Elder Josh Garff left for Tahiti today.
I AM HEADED TO THAILAND NEXT WEEK BABY!
My name tag.
Woohooooooooooo soo excited :) Everyone in our district got our travel plans last Friday, and we head off to Bangkok (after a long series of events and 23 hours of travel time) starting at 3:30 a.m. Monday morning! So pumped!
Ok - so this week was nothing short of SUPER DUPER.
The Consul General and his entire family came to visit us last Thursday. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and thoughts. He was very impressed! He talked with us for about 30 minutes... all in Thai. Good thing we could sort of understand his questions hahahah, or else we would have looked pretty silly. The MTC president and a general authority from the Church were there, but they didn't really say anything because they don't know how to speak Thai hahahaha. The Consul General even brought his little grandson!
When I asked about the Songkran Festival (3 day water fight in Thailand), the little kid just perked up and explained (in Thai)... that everyone gets these HUGE water guns and water balloons, and you can blast anyone at anytime for those three days. He was so excited to tell us about it, and we all just laughed and got excited to spray all the Thai people. Apparently, missionaries are HUGE targets because we are wearing white shirts, and we are tall white people... like a moving target on bikes. Classic. SO PUMPED!
The rest of the meeting he expressed his appreciatation for the missionaries and told us we were doing a good thing. He is Buddhist (100%)... but he liked that we were going to his country and trying to learn his language. I think he was impressed with the whole system at the MTC. That missionaries can learn a language in 6-9 weeks is astounding. If only he understood that we did little to propel our learning - the trick is always having the Spirit to teach. What an amazing blessing the Spirit is. I love the feeling I get when I preach the gospel in Thai. It is truly special.
The Thai is coming along bit by bit! It is amazing what you can learn here in 8 weeks. I will briefly share my testimony - and if you can sound it out - props to you hahahaha. It's kind of strange.
Phom ruu waa phrapupencaw rac tuk khon, phro waa tuk khon ben luug khong phraong khap. Dooy Phrakitikun khong prhayeesichrid, raw phob gab phrapupencaw ig day khap. Phrakampii mormon kwhamjing. bodrian nay phrakampii chuay raw thamtham prayessu....
That's just a little taste of what my first lesson will be in Thai. It basically says that I know Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and through the gospel we can live with Him again someday. The Book of Mormon is true, and the lessons in it teach us to follow Christ....
Thai ROCKS! Just pray you get called to the Thailand Bangkok Mission because it literally is going to be the best mission ever. Even its initials are TBM (the best mission). Not to be prejudiced. I am sure all missions are great hahahaahaha.
Our district with the new Thais.
I was sitting in class the other day, and I looked outside and was reminded of the beautiful world Christ created. It is the most amazing blessing. Every day I look up at Y mountain and think of the blessing the mountains have been in my life. I will for sure miss them in Thailand (unless I get an area with awesome mountains). Also - I love hearing the bells ring from BYU... brings me back to my freshman year. It was probably the best year of my life - thanks to all of my awesome friends! Love and miss you all! Thank you for your emails and your DearElders - it is so fun hearing from you! Live it up in Provo!
With Sister Pouwer (BYU friend) and our companions.
BYU friends also headed to Asia.
Speaking of friends, there has been something I have really been missing here in the MTC. Since I don't have a phone, I can't send a text or leave a voicemail. I have been sending a text/voicemail to random friends of mine daily for about 2 years now... and I can't do that while at the MTC. So here is my "mass text/email pump up of the day"
Dear________ , [fill in your name]
You are AMAZING!
You can do all things through Christ.
Make it through the tough times, and you will be so glad you learned the lesson you did.
I miss you! Hope everything is going well - God bless you.
Fight on my friend - God loves you so much.
Speaking of amazing - S/O to my awesome family for everything. Miss you guys - not too much though - don't worry - I'm not coming home ;)
My prayers are with you all. Whether in Utah, elsewhere in the United States or the world, or on a mission somewhere - GOD bless you all. You can do it. Suu suu (fight on!)
No comments:
Post a Comment