Thailand at Last

10 weeks 6 days
Thailand, Bangkok, Bangna (บางนา) District



I'm here!  And it has been a busy, which is good breaking it with doing different activities.  This week has been full of appointments, we went inviting a few times at Imperial mall, and we had an Open House. Our ward just got a new building recently, so they threw a huge open house. Leading up to it, we helped clean throughout the week, invited people to attend, and had our own breakout session! They started with registration and pictures and tours, then they did a traditional Thai performance of music and dance in costume. It was great! They followed it with a choir song, then they began the breakout sessions. Ours was a part of LDS-Charities (the Church's humanitarian branch), introducing the English classes we do every Tuesday evening. They finished with amazing food and another choir performance.

The English class is an 1 1/2 hours, and we hold 3 classes- children, basic, advanced. It's a way to bring in people who are looking for English and allows us to "slip" in some Gospel teaching.  It's actually surprising how many Thai speak or have an understanding of English. Some of the members who've been taking the classes are actually sooo good at English. We finish with a spiritual thought, which I ended up leading after they started an activity for it and didn't finish it out.

Which brings us to my language skills. The language is a struggle, and I feel like I'm not making progress but I probably am. They say its real rough until the 5th or 6th transfer.  I have never felt so dumb and child like. I understand so little- they have to repeat themselves so many times at slower speeds for me to have any chance of understanding them. It's frustrating, but my trainer has been forcing me to speak more and do more. So I make and accept phone calls (though he has to help me understand what they say). I will go out and invite myself with some success, and I am taking much more active participation in the lessons; I teach half of the outlined portion in Preach My Gospel (PMG) and I also ask questions and extend invitations, etc. Something I didn't think I'd be doing is how often I've extended the baptismal invitation (at least 7) and recited the Joseph Smith First Vision (4 or more).

My companion is a lot like me actually. He is very driven and hard working, and really wants to bring people to the gospel. Our activity is above the mission average, so I'm excited that I'm starting on a high note. He's from LA, CA.

I'm in a Bangkok suburb, Bangna(บางนา), and my first impression is that Thailand is overall really dirty and nasty. The church is beautiful- smaller than ours but prettier. And there is exactly no order to their streets and address system.

Some fun observations:

All of the toilets have the little extendable sprayers in the sinks, aka handheld bidets. It's so funny.

The spiciest thing I've eaten so far is the Sum tum that I ordered at 5 prick. It is dang hot, which makes it all the better. All the food is some degree of spicy. As long as I stay away from fish stuff (I've never been a fan, and the stuff here just looks slightly sketchy) everything is delicious. One of my favorite vendors has a great fried chicken and rice platter, that comes with a delicious soup and free clean ice water (no one offers all that), all for 35฿ (about $1).  

The members here are all such homies. Again, most of them speak English, and the most active of the members I have seen so many times so we're all great with each other. They are down to do whatever we need them too, which is nice when we teach and can call on them.

I think that's about it. Today we are planning on shopping, taking way more time on the computers, and ice skating! 

Love you all, from Thailand typing on a Thai keyboard:

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