Well, I made it safely to Thailand. We left on Monday at 4:30 p.m. and arrived at the airport around 6:00. The airline agent who checked my bags was actually from Thailand, so I got to talk with him in Thai, which was really neat. We flew to LAX, had a three-hour layover, then flew to Taiwan. That flight was *long* -- fourteen hours or so. Maybe longer; I lost track after a while. Luckily I was able to sleep for five or six hours of it. It was weird seeing everything in Mandarin/Cantonese. After a two-hour layover there in Taipei (it was about 6:00 a.m. there), we got on the plane to Thailand. All during this time we (the fourteen of us -- Elder Lo flew home to Fresno Monday morning at 4:00 a.m. since he had to get surgery on his wrist, but he'll be joining us in Thailand in a few months) talked with lots of people. At LAX I talked with a Cambodian man, and on the bus I talked with two Thai ladies (from Bangkok and Chiang Mai). At the Taipei airport I talked with a Thai man (from Thonburi) for about 45 minutes. Elder Applegate was able to teach a first discussion to a Thai young man, which was really neat. It was very fun to be able to speak Thai and have people actually understand us. :)

We arrived in Thailand around 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday. President Slater and his wife found us and we piled into a few vans. They drove us to the mission home (in Pakkret), where we had a few meetings and interviews and such. The next morning we all drove to the Pakkret church (10 minutes away), where all the missionaries who were being transferred were waiting. We went inside the church and there found our new companions. Mine is Elder Aaron Nelson, from Calgary, Alberta (Canada). Most of my district ended up in Bangkok, but Sister Kravetz was sent to Ubon, Elder Bloom to Ayuthaya, and Elder Pitzer to somewhere 8-10 hours away. I didn't get to talk with many of them. Elder Walker and Sister Grimmius are in Bangnaa, which is apparently in a nearby zone. We said goodbye to each other (which was harder than I thought it would be), then left. Elder Nelson and I got my luggage and summoned a taxi. Halfway to Bangkapi (my area), the taxi broke down, so we had to switch to another one.

When we got to the house, I unpacked some of my stuff and got settled. I was rather surprised to find that Elder Rock (from my district) was there with us. He and Elder Stevenson and Elder Nelson and I are in the same house, same zone. There are eight of us in the zone -- us four, Elder Christiansen (zone leader), Elder Suttiphong, Sister Jones, and Sister Aemon. Sister Aemon is new here as well (but she's been a missionary for almost a year now). At 10:00 or so we four went to the bank, exchanged our U.S. money for Thai baht ($420 = around 17,000 baht), then went to the next-door bike shop. Elder Nelson had to get his chain fixed, which ended up taking about eight hours, so we walked around and did invites. My bike was 14,000 baht, whatever that turns out to be in U.S. dollars (43 baht to a dollar now).

Ack, I'm running out of time, so I'd better hurry. The day we arrived was quite nice and not hot at all, but it's been getting hotter each day. Yesterday (Tuesday) our power was out (an elder who lived here three months ago didn't pay the electric bill) and so our fans didn't work, which meant we were sweating a *lot*. Luckily we got our power back by the time we came home at 9:30.

Each day we wake up by 6:30 (I wake up at 5:45), get ready, do house study (we study the gospel together), do companionship study, have personal Book of Mormon study, and then language study. Then we eat breakfast and head out by 9:30. About half our time each day is spent doing invitations, which is kind of like tracting, except we can't knock on doors (we ride around looking for people who are outside). We usually ask them if we can share a two-minute message with them, about families (temples), the Book of Mormon, or Joseph Smith. Then we ask if we can come back later and spend about 30 minutes talking with them about our beliefs. So far we've taught 10 or so first discussions. We eat lunch out, go to appointments, etc., until 9:30 when we return to our house. We have to be in bed by 10:30.

The language is coming along really well. I understand a *lot* of what's going on, far more than I thought I would. In fact, now I can understand more than I can say, which is opposite what it was in the MTC. I'm learning a lot. I can also read well enough to be able to ask the Thais to write words down for me.

There are 90 or so people in our ward. I've met a lot of them so far, and I've met a lot of our investigators as well. At first I felt kind of out of place, but after three or four days I felt at home, knowing I have friends here. It made a big difference. We teach English every Tuesday and Friday at the church, and on Fridays we go to a nearby school and teach English to a class of kids there. It's a lot of fun.

Thailand is awesome. I love it here. The food is *delicious*. So far I haven't eaten anything terribly weird. Elder Nelson has been here for 10 months and Elder Stevenson for 14 or so. These next two years will pass by quite quickly. Working hard is very important, especially since it's so hot. The showers aren't too odd -- we use a spray hose kind of thing. The water's hot and it works quite well. For the bathroom facilities, we have a spray hose instead of toilet paper. It felt very weird the first time, but now it's natural.

Bangkapi is in the northeast part of Bangkok, almost the outskirts. But there's plenty of city. We ride our bikes everywhere, most of the time on the road in the midst of the traffic. The first time I rode was that first night and it was quite traumatic. :) But since then I've gotten used to weaving around cars, dodging buses, facing head-on into traffic, etc.

On Monday we had our first rainstorm. The power went out at the house of the investigator we were teaching, but it came back on again just before the rain started coming down. Perhaps I should say *Rain*, with a capital R -- our next appointment wasn't very far away, but by the time we got there, we were soaked. We kind of dried off by the time we left their house (around 9:20), but the rain started up again and we were thoroughly wet by the time we got home. Riding in hard rain is interesting. Some of the roads were semi-flooded, too, so my feet got rather wet. It was a lot of fun. :) The only problem was that some of the water got in my eyes, which slid my contacts around and from time to time my vision in one eye became entirely blurred. But the Lord is protecting us.

Today we went to downtown Bangkok. A lady at McDonald's saw that we teach religion and wanted to buy us food (her two sons are interested in learning religion and so they buy religion teachers food whenever they see them). We got her address and will send the missionaries to meet with them. (She's not in our area.) It was very nice of her.

Well, I've run out of time (we can only be on the Internet for an hour). Hopefully this is detailed enough. It was kind of weird typing at first, since I haven't really been at a computer since mid-August. But now I can type fairly quickly again. Everything is way cheap here -- a shopper's paradise. For example, the Lord of the Rings video CD is $5. Cassette tapes are $2-$3. Books are $3-$5.

Oh, I can't receive e-mail from anyone but my family. My snail mail address is on my website (www.blankslate.net/mission); if that's too inconvenient, feel free to e-mail my family back and they can pass it on. Thailand is wonderful and I know this is where I'm supposed to be. God lives and this is his church. Take care. :)

Another week has passed. The miracle of working hard is that it makes time fly by. Every night I'm amazed that the day is already over. If I were to slack off, though, time would slow to a crawl. In my time at the MTC and here in Thailand, I've learned that if we really do serve the Lord with all our heart, might, mind and strength, meaning that we try to eliminate every other distraction from our lives, then everything goes well. Holding back, even just a little bit, makes the process painful. Sure, a mission isn't an easy thing. I don't think I ever quite imagined how difficult this would be. But at the same time I've learned how to rely on the Lord, how to *really* sacrifice all that I have to Him, to be able to say to Him, "Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts on high." Before coming out here, I hadn't really given my heart to God. I'm still on the road there, but already He is helping me. Things that used to seem so important in the past have faded into the background as the blazing light of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel has illuminated my life. Now, the things that matter most are God and Christ, this gospel, and families.

I never fully appreciated families until I came here to Thailand. Every time I see a family, even if I'm not able to teach them, I feel something special inside. There's something *different* about families, something good, something complete.

Well, I saw my first elephant yesterday. And my second. And my third. We were riding our bikes out in the eastern outskirts of our area (our area is pretty large for Bangkok, extending out almost as far as we can ride) along a rugged dirt road when we looked over to the left and saw an elephant grazing there. Nobody was near, but we figured it had an owner (a wild elephant in Bangkok would be quite a sight :)), and sure enough, a few minutes later the owner came by and got the elephant to pull some logs. Later on I saw two more on the streets. Being in Bangkok all the time, I'd forgotten that Thailand still has wildlife and jungles and that sort of thing. Seeing the elephants brought back the magic. Later on in my mission I'll probably get to serve up north or in the east, where it's not quite as modernized. I can't wait. :)

Have I mentioned the khlongs? These are canals that one finds from time to time in Bangkok. There used to be a lot more (Bangkok was called the "Venice of the East"), but most have been filled in. That's probably a good thing, since the water in the khlongs is very dirty, quite possibly toxic. To get to certain neighborhoods that would take a long time by road, we take a shortcut by riding along the khlong, on two-foot wide walkways a few feet out from the edge. We have to be very careful, because falling into a khlong would be a very bad thing. :) (The smell would take months to go away. ;)) Riding the walkways is liking playing a video game, especially when other people on bikes whiz past you.

There are soooo many dogs here. Some of them are very ghetto, with hardly any hair left. I haven't been bitten...yet. :) Other than that, I haven't seen too many animals. Nothing exotic, besides those elephants.

Ah, a few days ago we had a very interesting experience. We returned to this guy's house to teach him a second discussion. He's about 33 and lives with some friends. We sat down at his table and were about to start when he asked if he could work at the church, doing paintings. He then said that he wants to be our very best friends and be with us all the time, to go with us everywhere. He seriously wanted to move in with us. When Elder Nelson told him that was quite impossible, he asked if he could return to Canada with him (Elder Nelson) at the end of his mission. Elder Nelson explained that it isn't that easy, and that the only way that could happen would be if the man were family. He then jokingly said, "Maybe my parents could adopt you." The man said, "Really? Do you think so?" :) It was quite funny, since he was dead serious. He wanted 300,000 baht from Elder Nelson's parents to start a business in Udorn. Some people are rather weird here. :) One of the fathers that we taught last week told his daughter that Moses led the Greeks out of Egypt and was crucified during the Crusades, and that Joseph Smith was from Scotland. (He assured us that he'd studied the topic completely. :))

Pretty much everyone is Buddhist here. There are a few Christians, though -- one lady we're teaching is Catholic, and we talked with an Jehovah's Witness yesterday. The work is going decently well, though it could be going a lot better. We need more faith. I've about run out of time, though.

One last thing: last night was Loi Krathong, the annual festival where the Thais light candles, put them in lotus-shaped baskets (the size of a soccer ball), and float them in the khlong. We went for a few minutes and lit the candles, gently putting the basket in the khlong and pushing it off. Seeing all the lights on the water was very neat, very much like the ending of a movie. I'll miss Thailand when I have to leave here. But that's two years from now. :) More will come next week.

Lots to write this week and not a whole lot of time, so I'll try to keep things condensed. First, I'm in Bangkapi, a suburb-like part of Bangkok in the northeast. When I first got here I thought it was rather big-city, but after seeing downtown Bangkok, Bangkapi seems almost like Mayberry. :) Everyone drives on the left side of the road. It took a little while to get used to that, but it seems normal now. We live in a four-man house in the Amarin neighborhood. (Most of the people live in neighborhoods, each of which has a name.) There are big roads called thanon's, smaller side roads called soi's, and then each house has a house number (e.g. 12/249). Our town house isn't terribly large as far as American standards go, but it's more than large enough for four people. The Thai standard of living definitely isn't as high as the American -- a lot of people live in houses about 100 feet square, with two rooms. Our house has two floors, one with a living room area, a kitchen, a bathroom, and two studies, and the top floor with two bedrooms and a bathroom. We have a washer (old and clunky, but it does the job), and we hang our clothes out to dry. It usually takes only a few hours for the clothes to dry. There are stores of all kinds *everywhere*. Food, especially. Lots of street vendors, everywhere you go. There's a post office not too far away, a copy shop nearby, two big chain stores (Tesco-Lotus and Jusco), and lots more. We're in the Bangkapi Zone, which has three areas: Bangkapi East (ours), Bangkapi West (Elder Stevenson and Elder Rock), and Ramkhamhaeng, a.k.a. Happyland (Elder Christiansen and Elder Suttiphong). The sisters cover Bangkapi East and Bangkapi West.

We got two baptismal commitments last week: a 16-year-old girl named Nat that we met when finding families on the 16th, and a man named Chad. (I'm romanizing the names so they'll be pronounceable. :)) Nat committed to get baptized on Dec 22nd, and Chad on Jan 5th. The teenagers in the ward here (Bangkapi Ward) have been befriending Nat, which is really good. She understands a lot and pays really good attention. Her parents listened to the first discussion, and her stepmom seemed pretty interested, but they haven't paid attention since then. (When her parents aren't home, we have to bring another male with us, which usually ends up being Brother Best, a 17-year-old who was baptized about four months ago.)

When we find families (kind of like tracting, except we can't knock on doors), a lot of people say that they have no time. Tons of people say, "All religions teach us to be good," and say that they're Buddhist. There are a few Muslims, though not too many. Often we run into people who've met the missionaries before, and a lot still have copies of the Book of Mormon. We've been able to make return appointments with a few.

The families here are small, usually one or two children. I like to show them pictures of my family, since most of them have hardly ever seen families with 9 kids. We wai people all the time, though I still haven't figured out just when it's appropriate and when not. :) (I follow the example of Elder Nelson to be safe.) Waiing kids is kind of weird, but we do it sometimes to be funny. Most of the time we take off our shoes outside the house and sit on the floor inside. My legs have most definitely not gotten used to it yet. :) There are a few different leg positions that are polite, but all of them start to hurt after you've been sitting that way for an hour or so. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.

Each Tuesday and Thursday we teach English at the church, and on Fridays we teach at Wat Bangtoey, a nearby school. Last night Elder Rock and I switched-off and taught the kids, which was a lot of fun. Usually Elder Nelson and I teach the teenagers. Teaching at the school feels almost like walking into a 19th-century school in Asia -- I would *love* to come back and teach English at a school like this someday. There are tons of kids everywhere, and throughout the hour you can hear them singing old songs full of memories and history. They love shaking our hands (though we have to be careful, as most hands aren't very clean).

I'm out of time, so I'll have to add more next time. Thailand is awesome and I know the Lord is helping us.

Lots to write about and not much time again. Whenever we go "thiaw" (go to different areas to see stuff -- for example, today we went downtown to get ties and also stopped by the king's birthday party), there isn't much time for e-mails. In the future we probably won't be thiawing so much.

So, I left the MTC a month ago. It's gone by soooo fast. Last week we thiawed at Ayutthaya, which was really neat -- lots of ruins and old wats. We visited three wats there, Wat Yai, Wat Chai Watthanaram, and one other one. My second Sunday here the bishop asked me and the other new missionaries to bear our testimonies (in Thai, of course). Last week was stake conference at the Asoke chapel (the stake center). Ran into Elder Orrock, Elder McLelland, Elder Hamblin, and Elder Applegate there. It was good to see them again. On Friday we spent the morning at the office, since apparently we have to renew our visas every three months now (my trainer, Elder Nelson, had to get his renewed). On Saturday we had Thanksgiving dinner at the home of David and Sally Ann Bates. They served a mission here a few years ago. Today, like I said, we went downtown. I bought some ties for 35 baht apiece ($1). We also went to the king's birthday party for an hour or so. It was really neat to see him walk by. He's speaking right now, but we didn't have time to stick around and listen. Tonight we're rehearsing for "Journey to Bethlehem," a Christmas thing that the Church is putting on here. We're escorts. It'll be on Friday and Saturday, but we only come on Saturday.

Two Sundays ago I got to play the piano in Gospel Doctrine. That was quite fun -- I really miss it. Haven't touched a piano since, unfortunately. I haven't seen any geckoes yet, but I did see more elephants. There are tons of taxis and buses here. If we have to go downtown or to the office, we almost always take a taxi. I've only been on a bus three or four times. We're about 45 minutes away from downtown by taxi. I saw some tuk-tuks in Ayutthaya (which, incidentally, is where Elder Nelson and Elder Stevenson greenied). Haven't ridden any yet, though.

The humidity isn't too bad. We do sweat a lot (even when doing the dishes), but it's better than I imagined. But then again, it's the cool season. :) Thailand uses the metric system, so everything is in kilometers and degrees Celsius and all that. We ride about 10 kilos a day (roughly 6 miles). It gets dark at 6:00, so we often ride at night, but it's not too bad -- most areas are lighted.

I wore my glasses for a week and the members saw some sort of resemblance, so now they call me Elder Harry Potter. (Or Mr. Bean.) Sister Jones found out that her family is moving to Alaska this week. For food, we usually eat breakfast at home (oatmeal), eat lunch out (at streetside places), and eat dinner back at home (whatever's around -- I usually try to get some sticky rice on the way home). I *love* sticky rice. They also have good smoothies (called naampans), treats called rotees made by Burmese men, and lots more, too. And everything's wonderfully cheap -- a meal is 15-25 baht. It'll be weird going back to the States. :)

In the mission field we use the infamous blue planner to schedule our week. It's a blue sheet of paper that has a calendar on it and some room for statistics. Every six weeks we have transfers (called "moves"), and the next one is on December 19 (or thereabouts). We won't know till a day or two before if any of us is moving. Wednesday is preparation day, from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We usually find a nearby Internet cafe for doing e-mail. Wednesday mornings we go to the post office to pick up our mail (which the mission office sends out early in the morning). The mission is doing pretty well for an Asian mission. It's the largest in terms of missionaries. We've been averaging 5.9 first discussions a week, 20 baptisms a week. There are 16 zones (4-7 areas per zone) and 166 missionaries. Most missionaries spend 4-6 months in each area.

Oh, Elder Lo finally made it! He flew in a week and a half ago and is now in Bangnaa. We're all quite glad about that. :) The mosquitoes are bad and I get bitten all over, but I'll get used to it. I haven't had any bike accidents yet, surprisingly. In our house we all sleep in one bedroom (four beds), the room with air conditioning. We have lots of fans, a fridge, a stove, a toaster, a rice cooker, a microwave, an iron, and a water filter. And yes, there are locks on the doors. The people are fairly friendly, but most say they're not interested because they're Buddhist already. Lots of people cancel appointments or just don't show up -- that happened to us 19 times last week. (To put that in perspective, 12 of our appointments didn't fall through.) Thais generally look younger than Americans, so it's hard to tell how old people are. I had stomach cramps for two days and pink eye for a few, but I'm doing fairly well. Nothing too bad yet.

Nat, our best investigator, is getting baptized on the 15th. We're quite excited. She's really good and understands a lot. Others are coming along, slowly but surely. It seems like customs are changing; not everything is quite the way it was in the books I read before I came here. Lots of American stuff everywhere, definitely.

Photo development is pretty nice here -- cheap (5 baht a picture), and they give you your photos in books (in sleeves and all). Twice each moves we go on switch-offs with the zone leader and his companion -- tomorrow I'm doing that with Elder Suttiphong, in his area. I'm used to baht now, and it's hard to remember what prices are back in America. Sorry this is kind of jumbled, but we have to leave in a minute and I want to make sure I mention everything I wanted to. We almost always follow up on appointments by calling them the night before.

I wish I had time to write personal letters to everyone, but there usually isn't much time, so these group e-mails will have to suffice. Two years will go by fast, though. :) I *might* not be able to write next week; we have our Christmas thiaw at the president's house and I don't know if we'll have time for e-mail there. If any of you have any questions, send them to my family and they'll pass them on to me.

Well, the work is going well and I'm glad to be here. Thailand is certainly not like Utah. :) Take care and have a great day! :-)

I've been here in Thailand for almost a full moves now. The next batch of missionaries arrives next week. All is well here. We had our Christmas "thiaw" yesterday ("thiaw" is a Thai word for things like vacations, parties, etc.). Since there are so many missionaries in the mission, it was split up over three days -- Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. One- third of the mission went yesterday with us. It was a lot of fun to see other missionaries, eat a delicious Christmas meal, exchange gifts, and listen to President Slater speak. We watched "Monsters, Inc.", too. I rather liked it. President Slater spoke on light as a symbol of Christmas. He made a point about how light unifies -- Christ unifies things, but Satan separates things (body and soul, us and God, families, etc.). I'd never thought about that before...

Oh, last week we did our Journey to Bethlehem presentation at the Asoke church. It went really well. When we got there Saturday afternoon, one of the farangs asked us if anyone in our group knew how to sing. I ended up being enlisted as an angel in the angel room, singing "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains." Had to learn the bass line in a jiffy. It was really fun, though, and it was neat to see all the people come through. Hopefully they felt the spirit of Christmas as they went through all the various rooms (shepherds, the three kings of the Orient, King Herod, the innkeeper, and Mary and Joseph).

Nat (the 16-year-old girl) wants to wait till the 22nd to be baptized. We're still not sure who will perform the actual ordinance; we wanted Brother Best to, but he'll be gone. It may end up being me. We're teaching a lot of investigators, including some really good families. No new baptismal commitments yet, however.

There is a goal for the Asia area (mission-wise) for each companionship to teach 20 discussions a week (10 firsts and 10 others). So far we're at about 10 a week, if we're lucky. A long way to go. :) There's a mission language certification program, which consists of memorizing the discussions, memorizing word lists, reading and writing, and being able to teach clearly and effectively. Most people take two months to get certified.

On Thursday I went on switch-offs with Elder Suttiphong. He taught me how to cook rice in the rice cooker (it's very easy) and make a sweet n' sour dish. I *love* cooking! I make rice for breakfast and dinner every day now. A few days ago I bought cooking supplies (vegetable oil, fish sauce, chili powder, onions, garlic, etc.) and am having a blast. We visited Brother Super at his bakery the other day to go teaching with him. Someday I'll have to learn how to cook Thai desserts and cookies and stuff.

Tuesday night we visited Pepe and Milinda, a less-active couple that was baptized about two years ago. Milinda's doing much better and wants to come back to church now. It was awesome seeing how she realizes that not going to church has made their lives darker (that's what she said). The light of the gospel is *real*.

I ate dog meat on Tuesday as well, for the first time. It's not too bad, actually. But for health reasons, I probably will try to avoid it in the future. :) Haven't eaten anything else too weird yet. Yet. :) Got my first Thailand haircut as well, for 50 baht (a little over a dollar). Now that I've been here almost a full moves (6 weeks), riding my bike in traffic is a ton of fun. If I ever leave Bangkok, I'll miss it. I think virtually all the missionaries here ride bikes, but there may be a few areas where it's too congested.

I haven't seen any crime or heard of any, surprisingly. In fact, I think I've almost forgotten that crime exists. :) I'm sure it's there, of course, but I haven't seen it yet. Lots of Thais know a little bit of English (at least "Hello"), and quite a few like practicing it on us. I've been using a briefcase for the past three or four weeks (as opposed to a backpack) and will probably continue to do so, since it keeps papers flat and is large enough to hold everything I need to bring with me. The taxis don't have seat belts in the back, just up front. Haven't seen any taxi accidents yet, though. (It's a miracle, considering how some of the drivers drive. :)) There are soooooo many motorcycles here. All over the place, everywhere you go, motorcycles and yet more motorcycles.

Well, I've pretty much adjusted to life here in Thailand. Prices in baht seem normal now; it would be weird to go back to using dollars. I love it here and love the work. It's wonderfully good to see the gospel of Christ change people's lives, especially families. I love families! :) We talked with an awesome investigator today, Nan, who had already read most of Gospel Principles by the time Elder Nelson met her a few months ago. Her husband isn't interested, though, so the sisters will probably have to teach her. She's golden -- we haven't been able to contact her for at least a month and a half, and yet she's still reading diligently from the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and Gospel Principles each day. I wish there were more like her. :) Anyway, I'm about out of time. Thanks for all of the support, everyone, especially the prayers. Prayer is real. This church is real. God is real. Take care and have a great day! :-)

This moves period ends tomorrow, which means I've been in-country for six weeks already. Where did the time go? I think I'll be saying that every week for the next two years. :) Well, only Sister Jones is moving; everyone else in the zone is here for at least six more weeks. I probably won't leave Bangkapi for another three or four months. We don't know yet where Sister Jones is going, other than that she'll be in Bangkok (because she needs to bring her bike with her; if she didn't need to, she'd be going outside of Bangkok). Yesterday afternoon we sat anxiously awaiting the phone call from Elder Christiansen, letting us know who would be moving. We had to wait about 45 minutes, the suspense building up each second. Just kidding, but it *was* fun.

This week has gone by incredibly fast. I can't even remember what happened. :) Oh, we're probably not going to be teaching at Wat Bangtoey anymore, since they changed their schedule and it doesn't fit ours. On Sunday we had a special visitor, Suchat Chaichana (the bishop of the Asoke ward). He wrote an article in the July 2002 Ensign on his conversion to the church, was instrumental in translating the hymnbook, and has been working on the new translation of the Book of Mormon into Thai. We also had a farang visit, Joseph Mills from Louisiana. He was a missionary about 10 years ago in Fresno, California, Lao-speaking. In fact, he taught Brother Chanthaphuang the gospel (Brother Chanthaphuang is the night supervisor at the MTC for Southeast Asian languages). Small world. :)

What else? We're not sure if Nat will be baptized this Sunday. Hopefully it'll work out. Last night we got another baptismal commitment, from a man named Ek, his wife Noi, and his mother Juab. We don't have a date yet, though. We're going back on Monday to plan it out. They're a really good family and it's been awesome teaching them. There's another good family, Warayu and his wife and kids, but we can't continue teaching them till January 11th or so (they felt it was too fast and wanted to take a breather). It's wonderful to teach families. Nothing better. :)

Well, we're going to be moving our house in about a month. The one we have is old and decrepit and it's hard to keep clean, so Elder Stevenson and Elder Rock found a really good one that's much closer to the church. More on that in the weeks to come. We found a new neighborhood the other day, just as the sun was setting. We were doing invites out in a part of our area that we'd never been in before, and through the trees we saw a hidden neighborhood, almost like an Atlantis rising out of the ground. We finally found the entrance and were confronted by a spirit house containing a rather freaky statue of an elephant-headed man with a black snake wound around its chest. Luckily it wasn't too dark yet. ;) It was a great deal of fun -- at times it feels like our area is small and confined and that we've already talked with everyone here. But that won't ever actually happen -- there are around 250,000 people in our area (mine and Elder Nelson's). Lots of people.

Now that I think about it, there really isn't much crime at all here. The only thing I've heard of is that Brother Chayaprik's bike was stolen yesterday. We always lock our bikes up, but here you hardly have to worry about it. I hear it's even safer in the Isan. Haven't seen any accidents yet either. Elder Nelson almost fell into a khlong the other day, though. We were carrying our bikes through a hole in a wall to get onto the khlong path (it was a shortcut), and he started sliding towards the khlong. His helmet fell in and his feet got a little wet, but other than that he survived. :) A man offered to help us wash his helmet off so he could use it again. It's a miracle neither of us has fallen off the khlong path yet. Angels really do protect us.

A lot of people think we're students, because the college students wear white shirts and black pants too. The nearby university is Ramkhamhaeng University, but that's in Elder Christiansen's and Elder Suttiphong's area, so we've never gone there. A lot of people ask us if Thai girls are pretty and if we'd like to be their sons-in-law. Goodness, if I wanted to, I could have over a dozen wives already. ;) Some questions that people ask here would sound really weird in America -- for example, "How many people live in your house?" That's perfectly normal here. Out of the 400 or 500 people we've talked with so far, only *one* has said, "I can't tell you; that's not safe." Other common questions are "Where are you going?" and "Have you eaten yet?". Lots of kids cry out "Falang!" when they see us. It's a great deal of fun, but they often want to shake our hands. Kids' hands are dirty, especially the left one (which they use to wipe -- enough said). We're able to drink the water people offer us, since they usually get it out of bottles. Haven't gotten sick yet, at least. :) The only real bugs I've seen so far are cockroaches and mosquitoes. No huge spiders or snakes or anything yet. i'm disappointed. ;)

We get 2200 baht every two weeks for MSF (Missionary Support Fund), which covers food, personal hygiene, and travel. It's far more than enough if you're not a butterfingers with money. One week I only spent 200 baht on food -- I was so proud of myself! :) Usually it comes out to about 500 baht a week, though. It's fun to try to cut expenses. I haven't been cooking a whole lot because there really isn't much time, sadly. That's life, though.

Well, the work is going well and I'm very glad to be here. It's hard, definitely, harder than I ever imagined. I've grown soooo much. The scriptures have become a lifeline, as have hymns. Christmas is coming up next week, so I'll be able to call home. The cheapest phone cards here are for 14 baht a minute.

In the future, letters probably won't be as long as the first one was, unless I have a lot of time. I wish I had more time, but our calling as missionaries is to preach the gospel, so that takes precedence. :) When I return home in two years, though, I'll write a book and put it up for free on my website. Again, if any of you want to write back, you can e-mail my family and they'll pass it along to me. Thanks for all the support! This church is true and the gospel is the best thing in the world. I love being a missionary! :)

Sorry, but this letter will be extremely short, as I only have about five minutes. :) Everything's going well on this rather hot Christmas day. No snow in sight yet. ;) It honestly doesn't feel like Christmas at all. Thais think that Christmas is the American New Year, not about Christ at all. We can't even find any Christmas cards, just New Year cards. We're going to the Bates' home in a minute for Christmas dinner. This Sunday we're helping out at the World Scout Jamboree down near the ocean, which will be fun. Sister Jones moved to Thonburi last Thursday and Sister West moved in. She's from Cardston (Canada) and was in the MTC district before me. We had our ward Christmas activity last Saturday and it was a great success. More details will follow in the next letter (or the next, if I don't have much time next week). We got two new baptismal commitments this week, one from Bunying (a 60-year-old man), and the other(s) from a family that we're meeting tonight to plan out their baptism. All is well and the time is still flying by. I'm about out of time. If any of you want back issues (parts 1-6), e-mail my family. They should be coming up on my website soon, too. The work is really picking up here and our teaching pool is huge. Nat will probably get baptized on the 5th, but there's a possibility it may happen this Sunday. (Hopefully not, since we won't be there for it.) Chaad will get baptized January 12th. Have I mentioned that there are a zillion 7-Elevens here? Just in our area alone there have to be more than 20. It's crazy. :) Well, it's time to go. Merry Christmas to everyone. In this bustling season of gifts and garlands, remember the baby in a manger who saved the world from the chains of sin, and try to share some of His love with someone else. Take care and have a great Christmas! :-)

The reason this is a few days late is that I've been sick since Tuesday morning. Nothing *terribly* bad, but enough to keep me down all day Thursday. Mainly just a headache, slight fever, wooziness, and weakness. Tuesday I went out proselyting as usual (thinking it would go away). Wednesday we went to Dream World (more on that later) all day and it didn't go away. :) When we got back from Dream World I wrote a few letters and then decided it would be best to go straight to bed. Slept most of Thursday morning and early afternoon and then lay on the couch the rest of the day, singing hymns to myself to keep my thoughts off the sickness.

Anyway, on to better thoughts. :) Our ward Christmas party, "Journey to Bethlehem," was on the 21st. They asked us to participate in the play, so we were shepherds and sang a few numbers. People really seemed to like it. A good number of our investigators showed up, too. On Christmas Eve a bunch of ward members went out caroling and they asked us to go with them, so we spent the evening going around town crammed into the back of Brother Super's car. :) It was a lot of fun. We went to the Bates's for Christmas meal. They brought a friend of theirs, Terence Omoruyi. He's from Nigeria and is trying to find a job here. I talked with him a lot -- he was baptized November 10th, and he's in Huai Khwang (Elder Orrock's area). His conversion story is really neat.

I didn't go to the World Scout Jamboree on Sunday; instead, Elder Rock and I stayed here and Elder Nelson and Elder Stevenson went to the jamboree. They left around 11:00 on Sunday morning and got back just in time. During the last hour of church, one of the ward leaders announced that the son of Brother S. had died that morning (he was around 40 years old and had been sick for a while). Because Brother S. was the only one in his family who's a member, they held a fangsuad (Buddhist funeral of sorts) that evening at Wat Bangtoey. It was about two hours long and consisted mainly of monks chanting prayers in Pali. I'd hoped I would have at least some chance of understanding a word here and there, but it flew completely over my head. :) A lot of ward members showed up.

Oh, not too long ago my bike light fell off while I was crossing the road. Before I could go back and get it, a bus flew by and immortalized it. Last week I passed off Basic 1. :) I also stopped using the discussion book when teaching the first discussion. On Saturday Elder Nelson got hit by a taxi. Nothing too major, just the back wheel, and the car was hardly moving, so it faded quickly into memory.

There's a new worldwide missionary e-mail policy -- all missionaries now have to use the Church's e-mail service. It's mainly for safety and filtering (don't have to worry about nasty messages getting through).

This week has been really slow because everyone's been gone for New Year's. We've had hardly any appointments (four all week). On New Year's Eve we stopped by at Sister M.'s house for half an hour or so for some food, and then went to Super's for the rest of the evening. At Super's we switched-off with Elder Christiansen and Elder Suttiphong. Poor Elder Suttiphong had to stay home with me all day yesterday. Good sport.

One thing that's kind of odd here is that cleaning ladies come into the men's bathrooms all the time, and they don't think there's anything weird about that. :) There are termites eating our house apart, but we're probably not moving houses till April. The house we're in right now is 11,000 baht a month, which is a bit on the expensive side (8,000 is reasonable). Thailand's definitely dirtier than America, but that's just the way it is. You get used to it. A lot of people smoke and drink, a *lot*. Lots of kids, too. There are street vendors on bikes that ride around all day selling food, and there are lots of people who have stores in their living rooms or in the front part of their room (if in an apartment). Because Thais use first names, it's hard to know who's married to who, who's the children of who, and all that. I still get surprised from time to time.

Lots of people want to learn English here. I didn't expect there to be so many English words in Thai (called thapsap), but they're so prevalent that if you don't know the word for something in Thai, you can try pronouncing the English word with a Thai accent and you've a good chance of being correct. :) I think the rainy season is over. It hasn't rained hard for several weeks now. Good. :) It seems that construction work is eternal here, always going on and on and on, all over the place.

Oh, the other day a coin fell on the ground and I was about to step on it to stop it from rolling away, but luckily Elder Nelson stopped me in time. I'd forgotten about that: since all the money has the king's picture on it, it's really bad to step on any coins or bills. A few days ago I ran into Suchat Chaichana, the man who spoke in our ward not too long ago. He told me that the new translation of the Thai Book of Mormon should be done in two years. The first pass is already complete, but they want it to be the best possible translation.

We had interviews again last week. I found that I'll be returning home July 30, 2004. That means that in a few weeks I'll only have a year and a half left. Whoa. That makes me feel *old*. :) Most stores will sell you drinks in bags (same with smoothies), which was weird at first, but I've gotten used to it. I'm running out of time so I'm sorry I'm changing the topic so much. I've seen a handful of people fishing out of khlongs; I guess if it suits them, so be it. It's normal here to talk about zits -- Thais will often go up to missionaries and say, "Why do you have so many zits?" It's not taboo at all. :) We do indeed have to bend over when crossing between people who are talking to each other, especially if they're older, but it seems like rules like that are gradually fading away and being replaced by American culture. The traffic lights (all two or three of them in our area :)) are sooooo long -- four or five minutes, and I'm not exaggerating at all. It's crazy. The traffic gets backed up really bad.

Well, I'd like to write more, but I'll have to save it for next week. I'm hoping I'll get better soon. Take care and have a great day! :-)

We had our first baptism on Sunday. Sister Nat, the 16-year-old girl we've been teaching for about a month, was baptized after church this past Sunday and it was awesome. :) And Brother Chaad is getting baptized this coming Sunday. The work is going very well. :)

Yesterday I went to my first zone conference. We're lucky since it's held at our church, which is about two minutes away from our house. Three zones attended: Bangkapi, Bangnaa, and Srinakarin (24 missionaries). It was long -- 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. -- but it was good and I absolutely loved it. President Slater's message on the worth of souls was awesome, and all the other counsel really inspired me. It was nice to see some of my old MTC friends, too. (Six of us came -- Elder Applegate, Elder Walker, Elder Lo, Elder Rock, Sister Grimmius, and me.)

There are *tons* of women here in the ward. Hardly any men, or so it seems. We always try to find men if we can since there are so few of them. I wonder why so many women join the Church here... Next moves is on January 30 or so. We're pretty sure a lot of people in our zone will move (possibly up to four of us), but it's hard to say who will go and who will stay.

Oh, anywhere outside of Bangkok is called "upcountry," even the south. We saw a pink dog the other day, and a green one a while ago. Their owners said they gave them medicine and it made them turn out that way. Weird. :) I've seen dogs with humongous tennis-ball sized tumors on their noses, one dog with some kind of virus eating away at its face so the innards were showing, and lots of other unsavory sights. There's a legend of sorts that dogs will bark at anyone who's eaten dog meat. Considering the number of dogs that bark at Elder Nelson, I think there's some truth to it. :)

Some vendors sell what missionaries call a "sterile barrel" -- it's an ice cream hogi, basically. They put sticky rice in a sandwich and pile on some ice cream. It's actually quite good. Rumor has it that the name came about because they supposedly make you sterile. Hmm... :) It's only 3.5 baht for a bus fare (on the red buses, that is -- blue buses are 5, and I think the orange ones are 8 or so). Very cheap.

Lots of people hold hands here, girls with girls, occasionally guys with guys, etc. There are government employees that sweep the streets and sidewalks, all over the place. At least they're trying to keep it clean, even if they *are* unsuccessful for the most part. :) We have ants all over the place at home in the kitchen. Sometimes they go away, but if we leave anything out, ants will be in it before long. There are often small lizards on the walls, too, but they don't stay out if there are humans around.

If you leave envelopes out, they'll seal themselves (the humidity), so you have to tuck the outside part inside so that the glue won't melt and seal. When you put cups on the ground or on a table or anything, the condensation will gather and make a small puddle, every single time. So you get used to wiping up the water. What little Thai music I've heard (at Lotus and restaurants and around town) sounds awfully similar. Most of it is suspiciously like American pop. Too bad the authentic Thai music is disappearing...

Oh, every time we enter a house, the person will offer us water. Sometimes food as well, but that's rare. A few people will go buy us a Pepsi when we come to visit, even though they're extremely poor and don't have the money for it. They're very nice and generous. We have enough muu baans (neighborhoods) in our area that we can wait six to seven weeks between covering a muu baan. That way we cycle through them all and give them adequate coverage.

We have a bug zapper that's pretty cool and works well for electrocuting the cockroaches and mosquitoes. There are screens on all the windows, and if we kept the door closed more often we probably wouldn't have so many mosquitoes in the house. (It's normal to leave your front door open if you're home, so we usually do that.) Oh, only elders can enter our house, nobody else (male or female). We speak English in our house and I've heard that basically all the missionaries do likewise, unless they have Thai companions. So I doubt I'll lose my English here. :) There are very few traffic lights here. Driving here would be a nightmare. :)

I'm still not very good at eating spicy food -- when I eat it, I start sweating all over and it's rather painful. :) With the heat while eating and the spiiiiiiicy aftertaste when you're done, there's hardly a moment's respite. Water helps, though. I suspect that the trick to eating spicy is accepting that it's going to be hot, and making that the reason for eating -- kind of like getting a high. ;)

The bread here is sold in half-sized loaves. Lotus has two of those for 25 baht, which I guess is a pretty good deal. Lots of houses have ceiling fans that rotate around. Ingenious idea. Fans do a really good job of keeping one cool. In fact, I prefer fans to air conditioning.

Well, I've run out of things to talk about. :) Everything's going well and I'm better from that sickness I mentioned last week, although I picked up a cough to replace it. We should have normal weeks from now on, without anything out of the ordinary. Hopefully that doesn't mean these letters will become more boring. :) Today I got a haircut and we're about to go to the post office to pick up our mail. Oh, at Lotus I got a stamp made with my address on it (for 170 baht), which'll make it easy for writing letters. Also got a Thai alphabet chart that'll help when I start reading. I'm memorizing the discussions for Basic 2 right now (4th discussion) and hope to be done within a couple weeks. I *love* reading the dictionary, but I have to wait till I pass off the other stuff. Focus, Elder, focus. :)

I know this work is true and that it's the way to real happiness in this life. Christ lives and this is His church.

I suspect that these letters will get shorter as I've already written about most of the little things unique to Thailand (like driving on the left side of the road). But I'll try to come up with interesting things to write about. :) So, I've been here in Thailand about as long as I was in the MTC (10 weeks). Life out here goes by a lot faster than it did in the MTC. Two more weeks till moves -- Elder Nelson will probably move and I'll get a new senior companion, but there's a myriad of other possibilities.

Chaad was baptized this past Sunday by Elder Nelson, and Bishop Wisut confirmed Nat a member of the Church and bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost upon her. (Chaad will be confirmed this Sunday.) Have I mentioned Bunying at all? I don't think so. He's a 60-year-old man that we met while doing invites a few weeks ago. We've taught him up to the fourth discussion so far. He used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, but when we challenged him to quit, he accepted. He'd tried to quit about two years ago, unsuccessfully. But this time he made it -- he quit cold turkey and hasn't gone back. We gave him some pineapple-flavored vitamin C tablets to help him when he felt like he needed to smoke. He said the first few days he really, really, really wanted to smoke, but now he's fine. His wife is extremely grateful and decided to start hearing the discussions (we taught her a first a few days ago). They both came to church on Sunday, and his wife said she wants to come every single week. That kind of statement makes missionaries very happy. :) They *might* have to move to Korat, though, for her work; we'll find out today if they do or not. They'll be baptized in a few weeks if all goes well.

We're teaching at the Wat Bangtoey school again, on Mondays instead of Fridays. It's a lot of fun. Yesterday we saw a dog with a fake eye, kind of like a bluish marble but it looked too soft to be glass. Rather disturbing, especially because the dog kept barking at us in a fiendish manner, but you get used to ignoring dogs -- it's the only way to stay sane here. I've heard that there are roughly a million dogs in Bangkok. That's a lot.

It's 19 baht to send a letter to America or Canada, 17 to Europe or Africa, and 14 to Asia. I think it's even cheaper within Thailand, but I forgot to ask. I finished memorizing the 4th discussion a couple of days ago and I'm going to try to finish all of the 5th today (we're staying home for the rest of the day, so I'll have lots of time). Kid's Day was last week and there weren't many people home.

There are pickup trucks that sell fruit and drive around everywhere, usually with a loudspeaker set up and the driver calling out his wares. There are also motorcycle taxis (I don't know what they're really called) -- scattered throughout the town one will find groups of motorcycle drivers who take passengers around the city for a set rate (starting at 7 baht, I think). I talked with one of the drivers the other day and it sounds like all you have to do is buy a vest and a motorcycle to do it. There may be more organization to it than that, but I'm not sure. We see them every day, all over.

Babies often don't have anything on but a shirt (and baby powder to keep them cool -- lots of kids have baby powder sprinkled on their faces and necks, and even some adults). It's tradition that whoever eats the last piece on a plate will have a pretty girlfriend (or handsome boyfriend as the case may be). Yesterday Elder Nelson's tire got a hole in it, so we got it patched for 30 baht (though usually it's only 10 baht).

At the MTC we used a romanization scheme called "Phaasaa Elder" ("phaasaa" is Thai for "language"), very similar to the Mary Haas scheme. It's so ingrained in me that I may write Thai names/words in phaasaa elder and it makes perfect sense to me but may be quite unreadable to everyone else. :) Oh, we just got a notice in the mail about getting leather-bound copies of the Thai scriptures. It's 700 baht for a BoM/D&C combination (500 baht per book if you do it separately) and 700 for the Bible. Usually the Bible is 120-160 baht (depending on the size -- there's small, medium, and large), the Book of Mormon is free, and I have no idea how much the D&C is. Now I just need to learn how to read Thai fluently... :) (I can read, but I'm slow and have to look up the tones most of the time.)

Well, I'm out of time. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with something to write about next week. ;) Missionary work is hard but that's where the blessings come from -- without trials and opposition, you can't get to the real treasure, happiness and joy. It often hurts -- nobody *likes* tribulation -- but the Lord is there for us and once we get through it we'll see how much we've learned. C.S. Lewis said, "Pain is a brutal teacher, but how we learn -- oh, how we learn!" Christ lives and this is His church. Take care and have a great day! :-)

This week has been an exciting one. On Thursday night I went on switchoffs with Elder Rock to go see some investigators of theirs while Elder Nelson and Elder Stevenson stayed at the church for correlation. On the way to the first appointment, Elder Rock hit a rock, which made his foot slip into his front tire. The tire stopped and the bike cartwheeled, taking Elder Rock under it. It was spectacular. :) He was totally fine and only got scraped up a little bit. It broke the mirror off his bike, though. Last night Elder Nelson and I left the church from teaching English and headed out to teach Bunying's wife the rest of the second discussion. We were a little short on time, so we rode rather quickly (read: blazingly fast) to get there on time. Halfway there, Elder Nelson hit a speed bump and flew into the air. Usually this isn't a problem, but this time his tire landed at an awkward angle and his bike slid to the ground, casting him off into the asphalt. He ended up with skin scraped off his face, a really sore jaw, and blood dripping down his chin. We were near the entrance to a guarded neighborhood, luckily, and the guards were able to help us. We called the bishop and he sent one of his workers to drive us home. All is well and Elder Nelson should be fine. It could have been a lot worse, so we're very glad. I suppose riding bikes here in Bangkok is frighteningly dangerous if you really think about it (people walk out in front of us all the time, motorcycles dodge to the side next to us, buses almost collide with us, etc.). Now that all the mothers are panicking, I guess I'd better relay some more soothing news. :)

We taught Bunying's wife a first and part of the second discussion earlier this week. She actually wasn't home last night, so we wouldn't have been able to teach her anyway. Both she and Bunying have a lot of faith and want to get baptized. We still don't know if they'll have to move to Korat or not. Bunying had multiple sclerosis several years ago and it ate away at his motor control in his face, but it went into recession. It's still hard for him to speak, but he's getting better.

I went on full-day switchoffs with Elder Suttiphong on Friday. (The zone leader goes on switchoffs with each companionship twice a moves period, and his companion goes with the junior of the companionship, which in this case is me.) It was a lot of fun, as usual. Lots of invitations and lots of rejections. :) Elder Christiansen and Elder Stevenson jope (complete their missions) this coming moves, March 13. "Moves" means both the actual moves day (which is January 30th) and a moves period (the six-week period between moves days), by the way.

A lot of people say I look like an Indian (Hindu), and when I was with Elder Suttiphong on Friday, two Hindu men walked up to us while we were stopped for a moment. One came rather close to me and said, "Ah, you have a happy face. March will be a good month. Give me your hand and I will read your future." I smiled and asked him where he lived, to change the topic (it's a good technique :)). I learned some more Thai customs from Elder Suttiphong while eating lunch at the school where we taught English: first, you always leave the serving spoons upside down, not right-side up. Second, when you're done eating, leave the fork and spoon together on the plate, not one on each side.

It's the cool season right now, so I haven't been very sweaty lately. The hot season is coming up quickly, though (another month or two), and then we'll be plunged into the rainy season. In a way I'd rather not have a rainy season, but then again it can be a lot of fun if you just let yourself accept the fact that you'll be soaking wet. I think everyone would be happy if the hot season disappeared, though. :) Oh, we have to put anything with sugar in it inside the refrigerator, lest ants nest within. I learned that lesson on Saturday when I left some cereal outside (even though the bag wasn't opened yet). The next morning ants had utterly infested it, hundreds of them. I considered trying to exterminate the lot of them, but it would take too much time, so I had to throw the bag away. 151 baht down the drain. (sigh) :)

The hem of one pair of my pants came undone a few weeks ago, so we dropped it off at a seamstress's the other day (who incidentally used to be the maid for the missionaries here) and got it fixed for 10 baht. The mosquitoes haven't been attacking me so harshly in the past few weeks, which is a relief. Oh, last week I learned that there *are* mailmen that deliver the mail to the house, but if you're not home when they come, they leave a notice that says you have to go to the post office to pick it up.

My new favorite snack is dried banana chips. I think I'm addicted. They're cheap, too -- 50 baht per kilogram. My bike tire went flat on Monday and I had to get it patched. Luckily there's a bike shop nearby. The smells here aren't too bad usually, though in some places the stench is disheartening. Out in the less-developed areas there are lots of chickens wandering around, and I hear that in the Isan (eastern Thailand) there are chickens *everywhere*.

Well, my time has run out again. Missionary work is awesome. I'm glad it's not too hot right now. :) Next week we'll know who's moving and who's staying, so until then, keep the faith.

Sorry I wasn't able to write last week -- the e-mail servers were down. On Tuesday we got the fateful call of who was moving: Elder Nelson (outside of Bangkok), Elder Suttiphong (outside of Bangkok), and Elder Rock (in Bangkok). Wednesday we went to the immigration office to renew the visas for Elder Rock, Elder Nelson, and me. Most of my MTC district was there. I never thought I'd get to see all of them so often, but I guess that's what happens when you're in Bangkok. :)

Thursday we went up to moves at the Pakkret chapel at 6:30 a.m. Elder Nelson moved to Udorn and has a Thai companion, Elder Praseard. Elder Suttiphong moved to Khon Kaen and is companions with Elder Romashko. Elder Rock moved to Din Daeng and is companions with Elder Holman (I think). A few other people in my district moved, too -- Elder Applegate (to Chiang Mai), Sister Craner (to Chiang Mai as well), Elder Orrock (to Bangnaa), and Elder Lo (to Thonburi South). My new companion is Elder Serrao, who moved here from Ayutthaya. He's the new zone leader, which meant we had to stay at moves for ZLTM (zone leader training meeting). All the zone leaders' companions stayed at the church while the zone leaders went to President Slater's house for the meeting. Lots of my MTC friends (Elder Applegate, Elder McLelland, Elder Walker, Elder Hamblin) were ZL companions also and so we stuck around for quite a few hours together. Elder Walker and I went out proselyting for a couple of hours, walking around Muang Thong Thani (the area around the office). We didn't know the area at all, so it was interesting. :) Near the end of the two hours, we walked down a khlong path to talk with a man we saw. As we walked up to him, his dogs scrambled up to us and a rather large one opened its salivating jaws, latching onto my ankle. Luckily it let go immediately and miraculously didn't pierce through anything. So I can finally say I've been bitten by a dog. ;)

So, when we got back to Bangkapi later that afternoon, we dropped all of Elder Serrao's stuff off and went out proselyting. Elder Stevenson and Elder Christiansen are both trainers (for their final six weeks in Thailand), training Elder Houston (from Phoenix, Arizona) and Elder Gould (from Morristown, New Jersey), respectively. It's fun seeing greenies and thinking back to what it was like when I first got here, three months ago. Time sure flies by. Oh, Elder Serrao trained Elder Bloom (from my MTC district) in Ayutthaya. Small world. :)

On Friday we decided to walk instead of riding our bikes. Took the bus down to our first appointment and then walked all afternoon. I'd forgotten that blisters exist. :) It was a lot of fun, though. We talked with one old man who was making a fish net. Very neat. It only costs 30 or 40 baht for the supplies to make one. Hmm, next preparation day I'm not doing much... Just kidding -- it usually takes months to make a net. I'm thinking I may buy a goldfish, though. Oh, Friday morning we had to take Elder Nelson's bike to the Raw Saw Paw, a shipping company that transfers missionaries' bikes from province to province.

Saturday we had DLTM at the church. I took the two greenies out to find people to teach. I found out that we ride an average of 30-35 km a day, not 10-15. (I finally figured out how to work my speedometer. :)) We went to the office yesterday for interviews with President Slater. Oh, it's now a requirement to study the gospel for an extra half-hour each day, usually during our breaks. I was very, very excited about that -- I wanted to do it anyway, but now that it's mandatory, I don't have to make excuses anymore. ;) I finished Basic 2 last Monday and Basic 3 this morning, so I can finally study reading and writing. Very excited about that.

Did I mention that Bunying was smoking 60 cigarettes a day before he quit? I think that's a lot. :) He and his wife quit drinking coffee last week as well. He's getting baptized on Sunday, and Tu will probably be baptized not long after. We still don't know what's happening with the Korat thing. He finished reading the whole Book of Mormon last week.

There was a drug bust and shootout in one of the neighborhoods we work in, apparently last week. Someone was killed, according to the guard who tried to get us to leave. (We were talking with an old man in that neighborhood the other night and the guard rode up on a bike, then stopped next to us. He told us what had happened and recommended that we leave.) We did leave, of course. The other day I was riding along and a little girl who was playing in the street jumped out in front of me. Angels must have helped me brake, since I wasn't expecting it at all, and miraculously my bike stopped mere millimeters before her. It would have been awful had I hit her.

For those who are wondering, we can write e-mail once a week to our families, on Wednesdays. We can only use the Internet for an hour a week, which is why we often say we're pressed for time. At the immigration office a man walked up to us and asked if they would be playing President Bush's announcement there. We had no idea what he was talking about, since we don't watch TV or read the newspapers. Sounds like World War III is brewing. Apparently there was a skirmish in Cambodia, involving someone blowing up the Thai embassy, but people have been saying it's all settled down.

Out of time. It's getting hotter here. The work is going really well and we're working quite hard. I love Thailand and missionary work and this gospel. :) Take care and have a great day! :-)

I'd forgotten that Thailand can be humid, but on Monday the stickiness returned, and it's probably here to stay for quite a few months. It's getting hotter, too. So much for the week-long cool season. :) On Wednesday last week we went bowling at the Mall Bangkapi. I doubled my score from the first game to the third one (57 to 102). Needless to say, I'm a much better missionary than bowler. :) As we were walking through the mall on our way out, we passed a furniture store that had tables inside a display case. Imagine our surprise when we spotted a Book of Mormon (in English) sitting on one of the tables with another book. We took pictures and everything -- something like that doesn't happen every day, you know. :)

On Thursday we had a Family Home Evening with Dang and Roong, a less-active family we've been visiting for several months. They came to church on Sunday, for the first time in a while. That made me rather happy. :) Friday morning we learned that Elder Gould went home (no one knows why), so Elder Christiansen's new companion is Elder Frischknecht, who moved here from Pakkret (Nonthaburi). He's been out for seven months or so (same MTC group as Sister Jones and Elder Suttiphong), and I did switchoffs with him on Saturday all day. We taught a man named Nad a second discussion and committed him to baptism for March 2nd. He's good and is already sharing the gospel with his friends. :) Oh, I found out that zone leaders don't do switchoffs with *all* the companionships, just the district leaders. (In our zone there's no difference, but lots of zones are larger than this.)

We taught English at the Wat Bangtoey school again on Monday, though we changed it to Tuesdays so we wouldn't have to rush there from DDM (District Development Meeting, every Monday from 10:30 to 12:00). Since Valentine's Day is this week, the teacher had given all the students little valentine stickers, and when we entered the classroom, the kids clustered around us and peppered us with the stickers, sticking them everywhere (mostly our shirts and ties). I wish I'd had my camera. :) I love those kids sooooo much! Last night we rode into a small side street we'd never been to before, and when we reached the end, a little girl called out "Elders!" from the doorway of her house. Turns out the family there used to have the elders over all the time, but it's been a while and they've fallen through the cracks. There were lots of little kids at that house. Ah, I love kids! It'll be hard to say goodbye to all the children here when I have to move. The kids at English call us "Teacher," which is incredibly cute. "Teacher, teacher!" That's something I'll always remember about Thailand.

Monday night we visited Wirood, an old investigator. Several months ago he asked about some "Chescorado," something having to do with Christ in the Americas, but we never knew what he was talking about. Finally, it clicked: "Chescorado" was Quetzalcoatl (Native American legend) with a Thai pronunciation. :) Trying to understand Thais speak other languages, especially English, is fun.

Yesterday I found out that the fruit vendors also sell coconut milk in little bags for 5 baht apiece. That's my new addiction. ;) I've been reading Thai for about a week now. At first it strained my eyes and my brain, but now I'm fine and it's a lot of fun. This morning I started working on writing it, too (i.e. spelling and composition), and that's even more fun. My shirts are already turning off-white. I'm getting *old*. ;) The number for 911 here is 191. VCD (video CD) is huge here.

My bike tire went flat five times in a row about two weeks ago. Finally I got the inner tube replaced, and thankfully it's been fine since then. Soccer is really big here, the two big names being Michael Owen and David Beckham (both on the Liverpool team, I think). We've made friends with the guards at the head of our neighborhood. They're both really nice. Most neighborhoods have guards, which is neat. Thais hardly ever use chopsticks, except when eating Chinese food.

About two weeks ago I started noticing all the crushed rats, snakes, and toads on the roads. I don't know why they'd escaped my attention before -- I guess I didn't recognize what they really were. Oh, two Saturdays ago we came out of some apartments and saw smoke billowing up nearby. Turns out there was a fire in a field pretty close by, so we went over to take a look at it. Taught a first discussion to a guy who was sitting there watching it. I think they got the fire under control without any problems.

Well, everything's going well and the work is speeding ahead. Bunying was baptized this past Sunday and Chaad is getting the priesthood on Sunday. We taught 11 first discussions last week. Yesterday was a hard day, though -- 41 invitations (usually we do around 15) and not a single discussion. The only investigator that didn't cancel on us ended up giving us back our Book of Mormon and saying he wasn't interested anymore. That's too bad, especially because we thought he was really good.

I'm out of time. Thanks for all the support. If anyone wants back issues or to send a letter along, again, just e-mail my family. Take care and have a great day! :-)

This week there wasn't a whole lot to write about, so I suspect this letter won't be as long as usual. Last Friday I went on switchoffs with Elder Houston (the greenie), in my area. In the evening we went to visit a family that we met last week. They handed us a drink that looked like diluted beer. It didn't smell like beer, but it didn't smell like water either. I didn't know if it was some kind of fruit drink, so I asked the lady what it was. She said, "Chaa," which is tea. We told them we couldn't drink it and they gave us water instead.

Oh, I switched from my briefcase to a fanny pack last Wednesday. It's much more convenient and I don't think I'll ever go back. The weather changed last week and I caught a little cold. Luckily it's going away. The first counselor in the stake presidency came to speak to our ward on Sunday. He said they're building a new chapel next to the current one, making it a lot bigger. The old building will be a seminary/institute building. That's really neat -- I wish I'd be here when it's completed. But it'll take a year at least and I seriously doubt I'll still be here more than even another month or two.

There's a mission tour on Tuesday; Elder Ray Bateman (of the Seventy, I guess) is visiting. More on that next week. This Saturday we're having an activity for all the people on our 24-month list. Whenever we baptize someone, they go onto our 24-month list (people who've been members for less than two years), and we see them each week to see how they're doing and make sure everything's okay. My Havana Joe shoes are holding up just fine so far. A lot of missionaries here have gone a year or so with one pair of shoes, so I don't think there'll be any problem. And if my shoes *do* die before their time, I can get a new pair for 500 baht or so ($12).

Brother Super is selling his bakery today, so he told us we could go eat whatever we want from it. :) I found out today that my new Thai-Thai dictionary has a list of ratchasab (royal words), which is the first of its kind I've ever seen. It's extensive, too, which is really nice. I passed off Reading & Writing on Sunday, so now I only have Lists left (the 1000-word list and the SYL list) -- then I'll be certified. Bunying was confirmed a member of the Church on Sunday, and Chaad was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. We've had a baptism every week for the last three or four weeks or so (in the zone, that is).

Well, sorry this one's short; hopefully next week I'll be able to make up for it. The gospel is true! Often in this world it's hard to find things that really are true, things that don't fall apart when looked at closely. Friends may betray, false advertising may lure and ensnare, but the true and living God will never let us down. This is His Church.

This moves period is going by sooooo quickly. Only two weeks left. Yesterday we had our zone conference/mission tour. Elder Lee Ray Bateman (I think he's in the Asia Area presidency) was the visiting General Authority. I *love* zone conferences because the Spirit inspires me how to improve myself, areas I should focus on, etc. Elder Christiansen, Elder Frischknecht, Elder Serrao, and I sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Thai for one of the musical numbers. (Side note: I love to sing, but singing in public always makes me horribly self-conscious and is an experience I still dread, but one must do what one must do.) Elder Bateman spoke on obedience, member referrals, and lots of other things. His mission president was Thomas S. Monson of the First Presidency. :) Before the meeting started, he had us each come up one by one to shake his hand and introduce ourselves. He spoke for four or five hours (split into two sections by a lunch break). I wish we had a zone conference every week. :)

Well, I'm pretty much the unofficial ward pianist now. I love it (I play at all the baptisms, activities, and sacrament meetings), but hopefully they'll find a ward member who can play and give them a calling. Sister Tu (Brother Bunying's wife) will probably be getting baptized this Sunday. (I say "probably" because she's not 100% sure yet.) If she's not ready then we won't baptize her, of course. People *must* know that this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God before they can really join themselves to it. It's no use to join the Church of Jesus Christ if you don't really believe in it.

I got another flat tire on Thursday (a wooden stick went about one inch deep into my inner tube while I was riding home), but we got it changed the next morning. Friday we went to see Sister Nat with Brother Chayaphrug, and he taught her a 7th discussion. The 7th discussion is something they set up here in Thailand to introduce new members to institute and seminary.

There was a special zone leader meeting on Saturday. Elder Houston went with Elder Serrao so that our area wouldn't be neglected. (Elder Stevenson and I worked in his area for the first couple of hours and then in mine for the rest of the time.) Elder Serrao told us that Elder Cutler (Elder Applegate's companion) went to a Coca-Cola factory in Chiang Mai and asked them if the Coke has caffeine in it. About five workers there told him that it's illegal to put caffeine in soda pop in Thailand. Interesting... :)

The other night I was talking with our Pakistani rotee man (rotees are those fat-filled treats I mentioned several weeks ago), and he taught me how to say hi in Urdu. Maybe I could learn enough Urdu from him to teach him the discussions... (Just kidding. ;)) I do want to pick up bits and pieces of other languages from the people here, though -- Chinese, Lao, etc.

We hear the Thai national anthem here a lot more often than one hears the U.S. anthem in the States. Everyone has a real name and most people have a nickname like Moo (pig), Noi (little), or Tu (fat), which is what people call them. When they give callings in church or refer to people over the pulpit, they use people's real names ("chue jing", though the romanization doesn't nearly do it justice) instead of their nicknames ("chue len"). It's hard to know who on earth they're talking about, because I don't know people's real names.

Today we were going to go to Ayutthaya, but the train didn't leave till noon, so we decided to go to Central instead (a mall in Bangkhen). I got a flipchart and I'll start putting mine together soon. (I won't actually need it till I go senior, which won't happen for at least four or five more months, but it'll be nice to have it done in advance.)

The work's going fairly well. Nad won't be able to get baptized for at least a month because he still hasn't gone to church yet. We've got a few other families and individuals who seem like good candidates for baptism. The point of all this isn't to just add membership to the Church, of course -- if that were all we cared about, goodness, we could just give people money for joining. The thing that matters is exaltation -- eternal life with God and with our families. And because Gethsemane and Calvary weren't easy for the Savior, exaltation isn't easy for us.

I'm running out of time. I love Thailand and the Thai people and the work. Take care and have a great day! :-)

I don't have much time this week (virtually no time, in fact), so I'll just write a quick update on what's going on. This moves period has gone by soooooo fast. The term at the Wat Bangtoey school ended last week, which is really sad because I miss those kids a ton. That's the thing I'll probably miss most about Thailand -- the kids. Sister Tu (Bunying's wife) was baptized this past Sunday, along with two others. We're having baptisms every week now -- the work is really taking off here. :) Everything's going well, and today I realized just how much I've matured since I left. A mission is a terrific way to grow, since you can focus 100% on becoming like the Savior, without any other distractions getting in the way. On Monday we decided to not take our bikes for the rest of moves, so we've been walking everywhere. Beyond that, Elder Serrao decided to leave his bag at our home and take only a Book of Mormon and some pamphlets. Walking and going lightweight means reworking the way we do some things, but it's awesome and I feel more like the early missionaries of this dispensation (Samuel H. Smith, etc.). And it's a lot easier to talk with people if we're on foot. We think there's a rat in our house, since three bags of bread have been eaten into. Lots of people are talking about the war and ask us to go back home and tell President Bush to stop it. :) Yesterday we ran into a guy who's a member but has been inactive for a long time (he was baptized six years ago). Oh, A&W (root beer) came out in Thailand two or three weeks ago. The other elders in my house have started an A&W stash on the table and in the fridge. Sorry this letter isn't as long as usual, but we don't have much time. The gospel is true! Take care. :-)

P.S. If you want to send anything to me, forward it to my family and they'll pass it along. As usual, back issues are available from my family, and someday they'll be on my website as well (http://www.blankslate.net/).