Howdy, so I'm emailing this to you from our bunker under the temple site... just kidding. So I'm sure some of you have already heard, but the Thailand Bangkok Mission is under quarantine as of last Saturday! We're still chilling in Ubon, but we are only allowed to leave our house for very specific things, like our only hour of church and hitting up Makro so that we don't starve to death. Fun fact, when you're just eating chicken and rice, it's dirt cheap! But we also had almost a full week of being out and about doing typical missionary things, so this email can still be fun!
สวัสดีนะครับผม เอาบราวนีอันหนึงได้ไหม (Hello, can you bring one brownie?)
You guys, I'm still getting better and better at Thai! Hopefully being stuck inside with 4 white guys doesn't hurt it too much haha. We played Spot-it at a member's house last Monday, only we had to play it in Thai. The funniest thing happened, where for the last round, they allowed us to play in English. I was even slower that round, because I kept thinking of the Thai word before the English one. It was the most frustrated I have ever been with the gift of tongues, because it started taking away my native one haha! Another cool miracle this week was having a full 5 minute phone conversation with a member without even thinking about it! We also met with some kids that I'd only seen once or twice since my first day out here, and it was so cool to be able to talk to them and understand them! I even taught them some Chinese haha. The first time I saw them, I think the only thing I ever said to them was, "น้องจะขโมยจักรยานไหม" which means, "Are you gonna steal that bike?"
"JOSEPH SMITH... PROPHET" "WAIT YOU READ THE PAMPHLET??"
Remember the old lady and her son that we met last week who led us into the jungle to their house? Turns out, they're so awesome!! We went and met with them again and just kinda gave them a refresher lesson and really urged them to pray. We gave them our phone number with a Restoration pamphlet, but never really asked them to read it or even explain what it was. On Friday, we went and met with them again to help them pick flowers from their garden. The old lady, แม่หน่อย just started talking about prayer and how she prayed to have her leg healed and that night, she had a dream where it was. She was just going and going about all of the cool things about prayer. About a minute or two later her son, ไผ่, just says, "Joseph Smith... Prophet." and Elder Scott and I were shook. We got to talk to them a tiny bit about the Restoration and it is so cool how seriously they're taking our message! It's really crazy and humbling to notice how significant the gospel is and what kind of impact it has on these amazing people! I still need to work on my Esan speaking, but I'm so excited for them!
ADD A MIRACLE TO THE MIRACLE COUNTER
We have a less active family who lives way far away that we decided to meet with last week. We got there and started talking to the mom outside of her house. As we were talking and just checking in on how she was doing, some of her extended family started showing up and it was clear they were going to have a family get together sort of thing that night, and we didn't want to inconvenience them. We shared a quick scripture and our thoughts on it and how it could apply to her. Then she asked if she could share something quickly too. She told us how she had been pretty mad at God recently because her husband had fallen back into some bad habits, but us coming and sharing His love with her that night was an answer to her prayers and she thanked us and prayed us off. It's experiences like these that just make being a missionary so much fun and so rewarding.
SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY
As we were biking home from a members house, we went down this one narrow road that leads into a bigger road. We heard a car come up behind us, so we started leaning over to the side to let them pass. They wasted no time trying to drive around us, so I hurried and turned a little faster. Elder Scott was going no handlebars (like an absolute pro), so when I turned quickly to get out of the way, our bikes got a little tangled and we ended up cutting off the car for a quick second. They slammed on the brakes and then started driving right next to us. The driver's wife rolled down the window and started yelling at us for like a full minute. I think we've officially met the angriest woman in all of Thailand.
NOBODY GOES IN OR OUT
So we're under quarantine! Wooo! Even though Ubon has yet to have a case of coronavirus, the entire mission has been asked to stay inside their houses which includes us. We can't leave our house except to get food or to get work done on the computer at the church. If you know me, I've got to be up and doing stuff all the time. So staying in the same tiny area for 2 weeks might be a rough time haha. We've been passing the time by cleaning up our area book, cleaning the house, making food, playing guitar, playing cards, and even doing duolingo. I'm shaking off my Chinese rust and doing the Thai to English one too, because there's no English to Thai! We also have plans of making music videos and our own version of The Office. It's gonna be good stuff, stay tuned.
LAST THINGS LAST
-On our last day out in the world, so many people were so willing to talk to us, waving us over, saying more that just ครับ when we'd say anything to them. All of the companionships in our district noticed this individually. God wanted us to get in all the work that we possibly could have on our last day haha.
-Elder Scott and I got in a really fast run one day. It felt great during, but I was pretty much dead after.
-Everyone at chuch was wearing masks. Brother Bank looked like a ninja.
-I ate dog this week. I'm sorry Charlie, but you are delicious.
-Love y'all.
เอ็ลเดอร์ ยังไม่ป่วย (Elder was not sick yet)
Elder Bear
-Chicken and waffles Thai style. Notice the sticky rice.
-A bunch of chicken friends that just kinda chilled with us while we picked flowers.
-Dog meat! Charlie look away.
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