The Sisaket Branch is Growing!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 68

Week Two in Sisaket

Monday, September 29, 2014

Hey!

This was a pretty good week for the most part. It is very special having the opportunity to be training Elder Mitchell he is such a good missionary and friend of mine. I'm so grateful to be serving here in Sisaket with him.

House in Sisaket

Yesterday was pretty awesome at church. All week the members have been working really hard to get 150 people at church one Sunday and sure enough yesterday we had 175 people at church; pretty crazy especially as small of a city as it is here in Sisaket. This branch is very special; I am very impressed with the work that goes on here by the members. Our district also had two baptisms. The lady the sister missionaries baptized was 99 years old and in a couple months will be 100. They had to have two people in the font because she is in a wheelchair! It was pretty cool to see. 

 

The Somsak Family

This past week was filled with a lot of work in finding and teaching RC/LAs because when we moved here we had no investigators so it has been really easy on how to do the work. So we have been spending lots of time finding. We have a referral we got this last week named Tam; he is way awesome. I think he is 22 years old. We taught him after church yesterday for the first time and he accepted a date to be baptized this next coming week. So I'm pretty excited to help him prepare to be baptized; he will be so awesome. 3 of his friends are already members here so he is fellowshipped really well.

We also have our investigators Bob and Jub, but they are in Bangkok for a bit. 

Earlier this morning we got a special video training from President Senior that was about 17 minutes long. I was really impressed and happy to receive that little training from the video we watched. It was really awesome. The spirit was so strong while watching it and I received a confirmation that everything President Senior said was true. So now we all know what we need to find the fire in our work and keep going! I'm really excited. He also suspended Facebook for the time being, so we won't be using that anymore. 

This past week during my personal study I've still be reading through PMG as well as in the Book of Mormon. I'm really loving PMG; so many new ideas and thoughts that I am learning and applying in my work. I really hadn’t read a ton in PMG before, but now I see what I've been missing out on; it is so great. I'm also almost finished with the Book of Mormon for another time. I'm currently reading in Mormon so not much further to go!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

Training a Greenie in Sisaket!!!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 67

Week One in Sisaket

Monday, September 22, 2014

Hey Everyone!

Well as you already heard transfers happened this last week! I'll start off with last Monday; we went and hunted around for Chinese silk fabric to make ties out of them. We hunted for about 3 or 4 hours asking around and getting led all around the city and we couldn't find anything. We were about to give up and then I said like just go down this street and try one last time and we found the biggest jackpot. It was so awesome; we bought tons of fabric and are getting them cut into ties. I sent you some pictures of the fabric so once I get the ties back I'll let you know how they look! 

Wait till you see my ties...

The Bishop and his wife in  Samut Prakan

Tuesday, Brother Keng came and we had Swenson’s with him and went to English class and I just said good bye to tons of the members which was kind of sad, but good! Just before English class started President Senior called and asked me to train and of course I accepted. He said, I had a meeting Wednesday morning at 8 in the office. So Wednesday went to the office and ate at Carl's Jr. after. Which is so tasty, it is unreal nothing like a Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger. We went back and I got some packing done and went to the Church to teach the walk-ins Nok and Jo. We also taught them on Tuesday; they are so awesome. They had literally almost learned everything after we taught them so it was a nice walk-in for the new Elder that replaced me to get two baptisms with Elder Lodwick. I just found out today they did get baptized woooooo!!! I have a picture; I'll put up also.

 

Nok and Jo's Baptism

Transfers were Thursday! I'm moving to Sisaket which is in the Eesaan! It is right by Cambodia! I'm also will white wash the area and be training a new missionary!  His name is Elder Mitchell from Payson, Utah. He just turned 19 years old in the MTC and is just out of high school (he was just older in his grade). My companion is so cool and we have tons in common. He played high school baseball and is left handed just like me; what more can I want? He is way awesome; though really! He is such a good guy and we get along great!

 

Landon, Brother Keng and fresh from America; Elder Mitchell

After our 7 hour bus ride here we arrive and the house was just filthy; so you know the first thing I did was clean the shower so I could shower because I wasn't about to shower with mold on the ground that has been there who knows how long! We studied and tried to get to know the area a little bit. Luckily a member showed us around a bit and took us to eat and got my companion a bike and all that good stuff! It was way awesome though! It is my first area that actually has a church. We even have sports night here! We played volleyball and of course I tore it up; so much fun! 

Saturday we did some contacting, finding, and talking with the members after coordination meeting. After talking to the members and looking through our area book we have literally no investigators. I don't know what the other two Elders were doing, but that is okay. This place has an awesome branch and tons of members. They have around 120-130 people every week which is so nuts, especially because this city is pretty small. The members are way awesome though. 

On Sunday we had two investigators come to church the other Elders had 1 and the Sisters had 1, so we are already doing some work here ha-ha! They both accepted dates to get baptized next month. They are a couple named Bawk and Jub; they are friends of a member. They are going to Bangkok for a couple weeks so they will get baptized when they come back!

That is really everything I got for you; pretty awesome week! Love you all, hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

We make better fried chicken than KFC!!!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 66

Week Twenty-one in Samut Prakan
Monday, September 15, 2014

What's up!

This has been another successful week down here in Samut Prakan. For the most part the inviting this week wasn't very big and we weren't having a lot of success, but man were we blessed with some new investigators. On Friday we were teaching a lesson and had a family walk in that were interested in religion. We taught them the following day and they came to church on Sunday both accepting a date to be baptized on the 21st. They are the first walk-ins I have seen my whole mission, so it was so cool. Then on Saturday a random phone number called us that we didn't know and I answered and they said I want to go to church and where is the church. So I explained it to them and the following morning we were about to follow up with her to make sure she was coming. She called us first and wanted to make sure church was all good! She came to church with her little daughter and she has a husband, but who wasn’t able to come this week, but wants to come next week. So we were blessed with another family; so cool!

This week we had our trials with the investigators we were working with for baptism! The first person we thought we were going to get baptized for sure was named Ying. She came to church Sunday and then we had a return appointment Monday we taught her and she had the best spiritual confirmation this church is true; in her prayer she even started crying. She was supposed to meet with us Tuesday, but she didn't show up. When we got a hold of her she had asked her Mom if she could change religions and she said; no. She also has a boyfriend who she was planning on marrying in about a year who is really strong into Buddhism and they aren’t up for her changing religions. They won't even let her pray at her house and she can barely read the scriptures. They keep taking her to the Buddhist temples trying to force her to stay, so that was a huge obstacle. So we will wait and see what happens with her. Now time for Sister Nid’ she is the lady who got baptized yesterday. She is so awesome! First off though she comes to English class Tuesday and after English we were planning on teaching her, but my companion goes to talk to her after English and she didn't understand what my companion was saying so she said she didn't want to learn with us and wasn’t interested in religion. We are like are you kidding me; we just lost her as an investigator. Then we were supposed to meet Sister Nuun on Wednesday and she got in a fight with her husband and he won't let her come to church; so poof, there she goes. All of our potentials for baptism gone…we thought.

Wednesday morning my companion says he is going to call Nid one last time and see if she understood him right. He calls her up and she is; like yeah, I'm interested. We are like; what!? Do you want to be baptized still; she said, yeah. We taught her on Wednesday. Then we had a member pass away this week which was really sad so on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we had to attend the funeral sessions since they last forever here! But on Friday we had to teach Nid so in order to get her ready to be baptism we brought her to the funeral and taught her at the funeral…ha-ha! So legendary, that is the first time I can say I taught an investigator at a funeral and inside a Buddhist temple! It had to be done though there was no other way we could have done it. Saturday she met with the bishop and sure enough she passed her interview; awesome!

  

Oh, I forgot on Saturday at the funeral the Bishops wife comes up to me and said; hey do you have an appointment Monday night? I was like nope, why? She's like okay you are coming to our house for dinner because it may be the last chance you have before you leave. They love me so much so of course I'm going, they are way awesome! So that is what we are doing tonight. Last week we went and got my companion a suit cut so we are going back today to get some fittings done. We are going to go try and find dragon silk too so we can get some awesome neckties made, so I’ll let you know if I find anything awesome!

Transfers are this week always we still don't know anything, yet but everyone thinks I am moving since I've been here the longest, so we will see what happens this week! Brother Keng gets back today so I think I'll be meeting up with him!

Oh and yesterday we had 90 people at church. that was way awesome. Our companionship had 11 investigators at church so next week we are planning on two more baptisms from the walk-in family. We will see what happens though; I'm excited! We made fried chicken and sticky rice for dinner last night. I can say our fried chicken skills are nearly perfected; soooo good! We make better fried chicken than KFC! Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

Elder/Chef Watkins

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 65

Week Twenty in Samut Prakan
Monday, September 8, 2014

Hello Family and Friends

How are you all doing?

This was a pretty good week except we weren't able to pull off a baptism this week, but the other Elders did so it was still great to still have a baptism on Sunday. This week was a lot better than the last week I feel as far as work went because last week. Not sure what happened that we weren't able to get any new investigators to church last Sunday, but this week we had 7 so that was pretty awesome. We made a goal for 4 baptisms this week and I think it is possible, but it will take a lot of work on our part and help from the Lord. We have some pretty, awesome new investigators. We got 2 new referrals from members this past week and found 2 golden investigators from inviting.

It was great to go have the special training from Elder Steven B. Allen (Managing Director of the Missionary Department) and Elder Funk (in the 70). It was a great opportunity to learn.

As far as my companionship goes Elder Lodwick and I are doing great. The work is really progressing here and we have created a great team here working together. 

As far as my personal study. It has been great! This last week I have been using my time reading PMG and the other part to read some talks Elder Lodwick has given me. “The challenge and testifying missionary along with the fourth missionary”. Some really awesome talks that have increased my drive in the work of the Lord and helped me to understand what kind of a missionary I want more to be and what things I can do to be better. Self evaluation has been huge this transfer for me which is what I think has helped me to become the missionary I am right now. 

This week my companion and I have been just cooking it up like champs! Man we have been making some amazing food! Last week we made Papaya Salad and fried chicken for dinner. Saturday morning we made orange/lime fried chicken omelets and sticky rice. Man it was so good! But, last the best of all was last night we made fried papaya salad which is honestly my favorite thing I've ever eaten here in Thailand, but it is really hard to find so we decided to give it a shot and make it last night; it was way gooood! It wasn't the best I've had, but like it was about an 8 on the scale of 1-10. Then we had orange/lime fried chicken on the side and it was soooo good, nice and moist; way tasty with some stick rice to go with it. I think Mom would be so proud really! (I am way proud and impressed he is cooking) I've been just making shakes for breakfast recently. Oh and this last week I made brown sugar cinnamon oatmeal which was so good! Who knows I may be quite the chef when I get home. Making food is way delicious and good, but it does take a lot more time; that's the problem. Anyways I'll shoot some pictures your way of our awesome dinner we had last night! 

Hope you all have a great week! Oh and this is our last full week before transfers. The Bishops wife had asked me earlier in the week to bear my testimony, so I was the last person to go up in Sacrament meeting the bishops and his wife really like me (I can't blame them ha-ha) and after I sit down the Bishop just gets up there and says, Elder Watkins is moving and will be moving on to other places. So everyone after Sacrament is like you're already moving and finishing your mission. I'm like no-no no I'll be seeing you all next Sunday and I still got 9 months left in my mission it was so crazy but funny! 

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

สวัสดีครับ

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 64

Week Nineteen in Samut Prakan

Monday, September 01, 2014

สวัสดีครับ 

Thought that I would switch it up this week from the same old Hey Everyone ha-ha, but no one can probably read what this says :) All you need to know is it says…hi ha-ha. It looks cool though, right?

Anyways this week was pretty awesome for the most part! First too start off we had two baptisms! It was so awesome we had Sister ฝน Fon (Rain) and Sister ฝ้าย Faiy (Cotton). They both came to church for the first time last Sunday and for Fai we had to get special permission to get her baptized this fast because she is only 17. But she passed an interview with the Zone Leaders on Thursday then she interviewed with the bishop on Saturday and the bishop talked with President Senior and he gave the okay for her to get baptized this week! It was way cool that we were able to pull off two baptisms! Sister Fon was awesome though we met her everything morning at 8:30 to teach her and get her ready for baptism this week. Because she works from 10-10 everyday. The only problem was how is she going to get baptized on Sunday because her boss wouldn't give work off. So we asked her what are you going to do and she is like; just not show up to work ha-ha! So to get baptized she just didn't go! She has a plan to quit her job and find work at the end of next month so that she can keep the Sabbath day holy, but her faith was so awesome to see her grow and develop and exercise this much faith! It is awesome how many people are ready to receive the gospel in their lives so fast and quickly to change their lives.

The baptism was awesome though; yesterday at church we had 66 people. We had 4 investigators and the other elders had 3. I don't know what happened we had 60 new phone numbers this week, but just no new investigators showed up to church, we don't know what happened! But 4 people actually did get baptized! We had two 8 year olds get baptized also, which was way awesome it is the first time I've been somewhere on my mission that had a members child turn 8 and get baptized. It was 2 girls, such a cool special experience! For the other two it was awesome because they both chose me to baptize them! It was just an awesome and special experience as usual! I think the bishop’s wife took a really good picture that hopefully I can get from her and send to you guys because I saw her take it and it should be awesome! But the spirit is just so strong when I get to baptize people. It is so special. It made me think back to the time when I went to the Temple for the first time and I was able to be the person baptized for the dead; just so special! I baptized both of them first try so that was good! Everyone in the ward thinks I'm way good at doing the baptisms ha-ha! It is awesome though! 

As far as next week I made a goal for 1 baptism which we are hoping we can pull off! We have two potentials. Nawk and Lek, we are hoping we can get one of them baptized so we are working our hardest! Our zone had 33 baptisms this month and not to boast or anything, but it just felt good when the results came in and my companion and I tied for the second most in the zone! We've gotten 4 baptisms in 3 weeks and it just feels good! Expect more to come because the work is hastening here in Thailand!

Love you all so much hope; you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge!!!

Baptisms and Pictures!!!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 63

Week Eighteen in Samut Prakan

Monday, August 25, 2014

Hey Everyone!

Things are going pretty great this week! First off Brother Jawd got baptized this week! It was way awesome. Teaching him throughout the week was hilarious; every time we would bring up getting baptized on Sunday he'd just be like, yeah, for sure I'm getting baptized this Sunday. He was honestly the easiest person I've ever taught my whole mission to get baptized. He had no problems with any commandments and accepted everything we taught. The members love him too he is going to be such a good member in the ward especially once he has the Melchizedek Priesthood!

I had my first baptismal interview this week! It was great! Pretty easy it only took about 10 minutes for the interview part! She gave me a little scare, but it all worked out great in the end. The longest part is just having to fill out the Baptismal Record in Thai ha-ha because Thai people’s names are just spelled so different. It was a way great experience though.

This week at church on Sunday we had 70 people at church. We had two baptisms. We had one and the other Elders had one. My companionship had 9 investigators at church and the other two Elders had 2. 

We have a baptismal goal of 2 for next week so we had a couple new daters from Sunday Lek, Fone, and Fay. Lek and Fone are who we are trying to get for next week. They are two new investigators that just came to church for the first time on Sunday, but they both took a date and we have return appointments with them Tuesday at 9 and 10; so awesome. 

This week my companion and I got 64 new phone numbers which is a lot and I feel like this week will be even better. I have just changed my attitude a little bit and he has changed too he even finally told me he was trying to be the way he was at the beginning and that now he is going to be himself more so we are getting along great.

Anyways as far as this week nothing else crazy happened or too interesting that I can think of except Sister Bung got confirmed and it was awesome! So we are trying to get 2 baptisms this week so that we will have 4 this month. The requirement for each companionship is 2 a month and we have that, but we want 2 more because that was the original standard before President lowered it to two. Have a good week everyone; love you all!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

The Story of Bung's Baptism and the Golden Investigator: Jaw!!!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 62

Week Seventeen in Samut Prakan

Monday, August 18, 2014

Hey!

This week was pretty good because of the awesome turnout in the end. So first I will start off with the great news; Bung got baptized woohooo! :) It was so awesome! Monday she went with us to Mega Bang Na and we all had a good time going doing some shopping and stuff. After we taught her and finished up teaching her that day she still wasn't willing to accept a date, an interview or anything. The thing is she is scared her family will get upset and won't let her get baptized. I said; okay you have a goal to talk to you family before we meet again. We told her that we should meet with you as much as possible and luckily she quit her job a couple of weeks ago so she is free all the time for the moment…ha-ha. We met with her on Wednesday and taught her about the tree of life and we compared it to how baptism in her life will be like eating the fruit and she really liked it, but still wouldn't accept a date. But, she did talk to her Mom and when she asked her Mom, her mom didn't respond. We said okay we have an appointment to meet with on Friday; will you talk to your Mom again before then and she said; okay. Friday comes and she calls us and is like; my Mom called, but I 'm not telling you what she said until we meet. When we get there she is like, my Mom said if I want to get baptized that I have to marry someone who is already a member in the church before I can get baptized... We are like; are you kidding me and she was like; yeah. I wasn't expecting that response at all.  We just talk to her and shared tons of scripture telling her God will take care her and she really liked that and we just got her thinking about some things. We have been telling her the whole time we wanted her to get baptized on the 17th. I asked her about what she was thinking about doing? She responds; “well I have to get interviewed tomorrow, right; if I'm going to get baptized on Sunday” and I said; “yeah”. Do you want to get interviewed and she said;”YES”! WOW…so awesome! She finally accepted. She comes out of the interview on Saturday and I'm like; so did you pass your interview? When are you going to get baptized? She said; tomorrow, right? I was like; yeah, I think we can do that ha-ha. She's like okay, but on one condition, you have to baptized me and promise that you will do it right the first time. I was like okay; I'll do my best ha-ha. At the church during the second hour I'm sitting next to her in investigators class and she writes a note and gives it to me saying she feels sick and not good about getting baptized. I'm like, you're okay; just say a prayer and you will feel better. So right in the middle of class she just bows her head and starts praying and so do I because I'm praying as hard as I can to help her fell better too! Sure enough class ends and I ask her if she is doing okay and she's like; yeah, I'm better, I feel great! I'm just like; thank you Heavenly Father because I was scared she wasn't going to follow through with the baptism. Comes down to the baptism finally and first try; I got her baptized! Man it felt so good. I honestly haven’t felt the spirit that strong at a baptism while in the water. I know Heavenly Father was watching over us the whole time; it was just so great! She was just so happy. After we changed back into our clothes we were just waiting for her and she comes out with the biggest smile on her face and gives me a high five; so funny, ha-ha. Then later last night I was putting my suit away and she had left like a little tiny short note for me just telling me thanks for everything. It made me feel so good inside! She was awesome, she just didn't care her family wasn't accepting her changing religions and she just put all her trust in God and she got baptized; soooo awesome!

Sorry that was such a long story, but honestly it was the greatest thing that happened last week. The next thing is I met this guy named; Jaw last Sunday night and we invited him to church and he said he'd go. We met with him on Wednesday and he brought a friend from his work. We taught him and he accepted a date for the 24^th; he is way awesome! He came to church on Sunday too. His phone is always off, but Sunday morning he called me to tell me he was on his way to church. He is the most golden investigator ever. All he does is say how impressed he is with us and after church he said the members were so awesome and he was so impressed. We taught him and at the end that everything we are teaching you is to help you get baptized next Sunday. He is like, I need to start preparing and getting a set of white clothes! I'm like whoa, don't worry about that; we got them here for you. He is like okay; next Sunday I can get baptized. I'm almost positive he is getting baptized this next Sunday; he is awesome! He is a 50 year old guy and will be a great Melchizedek priesthood holder.

Anyways that is really all for this week. Elder Crump brought his companion down last night to get his Patriarchal blessing from the Patriarch here; that was cool. I'm the only one who knows where the guy’s house is so we had to take them there and we were even able to sit in on the blessing. It was such a great spirit in the room; it was sooooo cool. Hearing it all in Thai was really awesome and it so amazing what revelation God is able to give us through our Patriarchal blessing; such a special gift we get from our Heavenly Father.

It was a good week though! I would send you guys pictures, but I'm just afraid these computers will erase them so I'm not going to send them from this internet place, sorry. 

Have a great week. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

Another New Adventure for Nate...

We took Nathan down to Arizona and got him all settled in for school...it was hard saying goodbye, but he is ready for this new chapter of his life and I know that the Lord will watch over and protect him. This is his room in a house rented with five other guys. I hope he comes back home soon :(

Loading up the Jeep to take the long ride to its new home...

This will be the last time I see his bed made so I thought I better take a picture :)

We went to Portillo's for lunch yesterday...so yummy!!!

Back to just two with a new companion...Elder Lodwick

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 61

Week Sixteen in Samut Prakan

Monday, August 11, 2014

Hey!

Well how's everyone doing?

I'll first start off by explaining everything that happened with transfers. On Tuesday we had just finished eating lunch and I got a phone call from President and I thought he was going to ask me to train, but nope; he wanted to talk to Elder Savage. Sure enough President says I need Savage to get all his stuff ASAP and come to the office today ASAP. So we went back to the house while he packed everything and we took him to the office. That took up our whole day on Tuesday except for English class when we got back.

Wednesday was crazy too it was just me and Elder Kettavong so it seemed way quiet around here; then I get a call from Elder Crump and he is like; hey, we will be in Samut Prakan in an hour we are going to sleeping at your house tonight! I’m like sweet! So we went and had dinner together and they stayed the night before transfers, it was way awesome. Anyways transfers rolled around on Thursday morning and before transfers when we went to the office on Tuesday I had asked if Kettavong and I were going to stay companions and if we would still have to go to transfers because if you don't change companions you just stay in your area. They called us a few hours later and said that we needed to go to transfers so that meant something was going on. At transfer they split up me and Elder Kettavong. We both got new companions. My new companion is Elder Lodwick. He's 19 years old and from Tennessee. He has been out for about 6 months he is in the same group as Elder Savage. He served in Rangsit and Udorn before coming here. So he is already on area 3 in 6 months and I am on my third area too except that I have been in country a year this week ha-ha. I must be doing something right not to get moved like crazy, I guess ha-ha. Elder Kettavongs companion is Elder Thomas he was actually in my MTC group just in the other district. He is from California and is a really nice guy. Oh and he is in my same group and this is his 5th area, so it looks like I just hang out in my areas for a long time! Oh yeah and also I became District Leader so that is interesting. After transfers I had my DL training meeting which was good. It answered some questions I had about Baptismal Interviews and stuff like that. I haven't had to interview anyone, yet, but when I do I'll let you know how my first interview goes! It’s going to be a cool experience, I think. After transfers we went and ate at Que Pasa as usual because that is just something you have to do when you go to transfers meeting. We came back to our area and had Book of Mormon Class.

Other than that though for this week we haven't done much except for inviting and visiting RC's because since Kettavong and I were companions before so we had to split all the investigators and people we were teaching in half to make it fair. 

Our main investigator is Bung; the 28 year old girl we are teaching. She is honestly so awesome and so ready to be baptized. She has already gotten her answer that the church is true she just won't take a date because she is scared. But I had a way good lesson with her on the phone last night and I think she's understand why it is so important; so I'm praying she will be baptized this Sunday. I think she will, she is way awesome. So keep her in your prayers this week.

Our other investigator is Yok he is a 14 year old boy; a friend of a member. He has been to church 2 times now, but since he is 14; he has to come for 3 months or we have to get special permission for him to get baptized faster; so as of right now we are taking it easy with him. We had 2 new investigators come to church Sunday, but they are also young; 15 and 16 year old girls, they only came to sacrament are super busy with school so we will see if they go anywhere! I think we will get this area really strong, though.

Anyways; it was a pretty good week. Expect a baptism for next week because it is going to happen! Love you all so much hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

Em's Baptism!!!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 60

Week Fifteen in Samut Prakan

Monday, August 04, 2014

Hey!

This week was pretty sweet for the most part! First things first, being with Nate was way awesome! The time went by so fast, but it was way fun to just hang out with him for the day and show him around Thailand. Seeing his and Josh's face after taking pictures with the tiger was awesome too. They are just like; “Wow this is so cool!” Made me think back to the first times when I did that and I was just like them.  It is just funny how when you are doing it you think well; it's just a tiger, but where else in the world can you just go and hold a tiger like that; I don't know? I'm sure you saw all sorts of good pictures of them at the crocodile farm. It is too bad at this place they won't let the elephants pick you up with their trunks. I tried to talk the guy into it, but he wouldn't do it, guess you have to go to Ayutthaya for that experience.

  

Tuesday was a crazy day we had to go to Bang Na for District meeting. We finally got back to the church and worked on making a map of all the members’ houses in Samut Prakan. It was hard and annoying because you can just buy a map of Samut Prakan. We had to zoom in on Google Earth then Screenshot it and print it out so the map seems unorganized, but the Bishop said its okay. They just want to know where all the members live so they can move the church to the most convenient place possible. We worked on this assignment all week and we finally sent it in on Sunday to the Stake President.

After English class at 8 o clock that night we had Brother Em's baptism it was way good! Super short, but it all worked out. I was able to baptized him which was way cool!!! I did it on the first try which always feels good to get it right on the first try.

On Sunday we had 71 people at church and 4 investigators. We have some potential investigators to get baptized next week, Sister Bung and Uuy, but neither of them accepted the date!  We just need to meet with them a few more times this week and help them out! We only met Bung 8 days ago and she has already learned almost everything. She has already read to 1 Nephi 18; which is pretty fast! Anyways Brother Em and Way both got confirmed on Sunday, so that was cool! Hopefully we can get somebody baptized this next Sunday, but who knows. I may not even be here with transfers coming up this week. Hopefully we find out tonight if I'm just getting a new companion or if we will still be in a threesome. I really like this area a lot and don't want to move. It is possible that I could stay even though I've been here the longest, but really not that long!

Other than that everything is going good! Today is Elder Savages birthday so we are going to just do whatever he wants today, so it should be fun! Love you and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins