Elder Montague's Mission

February 4th, 2019 1 year, 8 months Thailand, Isan, Udornthani Ward  samuel.montague@myldsmail.net This week saw so many miracles! We were very blessed in our efforts to find someone new each day. Some super cool things that happened:  -I set a daily goal in the morning to find a couple and for my companion to find an individual. At the end of the day we hadn't found anyone yet so we went inviting at the park. I was a little uncomfortable with it because it wasn't super natural, but I found a way to make it work and we achieved our goal! -We were inspired to turn back down this street to get to our final destination (even though it didn't lead their- it is fun not knowing the area still!). We talked with this first guy we saw, who was getting out of his car. He invited us to tag along and talk in his office down the street. We taught him then he took us on a tour of the K-12 school he is the principal at. We were able to come back and teach him later during the wee...

January 28th, 2019 1 year, 8 months Thailand, Isan, Udornthani Ward  samuel.montague@myldsmail.net It's ya boi monti hitting you up in the straight up ISAN. I have moved to Udornthani, pronounced Ooo-dawn-tan-e. อุดรธานี.  It has been super wild getting here. I went to bed super late in thonburi, had to wake up super early so I could sit around all day while we waited to leave by overnight bus. Fun story there: so they had worked it all out so that there were just 3 of us going back, but we were all heading up to the Isan new, spread out between three different areas. This meant that we all had luggage and bikes. So we had to take 3 seperate taxis to the bus station. As the mother hen, I insisted that the other elders went first . . . but the taxi situation was sketch. None of them were even stopping for us on the street, and the few that did rejected us. Members had to call Grab Taxi for us! Cool story though, I was really frustrated with trying to call taxi's becau...

January 23rd, 2019 1 year, 7 months Thailand, Isan, Udorn Ward samuel.montague@myldsmail.net Another crazy week in Thonburi. Last district counsel, we all decided to visit strong members that we've been working with to follow up and see how they are implementing the new Come, Follow Me program. Most are not555. The same day we were going to visit the first person, our Mission President also challenged us to invite all the returning members to come and see the te  mple groundbreaking ceremony this Saturday (soooooo excited!!!) with some awesome promised blessings accompanying it. So we just kind of did both of them with so many people! This last week has been super productive in visiting members and people we teach! We received transfer calls last night, and I am saddened. They are merging both of the Thonburi elder companionships into one (this is the second time I have left an area with this happening555). I was the one to open it and I am now the one to close it. I am Elder...

January 14th, 2019 1 year, 7 months Thailand, Bangkok, Thonburi Ward samuel.montague@myldsmail.net Last week we went a visited all those wats right? Well, we did most of it walking. By the end of the day, we were pooped and our legs were dying. We failed to plan any appointments for the evening, which meant a few killer hours trying to invite. We met some people with promising potential! Our Tuesday schedule was all kinds of scrambled. We spent some time planning it out; only to have to rearrange a few hours because of a rescheduled district council. We did our best with working it all out, and it still turned out decently. I don't know if I mentioned it last week or not, but we have decided to cancel our Wednesday and Saturday activities at the church. It wasn't overly beneficial and we are trying to encourage the ward to sponsor their own activities. This week we felt it. The activities don't seem like much until now we have a big chunk of our evening to plan. It...

January 7th, 2019 1 year, 7 months Thailand, Bangkok, Thonburi Ward samuel.montague@myldsmail.net What a wild and wacky week. Yet somehow I am struggling to remember and piece together things to write about.  Dropapalooza We have continued sifting the wheats and the tares, ridding our sheaths of the latter. It never was easy to do, but I would rather focus on the prepared. So we dropped a ton of people again and just asked people to contact us when they are ready to learn.  Foodapalooza We have been fed so much over so many days. We have quite a few people that love feeding us a meal plus, many of them sending us on our way with snacks, treats and more food. One of the people we teach sends us away with treats to give to other people! Watapalooza Today, we went and visited many big wats (Buddhist Temples) in what is essentially downtown Bangkok. It was super fun, but tiring (we walked everywhere) and super Buddhist (go figure). I am so much more appreciative of my up...