Aug 19th for the US and Aug 20th for Thailand!! :)

251 days in the mission field!!

Dear Family and Friends:

Well, this past week was insane. As you may see, I'm emailing 2 days early. Because my pday has changed to Saturdays while I'm in my new area. I moved again already because I am now an Office Elder. It was an extreme shock to everyone because I'm really young in the mission to be an office Elder; but my companion from the MTC is training already; he's really young to be training as well. It's crazy how young the mission is getting. So, I figured I'd stay in Lopburi but I got taken out of Lopburi and put into downtown Bangkok in the office so my Pday has changed to Saturdays; so you'll need to send your emails by Friday night. 

Well, this first half a week as an office elder has been crazy. Right after transfer meeting we had to make sure all the companionships that came got all their supplies and such and took them back to their areas. Then we had to drive the van thing with all the luggage from the missionaries that are finishing this transfer and take it to the hotel that they are staying at. Then we drove back out in the traffic to take 12 bikes to a house that is holding all the bikes. We got home late and then we woke up early and took the missionaries that are finishing to the airport. It was a crazy first day. Working in the office will be very interesting. I'll have the opportunity to work with President Senior a lot because he office is just across from us. It has been an interesting few days. That's for sure. Being an office elder is very tiring as well. I know that God is willing and ready to help here,

The really cool thing about being an office elder is that I will get a Thai license to drive. We have a van that Elder Kunz(new companion) and I will be driving. We don't drive too often because we are in the middle of the city but we can drive if needed. I still haven't gotten my license yet but I'm sure I'll get it next week. Elder Kunz is from California in between San Fransisco and Los Angeles on the coast. He seems pretty awesome. Us two live with the two Assistants to the President as well. So it's quite the experiences to be with them and then see President Senior often. It should be a very fun time working in the future. I don't have too much else to say; just write me before Saturday next week; I know this week is a little weird but preparations day are now on Saturdays for me because we are office Elders. 

Well, I hope things are going very well. I love you very very very much. Stay safe.

Love

Elder Federico

Aug 12th 2012 for the US and Aug 13th 2012 for Thailand!!

244 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, this past week went pretty well. Transfers is coming up this Thursday which should not be insanely crazy. I'm expecting to stay with Elder Senalai till he finishes his mission but we will see how that goes. This past week flew by just like the other weeks are flying by. It's insane to think that I've been a missionary for 8 months already 1/3 is already done. Crazy fast. Anyways, Elder Senalai are still getting along fine and things are progressing very well here in Lopburi. 

Today was P day and I'm emailing late because we went with the members in the branch to the mountains nearby and climbed the mountain to a Buddhist Temple at the top. It was extremely tiring. Something like 4000 stairs or something. I took a few pictures but this internet place won't let me send them. It was fun to be with a lot of the members. There must've been about 20 of us or so. And then to go down, they have these green slide things  that you grab the pole with and slowly work your way down. Once you get pretty good you can go faster. It was pretty awesome. Then we went and ate lunch with about 20 members as well. It was really awesome; and tonight we have Family Home Evening and just about everyone who came this morning will be there as well. So that was P day today. 

Well this past week was week 5/6 in this transfer which means it is basically over. This past week we continued to teach our progressing investigators and continued to try to find new ones. It was a great week and we have a few investigators just about ready to interview for baptism. Oh and we were able to get 6 investigators to come with us to the District Conference (Like Stake Conference) Which was two hours away. It was a great meeting and it showed our investigators just how big the church is; it's not just our little branch of about 60 people. 

Sounds like things are still going very very well in the United States. Things are going great here in Lopburi. We are strengthening or Faith that the Lord is preparing people for us. We just gotta keep looking for them. I love and miss you all. Stay safe and stay strong in the gospel.

Love

Elder Federico

Aug 5th 2012 for the US and Aug 6th 2012 for Thailand!!

237 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Family and Friends: 

Well, this past week was pretty good. My companion is no longer sick so we are able to get back to work, which of course it fantastic. This past week, we worked on getting less-actives back a lot. We also taught our investigators. Speaking of investigators, our investigators are doing very well. We about 4 or so that are truly preparing for baptism. Hopefully before Elder Senalai finished his mission. As for finding, we are constantly knocking on doors and talking to people. I have learned new techniques and such from different companion exchanges and so on. Maam, Man, Gaan, and Aradii are doing great. We have the District Conference(Stake Conference, but not quite a stake so it's a district) this Sunday the 12th! We are doing everything we can to get our investigators there. Anyways, the thing super awesome about this area, is the family home evenings we hold on Monday nights, a lot of the members are willing to get together and we bring investigators and the environment is awesome for our investigators. Other than that, not much else going on with the investigators, nothing bad which is good :)

So, we have this one family, well the two daughters (Age 12 and 16) are already baptized, the father and mother aren't. But the father is too busy for us right now.. Anyways, the mother is coming along pretty well. She hadn't progressed before Elder Senalai and I started teaching but we feel as if she is coming along okay. She is the older sister of a member that's been married in the temple and is super strong. Anyways, they are coming along well and really are enjoying the lessons so far. 

Sounds like a good time in California. Tell Walter I say Happy Birthday! As for food here. We eat out almost every meal because it's a little over a dollar to eat and then 33 cents or so for the drink. So about $1.50 to eat out. We don't really cook(only in the mornings). Sometimes the members will feed us. Mostly they just give us snacks(sometimes it's fruit sometimes cookies and such.) Anyways, I love you all. Oh as for the monkeys, I still haven't taken pictures yet. And these computers won't let me send them.

Anyways, I love you all. Stay safe and strong in the gospel. 

Love

Elder Federico

July 29th 2012 for the US and July 30th 2012 for Thailand!!

230 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Family and Friends: 

So, things are going great in Thailand. The work is continuing to move forward as the Lord blesses us missionaries with miracles. Last week went by extremely fast, they seem to continue to go by faster and faster. My companion is slowly coming to terms with his ending the mission soon. He has till September 27th; so not very long at all. Anyways, we worked as hard as we could last week considering he got sick Saturday/Sunday/Today. Monday was p-day and after we emailed we went out to eat with two members; they took us about 20 minutes away by car to a lake of some sort and we ate sitting cross-legged right next to the lake in a hut type thing(there was about 20+ huts). Anyways, it was really cool. I took a couple of pictures of the lake and the scenery there. It was very pretty.

Tuesday we taught a couple lessons and then we taught English class. English class went fairly well; then we had to end English Class a little early so we could catch the van that would go to Bangkok by 8:00 PM. So we got the van to Bangkok to stay at Elders house there; because we have Zone Conference on Wednesday. Wednesday we had Zone Conference which was awesome. President Senior shared his vision of the mission and shared about Faith, Sister Senior shared about Faith as well. Their talks went hand-in-hand. Then the zone leaders trained us on helping people keep commitments and such. It was a very good Zone Conference; I feel like I learned a ton. After Zone conference, we exchanged with the Zone Leaders and Elder Grover(Zone leader) came back to my area with me. We got back in time to go home and plan then sleep. 

Thursday we got to proselyte which was interesting. All of our planned appointments fell through for that day. So Elder Grover and I got to go inviting and finding new investigators all day from about 12:00-7:00. Problem was, it started to rain extremely bad at about 2:00 and didn't stop till about 7:00. Obviously, the rain slowed down; but it was a pretty big rainstorm. So we kept going and going and going and inviting and such. Still no success then we went to eat dinner and we bought some ponchos. Then we decided to try and find a new inviting area and we moved. Then prayed about what to do because we were drenched and out of ideas. So we prayed then decided to go close to our house to a street with about 10 houses on it. We invited about 2 houses then on the third house the person let us in and we got to teach a mother, her son(age19) and her son's friend. The lesson went extremely well and we found out that her husband had died 6 years ago.. so we got a return appointment and left her with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. I hope everything works out, I feel she was prepared to receive the gospel. It took 6 hours of inviting and biking and walking but God provided us with a miracle. 

Anyways, then Friday we had district meeting and exchanged back. Elder Senalai and I then handed out fliers for English class for awhile and did our weekly planning as well. Then Saturday morning, Elder Senalai was sick with the flu or something. He was out of energy; so I stayed at home and he slept and I called people and studied and tried to stay productive. Then that night we went to the doctor and to have our Coordination meeting with the Branch Mission Leader. Then Sunday was the branches conference so lots of people were there and my companion was still sick. It was a great training for the members as well; as to how the branch achieve their goals. Then Elder Senalai taught a lesson with an awesome investigator and came home cause his body was weak and he had no energy. So another day at home. But, it was okay. 

Anyways, it was a pretty good week, I know God is watching us and is willing to help us in everything when we just have Faith in him. I also kind of thought about Faith and feel that Faith starts as a belief, but as we live the Gospel we express our faith(through action) which causes that belief to turn into confidence in Jesus or God. Then the confidence(faith) we have allows God to provide miracles. That simple belief that it could be true or correct leads into living the gospel and becoming confidence that leads to Miracles. Anyways, that's a little thought process that went through my head this past week. Well, not much else to say. I hope everyone is staying safe and have a great summer. I love you all.

Love

Elder Federico

เอ็เดอร์ เฟเดริโค

July 22nd 2012 for the US and July 23rd for Thailand!!

223 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear family and friends:

Well, things are going good in Thailand. The area I'm in right now always floods in October so I'm sure I'll get some flooding if I am still here then. There is a lot of military in this area. It's crazy how much military there is here. Anyways, Lopburi is a very nice city that seems sooo small compared to Bangkok. Our investigators are doing well, specifically those with a baptismal date. Of course we need more investigators but we are working on that. We are exhausted every night but it's gonna be worth it in the end I'm sure. This coming week is Zone Conference and we also exchange with the zone leaders(because my companion is the district leader). I'm excited to get some training from the zone leader. It should be good and possibly help this area more as well. The members in the branch are very supportive and are very awesome. This past week we tried to use them more often but when we planned, something happened and the member couldn't come or the investigator had to cancel. But that's okay. Oh and the branch president is pretty awesome. He has such a willingness to help that this branch has to grow, no doubt about that.

Anyways, last Wednesday we were getting ready to go to the other area in our District for an exchange and district meeting. It was crazy, I finally went to the place where there are a ton of Monkeys. They are all over the place there. I'll take pictures of the cool ruins and the monkeys next time. I think to the movie Jumanji when I see the monkeys. Anyways, other then that. Nothing super crazy cool last week. It rained pretty hard a couple times but I think the rainy season is finally about to literally began. Oh and as for crazy foods, still nothing too crazy. But I'm willing to eat more vegetables and lettuce and stuff. Tomatoes I still don't like much but if it's small and in the stuff I don't care. So, my willingness to eat certain foods is increasing.

As for our investigators. They are doing okay. We have 3 people that are really doing great. All three came to church this past Sunday as well, which was good. 2 of them love the members and mingle very well but the third one still is having issues. She's doing well though and wants to be baptized. There names are Maan, Maam, and Aaradi. They are all progressing very well and are willing to keep commitments and to keep the commandments. Nothing super spiritual this past week, but of course you feel the spirit often. My companion and I are familiarizing ourselves with the area much more, which I'm sure will help very much. Other then that, not much to update.

Thank you everyone for the little tid-bits of information and thank you very much for the addresses. For all your questions. Thailand is amazing but pretty hot at times and rainy a lot lately. Our area is still moving along okay, we just need more investigators; but we are trying to find new ways to get them, because we did a lot of door-to-door last week and nothing happened. But that's okay, life's still going well and my companion and I have no issues. Transfers will be August 17th? (It's the thursday that week) Still a few weeks away. Then the next one will be September 27th?(the thursday that week)[that's when my companion will finish his mission].

Everyone make sure you enjoy California for me as well. :) But make sure to stay safe at the beach and stay safe in other areas as well. I hope to hear some good stories about the vacation next week. Sounds like everyone's families are doing well and are staying safe. I'll try to take some pictures of the monkeys here. I hope everyone has some fun plans for the the week. I'll continue to pray for you all. I love and miss you all and hope that everyone has a fun week. Thank you for all the support and love

Love

Elder Federico

เอ็ลเดอร์ เฟเดริโค

July 15th 2012 for the US and July 16th 2012 for Thailand!!

216 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Family and Friends:

Well, the new area is going well. We are working really hard! We both had not been here before-hand so we both did not know the area much at all. Luckily the members are really willing to help and answer questions and such. The branch here has a good 50 strong members that are really willing to help. It has like 5 strong families so that's good to see. My companion and I get along just fine. He does not want to finish being a missionary but he will in the blink of an eye. About another 2 1/2 months for him. I still have not seen a monkey here but we have not gone to the part of town with all the ruins and the monkeys. But we will go there eventually I'm sure. This past week we have ridden bikes and walked so much it's crazy! It's still really hot and it rains almost everyday but I love it here. My companion and I have big goals to help Lopburi grow stronger and help less-actives come back while getting more converts as well. The branch president has only been a member for 3 years but he's awesome. He follows the handbook for the church insanely well and loves reading it and he used to be in the military so everything is pretty on time and he wants to help less-actives.

Anyways, sorry I don't have any super spiritual stories but the lessons here are going really well and are spiritual. It's really nice to have a branch president that supports us well and also a branch mission leader that's willing to help. This branch has the potential to have 100 people coming in 1 year plus if they continue to work like they are working. Well, I hope everyone has a great week! Anyways, I love you all. Tell the family I said hello when going to California :) Oh and everyone in the ward as well.

Love

Elder Federico(เอ็เดอร์ เฟเดริโค)

July 8th 2012 for the US and July 9th 2012 for Thailand!!

209 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Everyone:

Well, transfer meeting was last Thursday. The first transfer meeting with the new mission president. I feel it went very well! The thing I liked most about the transfer meeting was the slideshow. We haven't had one before. But this time to announce each area and such. It'd show the area on the map then it would slide the two companions in under the area name with pictures of each companion. It was really cool actually. I left my first area and am now in my second Area. Samut Prakaan(the area I left) now has two companionships there as well which is super super exciting! I've been in my new area about 4 days or so now... It seems pretty interesting!

So! As for the new area. It's called Lopburi. It is up north of Bangkok about 153 Kilometers so about 2 hours or so. They call it monkey town a lot because apparently there are a lot of monkeys here but I still have not seen one. This place is more countryside then Samut Prakaan by a lot. I'd compare it to Mesquite, but without the gambling and casino and such. It also has a few hills that make everyone happy because they are huge mountains ha ha. The members here in Lopburi seem really nice and extremely supportive. It seems like this branch is really willing to work really hard so I'm excited.

Of course since I switched areas I got a new companion... however, he was not in Lopburi before this. He was in Bangkok.. So we whitewashed this area. It's been really hard and been quite a challenge, but we are starting to figure the area out.. since we both came just last Thursday. His name is Elder Senalai.. another native companion for me which is not really common. He will be finishing his mission in this area. He has about 2 transfers left and is the only member in his family. He also cannot speak or understand English very well so I have to speak Thai a lot, but it will help me so I'm excited. We probably will be together two transfers, but I'm not 100% sure. He seems really nice and we get along just fine. We are both ready to work really hard and he doesn't want to stop being a missionary. I'm expecting this transfer to be a good one and hopefully next one if we are together again. So getting native companions is not very common and I might have a native 4/5 first transfers, which is great, because I'll be able to speak Thai well enough to teach and such.

So we got to see 2 of our investigators from Thursday to Sunday and we went inviting(knocking door to door) a lot; but I feel like in the coming weeks things will get easier and we definitely know the Lord is watching us and is willing to help. The air here is really nice. It's nice to get out of the Bangkok air and into a place with countryside air..

As for the weather in Thailand. I'd say rainy season is here. It rains almost every night for a few hours. It's still pretty hot; I think chilly season starts in about October or so, but I'm not 100% sure. I cannot believe how fast the time is flying. I'm really excited to be here in Thailand and I absolutely love the Thai people. They are all soo very nice! Anyways, not much else to write.

Thank you everyone for the support and for the prayers. Also, keep up the reading in the Book of Mormon; it always helps :) I love you all and miss you all.

Love

Elder Federico

July 1st 2012 for the US and July 2nd 2012 for Thailand!

202 days in the mission field!! :)

Hello Everyone:

Well, this week was a very eventful week. I'm going to try and fit everything in here. And next week I'll add pictures from a few events this past week. Anyways! Monday last week was fun. Had Pday and got to chill at the house a little bit which was relaxing. Tuesday we had District Meeting and had English class like normal and they both went really well. We got quite a few new investigators from English class. I hope they all pan out.

Wednesday was awesome! We had a baptismal interview for our investigator Earn(who is 14). She passed her interview and got baptized on the 1st of July. So next week I'll add the picture of the baptism. It was a great experience and her oldest sister comes every week which will help Earn to come as well. We are working on the rest of the family now which is exciting. Thursday and Friday were pretty good. :) Friday we went on exchanges and I went out of my area to go to another missionary's area. We taught a couple lessons which was pretty awesome... We taught this one guy name Poe who is crazy awesome. He has a really old edition of the Book of Mormon from like 1977 when he met with the missionaries back then and they helped him to be christian but not LDS. He loves the bible and is enjoying the book of mormon. Very exciting to go there and he seems like a really nice investigator.

Saturday we exchanged back and then went to Bang Na to interview one of the sisters investigators for baptism and she passed her interview so that was great. My companion is the district leader so he interviews those in our district and the zone leaders interview our investigators.

Sunday was great! We had a baptism after church which was fantastic. The spirit was definitely there and a couple investigators got to see the baptism. So that's always good news :) Then we taught a few lessons then took off to go meet the new mission president and his wife. They landed on Saturday and became the mission president that day. Then President Smith left. Their names are President Senior and Sister Senior. They are really awesome and I'm excited to see the changes that could happen to the mission. I hope they are good of course. I'm sure they will be. They were called to serve in North Carolina but then the wife of the president that was going to serve here got really sick. So the 12 apostles switched President Senior's mission in North Carolina to this one. And the 1st presidency went to the temple one day to pray if President Senior should be the replacement for the other President in Thailand. Apparently he is supposed to be. He served in Japan when he was younger and has had trouble learning the language but surprisingly he's really good at the language for only having been here for 2 days and having learned the language for 3 months.

Sounds like the party for Grandpa was a success. What a wonderful picture of almost everyone. That's awesome that everything worked out great and Grandpa was surprised. Anyways, last week was eventful and this week will be as well. Transfers are Thursday so I could be moving. I'll let you all know next week. Anyways, things are going very well. I love you all and miss you all.

Keep being diligent in scripture reading and praying every day. Go to church every week, and the Lord will bless you. Sometimes it could be with challenges; but those challenges are meant to help you grow and become more Christ-like.

Love

Elder Federico

June 24th 2012 for the US and June 25th 2012 for Thailand

195 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Everyone:

Well, this past week was a good week. We taught a lot of good lessons.
But I'll start by writing about my exchange with zone leaders. It was
a good experience. I went to the zone leader's area with Elder Dixon.
He helped me to work on my inviting (door-to-door) and to work on
asking inspired questions. The lessons with him went very well and I
felt like I learned a lot. Then we did service at the new office
building that is the new address to the mission office. There's a lot
of work to do there. Anyways, great experience to work with a
missionary leader.

This past week we got a lot of lessons in and they are went fairly
well. English class last tuesday night worked really well in finding
new investigators. We got seven of them that accepted return
appointments. I hope all the return appointments work out. Some of
them seemed really super interested. Elder Jensen teaches a really
good English class and our numbers are getting higher and higher each
week.

Our investigators are continuing to progress very well. Palmy is doing
really well. She is the classic 17 year old artsy type of teenager ha
ha. But she's having great experiences with reading the Book of
Mormon, Praying, and going to church. Tik is a newer investigator but
she absolutely wants to get baptized! She is doing well and said at
church the atmosphere was very warm and friendly. She's had amazing
experiences with the three testimony builders as well. She loves
praying so so much! Sister Eww is still progressing and should get
baptized sometime in July. Earn is progressing well and is really
figuring out what a testimony is and has read all the way to Mosiah
18! She's only 14 and loves reading the Book of Mormon. Her Book of
Mormon is all marked up! Nam, Earn's older sister, is doing super well
also. She's read to about Helaman which is great! She understands
really well in the scriptures and loves prayer also! Their mother Dim
is doing really well! The entire will be baptized before we know it
I'm sure sometime in the next month or two! So all our investigators
are doing fantastic!

The members at church are doing great. We had a good number of people
at church yesterday and have probably about 10 members really getting
excited about missionary work. It's amazing when the members gets more
and more excited about missionary work because then things just get
going at a quick pace. Samut Prakaan died down a little at the
beginning of this transfer but now it's flying forward at a pace we
might not be able to keep up with. Being a missionary is such a
wonderful experience. I wish everyone could experience it. I've never
had so much happiness like this before! Helping people change their
lives, by simply following the commandments and living the gospel is
crazy. God is truly helping missionaries. You don't have to speak the
language well. Just teach by the spirit. Anyways, things are going
well in Thailand! Next Thursday on the 5th of July is transfers! I
might move to my second area. Things are going great. I love you all.

June 17th 2012 for US and June 18th for Thailand!

188 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Everyone: 

Well, things are going very well. It's starting to cool down more here in Thailand but it's starting to rain more often. My companion was here for the flood's last year and he tells me stories of the floods which are crazy. But anyways, things are still going very well. I'm still in Samut Prakaan. But I love it here and am willing to stay for another transfers if I can as well. The branch members are very willing to help and fellowship our investigators.. It's so awesome! But as for our investigators. Sister Benz family (her mom, and two younger sisters[19 and 14 years old]) are doing well. We are helping them with keeping the Sabbath Day holy. But the youngest sister is about ready for baptism. The mom and older sister will take a little longer. But they are doing great. Then we have Sister Eww who is progressing extremely well. She loves reading all the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon and is hungry for the Bible and D & C and the Pearl of Great Price. She wants everything! She is progressing very well, the lessons with are are always great. Then we have 17 year old Balmie who is absolutely great. She's already prayed about Joseph Smith and knows he saw God and Jesus Christ. She wants to come to church so bad and made it for the last two periods this past Sunday. ;) She's progressing well. Then we have Tik who is 20 years old and is really interested in Baptism and she really loves praying. Then we have Jing who is Chinese and speaks good Thai. She is still learning but she wants to continue to learn. The language barriers sometimes are a pain but it's a lot of fun to teach her. Use a lot of pictures :) Then we have Champ who is a male that's 24. We found him while inviting last week. He's doing great. We haven't taught him much. And he claims only willing to listen to us teach and learn about Jesus Christ. But when he starts praying and stuff he will change. Our other investigators are coming around as well. Things are going very well. We are trying to find more potential priesthood holders though; because the relief Society is already great in the branch. We just need to help Elder's Quorum. Anyways, I hope things continue to progress this way. 

Well.. As for random news and such. I don't have much. But it's so good to hear Aniesha's a senior now. Cayden is in 3rd grade now and Vincent will be 1st grade. That's awesome. Sounds like everyone in the family is still getting older just as I am in missionary terms as well. It is crazy how fast time flies! I've almost been in Thailand 4 months and I've been a missionary for over 6 months! But things are going well. Our new mission president comes into Thailand in about 2 weeks and the current one will leave the next day! It's an exciting and nervous time in the mission. And the mission office and headquarters is moving to Central Bangkok. Before this it'd been in the outskirts. So that's very interesting as well. This past week we had exchanges and I went and sat in the hospital with an Elder so that his companion could have a day outside the hospital. But the Elder in the hospital is doing fine and is out of the hospital now which is good. Last week was specialized training as well for our Zone. Which was an awesome training on teaching people not lessons. It was good to learn more about that and to take from the training and apply to proselyting immediately. This week I exchange with the zone leaders because my companion is a district leader so he has to exchange with one of the zone leaders. Anyways, that is the exciting news from being a missionary. The work is continuing to move forward and Thailand is becoming more and more home to me. I am fairly comfortable in the language as well. Although, I can use more practice; which will come. Anyways, it's been an exciting week with lessons and things are continuing to press forward. Thank you everyone for your support and prayers and such. I appreciate all the support I am receiving :) Well, I love you all and hope that your lives continue to move forward and everyone stays safe. 

Love
Elder Federico
เอ็ลเดอร์ เฟเดริโค 

June 10th 2012 for the US and June 11th 2012 for Thailand!

181 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Everyone:

Well, this week was a little hard because my companion was a little
sick but we still kept working. We had zone sports day today which was
a lot of fun. Oh and yesterday was Stake conference, which was really
cool! It was really good for our investigators that were able to go.
This past week we continued teaching our progressing investigators,
which went well. They are still progressing and continuing in their
steps towards baptism. The branch is doing really well and I hope to
leave this area better then I found it; if I do leave next transfer. I
keep feeling I will go out to the Easan which is eastern Thailand
which is more country side like and not like Bangkok where there are
loads of people and air that's polluted and such :) ANyways Samut
Prakaan is amazing and the member are continuing to work hard and help
us as much as they can and we help them as well.

Our investigators are still doing very well. No super crazy stories
from their lessons but they are still continuing to progress towards
baptism. But not just baptism, getting to the Hong Kong temple as well
is in the sights of our recent converts. Sister A ( a recent convert)
still has plans to become a missionary and is helping us a lot when
she's not at school. If she enters the mission in July or August next
year like she plans I'll still be in the missionfield with possible a
recent convert from Samut Prakaan which is awesome. :D Anyways,
everything is still going very well and I want everyone to know that I
love them.
Oh and if you have a friend that even slightly could be interested or
willing to meet with the missionaries, give their name to the
missionaries! Referrals are amazing :D Haha anyways, hope everyone
stays safe and continues to work hard. :D
Love
Elder Federico
เอ็ลเดเอร์ เฟเดริโค

June 3rd 2012 for the US and June 4th for Thailand!

174 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Everyone:

This week has been a very busy week. I realized I didn't describe my companion much. His name is Elder Jensen and he is from Cedar Hills Utah. He has 3 younger brothers. He is a really hard worker and we are working very hard. We got to go inviting a little more than normal than last week which was really hard work but was good. We met a few people that are willing to let us come back again. Rainy season is right on the brinks now. We are starting to see more cloud cover and such and have had a few okay storms. It's going to be very exciting in the near future I'm guessing. Our mission president changes this transfers which is on Aniesha's birthday, so July 5th. Happy birthday to everyone from May and June sorry I didn't get to send cards or anything or email personal emails. I miss my trainer a little bit because we meshed sooo well. But Elder Jensen and I get along just fine. Our New converts are staying strong and they all paid tithing yesterday from what I could see. They all have goals and plans to finish the Book of Mormon and go to the HOng kong Temple! :D Our investigators are doing well. We have a few sabbath day holy issues we are ironing out right now but We are working through it and our investigators have such faith. I will include a few stories in a little bit. We have a washer at our house then we hang dry in the house with a fan blowing on the clothes. Works really well. We don't eat much with the members but Our missionary funds are plenty to eat out all the time because it's soo cheap to eat out in Thailand. Sounds like the surgery for Zoi went well. I'm very glad and I am exciting that she is talking better and stuff. It is good to hear that everyone in Virginia is staying busy and I hope everyone else is doing well :) Stay close to the church and read everyday and pray everyday! It's a good habit and will help everyone's life run smoother. 

As for funny stories or anything, I don't have very much. My english grammer is bad sometimes and soo is Elder Jensen so sometimes we laugh at that. And I love the thai people. They are all sooo very nice and love to smile and absolutely love to try and speak english with a white person. It's really funny. Most thai's cannot speak much Thai but they try. English class last week went well and I hope it goes well this week as well. We had about 35 or more people show up to english class. Well nothing super funny. I might try and attach some photos in this email. 

As for our investigators, they are doing well. Sister Eww had a super awesome experience. We gave her the Law of Chastity pamphlet and asked her to read; she did of course( She's read to Alma 34 already!) Anyways a problem in thailand is most people that get married don't get married by law for real. So she hadn't and she asked if she needed to. We said yes. She pulled out her phone and asked her husband if they can go get married by law. Right there in the lesson she showed her faith and they should get married for real soon. She is doing great. Sister Nam is great. She HAS to learn on sundays which is kind of an issue but it's required right now. And she works sundays but we asked her to talk to her boss about getting all sundays off and I know the Lord will bless. I don't think she has yet but she has great faith. She's read to alma 1 already! She understands soo much in the Book of Mormon as well. Her younger sister Earn is doing great. She's read to mosiah 8 or so already which is great! She's 14 so she goes through phases but she's doing well and will be baptized before we know it. And their mother is going to be baptized soon as well. She can't read but she has soo much faith in the Lord it is awesome! Sister Benz (a recent convert) is Nam and Earn's older sister that set the example for them all :D That family will stay strong! Our other investigators are doing well and we are continuing to work hard. We have tons of scheduled appointments this week so we're excited as the work keeps on going. Anyways. the branch is doing really well also. On Saturday we went out with the Branch President for a few hours and visiting less-actives and tried to work more with the Less-actives. But overall this area is doing very well. My guess is I only have about 5 weeks left here. I'll probably be leaving next transfers so I'm working really hard. 

I hope everyone is doing well and has good health. Keep praying everyday and reading the scriptures everyday and go to church every sunday and the Lord will bless you and your lives will be even better then they already have. I love Thailand and I cannot believe 6 months has flown by almost already! Insane! I love you all. 

As for the pictures. It's pictures of the sacrament room at church. A pictures of Sister Benz little girl, a pictures of Nam's little girl, and something else that I cannot remember. Anyways Enjoy :D

Love

Elder Federico

เอ็ลเดอร์ เฟเดริโค

May 27th 2012 for the US and may 28th for Thailand!! :)

167 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Everyone:
Well! Samut Prakan( my area) didn't split this transfer but that's okay, it should split somewhere down the road in the future, according to president smith. But my trainer took off to the East side of Thailand and became a district leader for a huge district so good for him :) And my new companion in Samut Prakan is in transfer 15 right now so he is about to finish his mission. This should be his last area. But he's still willing to work hard so we will continue to do the Lord's work as best we can here in Samut Prakan. The members at church are all very helpful with the fellowshipping. Fellowshippers are soooo important in a true conversion. So I encourage everyone to fellowship the recent converts and help the missionaries by being a fellowshipper. I look at it this way, Missionaries do about 10% of the work, investigators do 50% in keeping commitments and then you have members who cover the 40%. So as you can see, members are very important in missionary work. Every Member truly is a missionary. Transfers was really fun though and my new companion is white but he's really funny and we get along pretty well. It was a weird adjustment to not have my trainer but I'm doing okay.

As for our investigators... :) They are all doing sooo well. Sister Benz and Brother James got the Holy Ghost yesterday in Sacrament meeting. They both loved it and are doing sooo well. Sister Benz mom and her youngest sister Earn are progressing very well towards baptism and oughta be baptized in June but we will see for sure. Sister Benz younger sister Nam is doing well and has read into Mosiah already in the Book of Mormon and says that days that she doesn't read the Book of Mormon she feels weird and not very good so she likes to read it everyday and loves to pray. So she should be baptized in the near future as well. They are all doing soo well. Our members at church are very helpful in fellowshipping and it's making the missionaries jobs much easier. We also have an investigator named Eww who is about 40+ but she is absolutely loving going to church, reading the Book of Mormon, and praying! She should be baptized in the near future. She has read into mid alma already and absolutely loves it! She had read to ALma 5 last time we talked and said, "At first I really didn't like this Alma guy because he tried to ruin the church and was a bad kid, but then he repented and say and angel and now I love him." So we can see she understands the Book of Mormon really well. She understood Jacob 5 pretty well for not having a christian background as well which is awesome! SO she's doing great. We are working on getting more male investigators because the relief society in Samut Prakan is already awesome so we are setting goals to get more priesthood holders for this branch to help it move forward in the future a lot better. We have a few other investigators that are progressing as well but no crazy stories or such for them yet. 

Anyways, things are going really well here in Thailand. It's crazy how prepared some people are for the gospel! I cannot believe how fast time flies as well. I am about to hit my 6 month mark and I feel like maybe I've been a missionary for like 3 months or less. The time just flies by. Transfers go in the blink of an eye when you are working hard. Anyways, things are going well and I'm glad to hear that the family is doing great. Hope to hear more about family on the west coast. :) The Lord's work is moving forward very very fast in Thailand! We get a new Mission President next transfer meeting! His name is President Senior. So we will see how the transition goes. I'm sure it will go very well. Well I love you all and It's good to hear everything is going well in America.

Sorry no pictures are attached this week. Next week for sure.
Love
Elder Federico
เอ็ลเดอร์ เฟเดริโค 

May 20th 2012 for the US and may 21st for Thailand!!

160 days in the mission field!! :)

Dear Everyone:

Everything is going great here in Samut Prakaan in Thailand! We are very excited. This thursday is transfers which means that me and my companion will separate because he was my trainer and trainers/trainees always seperate! BUT! We are getting another companionship here in Samut Prakaan. We are not sure if either one of us will leave. My guess is that we will seperate and two new missionaries will come down here. 4 Elder in one house oughta be fun. We cleaned the house today and put the bunk beds together and are getting ready to go shopping for 2 pillows and 2 chairs for the new Elders. It'll be awesome! Still don't know who is coming down or if either one of us will leave. We will know tomorrow for sure. But It's awesome. Two companionships will really help Samut Prakaan! 

Yesterday, (Sunday the 20th) We had 2 people get baptized. Sister Benz and Brother James. It was really awesome. Elder Benjamin baptized Sister Benz and a member from the branch baptized James. It was very spiritual like they always are. Sister Benz family, (Ern, Nam, and their mom) were in attendance and really enjoyed the service. Sister Benz's little girl who's 1 1/2 was reverent too during it. It was great. Oh and Nam's little girl was as well. It was a very spiritual day! And we had 76 people at church so that was amazing as well. The member's are starting to get really excited because of all the success us missionaries are having! The member's are really helping as well and we're getting very blessed. Yesterday was greeat!

Last week we had zone conference as well. It was awesome! I love spending 5 hours with the mission president and our zone just learning how to become a better missionaries. Elder Benjamin and I learned a lot at zone conference. And this past week we ran into some challenges with our investigators. But we really relied on the spirit and were able to talk them into continuing on with learning and getting baptized. Sister Benz is absolutely great. Her faith in God is insane and I know she will be a great member of the church in the future. I have no doubt. Last week was a great week and we got a lot of work done. We went inviting and asked someone to be baptized just in the 15 min lesson we had with them. He has a date in July but we will see how it all works out. It was a week where we truly showed our faith. We had 9 investigators at church yesterday so that was great as well! :) Things are going great.

Sounds like the rest of the family is doing great. I'd love to see recent pictures of all the nieces and nephews and such from all my brothers and sisters. I'm sure they are all growing to be sooo big already! I cannot believe i've been gone for 5 1/2 months already! Time really flies! 

As for the pictures. I started with just pictures around the house and such. And then had some pictures from the baptism yesterday! I hope everyone enjoys the pictures. Hope to see some pictures from the family :) I love you all.

Love

Elder Federico 

เอ็ลเดอร์ เฟเดริโค