I Rode a Water Buffalo!!!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 89

Week Eleven in Roi Et

Monday, February 23, 2015

Well this week was pretty fun!

It was another really rough week, to be honest, but we taught tons of lessons and found tons of new investigators. Just none of our investigators are ready yet to commit to baptisms and it's a bit frustrating.

Anyways! The awesome thing that happened last Monday was we went and rode a water buffalo ha-ha! It was so awesome! It is just a members Water Buffalo here and they just leave it by this huge river and let it hang out so we went to the members house where it usually is, but it wasn't there and she told us that it was down by the river. So we headed over there and sure enough a Mom and the baby are just lying in the water ha-ha! All 7 of us went as missionaries, but everyone was just frightened; except me! So I climbed down and pulled the buffalo out of the water hahaha! We took a few pictures with it! Then since I knew everyone else was already scared I asked; “who wants to go first?” and everyone just looks at me in silence. I figured that's what would happen so I said; “fine I'll go first” ha-ha so I jumped right up on! It was so fun ha-ha and just exhilarating! There should be a video of me getting on the buffalo and some pictures! There is also a picture of the Family Home Evening we had that same night at the District Presidency 2 counselors house, it was pretty fun!

As far as this week went for investigators. Ern and Ahh didn't come to church as we had hoped and they both quit picking up their phones... Then all of the sudden Sunday morning at 7:30 Ern called and asked if she can come to church.  Originally she couldn't so it was such a miracle. So now we are going to meet with her today and try and baptize her on Thursday so she can receive the Holy Ghost before she goes back to study in China next week. Please keep Ern in your prayers!

We found 9 new investigators this week which was crazy! We have quite a few good ones! We have a girl named; Ice who has been coming to English for a while and wants to be baptized! She could have gotten baptized this coming week if she would have been able to come to church yesterday, but she had an activity at the university that she had to go to!

Our 83 year old investigators Wirat is doing okay; we have finished teaching him everything and tried everything we can to help him. We even had the Stokers come and help us teach him, but he is just so worried about causing a division in his family if he gets baptized. We need to talk to his family or lets us meet them, but he won't let us meet them so hopefully he will talk with them. We are going to have him interview probably on Wednesday just so we can say you are ready to be baptized; now it's up to you to make it happen.

Anyways at church yesterday we had 121 people which was pretty awesome our whole Zone had balanced key indicators. We had 26 RCs at church and my companionship had 6 investigators so it was pretty awesome! 

We went and took the sacrament to a few homes of people that were too sick to come to church which was a good experience. After we had dinner at the Stokers house, She made BBQ chicken, peas and carrots, potatoes, and cheesecake! It was pretty good except I'm not a big fan of cheesecake, but it's better than most Thai desserts ha-ha. That's all for this week!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

Translating for Elder Kanakham

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 88

Week Ten in Roi Et

Monday, February 16, 2015

Hey Everyone!


How's it going?

Things were pretty crazy here this last week to be honest, but it was way awesome!

Well I'll start off with Saturday and Sunday since it is fresh on my mind! So this week we had the Leadership training for our Ubon District here in Roi Et! Wow was it crazy we were assigned to translate for everything…ha-ha; oh great! So the meeting started at 10 so we are leaving our house at 9:30 and I look at my companion’s bike and both of his tires were flat ha-ha! We go down the street to a little the place and it’s closed! So we kept trying to find a place to fill them up with air, but I knew that one of the tubes was burst for sure, but we had to find a place that could change it out! We finally found a place and it's already past 10 by now ha-ha; but the guy had no tubes so he had to go buy one! So we just ditched our bikes at his shop and luckily he had a car and he's like; I’ll just take you to the church so he took us over and we just got translating. The cool thing is Elder Kanakham is here and he the first Thai Seventies you know and was just way awesome. Our heads were hurting from translating all day and we thought it was all over. The best part was though all the Sisaket leaders came up here so I got to see all of them! I didn't even get to eat lunch because they ran out of food except for I did get a few cucumbers ha-ha!  We went and picked up our bikes and grabbed some food because; Oh, surprise we have a special fireside tonight from Elder Kanakham which was way awesome, to be honest! He tied everything into the atonement and if you have an understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and will come to church, do your home teaching and visiting teaching! It just all made perfect sense; he was a great speaker. It was cool he called me out of the crowd to play; “I Stand All Amazed” while everyone just listened. It was a little stressful because I had never played that song before, but my sight reading was okay ha-ha! Luckily the song wasn't too hard. There was a special spirit while everyone sat in silence remembering what our Savior had done for us!

Sunday was good too we didn't think we were going to get any investigators at church be we ended up get 4 news ones to show up, which was awesome! It was so lame though; Ern and Ahh didn't go to church because of who knows why, but we got lucky! Wirat our new guy from last week who is 82 is wild. Everyone knows him and he is just super rich and well known I guess. We met with him a ton, but he has accepted everything but baptism; it is so weird ha-ha! He is worried about the whole Buddhist thing and what his family will think because he is like the head of it. He went off to another province for some special meeting so he wasn't free. We had 126 people at church this week which was also good! We had Elder Kanakham in church with us so it was just a great time to learn! I just wish I hadn't been translating the whole time during the training so I could have written some things down. 

Friday was pretty sweet too! We had a February Birthday Celebration and for our part we did line dancing again because the members loved it so much! The bad thing was that the Stokers were out of town so guess who had to lead the line dancing! Yep, you guessed it; this guy ha-ha! I led all the members and I think I did a good job; I guess! But luckily it wasn't too hard! Good exercise, fun, and learning for the members which was a great success.

Other than that we just worked all week inviting! I went on a switch off to Kalasin with Elder Kandun a Thai Elder and it was way fun and just a good switch up! Everything is going pretty good! Hopefully we can get some more baptisms here soon; the work is a little slow. 


Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Elder Landon J Watkins

The Fish Grabbers!!!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 87

Week Nine in Roi Et

Monday, February 09, 2015

Hey,

Well this was a pretty awesome week for the most part! On Monday we had a FHE with Ern and Ahh and the District Presidents Family! It was awesome and there was a ton of good food! She made chicken wings and I ate 22 of them and there was still a whole plate they wanted me to eat and I was like whoa; no way ha-ha! I was so satisfied though and it was good for Ern and Ahh to experience that!

Tuesday was awesome… first thing in the morning we got ready and headed off to help serve old Bro. Yahd again! He's so awesome ha-ha; he's a 78 year old man who can barely hear and I don't even know if he speaks Thai ha-ha! So we ended up pounding PVC pipe in the ground with this wooden log he gives us and then you take a water bottle (which has a hole poked through the cap) and squirt it around the PVC pipe which hits the dirt at the bottom around the PVC pipe. You pull it out and dada; you have a nice little hole to water and plant the watermelons! It was some pretty, wild work! After that was when the real fun came! We went over to this huge pit and it is just mud with all these Thai guys grabbing fish and putting them in baskets; it was so funny! Man that was some thick mud, just trying to climbing down in it even trying to walk! Then you just shove your arms down in the mud and try to find the fish! We didn’t get to help them much; because they were just finishing up! I did catch 4 fish and my comp got 2; so I guess I was the better fish grabber ha-ha! It was fun though and a good experience; that was for sure.

We had our training Wednesday morning in Bangkok which was pretty awesome! We are now just focusing on families as much as possible which is way awesome! Plus we had such good food! They made a ton of pancakes with Buttermilk syrup; wow were they good! For lunch they made Lasagna and had salad with Ranch Dressing which was the first time I've had that since the MTC; so good! We headed off to Korat that night so we could train the missionaries there! Then we did a switch-off with them. We got back around 1 AM on Friday morning and got a little bit of sleep and then trained the other districts that morning which was good because Sister Stoker made us Cinnamon Rolls ha-ha!

Friday and Saturday we worked hard teaching lessons and preparing as much as possible for Sunday! We had 110 people at church this week with 29 RC's; so that was way awesome. The only thing that was bad is Ern and Ahh showed up late so they didn't make it to sacrament, so now we don't know when or how we will get them baptized because they actual study at a university in China and are headed back in March and the next 2 Sundays they are not free again until March 1... So next week we committed Ern to go to church in Nongkhai and the Ahh in Asoke. We had a new investigator come to church named Wirat; he is way awesome! He's 82 years old! He accepted a date to be baptized next week! So we are trying really hard with him! He's has a cane and everything, but he still drove himself to church; which is awesome! Sister By was baptized yesterday (if you guys can remember her) I was teaching last transfer until I moved areas! I sent you picture of her because I really got to teach her everything before she got baptized! I was way excited for her though; it was cool!

That's all for this week. Today we are just going to relax and have a good time! I am going to take my companion to the Moose to get his haircut. It’s a really nice barber shop I found that I really like! Love you all!

Love,
Elder Landon J Watkins

Farmer Watkins...Planting Watermelons!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 86

Week Eight in Roi Et

Monday, February 02, 2015

Hey Everyone!

Well this was quite the last week it was pretty good too for the most part!

So to start off first thing on Tuesday morning a member picked us up and took us out to his farm and we prepared the land so he could plant watermelons. We got the ground wet, dug the holes, put in fertilizer and compost and then turned up the soil. It was some good work and a fun time! I sent some pictures of some of water buffalos in the field and of me watering the ground with the giant water cans ha-ha! It was a fun time. We are actually going out again tomorrow to help him catch fish. They drain the pond of water so it's just super muddy and then we just go around grabbing fish and throwing them in buckets from what I understand it should be awesome and a good time so hopefully I can get some pictures of that for ya. It was some good service. The member  we helped is 78 years old and his health isn't the greatest so being a farmer is really hard on him so we really lifted his burden by helping him out! 

On Wednesday the AP's came up here for a switch off which was way good and fun! The AP's right now are both Thai; the first time ever, but they are so good! They both speak English really well. I went with Elder Thanawat who is a really nice guy and we had a blast teaching and finding new investigator; it was a good day.

Friday was pretty good too! President Senior and Sister Senior came up to Roi Et and gave a few areas in our zone a special training! They really emphasized bearing our testimony more often about Jesus Christ because we are representatives of Jesus Christ! Also they put a huge stress on Family History so that is why I'm asking you guys for all the pictures and information. Now we are supposed to help every new RC sign up for Family Search and have them start filling out the “My Family” booklet. So I have to finish mine first before I can have anyone else to do you theirs. So I've been working on mine really hard trying to make it good. I just need some more pictures and filling out some memories which will be the hardest part for me.

We also met with two new investigators this week Ern and Aah that Elder Hill found at Big C. We also ran into them at the park with a friend named Air who just so happens to be a member and is studying in Russia, but is back for a week. She is the District Presidents daughter here in Roi Et. Both of the girls are her best friend so they are really being fellowshipped it's so awesome! We worked with them and they came to church Sunday! Ern is way good and will most likely be baptized this Sunday we hope, but Aah is a little stubborn and hasn’t accepted a date, but we are working for her to be baptized this Sunday too; so pray for them!

This was a really fun week though! Sunday we had 3 investigators in sacrament but we also had 4 other people show late after sacrament was over. Three of them were black people from Cameroon! I don't know how interested they were, but we had some more come who could be pretty good, hopefully we can meet with today, at least that is the plan! We had 108 people at church with 27 Recent Converts in Sacrament, so not too bad! The work is progressing, but right now the rest of our zone is struggling. We are going to Bangkok this week for Mission Leadership Council so when we get back we will be going around training the districts in our zone and can get them pumped up and working hard!

That’s all I've got for this week; hope you all have a good one!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

New companion and Zone Leader in Roi Et!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 85

Week Seven in Roi Et

Monday, January 26, 2015

Hey everyone, how's it going??

I'm doing pretty well; this was quite a wild last week for sure. Monday night around 10 o clock we got calls saying that everyone in our district was moving except Sister Woodbury, so 5 out of the 6 missionaries here. I got the call I was moving and I'm like, wow already? Then I told Elder Kris on the phone (who is AP) if I'm just moving up to be zone leader you better tell me so I don't pack. So on Tuesday we just had a regular day for the most part! Didn't have anything to special; I taught institute which was good, I'm not the biggest fan of doing it in Thai because the lessons are in English and the vocabulary is crazy, but I get the job done. It helps me learn a lot which is good, so I like that! We started saying goodbye to members and all that good stuff. Wednesday we spent most of our day packing and getting food with some members. So right now I'm thinking well I didn’t get a call from him or President so I must just be moving to a new area as district leader so I take all my stuff down to Bangkok and I'm talking to like Elder Crump and a few others and President called them to be ZL's so I'm like; oh I guess I'm just going to be DL somewhere new? Then Roi Et pops up and it says I'm ZL in Roi Et. I'm just like; what in the world!? Ha-ha so I talked to Elder Kris after and I’m like why didn't you tell me and he says; President said he was going to call you; but of course that didn't happen. So I took everything back to old Roi Et and now I'm companions with Elder Hill who is one group ahead of me! 

Sporting a new haircut...I need to tell him to clean the toothpaste of the mirror before he take his picture next time :)

Elder Hill is from Bountiful, Utah he is 21 years old and is actually a convert to the church. He was baptized at 14 and is the only member in his family! He's a nice guy he is just on transfer ahead of me so he will be headed home in April. So we are both new to being Zone Leaders as he also moved up from District leader so this is going to be a good, fun experience. It's cool though because every month we get to go down to Bangkok for Missionary Leadership Council so I will be able to eat some Carl's Jr. or McDonalds when I go down; lets gooo! I can always buy some American stuff too! A member went to Bangkok this week and said she'd bring me two boxes of Lucky Charms; man am I excited ha-ha!

Anyways though to make things interesting we had 5 new missionaries come back. The sisters are now in a tri-companionship and the two new elders. Elder Sukhan is training a new greenie. So we have the stuff of 6 missionaries going back to Roi Et because had I had all my stuff too. Anyways they couldn't put all our stuff on the bus so we had to send our bikes up later. So Friday and Saturday we couldn't work much like we wanted because we didn’t have our bikes; it was alright though we got some decent work done.

Landon with his new companion Elder Hill at Michael's Baptism

Yesterday we had a baptism! Since we moved into the Zone Leaders area they had an investigator named Michael that we taught and we got baptize him on Sunday. It was way good! We had 114 people at church yesterday and 30 RCs it is the most RCs we've had at church since I've been here! Oh and then to make things more interesting old Bangkok sent some bike tires that were suppose to go to another Elders areas to us and when the sisters picked up their bikes they took them home. I told them just leave them since they weren't ours so we ended up having to grab those last night and take them back to the bus station and get them sent off to the other Elders. Quite the busy, crazy week that was for sure!

Dream and Ton's Baptism

Anyways that is really all we have. Our Zone had a Zone Goal of 20 baptisms this month and our district had 10; so that was awesome! The picture of the baptism from last week is a kid named Dream and Ton! They were the sister’s investigators, but I had helped to teach them once and had interviewed both of them so they chose me to baptize them; so I did!

Hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

The Longest Bike ride, but totally worth it!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 84

Week Six in Roi Et

Monday, January 19, 2015

Hey Everyone!

This was a pretty good last week! I have a few stories for you this week. It was the last full week before transfers. Since transfers are in two days. Who knows what will be happening this week.

Well first I will start off with our fun trip on Friday! So we have our two investigators from last week Nonney and his friend Bye! They go to a university here, but it is way out of the city in kind of a forest ha-ha. It's about 30 kilometers from the church so round trip 60 kilometers. So we set out after studies to head out there and it took us an hour and half to get out there because the wind was blowing so stinking hard it was unreal ha-ha! Wow, was it a ride to get out there! We went out there hoping we could get them baptized this week so we ate lunch with them; rested up and taught them quite a few lessons and headed back which was a much better ride because it wasn't near as windy on the way back which made us get back in just over an hour, so we did better on our speed. Man that was one of the farthest bike rides I have done on my mission right there ha-ha, but worth it. So Sunday they both came to church and we taught them during the second hour of church and tried to see if they wanted to get baptized, but they weren't feeling it, but that's okay we will get them next week ha-ha!

As far as Sunday went, it was a pretty awesome day! We had 114 people at church. We had 4 investigators; 2 were new ones. One is pretty good, but the sisters tried to steal her! We were like what the heck, so we don't know what is going on. Should we just be the nice guys and give her to them or do we take her back because they know they stole her because they had already talked to us about it ha-ha. Anyways, besides that though we've been working with an old branch president who has been to the temple, but has fallen away from the church and so has his whole family and believe it or not he came back to church this last week for the first time in over a year!!! He also brought his wife, his daughter,r and his daughters husband so it was so awesome! We had 4 people rescued this week!

Other than that this last week we did tons of less active work. We found another LA family that has been gone for about 9 or 10 years who used to be in the district presidency as a second counselor. We are going to begin working with them at least once a week and try and bring them back too. We need to bring back these Melchizedek priesthood holders; it is very important as we are preparing to receive a temple here in Thailand. It was a good last week! 

Hopefully I get to stay with Elder Hartung another transfer here in Roi Et; that would be awesome.

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

A picture of his new camera...What a handsome Missionary!!!

"Saving Mr. Banks"

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 83

Week Five in  Roi Et

Monday, January 12, 2015

Hey Everyone!

This week was pretty good! We finally got Brother Banks baptized! It was awesome. He called me up Monday night and was like; Hey I have something I want to talk to you about. I was like okay; let’s hear it. He's like can I get baptized this week? I was like ha-ha well, yeah; but do you believe in God yet? He's like; yeah, I got an answer. I was like, lets goooo ha-ha so on Sunday I was able to baptize him which was the highlight of the week!

Some other fun stuff we did this week. We went and visited the old branch president here in Roi Et who is less active. We biked 15 Kilometers there and another 15 back, It was a good ride, but it was really nice to meet this guy. It is so weird that he is less active when his testimony is still so strong and he still knows everything that is going on in the branch and all over Thailand; which is wild! We had a good visit though. The problem is they work on Sunday but he said they are going to start closing their restaurant down. Close Sunday’s so they can start coming back to church. He is even still paying his tithing ha-ha just doesn't come to church!

We had a monthly Happy Birthday activity this week which was good! All the members came and we had a little party for everyone whose birthday is in the month of January. It was a pretty good success we had around 70 people show up and sister Stoker taught us all how to line dance after district meeting. So we taught all the members two line dances during the activity and they just loved it! They had such a great time and it was a real success! I wish I had pictures but I was too busy out on the dance floor being an example for them to watch I didn’t take pictures. I'll have to try and steal some from the Stokers if I get a chance.

As far as other investigators are going we had one guy named Nonney come to church who has been an investigator for a while, but he lives 50 kilometers away so it's kind of hard for him to get to church, but he even brought a friend and they had a blast at church! They really enjoyed it and we talked to them about baptism and they were really into it so we are going to try and pull off some miracles this week and baptize them both so hopefully we can pull it off! It's the last full week before transfers!

Things are still going great though with Elder Hartung and I! That's really all that fun stuff that happened this last week! 

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

Feeding the Monkeys!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 82

Week Four in Roi Et

Monday, January 05, 2015

Hey Everyone!

Well you can count on this being a short letter since it has only been 3-4 days since I last emailed ha-ha!

Well I'll start off with what we did for New Years! We ended up going to look for some silk with elephants on it but they didn't have any. So Bro. Baw a way awesome member he took me to this cool place! He took pictures for me and sent them to me so you can see them on dropbox. After we went and picked up the other two Elders and we went on the hour ride to this Buddhist temple where there are monkeys ha-ha! Man they are cool, but just so mean and you always got to watch your back. Luckily none of us got bit or anything so that was good! There are some pictures of me feeding the monkeys also! 

As far as our investigators go we taught Bro. Bank and had his interview on Friday. He is so confusing ha-ha! He passed everything but the first question. So he wasn't able to get baptized. A few of our other investigators bailed, which was way lame, but luckily we were saved by one of the RC's in our area Sister Tooy. She brought her two kids who are not members. So she gave us some new investigators and we are going to try and get them baptized next week along with giving old Bank another shot! Yesterday was a pretty awesome day though we ended up pulling off some crazy numbers with 4 member lessons, 3 new investigators, 3 referrals, and 4 Recent Convert/Less Active lessons. We had some members just take us around to all these LA's houses and part member families so we got some new referrals and investigators from that, so it was way awesome!

As far as the camera story goes. The Dad tracked down the kid and brought him to the church we talked to him and the kid was just lying through is teeth so hard! The Dad would ask him did you steal it? And he'd just sit there in silence for 2 minutes. We are like, are you kidding me if he didn't steal it he could answer straight up. You could just see him shaken in his boots, but he won't admit that he had stolen it so we can't do anything about it now, so today I'm going to try and find a new camera! I took some money out to buy one! 

Oh and just so happens a member from Bangkok who I know came to Roi Et and he is going to leave on a mission soon and he offered to cut me a suit because he's a tailor and it was such a good price I just couldn't pass up because he is going on a mission so it's my last chance! It only cost me 2500 baht which is about $80 dollars for a customs tailored suit! Pretty sweet I chose a sort of Navy blue so if I go transfers on the 22^nd of January he said that it would be done for me; I'm pumped ha-ha!

Sister Stoker made some amazing Carrot Cake for us last night. American treats are good ha-ha! Thai treats are the worst ha-ha! Anyways, love you all. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

My Camera got stolen...Happy New Year!

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 81

Week Three in Roi Et

Monday, January 1, 2015

Hey Everyone!

Well it's officially the New Year for us, but it isn't over there in Utah quite yet! Anyways this was actually a pretty slow week and felt way long, I'll be honest! A lot of people have been out of town and just too busy to meet with us. Also as we have been inviting it has been rough just no one seemed willing to stop and talk to us no matter what we do, but we were still able to find a few new potentials and get a few good lessons in. 

Elder Hartung and I are getting a long great! He is a really good guy and fun to be around. He is a great example to me in effective studying and is helping me to learn so much more about the Gospel, the language, and the scriptures it is awesome and I'm really enjoying being his companion.

Here is the story about my camera getting stolen this past week was on Saturday. We had coordination meeting and right before we went in I grabbed my scriptures out of my bag and left my bag in the usual closet where we all leave them. The meeting started at 2 and at 2:30 my companion had to use the bathroom and I had loose string on my tie so I went to get my bag to grab my Leatherman to cut it off and my whole bag was gone. So we just started searching around trying to figure out where my bag went. We wandered around and there was a kid around 12 years old with a friend who and come in earlier to use the bathroom, but a member kicked them out. We found him and his friend were gone and the kid just sat and lied and wouldn't tell us anything. Anyways, the Sisters were searching behind the church and found my bag behind some bushes and everything was there except my camera. Some members took the kid and went to his house and found the parents of the kids who we are pretty sure stole it. But the parent’s kids haven't been home in 2 weeks. Great parenting right? So the Dad and stuff were cruising all around town trying to find his kid and never did, but a member has been helping and got the cops involved. I haven't had a chance to talk to the member, but the Dad said if they can't get the camera back then they will give me some money. I don't know how true that will be, but the kid has had to have sold the camera by now so I guess there is a still a slight chance I can get it back. I just need to talk to the member today.

As far as our investigators we are working with. We have 4 good ones and a lot of potentials.

We have Bro. Bank our 15 year old who has officially read the whole Book of Mormon in less than two weeks and is doing great! We are going to have him interviewed on Friday and hopefully he will choose to be baptized this Sunday.

We also have TonKla who is new. We found him at the New Year’s Party that has been going on for the last week. We met him and he was free so we ended up just walking with him all the way to the church and taught him, it was way good! He has a date for the 11th of January. So as long as he comes to church he should be getting baptized here soon.

The other two is a Mother and daughter named Gan and Yui. They are pretty interesting ha-ha. The Mom as a boyfriend from Australia who is Christian so she wants to be Christian also! We showed them around and introduced them at church. They are good and want to learn and her daughter has learned about Christianity before. They were supposed to come to church week, but her sister came up to visit from Bangkok so she was too busy, but they said they'd come this Sunday! Good stuff though.

Shabushi Buffet

The other cool thing that happened this week was Monday! It was a great day. First Bro. Keng came and visited and we went and ate Shabushi together a Japanese buffet which is just delicious I loved it! Bro. Keng is such a nice guy. It was a short visit, but way fun; I love that guy! That night we had a Family Home Evening with some members that we didn't know, but turns out that is because one of them lives in Hawaii and the other lives in Bangkok! They both studied at BYU Hawaii so they speak English, so well! It was so great to be able to speak some English! One of the girls named Vivi is from here and has two sisters that live here in Roi Et who aren't members so it was great experience and I think she had a great time! Her parents have already passed away so life hasn't been the easiest. So she really appreciated the Family Home Evening so the house wasn't so quiet and boring. Fun stuff though! 

That's really all we did for this past week, hopefully we can get some baptisms here soon!

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins

Christmas in Roi Et...

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 80

Week Two in Roi Et

Christmas Day 2014

Hi Mom!

Thank you so much! The 12 days of Christmas was way awesome I loved it! I'm feeling good though! It was so awesome to Skype with you today I love you so much! Hope you have a great Christmas and New years!

Love your favorite son :p

Elder Landon J Watkins 

Christmas Presentation teaching about what Christmas is all about...

Elder Hartung dressed up like Santa Claus!

What a Year...Christmas 2014

What a Year 2014 has been for our family…

            Nathan graduated from the University of Utah in Sociology in May and was accepted to graduate school at Arizona State University. He moved to Arizona in August and will be there until December of 2015. He has learned to appreciate Utah for its seasons, where he can pursue the outdoor activities he loves. In July he went back to Malaysia and stopped in Thailand and was able to spend a day with Landon!

            Landon had been out almost 18 months and has served in Ayutthaya; the old capital of Thailand, Nong Khai; near the border of Laos, Samut Prakan; south of Bangkok and now in Sisaket; close to the border of Cambodia, where he is training a missionary fresh from the states. The people of Thailand are really ready to hear the gospel and they are seeing the fruits of their labors in Thailand.

Jeff and I are surviving this taste of being empty nesters. We miss both of the boys at home, but are so proud of what they are doing with their lives.

Norman Vincent Peal said, “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” I truly believe this, and I love the spirit of the holidays and the peace that comes to the world as we recognize His birth. Merry Christmas to all!

Love,

Jeff, Joan, Nathan & Elder Watkins

Christmas 2014

Roi Et, Elder Hartung & American Food!

Lighting off my Lantern in Sisaket

Elder Landon J Watkins Week 79

Week One in Roi Et 

Monday, December 15, 2014

What's up?

Well as you already know I moved! I am now serving in an area called Roi Et. It is actually still pretty close to Sisaket only around a 2 hour drive just a bit further to the north. It is closer to Brother Keng for sure. My new companion is Elder Hartung. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has been out for around 6 months now in Thailand so 8 months total. He's 19 years old. He's 6 foot 3 and around 210 lbs. He is a big guy. He actually played some college basketball and division 2 college back in Pittsburgh. He's a pretty cool guy and we are getting along just fine. Elder Mitchell stayed in Sisaket and just got a new companion; so that was good. At least I know he will take care of our Recent Converts for us! As far as our area we have 2 sisters’; sister Woodbury and sister Ong. Also the Zone Leaders Elder Calderone and Elder Bannagorn. We also have a senior couple Elder and Sister Stoker which I'm way pumped about! They are way nice. They came to Sisaket a few weeks back and took us to dinner. I was able to get my package at transfers; so that was good! Oh and big news Elder Savage one of my previous companions (when he was in the threesome in Samut Prakan) is moving off to Myanmar now. So now I won't get to see him anymore! Pretty wild, President called him the day of transfers and asked if he would go; no notice at all. He had to go back to his area, pack his bags and go! 

Goodbye to my member friends in Sisaket!

Elder Hartung in the middle, his old companion on the left and me of course on the right.

As far as before transfers on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I just ended up saying good bye to a lot of members and just packing on Wednesday. It was sad to go; I'll miss that place it was pretty awesome and a lot of good memories! But it will be good to be in Roi Et now and experience some new stuff! 

 

My House in Roi Et!

As far as these last 3 days we don't really have many investigators right now so we have been doing a lot of contacting trying to find new people which is good. We have a lot of RC's that we are working with and even quite a few Less Actives; so that is good! Sorry not too much happened, but I'm way pumped to be here with the Stokers though. They make us dinner every Sunday night it sounds like. She made us waffles with eggs and chocolate cake yesterday. It is just amazing to have American food again! Oh and the first day on Friday she made us cinnamon rolls too which were just incredible; man do I miss American food. Thai food is good and all, but nothing hits the spot like good old food from America! When we were in Bangkok I couldn't resist and I got myself a double Big Mac; soooo good ha-ha! Anyways hope you all have a great week! Hopefully I can get over my sickness her soon. I was almost better before we left for Bangkok, but the lack of sleep and travel just made me way worse. So I had to start recovering over again so I'm starting to get a bit better. . Probably just a few more days and I'll be back in good shape again; I hope! Love you all though and Merry Christmas! As we won’t be emailing next Monday; so talk to you on Thursday! J

Love,

Elder Landon J Watkins