Elder Todd is a Trainer in Chiang Rai!

Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 12:15:36
From: bryan.todd@myldsmail.net

Hey Everyone!

Well, first things first. I got my new companion and he is new to Thailand. He just got here from the MTC on Tuesday afternoon! Its way fun. I was just doing nightly phone calls with the Zone Leaders and then President Smith beeped in and assigned me to train. So here I am! Elder Tolman and Elder Heap are also training! So half of my MTC group is training now! It's fun, but makes me feel old. haha.

 My new companion is Elder Haughton from Apple Valley California. He is really good! He is willing to speak the language, and he wants to work hard! So we are really making some good plans to help this area really grow! We still get to do a lot of tracting, but hey, we show our faith to the Lord as we tract. 

The training is good, but with this new program we have an extra hour of companionship study each day.  Plus, instead of 30 miniutes language study, we get and hour. My group was the first group to go through it, so now we get to experience the other end of it. Way crazy! 

Well, about our investigators. This week, the day before heading down to transfers Elder Susi and I were out tracting and just not having any luck. Then, we came to this one house. The man let us in. He said he was Chrsitian and Buddhist (I don't know how) but he let us in. As we were talking to him, I had the strongest feeling to talk to him about baptism. So we did, then I had the strongest feeling to extend to him the soft baptismal commitment, (When you come to know these things are true will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?) But as I was extedning that commitment, the feeling changed to just striaght up, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?"   He said, "Yes."  Then we gave him a date. June 24. Hopefully he can make that date! His name is Tirasak. Please keep him in oyur prayers that he will accept this message. 

Our next progressing investigator is Naen. She is a non-member referral. She is Catholic, yeah Chiang Rai has a lot of Christian people. Anyway, she has come to church the last 4 Sundays. But she isn't quite sure about being baptized again.(Catholic). So we gave her 3 Nephi 11 to read. Then the next lesson we reviewed it. We talked about how it was the way that the Savior has said baptism must be done. She then said she is begining to understand. She said it makes sense, because so many religions teach baptism, but not the same way, and they don't teach the same message! Way sweet! The Spirit of the Lord was working with her. She is really starting to progress well. Plese pray for her as well. 

This week, I got the quad you sent in the mail. Thanks mom. I'm really excited because I have started reading it. Not cover to cover. But I am going through Preach My Gospel, and reading and marking EVERY scripture mentioned. I'm marking it even if it's referenced in the previous section. President Smtih said he did it as a missionary in Hong Kong, It took him over a year, but it took him through almost all of the standard works. It's been really cool and neat so far. If any of you are struggling with your study of the scriptures, or are looking for a way to improve it, I would suggest this study technique.  I'm liking it.

So we went down to Bangkok, and we got to the Chaengwattana Church, and I realized that I had left my camera on the bus. I immediately called the bus company, but as it was about 5:30 in the morning, no one was there. I thought back to Gene R. Cook's talk on faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that I had read the night before. In that talk, he tells the story of having his briefcase stolen, and how his scriptures had been in the briefcase.  He didn't get them back for several months. I started thinking that I wouldn't get my camera back. I was praying and kept calling the bus office. Nothing. Then 8.00 came around. I had to go into a meeting. I was in meetings until noon.  Still nothing. I was beginning to think that I wasn't going to see my camera again. Then, as we were studying, I felt the impression, call the company. So I did. They had my camera! I am so grateful that I was able to recover it and get it back, that no one stole it. The Lord is truly looking over us. I love the words "Thanks be to God."

Well That's all from Chiang Rai! I love you all and hope you are all safe and doing well! Life is good! 

Forard in Faith!

Love,
Elder Todd

The Photos below:

FHE in Chiang Rai

and Members seeing us off at the bus station.