Memory

It hurts to miss someone (or someplace, or something). Yesterday I watched a Thai movie, The Letter, and I missed Thailand so bad that it was almost like Thailand had died and wasn't coming back. It drives me crazy because right now I can't go back (and probably won't be able to go back for at least a few more years). And even if I did return, it wouldn't be the same. I think memories become more potent over time. Mine do, at least. And it's the memories that I'm after, the experiences I had over there and the feelings I felt and everything that made it so special to me. But I think much of the power of it comes from being just that: a memory. See, during my mission there were a few times where I missed BYU really bad and couldn't wait to get back (mainly towards the end). Now that I've been back for three semesters, it doesn't feel so special anymore. It's like the present has to become the past for it to take on those ethereal qualities that make it so sweet when you look back. And yet you can't live in the past or you won't have any present to become your past. I remember reading something in C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet about memories growing sweeter over time and that they have to stay in the past to retain their sweetness. Trying to live them over again doesn't do any good. I suppose that's true -- when I do go back to Thailand, I can't go to recapture the past and to relive my memories. I have to go to forge new ones, different experiences that will in their own time become memories just as sweet as the old ones.

I think (and hope) that heaven is going to feel like sweet memories, except it'll be in the present and not only in the past. But that's just my opinion. :)

Let not your heart be troubled

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)

I often feel burdened, like I'm supposed to be perfect. The realization that I'm not sends me into a whirlwind of depression, knowing that God's law and my actions have separated paths, and it's not God's law that's meandering off the straight and narrow. Surely the Lord -- the Great and Eternal Judge -- can't be pleased with my misdoings. He's a God of justice, right? If the law is broken, then I've got to pay up. And even though I understand that the Atonement is there to pay the debt for me, I still don't really understand. I don't understand that it's precisely because I *am* a sinner, utterly undeserving of anything heavenly, that Christ comes in and saves me. Even though I'm hopelessly imperfect no matter how hard I try, He still loves me. How can He love me?!? I make so many mistakes. But somehow His charity covers and overlooks a multitude of my sins and shortcomings, when my heart is in the right place. I don't understand it, but it sure feels good. It's like a huge wave of relief soaking through every patch of my heart. He picks up the pieces of my shattered soul and patiently, lovingly, painstakingly fits them back together again, each time into something a little more glorious than the last (until I go and shatter it again). Sometimes I forget about Him, though, more often than I'd like to admit. I forget how good forgiveness feels and get numbed out of feeling anything at all. How can I forget something so wonderful? And yet I do. I don't understand myself. All I understand, really, is that He is there no matter what, even if I can't see Him or feel Him or touch Him, and that He'll always be there for me. And that He's always ready to heal my heart just as soon as I approach him sincerely.

Hmm, I've never written an entry like this before, but it feels good.

It's like Christmas :)

My camcorder came this afternoon. It's a nice camera and I've been having fun tinkering around with it for the past hour or so, learning about the different features. The real fun will start when I start vlogging and making movies, though. :) Now I just have to figure out how to balance this with my homework... (I'd have some video up here already, but the camera didn't come with a FireWire cable, so I'll have to go buy one tomorrow.)

Why I love my Mac

One more day till my new friend (aka my digital camcorder) arrives. :) This afternoon Apple held an Education Seminar here on campus and it was awesome. In the first hour they talked about the new features in Tiger (10.4 -- why does it have to be a whole $129 to upgrade?!? ~sigh~), and then for the last two hours they split into two groups, one talking about IT/server stuff, the other covering Final Cut Studio. Of course I went to the second one. Vin Capone gave it and showed us Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro, along with a very brief bit on Shake. Very, very cool. They sell Final Cut Studio for $700 here in the bookstore. Maybe I'll be able to buy it in three years (after I get my dual-processor G5). ;)

So, why do I love my Mac? It's a beautiful computer, aesthetic in every sense (both hardware and software). It's stable. It's built on Unix. It's the best thing out there. I've seen it all -- DOS, Windows, Linux -- and I'm very, very, very satisfied with my Powerbook G4. There's no way I would ever go back to buying a PC. Ever. Working with my Mac is fun. Working with PCs is punishment.

Hmm, I sound like an Apple salesman. :)

Somewhere in New Jersey...

The FedEx Site says the Camcorder will arrive Thursday. Then the Fun will begin. In the meantime, School is coming along okay, but I spend most of my Time reading Textbooks and not other Books.

And to think that languages like German still capitalize all the nouns. :) It bothers the heck out of me, but I guess that's just the editor in me. Anyway, one of my (many) projects right now is the creation of a series of tutorials, mostly relating to computer things like CSS and XML and blogging and such. Each will provide a clear overview of the subject, explain how to get started with it, and give a good set of links for where to go after that. I've already got a list of over 30 topics to cover, and I'll start writing the first one tomorrow. If any of you readers (all five of you :) -- no, I'm not really sure how many there are) have any particular topics you'd like to see covered, leave a comment. So you can get a good idea of what I'm aiming at, here are some of the topics (in addition to the ones above): HTML, setting up a website, SQL, XSLT, .NET, RSS, podcasting, Photoshop, Illustrator, Blender, Audacity, Lilypond, digital video, etc. etc. etc.

Found the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Legal Guide for Bloggers -- an interesting read. Also discovered WikiTravel. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Answers.com and WikiPedia?

More vlogging stuff

Got back half an hour ago from a late-night run on Wendy's with my roommates and some other friends. It's way past my bedtime now, but I've got to blog. :) So, I've been checking out more vlogs in the vlogosphere, and it's pretty darn cool. So cool, in fact, that I bought a camcorder today (a Panasonic PV-GS31). Ordered one, actually -- it should arrive within a week. Pricegrabber.com's sweet. :) Upon the arrival of my new camcorder, then, expect to see some video popping up on occasion. Hopefully regularly. Speaking of the vlogosphere, I checked vlogmap.org and it looks like there's only a single vlogger from Utah, Mormon Cereal Killers, and he hasn't even posted any video yet. It would be kind of cool to be the first vlogger from Utah... (Now if only my camcorder will come in time. :))

Other than that, I got 80% on a test this morning. I'm used to doing better than that, so it wasn't very fun. I should start studying more... ~sigh~ I got new shoes today, too -- my old ones only lasted three months before the sole started coming apart from the rest of the shoe. ~tsk, tsk~

Cool stuff

Discovered some cool new things tonight. The first is Books, a Mac OS X app to help you manage your books. As soon as I find some time I'll start entering all my books into it. That way it'll be easier to find if I have a certain book or not -- this is good librarianhood preparation, eh? :)

Tonight I discovered the new phenomenon known as vlogging, or video blogging. It started when I downloaded DTV and found Rocketboom. I've got to say that it looks very interesting and I may see if my roommate will let me borrow his iSight to start making one myself. For more info about vlogging and vlogs, see VlogDir.com and VlogMap.org.

Library school

I've been researching the various library schools in the UK, thanks to the OWL website. (I was rather naive, assuming that since Oxford and Cambridge didn't have degrees in Library Science, there must not be any other library schools in the UK. Silly.) Anyway, I'm determined to do whatever I can to attend school there. If it doesn't work out, then I'll try for the University of Maryland, but I'd really really really like to go to school in England. :) I'm considering a year as a "graduate trainee" at either Oxford or University College London, and then another year getting the MA in Library & Information Studies at UCL. We'll see.

Busyness

Today was busy. Translation: Left at 9:30 a.m. for meetings (church-related), got done at 5 p.m., went home teaching till 6, went up to my little brother's Eagle Court of Honor till 8:20, and then had ward prayer till 9:30. I think there was one five-minute break somewhere in there, but that was it. I'd much rather be busy like this than bored with too much free time, though.

Read an article in the BYU Marriage & Families magazine on being a good citizen. I haven't been a very good one, really -- I haven't voted, I haven't really studied any of the issues or candidates, and I don't know much about what's going on politically. That's not good. It's important and I need to change...

Footsteps in my mind

I've decided that serializing Adventures in Thailand when it's already on Blank Slate is somewhat pointless, so you can just go read it all there.

It's been a somewhat overwhelming few days lately, with the combined weight of work and school and other obligations pushing down on me till I thought my spine would snap, but it'll get better soon. It always does. I'm still writing away, 30 minutes a day. I've finished the rough draft of the first chapter of Whistle in the Wind (the novel I started writing a few days ago) and gotten into the second. Now I'm debating whether I should revise the first chapter until it's good or keep plowing on until I finish the whole book and then go back and revise. We'll see.

In other news, I'm reading up on screenwriting. Making films has been in the back of my mind for the past year or so, and the call is getting stronger. It seems like many of the filmmakers I've read recently have said that what they need these days are good writers. (I think I blogged about this a few months ago...) And heaven knows there's an awful lot of garbage getting made these days, both artistically and morally. I'm reading Andy Horton's Writing the Character-Centered Screenplay and Irwin Blacker's The Elements of Screenwriting.

Went to D.I. today and got a bunch of sweaters and a jacket since winter is almost here and I don't particularly want to freeze to death.

AIT #34: July 16, 2003

Well, I'm not moving. Nor is Elder Haase. Nor is Elder Pete. But Elder Jorgensen is, to Bangkok, where he's going to be a zone leader. Elder Haase is now the district leader and a new senior (one who's turning senior this moves) will be moving up here tomorrow. Nobody in Lampang moved. Elder Jorgensen and I will leave on the train tonight at 10 p.m. and I'll come back tomorrow with Elder Pete's new companion. I get to go to Bangkok again! :) It's somewhat of a surprise that I'm not moving -- I rather expected it -- but I'm glad to stay here among these wonderful people for another month and a half. That means I'll be here to see Loogkit and Ao be baptized. :) We taught Loogkit's other daughter (Ooy) and Ooy's boyfriend the other day. Loogkit bore her testimony of how the gospel has changed her life, made her faith firm and has given her peace of mind. It was awesome. :) I was reading Alma 5 earlier this week and realized that this change of heart is really what true conversion is. That's what we're aiming for here: for the gospel to change people's lives, to bring hope and light and love into people's lives, which will lead them to Christ. Thinking of it that way made a huge difference in my perspective on missionary work and has really helped. At times we invite people who look like there's no way they could be candidates for baptism, and it's hard to have faith that they can change. But when you look at teaching as a way to help people change, then it doesn't matter what the person is like before, because the gospel will change them into what God wants them to become. There are my thoughts for the week in a nutshell. :)

The branch got a new piano last week but they haven't opened it yet. Water floods the church from time to time, so they may wait till we move to a new chapel. I went on switchoffs with Elder Pete last Friday, on Saturday we had an elders quorum activity, and on Sunday there was a baptism (Em, Elder Jo's investigator). Oh, on Saturday we were introing a man when a ten-year-old girl ran up to me and asked my name. She was half-Swedish, half-Thai, and we'd seen her a few days earlier when we introed a man in her neighborhood (she was playing with the man's daughter). I told the girl I was called Elder and she asked if I knew Lef. I couldn't think of anyone I knew with that name and told her so. She seemed fairly insistent, saying that he worked nearby and that he'd said he knew us. I asked if he were a farang or a Thai. She said he was a farang, and then the light clicked on in my head and I asked if the man was her father. She assented and wanted to take us to go see him. So we followed this little ten-year-old girl down the road, turned the corner, and found her Swedish father sitting at a table in front of his house. She jumped off her friend's motorcycle and ran to the gate, exclaiming, "Papa, Papa, they're here!" He spoke to us in English, saying that his daughter Emmely wants to be Christian and he wanted to give her a chance. We're going back to teach them (at least the kid and probably the parents too) on Saturday. We went back the other day to get their phone number and the dad (Lef Thomas Svensson) said that his wife had taken their two daughters to the wat (last week there was a Buddhist holiday), and that Emmely did *not* want to go. Quite interesting. :)

Sunday was my birthday and so after church we ate some cake that Tom and A gave me. Being 20 doesn't seem much different from being 19, to be frank. :) Oh, last week we taught a 27-year-old crippled man about baptism and committed him to be baptized, and then picked him up in Brother Bunmii's pickup on Sunday for church. His name is Aab and he's really good.

Yesterday we had quite a neat experience. We had planned to go out to Bangrakam to see Ao, but she wasn't free, so we had the whole day free (till 5 p.m.). At 4:30 or so we decided to go look for the house of an old member who had apparently moved away. Another member had drawn a map to the house (house number #267) and as we approached the area, we saw a few houses with 426 numbers on them. We've been looking for a 426/44 for a while and decided to go look for that house first. Well, after a few minutes of searching, we came to the place where 267 was and voila, it had now changed to 426/44. :) We said hello and a 20-something girl came out. We asked if she knew a Sister Gamrai; she replied that it was her older sister and that she was now in Sweden, but that she'd come back in a few months. Then we asked if she knew Sister Namphoeng. She said, "That's me!" Turns out she was baptized 12 years ago but moved to Phuket and wanted to go to church there but there isn't a branch, so she's been going to some other church. She's back here for a few months and we visited, singing "I Am a Child of God" and sharing a few verses in the Book of Mormon. She still has a testimony! :) We invited her to go to English and the family home evening an hour later and she came! She said she's going to come back to church, too. It was the highlight of the week and quite the unexpected blessing. We called up a bunch of old members from 15+ years ago as well, but they were all uninterested in coming back to church, so it was nice to find a less-active who still loves the Church. :) :) :)

That's about it. Life's going well and so is the work. Keep the faith and share the gospel! Don't keep your light under a bushel. Take care! :-)

AIT #33: July 9, 2003

Wow, so much to write about and not nearly enough time. Yesterday we went up to Lampang for a special mission tour to meet President and Sister Hansen. We left at 8:10 a.m. on a bus and arrived at one o'clock, which left us enough time to find a naamtok raan (it's Isaan food) and catch a song thaw to the church. After the traditional rendition of "Called to Serve" to open the meeting, we recited D&C 4 and the Standard of Truth. President Hansen then had each companionship introduce themselves and share a spiritual experience. Sister Hansen spoke, mentioning that in the MTC the General Authorities had said that good things are on the way for Asia. "It's Asia's time," they said, and I can't tell you how my heart leapt for joy when I heard that. It often feels like Asia is quite far behind other areas of the world in accepting the gospel, but that may be about to change. President Hansen spoke about his mission (he served 1969-71, opened Chiang Mai with five other elders, and had to leave the country every six weeks to renew his visa) and shared some thoughts with us. They then opened the time up to questions and answers, and then we were done. We took a bus back home and arrived just before midnight.

On the bus ride up I chatted with a Presbyterian minister. He told me quite frankly that he doesn't believe in Joseph Smith's experience, and that because two Mormons converted over to his church and told him all about our church, he doesn't need to know any more. We didn't argue or anything, of course. It was the first time I've talked with a Christian in Thailand who really knew his stuff. He quoted the scripture in Revelation that forbids man from adding to the Book of Revelation and it was tempting to quote him Deuteronomy 4:2 (I think that's right :)), but that's not the way to convert anyone.

We went to Sukothai last Wednesday, which was fun. Elder Jorgensen and I went up to Lampang for switchoffs on Thursday, which was fun, too. I was with Elder Rock all day and we visited some awesome members. It's hard, in a way, to meet these wonderful members and share in their spirit and then have to say goodbye, knowing that in all probability you'll never see them again in this life.

Loogkit and Ao entered the firm baptismal pool on Wednesday, which means they got an answer to their prayers, have been to church at least once, and have a baptismal date. They decided to move the date to August 9, since that's Ao's birthday. They're soooo golden. :) We have lots of other good investigators, too. We taught Moo and Mali about the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity a few days ago. Moo used to smoke 80 cigarettes a day, but as of two days ago he was down to 1 a day. :) This last Sunday we only had two investigators at church (Loogkit and Ao), which was a let-down, but we'll get it back up again.

We've been finding a lot of lost members lately. For the past couple of months we've been trying to track down Sister Uy, who lived near the church but moved out unexpectedly. We asked her neighbors if they knew where she moved to or what her phone number was, but they knew nothing. Then, almost two weeks ago, we went to see an investigator nearby and decided to give it one more shot. The house was up for rent and we asked the elderly neighbor if we could get the phone number of the landlord. He pointed us to the next-door neighbor, and when we asked her what the phone number was, she said she didn't know. We asked her who the landlord was. She said it was Uy's mom, who lives in Bangkok. "Well, suppose we want to rent the house -- who do we call?" "There are already college students renting it," she replied. "But just pretend we want to call the landlord to get something fixed -- what number do we call?" She went inside and came out with Uy's mom's phone number. One call gave us Uy's cell phone and another got us in touch with Uy, and we visited her a week ago. She's pretty much lost her testimony but she lives five houses down from Loogkit and Ao and it won't take long to get her back.

We've been looking for a 336/14 address for a long time, but couldn't find it anywhere. A man at the post office told us which soi it was on, but we still couldn't find it. When we took the address back to the post office, the worker there said that it had been changed to 407/4, and told us exactly where it was (across from Wat Khuean Khan). The people at that house didn't recognize the name at first (Banjerd Gluayhom), but then after repeated questioning they revealed that Banjerd's older sister, Noi, lived down near Lotus. They weren't exactly sure where the house was (they hadn't been over there in ten years), but they said it was on the right-hand side of the soi, had one floor, and was about 500 meters in, and that Noi used to sell chicken. That happens to be the soi that leads to Brother Prayut's neighborhood, so after our weekly FHE with him on Monday, we started hunting around for a 30+ lady named Noi. The first two houses had no clue who she was, but then a lady at the third house pointed across the street to some apartment buildings. Just then a woman drove by on a motorcycle and said hi, then stopped in front of the apartments. We rode up and asked her if she knew Noi. She didn't, but a lady stepped out of one of the rooms on the top floor and asked who we were looking for. She knew a Noi who had moved out a long time ago, and as we continued asking questions, more and more people came outside (no doubt to see what business farangs had there :)). One young man came down the stairs and asked what name we were looking for. When we said, "Banjerd Gluayhom," he exclaimed, "Jerd?" He gave us the phone number for a friend of the family, then took us to the mouth of the soi to find more information from a lady who ran a restaurant there. She said that Jerd's little sister Ngaw (rambutan, the fruit) worked at Lotus on the top floor and had black teeth. The guy rode back into the soi and came out five minutes later with Ngaw's phone number. We went to Lotus to find her (she works at the Carlsber). At any rate, even though we haven't been able to get in touch with her yet, the Spirit surely was guiding us. And I'm now out of time. Keep up the good work, everyone! :)

AIT #32: July 2, 2003

Is it already July? Goodness, the time is blipping by. In fact, today I have very, very little time as we just got back from Sukothai. The work is going really well, especially with Loogkit and Ao. They actually moved to a different house on Sunday, so Loogkit couldn't go to church, but she sent Ao and we were able to meet with them that evening. They're friends with lots of the members and it's really going very well. That evening Loogkit said, "I haven't seen [God], but I know it's true." It was soooo good to hear her say that. Our other investigators are doing well, too, and yesterday we taught a wonderful discussion on baptism to Non, Too, and Pepsi (yes, that really is her name :)). We had a record 55 people at church on Sunday, including seven investigators (Ao, Too, Nat and Gluay, Moo and Mali and their son). Well, I've got to go -- keep up the good work and stay strong in the faith. A longer letter will be on its way next week. Take care! :-)

Turning screws

Last night I sat down for my daily 30 minutes of writing and almost instantly began to write, which rarely happens (usually I have to sludge around a bit in my mental marshes to find a clear pathway and a story to tell). The words just started coming out, and I had no idea what they were going to be about. I kept writing and then in the fourth paragraph interesting things started happening, and before long I found myself amazed at what was taking place in the story. (Sorry to keep you in suspense, but it's still a very rough draft. I'll upload the first chapter to Blank Slate when I get it to a workable state.) Before long I was in a sort of writing trance, there in the scene with my characters. (I know because I could no longer hear the music coming from my iPod.) And this morning I couldn't stop thinking about the story while I was in the shower, and several good ideas came to me then. I'm going to have to get a waterproof notebook to take into the shower with me. ;)

Last night I went to the library's reading room (which is fantastic, really -- very conducive to reading) and read the first two chapters of Henry James's Turn of the Screw. It's an interesting book. What does that mean? Haven't a clue. :) James's style has a bit too many interruptions for me (pauses set off by commas, that is), but he's very good at painting the characters. (Side note: when I was younger, for some reason I always thought that Turn of the Screw was either the same as or a parody of Taming of the Shrew. :))

AIT #31: June 25, 2003

We just got back from a wonderful zone conference yesterday, President Slater's last in Thailand. President Hansen arrives on Tuesday and will be mission president on arrival. The one thing certain about missions is change. Investigators change (a *lot*, for good or for worse), members change, companions change, areas change, mission presidents change, the weather kind of changes (hot, hotter, and hottest :)), and we ourselves change.

So, we left P-lok on a bus Monday afternoon and arrived in Lampang around eight o'clock in the evening. It's a really pretty ride. Ate dinner at KFC at the local Big C and then rode a song thaw over to the elders' house. Elder Haase and I spent the night at Elder Garrison and Elder Jackson's house, and Elder Jorgensen and Elder Peterson stayed at Elder Keenan and Elder Rock's house. Woke up at 3:45 a.m. At 4:15 Elder Garrison and I hopped on the bikes and rode out to get a song thaw, then went to pick up the other four elders. Returned to the house and picked up Elder Haase and Elder Jackson and went to the bus station. It was another two hour ride to Chiang Mai.

We had breakfast at the Felix City Hotel, which is really close to the Chiang Mai church. There are soooo many farangs in Chiang Mai, and after spending so much time around Thais, it's a rather odd sensation to see white people. How will I ever cope with going back home to America? ;) Zone conference started at 8:00 with a good lesson on member-missionary work by Elder Keenan (our ZL). President Slater gave a wonderful talk on the last week of the Savior's life. I couldn't help but think of the parallel, Pres. Slater gathering us around him for his last few words before going back home, kind of like Christ gathering His apostles around Him at the Last Supper. Sad to see him go but sweet in that he's been a valiant servant and has been faithful to his call. We four P-lok elders did a musical number, "God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand", with me on the piano. After President's talk we took a group picture and broke for lunch. President interviewed us four P-lok elders during lunch, the usual routine (we're the farthest from Chiang Mai in the zone, so we wait until zone conference for interviews; the Lampang elders go up the day before to be interviewed with the Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai missionaries). I'll miss President. He's helped me a *lot*, through all the spiritual valleys and hills I've been through so far. After lunch the Lampang district sang "Press Forward, Saints." The APs gave a lesson on activating less-active members, those lost sheep who've fallen away from the fold. And then we were done. Took more pictures (individual pictures with Pres. and Sister Slater), then went to the bus station and left for home. It's a long bus ride and we didn't get home till 11:35, but oh well. :)

On Saturday we had a branch activity which went really well. Played lots of games outside and then had a lesson on Zion and unity within the branch, followed by dinner. Lots of people showed up, including Loogkit and Ao, our two best investigators right now. They're friends with many members already and that's made a huge difference in helping them progress. We also had a less-active member, Brother Golf, come back to church. He works offshore most of the time and only returns to P-lok for a couple weeks at a time, but we visited him last week and he came! :) We're still seeking out all the lost members and putting them on the map, gathering all the information we can find (from neighbors, relatives, etc.). It's wonderfully fun, especially since it's the kind of work I think I want to do for a living (genealogy/history). The best part is when we actually make contact with the member. This past Saturday we were doing invites near our house (just outside the shortcut behind the house), talking with a lady at a small restaurant. An old grandma cutting vegetables nearby overheard us and said that she used to go to our church with her granddaughter. Lots of people think that all of Christianity is the same and that if they go to any church they've been to ours, so we always take that with a grain of salt. On the rare occasions when they really have been to our church, it's lovely, and this was one of those. We asked what her granddaughter's name was and she said Duanggamon Kaewpraseard. I recognized the name from the old member records we've been searching through and we got Duanggamon's phone number and current location. Called her up and set up an appointment for Sunday after church to meet with her. Hurray! :) We've made actual contact with three or four old members so far, and with a few more we've located their current whereabouts (usually they've moved to Bangkok). It's amazing how many old members there are here...

Well, I'm out of time. Keep up the good work and stay strong in the faith! Take care. :-)

Seventeen steps and then some

Finished reading Dreams and Wishes this evening. (I wouldn't have finished it so soon but the library sent me a recall e-mail a couple of days ago telling me that some other user had recalled it. At first I was awfully jealous, as if some cad had just stolen my girlfriend, but I got over it and spent a few pleasant hours yesterday and today reading it. :)) Speaking of which, I spent well over an hour today reading both it and Greenwitch, and it was absolutely wonderful. I spend too little time reading non-school books... Now that winter's on its way, memories of curling up with a book in front of our fireplace back home are starting to return, especially when the heater turns on. If only I had more time...

Here's the beginning of a poem I started writing a few days ago. It's subject to change, of course, being a rough draft.

"Seventeen Steps"

Seventeen steps down the way, she said,
Not more or less, dear, or you'll end up dead,
Then turn to the left and count all your toes,
Your fingers and eyeballs and even your nose.
Follow the footsteps that lead to the woods
Where darkness and danger and shadows like hoods
Cling to the trees like a leech on its prey;
You'd better walk fast or you won't get away.
Take the first pathway that leads to the right,
Downward and inward, away from the light.
Terror may seize you but do not turn back,
For six hundred goblins are hot on your tracks.
Look for the voices which shimmer and sing,
And then nobly ask them to show you the wings;
Take them and fly through the canyon below
Till you get to the edge where the wild things grow.

[...to be continued...]

AIT #30: June 18, 2003

Last Thursday we had the special DDM with Elder Keenan, who came down with Elder Rock from Lampang. He talked about how we need to make ourselves available to the Lord to do His work. After the DDM was over, we went on switchoffs. I got to go with Elder Rock for four hours, which was wonderfully fun -- it's been six months since we last did switchoffs together back in Bangkapi. Time sure flies by. Yesterday we did switchoffs again, this time with Elder Jorgensen and Elder Peterson. I and Elder Pete worked in his area and did lots of invites. We did start teaching one guy who had some kind of skin disease akin to leprosy (sores all over his body, many of them bloody), but he was drunk and wasn't very interested in listening to us. On Saturday we had a family home evening with a bunch of the youth and Tom bought us salted scorpions to eat. Yum. :)

We came home last Wednesday and found that our phone line had been disconnected because we hadn't paid the bill. (We hadn't paid the bill because the bill had never come.) Had to ride out to the payphone in front of 7-Eleven to call Elder Jorgensen, and then the next morning we went to the phone company first thing to pay the bill. For the past few weeks we've been taking addresses of old members to the post office and having them show us where they are (since addresses here aren't very orderly). It's been very helpful and we're getting to know the area very, very well. There are so many old members who've slipped away and don't have any contact with the missionaries for months or even years. Elder Haase and I have made it our quest to dig up as many old members as we can, so that they won't be lost any more. The results have been good so far but none of them has come back to church yet.

Really good news: Loogkit and her daughter came to church this week! We haven't had investigators at church for over a month or so, so this was wonderful. Not only that, but one man whom we taught on Friday came as well (Brother Chin). The work's taking off in a lot of ways. Tonight we're going to try to help Loogkit set a date to get baptized. We have a lot more investigators than we did last moves, which is really good. Sister Somkhuan invited us four elders over for mango/sticky rice again, tonight at 8. :)

I'm slowly starting to realize that my time is nigh at hand to go senior. As a greenie you feel like you'll be a junior forever, so this is really quite a shock. But the time must come and it will happen within a few short months. Am I ready? I sure hope so. :) Even if I'm not, the Lord will make up for whatever I lack, as long as I do my part.

Alma 30:31 -- "And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just -- yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them -- therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God." When we see so many people wandering in strange paths, not following God's counsel, there's often a temptation to just sit them down and *make* them obey, forcing them by the sword if they're stubborn. But that's not God's way. Through hearing God's word, people's hearts will change and they will change themselves. When we try to force anyone to change, whatever good we've done won't last very long; but when people see the happiness that comes from obeying God's commandments, when they taste the fruit of the tree of life, and when they then decide that they want that happiness more than anything else, *then* are the changes permanent and then are we successful in bringing people unto Christ. We're building a covenant-keeping people who love Christ and will keep His commandments even if there aren't any missionaries around to nag them. :) I know this gospel that we're here preaching is true and is God's word, and it's wonderfully exciting to see people's lives change as they cling to the iron rod and let Christ's light into their lives. Courage, brethren, and on, on to the victory!

AIT #29: June 11, 2003

It's been an interesting week. Last Thursday was Elder Haase's birthday. While we were teaching English, Sister A and Muy went out and bought a cake, and after English we all sang songs together. The members here are sooooo incredibly nice. Once we were done, I had to answer a call from Mother Nature. On my way out of the bathroom, I looked down and saw a black scorpion on the ground, alive. Sister A put it in the cake box and then Brother Boi picked it up by the tail and we took pictures. He lifted it up over my mouth and I posed for the picture, but just when Tom pressed the button, the scorpion's glistening mouth wiggled and my nerves failed me, so I freaked out and darted away. Should be a pretty good picture. ;)

Last week we were searching for a lost sheep (old member who's fallen away from the Church and whom we've lost contact with). We couldn't find the member's house, but I kept going down a tiny road, expecting it to turn back onto the main road soon. It still didn't turn, though, and several times I was about to turn back and go the way we came, but then suddenly we heard someone call out, "Elder!" It was an old member, Brother Tuy, who was baptized 12 years ago and now is into drinking and all sorts of bad stuff. He was in an old hollowed-out house with seven or eight other guys who were also drinking and playing pool. He invited us in; at first I was a little apprehensive (places like that are often dangerous), but I realized that the Lord is on my side -- what need I fear? We went in and collected all the information we could about him and then left for our next appointment.

For the last couple of months we've been visiting an old member family, President Padoongsak and his wife Phanii. They've been members for 25 years or so, and Padoongsak was the first Thai branch president here in P-lok, and then the district president. They fell away ten or so years ago, though, and so we've been going over to their house each week to help them feel the Spirit again. Last week we got a referral from the office -- the sister missionaries in Bangbuathong (Sister Jones and Sister Skidmore) have been teaching a 17-year-old girl named Ao, and Ao recently moved back here to P-lok for school. She's learned through the 4th discussion and had a baptismal date for June 1st, and her two older sisters have been members in Bangbuathong for two years now. She lives 50 kilometers away in Bangkragam, though. Padoongsak and Phanii offered to drive us there, so yesterday they picked us up and off we went. Forty-five minutes later we arrived at Ao's school (which is where she arranged for us to meet her). We expected that we'd go over her reading in the Book of Mormon and perhaps teach her a fifth, helping her prepare for baptism. Well, she said she had a few friends who were interested in the gospel and led us upstairs to her classroom. I walked into the room and found 30 students, all 16 or 17-year-olds, and only five or so were boys. Ao wanted us to teach them all, though, so I started teaching about God and the plan of salvation. It actually turned out pretty well, even though it was a teaching situation utterly unlike all others I've been in before (as a missionary, that is). At the end, Ao raised her hand and asked if she could bear her testimony to the class. She's a really good investigator but her parents won't let her get baptized yet. She's most likely going to be baptized in Bangbuathong when she goes back in October.

On June 1 the new mission president, Scott Hansen, will arrive. He served here back in 1969-70 or so, and he was the one who opened Chiang Mai for missionary work. He is a doctor by profession and was actually Elder Leggat's doctor back home. It'll be kind of weird getting a new mission president, but I'm looking forward to it.

The work's going fairly well. Loogkit and her daughter committed to be baptized, and a few other investigators are close as well. Lately we've had trouble getting investigators to come to church, though. Charoemchai has been reading the Book of Mormon and is through 2 Nephi 6 already. The other day I was buying fruit (I've been eating tons of mangoes lately -- it's my favorite fruit these days) and the lady asked me if I have a girlfriend back home (a typical question). I told her I don't. She then said, "Do you want a Thai wife?" That happens often, quite often. :) But it's always fun to say, bluntly, "No, I don't." ("May aw" if you can read phaasaa elder.) I'll miss Thailand. ;) Seriously, it's such a wonderful place here. The thought of having to go back home someday is a sad one. Speaking of home, nobody's really said much about the war lately, so I guess it's settled down. The only thing I've heard about it in weeks is that the Iraqis tried to bomb an American army camp (some lady walked in with the bomb, or something like that).

Well, that's all I have for today. This afternoon we're going to Wat Yai.

Elder Keenan, the ZL, is coming down from Lampang for a special DDM tomorrow. Stay strong in the faith. Take care! :-)

AIT #28: June 28, 2003

Moves has come and gone. Wednesday night we went to the train station, as did about twenty of the members. They bid farewell to Elder Bevell and Elder Burin and we hopped on board the train. As I looked out the window at the members waving goodbye, it felt like I myself was moving and I almost burst out crying. It will be soooooo hard to say goodbye to these people. I never want to leave here. :)

We tried to sleep on the train but without much success. A loud snorer bunked above me and I think I woke up over 30 times that night. :) At five in the morning we arrived at the Don Muang airport in Bangkok. Other missionaries filtered in over the next two hours and we all got on a bus to go to the Pakkret church for moves. Elder Bevell moved to Bangnaa and is the ZL there. He's with my friend Elder Matt Turner. Elder Burin moved to Chiang Mai and is with Elder Nebeker. Elder Vue moved to Thonburi. Elder Pettit moved to Bangkapi and replaced Elder Frischknecht. Elder Serrao and Sister Aemon (along with a handful of others) joped (finished their missions). I talked with Elder Serrao a bit and he said Nat goes to church whenever she feels like it and Chaad isn't very active, but Bunying and Tu are really strong. The only missionary in my MTC group to move is Elder Hamblin, who finally left his greenie area and moved to Nong Khaem. All of the sisters in the group before me went senior or co-senior (Sister West is training a Thai in Udorn), but none of the elders did. So it'll be another two or three moves (three or four months) before my group goes senior. My new companion is Elder Jon Haase of Washington (but his family is now moving to Florida). He turns 21 tomorrow and graduated from BYU in History. For the last three months he was in Roi-Et with Elder Nelson (my trainer). He just went senior, so I'm his first junior.

The rainy season is definitely here. On Monday we taught Loogkit and her daughter (Brother A came with us) and committed them to baptism. They're sooooo good. :) Twenty minutes before we finished, it started pouring. We still had to go to Sister Gittiya's for family home evening with her three sons, so we took off in the torrential rains and boy was it fun! :) Better than Disneyland, to be sure. ;) I think I picked up a cold, though. The field outside the church was flooded a little bit when we got home that night, as was the soi to our house. There were tons and tons of frogs singing melodious sonnets. :) Tom told me yesterday that last year it flooded the church, about a foot deep. Apparently several dozen frogs clustered in the bathroom, and during sacrament meeting a two-inch thick snake slithered into the room. I can't wait to see what it'll be like this year. :)

We taught a man, Wirat, last week. When we taught him about God and Christ he said that the other day he was meditating and saw two gods, one Thai and one farang. The farang god was Jesus, and he claimed to have gone up and touched him, so he thoroughly believed in Christ. But he said he forgot to ask Jesus if God the Father was real, so he doesn't yet believe (he said he'd ask the next time it happened, though :)). I wonder just how much reality there is to visions/dreams like that...

Yesterday we went to city hall and borrowed a large (2x3 foot) map of the city, 83 pages long, and then photocopied it for 1275 baht ($30). It's extremely detailed and we're going to map out where all our members are, including the less actives. We have several addresses of less-active members but we weren't sure where exactly they lived (trying to find places can be extremely difficult here), so this morning we went to the post office and asked them to go through the addresses and show us where they were. It took a lot of smiling and patience but we were successful in the end. I was surprised at how well those postal workers knew their addresses. :)

Our investigators are doing decently well. Ohe has a few obstacles that will take time to overcome. Chaloemchai is the landlord of the dormitory on our soi and is a good honest seeker of truth, but he still hasn't received an answer. Loogkit and her daughter are the closest to baptism right now. (We're teaching her husband and son on Saturday -- we'd hoped they would be there on Monday but they didn't show up.) We do a lot of member work here, since the branch is so small.

"I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." (3 Nephi 12:48) Through daily repentance we will indeed achieve that perfection, most likely not in this life but surely in the life to come. We can't jump straight up to perfection in one grand leap but instead must take the journey one step at a time, line upon line, precept upon precept. It's a long road, but the Savior will lead us, guide us, walk beside us if we let Him. Let the kindly light lead your life amidst the encircling gloom and come, follow Him.

Defying gravity

I listened to the Wicked soundtrack for the first time today. Wow. It's amazing! I really, really, really like it. When I came to the end of the last track, I found myself wishing it wasn't really over. Isn't that one of the qualities of a good story? A story should weave a wonderful world in your imagination that you really miss when the curtain falls. They're the best kind, at least.

School's keeping me quite busy. It looks like I'll be going to London for three weeks prior to my three/four weeks in Wales, which is even better than I'd been expecting. Seven long months to wait... :)

AIT #27: May 28, 2003

Moves is here again. Yesterday Elder Bevell called the APs and found that he is moving to Bangkok, Elder Burin is moving somewhere outside of Bangkok, and Elder Vue (in Lampang) is moving to Bangkok. All four of us here have to go down to moves, which means Elder Jorgensen is either ZL or trainer (he'll get a call from President Slater today to let him know which). I'm excited to get to go to Bangkok again, even for just a few hours. :) Our train leaves sometime tonight around 10:00 and will arrive in Bangkok early tomorrow morning. If my new companion is the ZL, we'll stick around for ZLTM and come back to P-lok by midnight Thursday. If he's not, then we'll leave immediately and arrive by late afternoon/early evening. I realized that my group should be going senior pretty soon -- within two or three moves.

Root was baptized on Wednesday! :) He was confirmed on Sunday, too, and everything went without a hitch. Hurray! And Boi came back yesterday, which is really good. We have another good investigator named Ohe and a few families we're teaching. I hope nobody slips through the holes during this moves. We're also seeking out a bunch of old members who have become lost (moved away, usually). Within the last few weeks I've noticed a leap in my ability to read and write Thai. I was rather surprised at that, to be honest, since I hadn't been focusing on either, but I can't really complain. :)

We had zone conference last Friday up in Chiang Mai. Left Thursday night and arrived with twenty minutes to spare (our train was an hour late). When we got to the train station Elder Bevell realized he'd left his briefcase at our house, which meant he didn't have his scriptures, his notebook, his zone lesson, or the goals/results for his ZL report. But the train pulled up right then and so we couldn't really do anything about it. Everything still turned out okay. He taught a good lesson on desire (what do we as missionaries really want?) which foreshadowed President Slater's lesson. President talked about value systems and priorities -- for example, would I walk across a tightrope between the Twin Towers if I were to receive five baht for it? Anyone in their right mind wouldn't even consider it. Ten baht? Still no. A thousand baht? No. A million dollars? No way -- I wouldn't do it for any amount of money. But suppose that my baby brother was on the other side and was about to fall off. Then yes, I'd sprint across to save him. To me, my life is worth more than money, but my brother's life is worth more than my own. President then talked about how our choices reflect our value system -- we give up 15 or 20 baht for a plate of rice without any whining, since the food is worth more to us than the money. When we wake up in the morning, we decide whether obedience or sleep is more important to us -- if obedience is, we get up before 6:30; if sleep is, we sleep in. If the Spirit is the most important thing to us, then we'll willingly give up whatever prevents us from having the Spirit. Successful people evaluate their decisions in light of their goals and eliminate whatever obstacles are in the way of reaching those goals. Being conscious of that and making the decision to place the Spirit at highest priority in my life has really made a difference, especially in being glad and willing to eliminate imperfections and blemishes that keep the Spirit away. President Slater had every companionship teach (only my district taught him at the zone conference, during lunch; everyone else had taught him the day before at interviews). I was the pianist, as usual. It was really nice to play a real piano -- we have a little electronic keyboard at P-lok, and I must admit that I've rather missed playing a real, rich-sounding piano.

"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." (Alma 34:32) I really like this scripture, because it applies at so many different levels. Each day we live is precious; each day could be our last. There is a fierce battle between good and evil going on every single day, and time wasted is time given to the enemy. If we wait to repent, wait to change ourselves and be better people, we may find that time has run out on us. And "behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed." This life is the testing ground, the proving stage; once the test is over, we can't improve our score, no matter how much we want to. Don't wait, for the coming of the Lord is nigh. As a missionary, this verse takes on new meaning. This mission of mine is the time for me to prepare to meet God; yea, behold, these two years are the day for me to perform my labors. We only have two years here in the field, which at first seems like an eternity but quickly zips by faster than lightning. I've already been out for 9 months and will soon hit my halfway mark, and I'm in utter shock that it's gone by that fast. Lately I've realized that now is the time for me to work out all the kinks and faults in my character, the best possible time in which I can get the most done. At no other time will I be able to focus 100% on things spiritual, at no other time will it be as easy to improve. If I waste away the day of my mission, when I find myself back home it will be much harder to be refined, for there will be many distractions. God is willing to take our weaknesses and turn them into strengths, if we but give Him the key to our souls.

I'm out of time. Thanks for everyone's support and prayers. Stay strong in the faith! Take care. :-)

AIT #26: May 21, 2003

Good news: Root's getting baptized this evening! :) Elder Jorgensen (Elder Joe as they call him) and Elder Burin had an investigator get baptized this past Sunday, Bia, and within a few weeks Bia's cousin M will be baptized as well. Bad news: Boi disappeared last week and we haven't seen him since last Monday. He reportedly came back, though, and we hope to meet with him soon. We found two good families last week. Both families invited us into their homes when we started talking with them, which is almost always a really good sign. :) One of the moms (Loogkit) and two of her kids came to English last night and stayed around for family home evening, too, which was really good.

Rainy season's definitely here, though it's not quite how I imagined. Rather than a constant pouring all day long, it's more of a once-a-day occurrence. It's still only May, though, not yet to the heart of the season. The rain cools things down, which is very, very nice. :)

I've already run out of things to write. ~sigh~ Oh, every time I meet Tom and other members (which is usually almost every day), we exchange scripture references from the Book of Mormon. I really like it since it helps all of us get to know the Book of Mormon better. Here are a few selected verses that I particularly like: "And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery; yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people. Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.... Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." (Alma 48:11-13, 17)

Well, zone conference is on Friday (in Chiang Mai, as usual), and next week is moves, so I should have something to write about in the next issue. :) Sorry these letters are getting more boring. :) Thanks for all the support, everyone. Remember to write to missionaries! Stay strong in the faith. Take care! :-)

AIT #25: May 14, 2003

Rainy season started a few days ago and it's not quite as hot anymore. :) Today we went to Sukothai (the old capital of Thailand, 700 years ago) and visited some of the old ruins. Pretty neat, as usual. We got back with not much time to spare and so this will be very short. The work's going well. Our two main investigators, Root and Boi, will be baptized within a few weeks. School is starting (a lot of schools have already opened) and so there are students everywhere again. This moves period has gone by very quickly -- only two more weeks left. (It's a short moves period, but even then it still flew by.) Tuesday was Elder Burin's birthday and we threw a little party for him at FHE. The work here is very hard, mainly because retention is exceedingly difficult. If I didn't know beyond doubt that this gospel was true, I certainly wouldn't spend two whole years wasting my time here to promote a less-than-worthy cause. But this gospel *is* true and so no matter how hard it is, no matter how many people are sifted by Satan and fall by the roadside, no matter how many investigators reject the message, we must press onward, ever onward.

Here's a scripture I like: Alma 44:4 (no time to type it in). I know that this Church is true and that Joseph Smith really did see God and Jesus Christ. Because it's true, the gospel is the single most important thing in life. Nothing else even comes close, though the world tries to make us think otherwise. Christ lives and through following His example we will find happiness in this life. Do you want to be more happy? Love more. It's that simple. The divine mandate is to love God first and foremost, so much that we won't have any desire to break His commandments, and then to love His children. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and if we cling to it, we'll never fall too far astray. Make daily scripture study a habit that you absolutely won't break, the appointment you don't dare miss. President Gordon B. Hinckley is God's living prophet on the earth today and we can trust him as God's mouthpiece. Isn't it wonderful, that all the signs and gifts of the Church in olden days are here with us today? We have the power of God in our midst. This Church is true! :-)

Shw mae

I'm going to Wales next spring. At least that's the plan. :) You see, my work (Immigrant Ancestors Project) is having a student researcher team go over to the UK to photograph emigration records. And it looks like I'll be able to go to Wales with one other guy for at least three weeks, provided that we get the mentoring research grants which we're applying for (I wrote my proposal today). I'm pretty excited. (Big understatement.) And so I'm going to start studying Welsh in earnest. Did I mention that I'm going to Mexico with my family over Christmas break? So I'm learning Spanish too. :)

AIT #24: May 7, 2003

It really is the hot season now. :) Earlier this week I found out where everyone moved. Elder Berlin moved to Ratcha Thewi; Sister Grimmius is now in Bangkhen; Sister Kravetz moved to Bangkapi and is companions with Sister Aemon (small world :)); Elder McLelland and Elder Walker both moved to Udorn North; Elder Suttiphong moved to Bangnaa and is companions with Elder Orrock; Sister West moved to Udorn.

On Monday we got a package in the mail from the Church, a three-hour long training video on the recent change in missionary work (teaching by the Spirit). The video is mostly Elder M. Russell Ballard, Elder Richard G. Scott, and Elder Charles Didier at a table answering questions that have come in over the past few months about the adjustment, but it also has a lot of segments from others (Elder Holland, President Hinckley, MTC people, etc.). It was really nice to be in the learner's seat instead of the teacher's, and furthermore, to listen to English. :) (I do love Thai a great deal, but it's not the same.) Since then I've done a lot better teaching, more from the heart and the Spirit.

Monday night Elder Bevell and Elder Jorgensen went up to Lampang to switch off with Elder Sessions and Elder Vue (the two seniors there). So on Tuesday, Elder Burin and I worked in his area half the day and in mine half, as usual. It's nice to switch off every once in a while, to see what the other companionship's area is like and get to meet their investigators.

Last week I heard my first dookae (a lizard that makes a really weird noise, kind of like a wind-up doll that says "Googie-goo" in a gravelly, drawn-out way). Still haven't seen one, though. At first I thought it really was a doll, but that didn't make sense since we were in the apartment of a bunch of 19-year-old studly guys. :) Since then I've noticed it a lot more, even at our house.

I had a scary/disturbing experience last week, too. :) Elder Bevell and I were doing invites and came to a secluded apartment. The door to the last room was open and we could see some people sitting inside, though the light was off so we could only see their silhouettes. Elder Bevell said hi and was about to invite them, but he decided not to and went to see if any doors were open farther down. I asked them if we could do anything to help them and started to get on my bike to leave. One of them stood up but didn't say anything, so I repeated my question. They invited me to sit down and so I came to the door. The light came on and I slowly realized that the guys had makeup on, and the two people that I'd thought were girls were very manly looking. I'd just stumbled into a nest of krathoeys (transvestites). They started asking for my personal phone number and how old I was and I quickly made an exit. It felt incredibly good to get out on the main road among normal people who aren't confused over gender issues. :)

Occasionally we run into farangs, mostly Europeans. The other day we found a Scottish man named Bill and chatted with him a bit. He's an electrical engineer and has lived in Thailand for six or seven years. When we asked if he'd ever talked with us missionaries before, he said he first met us back in the 60s in Scotland, and that he's not very religious. Now, almost every single Thai person we invite says, "All religions teach us to be good." In contrast, our Scotsman (and from what I've heard from other missionaries, this is usual among Europeans) said, "Religions cause most of the world's problems." He bluntly told us that we'd be wasting our time and that he's absolutely not interested in reading the Book of Mormon, period. I don't know why, but talking with Thais feels much different, even when they reject us. I think Thais are generally nicer about it, since they don't want to hurt our feelings. And no doubt the language issue is part of it, too. Being an English-speaking missionary would be a lot harder in many ways, I think. Regardless of the difficulties, however, the fact remains that the gospel is true and it must be preached to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, till the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

Root's getting baptized on the 21st or so. We've been teaching Sister Gittiya's nephew (or some kind of relation, I'm not sure exactly what), Boi. At first it seemed like he wasn't too interested, but when we taught him about the first principles and ordinances of the gospel last week, he lit up and started talking a lot, explaining all sorts of stuff. He said he hasn't studied with missionaries before, which is kind of weird. We set a baptismal date for the 18th, but he still has to stop drinking and smoking, so we'll wait till he's ready. Lately we haven't had many investigators come to church, but this Sunday Ohe came, which was really good.

Ack, I'm out of time. This Church is true and Christ lives!