HELLO FROM THAILAND!!

Well, I made it! I'm alive! We left on Monday, and got to Thailand on Wednesday in the late morning. I don't really know what happened to Tuesday.

I won't talk much about the travel, because that's boring, but I will say that the plane we took to Taiwan was the NICEST plane I'd ever been in!! SUPER fancy. There were paintings on the walls. That is all.

OK So we got to Thailand! And nothing bad happened. No one got lost or forgot/lost important papers. We just hopped on through to the baggage claim- and we had all our baggage too! Phewwww! So we grabbed all that and then headed out to the... shopping area of the airport? I don't even know. But Pres and Sis Senior were there with some elders waiting for us!! They took us straight to the Church office in Asok which is what is called the "beast" or "heart" of Bangkok. We took a very awkward picture there.

OK So Thailand is VERY hot and VERY humid. Buuut.... it's not as hot as I thought it would be. That probably means it's going to get worse now, but I'm doing fine here. I drink a lot of water and I'm doing OK!

Anyway, my Mission Pres and his wife are just amazing. They're hilarious, but they're here to work and make sure we're here for the same reason. They really took care of us in Asok! I'm excited to work under them.

After we took the awkward picture we ate some street food that the office elders picked up. SO GOOD! The food here is a definite blessing. And then we ran some errands with the Assistants to the Presidents! I had to get my blood drawn. :( Blahhhh BUT we like... talked to EVERY ONE in that little health clinic. It was was so fun! One of the AP's even committed some random guy to baptism and he accepted! Seriously, the people here are so ready for the Gospel.

Aaafter that we did the "Dan Jones" activity, which is where they give the greenies a book of mormon and companion and tell them to go give it to someone. I got two companions (big surprise)! It was two of my Phii Thais from the MTC!!!! Sis Steele and Madsen! So awesome. Well, the first guy that I saw when we walked out was sitting on a curb next to his motorcycle reading a newspaper. We walked past him, but I really felt like I needed to talk to him, well, turns out that's how Sis Steele and Madsen felt too! So we went back and started talking to him. I didn't understand ANYTHING! They did most of the talking. Haha But I testified about the BoM and he took it and gave us his number so that he and his sons could learn more! AWESOME! Every one else I talked to weren't interested until we ran into some students at the university. We talked to them and ended up giving the first lesson basically! So crazy! We got their numbers too. Not bad for my first day, I'd say!

OK So the next day was when we got our new companions and areas. Elder C got called to the Issan, Elder Wahl got called to the Issan, Sis Barton got called to the Issan, and I got called to........

BANGKOK!! I'm the only one that didn't get called to the Issan! I'm serving in an area called Don Mxang. My trainer is Sister Reedy. She's only been out for 3 1/2 months! She's so awesome. We're white-washing in Don Mxang, which means that the Elders before both left so we don't know ANYTHING about this place, but she's only ever served in the Issan. It's been fun trying to figure out what the heck we're going to do here.

We inherited 4 investigators, and keep getting a ton of referrals. There is a LOT of work to be done here in Don Mxang. There's so many people!

Bangkok is wild. Thailand is wild! There are motorcycles and dogs EVERYWHERE. It isn't uncommon to see 5 people on one motorcycle.

Let me describe my first lesson: It was at a member's house. She lives in this odd cement building thing. We sat outside on a mat, and waited for the investigator to come. Her husband recently died, and she's struggling to make ends meet, because she has to pay the monks to take care of her husband's spirit (what?). She's had a hard life, and needs the Gospel!! Anyway, she showed up, and we tried to give a lesson, but Sis Phaa's son is autistic and was NUTS. First off, he was naked and just ran around like an animal. He punched SIs Reedy in the face, peed all over the floor, and then pooped in the corner.

...It was an interesting lesson.

Thailand is crazy. haha At church yesterday this new girl showed up. She got in a taxi that morning and asked him to take her to a protestant church. He dropped her off at ours. LOL! We gave a quick lesson afterwards and she was like, "I want to get baptised!" Also- this one random member decided to help us teach and he was ALL over the place saying so many random things. We were trying to teach about prayer and the BoM but somehow he took it to the word of wisdom....? Luckily this girl is AMAZING and was like, "I can do that! I wanna get baptized!" So crazy. Too bad she doesn't live in our area so we have to give her to someone else. :(

Anyway. I love Don Mxang! The branch is amazing. I'm still suffering from some culture shock, but I'll get over it soon. I'm just excited to be serving this people. The people here are so nice. I've never been told "you're pretty" more in my life than in the 5 days I've been here. haha! I love them. These are hard working, humble, KIND people. Love 'em to death!

Talk to you next week. 

Sis Zaugg