Week 25 - Bangkhen, Thailand (August 18, 2014)

Today started out as usual, my wife and I,  sat and waited for Elder Matt Boonmee's email to pop up. We ended up waiting for quite sometime, util we realized he was going on a P-day excursion, to an ancient Wat in the province of Ayudhaya. This was the first excursion with his cousin, Elder Jacob Smith, who is serving in the, nearby, district of Rangsit.

Here are some pictures and mission update for this week from him.

"Today we went to Ayuthaya.

For Mom

Me with a Swag

It was a lot of fun. Everyone got sun burnt except for me. Our district met up with the Rangsit Elders (Jacob Smith) to visit wats (Budhist Temples) and other places." 

While there, elder Matt Boonmee and elder Jacob Smith were able to re-enact couple scenes from their, favorite, childhood show, the Mortal Combat.
Also, just for fun, he did a re-take of the following picture.

Motal Combat with my cousin Elder Smith

Mortal Combat with my cousin

When I was 2

Now back to his update.

"This past week was good. The work has been paying off. This coming week, we should be seeing 2 of our investigators baptized. There seem pretty definite. One, is a daughter of members. She is the last in her family to be baptized into the church. We get to have a small part in bringing their family together. I feel honored to teach her family. Then there should be a very solid taxi driver. We met him while we

Re-Take

were on our way to go get my suit fitted. It is neat to see the way the Lord prepares others. We only play a small part. I am still trying to work my hardest and try to keep my faith going. In other words, we took some really funny photos at a wat that they filmed Mortal Kombat at. Elder Smith and I were re-living our childhood. Then a photo of my new blue suit.

My new blue suite

Love Elder Boonmee"

Week 24 - Bangkhen, Thailand (August 10, 2014)

Not a lot to update this week due to the lack of time to email chat with Elder Matt Boonmee. His sister, Kelly, took over the email chatting while I had to deal with our India office duties. However, I wasn't able to get much from her to update.

He did say he picked up his new suit and was quite displeased with how it looked. I did tell him I had a goo chat with elder Mani Saengsuwan, one of the counselors to the mission president. Other than that, I guess you all will have to wait til next week.

Sorry.......

Week 23 - Bangkhen, Thailand (August 3, 2014)

This week began as usual, I had an email client opened, while doing some work, waiting for Elder Boonmee to come online with his email. At about 7:30pm MST, his email popped up. His first paragraph was,

"So some manner of business. Can I get some Old spice Fiji dry deoderant, a new buzzer razor thing. The thing that cuts nose hairs and such, preferably water proof. Then one of those fore arm clenchers that works out the forearms, then some docker pants. My waist size is 32 and the length about 28. Just get some that are as skinny as possible." 

I guess we have some shopping to do. In addition to this, he did say he had just picked up a suit from a famous tailor shop near by. I asked how he liked it and his response was, "It has huge pads on the shoulders. It looks like im a football player" I chuckled and said, you should take it back and have him fix it for you. His response was,  "I tried and he said it wouldn't look good. He is an old dude and he thinks looking that way is still in style." I smiled because this is Elder Matt Boonme's typical humor. So, on with Elder Matt Boonmee's update.

"This past week was a pretty good week. The contacting and missionary work are going well."  Elder Matt Boonmee said he is able to understand 80% percent of what reads, in Thai. I was talking to his mom as I read Elder Boonmee's email, and made a comment "Isn't it amazing how the Lord blesses his missionaries? It has only been 7 months and he already reading Thai." Having Thai as my birth language, I know how long it took me, to learn to read and write thai. Anyway, this post is not about me. I'm just so amazed by things that can only be explained as a miracle. I truly believe that God lives and performs miracles today, just as he did since the beginning of man. With that said, lets continue with Elder Matt Boonmee's letter below.

"I have one experience that happened this past Saturday. I was reading in the scriptures and I ran into one of the "ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be open unto you" verse. And lately I had felt a little bit like I wasn't connected with the Lord. I felt I was more of a salesman than a missionary. I needed confirmation form the lord, that what I was doing was right and that he cares about me. I fasted, asking for his confirmation.

The day went on as usual, not knowing what to expect. We had a lesson later that day with some Recent Converts of ours. As time went the conversation led to our own testimonies as missionaries. I could feel the spirit so strong. I was pulling experiences in my life that I couldn't remember. I was able to retell these spiritual experiences to the recent converts, but especially myself. I was reassured by my own testimony that the church is true and that this has a purpose. 

All is well and I hope you are doing well, tell Kelly happy birthday!

Elder Boonmee"