Woah...

So! First week in an area is definitely a crazy thing. So on Thursday we got to the office in Bangkok early in the morning. And then what we usually do is just pick up our companions and go to our new area. I saw a lot of my group there. Saw Elder Ference, and it was really fun to talk to him and everyone there. Thailand is just a kinda a crazy place so everyone was swapping stories, was so good to see them. So Ubon is a four Elder house, and two of the Elders were going to be replaced. So then me and the elder coming in just did a switch off his name is Elder Larson. We then left the office and I said goodbye to my trainer. Sad day. So we promptly got on the bus to Ubon which is an eight hour bus ride away. 

We got there late and then the next day me and elder Sukyone did yard work for this lady all morning. Was pretty hot as you can imagine. The lady we served is a cute older lady in her forties I think. Her name is อุด (uud) and she has been taught most of the lessons but she says shes not ready for baptism. She goes to church and everything also. Way good. We will continue to work and pray for her. Then we did sports night and we played soccer at this Airforce base. Our ward against some random kids. I scored a goal. haha! Tried getting to know the members better. There is a lot more here. Saturday was good we visited an investigator invited. And after that we came out of the dudes house and it was night and saw a guy who just barely had gotten in a bike accident because he was drunk. Elder Sukyone said the people said he was probably dead. Hmmm.. We biked like right past him. Kinda sketched me out.

SO YEAH! Sunday! So good! we actually have a ward here so we have like 60 people who come to church. They are all fantastic as most Thai people are. It was fast and testimony meeting. I bore my testimony. then after church we visited shut ins and invited. While we were inviting we found these puppies living under the sidewalk in someones backyard. Wish I could have take a picture they were so cute! We then had dinner at a members house and all of us ate on the floor and had sticky rice with nam dok like this lime flavored meat. So good! the spiritual thought that I gave was something that I studied recently. It was Mormon 9:6 It sort of tells us that it is only through the atoning sacrifice of our brother Jesus Christ that judgement day can be a happy day. My commitment to them was to try everyday to make that day a good day, to use the atonement daily. :)

Love you all so much. I'm so lucky so have family and friends like you guys!

-- 

Elder English

Weekly Letter to Mission President - 04 Dec 2017: Hello President! Ubon is great! I now realize how much I needed a language boost and I see how Sukyone is perfect for that. Hes really good at both English and Thai its good to just listen to him speak also. There is a lot more members here and that's awesome! They are also really good like Gempheng phet but there are just a lot more. I am so excited for that here. Church is great its so different having a really strong ward, compared to my old area. It means that they can handle problems on their own and that's really good to see. We have one dater right now.