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