Goodbye wifi, it's been nice.

เฮลโล Hello!

This was a WEEK, y'all.

WHAT WE LOST:

- our wifi

- the car

- light in our apartment

- service-approved weather

WHAT WE GAINED:

- trunkiness for Thailand

- character, probably

Yeah this transfer wasnt too kind for us here in Benson Hill. Us Thai boyz are staying together in here, but as you can see we lost a lot of stuff at the transfers mark. I forgot to bring a mask when we went to transfers, so that was a little awkward, but I'm pretty sure I didnt wreck the entire mission with the sickness... pretty sure.

CAMPING OUT

We spent an entire day marooned at the skyway church. We made lots of videos and ate street tacos, so it wasn't a very trying experience haha. It was honestly super fun, we made a takraw-based ad for our english page, where Elder Stradling did a bicycle kick into the mud. He sacrificed his clean white shirt for the greater good of the Seattle area. That's a hero. But we spent the entire day there teaching english, making videos, and keeping it 100 as always.

GOLDWIN IS THE GOAT

We had a crazy Saturday where we got thai food with a member, taught a lesson on the floor in the church, and walked over to a non member's house in the rain. We got to clean his carpets and in return he ordered us pizza!!! Miracle #1: he ordered a hawaiian and a supreme. What was delivered? 2 hawaiian pizzas. God is good. Miracle #2: we taught him the Restoration of the gospel and it was the best, most personal lesson I've ever had. This was the first lesson where it really felt like I wasnt just teaching from a list, but I was sharing in MY way. I got to share it only the way Elder Bear could do it. The spirit was so strong and I'm sure he felt it. He accepted a Book of Mormon too!!! He's going to make us breakfast one of these days. Its gonna be great!!

ENGLISH CLASS

We've taught so many english classes this week! We've met so many people and Thai people are just the nicest people in the world. I love them so much. That wouldn't be an issue if we were in Thailand. One day, maybe haha. But yeah we've been packed with them. We made an amazing video that I'll just leave the link right here: 

https://www.facebook.com/110258204124497/posts/140642524419398/?sfnsn=mo&extid=r8EXUgBySQrYxEUe

LAST THINGS LAST

- BYU is rockin and rollin and its beautiful.

- my aspen grove instincts are still helping me. Member's kids can't get enough of me. Makes it hard to focus on service, but that's low key a blessing.

- Hurry! Go run into your bathroom!!!! I found someone I love in the mirror! Oh wait. That's just you.

เอ็ลเดอร์ ลูกอมวันอาทิตย์ (Elder Sunday Candy)

Elder Barrett

Mingalaba! *SPIKE*

เฮลโล Hello! 

This was a crazy week. We had to stay in for most of the week, because of the smoke from the wildfires, but we didnt let that get in the way of having some fun! 

VOLLEY WITH POLYS We were given a tip from some Sisters in Seattle that there was a Thai person that played volleyball every day at this park in Seattle. Naturally, we had to go check it out. We get there and we see a group of mostly Tongans and a few asians playing volleyball, so we join in to see if maybe our guy is playing with this group. I havent done it since the MTC, so I forgot how fun volleyball with tongans is. It's very fun. After a few games of that, we saw a group of kinda Thai looking people setting up a net. We went and helped them set up and found out that they're Burmese!! We played some games with them and it was so much fun. They dont speak an ounce of Thai and maybe just half an ounce of english, but it was so much fun. We never met our Thai boy, but it was the best. 

DONT BE A PUNK, EAT THE BALUT We got to make a special birthday breakfast for one of the Elders in our district. We got to their Ward Mission Leader's house early and started cooking up some bacon and pancakes. While were cooking and getting to know him, he offers to cook us up some balut. For those of you who arent in the know, let me bring you up to speed. Balut is a food popular in the Philippines and many areas in southeast Asia. It's a chicken embryo still in the shell. He boiled them up for us and we got to give it a try. I kinda liked it. It's basically just a hard boiled egg with some meat in it. My companion didn't see it the same way and almost threw up a few times. 😂😂 I thought there was always a chance that I'd eat balut on my mission. I just never figured it would be in Renton, Washington. 

LET ME LEARN YA HOW TO ENGLISH We're starting to teach more english to Thai people!!! It's so exciting! We're getting a bunch of texts from Thai people around Seattle every day and it's so fun to actually be able to use Thai! We've had a few in person classes and I'll be honest, I like it a lot more when they dont speak much english, because then I get to try out some more Thai haha. My companion still struggles a little bit with his Thai, but were helping each other get better. One lady asked how I can speak Thai after just 3 months in Thailand. I told her that honestly, it's a blessing from God. She said yeah right ok I'll just guess it's because you studied really hard. But honestly, the gift of tongues is so real, so yeah not gonna act like any of my ability isn't coming from God. 

OH MY GOSH OK ITS HAPPENING We got one of our friends on date to be baptized!!! Her husband is already a member and they've been taking lessons so they can get married in the temple. They're the nicest people ever. So when we challenged her to get baptized, she said, "YES!!!!" She's so excited it's the greatest. So we're shooting for October 10th for her baptism!! 

LAST THINGS LAST - We got our transfer calls and I'm staying in Benson Hill! - Card games can and will ruin friendships. - We watched a member play a game for 4 hours. It felt longer. - Our wifi is betraying us. - No matter where you are or what your middle name is, I love you! 

เอ็ลเดอร์ไม่มีเน็ต (Elder without Net)

Elder Barrett

Mountains Don't Smoke... But Some Mountains ARE Smoking!!!

 เฮลโล Hello!

Hey y'all! How goes the going? Good? Great! We had a pretty fun, if not mostly uneventful, week! Just a few of the highlights?

ชั้นเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ (English Class)

English Class!!! We started out our English classes for Thai people in the Seattle area this week! We've only been able to set up and teach one lesson so far, but the response has been so much better than anything we've done up to this point!! We've had a tough time finding Thai people to teach around here, but were finally breaking through at least a little bit. It's the best. And I'll tell you what, I've been typing more in Thai than in English this week haha. It's great practice! But anyways, here's a video we posted for a little teaser: 

https://www.facebook.com/110258204124497/posts/133779491772368/

IM FREE IM FREE... DANG IT

So y'all know how California and the entire west coast are being smitten for their abominations, right? The entire west coast is on fire. And the sky is nothing but smoke. Great. So you know what that means? Quarantine one more time? Correctomundo. We've had to cancel a bunch of service projects and the past few days that probably would've busy have been a little slower. But that's ok, because that's where Elder Stradling's game stash comes in ;)

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

This week I've been working harder on keeping a good study journal to really get the most out of my personal study. This week one of the questions I asked myself was how I'd better hear the voice of the Lord. I got the impression that I need to work on making having prayers get from just being a habit to being a pattern. In D&C 52:12 it says, "And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations" there are so many times where I just dont feel like praying, or especially having meaningful prayers. While praying often is just a habit, that makes it really easy for me to say "just not this time" when it's an inconvenient time or place. But if I can make that a pattern, then it won't take a second thought to say my prayers in the morning, before meals, before and after studies, etc. So that's my goal and my challenge! What should you be doing that's just dangling by the label of a habit that needs to become a pattern? Fix it!

LAST THINGS LAST

- 'Sko Cougs! Way to get that big win last week and break the top 25 this week!

- I'm the world's greatest bears and the Bees player.

- Do not buy more cereal than you have milk to pour on it. Also Blueberry Muffin Tops are back.

- Happy Birthday to Brynlee Freaking Beus!!

- Hey you! Come here. Have I ever told you how much of an absolute beast you are? Cuz you are. I love ya.

ไฟภูเขาหรือภูเขาไฟ (Mountain fire or volcano)

Elder Barrett

My Heart's a Stereo

 เฮลโล Hello!

How's it going, y'all? Good? That's fantastic news. This week was less eventful, but at the same time it was a lot more eventful. Confused? Welcome to the club.

MY HEART'S A STEREO

Could someone please change the song? So, this hasn't been my week as far as health goes. Last Monday, I slipped on wet grass and hurt my upper back. That's gotten better, and upper back injuries are nothing compared to lower. So we're all good there. But here's the exciting part. During language study, my heartbeat started going nuts. About half an hour into it, I was too sweaty, tired, hot, and lightheaded to keep reading and just put down my book. We called a mission nurse about it, who had us call another one, who had us call another one. This lasted about 4 hours. Just going nuts y'know? The next two days, it was very weak, fatigued, and just overall not super happy. We went to the urgent care and all of my things looked healthy. Blood test, Covid test, almost an EKG, but they didn't work. Everything came back totally fine. I'm feeling pretty much back to normal. Just some excitement, I guess?

LORD OF ALL CATAN

Well, more like Splendor, Cover Your Kingdoms, The Bears and the Bees, paper football, Superfight, and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. Elder Stradling's birthday was Saturday, and we got a bunch of new games. Which was great, because we had to be inside while we waited for my covid results. But I found out how to win games this week, I guess. But All Hail, regardless.

HOW ARE YOU MORE LIKE CHRIST

At our Zone Council this week, they asked a very simple question: "How has your mission made you more like Jesus Christ?" And it got me thinking exactly that. Has my mission made me more like Jesus Christ? Does admitting that it has make me lose the humility contest? Maybe. But that question really got me thinking. I still lack in so many areas. I only have a little over a year left. By the end of my mission, will I be closer to where I want to be? Am I trying as hard as I can to get a change of heart? Am I aligning my will with His will? Lots of questions, but I'm not quite to where I would want to be yet. Which is fine, because if I don't have anything to work towards, how will I get better? I'm going to be working hard on it, and I hope you all do too!

LAST THINGS LAST

- ever played volleyball with a D-1 Athlete? You dont stand a chance.

- Elder Stradling is the most consistently lucky person I've ever met.

- barbecue sauce is not spicy.

- we have a new friend in a part member family who wants to be baptized!!!

- The National Parks make straight jams, man.

- stop hey what's that sound all the mammoths are in the ground! But also, just letting you know that I love you!

ใจผมยังไม่หยุด (My heart won't stop)

Elder Barrett