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

Thonburi Got Lit - 10/6/17

We floated some lanterns down the river, which was cool. 

Hello Everybody!

This week was pretty solid! We started off on Monday by playing a bunch of laser tag which was way fun. Then we went to visit Brother D. He's about 30ish and had an accident about 15 years ago, so he has special needs. His dad was friends with President Hinckley, and President Hinckley made a promise to his dad that we would visit him every week and talk with him. They aren't members, but it's a really nice thing to be able to do. We switch off with the sisters to visit him every week. He's awesome, haha. Apparently he's met the past King of Thailand, and also the current King of Thailand, because his dad is a pretty high-up government official. D's a funny guy. After we visit him, they always give us a way nice meal which is always really good. They live in a kind of secluded compound with very large, high-class houses.

We held an English class Halloween celebration on Tuesday. It was cool. We played a bunch of Halloween games and took them trick-or-treating through the church. 

On Friday the sisters had a baptism for Brother CW, who's a way funny guy. We then went to a light festival. If any of you have seen Tangled, the festival in Tangled is based on this holiday in Thailand. But since we're in Bangkok, they don't do the air lanterns here. If you're in north Thailand they do a lot of them, though. Here we floated some down the river, which was cool. We all bought these neat flower things that hold candles to float down the river. (Click here to learn more about Loy Krathong, this special light festival). 

A lot of members threw a surprise party kind of thing for me on Saturday, which was way nice. They bought a pizza and put a lot of candles in it, haha. DC drew a pictures of me, Elder Holland (my mission dad), and Sister Courchaine (my mission mom), so now our entire mission family has portraits. 

Yesterday we were able to take G and B to our bishop’s home, which was way good for them. It's great to see them welcomed into the ward with such open arms. B still hasn't been baptized, but he has a way strong testimony.

I hope you all have a great week this week!

Love and miss you all! 

Elder Ridd <3