December 30, 2008

Dear Family,

It was so great to hear from you on Christmas day! Yeah the connection was bad, but I could actually hear you guys really well, it didn't break here, but I will share with you some of the things that have happened over the past fews days. So on Christmas day, all the Bangkok zones got together on a boat and we got to have a christmas party while floating down the Chao Praya River through Bangkok. I am sending pictures of some of the shrines we passed by and cool lokking boats. It was a lot of fun, we did a white elephant christmas exchange, and President Dodge's son, who just returned from a mission in Germany/Austria mission came to the party. I asked him later if he had been to Graz and met the Suppons and he said he had so that was cool.

Well anyway, I got the package you guys sent with the pants and the charger and food, that was great to get on Christmas day. I opened the package you guys sent earlier, thanks so much for everything in it, and I think the portable ping pong set and Blokus is awesome! Elder Jones and I are going to the church today to play for a little while. Oh, he liked the Kokomo Tshirt, he wears it to bed everynight. Gr. and Gr. Webb sent a Christmas package and they sent a string of Christmas lights that I added to your felt tree. That was great. I sent a picutre of it. I recieved a package from Gramps and Nana with beef jerky and and candy, that was great to get. And i recieved several gifts from Elder Jones's family, like a bike light and a bike seat cushion, so i will write them and thank them. Christmas was a lot of fun!

Well here in Bangna we have a couple progressing investigators that we are teaching. We are still teaching Wiroon, we are able to meet with him frequently in the evenings, and he is reading and praying alot, but we are still trying to get him to come to church. the investigators are out of town for new years so we wont see them for a few days. other than that, we are actually having a hard time finding people to teach. we have done a lot of inviting over the last several days, but thats pretty much all that we have been doing because most of our investgators are out of town. So Elder Jones had an idea yesterday day and we went out and did it. We have a huge stack of Liahona issues in Thai from over the past several months, and we went around to local shops, and left them on top of the magazine stacks in the waiting rooms of these shops. We taped information flyers on the back of them, so if anybody reads the magazines and wants to learn more, they can call us. so we will see what happens. We just need to keep finding and talking to people.As far as study goes, i have been reading in the Book of Mormon, and right now i am in Mosiah 21, near the end of the record of Zeniff. Other things that I do for study includes reading from the ensigns and liahonas(we have so many here at the house) and keeping a study journal, and I write down thoughts about various things I study in the morning, like Christlike attributes, the Atonement and what it means to me, and thoughts about ways to be a better missionary, and while I was writing some of these things down, I had an idea of, rather than just writing down thoughts, put them in the form of a question, and ask myself these things throughout the day. So, I made a card with the following questions: What is your attitude like today? What hymn are you thinking about today? Have you learned 10 new vocab words today? Did you consider Doctrine and Covenants 58:27 today? How many people did you talk to today? Did you boldly share your testimony today? Did you remember the name of Christ today? Are you striving to fulfill your daily goals? Did you compliment your companion today? Are you standing up tall today? So I carry this card around, and when it feels like the day is starting to drag, I look at this card and remind myself that I need to be talking to more people and boldly sharing the gospel with Bang-na. This mission is fun but very hard at times, but I am striving to have a positive attitude. So if you guys have any suggestions of how to keep going, write back about any ideas you have. Well, Im sending more pictures of the christmas party and around Bang-na. Thanks for all of your support, I wish I had more right now. Oh, about two weeks ago, Elder Jones and I were really sick, and I had a really deep voice, I could sing all the way down to a really low C. Elder Jones and I did a switch off one day with the zone leaders, so I got to go to Asoge for a night that was a lot of fun, I'll tell you guys about that in the next email. it was great, but I'm out of time! I'll send pictures.

Love Elder Schulte

December 9, 2008

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for the pictures, That picture of Drew Hansen (dressed as a tree) and Michael (with Winter Dance date, Amanda) is so funny, oh my gosh!!! That must have been a fun night! Well this week went well, the moves meeting is tomorrow, and I found out yesterday that Elder Jones and I will be in Bang-na for 6 more weeks. Sister Bileen will be moving somewhere else, but we dont know where yet.I sent a package full of letters for the family and the Thai letter for Paige to take to her class, also there is a CD full of pictures, from the MTC, and from my first 6 weeks in Bang-na. One of the letters in the package is an explanation of some of the pictures. The Elephant pictures and videos are on there too. So we have had many appointments this week with investigators and recent converts. A new investigator, Nooii, came to church this week. He is really cool, he has been reading and praying alot lately, and we have had several visits with him already. Wiroon is progressing alot since seeing the Finding Faith in Christ video. We havent seen Chatchay in a few days because he is out of town. I liked all the pictures of Austria you sent that are so cool and I recognize all those places. Well, not much else right now, I will keep an eye out for the packages. thanks so much!LoveElder Schulte

12/3/08 Elephant on the Loose!

Hey Everyone!Its been a great week, there are a lot of things that went on. First off, Both airports (Don Muang and Surinaphom) are both closed because the anti government group have taken them over, along with several goverment buildings. It just so happens that Surinaphom airport is in our area, about 6-7 miles from our house. On Friday night Elder Jones and I were on our way back from an appointment when we got a call from the zone leaders saying that all the missionaries need to be in their houses by 8:00 because the situation at the airports was getting out of control. The Thai army and police force were on their way to the airports to try and get them out. But the "yellow group" (the name for the antigovernment group) Has held the airport for several days, and I dont really know whats happening there now, because apparently the airports are supposed to open up really soon, the yellow group must be running out of food or something. Well, thats whats going on with that, but the missionaries arent in any danger. There have been no planes in the sky over this area for the last few days, only military helicopters. All flights and military planes have gone to other airports throughout Thailand .

Well many funny things have happened, Elder Jones and I are inviting a lot of people, and we have made many return appointments in the last few days, and have several new investigators. One of our investigators was baptized last week, and will be confirmed this coming sunday. The Sister missionaries in our district have 2 baptisms coming up real soon. Elder Jones likes to mess with people he meets, so what he does is go up to people and speak to them in english, and pretend that he is a foreigner who cant speak Thai. He will speak to them in english and say stuff like "Hello, what is your name?" and they will say something in Thai, and he will respond with something in english like "I cant understand Thai, can you speak english?" and they will try to speak english, and then he will start speaking in Thai and say "hah, just kidding i speak Thai." and they're all blown away that a "farang" can speak with them in extremely good Thai. So he has had some fun with that.

Well, last night Elder Jones and I were riding home from an appointment, and on the way we stopped at a store to make copies of some flyers. so we pull our bikes up to the curb, and the following conversation went like this:E. Jones: "Hey Elder Schulte, wanna see an elephant?"E Schulte:"Yeah I wanna see an elepant!"E Jones: "well turn around, there is an elphant behind you."E. Schulte:"hah, yeah right"( i thought he was just joking)E. Jones:"Well you said you wanted to see an elephant, so turn around and see the elephant"E.Schulte:"Yeah, like theres really an elephant behind me"E.Jones: "Yeah turn around and find out"E.Schulte:"Sure right what ever"OHMYGOSH!!!! THERE'S A GUY RIDING A FREAKIN ELEPHANT DOWN LASAN STREET!!!!!so i jump off the bike, and am like"we gotta go get pictures of it!!!!!!"So we go make copies and then, (OK this part Beth added from an email from William's mission companion's mom- William said, "Elder Jones let's go follow it, I HAVE to get a picture" So we started to go down the street and after about 10 meters the elephant started to cross the street and went right in between the two of us. He hurried and stopped, parked his bike and went running after it, handing to me his camera case as innocent as could be of where he had just parked his bike. As he was getting a video/picture of the elephant, I watched him(behind me) and the bike 20 meters or so in front of me from a safe distance. He came back with some great pictures and a awesome video of the elephant eating an entire stalk/bunch of bananas whole. And then after showing me, I said..."Well that's great but do you realize where you just parked your bike?" and he said..."yeah right there why?"...and I said "Well it's right in front of a 'sawng' " and he replied "What's a 'sawng?' " And then he turned around and saw all the flashing Christmas lights and ran and grabbed his bike and we got out of there. Anyways, we still can't stop laughing about the story. Holy cow! (Note from Mom, we still have no idea what a "sawng" is.)

Well, Thanksgiving was great! we went and ate with an american family(church members) in Bangkok, The Beck family is staying in Thailand because bro. beck works at the embassy in Bangkok. They have 3 kids. it was a lot of fun, there were other missionaries that came over, including Elder Volk, who was in the group ahead of me in the mtc. Dinner was wonderful, and dessert was great but the pumpkin pie didnt have any flavor, but we didn't say anything. One of the boys said"Mom this pumpkinpie doesnt have any flavor!" Sis Beck: "Oh, honey! thats because your dad made it!" Well, we had a great time, they are such a nice family, and I gave Sis Beck, your email address Mom, and she said she would send pictures of dinner sometime, I don't know if she's done that yet.

The blog sounds great! I've gotten letters from the Webbs, and I will respond to those soon! Yeah, encourage everybody( family, friends) to write letters. I enjoy responding to all mail. I havent gotten the 5 letters yet, but they will be coming soon. I am anxious to get the newsletter.

I study hard each day in scriptures and language, and as i talk to more people my ablilty to communicate in Thai increases. The spirit has been really strong, and I know that if I keep trying hard, the Lord will help me to be able to speak even better as the mission progresses.I found out that i can take my memory cards to a local store and they will put them onto a CD, so i will send you a CD full of pictures and videos, including pictures and videos of the elephant. I really like reading the general conference issues of the Ensign and Liahona. we are able to get them here, and i have some from previous conferences too. they are so good!!! and i would highly encourage you guys to read and ponder the issues of the last 3 conferences, they are extremely good issues,and i find myself reading a little bit from them each nightI saw that Elder Joseph B. Worthlin Died yesterday, do you know who they will call next? Keep me informed. Thanks for all your prayers and support, I feel like my prayers have been answers in recieving help and guidance and that the spirit works and prompts in many unusual ways, but we must listen when it does. Love you all!!!-Elder Schulte

Write Me!

Missionaries love to get news from home and
I'd love to hear from you! You can write me at:

Elder William Christopher Schulte
Thailand Bangkok Mission
50/829-832 Muang Thong Thani
Chaengwatana Road, T. Ban Mai
A. Pakkret, 11120
THAILAND

Or, you can send an email to me care of
my mom, Beth, at: dkbbschulte@aol.com
and she'll pass it on to me. I print email out
each Wed. and answer by snail mail! I have
only 30 minutes a week on computer so I
write a general letter to my parents and they
pass it on to everyone.
I have time each day for writing letters
though so if you write, watch your mail!

Latest News from Bang-na (11/26/08)

Hey All,

Yeah there is rioting in Bangkok, its been going
on for a few months, but yesterday it was
especially bad. The Pro goverment groups and
Anti goverment groups are at war with each other
on the streets, and one of the taxi drivers told
us yesterday that the airport was closed for a day
so the leaders of the riots could not leave the
country. There have been several car bombs, and
many people have been killed and injured in the
last few months. The mission is safe though, but
missionaries can't go to that area right now. I
haven't seen any of this for real, but it is all
over the news. But we are safe where we are, we're
not real worried about it. Dont be scared.

Well just the usual in Bang-na. We are in the
Lumpini Disrict of Bangkok today for preparation
day, before email, Elder Jones and I went to a
zone activity at the church building in Asoge
and just played some games for a while with the
zone members.  We ate Sri Lankan food today, it
was great!

Yesterday was really busy, we went all over
Bang-na to various return appointments, and
I was exhausted by the end, we played soccer
with a local moving crew that was on break.
We played with them for a little while, and
gave them all pass along cards! Later we had
an appointment with Wiroon, an investigator,
whom we've visited several times. He hadn't
been reading or praying very much, but we
watched the Finding Faith in Christ DVD with
him last night, and at the end of the film,
he was just speechless, and in Thai He said,
"I am going to really pray  tonight, because
I do have Faith in Jesus Christ!" So that was
really cool, The Spirit was really strong
there last night. We had a baptism on Sunday
for Ohm, a 9 year old, Elder Jones had started
teaching him before i got here.  His family
had been less active for a while, but they
have started to come back to church again,
so i have a picture of him and the family. I
am going to load a bunch of pictures here now.

I am still having a hard time understanding
Thailand Thai, but President Dodge said that
it is normal for the first few weeks. I
really hope this phase passes soon.  But I am
having a great time here, this country is so
awesome, the people are great, and the food
is great!

Oh, we will have a zone thanksgiving party on
Thurday with some other missionaries in the
zone so that will be fun.  So Thats whats going
on. Thanks for keeping me updated on things at
home! Oh how did marching band go this year?
Could you send some pictures of my trees too?
Are they still alive? If they didnt make it,
thats okay!  Im putting pictures onto Kodak
gallery right now, Thanks for all your support!
I'd love to hear from everyone.

Love,  William