Hey Family!
So it's my second Preparation Day. I can't believe it! I feel like I have been gone for so long, but the time has flown since last week! It's been so great! I'm really starting to love it here. The spirit is amazing and everyone is so kind! It was great to get the new missionaries on Wednesday. Ryan Reese and my roommate Mike Groesbeck got here. Its been great seeing more familiar faces. I'm excited to see who will come in tomorrow.
Last Tuesday we heard from Elder Russell M. Nelson. He was amazing! He talked about being the missionary who, when times are hard or its almost time to go home, keep working. Those missionaries go to the next door and knock, because more likely than not they will find a person who is ready to hear our message. He was so great and I loved hearing from an apostle.
Mom, I can't believe that you were down here! I hope that you enjoyed seeing what Life is like here.
On Sunday we had a fireside given by Stephen B. Allen, the managing director in the missionary department. He talked about how we need to realize that we were saved for these last days for a purpose known only ot our Father in Heaven. He also talked about how we need to put down our weapons of rebellion as the people of Ammon did. We need to not fight against God anymore, whether that be through pride, anger, cheating, contention, or disobedience. One of the things he said that really impacted me was when he quoted the last words of Nephi. "I must obey. Amen." he then said, "NOW DO IT!" It was so great! I love being able to hear from men of God. I know that the words which they speak are true.
So, life at the MTC is just fine and dandy! Haha. The food is decent, but I love when we go up to the temple and get to eat there because that food is SO good!! I'm pretty good with the schedule, but I'm always really tired. It seems like a pretty common thing. That's another interesting thing that Elder Nelson talked about. He said that like a car, our spiritual batteries recharge when we are studying, teraching, and doing the things of the Lord, and it is important to remember that. I never thought that I would like sitting in a classroom learning, but when the Spirit is there teaching you, there is no better place to be.
It's so great to learn a lot about the gospel, the Thai language, and the culture. One of my teachers, Brother Miles, told us last night that even though there is only one stake in all of Thailand, the church has recently built two nice, state-of-the-art stake centers that are serving districts. They even have basketball courts which is unheard of in Thailand! I'm so excited to get there!
On Sunday our branch President read us a letter from one of the missionaries in Thailand now. THe missionary said that the people there rock, and that they were planning on having a bunch of baptisms by the end of May! It will be amazing to see the church grow over there.
The language is hard, but it's coming along. We started learning to read Thai script this week. We were all very excited about that! We made these cards with all of the vowels and consonants on them which is really helpful! I kind of thought that when we made them reading would become very easy, that it would be like haveing a urim and thumim, but it's still very difficult. We had to do a TRC on Saturday which is like a simulation of teaching a lesson, and we had to ask someone if we could teach them in Thai, and ask about their family! Luckily we got to teach the restoration in Englinsh though. But I can't wait until I can teach it in Thai! It will be so awesome! The spirit has really helped me with the language and I have been very blessed.
I never realized how much Spanish I knew until I started learning Thai. I was praying the other day in class and afterward, Elder Tolman told me I threw in some spanish words. At first, I wished I were learning something like Spanish because Thai is SO hard, but I'm glad that I get to learn this language, and I know that it will be a blessing to me.
Things with my companion Elder Doria and I are great! I couldn't have been blessed with a better companion. He is a spiritual giant. He always has such good insights. He loves to throw in analogies and stories! He studies talks and now I have started to as well. I read President Faust's talk from 2001, The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope. That was really cool to read. I love to study the atonement, because that is the reason that I wanted to serve my mission. I haven't forgotten that. I thank my Father in Heaven every day for Jesus Christ, and his infinite atonement.
I love it here, and everything is great! My district has some really funny guys in it, but we all are solid in the gospel too! It's the best of both worlds. The world we live in, however is that of the gospel. We are no longer in the world, nor are we of the world. We are out of the world. We are blessed for our sacrifice, and you are blessed for it too.
I sent you a bunch of letters last week but I haven't gotten any responses. Did they get to you? Please write, or even dear elder. I love hearing from home knowing all is well with you. Good luck with everything! Don't worry about me Mom.
I love you all so very much.
Love,
Elder Todd
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Week #1/First P-day email
Hey Family!
So its my first P-day and I am writing you. I only have a short 30 min to write you and read e mails so if you want to email me please just send it via dear elder.com. I'm doing great now. All of the Phii Thais (Older Thais) told us that if we could make it through Sunday then we would be fine, and everything would speed up from there. Its so weird that I'm here. I hardly feel old enough to be a missionary.
Classes are great. The Language is hard, but I am managing. The Phii Thais said that we have learned more than they learned in their first week. We are encouraged to "SYL" or Speak Your Language all the time as this will help us to learn it better. I really can't believe the spirit here. Everyone is so friendly and happy its amazing! It's been rough though. We all miss our families, but on Wednesday night our Branch president gave us a scripture to read. D&C 100:1-2. It really gave me comfort and helped.
Also all of the letters that you have sent me have been really helpful and encouraging. Nate always told me letters helped him, and it is so true. Also John's advice about the orange juice seemed to be good advice! I'm so lucky that I had brothers in Law like Dave and John who were so so willing to talk to me about their missions. They have given me great advice.
The language is difficult. It's the fourth hardest here in the MTC my teacher told us. Its crazy because its tonal. If you say, "may may may may may," with the proper tones you would be asking, "if new silk burns." The language is also very literal. You wouldn't say that someone is in his desk because a Thai person would interpret that as meaning that he is trapped inside of the desk. Instead you say he is on his desk. It's the same way with prayer. We say Phra bidan bon sawan which means our Father ON Heaven. Not IN.
It's amazing to see the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues at work here. Eveyone says hello in their respective language and its great! I got to see Wess a couple of times and that was really nice! The people who have him as a teacher say that he is great! They are mostly Native Koreans I think. There are a lot of them here which was really surprising to me. Elder Radmall (a Phii Thai) and I played basketball against some yesterday. It was fun and they were actually pretty good! This one had a really nice scoop shot that he LOVED!! It was so funny because Elder Radmall and I are considerably taller than they were and we were on the same team and they thought it was so funny! They were just laughing at us. I wonder if that is how the Thai people will be.
My companion is Elder Doria from Provo. He lives just up the street from the MTC. His parents moved here from the Philippines, and his older brothers both went on their missions there. You can imagine that he was pretty surprised when he got called to Thailand! I'm so excited to get there!
President Hinckley said that there would one day be a temple in Thailand, and the church already has the property. It's sad because while there are enough members on record there to build the Bangkok temple, there aren't enough ACTIVE members. I really think that is part of why I am going- so that we can get the temple built. I realize that temples are such a blessing, and so many sacrifices must be made in order for them to be built.
On Sunday we watched, "The Mountain of the Lord." I really enjoyed it, and it really made me realize that those who built the Salt Lake temple really built it for their posterity for all generations of time and eternity to be able to recieve saving ordinances. Temples are SUCH blessings. We went to the Provo temple today, and Elder Heap and I were proxys for children in sealings and we were witnesses. That was a really great experience. I had never had the pleasure of doing that kind of temple work before. I really liked it.
There are eight Elders in my district, no sisters. But we are so lucky because we have incredible teachers. Brother Miles from Pennsylvania, and Sister Wongwiraophaab from BANGKOK!! It's awesome to have a native Thai for a teacher. She knows SO much and wants to teach us all that she can. She shares great stories about the people and she even told us the conversion story of her family! It was so great to hear that in Thailand true conversions do happen. Since the people don't even know who God is, we have to teach basic principles such as, God is a person, He has a body, and so on. There is a lot of work to do there.
Well I'm running low on time, but I love you all very much! Please keep writing. It helps more than you think. You are all in my prayers. Stay safe! Stay true to each other, and true to the faith. Don't be like Lot and pitch your tents towards Sodom, but be as the people of King Benjamin and pitch your tents towards the temple. Again, I love you all very much, and can't wait to hear from you soon!
Love,
Elder Todd
So its my first P-day and I am writing you. I only have a short 30 min to write you and read e mails so if you want to email me please just send it via dear elder.com. I'm doing great now. All of the Phii Thais (Older Thais) told us that if we could make it through Sunday then we would be fine, and everything would speed up from there. Its so weird that I'm here. I hardly feel old enough to be a missionary.
Classes are great. The Language is hard, but I am managing. The Phii Thais said that we have learned more than they learned in their first week. We are encouraged to "SYL" or Speak Your Language all the time as this will help us to learn it better. I really can't believe the spirit here. Everyone is so friendly and happy its amazing! It's been rough though. We all miss our families, but on Wednesday night our Branch president gave us a scripture to read. D&C 100:1-2. It really gave me comfort and helped.
Also all of the letters that you have sent me have been really helpful and encouraging. Nate always told me letters helped him, and it is so true. Also John's advice about the orange juice seemed to be good advice! I'm so lucky that I had brothers in Law like Dave and John who were so so willing to talk to me about their missions. They have given me great advice.
The language is difficult. It's the fourth hardest here in the MTC my teacher told us. Its crazy because its tonal. If you say, "may may may may may," with the proper tones you would be asking, "if new silk burns." The language is also very literal. You wouldn't say that someone is in his desk because a Thai person would interpret that as meaning that he is trapped inside of the desk. Instead you say he is on his desk. It's the same way with prayer. We say Phra bidan bon sawan which means our Father ON Heaven. Not IN.
It's amazing to see the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues at work here. Eveyone says hello in their respective language and its great! I got to see Wess a couple of times and that was really nice! The people who have him as a teacher say that he is great! They are mostly Native Koreans I think. There are a lot of them here which was really surprising to me. Elder Radmall (a Phii Thai) and I played basketball against some yesterday. It was fun and they were actually pretty good! This one had a really nice scoop shot that he LOVED!! It was so funny because Elder Radmall and I are considerably taller than they were and we were on the same team and they thought it was so funny! They were just laughing at us. I wonder if that is how the Thai people will be.
My companion is Elder Doria from Provo. He lives just up the street from the MTC. His parents moved here from the Philippines, and his older brothers both went on their missions there. You can imagine that he was pretty surprised when he got called to Thailand! I'm so excited to get there!
President Hinckley said that there would one day be a temple in Thailand, and the church already has the property. It's sad because while there are enough members on record there to build the Bangkok temple, there aren't enough ACTIVE members. I really think that is part of why I am going- so that we can get the temple built. I realize that temples are such a blessing, and so many sacrifices must be made in order for them to be built.
On Sunday we watched, "The Mountain of the Lord." I really enjoyed it, and it really made me realize that those who built the Salt Lake temple really built it for their posterity for all generations of time and eternity to be able to recieve saving ordinances. Temples are SUCH blessings. We went to the Provo temple today, and Elder Heap and I were proxys for children in sealings and we were witnesses. That was a really great experience. I had never had the pleasure of doing that kind of temple work before. I really liked it.
There are eight Elders in my district, no sisters. But we are so lucky because we have incredible teachers. Brother Miles from Pennsylvania, and Sister Wongwiraophaab from BANGKOK!! It's awesome to have a native Thai for a teacher. She knows SO much and wants to teach us all that she can. She shares great stories about the people and she even told us the conversion story of her family! It was so great to hear that in Thailand true conversions do happen. Since the people don't even know who God is, we have to teach basic principles such as, God is a person, He has a body, and so on. There is a lot of work to do there.
Well I'm running low on time, but I love you all very much! Please keep writing. It helps more than you think. You are all in my prayers. Stay safe! Stay true to each other, and true to the faith. Don't be like Lot and pitch your tents towards Sodom, but be as the people of King Benjamin and pitch your tents towards the temple. Again, I love you all very much, and can't wait to hear from you soon!
Love,
Elder Todd
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