December is here!

 A cool night time market.

 My missionary journal.

 Elder Thomas and I shooting a toy Thi G together.

 Our taxi drivers cool dashset.

 Eating at a members house named Golf.

 On the beaches of Chonburi

 I saw these guys trimming palm trees and I thought it was cool.

 Me and one of my best buddies.

Update:

Last P-day was a blast, we had a bunch of missionaries come to our area and we had a giant basketball tournament! We played 3 on 3 games and it was awesome. There are some pretty good basketball players out here. I love the attitude out here on the mission. All of the missionaries are so happy and encouraging about everything. It makes it so much easier to be doing service for others when we have good attitudes about it. After we were done playing basketball, we went to the beach. It was only about an hour drive. The beach was sooo fun. As missionaries, we aren't allowed to go into the water above our knees, but it still felt so good to have my feet sink into the sand. I got to eat about 50 shrimp and then take a nap. It doesn't get much better than that.

I had so much fun in teaching this past week! I love teaching with Elder Thomas because he is very good at explaining and we are good at going off of each other's teaching skills. This week in our English class we were teaching them how to read the time on a clock and say it in English, but every time before their turn, they had to do a dance. I was dying on the floor laughing because Thai people have no shame at all! 

This week we were at a college university teaching a student named Ong. We have been teaching him there for a while now and he loves learning about our religion. He wants to get baptized in the next few weeks. While we were in the middle of teaching him, a random guy named Nook walks up to us and says "I am Christian. Teach me more." It was so cool. I know that God prepares his children to hear the gospel and as a missionary, I am able to see these miracles all the time. This has been a great blessing in my life.

This week was sad because one of our sister missionaries who was serving here from New Zealand had to return home this week. She had a family member pass away and left to help out with them, so she is serving in a better way now. She was one of the nicest people I have ever met. 

I know that this is the true church and that even though we have hard times in life, we can get through anything through relying on God and his plan for us. Thank you all for reading my emails and keeping up with me! 

-Elder Barron 

A Thailand Thanksgiving!

Having Thanksgiving in Thailand was an awesome blessing. The people of our church were so generous and amazing to do this American holiday with us missionaries. It was a great event! 

Tons of food and fun games and great turnout!

Building The Kingdom of God

 Our Zone Conference

 Looking forward to this.

Update:

Hi all! This week was so busy. It was great!

We got to meet with the president of our mission President Hammond and talk about what was going on in our areas, what was working and what was hard, and he helped me a lot on how I can be a better missionary in Bangkapi. I am so grateful for him. He is one of the nicest people that I have ever known and even though he expects us to work our hardest possible, he knows our limits and when we have been doing our best.

This week was Thanksgiving week! In Thailand, they know nothing about Thanksgiving, but all of the members of the church love partying and they will take any chance they can get to throw one! Lol! It’s great! All of the members of the church came up to the missionaries from America and asked us how we party for Thanksgiving. We wanted to keep it simple, so we just said, "You HAVE to get A TON of food!" Most of the members love making food, so they didn't have any problem doing that. =) On the day of Thanksgiving, we had an activity at the church. I have never seen that many people at that church before! And there was SOO MUCH food! It definitely helped me to feel more at home during the holiday. =) So now members of our church in Thailand know a little bit about what Thanksgiving is. =P

We had zone conference this week as well! This is where all of the leaders will train all of the missionaries on something they think everyone needs the most help with. They taught about how to get better at talking to people on the street about Jesus Christ. It is so hard a lot of times to have the courage when you are still learning Thai, but I do have a testimony to know that God will help me when I try my best. Everyone always says, "The best way to get better at the language and to do your job as a missionary is to just talk to every single person." It is so true. The more I try to speak to everyone and have real conversations with strangers; I see massive improvements in my language ability. It’s coming along great.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

Love

-Elder Barron 

When the Going Gets Tough, You're Doing it Right!

 A great baptism day!

 This is our scripture study group.

 Our District!

 Dek Gra Tournament. 

They invited me to be in their picture. =)

 "Percy Jackson" book in Thai.

 Preparation Day fun!

Update:

At the end of this week, I have definitely felt more drained of energy than I ever have so far on my mission. My body is exhausted from riding my bike, walking miles a day, and focusing on getting better at Thai all the time. I know the harder I work, the more tired I get, but also, the harder I work, the more energy and drive I receive from The Lord our God. He knows every situation that everyone is in individually and he is willing to help everyone. The only thing we need to do to receive this help is allow him to do it. The only one stopping you from feeling the love of God is yourself.

My favorite part of being on a mission is that how much fun you have is totally based on yourself. There have been times when the day isn't super packed full of things to do, so we are both tired and lame and we waste time not planning well. By the end of the day, I don't feel accomplished with my work. On the flip side, when I work my very hardest and use every second of my day to be productive, I may feel tired, but I am so happy. The feeling of working your very hardest and going to bed knowing that I did the duty that I was originally called to do. It feels great.

Lately, Elder Killian and I have been walking by these Dek Gra courts that are pretty close to where our house is. We play with these old guys a lot and they are so nice to us and fun to get to know! We absolutely stink at Dek Gra, but they still enjoy helping us and letting us practice with them. They told us about a giant tournament that was taking place in the next few days. We went to this Dek Gra tournament and it was literally so amazing. They are so skilled with their feet. They can pass this ball all over the court and then they hit it way up in the air and one guy will run in and do a backflip to spike the ball over the net with their feet. Dek Gra is such an interesting sport to me because we have nothing like it in America. It is basically hackey sack/feet volleyball on steroids. We spent the day meeting and talking to all of the players and getting to know them. By the end of the Dek Gra tournament we made so many friends that when they were taking a group picture of all of the teams there, they asked me to be in their picture, Lol,  which I thought was really funny. So there I am standing in the back of the picture! Haha! It was a blast.

This week was my Mom's birthday! I am so thankful for her and how she has helped me through life. Even now she helps me through writing me physical letters every week and sending them halfway across the world. I wish her the best birthday possible. Love you Mommy! <3

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I am so thankful for everyone that reads my letters and especially everyone that shoots me a little email every once and a while ;) (Boston.barron@myldsmail.net) Oh who posted my email right there... Well I guess everyone should respond there or something...

-Elder Barron