การประชุมไหญ่สามัญ

Hello this is Elder Colby Decker. This was another fabulous week. My first name sounds weird. But it was a very solid week. For P-Day, we went to Art in Paradise in Bangkok. It's like a 3d art museum thing. It was pretty solid. Took some pictures. Fanny Packs are in style. It's true. They're so handy.

Tuesday, I went on a switch off with an elder in my district who's serving in Lopburi, Elder Whitaker. He's a way good missionary and talks to everyone. He's way funny too so that's a plus. Taught English to some people. That old guy Jian that I talked about last week is pretty funny. He's reading the Book of Mormon and is in Mosiah already. His dog got a hold of the Book of Mormon and ate some of the pages. He really wants a cross and he doesn't understand why we don't wear crosses even after I explained it to him like 50 times. He's pretty funny. Everytime we come back he's say's "They're back again." His problem is he has to watch 2 houses to make sure nothing happens to them and says he works 24/7. But he can sleep but just can't go anywhere. It's confusing to me. 

This week, no one really wanted to meet with us or keep their appointments. It was pretty frustrating but it's just missionary work. It's just sad because they're missing out on a bunch of blessings. The work is true so it's gonna keep on going. The rice is yellow, already to harvest so there's other people out there that need saving.  

There's some fat pigs here. The dogs here scare me. Thailand is dope. 

The best time of the week was the weekend. We got the opportunity to watch conference. It was so good. I've gotten to appreciate more how awesome General Conference is since I've been a missionary. Before it was a time to sit on a couch and eat candy and good food. Now it's a time to receive personal revelation that will help people come unto Christ. It's just filled with inspired words and teachings. It's refreshing to hear the words of God's chosen leaders on this earth. You can't watch General Conference and say that the speakers are not called by God and that this isn't his true church. The spirit just testifies to you that it's true. Elder Russell M. Nelson learning Chinese in his 50's is just insane. It was him following the words of the prophet and he received blessings and help by doing so. 

วันนี้ I want to talk about one of the talks in General Conference. It was God's Compelling Witness: The Book of Mormon By Tad R. Callister in the Sunday Afternoon Session. It was such a good talk. It just proved that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is true. It added factual evidence it is true. I loved when he said "How do the critics now account for these and similar unlikely discoveries? Joseph, you see, must also have been a very, very lucky guesser. Somehow, in spite of all the odds against him, against all existing scientific and academic knowledge, he guessed right when all the others were wrong." I know for a fact he wasn't a very very lucky guesser that he was inspired by God. It had me laugh when he said that but it's so true. People try to disprove the Book of Mormon but they just can't. Why? Because it's true. Elder Callister said "the critics are intent on disproving the Book of Mormon, but the obstacles they face are insurmountable because this book is true." You can't disprove a true book. You can try but when you read it and read it with real intent, the Holy Ghost will testify to you it is true. You can't deny the feeling you get when you read it. It has power. The words are the words of God and you can tell that each time you read it. Even if it is factually true, you need to know it's true in your heart. You need a testimony of the Book of Mormon to help you overcome life's trials and tribulations. It was written for us in these days. We need to take time out of our days and sincerely read it, wanting to get something out of it. You need to read it with real intent. 

I love you all and know that this work is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and is the sickle that is harvesting souls. I've never been happier in my life. Until next time...

*Pics: some photos from a couple weeks ago's p-day when we visited the King's Palace, we both wore shorts (yes i'm a bad father) so we had to buy these awesome pants, and pictures from P-day of the 3d art

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Pics from 1 Year in the Land of Thais

More pics of stuff that i took with my orange camera

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

1 Year in the Land of Thais

Good Morning everyone! This week was pretty awesome. Tomorrow I hit my one year mark in Thailand. It's still crazy to think it was that long ago but also it flew by way fast but also long. I don't know. It's been the best 14 months of my life and I wouldn't of imagined doing anything else. The experiences, miracles, and the people you meet couldn't be exchanged for anything. I also am in the best mission. It's literally in the name TBM Thailand Bangkok Mission, The Best Mission, The Best Missionaries, Temple Building Missionaries. I'm so excited for the temple here in Thailand. I miss going to the temple so much. It might be a little while before we get one here. But in the meantime we're gonna save souls. The church is true no matter where you go.

Last Monday for P-Day we went to The King's Palace in Bang Ba In. It was way cool and big. It's a way pretty area. It would be a nice home. It's like a mixture of cultures. It's pretty cool. I had to buy some chinese pants cause I forgot to wear pants to it. 

Tuesday we had interviews with President Johnson. He's honestly the best mission president. There's no one close to him. He's such an awesome guy. The area he has to cover is so big and a lot of missionaries to take care of. I don't know how he does it. 

Wednesday we visited Sister Nang and Sister May way far away. They are investigators that are from the Isan. They accepted a baptismal date but their problem is they said that bringing their kids to church would be sin. I thought it was pretty funny. It's so true haha just kidding. They're way cool though. 

Thursday, we met Sister May who is going to go to England for a Foreign Exchange student thing for a month. Met this old guy named Jian who actually is 75 but looks like he's 60. He's pretty buff. At night we headed over to Bangkhen to stay the night for Zone Conference.

Friday we had Zone Conference. It was way good. I always love getting some inspiration and direction from the people called by God to lead. It's way cool. Talked about the Book of Mormon and the power it has in people's lives. That's what I'll talk about in a minute. Not there yet. 

Sunday, church was good. We were asked to teach the youth for some reason. I don't know. But it was cool. Reminded me of teaching the 11 year olds haha. Just kidding they are good here. Met some catholic guy who said he has been catholic from birth but he was so drunk. It was pretty funny. He kept on calling me John cause he thought I was one of the twelve apostles. I'm happy that he thought I was John. John's my favorite. We'll talk to him when he's less drunk though. Visited Sister Brajob who is suffering from Lou Gerig's disease (I dont know how to spell it. I can't do English anymore) She's doing way better. Three kids from the street came in and sat in when we gave them Sacrament. It was cool. Kids are so dope sometimes.

This week I want to share a couple verses from the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It's in Alma 34 which is just a fire chapter. In verse 37-38 it says:

37 And now, my beloved brethren, I desire that ye should remember these things, and that ye should work out your salvation with fear before God, and that ye should no more deny the coming of Christ;
38 That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.

The whole chapter has a bunch of good verses but today I'll only talk about these two because right now I feel really blessed. I'm blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm blessed to have the knowledge that my family can live forever. I'm blessed to be serving a mission, bringing people the truth and experiencing all these miracles. I'm blessed to be able to be born in a time where I can take part in this glorious work. I'm blessed that I have the Book of Mormon, the only book God said was true, at my disposal. This work is God's work. The Book of Mormon is evidence of God's love for us. I'm in a spirit of thanksgiving with all these blessings the Lord has bestowed on me. Looking for the blessings is something we all can do in life. Keep track of the blessings that you have and you'll realize how blessed you actually are. God blesses those who keep his commandments. I love you all and miss everyone. Hope everyone has a good week and remember those who are in need of your prayers!!!

Pics: A cool statue thing, cool building, the views from the tower in the middle, A Christian Church turned into a Buddhist Temple, inviting pic, I had to buy these pants to wear in the Palace

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

ปกติ

This week was a pretty normal missionary week. Which means it was filled with teaching repentance and talking to a bunch of people about salvation and Jesus Christ. It's a time to step back and appreciate the work that is going on here. It's crazy the Lord trusts a bunch of 18-20 year olds to spread the Gospel. And the cool thing is that the work is increasing and growing and it's not stopping. When it's God's restored church on this earth, of course it's gonna spread across the world. But yeah the week was good. I don't know what to say 555. We met a cool investigator name Brother A. He's pretty dope he came to church yesterday. He's 17 and looks like he's 30. At first he was interested in English but I told him learning about Christianity is a lot more fun and now he's way solid. Miracles.

This week I want to share a little of a talk from October 2013 General Conference again by Elder Russell M. Nelson. It's called Decisions for Eternity. This is a part that stood out to me. The whole talk is way good but this is a part I liked.  

Your Heavenly Father has known you for a very long time. You, as His son or daughter, were chosen by Him to come to earth at this precise time, to be a leader in His great work on earth. You were chosen not for your bodily characteristics but for your spiritual attributes, such as bravery, courage, integrity of heart, a thirst for truth, a hunger for wisdom, and a desire to serve others.
You developed some of these attributes premortally. Others you can develop here on earth as you persistently seek them.
A pivotal spiritual attribute is that of self-mastery—the strength to place reason over appetite. Self-mastery builds a strong conscience. And your conscience determines your moral responses in difficult, tempting, and trying situations. Fasting helps your spirit to develop dominance over your physical appetites. Fasting also increases your access to heaven's help, as it intensifies your prayers. Why the need for self-mastery? God implanted strong appetites within us for nourishment and love, vital for the human family to be perpetuated. When we master our appetites within the bounds of God's laws, we can enjoy longer life, greater love, and consummate joy.

He is talking about decisions that could affect our Eternal Happiness. He also talked about how we were developing spiritual attributes before this life which I thought was way interesting. Never thought of it before. Before this life, we were learning and changing and growing and developing and it continues into this life. We're still changing. We're still trying to have self-mastery where we can face a temptation, and overcome the human part of us and chose the right and not give into temptation. 

As it says in 1 Corinthians 10:13  "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." 

We can't be tempted beyond our capabilities. If that was possible, we wouldn't have agency. We can overcome all temptation and become more Christlike and do what God wants us to do, not what we want to do. It is pride, when we think what we are doing is right even though it's against God's will. In the end of the day, as much as you reason with yourself that what you're doing is right, in the eternal schemes of things it is not. If it is against the commandments of God it is not right. Pretty Simple. Fasting will help us overcome these temptations and trials in life. We just need to humble ourselves and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, change our lives for the better. Through prayer, scripture study, and much fasting and prayer, God will help us overcome all temptations. I know that only when keeping the commandments of God can we feel the joy and happiness that comes with living a Christ centered life. 

I love you all and miss you all!!!

Pics: Some of the translations for English make me laugh, the park was filled with dogs, the bros at the water market, some temple somewhere here, and one of the biggest pigs I've seen. It's like a horse.

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Street view

You Can Do It Now!

Hi. Another great week of work in the great land of Thais. I also found out Levi Savage never actually got to Thailand, he made it only to Myanmar. It would've been way hard to learn this language if you didn't have a teacher. His tones would've been awful. Anyways it was a way good week. I don't really know what to talk about. 

It's awesome Kade is heading out on the mission in Finland . He'll kill it. I couldn't imagine talking to white people all day. I taught English to the Military again. They're cool. It's a way neat experience teaching people that are attentive and willing to participate in the lesson. I found out today some of my students from English Class are actors in a play that they do in the water market here. Way cool. A guy lowered the price to take a picture with a tiger because our nametags said Jesus Christ. It was cool. I can't really remember. I can't separate the days and the weeks. I'm getting old. 

General Conference is coming up. I'm pumped. I've been reading in the October 2013 General Conference and it's way good. I recommend it to everyone. Way solid reads. I wanna talk about one of the talks this week which is by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, You Can Do It Now! I actually remember it which is way cool and it was even better the second time reading it. There's a part in it that I want to share. It talks about wordly sorrow and Godly sorrow. It says 

The Apostle Paul taught that "godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation … but the sorrow of the world worketh death." Godly sorrow inspires change and hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Worldly sorrow pulls us down, extinguishes hope, and persuades us to give in to further temptation.
Godly sorrow leads to conversion and a change of heart. It causes us to hate sin and love goodness. It encourages us to stand up and walk in the light of Christ's love. True repentance is about transformation, not torture or torment. Yes, heartfelt regret and true remorse for disobedience are often painful and very important steps in the sacred process of repentance. But when guilt leads to self-loathing or prevents us from rising up again, it is impeding rather than promoting our repentance.

The whole talk is way good but this is the portion I want to talk about today. I've been teaching about Godly Sorrow when we teach about repentance but it also let me realize there is also another type which is worldy sorrow. Repentance is such a great thing. It's a gift from God that yes sometimes is very painful, but it's way better than the guilt and sadness that comes from not fully repenting. The relief you get and the happiness and joy you get is waaaaay better than feeling guilty and sad. Don't feel worldly sorrow. You can always repent. You can humble yourself and rely on the Savior and use his Atonement. The word for Repentance in Thai is การกลับใจ which literally translates to returning or flipping your heart. It is a transformation to something better. That is life. We are always striving to be better. We shouldn't be striving to be worse. It just doesn't make sense. The Gospel makes sense. Everything else doesn't. Walk in the light of Christ's love and repent. He'll be with you every step of the way. We can always return to the Savior. There's no unreachable point. Now is the time to start though. As the scriptures say don't procrastinate the day of your repentance. Once you head off the path it just gets easier and easier to sin, but that whole time you'll know it's not the right way. The Light of Christ is in all of us. We know right from wrong. I know Jesus Christ is my Savior and is the Messiah that prophets have testified of from the beginning. He suffered for our sins, died, and lives again so that all of us can have Eternal Happiness. He loves us and the way we show love for him is to keep his commandments. I love you all and miss everyone! Have a superb week!  

Pics: Some pics of the Floating Water Market here. We went to a member's house and they make cacti that are pretty dope looking. Some cows. A temple

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

mores

mores

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์

Thailand Bangkok Mission

more

more

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

I'm a Father

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

Hello Everybody! Really good week. 

Last Wednesday, I stayed in Rangsit again for the night. It was cool going back to the house I was born into. Except the A/C was broken haha. 

Thursday I went to the Trainer's meeting to get my new Greenie. His name is Elder Byers from Orem, Utah. He's way cool. Speaks Thai better than I did when I was a greenie. We needed some greenie fire in this area. 

For last P-Day we went to this place called Iron Village. It's just a bunch of sculptures made out of iron. It's pretty dope. Did a lot of inviting this last week because no one answers their phones. Met this guy who got his clothes stolen and was just in his shorts. Taught him how to pray and he gave an awesome prayer.. He's way cool. I told him if he came to church I would give him a shirt. 

Met this other guy who had a black eye and was drunk. Started rolling a blunt in front of us. It was pretty funny. His friend came and told him stop being a drunk than left. He was just sitting outside by a Temple. It was funny. I got his number and we're gonna help him stop drinking. Cool week. 

Yesterday after church, Sister Larson had a feeling to visit Brother Aek, who is less active, and his family and we went to his house and his Restaurant was closed. She told me to call a member and ask if his wife had the baby yet. I was told probably not and than a couple minutes later I got a call back saying yes, the baby was born today at 3. It was way cool. The Holy Ghost is so awesome. Just a cool experience I wanted to share.

Today I want to share another talk with y'all. The talk is Yes, Lord, I Will Follow Thee by Elder Eduardo Gavarett from October 2014 General Conference. There's a little part on it that I like that says

"Enoch was called to preach the gospel to a difficult, hard-hearted people. He did not feel qualified. He had doubts about whether he could do it. The Lord calmed his doubts and strengthened his faith through the invitation "Walk with me"—an invitation that, like a blind man's cane or a friend's arm, can guide the footsteps of one whose step is not sure. By taking the Savior's arm and walking with Him, Enoch found that his step became firm and he became a great missionary and a prophet.
The decision to "come unto me" and "follow me" is personal. When we accept this invitation, our level of commitment is raised, and it is then that we can "walk with Him." This level establishes a closer relationship with the Savior—the fruit of our accepting the first invitation."

I love this part in the talk. Life is hard. It gets rough. Sometimes we feel we're not good enough and we get disheartened. When time gets rough or when we don't know what to do, we need to turn to the Savior and he will help lift our burdens. By trusting and following him we can make it through the most difficult times. We all need to come unto Christ and follow him. Through this we will have the most happiness and we will be directed for good in our lives. I know that my Savior lives and he loves me and he loves everyone here on this earth. I'm happy to be part of this great work in harvesting souls to help guide them on their journey back home. I love you all and miss everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pics: Pictures of the little statues or whatever you call them that is in the village

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Waterfalls