Hey!
Things are fine as usual. I'm in the same area. This is my last area, and I got a new companion, a Thai companion, finally! His name is Elde Chai-ah-wat, and he is from Nonthaburi, and has been in the mission for a little while. Its been great to work with him these last several days, I finally get a comp who I can speak nothing but Thai to, yeah! Anyway, these last several days have been interesting. I didn't get to go to moves, but that's okay, the zone leaders brought my new comp back here. The moves meeting was supposed to be on Friday, and we were supposed to go down to Bangkok early, early Friday morning. On Wednesday night the zone leaders called and said, "hey you need to get to Kongaen, to get on a bus ASAP!!!" Agh! Elder Martin hadn't packed yet because we thought it would be on Friday. President smith had moved the meeting to Thursday at the last minute. We raced home from the church, packed, had the Branch president take us in a truck over to Kongaen, and spent the night there. The next morning, the movers (the missionaries who were changing places) went down to Bangkok, and I spent a day in Galasin with Elder Evans until everyone got back. Everything worked out.
We had to let some people (investigators) go this week, and we will be letting those 2 boys with the weapons go for sure. Teaching has been really great these last few days. I have really enjoyed teaching with Elder Chai-ah-wat. He is a hard worker, and he's a really normal guy. He's really cool. He has been a member of the church for about 4 years and is the only member in his family. His mom is Thai and his dad is Chinese. He has been in the mission for about 9 months, He has a great understanding of the gospel. I have definitely learned a lot from him in these last 3 days, as far as language, and watching how he teaches. Sweet!
So hey, today we are going to go look for a Pin, it is a Thai musical instrument, that looks like a guitar, but is small and has three strings. It has a really awesome sound. We are going to go look for one today. That's really awesome that James is learning to drive, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!!! Holy cow, you are 16? Wow! Yeah, the Soccer championship in South Africa is a big deal here, but I'm not sure who is playing who. Thanks for filling me in on things. Hey, this a really awesome branch. I am really impressed with the Branch President, the councilors, and a lot of people here. There are a lot of awesome families. This is a very great branch to be in, and the members are very close, and really work together. The branch council is great, and are really good at getting home and visiting teaching done. Because of their efforts there were 106 people at church 2 weeks ago. This past Sunday attendance wasn't as high because some regulars were gone this week. People get stuff done here, and its great! Hey, I have to go, but thanks for everything. Man I wish you guys could come here and see this place! This country is really great, and the people are awesome! Take care guys!
-Elder Schulte
Monday, June 14, 2010
Back to the Rainy Season 6/7/10
Hey Guys,
This is the last week of this move, and I am going into my last transfer. This week is the moves meeting. It has been an interesting moves (6 weeks). I really like being out in the Eesan again. Its been hot, and also we are starting to enter into the rainy season, so it has been raining once everyday, and raining hard. Fortunately it mostly rains during the study time, so no problem.
Hey I really enjoyed the graduation pictures. I recognized a lot of people there, a lot of Michael's friends, but the majority of Michael's class I didn't recognize! Anyway, it looks like you guys had a great time, Mike, you've turned out to be a really awesome guy! You already were, but I am really proud. Seriously, I've been telling a lot of people this week, "Hey, my brother just graduated!" I looked back on this week, and there were definitely a lot of things that could have gone better. The week was fine, but teaching people could be better, meaning, teaching people, not lessons. When I say that, I mean teaching in a way that the restored gospel helps people. I looked back on this past week, and realized that that could be a lot better. Pray for my companion and me that we might be able to do this.
Thanks for all your support! I got moms letter last week, but I haven't gotten the birthday package yet. When I go to Bangkok this week, I will look for it.
Hey next week, I am going to look for a Pin, a special Thai guitar that has three strings, and I'm going to ship it home.
Love.
-elder schulte
This is the last week of this move, and I am going into my last transfer. This week is the moves meeting. It has been an interesting moves (6 weeks). I really like being out in the Eesan again. Its been hot, and also we are starting to enter into the rainy season, so it has been raining once everyday, and raining hard. Fortunately it mostly rains during the study time, so no problem.
Hey I really enjoyed the graduation pictures. I recognized a lot of people there, a lot of Michael's friends, but the majority of Michael's class I didn't recognize! Anyway, it looks like you guys had a great time, Mike, you've turned out to be a really awesome guy! You already were, but I am really proud. Seriously, I've been telling a lot of people this week, "Hey, my brother just graduated!" I looked back on this week, and there were definitely a lot of things that could have gone better. The week was fine, but teaching people could be better, meaning, teaching people, not lessons. When I say that, I mean teaching in a way that the restored gospel helps people. I looked back on this past week, and realized that that could be a lot better. Pray for my companion and me that we might be able to do this.
Thanks for all your support! I got moms letter last week, but I haven't gotten the birthday package yet. When I go to Bangkok this week, I will look for it.
Hey next week, I am going to look for a Pin, a special Thai guitar that has three strings, and I'm going to ship it home.
Love.
-elder schulte
What the Heck?! 5/30/10
Hey guys,
Wow Mike, congratulations! Oh my gosh, you just graduated!
Hey as far as this past week, there was some fun stuff, We went to Kongaen and watched a special broadcast for missionaries. A member of the Seventy, Elder Hallstrom and his wife came to Thailand. They held a special conference which was broadcast out of Bangkok, and was broadcast all over the country and also other countries that are part of the Asia area. Afterward he held a Q and A session, and the Bangkok zones got to sit in on the session. Later that week we went back to Kongaen and had our zone conference. President Smith talked about the broadcast, and talked about how it was an absolute miracle that this conference, and several others took place. We only saw the one that Elder Hallstrom hosted, but there were several others that involved trainings for bishops and branch leaders across the country. This is the first time in the history of the church in Thailand that there have been four General Authorities in the country at the same time. One of the other ones was Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the 12, who gave training to the leaders. The miracle was that 2 weeks ago, the violence in Bangkok was really heated. The leaders were getting very worried that it would be bad enough that the authorities would not be able to come. President Smith said that the headquarters decide to go ahead and send them. The day that Elder Hallstrom arrived, there was peace and tranquility. The violence had stopped. "Because" as president Smith said, "this session had to happen, these messengers of God had to be here, and nothing would stop that from happening." Anyway, that was a really cool thing. Things weren't as bad as the news was portraying it, but it was still making President Smith and others worried.
As far as this week, its been interesting. Some of our investigators are starting to get kinda sketchy. The one from last week that lived in Austria, we're going to have to let go. Another two(on Sunday) showed up to sacrament meeting, were both way noisy, and then after sacrament they left and dissappeared for the second and third hours. Then, after church, we found them in a room just kinda "hangin out", and they had brought realistic looking airsoft guns and a military bullet proof vest(what the heck?!) So...we had a little talk with them, and made sure that doesn't happen again. Anyway, my time is running out. take care, bye! Elder Schulte
p.s. Congratulations, Mike!
Wow Mike, congratulations! Oh my gosh, you just graduated!
Hey as far as this past week, there was some fun stuff, We went to Kongaen and watched a special broadcast for missionaries. A member of the Seventy, Elder Hallstrom and his wife came to Thailand. They held a special conference which was broadcast out of Bangkok, and was broadcast all over the country and also other countries that are part of the Asia area. Afterward he held a Q and A session, and the Bangkok zones got to sit in on the session. Later that week we went back to Kongaen and had our zone conference. President Smith talked about the broadcast, and talked about how it was an absolute miracle that this conference, and several others took place. We only saw the one that Elder Hallstrom hosted, but there were several others that involved trainings for bishops and branch leaders across the country. This is the first time in the history of the church in Thailand that there have been four General Authorities in the country at the same time. One of the other ones was Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the 12, who gave training to the leaders. The miracle was that 2 weeks ago, the violence in Bangkok was really heated. The leaders were getting very worried that it would be bad enough that the authorities would not be able to come. President Smith said that the headquarters decide to go ahead and send them. The day that Elder Hallstrom arrived, there was peace and tranquility. The violence had stopped. "Because" as president Smith said, "this session had to happen, these messengers of God had to be here, and nothing would stop that from happening." Anyway, that was a really cool thing. Things weren't as bad as the news was portraying it, but it was still making President Smith and others worried.
As far as this week, its been interesting. Some of our investigators are starting to get kinda sketchy. The one from last week that lived in Austria, we're going to have to let go. Another two(on Sunday) showed up to sacrament meeting, were both way noisy, and then after sacrament they left and dissappeared for the second and third hours. Then, after church, we found them in a room just kinda "hangin out", and they had brought realistic looking airsoft guns and a military bullet proof vest(what the heck?!) So...we had a little talk with them, and made sure that doesn't happen again. Anyway, my time is running out. take care, bye! Elder Schulte
p.s. Congratulations, Mike!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Aftermath of the Red Shirts 5/24/10
Hey Guys,
We had a lock down one day this past week. Apart from all the stuff that happened in Bangkok (which was absolutely ridiculous by the way), the red shirts managed to burn down several goverment buildings through out the Isan, including Ubon, Sisagate, Kongaen, Mahasarakam, and there was a warning for our area, Roiet, as well, but the army stopped anything from happening. The sister missionaries gave me a big scare as well. They were supposed to go to Udon, a city about 6 hours north of here, and switch off with some other sisters. Well, they told me the night before, but they weren't sure when they were going to leave. On the day that they were going to leave, I had been trying to call them since the morning, but they didn't answer their phone. Then (Wednesday) at about 1:00 the zone leaders called to tell us that the red shirts were going to burn down the building in Udon, so I was supposed to cancel the sister's switch off. I couldn't get in touch with them, so we decide to race over to their house and see if they had left yet. We got to their house and their door was locked, their bikes were chained up, and the gate was locked. Oh No! It just kept getting worse! I called the zone leaders back, and told him to stop them if they got to Kongaen first. The next little while involved racing to the bus station to see if they had left, and finally they answered their cell phone and were like "oh no, we were just teaching, we decided to walk" Oh My Gosh!!! Well, the zone called back during that scramble and said the mission had ordered everyone to get in their houses, and stay there the rest of the day. Everything was fine after that.
I seriously still can't tell that anything is going on. There really are no signs, other than stuff from news reports and people on the streets, but it sounds like the government is really cracking down on this, and the worst of it is over. Thank goodness! We have been out working like normal, and had a great week.
Right now we are in Kongaen after watching a special broadcast from Bangkok, of Elder Hallstrom. I will tell you more about it next week, but anyway, we are fine. Things really weren't as bad as it seemed, but they really did do a lot of damage. Seeing the pictures in some newspapers around town here of the destruction really reminded me of all the pictures of 9/11. People here just want this thing to be over. Anyway, sorry, more spiritual stuff next week. We really had some awesome suprises this week, and a really great family that came to church. Finding new investigators has been going really well. Well, I have to go. Thanks for everything!
love -Elder Schulte
We had a lock down one day this past week. Apart from all the stuff that happened in Bangkok (which was absolutely ridiculous by the way), the red shirts managed to burn down several goverment buildings through out the Isan, including Ubon, Sisagate, Kongaen, Mahasarakam, and there was a warning for our area, Roiet, as well, but the army stopped anything from happening. The sister missionaries gave me a big scare as well. They were supposed to go to Udon, a city about 6 hours north of here, and switch off with some other sisters. Well, they told me the night before, but they weren't sure when they were going to leave. On the day that they were going to leave, I had been trying to call them since the morning, but they didn't answer their phone. Then (Wednesday) at about 1:00 the zone leaders called to tell us that the red shirts were going to burn down the building in Udon, so I was supposed to cancel the sister's switch off. I couldn't get in touch with them, so we decide to race over to their house and see if they had left yet. We got to their house and their door was locked, their bikes were chained up, and the gate was locked. Oh No! It just kept getting worse! I called the zone leaders back, and told him to stop them if they got to Kongaen first. The next little while involved racing to the bus station to see if they had left, and finally they answered their cell phone and were like "oh no, we were just teaching, we decided to walk" Oh My Gosh!!! Well, the zone called back during that scramble and said the mission had ordered everyone to get in their houses, and stay there the rest of the day. Everything was fine after that.
I seriously still can't tell that anything is going on. There really are no signs, other than stuff from news reports and people on the streets, but it sounds like the government is really cracking down on this, and the worst of it is over. Thank goodness! We have been out working like normal, and had a great week.
Right now we are in Kongaen after watching a special broadcast from Bangkok, of Elder Hallstrom. I will tell you more about it next week, but anyway, we are fine. Things really weren't as bad as it seemed, but they really did do a lot of damage. Seeing the pictures in some newspapers around town here of the destruction really reminded me of all the pictures of 9/11. People here just want this thing to be over. Anyway, sorry, more spiritual stuff next week. We really had some awesome suprises this week, and a really great family that came to church. Finding new investigators has been going really well. Well, I have to go. Thanks for everything!
love -Elder Schulte
Monday, May 17, 2010
More Red Shirt Activity 5/17/10
Hey Guys,
About the Red Shirt activities... there are warnings for a lot of places outside of Bangkok...including Roiet where we are serving. We have to avoid a lot of public places, like government buildings here in town, and banks. We will be on alert. Just pray for us today.
Anyway,this past week was great. I was really glad to talk to you, for the last time here in Thailand, Wow! So you asked if members feed us. Yeah, actually the landlord and his wife are both members, and they feed us on Sunday nights, we actually live right next door to them . They are really nice ,and she makes great food. Everyone is officially back from the temple. There were about 30 people that went over these past two weeks, and that's way sweet. I'm really impressed with this branch. There were a lot of people at church this past weekend. Oh,and some investigators came. In fact, its really cool, there is a guy that we are teaching right now, and he came to church. This guy is awesome. He lived in Austria several years ago, on a foreign exchange program, and man he's been everywhere that we've been. He lived in Vienna, has been to Burgenland, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. Man, I just couldn't get enough of this. It was really awesome. He had a really good experience at church, and we are going to see him again and teach tonight. He is progressing a lot even though we've only taught him about 3 times, and all in this past week. His name is Nung.
Another guy that we are teaching is A, and he couldn't make it to church this weekend because he was stuck in Kongaen. He felt really bad because he couldn't get back in time, but I am also really impressed with him. We watched the Restoration DVD with him, and when we got done, I asked him" so do you have any questions about this?" and he sat for a minute, and said "Joseph Smith is pretty important, isn't he?" Yes sir.
I'm running out of time. Thanks for keeping me updated. I am still getting the "weekly Cape Cod" I have really enjoyed that. Grandma Linda is good at describing beautiful Cape Cod weather and scenery. Tell her I said that!
We will stay safe and be on the alert.
love- Elder Schulte
About the Red Shirt activities... there are warnings for a lot of places outside of Bangkok...including Roiet where we are serving. We have to avoid a lot of public places, like government buildings here in town, and banks. We will be on alert. Just pray for us today.
Anyway,this past week was great. I was really glad to talk to you, for the last time here in Thailand, Wow! So you asked if members feed us. Yeah, actually the landlord and his wife are both members, and they feed us on Sunday nights, we actually live right next door to them . They are really nice ,and she makes great food. Everyone is officially back from the temple. There were about 30 people that went over these past two weeks, and that's way sweet. I'm really impressed with this branch. There were a lot of people at church this past weekend. Oh,and some investigators came. In fact, its really cool, there is a guy that we are teaching right now, and he came to church. This guy is awesome. He lived in Austria several years ago, on a foreign exchange program, and man he's been everywhere that we've been. He lived in Vienna, has been to Burgenland, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. Man, I just couldn't get enough of this. It was really awesome. He had a really good experience at church, and we are going to see him again and teach tonight. He is progressing a lot even though we've only taught him about 3 times, and all in this past week. His name is Nung.
Another guy that we are teaching is A, and he couldn't make it to church this weekend because he was stuck in Kongaen. He felt really bad because he couldn't get back in time, but I am also really impressed with him. We watched the Restoration DVD with him, and when we got done, I asked him" so do you have any questions about this?" and he sat for a minute, and said "Joseph Smith is pretty important, isn't he?" Yes sir.
I'm running out of time. Thanks for keeping me updated. I am still getting the "weekly Cape Cod" I have really enjoyed that. Grandma Linda is good at describing beautiful Cape Cod weather and scenery. Tell her I said that!
We will stay safe and be on the alert.
love- Elder Schulte
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Moved! 5/3/10
Hey Guys,
I moved to "Roy-et". It's a jangwat back in the ee-san. It is next to Maha-sarakam and Kongaen, not too far from Yasothon where I served before. My New companion is Elder Martin. I am the district leader, and there are sisters in this district, Sisters Meyers and AmnuayChoge. Roy-et is a nice town. Alot smaller, quieter than my last area, and a really great branch(congregation). They had about 20 people go to the temple this weekend! That's awesome!
Moves meeting was great. I did meet Elder Larsen. (This is a grandson of a friend in our Kokomo Ward) He has a Thai companion for a trainer. It will be fun! His companion doesn't speak a lick of English, and Elder Larsen has only been in the country for about 5 days, so that will be interesting. He's a cool guy, we talked about his grandma. He's from out in Utah, and has been to Indiana, and has been to our ward a couple times. Anyway, I met Elder Martin (my new companion) for the first time when I got to Roy-et. His trainer finished his mission this week, and I am Elder Martins second companion. I was with Elder Jenkins's (my old companion) new companion for the rest of the moves day before we got on the train, and then we just went to Maha Sarakam first to switch companions. So Elder Brix and I just hung out with Elder Larsen and his new companion for a little while. It is kind of a funny companionship actually, His companion would say something in Thai to him, and he was like "uh, yeah!(what did he say guys?)"
So there is a lot to do here. I don't really get much of a preparation day as I have a lot of stuff to do today, and I'm still trying to unpack. Hey, we have a really nice house! I will send you pictures of this area very soon.
Love you all, Elder schulte
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister, PAIGE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I moved to "Roy-et". It's a jangwat back in the ee-san. It is next to Maha-sarakam and Kongaen, not too far from Yasothon where I served before. My New companion is Elder Martin. I am the district leader, and there are sisters in this district, Sisters Meyers and AmnuayChoge. Roy-et is a nice town. Alot smaller, quieter than my last area, and a really great branch(congregation). They had about 20 people go to the temple this weekend! That's awesome!
Moves meeting was great. I did meet Elder Larsen. (This is a grandson of a friend in our Kokomo Ward) He has a Thai companion for a trainer. It will be fun! His companion doesn't speak a lick of English, and Elder Larsen has only been in the country for about 5 days, so that will be interesting. He's a cool guy, we talked about his grandma. He's from out in Utah, and has been to Indiana, and has been to our ward a couple times. Anyway, I met Elder Martin (my new companion) for the first time when I got to Roy-et. His trainer finished his mission this week, and I am Elder Martins second companion. I was with Elder Jenkins's (my old companion) new companion for the rest of the moves day before we got on the train, and then we just went to Maha Sarakam first to switch companions. So Elder Brix and I just hung out with Elder Larsen and his new companion for a little while. It is kind of a funny companionship actually, His companion would say something in Thai to him, and he was like "uh, yeah!(what did he say guys?)"
So there is a lot to do here. I don't really get much of a preparation day as I have a lot of stuff to do today, and I'm still trying to unpack. Hey, we have a really nice house! I will send you pictures of this area very soon.
Love you all, Elder schulte
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister, PAIGE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, April 26, 2010
4/26/10
Hey Guys!
Sorry, I'm writing kinda fast. Great week! We now have 3 guys with dates for June and July. I am way excited for these guys! Bog is coming along really well, and two others that we have been teaching for the last three weeks, are now preparing to enter the water. Sompong and Bird. These lessons were really great! I will tell you about them in my next written letter, coming soon. I can't tell you how excited I am for these 3 fine gentlemen. Way smart, hard workers. Please pray for them, that they may be able to overcome challenges, and be able to continue to work towards baptism. Sounds like you guys had a really crazy, great week. Yeah, Sompong told us about the volcano in Iceland, that's crazy!
To answer your question, Mom... For the birthday package you're sending, can you just put a bunch of snacks and stuff in it? Combos are really good, are you guys able to get macadamia nuts? Chex Mix, Gardettos, I have a lot of mac and cheese already,
Hey, so it was about 11:30 last night, and I was laying in bed, when there was a really freakin loud explosion not too far from our apartment, and then about 20 minutes later a big fleet of ambulances and police cars go flying by, holy cow. So this morning we were going out the door, and I asked one of the guards what happened. There was a little red shirt battle not far from the apartment, and someone fired an M-79 Rifle/ grenade launcher, wow, way loud. I guess that's not the first. This past week has been chaos in a lot of places. It was Wednesday when over in the See-Lome district, there was a big clash. The red shirts against the police, army, and as one person we talked to put it, "every other color in Bangkok!" I don't know, our side of the river seems to be really blessed, and I know it will stay that way. Anyway, no need to worry, we don't ever go over to see Lome, its in the other area, and it doesn't seem like during the daytime there is any action. I talked to the Zone leaders about this. Things will be alright. Anyway, I am actually running out of time. I may be moving this week. I'm not sure. Tommorrow we'll find out.
Love you guys,
Elder Schulte
Sorry, I'm writing kinda fast. Great week! We now have 3 guys with dates for June and July. I am way excited for these guys! Bog is coming along really well, and two others that we have been teaching for the last three weeks, are now preparing to enter the water. Sompong and Bird. These lessons were really great! I will tell you about them in my next written letter, coming soon. I can't tell you how excited I am for these 3 fine gentlemen. Way smart, hard workers. Please pray for them, that they may be able to overcome challenges, and be able to continue to work towards baptism. Sounds like you guys had a really crazy, great week. Yeah, Sompong told us about the volcano in Iceland, that's crazy!
To answer your question, Mom... For the birthday package you're sending, can you just put a bunch of snacks and stuff in it? Combos are really good, are you guys able to get macadamia nuts? Chex Mix, Gardettos, I have a lot of mac and cheese already,
Hey, so it was about 11:30 last night, and I was laying in bed, when there was a really freakin loud explosion not too far from our apartment, and then about 20 minutes later a big fleet of ambulances and police cars go flying by, holy cow. So this morning we were going out the door, and I asked one of the guards what happened. There was a little red shirt battle not far from the apartment, and someone fired an M-79 Rifle/ grenade launcher, wow, way loud. I guess that's not the first. This past week has been chaos in a lot of places. It was Wednesday when over in the See-Lome district, there was a big clash. The red shirts against the police, army, and as one person we talked to put it, "every other color in Bangkok!" I don't know, our side of the river seems to be really blessed, and I know it will stay that way. Anyway, no need to worry, we don't ever go over to see Lome, its in the other area, and it doesn't seem like during the daytime there is any action. I talked to the Zone leaders about this. Things will be alright. Anyway, I am actually running out of time. I may be moving this week. I'm not sure. Tommorrow we'll find out.
Love you guys,
Elder Schulte
Monday, April 19, 2010
4/19/10
Hey Family,
Songkran was way fun. we were all ready to go when we did email last week. As soon as I sent off my letter to you guys, we were both out the door of the cade running down the street, stealing water from various peoples barrels along the road, and drenching everyone, as wel as getting drenched ourselves! The Songkran hotspot was on the other side of the river, but that would have been kinda far away, so we stayed in our neck of the woods, and went up and down Jaran 35 for four hours having a blast getting drenched and drenching. We both had big buckets that we carried around, ah man, it was way sweet! It was Elder Coopers first time for Songkran and he had lots of fun.
This past week, with all the red shirt stuff, and Songkran, we still managed to get stuff done. Really, things are looking up. We now have seven investigators. Bog is still working toward baptism, but we will have to change the date. We still have a lot to teach him, and we didn't see him last week, because he went to Nongkhai up north for a week. And, a guy that Elder Parkinson and I started teaching in January, but haven't seen since then, showed up last week, and he wants to try again. His name is Bird, and we will see him tonight, because Dan and his family are out of town(We miss Dan!) That has been way sweet too. I'll have to tell you more about him later.
We had another switchoff this weekend, Elder Young and I went around Thonburi. That was really fun. He's really rockin this missionary work, its so great!
Well, that's way sweet that Mike got his Duty to God stuff finished, and also the conference this past weekend, I'm really going to miss President Tinscher. He's a really funny man. He always asked, "where are you going when you are 19..."
Well, hey I absolutely have to get a hair cut to day, and the timer on this computer is running out. I will be sending all the siblings letters soon.
Hey you know what tomorrow is?
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MOM AND DAD!!!!!!!!!!
-Elder Schulte
Songkran was way fun. we were all ready to go when we did email last week. As soon as I sent off my letter to you guys, we were both out the door of the cade running down the street, stealing water from various peoples barrels along the road, and drenching everyone, as wel as getting drenched ourselves! The Songkran hotspot was on the other side of the river, but that would have been kinda far away, so we stayed in our neck of the woods, and went up and down Jaran 35 for four hours having a blast getting drenched and drenching. We both had big buckets that we carried around, ah man, it was way sweet! It was Elder Coopers first time for Songkran and he had lots of fun.
This past week, with all the red shirt stuff, and Songkran, we still managed to get stuff done. Really, things are looking up. We now have seven investigators. Bog is still working toward baptism, but we will have to change the date. We still have a lot to teach him, and we didn't see him last week, because he went to Nongkhai up north for a week. And, a guy that Elder Parkinson and I started teaching in January, but haven't seen since then, showed up last week, and he wants to try again. His name is Bird, and we will see him tonight, because Dan and his family are out of town(We miss Dan!) That has been way sweet too. I'll have to tell you more about him later.
We had another switchoff this weekend, Elder Young and I went around Thonburi. That was really fun. He's really rockin this missionary work, its so great!
Well, that's way sweet that Mike got his Duty to God stuff finished, and also the conference this past weekend, I'm really going to miss President Tinscher. He's a really funny man. He always asked, "where are you going when you are 19..."
Well, hey I absolutely have to get a hair cut to day, and the timer on this computer is running out. I will be sending all the siblings letters soon.
Hey you know what tomorrow is?
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MOM AND DAD!!!!!!!!!!
-Elder Schulte
Explaining Songran 4/12/10
Hey Family,
Wow! Crazy weekend! Conference was great, watched it in Thai. I caught the jist of it, it ended up being a great language study. Yeah a lot of redshirt activity this past weekend, 15 people died including a reporter from Japan, and they are not happy at all. About 500 people were injured. Basically, the government gave orders for the army to start spraying them with rubber bullets and tear gas them as well. We were watching conference at the church on Saturday with several members, and between one of the sessions, someone pulled out an antenna and connected it to the tv to watch the rioting, which actually was happening on a road three miles from the church. I suspect the deaths happened from the redshirts running away, a lot of trampling, it really looked like a lot of chaos on the tv. Holy cow! Now the redshirts are starting to vandalize and steal military vehicles,is what someone said yesterday, and soldiers on the streets and bridges that we use, as of last week, are starting to arm themselves with m16 rifles. But it seems to have died down today, thank goodness, they are not going to ruin my songkran play time. We will be going out to play in just a sec. Oh yeah, I got a phone call from Elder Young at about 10:30 last night saying that a lot of very worried moms called and emailed wondering why they didn't get emails from their sons yesterday. It was because today is our preparation day. It was changed to today because of interviews yesterday. So, we will go out and play here. We are all dressed up and ready to g! This will be a real relief after last week. Results didn't look very good. We'd make appointments, go to the respective places, and they wouldn't show up, or cancel. Alot of potentials (investigators) that we found either didn't have time, or decided that its not convenient to learn right now. I expect that being unavailable had a lot to do with Songran week. Alot of poeple go to other provinces for a week. This week will be especially fun. We will really try to find stuff to do. I told him (Elder Young) about this in the interview yesterday. He said not to worry about it too much, to keep finding, have a positive attitude, and everything will be alright. Also, I am just really going to take advantage of the time, and really study and understand the gospel and lessons better and the language, to be ready for after Songran week.
The Songran Festival marks the Buddhist New Year. To answer your question, Mom, yeah, people go "do good or make merit" at the wats (the temples), but members of the church don't do that. It's just way fun! There really isn't as as much of a religious theme in it like they say there is. It is the absolute most fun water fight you will ever be in. Three straight days of getting soaked and powder dumped on you, oh yeah!
Well, I got your package, thanks so much! It was great to snack on the goodies and share them during conference. Thanks for the pictures,Mike, you're huge! Sounds like a lot of fun in Virginia. You guys look a lot different!
Well, time is about to run out. That's really exciting about the new callings in the stake next week, keep me up to date, thanks!
-Elder Schulte
Wow! Crazy weekend! Conference was great, watched it in Thai. I caught the jist of it, it ended up being a great language study. Yeah a lot of redshirt activity this past weekend, 15 people died including a reporter from Japan, and they are not happy at all. About 500 people were injured. Basically, the government gave orders for the army to start spraying them with rubber bullets and tear gas them as well. We were watching conference at the church on Saturday with several members, and between one of the sessions, someone pulled out an antenna and connected it to the tv to watch the rioting, which actually was happening on a road three miles from the church. I suspect the deaths happened from the redshirts running away, a lot of trampling, it really looked like a lot of chaos on the tv. Holy cow! Now the redshirts are starting to vandalize and steal military vehicles,is what someone said yesterday, and soldiers on the streets and bridges that we use, as of last week, are starting to arm themselves with m16 rifles. But it seems to have died down today, thank goodness, they are not going to ruin my songkran play time. We will be going out to play in just a sec. Oh yeah, I got a phone call from Elder Young at about 10:30 last night saying that a lot of very worried moms called and emailed wondering why they didn't get emails from their sons yesterday. It was because today is our preparation day. It was changed to today because of interviews yesterday. So, we will go out and play here. We are all dressed up and ready to g! This will be a real relief after last week. Results didn't look very good. We'd make appointments, go to the respective places, and they wouldn't show up, or cancel. Alot of potentials (investigators) that we found either didn't have time, or decided that its not convenient to learn right now. I expect that being unavailable had a lot to do with Songran week. Alot of poeple go to other provinces for a week. This week will be especially fun. We will really try to find stuff to do. I told him (Elder Young) about this in the interview yesterday. He said not to worry about it too much, to keep finding, have a positive attitude, and everything will be alright. Also, I am just really going to take advantage of the time, and really study and understand the gospel and lessons better and the language, to be ready for after Songran week.
The Songran Festival marks the Buddhist New Year. To answer your question, Mom, yeah, people go "do good or make merit" at the wats (the temples), but members of the church don't do that. It's just way fun! There really isn't as as much of a religious theme in it like they say there is. It is the absolute most fun water fight you will ever be in. Three straight days of getting soaked and powder dumped on you, oh yeah!
Well, I got your package, thanks so much! It was great to snack on the goodies and share them during conference. Thanks for the pictures,Mike, you're huge! Sounds like a lot of fun in Virginia. You guys look a lot different!
Well, time is about to run out. That's really exciting about the new callings in the stake next week, keep me up to date, thanks!
-Elder Schulte
4/5/10
Hey Guys!
So this week I imagine the red shirts aren't really making many headlines. Its kinda lost its flare. Now they are just making some racket, and the prime minister is for sure not going to step down. Not much going on on this side of the river. Its really not as big as I thought it would be, Oh well. That's okay.
As far as missionary work here, the week was great. I think I have never had more appointments fall through, before I came to Thonburi. This happens a lot week after week for the last two transfers, and Elder Cooper is saying the same thing. But we managed to get some ligit lessons and new investigators this week. And we had another switchoff with the zone Leaders here, and found some more (investigators). Another thing too was we fasted this weekend, I've really been wondering about how we can get the members more excited to work, so this was some thing we fasted for recently. This past Saturday the ward had a big unity building getaway to the beach. I could really tell on Sunday that it had a way positive effect. Almost everyone in the ward got up and bore awesome testimonies. They had a blast, and really had a great opportunity to get to know each other better, and the spirit was really strong in the meeting, and I was sitting in the congregation thinking "Wow!..." and on top of that, one of the councilors approached us after the meeting and told us that he had two friends that aren't members of the church go to the activity, and he is going to talk to both of them to see if they are interested in learning about the gospel. Wow! The Lord does answer prayers.
No matter how hard it is right now, we are trying really hard to find and work here. I've just decided that re-opening an area is what we are doing, and also that Thonburi is a place that you never give up on. These last three moves, no matter how hard it has been, have been awesome.
Well, thats whats up, We will be watching General Conference this coming weekend, and then The Songrahn water festival is next week. We aren't sure what's going to happen next week, or what the mission presidents policy on participating is yet, but all I know is that it was a blast last year. Can you believe that was almost a year ago? Walking around for hours while getting drenched, people out with buckets and squirtguns , and barrels of water,way sweet.
Heydad...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS FOR EVERYTHING , AND I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!
So this week I imagine the red shirts aren't really making many headlines. Its kinda lost its flare. Now they are just making some racket, and the prime minister is for sure not going to step down. Not much going on on this side of the river. Its really not as big as I thought it would be, Oh well. That's okay.
As far as missionary work here, the week was great. I think I have never had more appointments fall through, before I came to Thonburi. This happens a lot week after week for the last two transfers, and Elder Cooper is saying the same thing. But we managed to get some ligit lessons and new investigators this week. And we had another switchoff with the zone Leaders here, and found some more (investigators). Another thing too was we fasted this weekend, I've really been wondering about how we can get the members more excited to work, so this was some thing we fasted for recently. This past Saturday the ward had a big unity building getaway to the beach. I could really tell on Sunday that it had a way positive effect. Almost everyone in the ward got up and bore awesome testimonies. They had a blast, and really had a great opportunity to get to know each other better, and the spirit was really strong in the meeting, and I was sitting in the congregation thinking "Wow!..." and on top of that, one of the councilors approached us after the meeting and told us that he had two friends that aren't members of the church go to the activity, and he is going to talk to both of them to see if they are interested in learning about the gospel. Wow! The Lord does answer prayers.
No matter how hard it is right now, we are trying really hard to find and work here. I've just decided that re-opening an area is what we are doing, and also that Thonburi is a place that you never give up on. These last three moves, no matter how hard it has been, have been awesome.
Well, thats whats up, We will be watching General Conference this coming weekend, and then The Songrahn water festival is next week. We aren't sure what's going to happen next week, or what the mission presidents policy on participating is yet, but all I know is that it was a blast last year. Can you believe that was almost a year ago? Walking around for hours while getting drenched, people out with buckets and squirtguns , and barrels of water,way sweet.
Heydad...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS FOR EVERYTHING , AND I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, March 22, 2010
New Companion 3/22/10
Hey, i accidentally erased the top half of this email, so I am going to summarize real quick here:
Basically I have a new companion, Elder Cooper, my 8th companion.
We had a sweet lesson the other night with Bog, our superstar! He is progressing a lot, and the Elders Quorum President Brother Longe, is really impressed and also feels like he could have a lot of potential. Bog understands the scriptures really well, keeps reading commitments and prays everyday. Problem is, he still hasn't come to church. He's worried about closing his restaurant on Sunday. Elder Cooper and I last night talked about ways to help him. Please keep him in your prayers as his baptismal date is on May 2nd.
The Elders Quorum President said on Sunday that he wants to set aside 6 hours every day this week to help us teach investigators. Whoa! Well, we will definitely take advantage of that. He was really impressed with Bog, and I like that he is seeing the things that we are doing here. That's what I want members here to see. Having members sit down in lessons is a great way to help investigators progress. I'm sure the missionaries in Kokomo have found that as well. I will definitely be helping them when I get back.
Well, so that's whats up on the west side(of the river). Thats way sweet that you guys have been talking to Diaw, way sweet guy, Elder Palmer and I had some fun riding around and inviting with him in Ubon.
Another thing I heard recently, Bog likes to watch American news, and he just told the other day that Marie Osmond died, did you guys hear about that? That's crazy!
Oh, hey whats going down in Israel right now? I keep hearing snipits of news on various Thai radios about something happening, and also bad relationships between Israel and America, whats going on? Hey, some Thai people speak
German really well. I was on a bus the other day, and I was talking to a woman in Thai, German, and English, it was way cool!
One more thing, a lot of red shirt stuff going on. We saw a caravan pass our apartment on Saturday. They were red, waving flags, shouting, playing loud music, making a lot of racket!
I think that's about it, its all good here, crazy, I only have 3 transfers left, aghhhhh!!!!! I dont wanna come home!
-Elder Schulte
Basically I have a new companion, Elder Cooper, my 8th companion.
We had a sweet lesson the other night with Bog, our superstar! He is progressing a lot, and the Elders Quorum President Brother Longe, is really impressed and also feels like he could have a lot of potential. Bog understands the scriptures really well, keeps reading commitments and prays everyday. Problem is, he still hasn't come to church. He's worried about closing his restaurant on Sunday. Elder Cooper and I last night talked about ways to help him. Please keep him in your prayers as his baptismal date is on May 2nd.
The Elders Quorum President said on Sunday that he wants to set aside 6 hours every day this week to help us teach investigators. Whoa! Well, we will definitely take advantage of that. He was really impressed with Bog, and I like that he is seeing the things that we are doing here. That's what I want members here to see. Having members sit down in lessons is a great way to help investigators progress. I'm sure the missionaries in Kokomo have found that as well. I will definitely be helping them when I get back.
Well, so that's whats up on the west side(of the river). Thats way sweet that you guys have been talking to Diaw, way sweet guy, Elder Palmer and I had some fun riding around and inviting with him in Ubon.
Another thing I heard recently, Bog likes to watch American news, and he just told the other day that Marie Osmond died, did you guys hear about that? That's crazy!
Oh, hey whats going down in Israel right now? I keep hearing snipits of news on various Thai radios about something happening, and also bad relationships between Israel and America, whats going on? Hey, some Thai people speak
German really well. I was on a bus the other day, and I was talking to a woman in Thai, German, and English, it was way cool!
One more thing, a lot of red shirt stuff going on. We saw a caravan pass our apartment on Saturday. They were red, waving flags, shouting, playing loud music, making a lot of racket!
I think that's about it, its all good here, crazy, I only have 3 transfers left, aghhhhh!!!!! I dont wanna come home!
-Elder Schulte
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Red Shirts and Demonstrations 3/15/10
Hey guys,
Thanks for your letters this week. It really isn't long now is it? Wow. Well,
that is something called "trunkyness" and highly discouraged! For both
missionaries, and parents...
So about the situation here(marches and demonstrations in Bangkok)... yes it is big. There was a warning out to
have 4 days supply of food for this past weekend. Friday it was expected to get
really intense. I've only heard stuff through zone leaders and various
bystanders, but actually, to be honest, nothing big has happened on this side of
the river, or as of now, there are no big rallies over here. It is all happening
on the other side of the city in the Asoge area. There are a lot of soldiers on
the streets throughout our part of town in preparation, so not sure what's going
to happen. But, I'm not too worried about it, as long as we stay away from big
groups of red shirts.
We were able to go out and work like normal the last three days. Seriously, you
couldn't tell that this stuff is going on its so quiet here. But, it probably was
one of the reasons a lot of people didn't come to church yesterday.
Unfortunately, our 10 new investigators didn't carry over into this week, so that
was kind of a bummer, and opened up a lot of time to invite. Which was great,
nonetheless. Last night before a lesson, Elder Parkinson and I decided to go to
hand out fliers for the Wednesday night English class. We got a couple calls
later that night, including one guy's call, who was like "hey, I met you on the bridge
earlier today!" I started talking to him about who we are and how we are
missionaries and how we teach the restored gospel, and he is interested in
sitting down sometime to hear our message. That's right! Keep your lines in the
water... No, but really, English class is a really good way to find people interested in what we have to say.
Anyway, as far as teaching and getting new investigators,
Coming home is kinda scaring me, seriously. The moves meeting is this week on Thursday, the 18th. Not sure who's moving yet or what's happening. We will find out tomorrow. I'm going into my 13th transfer guys! 2 more after this, ah man!
thanks for everything guys! KawPrajao yuu dui jone juergan eeg!
-Elder Schulte
Thanks for your letters this week. It really isn't long now is it? Wow. Well,
that is something called "trunkyness" and highly discouraged! For both
missionaries, and parents...
So about the situation here(marches and demonstrations in Bangkok)... yes it is big. There was a warning out to
have 4 days supply of food for this past weekend. Friday it was expected to get
really intense. I've only heard stuff through zone leaders and various
bystanders, but actually, to be honest, nothing big has happened on this side of
the river, or as of now, there are no big rallies over here. It is all happening
on the other side of the city in the Asoge area. There are a lot of soldiers on
the streets throughout our part of town in preparation, so not sure what's going
to happen. But, I'm not too worried about it, as long as we stay away from big
groups of red shirts.
We were able to go out and work like normal the last three days. Seriously, you
couldn't tell that this stuff is going on its so quiet here. But, it probably was
one of the reasons a lot of people didn't come to church yesterday.
Unfortunately, our 10 new investigators didn't carry over into this week, so that
was kind of a bummer, and opened up a lot of time to invite. Which was great,
nonetheless. Last night before a lesson, Elder Parkinson and I decided to go to
hand out fliers for the Wednesday night English class. We got a couple calls
later that night, including one guy's call, who was like "hey, I met you on the bridge
earlier today!" I started talking to him about who we are and how we are
missionaries and how we teach the restored gospel, and he is interested in
sitting down sometime to hear our message. That's right! Keep your lines in the
water... No, but really, English class is a really good way to find people interested in what we have to say.
Anyway, as far as teaching and getting new investigators,
Coming home is kinda scaring me, seriously. The moves meeting is this week on Thursday, the 18th. Not sure who's moving yet or what's happening. We will find out tomorrow. I'm going into my 13th transfer guys! 2 more after this, ah man!
thanks for everything guys! KawPrajao yuu dui jone juergan eeg!
-Elder Schulte
Monday, March 8, 2010
3/8/10
Hey Family,
It's scary how fast time is flying while I'm here in Thailand! We had a
really great week. President Smith told the zone leaders in a recent interview,
that our weekly results are blowing his mind. This area hasn't seen this in a
long time. Members were really helpful this week, no joke. So, right now,
things are way good in Thonburi. I had a great switchoff in Asoge with Elder
Young last week. I remember switching off there about a year ago when I was
still with Elder Jones. Remember the picture of me standing on the street corner
with all the cars, taxis and motorbikes? I was there again Friday, over a year
later.
Anyway, we really did hammer it out this week. Early morning inviting was great,
there are a lot more people out at that time, when it hits 11:00 though, people
are all inside from the heat, so its not so effective to be out working.
Actually I really like this new schedule, going out at 7:30 in the morning wakes
me up, and coming home in the afternoon to study until 4:00 is awesome. I can
focus a lot better.
The trip to Ganjanaburi last week was great. We didn't see Burma, we were still a
ways from it, but the Province is right next to it. I've never seen the
movie. (Bridge Over the River Kwai) I would really like to though.
Well, my comp is doing well, but we will have to go to the hospital on
Friday to check his ear out, and on top of that, he may have worms, uh-oh.
Well, he is a real trooper.
So that's whats going on right now. It's getting hotter, but we miss the hottest part of the day with this new schedule.
I've had some great studies lately. Right now there is a mission wide Book of Mormon reading challenge, but not the usual one. It is following a Preach my Gospel activity which involves reading the Book of Mormon, and underlining all the references to the Savior. There are more than you can imagine. Its really opened my eyes to who Jesus Christ is,in the Book of Mormon, seriously, check this out... He is not only referred to as Savior, and Redeemer, he has many other names, due to his special relationship with us....
I challenge you guys to check this out. Also something else that I was studying
was Moroni 8:25-26, concerning the relationship between the restored gospel and
the Christlike Attributes(do you guys have a copy of Preach my Gospel in the
house? It may be good to have that on hand for that study.) Let me know what you think after you read it.Thanks for everything guys! Times gonna run out here,bye!
It's scary how fast time is flying while I'm here in Thailand! We had a
really great week. President Smith told the zone leaders in a recent interview,
that our weekly results are blowing his mind. This area hasn't seen this in a
long time. Members were really helpful this week, no joke. So, right now,
things are way good in Thonburi. I had a great switchoff in Asoge with Elder
Young last week. I remember switching off there about a year ago when I was
still with Elder Jones. Remember the picture of me standing on the street corner
with all the cars, taxis and motorbikes? I was there again Friday, over a year
later.
Anyway, we really did hammer it out this week. Early morning inviting was great,
there are a lot more people out at that time, when it hits 11:00 though, people
are all inside from the heat, so its not so effective to be out working.
Actually I really like this new schedule, going out at 7:30 in the morning wakes
me up, and coming home in the afternoon to study until 4:00 is awesome. I can
focus a lot better.
The trip to Ganjanaburi last week was great. We didn't see Burma, we were still a
ways from it, but the Province is right next to it. I've never seen the
movie. (Bridge Over the River Kwai) I would really like to though.
Well, my comp is doing well, but we will have to go to the hospital on
Friday to check his ear out, and on top of that, he may have worms, uh-oh.
Well, he is a real trooper.
So that's whats going on right now. It's getting hotter, but we miss the hottest part of the day with this new schedule.
I've had some great studies lately. Right now there is a mission wide Book of Mormon reading challenge, but not the usual one. It is following a Preach my Gospel activity which involves reading the Book of Mormon, and underlining all the references to the Savior. There are more than you can imagine. Its really opened my eyes to who Jesus Christ is,in the Book of Mormon, seriously, check this out... He is not only referred to as Savior, and Redeemer, he has many other names, due to his special relationship with us....
I challenge you guys to check this out. Also something else that I was studying
was Moroni 8:25-26, concerning the relationship between the restored gospel and
the Christlike Attributes(do you guys have a copy of Preach my Gospel in the
house? It may be good to have that on hand for that study.) Let me know what you think after you read it.Thanks for everything guys! Times gonna run out here,bye!
Bridge Over the River Kwai 3/1/10
Hey Everybody,
Today Elder Parkinson and I went with some other elders in the zone to
Ganjanaburi Province near Burma. There are some famous waterfalls there, as well
as the bridge over the river Kwai, the bridge that American prisoners were forced to
build for the Japanese. Way interesting, and the River Kwai is beautiful!
We've had another great week. We had 6 new investigators this last week. Things
are going to be changing again in the mission. From now on until June, the
normal proselyting day will change, meaning we get out the door at 7:30 and work
until 1:30 when we come back and study until 4:00 and then go back out to work
until 8:30 at night. This is in effort to find more people. Because in the
afternoon it is really hot, and nobody comes out, everyone is out in the
mornings and at night. This is a little experiment that President Smith is
trying, and we are going to try it. To be honest, noon time never has been very
effective as far as find people, and holding appointments.
I got a letter from Justin Kelly, that was way cool, sounds like he is doing
well. Man, yeah the bishop talked about the disaster in Chile, that's so scary,
and no, I hadn't heard about that problem with Toyota.
Well you guys sound like you are staying really busy, Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Schulte
Today Elder Parkinson and I went with some other elders in the zone to
Ganjanaburi Province near Burma. There are some famous waterfalls there, as well
as the bridge over the river Kwai, the bridge that American prisoners were forced to
build for the Japanese. Way interesting, and the River Kwai is beautiful!
We've had another great week. We had 6 new investigators this last week. Things
are going to be changing again in the mission. From now on until June, the
normal proselyting day will change, meaning we get out the door at 7:30 and work
until 1:30 when we come back and study until 4:00 and then go back out to work
until 8:30 at night. This is in effort to find more people. Because in the
afternoon it is really hot, and nobody comes out, everyone is out in the
mornings and at night. This is a little experiment that President Smith is
trying, and we are going to try it. To be honest, noon time never has been very
effective as far as find people, and holding appointments.
I got a letter from Justin Kelly, that was way cool, sounds like he is doing
well. Man, yeah the bishop talked about the disaster in Chile, that's so scary,
and no, I hadn't heard about that problem with Toyota.
Well you guys sound like you are staying really busy, Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Schulte
Thonburi 2/15/10
Hey family,
Another great week. We got a lot done, but no investigators were able to come to
church this week. On the brighter side, a family that has been less active for a long time came to church yesterday. We went to visit the dad last week to see how he was doing. He has a really nice family, with a wife, a little daughter about 6
years old, and a little baby son. A great family, and they showed up at
church.
We have so much to do and so little time that it is hard
to fit anymore visits with potentials in, where less active members are scheduled, and the other way around as well. The Assistants to the President of the mission
called us on Wednesday, the were checking out our results over the past transfer, and are really impressed with everything. Seriously, having daters(someone with a set baptism date), investigators attend church, having at least 2 new investigators a week... Thonburi hasn't had this in a long time! What we are going to work on this week is having better backup plans this week, to use time effectively. If an investigator isn't free, we will really try to get in to see one of the less active members. And the other way around as well. Anyway, it has come through the Lords help. We've really worked hard on being diligent, obedient, and it is really paying off.
Last year in Bang-na, there was a really weird valentines/cowboy theme,party on Valentine's Day. Oh man! I think I sent you pictures of that! This year they didn't do much for it.
Elder Parkinson celebrated his "6 month in country" mark on the 12th, and I am at
18 months as a missionary as of the 13th. Crazy.
Thanks for everything, take care, love you all!\
-Elder Schulte
Another great week. We got a lot done, but no investigators were able to come to
church this week. On the brighter side, a family that has been less active for a long time came to church yesterday. We went to visit the dad last week to see how he was doing. He has a really nice family, with a wife, a little daughter about 6
years old, and a little baby son. A great family, and they showed up at
church.
We have so much to do and so little time that it is hard
to fit anymore visits with potentials in, where less active members are scheduled, and the other way around as well. The Assistants to the President of the mission
called us on Wednesday, the were checking out our results over the past transfer, and are really impressed with everything. Seriously, having daters(someone with a set baptism date), investigators attend church, having at least 2 new investigators a week... Thonburi hasn't had this in a long time! What we are going to work on this week is having better backup plans this week, to use time effectively. If an investigator isn't free, we will really try to get in to see one of the less active members. And the other way around as well. Anyway, it has come through the Lords help. We've really worked hard on being diligent, obedient, and it is really paying off.
Last year in Bang-na, there was a really weird valentines/cowboy theme,party on Valentine's Day. Oh man! I think I sent you pictures of that! This year they didn't do much for it.
Elder Parkinson celebrated his "6 month in country" mark on the 12th, and I am at
18 months as a missionary as of the 13th. Crazy.
Thanks for everything, take care, love you all!\
-Elder Schulte
Great Things are Happening! 2/8/10
Hey Everyone!
Things are great here. Wow! Yes, I will give a talk on August 8th. That really is
crazy, but that's not too far from now. What a coincidence! I really was thinking
about that this morning, "what am I going to talk about when I get home? How do i
fit two years of experiences in a 10 minute talk?" Just wait and see...
So, great week! We got a lot of stuff done. We had a switchoff with the zone
leaders here in Thonburi, and really hit this place hard. We now really see
who's gonna take a little bit longer to prepare, and who is ready. One of our
guys "Bawg" is really cool, and now has a date for April 14th. Another guy named
"Noom", that we are teaching is doing well, but hasn't yet received an answer that
this is true, so that's what Elder Peiper and I talked about with him.
We talked about all the different ways to get answers to prayers, through
feelings, through scriptures, through verses in the scriptures, and another is
through other people in some situations that you would never expect. So towards
the end of the lesson we were talking about this, and all of a sudden I felt prompted to talk to him about drinking and smoking and how it can "prevent you from from being in tune with the spirit and make it harder to receive an answer to prayers". He wasn't upset about it, but he said that he had tried to quit before, but it didn't last very long, and it would be hard to quit again because he drinks and smokes with friends. So, it got left there. We had to take
him home, but we agreed to meet the next day, Saturday, to talk about getting to
church and stuff. So the next day while I was studying, I was thinking about this
deal a lot, and I decide to look through the most recent conference issue of the
Liahona (church magazine), and came across Richard G. Scott's talk on "Aquiring Spiritual Guidance", and in the middle of the address he talks about one of the keys to acquiring spiritual guidance and answers to prayers is obedience to
commandments. From there I started to think about the Word of Wisdom, and then
opened up to Preach my Gospel (the missionary teaching book) section on teaching the word of wisdom (the LDS code of health), and the
first paragraph talks about being free of things like alcohol and drugs and how it will help us have healthy bodies and be receptive to spiritual guidance. So I
shared this stuff with Elder Parkinson, and we decided, when we visited Noom today,
we would talk about the word of wisdom and receiving spiritual guidance. So, we
did. We went to see him ,and it was great. We asked him right
off the bat "do you believe in God who is our Heavenly Father?" and he answered
"yes, I do", and then we asked him "do you believe that you can receive answers
from God through Prayer?" and he was like "I'm not sure, I haven't gotten an answer
yet..." And I said" Noom, we know you can do this, we know you want to
get an answer, and the Lord WILL help you do this (live the Word of Wisdom) if you just try, if you don't, we cant teach you anymore, it won't do any good". He
said"...okay I'll do it". He said the closing prayer and in it we heard him say "Father please help me to have the strength to be able to keep this commitment..." Wow. So we have been praying for him all week, and will see him on Wednesday to see how it is going. Please pray for Noom, that he'll have the strength to quit. Its so frustrating when we go to teach an investigator and when we get to their home, they are drunk out of their mind. I see the extent of damage that it does to people, not just them, but their families as well. That's one of Satans greatest
tools in Thailand, along with drugs and porn. Oh man. Thank you guys for raising me up to make good choices.
Sorry, I actually am running out of time here. I would be interested in finding out Sister Forbes grandson's name, so at the moves meeting when he's introducing himself at the pulpit, I can stand up and say "I KNOW YOUR GRANDMA!!!!!!"Just kidding, I probably wont do that....."
Elder Parkinson is doing great, we've had some great studies, and have really hit this place hard with progress together. I love all my companions, but am so glad to
work with Elder Parkinson. Anyway, take care guys!
-Elder Schulte
Things are great here. Wow! Yes, I will give a talk on August 8th. That really is
crazy, but that's not too far from now. What a coincidence! I really was thinking
about that this morning, "what am I going to talk about when I get home? How do i
fit two years of experiences in a 10 minute talk?" Just wait and see...
So, great week! We got a lot of stuff done. We had a switchoff with the zone
leaders here in Thonburi, and really hit this place hard. We now really see
who's gonna take a little bit longer to prepare, and who is ready. One of our
guys "Bawg" is really cool, and now has a date for April 14th. Another guy named
"Noom", that we are teaching is doing well, but hasn't yet received an answer that
this is true, so that's what Elder Peiper and I talked about with him.
We talked about all the different ways to get answers to prayers, through
feelings, through scriptures, through verses in the scriptures, and another is
through other people in some situations that you would never expect. So towards
the end of the lesson we were talking about this, and all of a sudden I felt prompted to talk to him about drinking and smoking and how it can "prevent you from from being in tune with the spirit and make it harder to receive an answer to prayers". He wasn't upset about it, but he said that he had tried to quit before, but it didn't last very long, and it would be hard to quit again because he drinks and smokes with friends. So, it got left there. We had to take
him home, but we agreed to meet the next day, Saturday, to talk about getting to
church and stuff. So the next day while I was studying, I was thinking about this
deal a lot, and I decide to look through the most recent conference issue of the
Liahona (church magazine), and came across Richard G. Scott's talk on "Aquiring Spiritual Guidance", and in the middle of the address he talks about one of the keys to acquiring spiritual guidance and answers to prayers is obedience to
commandments. From there I started to think about the Word of Wisdom, and then
opened up to Preach my Gospel (the missionary teaching book) section on teaching the word of wisdom (the LDS code of health), and the
first paragraph talks about being free of things like alcohol and drugs and how it will help us have healthy bodies and be receptive to spiritual guidance. So I
shared this stuff with Elder Parkinson, and we decided, when we visited Noom today,
we would talk about the word of wisdom and receiving spiritual guidance. So, we
did. We went to see him ,and it was great. We asked him right
off the bat "do you believe in God who is our Heavenly Father?" and he answered
"yes, I do", and then we asked him "do you believe that you can receive answers
from God through Prayer?" and he was like "I'm not sure, I haven't gotten an answer
yet..." And I said" Noom, we know you can do this, we know you want to
get an answer, and the Lord WILL help you do this (live the Word of Wisdom) if you just try, if you don't, we cant teach you anymore, it won't do any good". He
said"...okay I'll do it". He said the closing prayer and in it we heard him say "Father please help me to have the strength to be able to keep this commitment..." Wow. So we have been praying for him all week, and will see him on Wednesday to see how it is going. Please pray for Noom, that he'll have the strength to quit. Its so frustrating when we go to teach an investigator and when we get to their home, they are drunk out of their mind. I see the extent of damage that it does to people, not just them, but their families as well. That's one of Satans greatest
tools in Thailand, along with drugs and porn. Oh man. Thank you guys for raising me up to make good choices.
Sorry, I actually am running out of time here. I would be interested in finding out Sister Forbes grandson's name, so at the moves meeting when he's introducing himself at the pulpit, I can stand up and say "I KNOW YOUR GRANDMA!!!!!!"Just kidding, I probably wont do that....."
Elder Parkinson is doing great, we've had some great studies, and have really hit this place hard with progress together. I love all my companions, but am so glad to
work with Elder Parkinson. Anyway, take care guys!
-Elder Schulte
Thonburi 2/1/2010
Hey!
Thanks for your emails. We've had another great week. Had 2 investigators at
church for the first time in, it sounds like, months, and we even had a recent
convert/investigator class for the first time in months as well. We have worked
on being bold but not overbearing this week, in teaching and giving commitments.
That's way cool you guys have been in touch (facebook) with members of the church in Ubon. That's a really fun group.
Its getting pretty warm here and has been raining occasionally. It takes me back to last summer in Ubon/Warin where it rained every single day in July. Oh man!
I haven't heard much about Haiti, except through investigators and members,
and the Bishop talked about it in Sacrament yesterday. I will print this article out that mom sent and read it.
We've had some interesting experiences lately. On Thursday we decided to
go find a member on a particular street, but invited people we met on the way there. We were walking down the road, and a guy up ahead in a wheel chair shouted "Elder!", so we approached this guy who had apparently met with missionaries before. He was catholic and went to church every week. He had been to
our church before, and wanted to learn more, but had lost contact with
missionaries so we said we would teach him, and Elder Parkinson laid it down
with him, he told him "alright, we'll teach you if you will stop drinking, and
another thing is that you have to come to church with us on Sunday!" and he was
like, "alright I'll do it". So we told him that we would come on Sunday morning
and pick him up. So we did, at 8:00 Sunday morning, we pulled up at his house
with a cab and took him to church, all read to go. It was really cool, and he
really liked going and wants to do it next week. We have an appointment to
teach him for real this Wednesday. Its cool how the spirit works, seriously. If
we hadn't gone there, how would we have found that man? Anyway, we've worked on being bold. It was a really great experience.
Wow! So, I'd better get going. We are gonna get some pizza today, yes! Take care guys!
-Elder Schulte
Thanks for your emails. We've had another great week. Had 2 investigators at
church for the first time in, it sounds like, months, and we even had a recent
convert/investigator class for the first time in months as well. We have worked
on being bold but not overbearing this week, in teaching and giving commitments.
That's way cool you guys have been in touch (facebook) with members of the church in Ubon. That's a really fun group.
Its getting pretty warm here and has been raining occasionally. It takes me back to last summer in Ubon/Warin where it rained every single day in July. Oh man!
I haven't heard much about Haiti, except through investigators and members,
and the Bishop talked about it in Sacrament yesterday. I will print this article out that mom sent and read it.
We've had some interesting experiences lately. On Thursday we decided to
go find a member on a particular street, but invited people we met on the way there. We were walking down the road, and a guy up ahead in a wheel chair shouted "Elder!", so we approached this guy who had apparently met with missionaries before. He was catholic and went to church every week. He had been to
our church before, and wanted to learn more, but had lost contact with
missionaries so we said we would teach him, and Elder Parkinson laid it down
with him, he told him "alright, we'll teach you if you will stop drinking, and
another thing is that you have to come to church with us on Sunday!" and he was
like, "alright I'll do it". So we told him that we would come on Sunday morning
and pick him up. So we did, at 8:00 Sunday morning, we pulled up at his house
with a cab and took him to church, all read to go. It was really cool, and he
really liked going and wants to do it next week. We have an appointment to
teach him for real this Wednesday. Its cool how the spirit works, seriously. If
we hadn't gone there, how would we have found that man? Anyway, we've worked on being bold. It was a really great experience.
Wow! So, I'd better get going. We are gonna get some pizza today, yes! Take care guys!
-Elder Schulte
AttidTeeSuudYodleuy! 1/25
Hey Family,
Thanks for the great emails this week. I'm glad to hear that both Grandpas are
doing well, that is great news! Oh, other news... It sounds like there was a major
earthquake in Haiti. A lot of people have been talking about it here. Apparently
there were some Thai people in the country at the time who were killed in the
disaster.
There was also a solar eclipse over Asia a few days ago, we bought some small
lenses so we could look at it, that was pretty cool. Remember the eclipse in
Austria?
Well, this week was a success. We definitely did better having
lesson with members. We had an investigator at
sacrament yesterday. Apparently, this is the first time in months that an
investigator has come, and I think it can be attributed to having a member
present in the lesson. The member invited them, rather than us just
saying, "we want you to come to church". So, that was cool, and the other thing was
we met up with a referral from some elders in another are. His named is Berd,
and he is really interested. A line of missionaries have been preparing this man. He is really smart, very hard working, has had a baptismal date before, but has never been able to get the timing right. He just recently got a new job that he says allows him to be able to come to church. We sat down with him for the first
time 2 days ago, and talked about baptism and getting ready. He says he
wants to get baptized. He wants to do a lot of review, and finish learning about
commandments, and then he says he will be ready to go. Wow! So we could see
him baptized by the end of this next transfer. Sweet!
We've had some good results this week. So much better than the beginning of this
transfer. It's amazing! I came into this area, and there was nothing but work with less active members. Elder Parkinson and I have worked really hard to get things
to this point. We have a lot of potentials, really great investigators, and now
after some follow ups, we have some guys progressing, keeping reading and
praying commitments, and now...going to church!
I'm way impressed with this ward! There are some really sweet members here, and I
love how they really fellowshipped our investigator, Paw PongPan.
The moves meeting is this week. I don't think either of us are moving. Sweet! We have alot to do!
Thanks for everything. This week has been wonderful. We've had some hardcore SYL (Speak your Language) sessions and some great language boost moments, and our Thai has skyrocketed this week, no joke! We are going to hit this next transfer hard.
-Elder Schulte
Thanks for the great emails this week. I'm glad to hear that both Grandpas are
doing well, that is great news! Oh, other news... It sounds like there was a major
earthquake in Haiti. A lot of people have been talking about it here. Apparently
there were some Thai people in the country at the time who were killed in the
disaster.
There was also a solar eclipse over Asia a few days ago, we bought some small
lenses so we could look at it, that was pretty cool. Remember the eclipse in
Austria?
Well, this week was a success. We definitely did better having
lesson with members. We had an investigator at
sacrament yesterday. Apparently, this is the first time in months that an
investigator has come, and I think it can be attributed to having a member
present in the lesson. The member invited them, rather than us just
saying, "we want you to come to church". So, that was cool, and the other thing was
we met up with a referral from some elders in another are. His named is Berd,
and he is really interested. A line of missionaries have been preparing this man. He is really smart, very hard working, has had a baptismal date before, but has never been able to get the timing right. He just recently got a new job that he says allows him to be able to come to church. We sat down with him for the first
time 2 days ago, and talked about baptism and getting ready. He says he
wants to get baptized. He wants to do a lot of review, and finish learning about
commandments, and then he says he will be ready to go. Wow! So we could see
him baptized by the end of this next transfer. Sweet!
We've had some good results this week. So much better than the beginning of this
transfer. It's amazing! I came into this area, and there was nothing but work with less active members. Elder Parkinson and I have worked really hard to get things
to this point. We have a lot of potentials, really great investigators, and now
after some follow ups, we have some guys progressing, keeping reading and
praying commitments, and now...going to church!
I'm way impressed with this ward! There are some really sweet members here, and I
love how they really fellowshipped our investigator, Paw PongPan.
The moves meeting is this week. I don't think either of us are moving. Sweet! We have alot to do!
Thanks for everything. This week has been wonderful. We've had some hardcore SYL (Speak your Language) sessions and some great language boost moments, and our Thai has skyrocketed this week, no joke! We are going to hit this next transfer hard.
-Elder Schulte
Monday, January 18, 2010
1/18/10 Great Week for Finding
Hey I"m getting fat!Actually,I have gained a little weight lately, after some
advice you guys gave over Christmas. Glad you liked the pictures I sent.
The Temple is Wat Aruun, which is on the bank of the Chao Praya
river that runs through the middle of Bangkok. Actually, this temple is not too
far from the church. Oh, concering the other picture, there is terrible phone
reception in our apartment, except over in the corner by the fridge, but even there
sometimes we lose connection. (In this picture he is standing against the fridge holding his companion's crutch up like an antenna while talking on the phone. :O) )
This last week has been incredible! We had switchoffs with the zone leaders here
in Thonburi last Tuesday. I switched off with my dear old MTC companion, Elder Young, and we had a blast. The day started off with our district meeting that we
have every week, This time the zone leaders sat in on it. I gave a lesson
about "Planned Teaching Activities, and Unplanned Finding Opportunities".
For example, suppose you have an appointment to go to, and when you get to the house
or place you are meeting the investigator, he isn't there. In the process
of getting there, you invited several people. Or, the person
you originally intended to meet wasn't where he said he was going to be, and the
Lord had other plans for you to go to that destination that you didn't realize at
the time. A great application of this is the story of Ammon and Lamoni when
they met Lamoni's father (read Alma 20 and you will understand better). Alma 20 has some really good applications to this lesson. The meaning
behind this lesson is taking every opportunity to talk to people, even on the way
to our various appointments. Anyway, we got really pumped up after the lesson, and
we went out and talked to a lot of people, and got a lot of potentials. Not
just on Tuesday, the rest of the week as well.
This past week has been really stellar! We had some really sweet lessons. We have three new investigators and several referrals. This last week's work has given us a lot to do this week. We have potentials and regulars scheduled everyday this next week, wow! So, we have a lot to do, but Elder Parkinson and I are really excited. It's gonna be a full week of weeding out who's ready and who's not. Anyway, the ball is starting to roll here. We are really going to work on getting members to help us teach. After a great experience with a member's help last week, we
really want to have members present. And, also we're going to work on committing
investigators to come to church. Man! This is all I want to think about right now! We have a ton of potentials right now!
Well, it was really fun to switch off with Elder Young.
He's a fantastic missionary! We really had a lot of fun, a lot to talk about, and
a lot to do. So last week was really good, and it's set the foundation for
tomorrow, and the rest of the week. I wish I could put some of the experiences into
this letter, but I am running out of time here. I will put them in my next
letter, which will be to Paige, coming really soon.
Great things are happening in Thailand! This last Saturday, church leaders held
a special conference in Asoke to reveal to members the updated Thai translation
of the Book of Mormon. We didn't get to go to it, but I heard it was pretty
packed, People here have been waiting for this now for a while, and it is finished
being re-translated. It is now in the process of being mass printed, and should be
available at the end of this year. So, that's pretty cool! The lady who
translated it the first time thirty years ago is still alive, but getting very
old. I heard some amazing stories about her experiences translating the book, and actually there is a book written about her which I want to find after the mission called "Translating Scripture". I'd better get off. Thanks for all of your prayers and support.
Man, I just can't put into words how awesome this experience has been! Take care guys. Love, Elder Schulte
advice you guys gave over Christmas. Glad you liked the pictures I sent.
The Temple is Wat Aruun, which is on the bank of the Chao Praya
river that runs through the middle of Bangkok. Actually, this temple is not too
far from the church. Oh, concering the other picture, there is terrible phone
reception in our apartment, except over in the corner by the fridge, but even there
sometimes we lose connection. (In this picture he is standing against the fridge holding his companion's crutch up like an antenna while talking on the phone. :O) )
This last week has been incredible! We had switchoffs with the zone leaders here
in Thonburi last Tuesday. I switched off with my dear old MTC companion, Elder Young, and we had a blast. The day started off with our district meeting that we
have every week, This time the zone leaders sat in on it. I gave a lesson
about "Planned Teaching Activities, and Unplanned Finding Opportunities".
For example, suppose you have an appointment to go to, and when you get to the house
or place you are meeting the investigator, he isn't there. In the process
of getting there, you invited several people. Or, the person
you originally intended to meet wasn't where he said he was going to be, and the
Lord had other plans for you to go to that destination that you didn't realize at
the time. A great application of this is the story of Ammon and Lamoni when
they met Lamoni's father (read Alma 20 and you will understand better). Alma 20 has some really good applications to this lesson. The meaning
behind this lesson is taking every opportunity to talk to people, even on the way
to our various appointments. Anyway, we got really pumped up after the lesson, and
we went out and talked to a lot of people, and got a lot of potentials. Not
just on Tuesday, the rest of the week as well.
This past week has been really stellar! We had some really sweet lessons. We have three new investigators and several referrals. This last week's work has given us a lot to do this week. We have potentials and regulars scheduled everyday this next week, wow! So, we have a lot to do, but Elder Parkinson and I are really excited. It's gonna be a full week of weeding out who's ready and who's not. Anyway, the ball is starting to roll here. We are really going to work on getting members to help us teach. After a great experience with a member's help last week, we
really want to have members present. And, also we're going to work on committing
investigators to come to church. Man! This is all I want to think about right now! We have a ton of potentials right now!
Well, it was really fun to switch off with Elder Young.
He's a fantastic missionary! We really had a lot of fun, a lot to talk about, and
a lot to do. So last week was really good, and it's set the foundation for
tomorrow, and the rest of the week. I wish I could put some of the experiences into
this letter, but I am running out of time here. I will put them in my next
letter, which will be to Paige, coming really soon.
Great things are happening in Thailand! This last Saturday, church leaders held
a special conference in Asoke to reveal to members the updated Thai translation
of the Book of Mormon. We didn't get to go to it, but I heard it was pretty
packed, People here have been waiting for this now for a while, and it is finished
being re-translated. It is now in the process of being mass printed, and should be
available at the end of this year. So, that's pretty cool! The lady who
translated it the first time thirty years ago is still alive, but getting very
old. I heard some amazing stories about her experiences translating the book, and actually there is a book written about her which I want to find after the mission called "Translating Scripture". I'd better get off. Thanks for all of your prayers and support.
Man, I just can't put into words how awesome this experience has been! Take care guys. Love, Elder Schulte
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
1/11/10
Hey family
Thanks for your letter this week. I got some great letters from members and I
really appreciate the package from the Hines's. Thanks so much! I love party mix
so much!!!!
Guess what? I've started to gain weight! Actually, a significant amount over the
last two weeks! Ive been trying to do this for a year, and its starting to
happen. :O)
I don't have my moves calender in front of me, but from doing some math, I think
the next moves meeting will be February 4th. I'm pretty sure that's when it will
be.
We had zone conference last week, and afterwards I approached President
Smith and talked to him about leaving in September. I will follow up on this
with him in 2 weeks when we have interviews. But my group will go home Sept
4th, and the group before that will be leaving July 20th. I've talked to Elder
Young about this recently. He said that pretty much everybody in our group is
planning on leaving for schooling purposes on July 20th. He was wondering if I was going to stay until September or go home in July. So in the email today you said that both IUK and Purdue start 3rd week of Aug? It looks like its gonna be a July 20th release for me then, maybe. When does BYU-Idaho start? You know I've been really contemplating BYU-Idaho for a number of reasons. And I've been still really thinking about the ECET program. Oh I sent Stephanie Williams a letter asking about her program at Purdue. Thanks for that address.
Ouch Paige! Whoops,sorry about your bruised foot. I hope you feel better. Hey I put 2 tapes in the mail a few days ago, talking about things in Yasothon and Thonburi. I hope you enjoy them. I hope you can hear them. The machine was recording a weird clicking noise into the tape, but I think it will be okay. Have a great day guys!
Sorry, I will write more next week!
Love you,
-Elder Schulte
Thanks for your letter this week. I got some great letters from members and I
really appreciate the package from the Hines's. Thanks so much! I love party mix
so much!!!!
Guess what? I've started to gain weight! Actually, a significant amount over the
last two weeks! Ive been trying to do this for a year, and its starting to
happen. :O)
I don't have my moves calender in front of me, but from doing some math, I think
the next moves meeting will be February 4th. I'm pretty sure that's when it will
be.
We had zone conference last week, and afterwards I approached President
Smith and talked to him about leaving in September. I will follow up on this
with him in 2 weeks when we have interviews. But my group will go home Sept
4th, and the group before that will be leaving July 20th. I've talked to Elder
Young about this recently. He said that pretty much everybody in our group is
planning on leaving for schooling purposes on July 20th. He was wondering if I was going to stay until September or go home in July. So in the email today you said that both IUK and Purdue start 3rd week of Aug? It looks like its gonna be a July 20th release for me then, maybe. When does BYU-Idaho start? You know I've been really contemplating BYU-Idaho for a number of reasons. And I've been still really thinking about the ECET program. Oh I sent Stephanie Williams a letter asking about her program at Purdue. Thanks for that address.
Ouch Paige! Whoops,sorry about your bruised foot. I hope you feel better. Hey I put 2 tapes in the mail a few days ago, talking about things in Yasothon and Thonburi. I hope you enjoy them. I hope you can hear them. The machine was recording a weird clicking noise into the tape, but I think it will be okay. Have a great day guys!
Sorry, I will write more next week!
Love you,
-Elder Schulte
1/4/10
Hey Family,
Happy New Year! New Year's in Bangkok was a crazy night. We went home early. This neighborhood was getting kinda sketchy. People were getting really drunk, there was some crazy party going on, so we went home.
This new year has been really good so far. We tried to be as productive as possible, because a lot of our members were gone this week, and so were the investigators, so what we decided to do was go through the membership records of people who are really inactive, and we decide to go out and find them, and also do inviting on the way. So it wasn't just going to be a whole week of just wandering around and finding new people to teach (I hate just wandering around). . But actually, we had some good results this week. We found that a lot of these people had moved, but also made contact with many people on the records, and will be going back to see them. On top of that, a week of inviting has given us many potentials, and a new investigator as of last night. So there we go, and we had long term planning last week, and have some objectives,and things that we are really going to try and do better to work more effectively. So this week is looking pretty good.
Last week with Dan, the relative of the King was great. He is mentally and
physically handicapped. He speaks and understands English really well, but isn't all
there, and he has to have people sit with him to hold him up, or else he would
fall over. He was really nice, we brought the games and things, but ended up not
playing that with him, instead before we went over, Elder Parkinson was like"hey
maybe you should bring the guitar, he really likes singing songs, in fact he
really likes 'By the way' by Red Hot Chili Peppers!" So, I brought the guitar,
and while we were over there, Elder Parkinson was like "Hey Dan, Elder Schulte
brought a guitar today, Do you want to sing songs?" and he was like "Of course
I want to sing songs!" and he was like "well what's your favorite band?" "Red
Hot Chili peppers!" and I was like "really? well uh ,do you know this song?"
and I started to play "by the way" and his face just lights up and he starts
singing along "...By the way I tried to say I'd be there...", way funny guy, he
would occasionally make funny noices and was always like "Hrrrr....Im hungry!"
and then a while later he had to go to bed, so the servants came and fed us
really great food, the woman wasn't able to come that night, but will probably be
there tonight, we do this every Monday night.
So here's the story behind missionaries going to visit Dan. The Church and mission program in Thailand has really good connections with members of the royal family, who have helped the church get access to various places in Thailand to do service projects and be able to proselyte in various areas. And Dan's mom, who is a member of the royal family, is the church in Thailand's link to the government. She has helped the church a lot, and in return, likes to have missionaries come to talk with Dan each week, not about religion, but just to help him practice his English. Dan's
funny!
Have you guys gotten the Ensign yet? We have the Liahona Conference issue and we are
supposed to Study Jeffrey R. Holland's talk on the Book of Mormon, I read it
this morning ,wow, way powerful! Anyway, that's for zone conference coming up
this week.
I gotta get off the computer. Happy 2010, holy cow!
Love you Elder Schulte
Mom made Thai food, that sounds exciting. Yeah I will definitely learn some
recipes too.
Happy New Year! New Year's in Bangkok was a crazy night. We went home early. This neighborhood was getting kinda sketchy. People were getting really drunk, there was some crazy party going on, so we went home.
This new year has been really good so far. We tried to be as productive as possible, because a lot of our members were gone this week, and so were the investigators, so what we decided to do was go through the membership records of people who are really inactive, and we decide to go out and find them, and also do inviting on the way. So it wasn't just going to be a whole week of just wandering around and finding new people to teach (I hate just wandering around). . But actually, we had some good results this week. We found that a lot of these people had moved, but also made contact with many people on the records, and will be going back to see them. On top of that, a week of inviting has given us many potentials, and a new investigator as of last night. So there we go, and we had long term planning last week, and have some objectives,and things that we are really going to try and do better to work more effectively. So this week is looking pretty good.
Last week with Dan, the relative of the King was great. He is mentally and
physically handicapped. He speaks and understands English really well, but isn't all
there, and he has to have people sit with him to hold him up, or else he would
fall over. He was really nice, we brought the games and things, but ended up not
playing that with him, instead before we went over, Elder Parkinson was like"hey
maybe you should bring the guitar, he really likes singing songs, in fact he
really likes 'By the way' by Red Hot Chili Peppers!" So, I brought the guitar,
and while we were over there, Elder Parkinson was like "Hey Dan, Elder Schulte
brought a guitar today, Do you want to sing songs?" and he was like "Of course
I want to sing songs!" and he was like "well what's your favorite band?" "Red
Hot Chili peppers!" and I was like "really? well uh ,do you know this song?"
and I started to play "by the way" and his face just lights up and he starts
singing along "...By the way I tried to say I'd be there...", way funny guy, he
would occasionally make funny noices and was always like "Hrrrr....Im hungry!"
and then a while later he had to go to bed, so the servants came and fed us
really great food, the woman wasn't able to come that night, but will probably be
there tonight, we do this every Monday night.
So here's the story behind missionaries going to visit Dan. The Church and mission program in Thailand has really good connections with members of the royal family, who have helped the church get access to various places in Thailand to do service projects and be able to proselyte in various areas. And Dan's mom, who is a member of the royal family, is the church in Thailand's link to the government. She has helped the church a lot, and in return, likes to have missionaries come to talk with Dan each week, not about religion, but just to help him practice his English. Dan's
funny!
Have you guys gotten the Ensign yet? We have the Liahona Conference issue and we are
supposed to Study Jeffrey R. Holland's talk on the Book of Mormon, I read it
this morning ,wow, way powerful! Anyway, that's for zone conference coming up
this week.
I gotta get off the computer. Happy 2010, holy cow!
Love you Elder Schulte
Mom made Thai food, that sounds exciting. Yeah I will definitely learn some
recipes too.
Monday, January 11, 2010
12/28/09 SawadeeKap! and Happy New Year
Hey guys!
I really enjoyed our Christmas phone call. There are alot of things that are easier to explain over the phone as compared to writing in email.
I'm a district leader again. It's interesting. I've been in 2 main areas for
my whole mission, but hey, that could change now that I've said that. Thonburi
has changed alot just during my mission time. When I first got to Thailand, it had 2elders 2 sisters, then 2 elders, then four elders, and now back to 2. And Yeah, I'm senior companion again. Basically, once you are Pii (senior companion), you don't become nong (jr. companion) again.
I checked the scale 2 nights ago, and I am at 150 pounds, and that got me excited, so I am gonna really keep that up. (Gaining weight that is!) By the way,
thank you so much for the packages, and the enormous amount of American food, I'm
so happy! I got peanut butter! I eat alot of peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches, and big egg sandwiches in the morning, and yeah, i will eat more
bananas. There are plenty around here! :O)
This week has been good as far as teaching, but not so good on paper, so we have
plans for this week to seek more referrals from people, mainly members ,and also
its good to ask street contacts if they know anybody who would be interested.
We are also going to work on shorter invites. President Smith has talked about
getting shorter invites, so you dont talk to a guy on the street for ten minutes
nad then finally get to talking about religion, and find out that he is not
interested in learning. Get the message out quicker.
We felt really good about our lesson on Thursday night with SuuTad, He is a man that we met 2 days before, and he is really great. We are going to see him again tommorrow. I really enjoy first lessons, that's something that I've really tried to get better at, is telling the Joseph Smith story. That is our unique message to the world, no other church has that, or claims anything like that. And its great to help people understand this story and gain a testimony of it.
Language study has been kicked up a notch. My understanding is really good,
but I don't feel like my speaking is as good as I'd like. So, Ive taken some advice from Elder Wiser a while back ,and on top of learning new words, write down how they
are used in sentences. I've been trying that alot, along with words I already
know, but am not sure how they can be used in a sentence. I have a little
notebook that I carry around, and when I hear new words and sentences, I write
them down, and if its a new word, I ask "could you explain that?" My note book
is full of stuff (words, sentences, Eesan phrases...)that I've been wanting to
know how to use. Elder Parkinson and I have had some really great language
studies. Oh, and Ive been wanting to tell the story about the Slovenian prince
who got blown off the castle toilet by the Austro-Hungarians, could you run that story by me in the next email? (tale from Predjama Castle, Slovenija)
Tonight will be a lot of fun. Remember how I was telling you about how the Thonburi
elders have been going to visit some members of the royal family for the last
several years? Well, tonight we are going to visit a son of a great, great
Grand-Daughter of Rama the 4th, and we are going to play Blokus, and possibly
Uno with him tonight. So, thanks for the Blokus game you guys sent last year, its
gonna come in handy tonight!
Thanks so much for everything. take care! Happy New Year!
-Elder Schulte
I really enjoyed our Christmas phone call. There are alot of things that are easier to explain over the phone as compared to writing in email.
I'm a district leader again. It's interesting. I've been in 2 main areas for
my whole mission, but hey, that could change now that I've said that. Thonburi
has changed alot just during my mission time. When I first got to Thailand, it had 2elders 2 sisters, then 2 elders, then four elders, and now back to 2. And Yeah, I'm senior companion again. Basically, once you are Pii (senior companion), you don't become nong (jr. companion) again.
I checked the scale 2 nights ago, and I am at 150 pounds, and that got me excited, so I am gonna really keep that up. (Gaining weight that is!) By the way,
thank you so much for the packages, and the enormous amount of American food, I'm
so happy! I got peanut butter! I eat alot of peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches, and big egg sandwiches in the morning, and yeah, i will eat more
bananas. There are plenty around here! :O)
This week has been good as far as teaching, but not so good on paper, so we have
plans for this week to seek more referrals from people, mainly members ,and also
its good to ask street contacts if they know anybody who would be interested.
We are also going to work on shorter invites. President Smith has talked about
getting shorter invites, so you dont talk to a guy on the street for ten minutes
nad then finally get to talking about religion, and find out that he is not
interested in learning. Get the message out quicker.
We felt really good about our lesson on Thursday night with SuuTad, He is a man that we met 2 days before, and he is really great. We are going to see him again tommorrow. I really enjoy first lessons, that's something that I've really tried to get better at, is telling the Joseph Smith story. That is our unique message to the world, no other church has that, or claims anything like that. And its great to help people understand this story and gain a testimony of it.
Language study has been kicked up a notch. My understanding is really good,
but I don't feel like my speaking is as good as I'd like. So, Ive taken some advice from Elder Wiser a while back ,and on top of learning new words, write down how they
are used in sentences. I've been trying that alot, along with words I already
know, but am not sure how they can be used in a sentence. I have a little
notebook that I carry around, and when I hear new words and sentences, I write
them down, and if its a new word, I ask "could you explain that?" My note book
is full of stuff (words, sentences, Eesan phrases...)that I've been wanting to
know how to use. Elder Parkinson and I have had some really great language
studies. Oh, and Ive been wanting to tell the story about the Slovenian prince
who got blown off the castle toilet by the Austro-Hungarians, could you run that story by me in the next email? (tale from Predjama Castle, Slovenija)
Tonight will be a lot of fun. Remember how I was telling you about how the Thonburi
elders have been going to visit some members of the royal family for the last
several years? Well, tonight we are going to visit a son of a great, great
Grand-Daughter of Rama the 4th, and we are going to play Blokus, and possibly
Uno with him tonight. So, thanks for the Blokus game you guys sent last year, its
gonna come in handy tonight!
Thanks so much for everything. take care! Happy New Year!
-Elder Schulte
12/23/09 Back in Bangkok! Toneburee
Hey family!
I'm in my new area now. Back in Bangkok. After 8 months in the Eesan, its back
to the big city! I am serving in a district of Bangkok called Toneburee. This
is one of the biggest parts of the city, not like Bangna at all. Its loud!
There are cars everywhere, a ton of people everywhere, skyscrapers, people from
all over the world. To be honest, I think the only thing in this city that feels
Thai is the people. But, I feel really good about working here for some reason.
I think Elder Parkinson and I will see alot of sweet things happen here. We sat
down the other day and did our missioanry action plan and have decided we are really gonna make some magic happen. Elder Young is my zone leader, and this past week has been his first experience in Bangkok, because he has been in the Eesan region his
entire mission, so i feel for him. It's really different from the peacefulness of
Ubon, Udon, and other parts of the east.
This past week has been an experience. It is a lot more difficult to work here, street contacting is not the greatest thing here, so Elder Parkinson and I still do it, but we are focusing alot on working through members in the ward here. We want to try and find some partial member families to work with.
Elder Parkinson is from Huntsville, Utah, and this is his 4th move in the country. He came from Ubon, so we've had some great stories to share with each other about various members and fun stuff there. He injured his ankle a few weeks ago, so he had a cast and crutches for the first few days here, but we went to the hospital the other day and got it off, so now we can get around alot easier. Elder Parkinson is really cool, great to work with, so this will be a great moves.
Work is a little harder, as far as, we feel like we get stuff done, but it
doesnt show it on paper at the end of the day. So I've come into an area with an
awesome ward. The Bishop is just blowing my mind right now, the way he works and
teaches on Sunday. The leadership in the ward is really great. The ward just put
on a really awesome Christmas program the other night. It was so much fun! They had
games, activities, prizes, and had a ton of people come.
This area has no solid investigators right now. There are 2 people with a baptismal date, but one of them will not make it, and the other has a date for next April because of complications. So,our pool is empty right now. I don't know, we're just gonna have to figure out the best way to work in this city. Another thing, we can't use bikes in the city. There is nowhere to ride them. So, my bike is back in the storage in the apartment.
I've had some great studies lately. I've been studying in the Book of Mormon every
morning, and reading alot from the words of Alma and Amulek (Alma31-34) way
sweet chapters. It's alot easier to study the scriptures if you break each
verse or section of verses down. Instead of just reading the whole chapter
straight through. Elder Parkinson and I have had several great teaching experiences lately, and the lessons go great when you really teach using the scriptures. Man I cant wait to talk to you guys on the 24th! Thanks guys!
-Love Elder Schulte
I'm in my new area now. Back in Bangkok. After 8 months in the Eesan, its back
to the big city! I am serving in a district of Bangkok called Toneburee. This
is one of the biggest parts of the city, not like Bangna at all. Its loud!
There are cars everywhere, a ton of people everywhere, skyscrapers, people from
all over the world. To be honest, I think the only thing in this city that feels
Thai is the people. But, I feel really good about working here for some reason.
I think Elder Parkinson and I will see alot of sweet things happen here. We sat
down the other day and did our missioanry action plan and have decided we are really gonna make some magic happen. Elder Young is my zone leader, and this past week has been his first experience in Bangkok, because he has been in the Eesan region his
entire mission, so i feel for him. It's really different from the peacefulness of
Ubon, Udon, and other parts of the east.
This past week has been an experience. It is a lot more difficult to work here, street contacting is not the greatest thing here, so Elder Parkinson and I still do it, but we are focusing alot on working through members in the ward here. We want to try and find some partial member families to work with.
Elder Parkinson is from Huntsville, Utah, and this is his 4th move in the country. He came from Ubon, so we've had some great stories to share with each other about various members and fun stuff there. He injured his ankle a few weeks ago, so he had a cast and crutches for the first few days here, but we went to the hospital the other day and got it off, so now we can get around alot easier. Elder Parkinson is really cool, great to work with, so this will be a great moves.
Work is a little harder, as far as, we feel like we get stuff done, but it
doesnt show it on paper at the end of the day. So I've come into an area with an
awesome ward. The Bishop is just blowing my mind right now, the way he works and
teaches on Sunday. The leadership in the ward is really great. The ward just put
on a really awesome Christmas program the other night. It was so much fun! They had
games, activities, prizes, and had a ton of people come.
This area has no solid investigators right now. There are 2 people with a baptismal date, but one of them will not make it, and the other has a date for next April because of complications. So,our pool is empty right now. I don't know, we're just gonna have to figure out the best way to work in this city. Another thing, we can't use bikes in the city. There is nowhere to ride them. So, my bike is back in the storage in the apartment.
I've had some great studies lately. I've been studying in the Book of Mormon every
morning, and reading alot from the words of Alma and Amulek (Alma31-34) way
sweet chapters. It's alot easier to study the scriptures if you break each
verse or section of verses down. Instead of just reading the whole chapter
straight through. Elder Parkinson and I have had several great teaching experiences lately, and the lessons go great when you really teach using the scriptures. Man I cant wait to talk to you guys on the 24th! Thanks guys!
-Love Elder Schulte
12/15/09 Moving- Not Sure Where!
Hey guys!
First off, Happy Birthday Michael!!!!!!!! 18! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!
Elder McConkie and I are in Warin right now, We found out last night that I was
moving, and last night we had our showcase English class. So yeah, I am moving.
No idea where I'm going, but this has been a great 8 months on the Eesan, lots
of fun, great companions, great 2 areas, great friends. Man, this is the end of an
era, seriously! We are getting on a train in Warin tonight.
This last week has been great, but on Thursday, I was a little sick, and got better on Saturday thankfully. Thursday was not fun at all, but I got over it. Yasothon is going great! There is a lot of progress with investigators and members, WOW! Peng is not ready yet for baptism. I think its gonna be a while, for a lot of reasons, she wants to do it, but they are still having a hard time selling (they own a store) lately, so they don't come to church, so its not so hot with them right now. Keep praying for them that things will get better.
Missionaries didn't have to help pass the Sacrament last Sunday. There were enough priesthood holders to do it. Yes! So concerning the clerk, things are good with him. Actually what happened with him was the branch president sat down with him some time last week, and basically said, "look man, I need your help, this place can't run off one active priesthood holder and 2 elders" and this past Sunday he came to church, passed the sacrament, participated in sunday school, taught the priesthood class and it was a great lesson! But he didnt quite complete, 'cause he left before he could help with tithing, but that's okay for now, he's really close, I think this past Sunday was a good step.
Things are great! We have solid, solid investigators, PawGaow, Nong, Nats
family, Peng, a man named Yongyuut, which I will tell you about later, that was
a cool experience. We have let go of alot of people who weren't progressing,
found a lot of new guys, have got members involved. We talked to Branch
president about organizing a priesthood sports activity, and he's really excited
about that. Wow! great times!
There have been some great finding experiences
this move. Oh, and one of the families we are teaching, their son who is a
member, is preparing with us to go on a mission. Wow. Elder McConkie has been
a great companion, its been a pleasure working with him, This has been a great
experience, I really feel like this was my first real time being a Pee (senior missionary). I also learned alot from him as well, about how to be more effective as a missionary. This has been my favorite move so far. I am understanding Thai
really well these last several weeks, and I reallly want to complement it with
being able to speak better and teach better this coming move. There are a lot
of things I am really going to hammer out this next move to be even more
effective.
Um, Dad your email this week was hilarious "you'll shoot your eye out..." and also the story about Larry, and also you line about "Goverenor Daniels, Congressman
Donnelly, and my buddy the mayor will all be in attendance as they unveil
the plan for the the new business we just won. " Way funny!
Hey! Elder MConkie and I went caroling this week, I will tell you about that
later. Time is running out, but I will write you from my new area! Merry
Christmas guys!!! love you all!
-Elder Schulte
First off, Happy Birthday Michael!!!!!!!! 18! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!
Elder McConkie and I are in Warin right now, We found out last night that I was
moving, and last night we had our showcase English class. So yeah, I am moving.
No idea where I'm going, but this has been a great 8 months on the Eesan, lots
of fun, great companions, great 2 areas, great friends. Man, this is the end of an
era, seriously! We are getting on a train in Warin tonight.
This last week has been great, but on Thursday, I was a little sick, and got better on Saturday thankfully. Thursday was not fun at all, but I got over it. Yasothon is going great! There is a lot of progress with investigators and members, WOW! Peng is not ready yet for baptism. I think its gonna be a while, for a lot of reasons, she wants to do it, but they are still having a hard time selling (they own a store) lately, so they don't come to church, so its not so hot with them right now. Keep praying for them that things will get better.
Missionaries didn't have to help pass the Sacrament last Sunday. There were enough priesthood holders to do it. Yes! So concerning the clerk, things are good with him. Actually what happened with him was the branch president sat down with him some time last week, and basically said, "look man, I need your help, this place can't run off one active priesthood holder and 2 elders" and this past Sunday he came to church, passed the sacrament, participated in sunday school, taught the priesthood class and it was a great lesson! But he didnt quite complete, 'cause he left before he could help with tithing, but that's okay for now, he's really close, I think this past Sunday was a good step.
Things are great! We have solid, solid investigators, PawGaow, Nong, Nats
family, Peng, a man named Yongyuut, which I will tell you about later, that was
a cool experience. We have let go of alot of people who weren't progressing,
found a lot of new guys, have got members involved. We talked to Branch
president about organizing a priesthood sports activity, and he's really excited
about that. Wow! great times!
There have been some great finding experiences
this move. Oh, and one of the families we are teaching, their son who is a
member, is preparing with us to go on a mission. Wow. Elder McConkie has been
a great companion, its been a pleasure working with him, This has been a great
experience, I really feel like this was my first real time being a Pee (senior missionary). I also learned alot from him as well, about how to be more effective as a missionary. This has been my favorite move so far. I am understanding Thai
really well these last several weeks, and I reallly want to complement it with
being able to speak better and teach better this coming move. There are a lot
of things I am really going to hammer out this next move to be even more
effective.
Um, Dad your email this week was hilarious "you'll shoot your eye out..." and also the story about Larry, and also you line about "Goverenor Daniels, Congressman
Donnelly, and my buddy the mayor will all be in attendance as they unveil
the plan for the the new business we just won. " Way funny!
Hey! Elder MConkie and I went caroling this week, I will tell you about that
later. Time is running out, but I will write you from my new area! Merry
Christmas guys!!! love you all!
-Elder Schulte
12/8-09 District Pres. Visit
Hey guys!
This week has been a stellar week, wow! We had some really sweet lessons, and
some daters! (This means some investigators have set dates to be baptized) Teaching partial families has been going great. We are teaching the father of a
less active member, PawGaow. We had an awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon last
night, and I've never had an investigator with a notepad out asking "hey yeah
maybe you guys could give me some homework to do, you know like reading? you
guys should come over more often! " Oh yeah! And last week we set a baptismal
goal with him for January 24th, and last night we talked some more about that
and he was like "hold on just a sec, let me write that down, 24th right?"
Anyway the Book of Mormon lesson went really well, he really liked how when you
read, and when you really study it "the spirit really carries it to your heart!"
He is gold, and Elder McConkie and I really hope this will help bring Yoke back as well.
Sister Nam is the Bomb right now. She has really done an incredible job in
helping us coordinate going to see Nat's family, and 2 nights ago, we went to see
his family, as well as another family in the same neighborhood that she knows, so
we had some double team action the other night, E. McConkie split off with
another priesthood holder to go see that family, and I went with Brother Nat to
teach his Uncle and Mom, and we now have 2 new daters, Uncle Ung and Mae On. It
was an interesting experience, because Nat told me before hand that they don't
understand Thai very well, only Isan(the Thai/lao dialect). So I just spoke to
them in Thai, and Nat translated things that they didn't understand into Isan.
The Uncle understood pretty well, and Nat and I taught about baptism, and they
both accepted a commitment for January 31st.
The District presidency paid a special visit to Yasothon this past Sunday. The Presidency is made up of men from Sisagate and Ubon. These guys are absolutely amazing! I can tell they really , really understand how to run a district. Well, I was a little embarrassed, because the meeting started, and there were more men from Sisagate and Ubon in our meeting than there were men from our own branch. 3 priesthood holders from Yasothon came in the morning, none of them dressed in Sunday clothing, and after sacrament meeting, all ran home or went to work. The District president leaned over to me at some point during the meeting and asked me, " were is everyone?" The meeting after church with the Presidency was interesting. They talked to President Tawan about this issue. They want to see more activity here, like fire sides, and priesthood holders doing their assignments. They are also going to have some talks with the councilors, and clerk about fulfilling their callings.
Well, This has been an incredible week. The district presidency really wants to
help Yasothon get back on track. This week we are in now is the last week of
the move. This has been a 5 week transfer, President Smith is in Burma/Myanmar
this week, there are a couple branches there that he has responsibility for, so
he is going to check on their progress. The ball is really starting to roll
here. Elder Jenkins called from Srinakarin in Bangkok this morning. his
companion, Elder Harmon in Chiang Rai is going home next week, so he was there
also with Elder Palmer, who is going home next week as well. They called and
I was so excited to tell E. Jenkins about all the stuff that is happening here.
I remember the last 2 moves going to Bangkok, and previous Yasothon missionaries
asking "so, how's Yasothon going? Whats new there?" and I really wouldn't have a
lot of good highlights, cause members were having problems, Priesthoog holders
weren't coming, we didn't have a lot of progressing investigators, but now it
doesn't have to be like that anymore. I can tell these guys that we have a sweet
teaching pool, new investigators, guys with dates, the district is gonna be
stepping in to help strengthen the leadership in the branch, members more than
ever are helping find and teach, and especially teach part member families. Oh
my Gosh! I dont wanna leave here!!! I need another move here. Pray that that
happens.
Weve had some really awesome studies lately, about effective study, teaching,
Elder McConkie's Thai is getting really good, My understanding has gone way up!
We've met some interesting people lately. Elder McConkie and I invited a guy who
was out selling water purifier equipment. He told us he has died three times
and come back to life three times. How he came back to life, we are not sure
how, but he told us that the first time he had been shot, the second time was in
a car wreck(he had this crazy scar up the side of his face), and the third time
was a natural death. he told us that one of those times, he went to hell, and
the devil asked him, "What are you doing here?!" and he sent him back. Woah!
Well i am really excited to talk to you guys in 2 weeks
God Speed!!!
This week has been a stellar week, wow! We had some really sweet lessons, and
some daters! (This means some investigators have set dates to be baptized) Teaching partial families has been going great. We are teaching the father of a
less active member, PawGaow. We had an awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon last
night, and I've never had an investigator with a notepad out asking "hey yeah
maybe you guys could give me some homework to do, you know like reading? you
guys should come over more often! " Oh yeah! And last week we set a baptismal
goal with him for January 24th, and last night we talked some more about that
and he was like "hold on just a sec, let me write that down, 24th right?"
Anyway the Book of Mormon lesson went really well, he really liked how when you
read, and when you really study it "the spirit really carries it to your heart!"
He is gold, and Elder McConkie and I really hope this will help bring Yoke back as well.
Sister Nam is the Bomb right now. She has really done an incredible job in
helping us coordinate going to see Nat's family, and 2 nights ago, we went to see
his family, as well as another family in the same neighborhood that she knows, so
we had some double team action the other night, E. McConkie split off with
another priesthood holder to go see that family, and I went with Brother Nat to
teach his Uncle and Mom, and we now have 2 new daters, Uncle Ung and Mae On. It
was an interesting experience, because Nat told me before hand that they don't
understand Thai very well, only Isan(the Thai/lao dialect). So I just spoke to
them in Thai, and Nat translated things that they didn't understand into Isan.
The Uncle understood pretty well, and Nat and I taught about baptism, and they
both accepted a commitment for January 31st.
The District presidency paid a special visit to Yasothon this past Sunday. The Presidency is made up of men from Sisagate and Ubon. These guys are absolutely amazing! I can tell they really , really understand how to run a district. Well, I was a little embarrassed, because the meeting started, and there were more men from Sisagate and Ubon in our meeting than there were men from our own branch. 3 priesthood holders from Yasothon came in the morning, none of them dressed in Sunday clothing, and after sacrament meeting, all ran home or went to work. The District president leaned over to me at some point during the meeting and asked me, " were is everyone?" The meeting after church with the Presidency was interesting. They talked to President Tawan about this issue. They want to see more activity here, like fire sides, and priesthood holders doing their assignments. They are also going to have some talks with the councilors, and clerk about fulfilling their callings.
Well, This has been an incredible week. The district presidency really wants to
help Yasothon get back on track. This week we are in now is the last week of
the move. This has been a 5 week transfer, President Smith is in Burma/Myanmar
this week, there are a couple branches there that he has responsibility for, so
he is going to check on their progress. The ball is really starting to roll
here. Elder Jenkins called from Srinakarin in Bangkok this morning. his
companion, Elder Harmon in Chiang Rai is going home next week, so he was there
also with Elder Palmer, who is going home next week as well. They called and
I was so excited to tell E. Jenkins about all the stuff that is happening here.
I remember the last 2 moves going to Bangkok, and previous Yasothon missionaries
asking "so, how's Yasothon going? Whats new there?" and I really wouldn't have a
lot of good highlights, cause members were having problems, Priesthoog holders
weren't coming, we didn't have a lot of progressing investigators, but now it
doesn't have to be like that anymore. I can tell these guys that we have a sweet
teaching pool, new investigators, guys with dates, the district is gonna be
stepping in to help strengthen the leadership in the branch, members more than
ever are helping find and teach, and especially teach part member families. Oh
my Gosh! I dont wanna leave here!!! I need another move here. Pray that that
happens.
Weve had some really awesome studies lately, about effective study, teaching,
Elder McConkie's Thai is getting really good, My understanding has gone way up!
We've met some interesting people lately. Elder McConkie and I invited a guy who
was out selling water purifier equipment. He told us he has died three times
and come back to life three times. How he came back to life, we are not sure
how, but he told us that the first time he had been shot, the second time was in
a car wreck(he had this crazy scar up the side of his face), and the third time
was a natural death. he told us that one of those times, he went to hell, and
the devil asked him, "What are you doing here?!" and he sent him back. Woah!
Well i am really excited to talk to you guys in 2 weeks
God Speed!!!
11/25/09 "Whoa, You San Speak Thai?!"
Hey Family,
Where do I begin about this past week? We went to Warin Friday night and stayed
at the house in Warin. Saturday morning we had our mission zone conference,
in which the Asia Area Presidency from Hong Kong, consisting of Elder Pratt of
the Quorum of the Seventy, and one of his councilors, Elder Stanley Wan, attended and presented trainin. They are amazing men, and it was really great at the district conference the next day as well! All the branches in the Ubon district, Ubon,Yasothon,Sisagate,Buridam, Surin attended. I was kind of sad, because there was a special meeting for new members after the first meeting, and all these areas had recent converts stand up and bear testimonies, and I'll never forget the testimony of a young girl from Sisagate, I was listening to her bear her testimony, and I am serious, I knew that she absolutely new this gospel was true. And it hit me, "I WANT TO SEE MEMBERS AND INVESTIGATORS HAVE A TESTIMONY LIKE THIS GIRL!!!" I was sad, because these areas each had 5 or 6 recent converts and families.
Yasothon, had only 2 women who were recently baptized come, and it great,
butit seems like there are alot of people in Yasothon who are slowly falling away,
We have really buckled down in our finding efforts. On Saturday, Elder
MCConkie and I talked to President Smith. Basically, what's going
down in the mission right now is that Church leaders all over Thailand,
Bishops, District leaders, Branch Presidents, Ward mission leaders, have just
received training on how to organize member missionary work, which will get
members involved in finding friends and families that will be interested in
learning. The mission president and church leaders did training sessions with
branch leaders on Saturday to prepare the church in Thailand on how to do this.
This is going to be how it is from now on. Members working to find, and
missionaries teach. This is going to really increase the progression of the
church in this country. So anyway, what I was saying was that President Smith wants us to right now just focus on our 5 family list, and our personal finding efforts.
We talked to him about how were going and seeing all these less actives on a weekly
basis( we had a big list of guys), but he wants us to just work on our finding
efforts. And found some way cool guys yesterday.
Man, i really like inviting upbeat energetic people. So yesterday, we met a guy at a fruit store, and he was really excited to talk to us, ("Whoa you can speak Thai! very good very good! It takes white people years to speak like that whoa!") and we started talking to him about what we teach, and he says, "Oh yeah I like to study, I
study about history, maps, religion..." and he wants us to come back and speak
with him more, his name is Noy, and I cant wait to see this guy again. Later was
a guy named Wirasak, and he was the same way, he was like "oohhh very good, you
can speak Thai? whoa, it takes white people forever to speak like that! ooohhh
very good!" and we talked about what we came to do, and he says, "oh yes come
back I want to keep talking to you guys, oooh very good!" I love finding people
like this.
A while back An 18 year old in the branch (our congregation) came up to me and asked me what does he need to do to go on a mission. So, last week we sat down with him and started teaching him how to teach the first lesson, and he was really into it. The next time we sat down with him, we did a role play, and it was sweet! He doesn't live at the house, his mom and sister live on the other side of town, but apparently on Sunday night, Nad and a woman in the branch who is a member of the church went to visit his mom and sister at their house. He said they had
an incredible discussion about religion, and apparently they are both interested in
learning now about the church now. Whoa!
Next, Elder Jenkins and I found a less active member of the church during the last move who owns a photo shop in town. His name is Yoke, and he's a really great guy! He's started to come to the English classes wee teach with his 2 kids. We've started seeing him regularly. We went to see him last week and he was out of the shop, but his Dad (who isn't a member of the church) was there! He said, "Oh I really like the Elders, yes i like studying, I want you to come
back and teach me more!" Great! So we worked it out with Yoke to come see them
both, and last night we met with both Yoke and PawGaow(his dad), and taught
about the Book of Mormon and as we were sitting here, it was a sweet father son
moment, Paw Gaow was explaining to Yoke how God works and and has all power,
and it was so cool! and we have a return appointment for Friday with PawGaow
and Yoke.
Next is Sister Nam and her dad, she told us last week that her dad is
interested in learning. Thats really exciting! So this will be a great adventure,
We now have several partial families to work with. That will be great because
the members can really help get their non-member families learning, and that's
what we really want to see in this branch, is member families.
Elder McConkie and I had a sweet experience at about 9:00 last night. We
stopped at a store to get some food, and some guys were sitting out front. Elder
McConkie started to talk to some guys about the Book of Mormon, and I started to
talk to a guy who was selling Buddhist amulets at this table. He and I started
talking, I introduce myself, where I'm from, all that, and then we started
talking about the Plan of Salvation, and for the next 20 minutes, we had a sweet
discussion about the Plan of Salvation. He was really into it. When I got to
resurrection, he's like, yeah I wanna know about this,keep going, so I told him
about how our bodies and our spirits will be reunited, and that this has to
happen before judgement. I then talked about the 3 degrees of glory, and how our
goal in this life is to try to get there, the celestial kingdom, to be with God again, with our families, and have happiness, forever.
There was a small pause, and he was like, "yeah, that's my goal too, I want to
go there." Wow! So, he invited us back to see him again, along with the
other guys that Elder McConkie invited as well.
Stellar week so far. Use the scriptures, open your mouth and talk to people.
Speak.
Thanks for all of your support,
I gotta go. Thanks guys. I love you!
-Elder Schulte
Where do I begin about this past week? We went to Warin Friday night and stayed
at the house in Warin. Saturday morning we had our mission zone conference,
in which the Asia Area Presidency from Hong Kong, consisting of Elder Pratt of
the Quorum of the Seventy, and one of his councilors, Elder Stanley Wan, attended and presented trainin. They are amazing men, and it was really great at the district conference the next day as well! All the branches in the Ubon district, Ubon,Yasothon,Sisagate,Buridam, Surin attended. I was kind of sad, because there was a special meeting for new members after the first meeting, and all these areas had recent converts stand up and bear testimonies, and I'll never forget the testimony of a young girl from Sisagate, I was listening to her bear her testimony, and I am serious, I knew that she absolutely new this gospel was true. And it hit me, "I WANT TO SEE MEMBERS AND INVESTIGATORS HAVE A TESTIMONY LIKE THIS GIRL!!!" I was sad, because these areas each had 5 or 6 recent converts and families.
Yasothon, had only 2 women who were recently baptized come, and it great,
butit seems like there are alot of people in Yasothon who are slowly falling away,
We have really buckled down in our finding efforts. On Saturday, Elder
MCConkie and I talked to President Smith. Basically, what's going
down in the mission right now is that Church leaders all over Thailand,
Bishops, District leaders, Branch Presidents, Ward mission leaders, have just
received training on how to organize member missionary work, which will get
members involved in finding friends and families that will be interested in
learning. The mission president and church leaders did training sessions with
branch leaders on Saturday to prepare the church in Thailand on how to do this.
This is going to be how it is from now on. Members working to find, and
missionaries teach. This is going to really increase the progression of the
church in this country. So anyway, what I was saying was that President Smith wants us to right now just focus on our 5 family list, and our personal finding efforts.
We talked to him about how were going and seeing all these less actives on a weekly
basis( we had a big list of guys), but he wants us to just work on our finding
efforts. And found some way cool guys yesterday.
Man, i really like inviting upbeat energetic people. So yesterday, we met a guy at a fruit store, and he was really excited to talk to us, ("Whoa you can speak Thai! very good very good! It takes white people years to speak like that whoa!") and we started talking to him about what we teach, and he says, "Oh yeah I like to study, I
study about history, maps, religion..." and he wants us to come back and speak
with him more, his name is Noy, and I cant wait to see this guy again. Later was
a guy named Wirasak, and he was the same way, he was like "oohhh very good, you
can speak Thai? whoa, it takes white people forever to speak like that! ooohhh
very good!" and we talked about what we came to do, and he says, "oh yes come
back I want to keep talking to you guys, oooh very good!" I love finding people
like this.
A while back An 18 year old in the branch (our congregation) came up to me and asked me what does he need to do to go on a mission. So, last week we sat down with him and started teaching him how to teach the first lesson, and he was really into it. The next time we sat down with him, we did a role play, and it was sweet! He doesn't live at the house, his mom and sister live on the other side of town, but apparently on Sunday night, Nad and a woman in the branch who is a member of the church went to visit his mom and sister at their house. He said they had
an incredible discussion about religion, and apparently they are both interested in
learning now about the church now. Whoa!
Next, Elder Jenkins and I found a less active member of the church during the last move who owns a photo shop in town. His name is Yoke, and he's a really great guy! He's started to come to the English classes wee teach with his 2 kids. We've started seeing him regularly. We went to see him last week and he was out of the shop, but his Dad (who isn't a member of the church) was there! He said, "Oh I really like the Elders, yes i like studying, I want you to come
back and teach me more!" Great! So we worked it out with Yoke to come see them
both, and last night we met with both Yoke and PawGaow(his dad), and taught
about the Book of Mormon and as we were sitting here, it was a sweet father son
moment, Paw Gaow was explaining to Yoke how God works and and has all power,
and it was so cool! and we have a return appointment for Friday with PawGaow
and Yoke.
Next is Sister Nam and her dad, she told us last week that her dad is
interested in learning. Thats really exciting! So this will be a great adventure,
We now have several partial families to work with. That will be great because
the members can really help get their non-member families learning, and that's
what we really want to see in this branch, is member families.
Elder McConkie and I had a sweet experience at about 9:00 last night. We
stopped at a store to get some food, and some guys were sitting out front. Elder
McConkie started to talk to some guys about the Book of Mormon, and I started to
talk to a guy who was selling Buddhist amulets at this table. He and I started
talking, I introduce myself, where I'm from, all that, and then we started
talking about the Plan of Salvation, and for the next 20 minutes, we had a sweet
discussion about the Plan of Salvation. He was really into it. When I got to
resurrection, he's like, yeah I wanna know about this,keep going, so I told him
about how our bodies and our spirits will be reunited, and that this has to
happen before judgement. I then talked about the 3 degrees of glory, and how our
goal in this life is to try to get there, the celestial kingdom, to be with God again, with our families, and have happiness, forever.
There was a small pause, and he was like, "yeah, that's my goal too, I want to
go there." Wow! So, he invited us back to see him again, along with the
other guys that Elder McConkie invited as well.
Stellar week so far. Use the scriptures, open your mouth and talk to people.
Speak.
Thanks for all of your support,
I gotta go. Thanks guys. I love you!
-Elder Schulte
11/18/09 It's Getting Cold?!
Hey Family,
We are back in Yasothon, after the moves meeting last week. We went to Ubon on
Wednesday, and got on a train later that night, and woke up as we pulled into
Bangkok, the moves meeting was great, Elder Jenkins moved to the most northern
part of Thailand, Chaing-Rai, and my new companion is Elder Daniel McConkie, the
grandson of Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the 12(no, seriously).
We've hit it off pretty well. He's a really hard worker, in his 3rd move, and
these last 5 days have been some of the best I've had so far in my mission.
I'm actually going to be sending you a written letter and a voice
recording to explain why. So expect that pretty soon, as well as some Christmas
gifts for each of you. But, wow, its been amazing, these last few days we have
really worked hard, and the Spirit has been leading us so much throughout the
days. We have gotten a lot of stuff done lately and it feels really good. Its
been neat to work with the Branch President. We are really trying to keep up the
trust relationship, by doing everything he asks and getting things done on time,
and that's been really good.
There is a conference this weekend in Ubon. We are leaving for Ubon Friday night, and the mission zone conference will be Saturday morning, and then the district conference for members will be held Sunday morning. We have a window of opportunity to come back to Yasothon and work after zone conference on Saturday evening, and then just get a ride on the big truck that members use to ride up to Ubon from Yaso on Sunday morning
Ive been really excited to get outside and work these last few days, we have 2 new investigators since last week. We've seen a lot of priesthood holders that are less active, who we are trying to bring back into activity. Oh man, this just keeps going, and these past 2 days we've had some really incredible experiences. (Seriously, stay tuned for that recording. I'd rather tell this than write it).
These last few days have been a really awesome opportunity to really step up as
senior missionary, Its been great to help E. McConkie with language, how to do
general missionary stuff,and get around. I was worried for a while, that when I
would get to this point in the mission, would I know how to do this stuff and be
able to explain things, but now I'm not worried at all. I know how to get around,
and its been cool as I've been showing E.McConkie the ropes of the area, I
realized, I do know how to do this stuff! Well this is great, E. McConkie is a
blast! Man, this is the best mission in the world, and these Thai people are
awesome!
Hey its getting cold! I'm serious! When we got done with work last night, we went
to eat at a foodrawn outside the house, and it was cold. Elder McConkie wasnt cold,
because he hasn't been in the country very long, but it was really windy last night,
and these Thai people were all bundled up in winter jackets...and I was wishing
I had one at that moment!!! But, we got inside and were okay after that.
Thailand is a fun country. The train ride back was nice, we awoke a little
while before pulling in to the Warin train station to a woman walking down the
aisle selling chicken and sticky rice for breakfast. So delicious!
Thai people ask a lot of weird questions, remind me to tell you after the
mission, this isn't a good time...
Well, time to go. Thanks for all your support and letters. Keep them coming!
-Elder Schulte
We are back in Yasothon, after the moves meeting last week. We went to Ubon on
Wednesday, and got on a train later that night, and woke up as we pulled into
Bangkok, the moves meeting was great, Elder Jenkins moved to the most northern
part of Thailand, Chaing-Rai, and my new companion is Elder Daniel McConkie, the
grandson of Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the 12(no, seriously).
We've hit it off pretty well. He's a really hard worker, in his 3rd move, and
these last 5 days have been some of the best I've had so far in my mission.
I'm actually going to be sending you a written letter and a voice
recording to explain why. So expect that pretty soon, as well as some Christmas
gifts for each of you. But, wow, its been amazing, these last few days we have
really worked hard, and the Spirit has been leading us so much throughout the
days. We have gotten a lot of stuff done lately and it feels really good. Its
been neat to work with the Branch President. We are really trying to keep up the
trust relationship, by doing everything he asks and getting things done on time,
and that's been really good.
There is a conference this weekend in Ubon. We are leaving for Ubon Friday night, and the mission zone conference will be Saturday morning, and then the district conference for members will be held Sunday morning. We have a window of opportunity to come back to Yasothon and work after zone conference on Saturday evening, and then just get a ride on the big truck that members use to ride up to Ubon from Yaso on Sunday morning
Ive been really excited to get outside and work these last few days, we have 2 new investigators since last week. We've seen a lot of priesthood holders that are less active, who we are trying to bring back into activity. Oh man, this just keeps going, and these past 2 days we've had some really incredible experiences. (Seriously, stay tuned for that recording. I'd rather tell this than write it).
These last few days have been a really awesome opportunity to really step up as
senior missionary, Its been great to help E. McConkie with language, how to do
general missionary stuff,and get around. I was worried for a while, that when I
would get to this point in the mission, would I know how to do this stuff and be
able to explain things, but now I'm not worried at all. I know how to get around,
and its been cool as I've been showing E.McConkie the ropes of the area, I
realized, I do know how to do this stuff! Well this is great, E. McConkie is a
blast! Man, this is the best mission in the world, and these Thai people are
awesome!
Hey its getting cold! I'm serious! When we got done with work last night, we went
to eat at a foodrawn outside the house, and it was cold. Elder McConkie wasnt cold,
because he hasn't been in the country very long, but it was really windy last night,
and these Thai people were all bundled up in winter jackets...and I was wishing
I had one at that moment!!! But, we got inside and were okay after that.
Thailand is a fun country. The train ride back was nice, we awoke a little
while before pulling in to the Warin train station to a woman walking down the
aisle selling chicken and sticky rice for breakfast. So delicious!
Thai people ask a lot of weird questions, remind me to tell you after the
mission, this isn't a good time...
Well, time to go. Thanks for all your support and letters. Keep them coming!
-Elder Schulte
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