Hi ya'll

Whew, this week has been a blast. It went by so fast. We had switch offs with the Zone Leaders, and the District Leader, it was pretty good. I had a kid named Elder Phan come to my area and I was with him. He is a really good missionary. We did some really sweet work together. It is fun to have them come down and show you how to work and what not, but sometimes it is really hard to be yourself. It seems like everything you do they are analyzing. I know I'm not a bad missionary so it isn't bad, but I’m just not as good as they are – yet. Missionary work is something that takes time and practice to perfect. The only way to learn is through experience, especially because my companion and I are pretty young in the mission. Usually people don't become senior companion in the mission until moves 8, so you have some time to learn a lot, but our whole mission is way young right now. A little interesting fact: Our other Zone Leader right now is Elder Mckonkie, yes he is the grandson of Elder Bruce R. Mckonkie.

So today I got my suits. They are pretty awesome looking. I am sending some pictures.

I haven't eaten the cheese cake, I wanted to do it with elder Merrill and we have just had a busy week, but this week we will try it. I totally have downed the whole box of crackers already the whole thing of big hunks, and started on the suckers. I sure do love that stuff. What I would do for a good American store in Thailand. I'm wicked sad about the Super Bowl. I don't care for either of those teams, so it doesn't really matter who wins or loses. What a waste of a year of perfectly good football. And then BYU has to go and lose basketball. It seems to be all bad news in the sports world, oh well. In two weeks we are having a sweet p-day. We will go play sports with everyone in our zone. So now I get to play with Elder McDonald again. I'm way stoked.

This week I’m pretty sure I broke one of the fillings in my teeth. I'm pretty upset about it because it doesn't feel the best. I was going to go find a dentist today but I may have to wait a week depending on how much time I have. I'll let you know how that one goes. It is a good thing that dentists here are pretty cheep. At least that is what I’ve heard.

So yes, that is about all the news I have. I figure this letter is way short so maybe I will tell you about one of the investigators we have. I think you might like that. His name is pie-tune He is 74 years old. His wife is a member. He has had some kind of stroke or something, but can't use half of his body. He can't walk, and can't use his right arm, and the truth is, his brain isn't all there either. He can't remember most of the things we have taught him, but the one thing he can remember is that he wants to be baptized. And that God is real. I'm not sure if we are going to be able to baptize him because we're not sure if he'll pass an interview. But he is the most openhearted person in the world. Anyway, yesterday he went to church, and my companion carried him inside, and then we pushed a couch into the sacrament room and then he sat on that for all three hours. Luckily they had classes in there the whole time. He loved it so much. I will get a picture of him next week.

Anyway, I love you guys. I'm grateful that I am your son. I hope you have a sweet week.

Love,
Chris

January 24th Letter

What’s up family?

Once again such an easy one, Movie answer of the week – Spiderman.

So maybe to start I will tell you about today. It was way sweet. I went and started my suits. I got a brown one and a grey one with pinstripes, but it is dark grey – it is very snazzy looking. The inside of the brown suit is white and the inside of the grey is black, but it has an Armani lining – sweet huh? So fake but it looks so legit. I will go in next Monday for a final fitting but if everything is set I will walk out with them too. They are very nice, I will put them on and take pictures and then send them to you so you can see them. I also got my package today – how cool is that? Backpacking cheese cake? I will let you know how it is. I am going to make it tonight, I am very excited. I'm actually way excited about everything in there. I have been craving skittles for so long, ever since the skittles I got at Christmas. I can’t wait to dig in.

My birthday was really pretty un-eventful, but still sweet. Number one as a missionary, and I guess for a missionary birthday it was pretty sweet. One of our investigators wanted to take me out, so we went and he paid for us to have pizza – such a nice guy. We also taught him a lesson as we ate so it was 2 birds with one stone. Other than that I didn't do anything. I didn't really tell a lot of people, but of course e the President’s wife called and sang happy birthday – that was fun. This week we have been pretty busy teaching and what not. I guess that is a blessing.... มั้ง

I can't believe that you are going to have to work on the big super bowl dad? What is your work thinking? You need to pull the Sabbath Day card and say no!! That way you get to watch the super bowl and get blessings at the same time. Win Win.

Is the super bowl next week or the week after?

My companion and I are awesome together. We are pretty much the same person. We have exactly the same thoughts at the same time. We were definitely pre-destined to be companions. I hope I get another move with him after this one, that would be sweet.

I'm way super excited for Andy, and you too. Now they will be able to go to school down where you wanted them to be. It'll be way easy to visit them, and the new nephew – or niece that I will have.

So as for today I really don't have much else to say. Thanks so much for the good birthday wishes, and for the love. You are a big support. I love you all ทุกๆคน!

MOM!!!! I won’t be able to talk to you on the 26th, but happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear mom, happy birth day to you!!!!!! (Thai: happy bilthday to you happy bilthday.) Funny right? I love you so much. I hope you have a great day. Make dad take you somewhere nice. Know that I will be thinking about you. I love you.

January 17th Letter

Wassup family?

So guess what? This week was pretty sweet. Not a whole lot happened, just a lot of the same old missionary work, but it is so much fun. Yesterday we had a really sweet lesson. It went for more than 2 hours – it felt like forever. The cool thing is, my companion and I probably said 20 words the whole time. We took a member who taught everything, pretty much all the lessons. About half way through the lesson 7 more members came. These two people we were teaching are already Christian (which is so easy to teach by the way). Anyway, they were complaining how at their church everybody is so fake. They say they love you but never show it. Then all those members showed up to their house and you could really see that they felt loved, it was so cool. They have only been to church twice but everybody has already accepted them and is trying to befriend them. I don't know what happened but the branch finally figured it out. Sweet!

This last week our district also had their interviews with President Smith, which was fun. My interviews are always the most pathetic things. I walk in and he says, ‘Do you have any questions?” I usually say that I don’t and he says, “Okay, bye.” Luckily, this time I had a few so it wasn't so bad, but still really short. I guess that at least it indicates that I don't have any problems.

The movie this week is most definitely Valkarie – WAY EASY!! On the last movie I told my companion I thought it was Shooter but I couldn't be sure. When it was confirmed today my companion thought that was pretty cool.

I definitely am going to get those suits made. I am not sure if I am going to send them home or not, I will have to think about it. Today is going to be pretty sweet. One of our investigators is taking us to play hockey, REAL ice hockey – I am so excited. We are for sure going to be the two biggest guys on the ice. Plus this is a white man’s sport. I will let you know how that goes. If we end up getting pounded by a bunch of Asian kids I will feel retarded.

This next week could be cool, I don't know yet. We were told that there may be special trainings for three days, but it isn't for sure. I don't know how they can say that. How are we supposed to plan for the week when they tell us that it is a possibility that we could have three 8 hour trainings this week? A lot of our investigators will feel jipped if we end up having those, they won’t get to see us.

I didn't get that package yet. If I end up going up to those meetings I will grab it while I am up there, but if not maybe next Monday – we will see.

I am really excited for that screen to be done, I know that in another year it will be old news for you guys, but it is going to be brand new for me. So it will still be cool. I'm way sad I’m going to miss the Super Bowl. What a sad day, our branch president was really talking it up too. He likes watching American football so every time we have branch coordination with him he talks all about it – way sad. I really miss BYU basketball too. Ah... Jimmer is so cool. And He will be long gone by the time I get there, sick.

It sounds like the last week was hectic. And it sounds like the next week will be too. Now that the holidays are all over everything is back to normal. Back to work for another year.

Anyway I think that is all I have for today. I love you guys. Thanks for all your letters and love. Have a great week.

January 10th Letter

Hey,

This week sounds like it was a good week, right? I'm glad everyone got all their doctor appointments out of the way. I was excited to here how dad’s eyes are doing. Although nobody let me in on what the movie was that was playing. Are you going to tell me? It has been killing me all week like I said it was.

I was also going to let you know about my special year - 20 on 20. How wicked is that? To bad it is just like every other day. Oh well I always find a way of making it special.

So I got a new companion. President Smith decided to move us on Tuesday morning at 9am, so Elder Devries only had an hour to prepare, but I stayed in the same area so it was no biggie. Anyway my new companions name is from Elder Merrill, he is from Kaysville. He went to Davis. His dad is a seminary teacher at Davis. He is exactly like Elder Blaustein. We have just been having a blast the last week. I thought it couldn't get any better than with Elder Blaustein, and then I got with Elder Merrill – it so refreshing. Elder Merrill has been here for 4 months now and he is a really smart kid. He can speak Thai pretty well, Way different from Elder Devries, and way more convenient too. Elder Devries had lots of issues. I felt really bad for him, he had lots of issues. He was suffering with depression and was struggling with faith in God. I think it all came from issues when he was a child. His goal is to just go home and get counseling and then get back out on a mission. Part of me thinks he is coming back, the other part is pretty sure he won't. Basically I don’t know, but I hope he does.

Anyway, this last week was pretty good. I played the game degraw twice this week. It is the game where you play volleyball with just your feet. OH BOY – I am converted. I love it. I am not going to lie to you, we are getting pretty good. If we just keep practicing we will be amazing in no time. Plus Thai people love it when they see two white people playing. They all believe that white people can't play anything but football, so we show them up. Some of these Thai guys are really wicked good.

As for missionary work, this week was fun. We found some sweet new investigators, and dropped some old investigators that weren't progressing. I'm not sure there was anything else, oh yeah, we are teaching these Vietnamese people who can't read Thai. We got them all books in Vietnamese so they can read along as we read it in Thai for them. It is way cool. This week we didn't have any baptisms, but I think there will be some coming up in a little bit, so that is something to look forward to.

Anyway I'm pretty excited to get a birthday package, and with cake too?. I hope it isn't bad by the time I get it. You both said that you hoped I didn't think you were weird so it has got to be exciting. Anyway I love you all. Have a good week. Be safe and good luck with work and what not.

January 3, 2011

So...

สวาสดีปีไหม่!!! Happy new year!

Oh my goodness, how time flies. I can't believe it is already 2011, that means I've almost been a missionary a year. Only 2 moves left until I'm halfway done. It goes by so fast. This move has definitely gone by faster than any of the other ones. I'm not sure why but it sure doesn't feel like it has been 6 weeks since I have come to Samut Prakan. I feel like my letters are going to just be awful for the rest of my mission, I just don't feel like I have any news to tell.

New Years in Thailand is a huge deal. In fact, so big that all the elders have to be home early. Everybody starts drinking at like 11am, by 3pm they are drunk and by 5pm they are partying, especially in Samut Prakan. This place is the worst place in the world when it comes to sin. Anyway, everybody drives cars and does stupid stuff when they are drunk so the elders where told to go home early. It was pretty cool because on that day we did switch offs with the zone leaders. That was way fun watching how the zone leader goes around inviting drunken people. We didn't get a whole lot done that day, but that is ok, it was still a fun day.

I really have no Idea what to write. I feel like this last week nothing happened. I feel like this is such a boring letter. Did you try the Tim Tam slam? How was it?

So this next week is going to be pretty interesting. I'm getting a new companion on Thursday. My companion has to work some stuff out at home so he is going back tomorrow or the next day, so I will be getting a new companion. I'm not exactly sure when, but that should be pretty interesting. He is a really good kid, and wants to serve, but he has some family issues that he has to take care of, I think he will be able to get back out and serve. Which would be pretty cool because by the time he comes back, I'll be close to finishing.

So yeah... it sounds like everything at home was good with New Years. That new screen looks way cool. It just can't get big enough for you guys can it? Maybe by the time I get home we will have something even bigger. It sounds like everyone is buying new Televisions! I miss football. I bet the super bowl is going to be sweet on that one. Better yet a Texas vs. BYU! Anyway I have a request, I want a book. I just got done talking to President Smith, and he said on p-days and in the extra time at night we can read other church books and what not; therefore, I would like a book from one of the apostles. Whichever one you think looks most interesting.

Good luck with your surgery tomorrow dad. I sure hope your brain can figure it out. As for the movie I can't remember what it is, please let me know, this is going to kill me all week.

I love you all thank you for the love and support. I hope this letter doesn't leave you feeling empty. I'm sure in the future they will get better. มั้ง