AIT #13: February 12, 2003
I'd forgotten that Thailand can be humid, but on Monday the stickiness returned, and it's probably here to stay for quite a few months. It's getting hotter, too. So much for the week-long cool season. :) On Wednesday last week we went bowling at the Mall Bangkapi. I doubled my score from the first game to the third one (57 to 102). Needless to say, I'm a much better missionary than bowler. :) As we were walking through the mall on our way out, we passed a furniture store that had tables inside a display case. Imagine our surprise when we spotted a Book of Mormon (in English) sitting on one of the tables with another book. We took pictures and everything -- something like that doesn't happen every day, you know. :)
On Thursday we had a Family Home Evening with Dang and Roong, a less-active family we've been visiting for several months. They came to church on Sunday, for the first time in a while. That made me rather happy. :) Friday morning we learned that Elder Gould went home (no one knows why), so Elder Christiansen's new companion is Elder Frischknecht, who moved here from Pakkret (Nonthaburi). He's been out for seven months or so (same MTC group as Sister Jones and Elder Suttiphong), and I did switchoffs with him on Saturday all day. We taught a man named Nad a second discussion and committed him to baptism for March 2nd. He's good and is already sharing the gospel with his friends. :) Oh, I found out that zone leaders don't do switchoffs with all the companionships, just the district leaders. (In our zone there's no difference, but lots of zones are larger than this.)
We taught English at the Wat Bangtoey school again on Monday, though we changed it to Tuesdays so we wouldn't have to rush there from DDM (District Development Meeting, every Monday from 10:30 to 12:00). Since Valentine's Day is this week, the teacher had given all the students little valentine stickers, and when we entered the classroom, the kids clustered around us and peppered us with the stickers, sticking them everywhere (mostly our shirts and ties). I wish I'd had my camera. :) I love those kids sooooo much! Last night we rode into a small side street we'd never been to before, and when we reached the end, a little girl called out "Elders!" from the doorway of her house. Turns out the family there used to have the elders over all the time, but it's been a while and they've fallen through the cracks. There were lots of little kids at that house. Ah, I love kids! It'll be hard to say goodbye to all the children here when I have to move. The kids at English call us "Teacher," which is incredibly cute. "Teacher, teacher!" That's something I'll always remember about Thailand.
Monday night we visited Wirood, an old investigator. Several months ago he asked about some "Chescorado," something having to do with Christ in the Americas, but we never knew what he was talking about. Finally, it clicked: "Chescorado" was Quetzalcoatl (Native American legend) with a Thai pronunciation. :) Trying to understand Thais speak other languages, especially English, is fun.
Yesterday I found out that the fruit vendors also sell coconut milk in little bags for 5 baht apiece. That's my new addiction. ;) I've been reading Thai for about a week now. At first it strained my eyes and my brain, but now I'm fine and it's a lot of fun. This morning I started working on writing it, too (i.e. spelling and composition), and that's even more fun. My shirts are already turning off-white. I'm getting old. ;) The number for 911 here is 191. VCD (video CD) is huge here.
My bike tire went flat five times in a row about two weeks ago. Finally I got the inner tube replaced, and thankfully it's been fine since then. Soccer is really big here, the two big names being Michael Owen and David Beckham (both on the Liverpool team, I think). We've made friends with the guards at the head of our neighborhood. They're both really nice. Most neighborhoods have guards, which is neat. Thais hardly ever use chopsticks, except when eating Chinese food.
About two weeks ago I started noticing all the crushed rats, snakes, and toads on the roads. I don't know why they'd escaped my attention before -- I guess I didn't recognize what they really were. Oh, two Saturdays ago we came out of some apartments and saw smoke billowing up nearby. Turns out there was a fire in a field pretty close by, so we went over to take a look at it. Taught a first discussion to a guy who was sitting there watching it. I think they got the fire under control without any problems.
Well, everything's going well and the work is speeding ahead. Bunying was baptized this past Sunday and Chaad is getting the priesthood on Sunday. We taught 11 first discussions last week. Yesterday was a hard day, though -- 41 invitations (usually we do around 15) and not a single discussion. The only investigator that didn't cancel on us ended up giving us back our Book of Mormon and saying he wasn't interested anymore. That's too bad, especially because we thought he was really good.
I'm out of time. Thanks for all the support. Take care and have a great day! :-)
On Thursday we had a Family Home Evening with Dang and Roong, a less-active family we've been visiting for several months. They came to church on Sunday, for the first time in a while. That made me rather happy. :) Friday morning we learned that Elder Gould went home (no one knows why), so Elder Christiansen's new companion is Elder Frischknecht, who moved here from Pakkret (Nonthaburi). He's been out for seven months or so (same MTC group as Sister Jones and Elder Suttiphong), and I did switchoffs with him on Saturday all day. We taught a man named Nad a second discussion and committed him to baptism for March 2nd. He's good and is already sharing the gospel with his friends. :) Oh, I found out that zone leaders don't do switchoffs with all the companionships, just the district leaders. (In our zone there's no difference, but lots of zones are larger than this.)
We taught English at the Wat Bangtoey school again on Monday, though we changed it to Tuesdays so we wouldn't have to rush there from DDM (District Development Meeting, every Monday from 10:30 to 12:00). Since Valentine's Day is this week, the teacher had given all the students little valentine stickers, and when we entered the classroom, the kids clustered around us and peppered us with the stickers, sticking them everywhere (mostly our shirts and ties). I wish I'd had my camera. :) I love those kids sooooo much! Last night we rode into a small side street we'd never been to before, and when we reached the end, a little girl called out "Elders!" from the doorway of her house. Turns out the family there used to have the elders over all the time, but it's been a while and they've fallen through the cracks. There were lots of little kids at that house. Ah, I love kids! It'll be hard to say goodbye to all the children here when I have to move. The kids at English call us "Teacher," which is incredibly cute. "Teacher, teacher!" That's something I'll always remember about Thailand.
Monday night we visited Wirood, an old investigator. Several months ago he asked about some "Chescorado," something having to do with Christ in the Americas, but we never knew what he was talking about. Finally, it clicked: "Chescorado" was Quetzalcoatl (Native American legend) with a Thai pronunciation. :) Trying to understand Thais speak other languages, especially English, is fun.
Yesterday I found out that the fruit vendors also sell coconut milk in little bags for 5 baht apiece. That's my new addiction. ;) I've been reading Thai for about a week now. At first it strained my eyes and my brain, but now I'm fine and it's a lot of fun. This morning I started working on writing it, too (i.e. spelling and composition), and that's even more fun. My shirts are already turning off-white. I'm getting old. ;) The number for 911 here is 191. VCD (video CD) is huge here.
My bike tire went flat five times in a row about two weeks ago. Finally I got the inner tube replaced, and thankfully it's been fine since then. Soccer is really big here, the two big names being Michael Owen and David Beckham (both on the Liverpool team, I think). We've made friends with the guards at the head of our neighborhood. They're both really nice. Most neighborhoods have guards, which is neat. Thais hardly ever use chopsticks, except when eating Chinese food.
About two weeks ago I started noticing all the crushed rats, snakes, and toads on the roads. I don't know why they'd escaped my attention before -- I guess I didn't recognize what they really were. Oh, two Saturdays ago we came out of some apartments and saw smoke billowing up nearby. Turns out there was a fire in a field pretty close by, so we went over to take a look at it. Taught a first discussion to a guy who was sitting there watching it. I think they got the fire under control without any problems.
Well, everything's going well and the work is speeding ahead. Bunying was baptized this past Sunday and Chaad is getting the priesthood on Sunday. We taught 11 first discussions last week. Yesterday was a hard day, though -- 41 invitations (usually we do around 15) and not a single discussion. The only investigator that didn't cancel on us ended up giving us back our Book of Mormon and saying he wasn't interested anymore. That's too bad, especially because we thought he was really good.
I'm out of time. Thanks for all the support. Take care and have a great day! :-)
posted by Ben at 5:44 AM
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