Monday, February 4, 2013

First Young, Male Missionaries Assigned to Laos

Missionaries serving in the Thailand Bangkok Mission report that the first four young, male missionaries were assigned to Vientiane, Laos on educational and humanitarian assignment.  The Church organized its first branch in Laos in 2003 and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve dedicated Laos for missionary work in 2006.  Senior missionary couples have regularly served in Laos performing humanitarian and development work and have supported the Vientiane Branch.  Missionaries report that the Vientiane Branch currently has approximately 100 active members and has had several members serve missions.  Newly assigned missionaries will also provide some ecclesiastical support to the isolated branch.

5 comments:

Isawan said...

also a couple Sundays ago, a new branch was created in Ubon District, Thailand. Trakan Branch was created from Ubon branch and is located in the small town of Trakan Phuetphon (about 40km north of Ubon). This creation marked the first in many years since Ubon district was organized. And Trakan Branch was the second branch in the history of Thailand, that isn't located in the capitol city of a province.

Christopher Nicholson said...

Is proselytism forbidden, or just on a referral basis or something?

dmS said...

The laws of the Laos PDR do not allow proselyting of the Gospel. The missionaries assigned to serve in Laos comply with the laws of the Country.

As a point of clarification, there has not been a Branch formation in Trakan. There are a group of Saints living in Trakan that for reasons of distance are not able to congregate in Ubon weekly. The Saints in Trakan are part of the Ubon Branch. The meetings in Trakan are allowed under the conditions that twice per month they will meet with their Branch in Ubon.

Seagulljaap said...

Yeah, there have been members in Trakan forever. I am excited to hear about Laos in the future! I heard that missionaries will be called there Laotian speaking. This may lead to the mission being split!

Isawan said...

Thanks for the clarification President Senior! I've heard about Trakan from members in Ubon, maybe they aren't fully aware of the conditions of Trakan group. Well, I do hope Ubon branch will be split soon.

Any other development in Bangkok Thailand Mission worth sharing?