GROUND BREAKING OF THE TEMPLE!
I got to see a bunch of my friends from the MTC at transfers!
We were talking to a woman and this guy walked up to buy something and I noticed that he had 5 baht in his ear(coins). I asked him why and he said, "It is freaking convenient" That made me laugh so hard and then I pointed out that he has another ear and could carry 10 baht if he wanted to and then he said, "You are a smart man." Lol
This is all of the garbage that we collected that is laying around the house.
Riding in a Tuk Tuk.
Pictures of Thailand.
Saying goodbye to Elder Harding.
He is headed to Bangkapi!
Some amazing food that a sister in our ward made for us. I was so excited (as you can see) that I had to take a picture of it.
I made some eggs in the microwave.
I have never done that before.
Art for sale on the border of Cambodia.
This is Brother Larson.
My weekly update!:
Hello family and friends!
This has been a very special week here in Thailand. For a very long time, the Church has been planning to build a temple here in Thailand. This is actually the first temple that will be built here in South Eastern Asia. It is a very big deal and a big land mark for the church. This week on Saturday, we had the ground breaking to officially kick off the building of the temple! I am so happy for the people of Thailand because when people have the chance to go to the temple, they are able to go there and receive blessings through making covenants with God to live a righteous life. Since being on my mission, I have not had the chance to go to the temple and now that there is one currently being built, I can feel the love of God more here in Thailand and we have already seen blessings pouring down from heaven.
This last week, Elder Harding left Surin, he is now going to serve in Bangkapi, which is the same place I have served, so I had the chance to tell him all about it before he went. It was totally cool that he gets to go serve there as I did.
I also got a new companion. His name is Elder Siebert. I guess the first thing that usually comes up about him is that before he was a missionary, he was a hardcore body builder. He has also been a missionary here for almost a full year longer than I have, so he is very good at the language and very knowledgeable in the gospel. Those are both things that I really want to get better at, so it is a great fit for me!
As soon as Elder Siebert came into Surin, he asked a ton of questions about how the Branch is doing and different members and investigators, I could really tell that he had been a missionary for a while now because he totally had it all down!
We had the chance to meet with Bah Meh and talk to her about the new temple that is being build in Bangkok and she was super excited. She had never been to the temple before because she just got baptized recently, but she was willing to do what ever it takes to prepare. We taught her about family history and how we have a website that is used to organize our family tree and learn about our relatives. I love it!
There is a member here named Sister Ying. She has been a member of the church for less than a year, but she is one of the most intelligent people that I have met here in Thailand. Sister Ying loves studying in all the different kinds of church books and information manuals. Whenever we meet with her, she always asks questions that I don't know the answer to because she is getting into deep doctrine. I definitely need to study more and learn some new Thai vocab.
Lately there has been a man who came to visit all of the members in Surin. He used to be a missionary here in Surin when he was my age, and he served in Thailand again later on in his life with his wife. All of the members love him so much. His name is Brother Larson and he is an angel. After church was over on Sunday he wanted to go use his vacationing time to go visit some people who didn't make it to church. We went to visit a ton of people who were really far away because he had a car and usually we can’t make it out there. A lot of the people we visited had a money problem where they can't fix their motorcycle to go to church so Brother Larson helped them out. Also we visited Brother Sack, who I have mentioned in previous letters. He is bed ridden, so he doesn't have much to do all day. He has a very old tablet to play games on, but it is so old it has stopped working, so brother Larson bought him a new one today to let him be able to read the scriptures on his tablet and other things. Brother Larson is a very nice man.
Today, he spent one of his last days in Thailand to help us travel on our P-day. We went out to a place called Chong Jom, which is a massive market on the border of Cambodia. We also got to see Cambodia and it is way beautiful. There were a ton of beautiful trees. I also got to exchange some Thai money for some cool Cambodian money as well.
Seeing Brother Larson return to Surin makes me want to come back too because the impact that he had on the people continues on. Even more so now that they all know he has a family and he has his own life, but he is still willing to visit again. I strive to have that relationship with everyone that I can here on the mission so that I can continue helping even after I return back to America. Each person that we help can go help others and the chain can continue on forever. That is why I am here in Thailand. I want to help the people.
-Elder Barron
