Elder Montague's Mission

October 23th, 2017 5 months Thailand, Bangkok, Chaing Mai  District samuel.montague @myldsmail.net (I would love to hear from you) The start of a new transfer! My new companion is Elder Michael (Dane) Flygare, hailing from Provo, Utah. He's been in Esan his whole mission, and he's now bringing the fire to Chiang Mai! I'm so pumped to work with him.  Our focus during our weekly planning and what we've already done this week has been on member and Less Active work.  I've been impressed to push on these two things for a bit now.  Starting at the beginning of the week, after dropping off my companion at the church on Transfer day, all the departing missionaries from our area (2 elders, 2 sisters) left for the bus station. I began my switch off with Elder Hoopes, the Zone Leader. We went to visit and teach lesson 5 (laws and ordinances) to his investigator who is about to be baptized. The problem for me is that I've taught lesson 5 the least amount and it ...

October 10th, 2017 4 months, 3rd week Thailand, Bangkok, Chaing Mai  District samuel.montague @myldsmail.net (I would love to hear from you) This past week has been a little crazy. Tragically, I didn't bring my planner or anything with my notes of the past week, so this might be shorter than normal. General Conference finally came! In Thailand, everyone just watches it a week later. We watched the two S aturday  sessions very comfortably with our branch's sister missionaries. We were in the branch clerk's office, with cozy chairs, snacks galore (I've consumed far too many mentos this weekend), notebooks out, and speakers turned up. After Priesthood session that night, our district (stake) president took us out with his wife and son to a restaurant called Duke's. It's "German" but really it's just various American dishes. I got a delicious hamburger, akin to the deluxe island burger at Burger Island. President Ken had us talk about our expe...

October 2nd, 2017 4 months, 2nd week Thailand, Bangkok, Chaing Mai  District samuel.montague @myldsmail.net (I would love to hear from you) On Monday, we went to an Family Home Evening (FHE) at the same family who we visited in the hospital. This time, however, it was for Shish-kebabs and หมูกระทะ (muugratha- the meat buffet thing I had last week). The food was fantastic and it was a great fellow-shipping opportunity as we had nonmembers and recent converts there! During district meetings on Tuesdays, my District Leader (and companion) likes to start off with something fun. This week, he choose to have us do another scripture chase, which surprise- I won! Even more exciting than that though, are the airplane tickets we bought (and paid for at 7/11- you can literally pay for anything and any bill there).  On Thursday I have to go to Bangkok for my visa renewal, and nothing else would get me there early enough (on the downside, I arrive  1am ). Our English...

September 25th, 2017 4 months, 1st week Thailand, Bangkok, Chaing Mai  District samuel.montague @myldsmail.net (I would love to hear from you) I guess the pun titles are back? At least for a while I guess- Chiang Mai (pronounced chain with a g sound at the end, my) has so many easy possibilities. Last Pday, we tried doing a few things but the highlights consisted of getting my feet eaten by fish then touring Wat Phrasing (the super famous temple in the North. The church building is right next to it, so we always reference it). The fish tickled so much, I was afraid I might accidentally kill some as I couldn't keep my feet still.  The Wat (Buddhist temple) was so much larger than I expected, and we went right in time to hear the prayer. So that was a fun experience.  We went to go eat at a meat buffet place, but weren't there for long when one of our recent converts called us and, in tears, requested we come to the hospital and give a blessing to their ...

September 17th, 2017 3 months, 25 days Thailand, Bangkok, Chaing Mai  District We did a service project Tuesday for a recent convert where we cleaned up and "mowed" (we just pulled everything). It was some pretty hard work. We had a very spiritual and focused district meeting, where we did some role plays, planned for English, and prepared for the next week. English class was a breeze- we taught the beginner class with the other elders in our district. Tuesday was also the first time I had to bike to the church in full church clothes- it is a  very  long bike ride and hot with enough humidity to take a shower in the open air.  I died a little. We went to the hospital for flu shots this week, so that was exciting. We also traveled to แม่โจ (Maejo)  University multiple times for studies, lunch, inviting, and teaching. It's truly a great place- the students there are so open and willing to know about the gospel. And that's about the age range who are inst...

September 11th, 2017 3 months, 19 days Thailand, Bangkok, Chiang Mai  District What a super crazy week this has been! On Wednesday, we did some shopping, bowling, taught a few lessons, and had Shabu with members! These people have been so kind and loving to me- I am truly going to miss them soooo much. They were generous and gave me and my mom (the eldest sister missionary in the district during the time of training, which is the first two transfers; the same for  dads. Since I moved for my second transfer, I have "step parents" and  so many gifts and memorabilia. My mom, Sis Courchaine, was leaving after having spent 4 transfers there- since March. I was lucky to ride on that wave as she was fantastic and helped me with great advice. That night was spent finishing up packing and completing friendship books (scrapbooks that we fill out for each other essentially). Since I hadn't expected to leave, I didn't have anything prepared until that Pday, so I had l...

September 3rd, 2017 3 months, 11 days Thailand, Bangkok, Bangna  (บางนา)  District Last week on Pday, we ended up playing 2 rounds of Lazer Tag with a lot of Young Single Adults (YSA). It is good to do these type of activities as it allows us to build relationships with ward members outside of church so they will trust us better.  Also it allows them to bring their friends in a "non church" environment so they feel more comfortable.  With that said, it was soooo much fun.  Of course it may have been more fun because I rocked it as was #1 for both rounds.   And we finished the time off by going to Swensons (ice cream shop) as a huge group right after.  I enjoyed a special item from the menu I never previously tried.  We concluded the day with a farewell party for one of the members, who is leaving today to China for college. View from the Skytran On Wednesday, we had a unusual experience. A member from somewhere else, tha...