Missionary Mail

We have 174 Missionaries currently serving in the Thailand Bangkok Mission.  They have a myriad of individuals back home who care about them.  This results in a lot of Mail being sent to them.  This does not count the Emails that they receive, read and respond to on their Preparation Day.  Preparation day is Monday for most Elders and Sisters in Thailand.  They go to an internet cafe and rent a computer by the hour. Parents and friends have been instructed to send their missionaries mail to our office.  It is sent to the office due to the following reasons: Missionaries move frequently, addresses are unreliable, the ability to forward mail is not reliable, and the mailman does not necessarily read English well.  Mail is sorted at the office and delivered weekly to the missionaries.  We use a combination of hand delivery thru Zone and district leaders or send to the actual elders/sisters abode via a Thai mailing address.



A lot more luggage & bikes are actually inside the building

If a package is sent to our office we hold it until the next transfer meeting when many of the missionaries come to Bangkok to be transferred or to meet their new companions. Just before our arrival in Thailand the Church changed the Thailand Bangkok Mission transfer cycle from 6 weeks to 9 weeks (meaning this is when new missionaries arrive and old ones go home).  This was to improve the efficiency of MTC usage for foreign speaking missionaries. This results in packages that can sit around for up to 9 weeks.  So we tell the parents to not send anything perishable or even semi perishable.  See the picture of the most recent transfer where the Missionaries who were notified that they were moving brought their bikes and luggage with them to the transfer meeting where they then found out where they were being transferred to.

We have just concluded the Christmas Season.  We received a ton of packages from parents and loved ones.  I took a moment just prior to transfer and sneaked into a storage room to photograph most of the packages.  



 Elder Cosper and Elder Jex the Office Elders loading the Office Van with Christmas packages to be distributed at the Transfer meeting.

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After Christmas the office Elders were authorized to send late Christmas packages via Bus freight to the out of town missionaries.