One is getting baptized this weekend. He is 9 years old and his name is ......Don't worry, I am not afraid.  I am on the Lord's side. The side of light and righteousness! It is like the Devil trying to stop us.... but he will fail, as he always has! 

A man of few words...... May 18, 2014

This week I stopped an abusive man from throwing his wife around.  Elder Gage and I went and called him out and told him he should respect his wife because she is a women. Needless to say that man was cowed and treated her a lot better.  We also saw a spider eat a lizard. 

Well the house hunt is nearing an end. We have found the promised land LOL!

 (The missionaries have been looking for a new place to stay. The current one is not in very good condition and includes poisonous centipedes as well as rats. The one they are looking at right now seems great- they are just waiting for the go-ahead from the mission office). 

We found eight investigators this week!

The Lord always provides a way for it to work. Read the scriptures, pray for help in your nightly and daily prayers. The lord will provide a way!

Meeting wonderful people in Bangkok

Who needs to shower anyway????

 

Teaching English Class

Happy Mother's Day!

 

We had such a fun time and laughed so so much! He is doing so well. Elder Aaron misses us, but he loves his mission. We talked about the future of the Bangkok Thailand mission. He told us that they are working hard to get a  temple in Thailand. The mission is on "fire". There are still rats and creepy crawlers in their home and so they are looking for a new place to live. The Missionaries have to find their new place and 4 elders will share it. The missionaries that were there before them did not keep records very well, therefore Elder Proctor and Elder Gage are starting at zero. Elder Aaron asked for prayers in their behalf. He was talking about how nice it is to have more people to talk to and the be in a ward that runs "regularly". He talked about going shopping (something he could not do in Kumphawapi). He told us several times...."When we are in Thailand together....". He is excited to show us his home away from home. Brian, his little brother was much more involved in the conversation than last time at Christmas. This was such a wonderful gift! Aaron talked about all the rats and how people in Kumphs used to grill them. I asked him to make sure that we do not eat something like that when we go to Thailand......

600 baptims and couting......

So no one really knows when we will be skyping, but its going to be on Monday for us in Thailand and will be for one hour long ! Yep you get to see this mug for an hour long! Well, I ate pizza on the first..... it was good. (That was his one year anniversary! One more year to go! I asked if he burned a tie.....something some missionaries do on their half-way done day)...  well I like my ties to much to burn them... 55555. (555=hahahah in Thai!)

So, we have not so we decided to make the house feel better by deep cleaning it and making our room into what we call the "war" room (I call it that at least!)......(There are rats in the ceiling and poisonous centipedes in the drains and sinks...We (His companion and he) get along way well! We are just getting along super well... We like to "adventure" and what not. It's hard getting to bed on time now... its fun to talk to a ton of people by a ton I mean 4..... (Quite a change for him....having been in a single companionship for 9 months) LOL The church is about a 10 minute walk from our house. I still don't know how big our area is(He and his companion whitewashed the area...meaning they are both new to the area...usually there is one missionary who stays...but not always...)I think its huge!  We still eat out because its still cheaper. I still only pay dollar for all meals. The mission home is about 1 hour away.  

 

Well our baptism, in short, was a miracle. We met her on our second day here and the elders before had taught her once. So, we taught her everything in a week AND SHE WAS BAPTIZED!  We taught her about the 10 commands and talked about how we cannot worship idols and what not. She asked if the Buddha necklace she had on was considered and idol. We said yes, the next day she came again so we could teach her and she had gotten rid of it already. It was way sweet! 

 

We have a new investigator. Her husband is a member and we are going to teach and have her baptized this week. That's the plan! She came to church once so it's a green go! 

The work in the mission is erupting. The mission president wants us to get a baptism a week. It's going to be fantastic! Pray that we can do this because we are going for a temple all the way! 100 percent !We have already had 600+ baptisms this year. We had only planned for 1000 this year... we are now going for 2000 because we can! 

 

The work here is different because the people are willing to serve and give their all. It's awesome! The wars is bigger and there are  more people to talk to! Yesterday was the "May the baptism be with you" (We celebrate May fourth as ...May the fourth be with you..")
ZIS IS THE REAL LIFE!

http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4e44417a4e7a4d7a4e54453d0d0a&blogview=true

Fun First Days....

With Elder Gage his new companion

Hello Bangkok.....Bangkapi Ward.......Brokenhearted for Kumpawapi April 27

Thanks to some special friends we found out that Elder Proctor really would be transferred this time around. His District President(similar to Stake President) sent this sweet text...
"As you know he will move from Kumpawapi, after serve there for a long time. All member in Kumpawapi will miss him, include District President hahahaha. I was once who met him when he was a new missionary in Khonkaen. He's a good missionary and love people that he serve thank you for your good example." How sweet! Elder Proctor served in Kumpawapi for 8 months. He really got to know the area well. He loved the people there and in the end there was heartache. After about a year of having missionaries in Kumpawapi the missionaries were pulled out. Elder Aaron found out about this during the transfer meeting. It caused him some heartache. We first found out about this from our friend Kenny. We also got this message from his now former District President,"Yes he loves that branch so much, missionary there told me that he was crying when he know that they will close missionary in that area."

So here is his update........

So, this past week was a whirlwind truly! The Kumphwapi area is closed until further notice. I don't know when it will open again for missionaries.. The reason being is, we do not have enough missionaries to serve there anymore. We dropped from 175 missionaries to 145. We are down a few.... (The mission office always puts together a slide show with transfers....this is how the missionaries find out where they are going and who they serve with......and this is what happened...)

It as upsetting, President Senior didn't show anything about Khumps and I shouted, "hey what about Khumps?" He said, "well come and riot about it, because I can't do anything about it"- (now this is exactly how Aaron write it...he could not figure out how to say it in English and that was the closest he could come up with...). Then the elder, who opened that area,  was like...." so we opened it up for nothing..." I then shouted again,"Hey you listen here, he did not open it for nothing!" Afterwards,  I went up and kinda cried while talking with President Senior. He was telling me all of the stuff that was going on and he was like.... "If you weren't up here doing what you are doing right now, I would be super worried and wonder what happened".  Elder Proctor then shared a private email he received from President Senior in which he was commended for his love for the people of Thailand- sweet enough to make a mom weep).
So, the elders in  Udorn come down to Khumps every like 3 days and take care of the people there

Yeah I  am smack dab in the city of Bangkok. I went from the heart of the country to the heart of the city. We are in a 4 elder house. We call ourselves the "Last Minute Eagles" because we got our eagles  the last second possible! I'm In place called Bangkapbi its the biggest and easiest ward in Thailand  I have been a missionary for a year! Yeah, rain its super great.... so yesterday it was the hottest day of the year -it was way hot! My comps name is Elder Gage he is from Springville, Utah and he is younger then me in the mission. He has been on his mission for 8 months. Quiet fun! Its' a blast! I am the senior comp, it's way weird!All in all there are six elders and two sisters in the ward. (Funny side note...one of the sisters and one of the elders were in his MTC district....the elder being his companion...Aaron has not been around that many missionaries at once- since leaving the MTC.)

Everything truly is just luxury really! I mean sure, we have rats running above us all night and centipedes in the drain hole which are super dangerous! We are going to leave that house soon!

You will here of my crazy adventures..... don't worry.... don't tell mom but I kinda live in the ghetto. We are moving out so we don't get killed by the centipedes, if they bite you you may die. (Yep, I get why he did not want me to hear that...after months of monkeys, snakes......wild boar.... now centipedes....)

So our bishop is a rock star! Really he is. He is way boss at singing and first day there we were singing a sweet rendition of "Where there is Love".

We are having a baptism this week. It's awesome! Her name is Sister......!

One of our recent converts is a former  soldier who is missing his arm and eye, He is a boss who was just confirmed. He has such a testimony- it's awesome!

(One more comment from his loving mom....according to Sister Stevenson, who served in Bangkapi for awhile, there have been 30 baptisms in the ward this year. Lucky for me, I had a bunch of pics of Aaron posted on Facebook from one of the members there....)