General Authorities in country

Hello Everyone

Well this week I'm writing from the province next door in the Zone leaders area of Udorn. I'm here for two reasons. First this weekend has been really sweet because we have had four General Authorities in Thailand. I think it was Saturday and Sunday that all four of them were here. Elder Oaks, Bishop Burton, Elder Holister from the Quorum of the Seventies Presidency, and Elder Pratt from the Area Seventies. Today there was a special Fireside for the missionaries mission wide. It was held in downtown Bangkok but we watched by the power of live Internet streaming up here in Udorn.

Elder Jolley and I had to get up at 4:30 to hop on a bus at 5:30 to ride 4 hours to get here. It kind of reminded me of early morning swimming. Anyways it was a really sweet fireside where Elder Holister and Sister Holister spoke (the other General Authorities needed to tend to some business in other parts of Asia so they left the country). They talked about the purpose of our missions. And about applying everything we learn here not only here but in our afterlife/ when we return home.

President Smith said that a real miracle happened in the last few days, and I have to agree with him. He said that the resulting and sudden peace was not because of the military intervention only, but because the Lord was clearing a safe way for the General Authorities to come to Thailand.

The second reason that I am in Udorn is for the next few days Elder Jolley and I are going to switch off with our Zone Leaders. Elder Jolley is going back to Sakon and I will stay here. We'll be switched off for the next 4 days. The great thing was that our Zone leaders didn't tell us that we would be switching off until after I was almost asleep last night because of the early morning wake up. So when they called I had to wake up and hurry and pack some clothes for the next few days. Elder Jolley and I will switch back on Thursday at Zone Conference.

This last week has been interesting. As I can see in your email you've seen some of the damage in Bangkok. There were also other place in other parts of the country that were lit on fire. Because of the events that happened on Tuesday last week, we got a call from our zone leader saying First that we had to return to our house and stay there. They later called back to report that there had been a curfew made between the hours of 8 pm and 5 am. This was made by the government so it applied to everyone. However thankfully nothing happened in our area. but we still followed the curfew for the last few nights, I think today they are lifting it, so everything should be going back to normal maybe. I saw photos of the Central mall that was burned down. I am pretty sure that's the one where most of the missionaries go when they can to buy neck ties. That was a way huge mall its crazy that its gone now.

Anyways none of that really affected us anyways because we are in the house normally at 8:30. So the work moved on. We have not had the chance to meet the guy at Citi bank again yet but we will keep trying. I called him the other day and he says that he doesn't always work at that branch so he'll call us when he is back again. Other than that the work has been slow this last week. We have invited a lot and I really don't have any cool stories to share this time but maybe next week.

Ok I have to go the time is short today. Thank you for the root beer recipe. I'm way excited to try it when we get a chance.


Love you all.


Elder Brandon John Holt

Info about the riots

Hello Everyone



It was great to here from you too last week. I missed you guys. And it was really strange to here your voice Connor. Its dropped since last time we talked. One of the things that hit me was when I realized that I was a day ahead of you. That's a little mind boggling.

We have heard about the Riots in Bangkok here as well. Last night we had what they called a "mob" here. Its not really a mob. Just kind of a rally, so we did our best to avoid it. Luckily its not really a huge thing here in Sakon. But its funny how more and more people our asking us about our views. We just reply, "We are wearing the colors we support. White with a Black badge over our hearts. We are the White Shirts of our Lord" We haven't had any problems with that phrase yet so I think its pretty good. There is a member here who tells us about all that the media will tell the people here. I'm not really sure how much that is and I am sure that its skewed a little bit.

Other than that we have had a little bit of a disappointing week this week. Mostly because almost all of our appointments have fallen through at the last moment, and the problem is that those are with the people that we have found in the last week or two. So none of them progressed. But on the brighter side that extra time gave us more time to find new people to teach and increase our investigator pool.

We did have a cool thing happen as well. On Thursday morning as we were inviting we had pointed ourselves towards a convenience store where we could buy a few snacks. Along the way we were going to invite everyone that we could see. So we did just that. We talked to a lot of people that morning. There was one time that we were almost to this store that we were going to stop and buy a snack. I was inviting someone who really didn't seem that interested in learning about the gospel. As I was talking to this guy, We noticed a man walk out of a Citi Bank across the street and walk across and place himself in our path. Between us and the store. After I handed a pass-along-card with the guy I was currently talking to I asked him to give us a call if he was interested in learning more and then said goodbye. By that time Elder Jolly had started a conversation with the man that had placed himself between us and the store. As we talked to him he was interested to learn. So we tried to set an appointment. He asked if we were free at that time. We told him yes. Then all three of us went back into the Citi bank and talked for a few minutes. We were able to teach him about prayer and set some expectations of what we were going to do. He was really interested. He said something that really struck me. It was, "I know that if I have a lot of money that I could never be truly happy, But I think what you guys have can help me." The interesting thing is that Elder Jolley and I can't really figure out why he left the building and crossed the street to be in our path. It goes to show you that the promise it says in Preach My Gospel is true. The Lord will place people in your path, who are prepared to receive the gospel.

We had the senior couple who are in charge of the houses come and inspect our house the other day. They said they would have given us a A plus except for a thing or two that we hadn't thought of cleaning. mainly the floor under the stairs and the microwave. So Mom, you can now live with peace knowing that our house is clean and livable. It really is really nice, after the painters came back and cleaned it up for us. It feels like a mansion because its huge for just 2 elders.

Thats crazy that Eric got his call. What is that now. 4 missionaries out of our ward. oh 5 I forgot Caleb. That's amazing. Eric be an awesome missionary.

Jasmine Rice? I wonder if that's the rice they eat here. I don't know I will have to ask around. They use a thing called a huad, to make sticky rice. It kind of looks like a big basket that you stick in a steam pot. Maybe that is why it didn't taste so good? I don't know. But I'll ask around to try and find out if there is a rice here called Jasmine rice. That's one thing I will buy and ship home though is a huad so I can make sticky rice for you guys.


Well the weather I think is slowly starting to turn. Its funny because when the weather changes here everyone catches a cold. but the missionaries are okay because we are used to the cold weather changes. It is starting to rain a lot more. For the last 3 or 4 days it has rained once every day. We talked to a man the other day that said that next month It will rain a lot. So much that all the rice fields will fill up with water and farmers will be able to plant their rice. That's a lot. Because pretty much everywhere outside of the city is a rice field. I'm really excited to see that rain come.

Okay My time is running up. Until next week.

I love you

Elder Brandon John Holt

Almost Mother's Day!!

Hello Family


How has this last week been for you? Well I think i will first tell you the number to call because its not the same as last time. Each area i work in will have a different number because when you call, you call straight to our cell phones. sweet, no? That should get connect you to our phone. Ok so about the time. I'm not really sure what the time will be there but Elder Jolley and I just agreed my slot is at 8:00 am Bangkok time zone on Monday morning. So if the math on my watch is right that should be 6:00pm Sunday night at your time. I think its a 13 hours difference, but I'm not sure about the daylight savings thing so you may want to do the math before calling and not trust me. Also, because this phone call will be on our Preparation day, there won't be any email that day. So we can talk about this next week over the phone.

Well this last week has been busy because of all of the traveling. We worked up to Wednesday afternoon, then hopped on a bus and took off to Udorn, where Elder Berrnet and I would switch companions and joined the 2 sister missionaries and 2 other elders coming down out of another area and take the 10 hour train ride to Bangkok.

The train rides are something that I enjoy. It gives the us time to kick back for a little bit talk about our areas and other things with other missionaries then have a huge sleep over.... well if you are able to sleep on a moving train that is. To get onto this train we have to move quick( the conductors don't really like us that much because we slow the departure time) and get all of the luggage of the missionaries going down onto the train and packed away and out of the aisle of the train. I think it took us a total of 20 to 30 minutes to get on and find our beds and tie everything down. ( sisters have a lot of stuff, but I'm not complaining) Anyways, we left Udorn in the north east about 8:00 Pm and finally got to where we wanted to go at Don Mueng, a suburb of Bangkok, at 5:30 Am. where we hopped of and met the other missionaries coming out of the north and the east. From there we hopped into the back of song taws, Pick up trucks that have seats welded into the back of them, and went to the church in Pakkret to moves meeting.

In the meeting first President Smith talked a little bit about the progress of the mission. He talked a lot about key indicators or the numbers that we measure our areas by, and how important they really are. I don't know if you remember me telling you but over the last few months the number of missionaries has dropped from 140 to 110 people. Which at first may not seem like a lot but if you think about every area needs to have 2 missionaries in it, that means 15 areas were closed in the last few months and can't open until the numbers go back up. So the biggest thing that President Smith stressed is that we need to have steady and improved key indicators so that President Smith can go before the Brethren and be able to ask for more missionaries confidently.

After President Smith was finished those who are going home gave their one liners advice/ get back/ last thing to remember them by. This is one of the things that is always looked forward to. Its sometimes a real hoot as well. After that the new missionaries that came in introduced themselves in Thai if they are from America and in English if they are from Thailand. It always brings me back to the first time when I first came to country. That seems like forever ago but really its only 9 months ago. Anyways that's a lot of fun as well. After that President Smith told who was moving, where they were moving to and who is thier companion is. The crazy thing is that this moves meeting 2 people in my MTC Group went senior companion and will train 2 of the new missionaries. Elder Brown, my MTC companion, and Elder McConkie. so the rest of us will follow in the coming moves meetings. Anyways after that we had some more training meetings then it was over.

After the meeting. I had to run off with others in my group to go renew my visa, this was the reason that I came down. So we hopped back into a song taw and went to the government office. It always remind me of the DMV or the place to go get your driver license at. There are a lot of people and numbers being called. Thankfully being a missionary has its advantages. we went, signed some papers, showed our faces, then a member from the office stayed behind to pay the fees and we walked out. It took all of 15-20 minutes.

After that we had some extra time to eat and do whatever. But the normal places were closed because of the events in Bangkok right now so most of us went back to the church and waited until we headed off to the train station. This time was great because it gave me a chance to talk to my past companions. Elder Hawks in Lopburi and Elder Blackhurst who was my companion here in Sakon. They were both doing well. Elder Hawks is going to finish his mission in lop buri in July he will go home. and ELder BLackhurst became a zone leader. When the time came we took our stuff to the train station. got some food to eat at the local Burger King and then when the train came hopped back on for the trip back home.

Well in this whole event I was able to pick up both packages that you sent. thank you for everything. I needed the food, so I won't eat anymore rats for a while and the shirts as well. I'm planning to go buy some new shirts in the next week. Some of them have some good stains in them that will never come out. so they need to be replaced. so if you could place 50 dollars in my credit account that should be enough to buy shirts and have left over for anything else I need.

Also Connor thank you for " Ammon's guide to being an awesome missionary" I'm finding a lot of things that I have never see before in those chapters. Have you had the chance to do this before? If not you should consider there is a lot you could learn as well.

I also got Marie's invitation this week. That's exciting! I'm glad she is getting married to Chris as well. I had a chance to meet him before I left, he is a great guy. They will be very happy together. Although it was very strange to think that one of my best friends is getting married, we can't be that old yet can we? oh well. That's life.

Hey that's really sweet that Tom (Call) got his call. That's exciting for him. He is going English speaking right?

Oh I was also able to get the books as well. I'm hoping we will get the chance to talk to Vernon this week. I'll give them to him then. Thank you Dad also for writing you testimony in German. I think it will help a lot. When it comes I will give it too him as well.

Ok I think I'm out of time again. I wish I had more there is so much that I could tell you every week.


I love you all.

Elder Brandon John Holt

PS talk to you next week

Traveling to Bangkok

Hey family


Well I didn't really have quite as exciting week as a had two weeks ago but it was good. We have really spent this whole week trying to find new investigators because we are dropping many of the people that we have been teaching the last few months that haven't been progressing. Its been really hard. We have been able to start teaching one guy though. His name is Meow or Cat in English. I must have invited him several weeks ago with Elder Blackhurst but forgot about it because last week as Elder Jolley and I were walking by he shouted, " hey Elder." and I recognized him. He then asked us if we still had that book that he wanted to give him. We said we did then made an appointment to see him the next day. He works with his wife in the market selling vegetables. So we asked if we could meet him at the place that he sells.

I think that he didn't realize that we wanted to sit down and teach him because he wasn't there at first when we went to meet him. We waited for a few minutes and he showed up riding his bike.... well the front half is a bike, the back half is a trailer to move stuff around in. Its called a samlaw or in English its called a 3wheel. Anyways he came and said he was putting stuff away for the night. We figured that this wasn't the best time to teach him so we asked if we could help.... Well really we just started putting stuff away and didn't ask because if you ask people they usually say its all right, I don't need help. So we helped him put his stuff into his 3 wheel bike and take it down the street to store for the night. After we finished that we set up another appointment to see him the next day.

The next day we returned again and tried to sit down to teach him. But he was busy again. This time he was taking bug repellent and placing it into small bags so that he could sell it. So we again figured that this was a bad time to teach and sat down with him and helped him make these bags of bug repellent. This time we left him a Book of Mormon and set another appointment for a later time the next day and to meet him at his house. After we left we realized that we had no idea where he lived.

The next day we ran into him in front of our church. He was running some stuff somewhere. So we asked him where his house was and got his number in case we got lost. That night as we were looking for his house, because we did get lost, we tried to call him but was unable to reach him. So we did the next best thing and tried to find someone to help us find him. Also know as Inviting . So we talked to a guy and his friend that were close by. One happened to be drinking and was unable to speak clearly( this is a reason I will never drink, it literally makes you stupid). Anyways the other guy was only buzzed a little bit and we tried to talk to him. After asking if he knew Meow he said you are those guys with that book. This was a little confusing at first but we asked what book. he said the one about Jesus. Normally it means that someone gave him a bible, but he said wait I'll go get it. So he left and brought out a Book of Mormon. That was a little surprising. He said that he had finished it and it was good but he was really interested in learning more. So we grabbed his name and address and told him that we would back in the morning.

Well the next day we went back and the guy that we found wasn't really interested anymore then when he was drunk but the funny thing is as we were talking to him, Meow, the guy we were originally looking for walks out on the street and motions to us. He told us he was sorry that we tried to call and couldn't get him because his phone had no power. He then asked if we could teach right then. We said yes. SO we were able to teach him finally. We also saw him a few days after that with a member to help us explain more. We are planning to go back tonight for the third time as well. One thing I think I learned from this is that you might not always get to teach a guy on the first time. But be diligent if the Lord has prepared him to learn there will be a way.

On Wednesday we will go to Udorn where we will hop on the train to take us down to Bangkok. We are going as a zone its going to be fun. What the plan is to leave at night so we can get there early morning Thursday to go to Moves meeting. After moves meeting depending on what is going to happen, We haven't gotten any calls whether we are moving or not yet, I will have some free time to go around with another Elder and renew my visa as well as see Bangkok. I love traveling. Thursday night we'll hop back on the train and come back to Udorn and then on Friday morning will hop on a bus back here. whew. That's a lot of traveling.

Mom I'm pleased to say I have about 10 or so pages left in my journal. So I'm looking for a new one in the next few days. I never thought that I would fill a whole book up.

Connor I have to say after the shirt thing, You're the man.

Ok my time is up. I'll try not to eat anything too crazy this coming week, but I can't make any promises

I love you all

Elder Brandon John Holt

Songkran celebration

Hello Family


How are you? Well it's been a really really crazy week. I will start with the last time I wrote an email. After we wrote emails really fast we hurried and ran home and changed into our playing uniform, which is for me a Red Hawaiian shirt with rolled up kackie pants and flip flops. Next we had to find a place, which was safe for us ( meaning no drinking and no girls that aren't members and with people who know the missionary standards), to play. So we called a sister that was a return missionary and we joined up with her and several other members. Next we had to buy our weapons for the fight. Elder Jolley and I chose little black buckets for about 20 baht. We had been told by some other missionaries not to worry about buying squirt guns because they were expensive and ineffective. So after that we arrived on scene and helped the members get ready. Turns out they use all kinds of things to do stuff to the water. They place red, yellow, blue and green dyes in the water, they get powder ready to throw, they buy large blocks of ice, and they fill up large barrows of water and place them in the back of trucks. It was a lot like getting ready for a war. And then after it started getting hot, the game began.

People hopped into the back of pick-up trucks and rode around. They use buckets and squirt guns and pots and pans, and different powders, and soaked those on the side of the roads. That's where we played. We used our buckets and hoses and cold water and fought back. Each truck would only slowdown or stop for a few seconds but we would both be soaked through after the fight. I think this was one time that I was grateful for the heat here in Thailand. especially after they threw ice water on us. It was a blast.

After a few hours of this fighting going, on the group we were with loaded up a pick-up truck and took off around the town. We stayed behind and guarded the area because it would have been breaking mission rules to hop into the back of a truck. so we continued the fight for a few minutes. After a few minutes they returned, soaked. After a hour or two more they stopped the fighting between trucks because of a parade.

This is when it got really cool. The whole idea of Somkran is to be wet. Throwing water and putting powder on peoples faces is representing giving blessings to them. So the idea is who ever is the wettest and has the most powder on their face has the most blessings. So when the parade came down the street the buckets of water and hoses squirting water were aimed at the people in the parade.

They had all kinds of things. Dancers, bands, floats with women in traditional Thai Dresses (those were really fun to watch, because they would get the most wet because everyone would aim the water at them. Sometimes they had umbrellas and sometime they wouldn't. Sometimes they would have men whose job was to hold the umbrella of the women. It was really fun to watch them try to stay dry, but look elegant at the same time. And do it with a smile as well). Sometime people in the parade would come out and drop water down the back of our shirts and rub powder on our faces. Sometimes the people watching would go back into the parade and sprinkle water on the people in it. I think everyone wanted to get the white guys wet and covered in powder, because they seemed to target Elder Jolley and I a lot. There was one time several girls ran out of the parade at us. That was interesting. I have never seen Elder Jolley run so fast. LOL

The whole thing was really fun but, at night we had to go back and go to work. Needless to say nothing got done that night because we had English and we figured no one would show up, which was true. So we stayed in our house and cleaned a little bit.

The work the rest of the week was really slow and hard, because all of our investigators were either out of town or they asked not to meet us for the week so they could spend that time with their families. So we tried to do what we could. Invite where it was dried and see members. We saw a lot of members. and a lot of our recent converts. The interesting part is how Somkran turned into somkhram, which is war in Thai, for the missionaries, because we had to try our best to stay dry in between our appointments, it was tough but doable.

We did get to know some of our members really well. I got to try something that I have had my eyes set to eat since before I came to Thailand. Yesterday we went out of the main city which isn't really big, to find a less active member. His name is Brother Bong. He is a sweet guy and is in the possess of coming back into the church. We went out yesterday to get to know him a little better as well as share a few spiritual thoughts with him. At church that day he asked me if I wanted to eat any strange foods I told him what I wanted to try. He then told me he had some and would cook some up for Elder Jolley and me. Here is thing number three that I have eaten that's impossible to get in the states, It's Rat. We got there and after we taught him he BBQed some rats and gave it to us tail and all. It really didn't have much of a taste to it but it was good. I couldn't help but think of Tessa eating rats at the same time. Now I can say I have eaten the same thing that I fed my hawk. LOL

Thanks for the letter for Stu. Its good to hear from him and here whats going on in his life right now.

I got a phone call from the Zone leaders this week. They said I'll be going down to Bangkok to renew my visa so I should get the packages in 2 weeks or on the 29th.

Ok I have to go now I love you all. Thank you for all your love and support.


Elder Brandon John Holt

Happy Songkran

Hello Everyone



Well, today after a few minutes after our alarm went off to wake us up, our zone leaders called us to tell us to get out of the house and send emails as soon as possible. It seems yesterday the worst fighting in Bangkok broke out and they told us it was all over the news at home. So we are supposed to tell you that we are still ok and everything is alright. That's as much as I know:)

Anyways.... Well I'm not really sure where to start this week. Well Yesterday was my Birthday, that was strange???? I think I am 2 decades old and no longer a Teenager. Weird. ( I love these cool faces i can now put into my email) I had a good Birthday I decided. Yesterday was the start of Songkran so we spent the afternoon dodging water. I'll tell you more about that later, and we had some time to feast at Pizza Company the local pizza place in Thailand. We ordered 2 sodas, spaghetti, BBQ chicken, Garlic bread, and a large Hawaiian Pizza extra thousand Island dressing. Sounds like the appetite of two missionaries huh?? Well a strange thing happens when you haven't eaten a American meal that size for a long time. You get full to the point that you are more then sick but, I think in the end we both enjoyed it. It was a great birthday dinner.

Other then that it was a normal day of work. Most of our investigator appointments fell through due to the National Holiday and we won't be able to get back to any of them until the end of the Holiday. So we spent the day trying to invite.

Well Conference here was an interesting experience. I can't wait for the Ensign to come, to understand the talks a little bit better. It was in Thai like I predicted but, that's alright because it helped me gauge how much I have improved since six months ago. I was able to understand the basic ideas of the talks. It's a little bit harder to understand the talks of Conference because they use a higher form of Thai then normal Street talking, and then when they add in big words in English they translate a little bit funny in Thai. Its also funny to watch the action of the speakers, For example Elder Holland, and then when they get excited the translater still talks in a boring monotone voice. I however love what I understood out of Elder Holland's, President Uchtdorf's, and Presidents Monson's talks. It was really strange for the Saturday morning sessions because for the morning and afternoon we had a total of 11 people watch, and for the priesthood session we had 5, both numbers include the two Elders. Much different from the large groups of people in Utah. But I'm glad to say I feel that the branch here is starting to grow.

Last Week we taught Brother Lek, the member that got baptized a few weeks ago, about the priesthood and challenged him to go to the Branch President and ask for a interview for the Aaronic Priesthood. Elder Jolley and I both feel like he is ready to start preparing to receive the Higher priesthood. He took the challenge and I think he was interviewed after conference the other day. If we get the chance this week to see him we will follow up.

We had a sweet finding experience the other day. One of the days in the past week we were biking around at night trying to find people to invite. To me, It feels like its impossible to invite anyone after it gets dark because a lot of people go home and either sleep or drink. Both make it hard to invite. So we had been riding around for a few hours, and I had notice that we had come out of the city a little bit where there was really nothing but a gas station, With a 7-11,and a Big furniture store that was closed. I was leading and felt like we weren't really going to have any luck finding any one way out where we were so i mention this to Elder Jolley and we began to turn around. As we crossed the street, It was one of the main streets that came into Sakon Nakhon, Elder Jolley took the lead and started speeding up. As i started speeding up I heard someone shout. "Elder, Elder." I looked around and found that someone was waving from a scooter, for me to stop. So I did. It turns out the guy that stopped me had been a formal investigator in another area 6 months ago and had moved before he was able to get baptized. After we had introductions he asked "Can I be baptized." It kind of threw us back but, we said after a little reviewing he could. We grabbed his number and then went on our way. We decided to stop at the only gas station out there for a quick break then head home. As we stopped there was a guy sitting on his scooter waiting for a friend. Elder Jolley started talking to him and he was way interested. So we grabbed his number and then he left on his way. It's crazy how the Lord works on with you to help you find people that he has prepared. If We had not been out that far out of the city we would have never met those two people.

Well for today, President Smith has given us permission to "Play Songkran" as the Thais say. I'm way excited. There is no holiday in the states that I think compares. The best way for me to describe it is its like the 4th of July. Everyone stops work and plays but this is a 3 to 4 day event and everyone plays. Some people buy squirt guns, others just use buckets and pans. Some will hop into the back of a pick-up truck and others station themselves on the side of the road. Then the fighting begins. They throw water, and powder and no one is safe or will stay dry. The Uniform for the Event is a Hawaiian Shirt. So for the last few weeks there have been Hawaiian shirts sold everywhere. Elder Jolley and I bought shirts last night. And are going to buy guns this morning. Then We hopefully can find a place with the members to play. A member has invited us to ride in her Pick-up but that's breaking mission rules so that's out of the question. But it going to be a party. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures.

I haven't gotten the Birthday package and I fear I won't until I go down to Bangkok at the end of the month to renew my visa. With the German I think if you can send it Asap that would be better. Because I'm afraid that I might be moving next month so I may not get a chance to pick up any packages except for when I go to Bangkok this month.


Well I think that my time is up. I love you all. Thank you for your prayers I know they help.

This is the true church. The Book of Mormon is true and it was translated by the prophet of God, Joseph Smith. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary, to be one of the Lord's tools here in Thailand.

Love your son, Grandson, and Brother


Elder Brandon John Holt

April conference

Hello family of mine


How is everyone? I think here in Thailand, we are in the hottest months of the year. That throws me off a little bit. I forget the month a lot. It feels more like the hot weather of August then the cool spring mornings of April. So when Brother Wally, a member from Alaska in our Branch, came up and wished us a happy Easter I had totally forgot that it was Easter.

This last week we had Zone Conference in Khong Keng. President Smith talked about our purpose as a missionary. He pointed out some good points. For example we all know the missionary purpose by heart "bring others to Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, laying on the hands of the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end" but do we realize that we are the only way to salvation for the people here in Thailand. That we are the only people who will find them and teach them. It places a lot more responsibility on our shoulders when you put it that way.

It was a great zone conference, and I was able to meet up with Sister Webb, who had served in Lop Buri when I was there and ask about the investigators that I taught and the members that I worked with. It was great to here about some of them.

After Conference Elder Jolley and I hopped back on a bus and returned to Sakon Nakhon.

On Wednesday The Branch here had its first wedding ever to happen in this branch, with Vernon, the German man that I talked about last week, and another member in the branch. Elder Jolley had the privilege of being the best man, because he was translating for Vernon at the same time. It's a sweet thing when there is a wedding here because they do it the Thai way then the church way. I'm not really sure what was entailed for the Thai part of it because we didn't have time to go because of the work, but that's alright. After they had a wedding reception that we didn't make because of English class that we taught. Its funny because this was a real wedding because as it was happening it rained. Proving that no matter what country you are getting married in the weather will do all it can to stop it. We also didn't have any students show up to English class that night, so we got to go eat a good dinner at the Pizza Company.

Sorry for this Email coming so slow this week. Elder Jolley and I spent the morning cleaning our house. After the house painter had been working there for the last week it really needed it. Oh ya I don't remember if I told you, about 3 weeks ago our landlord called us and asked if they could come over to inspect the house. We said yes. They came over and told us they have some time and money and want to fix the house up. It had been 8 years or more since anything had been done with it. We were more than happy to let them do as they pleased because after 8 years of elders the house really needs some major cleaning. So this last week painters have been painting the outside and inside of our house and have been fixing up the little things. So we have had to move things around over the weekend to help them paint. Its been fun. One of the things I found interesting is one thing that Elder Jolley pointed out. The scaffolding that they use to get to the upper floor outside is just bamboo poles. They balance themselves and hang off them and do all kinds of tricks, that if I were to do I would be yelled at, to paint the house.

I'm glad that you enjoyed conference, We get to watch DVD copies of it this weekend. I'm way excited to watch it. But not so much for it being in Thai. Oh well, I guess it will be a great way to test my language skills and see how far I have improved in the last months. Last time I remember not understanding a thing. But I think it will be different this time. Would you please send me a copy of the Ensign when it comes out next month as well?


OK, my time is up for this week, but before I go I want to ask for a thing or 2. First if you can send me a copy of the new Gospel Principle manual in English I think that would help me a little more on what we are learning in church. I have a Thai copy but its hard to understand all the time. Next is one for Dad. The German guy that married the member here, has become more and more interested in the church. Yesterday I was translating for him, and he told me, " I wish I was able to understand what is going on, if I had one of those books in a language that I could understand think it would help a lot." So I was thinking, Do you think you could find a Book Of Mormon and a gospel Principles Manual in German and send it to me? That's about all I think I need for the time being, Dad maybe you could write your testimony in German as well. I think that would help him a lot.

OK I have to go. I love you all. Thank you also for all that you do. and for your love and support.


Your son and Brother


Elder Brandon John Holt