(Rice Field in Thailand, Christian loves this picture)

So, this week wasn't the best week when it comes to missionary work. Our mission president is really having us focus on families. So much so that he doesn't ever want us teaching single people. He says the problem with Thailand is that we have been teaching singles for so long that nobody has that support system when they come into the church; therefore, they fall away fast. So we are only supposed to teach a lesson if there is an entire family present. We dropped all our singles and have been doing our best to find new families - however, no luck yet, I will keep you posted. Just a fair warning, this letter will not have anything about missionary work because we invited all day every day. One more thing for TJ to be excited for, MEMBER REFERALS - there really is no better way.

OK so you asked for a story about something that my companion and I did this week that was fun, I will tell you. In Thailand they have this ice cream shop it is called Swensen’s. Apparently it started in America and moved its way over. However every missionary loves eating ice cream at Swensen’s because the play American music in the shop, not to mention the ice cream is delicious. It is the only ice cream in Thailand that tastes like ice cream. Anyway, Elder B and I went, I got a thing called "The Earthquake" and he got a thing called "The Hurricane." I have pictures so you can see how much ice cream it is. The Earthquake is 8 scoops and the Hurricane is 5, it was amazing - I was so full after words. There is a missionary challenge here called the Hatch Challange. The goal is to eat a full large pizza, then the Earthquake, then do a Tim Tam Slam (have you ever heard of a Tim Tam Slam? If not look it up on the internet, it is such a blast). Anyway, you do all this right after each other, it is so cool. I will be trying this probably in the next week or two. Is that what you were looking for?

The testimony book, yes I have been using it, and everyone has written in it so far. Everybody here has something like it, so we just switch books. Even the members in Thailand have friendship books, weird huh?!

No I have not eaten dancing shrimp yet. I am trying to find a place. The members were going to take us to the place they know because it is pretty far away. So I am looking for a place to eat it, should be soon though. I am also looking for a good dog meat to eat. I'll let you know.

Yes, I saw my companions from the MTC when I went to moves, it was so great. They are all doing pretty well. Our new zone leader was actually Elder Martins district leader for his first moves. It turns out he has been struggling, nothing has been going good for him, but he will get better. I know it.

The language, I can never tell. I have no complaints. I feel like I am doing alright. I'm probably the worst in my group, but I can speak and understand... I think. So it is all good.

Need anything, no – my companion and I are doing great. In fact today we are going down to Udon to go eat at sizzler and go bowling. It is going to be such a blast, I can't wait.

(Boat races on the Mae Khong River)

That is way cool that you get to see conference next week. Not only do I not get to, but when I do watch it in two weeks, It will be in Thai. So pretty much an extended language study, YIPPEE!!!

You will have to let me know if there are any really good talks I should pay extra attention to.

I love you. I hope all is going well. Good luck with your work thing. I know you can learn it. You have the capacity of mind. (I know that a prophet said that phrase but I don't know which one.) Has mom gone back to work yet or not? I love her too even though no letter this week (just kidding).

September 20th Letter

Hello family.

I'm glad to hear everyone is still doing well. That is way good that mom is back home. It sounds like you guys have all had a busy week, that is good. I have noticed that when you have a busy week the time goes by much faster. It is too bad that everyone was sick. It just means you guys are just spending too much time around each other, but you will start feeling better in not very long for sure. I guess I can take this time to answer a few of the questions. No I didn't have time last week to write Bennet, so today is the day. I have not eaten dancing shrimp, yet. But อีกไม่นาน it will happen. My companion came from a family where his mom and sister are members, that is all, but he is pretty sure his dad will get baptized when he gets home. He, my companion played football for Greeneville college in Illinois, and California Lutheran university, he played strong safety. He has been on his mission for 11 movies, which is about15 months, I think. He says he knows the school that JJ played for but he never met him.

That is way sweet about Lee and TJ. I was hoping both of them would go to foreign missions but I know they will love where ever they go - everyone does! That is crazy how soon TJ goes in to the MTC, I had to wait so long - lucky kid. I hope that my package gets to you guys before he leaves, I might have put something in there for him. I didn't put anything in there for Lee, he will have to forgive me. โอกาสหน้า

So this week was way fun. We started it out by having that mission tour thing, it was way sweet. It was pretty much like any other zone conference except with a general authority there, and it was like 6 hours long, but I learned a lot. We had some time at the end to ask him questions. I asked some questions about the Spirit, I learned a lot. Then Elder Blaustein and I came back and had a regular week. It was good, but way hot. It actually hasn't rained at all since last Monday. It has been pretty warm. I'm not sure what I prefer, being wet from rain or from sweat. Either way, I'm always wet!

About that investigator, we didn't teach him at all this last week but we have an appointment for Wednesday. I will be visiting him with our zone leader because it is a switch off day, I'm way stoked. We are going to tell him everything that you said pretty much. I know he is ready for baptism, we just have to help him see it too, but eventually he'll come around.

Last night was pretty cool too. I think I told you about our Branch President that lives in America, well President Smith called a new one 2 weeks ago. His name is brother เสือ (tiger) He is a return missionary (Thai of coarse), he is only 26. He is such an amazing member of the church. He was a branch president once when he was a missionary, so he understands how things are supposed to work, it is great. And he works for the church. He is head of the CES in Thailand, cool huh. Anyway, last night I went on switch offs with him to help him learn the area because he is from Udon, it was way fun.

Something else that we did this week that might be worth mentioning. We arranged to have a ping pong table in our house. Yes, that is right, a ping pong table. How sweet is that? Nights are so much fun. We always play a game to 6 to see who gets to pray, it is sweet. We are probably the best companion ship ever to be together.

So yeah, that is really all that I have today. Thank you for sending a package, what is in it? Oh p.s. in a future package (not urgent) I would like an oil container for consecrated oil. I don't have one, and that is becoming a necessity. People keep asking us for blessings, luckily my companion is prepared with oil.

Anyway I love you all, Have a good week and be safe.

September 13th Letter

Hi.

Ok wow, I don't have a whole lot of news today. This past week has been one of the faster ones on my mission. I can’t believe that it is already Monday. But in answer to your questions, yes my companion and I have eaten at all new places. We have only eaten at the same place once, and that is because we didn't have any breakfast food, so we went out for breakfast, it was so good. It was an American food place so we got the whole shebang, eggs toast, sausage!!! It was sweet, not to mention they happened to have a TV on that was playing American baseball. And just my luck, it happened to be the Yankees, however, we only get a half hour for breakfast so I didn't really see a whole lot. Oh well.

Yes, I have thought about your idea about getting something in each place. But I am having a hard time finding something that will remind me of Nong Khai. I am keeping my eyes out. I did send a package home to you guys. I sent it by boat, so it will be there in 2 months. I sent my memory card home with all 700 of the pictures/videos I have taken, some stuff for people, and also I have a manila envelope full of letters that I have gotten and a manila envelope full of stuff that I thought you could use in my scrap book (if you are still keeping one). It all has meaning so don't throw it away. You will notice some money in the envelope, it is Laotian money, and it was given to me by the man with gold outside his house. It is a way funny story. Hopefully when I get home I will still remember it.

As for the weather here: If it isn't wet and raining it is way hot and humid, but I love it. I know if Maren were to go down to Florida she will love it too. I'm sure this winter I will miss the snow, but the weather here is always so interesting, I have grown to love it. The heat doesn't even bother me anymore. Unless I’m out doing exercise or riding my bike for a long time, I don't even sweat.

This past week I have been thinking about Lee and TJ. I'm glad they have both done their papers. This is such a huge step, I know they will both have so much fun. I really do hope one of them gets called here. I know it is seriously unlikely, but I guess it could happen. As for my other friends, I'm convinced I don't have any – just kidding. Tazia has been writing me and Becca and Ashley, but that is it. I guess it is probably my fault, I haven't written a whole ton of people. I just have too much fun with the companions I’m with, I can't afford to waste time writing.

I have one experience to share this week. It isn't really spiritual but it is kind of a bummer. We went to go teach สมยศ yesterday, he is our investigator that has been progressing really well. He has quit everything but smoking and he goes to church weekly. We have been visiting him twice a week since my first week here, in fact, he was my first lesson in Thailand. Yesterday he told us that he wants to take a week off from everything to be by himself and think things through. We were like, “I don't think it is going to help you to stop learning from us, but it is up to you.” Is it wrong to hope something bad happens, just for humbling purposes? Anyway that isn't really that bad. I was just hoping that he would continue to progress like he was. I'll let you know next week how that went.

Anyway I think that is all for today. I just want you to know that everything is going great here, I am loving it. Today we are going down to Khon Gaen because tomorrow we are hearing from Elder Perkins. He is Asian Area Seventy, I'm way excited. I'm glad everything is good at home too.

Have a good week, I love you

September 6th Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thanks for your letters this week. They were really sweet. I will start with the questions. My companions name is Elder Bloustein. He is from Los Angeles, California. He is probably the coolest elder in this mission. I always thought that Elder Greene and I got along great, but Elder Bloustein and I get along even better, and we are always have fun. It has only been 5 days and we are already close. We like the same things and have the same sense of humor. He has the perfect attitude about everything He is just very optimistic. It sure makes the work a lot easier. Plus it makes it makes it hard to complain when you have someone next to you that is only saying good things. I'm glad he is my companion. I hope I build some better habits from him, mostly how I think. I don't want to think negatively first and then change to be positive. I want the first thought that comes to my mind to be positive. He is such a nice guy. Details: He is a football player. He played in collage for a year before his mission at some school in Illinois. He is way strong. I think he will start forcing me to work out in the morning with him. Maybe I'll look like him one day.

(Elder Bloustein)

Sizzler, it is amazing. Tell Lionel it tasted like the American Sizzler’s – no joke. It turns out that I have been missing out this whole time. When I was there I got a hamburger (I know... But you miss the simple things), Anyway, it was huge and delicious. Best of all it didn't have corn or carrots in it. When Thai people make hamburgers they mix there beef with corn and carrots it is way gross. But yeah, they have a salad bar with Ritz crackers and soup. You know I went to town on those suckers. They also have a few other things that you can find at any regular salad bar. My new companion and I have been on the search for new places to eat in Nong Khai, and it turns out they have a ton of places that look way good. Our goal is to eat at a different place every day we are together. I'll let you know how we do.

(Christian showing respect to the idol of fast food.)

Man that is way sad about Bennet. I don't know what it is about my friends! I just found out that Tyson is convinced that he is about to invent the next big thing with another friend of his. So, he is going to wait for a while to go on a mission. If only they knew how important this really is. I feel so different then when I left. I feel so different then when I left the MTC. I was so immature! I was worried about things that don't matter at all. I know that I have changed a lot. At first I was scared to change but now it is all that matters. The experiences that I am having every day, I know will shape my life forever. I just wish everyone knew what we know. As I watch the gospel change other people’s lives, I can’t help but notice how it is helping my life. How it has helped our family. I think about my brothers and sisters and how they are married forever in the temple of the Lord. That is amazing. People in Utah can go to the temple every day, even multiple times a day. We have a Thai sister in our ward that is saving pennies to be able to go to the temple in a year, ONCE. So many things that before my mission I took for granted. I so wish I could go back and slap myself silly! I just got done writing Tyson. So if you felt obliged you could get Bennet’s address in Florida. I know that it is never too late to serve a mission. Elder Bloustein had struggles too, he is 22 and has never been more grateful for his decision to serve. He is so strong and his testimony has been building mine every day.

(Decapitated lizzard - He spent his last night sleeping in bed with Chrsitan)

I love you all. I want you to know that I am grateful for the support I have. Tell Maren and Andy good luck, and tell them not to forget to pray for guidance. Tell Judd and Jessie the same thing. And how is my nephew? I'm glad mom is doing better, and that the dad's auditing thing is done at work. Tell grandma that I get her letters every week. I hope you guys are sharing these letters with her. They are written to her too, and grandpa. I appreciate her consistency. I love getting her letters every week. Have a good week!

ps. When I was talking about things that weren't important I was not talking about sports. You still better keep me posted. That is so sweet about BYU. I'm so jealous that you get to go see them. I hope you are slowly converting Andy.

August 29th Letter

Howdy!

I will start with our questions. I took out a hundred dollars for a few things, I bought a bag, and then I did some fun things down in Udon whilst I was there that cost money, like eat at Sizzler. Now I know that it doesn't sound that cool, but Sizzler is one of the nicest restaurants in Thailand. I’m not lying it is so high society. A meal here is usually about 30 baht, a dollar. To eat at Sizzler it was 400 baht, 12 dollars. Still, not a lot but for a Thai person, it is a fortune. I figured I would give myself a treat because up here in Nong Khai the only Farang (white people) food we have is KFC, and I am not a huge fan. Plus it was Elder Andersons Birthday so we had to do something, but I have about 1000 baht, 33 dollars, left I'm not sure what to do with it but I'm sure I will put it to good use. I feel so guilty spending money. Compared to the other elders I haven’t spent hardly anything. I'm not sure how much is appropriate to spend but I hope this isn't too much. I am also sending a package home in the next few days, it doesn't have anything way cool in it, but I have put something cheap and simple for everybody. It will probably get there by Christmas; I will send it via boat so it should take 3ish months. To answer mom’s question, here they only have Bahts, anywhere from 30 to 33 baht is a dollar, depending on the exchange rate.

I got your package by the way. It was way sweet. Thanks for the treat. IT was a nice taste of America. Those rice crispy treats might be gone already though - I downed them. I shared though so I don't feel so guilty.

Our physical address is really hard to give you because we don't have a house number, but the road (also called thanon) we are on is called "thanon mechai" and then we are down a little street called a soi. It is "Wad Yod Gaew soi 2". IF you get Brady’s help he might be able to describe the difference between a thanon and a soi. It confused me at first but now I understand.

P-days are actually pretty lame. Sometimes we go out and do something fun like here in Nong Khai we have very popular talaad (market) called Tasadet. We go there sometimes, like today, because Elder Greene is leaving and he wants to go get a few things there, but we have seen Sala Kaew Ku - That was fun once. I'm sure I will have to go with my new companion. It seems to be one of the more favorites. We also have a huge water fall here called Chetsi. It is about an hour drive away. I think on a p-day in the future I will go see that. Elder Greene isn't a huge fan of going out and doing stuff so most weeks we just relax at home and write letters or whatever. I don't get a whole ton of letters so mostly I just sit around, I'm attempting to learn the ukulele and the piano. I am not being successful at all, which reminds me - I never got Maren’s letter - Did she even send one?

This week has been pretty fast. Because we didn't get home to Nong Khai until Friday and now it is Monday so I don't have all that many stories. But I do have a question which will actually answer one of mom’s questions. You asked about a really good investigator that we have. Their names are Waew and Ning... ish. Anywho, they have been investigators a long time but the previous elders have dropped them, but recently they started coming to church, so we figured we can't not teach them. We pray for people to come to church every day. We just need to be grateful for the ones that do. When they come to church nobody is really befriending them. I don't know how to get the members to except them. It is way hard for Ning because she is only 15 and a lot of the younger members are very excluding, and we can't sit by her and initiate her because that would really feel inappropriate. If you have any suggestions, just let me know.

I don't have a whole lot else, but about that small procedure. I'm not exactly sure what the “doctors” up here in Nong Khai were thinking. They didn't stitch it up, I suppose they thought it was still oozing, but I decided to go to the international hospital in Udon. I saw an American doctor who was just like "you’re done." He put a band-aid on it and said don't take this off for 3 days, after that you are good. He still wanted me to take antibiotics to make sure I don't get infected. He went to school in Boston, so I trust him over all the other doctors here. No need to be worried, all is good. I'm way excited for this week though, moves weeks are way exciting. It is always a surprise what happens, I hope I get a cool companion.

I love you all. Thanks for your support and your love. I will write next week and let you know who I get.

August 24, 2010

August 24th, 2010

Hi

I have no idea how I am going to tell you everything that has happened this week. It has been probably the most exciting and fun of my entire mission, also a bit ridiculous. I will start by explaining why I am writing on Wednesday instead of the usual Monday. P-day was changed this week because the mission has been doing trainings for all the Zone Leaders and District Leaders. So all (yes all) leaders had to go to Bangkok this week. You may be asking yourself, "what do they do with all the companions of the leaders?" I will tell you. They stick them together. This is some important information because the only elder close to me that wasn't a leader is Elder Anderson, who is one moves older than me in the mission. So this week we have been together, a person who has been here for 3 months and a person who has been here for 4 months. We are both still greenies! It has been so fun, we just go around making fools of ourselves and loving it - We are having a blast. We spent Monday and Tuesday in Nong Khai, and then today we came to Udon (it is right below Nong Khai) and will stay here until Friday, it is great. So I think your story this week fits in perfectly dad. I can totally see us getting on a bus and ending up somewhere else, like Khon Khen. I think between the two of us we speak just enough Thai. We taught a lesson yesterday, we got a member to help us so it went well. They are these two peeps who have been investigators before. They have probably gone to church a total of 30 times, which for an investigator is pretty amazing. But until this lesson they had never understood who god was... No wonder they weren't progressing before! I haven't been here that long but even I know that the first step to baptism is believing in God, but they are way good. I'm pretty sure this time around they will get baptized.

Another cool thing that happened this week, I had a minor surgical procedure done. There was a bump under my arm that was way painful so I had to go to the doctor and have a “doctor” cut it off. It was way sweet. There is a pretty good size hole in my arm, but now it is healing. Every day I have to go back to the “doctor” so they can clean the inside out and re-bandage it. Nobody told me what it was, they just said they see that a lot. It was way cool.

I have also had some bad luck on my bike this week - I have fallen twice. It was way terrible. Both times I came out without a scratch, but I feel like I should have. One time I was on this highway with my companion and as we were just going along we were biking at about 15 miles an hour so not terribly fast, but it turns out we both hit this bump and all of a sudden hit each other. I went straight down to the ground and rolled like 15 feet. He hit the guard rail and just kind of sat down on it. He barely even fell. I was so scared, but turns out nothing bad happened so we just got up and carried on.

The next one was a little worse. It was raining way hard I was with Elder Anderson, we were riding down the little road, it had nobody on it, but there were speed bumps. So I was riding around each of them and as I came around one, my tires stopped gripping the road and I went straight down to the pavement on my face. It hurt a little bit but, one again no scratch. I guess someone is looking out for me.

That is way exciting about BYU. I hope they go independent even if it is harder to make it to the BCS bowl games. That way they can play some better teams. They will at least be more fun to watch. And they are already set up with Texas. I'm so stoked... I will be home for those games – YES!!!!! What great news.

I'm glad your leg is getting better mom. I know it is slow, but hopefully it is steady. I've always been told that, that is what wins the race. You’ll have to let me know if that is true.

Also some good news, because my companion went to Bangkok he picked up my package. So, I will get that on Friday or Saturday instead of next week, I'm way excited for it. He also picked up mail so maybe I will finally get Maren’s letter, who knows. Let me know how she does on Sunday. I know she can do great.

Also, next week is moves, which means I will be getting a new companion. President Smith told us in advanced what was happening with us. Elder Greene is leaving Nong Khai. That means I am going to have to lead the area. Scary!

I'm not sure when P-day will be next week so if it is not on Monday again don't be too shocked. But I think it probably will be - who knows.

Anywho, I love you all. Have a great week.