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