Fwd: Elder Quentin L. Cook Comes to Thailand

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Subject: Elder Quentin L. Cook Comes to Thailand
Date: May 26, 2017 at 8:36:53 AM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>

Hello everybody. This past week has been crazy. We had to prepare for Elder Cook at the office so it was a lot of cleaning and organizing stuff. So much fun. We haven't really had time for a P-Day. We also had to balance office work with missionary work so it's a lot of stuff to do and we're always busy. The days are flying by fast here and there is so many people here in Asoke. It's cool to see all the different types of people here in Bangkok. Everyone is in a hurry though so they don't have much time to stop and hear our message. But there are plenty of people here to talk to. 

The office is a good time and a new experience. We're teaching a guy named Brother Noy who is from Burma. He's so cool. He said he wants to follow God and be baptized but the problem is he can't get married legally here in Thailand and has to go back to Myanmar to get married which is a bummer. But it will all work out in the end. We dropped some of the Thai missionaries off at the Airport and took them through to security. I thought I wouldn't see the airport again until I went home but I got a chance to see it again.

So yesterday, Elder Quentin L. Cook came to Thailand, and all the missionaries in the mission flew to Bangkok for it. We spent a lot of our time preparing for it. He came a little late because he just flew overnight from India and I got to shake his hand. Since we're pretty much the AP's we sat at the very front right in front of the podium. So we got to see him up close and he's so cool. You could tell that he was called by God by the Spirit he brought with him. It was a cool experience. He talked about Temples and Family History work, and about teaching simply. He said he goes straight off the spirit and doesn't prepare anything. His testimony was so powerful. He said Apostles don't really like sharing spiritual experiences because they are personal and should only be said at appropriate times and than he talked briefly about one and it was crazy. After the missionary meeting, he met with all the members in Thailand at a hotel and the room was packed. There he talked more about the Temple and how you can prepare yourselves and Thailand for a Temple. 

So, in my personal study I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants 121 when Joseph Smith was praying to God in Liberty Jail and he was asking Him where he was after suffering for months in the jail. The Lord responded to his prayer and said, 

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

Everyone will face trials and hardships in life. It's part of life. Sometimes we will ask ourselves, where is God at this time in my life? Why is life so difficult? If we take a step back and realize that this time of trials or adversity is just a short moment. If we trust in God, and be patient in our afflictions, God will help us through the difficult times in life and help us overcome the challenges we will face in life. Faith in Jesus Christ will help us throughout our whole life have happiness even when times are rough. Salvation doesn't come easy and it shouldn't be easy. It's eternal happiness based on what we do here on Earth. I know that if we put our faith in Christ, we can return to live with him again with our families for eternity. God is real and he loves each and every one of us. Through faith in Christ we can see many miracles.  I love you all and miss everybody!


Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Fwd: Mother's Day

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Subject: Mother's Day
Date: May 14, 2017 at 9:35:30 PM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>

Happy Mother's day to all the mothers out there. I don't have a lot of time so I just want to send pictures of the two baptisms we had yesterday. They are Sister Noy and Sister Fang. There's miracles wherever you go and they happen all the time. And we also went to the beach :). Love you all and miss everyone! 

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Fwd: The Office

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Subject: The Office
Date: May 7, 2017 at 4:46:36 PM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>

Hello Everyone! This week has gone by really fast. I got transfered out of Buriram and got assigned to labor in the Office in Asoke. My new companion is Elder Kekauoha and he's from LA. He's pretty cool.  So I'm in downtown Bangkok right now. It's crazy going from a little small Esan town to Bangkok. It's a lot of fun though. Except traffic is terrible. The server has been down in the office so we have been outside doing a lot of inviting which is so much fun. There are a lot of people here. So many people. If you talk to everyone, you will find investigators and people to teach. It's really fun and you see a lot of cool things in the city. We work in the Mission Office with the President and the AP's and share a house with the AP's. It's really fun.

This last week, we met this Filipino guy named Larry and we taught him about the Restoration. He said he always wondered what the true church was and now he has found it. It's weird teaching in English. But he said his family is coming to Thailand and they'll be going to church. Miracles happen everyday.

For church, there was so many people there. We went to the English ward at 9 A.M. because some of our Investigators go to that one and we have to translate for them. They go there because they have to work when the Thai ward starts. At the Thai ward, I met someone from Vegas. She lives by Sahara and Durango or Decatur I can't remember. It's funny there's a lot of people from Las Vegas in Asoke. Such a small world. 

I was reading in 2 Nephi Chapter 9 this week and came across verses 50-51 which says:
50 Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
51 Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your a labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.

I really love these two verses. The Gospel and the scriptures are the things that Jesus is talking about. It has no price and you don't need to spend any money to have it. Daily Scripture study is the most important thing we can do each day. It strengthens us to face the temptations that everyone faces everyday. It'll strengthen us and help us overcome trials and challenges that we'll face in life. Every time you open up the scriptures, there is power to it. I find something new and something to help me right now in my life every time I read the scriptures. The scriptures are true and this is the true church. Joseph Smith was a prophet and we have a living prophet today named Thomas S. Monson. I love you all and miss everyone!

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

 

Check out the fat dog at the bottom! There are 3 of them that live at the 7 Eleven HAHAHA

Fwd: 9 Months and the Office

Begin forwarded message:

From: Colby John Decker <colby.decker@myldsmail.net>
Subject: 9 Months and the Office
Date: May 2, 2017 at 8:50:14 PM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>

Hey moms. I wanted to let you know i'm alive and well. I'm moving to the office in Asoke haha. President called me yesterday saying he's got a special assignment for me. Which means i'll be on the computer more. I will be doing like paperwork stuff and the online portion of the mission like weekly emails and baptisimal records, we live with the AP's idk where though, we serve in the Asoke area. We still proselyte and stuff. But yeah it's my 9 month mark today. Not much has happened this last week. 

We met new investigators the other day who live way out in the boonies. Just kidding but they live far away. They're Cambodian and the Oldest guy there just finished being a monk. What was weird is they were a referral from some member. The member was talking to some lady at the train station and the lady said that she had cancer and was gonna die soon and the member was like we have the priesthood we can heal you so she got in contact with us but either we weren't free or she wasn't free so we didn't get around to it till last Monday. we found out the lady died but the family is like chill with it, it was really weird. 

Another member invited her friend who was having troubles at home to learn with us and she talks a lot. She talked for 50 minutes straight haha. We gave her a date and she went to church. The funny thing was in third hour we were all combined and talked about Tithing. It was funny. It's usually a hard subject to talk about. especially when she's having money problems but she didn't have any questions about it when we met with her. So that was our week pretty much.

I don't feel like sending a group email out. Elder Quentin L. Cook is coming here this month. I'll call you on May 15th for Mother's Day in Thailand. I'll be in the office so it'll be fun haha. I probably have to limit it to 30-40 minutes like the handbook says but I probably won't 555. It'll be cool to see you guys. Anyways I love you lots mom and miss you!

-- 
Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดกเกอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

P.S. This is a member's dog who was LA (less active) but not anymore. The dog is so cute. In thai 5 is ha with a tone so it sounds like laughing or saying hahaha so thai people use it as laughter.

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

Fwd: Another Transfer in Buriram

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

Subject: Another Transfer in Buriram
Date: March 26, 2017 at 10:15:28 PM PDT
To: Robin Decker <Robinlynnd@gmail.com>

Hello Everybody! My week has been another good week like usual. We went to this ruin place called Phanom Rung I think I don't remember what it's called but it was cool. Saw a lot of stuff. We had transfers last week and I'm staying another transfer in Buriram. My new companion is Elder Hunt and he's from Australia. He was my DL in Surin but they white washed Surin and he came here. He's cool. He's half Korean. I have to learn two languages now, Australian and Thai. It's pretty rough.

There has been a lot of rain here for some reason and it's not even rainy season so it's even more hot and humid but I love it here. It will be this bright sunny day and all of a sudden it starts pouring buckets. But then it's cold. The members here are so cool. Some people here are bats though haha. I don't really remember what happened this week. The weeks are going by faster and faster. The language is coming along even though everyone here speaks so unclear haha but I can understand what people say now so I'm pumped. I'm still white so I have to speak super clear or they won't understand. 

We helped Brother Tiam with his Banana Farm again and I still don't understand why you need to warm the trees. I didn't know banana trees got cold haha. But yeah he's doing good. We're trying to find him a ride to church, he might just have to hop on the pegs of my bike. 

Sunday Brother Egg got the Holy Ghost and said he wants his daughter to get baptized too. He wants us to visit her at her house but make it seem like it's not an appointment but we're just homies stopping by to chat with him. Our goal for this transfer is to meet with all the members in the ward and try to get them more involved with missionary work. It's the best way to get active converts because they already have a friend that's strong. It's one of the problems here in Thailand or it's because they work or it's because they don't like someone in the ward. I feel like that's everywhere though but it's pretty common here. The sad ones are the people that don't come to church anywhere because their other family doesn't like Christianity. But I actually love to work with Less Active members. It's probably why I'm here haha. 
This week, I was studying in Alma 29:9 and it says

9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

This scripture is one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon especially right now because it applies to my mission. It's an amazing experience to be out here in Thailand serving God and being an instrument in his hands. My faith has grown so much over the past couple of months because I've had to trust the Lord more than I ever had before. When you humble yourself, you will see blessings and God will help you. He doesn't like when his children are sad. God wants us to all be happy, that is His perfect plan that he has prepared for us. Being an instrument in his hand and helping his children in Thailand has brought me more happiness than I have ever felt before. It's a beautiful thing to watch the Atonement of Christ change people's lives. People here don't know about Jesus Christ and it's my duty to teach Christ crucified to the people here in Thailand. It's such an amazing experience and I love all the ups and even the downs of missionary work. I love you all and hope everyone has a great week! 

Elder Decker
เอ็ลเดอร์ เดคเคอร์
Thailand Bangkok Mission

Fwd: More pictures