I emailed like 4 days ago...what do I even say?

So I mean. I guess some cool stuff happened or something?

So so so so so much people and water and it was hot, and the water was cold and here is me and my comp and its just so sweet. Think of a huge street, just blocked off, and huge 50 gallon tubs full of water and all you do is squirt and dump water on everyone!

Yeah. Thats songkran water festival. You know I was stoked.

Wow this transfer felt really really fast. It was literally a blur. Riding the truck taxis and biking in the hot sun. Quite a lot of interesting stuff happened.

It's a pretty special experience to see how people are so willing to change but have no idea what to do or how to do it. This is one of the greatest blessings that I'm experiencing here in Thailand. Seeing people change themselves for the better. Having a pure and genuine desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ, and to being trusting and having a relationship with God. It's such a special thing. And I'm forever grateful for this opportunity to be here in Thailand.

I still haven't finished re-reading all of General conference but just some big picture ideas that have come from studying.... We need to be willing to accept the will of God, we need to try our hardest to receive the change. We can't expect everything to just be done for us, but rather we should take what we hear. Learn more about it, live it, apply it, and just recognize all the blessings that come from living the gospel.

Some guidance stuff....

Forgive. Over and over there is such a big focus on forgiveness and I love it.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/the-healing-ointment-of-forgiveness?lang=eng

Take the time, read the talk (or watch the video).

But really think about how big a blessing forgiveness can be. In our life and especially in the life of others. Forgive and try to see each person as our Heavenly Father would. This is a good life we live, so much to be grateful for.

Yeee. Happiness.

Stay stoked.

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

Songkran

So the water festival is today.

Lots of stuff happened. I wont be writing much

but just get stoked for some sweet pics because Lopburi has been absolutely amazing, investigators, church members, Less active members. Everyone this ward is so great.

Quick thought for life, Jacob 6:12. look it up, ponder it, i really dont have much time.

Ill email hopefully better in a few days. p day just got switched cause of the timing of the water festival, henceforth the lack of an email earlier this week.

Life is good. Thailand is hot. It averaged 44 degrees celsius this week in Lopburi. I felt like i was going to melt.

But I didn't melt.

GOOD LUCK WITH FINALS!

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

I went to the zoo

The zoo in Thailand is officially 10x cooler than the zoo in America. Two tigers were fighting.

But onto some real stuff that happened...

There are some absolutely amazing people here in Lopburi. Within the past week and a half we have had the opportunity to begin working closely with some really amazing investigators.

We have these two older grandmas. One is 92, the other is around 80. One is actually the mother of our investigator and the other is the mother of a bunch of members of the church. They both have decided to open their hearts to the message that we share and are pretty much stoked. Yes. That is how I will describe their happiness.

Then we've got another male, he's almost 50 but looks like he's 20, drives a Harley Davidson in THAILAND. And right now, he's on the search for something more, and feels like this is it. This is what he needs and wants in his life right now. All he asks for is some time to think, pray, and ponder. We're glad to be working with him.

Onto some even more exciting stuff....

Because of the super hard work of all the missionaries that have served in Lopburi before us, THE WARD IS SPLITTING INTO TWO

Yup. Two new wards, we even have a (slightly) bigger building. So sweet. So good. I love Thailand.

Just a quick thought for this week

Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

This week we felt like so much of our time teaching LA's, Recent members, and investigators we have been touching upon the commandments. This is it. This hits home on the purpose of commandments. Blessings on blessings on blessings.

Take it easy.

​

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

Happy Easter!

Well here we are again....It's another monday.

Pics from last monday, went out to Ayutthaya the ancient capital of Thailand. So we had to take some epic jumping pics!

So this week. Lots and lots and lots of traveling. Lopburi is still in the same zone as a bunch of Bangkok areas...but we are also around 2 hours away. So we tend to ride those multi passenger vans to get to and from Bangkok. Not that fun. No not fun at all really.

But it's all worth it. The work here is moving along, we continue working hard to find those that are ready, we've been blessed with some amazing referrals and also with the opportunity to meet with some new investigators. Funny story, we just started teaching the mother of one of our investigators. She sent her mother to go to church....but she didn't come. Her mom is 92! And then another story, there's a member who's mother has been an investigator for almost 4 years. This is 4 years of coming to church a few times a month. But only now she has accepted to meet with missionaries. Blessings! Miracles! Action!

Picture of me and Elder Merrill. 

Just saying. We're rocking it out here in Lopburi.

Easter season!

Why do we celebrate Easter? Well because on the third day, after Jesus Christ atoned for us, Jesus was resurrected. And because of this, every single person who has ever been born on this earth will be resurrected. What a blessing. Such mercy and love. 

This video really hits the message home!

 https://www.mormon.org/easter/hallelujah

It's time for a hair cut.

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

More Images...

Monkey Business

So this is my new area. This is Lopburi.

Can you pick out the Meetinghouse?

So excited to be here serving the ward here in Lopburi. Just some info about this area....

-It's a ward (so there are quite a few people here!)

-It's known as the city of monkeys

-All of my companions have served here in Lopburi before

-It's around 2 hours north of Bangkok

-It's gonna be amazing

Serving here in Lopburi is a little different. Bikes aren't really used here (my legs are crying. I didn't realize how hard walking is). Instead, we use the truck taxis to get from the house, to the church, and then into the city.

Yeah. That's the only difference. We'll be hitting this upcoming week hard.

But for a quick recap on Buriram.....

This investigator has been meeting with the missionaries for almost 5 months, reading and praying literally every single day! He had gained his own testimony of the Book of Mormon and prayer, but then for some reason....he just never received a call back from the missionaries after a few lessons. Fast forward, it's Saturday night and we are making calls for church. The story goes that he is training to be a police officer so during the week he is not able to use his phone. And only comes to Buriram on the weekends. So just totally lucky, we called, he picked up, we invited him to come to church every Sunday, and then he started coming regularly. Each and every week for a couple of months. Because of his difficult schedule we were only able to teach him once a week. But he had so much faith. He had the desire to get baptized, all we did was point him in the right direction. Absolutely love this brother so much!

From the studies this past week....

Christlike Attributes

Something I really recognized about these attributes, these are not things you can do by yourself. As you work harder and harder, you realize you need to depend so much more on God and through faith and hope in Jesus Christ you can work towards becoming the best you you can be. Being on a mission for almost 9? 10 months? it is what you make out of it. But all we need to understand is that it is what you make out of it. If we continue to humble ourselves before God, our Heavenly Father will provide us the method and the means to become great. Everything is done in a specific order, through the hand of God. 

2 Nephi 28:30

"For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have."

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

Literally no time...

So I got transferred to Lopburi.

Taking Elder Sayavong to the mission office in Bangkok....:( He's finished his mission and is now officially back home in Lao.

New Area...still sorta out in the middle of nowhere

but in Buriram, some amazing things went down this past week

We got an investigator baptized

Went to go see a super bike race yup

New comp is.....Elder Merrill from Mesa Arizona

So yes. From the land of the elephants to the land of the monkeys. 

Its gonna be a good transfer...

Literally no time.

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

We did some research on Elder Ellis' his new area Lopburi, Thailand.

Lopburi (ลพบุรี), also know as Lop Buri is a historic city 3 hours north of Bangkok. It is also one of the oldest cities in Thailand, a former capital established in 1350. 

Lopburi is famous for the hundreds of crab-eating macaques monkeys that overrun the Old Town. A warning to all... monkeys tend to jump on people to snatch food and steal bags in hopes that they contain something to eat.

Never Enough Time

A few school students were hanging out at the park that we use for our weekly sports night activity so we invited them to play with us. Ended up playing this Thai game that is a combination of soccer and volleyball. No using your hands, only your feet, 3 hits per side, just get it over the net and stay within the lines. Definitely a game to bring back to America! 

I feel like I say this almost ever week. There is never enough time in the day to everything we need to do. It has been such an amazing experience. Seriously every single week. Day. Hour. Minute.  

This week in review...

Service
Last week we had spent a fair amount of time going out and giving simple service. This week, we begin to reap the rewards. Less active families have opened their doors and now welcome us to come back. And even BETTER. They're starting to come back to church. These are members that, for many of them, haven't been to church for longer than a year. Just gotta work hard and do as much as you can in that time. Working with the hope that things will get better. Because they always always always do.

Investigators
The timing for so many of these things. The timing for here in Buriram. It just feels like everything has been prepared so well. You truly only get as much as you put in. Put in your full effort, you get the full rewards. This also extends way past our investigators. Putting our full effort into everyone that we talk and teach. Buriram is seeing miracles every single day. We have one investigator who is currently in police training school. He travels every weekend to come back to Buriram from Korat. He's only free on weekends and to make it a bit harder, he is not allowed to use his phone during the week. Often times communicating with him can be a bit difficult. But his faith is there. We had recently reviewed with him the requirements for baptism. Literally everything he said just proved to show how much his personal relationship with God has grown. So very grateful to be helping these people. We as missionaries are just guides, pointing to the things that we personally have grown to know is true.

Don't trust us. Trust God. If God is our loving Heavenly Father, and if we are His children, He will only want what's best for us. So if we trust in God literally every little thing. Will be taken care of. He knows what you need better than we know ourselves. Trust.

BAPTISM! Weeeehaaaaa

So this is the same sister that I had spoken about last week. We had barely introduced anything about baptism to her, but one night we just get a call and she tells us that we need to meet tomorrow. We meet, she walks in, its on everyone's minds. Baptism. She came in and she knew that it was a necessary step that she needed to take to do more and to become better. No she did not just trust us as missionaries. Rather she placed her trust in God. And expressed the slightest amount of faith. And through scripture study and prayer, she received her own answer, a personal witness, that these things are true. She has the belief that will continue to grow into a firm faith. Yup. I've got a huge smile on the inside, these things truly do make me happpyyy

Just a few closing thoughts.

Think and ponder about the word "grace." Grace is not a simple reset button, it takes a whole lot more. Ponder on that. Ponder on the word, you'll find some interesting things. I promise you.

Also I'll be emailing on Saturday  (in Thailand) P-day got switched.

Cheee pono

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.