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)