Week 22 - Bangkhen, Thailand (July 27, 2014)

Not a lot to report on this week. However, with a recommendation from an elder from our district, I was able to go get couple suits tailored while I'm here. This tailor shop is very famous amongst the missionaries here. I'm told that even his majesty, the king, also had his suits done here. Other than that, we had a small miracle this last week.

Loburi Branch

We were sending out a mass text message for an event and we just decided to send it to a less active number. To our surprise, the person answered and said that she had moved to Lopburi and that she wasn't going to church. Through talking and teaching, she made it back to church this past Sunday. It is quite odd that one small decision on picking names in the phone would get one of the Lord's Children back to church.

That's all I've got and I didn't take any photos this past week.

Love Elder Boonmee"

Week 21- Bangkhen, Thailand (July 20, 2014)

A continuation of last week, with my wife's side of the family, elder Matt Boonmee's aunts and cousins visited him at the Bangkhen ward house. The uncle tried very hard to invite elder Matt Boonmee and his companion to lunch. However, the elders had already had plans for the P-Day.

During the week, his aunts tried to call and schedule the next P-Day where they can take him and his companion to visit Ayuthaya (an ancient capitol of Siam), about 60 miles north of Bangkhen. Elder Matt Boonmee tried to talk to them about attending church with him. Below is the response he relayed to us.

"..Yeah I tried getting them to come to church, but they just laughed and said every church is good. They aren't interested. I think they may have already met with Elders before, but I will keep trying."  

"So this week we had a baptism. Her name is นิด (Nid). She is a cute old lady. At first, she could not remember anything to save her life, but we kept teaching her. We later found that we couldn't baptize her. One of the APs had helped me teach her once, and just said she probably has memory problem and that it would be improper to continue due to

accountability issue. We just decided to stop teaching her. However, one day, she showed up to the church for an appointment we had made a week ago. She had remembered everything. So we called the AP back and asked to talk to her one more time and he was so amazed that she had remembered everything. So we had her interviewed and she passed. So we had a baptism for her. Surprisingly the Lord prepares ways for His children. 

Currently we have two wards coming to our building, us and Bangkappi. So I was sitting in the lobby waiting with Elder Hill, and one member from Bangkappi gave him two pieces of gum and said, "Give it to your friend as well." After that they asked the commonly asked question, " Are you a khon Thai?" (Are you Thai? For some reason, I guess I don't look like a Khon Thai to Khon Thais. I've been told I look Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. I guess I just look like a stereotypical Asian. No root to one country.)

But anyways, I said No I'm from America, but my parents are Thai. Then she said, I might know your parents so she asked the name of my parents, and I told her. She then got really excited and said, "I served with your dad when he was a missionary!" She said I looked like my dad a lot. But she told me she served in the same district as my dad back in the days. 

Anyways, that's what I've got for this week. Hope all is well. 

Love Elder Boonmee"

Week 20 - Bangkhen, Thailand (A visit from Thailand side of the family)

วันนี้มี update เพราะมีญาติฝ่ายคุณแม่มาเยี่ยมน้องแม็ทที่บางเขน.

Just a little update. Today (Monday Bangkok), elder Matt Boonmee had a first visit from his aunts, uncle, and cousins who live near by, in Bangkhen and Nonthaburi area.

He hasn't seen them since he was three years old. So I'm sure he was very excited to see them all.

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Last week we mentioned that elder Matt Boonmee has moved from Sakon Nakhon to Bangkhen district. This is the first place where he has his Thailand side of the family near by. His aunts and uncles just happened to live only a mile or two away (Bangkok time, it's about 45 minutes drive, depending on whether or not it's rush hour).  We gave him the information about them and ask that he give them a call. The following is his report.

"I tried calling aunt Noi and the phone isn't working. It keeps saying the phone isn't in service or hasn't been made yet. Is it the wrong number? can you give it to me again, maybe I wrote it wrong or something because I've been trying to call it for the past week.

This week we have some solid investigators coming to church. One said that she has been praying everyday and she has been receiving answers through her prayers. It's really cool to see how the spirit works through others. Today I'm planning on getting a suit cut. But not all too much again, just a lot of contacting and a lot of lessons. I had a cool experience a few weeks ago. I felt bad about something and I asked the Lord to forgive me and show me somehow that he has forgiven me. So the next day as I was studying the Book of Mormon, I came up in Mosiah 26 (โม​ไซยาห์ 26). 

It was very focused on forgiveness. It was a wonderful experience for me. It showed me the importance of the scriptures in my life. Well that's all I have. 

Love Elder Boonmee"

Week 19 - First full week in Bangkhen, Thailand (July 6, 2014)

This is Elder Matt Boonme's first week in Bangkhen, Thailand. As mentioned in last week's post, his new companion is Elder Hill. Both are new to the Bangkhen area. Bangkhen is a district, a suburb, located on the north side of Bangkok, near the old Don Mueng International Airport. To elder Matt Boonmee, this is a big change coming from Sakon Nakhon, a small, rural, area with city population under 100,000 and rice farming communities, to a city that is a part of Bangkok, with, at least 10 million population (official count. Non-official is probably closer to 15 million).

In Sakon Nakhon, the missionaries ride their bicycles everywhere. In Bangkhen, or anywhere in Bangkok, they walk, or use public transportation such as buses, trains, and subways.

Anyway, because both elders are new to the area, they are struggling to find investigators. They did run into a friend of ours from the old Thai branch we used to attend in north Salt Lake, Bro/Sis Sangsuwan.

They are serving in Thailand as well. Bro Sangsuwan is currently serving as the first counselor to the mission president, Elder Seniors. Below is elder Matt Boonmee's short report.

"This week was pretty hard. We did a lot of inviting. We white washed in and we weren't left with anything. It's almost like we opened a new area. We are still trying hard, and it's extremely hot. But it's not important we still go and do it. Yesterday we had four people off of the street come into the church from our contacting. That was pretty great! But not too much again this week. All is well.

Elder Boonmee"