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
Jan 28, 2009
Hello Everyone,
These past few weeks have been pretty crazy. I apologize for the shortness of my last few E-mails and for the certain lack of written mail. I've been pretty stripped for time. Also you may have noticed I've pulled out some more money from my account. That is because I don't have any! We still haven't gotten reimbursed for last month and there's still a week left in this month. Luckily a decently sized good meal only costs a dollar here.
My new companions name is Elder Oliger. I would describe him as fairly short, very hungry, good hearten and simple.
He showed me his I.D. from back in high school. He's gained 100 pounds since then. Ouch. But, he's a great companion. I had decided to speak only Thai to him as I mentioned before, well, I'm still doing it. It's quite difficult sometimes, but it's also a very good thing that I've tried. Specifically, because his Thai is a little unclear, and I am in a position to where I need to lead the area. I hope I can help him out with his goals and good desires for this "moves" (I think Thailand is the only place that uses the word moves instead of transfers, which has nothing to do with Thai). He's been out for about a year now and this would be his 8th moves. I am his first junior companion. I'm grateful for the opportunity for growth that this situation provides me. I know that the Lord qualifies his called. If I need to speak the language to do this, the Lord will help me for sure. Already he has!
This last Sunday was a baptism of one of my old original investigators before the two other Elders came in and split the area. His baptism was going to be before, but it ended up then. He's overcome Tuberculosis, smoking, his addiction of soda. He's come a long long ways.
This Moves President dodge announced a reallocation of the target number of missionaries in Asia. They are going to decrease the amount of missionaries in the Asia sector and increase the number everywhere else. Specifically for Thailand this means a 25% decrease of missionaries, which is about 40 missionaries. That's a huge change. But, this change does not mean less baptism or less people in Thailand hearing the Word of God. It means that the members are going to have to take the responsibility, and increased roll in missionary work. The Ideal situation for us teachers of religion is that the members will be the finders and the missionaries will be the teachers.
My district specifically are making goals to help inspire the members to a new vision of missionary work in the future. I think sometimes the things we are sooo incredibly blessed with become a bit mundane. The irony is that the primary answers are so important that we hear them all the time and because we hear them all the time we don't think about their importance. The last time that we had a spiritually uplifting experience should be the last time we prayed. In church a lot of times we teach about truths without thinking about what the truths mean, who they come from. My personal goal for my area in Thailand is to help the ward change from a school like mundane feeling to rejoicing in Christ. I hope they can remember the Spirit they felt when they were baptized and be excited about their progression!
I'm reminded of when the angel came down to Nephi to tell him about Christ's birth and gave him permission, maybe even a charge to rejoice.
Some little changes that my district is starting to do is sing hymns when we teach and before meetings, we're going to start singing hymns after church on Sunday and invite anyone to come join us learn the hymns. (The Thai people in general love the hymns and the majority of them can't read music or sing very well because they don't get trained in school like us farangs). I love the power of music. We are also going to start a missionary bulletin board at church (yeah there's a church bulletin in every church even around the world) and start missionary training as well. Those are a few changes. In general I hope to change myself to be more excited and to pray with more energy.
I would like to mention about the power of reading the Scriptures every day, mighty prayer, and going to church. There's nothing better than these to prepare us to be let by the Spirit. When anyone we teach is having a rough time and feels like they can't get over it, always they're lacking at least one of the three.
Last week I went and picked up my new pants. It feels nice to have pants designed to my body and look classy too. After that I went to a nightmarish place. It was horrible. It was a giant mall with levels underground and the most amount of everything anyone would ever want to buy, and all for cheap. Crystal would have a hay day.
And it doesn't help that I speak Thai and can ask them to lower their prices which are raised because lots of foreigners go there. I should definitely not take any females there in the future. Yeah. But the good thing is that I bought 12 neckties for less than 6$.
Well, time to go. If you have any questions about Thailand and my investigators and such, feel free to ask. I don't know what to talk about, I just tell you my feelings.
Thailand is awesome. You all are awesome-er!
Love you all,
Elder Lilly
These past few weeks have been pretty crazy. I apologize for the shortness of my last few E-mails and for the certain lack of written mail. I've been pretty stripped for time. Also you may have noticed I've pulled out some more money from my account. That is because I don't have any! We still haven't gotten reimbursed for last month and there's still a week left in this month. Luckily a decently sized good meal only costs a dollar here.
My new companions name is Elder Oliger. I would describe him as fairly short, very hungry, good hearten and simple.
He showed me his I.D. from back in high school. He's gained 100 pounds since then. Ouch. But, he's a great companion. I had decided to speak only Thai to him as I mentioned before, well, I'm still doing it. It's quite difficult sometimes, but it's also a very good thing that I've tried. Specifically, because his Thai is a little unclear, and I am in a position to where I need to lead the area. I hope I can help him out with his goals and good desires for this "moves" (I think Thailand is the only place that uses the word moves instead of transfers, which has nothing to do with Thai). He's been out for about a year now and this would be his 8th moves. I am his first junior companion. I'm grateful for the opportunity for growth that this situation provides me. I know that the Lord qualifies his called. If I need to speak the language to do this, the Lord will help me for sure. Already he has!
This last Sunday was a baptism of one of my old original investigators before the two other Elders came in and split the area. His baptism was going to be before, but it ended up then. He's overcome Tuberculosis, smoking, his addiction of soda. He's come a long long ways.
This Moves President dodge announced a reallocation of the target number of missionaries in Asia. They are going to decrease the amount of missionaries in the Asia sector and increase the number everywhere else. Specifically for Thailand this means a 25% decrease of missionaries, which is about 40 missionaries. That's a huge change. But, this change does not mean less baptism or less people in Thailand hearing the Word of God. It means that the members are going to have to take the responsibility, and increased roll in missionary work. The Ideal situation for us teachers of religion is that the members will be the finders and the missionaries will be the teachers.
My district specifically are making goals to help inspire the members to a new vision of missionary work in the future. I think sometimes the things we are sooo incredibly blessed with become a bit mundane. The irony is that the primary answers are so important that we hear them all the time and because we hear them all the time we don't think about their importance. The last time that we had a spiritually uplifting experience should be the last time we prayed. In church a lot of times we teach about truths without thinking about what the truths mean, who they come from. My personal goal for my area in Thailand is to help the ward change from a school like mundane feeling to rejoicing in Christ. I hope they can remember the Spirit they felt when they were baptized and be excited about their progression!
I'm reminded of when the angel came down to Nephi to tell him about Christ's birth and gave him permission, maybe even a charge to rejoice.
Some little changes that my district is starting to do is sing hymns when we teach and before meetings, we're going to start singing hymns after church on Sunday and invite anyone to come join us learn the hymns. (The Thai people in general love the hymns and the majority of them can't read music or sing very well because they don't get trained in school like us farangs). I love the power of music. We are also going to start a missionary bulletin board at church (yeah there's a church bulletin in every church even around the world) and start missionary training as well. Those are a few changes. In general I hope to change myself to be more excited and to pray with more energy.
I would like to mention about the power of reading the Scriptures every day, mighty prayer, and going to church. There's nothing better than these to prepare us to be let by the Spirit. When anyone we teach is having a rough time and feels like they can't get over it, always they're lacking at least one of the three.
Last week I went and picked up my new pants. It feels nice to have pants designed to my body and look classy too. After that I went to a nightmarish place. It was horrible. It was a giant mall with levels underground and the most amount of everything anyone would ever want to buy, and all for cheap. Crystal would have a hay day.
And it doesn't help that I speak Thai and can ask them to lower their prices which are raised because lots of foreigners go there. I should definitely not take any females there in the future. Yeah. But the good thing is that I bought 12 neckties for less than 6$.
Well, time to go. If you have any questions about Thailand and my investigators and such, feel free to ask. I don't know what to talk about, I just tell you my feelings.
Thailand is awesome. You all are awesome-er!
Love you all,
Elder Lilly
Jan 20, 2009
Good Morning
Dear Family,
Well, I hope you enjoyed the silly comparisons in my last E-mail. Even though the members are indispensable because of the friendship and support that they provide (much more than the Missionaries), I can never forget the power and authority of the calling of the Missionaries. The Lord truly invests a lot in the missionaries.
Today is the last day of this "Moves." All of the Elders and Sisters in Bangkok will meet together and wish the departing missionaries farewell, introduce the new missionaries and then find out where we are going and who our new companions are. Lastly, the departing missionaries will split up and share some good advice. Then it's good-bye and off to work with the new changes.
My companion, Elder Ewing, is moving tomorrow. The other three Elders in Bangkhae: Elder Miles, Elder Blackhurst and I are staying here for another move. We won't find out who my companion is or where Elder Ewing goes until tomorrow. Until then, we've got a lot of preparation and packing to do today. This move is especially chaotic with one of our senior missionaries going home; specifically the one who managed the money transfers.
Monday was our district meeting as usual. Elder Ewing, being the senior missionary in Bangkhae, is the district leader. This particular meeting was very memorable. We started the meeting by reviewing the progress and experiences that we had from the subject of the week before, namely: how we can find a way to improve our use of the scriptures when we teach and invite; the scriptures being the word of God, the key stone of our religion, the source of testimony, the difference between those who progress and those who don't, and so forth. Instead of having a prepared lesson to teach us all, Elder Ewing opened the opportunity for each of us to do a personal study of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We can never truly understand the Atonement. Because of that, we may not even try to understand it. But, we can never understand the atonement enough. We spent about twenty minutes alone in study. When we came together again we didn't share what we learned personally. Even though I bear testimony every day, for some reason it's different sharing in a small group as we were in as a family of missionaries. That morning I think we rejoiced in Christ the way we should do. After we bore our testimonies and gave thanks, we sang. It was such a great experience, and a good reminder of why we are here and what we are helping people to achieve.
I would like to recommend listening to the music from Michael McClane (Mcclain?) It's a musical play called The Garden. It's about the Atonement.
I'm very grateful for your prayers and Love. Good luck to Diana with her Tonsils (and friends looking at the lack of thereof) :) Reminds me of when we got our wisdom teeth out.
I need to go but I might come back this afternoon.
Love you all!
Elder Lilly
Well, I hope you enjoyed the silly comparisons in my last E-mail. Even though the members are indispensable because of the friendship and support that they provide (much more than the Missionaries), I can never forget the power and authority of the calling of the Missionaries. The Lord truly invests a lot in the missionaries.
Today is the last day of this "Moves." All of the Elders and Sisters in Bangkok will meet together and wish the departing missionaries farewell, introduce the new missionaries and then find out where we are going and who our new companions are. Lastly, the departing missionaries will split up and share some good advice. Then it's good-bye and off to work with the new changes.
My companion, Elder Ewing, is moving tomorrow. The other three Elders in Bangkhae: Elder Miles, Elder Blackhurst and I are staying here for another move. We won't find out who my companion is or where Elder Ewing goes until tomorrow. Until then, we've got a lot of preparation and packing to do today. This move is especially chaotic with one of our senior missionaries going home; specifically the one who managed the money transfers.
Monday was our district meeting as usual. Elder Ewing, being the senior missionary in Bangkhae, is the district leader. This particular meeting was very memorable. We started the meeting by reviewing the progress and experiences that we had from the subject of the week before, namely: how we can find a way to improve our use of the scriptures when we teach and invite; the scriptures being the word of God, the key stone of our religion, the source of testimony, the difference between those who progress and those who don't, and so forth. Instead of having a prepared lesson to teach us all, Elder Ewing opened the opportunity for each of us to do a personal study of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We can never truly understand the Atonement. Because of that, we may not even try to understand it. But, we can never understand the atonement enough. We spent about twenty minutes alone in study. When we came together again we didn't share what we learned personally. Even though I bear testimony every day, for some reason it's different sharing in a small group as we were in as a family of missionaries. That morning I think we rejoiced in Christ the way we should do. After we bore our testimonies and gave thanks, we sang. It was such a great experience, and a good reminder of why we are here and what we are helping people to achieve.
I would like to recommend listening to the music from Michael McClane (Mcclain?) It's a musical play called The Garden. It's about the Atonement.
I'm very grateful for your prayers and Love. Good luck to Diana with her Tonsils (and friends looking at the lack of thereof) :) Reminds me of when we got our wisdom teeth out.
I need to go but I might come back this afternoon.
Love you all!
Elder Lilly
Jan 13, 2009
Let's Make Like a Tree and Get Out of Here
Dear Family,
I'm still doing good.
The day before the baptism of Sang and Naa, there was a fight. Perhaps a combination of hormones from pregnancy and the work of the adversary brought Sang and Naa to tears. Naa threatened to quit. Leave. Forget everything and get an abortion. Families are much more difficult to teach because of the split focus between the needs of the people. But in this case the miracle of family came through. Sang assured Naa that on the morrow they were going to be reborn and start a new life. Families can pull each other together where the missionaries would be useless. The same goes for member friends. If Sang didn't have Naa he wouldn't have made. If Naa didn't have Sang, she wouldn't have made it. Yet they both pulled through and supported each other. Now they are doing awesome, happier than ever. With brother Auri helping teach and befriend them... well, let's just say he's like the artillery behind the front lines, the air support behind the infantry, the siege tank. We're just there pecking at the enemy while the big guns tear them up. He's pretty indispensable. And while we're gone with our other investigators, or returned to base sleeping, he's still there up all night, firing away, answering all of there questions.
Yeah, he's awesome.
Then there's President Typ. He is so good at explaining doctrines to understanding. We bring him to the most desperate situations. If someone just doesn't understand or if they are starting to waver in their conviction, that's when we send him in. By the end the investigators are enlightened. You could compare him to our yamato cannon... our golden gun.
Something interesting about Thai people in general is that they understand through comparisons. That's one of the reasons why President Typ. is so good.
I have some more experiences I'd like to share but like that guy that failed at Jeopardy, I'm just out of time.
Love,
Elder Lilly
I'm still doing good.
The day before the baptism of Sang and Naa, there was a fight. Perhaps a combination of hormones from pregnancy and the work of the adversary brought Sang and Naa to tears. Naa threatened to quit. Leave. Forget everything and get an abortion. Families are much more difficult to teach because of the split focus between the needs of the people. But in this case the miracle of family came through. Sang assured Naa that on the morrow they were going to be reborn and start a new life. Families can pull each other together where the missionaries would be useless. The same goes for member friends. If Sang didn't have Naa he wouldn't have made. If Naa didn't have Sang, she wouldn't have made it. Yet they both pulled through and supported each other. Now they are doing awesome, happier than ever. With brother Auri helping teach and befriend them... well, let's just say he's like the artillery behind the front lines, the air support behind the infantry, the siege tank. We're just there pecking at the enemy while the big guns tear them up. He's pretty indispensable. And while we're gone with our other investigators, or returned to base sleeping, he's still there up all night, firing away, answering all of there questions.
Yeah, he's awesome.
Then there's President Typ. He is so good at explaining doctrines to understanding. We bring him to the most desperate situations. If someone just doesn't understand or if they are starting to waver in their conviction, that's when we send him in. By the end the investigators are enlightened. You could compare him to our yamato cannon... our golden gun.
Something interesting about Thai people in general is that they understand through comparisons. That's one of the reasons why President Typ. is so good.
I have some more experiences I'd like to share but like that guy that failed at Jeopardy, I'm just out of time.
Love,
Elder Lilly
Jan 7, 2009
Happy New Year!
Dear Family,
Sadly this ones going to be short. Today was another zone activity. I reaaaaaaaallly wanted to write letters to ever one all day but keeping unity in the zone is more important. I'll have to write you all next week!
There's a ton of things I would like to say. Us missionaries in Thailand cannot go tracting door to door because it's against the law in Thailand. It's not just a mission rule, I discovered. Elder Ewing and I are still doing great. I started speaking only in Thai. It's been about a week now and I have almost only spoken in Thai, a task not very easy. My biggest goal for the New year,besides doing my best every day, is to follow Preach My Gospel. Preach my Gospel comes to us through the apostles and the Prophet. I firmly believe that it is the will of the Lord and the way that He wants us to do missionary work. So, to accomplish this goal I started to study Preach my Gospel and write down all of the things I need to do from it. Among those is speaking the mission Language as much as possible. So, I'm doing it. Already it's been quite the blessing. Elder Blackhurst and I switched off together yesterday. He is the MTC group behind me, so basically he's still struggling to understand much less speak. And being in my area the burden of leading and talking came to me. What a blessing it was to find that I could understand the people that I talked to and even taught the whole first lesson to a new investigator. It was Awesome. But don't think that I was the only one teaching. Elder Blackhurst is doing great (even if he does like to beat on himself) and I made sure that we both had opportunities to bear testimony. Being on a mission has certainly helped my to see clearly what is truly important in life (people).
Sang and Naa are even more awesome as members now, born again and given the gift of the Holy ghost. They told us that they were willing to go teaching with us! That is a true testimony and understanding of the gospel.
We have some new investigators too. :D
Another goal of mine is to build unity in my companionship, district, and zone, and Ward/Branch. We asked for a list of the ward members and their callings and we are working on memorizing them all. We asked for our zones investigators names. We asked for Elder Miles and Blackhursts investigators too. That we we can pray for them all and have power in our prayers. I really want to strive to focus on a section in Preach my Gospel called the Christ like Attributes. No matter how much I work on other things these are always more important. No matter how much I work on these things, I can never be satisfied where I am. I think If we truly understood the Atonement and the Love of Christ it would drive us to change and to act much more than we imagine. When you think you REEEEAAALlly love someone, it's amazing that you can always love them more.
Anyway, I am out of time and a bit beyond. Now I need to be off and teach English once again (every Wednesday eve).
I LOVE YOU ALL,
Elder Lilly
P.S. I happily removed money from my account and am working on getting some new pants tailored. Guys I've eaten too much rice, it's starting to show. Haha I meant to say guess not guys. Oh well.
Sadly this ones going to be short. Today was another zone activity. I reaaaaaaaallly wanted to write letters to ever one all day but keeping unity in the zone is more important. I'll have to write you all next week!
There's a ton of things I would like to say. Us missionaries in Thailand cannot go tracting door to door because it's against the law in Thailand. It's not just a mission rule, I discovered. Elder Ewing and I are still doing great. I started speaking only in Thai. It's been about a week now and I have almost only spoken in Thai, a task not very easy. My biggest goal for the New year,besides doing my best every day, is to follow Preach My Gospel. Preach my Gospel comes to us through the apostles and the Prophet. I firmly believe that it is the will of the Lord and the way that He wants us to do missionary work. So, to accomplish this goal I started to study Preach my Gospel and write down all of the things I need to do from it. Among those is speaking the mission Language as much as possible. So, I'm doing it. Already it's been quite the blessing. Elder Blackhurst and I switched off together yesterday. He is the MTC group behind me, so basically he's still struggling to understand much less speak. And being in my area the burden of leading and talking came to me. What a blessing it was to find that I could understand the people that I talked to and even taught the whole first lesson to a new investigator. It was Awesome. But don't think that I was the only one teaching. Elder Blackhurst is doing great (even if he does like to beat on himself) and I made sure that we both had opportunities to bear testimony. Being on a mission has certainly helped my to see clearly what is truly important in life (people).
Sang and Naa are even more awesome as members now, born again and given the gift of the Holy ghost. They told us that they were willing to go teaching with us! That is a true testimony and understanding of the gospel.
We have some new investigators too. :D
Another goal of mine is to build unity in my companionship, district, and zone, and Ward/Branch. We asked for a list of the ward members and their callings and we are working on memorizing them all. We asked for our zones investigators names. We asked for Elder Miles and Blackhursts investigators too. That we we can pray for them all and have power in our prayers. I really want to strive to focus on a section in Preach my Gospel called the Christ like Attributes. No matter how much I work on other things these are always more important. No matter how much I work on these things, I can never be satisfied where I am. I think If we truly understood the Atonement and the Love of Christ it would drive us to change and to act much more than we imagine. When you think you REEEEAAALlly love someone, it's amazing that you can always love them more.
Anyway, I am out of time and a bit beyond. Now I need to be off and teach English once again (every Wednesday eve).
I LOVE YOU ALL,
Elder Lilly
P.S. I happily removed money from my account and am working on getting some new pants tailored. Guys I've eaten too much rice, it's starting to show. Haha I meant to say guess not guys. Oh well.
Dec 31, 2008
Dear Family,
This Christmas was great! I'm glad I got to talk to you all. Talking to Spencer and Crystal was a bit tricky. I asked my companion to distract the taxi driver while I talked in Thai. It was good fun. When we arrived we boarded the boat, greeted all of the missionaries, and had an enjoyable Christmas cruise/feast. After stuffing our faces full of a Thai American mix of goodness, president dodge called for the White Elephant gift exchange. I had bought a huge blanket with lions, zebras, and elephants on it's face. It was better than downy soft too. Elder Ewing brought a large classic looking harmonica, Elder Blackhurst a sturdy dart board, and Elder Miles a mini air hockey board with batteries included. Gratefully the spirit of Christmas is giving. I ended up with an annoyance making stick. It had a string and a box attached to amplify the rope scratching noise that it makes when you twist it.
The ward Christmas party was Awesome! We, once again, had a great feast followed by the singing of Christmas hymns and reading the nativity. Then Santa came. We were organized in a big circle of chairs around the sacrament room. Then the leaders on a microphone announced the coming of Santa and Started a count down. "3... 2... 1..." (nothing). There was a pause and then the overflow divider burst open as a short fat Thai Santa with, a triangle white cotton beard which had a tiny hole in it for a mouth, and sun glasses bursts in with his arms in the air and stands there glorying in his awesome Santa power. To amplify the hilarity of the moment, it was brother Gunshot who is basically the Thai version of Dwight Shrewt from The Office. He speaks English and is always conspiring in his Shrewd little way. It was funny.
Unfortunately I'm out of time already, but, the baptism this Sunday was a success and Sang and Naa are going to be confirmed this Sunday. They are great people. I've really had an opportunity to exercise faith as I've set goals on my mission so far. So many times in the scriptures the prophets tell us that with faith we can do anything that is expedient in us. I realize that with the Lord we can do anything but what exactly is it that we must do? Then I'm reminded of Lehi the son of King Noah in comparison to the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's. The People of Limhi fought to defend themselves from imminent danger. With trust in the Lord they "fought like Dragons." But the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's also put their trust in the Lord and in prayer they let themselves be killed until a miracle of God converted more than were slain. And those who were slain were surely saved in the Kingdom of God. Both people chose their path and put their Trust in the Lord. As I'm learning more about the Lord I've been able to set my path or my goals, and put my trust in the Lord. I've seen Miracles happen. A mission is sooo tough, but the Lords work is the most important. I'm slowly getting a vision of how important it is, although I doubt I'll ever be able to comprehend in this life. But I love you all and pray for you. Keep progressing, and have a Happy New Year.
Elder Lilly
This Christmas was great! I'm glad I got to talk to you all. Talking to Spencer and Crystal was a bit tricky. I asked my companion to distract the taxi driver while I talked in Thai. It was good fun. When we arrived we boarded the boat, greeted all of the missionaries, and had an enjoyable Christmas cruise/feast. After stuffing our faces full of a Thai American mix of goodness, president dodge called for the White Elephant gift exchange. I had bought a huge blanket with lions, zebras, and elephants on it's face. It was better than downy soft too. Elder Ewing brought a large classic looking harmonica, Elder Blackhurst a sturdy dart board, and Elder Miles a mini air hockey board with batteries included. Gratefully the spirit of Christmas is giving. I ended up with an annoyance making stick. It had a string and a box attached to amplify the rope scratching noise that it makes when you twist it.
The ward Christmas party was Awesome! We, once again, had a great feast followed by the singing of Christmas hymns and reading the nativity. Then Santa came. We were organized in a big circle of chairs around the sacrament room. Then the leaders on a microphone announced the coming of Santa and Started a count down. "3... 2... 1..." (nothing). There was a pause and then the overflow divider burst open as a short fat Thai Santa with, a triangle white cotton beard which had a tiny hole in it for a mouth, and sun glasses bursts in with his arms in the air and stands there glorying in his awesome Santa power. To amplify the hilarity of the moment, it was brother Gunshot who is basically the Thai version of Dwight Shrewt from The Office. He speaks English and is always conspiring in his Shrewd little way. It was funny.
Unfortunately I'm out of time already, but, the baptism this Sunday was a success and Sang and Naa are going to be confirmed this Sunday. They are great people. I've really had an opportunity to exercise faith as I've set goals on my mission so far. So many times in the scriptures the prophets tell us that with faith we can do anything that is expedient in us. I realize that with the Lord we can do anything but what exactly is it that we must do? Then I'm reminded of Lehi the son of King Noah in comparison to the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's. The People of Limhi fought to defend themselves from imminent danger. With trust in the Lord they "fought like Dragons." But the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's also put their trust in the Lord and in prayer they let themselves be killed until a miracle of God converted more than were slain. And those who were slain were surely saved in the Kingdom of God. Both people chose their path and put their Trust in the Lord. As I'm learning more about the Lord I've been able to set my path or my goals, and put my trust in the Lord. I've seen Miracles happen. A mission is sooo tough, but the Lords work is the most important. I'm slowly getting a vision of how important it is, although I doubt I'll ever be able to comprehend in this life. But I love you all and pray for you. Keep progressing, and have a Happy New Year.
Elder Lilly
Dec 17, 2008
Email 12-16-08
Dear Family,
Hello! How's Christmas preparations coming along? I received an awesome package from Crystal that had a CD in it with Christmas music (and some other goods). Thank you Crystal! The two new missionaries brought a CD player and our house has some speakers. The mornings are now filled with awesome music that brings in the Spirit. Things are going well in Thailand. I was so excited to bring in the two new Elders and split the area. I think that this moves is going to be the best moves yet! The names of the two new Elders are Elder Miles and Elder Blackhurst. Elder Miles has been serving in Thailand for about a year already, mostly in the east where they speak Laotian. He is way skilled with a piano. Elder Blackhurst was a part of the Thai group under me. He is skilled at speaking Thai already. Bangkae is his first area. We split the area into east and west. Elder Ewing and I are on the west side. We still are teaching Sang and Nah who are getting baptized on the 28th this month. And they are doing awesome.
Elder Ewing and I have been utilizing our gift for singing by singing hymns to Taxi drivers and at other occasions. The power of music is quite amazing. I love the Christmas season for the time to remember the name of Christ and to rejoice in His life that he sacrificed for us. The importance of his birth and mission and the example of giving he set for us is what Christmas is all about. It sort of alarms me when I see people get distracted by Santa Clause. He's kind of become the distraction of Christmas.
But frosty always comes through. :p
A dragon is not measured by his strength but by his courage and loyalty... And by the heat of your flames!
This moves, because of the split, Elder Ewing and I have had a lot more time to go inviting. It's interesting. We bring people exactly what they need, exactly what they are looking for and don't even know it yet. Some people accept it miraculously. Others reject it completely. I believe that if every one truly had their hearts open they would all accept it.
Whats important for all of us is that we are progressing everyday. I pray that we all are continuing to progress. We all have reason to rejoice in Christ. And we are all part of an awesome family with a royal heritage. That's something I think the Thai people understand a lot deeper and easier than I do. Each of them seems to grasp onto the concept that we become Sons and Daughters of God and that we are all His children. Even though some of them are children in their knowledge of the gospel I still learn from them.
Have an awesome happy Christmas! I'm looking forward to the call from Home. I love you all!
Elder Lilly
Hello! How's Christmas preparations coming along? I received an awesome package from Crystal that had a CD in it with Christmas music (and some other goods). Thank you Crystal! The two new missionaries brought a CD player and our house has some speakers. The mornings are now filled with awesome music that brings in the Spirit. Things are going well in Thailand. I was so excited to bring in the two new Elders and split the area. I think that this moves is going to be the best moves yet! The names of the two new Elders are Elder Miles and Elder Blackhurst. Elder Miles has been serving in Thailand for about a year already, mostly in the east where they speak Laotian. He is way skilled with a piano. Elder Blackhurst was a part of the Thai group under me. He is skilled at speaking Thai already. Bangkae is his first area. We split the area into east and west. Elder Ewing and I are on the west side. We still are teaching Sang and Nah who are getting baptized on the 28th this month. And they are doing awesome.
Elder Ewing and I have been utilizing our gift for singing by singing hymns to Taxi drivers and at other occasions. The power of music is quite amazing. I love the Christmas season for the time to remember the name of Christ and to rejoice in His life that he sacrificed for us. The importance of his birth and mission and the example of giving he set for us is what Christmas is all about. It sort of alarms me when I see people get distracted by Santa Clause. He's kind of become the distraction of Christmas.
But frosty always comes through. :p
A dragon is not measured by his strength but by his courage and loyalty... And by the heat of your flames!
This moves, because of the split, Elder Ewing and I have had a lot more time to go inviting. It's interesting. We bring people exactly what they need, exactly what they are looking for and don't even know it yet. Some people accept it miraculously. Others reject it completely. I believe that if every one truly had their hearts open they would all accept it.
Whats important for all of us is that we are progressing everyday. I pray that we all are continuing to progress. We all have reason to rejoice in Christ. And we are all part of an awesome family with a royal heritage. That's something I think the Thai people understand a lot deeper and easier than I do. Each of them seems to grasp onto the concept that we become Sons and Daughters of God and that we are all His children. Even though some of them are children in their knowledge of the gospel I still learn from them.
Have an awesome happy Christmas! I'm looking forward to the call from Home. I love you all!
Elder Lilly
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