Songkran Water Fight

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls  - listen up because last week was the biggest water fight in the world. World Record Water Fight Songkran Thailand New Year water festival... 3 days... and it was a party to be sure hahahahaha. This last week was fun! And on top of it, we got a lot of work done as well! 

She loved getting me wet hahahahaha

Yesterday night we got transfer calls, and I will be headed to the city of Surin (eastern Thailand)!!!! I am WAY excited. Surin is known here in the mission and all around Thailand as the "land of elephants." It is where humans learned how to train elephants as work elephants and war animals. I'm sad to leave Chiang Rai because of all of the friends I have made here but excited for a new area and a new companion. It has been so much fun serving with Elder Rogers, and I will miss him :) 

What can I say? TBM mission is The Best Mission

The Work: 

Too bad I am leaving Chiang Rai this week because Elder Rogers and I have 5 baptisms scheduled for this Sunday hahahahahahaha. How ironic. I sincerely hope they all follow through! We have some solid investigators right now, and I really hope they all get baptized. Hopefully next week I will be smiling from ear to ear emailing you about these wonderful people. Please pray for these people. Their names are: Sister Ploy, Brother On, Brother Mxxang, Brother Gaw, and Brother Wit. They need your prayers this week as Satan will be trying to work very hard to persuade them NOT to get baptized this week. These amazing people have chosen to follow Christ, but now they just need to follow through and keep their commitments. Please pray for our brothers and sisters here in Thailand. I love them so much. 

Working here in Chiang Rai has been a dream. I love the members, the leadership, the RCs... all of my friends here if you are reading this blog... I will miss you dearly! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for how nicely you have treated me and for how caring you are. For all of the mother figures who can understand English here - thanks for looking after me and calling me your "baby boy." ผมจะคิดถึงทุกคนมากมากมากผมรักเชียงราย!!!!!!!!!! 

ผมรักเชียงราย!!! 555

[Mom comment: I asked Elder Smith-Driggs what "555" meant.  He said, "How do I explain this? The word for 5 in Thai is the sound "Ha," kind of like Chinese. But it has a mountain town on it, so when you put 555 together it sounds like someone is going "hahahaha" understand? No? Maybe?" So, there you go...]

The Culture: 

•  Like I said, for Songkran everyone stops work for 3 days and just goes hard in the streets getting one another soaked with water. All of the truckbeds have people in them with a big garbage can filled with a 3 foot by 2 foot block of ice and water... which makes for a cold splash if you are on your bike hahahahahaha. It was way fun. Hope you enjoy the pictures! 

• Thai people love talk shows more than anything.
• Their phones here are HUGE. It is not unusual to see people using their tablets as phones as well.

The Funnies: 

• We were in a meeting with a member, and he was talking about a member we wanted to visit. He said, "Oh, you don’t need to worry about him anymore. He became a woman and left the Church for good.".... We were like, “OK -  thanks for that info.” As I walked away, I looked at Elder Rogers and said, "Woah...do you realize how weird that sentence must sound in America?" We kind of giggled and then talked about the blessing of the plan of salvation. People can change! 
• Also...2 white missionaries riding their bikes getting soaked by men, women, and children all last week.... My planners and notebooks are warped forever hahahahaha. We must have been fun targets! 

Soaked after a hard days work

Spiritual Thought: 

This week I had a lot of time to ponder about the doctrine of Christ. My favorite chapters to refer to are 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 11. In these accounts, the Savior literally tells us the doctrine of Christ. It is simple, it is beautiful, and if taught correctly, provides the way for salvation. As we have been teaching about baptism so much with our 5 daters (people who will be getting baptized on Sunday), it has caused us to study the covenant of baptism and the steps of repentance and faith that are NEEDED before the step of baptism. If you want to research more, please see 3 Nephi 11:32-33 for more clarification. I love the doctrine of Christ and am convinced that its simplicity is inspired of God. People without a Christian background or any knowledge of God can understand it, like people born in Jerusalem who are Jewish... the doctrine of Christ is simple and amazing. SO GRATEFUL for it. I am so grateful for it, and I know the principles are true. I have seen the way it is changing people’s lives, including my own. Study it and live it. That is my commitment to you all. 

I love you all so much. Fam - you guys are the best. God bless you all! 

Just so Asian I had to put it in here. Doing the Thai Squat picking up Asian Ramen at 

7-11...... just too Thailand. The Thai Missionaries will understand hahahahahah.

-- 

Love the Lord and Laugh, 

เอ็ลเดอร์ สมีธ-ดริกส์

Elder Smith-Driggs