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 

I learned Dek Gra!

 My view on the bus every day.

 My key chains that people have given me.

 Me with some friends.

 Second floor of the market place in Bangkapi.

 This is a waterfall inside the mall 

that was really cool.

 They are ready for Christmas here in Bangkapi!

 Showing off my new tie.

I gave out a picture of Jesus to someone and later I saw it inside the window of their car. 

Made me happy.

 This is a normal meal I get. I am pointing to the intestines of a pig. I ate them all. It was a bit squishy and probably would taste better if I didn't know what it was.

Playing "Dek Gra" with some local guys on preparation day today.

What happened this week:

Hello! 

This was a very interesting week. I mentioned it a little bit in my last letter, but this week, as a district, we did “Heaven Week”. This was where we wake up early and go inviting really hard to find new investigators, and we work hard all day and all week. We made super big goals of how many new investigators we were going to find, how many new people we could invite to church, and how many people that had a date to get baptized. We came short of our initial goals because Elder Killian and I had a lot of sickness that sometimes held us back, but our numbers were still the highest I have had so far on my mission. It felt really good to work hard and to do the very best that I could. It definitely made me a better missionary and person in the long run.

Lately for all of our free days that I have every Monday, the 4 Elders in my district have been going to the church to play basketball for the whole day. While we were playing last week, one of the other missionaries tried to dunk it and hang on the rim as hard as he can. I told him to not do it because it wasn't a breakaway rim and it was going to break, but he told me it wouldn't and then he went and hung on the rim. Now it is a 9 foot 6 inch rim. Delightful. Anyways, we will probably play basketball a little less now that this happened.

One of my favorite ways to get better at Thai is by reading in The Book of Mormon in Thai. Almost all the words that I read are words that I would never use in normal speaking, but reading it gives me a lot more than just vocab. It helps me read more quickly, comprehend easier, and my pronunciation is helped a lot too. Every once and a while I have the strange realization that I can speak a different language. It always takes me by surprise when I have a conversation with a Thai person because in my head I think I can't speak Thai, but then I just go and do it. I know that God has helped me while I am in Thailand trying to serve the Lord and the children of God here.

This week, Elder Killian and I were on our bikes inviting and I saw some old guys who were playing a game called “Dek Gra”. I'm not 100% sure how it would be spelled in English, but you should totally look up some Dek Gra highlights. It is amazing to watch! We passed by them and kept riding our bikes down the road, but I decided to go back and ask if we could play with them. They were super excited to let us play! Dek Gra is sooo hard though. It is playing volleyball with a hard plastic ball, using your feet. These old guys are so good though! Every time I kicked the ball it would go in a random direction, but the old guys would be passing it all around to each other doing behind the back kicks. It was fun to play!

I know that God is helping me here in Thailand as I share the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many things that seem like it is too hard, but anything is possible when you align yourself with the desires of God. 

Everyone have a great week and send me an email at boston.barron@myldsmail.net if you have the time!

-Elder Barron 

Adventures in Bangkapi

Someone (un-named) disrespecting 

me with their feet.

Some absolutely delicious Thai food 

that I ate today.

An ugly dog of our neighbors.

Out working and I saw all these cats on a balcony.

Me at one of those night markets where they 

sell a bunch of food and good stuff.

Sunset that was cool.

Letter:

This week was very short because we had transfers. Our mission president assigns us to a new area and companion, or we could stay where we are and have the same companion. It is fun because everyone has a chance to move and we just sit there and wait for a call from our Mission President. Whenever we find out who is leaving we all freak out. For these transfers it was kind of boring though because not a single person in my district moved or did anything. Our call was super short because he said "Hello, all of you are staying" and then he hung up. Very anticlimactic. Lol

This week, we had a surprise zone meeting in Asoke, Bangkok, Thailand. We got to go listen to an amazing speaker and General Authority named Ted R. Callister. He taught us on the importance of being a good teacher. This is definitely something that I need a little bit of training on. For me, the most difficult part of teaching is involving the person who I am teaching and making them interested in what I am saying. Especially in Thai, I need to get better at sparking an interest as a teacher.

A few days ago, our district leader decided to make this upcoming week a really good missionary work week. We decided to call it "Heaven Week." This is a play on words from something in the US military called "Hell Week." In the military, this is a week where you are worked to death. You have to hike at least 10 miles or more a day, you always have to wear a super heavy pack, you get about 2 hours of sleep a night, and they try to make you do things that would "break" you mentally. For us we are calling it “Heaven Week” because we are planning on getting out of the house earlier, finding more people to teach, spending a substantial less amount of time wasted during eating, studies, or traveling, and basically anything that will physically work us to death so that by next week, we will be exhausted. I can't wait to start!

This week as I was studying in a book that explains the Old Testament of the Bible very in depth, I read a section that made me think a lot about my own personal study of the scriptures. The scriptures consisting of The Bible and also The Book of Mormon, both have this in common. They’re many teachings coming through parables. A parable is a short story that uses objects in the story to convey a larger and more meaningful point. These parables can be confusing and unclear, but as we study the symbolism and try to understand each piece to the story, we receive more knowledge than we thought was there in the first place. This brought me to the question, "Why can't God just give us the straight answer and tell us what to do?" This is the same reason we were sent to this Earth in the first place, but only on a smaller scale. If we have a reward handed to us, we don't grow and become better to get it. We need to work towards something to get the reward and the more we practice at this thing the greater is the reward. “His purpose, however, in telling these short stories was not to present the truths of his gospel in plainness so that all his hearers would understand. Rather it was so to phrase and hide the doctrine involved that only the spiritually literate would understand it.” (Mormon Doctrine) 

I know the more that we work towards strengthening our relationship with God, the more we will be blessed in everything we do. There is an unimaginable amount of happiness that we will receive through studying and following the teachings of God through the scriptures. 

3 Nephi 24: 10 

"...prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

Everyone have a great week! 

-Elder Barron 

The "Greenie" is Gonzo!

My parents friends who brought me a package!

Each chair represents how many transfers we have left in the mission.

I caught this pic of some lightning.

Me dunking on Prep Day.

This is my good friend Bom Prakronkiate. The first time I met this guy was in an Anatomy and Physiology class in high school. He was a foreign exchange student in Bentonville, Arkansas, my home town. I am very good friends with him. I knew he would have to go back to Thailand, so I was sad I wouldn't be able to hang out with him for much of the summer.
Little did I know, out of the hundreds of missions I could have gotten called to, I was going to Thailand to be a missionary.
About five months later, Bom and I are here eating together speaking Thai with each other.
This is truly a miracle in my life that has been led by the hand of God.
Moroni 7: 29-30
29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.
30 For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.โมโรไน​ 7: 29-30

Update:

Hello Everyone! Thailand is still going great! We had what felt like the coldest day in Thailand so far. It was about 11 o’clock in the morning, and it was still only 85 degrees F. It felt so good! This title talks about me being a “greenie”, but I am not anymore. Being a "greenie" is slang for everyone who is new to the mission like I have been. Everyone is a greenie for the first 3 months they are out in the field being teachers. Today marks the last day of me being a "greenie", so I have officially been in Thailand for three months now! It is totally crazy thinking about that! I am amazed by the great leaps I’ve made in learning more about Jesus Christ, God's plan for everyone, how to live in everyday life, and especially the Thai language. The things that are possible to do when you are on God's side is amazing!One girl in my district named ​Sister Pimsuwan (we call missionaries who are girls "Sisters" just like I am an Elder ) who I am pretty good friends with has been in the hospital lately. I don't know for sure what she is suffering with right now, but I feel very bad for her. I really hope she can get better.

One of my very favorite parts of teaching here in Thailand is that at our church every Tuesday, we have a free English class. There are so many students that come and I have a very good time teaching them. A lot of them are very willing to learn, which is a good example to me to try my very best at Thai. It is also fun to see someone else struggle with speaking a language instead of myself. =) Since we have the class in our church there are a lot of our students ask questions about Jesus Christ because they have never learned about him before. It is a great way to find great people wanting to learn more with us. 

As a missionary, my main goal is to help others come unto God through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and one of the most important parts of that is finding other to teach. I think one of the most important things I have learned is how to find people who will be interested. I used to thing the best way was to go out on the sidewalks and talk to everyone I can to see who is interested. I have learned that this way is not the most effective. It is good, but if I want to find people who would sincerely like to change their life for the better through the gospel of Jesus Christ, then I need to work through people who already have a strong relationship with God. People can understand and strive for the happiness brought through following God's commandments if they have a friend or family member who has already made the journey. The path is paved already for any friends wanting to venture as well. I know that I have the truth because of the goodness I feel as I share these feelings and let others tag along on my path I have created for a while as they begin to understand for themselves and make their own path. Eventually, everyone will need to have their own, personal relationship with God, but there is always help when we need it.

This week, Elder Killian and I met with a man named Brother Doy. He has already been baptized, but he stopped coming to church because he said he was too busy and bored of going. I decided to bare my testimony about what I believe is true and Elder Killian did the same. Then we asked Doy​ to share his testimony too. His testimony of how his life has been helped because of the gospel was so powerful. I don't think even he knew everything that he said before he said it because when he was done, he said he wanted to go to church again. The next day, we got a call from his wife saying she and his daughter wanted to be baptized. It was definitely a miracle from God.

This week right before church, there was a white couple who walked in and instantly looked at me. I am going to be honest, it was very weird. Haha, I hardly ever get to see white people all the way out here in Thailand. Even more surprising, they said "Elder Barron, we have a package for you from your Mom." Apparently, my parents found someone going to Thailand and sent a gift with them so they could get it to me for free. Thanks Mommy!

Thanks to everyone who reads my emails and emails me, I appreciate it very much. Have a great week!

-Elder Barron