Fwd: Thanksgiving in Bangkok

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Date: November 27, 2016 at 3:07:37 PM PST
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>
Subject: Thanksgiving in Bangkok

Hello Everyone! This week has been a good week. For Thanksgiving we had AKA's. It's this buffet place where you have a grill in the middle and you cook your own meat on it. It was so good I never had that much meat in my life. Didn't have pumpkin pie though which was really sad but an Elder in my district got pumpkin pie from a family and gave me some. At the end they have a lime shot so you don't get sick and it kills all the bacteria I think haha. But it didn't really work. Then we taught lessons the whole day. 

Monday we went Ice Skating at Future Park. It was really cool haha. I'm not good at Ice Skating but the Thai people aren't either. It's in this huge mall. It was fun though and they have this Christmas tree up but no one here knows what Christmas is really. 

English Class is going well. I'm still teaching basics. I'm seeing some of the people I contact there so it's really cool. There was this one guy there named Oh who is 21 and wants to learn English so he can go to U.S. to sight see. He said he was interested to learn about Christ because we have a 10 minute Spiritual thought on the Savior that's supposed to be extra English at the end of it that I did this time. But he said that he wasn't free like most people here say. Oh well. I'll keep trying. He's really cool.

We are having a lot of new investigators just not show up. I guess it's a thing here. Idk. We went to this new investigators house and he told me to speak to him in English cause he understands it a little, so I just bore my testimony in English. It was really weird but cool. It's weird teaching in English, which reminds me. We taught Tea the other day who's a Cambodian who speaks English and Cambodian and a little Thai so we had to teach him in English. It was weird. I forgot the first vision in English until I had to give it. It was such a cool experience cause the Lord was helping me out. Tea's a Christian which is different for me and he carries the Bible around with him everywhere he goes. His parents aren't and he says it's hard being the only Christian in his family. He has such a good heart and we gave him a Baptismal date for Christmas Eve. 

There was another baptism Sunday for another companionship. Her name was Sister Sea. They found her at a College campus and she's pretty cool. We filled up the font the night before but the day of the baptism all the water was gone and it was completely dry. It was so weird but it got filled up on time and everything worked out.

This week I've been reading in Mathew and in Mathew 3 it talks about Jesus Christ's baptism. And in it John asks why he's baptizing Jesus, Jesus should be baptizing him. And in verse 15 it says "And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him." Jesus is the perfect example of Obedience. Everything he does is for God. He got baptized even though he was perfect and had never sinned in his life. He teaches people by example. Everyone needs to be baptized like Christ was baptized. I'm here to be God's instrument in teaching his children the Gospel and I've really received a lot of help and done stuff I never could have done by myself. This is a marvelous work and I'm so happy to be on the front lines teaching Repentance to His children. I love you all and miss everyone! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!   

Elder Decker

เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์

Thailand Bangkok Mission

Fwd: Random Picture

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Date: November 27, 2016 at 3:25:50 PM PST
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>
Subject: Random Picture

This was a random picture from the airport in chicago haha  

Elder Decker

เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์

Thailand Bangkok Mission

More pics

Modeling

Pics

The house in the trees

First Transfer

Hello Everyone! It was the end of the first transfer in Thailand and halfway done with being a Greenie. This week has been a good week. We got another greenie in the house and the one that just finished training left for the North. I found out Rangsit is strictly a training area so I'll either be training next transfer or moving. I was a little sick last P-Day and lost another 7 pounds so I've lost 20 pounds now haha. I'm starting to fit my shirts better. We taught English Class the other day and teaching English is hard. I don't even know how to explain how to make most of the sounds in English. I contacted this old lady that lived in Vegas named BJ. She was a black jack dealer in the casinos. She speaks really good English. She's funny she yells into the phone.

We painted a member's house the other day. It was such a Thai way to paint. We barely had anything to cover the floors and the paint was so watery so it was fun. It took awhile but it looked really good actually. Thailand does stuff in the most sketchy way possible haha. Some lady came over who is a painter and said she could've done it faster but the member was like how much you cost and she was like 3-4,000 Baht and the member was like they did it for free. Dropped the mic and walked away. She also gave us some Ice Cream.

The other Elders who live with us finally found a house. Now we won't have 6 Elders living in a house for 4 Elders. We saw a house or something in the middle of some trees, it was weird. I sent a picture. You can see they have a ladder leading to somewhere over the wall. The other picture of me wearing my favorite tie (just for the picture then I had to put back on my black one because we are still in mourning for the king. Don't know when that will end). I bought some fabric and had a Thai lady make some ties out of it. It's my favorite tie. I traded the other ones I had made.

We're contacting (calling) all of the numbers we've gotten from our street contacting this transfer. We don't knock doors. Sister Gung missed sacrament meeting so she won't be getting the Gift of the Holy Ghost for two weeks because it's Stake Conference next week and Elder Wong from the 70 will be there.

This week I started to read "Our Search For Happiness" By Elder M. Russell Ballard. It's really good. It talks about the church to someone who is investigating it. I love personal study. There is this story of a Firefighter who was saving children from a burning building and he got all the children out and he went back in because he thought he saw a baby in the crib. The building exploded and they found him next to the cradle covering an unscratched doll. I love stories of heroism and admire them. The greatest hero of all time is Jesus Christ. He suffered for us more than we can imagine. He did what He did because He loves us and wants us to be happy and return to live with God again. He overcame death so that all of us can be Resurrected and live forever with our families. This knowledge is what drives me everyday and what I love to share with people. I love this Gospel and the amazing spiritual experiences of serving a mission. I love you all and miss you all!

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Fwd: The Waters of Baptism

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Date: November 13, 2016 at 7:42:11 PM PST
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>
Subject: The Waters of Baptism

Today was a good week. It actually went by really fast. We had a district meeting to get 200 numbers at the end of the transfer and we're really close. It's really easy to invite on the college campuses haha. But yeah it's good we're seeing a lot more new investigators and more potential investigators. I went on two switch offs with greenies this week and it was really cool. We have no clue what people are saying so we're relying on the Spirit more. I went with Elder Bunker one day and he got in the same time as me so it was fun. I was the senior since it was my area. We taught this Cambodian who doesn't know how to write and Elder Bunker almost told him to write down his feelings in a journal but I stopped him. I went with Elder Chandler the day after and he's been out a transfer longer than me and we taught a Catholic and it got ugly. It's weird teaching non Buddhists. But the Lord really helped me. I was saying words I didn't even know and it was so cool. It made sense too haha. Reminds me of 1 Nephi 3:7 how God will help you out because He's given you a commandment. He doesn't put you in a position to fail.

So we taught this new investigator named Sister Noy (pronounced like soy but with an N) and it was interesting haha. We were teaching her about prayer and the Godhead and took her into the Chapel and she passed out after like 3 minutes. She just fell. It was so weird. We think she lives at a mental hospital but we don't know. She asked us if there were spirits there. Really creepy. Just the Holy Ghost haha. But the next lesson was better she didn't pass out this time. Idk what's up. 

We had the 50th anniversary the other day and it was cool. It was all in Thai so I had no clue what was going on. Apparently Thailand used to have a missionary band. They sang some EFY type songs in Thai and a lot was dedicated to the King. Pretty cool. Met some people who took a picture of me. I didn't understand the connection at first but it was like "My brother in law is the bishop of your ward back home." Pretty cool. 

Now the cool part. Friday Sister Gung (shrimp in Thai) had her baptismal interview and she passed. It was out of no where. She changed and was ready to be baptized. We've been teaching her for like 6 weeks and before that. But yeah I had the opportunity to baptize her. Her name is super hard to pronounce, her full name, and even the senior missionaries in my area didn't know how to pronounce it. I asked a member and wrote it on a piece of paper. It was so hard haha. But when we got in the water (was my first time ever doing this) I just knew what to do. The water was green and cold. I did it my first time which was a miracle in itself. Really cool and spiritual experience. We hadn't had a baptism all transfer so I didn't even know it was possible. I never felt the Spirit so strongly before in my life. I don't know the words to even explain it. It drives me now to keep on grinding and trudging through the everyday life of mission work. I love it. No matter how stressful it is. If I don't feel tired at the end of the day I didn't work hard enough. I know that through the Atonement of Christ, we all can repent and become clean so we can return to live with God again. It's what fuels me everyday. I Love Y'all and miss y'all!​​

Elder Decker

เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์

Thailand Bangkok Mission

Cheap Yeezy's

Another great week in Thailand. The days are really flying and I feel like I'm not learning enough and fast enough. It's almost the end of the transfer already. The Mcdonald's is good here haha except the fries are cold but they got a jumbo size here and it's only 200 baht. Little kids are still riding motorcycles down the busy streets of Thailand. And the food here is still good. Green curry is so good. Yesterday we had this pumpkin stuff in coconut water at a member's house and it was actually good. But we miss a lot of meals cause we're so busy. I've lost like 13 pounds already haha. It's sweet. 

We went to MBK last week to shop and I didn't buy anything. They sell fake name brand stuff for super cheap. I also found out I'm really good at bargaining. If it's not a 1/3 of the price I failed haha. I helped get someone some yeezy's for like 40 US dollars. I saw so many falangs there it was weird. I haven't seen white people in awhile haha. But yeah I rode a train there it was cool. 

So we had mission conference this week with all of Bangkok and Elder Wong from the Area 70 came in to speak to us. He said he gave the best talk in Cantonese ever in General Conference (because it was the only one). English is his second language and he says some pretty funny things. For like 5 minutes he was talking about how Thai people are shy and that Americans are so aggressive. It's true though. He thinks I live in a Casino. He said that time is running out and it's so true I only got two years to be a missionary. 

English class is so much fun. I teach the basic basics the ABC's. It's so much fun. I do a lot of my contacting off the English class cause English is big here. I learn something new about English whenever I teach it haha.

Brother Tai is still learning how to read Thai. We teach him every Monday. He still lives with his wife so we can't baptize him. But we still teach him and he's so ready to be baptized. Brother Wichian is the other person we teach and he's so frustrating. He won't humble himself and forgive others. So we told him we can't teach him until he changes and shared D & C 20:37 with him. Members don't like him cause he's been learning for like 3 years and comes to eat the food.. He always disappears right before the interview. He comes to church almost every week though. Sister Ice is a 19 year old college student who kinda can speak english. She accepted a baptism date but wants to know for sure first. She's come to church twice. She says I play piano really well. She's the typical 19 year old girl haha. Sister Shrimp (translated from Thai) goes to church to flirt but she has a baptism date and says she's keeping our commitments. We have to find more investigators.

We did service for a member the other day. We cleaned his front yard. We found the biggest spider there that was missing two legs and walks funny. But he gave us some pizza company pizza after and it was cool. Pizza here is actually pretty good. 

I was preparing for a lesson the other day and I came across a couple verses in Alma 37:36-37 and these verses are so cool. It says to cry unto the Lord for support. Everything you do, say, or think, let it be in the Lord. Talk with him when you do anything, at all times, and let your hearts be full of thanks. And if you do these things, you will receive the greatest gift of all and that's eternal life. Personal Study is my favorite. If we pray to God always, whenever we have a decision to make or anytime you want, we can ask God for help and He's willing to help as long as you're obedient to him. If you aren't, then he isn't bound to help and pour out his blessings. Everything we have is of God's so there's a lot to be thankful for. I'm thankful for this mission and giving my time and talents to the Lord to help his children learn about him and receive the gift I've had my whole life. I love this Gospel. Sorry this email is long again. I try to keep it short. Love y'all and miss y'all.

Elder Decker

เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์

Thailand Bangkok Mission

1st Birthday in Thailand

Hello everybody. My week has been so cool. I forgot it was my birthday haha. I woke up and my companion was like happy b day and I was like oh yeah. Than I had the primary program which went well I think I don't know I could't understand what they said to me haha. Than at dinner with these members I remembered all of a sudden and was like oh yeah it's my birthday haha. They sang happy birthday in English and they didn't know the words but it was so cool. I love contacting. Talking to people in the streets is so cool. They get so scared of you it's so funny. They're surprised a westerner can speak Thai sort of. 

We played soccer with a bunch of members last P-Day who played college and semi pro ball. I scored a goal and got a couple assists but you know no big. They were pretty good one of them just got baptized and he's the homie. 

The Thai is coming but so slowly. I had a switch off with another Greenie  named Elder Oaks and he was so good at Thai but he was from the group before me. We went and taught this investigator who is ritually married but not legally married because he is Cambodian and his wife is too. So he can't get baptized but he says his wife is leaving to Cambodia so he might be able to haha. Than I had another switch off with the Zone leader named Elder Hunt and he's so cool. He's half Thai and is so happy all the time. He says hi to everybody in English and Thai. Idk why he switched off with me- I must have a label because I'm from Vegas. But it was so cool. So cool week.

Something else that was cool that happened this week is there's this Less Active who we keep on trying to meet with and kept on bailing or when we got close to his house not pick up his phone. His name is brother balm I think is how you say it in English . But yesterday he came to the church and after sacrament he told us he had a dream that the church was locked and he asked the Elders how to get in and they told him to repent. It was pretty sick. I love it here. 

My testimony of the Gospel is growing stronger every week. You see God's hand so much in life but we don't stop to see it. I took the Gospel for granted before my mission and the truths I knew. Seeing people here light up when they hear the Gospel is so cool and all the sacrifices people make for the church. A refugee member from Cambodia who sells ice cream brought his little cart to Church to give the primary kids Ice Cream and the Elders. We helped him bring the cart back to his house and he lived in this little tiny apartment. They don't have much but they are so happy. I'm blessed to be in such a sick mission with so much adversity and trials. This Gospel brings people happiness. The Plan of Salvation brings people happiness and I can testify I've seen it change people's lives and made them so happy. I love you all and miss y'all!​​

Elder Decker

เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์

Thailand Bangkok Mission​​

Rangsit Week Something

Another week down in Thailand and still I see things I thought were not possible. The people here are so funny and the members have such strong testimonies and make so many sacrifices for the church. They live in these little small apartments with a blanket to sleep on and the floor is tile. There is a lot of people here ready to receive the Gospel but the stuff we teach them are so foreign to them. They have school on Sundays so since this is a college town a lot of people can't come to church which is frustrating. But the Lord has prepared people way before they met us. 

I'm losing so much weight here it's cool. I ate honey toast or bread this week and apparently it's a thing in America but I never had it and it's bomb. I've eaten so much rice here it's crazy I actually like rice now. The sticky rice is so good. Americans don't know how to make rice. For P-Day last week we couldn't do anything fun because it wouldn't be appropriate at this time of mourning. I don't even remember what I did. 

I have to play piano in church a lot and meetings and they want me to play piano for the primary program and those songs are so hard. They sing songs so fast here and they don't know how to follow the pace of the piano. They got frustrated with me and told me to practice a bunch cause the program is this Sunday. It's even harder cause I don't know what they're saying but the little kids can speak a little English or can read it or something. It's good though I need to use my talents. 

We talked to a lot of Less Actives meetings this week and we scheduled a meeting with a LA and an investigator with an Recent Convert who knows more about the Gospel than me and a strong member. I called the LA if he was gonna come and he said yes sir but never showed up haha. People are so nice here I'd rather them just be honest haha. We also went on a search to find a recent convert who is a semi pro soccer player and he is so goofy haha. The names are hard to write out in English. Brother Wichian is close to get baptized but whenever I call him he asks for my companion haha. I try. We've been cleaning the church cause some important people are coming but we're not invited. 

I was reading in Alma 22 the other day and it's so similar to the Bangkok Thailand mission and also other ones but a lot for Thailand because they don't even know about Jesus and that they can be forgiven for their sins through the Atonement of Jesus. The simple truths we take for granted most people don't even know about here. It's our job to teach them the things through the Holy Ghost and not assume they know something  But the Lord has been working on them throughout their lives and preparing them to receive the Gospel. This Gospel is true and I'm blessed to be serving in the Best Mission. I miss and love y'all.

Elder Decker

เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์

Thailand Bangkok Mission

P.S. The Mountain dew here is not good.

More Pics

Another Week in Rangsit

Waddii khab errybody! This week was pretty crazy. I walked through a river to get to the internet cafe. First off for P-Day we went bowling in Thailand which is actually so much fun. I never bowled that well in my life. I got some ties from thailand and started the tie business. The food here is pretty good. I ate some coagulated pig blood. It had a weird texture. I'm not dead yet so that's cool. One of the Elder's in my district had a heart in his noodles. But the food is pretty spicy here haha jk it's so spicy. They call me a baby but it really is. It's real good though the sticky rice here is soo good. I had KFC here and it was pretty good the ketchup was weird and they had some bomb spicy chicken wings. It didn't agree with me though haha.

The people here are so nice. They'll say they'll show up to your face just to be nice, or give you their number, but they won't show up or pick up. The members are so nice here. They try to help me with the langauge. A lot of the words sound the same so it's hard. But I'm trusting the Lord that he'll help me. All 6 elders share the same room so the floor is just filled with beds. The cockroaches here are huuuuggee. I only make myself breakfast the rest we eat out because it's less than a dollar it's like 30-40 baht. 

Our investigators are doing good. This 19 year old dude never picks up his phone and sleeps all the time so it's frustrating. The work has slowed down a little. We don't really know what to do based on recent events. Everyone is so sad. We have restrictions on what we can do and wear. But it's all good. The work will continue. No days off. The English class is so fun. No one can say R's haha they say L's  instead. I can't roll my R's either so it's okay for me to say that. I know English so i actually enjoyed teaching it haha. The Elders here are really cool. 

Church was so weird. I didn't know what anyone was saying. The Members try talking to me I just nod my head haha. They had this pumpkin spice curry for lunch and it was so weird. They have lunch after church which is really genius actually. 

The toilets here are so cool. They have sprayers that are so convenient. America needs to get some of those. Anyways love y'all and miss y'all!

Elder Decker​​      

Another one just for fun

Hahaha! I am sending this just for fun. Made me laugh. Culture shock😳

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Date: October 9, 2016 at 10:02:57 PM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>
Subject: Another one

Another thing. The people here like to touch you when they talk to you. They grab your elbow skin or just the arm when they want your attention. Or they put their hand on your thigh. They say I have a lot of strength and touch my arms.

Pic

Me and my khuu in the internet cafe

Hello from Tomorrow!

Hello Everybody! I miss y'all. This week has been nuts! First off we woke up at 2:30 AM to get to the airport. Then we flew to chicago which took like 3 hours. Then we flew back across The country and to hong kong which took like 15 hours and i had the middle seat haha. The guy next to me was pretty cool. Then we flew to thailand which took like 2 hours. So it took forever to get there. And then it got sweet. I had no clue what language they were speaking. It sounded like nothing I learned. The signs were all in Thai.

We arrived at 12:45 AM and got to the hotel at like 3. The AP who was driving drove like a crazy person. Then we went through infield orientation and ate some bomb thai food. I think I'm on the Thailand Mission Facebook page idk though. Anyways we went contacting the first day and one of the police officers touched my butt to move me it was really weird and he was saying something i Thai. It's hard to contact when you don't know the language. This keyboard is weird. My trainer's name is Elder Ellis and he's from Hawaii. He speaks the language really good. He's really cool. 

Anyways I'm in Rangsit which is north of bangkok just outside the city. It's this big area that has a bunch of colleges so there's a lot of college kids here. We can't bike here cause an elder got hit by a bus. The people drive crazy here. Motorcyclists drive on the side walks and no one obeys any of the signs and one was are just a suggestion. We take taxis to get around here and the drivers are insane. We get food off the streets from people's home usually. We cross the road a lot in bridges and do contacting on the bridges. There are a lot of transgender people here. It's also so hot. I'm always sweating. The house we live in is so cool i was gonna take a picture but i forgot where i put my camera. It's bright green and there's no hot water. It's supposed to be for 4 elders but we have 6 living there right now. They're looking for a new house. The sidewalks have these big holes which have no bottom so it keeps me on my toes. I also found my camera today so i'll take pictures this week. They also have these full chickens hanging up it's pretty cool. The people here are so friendly but they don't want anything to do with the Gospel. 

The members here are so sick. There's like 100 and something members in our ward. A lot of them speak a little English so i can sorta communicate with them. There's this one recent convert who\s name is brother day and he's my favorite. He's been a member for a month but doesn't have the priesthood yet. He's read the whole bible and PMG and helps us out with Investigators. There are a lot of Less Active members here it's sad. We visted a LA named brother baam and he's like 19 and is so cool he's half my size. I've sat criss cross on the floor in so many houses and the floors are tile so my legs fall asleep. I can't say much but he asks me to bear my testimony a lot. I read like a 10 year old in Thai. We teach English classes on Tuesdays and that's one of the ways we get investigators. The fruit here is bomb. Also the soda here is bomb. The Thai people are so cool. This email is getting long so I'll save some for next week. Love y'all and miss y'all! Oh yeah the jet lag is real.

Elduh Degkuh

There's the pic of my name tag. Also the keyboard in the background.

First Area and Companion

8 October 2016

Dear Brother and Sister Decker,

We are pleased tell you that your wonderful son, Elder Decker has been welcomed by the Thailand Bangkok Mission and has been assigned to serve in the Rangsit, Bangkok North Zone of the Thailand Bangkok Mission.

The missionaries arrived happy, healthy and well prepared from their MTC experience.  Sister Johnson and I hosted the group in our home and we were able to share experiences and a fine meal together while feeling the strength and conviction of their testimony. They are very valiant and carry with them a strong spirit and desire to serve our Heavenly Father.

I have sought the direction of the Lord and have chosen one of our finest missionaries, Elder Logan Kalaiwaipono Ellis to be Elder Decker's  training companion.  I believe this companion will help your son to get a great start as a missionary and to experience the joy and vision of missionary service.

Sister Johnson and I thank you for your support and ask that you continue to write weekly letters or emails of encouragement.  We promise to love and care for your son like one of our own, and to do everything we can to help him succeed and prosper as a missionary in Thailand.  We know that Elder Decker and your family will be richly blessed by his service here.  Please pray for all of the missionaries and for the wonderful people of Thailand.


Sincerely,

President Kelly R. Johnson
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Safe Arrival

05 Oct 2016

Dear Brother and Sister Decker,

We are happy to report that your son arrived safely in Bangkok late last night, clearing passport control early this morning. He spent what was left of the evening in a hotel room with his companion, where he will also stay this evening. He is in good spirits and is anxious to begin laboring in the Lord's vineyard in Thailand. We are thrilled to have him as a missionary in the Thailand Bangkok Mission family.

Elder Colby John Decker will join other newly arrived missionaries, together with Sister Johnson and me and the Assistants to the President, at Lumpini Park for a morning devotional. Lumpini Park is the site where then Elder Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the land of Thailand for the preaching of the Gospel in 1966. Elder Decker will have the opportunity to dedicate and consecrate himself to this most wonderful work.  The new missionaries will be trained by Sister Johnson and me, and later oriented by the Office Couple, Elder and Sister Grange, and the Assistants to the President. New missionaries will have their first experience street contacting in the area followed by dinner at the Mission Home.

Your son will receive his first assignment tomorrow morning. Preparation day will be on Monday and he will be able to email you each week.  I am sure he will have much to share regarding his experiences in Thailand, missionary activities and his first Sunday in his assigned area. Your expressions of encouragement and spiritually uplifting email correspondence will be of great support.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions during your son's term of missionary service.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Johnson

Thailand Bangkok Mission

Last Email in Merica (week 9)

This is my last email in America. It's crazy that I'm about to leave tomorrow. I'm excited to serve in Thailand. Also, General Conference is awesome.

Elder Decker

Pics:

The white guy with blue eyes is Brother Omer and the Hawaiian one is Brother Yuen and the tall one is Brother Tirrell who were my teachers. Sister Khao is from Thailand and she also taught me. Then there's Elder Simpson who's the homie and he's going to Nicaragua.

MTC Pics

Last Week of MTC!!! (week 8)

Sawaddii Khap everybody! This week was a pretty good one. We got our flight plans Friday. We're traveling for like 30 something hours. For some reason we're flying to Chicago than Hong Kong so we backtrack like 5 hours. But I'm pumped. I finally might get some good food like Mcdonalds or something.

This week has been like any other week at the MTC but it's going by slower. It rained and we all had to run to the residence halls. It's gotten really cold here. I gave a lesson in Priesthood the other day and it was cool. We also fasted because we're going to miss Fast Sunday next month. We went to go see a talk by Elder Holland called "Open Your Mouth" and it was really good. He talked about how if you don't talk to people Satan has a hold on you and about these missionaries in the Czech Republic in the 1930's and how much Preach My Gospel is different from back than. He also did some yelling. I love Elder Holland.

Monday we had a skype TRC and it was pretty cool. We taught Phii Tan and he lived in Bangkok and he was just a little older than us. He said we will probably see him in Thailand. He made us read some scriptures in Thai and I felt like a little kid trying to read Thai. But it's coming along. The Thai people are so nice and friendly. He laughed at us a couple of times because we talked like a falang and it was hard to understand him. Tones are difficult.

My time here at the MTC has taught me to recognize the Spirit and be humbled which I needed. It's felt like I've been here forever but also it went by so fast. It's weird. I got my Thai name tag and it's pretty legit. We can't wear them here. My name is pronounced Elduh Deguh. The script on it is hard to read cause the church uses a weird font. Anyways love y'all and miss y'all!

-Elduh Deguh

I don't have that many photos this week but one is of my Malay friend that hoops and the other is some M & M's someone gave me. 

Week 7 (Give em Heaven Elders!)

Hanlo Everybody! The days are flying now. The new Thai missionaries came in and I was having flash backs. Elder Simpson, the homie from Vegas, got put into the room down the hall from me so it's pretty cool. It seems like forever ago since I got here. We get our flight plans Friday. We had a lesson yesterday about not getting caught up in thinking that happier times are ahead but to live in the present. I guess it's kinda true but I don't even remember what actual people are like.

Elder Quentin L. Cook came last week and it was cool. We had 3 apostles in a row. He talked about loving your companion, the people, the Mission President, and the Lord on your mission. If you do those things you will have a successful mission. On Wednesday, we had another companion swap and I had the other Zone Leader, Elder Bunker. We talked to this kid investigator named Phii Ben and he wasn't as interested as my others. I haven't talked to him before but I like him and you could feel the Holy Ghost in the lesson which was pretty sweet. I don't know why they keep pairing me up with Zone Leaders but it's cool.

I play soccer a lot now and it's pretty fun. I'm not as bad as I thought I was. We play Viets vs Thais and we usually lose but mostly cause they cheat. All my Indonesian and Malay friends left last week. There's this Elder from Jamaica that gives hugs at night before lights out and he's pretty cool. I've became close friends with the people here.

On Sunday the District President, President Mehr, gave a talk about his wife passing away a couple years ago and how God will comfort you when you pray. I met him when me and Serph met the other week, which by the way was really sweet. He sounds like an African now and he didn't get as dark as I thought he would. He's grown a lot in two years and I look up to him even more now. I hope I can be a missionary like him. We watched Ephraim's Rescue for movie night and I really liked it. It was pretty funny.

On Monday we had a Skype TRC with the Stake president in Thailand and it was kinda intimidating at first because what would two young missionaries who hardly speak the language be able to teach the Stake President. It went pretty well and he's an awesome person. His expressions were so funny. He told us that in November they will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Missionaries in Thailand. My teacher heard it when we were talking to him and they had a conversation in Thai and he said he was jealous. I had no clue what they were saying though. 

When we were walking back from the temple this lady in a grey truck gave some missionaries a Book of Mormon and than yelled at us "Give em Heaven Elders!" I thought it was funny. It's crazy to think I'll be leaving this spiritual bubble in two weeks but it's time. I love this work and I can't wait to preach the Gospel to the people of Thailand. Love ya and miss y'all!

Elder Decker

One of the pics is the August 3rd group and the other is the Malays and Indos that left.

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MTC Week 6

Aray Dii!! Another week down at the MTC. This week has been a pretty good week. It's starting to cool down here which is nice. BYU going for two at the end of the game was a big thing last saturday. I thought it was funny. 

This week we had the opportunity to hear from two apostles. Elder D. Todd Christofferson and Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke to us. Elder Christofferson gave a talk about Repentence and how being trusted is more important than being loved. Christ loves everyone but he doesn't trust everyone. It made me reflect if I was someone he could trust. Elder M. Russell Ballard talked about if you learn to stop focusing on yourself, and start focusing on Jesus Christ and others, you'll be a more successful missionary and person. He also said in the beginning of conversion, the investigator's feelings are more important than what they know. He also told us we were the best missionaries in the history of the church which was cool. 

We saw 3 new segments in Meet the Mormons and there was one about an Italian family who lived in Vegas and feed food to the homeless which was really cool. We had Skype TRC yesterday and it was pretty cool. We talked to this Thai Mom who lives in California. Her Daughter kept on getting on the screen and saying hi. She went in front of the camera and we said Sawaddii to her and she responded the same and it was so cute and then we said Sabaay Dii and she didn't know what it meant haha. and then her Mom picked her up and said "She doesn't even speak Thai." and i started dying. Oh yeah and my companion asked her how often she has kids and i couldn't breathe after that. All the other people were skyping in the same room and it was really loud and hard to focus but it was good. Idk if i'm ready to speak Thai though haha.

Our district helped the Senior Companions into the MTC. They were so funny and something I didn't know was that they were scared and nervous too. Also, they pack a lot of stuff. There rooms are also really nice. Thanks for the pumpkin bread. Oh and the primary kids sent me letters and they were the highlight of my day. One of the letters said Remember the Godhead and it was so true. They also asked if I liked to play basketball and if i did was it fun. That was pretty much my week. I can't wait to leave for Thailand and teach the people there. Love y'all and miss y'all.

Elder Decker  

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Week 5

Sawadii Khap! Another week down in the MTC. Over halfway down. When i got the slip for Serph coming here I thought I had a meeting with the District President and was in trouble somehow. I didn't know until someone told me to read the first line haha. Anyways I'm excited for Thursday. Good news is we got Chick Fil A for dinner the other day. 

President Maynes came in last Tuesday and talked about Joseph Smith and the first vision, the restoration, and the translation of the Book of Mormon. Than Sunday Brother and Sister Norby bore their testimony about Christ in the Mission conference. Brother Norby was a Senior Missionary in the Belgium airport when it was bombed. He has a bunch of scars now and walks with a limp but he bore a really powerful testimony. He said when the time to perform comes the time to prepare is over. Than later that day Chad Lewis spoke to us. He was a NFL football player for 9 years who played for the Eagles and BYU. He talked about how he got hurt in the NFC Championship game and couldn't play in the Superbowl. He dreamt about playing in the Superbowl his whole life. But he wished he was still on his mission in Taiwan. Now he's the NFL ambassador to China. He showed a lot of pictures of the people there and the people he baptized and it made me want to leave for Thailand. He gave a really good talk.

We taught TRC's and this time it went pretty good. The spirit was in both lessons and we could understand them a little better. The lesson was on Revelation through reading the Scriptures. It was really cool. The lessons with the investigators are going okay. some are good some are bad. A lot of Thai words sound the same but have different tones and vowel lengths so it's gonna take some time to learn. We learned about how to say time in Thai and it's really the dumbest thing. Thailand has 24 hour time and it's seperated into watches like in the military and there's a different way to say the grammar for each one. Oh also after 6 P.M. they read 7 as 1, 8 as 2, and so on until midnight.

On Monday we had a companion swap again and I got a zone leader. He's really cool and chill and funny. His name is Elder Higginson and we taught a lesson to a "Less Active Member" who was really one of our teachers, Sister Khawmxxnooy (No clue the spelling), and she started to cry in our lesson and I didn't know what to do. She said she had to work on sundays to get money for her family and we told her that she'd be more blessed going to church than working and that taking the sacrament is really important. Than she said why are we giving up two years of our lives and not working and we told her that we were serving God and wanted to spread the Gospel that we had to everyone who didn't have it. It was probably the coolest experience I had at the MTC. 

We got released as Sacrament coordinators and my companion became a district leader. So I'm now companion to the district leader which makes me almost important haha. But I love it here it's finally cooling down. Sometimes I don't like this place though because we have to stay on campus but I only got one month left. Me and my companion are getting along really well. I'm really blessed. He's so cool and we have good chemistry in the non weird way. Like sports chemistry but in lessons instead. We also ball on the court. Anyways I love this work and love all your emails. Love y'all!

Elder Decker

I don't have any pics this week. 

Week Number 4

Sawadii Khap! Another week down here. Thanks for the packages Matt and Sarah Woll fam and momma! It came in a time of need. I had to ask some of the Elders here what some of them where. I've never seen DayQuil before. The struggle to stay awake is real here. The 2nd Counselor in my branch falls asleep all the time. I always ask my teachers if I give them 10 dollars will they get me some food but they never do. The wraps are just ight. When I was learning the numbers in Thai, for 8 I kept on saying ocho instead of baad but that's pretty much it. I forgot all my Spanish here it's all Thai in my head. Oh I also knew the investigator was fake and now we call him Bi Da or royal father cause he's our teacher.

During one of the lessons when we were learning script, one of the teachers who's from Thailand named Sister Khawmxxnnooy (I have no clue how to spell it) said it only took 12 minutes to learn the vowels and I said 12 minutes just like her and it might've sounded wrong cause i did it in an accent like but she didn't hear. I didn't mean to do it. Brother Yuen the other teacher in the room started dying though. I'm starting to learn Script. It comes from Sandscript and it has a lot of dumb rules like English like silent letters and two consonants together makes a different sound and there's implied o's and a's between them. It's hard. Also there's no space in between words so it's like reading Hashtags but you don't even know the words so you can't seperate it. #thislanguagerocks. Learning this language has humbled me which is good because through humility comes conversion and my testimony has grown a lot. I know I can't learn this language without God's help. We were talking to some of the Khon Thais or native Thai people here and they talk so fast and I had no clue what they were saying. But it was pretty cool. I keep on seeing people that I know here. 

We had a companion swap yesterday and it went alright. I was with Elder King and he's pretty cool. Our lesson didn't go too well. They did it to prepare us for our mission in the field. Our lessons with my actual companion are going better. It's weird feeling the spirit when I'm talking in Thai. Our investigators all are getting baptized. Brother Yuen is really good at acting. One of our investigators (Braaduh May is how you pronounce it) is scared of water because he can't swim so he didn't wanna get baptized. I tried hard not to laugh and told him the water was nii noy or small. My companion didn't understand what he was saying though and I didn't know he didn't till after. We taught some return missionaries for TRC's about receiving revelation through prayer and it went way better than last week. Idk the comments they had cause they wrote it in some bad Thai handwriting but hopefully it was good.    

Elder Juan A. Uceda talked to us about not seeing the investigator as a number but as a person. He also told his own conversion story and how it affected his life. A lot of times missionaries go to teach an investigator and they teach lessons. You teach people not lessons. He also said teaching is not talking. So you have to be doing things and not just talking. It made me reflect on what i teach to my investigators. If you want me to respond to you use email cause I don't really want to write a letter haha.

How is Serph doing. Is he super dark? It feels like I been here forever. We watched a weird pioneer movie called "Legacy" it had really bad acting but it was pretty cool. Another cool thing is the Malaysia Missionaries have to lie when they get into their country because missionaries aren't allowed there. Some of the first Vietnamese missionaries are in our zone and their language sounds cool. Anyways love y'all and miss you.

Elder Decker

The Missionary Squad on some construction equipment. Everything is under Construction here. ​

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