Trips to the Airport

What's up! 

This week is a big blur but we'll see what comes to me as i write haha-

Elder Slabaugh and I had a bunch of trips to the airport this week. I think it was tuesday we took my favorite little thai man in the world over to the airport at 3am. He is now serving a mission in Ogden, Utah and he is just gonna tear it up. He is such an awesome example of a disciple of Christ. His name is Elder Sangsuwan, the one who stayed with us last transfer and did a little mini-mission here in thailand for a month and a half. He's from Phuket and is just the coolest dude. 

We also went to pick up this sister missionary who is leaving for the phillipines mission from Burma, so that is wayyy awesome as well. These 2 years/ 1 and a half years is gonna have such a big impact in these peoples lives just as it has had in mine, its so awesome to see them embarking on their own adventures. 

Slabaugh and i got lost the other day coming back from the airport bc we missed the offramp, so that was another 2 hour little adventure throughout bangkok trying to make our way back home. 

I think one of my favorite parts of our week has been our new investigator Justin. He is Thai but studied in Tennesse for a couple years, and is actually about to head back. But when he was there he was introduced to christianity by friends he met, and after having too many "coincidences" that seemed like they could have been God's influence in his life, he came to study the bible more closely, and eventually became christian, after his whole life of being a very strong buddhist. So we meet him at our english class last week, and he came to us and basically said, "while i was in america some of my christian friends i remember talked so awfully about the mormon religion and called it a cult, not christian and etc.etc.etc. but being here it doesn't seem like most of what they said is true." and then he was like "i've heard one side of the coin, but i want to meet with you guys so i can see the other side." So we set up an appointment to meet him the next day, and it was super exciting to get back into the bible in my studies that morning to prep for our lesson with him. He came with an article his friend had sent him that was called like "10 ways mormon doctrine reject the bible" or something like that. it amazes me all the junk on the internet about mormons- but to make a long story short, we went through point by point with him. By the end of our discussion he realized that he couldn't just find his answer of whether this is all true or not just by searching online. I told him shortly of John Tanner's experience, and sent him the links for some super solid videos, like the Joseph Smith video, to balance out all the crazy anti-mormon lit. he's got, and invited him to study it out for himself, read the bible side by side with the book of mormon and learn the truth of it for himself. he is a way awesome dude and we meet with him one more time before he heads back to tenesse next week. The book of mormon is so true man- 

I love something my nepal RC, brother sanjeeb, said last night. After he read 3 nephi 12, and we went over it all with him, he just paused for a second, held up the book of mormon, and said "i love this book... this book has everything and anything we need in this life- this book teaches me how to be a good man". Becoming a good man was one of the first things he shared with us when we started meeting with him weeks ago, and it is so awesome seeing how happy his mom and grandma are (who don't speak english or thai) as they see there son/grandson change his life from what it was to what it is and will be. His mom has plans to get baptized this month- his grandma loves church and all its teachings but we are still working on her. Teaching them is a way special experience- as we rely on brother Jok or Sanjeeb to translate, but it's interesting how strong the spirit can still be in lessons. I decided to start picking up a little Napalese to better guide them in their journey back to their Father. 

My pride and joy, brother PJ, is continuing to be a boss- but he has a big swim tournament this week so we haven't had much time to meet with him. But there is not too many better feelings as a missionary then when you follow up with investigators how their keeping of the commandments is going, and they say, "dude... i've thrown all that stuff away, i promised i would change". This kid has so much drive and has grown so much faith in His savior in these last weeks. 

Oh another wayyyy cool experience where God's hand was so evident this week. Our investigator sister nuk brought her friend to church the other week, and that day i thought her friend, blaew, was just interested in elder, not jesus, as she was videoing me while i talked with nuk haha. But this last week while i was actually on switch offs, slabaugh had met with both these two, had a solid lesson, and at the end asked blaew to say the closing prayer. typically, actually always with people we haven't taught before they are hesitant to pray, but slabuagh told me that she just like immediately folded her arms, bowed her head, and started praying- and gave a beautiful prayer. Afterwards Slabaugh asked her where she learned to pray, and blaew said that nuk had taught her. And that she already has a testimony that prayer is real. She said that last week after nuk had taught her about prayer, she tried it out that night- and had specifically prayed for God to prepare a way to get in contact with her brother that she hasn't seen or talked to in years. Then blaew says that 5 minutes after she had prayed, her brother had sent her a message on facebook. They now are both planning to follow their Savior, Jesus Christ into the waters of baptism this week or next. Nuk is still a little scared to tell her parents that she wants to be christian, but she said she is more scared of the water hahaha. 

Switch-offs this week in Bangkhae, west bangkok was fun with Elder Sukhan. It was cool inviting, teaching, and serving in a new area, but it felt good to be back in Asoke. When i was leaving Phitsanulok about 2 months ago- i remember thinking that no where else was gonna feel like home like Phitsanulok did, but Asoke has definitely taken that title of Home. I love it here so much. That also reminds me of Brother Renny, this super amazing dude from Kenya that we have been teaching, becuase he had mentioned how important it is not just to have your house be a house, but we need to make our house be a home. And that home of love and peace is established on the teaching of Jesus Christ. A way funny lesson with Renny, as he invited one of his friends that is a preacher here in thailand to join us in our lesson. And it was wayyyyy funny haha his friend was the stereotypical black preacher you would think of, in his prayers, and really just whenever he talked. His friend testified way intense of how Renny needs to be baptized in order to have the holy ghost with him haha, it was wayyyy intense, but what made it the whole lesson was at the end his preacher friend said- "when i was baptized as a kid...THEY DID IT WRONG! they just threw some water on my head! so i am walking WITH the spirit, but not IN the spirit Renny! We need to be IN the spirit! we need to be baptized HERE, in THIS church, and you know what?! I'm gonna get baptized with you! (all in his Kenyan accent)" hahahahah it was way funny but at the same time super awesome, and so we are looking forward to that on next sunday. 

We had a big Bangkok sports day this morning so thats why im late writing today. 

Thailand is the coolest place ever- oh yeah one funny thing that happened a couple days ago- i got a text from another missionary that said some americans had called and want missionaries to come give them a blessing in the hospital, here in bangkok. so i give them a call and apparently the girl that was sick, or her friend, knows megan somehow. i didnt end up going becuase i had to run that young english class and meet with some investigators if you nawwwmsayin- but i sent slabuagh and arne hahah and apparently it was pretty funny because it was elder slabaughs first time giving a blessing in english and apparently the girls were pretty good looking so he was getting a bit nervous haha. 

Well, God lives and love us. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and the church is true. The Book of Mormon is full of truth and light, and will bring us closer to our God, and ultimately, by living it's teachings, we will return with him again with our whole family- what a great reward! 

I love you my friends- share the Gospel

Elder Chamberlin

4th of July Goodness

Independence Day Dinner with the Missionaries at Tony Roma's

Elder Arne Getting Ready for Baptisms

Ahkom and his son Boo Ready for Baptism

Ton

July 10, 2015-New Companion Elder Slabaugh-Elder Sky Transferred to Saphaan Sung

This week was so good but what makes it even better is how SICK this transfer is gonna be! The new homie Elder Slabaugh is the new comp and he is a straight boss it has been so fun- and we have been seeing so many sick maricales just in these first few days. we are looking at a goal of 15 baptisms this month 

Yeah so slabaugh is this sweet dude originally from DC but live in italy for all of highschool - his dad is an airforce medic. our district is stacked this transfer and yeah i could just go on about how excited we are but i wont

Our investigators mint and may met with us earlier this week and may brought her 2 year old daughter nikki who is just way cute, and her boyfriend, best, came as well. we started teaching him and now he has a date to get baptized this next sunday- may and mint are tomorrow ayye! so excited for them. mint's story is so sick- she is the one that came up to me while i was inviting at the way busy mall, terminal 21, and took my picture of jesus and said she wanted to come to church. over the past 3 or so weeks its ridiculous how much i have seen both of them grow. sister may went out of town to hongkong for a week and a half or so, and we finally got to meet with them again this last week. we had a solid lesson but it was more focused around the boyfriend Best, and both mint and may wanted way bad to get baptized this sunday, but still had a lot of things they were supposed to learn before, especially law of chastity, word of wisdom, 10 commandments, honestly just like all of them haha idk how we forgot to teach all those, so anyways yesterday (friday) we meet with them and have a solid lesson just packed full with stuff- i was stressin before how it was gonna go just because i normally dont like teaching commandment back to back to back, but it was one of our best lessons with them. at the beginning of the lesson i told them that they both had faith and i've seen them already start changing their lives to become more like Christ (aka repent) and that they were ready to be baptized, they just had to learn all of christ's teachings first, and so when we taught it was so evident the faith that they had, and their strong desire to follow christ. we would honestly just like tell them a commandment, explain way short why its so important and they would just be like "yeah... we can and will follow that". it was even sicker when we were introducing the word of wisdom (not drinking alcohol, tea, coffee, smoking etc.) and sister mint told us that in April, like 2 months before we even met, that she stopped drinking tea and coffee because she felt like it wasn't good for her. sick instance of the hand of the lord in her life preparing her. 

some more sick lessons with my nepal investigators. sanjeeb is getting baptized this sunday as well and he has grown so much as well. his cousin invited him to come to church with us the first week he was here in thailand (they live here right now- i think mainly to be away from the earthquake stuff that happened a while ago) but anyways sanjeeb had a wayy good first sunday at church. the next week he told me how much his life has changed that week, how he wanted to be a better man, and wanted to follow christ etc. but his big issue was that he knew he had to go back to nepal one of these days, and he was afraid that his hindu/buddhist friends and family would reject and neglect him. i read scriptures with him that day, and gave him some encouragement and then we met with him again this week- and he is just so on top of the world, stoked and ready to get baptized- he read all the chapters in the BoM i gave him for homework, and has just grown so much faith. there is so much joy in teaching the gospel.

Transfers day was way dope- you have to go watch nate bartling's video he made for it on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7hxzp8bVtA

it was super fun, and it was pretty clear to everyone how much inspiration pres. johnson has been getting for this mission as we move forward. this month we are naming กลับใจ July, which means repentance July, but it sounds sick in thai (glab-jay July). 

we have been super busy this week and thus i havent been doing so great at writing much in my journals, but dont worry i repented and im getting better. being a  missionary here in Asoke is just way too sick that words cant describe, or pictures, or even video, but we are doing a way good job of getting sick video of a lot of stuff we are doing around here with the go pros. unfortunately theres no way to send you guys the videos because there too big, but nate bartling might be editing and making some videos for us this transfer. 

im wayy happy and i love being here- missionaries are so sick man. a lot of miracles to come- God lives and the church is true. i love you all

elder chamberlin

America!

God bless America :) and Thailand too!

hey fam bam whats up how we doin'?!? this week has been a blast- heres the lo-down

early in the week we met with a new investigator named lily, this chinese girl from china obviously who works here as a property manager of some sort for way rich chinese people that come to work/live here in thailand. shes way sick- i wish i had a picture for you but just to describe her in a few words: she said that she has been buddhist for the last year or so but that it just isn't enough for her- that she wants to find something more to help her actually become something. she talked about how there is so much good in all the religions she has studied but how in each on she is left wondering so much and confused about all her questions that are left unanswered. i compared God's plan for us in life like a puzzle, and how in his original church beginning with adam, down through the ages, eventually to Jesus Christ and then restored later through Joseph Smith, is one big puzzle. all religions (mostly) teach us to be good and have true doctrine, but they only have some of the pieces to the picture- but that here, she would see the whole picture, and not be left to wonder. she had such crazy good questions which i wish i recorded because the spirit was strong and with the help of a chinese member in the branch that speaks both thai and english we were able to help answer Lily's questions and concerns about her life and about religion. it was a way good lesson and we are looking forward to see her and her friend that she brought to our lessons, get baptized here this month. 

sister mint and her sister may are two of our investigators from about 2 weeks ago. sister mint- i met her inviting at terminal 21 (right out front a giant mall) where there a just tons and tooons of people. and in the rush of the crowds she had come up to me, snatched the picture of baptism out of my hands and basically asked me if she could get baptized. she could be baptized this sunday, but we didnt want to rush it, and so she will be baptized next week, hopefully along with her sister on that same day. they are soo good and already have so much faith in their savior jesus christ which i love. 

biggest miracle with our investigators this week was my first investigator that we found when i moved down to bangkok- ahkom. he is a tuk tuk driver (its like those crazy big go cart type things ill send you a pic) and has accepted a date to be baptized since i think the first time we met with him. his only problem has been that he lives with his girlfriend, and they have 4 kids and havent been married. hes only like 27 btw. and he was way afraid to tell his gf that they needed to get married because of a messy situation between the two, so after a week or 2 of meeting with him and telling him he needs to talk with her and figure out the situation before he can get baptized, we had pretty much dropped him as an investigator, but then he came to chuch the next sunday and asked what he had to do to be a member in this church. we told him that he could get baptized as soon as he got married or seperated (which getting married in thailand just means going to the government building and signing a paper and paying like 3 bucks.) and so we told him we would go meet at his house with his gf as well to explain the situation to her. we met with her and she was NOT down to get married at all. like not at all haha it was pretty awkward. but we had a solid member testify about trusting in God, testified about families, and temples (this member just went to the temple in hong kong for the first time about a month ago.) but we left still feeling like she wasnt down for it. then two days later we get a call from ahkom and he says, "elder champ, im just calling to let you know that we are getting married this friday and i want to be baptized this sunday" MIRACLES BABY! so we got to go and be the "witnesses" at the paper signing of their marriage thing. ahhhh yeah! and so we are working to get his 9 year old son baptized with him this sunday as well- 2nd case scenario would be have him baptize his son in a week or two. missionary work wooo!

some big transitions here in thailand with president senior leaving us and president johnson coming in. bittersweet fersure. we had a nice final meal at some crazy nice buffet japanese place with pres. and sister senior this week though which was a good time. gonna miss them- but president and sister johnson are just so great. elder and sister grange (the new office couple) are just hilarrious too so working here is gonna be soooo much fun this next transfer, with tons of baptisms as well. 

we have had two cambodian missionaries staying with us the last week or so- one of them is here because he has to make some visits to the hospital this week and next, but it has been way fun having them here as well. we went on splits with them the other day, so i took out elder kim and it was way fun seeing him invite both thai and white people to repent and be baptized. he doesnt speak any thai except pretty much just "yaag lang bab may?" asking people if they want to be clean from sin. hahahahaha. satan has been working hard on us these last couple days. we had a goal thusday friday and saturday to invite soooooo hard and get 100 numbers of interested people. and we went SO hard- hahha but after all that i came meeting a total of zero people that were interested. but thats not enough to get us down- we have a lot of sick investigators right now, and the Lord continues to bless us as we push forward serving him with all our heart might mind and strength. transfers this next week already and ill be getting a new companion... asoke is about to blow up with how many people are gonna be in that baptismal font this month its gonna be ridiculous- stay tuned. love you all and miss you with all my heart. 

God lives and jesus christ is our savior. the message is real- we can be clean from sin. so much joy in this great work, and even more in sharing it! much love,

elder chamberlin

4th of July Photo Shoot with my companion and AP's Elder Wolfley and Elder Arne

A letter from your Thailand Man on June 26, 2015

what up fam! 

this week has been way sick and crazy! we had to get this project done by yesterday for pres. senior- we are making a miracle book that is filled with miracles from every missionary throughout thailand that happened in may. so its called Mayracles. the book is sick, but getting everything good to go cause some late nights and so i havent had too much sleep so sorry if this letter doesnt make sense. 

We had some cool miracles come thru last sunday with one of our old investigators randomly coming to church with his 2 kids. he asked us when he is gonna become a member of our church haha, and we told him he needs to marry his girlfriend that he is living with before he can get baptized (in order to keep the law of chastity of course) and so we'll see if he makes prgoress this week. God has been blessing us with tons of new investigators this week which is way fun and sweet to see. we even had president senior come and help us teach in one of our lessons it was a blast. his thai is impressively pretty good haha. its gonna be hard saying goodbye to that great man. he is filled with so much goodness and knowledge. 

so monday we had companionship study with our AP's and we decided we need to change something to get the mission fired up like it used to be a year ago. talking with them they said one thing thats changed is just how baptism hungry they were back then, in the sense that when they were outside, there was a lot of times they were just like running around to talk to everyone they saw. like just nuts crazy, taught even bolder, etc. so we decided just to take everything we do back to the next level and just be obssessed with baptism this week, like talk about it with everyone, literally everyone we see. so it takes us alot longer to get places but it has indeed brought much fruit. 

there was another thing that got me way fired up the other day. elder arne was showing me a mission weekly newsletter from last year when elder campbell and saunders (the two missionaries that changed the way we invite in thailand to just asking everyone if they want to cleanse their sins, etc.) and there was a month where they had baptized 15 people. like solid baptisms- not just get them in the water and then they disappear. i told pres. about it and he said that it only took one, and then the whole mission took off with baptizing- then he's like it need to be you. LETS GO! i love bringing salvation to souls, seeing our investigators change their lives- it just makes me so happy. and then when we get rejection from crazy white people and they tell us we are spreading a disease haha, its just like yeah you tell us that after you go meet the dad that quit alcohol and stopped abusing his family, or the kid with suicidal thoughts that completely changed his life around and has so much joy in living. there is just NO GREATER WORK! sorry i get pretty fired up about it- it is just so much fun over here.

my roomies are pretty jealous that ive gotten 3 packages since ive been serving in asoke. shoutout to the homies mom julie and megan! thanks for the love you guys are great keep it up<3

I can't remember too much that happened this week bc all the days got blurred together with the lack of sleep and i didnt write much in my journal bc of the lack of time- but i guess its sufficient to know it was a great one!

cool new investigators that have such geniune desire to follow christ, to improve their lives, and help their families be eternal families. i love being a missionary and love serving here in Bangkok, there is no where else i would rather be. I know God is fo real, and it is more clear to me each day i get out and serve his children. 

one last random fun thing- we've had some cambodian elders staying with us the last couple days (there here bc one of them has to go to the hospital) but yeah thats been fun. its a party over here, or as they say in thai: part-iiiiiii

alright love you all! have a good week, and make it a better week by serving and loving those around you :)

elder chamberlin