The Last Transfer - 5/31/19

Thailand Bangkok Missionaries

Elder Ballard's visit to Bangkok

Hey Everyone!

I wrote about what mostly happened recently in my last letter haha. Not too much else has happened since, but we learned that the two new Laos elders won't be coming up until after I leave, so that's a little bit disappointing - as we were planning on helping to train them. It's all good though because there isn't a terrible amount to do right now due to the government restrictions. 

This next week there will be a meeting between President Hammond, the two branch presidents here, a former branch president here, and the Ministry of Homeland Affairs here in Laos. It should be interesting. Nobody know really what it'll be about, but hopefully they don't close down the church here hahaha. 

We've had a solid week of teaching English classes. We got to pick up two returned missionaries coming home this week! One from serving in Australia and one serving in Thailand. That was pretty cool! It's crazy to think that this is my final transfer here. I've come to love the area and the people so much. I've been here in Vientiane for over a year now so it has started to feel a little bit like home. 

I'm so thankful for the opportunity I've had to serve the people here and to get to know about them and their various cultures. I love these people and I love the joy that the gospel brings into people's lives. Thanks for all your love and support! 

Oh yeah, our mission president says the temple in Thailand will be finished in 30 months! That's a lot sooner than the old prediction of 5 more years!

<3

Elder Ridd

Elder Ballard and Baptism - 5/28/19

Baptism

Back in Bangkok

 The only Taco Bell​ in Southeast Asia opened 3 months ago.

The MTC trio reunited.

Hey Everyone!

Another pretty good week this past week! We had a total of four baptisms out here in Laos last week, with two of them in each branch. It was way awesome. The two in my branch were two girls who are 14 and 15 and are cousins. They also brought their moms this past week, so that was sweet. We have two boys also that are pretty much ready to be baptized and will be baptized about any week now. They're also cousins of the two girls.

This week we got to go down to Bangkok and listen to Elder Ballard talk to us all. That was pretty neat. He talked a lot about working with members and leadership in our areas. That was probably exactly what Thailand needs right now, so that's good. Luckily for us in Laos though, that's literally about all we can do here haha. 

We also have to new Laos elders coming up here this Friday. That should be a good time! It'll be nice to have some fresh blood out here. It's really surreal knowing that they're coming to be my replacements though. I still can't believe that I'm going into my last transfer! It's definitely a bittersweet moment.

I hope all of you are doing well! Thanks for all your love and support!

<3

Elder Ridd

Buddhist Weddings are Neat - 5/18/19

The wedding, with Elder Eckersley's mom

Some raw beef that I had the pleasure of consuming.

The plane we took up north.

The river

The wedding - with the bride and groom

Hey guys. 

This past week has been pretty interesting. On Saturday, Elder Eckersley's mom came to Laos, so we went out to eat with her. It was kinda weird haha, but it was cool. She's originally from Laos and came to go to a wedding for Elder Eckersley's cousin up north. Elder Eckersley and I actually went to that as well, so that was pretty swell. 

We took a plane up to Luang Phrabang after church on Sunday and then drove about two hours to the province of Sayaburi. We stayed there with their family for two days. On Monday we woke up and went to go to the Buddhist wedding ceremony. It was kinda interesting. It involved a lot of chanting and sitting awkwardly on the floor. After that everybody proceeded to get drunk (except us, of course) and eat a lot of food.

Later that day we went to the wedding reception. It was also pretty crazy with a tooooon of people. I got to wear a more flamboyant shirt than I'm used to, so prepare your eyes. After watching a bunch of drunk communists dance and drink for a few hours, we went back to the house and went to sleep. 

The next day we drove back to Luang Phrabang and waited for our plane that got delayed twice. Good times. 

All in all it was a pretty cool trip. The rest of the week was spent teaching English. We actually got to run to Thailand on Friday to pick up suits we were getting made though. They turned out pretty well. 

We went to a branch activity today where we drove about 2 1/2 hours a way to a river and ate some food/watched members swim around for a few hours. It's always a good time, and the members here are such funny people that they keep us well entertained.

It's raining a lot more now! That means it's the start of the rainy season and instead of having 100+ degree weather, we'll have 90+ degree weather with rain all the time! In excited for it to cool down. 

Well, that's pretty much been my week. We have President Ballard coming out to visit our mission this upcoming Saturday, so we'll be going to Bangkok. That should be a pretty solid time. I'm excited to see what he has to say. 

Hope you all are doing well.

Stay zesty.

Love, 

Elder Ridd