One Mission In Bangkok: Fwd: Another Week in Buriram

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>

Subject: Another Week in Buriram
Date: February 19, 2017 at 8:52:39 PM PST
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>

Hello Ewybody! This week has been pretty cool. I'm starting to get used to Buriram. It's really different from Bangkok and people speak so differently here. But the work is coming along. It's getting really hot here and biking is becoming more and more fun haha. It's really convenient but the dogs like to chase after you and you don't wanna get bit haha. It's a lot more pretty than Bangkok though that's for sure. There are a lot of buffalo here and it's offensive to call people a buffalo so you gotta be careful. Also, I met one and almost died because it got really aggressive but I biked away. I have a pic of it. The members here are really cool they actually make funny jokes that I understand. Sometimes they say stuff and I don't know if it's like a Thai inside joke but I don't understand why it's funny. I'm starting to understand more so it's definitely a miracle and because of all the prayers from family and members around the world.

So this week, we did a lot of biking. Like a lot. It wasn't my bike ride amount but it felt like a lot. We were visiting a lot of the sick people in the ward that can't go to church. They have so much faith they just can't get to church because it's hard to get a ride there and they're just not physically capable to. We also visited a lot of Less Active members because there are so many lost sheep here. We actually had a miracle. Brother Rod who the elders have been trying to get a hold of finally talked to us when we went to his house and he got chairs for us. Apparently before, he would just ignore them or he would say he was someone else, tell them he was going home and walk down the train tracks even though his house was right there haha. He would walk back after 15 minutes and go into his house and close the door. He built his house and it's like a little shack. He's so buff he built his own weight lifting stuff out of cement. He also has this little garden. He doesn't really have much and works everyday so he says he can't come to church. We gave him ice cream one day when we caught him leaving his house. He's a really nice guy with a lot of faith. We just have to keep praying for him.

We trimmed a members tree and helped put up a fence for her. Her dad was there and he speaks straight Laotian so I had no clue what he was saying. It's similar to Thai but the tones are different and they don't have as many letters. I didn't know the vocab for it so I did a lot of pointing and yes/no questions haha. But yeah it's different work than in Bangkok so it's good. The food is so SPICY.

We watched a missionary conference from Bangkok because we're too far away to go and I think the new Primary President talked and Elder Evans from the Seventy talked. It was really good. They talked about following up with people and helping them understand what you're asking them to do and seeing if they know why it's important. Also about working with Church Leaders because sometimes they do stuff that isn't the way you would do it but you have to do it because they have the keys. It was really good.

There's this old member named Brother Tian. He's a straight boss. He plays these two instruments and he's like 85 years old and can't come to church because it's too cold now I guess. But he's so cool. He talks about his 45 year old son who lives at home all the time haha. He said he's the only one in Buriram that can play them and he got so happy and I was impressed. I have the videos. But yeah he's my favorite.

So we're having problems getting investigators to church. A lot of them have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true they just don't come to church so they can't get baptized. We're trying our hardest to get them to church but they just don't show up. It's so frustrating haha but salvation shouldn't come easy. Just gotta keep praying and doing your best and miracles will come. It's so true.

We met this former instigator named Danni and he speaks the craziest Thainglish. It's so hard to understand but he's really cool his family lives in Texas and he said he'll read the Book of Mormon. He reads Warren Buffett hahahaha. I saw it on his desk, I don't know too much about him though.

So this week in my studies I was reading Helaman 5 and it's such a good chapter. In Helaman 5:12 it says
12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

If your foundation is built on Christ, you literally can't fall. You build a strong foundation by doing the basics (reading scriptures, praying, going to church, keeping God's commandments). On these things your foundation is built. I love 1 Corinthians 10:13

13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Every temptation you meet can be overcome. God doesn't send us to earth to fail. He wants us to succeed and come back to live with Him again because He loves us and wants the best for us. He has given us ways to overcome temptation and that is to pray always. If you always have a prayer in your heart, Satan has no power over you. If you do the basics and build that foundation of faith, you can overcome any temptation. I love teaching the Thai people the basics to help them develop their faith and overcome temptation that everyone faces. It's so cool to see the Atonement work in the lives of people. This work is God's work and I see miracles everyday. Miracles aren't always these huge things. They can be small - we just don't take time to step back and realize what it is.

I love you all and miss errybody!!!

Elder Decker

เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์

Thailand Bangkok Mission