The Solo Elder of the Thailand Bangkok Mission - 12/25/17

Bangkhae Christmas party

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!!

I hope you have all had an amazing Christmas week!!!!!

This week has been a very interesting week. It started off pretty normally. Elder Xaiyavong and I met with a lot of our investigators and got to know them some more. Then Elder Xaiyavong started to get some news that his dad hasn't been doing too well lately. He has been fighting cancer for awhile and hasn't been in the best shape. Elder Xai got permission to be able to go to Laos and spend some time with his family and his dad for awhile. He will probably be gone for about 2 weeks and return after that. 

Soooooo, as for me, I am now technically kind of a solo missionary. I am living with the Bangkhae elders and get passed around their companionships. I will continue to do some work in Thonburi on Sundays and a few other days, but I will mostly be in Bangkhae. This started on Saturday and I've mostly been with Elder Hunt and Elder Eckersley, who are way awesome. We had a fun church Christmas party in Bangkhae. Then, on Sunday, I went back to Thonburi with Elder Eckersley and we got some good work done there. It should be an interesting time while Elder Xaiyavong is gone, but I'm looking forward to working with some great missionaries. 

I hope all of you have an amazing Christmas!! I invite all of you to try to emulate the Savior's example and look for opportunities to serve others. Also, if you could pray for Elder Xaiyavong's dad and his family, that would be amazing!

Love and miss you all!

Elder Ridd <3

Some raw meat Elder Xai and I ate

Almost Christmas - 12/18/17

The roof of our building is pretty neat.

We were walking around a neighborhood and saw a bunch of people packing rice.
We decided to help them, and it was pretty cool.  

Hello everybody! I hope you've all had great weeks!

This week was good! We were able to meet with a lot of former investigators and start teaching them again. We were also able to serve some people we've never met before and start to teach them! 

Last p-day we decided to go ice skating at a big mall called Future Park. I still am absolutely terrible at it, but I was able to see Elder Todd, who I haven't seen since the MTC - which was really cool!

One of the biggest miracles we had this week was with one of the former investigators we met with. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how He blesses us if we follow Him. We committed her to pray about finding work that will allow her to go to church on Sunday and come learn with us. When we closed the lesson, she prayed to be able to find work. Right as we got back to the church (after teaching her) she called us and said that right when we left her house, she got a call offering her a much better job. That was a way amazing miracle this week. I know that if we try to do what the Lord wants us to do, He will provide a way. We just need to seek first the Kingdom of God and He will provide for the rest. 

I'm really excited for Christmas! It will be a way awesome time! President and Sister Johnson are letting missionaries in Bangkok come visit his house for a little bit on Christmas, which is so nice of them! 

Oh yeah, I got a haircut too, so that was good. 

I love and miss all of you so much! Keep being amazing people and have a great holiday season!

Love you!

Elder Ridd

Weekly planning sessions are fun.

I saw a maaassive dog!

Zone Conference, Stake Christmas Party, and My Day as a Dad - 12/11/17

Zone Conference

Our Christmasy house

New Burmese skirt

Hey Everybody! 

I hope you all have had a great week this week! This week was really busy! On Wednesday, Elder Xaiyavong had to go to Asoke for district leader training with the district leader from Bangkhae, so I was here in Thonburi with with his companion who just got to Bangkok last week. So I was his dad for a day! His name is Elder Eckersley and he's way cool. We had a way solid day. 

The next day was Zone Conference. It was way fun! We did a white elephant gift exchange, and I was able to get a Burmese skirt because the elders from Burma were there too. It was Christmas-themed and really fun. We got to watch The Best Two Years, which is actually a highly accurate movie. 

Saturday was the stake Christmas party. It was way cool because so many people went. I sang with the Thonburi ward and also with the missionaries. 

This week was way cool because I got to see a lot of my friends here in Bangkok and it helped us all get really into the Christmas spirit. Because Thailand is super hot and 96% Buddhist, nobody really does anything for Christmas. It was nice to get into the Christmas mood and get centered on everything that Christ has done for us. 

I hope you all have a great week this week! I miss and love you all! 

Elder Ridd

Cool train station stuff

Brother เค and the ทะเล - 12/4/17

Brother เค (K) was baptized!

Transfers

Last Monday we went to the sea for Pday 

Hey everybody!

I hope you've all had a great week this week!

This week was really good! It was really weird to send Elder Holland and Sister Courchaine away, but I'm excited for this transfer! We’ve got Sister Munro here in Thonburi now, and it's way cool because we were in the MTC together. There's gonna be so much good work that gets done in Thonburi this transfer!

This Sunday, Brother เค (K) was baptized! He's got such a strong testimony, and I'm glad that I've been able to help him progress towards following the Savior's example. 

Last week we were able to go to the sea, which was really fun! All the missionaries in Thonburi went, along with Brothers Dot Com, Arm, Bank, and Sisters Gii and Kwan. It was a really good last p-day of the transfer. I'm so grateful that I get to spend more time with them all this next transfer. 

This week we will have Zone Conference on Thursday, and I'm way excited for it! We will also be getting our phones then, so that will be cool!

One of the highlights of the week: Sister Munro gave a fire translation in sacrament meeting this week for Elder Graf (a senior missionary here who doesn't speak Thai).

I'm so lucky to be able to be a missionary here in Thailand!

I'm very grateful for all of you who have supported me all this time. Have a great week!

Love and miss you all!

Elder Ridd

The End of Greeniehood - 11/28/17

Elder Holland, Me, Elder Xai, Dot Com, Sister Courchaine, Sister Blum, Kaymuk in the back

Dad's leaving me for Chiang Mai

Hey Everybody!

This week was a good week! We got our transfer calls last night! So ~ Elder Xaiyawong and I will be staying here in Thonburi, Elder Holland is moving up to Chiang Mai to be district leader there, Sister Courchaine is DYING (going home), and Sister Blum will be getting Sister Munroe from my MTC group as her new companion here. Pretty crazy! It feels weird that Elder Holland is leaving though. He's an awesome missionary, so he'll do great up north while they're trying to create a Stake there. 

This week we were able to commit Brother เค (K) to be baptized this upcoming Sunday. It's a lot easier that he's finished being a monk. He's an awesome guy and has been investigating since about 4-5 months ago. He's got a lot of faith and will be a great example for others here in Thailand. 

We were able to talk with Bishop this Sunday and got him to let us create a mission prep class here to help people get excited about going on missions! 

I hope all of you had a good Thanksgiving! We had a solid Thanksgiving lunch at KFC with the Sisters this week - haha. By the way, KFC in Thailand is like 10x better than it is in America, hahaha.

I'm thankful that I was able to be raised by such amazing and loving parents. I'm also very thankful that I've had really great siblings that've been great examples (and wayyyyyy fun). I also have been very fortunate to have really amazing and supportive friends. I love all of you guys so much! <3

Today we're emailing kinda early because we're renting a van with a bunch of members and are going to the sea. It's gonna be way fun.

I hope you all have great weeks this week! 

Miss and love you all!

Your favorite broken Thai speaker,

Elder Ridd <3

Solid Week - 11/20/17

Christmas decorations inside of the mall

Elder Xai and Earl on the switch off

Hey Everybody! 

I hope you are all doing well! This week has been really solid. I'd say what made this week good was all the different people that we focused on. 

Elder Xai and I were able to go on switch offs with Elder Earl this week. He's one of our zone leaders, and he is my grandpa in the mission (Dad of Elder Holland). He's a way awesome missionary.

This week we've been trying to help a less active member named Brother P come back to church. He moved here from the north a few months ago and hasn't been too active since then. He's about 23 years old and was the first councilor in the bishopric when he lived in the north. We've met with him a few times and got him to come to church. He's doing a lot better now, and is reading and praying more often now. He even introduced us to his nonmember sister and we've started teaching her. He's going to be a really big help to Thonburi.

We also had a funny experience with our old investigator, Brother D, but we are not sure he understands enough to be baptized. He's about 50ish and we aren’t sure he really knows what's going on a lot of the time. He filled out a family history pamphlet, so we were really excited and proud of him - until we saw that for every single spot on the pamphlet he put his own name and put hospital as place of birth. He's unique and we love him.

Also, we discovered that the elderly man that we visit often named BN has had 11 wives in his life. 

The people here are awesome and they have so many crazy stories.  I love being able to meet so many different people here and to be able to serve them and the Lord. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here in Thailand.

I love and miss you all! Keep being awesome. I hope you all have great weeks this week!

This next week is transfers, so I won't be able to write until next Wednesday! The sad part is that the Thonburi Trio will probably be broken up.  :(

Keep being awesome! Love you!

Elder Ridd <3

Mission Tour: Elder Evans is a Beast - 11/13/17

Dream World entrance

Teaching a member at his condo

Hey Everyone! 

This week was way good. We had Elder Evans, who is a member of the Asian Area Presidency, come down and talk to us for Mission Tour on Tuesday. He's a way cool guy. He talked about a lot of good things. One of the things I liked a lot was about trying to get the youth here to go on missions. If the youth here don't go out on missions, then the church here won't be able to grow as it could. When the youth go on missions, they are strengthened in the gospel, learn the leadership skills to help the church grow, and show that Thailand really is ready for the incoming temple. 

Elder Evans also really emphasized actually talking WITH people instead of TO them, when we are inviting. Apparently this mission has been infamous in the past for just going up to everyone and asking them if they want to learn about Jesus, without taking the time to talk with them and show them love. That's one of the problems of having such massive, busy cities I guess. We also are beginning to do a lot more member work and it's let us get a lot of more referrals which are way solid.

On Sunday we had Stake Conference, which was also really great! President Johnson spoke about the importance of the Book of Mormon, and Elder Evans also gave a really good talk.

Today we had the opportunity to go to Dream World, which is an amusement park here. It was way fun! It was weirdly different from America though, because you can only go on each ride once without paying for extra times once you get in. There were a few rides that were actually really fun, but a lot of them were kinda ehhhh. 

It was a way good week! Elder Holland and Xaiyawong are still being beasts. The language is still killer, but I understand a looooot now. 

Miss and love you all! Keep being amazing! 

<3

Elder Ridd 

Random giant place at Dream World

Random hobbit house at Dream World