Wednesday, September 2, 2009

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

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