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)
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