Reed's Mission - Chachoengsao

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#336666" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Mission Experiences of Reed B. Haslam - Thailand Bangkok Mission          </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>  </B></FONT><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >   </FONT><IMG SRC="04d44320.gif" border=0 width="68" height="50" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#336666" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reeds Mission Front Page"><U><B>Front Page</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="photo_album.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reeds Mission Photo Album"><U><B>Photo Album</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="mission_companions.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reeds Mission Companions"><U><B>Companions</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="mission_reunions.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Old Heads Mission Reunions"><U><B>Mission Reunions</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>===============</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.LDS-Thailand.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.LDS-Thailand.org"><U><B>LDS Church</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.LDS-Thailand.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.LDS-Thailand.org"><U><B> History in Thailand</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.translatingscripture.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.translatingscripture.com"><U><B>Reed's Book</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.theHaslams.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.theHaslams.com"><U><B>theHaslams.com</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Week #28 - December 14-20, 1973 - Khon Kaen and Chachoengsao Thailand </B></div> <bR> <div> On Sunday I made my last trip to Udorn and we had 3 meetings. In one the investigator asked how Joseph Smith saw God when the Bible says no one has seen God. We discussed the inaccuracies of the Bible but he was still bewildered. The Thai's were picketing at the US Air Force base - they wanted to earn more $$ before the U.S. left which they knew was coming soon. This prevented us from having lunch on base. We visited Sister Grace who gave me the names of some people to visit in Chachoengsao and also told me of the sacred Buddhist temple in that city. We returned at 3:30 pm got my bags and ran off to get the bus to Korat (a larger city 2.5 hours south) when we arrived I noticed my voice was getting horse.  This continued to get worse and worse.  We visited the Korat Elders and then were supposed to get the midnight train for Bangkok. At the train station we learned that the train was cancelled due to an accident. We then decided to go to the bus station and take the next bus that was Bangkok bound. We did but it was full which didn't help. It was an uncomfortable night as we rode to Bangkok arriving at the chapel at Asoke just about the same time the missionaries there got up. This being Monday and my 1st companion serving in Bangkok as Branch President took me to Promidt Hospital to see what could be done about my hoarseness.  He did an X-ray and said there was no pneumonia.  He gave me some medicine and sent us on our way.  The total charge was $ 7.  I went back to Asoke and crashed for the rest of the day (Monday P-day). The APs moved me to Elder's quarters at Egamai (another one in Bangkok - closer to the mission home). On Tuesday I spent the day with Elder Pace of my LTM group who was going to take my place in Khon Kaen. I told him about the things we had going up there. </div> <bR> <div> We did meet President and Sister Morris at the Mission Office. When President Morris took myself and Elder Jesse (who was also becoming a new senior companion to a greenie) back to Egamai he said "there will never be a greater expression of my confidence in you than when I assign you to train a new missionary". He also told us the names of our new companions.  Other Elders had predicted that Elder Brown would be my companion since he was so outgoing; however President Morris said that my greenie was Elder Graham. On December 19, 1973 at the mission home I was introduced to my new companion at the mission home.  Elder Graham said that he went to Granite High School. I said I went to Olympus High School. He then asked do you know Karen Osguthorpe. I said yes. He said she's the girl that is writing me. "Really" I said she was my 1st grade sweetheart! </div> <bR> <div> Shortly thereafter we left for the 1-hour drive to Chachoengsao. At 2:14:58 PM (I had my digital watch on) the first Elder's assigned to Chachoengsao arrived at our new home.  The house was 2 years old but no one had ever lived there. I met Sarasuug the landlord. After unloading our stuff the APs took us for a ride around town. I wrote thing look wealthier here than in Khon Kaen. It seems in Thailand the amount of rainfall determines the general wealth of the area. We had dinner together at a restaurant in town at which time the APs explained that there is no "American style restaurant in town". Later I took a copy of the rental contract to the post office so that they could tell me how to write the address in English so we could tell people where to write us. While there I sent a telegram Khon Kaen giving them the address to which they should send my bicycle. I also noted that the rent was $150/mo. Wow so expensive I wrote in my journal.  Since the church pays ½, as the home is also the chapel for Chachoengsao the elder's part was $75/mo.  </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="3" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="312" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 289 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="092241b0.jpg" border=0 width="292" height="283" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 57 WIDTH="294"><div> Elder Haslam at the new home in Chachoengsao with the "expensive" church sign.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> The missionaries shared the housing costs across Thailand so we always paid $40/mo for housing.  The APs looked for 7 days to find the place and it was the only suitable home in the whole town that they could find. We stopped at a bookstore and met Thanin. We explained we were new in town and he asked, "What do you need"? I said "bottled water, eggs, milk, and bread". He then left his store and went with us to find these items.  There is no bottled water in Chachoengsao. He also told us you would not find farung (foreign) food in this town. I asked about a maid to cook farung food. He said there is no such person here in Batriw - the nickname for Chachoengsao. The next day one of the Landlord's workmen came by with his wife whom he offered as our maid. I interviewed her and even though she did not know how to cook farung I hired her for $20/mo. We went shopping and tracting since you can do both at the same time. Mr. Tanin bought lunch for us. On Friday morning the maid came and after 40 minutes presented breakfast - 2 slices of bread bananas and an egg in a plastic drinking cup.  I looked up at Elder Graham and said, "Its' teach the maid day". So we taught her how to make scrambled eggs. I tried to explain in Thai while Elder Graham demonstrated" The landlord came to say the dish cabinet would be installed soon and sure enough here it came. The maid told the landlord there was no clothesline and so he got a couple of men to install one.  I didn't even know what the Thai word for clothesline is. I then got to know the landlord better and had him tell us about this new town. He asked us more about what we were doing. The next job was to find a bank, which would cash our checks.  We visited about 5 banks and then selected Thai Farmers Bank.  They also said that we could get bottled water from a place in Chonburi where they get their bottled water. For dinner the maid fixed some great sweet and sour vegetables (briaw wan). She'd organized all the dishes in the new cabinet and things started to look good. Thus ended the first 4 days in a new town.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #29 - December 21-27 1973 Chachoengsao, Thailand - First Christmas</B></div> <bR> <div> On Saturday December 22 I decided that we needed a break from the duties of setting up our new home and district. We'd been invited to travel about 30 or so miles south to a town called Chonburi. Elders had been in Chonburi for just 4 months (it was opened when I arrived in Thailand). There we were to help them with the presentation of a Christmas program.  It turned out that the original Elders who opened Chonburi had also traveled there to take part as well.  (These two were companions again back in the Bangkok area). [The senior of this companionship Elder Brewer was the brother to the wife who lived by our old home on the corner of Casa Negra and 1000 east you remember the remodeled multi-story place. He spoke at his nephew's farewell in the 2nd ward - the nephew came out of no where (never before seen at church) to go on a mission (Oakland - Laotian speaking) only to resign about 6-8 months in saying he had no testimony! When I spoke to Bishop Jackson about this he's remark was - "He had all the right answers"] Elder Brewer was a bit strange and what we found upon arriving in Chonburi was a bit strange as well.  Elder Brewer and his companion Elder Montgomery (from my group) brought a sister from Bangkok with them. This I thought was strange. I found that we were not really needed for the program but did help with refreshments. The program was held at a school and it involved mostly children. Elder Brewer and Montgomery had built quite the relationship here in Chonburi with a bunch of kids.  The program included a rock band (that was inappropriate), which was followed by the Christmas story that was put on by the kids under direction of the Elders. Following that we had movies.  I wished we had not gone.  I said to myself - this did not help Elder Graham get a good view as to what missionary work should be like. Elder Graham and I went to return home and found we'd missed the last bus so we spent the night in Chonburi - it was ok - they had a big house there. We returned to Chachoengsao on Sunday and held the first ever church meetings in that city on December 23rd. Of course those in attendance were just I and Elder Graham. The next day was P-day and Christmas Eve.  Elder Graham drew a Christmas tree on the back of a Calendar. On Christmas it was cold outside (probably about 45 degrees) we awoke read letters and opened packages from home. Elder Graham had 12 packages from the LTM that were sent by his girlfriend. I had a couple of packages and a gift from the neighbor in KhonKaen (a silk tie). I re-read all my Christmas cards and letters and then we traveled to Bangkok to have dinner with President and Sister Morris at the mission home.  We were joined by the Chonburi Elders. Other Elders in the Bangkok area went to other members of the Bangkok English branch.  We had a great dinner and played some games with the Morris' children. On the way in I asked the taxi driver "What day is it?" He said "Tuesday". I asked again "What day is it". He responded "25th" I asked again and he said "December 25th". I asked again and by this time he was getting annoyed, but this brought out of desperation "Oh its Christmas day".  I said "yes" and then explained what Christmas day represented. On the 26th the A.P.'s visited us for a full day.  We looked for a place to print Business Cards for Elder Graham and me as well as met with the Landlord to have him clear up a few details.  He was pretty easy to work with. He was getting a lot of $$$ for the size of house we lived in. We visited one of the names Sister Grace had given me up in Udorn. We found the lady at the Provincial Capitol building. She did not seem to know who Sister Grace was.  We did find another gentleman there who agreed to have us visit him. The A.P.'s were fairly impressed with dinner that the maid fixed up - not bad since they have the best maid at the chapel (Asoke) in Bangkok. The maid told us she found another maid in town who could cook American and was sending her for an interview. On the 26th we spent time riding the busses to learn where they could take us. We talked to people as we traveled around town.  The next day I wanted an English-Thai dictionary. Our friend Mr. Thanin did not have what I wanted so he sent us to another bookstore. They had one but I asked, "Is there another bookstore in town?"  I was told where to find it. We left but could not find it so we returned. The clerk then said, "OK I'll take you there!" She then proceeded to take us to that store! They did not have what I wanted so we returned and bought the book from this clerk. We also visited a lady the A.P.'s had met when looking for a home. She worked at a private school. I suggested Elder Graham give her the Joseph Smith story. He declined saying "I'm not ready". Many people told me this day that I spoke Thai quite well.  This made me feel good and up to the tasks ahead. I got my bicycle at the freight station and we took it to the same place we bought Elder Graham's and they got it into fine shape.  With a home, bank accounts, and a maid we were now ready to get busy with the work.  Note: President Harold B. Lee died on December 26th but we did not know about it until letters arrived from home several days later.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #30 - December 29, 1973 - January 4, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> In my new town Chachoengsao I had not remembered that things got off to a pretty great start - we had eight people attend church on that 2nd Sunday. These eight people were all young adults 18-22. They were mostly curious about who we were and what we were doing in Chachoengsao. I went on to serve in Chachoengsao for 5 months and there were many missionaries who served there after me. At the time I left for home there had been no baptisms in Chachoengsao. I'd only be making a guess about how things might be there today 27 years later, but I'd be surprised if there was a continuing branch located in that town.</div> <bR> <div> It was an interesting week where we met with people of many different religions. On the 29th a young man who we'd met in Chonburi the prior weekend. He'd come up to find us (how he did I don't know - our residence in Chachoengsao was rather difficult to find!) He reviewed with us the 5 commandments of Buddhism (1) Don't kill animals, (2) don't lie, (3) don't commit adultery, (4) don't drink alcohol, and (5) don't steal. He said these are the laws all Buddhists are expected to follow. Monks have additional rules that they must follow.  All young men 20 years old are to be monks for a minimum of 3 months. We then shared the 10 commandments from the Bible; to which he said, "these are all the same!" I asked about worshiping idols - he said, "we don't do that - we don't worship Buddha's image in the temple we use his image to remind us who he was; because he no longer exists he has been extinguished! I asked him if fornication was OK. He said, "Certainly - the girls have to make their money somehow!" I asked if it was OK to drink a little alcohol. "Yes", he replied, "the commandment is against getting drunk!"  I asked "How do we eat beef and pork if no one kills animals?" "We'll at the slaughterhouse we slit their throats at midnight and if they die then that is what Buddha wanted!" Killing animals always seemed to be a big thing with the Thai. This young man told us "I know this man who once killed a frog and after he did all his children looked like frogs! - We'll they all had deformed legs like frogs!"  My journal records that when I translated this story for Elder Graham he had to run off to the bedroom so he could laugh out loud! We talked about reincarnation and he compared it to the water cycle. Salvation is breaking the cycle and becoming extinguished! We'll we shared the Joseph Smith story and then Elder Graham gave a closing prayer and so did our investigator. After this event Elder Graham had questions about the strange things he had just heard. I noted that inside he was also asking "What am I doing here? I am so in love with Karen O.   </div> <bR> <div> After church on the 30th more people dropped by the house being curious as to what was going on. Later that same day an English teacher from a private school dropped by our home to find out about English class. She reaffirmed that Buddhists don't worship idols like the Buddha on her necklace but use it to remember who he was. We shared the plan of salvation and then I asked which plan do you like better? She said, "I'll have to think about that".</div> <div> On New Year's Eve I met a Catholic man who left Red China at age 4. He told us to be careful at the Sothorn temple, as it is special to many Thais. He knew about the incident 1.5 years earlier where elders sat atop a broken down image of Buddha. Fireworks and the like kept us from sleeping well on New Year's Eve. The old maid brought in our new maid and I explained the duties to her. The old maid was paid 150 Baht ($7.50) for which she was so grateful I thought she was going to get on her knees and worship us. I also had my first full service hair cut. For 40 cents we got a great trim, a shave (so close to my eyes I was a bit nervous). The also cut our nose hairs and the hair on the back of our ears which is why today the hair on the back of my ears grows rapidly! This was topped off with a hot towel and a shoulder massage now that's some haircut! At the barbershop we met a Hindu from India and a Thai who was a Muslim. We invited them over for a discussion after dinner.  They came and it was fascinating. The 5 commandments of Islam (1) bow to Mecca 5 times a day (from Thailand the closest route to Saudi Arabia is to the west so they pray to the west rather than the east as is done in America. (2) Give money to the poor (3) during Ramadan (Oct-Nov) fast from sunrise to sunset every day, (4) once in a lifetime make the pilgrimage to Mecca and (5) study Islam. Claimed the moon is holy and that if man has gone there THEN that would disprove Islam - it's interesting I've never heard this said neither before nor since that day.  The Indian then claimed to be the nephew of Indura Gandhi. She said that Gandhi sent his family to Thailand and that his Muslim friend taught him Thai. I did not record anything about what he may have explained about Hinduism.</div> <bR> <div> On my birthday we met with a family that lived near us. The father indicated he wanted to study about our religion and said, "You know that if I feel that it is true my family will join and become members of your church".  Wow I felt great about the prospects for this family. He works for the government in another county of this state. On the 4th we left not knowing where to go. I set off to explore an area we'd never been to. Soon we found ourselves truly out in the country.  I suggested we go back but Elder Graham wanted to see what the real Thai country was like so we proceeded down many trails on our bicycles. We talked to many people some of whom I had trouble understanding. After some time we found a boy who studied at the teacher's college. He agreed to lead us back to the city. That night we met with a man and his large family - 16 kids!  The girls had the all-important question at the end of the meeting "Are you married?</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #31 - January 5-11, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> This week of my mission was full of contrasts.  We held our 2nd week of meetings on Sunday.  The same boys who came last week showed up again this week. They asked many questions few of which had to do with religion.  We also noted that one of the boys seemed to change names.  They asked things like "Can we see what's upstairs?" We told them "no the upstairs is restricted interest".  At then end of the day when I wrote the journal entry I realized that I should have been smarter.  While we were out doing some visiting in the evening; I believe these boys robbed us!  What did they take? We'll they took my tape recorder and my Pulsar (digital watch).  I should not have brought the watch on my mission with me.  It was one of the first digital watches ever made and it was worth $250.00.  I was distraught when we returned home and found these boys had robbed us. They must have left one of the doors open that we generally didn't use. They came back and entered by that door went upstairs and took the stuff.  They left $35 cash and my camera - I guess they were in a great hurry!  We then went and reported the theft to the police.  It was very difficult for me to explain the details in the Thai language; after all missionaries first learn religious vocabulary and the more commonplace language stuff comes later.  We also explained what had happened to the landlord.  We told the police the boys might come back to English class on Wednesday.  Monday P-day I was still somewhat shell shocked about what had happened.  As is often the case some promising contacts from the week before did not seem so golden this week.  Our discussions with a Christian man who was also a Veterinarian still looked promising.  He started it all off by questioning us what was the nature of God. That led to our explanation of the Father and the Son.  This caused him to give much thought.  We tracted one day and talked to 3 different families. Two of the three said they were not interested in the concept of eternal families some said, "No that's not a nice thought!" Others simply said, "It is not possible".  We heard several different views on what happens after death. Some said - "nothing happens - it is all over".  Why live a good life then? "So you are well remembered".</div> <bR> <div> The week also brought my second trip to Cambodia to renew our visas.  We got the telegram to be in Bangkok at immigration at 9:00am on Wednesday. So we got on the bus that morning and well it was a slow trip - numerous stops for kids going to school. I arrived at immigration at 9:30am.  Elder Woodard had not yet arrived so we waited another hour. It was then decided that he was not coming and Elder Mumford whose mission office jobs was to handle all the visa affairs called President Morris and suggested that another Elder take his place hoping that the immigration people at the border would not look at the photos on the passports. Immigration was not going to give my group any more extensions so we had to leave. We were fortunate at the border that neither the Thai nor Cambodian authorities looked at the passport pictures. If they had things could have been very bad for my group.  The best thing about the trips to Cambodia was the opportunity to get together with your group from the LTM and find out how they are doing and what was happening in their areas. On the way home the van broke a fan belt just 3 miles west of Chachoengsao.  I figured we could all spend the night at our place.  After 3 hours the belt was fixed and we continued on back to Bangkok where we all spent the night.</div> <bR> <div> On Friday President and Sister Morris visited Chachoengsao for the first time. They agreed that the house was nice but not worth $150/month. Sister Morris as always on the lookout for our health told the maid she wanted all the rooms and walls well cleaned. Since the house set idle for 2 years before our arrival she was not happy with the inside.  Our maid was brand new and she understood some English but I had to translate most of Sister Morris' instructions.  Our maid was great at food, but not so hot at cleaning as was specified in the referral that she gave us from the protestant missionaries that were her former employer.</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #32 - January 12-18, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> You'll remember that the week before someone broke into our house (or came through a door which they left open) and stole my pulsar digital watch (one of the first digital watches ever produced - it used light emitting diodes and thus battery life was not much more than a year) and my tape recorder.  The two boys who we suspected of the robbery returned to our front door (separately not together). I asked them if they knew anything about the robbery and they both denied it.  The one boy however kept asking, "How much was it worth?" which only made me feel more like he was involved. I told them that the police would like to question them, but they both said that since they knew nothing what was the point? I was not so sure the second boy was involved.  We let the police know that the boys had returned to visit us and may do so again in the future. All of this made me nervous about things since I began to imagine in my mind these thugs perhaps returning with guns.  Elder Graham gave me a blessing, after which I felt better.  I should have just forgotten about the incident and gone on as though nothing had happened; however, whenever you are robbed you feel like someone did it to you rather than perhaps just taking an opportunity to make some easy cash and in reality they don't care anything about you.</div> <bR> <div> To make matters worse the letter from home giving me their feelings on the robbery did not come when I expected it to. Without reading my journal the only thing I remembered about the robbery was that it happened and that my watch was stolen.  Even President and Sister Morris asked be about the incident at our last mission reunion.  In the end Dad's insurance with extended theft coverage took care of the cost of what was lost (after the deductible) even though the event took place is far off Thailand. I wrote in my journal that things were going great at home. Dad's construction job (remodeling the industrial arts section of the old Jordan High School) was making him a good deal of money (the contract was $ 750,000). One of the sub-contractors who did the ceramic tile work contributed to my mission by taking $ 1000.00 off his contract amount. Since I spent on average $ 130.00 per month this was more that 25% of my total mission expenses. Uncle Gary (Morgan) who had been unemployed also found new employment.</div> <bR> <div> During the week we visited many schools - starting with the best (the Catholic schools) to talk about our English class program and to see if there might be any opportunities to teach English that would be profitable for us.  </div> <bR> <div> We ordered a sign for the church. We always put up a sign on the house or the fence outside the house. I agreed to pay 1000 Baht ($50) for the sign. No one had told me what I should expect to pay for such a sign. When the A.P.'s came for a visit they let me know that this sign would be the most expensive sign yet purchased in Thailand.  The sign had on it the name of the church and our meeting schedule including English class.</div> <bR> <div> We had some discussions with Catholic individuals and these were interesting.  When we talked of the 1st vision one guy said - "oh I see God separated himself into father and son". Yeah that's how it's always done!  It was tough to get them to see the differences. In Thailand the Catholic churches often looked like Buddhist churches from the outside while on the inside they substituted a statue of Mary or Jesus in place of Buddha. The Catholics built schools and the Protestants built the best hospitals in Thailand. </div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #33 - January 19-25, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> I took ill and felt I should visit a doctor so we went to one of the protestant hospitals outside of town.  We were not treated at all well there.  A couple of doctors from the southern U.S. took a look at me and prescribed rest, fluid and aspirin, told us the Book of Mormon was of the devil and sent us home.  For this service we paid only $ 1.60; but spent ½ of a day. It took me three days before I was feeling well enough to resume a normal schedule.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="306" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 233 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="09119d90.jpg" border=0 width="281" height="217" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 WIDTH="294"><div> Elder Haslam bikes through the coconut grvoes on the east side of Chachoengsao</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> We also met a Buddhist who said he was studying Christianity by mail. So I thought we had a potential good contact.  After sharing the Joseph Smith story he told us that he would always be a Buddhist and that he was studying Christianity just for the fun of it.  We tried President Morris's idea of speaking of Buddha as a great and inspired teacher who had brought the Thai people many good ideas, but that we had a living prophet today to provide us guidance.  We were using a "What is truth?" approach along with a "Family Home Evening approach".  With one family when I suggested that we have a family home evening they said they were too busy. I said how about 10 minutes. Friends then interrupted us for 10 minutes before we concluded that they did not have 10 minutes.</div> <bR> <div> During this time there was a day when Elder Graham was so upset about something that he'd not talk to me all day long. I don't know what was up. I tried to encourage his gospel and language study, but he'd just daydream about Karen. He also didn't like my reaction and feelings about the robbery. Then again none of his stuff was stolen.</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #34 - January 26 - February 1, 1974, Chachoengsao, Thailand </B></div> <bR> <div> After I was sick it was Elder Graham's turn - so we stayed close to home on the 26th and 27th. The 27th was Sunday and no one came to church. This was a first for us but it was just as well since Elder Graham was ill and I was not fully better.  During the week the new signs for the church were installed. One sign was attached to the balcony of the house so that it could be seen from some distance. Since we lived on a narrow dirt road we placed another sign out by the main (paved road) a few hundred yards away.  Since I had designed the signs I was thrilled to see how they turned out.  The one for the house just fit right and matched the home very well.</div> <bR> <div> We went looking for a member of the church who was baptized in Bangkok 4 years ago and who had moved out into our area.  We started by going to the post office to see if they recognized the name. The counter clerk said no; but then a young man in line behind us said he knew him and was just on his way to visit him. He said I'll take you to his home.  As it turned out the home was outside town a way on the road to Chonburi. Wow what were the chances of making this connection? When we arrived at his home he had not returned from work yet. When he did you should have seen the look on his face. The Elder's have found me - how impossible! He was about 21 years old (baptized at 17). He was driving the bus from Chachoengsao to Chonburi M-F and going to teacher's college on Saturday and Sunday. He did remember the church but could not remember the names of the Elders who had taught him. I told him the name of the new president of the church (Kimball) but he did not seem to remember what a prophet was. We invited him to church but he said he could not come due to attending school on Sunday. I don't think his parents knew anything about his joining the church. He suggested he come visit us rather than our coming to visit him.</div> <bR> <div> Here's a quote from January 31st "Well and so ends another day of beating your head against 2500 years of Buddhist traditions". The incident of the Elder's sitting on the heads of old statues of Buddha came up in the papers again as some kids of U.S. servicemen did the same thing. Along with the new pictures in the paper were re-prints of the Elders. We met a lady who had recently lost her husband. We told her Jesus made it possible for her to see her husband again, "would you like to do that?" after some thought she said "No it's not possible". In discussions with an investigator on the plan of salvation he asked, "Were we once animals?" No I said. How about ghosts are they real? We'll it depends on the context I suppose. Oh I've seen them, seen them many times. The Thai people love ghost stories. Every night on Thai TV was Ghost Stories of one kind or another. In a discussion with another student - he gave all the right answers like he's a golden contact. I'd learned by this point that rather than a good sign this was probably a bad sign. The wife of another man we were having discussions with said "in Buddhism there is reason and result for everything. We don't use faith; all we know is what we can prove". Things with Elder Graham were somewhat better though he still misses Karen and has told me that "it's a waste of time for me to be here!' He added, "These people don't care". I asked, "What should we do?" He a said "Scare them! Tell them Christ is coming and they'd better be ready!" In the end we agreed that only the spirit could guide us as to how to approach a given person with the message of the gospel.  The Catholic storeowner we'd been meeting with said he'd seen no difference in our teachings and the Catholic belief. Then again it was clear he'd not read the tracts we'd left with him.  He said, "I am always happy to talk to you, please come back."</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #35 - February 2-8, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> February 2, 1974 marked the end of the 3rd missionary generation in Thailand. The first missionaries arrived on 2/2/1968. After 6 years there were few active members, 400 total members, no Book of Mormon, about 10 tracts and now about 60 missionaries. This week saw the formation of the first ever zones in the mission Central, North and Northeast. Central zone conference was also held on February 5th and President Garner who brought the first 6 missionaries to Thailand 6 years ago participated. We also learned that two sister missionaries (health missionaries) would arrive in June. This was another first for the mission. I noted that missionaries in the Bangkok area had generally moved out of homes and into apartments and that the AP's apartment was quite the place including swimming pool! On the 2nd to celebrate the occasion my companion and I read Elder Hinckley's dedicatory prayer, which took place 14 months earlier in November of 1966. When he revisited Thailand in June 2000 - he spoke of "the pioneering work going on there". Gee if it's pioneering in 2000 what were we doing in 1974? Early pioneering I guess.</div> <bR> <div> During the week we met another veterinarian, this one I remarked was the lead vet for the area. We had met his wife earlier.  He was the first Thai who ever told me.  "I appreciate what you young men are doing here sharing your religion at great personal expense BUT I am not interested in your story."  No one before this has made it clear is a direct way like he did "I am not interested". He told us he was a Buddhist and that he believed all the Buddhist concepts, which he could prove. He thanked us for coming to see him and I thanked him for his time and telling us how he felt and we departed. Most of the Thai people would just keep inviting you back again and again even though in their hearts they were not interested in your message. Elder Graham after this visit said, "It's useless these people don't care about our message." I said "No it's not useless" and we went on. Next we visited another man whose wife we also had previously met. Turns out he was the first Thai I ever met who changed religions during his lifetime (other than church members). He was a protestant and said he changed his religion "for family reasons" and that statement I found interesting. Next a man Kaseem who we'd talked to numerous times. That day he made it clear he was not interested in our history only in the "meat of our religion"</div> <bR> <div> Before re-reading my journal the things I remembered about Chachoengsao were few and I've come across some surprises such as the lone member from Bangkok who moved out in our area. You remember I told you about him in the last letter. Well Anun came to sacrament meeting the next Sunday! Really we held sacrament meeting at the time he could come. He took time between classes at the teacher's college to come to sacrament meeting and he brought a friend.  We had the sacrament and shared it with him.  Testimonies were shared. He said he was glad he'd met the Elders again and that they were now "in his home town". He then he returned to school.  I'd not remembered anything about Anun; least of which that he actually came to church that Sunday!  The other thing I think I'd say about these early weeks in Chachoengsao was I should have been more Christian about the robbery. So what my high tech watch and tape recorder were gone! The two boys I suspected of the crime kept coming back to see us and I did not ever give then the benefit of the doubt about the event. Thursday the 7th turned out to be a Buddhist Holiday of some significance. We didn't know much about it so we tried to go about our day like usual; however, this was impossible as this holiday made all the Thais remember that they are Buddhists. We asked people what was the occasion; most said "Buddha's Birthday". We soon gave up our proselyting efforts and went to the local Buddhist temple to see the real deal. The place was packed with people some praying prostate on the floor, others shaking a can of sticks to see which stick would fall out first and be there "fortune", others buying gold leaf and putting it on the Buddha statues (this I learned later was special only to this particular temple). The wife of a couple we were sharing discussions with told us that the holiday was in celebration of one of Buddha's great sermons. She added that beliefs of the people about the sticks and the gold and all were beliefs of the people and not doctrines of Buddhism.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #</B><B>36 - February 9-15, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> The week was largely a struggle with my greenie companion Elder Graham.  As we went out to meet people I asked him to participate and share his thoughts - he did nothing he just sat there. When we left that place I asked him to do the door approach at the next place. We walked up to the fence outside and asked, "Is the owner of the residence home". The gentleman of the house came out and asked, "What do you want?" Elder Graham said nothing. He asked again "What do you want?" Elder Graham again refused to say anything. He asked a third time "What do you want?" Again Elder Graham was silent. Finally I said we wanted to give you this card "Our business card" and then I walked away and went to a restaurant for a drink (probably a Fanta orange soda or a fruit smoothie) and Elder Graham followed. I told him that I did not understand why he would not even try. I told him that the Lord promised him through me that he'd be given the gift of tongues if only he would put forth his best effort to study the language and practice it.  Elder Graham then mostly just kept his silence. A few days later in our companionship planning meeting and later that night (we talked in bed to each other until 2am) he finally talked to me.  He said he was still trying to figure out what he was doing in Thailand - everything seemed so useless to him. We compared backgrounds - what did you do growing up Elder Haslam - "study" was my reply. He said we'll I did not do much of that; I enjoyed fishing and hunting and especially Karen Osguthorpe.  I told him that he needed to leave home behind and focus on sharing the gospel with our Thai brothers and sisters.  I agreed that our task was not a simple one. We'd just had a day when everyone we met told us that they were Buddhist and that their families were Buddhists and that a good Thai is a good Buddhist.  He told me he thought that I argued too much and that made him feel uncomfortable. I responded that I simply stood up for our beliefs even in the face of the "all religions teach man to be good" replies.</div> <bR> <div> The best past of the week was that Anun - our only member agreed to come to Sacrament meeting again and I asked him to bring friends from the teacher's college that he was attending with him and so he did. For sacrament meeting we had our largest audience 11 people in addition to Elder Graham and me.  Elder Graham gave a short talk and there was some laughter from the audience - probably some snafu with the language.  We blessed the sacrament and again there was some laughter - probably because the sacrament prayers were so foreign to them.  We personally thanked every one of them for coming at the conclusion of the meeting.</div> <bR> <div> After Elder Graham I was assigned another greenie. This one was quite different. He was 26 years old (the 2nd 26 year old companion which I had) and he wanted to work hard. The problem with him was that he believed we should have a minimum of a baptism each month and that when we did not he felt like things were not good. What's wrong - a mission is to baptize he thought and we were not doing any of that.  His name was Elder Konuiszy and he was of Polish decent.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Week #37 - February 16-22, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> On Saturday we returned to a store where on Monday we met an interesting old Chinese man.  Elder Graham said that we needed to go back and see him, so we did. He had taught us how to say "hello" in his Chinese dialect it was "gung ho!" so Elder Graham said that was the way he would greet him today.  When we found him we approached and I expected Elder Graham to say "gung ho!" but he didn't so I said "Gung Ho Khrup Khun Manit".  While there we met a man who said he was looking for the truth and another man who said he was a Catholic. We gave them an introduction using the Joseph Smith story.</div> <bR> <div> We gave two second discussions later in the day to Sompope and Sompong. Sompong was the manager of the prison down the street from us. He was very kind and listened intently to our presentation. He gave us a tour of the prison. The cells were very small and crowded. He said there were 900 inmates. I could not believe that there was that many in such a small space.</div> <bR> <div> On Sunday we completed the most proselyting hours ever for the Sabbath and we found what could be called a "Golden Investigator" (Thai style of course). She had one big problem, her mother would not let her join another church, We told her the story of Joseph Smith and her face just lit up. Her name was wadii. She told us that some Thai people held a belief that at some point a man would come to restore the fullness of religion (Buddhist). She said she had been studying the gospel and that she was ready to join a Christian Church since she knew Christ was real. She added that she was not sure which church to join. We met her while looking up a referral from our tract box at the post office.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="3" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="296" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 217 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="09316d30.jpg" border=0 width="278" height="211" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 WIDTH="278"><div> Elder Haslam (l) and Elder Graham (r) at the beach in Chonburi, Thailand</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> On P-day we went to the beach in Chonburi about 40 km away. There at the Elder's residence were 4 other Elders from Bangkok and the 2 Elders who work in Chonburi; we met an Australian on the beach. After dinner Elder Mongkol and I taught him an introductory discussion. I found it difficult to do in English since Thai wanted to keep coming out of my mouth. It was a great day except for our burned feet!</div> <bR> <div> On a tape from home I learned that Nancy Day was engaged to be married. She was going to marry a smart guy named Sharp.</div> <bR> <div> The assistants came on Wednesday with 20 chairs for our new meeting room (in the converted garage). They shared a filmstrip on "Contacting Fathers".  We'd been trying to arrange for Family Home Evening with people who we'd meet, but it was hard to explain to them what a Family Home Evening is.  Also Thai families are just not that close. In the evening Elder Hallows and I went to one such appointment.  It pretty much fell through. We must some other people with whom we had some nice discussion, but they were not interested in religion.</div> <bR> <div> I asked them how to help Elder Graham. The said, "challenge him and work him hard, ask him very seriously if he has a testimony of the gospel and make hit give it every time you meet someone, or really bop him one.</div> <bR> <div> The next day Elder Graham got up at 5am to study. When I got up he wanted me to translate some of his intros into Thai. He said, "I've got to say things in my own way, I can't deal with memorized stuff."</div> <bR> <div> On Thursday we followed up on a referral from Temple Square in 1971. This led us back to the big High School. There we found Urai, who told us she was happy with life. I asked her a few questions; do you want to get married? She said, "Yes if something comes along". Do you want to keep working here? "If I can then fine"</div> <div> She was a true Buddhist; she had eliminated "desire" from her life.  She asked us why we teach Arram since he has over 1000 Buddha images at his home. I thought to myself - we'll perhaps that's why we don't teach him at his home.</div> <bR> <div> We awoke on Friday to what sounded like gunfire going off all around the town. My first thought was "The Cambodians are invading Thailand".  I went to our study room to look out the window.  I could not see anything, but the sounds of gunfire continued!  Then I glanced at the Calendar - February 22 - Chinese New Year!  Now it all made sense, the noise was not gun fire but rather fire crackers being set off for Chinese New Year.</div> <bR> <div> On Friday while bearing testimony Elder Graham stopped right in the middle of his testimony and said "Oh those letters". He was so occupied with those letters. The investigator Mr. Chaatrii understood what he had said in English. The say concluded teaching English at the hospital. It went well. We concluded with what's not good for the body. The nurses had all the answers and then we distributed the Word of Wisdom tract.</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #38 - February 23- March 1, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> During this week I learned that Brother Ken's wife was baptized in Udorn. Brother Ken was converted by the servicemen at the air base in Udorn and got the name "Ken" from them.  As things went forward missionaries were again assigned to Udorn toward the end of 1974. And the northeast of Thailand took off as baptisms mushroomed.</div> <bR> <div> The weather was HOT/HOT/HOT as the hot season in Thailand is February March and April.  It ends with the water festival Songkran.  We were trying to attempt to teach families by introducing "Family Home Evening" but this was more difficult to achieve than to conceive. We tried this with the few families we met that we actually go to teach together as a group. Families were hard to get a hand on in Thailand.  People lived in families but they did very little together as families.</div> <bR> <div> Our converted garage became our meeting room for Sunday services.  Elder Graham was still lethargic about the work. Sister Morris wrote him a letter of encouragement and asked that he never give up.  We had a father and son come to meetings, which was unique. </div> <bR> <div> Do you find that young women show interest in you what you are doing?  We had that problem in Thailand and many young ladies saw us as their ticket to the United States and a better life. Three young women from the teacher's college came to English class. They explained dating Thai style. If a young man likes a girl he tells her so. If she likes him she then invites him over to meet her parents. Who then may allow them to go on a group date? So many young women told me they were not perusing marriage but that if it came along they would consider it.  We'd been meeting this Catholic storeowner Subrathib once a week about closing time for his store. This time he seemed more genuinely interested than any time before. He said he'd read the mimeographed pages of 3 Nephi 11-30 Perhaps it was the story of Joseph Smith receiving the priesthood from Peter that caught his interest</div> <bR> <div> In Thailand it was always difficult to find anyone by having an address.  Addresses seemed to be so confusing. Sombun who was the father who came to church on Sunday came to English class. Since he is the head teacher instructor for the county he sure commanded a lot of respect from the other participants. We visited Sombun at his home. He'd read the Joseph Smith story.</div> <bR> <div> On Friday Elder Graham had to make the trek to Cambodia. So it was a total waste of time from 5am when we got up to get the train to Bangkok until 10pm when they dropped us off at our home in Chachoengsao on the way back to Bangkok. I met an Elder Brown in Elder Graham's group He was super enthusiastic and had 5 discussions memorized already. I thought gee how neat it would have been if he and not Elder Graham had been my companion to open Chachoengsao. At the border we found a convoy of gas trucks waiting to enter Cambodia to supply needed fuel for the war going on there.  It would be more than a year before Cambodia fell to the communists as the United States pulled out of Southeast Asia. I went with the group because they had no other assignment for me and we are the Elders who live the closest to Cambodia. The rice fields were being burned in preparation for the new wet season to start in mid-April. It was interesting to watch this process as we drove along.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #39 - March 2-8, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> As I read my journal regarding the first 5 months of missionary work in Chachoengsao I am impressed by the number of Christians that we met and shared the gospel with.  Thailand is 93% Buddhist, 6% Muslim and 1% other. Given that statistical make up how did we ever find so many Christian people in that fairly small and intensely Buddhist town?  During the week we ran into a woman at the post office who noticed that we were carrying copies of the Book of Mormon.  She spoke briefly to us in English.  Oh you must be the Mormon missionaries.  Yes we answered.  You had better behave because if you do what happened in Nakorn Sawan you will all be sent back home.  The Nakorn Sawan incident is the one in July 1972 where the missionaries at zone conference took pictures sitting on the heads of old Buddha images in ruins. The film developer in Nakorn Sawan (City of Heaven) took offense at seeing this and sent the pictures to Bangkok where a major event was made over it. Two missionaries spent 6 months in jail in Nakorn Sawan because of it.  It set the work in Thailand back as many members left the church at that point under the persecution.  Earlier you may remember that some kids of US Military personnel did the same thing a month or two earlier and refreshed everyone's memory of that event.  I remember loosing an investigator over it in Chachoengsao but my diary entry is not as clear as my memory.</div> <bR> <div> One person we spoke with said "You can spend 10 years in this town and not have a single convert! The Buddhist temple here Wad Sothorn is so special to Thai's that this town is solidly Buddhist!" If the place is so solidly Buddhist then why had we met so many Christians?</div> <bR> <div> We did make a return visit to a Catholic priest from France. Elder Graham had met him while working with one of the APs. They had promised him a copy of the Book of Mormon in French, so they dropped one off with us on their way back from a trip to Cambodia.  We kept the promise and took him a copy of the book.  I tried to speak some to him in French since that is what I studied in Jr. and Sr. High school.  It was funny - I'd get out a few words in French and then my mind and mouth would quickly slip back into speaking Thai.  The priest thought this was funny because he spoke pretty good Thai having been in Thailand 38 years.  Thai and not French had become my 2nd language and Thai at this point kept the French from coming out. When I returned to school at the UofU I took a quarter of French to complete the foreign language requirement and also passed the Thai test at BYU for another 25-quarter hours credit.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #40 - March 9-15, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> This week I lamented many times that I didn't fell like I really understood the Thai culture otherwise why I can't reach them with the message of the gospel.  I was frustrated that some many of the people we were visiting and teaching loved to have us drop by; but really did not seem sincere about learning the truthfulness of our message.  During the week I asked 2 investigators to pray about our message but they both replied that they did not feel they were ready to make that step. Some said they only believe the things they can prove.  I'd tell them that this is the single best way to learn the truth.</div> <bR> <div> On P-day we went to visit the newest missionary location in the mission - Samut Prakan - that is really the "Port of Bangkok" located where the great Chao Phraya River empties into the Gulf of Thailand.  On our way out we found one of the families we'd been teaching out on the street early to "give alms" to the Buddhist monks.  I found that somewhat disconcerting hey - still fully Buddhist huh and teaching your daughters how to provide food for the monks.  They believed that you "earn good credits" for giving food to the young men currently serving their 3 month missions. Young Thai men are supposed to serve 3-month missions at age 20; some of course stay on to make it their life. The 2 Elders in Samut Pragan were having some struggles - no maid - no refrigerator - and 12 investigators that dropped out.  The place was smelly and dirty owing to its port status. We soon moved on to Bangkok to take in a movie before heading to the Mission Office where Elder Graham hoped to get his Christmas package that came by the slow boat!  No one was at the office but Elder Graham picked the lock any way.  While he was picking up his stuff I looked at the board - you know the one with pictures of all the missionaries and where they are located.  Next to me was a black box that read "New" and I yelled to Elder Graham - you've been transferred - yup our 3 months were over and he was going to Chiang Mai in the north; meanwhile I was getting greenie #2.  I should have been more excited about the opportunity; but having been challenged by Elder Graham and his homesickness (especially for Karen) I wasn't too psyched about it.  In our mail slot was the transfer letter so we took it with us as Elder Graham locked the door behind us.  We had no one at church on Sunday but we did do the branch home teaching and visited the one member who lived outside of town.  He agreed to come see us regularly to get a refresher course in the gospel.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #41 - March 16-22, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> Elder Graham prepared to move on to the second stop on his mission. We held a street meeting before his departure and it was good to see him engaged in talking to people. We again had 0 attendees at church on Sunday that was disappointing. On Sunday we took Elder Graham into Bangkok and he left for Chiang Mai up north. I stayed overnight to await assignment of my new green companion on Monday. On Sunday I joined in teaching Awiroot the young man I'd visited with when I first arrived in Thailand. He was now ready for baptism (after being an investigator for 2 years!). On P-day (Monday) I was yanked into the office to help with some office chores (like sorting checks from years before!). Later that day President Morris interviewed the 3 new greenies.  One tall one was of medium weight and the other one was fat. I got the fat one. Elder Konuiszy was his name. He was of Polish descent and from Arizona.  He was already a college graduate, 26 years old (like my first companion) and a fairly new convert.  Returning home to Chachoengsao we went right too work.  The problem with Elder K was that he expected that in Thailand like in America there would be baptisms every month.  Somehow he did not realize that things in Thailand were somehow different from America!  After visiting with our best investigator Subratip Elder K's remark was "that's our best investigator? - Hey, he's not even interested!" On the second day as we were walking down the street, Elder K stepped on a man-hole cover (concrete) and broke it in two!  Wow he's not that fat! Elder K only weighs about 240, but he snapped that manhole cover in two all right!  The rest of the week was disappointing both for me and especially for Elder K, as lots of investigators seemed to slip away. One simply told us not to come back as often; his wife did not like us. We donated blood (a Thai missionary tradition) but found no new nurses to talk to at the hospital. It may not have been so difficult if it were not for the fact that Elder K expressed how disappointed he was that we had not baptisms lined up!  The Buddhist teaching "learn to let all desires pass from you" really hit home as no one seemed interested in hearing anything new besides "All religions teach man to be good!"</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #42 - March 23-29, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> This was mostly a disappointing week.  It was time for my 3rd trip to Cambodia.  This time it wasn't fun since (a) we' seen the scenery twice before and (2) none of the others in my group seemed too excited about what was happening in the areas they were serving in.  No one came to church meetings on Sunday again, so during the week we visited Anun (our only member in the area) and set up to hold Sacrament meeting next Sunday at a time he could attend.  </div> <bR> <div> We did have a successful Family Home Evening with a new investigator - my companion Elder K was excited about that but I felt they were just being friendly like everyone else is. We found a young man who wanted to tell us that all Americans are bad and that we should get the heck out of Thailand (that was fun!) We again met a man at our street meeting who asked us for a copy of the Joseph Smith tract. This time we had one. He explained that he attended church in Bangkok 5 years ago; but when he went back the meetinghouse had moved and he could never hook back up with the church until he met us at our street meeting. He made an appointment to come see us at our residence. This is a case of seed's planted years ago, perhaps about to sprout! On the weather front there was a big thunderstorm that hit just before we were to go out in the evening. This game us the chance to talk to our protestant maid about religion.</div> <bR> <div> Here is how one introduction went with another man we met?  Where did you come from? "China"; no before you were born? ""my mother", How old are you "43" So where were you 45 years ago "China" err so it goes some times!</div> <bR> <div> Our "where's my Joseph Smith tract guy" came to our home - ½ hour late - not bad by Thai standards. He had just two questions (1) how do people know the Joseph Smith story is true? (2) How does the church support its missionaries? We made another appointment for a future meeting. He told us he was working for the Ralston Purina Company in Thailand. We also met a Muslim and heard more about that religion. He asked, "How do you know Christ was the Son of God? We just believe he was a prophet." We also shared a final testimony with out friendly French Catholic Priest and pleaded that he actually read the Book of Mormon.  So there you have it. In one week we teach Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists and Muslims - quite the mixture. We formally dropped the Catholic storeowner we had talked to so many times. He said, "I have faith - I am saved". We shared a copy of the Book of Mormon in Chinese with a protestant minister. He said, "If I need to talk to you again I get the message to you through your maid who is a member of my congregation". Perhaps he just wanted to know how to protect the maid from the Mormon missionaries.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #43 - March 30 - April 5, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="271" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 382 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0eb02780.jpg" border=0 width="258" height="376" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 WIDTH="259"><div> Young girls perform Thai dance outside Wat Sothorn</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> We went back to visit one Samphong who was the prison warden. We had already given him 2.5 discussions and he told us he had read all the tracts; but if he had read them he seemed not to understand them. Before we could begin gospel discussion he showed us the family picture album and then took us upstairs to show us the antlers of the largest deer ever killed in Thailand (or so he said). There along side it was two huge elephant tusks! On the opposite wall was the family Buddhist shrine - a series of candles and Buddha statues, over 100 images.  Then it came to me - what he wanted us to know was that he and his family is Buddhists and that this was not going to change!  He told us we'd be welcome to come over and chat any time. At another family we had a family home evening and showed a filmstrip on the restoration, I wrote "no one paid any attention it was sick".  On Sunday church is a measure of our work during the past week - no one came!  There were several who said they would come but no one showed up. Even our lone member Anun did not show up! Sunday ended by our wandering by Wat Sothorn (one of Thailand's most sacred temples).  We found a movie screen set up outside the temple. I asked those nearby what was happening. They told me "a funeral" but no one could tell me whose funeral. It seemed like everyone had come to see the movie and enjoy some food! The start of the movie was shocking - some cheap skin flick or at least the advertisement for it.  That's what was going on at one of Thailand's most respected temples on this Sunday evening - a skin flick to celebrate someone's funeral - I wrote "I am so discouraged, sick and disgusted".</div> <bR> <div> On P-day April 1st I wasn't feeling so well. I guess I had the one day sickness that so many of the Elder's here talk about.  Just felt weak and a bit faint-headed.  Elder Koniuzy and I got a full service hair cut - trim the hair, and take it from your nose and ears!  This one-hour haircut cost about 50 cents. On Monday we tried to track down a referral from our tract rack at the Post Office.  It wasn't till after I asked many people where the address was and got blank stares that I looked at the listed occupation "murderer"! I was still not feeling well so we went to a doctor. He said I had a strange heart beat. Said I should see a doctor in Bangkok. So the next day we went. The good city doctor checked my vital signs and was about to apologize for the quack doctors out in the country. He gave me some vitamins and a mild tranquilizer and said - you can go back to work now - we don't need to do any tests.  There was a hospital in Bangkok where the church had arranged for all the missionaries to go when they needed medical attention. We got back to Chachoengsao by 11:30 am and thus the day was still young. By evening I was feeling much better with more energy.</div> <bR> <div> I had a crazy dream one night that a good friend from High School Bill Jack and I were somehow put in the same mission (he was serving in Taiwan) and that we became senior companions to the first girls who came into the mission (Thailand was about to receive its first ever sister missionaries - the first 2 were health missionaries).</div> <bR> <div> We continued to meet with our maid's protestant minister who seemed to be truly interested in our gospel. He said he felt like more than a belief in Christ was required and thus I felt we were over the biggest hurdle with a protestant. He can read Chinese and we'd given him a copy of the book of Mormon in Chinese as well as some Chinese tracts that were not available in Thai. He has a congregation of 35 people including our maid. The discouragement of earlier in the week had turned into hope.</div> <bR> <div> April 6, 1974 - 144 years since the church was organized.  I wrote that I thought there were several baptisms in Bangkok this day including the boy Awiroot who I taught my first discussion to.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #44 - April 6-12, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div>  We had an investigator come to church this week. His name Wira and he was a fairly new investigator. We also had 3 others show up who thought that we taught English at 10am.  They stayed for our Sunday school lesson on our relationship to God and Jesus Christ. I gave the lesson well but I also knew that it was over the heads of those who came for English.  Wira tried to explain it to them, but that did not go real well either. Later that night at English class some of the girls asked, "Do you believe in this religion you teach?"  - Some how they did not understand our motives as missionaries. They must have thought we were working at some job. They asked, "Have you come just to experience a foreign country?" No, we responded a prophet called us to server here. On P-day we visited the crocodile farm just outside Bangkok. We went with the 4 Elders in Samut Pragaan and 4 others from Bangkok. We saw their crock wrestler (remember the one we saw in Florida?), 1000's of crocodiles of all sizes, rode an Elephant and held a python. All this and we were home by 3:30 P.M.  </div> <bR> <div> One evening we had some free time so we handed out invitations to our open house. It was funny in that most of the adults whom we handed the invitations to could not read Thai and had to call their children over to read the invitation for them. When Wira came for his next appointment with us his first question was "How can I quit smoking?" This surprised me as we'd never discussed the word of wisdom with him and don't think he'd read anything about it. Another investigator could not get over the hurdle to pray - that's a real faith based issue as I'm sure you have found.  On Friday we decided to tract in the Catholic neighborhood that you can only get to by boat. What we did not know when we went was that this was Good Friday! We met the Thai Priest a young man Damrong (who had the same name as the protestant Pasteur we had been meeting with). Damrong showed us his new church He shared with us that fact that his congregation has not had any converts for years. The people are becoming too materialistic he said. We left a Joseph Smith tract with him before he had to prepare for Good Friday services. We left open house invitations at a few homes. They said, "we might not come" unlike most Thai's who said, "we'll be there"; even when they know they are not interested! Most people said they were Catholic because their parents were.  Just like the Buddhists I thought! This day was also Thai New Year's Eve so we went to the party in town and handed out a few invites to our open house. More on the water fights next week!</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #45 - April 13-20, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="3" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="352" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 287 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="08b4e060.jpg" border=0 width="334" height="262" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 WIDTH="334"><div> Boys throwing water everywhere in celebration of Songkran.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> This week was Songkran - or Thai New Year. It is celebrated by everyone throwing water at each other! It comes at the height of the HOT season in Thailand.  On day ONE we stayed dry until our Pakistani neighbors got us as we came home for the evening. We went to the market early in hopes of taking in the action. The marketplace was open as usual even though it was Thai New Years Day (April 13). Nothing was happening. Later we took a bus and the driver stopped to let some kids throw water into the bus! We spent most of the day at home working on our street meeting board. We had lots of visitors. I gave Elder Koniuzy my camera and we went to get a picture of people throwing water at me.  We found some kids with water but they were scared to throw it at foreigners. I had to ask them to do it for my picture! April 14th was Easter Sunday and we had 2 investigators for Sunday school. When we sing Elder K and I were not very good - tough to carry a tune - the investigators just sit there and give us a blank stare. I did ask one of the investigators to read from the Thai Bible the story of Easter. Not knowing Songkran lasted for more than a day we went tracting downtown BUT we got drenched. We found truckloads of water barrels and people throwing H2O all over the place. (April 14th - End of Volume 2 of 4 volumes of my missionary journal). Elder K was one who grinds his teeth when he's asleep. I woke up at 4:30 one morning dreaming that while playing a game with the Elders I got kicked in the teeth! Monday P-day was the official government holiday; government offices were closed that day.  We took it easy but got drenched on our way to the post office! On Wednesday I had a cold and a fever that kept us down most of the day. A buddy visited Elder K from school in Arizona (whom he also served with in Vietnam during the war) who was in Thailand working for the Peace Corps teaching English. He and his wife and another friend had received permission from President Morris to visit. They stayed with us for 2 days. We spent some of that time doing missionary work. Elder K's friend (who spoke good Thai) wanted to see what being a Mormon missionary in Thailand was like. We had him put on a white shirt and tie and join us!  We made some visits to people we'd met but that was about it. I don't think we did any real tracting. That's how the week ended.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #46 - April 21-27, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> Sunday - Elder Konuiszy's friends finally left after their extended visit "That was sure an unusual occurrence!" We again had no one attend church and few people come to English class - both were disappointing but then we'd not been our usual selves while Elder K's friends were here. Elder K always seemed to have different ideas than I did. He expects to find truly golden contacts as easily as finding a plate of fried-rice.  The few people on our list of contacts are not at all interested in his opinion. On P-day we again went to Bangkok for a movie and to get a gamma-globulin shot from Sister Morris (to prevent Hepatitis) and some pills to ward off malaria.  One gentleman Athorn who we'd been teaching for a while seems to be making good progress. His wife however could care less about us or what we have to say. Our other contact Wira had a tough time catching the concept of a prophet and apostles. He seemed to think everything was run like a corporation with a board of directors and a president. At this time I was struggling somewhat with stomach upset that was partially due to the hot spicy Thai food - even though our maid generally made good American style meals. We prepared for our open house coming up the next Sunday and distributed flyers about it to all the government offices in town. The rainy season started to get in the way of going places, but in Thailand it never seemed to rain continuously for a long time. Elder K had been doing well with the language. He thought he had 5 of the 7 discussions down but when it was his turn at an investigator's house he got totally flustered and I had to pull the discussion out of the hat so to speak. When we returned to visit Athorn he told us he asked God to help him feel better but that God did not help him.  So we focused on prayer and how to get an answer to prayers. The week ended with final preparations for our Sunday open house.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #47 - April 28 - May 4, 1974 Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> On Sunday April 28 we held our open house. We did have one investigator (Wira) come for Sunday school and used the time to continue the missionary discussions with him. At 4:00pm - the open house began - but there no came until about 4:20 when 2 boys we'd never met arrived. Then came Wira and we had the first showing of "A man's search for happiness" [We did this using "film strip" technology]. Then many of the girls from the teacher's college who had come to English class come as well. The second showing had 12 people! Later our maid came with a friend but neither of them seemed too interested in learning our message.  So how do you evaluate the event? We passed out 1000 invitations and from that only 3 of the 20 people who came were people we had not already met and worse yet none were truly adults. (Teacher's college starts at about age 16 in Thailand rather than 18 or 19). On P-day (Monday) I wrote letters to Dave Berg (missionary in England) Dave Day (who was in the MTC bound for Japan), Rachel (surprise I was still writing to her) another to Vickie Smith a friend in the ward and Chris Cummings (a high school chum who was on a mission some where but I can't remember where), as well as Mom & Dad. In the evening we struck up a conversation with several teachers at the teacher's college, and stayed a while to avoid going back out in the rain.</div> <bR> <div> Mom wrote, "What's happened to my happy, enthusiastic and hard working Elder Thai"?  I guess she could tell that was discouraged by how slow things had been going in "my city" Chachoengsao Thailand. I had not felt 100% well during April, perhaps it was the all the heat and loss of fluids, or perhaps I got some bad food at some point. The challenge of the Thai language had disappeared for the most part. Elder Koniuzy was doing OK except he had to realize that baptisms in Thailand don't come by the dozens. </div> <bR> <div> One day while tracting we gave an introduction to a college student. At the end we asked, "Would you like to more?" He said "No". He was about the first person in Thailand ever to tell me "No" I am not interested!  I thought that was great! We did not need to come back and talk to him and waste time when they don't keep appointments! Wow now we are making some progress. One afternoon we a man came to the door who said he was from Chiang Mai (way up north). He said he'd come to Bangkok and was robbed of 2000 Baht ($ 100). He said he needed to find a way home and asked that we pray for him.  We talked for a while and invited him to eat dinner with us. It became clear he really did know any of the Elder's from Chiang Mai but was he for real or just out for a handout.  He asked us only to pray for him because he knew our funds were sacred money.  Elder K and I prayed about it and I felt like we should help him with enough Baht to get him back home.  So we put together 300 Bath ($15) took him to the bus station and sent him on his way. So we figured that in any case it was not so much money as to be a big deal.</div> <bR> <div> We ended the week with one investigator who really had good questions about the plan of salvation and that none of the Protestants he talked to made any sense. At least we had a sincere listener! Who knows where this might lead.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Week #48 - May 5-11, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> On Sunday Elder Koniuzy taught priesthood meeting on being good missionaries. He talked about attitude. Yea mine had not been the best lately - partly because I'd not being feeling my best. When it was time for Sunday school no one showed up -none on time any way. A bit late 2 boys and 4 girls showed up! I taught Christian religious history from Adam to Joseph Smith. We asked the kids to stay for Sacrament meeting, which they did. I had to explain the sacrament before we blessed and shared it between ourselves (Elder K and myself). In the afternoon we tracted in a poor area. We found that most of those people just gave us blank stares. I guess our religious topic was just beyond their comprehension. We had another discussion with Athorn on repentance. When it was over he said, "I don't see how your religion teaches me to be a better person than Buddhism!"  Hum, now that is an interesting perspective.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="256" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 318 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0edee380.jpg" border=0 width="238" height="312" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 WIDTH="244"><div> Monks Perform the Wien Thian at Wat Sothorn</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> Elder K and I argued about what to do on Monday (p-day) it was like Buddha's birthday celebration and I suggested we go see the candle ceremony at the local Wat (Buddhist temple). He said no there are better things to do even if that means not leaving the house. Some of the college girls suggested we travel to Prachinburi about 50 miles toward Cambodia. We got on the train and went!  A few minutes after arriving we met them (we'd assumed they were married but ah ha no they were single and in their mind we thought they thought it was a date!) We'd come to see another friend of her's so we asked how to find her. She took us to meet her. We found her friend was sick. We did meet her children, but her husband was not home. We soon left and went with our guide to a special Wat to see the activities. We found lots of people and even some rockets being shot off. We'd expected something religious! It seems all the little communities in the area make bamboo rockets and has a competition. It truly was a carnival atmosphere with all kids of booths. On the bus home I asked the man next to me what the day was. He said, "I don't know". I told him we'd been told it was Buddha's birthday, he said "well then it must be"! In the evening we stopped by the local Wat to see the Wien Thien then where monks and others carry candles around the temple. Elder K just criticized me about everything. Good thing on Wednesday President Morris sent me to Thonburi - the other side of the river from Bangkok! I was sent to a two-man home in Thonburi - I had mixed emotions. Here in Chachoengsao I'd opened a new city - we'd had no success, but it was a fairly small and highly religious place. The landlord finally finished our home by putting in some grass. President Morris came for interviews on Thursday and I told him I was not too excited about Thonburi. He told me he had a special project he wanted me and my new companion Elder Sessions to work on. He said he'd tell me more after conference in Bangkok next week. He told me that he thought I'd done alright with my 2 greenies. I had launched a new missionary residence, found a great maid, and seen to it that the landlord fulfilled his commitments. The Morris's said the place now looked great. The ZL's visited the next day and to be nice to me Elder K said - they do street meetings much better than we do! They get closer to the person that's the way I'm going to be - gee Elder K just stick a knife in me OK!</div> <bR> <div> Of all my companions Elder K was the toughest one to get along with.  He was 26 I was 20, he was my junior, and I was his trainer and senior. He expected to baptize people like every week. I knew things in Thailand were much more difficult.  Elder K and I crossed paths again at the end of my mission, but hey that's still almost a year away!</div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B>Week #49- May 12-18, 1974 - Chachoengsao, Thonburi, Thailand</B></div> <bR> <div> Sunday May 12 was my last Sunday in the city I opened Chachoengsao.  I wrote "Fittingly no one came to church. As we were teaching a man named Phiisan at his home the power went out.  There had been a big thunderstorm in the area and all of a sudden the lights went out all over town. That ended our discussion early and we went home in the dark.  I had to finish packing in the dark as well.  My left arm was feeling funny as we rode the train to Bangkok - it kind of felt like it was asleep. I learned that the man we loaned some money to travel back up north has ripped off. Other Elders told us he had ripped them off.  Yes we had a con artist ripping off Elders all over the central district. My new companion Elder Session had to go to Cambodia on Monday so I stayed my first night in the other home in Thonburi. I spent Tuesday with Elders Christensen and Montgomery.  They didn't do much during the day and during the evening they went to the home of a rich family and taught the girls some English.  I wrote, "We didn't get to first base as far as the gospel is concerned." Elder Sessions returned and agreed that this family was not worth the 7 months of time that the Elders had put in there once a week for 7 months. On Wednesday we taught some doctors some English and then I met the wife of the leading member family in Thonburi Sister Kaw.  Brother Kaw was a painter. [He did the paintings in our living room].  I was not liking being in the big city, riding crowded busses and seeing dirty conditions all around. On Thursday we did some tracting and found a Muslim area.  We did find a strange family; the father was Catholic (from Portugal). He had married a Malaysian woman who was Muslim.  He said the kids would be Buddhist because that was the simplest thing for them living in Thailand! On Friday my companion had to see a doctor about a bad rash he had.  President Morris also had ordered him to get a haircut so we did that as well. That pretty much washed out the morning. That night I met the Yodmongkol sisters.  They were our best investigators.  On Saturday we went to the great outdoor market held on weekends across the river in Bangkok at Sanam Luang (Great Park).  Lots of people come there on the weekend.  This day it was rainy and not much happened.  That evening we went to the church in Bangkok for the activity night of district conference. Elder Session directed the play put on by the members in Thonburi. Mani Seangsuwan (a native Thai) who was to start his mission tomorrow on Sunday came home with us and spent the night at our home in Thonburi. That night was for him what you might call his night in the mission home. In just 3 months I would become Elder Mani's companion!</div> <div>  </div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>