AIT #10: January 15, 2003
I suspect that these letters will get shorter as I've already written about most of the little things unique to Thailand (like driving on the left side of the road). But I'll try to come up with interesting things to write about. :) So, I've been here in Thailand about as long as I was in the MTC (10 weeks). Life out here goes by a lot faster than it did in the MTC. Two more weeks till moves -- Elder Nelson will probably move and I'll get a new senior companion, but there's a myriad of other possibilities.
Chaad was baptized this past Sunday by Elder Nelson, and Bishop Wisut confirmed Nat a member of the Church and bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost upon her. (Chaad will be confirmed this Sunday.) Have I mentioned Bunying at all? I don't think so. He's a 60-year-old man that we met while doing invites a few weeks ago. We've taught him up to the fourth discussion so far. He used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, but when we challenged him to quit, he accepted. He'd tried to quit about two years ago, unsuccessfully. But this time he made it -- he quit cold turkey and hasn't gone back. We gave him some pineapple-flavored vitamin C tablets to help him when he felt like he needed to smoke. He said the first few days he really, really, really wanted to smoke, but now he's fine. His wife is extremely grateful and decided to start hearing the discussions (we taught her a first a few days ago). They both came to church on Sunday, and his wife said she wants to come every single week. That kind of statement makes missionaries very happy. :) They *might* have to move to Korat, though, for her work; we'll find out today if they do or not. They'll be baptized in a few weeks if all goes well.
We're teaching at the Wat Bangtoey school again, on Mondays instead of Fridays. It's a lot of fun. Yesterday we saw a dog with a fake eye, kind of like a bluish marble but it looked too soft to be glass. Rather disturbing, especially because the dog kept barking at us in a fiendish manner, but you get used to ignoring dogs -- it's the only way to stay sane here. I've heard that there are roughly a million dogs in Bangkok. That's a lot.
It's 19 baht to send a letter to America or Canada, 17 to Europe or Africa, and 14 to Asia. I think it's even cheaper within Thailand, but I forgot to ask. I finished memorizing the 4th discussion a couple of days ago and I'm going to try to finish all of the 5th today (we're staying home for the rest of the day, so I'll have lots of time). Kid's Day was last week and there weren't many people home.
There are pickup trucks that sell fruit and drive around everywhere, usually with a loudspeaker set up and the driver calling out his wares. There are also motorcycle taxis (I don't know what they're really called) -- scattered throughout the town one will find groups of motorcycle drivers who take passengers around the city for a set rate (starting at 7 baht, I think). I talked with one of the drivers the other day and it sounds like all you have to do is buy a vest and a motorcycle to do it. There may be more organization to it than that, but I'm not sure. We see them every day, all over.
Babies often don't have anything on but a shirt (and baby powder to keep them cool -- lots of kids have baby powder sprinkled on their faces and necks, and even some adults). It's tradition that whoever eats the last piece on a plate will have a pretty girlfriend (or handsome boyfriend as the case may be). Yesterday Elder Nelson's tire got a hole in it, so we got it patched for 30 baht (though usually it's only 10 baht).
At the MTC we used a romanization scheme called "Phaasaa Elder" ("phaasaa" is Thai for "language"), very similar to the Mary Haas scheme. It's so ingrained in me that I may write Thai names/words in phaasaa elder and it makes perfect sense to me but may be quite unreadable to everyone else. :) Oh, we just got a notice in the mail about getting leather-bound copies of the Thai scriptures. It's 700 baht for a BoM/D&C combination (500 baht per book if you do it separately) and 700 for the Bible. Usually the Bible is 120-160 baht (depending on the size -- there's small, medium, and large), the Book of Mormon is free, and I have no idea how much the D&C is. Now I just need to learn how to read Thai fluently... :) (I can read, but I'm slow and have to look up the tones most of the time.)
Well, I'm out of time. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with something to write about next week. ;) Missionary work is hard but that's where the blessings come from -- without trials and opposition, you can't get to the real treasure, happiness and joy. It often hurts -- nobody likes tribulation -- but the Lord is there for us and once we get through it we'll see how much we've learned. C.S. Lewis said, "Pain is a brutal teacher, but how we learn -- oh, how we learn!" Christ lives and this is His church. Take care and have a great day! :-)
Chaad was baptized this past Sunday by Elder Nelson, and Bishop Wisut confirmed Nat a member of the Church and bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost upon her. (Chaad will be confirmed this Sunday.) Have I mentioned Bunying at all? I don't think so. He's a 60-year-old man that we met while doing invites a few weeks ago. We've taught him up to the fourth discussion so far. He used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, but when we challenged him to quit, he accepted. He'd tried to quit about two years ago, unsuccessfully. But this time he made it -- he quit cold turkey and hasn't gone back. We gave him some pineapple-flavored vitamin C tablets to help him when he felt like he needed to smoke. He said the first few days he really, really, really wanted to smoke, but now he's fine. His wife is extremely grateful and decided to start hearing the discussions (we taught her a first a few days ago). They both came to church on Sunday, and his wife said she wants to come every single week. That kind of statement makes missionaries very happy. :) They *might* have to move to Korat, though, for her work; we'll find out today if they do or not. They'll be baptized in a few weeks if all goes well.
We're teaching at the Wat Bangtoey school again, on Mondays instead of Fridays. It's a lot of fun. Yesterday we saw a dog with a fake eye, kind of like a bluish marble but it looked too soft to be glass. Rather disturbing, especially because the dog kept barking at us in a fiendish manner, but you get used to ignoring dogs -- it's the only way to stay sane here. I've heard that there are roughly a million dogs in Bangkok. That's a lot.
It's 19 baht to send a letter to America or Canada, 17 to Europe or Africa, and 14 to Asia. I think it's even cheaper within Thailand, but I forgot to ask. I finished memorizing the 4th discussion a couple of days ago and I'm going to try to finish all of the 5th today (we're staying home for the rest of the day, so I'll have lots of time). Kid's Day was last week and there weren't many people home.
There are pickup trucks that sell fruit and drive around everywhere, usually with a loudspeaker set up and the driver calling out his wares. There are also motorcycle taxis (I don't know what they're really called) -- scattered throughout the town one will find groups of motorcycle drivers who take passengers around the city for a set rate (starting at 7 baht, I think). I talked with one of the drivers the other day and it sounds like all you have to do is buy a vest and a motorcycle to do it. There may be more organization to it than that, but I'm not sure. We see them every day, all over.
Babies often don't have anything on but a shirt (and baby powder to keep them cool -- lots of kids have baby powder sprinkled on their faces and necks, and even some adults). It's tradition that whoever eats the last piece on a plate will have a pretty girlfriend (or handsome boyfriend as the case may be). Yesterday Elder Nelson's tire got a hole in it, so we got it patched for 30 baht (though usually it's only 10 baht).
At the MTC we used a romanization scheme called "Phaasaa Elder" ("phaasaa" is Thai for "language"), very similar to the Mary Haas scheme. It's so ingrained in me that I may write Thai names/words in phaasaa elder and it makes perfect sense to me but may be quite unreadable to everyone else. :) Oh, we just got a notice in the mail about getting leather-bound copies of the Thai scriptures. It's 700 baht for a BoM/D&C combination (500 baht per book if you do it separately) and 700 for the Bible. Usually the Bible is 120-160 baht (depending on the size -- there's small, medium, and large), the Book of Mormon is free, and I have no idea how much the D&C is. Now I just need to learn how to read Thai fluently... :) (I can read, but I'm slow and have to look up the tones most of the time.)
Well, I'm out of time. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with something to write about next week. ;) Missionary work is hard but that's where the blessings come from -- without trials and opposition, you can't get to the real treasure, happiness and joy. It often hurts -- nobody likes tribulation -- but the Lord is there for us and once we get through it we'll see how much we've learned. C.S. Lewis said, "Pain is a brutal teacher, but how we learn -- oh, how we learn!" Christ lives and this is His church. Take care and have a great day! :-)
posted by Ben at 1:16 PM
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