Excerpt # 1
Mother’s reaction to my missionary calling.

"However, on this day, the excitement had pretty much overwhelmed her.  The only other time I had seen her this animated was some twelve or thirteen years earlier when I had awakened her from a nap by dangling a lizard by the tail over her face.  That had turned out to be a bad idea, and I knew by the frantic look in her eyes that she wanted the envelope opened now.

I finally got most of the oil cleaned off my hands and arms so that I could open the envelope and read the letter without smudging every­thing.
I excitedly read that I had been called to serve in the Southeast Asia Mission, specifically the country of Thailand.  Mother did not even know where Thailand was and, when I explained to her that it was in Southeast Asia near Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, she almost passed out.  After all, this was June of 1973 and the Vietnam War was in full swing.

Excerpt # 2
My first real taste of religious bigotry.

"Thonburi was a wonderful place to work.  It was the residence of one of the most inspirational members of the church I have ever met—Brother Manii (Mah-NEE).  The sincerity of Brother Manii was absolutely genuine.  You heard it in every word he spoke and you could read it in his puppy-dog eyes.  He truly was without guile. One fine evening Brother Manii joined us at a street meeting at a traffic circle in Thonburi.  We had been there about an hour doing what we always did.  By now my language skills allowed me to actually speak with passersby on my own for rather extended periods of time.  Hence, I had become much more independent. 

While engaging one gentleman in the usual banter, I heard an extremely loud voice begin shouting words that I had never heard before.  It was unnecessary for me to know the precise meaning of the words, as the tone of the voice told me that someone was in trouble.  I turned toward the other missionaries to see an eighteen- to twenty-one-year-old man screaming and yelling at Brother Manii.  I could not believe my eyes.  Brother Manii was being pushed across the traffic circle and being spit upon as if he were less than human.  This young man was shouting, “By associating with this farang kii nog, you are no longer a Thai.  You have disgraced your country and you are nothing more than a traitor.”

The phrase farang kii nog (fah-RAHNG kee nok) is a favorite Thai term of derision meaning American bird shit.  Similar epithets fol­lowed for what seemed like an eternity. 

Ultimately, other Thais in the area came and grabbed hold of the malcontent and pulled him away.  Brother Manii was in tears.  All he could say was, “I am proud to be a Thai and I am proud to be a Christian.”

A second gentleman came up to Elder Montgomery and began to push and shove him, and accuse him, saying, “You are trying to take our heritage from us.  Go home; we don’t want you; go home!”

With that, several people came to Elder Montgomery’s aid, fought off the interloper, and proudly exclaimed, “We are Thai!  We are free!  We have just fought a revolution so that people can think and say what they believe!  You are welcome here.  Don’t leave because of this.”
That night I thought long and hard about what Brother Manii was all about.  I had grown up in the church in California where there was very little open hostility toward Mormons.  I had never before seen the kind of overt bigotry and hatred that rained down on Brother Manii this night.  I truly feared for his safety.  He did not.  He was meek and yet firm at the same time.  He stood his ground:  “I am Thai and I am Christian.”

While I liked Brother Manii before, he became a hero to me on this night, and I loved him for his strength of character."

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