Faith overcame doubt and thousands WHERE baptized-Elder Cheney

A prime quote from Elder Cheney. You can see how the Thai language has really effected our English abilities (where/wear/were all sound the same).

​Weehaaa! 

So here's a way awesome story. These 4 guys are all from Laos and have been living in Thailand together for work. At first the missionaries had invited one of them. Then that original person had actually handed the card off to the guy on the far right. One day the elders get a random call from someone speaking broken Thai asking to learn about Jesus Christ. That was 6 months ago. There Thai language ability has improved and finally as of this past weekend, all 4 of them that live in the same room have been baptized! FIRST BAPTISM IN THIS WARD IN 5 MONTHS. Hallelujah.

But yes, life is good. Thailand is great. It's a slow grind. Having to work a bit harder and focus a lot more with the investigators that we have. Every single person has the opportunity and ability within them to really be converted, but often times they don't know where to go. Just takes a bit more patience and love. Just the way we like it.

Also for all the missionaries that will be coming to Thailand. A piece of advice: Getting stuff cut in Thailand is way cheaper than it is buying them in America. And you can do cool stuff like put flower patterned liner in the pockets.

Alma 29:9-10

"I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."

Patience+Charity=Joy

Walking down a sketchy alleyway one night trying to get home. Gotta take a pic?

Sometimes you just get lucky and the buses are free and no one is on them.

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY พ่อ and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHTON---Dead areas? เป็นไปไม่ได้เลย!!!!

Two awesome things happening today in Hawaii.

1-Fathers day for my พ่อ! Cause he's awesome and loves the ocean and is a way strong example of hard work and dedication in my life.

2-ASHTON'S BIRTHDAY yes, my younger brother is now....13? Yeah that sounds about right. He's old. I'm old. Everyone is old. WOOOOO. Stay stoked Ashton (aka Da best ellis).

The phrase "dead area" refers to an area or a place that missionaries serve that hasn't seen much success or much change in the branch/ward/unit that they have been working with. It's really rather sad when people will say "Oh yeah, that area, it's dead, you can't and won't get any work done."

Many people familiar with missionary work will have probably heard this already saying: "There's no such thing as dead areas, only dead missionaries."

So true. So. So. So much truth ringing in this sentence. There's no such thing as a dead area in the vineyard of the Lord. Only people who aren't willing to give more. Sacrifice, but really it isn't a sacrifice at all. It's a submission of doing more. I feel like I come back to this same though every single week. Probably not every week. But quite a majority of the time.

For every thing that you do, there is a price. Let us think of this price not in a negative sense (as in a loss) but rather as just a switch-off, a choice between two (or more) paths. There is always a "price" sometimes the price is our time or our talents. Things that God has actually given us. The much larger and bigger and way more valuable "price" would definitely be our will. Our heart. Our desires. Things that God actually can't take away. Every single person has moral agency, the ability to make choices in every circumstance. We can choose to follow our heart and our desires or we can try to follow the desires of something higher and stronger.  But it's up to us. What we do, what we say. Even down to what we think. There's a price for every action.

Moroni 7:5-6

5 For I remember the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also. 6 For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.

So let us all work with real intent. Put forth a strong desire. Do more! NO MORE DEAD MISSIONARIES. Dead missionaries are the only reason that people will talk about "dead area." Change the desire, change the intent, make something out of this time that you have. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Be there with full intent and purpose. No need to waste your own time.

NO DEAD MISSIONARIES ALLOWED.

also got my camera to work and send the pics so cheeeeeeeee Pono!

The kids at the church had an activity where they wrote letters to the missionaries. Is there like a new movie or another rendition of Alice in wonderland that came out? I have no idea why, but ever place that I serve the kids love to call me Alice.

I love how we get to ride a ferry in this area. Night vibes.

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

Night Life

Samut Prakaan. We are out here. Just two of us. Two foreigners from America. One 19, the other 18. Going out riding truck taxis and buses and mini buses and every sort of transportation (except for motorcycle taxis) and then dinner comes. then it gets dark. Then we keep on working.

Lot of the people here in Samut Prakaan are super hardworking and have the typical day job. They come home in the evening and then that time is their only time free. Which leaves our companionship running around Samut Prakaan trying to find and teach and help them in the evening.

Its fun. Its rewarding.

My pictures still arent uploading.....well....

But this week was some thriving work. We have been focusing a lot more on working with members and anyone that we talk to, to find and teach their friends or anyone they think would be interested in learning about Christianity. But rather than just get a number and a name and call it done. We take it one step further and have that person set up an appointment with the friend or person that is interested and then invite us over. We are letting these people take a more active part in missionary work, having them set up the appointments, having them really be the person that introduces and shares the gospel.

This is probably the happiest I've been in a long time. It's also just a common fact that there is no comfort in the growth zone. Constantly trying to make things just a bit more uncomfortable. 

For example....

-Walking down the street and you see some of those amazing fried bugs! Because Thai people are probably some of the nicest in the world, if you ask to try a single bug they let you grab and eat one. Bonus points if you a)hold it together and reply to them in Essan or b)if you contort your face and make them laugh

-Sometimes when you see a thai person rocking out, you just gotta go rock out with them and then pretty soon you became such good friends in those 2 minutes that he offers to share with you some of his sticky rice and fried meat

-Or the all time favorite of talking with the little thai children because they follow you in a hoard and start speaking in English with you (literally just walking down an alley way and all of a sudden a little girl shouts in thai and then these children like 4-8yrs old come out and start swarming my companion and talking to him in English)

Normally no. I would never do these things. I tend to be rather refined. In my own personal bubble. Chilling, doing my own thing. But its those things that make it a bit uncomfortable that I have learned to find the most joy. The more uncomfortable it is, the faster we grow and adapt. Then just when you think you got it down. The game changes and gets harder and now you gotta keep progressing. And pretty soon its like woah. Where did the past year even go? (into my LOST.DIR folder...so if anyone has some tips on how to retrieve these files SUPER fast hit me up. If not i'll just wait a bit longer and then retrieve them if I ever make the time....)

Its the little things that make life fun.

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

New Companion and Computer problems in Thailand - คอมพิวเตอร์ที่ตายแล้ว

For some reason these comps aren't uploading the pic. So yeah. Oh well. Life goes on. I'm paying 10 baht an hour so that was like 5 baht worth of restarting this computer......Bruh. If you could see how many windows I have open on this computer right now. Trying to copy things onto SD cards, moving around pictures, typing this email, and lds.org. I wish I had a bigger screen.

So info on my new comp - Elder Cheney
He's tall. 193 cm. Not sure how tall that is in inches (6' 4"), but he's quite a bit taller than me and loves running! He came into the country at the same time as Elder Bouwmeester and is from Oregon. Samut Prakan is only his second area, it's going to be so sweet. First day we were just talking about like "What do you want to do" and "What kind of change do you want to see?" His response was perfect 'I'm ready to work." This transfer will be a great transfer of going hard in the paint!

Already from the very start, we hit the ground running. We got back into Samut Prakan, dropped off his bags, and got right away to teaching. And on the times that we were traveling to and from our appointments, one of us would be making phone calls and the other would be inviting and talking to whoever was around us. Epic. This is how work gets done. Consistent diligent effort really makes all the difference. But all work and no play? Gotta find joy in the little things. Especially when there are two absurdly tall foreigners, you get some pretty awesome looks coming from the little kids. And they are even more shocked when you understand them and then start talking back to them. The amount of amusement on their faces are so fun.

Something funny...
Me and Elder Cheney both have the great blessing and talent of being able to fall asleep on public transportation within a few minutes. A simply 15 minute taxi ride is usually an amazing nap for me. But then I remembered, wait. I'm the only one in the car that knows where we are going. So I guess I need to stay up. I see potential for some funny situations in the near future. Just imagine: Me and Elder Cheney, both asleep on a bus. And none of the bus workers wanting to wake us up to get off the bus. We get off a few hours outside of Samut Prakan. Hahaha. Yup. It'll be a fun transfer.

There's so much going through my head, so much rushing about everything. There has been such an amazing change happening here in Samut Prakan. Because of the travel situation there has been a lot of members not willing to travel to church. But the elect of the elect will still come. And they have been coming and they are returning now. To speak straightforward, I was rather impatient last transfer, seeing all this work and very little results. But change is coming. We've been laying the foundation and now it is the time to really start the change.

Mosiah 4:27 And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

Stay stoked นะ

Aloha,
Elder แอลลิส
Forward Ever. Stopping Never.
Take a look around.

ระยอง - WHAT!? THE BEACH!?!

​WHAT!? THE BEACH!?!

Had an amazing ward activity down at the beach (no I did not get in the water....)

You could say this was a pretty great week....

This week seriously flew by way too fast! I can\t believe how quickly this past month has felt in Samut Prakan. The work here is different. But oh so rewarding. Because our church building closed due to parking inconveniences, they started to go to church at another building 20 minutes north. But then because of construction, that building closed down so now 3 wards meet in 1 building. And this building is 20 minutes (no traffic) to around 1 hour (with some traffic). The building has been bouncing around so much that often times members don't even know where to go to church...therefore they sometimes just dont. Which leaves it up to us, tracking them down and then getting on the bus and taking them to church. Step by step, little by little, each person we bring is one person that now remembers the path to get to church. Hopefully by investing this extra amount of time we can set a strong foundation here and really get things started! 

AWW YEAH STAY STOKED!

Oh the things you find in Thailand. She was raising them to be sold as pets.

​Went on a switch off with the amazing Elder Walker out in Lat Krabang. Wow. Just the amount of amaziness. Its simply off the charts. Right from 6:30 am! Got the day started off right! Studied! Went out and it was such a beautiful day. Full of grabbing cigarettes out of peoples hands to get them to quit smoking to eating 3 baht donuts to this picture. There is so so so much work to be done. When both companions have got their heart into the work and are loving every bit of it. Woah. That is the very time when the miracles come. Going out, teaching, and just loving these people. Hoping that they'll take a chance to open their hearts and try listening to the message we have to share. Thailand is the place that I need to be. Right here. Right now. Everything is just clicking into place.

Now onto a somewhat unrelated but still absolutely awesome talk that I had studied this week...

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/family-councils?lang=eng

Gotta give a shout out to the people that have influenced me the most. My family. I always thought "family councils" were so silly. Even if it was just a quick sit down at the dinner table to plan out the week on Sunday night. I used to think it was so boring, just the same repetitions. At the time I had no idea what a blessing these few minutes were for our family. Looking back, reflecting, pondering, and then talking with some other missionaries. Those times where our family put aside 10-15 minutes to just be together and talk. That really made all the difference. It's silly, yes. But if it works, I want it. If it works I'll do it.

ALSO CONGRATULATION TO ALL THE HAWAIIANS GRADUATING! 

I MUA KAMEHAMEHA

Woooo! My sister is old. I'm old....No one is getting any younger...oh well....

I mua!

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

Sometimes I question....How?

I dont think we have a comp picture yet....Elder Bouwmeester & Elder Ellis

Being here. Its a grind. The time is moving way way toooo fast. Looking back, I can hardly remember what we did. Open up my planner to a day before and I just sorta look at it. Way confused. Did we really do all of that stuff? Woah.

Woah...how? How do we do this, two 19 year old boys from America. In Thailand. Getting on buses, riding taxis, teaching Thai people about Jesus Christ....SPEAKING THAI?

How?

Alma 26:12

(Pretty much explains our feelings on the daily)

Some random thoughts

-Soda is so cheap here, we buy a ton of it. There was a week where we were both drinking at least a liter of soda each day. 1 liter minimum...Yeah thats a habit that we needed to cut

-TRAFFIC. I thought traffic in Hawaii was bad. Still bad here in Thailand. Being impatient as I am, we did get off a bus, started walking pass the traffic then proceeded to get on another bus. I don't like this traffic thing. It's not fun.

-Thailand internet is good. But it isn't high speed. Problems of having to use an internet cafe...The list is long. But at least its cheap?

So here's a video that I had found last week Monday. Absolutely amazing. 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-01-010-strive?lang=eng&category=youth-media

This is what we need to do! Strive. Push on! This video literally encompasses everything that I love. Watched this video once every morning to get pumped up. Silly? Yes a little. But whatever works. Strive to do the best and be the best because the time is now! Hold on tight cause it's a wild ride.

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.

Yes. There is a Chinatown in Thailand.

Yes. That is all silk. To get here we went down an alley way, into a store, and then up a few sets of stairs. Asia. I love it.

​Surprise surprise. We went to Chinatown. In ASIA. Why is there a Chinatown here? Well I mean there's Chinese people so...What a weird feeling. To walk into this place and hear people speaking some other Asian language that I still couldn't understand. Flashbacks to those days of being a new missionary and not understanding Thai.

Random Pic of Honey Toast, IKEA, and an Inviting Card from a while ago...

​Working here in Samut Prakaan is definitely a huge blessing. Here we are dealing with a special situation where we have to travel through Bangkok traffic around 20km to go to Church each Sunday. And also the area that we are taking care of is rather large considering that we are in Bangkok. Through all of this, it really does matter what choice we make and when we make it. We've been learning how little choices truly do have a larger effect on the big picture in the long run. From things simple as confirming appointments multiple times throughout the day to larger things such as thoroughly planning. Each choice we make, no matter how big or small it may seem, ultimately affects our future.

"As we contemplate the decisions we make in our lives each day--whether to make this choice or that choice-----if we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice."

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/choices?lang=eng

เรียบร้อยแล้ว

Aloha,

Elder แอลลิส

Forward Ever. Stopping Never.