Week 43 - Surin, Thailand (December 21, 2014)

Due to Christmas, we will be talking to him Wednesday evening (Christmas Eve). Needless to say, we are very excited.

I was able to send several pictures of his nieces (Lilly and Daysie).

While we waited for Wednesady, here a picture we gleaned from facebook, posted by some of the members from Surin.

Week 42- Surin, Thailand (December 14, 2014)

Dear Family,

We've seen videos and pictures of Elder Matt Boonmee and Elder Reid playing guitar and violin, posted on facebook by members of the Surin branch and asked if they have been asked to perform at any of the  church meetings.

"...I'm still in Surin, nothing has changed. Only one elder came in and it's ELDER LINGARD one of my companions in the MTC! He is with Elder Reid. Then for the song, I played the guitar while Elder Reid played the violin. "

And when asked about his last haircut his response was: "Oh yeah, I was furious when I saw my hair. I still am currently in an awkward state of my hair. I look like I have a fuzz ball on my head. I can't do anything until the top is long, then I will just cut the sides. "


"...Once again we are still working as normal, but we did meet a new investigator that was actually a past investigator. HE IS GOLDEN! He has no problems nor does he have any problems. He should be all ready for this Sunday! I just want to talk about the way we invite. We say, "Hello! Have you seen this photo before?" (With baptismal photo) We explain to them that it is the way to be cleansed from sin. And ask them if they would like to be baptized. 

Now it might sound weird, I also feel weird doing it, but how many times has it said in the Book of Mormon, The Holy Bible, Doctrine and Covenants to testify BOLDLY? Countless! This is what we are doing. We aren't missionaries that are here to plant seeds, though we are doing that no matter what we do, but we are here and "the field is white already to harvest; wherefore, thrust in your sickles, and reap with all your might, mind, and strength." (D&C 33:7)

We are here to harvest those white (golden) investigators. By that being said, I had invited a man that way. I had no contact from him throughout the week. Then yesterday, he walked into the church all ready to hear whatever he needed to do. He then asked, "When can I be baptized?" The Lord is always preparing our brothers and sisters. We need to just have the faith that the Lord is doing his part, and we will see the outcomes of his work and through our obedience. 
Missionary work is awesome and I love every second of it!

Tell everyone I love them! God is Love.

also, here is a photo of Elder Ngaw and I.

Elder Boonmee"

Week 41- Surin, Thailand ( December 7, 2014)

So last Monday I got my haircut REALLY short. I didn't intend on it, but that's what the barber thought I said... (Elder Matt Boonmee is really particular about his hair. We used to call him Mr. GQ at home. His hair has never been out of place. So this is really big for him. We could only imagine how disappointed he was when we saw this email from him)

Yes is was a version of hot pot stuff. We really didn't do anything special for thanksgiving. We just did normal work, then ate at that place.

Yeah, there are always alteration places everywhere so I should have no problem. Thanks!
This week we had Zone training in Khon kean. We went out to eat at what they call a "Buffet".... more like, "all you can eat!......until the first tray is gone, then we have no more." It was some pretty awful food, and it was Thai food as well. I had better food on the streets than in this "Fancy" hotel. After that we went to the Church and had the devotional and what not. As a gift for us, president Senior had a blueprint for the plan of salvation. Pretty much what God would have planned. I will have to show it to you later. It is amazing.

I met up with almost all of my district except two elders. I also got to play a musical piece for it on the guitar. I played my favorite Christmas song, "O Holy Night" Other than that, not too much happened this week. I love you all, and hopefully you saw the other email about the calling.
also, what is my blood type? I have no idea. And did you do that social security thing that I sent you? If not can you send it to me in Thai english? I need that ASAP.

Elder Boonmee

Week 40 - Surin, Thailand (November 30, 2014)

For thanksgiving we went to a restaurant that was basically a ton of raw meats and boiling water.

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 ¶Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thineown understanding.

 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Sometimes as I go day by day, talking to everyone you see, getting denied harshly, your faith breaks down a little bit. But all you have to do is remember that everything that has happened and that is happening, is from he Lord and He is always trying to help us.

I sometimes forget that I'm a Missionary. One of those Young Adults with a white shirt and tie with that signature black badge. There was a time a few transfers ago, I was in what some people call a dry spell. A time where the baptisms don't come along as easy as before and most of the time spent is out contacting in the hot streets of Thailand. I got to a point where I felt, why am I doing this? I'm supposed to be helping the Lord but the Lord isn't putting forth his part. I felt lonely as if I had just made a huge mistake by serving a mission. I soon remembered that I have a journal for all my spiritual experiences. I guess my own small plates. And I looked at the first page and read my first spiritual experience. When I had prayed to the Lord and asked, "If you are really there, just let me know by placing a cloud in the sky." I know this sounds like a really dumb question, but it's what a young kid asked. The Lord was more than willing to answer me. So as I remembered that experience, I thought, "Well, I'm in that same place. Why not do it again." So I prayed. I asked the Lord for guidance and direction in what I should be doing. Asking for help and why the Lord hasn't helped me in these times as a missionary. As I sat there pondering and praying I received a clear answer. I had a voice in my head, and it was my own voice say, "Matthew, I know what you are going through. There are elect people out there, I know who they are, I know them by name, but if I told you who and where they are, WHAT GOOD DOES THAT SERVE YOU?" I sat there and realized, all the problems and trials I've had in my life, and on my mission have been trials of my faith as well as what have molded me into what I am today.

This has been something that has helped me throughout all of my mission. Even when people deny my invites, I know that those aren't the elect. I take that as a great opportunity. To continue on, to find the ones that the Lord has prepared.

Another time as we were at the last Zone Conference, we had the opportunity to be with Elder Gong of the 70 to lead a devotional. Something special that we got to do, was partake of the sacrament. As we sat there in silence waiting for the sacrament to be passed, once again I heard a voice, "I know your trials, I've partaken of the bitter cup. I have experienced every one of your trials. Have faith in me and you will have nothing to fear."

The Lord Jesus Christ did not take the sins of the world all at once. He did as he taught, One by One. The Lord atoned for our sins, One by One. Experiencing everything that we have and will do. The Lord knows best and we should always rely on him.

Elder Boonmee

Week 39 - Surin, Thailand (November 23, 2014)

Thanksgiving not alot of update from Elder Matt Boonmee. Lots of his email were about his personal requests for the upcoming Christmas, dress pants and etc.. So, below is all we got.

"Tell everyone I say hello! 
This week was a whole lot of hard work. We have been inviting more than 4 hours and teaching as hard and as faith filled as possible. We are trying to meet our goals as much as possible. Once it came down to the last few days we weren't going to be able to meet our goals. But the Lord prepares ways. When the last day, Sunday, came around we had a ton of new investigators and past people come to church. It was amazing to see. We will be able to meet our goal for the month, but we need to our best, and keep our faith strong to meet this goal. The Lords provides ways. Other than that, that was pretty much it.

One thing also, You need to stop talking to the members here. It is like we are having constant contact and President Senior asks that we don't do that. Also the reason why I don't write very long is because I don't know what to talk about. You guys send letters that are really short so I don't know what to say, so my letters are the same length as your letters. 
Well that's all! 
Elder Boonmee"

Week 38 - Surin, Thailand (November 16, 2014)

This past week was insane! There was a lot of things that happened. This was the large elephant round up. So there were elephants everywhere, constantly. I even rode my bike by one and was able to give it a good spank. We got to see the big show as well. All awesome stuff.

We did a lot of Less Active work as well. Sister and Elder Peterson came to help us do that work. We got a huge group and all split up to find some Less Active members. Then the Saturday, Sister and President Senior came for the Elephant show. Then ended up staying and helped us with a whole lot of work. This week was hard, and there really hasn't been too many new investigators. We had two investigators come on Sunday, so we barely made it by. But all in all, it has been fun here in Surin.

Love you all

Elder Boonmee

Week 37 - Surin, Thailand (November 9, 2014)

So last week, not too much happened. The biggest thing that happened was ลอยกะทง!! It was way cool to see! If you have seen "Tangled" There is a part where they all send up lanterns, that was what it was like! We got to send up a few of our own lanterns. In the belief of Buddhism, this is actually a form of getting rid of sins. BUT we did as missionaries always do, and we invited about baptism! We tried to explain the importance of Baptism and much more.

Here is the studies that Elder Beebe and I have had in his own words. I can't type that long.

Tell everyone I love them!






"The title of this email speaks for itself. I'd like to share some notes and understanding I received from Heavenly Father in some of mystudies this past week. (These are just my feelings, thoughts, and
notes I've recorded and you can take, change, add to what you want.)

In my email that discussed the Plan of Salvation and the Good Samaritan can also be used with these studies. Mainly because the Plan of Salvation is expressed and taught all throughout the Book of Mormon and Bible. For example, the story of the family of Lehi leaving Jerusalem to go to the Promised Land, Moses and the Children of Israel, The Brother of Jared, and like mentioned before, Good Samaritan. I want to just talk about my studies on the story of Lehi leaving his Land of Inheritance in Jerusalem. I feel as though the Spirit has led

these studies as my understanding has been built upon and it is my testimony that God has created these beautiful stories in the scriptures for the world.

As we read in the scriptures we see that the Lord speaks and teaches through parables. A parable by definition in the Merriam Webster dictionary is; a short story that teaches a moral or spiritual lesson; especially: one of the stories told by Jesus Christ and recorded in the Bible. It says that it is both a moral and SPIRITUAL lesson. As we read in the scriptures we see that  it talks about how the Lamanites felt they were robbed when the Nephites took the plates from them into the Wilderness. Why would they feel robbed? Sure they are made of Gold and Brass compounds but why other than that would they be of worth? As we see in the scriptures, people and nations dwindle because they are illiterate. The plates of Nephi are the teachings for ALL people. To help them become literate. While people aren't literate they dwindle and eventually lose all talents. We read about this in the Book of Mormon as well as in other historical books. (There is a ton more on this that I haven't written down). The scriptures both have spiritual and moral benefits. In the Bible we read about how Noah built the Ark in Genesis, right? Well he had to get those instructions from somewhere. As we read about that story it explains the exact measurements he needed to make the Ark. Same thing as the Brother of Jared, when he goes and builds submarines for his family and those following him. SUBMARINES. How do we know that it is a submarine that was built? Because the Lord commands him to create VESSELS that are tight. (Ether 2 discusses this story.) When the Brother of Jared goes
to build them he sees that there will be no light in them, so the Lord says to build a window in the ships. The word window is symbolic in this scripture, but how? As we read about the word window in the Bible, Genesis 6:16 it talks about a WINDOW. As we check the footnote about the word  INDOW it explains where the Brother of Jared got his idea to bring the stones

to the Lord in the mountain to make the submarines lit while under the water. These ships the Lord teaches these faithful followers are as Nephi states in 1 Nephi 17:8, " And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee,that I may carry thy people across these waters." No other man has ever created this before, so it obviously had to have come from the Lord to work the way it did. The scriptures have both moral and spiritual meaning to all people. So they are of the most worth in these times to keep nations from falling apart, to keep them all literate and smart! The Lord knows that without these plates, His word would be gone very quickly. Back in the time of the scriptures, the way stories and info was passed down was through oral means. The word of God would have been lost and messed up so fast. So, he teaches through interesting
meaningful, symbolic stories. Most humans learn through visual aids and creating images in their minds. As dad makes up those Bobby stories at night, I'm sure we all remember those stories better than math problems because we created those stories in our heads. It's the same with the scriptures, the Lord couldn't rely on men to relate 1000's of verses day by day to people while they weren't literate. I think it's pretty fair to say that we are all pretty literate and are able to read and write fine, but we can only memorize up to 10- 20 verses word for word. Teaching by stories and interesting parables is the most simple, yet complex way the Lord teaches us all through the Prophets. He is a brilliant author.

So, now onto the the story of Lehi. This is a brilliant story about how a family in Jerusalem leaves the city to go into the Wilderness to keep their lives and eventually lands in the Promised Land. (I've
capitalized the word Wilderness and Promised Land for reasons which I have reasons for.) So we see this great story about Lehi and his family traveling in the wilderness and overcoming trials and death and all these things. It's a great story because it talks about the Plan of Salvation and Jerusalem, and the Promised Land, and the Wilderness. So, as I stated the Good Samaritan story talks about Jerusalem and Jericho, Jerusalem being symbolic of Heaven and Jericho being the World. In this story it can be used in the same way. Jerusalem is the Holy City, Holy Land, and or Heaven.

The Wilderness has many meanings, it could be our lives now, the path of repentance, or trials in our
lives, etc. We all have tons of times in our lives when we feel as though we are in a Wilderness, so you can relate that to your own life. At this time in our lives, we have had many wars happen and that
are happening now over the Promised Land or Holy Land, which many people feel as though is Jerusalem and the area around it. I don't feel as though the Lord would tell us where the Promised Land or Holy Land is and the exact boundaries and would want people to war over it. I feel like the Promised Land is the happiness, joy, enlightened understanding we get from the processes of repentance, it is not a specific area on this earth or a certain land. It is symbolic of where we first started in the Plan of Salvation and where we will end up in our highest state of exaltation along with the happiness and joy through the Power of the Atonement.

I talked about the Wilderness in the past few paragraphs which is symbolic in and of itself. Now, the Lord will not EVER forget or apostate from us. If so, he would cease to be God. The people ALWAYS
will apostate from Him (if that makes sense. We will forget, throw away the teachings etc.) But in Isaiah, we read that ,"His hand is stretched out still." This is the promise of the Atonement, that no
matter what the Lord will pay for all sins of the world. "His hand is stretched out still." While in the Wilderness, we are currently lost and searching for the Promised Land. In the Story of Moses and the
Children of Israel, they travel through the Desert. What Desert could that have been in Egypt? Sahara maybe? They saw blessings and miracles such as water pouring from rocks and manna being fed to them daily. In the story of Nephi and Lehi, why don't they have this happen? Why don't they have rocks full of water and manna walking around daily for them? Because their Wilderness was different from that of the Children of Israel. Nehpi and Lehi and their family were in a Wilderness where there was water, so consequently, there will be animals. Moses didn't need a bow and arrow and a Liahona, but Nephi and Lehi did. They traveled through different Wildernesses to get to the Promised Land by passing through a body of water or multiple times in the case of Moses and the Children of Israel. Nephi and Lehi needed different tools to get through their wilderness because they were in different parts of the world. There were animals to hunt and etc. In Moses' case there weren't. In our Wildernesses, we will need different tools to get through and to fight through to get to the waters to cross into the Promised Land we so much desire.

We may not need to have bows and
arrows or a liahona. But one thing that all these great stories fell on in the end was the basics of Faith and keeping the commandments. The Lord will prepare ways for his covenant people to make it to the Promised Land that the Lord promised with those people. He will NEVER not let covenant people into the Promised Land, if they do their part. The Lord's word must ALWAYS come to pass. If it doesn't He will cease to be God.

Onto the Water that we must cross to get to our Promised Land. In these stories, we see that they all had to cross great waters to get to the Promised Land. Throughout these stories, we see that the Lord
doesn't say where it is or what it is or how long it'll take, He just says that he will take us to the Promised Land.

We must have faith to cross the Waters in our lives. To take that leap of faith to follow our Lord in the Wilderness and to finally cross that finish line, the Great Waters, into the Promised Land or blessings. As the faith of the family of Nehpi lacks the Liahona doesn't work, the Lord will NOT help them. But, as Nephi's faith strengthens, the Lord forgives and works with Nephi to bring his family into peace and the Promised Land. Also, I've heard tons of people say, including myself, that Nephi and his family founded the Americas. But, that is absolutely false!! How could
there be wars and wars within just a few years of being in the Promised Land if it was just Nephis family, Zorams family, and Ishmaels family (including sons and daughters of the wives of Laman,
Lemuel, Nephi, Ishamel, etc.) There had to be others in America before them to have all these wars. (I'll talk about this in another email. Because all clues are in the Book of Mormon, you just gotta look
closer. :) )

As we cross into the Promised Land, we gain that peace and love from our Heavenly Father that He promised us at the beginning of our journey. I'm convinced that the Lord didn't intend for Jerusalem to be the Holy Land or to make it known unto us. It isn't THAT easy. We must go through our own wildernesses in our lives to reach the many "Promised Lands" we will meet in this life. We may have many Wildernesses that take a few days, years or lifetimes to get through. But, we must rely on the Gospel of Christ, that is FAITH, REPENTANCE, BAPTISM (or taking the Sacrament each week), living worthily for the GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST, and we must ALWAYS ENDURE TO THE END."