Dear Family,
Well this week has been a wee-bit stressful. I haven't had any time to write letters, or get a hair cut, or even e-mail. But I did get some pictures which I can send home. Yay! Unfortunately, it will be another week before I can even send it. But at least there's hope now.
Yesterday was the zone activity. We gathered at the edge of a massive jungle park. The variety of trees and vast greenery was astonishing. In the center and also further around the edges was a pool of water wherewith guests could come paddle-boat or fish. In actuality the field consisted of two parks. We took a Sky train in about half way down the first park and it still took a 10 minute journey to get to the field on the second half. The entirety of the Bangkok elders came in, both the East zone and the West. In the planning of this activity the Zone leaders asked us to give them the number we wanted for the soccer jerseys they were ordering. Therefore upon our arrival we had our Bangkok West zone jerseys waiting for us with our proper size and selected number. As the East zone jerseys were red and our West zone jerseys were white and black, we easily split the teams based on color. All in all the soccer, Frisbee, football activity at the park near Asoke met our good expectations. And, to make it better, the jerseys were designed based off of the Band of Brothers shirts that Elder Miles and I designed. :)
Then this last Saturday, the Bangkhae branch prepared a service project at one of the member's farms. We were well equipped with various machetes and harvesting blades. I personally chose a tool with a large shaft and a curved scythe-like blade at the end, the shape of which I had never seen before. We used these tools to slice down banana trees and various other trees and plants to clear a berm for the safe burning of the vast excess foliage. I particularly enjoyed cutting down the banana trees which were large and provided little resistance. My blade cut through it much like a light saber. Every once and a while I'd cut it down it to smaller pieces before abandoning it, just for fun. Then Brother Thanachode came in with an abnormally large chain saw which was about as big as he was and began clearing trees that had been there for over ten years. The activity was very tiring. Then as we were about to make our return home the young men went ahead and started the fire, which went a little bit out of control. After President Nopadone was finished yelling for us to go grab buckets of water and our mini forest fire was extinguished we found President Nopadone restarting the burning as if nothing happened and the last fire went smoothly. He's a very funny guy.
I'm glad to hear that the Family is doing well. I'm still alive. These last few weeks have been especially hard as I've been working with Elder Olinger and going through some ups and downs. Then Sister Naa had a miscarriage and her and brother Sang don't have any money. But right now they are doing okay. They came to church with just enough money to take a bus which just happens to go right by their house to the church and they had not enough money to return. They didn't tell anybody but they weren't sure how they were going to get home. Then Sang found 20 Baht on the ground and they made it home safely. The Lord provides a way.
Next week is moves meeting but I don't think that Elder Olinger or myself are moving. I'm glad that my Branch is so awesome. I Love the people sooooo much. It makes me think about how much I Love everybody back home!
I love you this much [-------------------------] (actual size)
Just kidding.
Much much more than you think I love you.
And much much more after that.
Love,
Elder Lilly
And to Braden and Jade: They grow weird plants that aren't in America and some that are such as carrots and corn, but mostly rice. And it's way hot out here. Way hot.
Feb 26, 2009
Feb 18, 2009
D.C.D. A. That's a fun card game.
Dear Family,
Thank you for the awesome letters this week. I got a good kick out of Mom's description of the "Grand Debates" that occur when playing The Card Game. And thank you Crystal for the Pictures too! I still haven't sent any pictures. I'm working on it!
All four of us Elders here in Bangkhae made especially sure to celebrate Presidents day. For some unknown reason we all felt the special need to celebrate a holiday that none of us really celebrated before. We went to Swensens again (the American Ice Cream Company) and brought some ice Cream home. We also asked if we could get some American toothpick flags and to our surprise they agreed. So we went home that night eating American Ice Cream with American Flags in it. It's just too bad that we don't have enough time or money or resources to have a barbecue. mmmmmm
Something funny about Thai people is that they love corn. Corn is a dessert here. It almost reminds me of Nacho Libre except nothing else here is anything like Mexico. And I can't just make myself a quesadilla.
For Valentine's day they sold specially cooked corn next to their Buffet of roses. They also have Corn flavored Ice Cream, Corn and sea food Pizza, Corn flavored yogurt, and the Corn flakes boxes here take special care to advertise the made-from-real-corn-ness.
Dad could make a lot of Corny Jokes here.
In other news. Elder Olinger and I are teaching a Burmese family. Thailand is rich compared to Burma. They are a very humble and awesome family to teach. The dad's name is Soe-tint, the mother's name is Day and the daughter is called Alisa. Alisa is 8 years old (pah dii), understands Burmese and speaks/reads Thai. The dad Speaks Thai alright, English okay, and is fluent in Burmese. Therefore Soe-Tint talks to Alisa in Burmese and Alisa talks to him in Thai. Having Alisa there is great because She allows us to explain very clearly and in simple terms to the family without speaking down to anyone. She has already read up to 1 Nephi 15 in two weeks on her own and understood it all. Which is an example of how even a child can understand the Scriptures and The Gospel. We all can as long as our hearts are open. I get Adult teachers and other highly educated people who complain that they don't understand or that the translation is too direct from the English version. That is a very powerful testimony of the simple truths of the Gospel.
I don't remember if I had mentioned about the Zone shirts or not. Our zone leaders asked Elder Miles and I to come up with Ideas for Zone Shirts. I jumped on the opportunity and sketched out some designs. The theme was the Band of Brothers talk from Elder Wirthlin. Elder Miles and I combined Ideas and the Zone Leaders took the design to a shirt company and got the shirts made. The shirts cost about 3.00$ per person. They look pretty awesome. If you want a custom designed shirt Thailand is the place to do it. The most expensive part would be to ship shirts home.
Speaking of shipping, the next time you consider sending a package my way, it would be great if you could throw in a bundle of my hospital pens at home. American pens are much much higher quality than ones that are available here. I've been using my 2 UHS pens for the whole time so far. It's bound to run out soon!
It's time to go now. I'm still working hard and trying my best to study ways to improve my work and be more in tune to the Spirit. I hope you all are doing the same at home!
Love and Pray for you all,
Elder Lilly
Thank you for the awesome letters this week. I got a good kick out of Mom's description of the "Grand Debates" that occur when playing The Card Game. And thank you Crystal for the Pictures too! I still haven't sent any pictures. I'm working on it!
All four of us Elders here in Bangkhae made especially sure to celebrate Presidents day. For some unknown reason we all felt the special need to celebrate a holiday that none of us really celebrated before. We went to Swensens again (the American Ice Cream Company) and brought some ice Cream home. We also asked if we could get some American toothpick flags and to our surprise they agreed. So we went home that night eating American Ice Cream with American Flags in it. It's just too bad that we don't have enough time or money or resources to have a barbecue. mmmmmm
Something funny about Thai people is that they love corn. Corn is a dessert here. It almost reminds me of Nacho Libre except nothing else here is anything like Mexico. And I can't just make myself a quesadilla.
For Valentine's day they sold specially cooked corn next to their Buffet of roses. They also have Corn flavored Ice Cream, Corn and sea food Pizza, Corn flavored yogurt, and the Corn flakes boxes here take special care to advertise the made-from-real-corn-ness.
Dad could make a lot of Corny Jokes here.
In other news. Elder Olinger and I are teaching a Burmese family. Thailand is rich compared to Burma. They are a very humble and awesome family to teach. The dad's name is Soe-tint, the mother's name is Day and the daughter is called Alisa. Alisa is 8 years old (pah dii), understands Burmese and speaks/reads Thai. The dad Speaks Thai alright, English okay, and is fluent in Burmese. Therefore Soe-Tint talks to Alisa in Burmese and Alisa talks to him in Thai. Having Alisa there is great because She allows us to explain very clearly and in simple terms to the family without speaking down to anyone. She has already read up to 1 Nephi 15 in two weeks on her own and understood it all. Which is an example of how even a child can understand the Scriptures and The Gospel. We all can as long as our hearts are open. I get Adult teachers and other highly educated people who complain that they don't understand or that the translation is too direct from the English version. That is a very powerful testimony of the simple truths of the Gospel.
I don't remember if I had mentioned about the Zone shirts or not. Our zone leaders asked Elder Miles and I to come up with Ideas for Zone Shirts. I jumped on the opportunity and sketched out some designs. The theme was the Band of Brothers talk from Elder Wirthlin. Elder Miles and I combined Ideas and the Zone Leaders took the design to a shirt company and got the shirts made. The shirts cost about 3.00$ per person. They look pretty awesome. If you want a custom designed shirt Thailand is the place to do it. The most expensive part would be to ship shirts home.
Speaking of shipping, the next time you consider sending a package my way, it would be great if you could throw in a bundle of my hospital pens at home. American pens are much much higher quality than ones that are available here. I've been using my 2 UHS pens for the whole time so far. It's bound to run out soon!
It's time to go now. I'm still working hard and trying my best to study ways to improve my work and be more in tune to the Spirit. I hope you all are doing the same at home!
Love and Pray for you all,
Elder Lilly
Feb 11, 2009
Q And A Session
Dear Family,
Hello,
Some of my favorite Thai recipes include: Gaeng Madsuman (not sure if it's actually Thai or not), Phad gra phaw, Phad Thai, Khaw nio maa muang!
khaw man guy (that's pretty close to how you pronounce it), Gui diaw is good, Khaw moo daeng, then there's Naam doek, and soem tham...
The weather here is about like it normally is in Arizona. It's 90 degrees outside. Just throw in a lot of humidity and you've got the weather here right now. Right now is past the rainy season and before the fruit season and the hot season.
My shoes are holding up just fine.
I feel like what I know in the Thai language I know pretty well but I'm lacking a jungle load of vocabulary words. And I can always improve in everything else too, reading, writing, pronunciation... spelling. Spelling is particularly fun when you've got 40+ characters to choose from and a lot of them for the same consonant sounds too.
Yesterday was switch offs again. Elder Blackhurst and I switched off together again while President Dodge's assistance went with Elder Olinger and Elder Miles. On the particular occasion Elder Blackhurst and I went out inviting in a new area we hadn't gone to before and found a Golf Driving Range. There were some people sitting around the area so we went to check it out. We found a Thai guy who comes from Singapore and speaks English almost like a native. So we started talking to him in English while we were still in Thai speaking mode. It was really tough to express myself. It felt like I had been playing a violin for several hours and then suddenly switched to playing a guitar.
Weird.
As of now Sang and Naa are going through some really tough times. Sang started working on Sunday instead of going to church. And because He's out working Naa is stuck at home with no money or way to get to church. And because of this situation and because of several other temptations their financial and family relationship declined and they were forced to move. President Nopadone found there house and is taking care of them. The church can help provide for their temporal and spiritual needs. But before ye seek for riches seek ye for the Kingdom of God.
A lot of my old investigators we are discontinuing our efforts to meet them. I firmly believe that the Lord puts people that he has prepared into our path. I'm sure Satan puts people in our path as well. It's tempting to spend a lot of time helping those people that aren't progressing, really tempting. This is especially true because I know personally that what it is that I have to give them is exactly what they need. It takes a different kind of faith to stop teaching someone and to look for those who need the Gospel more because they are more prepared to receive it. That's about what our situation came down to.
So we went out looking for more. Right now we have a lot of interested people who we are going to go visit a second time and see if they are willing to learn further.
Also, my health is good.
Last week I had family home evening at President Nopadone's house again. It was such a good time, and the food was soooo gooood. President Nopadone has the best laugh ever. Then his wife Baa Bua, is such the plump cheerful mother who is always happy and you can just tell by looking at her that her cooking is good.
So, all in all things are going well right now. I think that I have progressed a lot in the work. I'm really just trying to invite people by loving them and explaining how I want to increase the truth that they already have and help them to be happy through what's made me happy in my life. I tell them how I feel about The Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it's been a blessing for my family. It's tempting to persuade people, especially now that I can speak and understand better than I could before. But that's not the way, and I can't really convert anyone anyway. I just carry the Mantle, and do my best.
Go forth with Faith!
Love,
Elder Lilly
Hello,
Some of my favorite Thai recipes include: Gaeng Madsuman (not sure if it's actually Thai or not), Phad gra phaw, Phad Thai, Khaw nio maa muang!
khaw man guy (that's pretty close to how you pronounce it), Gui diaw is good, Khaw moo daeng, then there's Naam doek, and soem tham...
The weather here is about like it normally is in Arizona. It's 90 degrees outside. Just throw in a lot of humidity and you've got the weather here right now. Right now is past the rainy season and before the fruit season and the hot season.
My shoes are holding up just fine.
I feel like what I know in the Thai language I know pretty well but I'm lacking a jungle load of vocabulary words. And I can always improve in everything else too, reading, writing, pronunciation... spelling. Spelling is particularly fun when you've got 40+ characters to choose from and a lot of them for the same consonant sounds too.
Yesterday was switch offs again. Elder Blackhurst and I switched off together again while President Dodge's assistance went with Elder Olinger and Elder Miles. On the particular occasion Elder Blackhurst and I went out inviting in a new area we hadn't gone to before and found a Golf Driving Range. There were some people sitting around the area so we went to check it out. We found a Thai guy who comes from Singapore and speaks English almost like a native. So we started talking to him in English while we were still in Thai speaking mode. It was really tough to express myself. It felt like I had been playing a violin for several hours and then suddenly switched to playing a guitar.
Weird.
As of now Sang and Naa are going through some really tough times. Sang started working on Sunday instead of going to church. And because He's out working Naa is stuck at home with no money or way to get to church. And because of this situation and because of several other temptations their financial and family relationship declined and they were forced to move. President Nopadone found there house and is taking care of them. The church can help provide for their temporal and spiritual needs. But before ye seek for riches seek ye for the Kingdom of God.
A lot of my old investigators we are discontinuing our efforts to meet them. I firmly believe that the Lord puts people that he has prepared into our path. I'm sure Satan puts people in our path as well. It's tempting to spend a lot of time helping those people that aren't progressing, really tempting. This is especially true because I know personally that what it is that I have to give them is exactly what they need. It takes a different kind of faith to stop teaching someone and to look for those who need the Gospel more because they are more prepared to receive it. That's about what our situation came down to.
So we went out looking for more. Right now we have a lot of interested people who we are going to go visit a second time and see if they are willing to learn further.
Also, my health is good.
Last week I had family home evening at President Nopadone's house again. It was such a good time, and the food was soooo gooood. President Nopadone has the best laugh ever. Then his wife Baa Bua, is such the plump cheerful mother who is always happy and you can just tell by looking at her that her cooking is good.
So, all in all things are going well right now. I think that I have progressed a lot in the work. I'm really just trying to invite people by loving them and explaining how I want to increase the truth that they already have and help them to be happy through what's made me happy in my life. I tell them how I feel about The Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it's been a blessing for my family. It's tempting to persuade people, especially now that I can speak and understand better than I could before. But that's not the way, and I can't really convert anyone anyway. I just carry the Mantle, and do my best.
Go forth with Faith!
Love,
Elder Lilly
Feb 4, 2009
Dear Familyyyyy,
It appears that nobody has any questions.
Now I can proceed.
Last week was Elder Olinger's Birthday. We are going to celebrate by going to McDonalds? Well, It's his birthday, and he wants to go. After that we'll have to get some ice cream, after all I never did celebrate my 6 month (out of my total mission) mark.
I need to give an appropriate shout out to our ward for sending a great Christmas package my way. THANKS!
This week I need to repent by reading over all of the rules again and seeing if there is anything I'm doing wrong or not doing. If I make sure that I'm being 100% obedient to all of the rules then I don't need to worry, I think. This week I had two days where almost every single appointment canceled. Specifically two days ago I had all of my appointments in the morning cancel and then I waited 45 minutes for one guy to return to his house and it turns out that this guy's heart was not open to the spirit at all. He told us that maybe one day when he was suffering more would he go read the Book of Mormon. Until, that day he's satisfied with his current situation. I think one thing I learned from that situation is that If they aren't open up to the message about God our Father then they don't move on. No amount of truth can open someones heart, but If their heart is already open then truth will pierce them to the soul and affect them profoundly. We truly are the gate keepers of our hearts.
I've had a lot of opportunities to be directed by the Spirit while being on the Lords errand. Yesterday I was out inviting on a street called Petgassim 114. We were going to leave the street to go teach a member family. In this situation I could have walked down to the main road and picked up a taxi, rode on a mini transporter truck to the main road and then used a bus, or kept inviting until a taxi came from the side street that I was on. So I stopped and thought about it. My companion was confused because he didn't understand the dilemma. For some reason I just felt like we needed to keep walking and inviting, even though we needed to leave. As I thought about walking back (the street wasn't that far away) I knew that I would regret my decision if I did. So we kept walking past another house where we saw a random guy and said hello (in Thai of course). He said that he was investigating the Christian religion and that he had a friend who was Christian. He didn't make an appointment with us, but he took our number and after that a Taxi came buy and we took off. I felt relieved as if I had done my part.
I've felt the promptings of the spirit on many occasions, as well as the presence of the spirit. Similar to when we testify of truth and we feel inside that what we are saying is true, many times when testifying in a lesson I will get that feeling. When the person who is hearing doesn't listen or open up then the feeling is different and it's easy to tell if they are opening up or not. And then If I am teaching and I don't feel how I know I should then I'm doing something wrong.
Time to go. I'm trying really heard to keep myself open and humble and submissive and motivated. So, I'm doing alright. If I wasn't trying really hard then, well, I wouldn't be so happy. For sure.
Love you all,
Especially you Mom and Dad.
Elder Lilly
It appears that nobody has any questions.
Now I can proceed.
Last week was Elder Olinger's Birthday. We are going to celebrate by going to McDonalds? Well, It's his birthday, and he wants to go. After that we'll have to get some ice cream, after all I never did celebrate my 6 month (out of my total mission) mark.
I need to give an appropriate shout out to our ward for sending a great Christmas package my way. THANKS!
This week I need to repent by reading over all of the rules again and seeing if there is anything I'm doing wrong or not doing. If I make sure that I'm being 100% obedient to all of the rules then I don't need to worry, I think. This week I had two days where almost every single appointment canceled. Specifically two days ago I had all of my appointments in the morning cancel and then I waited 45 minutes for one guy to return to his house and it turns out that this guy's heart was not open to the spirit at all. He told us that maybe one day when he was suffering more would he go read the Book of Mormon. Until, that day he's satisfied with his current situation. I think one thing I learned from that situation is that If they aren't open up to the message about God our Father then they don't move on. No amount of truth can open someones heart, but If their heart is already open then truth will pierce them to the soul and affect them profoundly. We truly are the gate keepers of our hearts.
I've had a lot of opportunities to be directed by the Spirit while being on the Lords errand. Yesterday I was out inviting on a street called Petgassim 114. We were going to leave the street to go teach a member family. In this situation I could have walked down to the main road and picked up a taxi, rode on a mini transporter truck to the main road and then used a bus, or kept inviting until a taxi came from the side street that I was on. So I stopped and thought about it. My companion was confused because he didn't understand the dilemma. For some reason I just felt like we needed to keep walking and inviting, even though we needed to leave. As I thought about walking back (the street wasn't that far away) I knew that I would regret my decision if I did. So we kept walking past another house where we saw a random guy and said hello (in Thai of course). He said that he was investigating the Christian religion and that he had a friend who was Christian. He didn't make an appointment with us, but he took our number and after that a Taxi came buy and we took off. I felt relieved as if I had done my part.
I've felt the promptings of the spirit on many occasions, as well as the presence of the spirit. Similar to when we testify of truth and we feel inside that what we are saying is true, many times when testifying in a lesson I will get that feeling. When the person who is hearing doesn't listen or open up then the feeling is different and it's easy to tell if they are opening up or not. And then If I am teaching and I don't feel how I know I should then I'm doing something wrong.
Time to go. I'm trying really heard to keep myself open and humble and submissive and motivated. So, I'm doing alright. If I wasn't trying really hard then, well, I wouldn't be so happy. For sure.
Love you all,
Especially you Mom and Dad.
Elder Lilly
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