Rainbows and Marshmallows

 Sweet sunset picture of Buriram.

 A screen shot of one of our district meetings. This was a special one where we did it over video chat because it was the same week as zone conference.

 Just a normal day riding our bikes down the road.

 A cool elephant in the roundabout.

 This was taken in Royet. They are building a giant monument there that will be finished in 2021.

 Eating some super delicious food 

right after zone conference.

  

 We had an awesome day at church where a ton of members who used to come here came back for a day. It was fun to see all the old faces.

 The Bishops son.

Quincey's trainer from her mission in Portugal and her new husband who served in Thailand! 
They are here on vacation!

This was a chunk of my delicious sour patch watermelons from America!

Kittens galore! They are growing slowly.

This weeks update:

The weeks just keep getting better and better. Buriram is growing so much in the church and I can truly say that my heart is growing for the ward here. This is the first time in my mission where I can feel that all the work I am doing in a week is being driven by my love for the people and the knowledge of how the gospel can help everyone individually.

Elder Llanera and I got to do some cool companionship bonding in the morning a couple times this last week.  We got to play some basketball! We went to the nearby college and shot around for a while on their courts. We got to play two on two with these two Thai guys and we whooped ‘em. Let's just say that Elder Llanera throws some pretty clean alley oops. When we were done playing with them, they invited us to come play with them at the hospital sometimes at 6 O ‘clock in the evening. They said there was a ton more people that play there. I really want to go try to play there sometime.

Maybe we will have some time on another P-day to go.

Lately in the mission, there has been a major focus on getting as many people to be baptized as possible, which is not a bad thing. Baptism is an essential part of being able to live with Heavenly Father, but as we have been doing this, we sometimes forget about helping those who are already members. The mission is changing to have more of a focus on strengthening the members and helping the family of the members to become strong. I know that when we work harder on this, the missionary work will become so much more effective and even easier! I have seen a change starting here in the Buriram Ward lately. Just last Sunday, we had the first ward council that I know of. I'm sure it has happened in the past, but not that I know of at least. I'm just so happy for this ward because there are changes happening. I really want to see it grow because as the membership grows, so does their testimonies, and so does their happiness in the church. 

This last week, my Sister, Quincey’s favorite companion on her mission in Portugal came with her husband who served here in Thailand on his mission. (did that make sense) Anyways, they brought me a present all the way from America! It was some genuine Sour Patch Kids. Not just any Sour Patch Kids... WATERMELON FLAVOR! THE BEST ONES! It was way funny because since they brought it all the way from America, it had been through some rough spots, and now the entire 2 pound bag is melted into a single massive gummy watermelon. It is like so much better because you don't just have to take little bites, you can just bite off a massive chunk. It was a tender mercy of my week. Thank you all thoughs who took part in this endeavor. 

On another basketball note, I got to play basketball with a bunch of missionaries because we had zone conference and we woke up early for it, and one of the elders, Elder Ratelle, totally skewered my eye ball with his finger on a rebound. It hurt like really bad and I didn't enjoy it. I couldn't see out of that eye for a good 10-15 minutes, and I really thought I was going to throw up because of how much it hurt. The worst part was that because of that, everyone stopped playing and we went home. That was annoying. Haha. 

This week was like jumping on rainbows and marshmallows the whole time. It was way fun. I felt the spirit so much and my testimony has indeed strengthened. I have some family members who have been distraught for the past few days because of the sudden death of a family member, and other sad events. I am praying for you all every day and I hope that you will be able to feel to the spirit, or the love of God, at all times. Just like my Grammy said ;). It will help you (everyone) in your times of need. 

Love you all! 

-Elder Barron