AIT #15: February 26, 2003
This moves period is going by sooooo quickly. Only two weeks left. Yesterday we had our zone conference/mission tour. Elder Lee Ray Bateman (I think he's in the Asia Area presidency) was the visiting General Authority. I love zone conferences because the Spirit inspires me how to improve myself, areas I should focus on, etc. Elder Christiansen, Elder Frischknecht, Elder Serrao, and I sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Thai for one of the musical numbers. (Side note: I love to sing, but singing in public always makes me horribly self-conscious and is an experience I still dread, but one must do what one must do.) Elder Bateman spoke on obedience, member referrals, and lots of other things. His mission president was Thomas S. Monson of the First Presidency. :) Before the meeting started, he had us each come up one by one to shake his hand and introduce ourselves. He spoke for four or five hours (split into two sections by a lunch break). I wish we had a zone conference every week. :)
Well, I'm pretty much the unofficial ward pianist now. I love it (I play at all the baptisms, activities, and sacrament meetings), but hopefully they'll find a ward member who can play and give them a calling. Sister Tu (Brother Bunying's wife) will probably be getting baptized this Sunday. (I say "probably" because she's not 100% sure yet.) If she's not ready then we won't baptize her, of course. People must know that this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God before they can really join themselves to it. It's no use to join the Church of Jesus Christ if you don't really believe in it.
I got another flat tire on Thursday (a wooden stick went about one inch deep into my inner tube while I was riding home), but we got it changed the next morning. Friday we went to see Sister Nat with Brother Chayaphrug, and he taught her a 7th discussion. The 7th discussion is something they set up here in Thailand to introduce new members to institute and seminary.
There was a special zone leader meeting on Saturday. Elder Houston went with Elder Serrao so that our area wouldn't be neglected. (Elder Stevenson and I worked in his area for the first couple of hours and then in mine for the rest of the time.) Elder Serrao told us that Elder Cutler (Elder Applegate's companion) went to a Coca-Cola factory in Chiang Mai and asked them if the Coke has caffeine in it. About five workers there told him that it's illegal to put caffeine in soda pop in Thailand. Interesting... :)
The other night I was talking with our Pakistani rotee man (rotees are those fat-filled treats I mentioned several weeks ago), and he taught me how to say hi in Urdu. Maybe I could learn enough Urdu from him to teach him the discussions... (Just kidding. ;)) I do want to pick up bits and pieces of other languages from the people here, though -- Chinese, Lao, etc.
We hear the Thai national anthem here a lot more often than one hears the U.S. anthem in the States. Everyone has a real name and most people have a nickname like Moo (pig), Noi (little), or Tu (fat), which is what people call them. When they give callings in church or refer to people over the pulpit, they use people's real names ("chue jing", though the romanization doesn't nearly do it justice) instead of their nicknames ("chue len"). It's hard to know who on earth they're talking about, because I don't know people's real names.
Today we were going to go to Ayutthaya, but the train didn't leave till noon, so we decided to go to Central instead (a mall in Bangkhen). I got a flipchart and I'll start putting mine together soon. (I won't actually need it till I go senior, which won't happen for at least four or five more months, but it'll be nice to have it done in advance.)
The work's going fairly well. Nad won't be able to get baptized for at least a month because he still hasn't gone to church yet. We've got a few other families and individuals who seem like good candidates for baptism. The point of all this isn't to just add membership to the Church, of course -- if that were all we cared about, goodness, we could just give people money for joining. The thing that matters is exaltation -- eternal life with God and with our families. And because Gethsemane and Calvary weren't easy for the Savior, exaltation isn't easy for us.
I'm running out of time. I love Thailand and the Thai people and the work. Take care and have a great day! :-)
Well, I'm pretty much the unofficial ward pianist now. I love it (I play at all the baptisms, activities, and sacrament meetings), but hopefully they'll find a ward member who can play and give them a calling. Sister Tu (Brother Bunying's wife) will probably be getting baptized this Sunday. (I say "probably" because she's not 100% sure yet.) If she's not ready then we won't baptize her, of course. People must know that this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God before they can really join themselves to it. It's no use to join the Church of Jesus Christ if you don't really believe in it.
I got another flat tire on Thursday (a wooden stick went about one inch deep into my inner tube while I was riding home), but we got it changed the next morning. Friday we went to see Sister Nat with Brother Chayaphrug, and he taught her a 7th discussion. The 7th discussion is something they set up here in Thailand to introduce new members to institute and seminary.
There was a special zone leader meeting on Saturday. Elder Houston went with Elder Serrao so that our area wouldn't be neglected. (Elder Stevenson and I worked in his area for the first couple of hours and then in mine for the rest of the time.) Elder Serrao told us that Elder Cutler (Elder Applegate's companion) went to a Coca-Cola factory in Chiang Mai and asked them if the Coke has caffeine in it. About five workers there told him that it's illegal to put caffeine in soda pop in Thailand. Interesting... :)
The other night I was talking with our Pakistani rotee man (rotees are those fat-filled treats I mentioned several weeks ago), and he taught me how to say hi in Urdu. Maybe I could learn enough Urdu from him to teach him the discussions... (Just kidding. ;)) I do want to pick up bits and pieces of other languages from the people here, though -- Chinese, Lao, etc.
We hear the Thai national anthem here a lot more often than one hears the U.S. anthem in the States. Everyone has a real name and most people have a nickname like Moo (pig), Noi (little), or Tu (fat), which is what people call them. When they give callings in church or refer to people over the pulpit, they use people's real names ("chue jing", though the romanization doesn't nearly do it justice) instead of their nicknames ("chue len"). It's hard to know who on earth they're talking about, because I don't know people's real names.
Today we were going to go to Ayutthaya, but the train didn't leave till noon, so we decided to go to Central instead (a mall in Bangkhen). I got a flipchart and I'll start putting mine together soon. (I won't actually need it till I go senior, which won't happen for at least four or five more months, but it'll be nice to have it done in advance.)
The work's going fairly well. Nad won't be able to get baptized for at least a month because he still hasn't gone to church yet. We've got a few other families and individuals who seem like good candidates for baptism. The point of all this isn't to just add membership to the Church, of course -- if that were all we cared about, goodness, we could just give people money for joining. The thing that matters is exaltation -- eternal life with God and with our families. And because Gethsemane and Calvary weren't easy for the Savior, exaltation isn't easy for us.
I'm running out of time. I love Thailand and the Thai people and the work. Take care and have a great day! :-)
posted by Ben at 7:21 PM
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