Fwd: Zone Conference

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Subject: Zone Conference
Date: April 25, 2017 at 10:09:52 PM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>

สวัสดีตอนบ่าย! Happy Tuesday and welcome to my email. This week has been a really good week apart from Family Home Evening. We got a lot of referrals from this fire member right now who is a High Councilor in the Stake. It was funny because he just walked around and was like "this guy is interested" and we got his number and kept on walking and getting numbers. It was pretty cool. We have to be out of the house by 8:30 either inviting or teaching so it gives us opportunity to meet new people and experience new experiences. One of these experiences was we were in a village inviting before an appointment and I had a feeling to take a left down this street and I saw there was no one on it, so I was like maybe we should turn back but just then a guy popped out of the trees with a machete and mangoes in his hand so I thought this was the guy. He had a Baht in his ear for safe keeping and I started talking to him. He then asked me if I wanted a mango and I said I'm good. He then was like I guess you're gonna give me a card now and I was like yep and gave him a Jesus inviting card. I thought it was pretty funny and made my day.

We had a lot of Potential Investigators cancel their appointments so it's been kind of frustrating. We haven't had a new investigator in a long time. It's testing my faith right now but I know eventually we'll find some of God's children who's been prepared to receive the Gospel. We went looking for homes of people who have gone less active and couldn't find them. It's hard finding places in Thailand. But we did find an old guy who knows who Donald Trump is. 

Last Sunday, we had a lot of people who don't usually come to church come to sacrament. It was really cool because the YSA in the ward are going around visiting people who haven't come in awhile and it's starting a fire here in Buriram it's great. I even got to see my favorite 9 year who taught me how to play rock paper scissors.

After church we took a 3 1/2 hour train ride to Ubon for Zone Conference and interviews. It was fun. For Zone Conference we talked about being converted to the Gospel and how to help our investigators become more converted to the Gospel. Just because you're active in the church doesn't mean you're active in the Gospel. You have to be living what you're teaching. Then we talked about teaching really simply in a way that they can't misunderstand and we focused on the Plan of Salvation. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said that you should extend the invitation of baptism when you're teaching about the Plan of Salvation. I realized that there's some stuff that you don't need to say at first because it'll probably just confuse them or they'll just forget it. We have to teach them through the Holy Ghost because it is only through the Holy Ghost that people are converted and learn. We have to do all we can to bring it unto the hearts of the investigators so that the investigator can bring it into their hearts. It was a really good conference.

So for this little spiritual thought that I'm about to drop, let me start off with saying that I'm starting to feel more towards the love of the Savior and coming more and more to the realization that this work is the work of God. God wants all his children to be happy so he sets them in the path of the missionaries to help them get on the right path to happiness and joy. I want to talk about one of President Thomas S Monson's talk in General Conference about Kindness, Charity, and Love. I thought it was interesting the things he talked about in conference. He didn't talk that long or that much but he talked about Kindness and Charity and Love. I was thinking why is this really important for the world to hear at this time. It's important because if we all love our neighbors there wouldn't be any conflict in the world. All of the problems of the world would be solved if we just love each other. We are all Heavenly Father's children. We need to teach others with love. I noticed that on my mission, once you start serving others you begin to love them more. When you're not thinking about yourself, you are more receptive of the love of God. I love being a missionary here in Thailand and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. This is God's work and I'm blessed to be out here serving the Lord. I love you all and miss everyone!!!!

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Fwd: วันสงกรานต์ (Songkran) Pics

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Date: April 16, 2017 at 10:18:24 PM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>
Subject: วันสงกรานต์ (Songkran) Pics

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Fwd: วันสงกรานต์ (Songkran) and Easter

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Subject: วันสงกรานต์ (Songkran) and Easter
Date: April 16, 2017 at 10:13:50 PM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>

Hello Everybody! This past couple of weeks have been really good. I went on a switch off with Elder Feller who is from St. George Utah. He's a really cool dude. Than last last Sunday, I went on a switch off with the Zone Leaders in Ubon. It's a 3 1/2 hour train ride there and we had to stand for all of it because it was packed with people traveling home for Songkran. I switched off with Elder Wannasri who's a Thai from Udorn. He's hilarious. It was really good having to speak Thai more. I also learned a lot about how to be a better missionary from him. One of the members here got her mission call to Thailand. 

So, this last week was Songkran which is the Thai New Year. It's for 3 days and it's pretty much a big water fight and a time when you go home and spend time with your family. It's a water fight because it's the hottest time of the year and also religiously it's like washing away all the bad stuff for people. It's like a Buddhist thing. People wear Hawaiian shirts or floral shirts kind of like the kind Grandpa wears. I had to grab one to fit in. I'm not quite sure what Songkran is supposed to symbolize but a lot of people take it as a time to party hard and do a lot of worldy stuff. Proselyting is really hard because everyone is either throwing water at you or they're drunk haha. So we did a lot of inviting off of English. On the second day we got to play and we went to the Stadium and there was fire trucks with hoses and some foam stuff and stuff like that related to water. It was really fun. Really Interesting too. People go around in trucks and have like buckets of water in the trunk and have wars with the people on the streets. It's really fun. For us it was nice because it was really hot and the water was cold. They liked to target me because I'm a white foreigner. They didn't really go after my half Asian companion. 

In Thailand, the Thai people don't celebrate Easter and most of them don't know what it is. It's really interesting living in the complete opposite culture than what I was born and raised in. But we went and gave sacrament to the old people that can't go to church and visited one of our investigators, Sister Ann. She can't come to church because her mother is sick and she has to take care of her. Her mother is a member so we bring her sacrament every week. She's like 84 or something so it's hard for her to get to church but also hard because Sister Ann wants to go to church but can't because she has to take care of her mom. It's a complicated situation. 

Since we just had the chance to watch General Conference last week, I wanted to talk about one of the talks. It was by Elder Ronald A. Rasban called "Let the Holy Spirit Guide". I noticed that a lot of the talks were about the Plan of Salvation and The Godhead. I really liked this talk especially the part where he talked about acting on the first prompting the Holy Ghost gives you. He says "We must be confident in our first promptings. Sometimes we rationalize; we wonder if we are feeling a spiritual impression or if it is just our own thoughts. When we begin to second-guess, even third-guess, our feelings—and we all have—we are dismissing the Spirit; we are questioning divine counsel. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that if you will listen to the first promptings, you will get it right nine times out of ten." 

If it is good it comes from God. If it not it comes from someone else. If the spirit is telling us to do something good, and we don't do it, we will receive less promptings of the spirit. But if we start to follow these promptings the first time, and keep on following them, eventually we become on the Lord's errand. 

I sometimes think is this the Holy Ghost talking or just own thoughts. On my mission, especially recently, I've been trying to follow every impression I receive right when I receive it so I don't miss out on the blessings that come from it. Sometimes it doesn't really lead to anything but it shows God that you are willing to follow these promptings. It was one of my favorite talks in conference and I'd recommend you all to read it. Easter is a special time to remember the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ lives and leads his church today through a living prophet called by God. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is a miraculous thing and shows the love that Jesus Christ has for us all. I want to close with my testimony that I know Jesus Christ lives, and that he loves each and every one of us more than we can imagine. If we have faith in him we can do all things. I love you all and miss everybody! Until next time...

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Fwd: 8 Months

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Subject: 8 Months
Date: April 2, 2017 at 9:20:17 PM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>

Hello everyone. This week has been good. The 1st marked my 1 year mark since I got my call and today is my 8 month mark as a missionary and 6 months in Thailand. Time is really flying by fast. I feel like I just left the Las Vegas airport but it also feels pretty far away. I don't know it's weird haha. But yeah my week was really good. I'm still learning Australian, probably the hardest language I ever learned. It takes me a minute to realize what my companion says haha. 

Last Monday for P-Day, we went to this Board Game place called Level Up and played a bunch of games with the members. We can't really do much now because the Senior Couple isn't in Surin anymore (they had a car). It was fun though I actually really enjoyed it. Today we're doing the same thing haha. We were going to go to a Buriram soccer game but stuff happened so we can't go anymore. They were playing a team that has most of the Thai National Team soccer players. 

Our English Class was pretty big last week. Most the people are pretty good at English so we don't have to translate that much. I love English. The more I teach it the more I realize I can hardly speak it and the grammar is stupid haha.   

We teach all the potential missionaries how to be missionaries so I guess it's called mission prep. We joked with them that we had an actual investigator coming in at 1:30 and at 1:30 exactly we got a call from an RC (recent convert) that she was at the church and had a friend she wanted us to teach. The RC lives in a different province and is Less Active. So it's funny how little stuff like that happens on the mission. You see a bunch of miracles that happen because God wants to bring His children back to him in Heaven. It's so cool. They got to see a live demo haha. 

Sunday, we had 9 Less Active members at church. It was crazy it was the most people in Sacrament meeting since I've been here. Miracles are happening here in Buriram. This transfer is gonna be so much fun. We gave sacrament to a bunch of old people again. I love Old people. We gave the sacrament to my favorite member, Brother Tiam. He played his instruments for us again. When I'm old hopefully I'm as happy as him. These past couple weeks I've been the happiest I've ever been and it's pretty sweet.

So, since General Conference is coming to us in a week, I decided to read some Liahona articles in the past and I came across one from March 2009. It was an article by President Thomas S. Monson called "Come unto Him in Prayer and Faith". It was a really good. One of the stories in it was really interesting. It said.
"We live in troubled times. Doctors' offices are filled with individuals who are beset with emotional problems as well as physical distress. Divorce courts are overflowing because people have unsolved problems. Human resource administrators in government and industry work long hours in an effort to assist people with their problems. One human resource officer assigned to handle petty grievances concluded an unusually hectic day by placing facetiously a little sign on his desk for those with unsolved problems. It read, "Have you tried prayer?" What he may not have realized was that this simple counsel would solve more problems, alleviate more suffering, prevent more transgression, and bring about greater peace and contentment in the human soul than could be obtained in any other way."

Before my mission I never really understood the power of prayer. Prayer is such an amazing thing. It solves all problems, answers all questions, and increases our faith in Jesus Christ. Another part of the article I liked said "Satan trembles, when he sees the weakest Saint upon his knees." If we are feeling temptation, if we are having a hard time, we can get on our knees and pray to our Father in Heaven. Satan doesn't want us to pray. He wants us to be unhappy. He wants us to be sad and depressed because he's sad and depressed. Why ruin your chance of Eternal Happiness for a moment of pleasure. For things of the world. In the article it talks about how a family that prays together stays together. Families are ordained of God. In the family we can feel comfort and happiness that resemble what it's going to be like in the Celestial Kingdom. Family Prayer will help families get through times of trouble and hardship, increase happiness and love in the home, and strengthen each others faith. Families are a blessing to have and I know that we can only have true happiness when we follow the teachings of Christ. 

I love all of you and miss everybody! Until next time.

The pictures are from when we were inviting and came across a sick college. Also some guy on the electrical wires.

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission