Heading to Bangkok for Moves 11/11/09

Hey family!
We are in Ubon today, Elder Jenkins is moving from Yasothon, so we packed up all his stuff, got on the back of a truck and hauled it all down to Ubon because we are going to get on a train tonight, you know the drill!
Its been a really great time with Elder Jenkins in Yaso, and a lot of changes are happening in the mission. No special calls for me on Tuesday, just that E. Jenkins was leaving, so I will be back on Friday (in Yaso) with a new companion. The members are all anxious to see who it is! A big group is leaving (heading back to the states) this moves, along with some people leaving early from the next group. I enjoyed the article you sent about the Thai group that came in. I know one of those sisters from Ubon, its really cool to see members you know become missionaries! When I was in Bangna, there was a Thai sister in my district, and when I came to Ubon, she had just finished her mission and moved home to Ubon! Small world huh!
Well anyway, this Thai group is really awesome.

We have a few hours before we get on the train, so I am going to write some letters, and answer those questions! Riding on the truck coming here today was really cool. This region looks amazing during this season. Farmers are out gathering up rice, especially for the next 2 months or so, and someone we know who works at the food market next to the city hall asked us last night if we wanted to go try gathering rice sometime. I've wanted to do that for a while, so when I come back with my new companion, we’re gonna go do that. When I was in Ubon with Elder Volk, we got to go transplant rice crops, which means you take the grown rice plant and transfer them to another area of the field. Way fun! Rice is a big deal here, a ton of people I've talked to lately have been like “yeah, Im going to work out in the fields, it’s the big harvest of the year!”
Have you guys ever read “Articles of Faith” by James E. Talmage? Great book!

Well. I’ll go ahead and try to answer some of your questions. Yeah, we ride bikes pretty much everywhere; to members houses, our area covers the city and basically this entire jungwat, but we are not able to go super far, so we work mostly in the city and in the surounding area outside of the city.
We ride on the left side of the road. That’s how driving works in Thailand, and people drive cars that have the steering wheel on the right side. The city is kinda small, there is some modern stuff. You can hear the sounds of loud cars and motorcycles (people really like to soup up the vehicles here). Its sometimes smelly in the city, outside of the city is kinda quiet, especially out at the cemetery, and the Branch President's farm. Hey, a ton of Thai students came in. This pace is getting really busy, so I'm gonna have to go here pretty soon, so I will print out the email ,and answer the rest of these questions in a letter. Love you all!
Take care guys!
-Elder Schulte

News from Yasothan 10/28/09

Hey!

So here are some answers to your questions:
1. The couple missionaries that came actually came just to inspect the house. This is the responsibility of the financial secretary and his wife. They go around the country to various missionary houses and inspect them.
2. I think that Warin and the Yasothon city are about the same size. We eat out alot. Food is so cheap here, and a big thing here in Thailand are the Rans(food stand/restaurants along the side of the road), which serve really cheap but really good food.
3. There are differences in the food between this part of Thailand and the Bangkok area. Just like the language, I mean, the people in Bangkok like to eat certain things, that alot of people in this region don't really make. I've been wanting to meet up with some members on a p-day and have them teach us how to make Thai food, but I havent taken the time to do it yet.
4. The mission has a teaching program for members and basically anyone that wants to learn English. The classes are every Wednesday night at 6:30 and go for about an hour and a half. They are free and anyone can come. This is the set time basically for all the wards and branches. Class sizes vary, in Ubon, there were probably about 80 that came every wednesday, and we divided it into 3 classes, for each companionship. Here, there are about 15-20 that come each week.
So Diaw, is the friend from Ubon I was telling you about a while ago, he was trying to get in contact with you on facebook, mom. He is from Ubon, he's trying to get into BYU-Hawaii. Really cool guy! He speaks english pretty well. I thnk he might want some help finding college info. See what he is up to!

We had a sweet lesson with Peng, Yuu's wife, the other day, and she is on fire right now, and will be baptized by the end of the month, like i said, they have both changed alot, and she has been reading and praying alot, some thing she really hasn't done until recently, when she cut ties with her other church.

Yeah, I know Elder Willey. He's a really funny guy. I'm going to miss him alot. There are alot of people going home at the end of this transfer who I'm really going to miss.

Thanks so much for everything!

Oh, the Buckwalter's Baby will be a boy, born Feb 11th, 7:30 pm, 7lbs, 20 inches, and for a boy, "Jacob", for a girl "Rachel".
Thanks guys! Take care!
-Elder Schulte

Great time in Yasothon 10/21/09

Hey Family,

Thanks so much for your last letter. So, do you guys have any questions about
anything in the mission,in Thailand,or anything? I think I might have missed
some questions in past letters so if there are any, ask away, I'll start making
answering questions become the first part of the letter.

That story about the family in Colorado is way funny, but they both must be
pretty dimwitted to not second think something like that. Its still pretty
funny. It looks like football has been going great, I bet you're both pretty
excited to have it be over. I have really enjoyed your pictures. So Mike what
do you want to study at BYU? I have a letter coming to you and James pretty
soon.

We had a huge project at the cemetary last Saturday. A ton of members from the
district came to help, even some members I know from Ubon. It was really cool to
see them again. We got a lot done, and were there kinda late. So. this past
Sunday was the baptism of PiiYuu, it went really well!, Afterwards, Piipeng came up
and was like, "I want to be baptized too". Its so awesome! Their countenances have
changed since commiting do learn and be baptized. I remember the first night I
came to Yasothon. We went to visit them at the dalad(market), and they had
already been learning a while with elders. I went to introduce myself to
Peng and she was kinda like "uh yeah, uh religion, heh..." and then we went to
set a time to come visit them during that week, and she turned to Yuu and was
like "yuu! the frangs wanna come over some time" and he's like "huh? why?!" Since then, they have been going uphill, we went and taught them, we brought
a member over who is best friends with Peng, and has been a huge influence
on helping them get to this point. They are so much happier, you can see it so
clearly, I'm serious! Yuu is a really funny guy, and last night we went over and
made pasta with them, because they've never had pasta before, and we sat down,
ate, and had a great time with them. We also taught Peng and the little sister
of Sister Maam, there that night. Her younger sister has been
learning, her name is Nongmae, and we gave both Nongmae and Peng a commitment
to be baptized on Nov 29. And they both accepted.

This morning has been alright, but things that have happened here have
really made it clear, the necessity of fulfilling the goal that we have
set for this area, which is less dependancy on missionaries for everything.
Some calls that took place this morning really solidified that goal that
we have. Its kinda crazy, but a perfect example of why places like Ubon,
Sisagate, Mahasarakham, are working machines and now have church buildings,
because members do their part.

So that's about it, Elder Jenkins is going to send you a picture of PiiYuu
just before he got baptized, and also a picture of us at the cemetary at the
end of the day. Thanks for everything, I love you guys alot, Take care guys!

-Elder Schulte

Sisagate Birthday and tons of Ice Cream 9/15/09

Hey!

Yesterday was a zone lesson/sports activity in sisagate. It was lots of fun. We
met up in Ubon the night before, and then went to sisagate the next day. Elder
Jenkins birthday is on the 18th, so we ate pizza and ice cream in Ubon Monday
night with the new Ubon district. Elder Jenkins ate 20 scoops of ice cream in
celebrating turning 20! Holy Cow! He was pretty sick after 15! Anyway, Elder
Volk is doing well. He and his trainee are doing great, but in their area, it has really narrowed down to about 3 investigators, since I was there,
which means that PawDome was dropped. He really wasn't getting it. And now they
are teaching and preparing to baptize Narain and Nongyao, and also Gung, the
science/math teacher. I hope that goes well.

So this week, up to today, things have been kinda occupied with going to
Sisagate. Yesterday was P-day (preparation day), and so today we are going to go work.

last week we met up with Pii Yuu at the place that he and his wife sell food, As
we were talking to him, out of nowhere, and after telling us a little while ago
that he really has a desire to be baptized, but is just not ready, he said, "Hey I think I want to do it, I think i want to
give baptism a shot!" So, right there we explained we want him to come to church
the next 3 Sundays, and that we can schedule a baptism for October 11th.
hesaid, "okay, I'll do it!" Wow! He told us that he wants to do it. PiiPeng is
not ready, but he feels he is. So when he is baptized, he can be a huge
influence on Peng in getting baptized.

So, continue to pray for this family. Nam Thip has a baptism coming up on the
27th. She is the wife of one of the members, and the Elders here have been
teaching her for a while. It's really cool. She'll be a great member of the church.

The 2 brothers, Nung and Sude, we haven't seen this week, and they didn't come to church last week, but we'll swing by today and see how they are doing. We played
basketball with them and some of their Thai and Filipino buddies last week and
that was fun! That's about all that's going on right now. Thanks for all of your
support! expect letters real soon!
-Elder Schulte

Work Continues 9/9/09

Hey Guys!
The investigators are solid! There are 2 brothers, Sude and Nung, that we
are teaching. They both own their own food stands next to each other on the
side of the road, and we have been teaching these guys for the last few weeks.
They are legit, especially, Sude! These guys are really ee-san. (What that means
is, "really eastern Thai", like talking about food, weather,
fishing, and its cool. Last night we were teaching, and Pii Nung was
saying, "Wait, I don't understand what this scripture means", and Pii Sude would be
like "cmon man, it means this and..." and Elder Jenkins and I were like
"yeah...sweet!". Especially after we read 1 Nephi 10:19 together, and Sude said, "wait, so if I really diligently search these scriptures, God will really
help me to understand what they mean, right?" and we said, "yeah!" So he's on
track and they both have committed to come to church on Sunday.
PiiPeng and PiiYuu are great, they came to church this past Sunday, and members
just flocked to them! I was sitting at the Piano bench and they came in after
the sacrament was done being passed. All of a sudden 2 members got up and
immediately went over and sat down by them and they had a blast, especially Pii
Yuu. We met with them on Tuesday, and that's something that Yuu really enjoyed,
how friendly the members are. Elder Jenkins and I were thinking about how
awesome the priesthood quorum would be here with the 2 brothers Sude and Nung,
and then Pii Yuu, and with several other male members here, that would be the
most ee-san priesthood quorum in the world! They would all be great fishing
buddies! Man, more than that, it will be really awesome to see Pii yuu's family as
a part of this church real soon.
Sorry I'm just kinda throwing random things in here now. Elder Jenkins, my companion,sleep
talks. The other night was really funny. He was singing! I couldn't sleep very well, so I just kinda stayed up and started talking to him. He started talking about juices you get from 7-11 like Deedo(an orange juice) so it went like this:
J:umph
S:Elder Jenkins?
J:Deedo
S:Deedo?
J:Y-Ya know you (snort) get it from 7-11(snort)
S:you like deedo?
J:I like deedo
S: Well, what about grape juice?
J:Yeah, I...Like it too..
(Then i just made something random up)
S: So what do you think about waffle juice?
J:We all know that that's(snort) absolutely ridiculous...

Latest from Yasothon 9/2/09

Hi,
I am doing okay, but I am having a hard time gaining weight. I think it is just because of a high metabolism rate. and riding a bike all day, but I'm really going to try hard to gain weight. I'm tired of being at this same level. (Does anyone have suggestions?)

Last week was zone conference in Kongaen. President Smith focused on Visions, Goals and Plans, meaning; What is your vision for the area you are in? What are your goals to make that vision come to life? what are your plans to fulfill those goals, and we put together a vision for Yasothon and goals and plans for this vision.

In the future we want to see a church building here in YasoThon, just like how the branch in Ubon has one. What is it going to take to have a church building here in the future? It is going to take an increased weekly attendance, strong priesthood, members fulfilling their callings, and a larger flow of tithing. Right now, this branch is struggling with all these things, including a weekly attendance of about 20-30 people each week, and the priesthood quorum is very weak here. Many members don't fulfill their callings, including the 2 councilors to the branch president. So we are going to really work on bringing in new people to the branch, and strengthen the priesthood here, and increase attendance here, because there are about 200 members in Yaso, and only about 30 come to church each week. So, thats what we have been working on, is trying to strengthen this branch.

Now, concerning investigators. This principle of visions, goals, and plans has been great to use for investigators too. We have a family that we are teaching, and the missionaries have been teaching them for a while. The fathers name is Yuu, and the mother is Paeng, and they have 3 sons. They are in pretty poor circumstances. They sell little bread rolls for a living at a market at night. When Elder Jenkins and Elder Day first met them, they committed them to not work on Sunday, and promised that, if they stopped working on Sunday, they would be blessed with great business the rest of the week. That promise was fulfilled, and according to Elder Jenkins, Paeng said that after not working on Sunday that one week, they had a spectacular week of business, and were very happy. From then on they had come to church and were progressing really well. But, then they kinda stopped and they went back to how they were before. Well, it turns out that Paeng had been attending another church before that had been telling her to stop going to the mormon church and stop praying because it was bad. And Paeng has been kinda scared to cut ties with that other church. So its been kinda hard, because they are really nice, and they like meeting with us, but she's kinda stuck with that other church. So, we focused on him, and encouraged him to at least come, and he's like, "okay I'll come", but hasn't yet. So last week we went over to their house and (before I go on, at Zone conference President Smith talked about teaching about the Joseph Smith experience, and when you get to the end and the spirit is very strong, stop right there, and let it sink in.) So we did that, and promised that they can pray to know these things are true, by praying to know about Joseph Smith and if he is a true prophet. And she was like whoa... and she couldnt stop looking at the Joseph smith picture in the pamplet, and you could really tell that she wanted to know if it was true. And then we talked about going to church, and we told them both about how we know that at this time, they are not able to go to church, but that there are other ways to keep the Sabbath Day holy, like not buying things on Sunday, or even working on Sunday. So, we committed them both to stop work on Sunday, just like all the other times, and they were like "okay, we'll do it".

Well, Sunday rolled around and it was a normal day. Only one investigator showed up to church, the wife of a member, and she has a baptismal date for the 20th of this month, so we'll be really htting the teaching hard to get her ready, and she will be intervied next week, so its pretty sweet. Her name is Nawmtib. Paeng and Yuu didn't come, and on the way home we passed by the market and there they were selling like usual.

So yesterday, we went to visit them, and I'm not mad or anything, never be mad at investigators, but be sad when they dont keep commitments. So we had somedam, have I talked about any Thai food yet? Its shredded papaya, and with thai chili peppers, and sometimes has shrimp in it , but its pretty good, its a dish that comes from this region of Thailand. So while we ate, we talked about visions, goals and plans. And we talked about how we have a vision for this area, and what it all encompasses as far as goals and plans, and then used that as a comparison to what it's going to take Yuu and his family to reach their potential. They want to be able to get back to their Heavenly Father, what's it going to take? Well, its going to take, stopping bad habits, which Yuu has already quit, so that's way cool, but what else? Its going to take keeping the commandments, like being baptized, and going to church, and they are going to try again, so we will see what happens. This family is really nice, and has a lot of potential, and I am excited to see them fulfill their commitment. Pray for them as they work to reach the potential they have.

Well, thats whats going on lately, we've been doing some service for members, yesterday morning we went to help a member lay cement, and that was fun, but really messy. Also, I hadn't mentioned it yet I dont think, but we have a Filipino investigator, his name is Bryan, and it has been an interesting experience teaching him. I will write more about that next week, so expect a letter this week.

Today is P-day. I went and got my shoes repaired, and we are probably gonna go to the church here soon because I have to practice piano a little bit. I've been playing for the congregation on Sundays. I can't read music very well, so perfect pitch (thanks Grandma Linda) and knowing how the songs go has come in real handy.

GodSpeed!
-Elder Schulte

Welcome to Yasothon! 8/19/09

Hey guys!

So I am in a place called Yasothon(Yah-soo-tawn).
It is about an hour and a half north of UbonRatchatani.
The moves meeting was great! It was a long train ride
there and back, but it was a good day. Like I said last
week, we didn't have it at the usual place in Pakkret,
but in Bangkain, another part of Bangkok. President Smith
had the entire mission come down to Bangkok. There are 13
new missionaries. Elder Volk is training one of them in Warin,
and Elder Wright is training another in Ubon.

It was really weird getting called to Yasothon, first off,
because it is in the same zone, second of all(this will take
some explaining), the Yasothon elders usually come down to Ubon
in order to go to Bangkok, because the end of the trainline in
this part off the country stops in Warin. So when I was in Warin
we would see the "Yaso" Elders occasionally. Well, we all went
down to Bangkok together,the 6 Ubon elders and the 2 Yaso Elders.
As we were riding in a truck to the train station, I was looking
at all the sights and stuff on the way there and thinking, man
I'll probably not see these places for a long time. Well, we get
to Bangkok, and at the moves meeting I find out that I'm going
to Yasothon with Elder Jenkins. Wow, yeah!!! Wait a minute! That
means I will be going back to Ubon/Warin first! Agh man, so I
brought my bicycle, guitar and 2 super heavy suitcases all the way
down to Bangkok, just to bring them all the way back? Agh!!! Oh well,
I did get to see some of the places I left in Warin again, because
we came back with the new Ubon district and dropped them off at
their house first before getting in a songtaw (a pickup truck with
2 benches in the back)to go to Yasothon.

Elder Jones and his group are leaving today. I got to catch up
with him one last time, and got pictures with him. His group was
really awesome.

Yasothon, like I said, is an hour north of Ubon. It's a small
jangwat, but it is a nice little town. I am the district leader
here. It is just Elder Jenkins and me. We are the only missionaries
in this area. Ubon is about 100 km from here. They are the next
closest missionaries, but no problem. Elder Jenkins is in the group
below me (came into the MTC after William's group), so I am the "Pee"
(senior companion), but he knows the area really well, so I am
learning alot from him about this place. He is a really hard worker,
and he's been helping me with my Thai alot as well. Its really fun
working with him.

The Branch is very small. There are about 200 members in this
jangwat, but last week about 40 people showed up to church. Elder
Jenkins says that is the max that they have had in a long time. We
are like the branch president's stand in counselors, since the 2
"called" councilors don't really come or help. There is kind of a
problem among the Priesthood here, so we are going to really work to
strengthen them. That's about all that's going on right now. There
are some really solid investigators here, and last night we set a
date with one of them for October.

Well, I predict to be here until probably February. This is a really
awesome opportunity to get to work and improve my language alot more
than ever before.
I'm a senior companion now. Sweet!
Take care!
-Elder Schulte

8/12/09 Ready to Move Again!

Hey guys!

So we are going to Bangkok today, our district gets on the train about 6:30 tonight. So guess what, alot of changes. We are not going to Pakkret, but to a place in Bangkok called Bang-Kain, and that is where the moves meeting will be at. I am moving, after being in Warin since April, its time to move again, I'm really going to miss this place, its been great, it is a way nice part of the country. Well, I wont get to see any of these guys get baptized, but PawDome has a date for August 30, and Narain and Nongyaow came to church last week for the first time, and got to see the sister missionaries' investigator get baptized. Yes! I will miss them alot! Narain is a very funny man. They are progressing well, they are understanding really well, as well as Pawdome, he has been to church 4 times now. Man, I will miss this place. We have met a lot of awesome people lately, in our efforts to find more investigators. And that is going great. I really wish I was hanging around longer to see the progress of some of these guys.

Well, I don't know where I am going. Yesterday morning, when the calls were being made, Elder Volk got a call to be a trainer (they work with new missionaries), and then President Smith had him hand the phone over to me for a special calling. I will let you guys know next week how it goes, when I am in my new area. Stay tuned for next week.

It was raing alot here the last several weeks in particular, and when it hasn't been raining, the weather has just been kinda grey, but the sun is coming out today, so no problem.

Today is mothers day here in Thailand. Happy Mothers day mom!

Thanks for all your prayers and support. I am really going to try and kick it up a notch, I have alot of work to do for this next chapter in the mission.
GodSpeed.
-Elder Schulte

Open House News 7/22/09

Hey guys!

All is well here. I just got a letter from Brother Mugg and Sister Phipps containing colored pictures from some of the primary children. That was really nice of them! Thanks so much guys!

Well things are great here. Yesterday was zone conference. We had it at the building here in Ubon, so the whole zone came to Ubon. We had a great session with President Smith and the assistants, and during break, while we were cleaning up and everybody was filing back in to the chapel, 2 of our investigators showed up at the church out of the blue. We showed them the baptismal font and explained how baptism works, and gave them a little tour of the building. PawNarain and MaaNongyaw both have a baptismal date for August 9th, and it was so cool that they just randomly showed up at the church. They are both going to be great!

In preparation for the open house, the members and the missionaries made some displays and visuals to show the people who'd come. They wanted some bamboo to use for some of the visuals, so we got in the back of a pickup with some members, rode out to one of the most remote parts of Warin, and chopped down giant bamboo poles with kitchen knifes. It was sweet, and Elder Volk and I afterwards thought, "man this is sooooo asian, sweet!"

The open house was great. It ended up being more for strengthening members, because none of our investigators came, but it was still a really great experience. Members from the different jungwats in the Pac Isan came to it, and the Stake President came as well. I thought this was very interesting. The current Stake President, President Wisit, was taught and baptized by President Smith when he served here almost 40 years ago. We gave away alot of material, Books of Mormon, Restoration, Plan of Salvation, gospel pamphlets, and alot of Liahona Magazines. It was a great turn out of people. Oh! that reminds me! Do you recognize the name Joanna Hunter? She served a mission in Thailand and got home (to Purdue) about 4 months before I got my call. Well, she showed up at the open house the other day! It was really cool. Small world, huh.

So I saw images of the eclipse on the news, but not in real time, sorry, that would have been spectacular to see! Last november there was an astronomical event where the moon and two planets(or stars, I can't remember) aligned to form a smiley face, and the Thai people really got a kick out of that. There was also a solar eclipse in December as well, but we didn't have glasses, so we couldnt really look at it.

Very nice about all the weddings going on, time flies fast. Its good to see that they are all happy. That's really great! Thanks for all your support!
-Elder Schulte

Note from Mom... I've included an excerpt from our family letter that I thought was neat.

"PawDome came to church last week. Teaching him is going well, he was having some trouble sayings prayers as far as getting the sequence right. One evening last week, we explained the order of saying the prayer, with first starting out by saying " Heavenly Father..." next "Phuud-dam-jai" which means Speak according to your heart, and then "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen". So, we had him practice that, but instead of that order, he proceeded to say "Heavenly father, in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen", and looked up with a big smile and said, "was that it?" and Elder Volk was like, "um close. Between 'Heavenly Father' and 'in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen', you have to speak according to your heart, say what you are thankful for, and ask for blessings, so lets try again." "okay okay, Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Thank you for all the..." and proceeded to say the prayer. When he was done, he asked "How was that?" and we said, "um keep working on that."
So, when we met with him last night, we had him say the closing prayer, and it started out with "Heavenly Father..." and a ten second pause as we anticipated what was coming next. But, then he said, "Thank you for..." and proceeded to say it in the right order, yes!!! So that's good now, he's got it."

Lots of Changes 7/15/09

Hey Everyone,

Its time to write about the adventures of the past week.
Elder Palmer moved to ChangRai. It is an area in northern Thailand. Elder Wiser died. Well, not really, its just a missionary term that means that he finished his mission, and went home to Kaysville Utah. Man, he is an awesome guy! Elder Webb is here in Ubon with his new companion, and I am still in Warin with mine.

Last Tuesday, we had our showcase night for English class, and we played kickball, which was alot of fun. A lot of Thai poeple have never played before, but they like baseball, so they had a pretty good idea how to play. It was a great night!

Earlier that day we found out that Elder Palmer was moving to ChangRai so we spent the day cleaning and packing. Wednesday morming we went to the candle festival, which was amazing, I got a lot of cool pictures of the floats, the candle designs are really neat, and yes thats the word, the designs are very intricate. The details that they they put on these must have taken months to do. Each of the floats were representations of buddhist artwork, with dragons, angels, and priests. Wow, its amazing!

That night Elder Palmer and I got on an hour long bus to Sisagate, met up with the Sisagate district, and took an all-night bus to Bangkok. It was a very long night, because I don't sleep very well, on buses or trains. When we got there, the assistants picked us up and took us to Pakkret, and we had the "moves" meeting. It was a great meeting! Almost all of my original district is gone. The two sisters, Bileen and Sucharit are finished and have returned home. Sister Sucharit is from Ubon, so it is really great to see her at church in Ubon, on the other side of the country! Man! Small world! Well, anyway, Elder Jones is a zone leader in Pakkret, and he has one more move left. Elder Frischknecht is now a zone leader in ChangMai, after spending four moves in Bangna! Man, he is great!

I'll tell you about our district. My new companion is Elder Volk. This is his first time being senior companion, and guess what, he is only one move ahead of me. So, I know him pretty well from the MTC. Sweet!!! The district leader is Elder Wright who is Elder Webb's new companion.

We went and renewed visa's in Bangkok, ate, and then got on a train and rode all night back to Ubon. It was another long night! Oh well, we got back all right. I am really surprised at how easy it is to get around this country! We got back Friday morning, unpacked and toured Warin for a little while. I showed him where some of the members are, investigators, temples, neighborhoods. Elder Volk is a hard worker. I’ll just tell you now, from what I've seen the last few days, he is the perfect example of “forget yourself and go to work.” He is an Airforce man, he’s from Waldorf Maryland, and really good at this missionary thing. Lol! It’s gonna be a great move!

The last 2 days we have worked pretty hard. Yesterday, we taught a man named Dome, and now he has a baptismal date for the 9th of august. Later that day, we taught an awesome lesson with Naraine, we had a baptismal date for him last move, but he didn’t quite make it. He is still learning with us, and we reviewed the Plan of Salvation with him last night, and with each section of the lesson that we taught, we tied the ordinance of Baptism into it. At the end we gave him a commitment to be baptized, and he’s like “ok, i’ll do it!”
We did the same thing with the lesson for Dome, and at the end gave the baptismal commitment, and he was like “sure!” It was really cool.
Its been great this week so far, and I know we are going to have a lot of success over these next five weeks.

Well, as for things here, I've been kinda tired lately, but I am exercising and eating a lot of fruit. The Swine flu is scaring a lot of people. I see a lot of Thai people wearing face masks. It’s a big deal here! I think there have been some deaths already. How is it in America?

Its been raining a lot here still. The rainy season hasn’t stopped. It seemed like it did for a few days, but then it started up again a few days ago. It rained all night the last 2 nights, and a lot during the day as well. Man, I don’t know how Thai people put up with this, it is a lot of rain.

The Ubon branch is going to have an open house on the 18th for the new church building. This building blew Elder Volks mind. All of Sunday, he was saying things like, “Whoa, this building is huge, Whoa, they have a family history center! Whoa, they have a copy machine, Whoa, they actually have PEC (a committe meeting) on Sundays, Whoa, they have deacons that pass the sacrament…” It was cool! This ward is pretty sweet, they do have a lot of programs and things that a lot of wards and branches in Thailand don’t have, and now they get to continue utilizing these programs with the blessing of a brand new church building. Currently it is the largest LDS church building in Southeast Asia. FOR REAL!

That’s about it here. Thanks for writing, it sounds like the trek was great! I never got the chance to do that, but maybe in the future. I can't wait for you guys to get the photo discs! These discs won't have the candle festival pictures in Ubon, they will be on the next one. If there is anything else that I have left out or forgot to mention, let me know. Thanks for your support! Take care and GodSpeed!!!

-Elder Schulte

Funny Comp and his "Big Words" July 8, 2009

Hey guys!

So it is the end of the moves, Elder Wiser and Elder Webb in our district went to Bangkok last night, and Elder Palmer and I are getting on a bus to go there tonight. This morning we went to Ubon to see the candle festival. Ubonratchatani Candle festival is part of a Buddhist holiday, and people make these giant floats with Buddhist Art and figures carved out of huge pieces of wax, they look really cool, and that is whats going on today. Yesterday Elder Palmer packed, because he is leaving and going to be a district leader somewhere else, we are not sure yet, but will find out on Thursday. We have had a lot of fun together, we have met some great people here. We are in the process of teaching some awesome people, including a family. Last night was the english class show case that we have at the end of the 6week periods. We played kickball, and the members and students had a great time with that. The family came last night and the son played for a little while. The dads name is So, the mom is Suay,and the son is Nic. I can't remember if I talked about them at all in the last email, but on the first night that we met them, the parents had been talking about how their son was "Dit-Kompeuter", basically he was addicted to playing the computer. So we taught the family about the Book of Mormon, and committed the son to read the Book for 30 minutes everyday before playing computer, and he took that challenge, and he is doing great at that. This is a really great family, and I am excited to keep teaching them with my new companion.
I'll miss Elder Palmer was really cool. He is very talented and knows alot about different things. He also knows and likes to use alot of big words(in english) so it has been interesting to learn somenew vocab. For instance; Vexillum, which is like a standard, or a flag, mostly connected with romans. Capricious, which is kind of like spontanious. And Facetious, which is giving someone someone a hard time, or joking, with malice, or negative intent. Or Anti-Deluvial, which is a biblical term for anything that is in the Pre-flooding period, for example: Anti Deluvial prophets are prophets that came before Noah. It was fun learning new words but apparently it drove Elder Frischknecht crazy when they were companions!

Elder Palmer and I have had a good time playing guitar at night, he got a classical guitar here in ubon, and I copied the classical guitar book for him, and he's hammering out those classical tunes, its way fun to play those together. It was overall a great time with him. I have seen my Thai speaking ability go up since being with him. So I will miss him. We've had some pretty sweet lessons together too. It has been great to find and teach families with him, man, its been great.

Oh, we have met the new mission president and his wife. Last Friday night our district rented a van and driver and we took a 6 hour ride to Kongaan, which is where Elders Young and Olsen are. We spent the night in Kongaan and the next day we went to the church and all of the Isan Zones were there. President Smith speaks Thai really,really well for a man who served here 40 years ago, and has only been here for a week. Wow, I was sitting in the audience as he conducted the first half of the meeting completely in Thai. He has been serving in Hong kong as a geneology worker at the temple for the last 2 years, and received a called straight from President Eyring to be the next mission president. Whoa! He and his wife are very excited to be here, and President Smith has said that he wants us to keep moving forward, and prepare members and investigators to be worthy for the Temple. He wants us to work as if there is already a temple in Thailand.

Well, Elder Palmer and I are getting on a bus to go to Sisagate(the jangwat next door), and then from there we get on a bus, and ride all night to Bangkok. This will be interesting. I'm really interested to see where everybody is being moved. Elder Palmer and I called Elder Frischknecht last night, who is now going to leave Bang-na and go be a zone leader in Chaing-mai, in Northern Thailand. Holy cow! An awesome group is jopping(leaving) this moves. Elder Wiser is so cool! There are some really great missionaries in his group, and Elder Jones group will be leaving at the end of this next move. "Papa" Jones is going home, I'll miss him.

Thank you so much for all of your support, this is the ultimate asian mission experience.
GodSpeed!!!
-Elder Schulte

21st Birthday 6/24/2009

Hey Everyone,

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dad was right, we both can wish each other a happy birthday at the same time on our birthdays and it will be the other's birthday at the same instant. So I hope you had a great birthday! Everybody here thinks it is so cool that you and I have birthdays a day apart! Our district is going to meet up at the church today, make a birthday cake and play games for a while. Thanks so much for the packages everyone!

Things are going well. I do feel a little bit older. Today our group was supposed to go to Sisagate, another jungwat in the Isan, and have a zone "tiaw", which is like a zone activity. We have this every move. The whole zone gets together and play games, but last night we found out that 2 or 3 districts weren't going, so that means there would be hardly anyone there. We decided to bail too. It would have been nice to go, but I am kind of glad because that means that today I can finally get my picture discs made that I have been trying to make. I now have a ton of pictures since I didn't make them last move. There will probably be two discs full of pictures from the end of my time in Bang-na(songkrang, various activities and sites...) and lots of pictures from Ubon(tiawing by Laos, the cinco de mayo party at church, and SampaanBog "3000 holes"). I will explain about all the pictures in the letter, so dont worry, I won't leave you guys in the dark!

Well, an interesting experience happened last night. Rewind to about a month and a half ago. We met a man named Somkit, who lives in warin, he was a really nice guy. we talked to him about learning the gospel and asked him if he would be interested in that. He said he would think about it. Well, we didn't see him after that, and weren't able to get in touch with him. So, this past week, Elder Wiser, the district leader gave us a referral for a guy he met while inviting in his area. This guy's name was Komegrit, and he lives in Warin. We got a hold of him and went to meet him last night. Well, Komegrit had given us directions to his house, so we followed the directions, and came to a house that looked very familiar. A man came out and said, "hey elders" and Elder Palmer was like "wait...Somkit?!" and he said, "yeah", "its also Komegrit!" Wow! So we sat down and talked to him for a while. He is really interested in being taught so we will be meeting again soon. I think this man was meant to be found...again. What do you think?

Our area is doing really well. We have three investigators with a baptismal date, Narane and his wife Nongyaw, and a man named Chuuy. We haven't been able to meet with him lately because he has gone to Bangkok to find his son. I'm not really sure what's happening with that, but I hope he does find him. We are trying to get back with the security guard that Elder Wiser and I taught last week, because he is really good.

The Dodges (mission president and his wife) leave very soon. We had a great zone conference in Royyet last week, and their final testimonies were awesome! Everyone will miss them alot! I can't wait to meet President and Sister Smith (the new mission president and his wife).

Oh, one more thing. I talked to Anuwat this week, (mom's explanation... while traveling through Idaho on a college road trip earlier this month, Michael, William's younger brother, met Anuwat, or "Nuu" when we stopped for dinner. He found out Nuu was an exchange student from Thailand and that he had just attended "Especially For Youth" which is an awesome church camp for teenagers and that he was interested in learning more about the church and was thinking about getting baptized. He told Michael he was heading back to Thailand soon. Michael told him that he had a brother in Thailand and Nuu gave him his contact info and this is what William found out when he called him...) He is from Nakhon Sawan, which has no missionaries or church anywhere nearby, but he has been living in Rangsid, which is in Bangkok. He is living with his brother. So I called the Rangsid Elders, and they got in touch with him right away. We'll see what happens. He says he is interested in learning. I am excited for him, he seems like a really great guy!

Thanks so much for your support! It means a lot to me. I appreciate all your letters, packages, email and prayers. Take care guys.
-GodSpeed-Elder Schulte

Hey guys!

So, its been raining alot here. It rains late at night. It rains in the afternoon. At about 8 oclock each evening there are some really cool lightning storms. This area is doing ok. We have 2 investigators with a baptismal date , Ji, a guy from Laos who has already been to church, and Chuuy, an elderly gentleman who loves having us over, he is doing really well. We taught him about the restoration recently. There is also Narane and his wife Nongyao, we haven't set a date yet, but we have taught the full restoration, and they are both doing really well.

Last week's switchoff with the zone leaders was fun. While Elder Johnson and I were together, Elder Palmer was with ElderPatrick, and Elder Palmer tried to ride a quaay, which is like a Thai buffalo, and it bucked him off its back. There is a picture of him flying off. It is really funny!!!!

We have a sports activity on friday nights, thats a lot of fun. The members really like soccer and badminton. We brought a less active member last friday and he had a blast! He's really athletic and it was great to have him at the activity. These members are really cool, some of them speak English really well but try to hide it. There are some members right now who are studying at the local university, and they are testing to get into BYU Hawaii. Sweet! This is Elder Wiser's last move. He has about 3 weeks left, but going on a switchoff with him this week was really cool. It must be amazing to be at his level, as far as progress in the mission with knowledge of language, doctrine, teaching, I really can't wait to get to that level. His Thai is incredible! Well, things are well, and they will keep getting better.

Hey fathers day is coming up. Happy Father's day Dad! and to Grandpa Buckwalter, Grandpa Schulte, and Grandpa Webb!!! Have a great Sunday!!!GodSpeed!!!Elder Schulte

The New Church Building! 6/10/09

Hey guys!
Well this last week was great! I want to tell you about the new church building. It is incredible! We had church there for the first time this past Sunday. There were 187 people in attendance and it was a great meeting. The weather was beautiful, which was awesome, because it has been raining here alot lately. This was about the first day that it hasn't in weeks! Elder Palmer and I had one of our investigators come to church and he had a great time. Our tuktuk driver came to church that day too. His name is Dune, and on Saturday night when he brought us back to our house, we told him about how Sunday would be a special day because of the first meeting in the new church. We asked him if he wanted to go, and he said yeah. He didn't have a Sunday shirt or tie or anything, so Elder Palmer gave him one of his shirts, I gave him one of my ties, and we found a pair of shoes that had been left in the house from previous missionaries, and he looked great! It was a great day at church!
These areas continue to progress. We talked about this at the DDM meeting (mom here... this must be some type of district meeting) on Monday, and what a blessing this new church is to members here. We can now see the results of years and years of missionary work and effort, and it doesn't stop, but keeps getting better and better. So also in DDM I had to give a prepared lesson on humility, a really important Christlike Attribute. In Ether 12, Moroni talks about humility, and how everyone has weaknesses, and as we humble ourselves before the Lord, and have faith in Him, he will be able to make our weaknesses into strengths. (v.23-28).
Oh, yesterday was another switchoff with the zone leaders, they both came to Warin. Elders Johnson and Patrick. Elder Johnson is the one from Orem. He knows Tony and Brittany, and Elder Patrick is from Evansville, Indiana. We had a great time Monday night. On Tuesday, Elder Johnson and I went with Elder Wiser and Webb to do a service project in Ubon. we helped make a concrete path to a member's house. It was a fun job, very long and messy, but its looking great!
Well, this week was fun ,and I really like going over to the new church building. It is beautiful and it really is a blessing for the members in this area. Thanks for reading, Elder Schulte over and out!

Warin- first week of 6th move 6/4/09

Hey everyone,
I made a list of things that I wanted to write about in the email this week so I don’t forget anything. First off, this area has been progressing so well! Early last move we lost some really great investigators who had had baptismal dates, so Elder Palmer and I decided that we would work like crazy. The Lord really puts people in our paths. We now have 2 investigators with a bapitsmal date, 7 progressing investigators, and many potential investigators, our board at home is getting really full, it is super exciting! Elder Palmer and I weren't able to go to the moves meeting because we are really far away from Bangkok. We will be together another move. Elder Wiser is staying here, this being his final move before he heads home, and he is just pushing forward like always. He’s a really awesome missionary, and it has been great to work with him. His new companion is Elder Webb, who was in the group ahead of me at the Missionary Training Center, so I know him pretty well. He's a fun guy. Sister Bradfield moved to another part of the Isan and Sister Wanpan’s new companion is Sister Richens. It is her 3rd move in the country.
President and Sister Dodge (the Missiona President and his wife) will be heading home halfway through this move, and our district just had interviews with him in the new church building!(which I will talk about in just a sec). President Dodge is an incredible man, with an incredible love for missionary work. It has been great to have him as president of the mission, and he will be missed greatly. Everybody here loves them a lot. President Smith will be coming in very soon, and I wondered about how a new mission president decides on who goes where in his first moves. President Dodge says that when he first experienced that 3 years ago, it was one of the most spiritual experiences ever. You rely completely on faith to decide who goes where. A mission president recieves revelation about where to send each missionary. It is true. You go where the Lord needs you to go.
Well, the new church is complete. This is an incredible church building, and we used it last night to teach English, and had interviews in it this morning. Wow, and it is big too, and very beautiful!!! I will get pictures of it to you very soon. When President Dodge flew into this area this morning, the contractors were giving him a tour of the building, and when he was done, he came over to us as we were sitting down and said, “I think it’s a keeper!”. I agree. I'm really excited to have our first church meeting here on Sunday.
Another thing that I want to tell you about is the new Thai translation of the Book of Mormon that is coming out in about 7 or 8 months. A team is working on it at the church office in Pakkret in Bangkok right now, and it is coming along really well. The first edition in Thai was translated by a woman who lives in Srinakharin( district of Bangkok) near Bang-na. She first translated the Book of Mormon in the early 70’s and it is the same edition that is used today. Elder Frischknecht and Elder Palmer both had the opportunity to meet her while they were serving in that area, and I hope I get that opportunity as well. It sounds like translating the Book of Mormon was an incredible experience. Well, also, the name of the church is going to change here in Thailand (a new translation of the name Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), about the same time the new translation of the Book of Mormon is released. So new tags, pamphlets, everything! It will be crazy, but it will be great!
We went on a trip back to Kong Jiam, the national park on the edge of the river that divides Laos from Thailand. We went rock climbing and water fall exploring. There are many incredible things to see in this part of the country.
Right now , it is the rainy season. It has been raining a little bit, and some days a lot, each day for the last 3 or 4 weeks. But its not really a problem, most nights after rain it gets very cool out. The thai people like to talk about weather a lot, as well as food, which I think is awesome! Oh, something else that is really unique here is all the elephants that walk around. There are guys that ride elephants around, and you can pay to feed the elephants sugar canes. Its a great business! So that’s all for now. I'm running low on time, but if there is anything else, let me know. I tried to get in as much as possible. Take care!God Speed!-Elder schulte

"Hey! from Warin 5/20/09

Hey family,
It was great to be able to talk to you guys on Mother's Day! Today(P-day) we made pinata's for the English class showcase night at the end of this move. We are going to have a Mexican theme. So, that will be next week. We were at the district leaders house this morning, and his companion stayed with us and helped us make the pinata. The district leader, Elder Wiser, went golfing with the zone leaders today, and one of the zone leaders hit a hole in one, and almost won a prize, 1,000,000, baht,=which is about 30,000 dollars. but they didn't have enough witnesses! It would have been way cool!

We have some progressing investigators who are really good. We aren't going to see any baptisms this move, but we are really going to work with Duung and Narin. The zone leaders switched off with Elder Wiser and Giranat yesterday, and are coming back tomorrow to switch off with Elder Palmer and me in Warin.

The language is still going really well. I feel like I am learning new words everyday, even unintentionally, and I really try to find ways to use them in order to remember them. Elder Palmer and I have been inviting, using Thai jokes, that only make sense in Thai, but they are still kind of funny if you know the language, and the Thai people really get a kick out of them. This language is sweet!

I think I really like traditional Thai music and sounds now. Honestly, I really like waking up in the morning and hear chanting monks walking around the neighborhood. I like it because it is really unique. There are so many amazing things about this place. The cows here are really cool looking. They have really big floppy ears, like rabbits! Its way cool! I'll get pictures of them sometime. And, the tuk tuks that people use here, (they are the 3 wheeled scooters that people use as taxi's here). That's all we really use to get from place to place, our bikes, or the tuk tuks. We just call one up and say, hey, we need a ride, and he takes us wherever. Another thing that is unique is all the Buddhist temples, the architectural designs are very cool. Some of the statues are scary, but it is way cool to see these things. These aren't just things that are in this area, but in Bangkok as well.

The people are really nice here and are receptive to our message. I am really grateful for members who go out of their way to help us teach. They take really good care of us here. I've just been looking around lately and thinking about all the really unique things that are here, and its just a really fascinating place! Well, I hope you guys are doing well. I love you guys so much!!!

Godspeed, Elder Schulte

Mother's Day Call 5/10/09

Today we spoke with Elder Schulte! It was wonderful to hear his voice and feel his enthusiasm as he shared mission experiences with us. He is so happy serving a mission, and has grown so much! So, I thought I'd share what we talked about.

Wiliam is enjoying his new area, Warin, (waa-rrreen- you have to roll those r's!) He's been there for about 3 weeks. He says that it feels much different from Bang-na which was a busy and loud city. Warin is more rural and quiet. His language ability has improved greatly. Michael asked if he "thought" in Thai yet. That happens when you are truly fluent. William says he is almost to that point. The people there speak a different dialect of Thai, but he said its not a problem to recognize and understand it, so its all good. Much of the population in Warin is poor, although there are some wealthy neighborhoods. He said there are about 100 members in their branch (congregation) and they are really looking forward to their new meetinghouse that will be finished in about 3 weeks. William says that the members of the church there are awesome! There is another companionship of Elders that lives about 20 minutes away and then a set of Sisters that live in another area nearby.

We asked him how they managed to get all their belongings to Warin from Bang-na. I just couldn't imagine carrying a bike, 3 suitcases as well as a backpack and whatever else he's collected and moving it into Bangkok and then on to Warin which is 12 hours away. He said they just bungeed their bikes on to the back of the taxi which took them to the train station. From there they piled all their stuff onto the train. He traveled with a group of missionaries who were also being transferred in the same direction that he was and they rode together till each reached their destination and got off at their intended city. He said he got a saddlebag for his bike which is great because he doesn't have to use his backpack as much.

For his birthday 6/24, he said he'd love mac-n-cheese, snack foods like Pringles, Chex Mix, microwave popcorn, boxes of jello, pudding mixes, jerky and cereal, etc. He said they are able to find many of those things in Thailand but they are really expensive. We've got to get it to Bangkok before June 5th so it will make it to him after the next transfers. Someone in their district picks up all the packages for their area when they head in to Bangkok at transfer time.

He is very grateful for everyone's support and really appreciates the letters and packages that have been sent to him. It's probably pretty evident that I am really proud of my son and getting to talk with him made my Mother's Day very special!

I will include William's address again for those who want to write. He'd love to hear from you!

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

"Settling in" in Warin

Hey guys!
I am settling in really well here in Warin. This is a wonderful area, such really nice people, and the members are really great here. We just had our zone conference in Sisagate, which is an hour away from here. On Sunday, there was a district conference for all the branches in this part of Thailand. They all met at the newly finished church building there in Sisagate, which is so beautiful. That was the first meeting in that building! There is another building under construction right now in our area, which the branch members will be using very soon, so they are all excited about that. But anyway, we went to the district conference in Sisagate, and that night we stayed in a hotel, and then came back the next day and had zone conference. Zone conference is a really great experience! President and Sister Dodge, and the assistants prepare presentations and workshops that give us ideas on how to be better missionaries, and this conference really focused on developing Christlike attributes, which can help us become more like Him. There were many awesome ideas and thoughts that came from this meeting, and it was a really great experience.

Elder Palmer and I are teaching a husband and wife with a baptismal date for May 10th. They are really great! His name is Somekit, and her name is Mong, and they have 3 little kids. They have been investigators for a while, but have finally legally married, which was just so great for them, and they are now going to be baptized. They are really nice! Last week we visited and had dinner with them. There is a Thai Isan dish that is really good, but can be really hot and spicy, its called "somedam", so Elder Palmer told them that we were going to bring it with 20 hot peppers in it! And they were like, "alright go for it!" So, basically, it is shredded papaya, vinegar, and peanuts, and Thai people like to eat really spicy stuff, so its no problem. Well, we came that night with it, along with sticky rice and a loaf of bread to hinder the spicyness. It was super spicy! My eyes were watering, my nose was running, aghhh!!! But we had a nice visit. Tuesday night was not a repeat of that thankfully. We had an awesome visit with them yesterday, in which we asked if they wanted to be baptized. They acccepted and are going to be baptized on May 10th. Yes!!! There are so many amazing things happening! This area is so cool, and this district is way fun to work with. Thanks for all your support, this is just an awesome experience, and an incredible time of personal growth.
Take care everyone!!! GodSpeed!!!-Elder Schulte

Jung-What? 4/22/09

Hey guys!
So, Ubon is an interesting place. Oh by the way, a jungwat is like a state, so Ubon is the state, and Warin is a city in the jungwat of Ubon. Yeah. Well, it is cool to be here. Warin feels a lot like Bang-na, only central Bangkok is nowhere to be found. Nice! Bangkok was way cool, but what I like about this place is that it is not loud like Bangkok. It is a somewhat modern community here like Bang-na, they have a shopping center, internet, electricity(no problem). But on the outskirts of this community, there are a lot of people who live in huts and shacks and are very poor. Our house is nice. We have a small 2 story here in Warin. The church is in the other area, where the district leader and his comp live. So, we get to take a tuk tuk to church! In fact, we get to take a tuk tuk to a lot of places because there are no cabs outside of Bangkok. We go to a branch here. A branch is a congregation not large enough to be a ward. The members are way nice, I have met many of them so far, and we have gone teaching with one already, Bro. Diaw. He is way nice, and speaks some English. This is a cool district. So, it is Elder Palmer and I, and then there is Elder Wiser and his companion, Elder Sakul(that’s what we call him ‘cause his name is really, really long), then there is Sister Bradfield(who was in the mtc group after me), and
sister Wanphan. Today we took a road trip to some state parks. We went to a park and got to climb on some incredible rock formations that line the river Muun, which borders Laos, so we saw Laos today! It was a fun trip, but we got back kinda late, and we have to go teach English at the church tonight. So, I will fill you in on more from Warin next week.
GodSpeed !!!-Elder Schulte

New Assignment!

Hey family,

So you are probably wondering why I am emailing you on Friday, and not next Wednesday. Well, I am in my new area, and my new companion, Elder Palmer, who was companions with Elder Young, did not have the opportunity to email, due to Elder Young's (bike/truck) accident. So he is here today emailing and I am as well.

I am in Warin, in the Ubon jungwat, in Eastern Thailand. It was a very long night train ride, and I didn’t sleep well because the car we were in shook and jolted all night long, but I am fine, I got up while the train was still about 2 hours from Ubon, and I watched out the window as we passed miles and miles of rice fields and farms. So here I am now in Warin, about a 12 hour train ride from Bangkok. So look up Ubon on the internet. This is sweet!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubon_Ratchathani_Province


Elder Correa(from my MTC group) is Elder Frischknecht’s new companion in Bang-na, so that will be a party, he’s way cool. And Sister Crapes has fulfilled her dream of having a Thai companion. Elder Young moved to a place called KongKang, and Elder Jones is now a zone leader with his MTC companion. Sister Scalf is on her way home to Kentucky after 2 years.Well, I’ll fill you in more on this new place next week, some of the people here speak a different dialect of Thai, oh-no!Well, take care guys!- Elder Schulte

Oh, I got to see Elder Young’s bike today, it’s a mess!

Oops! Jokes On Me!

(Note from Beth) We just got a dic of pictures. I'll get them on the blog ASAP!
After I read his email 2 weeks ago about going into Laos, I wondered if it was an April Fool's joke since we had received it on 4/1. It sounded like something 2 Elders would cook up together for their families! :o) Apparently, I was not the only one as I've been asked many times about it! Well, today we received this note!

"april fools, I'm not going to Laos, ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!" This was actually at the bottom of the 4/1 email almost a full screen later and since I hadn't printed out the email, I never saw it! OOPS! They ought to make him go through the agony of learning to speak Lao just for that!

So, here's the latest news...

Hey guys!
So I am definitely moving tomorrow, today I am packing like crazy. I'll just fill you in on some answers to questions and what has happened the last few days.
First off, I am not going to Laos, it was an April Fools joke, but a really good one apparently, if you guys were wondering, I actually did put April Fools at the bottom off the email, the way bottom, and I wrote it kinda small, but thats pretty funny, it sounds like you guys were on the edge wondering if it was true or not.
So happy birthday to cousins Emily and Nathan, and Brittany! Hope you guys had great birthdays, and also to Nana, I hope you had a great day as well! And to Uncle Ron and Aunt Kristen, happy anniversary!!! And to you, Mom and Dad, happy anniversary as well!!!
Well, I'm glad you guys got the package. There are some masterpiece pictures on that disc, oh yeah!!! And have you gotten the next package yet? I sent it a few days after I sent the disc. I did receice the Spencer's package about a week and a half ago, thank you so much guys, Elder Frischknecht and I have been having a party with this stuff, thank you!!!! And Grandma and Grandpa Webb, I also got your package as well, and I really enjoy getting your weekly letter. I leave tomorrow, and when I get to my new place, I am going to sit down and write letters like crazy to everyone!!!
So as far as packing goes, I am almost done. We're going shopping today, and we have to get a new phone today, because yesterday, it got ruined, and we even had it in a plastic ziploc bag, and some water got into it! Oh, time to tell you about the water festival!!! So, Monday, we were not allowed to go outside, except to do a service project at the church. The songrang water festval started on Monday, but also a huge riot in Bangkok, the "red shirts" who oppose the government, started protesting, and I think troops started opening fire on them. We didn't see anything in our district of Bang-na, but members told us that downtown was way crazy, red shirts and troops everywhere. Well, after about 1:00 on Monday, we weren't allowed to go outside, even though the water fight was going on. We got drenched on the bikeride home from the church, it was way cool! We just chilled out the house for a few hours, and then were hungry so we decided that we wanted to go get pizza. We called the zone leaders to get permission to leave the house, and the Zone Leaders, who are in Asoge(downtown Bangkok), were stuck at a member's house for like 3 hours, because right outside that house, there was gunfire going off, and a red shirt had hijacked a bus, crashed it and it had caught on fire. (its way nuts over there). Well, the next day was a blessing, because Tuesday was our actual missionary songkrang play day, and that morning, a member called and told us that all the red shirts went home, and the rioting was over, but we couldn't go out until President Dodge gave permission. Well we waited at the house and waited and waited and waited, and Elder Frischknecht was going nuts waiting for the call, and finally we called the zone leaders, and it was clear to go! Yeah!
So yesterday was so awesome, there were so many people out on road Dansamrong, not far from the church. It was great! There were people filling up buckets of water, splashing people as they rode by in the back of pickup trucks. The guys in the pickups had huge barrels in the truck beds, and guys in the back would just drench everyone as they rode along, and lots of people had powder that as you walked by, they would rub it all over your face, and shout "welcome to Thailand!" The entire town was soaking wet, So Elder Frischknecht and I and the 2 sisters walked up and down Dansamrong for about 5 hours, we had buckets and there were barrels all along the side of the road and we would scoop up water and splash cars and people as we went along. There were so many people out yesterday doing this, it was way cool, Elder Frischknecht and I had been talking about this for weeks, and it was just a blast, Oh Man! When we got back to a member's house at the end of the day to get our bikes, the 4 of us were just soaking wet, covered in this powder plaster stuff, and getting kinda cold. Oh my gosh, that was so much fun! Well, fortunately we weren't in missionary clothes. We went out in hawaiian shirts and pants and crocks, and we had the phone in a plastic ziploc back, and it ruined, so were gonna find a new one today. Today the festival is still going on, but we are not playing today, cause we gotta go take care of stuff before the moves meeting tomorrow.

Man, I could totally be moving, like anywhere tomorrow, I could possibly go to another district of Bangkok, or I could go North! Or Isan!!! Maybe Elder Young, who has been in Ubon, will come here and be comps with Elder F., and I would go there to Ubon, and be with Elder Palmer, who is one of Elder Frischknecht 's old companions. I really don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but, wherever it is, Sweet!

Bang-na has been an awesome place, and I have had some awesome growing experience's here. I'll never forget my first time here. The first night was spent at the mission home, the night before that moves meeting, and then the next day I came home with Elder Jones. I could not believe how big the house was, or how good the food was, the first thing I ate was Isan food(close to Laotian), and the correllation meeting that night after dinner, which I didn't understand a word that was being said, so I fell asleep.
Well, it has been great, these teaching experiences have been awesome, and these members are really great. If I come back to Thailand, I am coming to visit Bang-na. Man, I'm leaving tomorrow! I feel like I am going on a switchoff, and coming back in a day or 2. Well, I am excited to see where I go next. Thank you all for tuning in. I hope I was able to fill you guys in on everything, if there's anything else, let me know. Well, this is the last full day in Bang-na, and we are having a fun activity tonight at english class, so actually yeah, we do get to play a little songkrang one last time.

Sister Scalf, one of the sisters here in Bang-na, is finishing her mission, and going to Kentucky. Her trainee, Sister Crapes is staying here, and will get a new comp tomorrow, and Elder F. as well.
Oh! conference was so good!!! We got to watch it here the church in English, and It was incredible.
take care guys!!!
GodSpeed!!!
-Elder William Christopher Schulte

My Last Week in Bang-Na

Hey guys!
So wouldn't ya know it, I was typing this letter and the power went out in the building, so all the computers shut down, and I was at the end of the letter when it happened. So I will make this brief. Things are good. We saw a guy wrestle a boa constrictor out of a tree on Friday, and Elder Frischknecht asked him if we could take it and set it free, so he gave us the sack with the snake, and we took it to the church and set it free! Cool! I'll explain more next week. Next week is the Sonkrang Water Festival. This entire country is going to get wet, very wet, with people splashing and spraying each other with water buckets and squirtguns. Oh yeah!

Well, yesterday, we went to see Brother Dam. He lives in a rundown hut behind Brother Yodyings hut(the member who took us fishing). He can't walk, so he sits in the hut all day, but really likes it when members and missionaries come over. So, yesterday he could not speak very well, so we asked him if we could give him a blessing, and he could not speak, but put on a huge smile! So we gave him a blessing, and he was really grateful, and it was a really powerful moment. He has a lot of faith.

So, this is my last week here in Bang-na, I have learned alot here, have seen my language ability grow so much. When I got here, I didn't understand a word, and could not say, like anything. Thailand Thai is way different than MTC Thai by the way. Now its way easier to speak, and I've noticed in these past 3 weeks, that I can understand alot more than I realized. The way to learn a language is: Speak the language with your companion, talk to natives, learn vocab daily, read Thai scriptures and books daily, write down words that you hear, and learn how to use them.
Well, I am writing this really fast, but I want to add also that my testimony of the restored gospel has really grown here as well. This has been an awesome place to serve, and I can't wait to see what the next chapter will be like.
Thanks for all your support, continue to keep in touch, and GodSpeed!!!
-Elder Schulte

Interesting Developments... 4/1/09

Hey guys!
So' everythings is great! I was so excited to hear about Logan Seidel's mission call, Las Vegas, Nevada, that is so great! I'm way excited for him! Well, some really interesting developments are taking place... A mission program in Laos is about to open up, and, as some of you might know, the Thailand Bangkok mission includes Laos and Burma, even though Thailand has been the only country here actually opened to missionary work. But, the church has just issued a list of 20 missionaries who, will possibly be going into Laos sometime in the next several months, and...ELDER FRISCHKNECHT AND I ARE ON THAT LIST!!!!!! When the mission president gives the go ahead, we will be issued Lao Book of Mormons, Lao Preach My Gospel manuals, and resources to start learning Lao. Holy Cow! I'm gonna be able to speak Thai and Lao. I will keep you guys updated on this, I cannot believe we are on this list, this is really exciting! Well, that's what got us occupied right now. We have had a really great week. It seems like we have been really blessed with opportunities to teach people. I mentioned that right now, it seems like investigators are coming to us, and we have taught some really awesome lessons. I have had some awesome moments where it seemd like the Holy Ghost was the one speaking Thai, not me. Wiroon is doing well. He is reading the Book of Mormon for the 4th time, and the Joseph Smith Book for the 2nd time. This is a man with a lot of faith. He really has a desire to continue learning.
Well, we had a great switchoff with the assistants to the president yesterday, Elder Clark and Elder Yeats. They are way cool elders. They came to Bang-na for a day, and we switched off, I went with Elder clark, and Elder F. went with Elder Yeats, and Elder Clark is the coolest, and a really devoted and spiritual guy. We had some awesome invites here in Bang-na yesterday, and found some really good potential investigators. Elder Yeats and Elder F. had a really good time too.

Monday night, we taught Duusid, one of our new investigators, and we watched the Restoration DVD. When I first saw this video in Thai, I had know idea what it was saying, because the Thai in this video is spoken fairly quickly, but when we watched it this time, I actually understood what was being said, and I got really excited!!! I will be honest with you, I have a hard time focusing when I hear people speak Thai for long periods of time, especially when people give talks on Sunday, mostly because there are a lot of words that I hear and I'm not sure what they mean, but when I really, really tune in and focus, I can understand alot of what's being said, and get the general idea. I write these words down, learn them, and figure out how they are used.
I really like reading Thai script. I have been reading the Thai Preach My Gospel manual, and as I go along, I write the words that I don't know on the margins, go back later and find the definitions, and write them on the margins as well. It's a great way to learn new words. So lately I have had this real desire to read the Book of Mormon in Thai. In personal time, or when we are waiting for food, I pull it out and read it, and I have a small English one that I use when I'm not sure about words. But, I am already half way through the Book of Nephi.

We had an awesome zone meeting in Asoge last week, Elder Sorensen and Elder Bean are way good, and gave an awesome discussion on inviting and bringing investigators to church on Sunday. It was just what we needed because, some of these awesome investigators of ours haven't been to church yet. They talked about when teaching lessons, to talk about attending church very early on, and help them understand how church services work, members, and classes. So we have been applying these things to our teaching and it is going really well. Like I said, we have had some really great lessons this week.

So its way fun here right now. Thai people are really great! I love the members here in the Bang-na ward, they are amazing! I will be leaving Bang-na in about 2 weeks, and am actually kinda sad, I have alot of things I want to do before I go, people I want to see. If I come back to visit Thailand in the future, I want to come back and visit the Bang-na district of Bangkok. Elder Frischknecht and I have been talking about things that could happen in the next move. He could possibly go be a branch president in the very first area he served in, and I would stay here for 1 more move, or he would stay here , and I could possibly move to the Srinakharin District of Bangkok, not too far from here. It's the last place that he served before coming here. That would be way cool, because the lady who translated the Book of Mormon into the Thai language lives there, and he had the opportunity to meet her. Well, I will be happy where ever I go. I'm anxious to see the rest of Thailand, and am excited for the next big thing coming up in the next several months...
So, all is well here in southeast asia, and getting better and better each day. Thank you all for reading these letters, and I have sent a disc with my most recent pictures to my parents, so I hope you guys like them, and yes, there are pictures of Elder Frischknecht and me eating bugs. The fried frog was the best! It tasted like a potato chip. Oh, one of our investigators is a bugseller too! Well, take care!!!
Elder William Christopher Schulte
Thailand, Bangkok-Laos,Vientaine Mission
August 2008-September 2010

Finding People to Teach and Eating Bugs! 3/24/09

Hello!
So things are great here, the weather is nice, weve had some great opportunities to teach this week, it really seems like at the moment, investigators are coming to us through means of referrals, English class, and them approaching us, rather than our own personal finding efforts. We still go out each day and find potential investigators, but while Elder Frischknecht was on a switchoff in Asoge last Monday, a woman approached him, who happened to be from Bang-na. She wanted a pamphlet that he was handing out, and she started telling him about her family situation, how here son just had a surgery on his eye, and the doctors messed up, so he could possibly have permanent damage, and at the same time, her husband just lost his job, and she said she was really unsatisfied with Buddhism, because it just didn't have the answers and comfort that she needed, and is really interested in Christianity. So, we met with her last Saturday, and her husband, and we taught them the first lesson, and they really, really liked it, and want to meet again, so we have some new investigators, they are way nice.
Wiroon is doing great, he has now read the Book of Mormon 3 times, and is almost done with the Joseph Smith Teachings book. That is a great book by the way, I bought a copy of it in Pakkret a few weeks ago, and really enjoy it. The Baptism day was great! Elder Frischknecht baptized him, and he was confirmed the next week, because the baptism took place after church. So ,the Bishop, his councilors, Elder Frischknecht and I stood in the circle, while one of the councilors confirmed him. So as a new member, we have discussed the restoration, and last night we talked to him about the Plan of Salvation, and it is went really well, he asked him several questions throughout the lesson, and he was able to answer all of them. But what I think is really great, is his testimony of those things, he has really progressed alot, and now as a new member, he is great.
So on the disc I sent I have some pictures of the critters that we ate, I ate a fried frog(tasted like a potato chip), I ate a beetle, and some fried larva, which actually tasted all right. Then there was the fried grasshopper, which did not taste very good, so I do not recommend that. We bought those from a bug seller. There are lots of food peddlers around Bangkok, and some of them sell fried bugs, so if you ever come to Bangkok, be sure to try some! At the church, there is a big mango tree over by the parking lot and it has huge red ants on it, and I think I have already shared a picture of the red ant nest after I sprayed it out of the tree, but there are several more nests on it, so I ate one of the ants, and it was pretty good, they taste kinda sour, you just have to eat em really quick because they bite hard!
Well, Im gonna be writing some more letters today, and will keep an eye out for your package. I can't believe Logan Seidel (mom's note- Logan is a friend from our ward in Kokomo) is getting his mission call soon! Holy Cow, I really really can't wait to find out next week where he's going! So, where do you guys think he is going to go? Hmm, I think he is going to Switzerland or possibly Lithuania. Elder Frischknecht thinks he is either going to Texas or to Canada. So, I can't wait to see who is right. So that's all for now, thanks for all of your prayers and support!
Take care and GodSpeed!!!
-Elder Schulte

7 Months Out! 3/18/09

Hey guys!
So this week was really great, the baptism on the 15th went really well for Wiroon, and we met with him on Tuesday night to teach him as a new member, as "Brother Wiroon" now, its so cool! Well, Meedta came to church for the first time since November and that was great. He is the one that Elder Jones and Elder Law baptized, and he has some mental problems because of an accident, but he came and stayed the whole time!
So, to answer some of the questions you asked... We have a kitchen out back, there is a sink and a decent sized camping stove with a propane tank. We have a microwave inside. We eat out a lot. There are really cheap, small thai food restaurants on the side roads, they are really good! We occasionally will go to the mall in town to get McD or KFC but not very often because that kind of food is not cheap here, so we get alot of Thai food, and I like it! There are 2 really Big Mall's in Bang-na, we go get cereal, milk, and stuff like that on Wednesday's. We find some American cereal there. I get my weekly box of corn flakes there.
So, there are lots of awesome Thai dishes that I really like, Pad Thay, PadPonggrarie, kawpadmuu, man so many! GangPaneng is really good, it is Pork in Red Curry sauce, They eat alot of rice here, but thats okay.
I really don't mind the heat here, in fact, I really like how the sun is always shining here, and I am drinking plenty of water. I actually haven't been to the mission home since I got to Thailand, because its over in Pakkret, still in Bangkok, so I haven't had a need to go there.
So, we had switchoffs this week, the zone leaders came to the Bang-na house Sunday night and spent the night here, and the next day, Elder Frischknecht went to Asoge with Elder Bean, and Elder Sorensen spent the day with me in Bang-na. It was way fun! This was Elder Sorensen's first area over a year ago, and he was doing alot of reminiscing.

Elder Frischknecht and I have 2 awesome new investigators, Dieyrad and Die, and they are both way good. With Dieyrad, he owns a barbershop on Sukhumvit Road, and also sells fried bugs for a living. He really likes learning about religion, and is very interested in the church. Die is a man that we invited a little while ago. We met him about an hour before a ward activity. We invited him to the activity as we were on our way to the church. When we got to the church, he was there and he had a great time, and we arranged to meet with him and teach him on another day. Last thurday, we went to try and find him on the street that we met him on, and we found him. The miracle was that, we barely caught him as he had just gotten to his shop, if we had gone any earlier, we would not have found him. We have already met and taught him twice ,and he is way good.
Well, it was a nice week, lots of good things happened. I hope things continue to go well back home. So, this week at the District Development Meeting, Elder Frischknecht talked about happiness, and alot of it reflected the things that were discussed at the most recent zone conference. Wherever we are, whatever our situation, it is good to look for the positive things around you. There are alot of awesome things to be happy about, and as we open our eyes to these things, it actually makes living a little easier. The Lord has given us many great things, and we can show our gratitude, by putting a smile on and show him that we are happy to be alive, and happy to be where we are, and happy doing what we are doing. I want to bear my testimony that I know these things are true, and that happiness and gratitude makes the world a better place, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Thanks guys, take care!
Elder Schulte

4th "Moves" in Bang-na 3/11/09

Hey guys!!!
So this moves (transfer) has been pretty good so far. I've made a lot of goals and have been keeping them really well. "Talk to more people and invite more", including taxi drivers especially when we have long rides through Bangkok. So, funny story, we made fried chicken on Sunday night, and it was way good! But, about 2:00 in the morning I woke up, (I think it was because of the chicken) and couldn't get back to sleep. I was really thirsty, not to mention Elder Frischknecht was sleep talking again (he says some really funny things!) so I decided to go downstairs to get a drink, and while I was downstairs, I was pondering the results of the last week of the move, and was comparing them to our goals for this next week, and I thought "we need to kick it up a notch!" So, we really have been this week, we have got a ton of inviting done, and some potential investigators as a result. Sweet! It's a start, and its working. I did finally go back to bed, don't worry!
On Monday, our district went to Bungapi (another area of Bangkok) for the Zone Conference. and every missionary here loves zone conference. It is a great, uplifting experience! We get to hear some awesome messages from President and Sister Dodge, the assistants, and other missionaries who are assigned to prepare talks. The theme of this conference was "The Spirit is the Key", and basically they talked about how it is really important to teach with the spirit, and the Holy Ghost will work through us when we bear a powerful testimony of the Restored Gospel. In teaching investigators, in inviting, teaching recent converts, the Spirit can be the greatest teacher. I had a really good time at zone conference, and Elder Frischknecht and I walked away with many new ideas and commitments to fulfill on a personal level, in order to increase in effectiveness as missionaries.
So, Mom asked last week about how zones and districts work. A zone is made up of several districts, which are spread out into several different areas. I am in the Bang-na District, in the Bangkok West Zone. The BW zone has 26 missionaries (elders and sisters) covering areas like Asoge, Bang-na, DinDieng, Thonburi, Samut Prakan and so on. The Bang-na District has 2 elders (Elder Frischknecht and yours truly) and 2 sisters, Sister Scalf and Sister Crapes. She is new in the mission, just got here last week, and she's speaking Thai alot, I don't hear her speak English very often. That's the way to learn it!
Well, Wiroon passed his interview, and he is getting baptized this coming Sunday, yeah! I think it is so awesome, and he just finished reading the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time! So yeah, his baptism is coming up real soon. I will let you know how that goes.
So its been a great week, still hard, really hot, but I don't complain, its so great here, lots of fun! We went bowling with some members today, and that was great! I'm actually getting alot better at bowling, this is the third time I've been bowling here since coming to Thailand. Oh, last week Elder Frischknecht and I were out inviting and we ended up playing a game with some kids, it's called "Degraw". It's like volleyball, only you play with your feet, it's way fun, everybody here plays it!
Well, like i said, this move has been great so far. I really like what was talked about at Zone conference about having the spirit present. There are many things that can make that happen. I mentioned bearing testimony already, and that is so important, because in teaching principles of the gospel, it is important to show that you strongly believe in what you are teaching is true. Another thing that will really help have the spirit present, is having obedience. As missionaries, we are given rules and guidelines in order to keep us safe and protected. And not just applying to missionaries, but to anyone, as we follow guidelines and rules that we are given, we can all be safe and protected, not just physically, but spiritually. The Commandments from God are a real blessing, because our Heavenly Father loves us very much, and wants us to be able to return and live with Him again. And He has given us the Commandments, in order to make that possible. I would like to Bear my testimony that I know these things are true. I am grateful for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His teachings, and I love being here and being able to represent Him. GodSpeed!!!
Elder Schulte

Bugs and Frogs!!! YUCK! 3/4/09

Here's an excerpt from an email for Paige that we received today.

Hey Paige! Guess what! I ate bugs last week. Some of them don't taste very good, but the fried frogs were great! Love you lots!

"Here" for another round... 3/4/09

Hey Guys!

So that sounded like a fun trip to Kirtland. Happy birthday Grandpa Buckwalter! Sounds like things are well in Kokomo. Is it getting warmer? It is so hot here right now, and its not even officially the hot season! So this week Wiroon had another baptismal interview with Elder Sorensen, and he helped Wiroon realize that he had received an answer all along! Elder Sorensen asked him if he had received a confirmation if the Book of Mormon is true or not, and he told him that he had prayed and prayed, but he hadn't received one. So Elder Sorensen asked him if he had noticed any changes in his life, and Wiroon realized that he had noticed he was a lot happier and enjoyed reading a lot more. He gets up everyday and reads the Book of Mormon. He has already read it straight through twice! Yeah, and Elder Sorensen said "that's your answer!" and Wiroon realized, "oh yeah, wow!" So he is doing great and will be ready for baptism on March 15th, and its cool, because I will be here. Yep, I'm not moving! Yesterday we got the call from the zone leaders saying that both Elder Frischknecht and I will be staying in Bang-na, and Sister Myers will be moving. Sister Scalf will be training in Bang-na this moves, sweet!

Well, I' ve been working on a written letter, its getting pretty long, several pages long, but it will explain about some of our investigators and members, and other things happening around Bang-na. So we've had great turnouts to these family home evenings these last few Mondays. Its been alot of fun, and we have some great families in this ward.

Tonight at English class is our showcase. At the end of each moves, the English classes will play games related to English. Tonight will be a Saint Patrick's Day theme. So, everyone will be wearing green and we will be playing some games. I'll let you know how that goes next week.

So now I want to tell you about something that is really important, and that is the power of prayer. Being able to communicate with our Heavenly Father is so important. At home, work, school, if you need to, you can pray to ask for special blessings for yourself or for others. I thought it was so great to hear about Paige at school, praying before her test started, because God always listens and answers, and sometimes it will be answered in unusual ways. Yesterday we went to Wiroon's house to talk to him about the Priesthood, and I haven't talked about the Priesthood before in Thai. Outside his house I said a quick prayer that I would be able to say what I wanted to say about it in Thai, and that he would understand. Well, while I was teaching, it came to me to talk about the Melchizedek Priesthood, and I explained everything about it , and when I was done, Wiroon even said "Holy cow!". "Your Thai is getting really good!" So that was an answer to my prayer. The Lord really listens because He loves each of us very much and wants us to pray, in gratitude and in asking. So I have a testimony that prayer is a blessing, and we should pray often.

Thanks so much for reading these letters, and I hope that everything continues to go well back home. I am excited and anxious to get this written letter to you guys, as well as the disc. I think you guys will get a kick out of the pictures and videos.

Thanks for all of your support, love you all!

Choge dee Krap!

GodSpeed!!!

-Elder Schulte

Moving Soon? Feb. 24, 2009

Hey guys!
Sorry, its about 4:00 our time when Elder Frischknecht and I are doing email. We just got back from a park in the Mo-chit district of Bangkok, It was an epic battle of Bangkok West against Bangkok East (the 2 zones), not really, the 2 zones just got together at a park to play soccer frisbee and football for a few hours. There were about 50 missionaries there, and it was way fun! So I got the 2 packages, from you guys and from the Webb's. Thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa for the newspaper copy of the inauguration! It was really cool, and several other missionaries have been reading it as well. Thanks so much for the Valentine's stuff guys! Oh, and I got the Webb's letter this week with the pictures of Christmas Day at Uncle Chaz's house, that must have been a lot of fun! Yeah, I have pictures of the Valentine's activity, it was kind of a weird party, "Valentine's Day -Thai style". So with the guitar I just played "Old McDonald", and the sisters sang the words. This is a sweet guitar, I've played it a little, there's not a lot of time to sit down and play it often, but occasionally before I go to bed. So the switchoff was awesome, the Zone leader Elder Sorensen came to Bang-na about 8:00 on Thursday night, and I went to Asoge (a bigger district of Bangkok) with Elder Bean. Asoge rocks! It's pretty much downtown Bangkok, so busy, so many cars, but the stake center is there and we have alot of meetings there. So I spent the night in Asoge, and the next day, Friday, we went to various appointments. Asoge is not easy to get around, and the missionaries don't ride bikes there, they have to take alot of cabs, and they ride the skytrain alot too. I wish I could get a picture of the sky train here in Bangkok, but its mission rules we can't take pictures of train stations, airports, and government buildings. There is a giant sky train that runs from one end of Bangkok all the way to the other side. There are four docks that are still under constructions, one of them is in Bang-na, but we use the train frequently to get to far places in the city. Bangkok is so freakin big!!!!! Well anyway back to the switchoff, We went all over Asoge to various appointments, and I was really tired at the end of the day. I got back to Bang-na about 8:00. That night at the church in Bang-na, the ward was having an activity, and several members demonstrated forms of martial arts and self defense. Brother Wirapong demonstrated Muay Thai, Brother Dom and Sister Doy showed how to sword fight, Elder Frischknecht showed wrestling, and Sister Scalf (siser missionary) demonstrated taekwondo, but I wasn't there because of the switchoff, but it worked out because of the scheduled switchoff, Elder Sorensen was able to be there and interview Wiroon! Well, they had the interview and it went great, but Elder Sorensen says that Wiroon needs to get a confirmation that the church is true. Wiroon knows it is, but has not really received a confirmation through prayer. So when we met with Wiroon on Tuesday night, he told us that he is going to pray and pray, and if he hasn't gotten one when he is done, he is going to sit and wait. So we will see what happens. He has a lot of faith, and I hope he is able to receive an answer. This week is flying by fast, I won't find out until next Tuesday if I am moving or not. and even then, I won't know where I am moving. We haven't seen the new family yet this week but will soon. The fathers name is Piirom, the mothers name is Daa, and the daughters name is Min, they are really nice and came to the Valentine's activity last week. We met with Suuttiid, a security guard at a local factory, but he hasn't been keeping his commitments, so if it keeps going like that, we might not be able to teach him anymore. There's also Tongruum, an older gentleman that we have met with twice already, and they were both been really powerful lessons in which he was really taking it in. Keep our investigators in your prayers! Well, I might move, but I really hope that I have more time here. I really want to see Wiroon get baptized, and I really want to find more people to start teaching. I've met some amazing people here in Bang-na, and have had a good time here. I have learned alot, and have grown alot. And I have had many opportunities to share the gospel with many people. Elder Jones and Elder Frischknecht have been great to work with, and I will probably see them again in the mission. Wow! I think this is the longest of all the letters that I have written. Alot has happened and there is little time to write more. I know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves His children very much, and wants us to have happiness, and even in hard times, we have the ability to bow our heads and pray for strength to move forward. Thanks for all of your prayers and support and I appreciate everything you guys do. I've been trying to make time to sit down and make a written letter, which I will include with the next disc. I hope that I've been able to answer some questions today. Once again thanks for everything, and GodSpeed!!!! Elder William Christopher Schulte