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
Monday, January 18, 2010
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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