Week 12

Sometimes I feel like I'm in a city that was built for much smaller people because of the low doorways or signs or sawng tao roofs. 

People here like American styles and traditions. Sometimes we see t-shirts with funny, odd, or offensive sayings on them. People wear them because they look cool, but they have no idea what they mean.

Concerning baht: that's the currency here. ~30 baht=1 dollar. So, when we pay someone 5 baht for a sawng tao ride (as I mentioned last week), that's about 15 cents.

My area is one big road with many small roads branching off of it for small businesses and residence. We see the most people along the big road, so that is where we contact. Up and down this road for hours every day. It's fun.

We keep setting up appointments and they keep falling through. My companion told me that one time, assuming that people wouldn't show, he set up 8 appointments for 5:00 PM, another 8 for 6:00, and another 6 for 7:00. They waited at the church, and called people to remind them...and didn't teach a single lesson. Whew, that's been a bit of a struggle.

The work for Thailand is changing. The Thailand Bangkok mission used to be a totally different place, but changed under the last couple mission presidents. That led to almost 2,000 baptisms last year. Now we have about 2,000 part-member families, so the family is our focus. We're going to start taking the gospel to their homes and families. We're stressing family history and eternal families through the temple. That's a blessing that no other church or organization can promise, and it's something that someone with Buddhist beliefs never thought could happen. I'm excited.

The sisters committed a decepticon to a baptism date. High props to them. sHe committed to stop taking hormones and go back to being a guy (she hasn't had a surgery yet). It's really neat to see when people recognize the good of the gospel and use the atonement to bring about real change.

I ate a cube of congealed chicken blood yesterday. It was actually really tasty, but there's still a bit of mental resistance at the knowledge of what I'm actually eating.

One recent convert started talking about school, and how he was struggling in math. So I taught a 19 year old basic algebra that he wasn't getting in school. He was so excited when it started clicking. I always knew that I was fortunate, but now I'm starting to appreciate it on a new level. I'm so grateful to have grown up with so many blessings and opportunities, and the life it enables me to have later on.

Thanks to everyone. Emailing time is short, so I'm sorry if I can't respond to everyone. I appreciate hearing from back home though.

Elder Parish