Be Fun, Have Safe

สวัสดีครับ! Sawatdee kap! 

6 weeks down, 3 to go! This has been another good week in the life of a missionary, not surprised. Our teachers are starting to shift gears into getting us pumped to go to Thailand. And they really don't have to try very hard to get that done haha. We've heard so many amazing stories about spontaneous kumai gift of tongues, 9 year old dek deks with faith so strong they saw an angel, and monkeys stealing planners and ripping everything out page by page while maintaining eye contact. In conclusion, I'm going to have the best mission ever.

ROU JE RONG PLANG BUD

This week of learning Thai has been a good one. It's a little tricky to stay motivated when all the days sort of mesh together, but having those moments where things just click, or you just spoke a whole paragraph in Thai without even thinking, bring you back in and pumped to keep going! At the start of every class, we sing an opening song in Thai. "Rou je rong plang bud!" (We will open with a song!). It's kinda cool to just have the words flying out of your mouth without having to think too hard about how to say them. We also open with a prayer in Thai. When we pray in Thai, we have to use the royal language for Prabidabonsuwan (Heavenly Father) and it's so much fun. Since our district is so small (4 Elders), we combine with the Spanish district for devotional reviews. I was asked to say the closing prayer in Thai, and when I finished, all of the Spanish missionaries were like, "That's the coolest sounding language ever!!" And yeah, it is. ;)

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP

Like I said before, sometimes it's kinda hard to stay motivated through the whole 9 week grind of the MTC. So to relax and blow off some steam, one language study session turned into the Arm Wrestling World Championship. Elder Thaxton and Elder Maetani were going for like 15 minutes straight, and their round only ended when Elder Maetani's hand slipped out. Elder Yang wanted in, so he sat across from Elder Maetani and they clasped hands. Elder Yang got off to a quick start, but Elder Maetani was giving it all he had to push back. That's when we heard the "pop!" Elder Maetani stood up, holding his bicep, and was walking around, refusing to bend his arm. He insisted he was fine, but the way he carried his food during dinner told a different story. After a day or two, he was back to normal. That is, until he fell up the stairs and hit his other arm. On Sunday, he and Elder Thaxton went to the hospital and they found out he has a staph infection. And the radiologist wants them to come back in a week or two to have it checked out again because it might be more. Prayers for Elder Maetani. On Saturday, I was doing my thing. Balling with my bros as I always do. I was driving to the hoop and made a layup in traffic. The landing, however, was not quite so graceful. I landed on another Elder's foot and sprained my ankle. Immediately I popped up and walked a few laps. I iced it that night. For all of my fans, don't worry about me. I'm almost back to 100% already and Duke hasn't pulled my basketball scholarship.

POOSONJAIS

We got to teach a new poosonjai this week! Bro. Lucky (Bro. Hunt's Thai-dentical twin). In Thailand, everyone has a nickname. Their names are so crazy and long that they all just have a nickname so they don't have to say their actual names. Hope that clears up the names like Game and Lucky. We've even heard of kids named Tractor and Watermelon. Thailand is just the best haha. We taught Bro. Lucky about The Plan of Salvation. He lost his dad a while ago, and we shared with him that through this plan, he could see him again. He was very quiet and contemplative. He said no church has ever told him that before. He really wants to see his dad again, and he really wants to believe in everything we've said, but he just doesn't know and doesn't know what to do. We wanted him to know for himself, not to just believe us. We committed him to read in Alma 40, which is a great chapter about the resurrection by the way, and pray just to ask if he will see his dad again. There was a really powerful spirit in the room during that whole thing. It's amazing how we can talk about so much after just 6 weeks. We haven't had our TRCs this week yet. I know, I miss Bro. Brown too. Don't be too sad, though, because on Friday, we get to skype real konthais!!

IT'S LIKE THE WORST PRANK WAR EVER

We had a lot of new missionaries come into our floor this week. They've been getting into it with the Spanish and Finnish Elders. There have been so many pranks going back and forth between them. Some of them have been a little stupid, like flipping beds, and some have been really stupid, like putting ramen in the soap dispensers. Yeah. Many districts have been saying the floor is theirs. That's cute. The Thai district has been on that floor the longest, reigning as the owners of the floor ever since our Pi Thais left for better bananas. We've been watching them out-stupid each other this whole week. Lucky for everyone around us, the English Elders left today, thus ending the stupidest prank war ever.

GANCHODCHAI

This week, we've talked a lot about the atonement of Jesus Christ, why it's significant, how it's affected us, and how we can share the joy that it brings us with konthais. We all picked sacrament hymns and what we can feel and learn from the words inside of them. I picked "I Stand All Amazed." Let me tell you, hymns can have so much spirit and feeling behind them. It's really amazing. A scripture about the atonement that I love so much from this week is John 15:13. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Prayesukrit is our savior. He has a perfect love for us, and through the mercy given to us by his ganchodchai we can be forgiven of our sins. Making mistakes is all part of the plan. God gave us weaknesses and made us imperfectly on purpose. Knowing that we would slip up, he gave us a savior. All that we have to do to return to live with our Heavenly Father is try. Try to keep his commandments. Try to serve others. Try to love your neighbor. He knows we are imperfect and he knows that on our own, we can't make it. He gave us weaknesses to humble us. But, like Ether 12:27 says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. I know that God's plan for us is perfect. It is the Plan of Happiness. By following the Savior's example, we can have our weaknesses be made strong. If you're having a rough time, put your trust in God and never stop trying. God will make up the difference after all you can do. I promise that he loves you and he is aware of you. He wants you to come unto him. Use the atonement, share the joy of it, and try, try, try.

LAST THINGS LAST

-I've had a cough for the last little bit and it was especially bad during a devotional. Sister Beus told me after it was over that she didn't realize my cough was going to be the fourth speaker.

-No missionaries are coming in this week, so we have to wait one more week until we get our nongthais

-I found a Liahona magazine in Thai! And I can read it! Yeeeessss!

-Elder Yang and I memorized the First Vision in Thai. Frick yeah man!

-Thai word of the week: ไก่งวง, turkey. Literally translated to "drunk chicken."

-Bonus Thai word of the week (aren't you a lucky duck?): ขีปนาวุธข้ามทวีป, intercontinental ballistic missile.

-I've been thinking about my Grovies a lot this week. I miss you all so much and I want to thank you for the impact that you've all had on my life. I'm so grateful for you all!

-Speaking of Grovies, shoutout to Isaac Bowman on getting his mission call to Texas, Fort Worth (if that's not the right mission, it's the one Sis. Beus told me it was so blame her)!

-Even if you aren't a Grovie, you may not be quite as special as they are, but God loves you equally. I love you a little too ;)

Elder Barrett

1. Your favorite Thai Elders post-temple.

2. The Holy Trinity of Thailand Bangkok Mission Prakampi (left to right: Burmese, Thai, and Laos).

3. The Spirit World section of the Plan of Salvation lesson in Thai.

4. Picture from Elder Palmer in Thailand!

Baby, You're a Firework

สวัสดีครับ! Sawatdee kap! 

Another week under my belt. It was weird to adjust to having no Pi Thais, along with Sister Aung being reassigned to the Vietnamese District, since she's the only Thai sister in the MTC! That's right, there are 5, count 'em, 5 missionaries in the MTC speaking the best language they have to offer. That means our name tags get us some pretty cool street cred in here, and if we get called up to give a talk on Sunday, no one is going to understand a word haha.

PASAA THAI

Have you ever heard someone speak Thai before? It's crazy right? Tones everywhere, so many syllables, what in the world is flying out of their mouths? You'll never believe this, but the gift of tongues is so real! We've been practicing teaching with an emphasis on asking questions and listening this week. It can be pretty tricky to speak or listen to a foreign language and then ask them questions about how they feel about certain things or what things mean for them. I mean, it would if I didn't have the best teacher in the world, the Holy Ghost, backing me up. Fluency in speaking has really been improving so much from week to week, and in all of the lessons we taught this week, there was probably only two or three times that I was totally lost listening to the poosongjais speak. So much fun!

UM... AMEN?

During companionship study on Thursday, we started with a prayer. While I was praying, I hear Elder Yang explode out of his chair, and take off to the other end of the room. I opened my eyes, watched him run off and said, "um... amen?" What I didn't know, was before we started, he had started heating up some ramen in the microwave on the other side of the room. The seal was made with some kind of metal, so while we weren't looking there was a firework show going on just a couple yards away from us. Moral of the story: if your noods are too spicy, it may be best not to let them heat up any more.

POOSONGJAIS

If you only read one paragraph in my emails, I hope it's this one. This week, we got to teach Bro. Nok and Bro. Game again. We finally got Bro. Nok to pray! We got him to agree to pray at the end of the lesson. We reminded him how to pray before he started, and we told him that prayer isn't a scary thing. Heavenly Father loves you, and he couldn't be happier that you're trying to reach out to him and make that connection. When he started praying, it was slow and unsure. He said, "Heavenly Father... I'm Nok... thank you for these missionaries... please give me help in my life..." and a few more things along those lines that I can't remember exactly. We had to help him remember "In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." During his prayer, it was the strongest that I've felt the spirit in my entire time in the MTC. Helping him finally make that connection with his Heavenly Father and see him talk with Him for the first time was so powerful. It was an unbelievable experience and I can't wait to do that with real Kon Thais in Thailand! We focused on making it apply to him. When he realized that what we were saying could help him directly, he never broke eye contact. He was so focused while I was testifying and it was an amazing feeling to get through to him. So powerful, such an amazing feeling. We taught Bro. Game about repentance and baptism. We showed him the video of Christ being baptized to explain that we weren't trying to drown him, and explained how we can be made clean through baptisoma. He asked us, "When can I get baptized?" and it was so powerful. At the end of the lesson, we had initially planned to get him to pray to know if he would be baptized, but as I was about to commit him to do that, I felt prompted to ask if he would be baptized. No hesitation, maintaining eye contact. I could feel the power of the spirit behind my words and he agreed to! BROTHER GAME IS GETTING BAPTIZED, YOU GUYS!!! So fun, so exciting. We also had TRCs yesterday! Our last in-person TRCs, but they were the best ones yet. We talked about service more than anything. With Bro. Brown (the fluffiest grandpa you'll ever meet) I finally understood what he was saying! When he asked me a question, I was able to say what I wanted! We also taught our teachers' old MTC teacher and I understood even better in that one! So many people stress so hard over TRCs, but Elder Yang and my philosophy with those is to decide on a topic, find a scripture on it, and just go in and have a conversation with them. No stress, we don't worry about what we're going to say or how we'll say it. I mean, it's tricky to rock a rhyme that's right on time in Thai don't get me wrong. But when we speak in Thai, we know that after all of the studying we've done, that the spirit will help us fill in the rest.

PRAWINYANBORISUD

I'm going to talk more about being led by the spirit, because this is my email and that's what I want to talk about. In the MTC, you'll feel the spirit stronger than you ever have. Everywhere you go, there's a new experience to help you strengthen your connection. Through prayer, I was given an answer for how I was going to strengthen my relationship with my companion, and by acting on the prompting I received, now we're tight like unto a dish. Mhm. I've been led in lessons to ask a question out of nowhere and it's turned out to lead to something amazing. I got Bro. Nok to go to church! Woohoo! The MTC isn't the only place in the world where you can feel the spirit like this. Make your homes a spiritual sanctuary! Have family prayer, scripture study, and other things that can invite the spirit into your homes as often as you can. You can make your homes a place where the spirit is always present. Who knows, maybe it'll help you finally figure out that calculus problem, or maybe that essay will finally get around to write itself, who knows? ;)

COME INSIDE, JIMMY

Basketball is still the greatest. In the MTC, I've been in my groove. Scorching the net on those heavily contested 3 balls, you know how it is. We've had tons of new missionaries come in to replace the hole left by the Cambodians. Me and the Vietnamese Elders have formed somewhat of a super-team. Feared by many, respected by all haha. One of the new Elders who came in is my former city ball teammate, Elder Carter! He's heading to Tokyo, so he'll be in the MTC for about forever. The 3 pointers will be plentiful.

LAST THINGS LAST

-I know this was a crazy long email. I'm not apologetic.

-Elder Maetani burned another bag of popcorn. His microwave privileges have since been revoked. 

-We're learning the First Vision in Thai and yours truly has the first 3 lines down.

-Some words of wisdom from Bro. Brown's Q&A: On your mission, if you aren't happy or having fun, you're doing it wrong. Thailand is a special place. He's had sons leave to 3 missions all over the world, but none of them have had that special connection to their mission that he feels or sees in other RM's from Thailand. It's a truly special place and we are so so so so blessed to be called to serve there. God has never let a missionary be unsuccessful, and he's not going to start with us.

-I love you all so much, you're amazing. You all have had such an impact on my life and I can't thank any of you enough.

Elder Barrett

1. My district after our last TRC (left to right: Sis. Brown, Bro. Brown, Bro. Fly, Elder Thaxton, Elder Maetani, Sis. Aung, Elder Barrett (Hey! That's me!), Elder Yang, and Bro. Oakes)

2. Picture in the MTC of missionaries in Thailand!!! Just a little sneak peak into what the next two years of my life are gonna look like.

3. Thai room in the residence hall. This is where the magic happens.

4. Artist rendering of me with a Book of Mormon and the King of Thailand riding an elephant. (When this happens for real, it'll be your desktop background for years)

สวัสดีครับ! Sawatdee kap!

This week flew by! Some new faces in town, as well as some skipping town and heading to ride some elephants and whatnot. Still learning a ton of Thai and working hard to get 20 new words a day (although, if I'm being honest some days are better than others haha).

ELDER UCHTDORF? YEAH I KNOW HIM

Last Tuesday night's devotional had a pretty special speaker, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Have you heard of him? He's pretty cool. He spoke on what being successful as a missionary means. The number of baptisms, or discussions, or Book of Mormons placed are all well and good, but in a place like Thailand, for example (I have no idea why I'm using that example), baptisms can be pretty rare. Every mission is different, and there are many places where the rate of baptisms will be very low. This doesn't mean the missionaries are unsuccessful. Success is measured by the things that you can control: your actions, emotions, and attitude. So I'm going to work on being the best missionary I can be, especially in the things that I can control.

SO LONG, PARTNER

In loving memory, I honor this paragraph to the departing missionaries of this past week. Specifically our Pi Thais. They're off to Thailand (which just so happens to be home to the greatest mission in the world) to do the Lord's work. The Pi Thais were our best friends in the MTC, and they will be missed dearly. May they rest in jazz. We got all of the stuff they left behind, including more and more candy. That's right. Along with packages received by the other Elders in our district, the candy stockpile has been promoted from Candy Mountain, to Candy Everest. Donations are still welcome.

PRAKAMPIMORMON

I got to the end of the Book of Mormon this week. I took on Moroni's promise in Moroni 10:3-5 and prayed to know of its truth. I received the confirmation from the spirit almost immediately. I could truly feel it and it was an amazing feeling and experience. I realized something after that, though. Although the spirit confirmed to me its truth, I didn't know that it was true any more than I already did before. Every time I can truly dive deep and study the scriptures, the spirit confirms the truth in every verse. The Book of Mormon is so true, you guys! To sound like that guy from the Reading Rainbow, "don't take my word for it." Find out for yourself! Try to prove me wrong, you can't!

POOSONGJAIS

This is one of my favorite things about every week. I love teaching in Thai. Sinook maak (so fun)! We taught a new poosongjai this week, Pi Nok (Bro. Oakes's Thai-dentical twin)! He's very different from Pi Game, and I love it. I've been working on becoming a better listener, and helping poosongjais with their needs. I want to get better at adjusting the lesson to fit their needs, not the other way around. And guess what? By focusing on that, we got Pi Nok invested and interested! We totally ditched the game plan, and shifted to talk about what would help him at this very moment in time. We hardly mentioned our topic at all, but it was one of the best lessons we've taught so far. We also taught Pi Game about faith and repentance. We came in planning to talk about faith and then getting our feet wet with repentance a little bit, but after we talked to him and truly asked how he's doing and what would help him, we decided to flip it! We introduced the topic of faith in Jesus Christ, and demonstrated visually how it works with a trust fall. It was actually awesome, I'm not even kidding. But we decided to improvise and teach about repentance. So amazing. Prawinyanborisud was so strong, and I could tell he was feeling it. We also taught TRCs again and it was a ton of fun, as always. Listening and understanding is always a struggle, but it's improving, and my speaking ability is certainly improving. Tons of fun! I love being able to see the gift of tongues working.

PEUOM KONG POM

Not to toot my own horn, but I have so many friends at the MTC. We have the Grovies: Sis. Beus, Burkman, and Lewis. We have Springville High alumni everywhere, and if I'm honest I don't remember all of their names. I'm seeing friends from Maple Mountain (yes there are good people who went to that school, who knew right?) and it's just been super fun to catch up and have fun with all of them. Sis. Beus got me out in Speed this morning, so I'm starting to wonder who my real friends really are (just kidding, I deserved it for missing that 3 so bad haha).

ELDER GARDNER

One of my peuom, Elder Gardner was here this week and just left to Taiwan! His story of his mission so far has been so inspirational to me and I just want to highlight him for a minute because he's way to humble to accept any credit. Elder Gardner was one of my friends from Springville. We were cross country buddies and he got called to Taiwan (what an awesome mission!). Early into his time in the MTC, he started having chest pain and trouble breathing. He found out that it was a collapsed lung, and had to go to the hospital and receive surgery. He was even assigned to be home for a little bit. You would think that would kill a missionary's enthusiasm, but Elder Gardner is not your average missionary. In all of his emails, I never once read a complaint. Only hope, love, and excitement about the gospel. A few days ago, my district was heading to dinner and you'll never guess who I saw. That's right! I was so excited. I said hi, trying to contain myself. We talked for a while, and guess what? He got back just in time to leave to Taiwan!! They left this morning, in fact. This story is so amazing to me, and I hope to have that kind of love, patience, and optimism at some point in my life. Good luck Elder Gardner, Taiwan is lucky to have you!

LAST THINGS LAST

-BYU won again, because they're the best in case you forgot. I heard that after the game, the Liberty players and BYU players all came to the middle of the field, and knelt in prayer. So powerful.

-Not as many debates this week. Siejai (Sad).

-Every now and then, polynesian Elders will sing hymns in the cafeteria. It's a really cool way to invite the spirit, and enjoy pulled pork (reminds me of home haha).

-I received a mystery package yesterday. No return address or anything. Just a box full of candy. If this was you, reveal yourself so I can thank you properly. I love you and the nation of Thailand thanks you for your contribution.

-In case you forgot, you're fantastic, God loves you, Jesus loves you, and I think you're ok, too ;)

Elder Barrett

1. The Grovies after Elder Uchtdorf's devotional (aren't we the cutest)

2. Me and Elder Gardner (that's right, we're tight. Try not to let your jealousy show too much)

 

Great Minds Battling it Out, and I Have a Front Row Seat

สวัสดีครับ! Sawatdee kap!

Another great week at the MTC that totally flew by! I'm starting to really build a relationship with my savior and the Book of Mormon. Way more than I have before.

NEW ARRIVALS

More missionaries! We got a ton of new missionaries in our branch, so now our floor isn't so empty haha. We have an English district and missionaries heading to Finland and Denmark! It's not Thailand, but those are some pretty awesome missions. I also got to host foreign and early arrival missionaries on Wendesday! I got to help Elder Baker from Jamaica. We got to go to the student health center and get him a chest x-ray, so I got a free field trip haha. Sister Lewis from Aspen Grove just got up here too! It's a grovie takeover.

POOSONGJAIS

We got to teach a new investigator this week! We taught Brother Doe (Brother McRae's Thai-dentical twin). He was christian already so he knew more about the gospel to start with than Brother Game. We got him to commit to go to church! We also taught Brother Game about eternal life. At the TRC's we taught the same members, but this time I understood so much better! We talked about the Book of Mormon and shared what it meant to us. This was a much better TRC than last week.

PASAA THAI

We've been learning a lot more Thai, and we're shooting to learn 20 words a day still. It's super difficult to get to, so I haven't quite gotten there yet haha. But It's been super fun to learn about and I've really been enjoying our language classes. In sacrament meeting, I bore my testimony in Thai and the Holy Ghost totally made words come out of my mouth before I could even think of them. It was so cool! The gift of tongues is so real.

BALL WITH MY BROS

At gym time, we've been organizing a really awesome 3 on 3 thing. I'm still on fire, and my teams have been winning a ton. We keep on balling and I'm making sure not to get injured haha. Elder Thaxton had a really bad ankle sprain during volleyball yesterday, so he's been out since then. Because of his injury, I got to give my first blessing! It was awesome, but I was so nervous haha. I'm sure my shaky hands didn't help his experience. But basketball in the MTC is the best and that's all I have to say about it.

NAO MAAK!

Holy cow it got so cold out of nowhere. Someone must not be paying their tithing. It's been so cold that it hurts to go outside at times haha. We got some snow for a day, and there are some missionaries in our branch that have never seen snow before. They were much happier about it than I was haha. There were lots of snowballs thrown and tiny snowmen popping up everywhere haha.

PRAKANPIMORMON

I've been reading a lot in the book of Mormon this week. And even watching the new episodes of the Book of Mormon videos (Nephi's wife kissing him was definitely the biggest shock of the MTC so far haha). I finally got to 3 Nephi 11, when Jesus visited the Nephites. It's the first time I've ever been so pumped to read. Kinda a cool story, All that day, my hands were freezing cold. Nothing I did helped the situation. We got to personal study time, and the second I started reading, I felt this warmth all throughout me. Yes, even my hands haha. Not sure if it was the spirit of a coincidence, but I like to believe it was the spirit and it was great.

DEBATES OF THE CENTURY

Elder Thaxton and Maetani have been getting into a lot of debates, and I honestly don't know if I've ever been this entertained in my entire life. Elder Yang and I get to be audience members/occasional participants haha. Some of the topics of debate have been: Is there a difference between a minivan and an SUV, do we need toes, is it inhumane to kill in war, would sports be better if the participants were robots, and a few more that I'm not sure I want to mention on my group email haha. Elder Thaxton is almost always right, or at least rational, and Elder Maetani likes to say crazy things and is too stubborn to change his mind. It's so funny. It's amazing. We're selling tickets to this week's debates, so if you are interested, email me.

LAST THINGS LAST

-Shoutout to BYU for beating Utah State this last week! Proud of the boys in blue.

-For Halloween I dressed as a Canadian, which basically means I dressed how I would any day haha.

-We actually had Thai food this week! It wasn't amazing, but it was better than nothing, right?

-Kolua Pork too!! Tasted like home, even though it wasn't quite as good (Kinda noticing a pattern here).

-Elder Maetani burnt some popcorn in T2 during study time, and we had so many people come downstairs and go "ok who burnt popcorn in here?"

-Love ya heaps, y'all.

Elder Barrett

1. The Book of Mormon in Thai (yeah, I know)

2. Grovies on Halloween, eh?

3. Kalua Pork. We have been blessed.