Faith . . . and Kilts

Hello Hello Hello! Some awesome stuff happened this week. I am still loving the MTC! I am starting to get the hang of the regular schedule. It’s super funny though because we study about 9 hours every day, and the kids straight out of high school are like - "Are you kidding me? This is so hard! 9 hours a day is tough!" Me and Elder Ellis just look at each other and are like.... “You guys will have so much fun in college then hahahahaha!” Did I mention our district is 8 guys? No girls. Tbh, I kind of like it. The elders are awesome.

So. Lessons of the week: 

1. Faith

There is a sister in the Pi Thai group above us (3 people in the district). Her name is Sister Mon. She is amazing. She came here 7 weeks ago from Myanmar. She didn't speak any English or any Thai. Imagine coming to a country and when you get off the plane to go to the MTC, you have no idea what anyone is saying to you, and you have to learn two languages in 9 weeks to go preach the gospel. She bore her testimony yesterday about faith in sacrament meeting. There was not a dry eye in the room. What a powerful testimony of faith. I love Sister Mon. She said (in PERFECT English I might add), that she came to the MTC and to go on a mission because she loved her Savior, and she had faith that He would help her. She is the only member in her family. She is AMAZING.

2. Learn to have fun! 

Our district has fun. Maybe too much fun sometimes ;) The tiniest thing will get us laughing 'til we cry. We think we are so clever because we find words in Thai that sound like English, and then we totally just talk to our teachers about those words like they are part of the gospel or something. Here are a couple of them :) 

Yuu ti ni (pronouned with a high pitched voice like the jawa's in Star Wars... it means "I'm here.")

Ajan (It basically means master/sensei and every other Asian teacher is "ajan.")

Yak (Troll/monster - no joke - it’s legit part of the alphabet - hahaha gotta love Thai.) I also learned how to say "Troll in the dungeon!!” *screamed like Professor Quirell from Harry Potter. Very effective for scaring the Cantonese Elders :) 

Anyway... we have a good time. Today I am about to go play soccer in a kilt. Now, you may think this is normal, but surprisingly a lot of people here at the MTC don't wear kilts. I have gotten a couple strange looks. I got the kilt from one of the Pi Thai Elders, Elder Noyce. It is a pass down. And with great power comes great responsibility... so you KNOW I'm rockin the kilt on P-days here hahahahaha.  All I need is the kilt, my leopard chums, and the Phrawinyaad Borisud (Holy Ghost). So yeah... you could say the MTC is a big spiritual party.

Pics of Sister Pugsley and Elder Curtis (BYU friends)

3. Thai is going great! 

I am starting to pick up things from our investigators, and I practice with the Khon Thais every day (people from Thailand). I can now understand everything our teacher tells us, and Elder Allen and I speak Thai all day long to each other. The more we SYL (speak your language), the better we get, thanks to our loving Heavenly Father. I am so grateful to be a phoosonsadsanaa (missionary). It is a fantastic blessing in my life. I am so grateful to be serving a mission for Jesus Christ. I get so pumped putting his name tag on every day, and I can't wait to go to Thailand!  

I again apologize for my lack of grammatic ability and sentence structure patterns. I apologize for any split infinitives (whatever those are...). I am just writing like I would say it - because that is how personality comes out in writing. I love you all! It is so fun to hear from people! Congrats Tiffany on the mission call to Paraguay! SOOOOO AWESOME.

Alright, last thing. Spiritual thought of the week.

What does faith have to do with confidence? Read JSH 1:29 - great verse. I have been thinking a lot about how faith can turn into confidence in Christ. I can tell you that I am confident that Christ and the Holy Ghost are helping me a TON with the language. Just something to ponder over. I've been thinking about it a lot, anyway. 

Phraapuupencaw rag talood khun! (God loves all of you)

Phom rag khun! (I love you) 

Love,

Elder Smith-Driggs  

P.S. This last week was tough... but I got through it because Elder Noyce showed our district a video. I could really feel the Spirit when I watched it. Notice the end - what an amazing example of love and charity. Please watch this video and give me your feedback. It is sponsored by the Church. Enjoy! It is called - "School Bus." Search this video on LDS.org - you will love it!  I would love to hear your thoughts!