Two trips to Thailand and a Baptism!!

So, the last two weeks have been crazy busy. We have been back into Thailand a few times and had lots of events.

Last Sunday (the 21st) was District Conference in Udorn. It was a great conference. One of the highlights was seeing all of the Khon Kaen members come. It was a good time to reconnect with the people in my last area. The next day we had our Zone Conference for all the missionaries. That was also great. Elder Smith-Driggs had a great musical number and we got a lot of good training. Thursday we had to come back to Thailand because Elder Cook the Apostle came to Tour the mission. So all the missionaries went down to Bangkok. It was great to listen to an Apostle of the Lord. It was great, what he did say was moving and powerful. 

In the midst of this, we were preparing our security guard investigator to be baptized. His name is See and he has been quite amazing. He really understands repentance well and was super ready to accept every commitment. He got baptized yesterday and was the first baptism at the new church and the first baptism Laos has had in about 9 months. 

It was quite funny. We needed a place to baptized at the new church and we got this metal font made. It is just a giant tub. It got sent to the church at 10 pm Saturday night. It was still incomplete and the part to complete it didn't come until 9:30 am Sunday morning with Church starting at 10. We put the piece in and started filling it. It finished filling right after Sacrament Meeting then we baptized in it shortly after. It ended up working super good. 

We have a couple, Tone and Sony that are on track to get baptized this coming Sunday. So things are looking really good at the moment.  

Also, we had another ‘turn over’ for some bathrooms DIC donated. That went well, we were in charge of doing games with all the students. I ran this Tug of War game that turned out really well. 

A funny story. Recently our security guard has been locking our bikes up at night. We have a lock and always put it on, but the security guard thinks it isn't safe enough so he takes a chain and wraps it around our tires and locks it. After that he hides the key. The next morning when we go out, we have to spend like 20 minutes to find the key. He keeps moving his hiding spot too. It is really annoying. 

So, that is the update for now. Things are going great here and miracles are happening everyday.    

-- Elder Cheney

ฉะนั้น, หากเจ้ามีความปรารถนาจะรับใช้ พระผู้เป็นเจ้า เจ้าก็ได้รับเรียกมายังงาน
เอ็ลเดอร์ ชีนีย์

ແລະ ຈົ່ງເບິ່ງ, ຂ້າພະເຈົ້າບອກພວກທ່ານເຖິງເລື່ ອງເຫລົ່ານີ້ເພື່ອພວກທ່ານຈະຮຽນຮູ້ ກ່ຽວກັບປັນຍາ ເພື່ອພວກທ່ານຈະຮຽນຮູ້ວ່າ ເມື່ອພວກທ່ານຮັບໃຊ້ເພື່ອນມະນຸ ດດ້ວຍກັນ ພວກທ່ານກໍຮັບໃຊ້ພຣະເຈົ້ າຂອງພວກທ່ານນັ້ນເອງ
ແອວເດີ ຈີນີ

It's a Great Day in the Kingdom.

"It's a great day in the kingdom" -Elder Carter

So this week has been amazing. Lots going on to keep us busy. And also, the Church finally got the property here in Laos. So with that, we have a lot more freedoms with what the Government will let us do at the church. Before, we just had an hour a week for Sacrament Meeting, Now we have the building full time for our use in teaching investigators. We are able to have a full three hour church block and lots more. With that, yesterday was a busy day. We were able to teach investigators for the first time since we lost the old church. 

We have a few investigators that we picked up yesterday. Just with that little bit of teaching investigators after and before church we were able to get four new investigators and three people with baptismal dates. Things are going well. We also have another three people that we are going to meet with this week at the church. We have really hit the end of the tunnel and now it is time for some great things to happen. A fun miracle that happened: We went to the church and met a new security guard there. We talked to him for a little bit and we asked him if he was a member and he replied not yet but I will be soon. So, we are going to start teaching him the gospel this week. We are lucky because we have one place in all of Laos where we can preach the gospel now. And the security guard is there 24 hours a day!

Also, this week we had four BYU professors here in Laos to do a English teaching seminar. They gave instruction to a lot of the high school and college English teachers here in Laos. We only attended one day of the training but we had a great time showing them around the city and going to dinner with them at night so that was a great part of this week. 

We got to visit a lot of members like usual. This week I really enjoyed our visit out to a member named Brother Jampeng. He makes wooden nativity sets for his job and his wife makes Lao fabric. So when we went out there we got a crash coarse on wood carving and fabric making.

That was the good stuff from the week. Other than that, just more of the usual visiting members. Things are going great up here. 

Happy Mothers Day!

-- Elder Cheney

ฉะนั้น, หากเจ้ามีความปรารถนาจะรับใช้ พระผู้เป็นเจ้า เจ้าก็ได้รับเรียกมายังงาน
เอ็ลเดอร์ ชีนีย์

ແລະ ຈົ່ງເບິ່ງ, ຂ້າພະເຈົ້າບອກພວກທ່ານເຖິງເລື່ ອງເຫລົ່ານີ້ເພື່ອພວກທ່ານຈະຮຽນຮູ້ ກ່ຽວກັບປັນຍາ ເພື່ອພວກທ່ານຈະຮຽນຮູ້ວ່າ ເມື່ອພວກທ່ານຮັບໃຊ້ເພື່ອນມະນຸ ດດ້ວຍກັນ ພວກທ່ານກໍຮັບໃຊ້ພຣະເຈົ້ າຂອງພວກທ່ານນັ້ນເອງ

Another Great Week in Laos

This week was very fun and busy. So, we started on our English classes but It was quite a slow start. We met with all the students and got them separated into classes. They canceled our English classes for the rest of the week though because there were too many people, So, we will maybe start teaching soon.

On Tuesday, we had a handover. I think I have mentioned handover's before but they are after DIC builds a bathroom or water tower for a school we go over to the school and have a handover ceremony. This week we went out to a school an hour or so outside of Vientiane. There we built 8 toilets and one water tower. That is great, they are so grateful to have a bathroom and running water. At the handover, we translate and get to play games and entertain the kids. It is a super fun responsibility to have. This time we taught them how line dance and we played some freeze tag.

Like usual, lots of visiting members this week. Fun story, we were on our way out to visit this member and on the way out, I starting to feel sick. We got to her house and she had prepared a feast of a meal for us. Lao food is a little crazy, sometimes with the flavors they always shoot for extremes of salty, spicy, bitter and any other type of taste. So, it isn't the best to eat when you are not feeling well. I start off slow knowing my stomach is not in good shape. But the member, having prepared a lot of food, is really active at putting really salty, spicy, bitter… foods on my plate for me to eat. Putting on full fish and odd vegetables that I had never eaten. I continued to eat to help this member feel good about their cooking. I told them I was full and then got one last plate load from them and I finished it up starting to feel quite awful. We talked for a while and I was feeling about ready to throw up. I hold out and we get up to leave and Elder Smith-Driggs does some final goodbyes as I walk over to the corner of their yard. And I stealthily vomit several times. The walk outside and Elder Smith-Driggs walks over and says are you throwing up? So, that was fun. The day after that, I was not feeling that well, as well, but I am back at full strength by now. 

Saturday was a fun day. We taught English to a less active member. He has a family but his Mom is the only active one. The whole family came to church, though yesterday they all had a great time too! We also had and activity cleaning the church on Saturday. We moved our meeting spot from the third floor to the second floor, because the old residence has moved all out of the second floor so we cleaned the second floor up and got it ready for Sunday meetings. 

Another fun story from the week. Last night we were visiting a family that just sent their daughter out on a mission to Australia. Anyway, as we started talking to this family, we realized that they didn't have any way to contact their daughter. So, we stopped and set up an Email for the Mom and taught them how to use it. We also let them know they can Skype their daughter in like a week. They don't have access to Skype so I think they will end up doing a phone call. So, we hope that all works out.  

They have plans to increase the number of Missionaries here in Laos back up but it will take time to do so. They want to spread out people over different agreements with the government so we don't all get swept out in one shot again. So, they are waiting for a new agreement to close and then they will put two new Elders on that. I think this transfer only Elder Saunders will come up then the next transfer two new Elders will come up then the next transfer another two will come up.

Yesterday was a great day at church. We had 131 people there! We had great testimonies and it was the homecoming for a Lao missionary. We had 5 investigators at church. One investigator, Tagsin, has come to church every Sunday since we have started up. He hasn't missed a single time, he is just waiting to be taught and baptized. 

-- Elder Cheney

ฉะนั้น, หากเจ้ามีความปรารถนาจะรับใช้ พระผู้เป็นเจ้า เจ้าก็ได้รับเรียกมายังงาน
เอ็ลเดอร์ ชีนีย์

ແລະ ຈົ່ງເບິ່ງ, ຂ້າພະເຈົ້າບອກພວກທ່ານເຖິງເລື່ ອງເຫລົ່ານີ້ເພື່ອພວກທ່ານຈະຮຽນຮູ້ ກ່ຽວກັບປັນຍາ ເພື່ອພວກທ່ານຈະຮຽນຮູ້ວ່າ ເມື່ອພວກທ່ານຮັບໃຊ້ເພື່ອນມະນຸ ດດ້ວຍກັນ ພວກທ່ານກໍຮັບໃຊ້ພຣະເຈົ້ າຂອງພວກທ່ານນັ້ນເອງ
ແອວເດີ ຈີນີ

Thailand and Back

This week went by fast. Early in the week we got to go out to one of our investigators houses for lunch. His name is Ton(I don't know if you recognize that name from before when I was here). He is still doing super well.  He and his wife and kids come to church every Sunday and they are reading their scriptures and praying daily. They are basically just waiting until we have the church so they can learn the rest of the lessons and be baptized. It was really fun going over to their house. We basically got to meet the whole family from Ton's siblings to his parents. While we were there, we were served some great Lao food as well.

That same day, at night, we were able to meet with the Branch Mission Leader at one of the senior couple’s houses. We talked about the needs of the branches. It was really good and we made some good plans on how to move forward. 

A big chunk of our week was taken up in Thailand. We had to leave Laos for a little bit so we could come back in on our working visas. While in Thailand, we got to do some exchanges and had a good few days. 

We decided to bike all the way to NongKhai when we went over. It was only a little over 20 kilometers but while carrying our packs with our stuff for a multiple day stay in Thailand it was tiring. When we came back a few days later we also ended up biking that. So I think I have biked over the Thai-Lao friendship bridge 10+ times now. 

Right now Elder Ellis (former companion), is one of my Zone Leaders. So, while we were in Udorn, we stayed a night at their house. It was really nice to catch up with him and talk about Samutprakaan. He is doing good. He finishes his mission in another month and a half (the same time as Elder Smith-Driggs) 

One of the highlights for me was while we were switching off in Nongkhai I was with Elder Bouwmeester for the day and we had an appointment fall through in the middle of the day and wondered where we should go. I, having worked in Nongkhai before, knew some people and I said we should go visit this guy named Fon (see week 54) It was great; we were able to teach him at his house that day and have the Nongkhai Elders pick him up as a new investigator. Also, a fun part of that exchange was contacting at this hot air balloon festival. 

Whenever I am in Nongkhai or Udorn, I feel like I am in a former area, because from serving in Laos and Khonkaen for the last 8 months I have always been moving through these two areas to go places. So, because of that, I know the cities pretty well and I know a good chunk of the members there. So, by now they both just feel like old areas.  

A cool miracle happened while we were coming into Laos. We were at the desk to get our new Lao visas. These visas are specific for our volunteer work here in Lao and are called an E-B2 Visa so we gave our passports over with all the paper work so they could put these visas in and when they gave them back I looked at it and the Visa type was a LA-B2 at first I thought nothing of it and was about to cross over out of the security zone. But then the spirit prompted me to go back to the desk and tell them the visa was wrong so I went back and told the guy that he had put in the wrong type of visa. He looked at it then after a few minutes gave us back our passports with the correct E-B2 visa instead of the LA-B2. It is a real miracle because if we went in on that visa it would have caused a lot of problems and we would not be able to teach English here. It would have also delayed us a lot on receiving our E-B2 visa's because they would have had to re apply for them and start another 2 month ordeal. So I am so grateful that we have the spirit, that can give us little bits of guidance throughout the day. 

Yesterday was a good day at church. We had the most people show up out of all the times since we have come back.

So this week we are going to start with our English classes. It will be nice and give us something to do, but I will miss going to visit members all day. We should only have about three classes for now which will still leave the majority of our time visiting members.

Well I think that is all for today. This week was really great!

-- Elder Cheney

ฉะนั้น, หากเจ้ามีความปรารถนาจะรับใช้ พระผู้เป็นเจ้า เจ้าก็ได้รับเรียกมายังงาน
เอ็ลเดอร์ ชีนีย์

ແລະ ຈົ່ງເບິ່ງ, ຂ້າພະເຈົ້າບອກພວກທ່ານເຖິງເລື່ ອງເຫລົ່ານີ້ເພື່ອພວກທ່ານຈະຮຽນຮູ້ ກ່ຽວກັບປັນຍາ ເພື່ອພວກທ່ານຈະຮຽນຮູ້ວ່າ ເມື່ອພວກທ່ານຮັບໃຊ້ເພື່ອນມະນຸ ດດ້ວຍກັນ ພວກທ່ານກໍຮັບໃຊ້ພຣະເຈົ້ າຂອງພວກທ່ານນັ້ນເອງ
ແອວເດີ ຈີນີ