Photos of the Week

Elder Crump takes pride in his every-day shoes he has not polished in a year.

Neighborhood traveling vendor.

Piano students give recital after a year of lessons! They did great.

Bananas going to market.

Motorcycle Safety (or the lack of it)

Thailand has motorcycle laws. Each rider must wear a helmet, and no more than two on the bike. The laws are observed by only half the riders (at least outside of Bangkok).

I cringe every time I see a baby on board.

The motor scooter is the major mode of "family" transportation. Parents pick their child up from school. Many think they are only going a short distance, so why wear a helmet? The whole year we have lived here, I have not heard nor seen any type of campaign to improve motorcycle safety for children. Motorcycle accidents are a leading cause of death for children in Thailand, 2nd only to drowning.

Family transportation.

This woman is holding a cellphone, not the child.

Going at a high speed.

Waiting at a light, but the child stood the whole ride.

At least the adult in the rear is holding the child.

Standing on the runner is a favorite way to ride.

Comments?

Historic Week--Now and Then

Tuesday we had Zone conference at the Asoke church building - 1.5 hours away in Bangkok. While there memories flooded my thoughts, I was there on this land (1970) when President Marion G. Romney sawed a board, when this, the first church building in Thailand, was being built. This was as I finishing my mission and one of my last special memories. Two years later, I came back with Willie Greene. The translation committee was finishing the final review of the translation of the Book of Mormon. They invited the two of us into the meeting. Not that we added anything but we were thrilled to be part of that meeting. This is the same building that our family went to church in 2000 on our first day in Thailand. We had come in the night before at 1 AM. This is the same building that Joan & I watched a meeting celebrating the 40th anniversary of the church in Thailand in 2006 when they asked all Thai return missionaries to stand. The room was full of “Thai" return missionaries. We have pictures of us with others who came to the celebration standing in this chapel. This is also the church that Joan and I attended on the day we arrived in Thailand for this mission. They asked us to share our testimonies in Sacrament meeting. We had only been in the country about 3 hours. So many special memories.

If I didn’t announce it before, our mission has already over 1000 baptisms this year, as much as all of last year.

For lunch at the zone training, I made root beer and we all had root beer floats. I had brought a bottle of RB extract from Mesa (which is almost impossible to find here), and we bought dry ice in Bangkok (not available in Ayutthaya). It was fun to serve the missionaries homemade root beer.

As said in our previous post, Sunday was a great day for the church in Thailand. We now have a 2nd stake in Thailand and also a new district divided off from the Bangkok stake. We have five districts in the country and they are growing to become stakes. Mike Smith (from his mission in Albania) noted "It is also interesting to note that both stake presidents and the district president are RM’s as well as one counselor each in both stakes. Both of President Senior’s counselors are RM’s not to forget that Thailand’s first Area Seventy, Elder Khanakham, is also an RM. All of these presidencies are Temple endowed and sealed with their families. This is what we all, as young missionaries (back in the day), envisioned for the saints in the country that we love so much.” Our branch remains a branch in the new stake. We did have one man from our branch receive the Melchizedek priesthood as part of the conference.

Anan Eldridge was at the conference too. He is in town with one of his sons. It is always great to see him and his smiling face. He told me that both of the stake presidents were missionaries when he was mission president. He was able to assist in ordaining one of them a stake president. (The other was ordained several years ago.)

Anan Eldridge, first baptized male Thai,
my first companion
and a previous
Thailand Mission President.

On Wed a phone call came in from a counselor in the mission presidency. Seems he was interviewing a member and somehow they discovered that she knew me. So he called and handed the phone to her. It was Sister Chantakan, who I helped baptize in Korat when a young missionary. I had lost all contact with her after the mission. It was wonderful to talk with her. I hope to actually meet her before we return.

A New Stake In Thailand!

Past stake presidents with Asia Area Presidency

On Sunday, June 15, 2014, our Ayutthaya Branch became part of the second stake in Thailand was formed from the Bangkok North District--the Thailand Bangkok North Stake. President Sathid will continue as stake president.

The conference was held at the Watergate Hotel in Bangkok in one of their largest conference rooms, but so many people in attendance that the room could not hold all who came. A new district, the Bangkok West, was also formed. The work in Thailand is going forward and the Church is growing!



This photo above from left to right:
Mission president, President David Senior, area President Elder Wilson, Brother and Sister Tip--the first stake president of Thailand, Elder and Sister Konakham an area 70 and second stake president in Thailand, the current stake president Sarawuth Kanyaphan of the Bangkok Stake and wife,  Asia area President Elder Gong, Asian area President Elder Woo.

Pictured right above: the new Stake Presidency for the Bangkok North Thailand Stake (seated center) President Sathit Kaivalvatana, and standing at each side is President Natthapol Lattisophonkul, first counselor and President Narin Yantaphan, second counselor.

Pictured right: Ayutthaya Branch on the bus,  to the conference. Early this morning, it poured rain in Ayutthaya. All of our members had to come by motorcycle or duk duk to the church to catch the bus to Bangkok. But they came! What faith these members have. Most were soaking wet when they arrived. Usually when it rains, Thai people stay home because their only transportation is by motorcycle. Look how happy they are to be together and on their way to hear representatives of the Lord speak.

Why is Sunday the Craziest Day of the Week?

Saturday night, everything was set for a smooth-running Sunday. I felt calm about what would happen this during the day. Just as I went to bed, a voice whispered that this was the calm before the storm. I wish that voice would have told me more!

It was a crazy Sunday. It stared early with a text message from the district executive secretary that we were to have all the auxiliary secretaries along with the branch clerk and branch president/counselor attend a meeting in Bangkok at 3 PM. I knew the clerk was to attend, but no one else. I asked the others at church if they could attend. This changed their day’s plans and mine too, since the counselor could not go, I needed to.

I had asked four people to speak in Sacrament Meeting. I usually only ask three but had asked four thinking two might give short talks. All four gave short talks even though two of them have been members for years and have been to the temple. We then asked two visitors to speak: one is a former member of the branch back visiting and the other a district family history leader. They still left time, so I spoke for about 7 minutes. We had asked a youth to play "Walk in the Light" on her violin, but she had to leave early due to illness. So we sang the song as a congregational hymn.

Elephant walking past church. The street is still not finished.

The parents of the ill sister were to lead a fireside on family history after church. We had to cancel that meeting. After church the clerk and 3 secretaries (Relief Society, Primary and Young Women’s) all loaded into our car and we drove to Bangkok for the training. We arrived back at the church late, so we drove one of the sisters home since there was no public transportation going her way. By the time we got home, our gas gage read empty.

An elephant walked in front of the church one day this week. I guess it was just out for an evening stroll, or on its way home from work. There are elephants in the city at the tourist park but not usually by our house or the church. The tourist park is not just for foreigners but many Thais go there to ride the elephants too.

Nativity puppets made by youth

The sister we took to the hospital last Sunday was in there all week. She is doing better but not great. I wish I could take pictures to show what this hospital looks like. Joan has said to not take her there if the need arises.

Brownies after YA FHE

The youth activity this Saturday was making a nativity set of hand puppets for the primary. When finished the youth sang the “The Nativity Song” and displayed their puppet at the right verse.  We showed the video "Luke 2" and ate Christmas cookies – it was Christmas in June.

Monday night we hosted the YSA monthly family home evening with six in attendance. Joan taught about spiritual crocodiles. I made brownies. They members all said they loved the brownies and want me to teach them how to make brownies. I didn’t tell them it was a mix.

A Great Week--Better Late than Never

by Elder Sowards

I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Thai. What a great blessing to read it in another language! When I was a young missionary, I dreamed of reading it in Thai but it was not translated yet. I loved reading it this time and felt the same spirit I feel when reading it in English.

Joan taught the second music theory class Friday evening. Some of the members are catching on to the basic ideas.
We home taught several members who live way out of town. I am glad we have a car. It would be a real challenging to go visit these people and even more to get back home if we used local transportation. We have to go in the evenings after the members have finished work and local transportation is scarce at that time.

Our youth activity included making box scripture covers out of plastic fiberboard and covering them with gospel art. The covers are good to protect the books from the rain. They turned out great. 

The fried seaweed aisle at the grocery store.
E. Sowards is deciding which brand to buy for youth activity.

John Slaughter (formerly Elder Slaughter, who served here a few months ago) came into town with his father and mother. Together, we took a boat trip around the island city of Ayutthaya. It was interesting to see the community from a different view. I enjoyed seeing it when not driving and watching out for crazy drivers.

This week I probably set the record for the most non-medical welfare assistance for one branch in one week (in Thailand). It seems many saints are having hard times. I try to help them over the crises and to see that the pathway forward is the Lord’s way of paying tithing in faith and coming to church on Sundays and not working on the Sabbath.

Market in Ayutthaya

We went shopping to find felt to make nativity puppets for the Primary--but no felt to find in Ayutthaya. We always enjoy going to these unique marketplaces that are so traditional Thai. This particular one covers a city block and seems to go on forever.

We love serving in Thailand. Each day brings new experiences. The people of Thailand are friendly and helpful. The members of the Ayutthaya Branch are some of the finest Saints you'll find anywhere.

Martial Law and Moving Forward

The Thai military declared Martial Law early this week and later upgraded to a coup. So far it has been mostly good as it has calmed down the rival groups and disbanded the demonstrators. Many of the political leaders and news commentators have been detained. Not sure how to read that. Schools were ordered to close on Friday, but they are back in session today. It is interesting that now we are totally under the military law. We as US citizens have some rights but the Thais don’t even have their constitution any more. Missionaries for the first few days of the coup were told by the mission to be home by 8 PM and not do inviting. Those precautions were lifted today.

The young elders received a death threat by an ex-boyfriend of a recent convert--well, sort of. The boyfriend was mad about the girl breaking up with him, so he said he would “get" the elders. The man called the elders for an appointment to learn about the church. He did not say who he was but the phone number was that of the ex-friend. The missionaries called him back--and called his bluff. He agreed to keep the appointment and the elders subtly told him there would be many members at the church happy to meet him. The man never showed.

We were looking forward for the youth from LopBuri (north of us an hour drive) coming Saturday for a combined activity. But they had to cancel last minute due to the political situation. We still held our youth activity, and our youth and leaders had a great time designing plates and playing "Steal the Bacon.”

Joan taught a music theory class on Friday. Ten attended. Eight were her piano students. We will have lesson two next week.

The city finally filled in the “sink” holes they dug for drainage pipes that were around the church drive-in area. It is much safer now to park in front of the church. (two cars had driven into the holes before filled)

On Sunday I (Elder Sowards) spoke in church – officially. I sometimes give short talks when the assigned speakers do not fill the time. This time we had 2 speakers before me and together they took about 8 minutes. I was able to take the remained of the time. I spoke about what we must do to prepare to become a stake and to have a temple. Not a fire and brimstone talk, but I did speak about sacrificing, including paying tithing. I spent much of the time after Sunday meetings counseling with people needing welfare assistance. I try to help them

Ayutthaya in bloom

and to help them see they need to pay their tithing to be blessed.

We fed the elders German pancakes Sunday night. With the political situation they couldn’t go out inviting and had to be home by 8 PM. They were happy to eat everything we served. We found canned peaches at our local grocery store and served them, too. The elders ate heartily.

We are excited that on Sunday in Cambodia, they organized the first two stakes in that country. What a blessing for them. The reality of having a temple in this region of Asia is getting even closer!

Hotel receptionist on duty

Grandson Baptized!

Our oldest grandson, Dillon, received baptism on Saturday in Arizona, baptized by his father. Missing family events such as this is part of serving a mission. But we are so grateful for modern technology. We received this picture immediately and were able to FaceTime with Dillon after the service. We are happy for his decision to be baptized and become a member of the Church, and take upon himself the name of Jesus Christ.

Congratulations, Dillon! You are an amazing boy, talented and smart. We are proud to be your grandparents.

Seniors' Conference

We attended a senior couples conference at the beautiful Thames Valley resort that opened a few months ago. We drove through Khao Yai, the largest national park in Thailand, on our way. While we did not see any wild elephants, we did see evidence where the elephants had crossed the road. I did wonder,  “Why does the elephant cross the road?”

Thailand senior missionaries ready to embark
to our conference at Khao Yay

At the conference, we heard reports from the couples serving in Myanmar and Laos. This past year they have helped with several hundred projects such as digging fresh water wells in villages. In Laos they gave out much food when a flood destroyed the rice crops a few months ago, and coats and blankets to many children in northern Laos where it snows. The first full time young missionaries opened Myanmar in February (besides our welfare couples already there) and since have had 12 baptisms.

One of the main quotes at the senior conference was by Elder Richard G. Scott: 

"In order to achieve things we have never done before, 
we need to do things we have never done before.” 

Our missionaries are baptizing like never before and it is because they are teaching the gospel in different ways. They have already had more baptisms than all of last year. They boldly challenge people to be baptized when they first meet them, before even teaching anything. This is different than I did as a young missionary, but they are finding people who want to be cleansed from sin. This new approach is now being

Beautiful 3" spider at Khao Yay.

copied in the Philippines, Taiwan and even Poland. It may not work everywhere but is working here.

The BYU Young Ambassadors gave six performances in Thailand over the past two weeks. One concert helped a charity raise enough money to buy 2 dialysis machines. They had hoped for one; a second is a real bonus.

We did Facetime with Jim Duthie during our English class. The lesson theme was weather so he forecasted the weather for Ayutthaya. The students were to listen for the words they were learning. He did great talking with them and wishing Joan a Happy Birthday. He forecasted hot and rainy. Every weatherman loves to forecast weather in Thailand – it is easy – hot to hotter and wet to wetter. As we were starting the class a great windstorm hit our area. It was like the dust storms in Mesa, so talking about the weather was timely.

A strong rainstorm hit Sunday just as church ended. It turned the roads around our church into mudslides. Driving a car through deep mud is challenging enough. Most of our members, including the sisters, drive motor-scooters, mud and rain are no fun on a scooter. One sister got stuck in it and had to push her scooter through the mud, ruining her nice shoes. Our car made it out, barely.

The district and stake had a joint sports day on Tuesday this past week in Bangkok. It was a Thai holiday so people were able to participate. We took eleven members plus four young missionaries. They played volleyball, ping-pong and badminton plus some games we had not heard of before. Mostly indoor games as it was very hot that day. There are some serious badminton and ping-pong players here. The whole day was fun for the members and many family members came to cheer everyone on. Since it was Joan’s birthday we left to go eat lunch at a Sizzler – what a treat.

The special music number during our Sacrament meeting was a 13 year-old sister playing her violin and another young woman playing the piano. The mother of the violinist had told us the song would be "Love One Another.” But the youth had practiced to play another song. When they saw the printed program they switched to play the announced song not thinking they could change it. They had not practiced it but did well.

Our missionaries now have permission to use Facebook as a proselyting tool. They create a page as a missionary and can only use it to share gospel messages. They can only have friends in the areas they serve. It will be interesting to see how they use it.

We saw the Hobbs from Mesa AZ Maricopa Stake at the Senior Couples’ conference. They have been  humanitarian missionaries in Myanmar and are almost finish their mission next month. They are a fun couple. This is their 2nd mission. The other was in Africa. They have a problem. The couple that came out a month ago to help take over their projects for another couple that finished their mission, decided to go home. There have been two couples serving there. A couple has not been called to replace the Hobbs either. So when the Hobbs go home who will manage the over $700,000 in projects they have contracted to do with the Myanmar government? There are two young elders there but they are not trained to manage projects such as wells or showers for schools. We'll see what happens.

Elder Sowards enjoying the beauty of Khao Yay.

President Uchtdorf said, 

“There is a way for everyone …to participate in this great work, we can each find a way to use our own particular talents and interests in support of the great work of filling the world with light and truth.” 

Do consider what you can do with your talents to help hasten the work.

More Adventures

We took pictures to the city highway department of the construction holes around the entrance to the church. They were dug over three weeks ago and then left. Two cars have slid a tire off into the hole. The people at the city office said they would work on fixing the problem. So Sunday they started, adding to the challenge of members entering the church. Always opposition.

Our Brother who has been in the hospital for months is now home and improving. At home, he smiled for the first time, shook our hands and attempted to speak. So wonderful to see his progress!

Brother and his devoted sister. His brother and sister have been
very devoted to his care since his accident.

 This was the first time in months that we had no members in the hospital. It lasted only one day though; a sister is now in with major abdomen problems, and a brother had an emergency appendectomy.

Saturday, the Elders Quorum President and I had a leadership meeting in Bangkok with Area authority E. Woo. It was an interesting meeting with lots of instruction. We returned about 8:30 PM to find that Joan had taken a tuk tuk (small truck taxi) to the hospital to see the sister I mentioned above. The sister is doing better.

On Sunday, I baptized a young woman who told me I was like a father to her. I have counseled her a few times and her own father passed away many years ago. Afterwards, a van from the Thailand Quality Award (TQA) program took Sister Sowards and I to Sir James Lodge about an hour away. TQA was holding a week-long training for examiners. They had us stay the night, as I was to teach an hour presentation on Lean at 7:30 am Monday morning. It was a beautiful place and our room had a spectacular view of the valley, but immediately after the presentation we had to return home, so we didn’t get a chance to enjoy it longer.

The ride back was interesting as the one other rider was an MD officer with the Chulalongkorn Hospital and medical school in Bangkok, the most prestigious med school in Thailand.  He had studied in the US and spoke very good English. We talked about everything from the Word of Wisdom to how to get doctors to change their attitude toward change. Even though our assignment is to work with members, we enjoy sharing the gospel with whomever we meet.

I renewed my Thai driver’s license today. It took a long time waiting, just like the AZ MVD. But this was in a non A/C room – hot, hot, hot. It is now good for 5 years.

Monday, we held our monthly YSA family home evening. It was lightly attended due to the Thai holiday, only two came, but we still had a fun evening. As we were about to end and eat the chocolate chips cookies Joan had made, about 10 other members and two missionaries came to wish Joan a happy birthday. They gave her a bouquet of roses and sang Happy Birthday in English. They enjoyed the cookies as Joan baked several more trays so everyone could have their fill.

We took our youth group to the tourist center museum and met this schoolclass who sang several songs to us in English and then wanted their photo with us. Their teacher is very dedicated to teaching them English and giving them a good education. It is fun to be a foreigner in Thailand.

Everyday brings new surprises. It is always an adventure in Thailand!

View from room at Sir James Lodge

Entertaining Week

One of the sisters baptized last week asked me to confirm her. I consider it a privilege and appreciate that I was asked on Saturday and had time to prepare since doing it in Thai is always a challenge, especially the names.

Wednesday, Joan and I went to Bangkok to see the BYU Young Ambassadors perform. The princess was in attendance, too-- (first wife of the prince and mother of the oldest grandchild). To our surprise Baily Brinkerhoff from Westwood/Maricopa Stake was one of the performers. They gave a super concert singing and dancing, representing BYU, the church and the USA well. 

Young Ambassadors in Bangkok

Friday Elder Mageno was transfer. We will miss him, he has served well. We gained Elder Martin who came out the same time we did. He is the district leader. Elder Kittavong is now my second counselor in the bishopric. Elder Kittavong is from Laos and this will be an opportunity for him to learn more about church organization. He will probably need to apply it soon after he returns home the end of October.

We attended a welcome home party for

A Busy Week!

Bangkok North District YSA fireside

Transfers happened this week. We lost Elder Vance and gained Elder Ngaosuvan. Now Ayutthaya has two Americans, one Laotian and one Thai elder. This also means our district meetings need to be in Thai.

We had two baptisms on Sunday, totaling three for the month. We also had 70 people at church – our highest number yet! We need to average 80 for at least 3-6 months to get our own building. We will keep working.

A sister, who was baptized here one year ago, gave a wonderful talk at the baptismal service. She has grown so much in the gospel. She is the young women’s secretary and teaches the youth Sunday School class. You can see the light in her eyes. Last week she received a temple recommend and plans to go to Hong Kong in June.

Sunday was the hottest day of the year (so far) 103˚F.  It even seems hotter with the high humidity. We attended a fireside at Changwattanna with four of our YSA (pictured).

Four of our youth went to the Bangkok North District youth conference held near the beach. They came back saying they learned a lot and had a great time.

We kept busy visiting members this week. Since they live all over the area, there is much travel time between visits. One recently baptized member showed us his beautiful Siberian Husky. As you might guess, this breed is very rare in Thailand.

Elder Trabing, one of the missionaries

It's All Over But the Work

"It's all over but the work" -- Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, April 2003, and President Senior every transfer meeting.

Today we attended a great transfer meeting. We wish Elder Vance the best in his a new assignment, and we're sorry to see him go.

Seven new elders have arrived to serve in Thailand:

Elder Beebe, PN,  assigned to Korat
Elder Gillam, Bakersfield, CA, assigned to Lopuri,
Elder Anderson –Sandy, UT – assigned to Surin
Elder Squire – Lehi, UT, assigned to Nakhon
Elder Takeuchi – Hawaii—assigned to Chaing Rai
Elder Johnson—Spanish Fork, UT, assigned to Bangkhae
Elder Jeng –Taiwan –assigned to Phitsanulok

A Brother who came to transport missionaries. I admired his beard
and he was happy for me to photograph him.

Here is the list of those going home. Among them are Elder Slaughter and Elder Trabing--both who served in Ayutthaya and loved by our branch.

Daniel James Cahoon
Christopher Taylor Chelson
Cache Riley Ellsworth
Kittima Phanthong
Jana Leigh Reedy
Suriya Sae-Dan
Wirawat Sanguansak
John Emery Slaughter
Thidarat Somboonnit
Brandley Dean Terry
Hunter Wayne Trabing
Schad Veerothai
Narongirt Wilamat

Elder Watkins saying goodbye to his companion, Elder Sae-Dan

Elder Sowards with Elder Slaughter

Sowards with Elder Wilamot

Celebrating the Easter Week

by Elder Sowards


 Last Monday night we had a huge storm. Though I slept through most of it, Tuesday morning we found the storm had taken down the papaya tree in our front yard.

 We and the four elders, and a few members helped clear a sister’s yard of fallen branches from the storms. It was a very hot humid day and we ended up wetter than Water Day. 

One sister was baptized this Sunday. What a special opportunity to be baptized on Easter!

Elder Vance demonstrating life saving technique on Elder Mageno

This week we went to a nearby Chinese cemetery and photographed headstones. We try to photograph some every week. We only have about 2000 names left to do before they destroy the cemetery in August.

The Lord helps us in different ways. I had been feeling we should visit one of the sisters I home teach. I knew she is not well, and had planned to call her on Wednesday to set up an appointment. She lives about 40 KM out of town, so our visits take a good chunk of our day. Tuesday night she called and asked that I come to visit and administer to her. It was a special opportunity to bless her.

Elder Vance, who worked as a lifeguard at the beaches in CA before coming on this mission, taught the youth at our Saturday activity about life saving and first aid techniques. This is a hard topic for any missionary to translate and teach and he did a great job. Afterwards, the youth dyed and hunted Easter Eggs. This was a 1st experience for the members in all three activities. 

Elder Kittavong joined the church in his native country of
Laos. Nine members of his family are now members because of
his pioneering. 

We attended the 3rd Buddhist funeral for members' parents since we have been here. It struck me as interesting that we were at a funeral where people had no idea about death and what happens beyond, at the time of year we especially honor the mission, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter Sunday: Sacrament meeting was wonderful. The primary sang Did Jesus Really Live Again and the elders plus a member, sang This is the Christ. Joan accompanied both on the piano. Both groups did well and the speakers gave great talks, but the best part was our little CTR4 girl singing with the primary. Each child (about 7 of them) held and sang from a Children’s Songbook, but she sang enthusiastically while holding the regular hymnbook. (She can’t read yet and didn't know the difference.) 

Happy Easter!
We are all brothers and sisters and can love each other in spite
of our differences. We have more similarities than we think.

We fed the four elders on Sunday night (Elders Kittavong, Mageno, Vance, and Crump.) This is transfer week and we expect two will be leaving Ayutthaya. We served taco salad for dinner and German pancakes for dessert. It is always hard to say goodbye to our elders at transfer time. Best wishes to them in their new areas.

We are happy to be in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we missed being with our family and friends at home at Easter.

We also miss Cadbury Eggs. Haven't seen one yet in Thailand.

Celebrating the Thai New Year

It is unusual seeing elephants on the highway, but
today we saw a herd of them celebrating the new year.

It is now the year 2557--at least in Thailand. :-)
Happy New Year!

Elder Crump’s bike was stolen from in front of church while we were all teaching an investigator. This is the first time we've had a bike stolen in our year in Ayutthaya. Our area is usually very quiet and safe.
We had three members in hospital this week. A Sister's seven-month-old baby who was born premature a few months a ago, has been in and out of the hospital with problems. Another member had surgery to remove a tumor. When we visited her on Thursday she asked for a blessing. What a great opportunity to use the priesthood to bless one of Heavenly Father’s daughters. The doctor had told them the surgery/hospital bill would be around $1130. When she checked out on Saturday the bill was about $580! (when does that ever happen in the US?) What a blessing to the family! We did visit with Brother W today who has been in the hospital over two months.  He is still not able to breath on his own so he is back to the RCU. When we arrived, it was not visiting hours, but the nurses remembered us and directed us to him. We only stayed long enough to give him encouragement and have prayer with him.

Making tacos between Saturday's sessions.

I thought about our recent baptized members seeing a conference for the first time. What do they think as they see not a small group of members but a huge building full of people, a great choir, (even though they don’t sing in Thai), and lots of great conference talks. I wonder what it really means to them?
We prepared Mexican food for the members that came on Saturday to watch General Conference. 

I had challenged the Aaronic priesthood young men to memorize Section 4, and told them if they did it, I would buy them any ice cream at DQ. One young man quoted it to me on Saturday, so I keep my promise. I treated the other young men and missionaries who came to the general priesthood broadcast Saturday afternoon to a small blizzard at DQ, too.

Honoring-the-elderly ceremony for the new year.
We are the elderly.

Sunday was the Thai New Year aka Water Day. The Thai new year tradition is to pour flower water on the hands of the parents and elderly while wishing them great things for the new year. Guess Joan and I and Brother McGeorge are the branch old people. Members came kneeling to us one or two at a time and poured flower water on our hands over a basin. Joan will probably post pictures on the blog. Some other members came to our house later and did the same thing.

As we drove through town, everywhere people were celebrating Water Day by throwing water at everyone else. People on bicycles, motorcycles and in the back of pickups are favorite targets. Often the people in the pick-ups throw water back.  Since we were in the car only a few people threw water on us.

Happy New Year -- 2557!

We Need Not Stand Alone

A non-member nineteen year-old girl came to the church asking if she could learn about the church. She had had a dream about a lamb, and had a feeling the dream was connected to Christianity. When she saw this picture of Christ with a lamb that we have in a classroom, she said it was the same lamb in her dream. How did she know where to find the church?  We had given her an English class invite card that has a map, some days earlier at a local grocery store. 

She came to English class on Tuesday. We helped the elders teach her on Thursday. On Friday she came back to the church before going to work. We were cleaning the building. She helped clean and said she loved the feeling she has when in the church. She came to several sessions of General Conference over the weekend.

She has a sweet, humble spirit and we hope she will be ready for baptism soon.

Update May 19: This sister was baptized the Sunday before a Thai holiday where families get together. She was so happy the day of her baptism--beamingly. The next day, this sister went home to be with her family. As so often happens to new members, they tell their family they have become Christian and everyone gets upset and talks "sense" into the person. Buddhism is the way of life here in every way and it is hard to break from. We haven't seen the sister since her baptism. She doesn't answer calls. She was taught at the church, and home addresses here are impossible to find. 

I hope the Spirit touches her heart and she will remember how great it was to feel the Spirit, and that someday she will return.

Zone Meeting Today

Elders Cutler, Love, Bartholomew, Finlayson, Merkley, Trabing, Crump, Vance, Mageno, Sowards, Kittavong

I love being with the missionaries when they sing. This video misses the mark at portraying what it is like. 

Name this tune that is a favorite at district and zone meetings.

FHE

Tonight's singles' FHE group.
Gathering--paper airplanes.
Song--Choose the Right.
OP--NomSok
 Lesson -- Elder Sowards on goals.
Game-- "Four on a Couch" led by Lhai. Refreshments--brownies made by Sister Sowards.
Laughs--by all.

One Year Out!

by Elder Sowards

We took Elder Kittavong from Laos, a missionary serving in our branch, and his companion to Bangkok to hear Steven C. Wheelwright, president of BYU–Hawaii present about the value of going to BYUH and how Thais and other Asian members can apply and afford it. We also tried presented the information at our Saturday youth activity. At least one youth is interested in applying in 3 years. It would be a great opportunity for her.

On Sunday we had 8 investigators at church. They even stayed and listened to my presentation about family history during the combined priesthood Relief Society 3rd hour. I taught not by choice but the Asia Area Presidency had asked that the lesson be taught by the branch presidents. The other BP could teach it easily in Thai. I struggled through some of the Thai terms. We were asked to follow the outlined lesson plan from Hong Kong.  We couldn’t get familysearch.com to show on the LCD projector and ended up using Joan’s Macbook Air, which was hard to see for 40 people. Most of the members don’t use the Internet anyway, so maybe nothing was lost except lesson time.

Our branch sent four young men and five adults to the district general priesthood meeting Sunday in Changwattana. Probably the most representation Ayutthaya Branch has ever had at a district priesthood meeting.

Our surprise of the week was brought by Jackson Shaver of Mesa who often comes to LopBuri, just north of Ayutthaya. He brought a fun package from Ted and Rex about a month ago. Jackson called this past week and said he had another package for us--this time from Cameron McKay. Turns out that Jackson is in Cameron’s ward and happened to mention to him that he had brought a package to a senior missionary

Mexican food care package sent by Cam McKay

couple in Thailand. Cameron asked who and was surprised to find it was us. Small world! Cameron sent us two large packages of corn tortillas (6” size with about 50 in a bag), 10 cans of Rosarita Refried beans, a large jar of salsa, taco mix flavoring and some yummy candy. WHAT a treasure! We are planning to feed the whole branch. Most have never tasted Mexican food.

We helped teach a man from the Philippines with the young elders. It was interesting to watch them struggle to teach in English. During the lesson Elder Mageno bore testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. He said he had read it many times himself and with his family. What a wonderful compliment to his family that he can say he has read it as a family.

We said goodbye to Elder and Sister Marvel. They have served as senior missionary couple on emergency preparedness and the perpetual education fund. They

Sowards with Jackson Shaver--the
care package carrier

Taking brownies to the LopBuri elders,
Elders Cutler and Love

Farewell dinner for the Marvels

are always so enthusiastic that it is contagious to be around them. They will be missed.

Our mission had 212 baptisms this month. That is a great number considering the first few months we were here the whole mission had about 60 –70 per month.

Today (April 1) marks one year of our missionary service. We have been so blessed by being here in Thailand.