Merry Christmas!
Christmas is coming up really quick! A lot quicker then I had anticipated. I can't believe its already that time to be able to call you guys again. This will be the last time I get to talk to you all before I'm home! How crazy is that?! I'm really excited to talk to you guys again. The number you have to call is 6681-557-5719. I think that should be all you have to dial after putting in the calling card number. Also that time you gave me to call is good. Whenever works so I will be planning to talk to you then! I have yet to open all the presents you guys sent. I wanted to wait until Christmas to have something to open on Christmas Day. So I have not yet opened anything. I'm sure I will love everything you guys sent though! Again thank you for the packages you sent!
So being a Zone Leader has been really fun so far! My companion and I are both Zone Leaders, his name is Elder Brown and he is from Michigan. He goes home 6 weeks before I do. The Zone I have to look over is called the Udon Zone. Its in the north east part of Thailand. We have 4 areas that we look over with about 14 missionaries in it. We go on switch offs a lot and yesterday was our first one this Moves and we went to an area called Sakonakhon. It was fun to be able to work with the missionaries there and help out in finding new investigators and teaching. The Sakonakhon area is pretty far out in the middle of nowhere and we had to take a 3 hour bus ride to get there. As Zone Leaders, we don't get our own cars, we just take buses everywhere. Transportation is readily available everywhere you go so there is no need for us to buy our own car. It makes things a lot easier too. We don't have to worry about getting lost on the way. We just jump on a bus that says "Sakonakhon" or wherever we are going and it gets us there! More responsibilities that I have to take on are just going on Switch off often and helping the Mission President teach at Zone Conference. At night we have to call all the District Leaders in our Zone and check up on them and try and help them with any concerns that they might have. We Also have to give an accountability with the Mission President on what's going on in our Zone and what our goals are to make it better.
Well I'm not going to write to much this week because I want to have stuff to talk about when you call in 2 days so I'm just going to end now. I'm really looking forward to being able to hear all your voices again and talk to you! I love you guys and hope your having a Merry Christmas! Talk to you soon!
Steve
P.S. My Preparation Day is being changed to Monday so from now on, you need to send your emails to me before Monday or else I will get them late. Thanks everyone!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Hey!
So Tomorrow we have another Moves Meeting and I'm finally moving out of Bangna after being here for 6 months. I feel like I've been here for a long time and I'm ready to move. Its been a real growing experience here so I'm glad I was able to serve here. Along with moving this week, I got a special calling from the Mission President. Yesterday, President Smith called me and asked if he could change my assignment, he asked if I would be a Zone Leader! I was kind of surprised by this but I said yeah I would be happy too! I think it will be fun to be a Zone Leader. I will get to go around to all the areas in my Zone and go on switch-offs with the missionaries and help in their areas. There is other stuff that I will have to do but that's what I'm most excited about. It will be fun to be able to see the different areas in the mission and serve with a bunch of different missionaries.
Last Saturday we had our Stake Christmas Party at the Stake Center and it really made me miss Christmas! I love the Christmas Season. At our house, Elder Mitchell and I went out and bought Christmas decorations and put them up everywhere. I have a couple Christmas CDs on my ipod that we have been listening to. Unfortunately I don't have to much stuff and we are getting kind of sick of what I got...but we have to keep listening to it because its Christmas! It's the only way we can get our Christmas Season fix because they don't really celebrate it here. At the major malls they do so sometimes we will go eat dinner there just so we can hear Christmas music and see all the decorations. We are very deprived...but its OK. I'll be home next year!
Well this week I don't have to much to write. I'll let you know where I'm moving next week. I love you all and hope you're all loving the Christmas Season. Don't take it for granted because its truly the best time of the year! Talk to you all next week!
Elder Olsen
So Tomorrow we have another Moves Meeting and I'm finally moving out of Bangna after being here for 6 months. I feel like I've been here for a long time and I'm ready to move. Its been a real growing experience here so I'm glad I was able to serve here. Along with moving this week, I got a special calling from the Mission President. Yesterday, President Smith called me and asked if he could change my assignment, he asked if I would be a Zone Leader! I was kind of surprised by this but I said yeah I would be happy too! I think it will be fun to be a Zone Leader. I will get to go around to all the areas in my Zone and go on switch-offs with the missionaries and help in their areas. There is other stuff that I will have to do but that's what I'm most excited about. It will be fun to be able to see the different areas in the mission and serve with a bunch of different missionaries.
Last Saturday we had our Stake Christmas Party at the Stake Center and it really made me miss Christmas! I love the Christmas Season. At our house, Elder Mitchell and I went out and bought Christmas decorations and put them up everywhere. I have a couple Christmas CDs on my ipod that we have been listening to. Unfortunately I don't have to much stuff and we are getting kind of sick of what I got...but we have to keep listening to it because its Christmas! It's the only way we can get our Christmas Season fix because they don't really celebrate it here. At the major malls they do so sometimes we will go eat dinner there just so we can hear Christmas music and see all the decorations. We are very deprived...but its OK. I'll be home next year!
Well this week I don't have to much to write. I'll let you know where I'm moving next week. I love you all and hope you're all loving the Christmas Season. Don't take it for granted because its truly the best time of the year! Talk to you all next week!
Elder Olsen
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Hey,
We had a great week this week and Sunday we ended it all with an amazing baptism! Pop was baptized by my Greenie companion!! He was able to have the same experience that I had when I was a greenie. At first we were planning on having a member baptize him because it's always better to have a member do it but a problem had occurred the day before the baptism. As we were teaching Pop, we used a member to help teach that had just moved down here to Bangna about a month ago. He didn't know anyone so we introduced him to Pop to try and start a friendship and as we taught, they became friends! We saw it help both of them come to church and come to activities because they knew they had a friend there. At the end when we asked Pop who he wanted to baptize him, he said Mike! (that's the member's name that helped) We gave Mike a call to ask him if he would do it and he was more then happy to! Everything was all good to go until Saturday night...As we were at the church, cleaning the font, the Bishop came and asked us if we could talk to him for a little bit. We said of coarse and we stepped into his office. He went over the baptism to make sure everything was good to go and then he told us that Mike wasn't able to baptize Pop. I said OK and didn't ask to much about it because I just figured he might have worthiness issues but then the Bishop said, because he's not a member here and our Ward doesn't have his membership records, he would have to interview him, call the Branch President at his home Branch and have to do a lot of stuff before he was going to be able to baptize him and there just wasn't enough time to do everything. He asked if we could just go ahead and be the ones to do the baptism instead. We tried to work around it but we just didn't have enough time so we agreed to do it. Now I have personally baptized 3 people already on my mission and I don't feel to big of a need to be the one to baptize anybody else but my companion, Elder Mitchell, just got into the country about a month ago and has never baptized someone. I remember when I was a Greenie. My trainer got me to baptize one of our investigators in my first area and I thought it was really cool to be able to do it in my first area so I figured I'd give my Greenie that same experience. So I asked him if he would feel OK doing it and he said yeah! I told him the baptismal pray that he had to memorize in Thai and he went at it, working on memorizing it! Throughout all of church the next day, he said he just went over it in his head, making sure he had it down. I remember when I was getting ready for my first baptism. I studied that pray for about a week before I felt ready to give it and Elder Mitchell only have 1 day! When the time came to give the baptism, he said the prayer like a pro and made no mistakes! I was pretty impressed. Our investigator was so excited to be baptized and didn't really mind that Mike wasn't able to baptize him. He was just grateful to finally be baptized!
Also these other pictures are from yesterday when we went to some waterfalls and a floating market just outside of Bangkok. It was way fun and way pretty so I thought I would share some of the pictures with you guys!
I love you guys and I hope you are having an awesome holiday season!!
Love,
Elder Stephen Olsen
(Sorry, no pictures came with this e-mail, Lori)
We had a great week this week and Sunday we ended it all with an amazing baptism! Pop was baptized by my Greenie companion!! He was able to have the same experience that I had when I was a greenie. At first we were planning on having a member baptize him because it's always better to have a member do it but a problem had occurred the day before the baptism. As we were teaching Pop, we used a member to help teach that had just moved down here to Bangna about a month ago. He didn't know anyone so we introduced him to Pop to try and start a friendship and as we taught, they became friends! We saw it help both of them come to church and come to activities because they knew they had a friend there. At the end when we asked Pop who he wanted to baptize him, he said Mike! (that's the member's name that helped) We gave Mike a call to ask him if he would do it and he was more then happy to! Everything was all good to go until Saturday night...As we were at the church, cleaning the font, the Bishop came and asked us if we could talk to him for a little bit. We said of coarse and we stepped into his office. He went over the baptism to make sure everything was good to go and then he told us that Mike wasn't able to baptize Pop. I said OK and didn't ask to much about it because I just figured he might have worthiness issues but then the Bishop said, because he's not a member here and our Ward doesn't have his membership records, he would have to interview him, call the Branch President at his home Branch and have to do a lot of stuff before he was going to be able to baptize him and there just wasn't enough time to do everything. He asked if we could just go ahead and be the ones to do the baptism instead. We tried to work around it but we just didn't have enough time so we agreed to do it. Now I have personally baptized 3 people already on my mission and I don't feel to big of a need to be the one to baptize anybody else but my companion, Elder Mitchell, just got into the country about a month ago and has never baptized someone. I remember when I was a Greenie. My trainer got me to baptize one of our investigators in my first area and I thought it was really cool to be able to do it in my first area so I figured I'd give my Greenie that same experience. So I asked him if he would feel OK doing it and he said yeah! I told him the baptismal pray that he had to memorize in Thai and he went at it, working on memorizing it! Throughout all of church the next day, he said he just went over it in his head, making sure he had it down. I remember when I was getting ready for my first baptism. I studied that pray for about a week before I felt ready to give it and Elder Mitchell only have 1 day! When the time came to give the baptism, he said the prayer like a pro and made no mistakes! I was pretty impressed. Our investigator was so excited to be baptized and didn't really mind that Mike wasn't able to baptize him. He was just grateful to finally be baptized!
Also these other pictures are from yesterday when we went to some waterfalls and a floating market just outside of Bangkok. It was way fun and way pretty so I thought I would share some of the pictures with you guys!
I love you guys and I hope you are having an awesome holiday season!!
Love,
Elder Stephen Olsen
(Sorry, no pictures came with this e-mail, Lori)
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Hey,
So you know how people always say that your mission is a roller coaster of emotion? I have seen that to be true this week. Our investigator ติ๊ก (Tig), the guy that has been a completely golden investigator for us here in Bangna, met with us the other day and told us he has finished reading the Book of Mormon! He has been learning for only 5 months and has read the whole book in that short of time! We then talked about him being baptized here on the 13th of December and he was all ready to go he said. He said he was excited for it! We were way excited for it! He was finally going to be baptized after the last 2 months of going over his concerns and trying to fix them. On Monday, he was scheduled to be interviewed but that morning we got a phone call from him. I answered the phone and he didn't sound too happy. It sounded like he had bad news and he did...he said he wasn't ready to be interviewed today and he wasn't ready to be baptism. I thought shoot...I thought we had fixed all of his concerns. So we canceled the interview and yesterday we met with him to try and see what the deal was and it didn't end well. He just said that he was happy to have been able to come here and learn with us and he will never forget the things that we taught him. He is going to keep praying and coming to church and living the commandments but he just doesn't want to be baptized. He just truly doesn't see the importance of it and he thinks if he is baptized he will no longer be free to do what he wants. He is more worried about having fun...It was way hard to hear this from him because I have seen him come so far and he was so close to being baptized. He helped give me hope for progression in an area that had nothing going for it when I first got here. Its going to be weird to not teach him anymore. Yesterday was a hard day having to think about that.
Having that lesson with Tig yesterday was definitely the trough of the missionary roller coaster. Luckily when your on a roller coaster, when you go down, you also come up. I didn't have to think about Tig for to long because ป๊อป (Pop), another one of our investigators is going to be baptized this Sunday and we had to go and prepare for his baptism right after we taught Tig! He had his interview on Monday and he was totally prepared for it! He passed with flying colors. The Zone Leader that interviewed him said he had never interview someone that had such a strong testimony and a great understanding of the gospel. He will be an amazing member! He is way excited to be baptized.
So this week has kind of been bitter sweet. Hopefully the sweetness will overpower the bitterness by the end of the week.
Elder Olsen
So you know how people always say that your mission is a roller coaster of emotion? I have seen that to be true this week. Our investigator ติ๊ก (Tig), the guy that has been a completely golden investigator for us here in Bangna, met with us the other day and told us he has finished reading the Book of Mormon! He has been learning for only 5 months and has read the whole book in that short of time! We then talked about him being baptized here on the 13th of December and he was all ready to go he said. He said he was excited for it! We were way excited for it! He was finally going to be baptized after the last 2 months of going over his concerns and trying to fix them. On Monday, he was scheduled to be interviewed but that morning we got a phone call from him. I answered the phone and he didn't sound too happy. It sounded like he had bad news and he did...he said he wasn't ready to be interviewed today and he wasn't ready to be baptism. I thought shoot...I thought we had fixed all of his concerns. So we canceled the interview and yesterday we met with him to try and see what the deal was and it didn't end well. He just said that he was happy to have been able to come here and learn with us and he will never forget the things that we taught him. He is going to keep praying and coming to church and living the commandments but he just doesn't want to be baptized. He just truly doesn't see the importance of it and he thinks if he is baptized he will no longer be free to do what he wants. He is more worried about having fun...It was way hard to hear this from him because I have seen him come so far and he was so close to being baptized. He helped give me hope for progression in an area that had nothing going for it when I first got here. Its going to be weird to not teach him anymore. Yesterday was a hard day having to think about that.
Having that lesson with Tig yesterday was definitely the trough of the missionary roller coaster. Luckily when your on a roller coaster, when you go down, you also come up. I didn't have to think about Tig for to long because ป๊อป (Pop), another one of our investigators is going to be baptized this Sunday and we had to go and prepare for his baptism right after we taught Tig! He had his interview on Monday and he was totally prepared for it! He passed with flying colors. The Zone Leader that interviewed him said he had never interview someone that had such a strong testimony and a great understanding of the gospel. He will be an amazing member! He is way excited to be baptized.
So this week has kind of been bitter sweet. Hopefully the sweetness will overpower the bitterness by the end of the week.
Elder Olsen
Friday, November 27, 2009
Hey everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving! We changed our Preparation Day to today because yesterday we had Zone Conference and luckily it just so happened that the day we changed our P-Day to is Thanksgiving! To Celebrate, our Zone did the American thing and had a Turkey Bowl. We all went to a park and tossed the pig skin around. Unfortunately it wasn't a pig skin that we tossed around though...Thai people don't believe in Real Football. They play everything with there feet. We tried to get a real football but they don't sell them here so we had to play with a dagraa ball which is just a round hollow woven ball. It worked well for not actually having a real ball. So we spent some time at the park playing around and then we came home to get ready for tonight which I am really excited for. There is an American Branch in Pakkret and some of the members invited the missionaries in Bangkok to go and have Thanksgiving Dinner with them at there house. So tonight, we get a real American Thanksgiving meal with Pies, Turkey, real mashed potatoes, and rolls! I'm so excited for it. I remember last year when I was in Rangsit, we got to go eat dinner at a members house and it was amazing. This is one reason why I'm glad I'm still in Bangkok right now. Up country they don't get this.
Yesterday we had Zone Conference where we were visited by one of the members of the Quorum of the 70. Elder Pratt who is the South Asia Area President came and talked with us and it was way good! He talked about true repentance and how it is much more then just stopping sinning. He talked about how it is a change of heart and attitude. Trying to become more Christlike is also a form of repentance. Trying to have more love, faith, patience, charity and all those qualities is repenting. It helped open up my mind to repentance and what it really means. It was really good!
Well I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I got the package you send with all the letters you wrote me. I think that will be my favorite part of the whole package! I haven't opened any of the presents yet but the think the thing I was most interested in was the cards. Last night as I was reading them, I just couldn't stop smiling! Thank you so much for writing them for me! I miss you all and love you so much! Ill talk to you next week!
Elder Olsen
Happy Thanksgiving! We changed our Preparation Day to today because yesterday we had Zone Conference and luckily it just so happened that the day we changed our P-Day to is Thanksgiving! To Celebrate, our Zone did the American thing and had a Turkey Bowl. We all went to a park and tossed the pig skin around. Unfortunately it wasn't a pig skin that we tossed around though...Thai people don't believe in Real Football. They play everything with there feet. We tried to get a real football but they don't sell them here so we had to play with a dagraa ball which is just a round hollow woven ball. It worked well for not actually having a real ball. So we spent some time at the park playing around and then we came home to get ready for tonight which I am really excited for. There is an American Branch in Pakkret and some of the members invited the missionaries in Bangkok to go and have Thanksgiving Dinner with them at there house. So tonight, we get a real American Thanksgiving meal with Pies, Turkey, real mashed potatoes, and rolls! I'm so excited for it. I remember last year when I was in Rangsit, we got to go eat dinner at a members house and it was amazing. This is one reason why I'm glad I'm still in Bangkok right now. Up country they don't get this.
Yesterday we had Zone Conference where we were visited by one of the members of the Quorum of the 70. Elder Pratt who is the South Asia Area President came and talked with us and it was way good! He talked about true repentance and how it is much more then just stopping sinning. He talked about how it is a change of heart and attitude. Trying to become more Christlike is also a form of repentance. Trying to have more love, faith, patience, charity and all those qualities is repenting. It helped open up my mind to repentance and what it really means. It was really good!
Well I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I got the package you send with all the letters you wrote me. I think that will be my favorite part of the whole package! I haven't opened any of the presents yet but the think the thing I was most interested in was the cards. Last night as I was reading them, I just couldn't stop smiling! Thank you so much for writing them for me! I miss you all and love you so much! Ill talk to you next week!
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Hey everyone!
So Its been my first week with my Greenie. His name is Elder Mitchell. He is from Washington State and he is a way good missionary! Its been fun being a trainer because he is experiencing everything for the first time. Sometimes I forget that he is a New Missionary and he still doesn't know whats going on and I just go on doing everything as normal. He says Thai food is very spicy but I don't see it. Thai food is Thai food, its just delicious! Not spicy. The first couple of day's he has been pretty tired trying to adjust to the new schedule of working but he is doing really good. Today for his first Preparation Day, we took him to the Crocodile Farm and Zoo to kind of set the tone for all the sweet things that he is going to see on his mission. The zoos here in Thailand are a lot different then the zoos in America. There are no standards and rules for doing things. You can go right into the cages with a lot of the animals. We took some pictures with some crocodiles, tigers, monkeys, and elephants and it was all acceptable! It was a fun day.
Our area has been doing pretty good lately. we are planing on having 2 investigators baptized next month. Pop and Tig are planning to being baptized on the same day. They have been a blessing for us in this area. When I first got here to this area, it was hard! Not much was going on. we had 0 investigators, but with a lot of hard work and prayer, we have been able to see a lot of progression and change here. Now our days are full of lessons with investigators. We have truly seen miracles here and I'm way grateful for the chance I've had to serve here. Ive been here for 5 months and haven't seen any baptisms of our own, only from the Sisters, but in a couple of weeks, seeing Tig and Pop getting baptized, will make all the time Ive spent here worth it!
Steve
So Its been my first week with my Greenie. His name is Elder Mitchell. He is from Washington State and he is a way good missionary! Its been fun being a trainer because he is experiencing everything for the first time. Sometimes I forget that he is a New Missionary and he still doesn't know whats going on and I just go on doing everything as normal. He says Thai food is very spicy but I don't see it. Thai food is Thai food, its just delicious! Not spicy. The first couple of day's he has been pretty tired trying to adjust to the new schedule of working but he is doing really good. Today for his first Preparation Day, we took him to the Crocodile Farm and Zoo to kind of set the tone for all the sweet things that he is going to see on his mission. The zoos here in Thailand are a lot different then the zoos in America. There are no standards and rules for doing things. You can go right into the cages with a lot of the animals. We took some pictures with some crocodiles, tigers, monkeys, and elephants and it was all acceptable! It was a fun day.
Our area has been doing pretty good lately. we are planing on having 2 investigators baptized next month. Pop and Tig are planning to being baptized on the same day. They have been a blessing for us in this area. When I first got here to this area, it was hard! Not much was going on. we had 0 investigators, but with a lot of hard work and prayer, we have been able to see a lot of progression and change here. Now our days are full of lessons with investigators. We have truly seen miracles here and I'm way grateful for the chance I've had to serve here. Ive been here for 5 months and haven't seen any baptisms of our own, only from the Sisters, but in a couple of weeks, seeing Tig and Pop getting baptized, will make all the time Ive spent here worth it!
Steve
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Hey everyone!
So another Moves period has come and gone. I can't believe it’s already been 6 weeks! I thought I was going to move this week at Moves Meeting because I have been in Bangna for 4 and half months now and that’s about average for an area. I thought Elder Kongla would stay here and get a new companion but I prophesied wrong! I got a call from the Mission President that I wasn't really expecting. He called me and asked me to be a trainer. That means Elder Kongla is moving after being here for only 6 weeks and I will be here for another 6 weeks. I'm excited though. It will be fun to get a Greenie missionary. It will feel like being a greenie all over again! It will be sad to see my Thai District broken up though. We even went out and made a District shirt together! What we did is we went to a shirt screening place and drew out a pattern for them to put on our shirts and what we did was we drew a picture of 4 sheep, 3 black and 1 white and put our names above the sheep. I was the white one and everyone else was a black sheep. Thai missionaries are rare here and usually there will be only 1 Thai missionary in a district and they usually can’t speak English all that well so it kind of makes them the black sheep. But in my case, I am in a white sheep in a district of black so we had to make a shirt of it! It’s a way cool shirt. I feel like my Thai ability has sky rocketed being in this district. It has helped me be more confident with everything I say. I feel if there is anything I want to say I can say it. Also, my accent has gotten a lot clearer. It’s been a big blessing being in this district. Unfortunately, it’s at an end but it’s OK. It will be fun being a trainer.
Last week we went to Ayuthaya and went sightseeing to the ancient Temples of Thailand. The Temple that is in the pictures is the Temple that Mortal Combat was filmed at. It was really fun!
Things are going well here. We are having fun! I'm excited to get my Greenie tomorrow! It will be fun training him! I love you all and thank you for all your emails and comments and everything! Talk to you next week!
Steve
So another Moves period has come and gone. I can't believe it’s already been 6 weeks! I thought I was going to move this week at Moves Meeting because I have been in Bangna for 4 and half months now and that’s about average for an area. I thought Elder Kongla would stay here and get a new companion but I prophesied wrong! I got a call from the Mission President that I wasn't really expecting. He called me and asked me to be a trainer. That means Elder Kongla is moving after being here for only 6 weeks and I will be here for another 6 weeks. I'm excited though. It will be fun to get a Greenie missionary. It will feel like being a greenie all over again! It will be sad to see my Thai District broken up though. We even went out and made a District shirt together! What we did is we went to a shirt screening place and drew out a pattern for them to put on our shirts and what we did was we drew a picture of 4 sheep, 3 black and 1 white and put our names above the sheep. I was the white one and everyone else was a black sheep. Thai missionaries are rare here and usually there will be only 1 Thai missionary in a district and they usually can’t speak English all that well so it kind of makes them the black sheep. But in my case, I am in a white sheep in a district of black so we had to make a shirt of it! It’s a way cool shirt. I feel like my Thai ability has sky rocketed being in this district. It has helped me be more confident with everything I say. I feel if there is anything I want to say I can say it. Also, my accent has gotten a lot clearer. It’s been a big blessing being in this district. Unfortunately, it’s at an end but it’s OK. It will be fun being a trainer.
Last week we went to Ayuthaya and went sightseeing to the ancient Temples of Thailand. The Temple that is in the pictures is the Temple that Mortal Combat was filmed at. It was really fun!
Things are going well here. We are having fun! I'm excited to get my Greenie tomorrow! It will be fun training him! I love you all and thank you for all your emails and comments and everything! Talk to you next week!
Steve
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Today, we have a zone activity-we're going ice skating! Ice skating is a special treat here in Thailand - I'm excited, it's going to be a lot of fun.
Monday was a lot of fun-it was a Thai holiday called ลอยกระทง Loy Krathong. This is a special holiday where they have little (or big) items shaped like a lotus flower that have a candle in the middle and they set them in the rivers and let them float away. A lot are made out of banana leaves and have thick candles so they burn for a long time. They also have lanterns called โคม that they release in the sky (see pictures) that slowly float away. We set off 2 lanterns at the church with some members-Brother Noy and Sister May (recent converts-also recently married), Brother Ronny (translates conference and is Branch Mission Leader), and Brother Dawm (who is entering the mission December 23 Yay!).
Monday was a lot of fun-it was a Thai holiday called ลอยกระทง Loy Krathong. This is a special holiday where they have little (or big) items shaped like a lotus flower that have a candle in the middle and they set them in the rivers and let them float away. A lot are made out of banana leaves and have thick candles so they burn for a long time. They also have lanterns called โคม that they release in the sky (see pictures) that slowly float away. We set off 2 lanterns at the church with some members-Brother Noy and Sister May (recent converts-also recently married), Brother Ronny (translates conference and is Branch Mission Leader), and Brother Dawm (who is entering the mission December 23 Yay!).
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Hey,
We have a new investigator that I want to tell you guys about. His name is Pop and we found him through our English Program and he has truly been prepared! After our English program for about the last 20 minutes, we talk about our church and invite people to come and learn with us if they're interested. Last week, we talked about the love of God and how we are all children of Him. After we had closed the lesson and were putting away the chairs, this 19 year old kid came up to us and said, "Elder, I want to know about God's Love. I want to know more about what you teach. I'm free tomorrow if you can meet." I was blown away! I've never had anyone come up to me and say that they want to learn more like that! I told him for sure! So we set up a time and the next day we went and met him at the church and he started telling us about himself and he has a hard history! His parents are separated and pretty much abandoned him and he has been living on his own since he was 15. He has been totally lacking love in his life so when we talked about the love of God, he got excited and wanted to know more! After we taught him more about God, he told us that he felt really good and warm coming here to church and meeting with us. It makes him want to come back! We invited him to church on Sunday and he said for sure he would be there! He came on Sunday and it was an awesome experience for him because there was also a baptism we had on Sunday so he was able to see how it was. He asked us how long he had to learn until he could be baptized as well! We said not long! We then set a date for him to be baptized in 6 weeks and he was been way excited about it. We have only been teaching him for a week and he has been amazing! I have a feeling that he will for sure be baptized and be an awesome member. Having God in his life will have an amazing influence in his life! I'm way excited to see how it end up!
Steve
We have a new investigator that I want to tell you guys about. His name is Pop and we found him through our English Program and he has truly been prepared! After our English program for about the last 20 minutes, we talk about our church and invite people to come and learn with us if they're interested. Last week, we talked about the love of God and how we are all children of Him. After we had closed the lesson and were putting away the chairs, this 19 year old kid came up to us and said, "Elder, I want to know about God's Love. I want to know more about what you teach. I'm free tomorrow if you can meet." I was blown away! I've never had anyone come up to me and say that they want to learn more like that! I told him for sure! So we set up a time and the next day we went and met him at the church and he started telling us about himself and he has a hard history! His parents are separated and pretty much abandoned him and he has been living on his own since he was 15. He has been totally lacking love in his life so when we talked about the love of God, he got excited and wanted to know more! After we taught him more about God, he told us that he felt really good and warm coming here to church and meeting with us. It makes him want to come back! We invited him to church on Sunday and he said for sure he would be there! He came on Sunday and it was an awesome experience for him because there was also a baptism we had on Sunday so he was able to see how it was. He asked us how long he had to learn until he could be baptized as well! We said not long! We then set a date for him to be baptized in 6 weeks and he was been way excited about it. We have only been teaching him for a week and he has been amazing! I have a feeling that he will for sure be baptized and be an awesome member. Having God in his life will have an amazing influence in his life! I'm way excited to see how it end up!
Steve
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Hey everyone!
So I just got to say thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the letters you guys send. They probably help me more then you think! I love getting them. Also Baylee! Thank you so much for the 2 letters you sent! I got both of them by the way. I was way surprised when I got a letter from you! Thank you so much! I was so happy to get them! I will write you back for sure, don't worry.
So there has been major storms coming and going here in Thailand. The streets in my area have been completely flooded. Apparently there was a huge storm that hit Laos and we are getting some of the affects from it. The other day it started raining at about 7 o'clock at night and it didn't stop raining until about 10 o'clock in the morning the next day. There were parts of the city that we couldn't go because the water from the flooding was up to our waist! I have never seen it so bad! We took a taxi to try and go find an investigator and that didn't work so well...Every way we went was flooded and the only way out was to go through the water. It was like our taxi turned into a boat and our boat had a leak. As we were going through the water, water started coming into the taxi! I couldn't put my feet down because it would have come up past my ankles. I think we ruined his car by going on this adventure. I felt kind of bad. We didn't even get to our investigator's house because the roads were flooded too bad. We spent most of the day on our bikes riding from canceled appointment to canceled appointment, trying to keep our legs out of the water. We did pretty good for a while but then we came to a road were it was just not possible. The water was way too deep and we had to go through it! Once into it my bike soon disappeared under the water and all that was seen were my handle bars. It was quite the ride. I was disappointed because for most of the day I had stayed dry! After that road it didn't matter anymore. We just rode wild! It was a lot more fun that way anyway. At the day's end, we looked back on the day's accomplishments and say that we were able to achieve absolutely nothing! We weren't able to get any work done because of the "Mother Storm". That's what I call it because following that storm, many other little ones came as well. It's rained everyday for the past week. It's even raining right now! It makes working hard but we are still getting it done. Our golden investigator Tig was suppose to be getting baptized this weekend but he said he just isn't ready. I don't know how to help him because he says he doesn't have any concerns but if that was the case he would be getting baptized! He knows it's true and has an amazing testimony. This Sunday, there is another investigator getting baptized and Tig should be going to it so hopefully it will help him see that there's nothing to worry about. I'm not to worried though. He will be baptized in the end.
Well I love you guys but I got to go!
Steve
So I just got to say thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the letters you guys send. They probably help me more then you think! I love getting them. Also Baylee! Thank you so much for the 2 letters you sent! I got both of them by the way. I was way surprised when I got a letter from you! Thank you so much! I was so happy to get them! I will write you back for sure, don't worry.
So there has been major storms coming and going here in Thailand. The streets in my area have been completely flooded. Apparently there was a huge storm that hit Laos and we are getting some of the affects from it. The other day it started raining at about 7 o'clock at night and it didn't stop raining until about 10 o'clock in the morning the next day. There were parts of the city that we couldn't go because the water from the flooding was up to our waist! I have never seen it so bad! We took a taxi to try and go find an investigator and that didn't work so well...Every way we went was flooded and the only way out was to go through the water. It was like our taxi turned into a boat and our boat had a leak. As we were going through the water, water started coming into the taxi! I couldn't put my feet down because it would have come up past my ankles. I think we ruined his car by going on this adventure. I felt kind of bad. We didn't even get to our investigator's house because the roads were flooded too bad. We spent most of the day on our bikes riding from canceled appointment to canceled appointment, trying to keep our legs out of the water. We did pretty good for a while but then we came to a road were it was just not possible. The water was way too deep and we had to go through it! Once into it my bike soon disappeared under the water and all that was seen were my handle bars. It was quite the ride. I was disappointed because for most of the day I had stayed dry! After that road it didn't matter anymore. We just rode wild! It was a lot more fun that way anyway. At the day's end, we looked back on the day's accomplishments and say that we were able to achieve absolutely nothing! We weren't able to get any work done because of the "Mother Storm". That's what I call it because following that storm, many other little ones came as well. It's rained everyday for the past week. It's even raining right now! It makes working hard but we are still getting it done. Our golden investigator Tig was suppose to be getting baptized this weekend but he said he just isn't ready. I don't know how to help him because he says he doesn't have any concerns but if that was the case he would be getting baptized! He knows it's true and has an amazing testimony. This Sunday, there is another investigator getting baptized and Tig should be going to it so hopefully it will help him see that there's nothing to worry about. I'm not to worried though. He will be baptized in the end.
Well I love you guys but I got to go!
Steve
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Dear Elder Olsen
You Mom said that you never get any mail. I told her you probably mean just your immediate family (parents and sibs) who aren't sending mail because I've sent you nearly 40 (forty) letters to date. Baylee has mailed you two recently. Hope you have been getting them.
We had a great time in Disney-World, with Ron, Karlene and kids. We all signed a post card and mailed it to you.
We LOVE reading your blog and hearing about your mission, and looking at your pictures, etc. Also we continue to enjoying your singing on the CD your parents gave us. LOVE listening to it - it is my favorite music to listen to. Makes me miss you more though.
Winter is approaching - snow in the mountains.
Love - Grandma & Grandpa
You Mom said that you never get any mail. I told her you probably mean just your immediate family (parents and sibs) who aren't sending mail because I've sent you nearly 40 (forty) letters to date. Baylee has mailed you two recently. Hope you have been getting them.
We had a great time in Disney-World, with Ron, Karlene and kids. We all signed a post card and mailed it to you.
We LOVE reading your blog and hearing about your mission, and looking at your pictures, etc. Also we continue to enjoying your singing on the CD your parents gave us. LOVE listening to it - it is my favorite music to listen to. Makes me miss you more though.
Winter is approaching - snow in the mountains.
Love - Grandma & Grandpa
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
October14, 2009
Hey,
So Halloween is coming around right? There is no sign of it here. They don't celebrate it here. There are maybe a couple places at the major malls that will have a Halloween display or two but nothing other then that. They will put it up to embrace our American culture because there will be a lot of Americans that go to those places. But they don't celebrate it here.
So concerning that lesson that you will have to teach about goals and not retiring from the church. I've given a District Meeting on setting goals and how important it is to our everyday lives but for me it was being based on the lives of being a missionary so I don't really have much that would be good. In Preach My Gospel there is a really good quote on setting goals from one of the General Authorities that I really like. Its in Chapter 8 under Setting Goals. If you have a Preach My Gospel at home, you might want to check it out. Preach My Gospel is the ultimate resource manual for teaching! So things are going well with my new companion. He is a way hard working missionary. Sometimes it gets tiring speaking Thai 24/7 but its helping me grow. English Class is a lot harder now because I teach a class of 30-40 people completely by myself. It's ok though. It helps find investigators.
Well I love you Dad! Thanks for all the emails and all your support!
Steve
So Halloween is coming around right? There is no sign of it here. They don't celebrate it here. There are maybe a couple places at the major malls that will have a Halloween display or two but nothing other then that. They will put it up to embrace our American culture because there will be a lot of Americans that go to those places. But they don't celebrate it here.
So concerning that lesson that you will have to teach about goals and not retiring from the church. I've given a District Meeting on setting goals and how important it is to our everyday lives but for me it was being based on the lives of being a missionary so I don't really have much that would be good. In Preach My Gospel there is a really good quote on setting goals from one of the General Authorities that I really like. Its in Chapter 8 under Setting Goals. If you have a Preach My Gospel at home, you might want to check it out. Preach My Gospel is the ultimate resource manual for teaching! So things are going well with my new companion. He is a way hard working missionary. Sometimes it gets tiring speaking Thai 24/7 but its helping me grow. English Class is a lot harder now because I teach a class of 30-40 people completely by myself. It's ok though. It helps find investigators.
Well I love you Dad! Thanks for all the emails and all your support!
Steve
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Hey!
So Moves Meeting was last Thursday and I have a new companion. He's Thai! His name is Elder Kongla. (He says hi by the way) He has been a missionary for 6 months now and is way good. I also have 2 new Sisters in my District who are also Thai. It makes me the only White guy in my District and I'm the only one that can speak English so that means I have to speak nothing but Thai for the next 6-12 weeks. This will sure give me the chance to get better at the language! Elder McCoy moved over to an area in Bangkok called Dindaeng and he is companions with an Elder that's in my group from the MTC! He was a little bummed that he didn't get out of Bangkok.
This Friday I will have hit my 1 year and 6 month mark as a missionary! I'm 3/4 the way done with this adventure! Its gone by pretty fast. Well I don't have to much this week because we have just had a lot of meeting the past week with Moves Meeting. But I love you guys and I thank you for all your support and everything you do! You guys are always in my prays!
Love,
Steve
So Moves Meeting was last Thursday and I have a new companion. He's Thai! His name is Elder Kongla. (He says hi by the way) He has been a missionary for 6 months now and is way good. I also have 2 new Sisters in my District who are also Thai. It makes me the only White guy in my District and I'm the only one that can speak English so that means I have to speak nothing but Thai for the next 6-12 weeks. This will sure give me the chance to get better at the language! Elder McCoy moved over to an area in Bangkok called Dindaeng and he is companions with an Elder that's in my group from the MTC! He was a little bummed that he didn't get out of Bangkok.
This Friday I will have hit my 1 year and 6 month mark as a missionary! I'm 3/4 the way done with this adventure! Its gone by pretty fast. Well I don't have to much this week because we have just had a lot of meeting the past week with Moves Meeting. But I love you guys and I thank you for all your support and everything you do! You guys are always in my prays!
Love,
Steve
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Hey guys,
So tomorrow is Moves Meeting and Elder McCoy is moving. Actually out of my whole district, I am the only one staying! They are whitewashing the Sisters area. It’s going to be weird to get an entirely new district! But it will be cool. It’s been a fun ride here with Elder McCoy. I'm glad we were able to be companions! I learned a lot from him.
So this past week we have been pretty busy! Last week on Wednesday we had to go to the mission office because there was an Elder that comes down from the north that had to have surgery on Saturday and we were chosen to be the ones that watched over him until that day. So all of last weekend we were at the hospital for consultations and appointments for the surgery. After that was over, we then had to help the Sisters in our area move houses. They live in a house that was a lot like the house I lived in, in my first area. So we helped them clean their new place and move everything over there! It’s been really busy and we haven't been able to get much work done and having Moves Meeting tomorrow makes it so even more work gets lost! But all is well. I love you guys and I hope to hear from some of you! Maybe...talk to you later!
Steve
So tomorrow is Moves Meeting and Elder McCoy is moving. Actually out of my whole district, I am the only one staying! They are whitewashing the Sisters area. It’s going to be weird to get an entirely new district! But it will be cool. It’s been a fun ride here with Elder McCoy. I'm glad we were able to be companions! I learned a lot from him.
So this past week we have been pretty busy! Last week on Wednesday we had to go to the mission office because there was an Elder that comes down from the north that had to have surgery on Saturday and we were chosen to be the ones that watched over him until that day. So all of last weekend we were at the hospital for consultations and appointments for the surgery. After that was over, we then had to help the Sisters in our area move houses. They live in a house that was a lot like the house I lived in, in my first area. So we helped them clean their new place and move everything over there! It’s been really busy and we haven't been able to get much work done and having Moves Meeting tomorrow makes it so even more work gets lost! But all is well. I love you guys and I hope to hear from some of you! Maybe...talk to you later!
Steve
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
September 23, 2009
Hey everyone,
today I had to go and renew my visa in downtown Bangkok and everyone from my MTC group had to go as well. It was the first time since we left the MTC that we were all back together and it might be the last time before we go home so we had to celebrate this special occasion by eating at the tallest building in Thailand: Baiyoke Tower. We got some pretty good pictures from it so that’s what those are. (There’s a picture of Elder McCoy and I with a tower made out of straws. It has nothing to do with what I'm talking about but it was cool because we had a competition at a Zone Meeting to see who could make the Highest, most durable tower out of straws and our District won! So that’s why I sent it...ha-ha) but it was fun to see each other today and it was weird to think how far we have come since our MTC days. It didn't seem like it was that long ago that we were sucking Jello shots off of our trays in the MTC cafeteria and throwing hacky sacks down the halls of our dorm at each other! Thinking back on those memories helped me realize how much fun we had at the MTC. I have nothing but good memories from it! Jason you don't know what you're talking about when you said the MTC was terrible! It was a blast for us!
Well I don't have too much for this week. It was just another average week. Our investigator Tig is doing awesome! He has read up till Helaman in the Book of Mormon now and is just waiting for us to finish teaching all the lessons so he can get baptized! He has been awesome to teach because he has just been ready for this!
Elder McCoy and I are doing well. We have Moves Meeting next Thursday and one of us might move so I'm not sure how much longer we will be together. If I move, I hope I get the chance to go back up country. This is my 3rd area in Bangkok and usually people aren't in Bangkok for this long. So hopefully I get to go up north if I move!
Well I love you guys! I hope all is well and thank you all for the emails you have been sending! I love it!
Steve
today I had to go and renew my visa in downtown Bangkok and everyone from my MTC group had to go as well. It was the first time since we left the MTC that we were all back together and it might be the last time before we go home so we had to celebrate this special occasion by eating at the tallest building in Thailand: Baiyoke Tower. We got some pretty good pictures from it so that’s what those are. (There’s a picture of Elder McCoy and I with a tower made out of straws. It has nothing to do with what I'm talking about but it was cool because we had a competition at a Zone Meeting to see who could make the Highest, most durable tower out of straws and our District won! So that’s why I sent it...ha-ha) but it was fun to see each other today and it was weird to think how far we have come since our MTC days. It didn't seem like it was that long ago that we were sucking Jello shots off of our trays in the MTC cafeteria and throwing hacky sacks down the halls of our dorm at each other! Thinking back on those memories helped me realize how much fun we had at the MTC. I have nothing but good memories from it! Jason you don't know what you're talking about when you said the MTC was terrible! It was a blast for us!
Well I don't have too much for this week. It was just another average week. Our investigator Tig is doing awesome! He has read up till Helaman in the Book of Mormon now and is just waiting for us to finish teaching all the lessons so he can get baptized! He has been awesome to teach because he has just been ready for this!
Elder McCoy and I are doing well. We have Moves Meeting next Thursday and one of us might move so I'm not sure how much longer we will be together. If I move, I hope I get the chance to go back up country. This is my 3rd area in Bangkok and usually people aren't in Bangkok for this long. So hopefully I get to go up north if I move!
Well I love you guys! I hope all is well and thank you all for the emails you have been sending! I love it!
Steve
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
September 16, 2009
Hey,
Thanks for the email Mom. Tell everyone that says my mission is going by slow that before they know it I will be home! I only have a little over 7 months left. But sometimes I feel the same. Sometimes I feel like my mission has been going by slow and I feel like I have been a missionary forever! But then when I look back on certain days of when I was a Greenie, it feels like it was just yesterday but it was really over a year ago! So I guess sometimes it depends. But its been good. I definitely don't regret any second of it!
Yeah that is sad to hear about Oreo having to be put down. I was wondering when I left if Oreo was still going to be around when I get back. I guess not. Its OK though, she was old! Well Mom, I love getting your emails and updates on stuff that's going on back at home. Though, Spencer gets a lot more updates on whats going on then I do. He tells me stuff that I have had no idea was going on! Like Margret updates him very well on things going on in the ward and just random stuff. That information is valuable for a missionary! Just to let you know...Well I love you Mom!
Steve
Thanks for the email Mom. Tell everyone that says my mission is going by slow that before they know it I will be home! I only have a little over 7 months left. But sometimes I feel the same. Sometimes I feel like my mission has been going by slow and I feel like I have been a missionary forever! But then when I look back on certain days of when I was a Greenie, it feels like it was just yesterday but it was really over a year ago! So I guess sometimes it depends. But its been good. I definitely don't regret any second of it!
Yeah that is sad to hear about Oreo having to be put down. I was wondering when I left if Oreo was still going to be around when I get back. I guess not. Its OK though, she was old! Well Mom, I love getting your emails and updates on stuff that's going on back at home. Though, Spencer gets a lot more updates on whats going on then I do. He tells me stuff that I have had no idea was going on! Like Margret updates him very well on things going on in the ward and just random stuff. That information is valuable for a missionary! Just to let you know...Well I love you Mom!
Steve
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
9-9-9
Hey Dad,
Oh my heck! I cant believe that BYU pulled the upset!! That is awesome! Ahhh! Why cant I be there for it! This is probably what kills me the most. I miss football...You have to do what you did last year by sending me the BYU news feed from the Games. Also if there is any ESPN stuff about it, you can send that as well. The news of the BYU game is the talk of the mission right now. Yesterday we went to the office for interviews with the Mission President and that's all everyone was talking about! We were all dying. So do they look good? Do you think they are finally good enough to go far this year? I know its probably early to say but still...what are your thoughts?
Steve
Oh my heck! I cant believe that BYU pulled the upset!! That is awesome! Ahhh! Why cant I be there for it! This is probably what kills me the most. I miss football...You have to do what you did last year by sending me the BYU news feed from the Games. Also if there is any ESPN stuff about it, you can send that as well. The news of the BYU game is the talk of the mission right now. Yesterday we went to the office for interviews with the Mission President and that's all everyone was talking about! We were all dying. So do they look good? Do you think they are finally good enough to go far this year? I know its probably early to say but still...what are your thoughts?
Steve
9-9-9
Hey!
We have a golden investigator right now. It’s the guy that I told you about, Big. I came to find out that his name isn't really Big...It's Tig. I have been saying it wrong! We took a member to help us teach him and she asked him what his name was and he said very clearly that his name was Tig. I felt kind of dumb when I found out it wasn’t Big...But anyways, the reason why he is so golden is because we have only been teaching him for 2 weeks and he has already read all the way till Alma chapter 5! He says he takes the Book of Mormon with him everywhere he goes and whenever he has free time, he opens it and reads it. It's amazing! I have never met anyone who was so determined to read! It makes teaching him way easy because the stuff we teach, he already kind of knows about it! The other day we taught him about repentance and how we can be forgiven of our sins and at first he was a little worried. He was excited about the idea of being able to be forgiven of the things that he has done but he is worried that he might sin again and on his own, he won’t have enough strength. So we shared Alma 26:12 with him and told him if he places his trust in God, he won’t have anything to worry about! So I asked him if he could do it and with a smile on his face he said, "Yeah, I can do it." We left the appointment and left the commitment to start repenting of his sins and to continue that pattern of repentance throughout all of his life. He was excited to start!
Yesterday, we had a dinner appointment at the Bishop's house and after it was over and we were walking home, we got a call from Tig. He said he had a concern that he wanted to talk about. I said ok, let’s talk! He said he sinned and he felt bad. He went on and told me what he did and what it was was he had lied to someone at work and felt guilty. So I asked him what he felt he should do and he said, "Well I prayed to God and told him I felt bad and I asked for forgiveness." I said, "ok good, what else do you think you should do?" "Well, I was thinking I need to go and apologized to the person and try and fix what I did." He said. I told him that was exactly right! He then thanked me for helping him and then hung up. I was way impressed with him! He had done something as little as a lie and felt terrible about it and knew he had to repent of it so he called us to make sure he was going to do it right. I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the night! He has definitely been prepared to receive the Gospel and he was just waiting for us to walk up and talk to him. He came to church last Sunday and he said he felt really good when he came. He loved that everyone seemed to be best friends with each other and just a big family. He said he is excited to get to know everyone and be a part of it! These are the type of people that make every second of the hours we spend inviting and getting rejected worth it. These are the type of people that make any thoughts of wanting to be anywhere else disappears!
Well I got to go. I love you guys!
Steve
We have a golden investigator right now. It’s the guy that I told you about, Big. I came to find out that his name isn't really Big...It's Tig. I have been saying it wrong! We took a member to help us teach him and she asked him what his name was and he said very clearly that his name was Tig. I felt kind of dumb when I found out it wasn’t Big...But anyways, the reason why he is so golden is because we have only been teaching him for 2 weeks and he has already read all the way till Alma chapter 5! He says he takes the Book of Mormon with him everywhere he goes and whenever he has free time, he opens it and reads it. It's amazing! I have never met anyone who was so determined to read! It makes teaching him way easy because the stuff we teach, he already kind of knows about it! The other day we taught him about repentance and how we can be forgiven of our sins and at first he was a little worried. He was excited about the idea of being able to be forgiven of the things that he has done but he is worried that he might sin again and on his own, he won’t have enough strength. So we shared Alma 26:12 with him and told him if he places his trust in God, he won’t have anything to worry about! So I asked him if he could do it and with a smile on his face he said, "Yeah, I can do it." We left the appointment and left the commitment to start repenting of his sins and to continue that pattern of repentance throughout all of his life. He was excited to start!
Yesterday, we had a dinner appointment at the Bishop's house and after it was over and we were walking home, we got a call from Tig. He said he had a concern that he wanted to talk about. I said ok, let’s talk! He said he sinned and he felt bad. He went on and told me what he did and what it was was he had lied to someone at work and felt guilty. So I asked him what he felt he should do and he said, "Well I prayed to God and told him I felt bad and I asked for forgiveness." I said, "ok good, what else do you think you should do?" "Well, I was thinking I need to go and apologized to the person and try and fix what I did." He said. I told him that was exactly right! He then thanked me for helping him and then hung up. I was way impressed with him! He had done something as little as a lie and felt terrible about it and knew he had to repent of it so he called us to make sure he was going to do it right. I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the night! He has definitely been prepared to receive the Gospel and he was just waiting for us to walk up and talk to him. He came to church last Sunday and he said he felt really good when he came. He loved that everyone seemed to be best friends with each other and just a big family. He said he is excited to get to know everyone and be a part of it! These are the type of people that make every second of the hours we spend inviting and getting rejected worth it. These are the type of people that make any thoughts of wanting to be anywhere else disappears!
Well I got to go. I love you guys!
Steve
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
September 1, 2009
Hey everyone!
Yesterday we went to a hospital to go and do some service and it was way fun! It was about 11 a.m. and during the day there is nothing to really do. Everyone is at work! So we decided to head over to the nearest hospital and do volunteer work. We got there and it was more like the employees were serving us then us serving them. They took us on a tour of the hospital and they showed us everything! We even got to go into room that I don't think normal people are allowed to go in. I learned something interesting when we went into the birth room, yeah...they took us there too, I felt weird...But apparently its bad luck to call a baby cute. If you think a baby is cute you have to say it’s ugly! We have a Thai missionary in our district and when we went to the birth room she stopped to look at some of the babies and she told the mother that her baby was so ugly! I thought whoa whoa! Well yeah it’s not the best looking kid but you don't have to let the mother know! Later I asked her why she said such harsh things! and she started laughing...She said if you say a baby is cute then it will curse them in the future and when they are older, they won’t be good looking. So you have to say they are ugly and by saying that, it's a compliment to the mother. I thought how bizarre that is! That doesn't make sense at all...But hey, its Thai culture. So continuing the tour of the hospital, they took us to the Surgery Room and showed us how things worked. Then they said that at 1 o'clock, there was going to be a surgery taking place and they asked if we wanted to watch it! I thought...can we do that?! Everyone was like yeah! Let’s do it! But I was a little unsure...I don't like watching surgeries...I remember when I was little; Mike and I would always find them on TV and watch them. I don't know why we did this because we both hated it and it grossed us out! Now I was put with the same situation where I was offered to watch again. I kept saying no but everyone else kept saying yes! I didn't want to look like a weenie so I had to give in and say ok. They got us all dressed up in these nurses’ closes and sent us in. The whole time I was thinking how stupid this was that we were watching! Why would anyone want to watch a surgery! Its torture to your eyes! What had happened was this kid ran into a tree somehow and broke his arm and they had to get in there and put it back into place. The X-ray looked pretty cool, the surgery didn’t though...I was holding my mouth the entire time thinking why am I watching! Turn away! But I couldn't...I was intrigued. They were shoving clamps, scissors and all sorts of tools in there. At one point they even took a power drill to his arm! I'm not sure what that was for. But I was cringing the entire time. I didn't like it! In the end I was pretty proud of myself for being able to watch the whole thing. I wouldn't choose to watch it again though. This experience helped me to realize that I could never be a Surgeon. I wouldn't be able to handle it.
Once the surgery was over, it was time to go home and we ended up not getting to do too much. We sent like 3 people up the Delivery Room and that was about it. It was fun though! Good experience.
Well I got to go now, I love you all!
Steve
Friday, August 28, 2009
Aug 28, 2009
Hey!
I'm really getting excited about our area right now because its starting to pick up! We have had to go through a lot of bad investigators to finally find some good ones. But the ones we have I feel good about. Yesterday we taught 2 new investigators that are way determined to learn about our church. The first one we taught, his name is Big. He was a referral for the Zone Leaders and they invited him on the Book of Mormon and actually gave him one. Today when we asked him if he had been reading he said yeah, all the way up till 2 Nephi 26! I thought that was amazing! He has only had the book for a couple days! We started asking him about himself and he said he has a lot of siblings but only 1 is still alive. The rest of them, including his Dad, died from HIV and he has just been completely devastated from it. He misses them a lot! With finding this out, we changed our lesson plan from the Restoration to the Plan of Salvation and told him that he was going to be able to see his family again. When we told him this, he smiled and you could see in his eyes that he was thinking: What?! Really?! We taught him how the Plan of Salvation works and what he needed to do to be able to see his family again. We taught about baptism and how it's an ordinance that we have to do to be able to be cleansed from sin and live with our families forever. We asked him if it would be something that he wanted to do and he said yeah! So we set a date with him to be baptized in a little over a month! This guy is amazing and it shows that he has definitely been prepared. Later on in the evening we taught another new investigator named เดือน, which means month, and we taught him a quick Restoration lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon and it went well! In the end we asked if he would pray for us and he said of coarse! and he gave an amazing pray. Afterward he said he felt really good and peaceful which is always a good sign. When we asked to see him again he said he had a lot of stuff he had to do and he was going to be pretty busy. I thought, dang...there is goes...but then he said, so because I'm going to be kind of busy, could we only meet like twice a week? I was very thrown off! We said of coarse! That would be perfect!
Yesterday was an amazing day! It was definitely an answer to our prays that we have been holding on to for the past month or so. I have been waiting for these 2 guys to come along and God has now sent them to us! Things are starting to turn around here in Bangna and I am so grateful for that!! It's been hard but it's been good. I love you guys and I hope all is going well.
Steve
P.S. Here are some pictures. The one of us as pirates was an activity we had for English Class. We had a treasure hunt to find true Happiness. Then the other picture is just of me walking down the streets of Bangna.
I'm really getting excited about our area right now because its starting to pick up! We have had to go through a lot of bad investigators to finally find some good ones. But the ones we have I feel good about. Yesterday we taught 2 new investigators that are way determined to learn about our church. The first one we taught, his name is Big. He was a referral for the Zone Leaders and they invited him on the Book of Mormon and actually gave him one. Today when we asked him if he had been reading he said yeah, all the way up till 2 Nephi 26! I thought that was amazing! He has only had the book for a couple days! We started asking him about himself and he said he has a lot of siblings but only 1 is still alive. The rest of them, including his Dad, died from HIV and he has just been completely devastated from it. He misses them a lot! With finding this out, we changed our lesson plan from the Restoration to the Plan of Salvation and told him that he was going to be able to see his family again. When we told him this, he smiled and you could see in his eyes that he was thinking: What?! Really?! We taught him how the Plan of Salvation works and what he needed to do to be able to see his family again. We taught about baptism and how it's an ordinance that we have to do to be able to be cleansed from sin and live with our families forever. We asked him if it would be something that he wanted to do and he said yeah! So we set a date with him to be baptized in a little over a month! This guy is amazing and it shows that he has definitely been prepared. Later on in the evening we taught another new investigator named เดือน, which means month, and we taught him a quick Restoration lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon and it went well! In the end we asked if he would pray for us and he said of coarse! and he gave an amazing pray. Afterward he said he felt really good and peaceful which is always a good sign. When we asked to see him again he said he had a lot of stuff he had to do and he was going to be pretty busy. I thought, dang...there is goes...but then he said, so because I'm going to be kind of busy, could we only meet like twice a week? I was very thrown off! We said of coarse! That would be perfect!
Yesterday was an amazing day! It was definitely an answer to our prays that we have been holding on to for the past month or so. I have been waiting for these 2 guys to come along and God has now sent them to us! Things are starting to turn around here in Bangna and I am so grateful for that!! It's been hard but it's been good. I love you guys and I hope all is going well.
Steve
P.S. Here are some pictures. The one of us as pirates was an activity we had for English Class. We had a treasure hunt to find true Happiness. Then the other picture is just of me walking down the streets of Bangna.
Friday, August 21, 2009
ELders Olsen and McCoy
Yesterday, at 7:30, we had a Family Home Evening with Sister ต๋อย (Doy) and Brother ต้อม (Dawm) and their two daughters, ลูกหมี and พิน. Plus, they brought their neighbor, จ๋ม (Joom), who isn't a member, and her two kids. It was really fun-Elder Olsen and I prepared the lesson. Before we got into the activity, we explained the Godhead along with prayer to help Joom understand why we said an opening prayer and who it is we worship. Once the activity got started, it was out of control. Haha, just kidding, but it was really fun. We bought three sleeves of double stuffed Oreos and three packs of little square wafers and a jar of peanut butter. We split into 3 groups, one group had just wafers and Oreos, the next group had wafers, Oreos and a spoonful of peanut butter, and the next group got to use as much peanut butter as they wanted with their wafers and Oreos. With these ingredients, each group built houses. Once the groups were done, we read Helaman 5:12 and asked, "How do we build our foundation upon Christ?" The three specific answers we were looking for this activity were: 1. Pray 2. Read the Book of Mormon 3. Go to Church. We compared the three trays with houses on them to the lives of three different people. All 3 people pray every day but one day, as they are taking a test, their friend who didn't study asks to copy their paper. At this point, we shook all three trays just a little bit-nothing happened. Prayer helped all three overcome this temptation to cheat.
Only the people that have peanut butter on their house read every day. One day, their friends ask them to go drinking and party with them. We shake all three trays, this time a little harder, and the first house falls to pieces. He didn't read every day so he fell into temptation.
Only the home that got to use as much peanut butter as they wanted goes to church every week. The other home goes about once a month-but that's still good, right? One Sunday morning, their friend calls around 8 a.m. (right before church) and asks if he wants to go to the beach. We shake the remaining two trays and the one that used a spoonful of peanut butter falls apart.
Thus we see from this analogy-if we want to have a SOLID foundation (lots and lots of peanut butter) we must pray every day, study in the Book of Mormon regularly, and go to church every week. We committed Joom to give prayer a try and to start reading in the Book of Mormon.
Elder Spencer McCoy
Only the people that have peanut butter on their house read every day. One day, their friends ask them to go drinking and party with them. We shake all three trays, this time a little harder, and the first house falls to pieces. He didn't read every day so he fell into temptation.
Only the home that got to use as much peanut butter as they wanted goes to church every week. The other home goes about once a month-but that's still good, right? One Sunday morning, their friend calls around 8 a.m. (right before church) and asks if he wants to go to the beach. We shake the remaining two trays and the one that used a spoonful of peanut butter falls apart.
Thus we see from this analogy-if we want to have a SOLID foundation (lots and lots of peanut butter) we must pray every day, study in the Book of Mormon regularly, and go to church every week. We committed Joom to give prayer a try and to start reading in the Book of Mormon.
Elder Spencer McCoy
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Aug18, 2009
Hey,
We had moves meeting last Thursday and I found out my last companion got sent home along with another Elder. It's sad to see Elders ruining their missions and being sent home because they were breaking rules. That would be the worst thing ever to be sent home off of your mission early because you were breaking rules. It would be way embarrassing! Now, unfortunately I'm still having to do damage control in the Ward and in the area. President Smith, our Mission President, said I'll probably be here in Bangna for a while to fix all that happened. Whenever something like this happens to an area it always takes a while to fix it and we are kind of feeling that right now. Hopefully it picks up. The good news is that I'm still with Elder McCoy!
To answer Whitney's question from a couple weeks ago, if we have an American companion that can speak English, do we speak English or Thai? For the most part, we speak English together. Its a lot easier and more natural. We do 2 days out of the week that we have to speak Thai though, Sundays and Tuesdays. Other than that, we usually speak English to each other. If we are with Thai people, we will speak Thai just so they don't think we are talking about them.
Well I love you all and I'm always thinking about you! Talk to you next week!
Steve
We had moves meeting last Thursday and I found out my last companion got sent home along with another Elder. It's sad to see Elders ruining their missions and being sent home because they were breaking rules. That would be the worst thing ever to be sent home off of your mission early because you were breaking rules. It would be way embarrassing! Now, unfortunately I'm still having to do damage control in the Ward and in the area. President Smith, our Mission President, said I'll probably be here in Bangna for a while to fix all that happened. Whenever something like this happens to an area it always takes a while to fix it and we are kind of feeling that right now. Hopefully it picks up. The good news is that I'm still with Elder McCoy!
To answer Whitney's question from a couple weeks ago, if we have an American companion that can speak English, do we speak English or Thai? For the most part, we speak English together. Its a lot easier and more natural. We do 2 days out of the week that we have to speak Thai though, Sundays and Tuesdays. Other than that, we usually speak English to each other. If we are with Thai people, we will speak Thai just so they don't think we are talking about them.
Well I love you all and I'm always thinking about you! Talk to you next week!
Steve
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Hey!
Our area has picked up a bit this week. We were able to find 7 new investigators through our efforts. One of which was a little like the story last week! Sunday came a long again and we were sitting at church waiting for it to start and a 20 year old kid came in wearing a blue t-shirt. I thought to myself...he can't be a member, he looks confused. Maybe he is a friend of the sister's investigator. Of coarse I had to go talk to him to make sure and to my great pleasure and surprised, he wasn't! His name is Day and he had just moved down to Bangkok from up north about a month ago and he is Christian. When he saw our church on the street, he decided to come and see how it was. So we sat with him through church and talked to him a little bit about our church and at the end of church he said he has a lot of questions and wants to talk about them. With those great pleading words, we made an appointment to see him another day and Elder McCoy and I jumped for joy! The Sisters were way jealous. They teased us saying we don't even have to go out and work, all we have to do is sit at the church and people will come to us! Ha ha if only that was true...So right now our investigator pool is picking back up. We still got a lot of crazies but hopefully we can sieve them out. I love you guys and I hope to hear from some of you soon!
Steve
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Hey!
We have been really struggling to find investigators here in Bangna. Building an area from nothing isn't very easy! Any investigators we find from inviting aren't quality investigators. They're flaky, not very interested and a lot of the times they are crazy. So everyone one new that we have been finding, doesn't last very long. But I feel like we have been diligently working hard and trying to find people to teach and I feel we have been blessed for it. On Sunday after church as we were about to leave, a security guard from an apartment complex came riding in on his bike and told us he wanted to know about our church! I thought, great! lets sit down and talk. But he said he had no time that day and he would be back on Monday to talk to us again. With saying only those few words he turned his bike around and started peddling off. I hurried and tried to get his name and information before he left but he just said he would be back tomorrow and talk. Without getting any information from this man, we just stood there no better off then 5 minutes before he came. We had no name, no number, and no appointment to meet him again. I was very confused with this guy and in the end, Elder McCoy and I just agreed that he was crazy...so we just shrugged it off and forgot about it going on with our day. Then Monday came around and we had District Meeting at the church with the Sisters and once that was done, Elder McCoy and I sat and contemplated on what we wanted to do for the next 5 hours because we were completely free! We had planned to invite but we were getting a little tired of it. So we decided to go drop our stuff off at home and then do some more thinking. On the way home, as we were biking, I saw a sign making shop and instantly pulled over! We had been planning on making a sign to advertise our English Class and stick it on the church to try and get more English students so I had the thought, lets do that right now. We already had to pattern, we just needed to print it. So we went into the shop and ordered the sign but we weren't sure of the dimensions of the sign so we borrowed the guys measuring tape and headed back to the church to get the measurements. While we were measuring the wall and talking about how big we wanted to sign, a man came riding up to us on his bike and said, "I'm back, now how do I sign up to be a member at your church?" I was a little thrown off guard and I thought, who is this guy? After talking to him for a little bit I realized it was that security guard from they day before! He really did come back! I thought, if we weren't here right now we would have missed him and who knows if we would have been able to find him again! So we made an appointment to meet him again after talking to him for a little while and we got his name and number. His name is Sampaw and he seems really solid! We were able to meet with him again yesterday and we told him how he could sign up to be a member, by being baptized! and he said ok, so we set a date with him to be baptized and he said he would come to church on Sunday as well! It has been an answer to our prayers and it has been another witness to me that Christ is really leading this work. He lead us to that sign shop so we would go back to the church and meet this guy. Its been amazing and I'm he is there next to us because we would be know where if he wasn't here!
Well I love you guys! I hope all is going good at home! I love you!
Steve
We have been really struggling to find investigators here in Bangna. Building an area from nothing isn't very easy! Any investigators we find from inviting aren't quality investigators. They're flaky, not very interested and a lot of the times they are crazy. So everyone one new that we have been finding, doesn't last very long. But I feel like we have been diligently working hard and trying to find people to teach and I feel we have been blessed for it. On Sunday after church as we were about to leave, a security guard from an apartment complex came riding in on his bike and told us he wanted to know about our church! I thought, great! lets sit down and talk. But he said he had no time that day and he would be back on Monday to talk to us again. With saying only those few words he turned his bike around and started peddling off. I hurried and tried to get his name and information before he left but he just said he would be back tomorrow and talk. Without getting any information from this man, we just stood there no better off then 5 minutes before he came. We had no name, no number, and no appointment to meet him again. I was very confused with this guy and in the end, Elder McCoy and I just agreed that he was crazy...so we just shrugged it off and forgot about it going on with our day. Then Monday came around and we had District Meeting at the church with the Sisters and once that was done, Elder McCoy and I sat and contemplated on what we wanted to do for the next 5 hours because we were completely free! We had planned to invite but we were getting a little tired of it. So we decided to go drop our stuff off at home and then do some more thinking. On the way home, as we were biking, I saw a sign making shop and instantly pulled over! We had been planning on making a sign to advertise our English Class and stick it on the church to try and get more English students so I had the thought, lets do that right now. We already had to pattern, we just needed to print it. So we went into the shop and ordered the sign but we weren't sure of the dimensions of the sign so we borrowed the guys measuring tape and headed back to the church to get the measurements. While we were measuring the wall and talking about how big we wanted to sign, a man came riding up to us on his bike and said, "I'm back, now how do I sign up to be a member at your church?" I was a little thrown off guard and I thought, who is this guy? After talking to him for a little bit I realized it was that security guard from they day before! He really did come back! I thought, if we weren't here right now we would have missed him and who knows if we would have been able to find him again! So we made an appointment to meet him again after talking to him for a little while and we got his name and number. His name is Sampaw and he seems really solid! We were able to meet with him again yesterday and we told him how he could sign up to be a member, by being baptized! and he said ok, so we set a date with him to be baptized and he said he would come to church on Sunday as well! It has been an answer to our prayers and it has been another witness to me that Christ is really leading this work. He lead us to that sign shop so we would go back to the church and meet this guy. Its been amazing and I'm he is there next to us because we would be know where if he wasn't here!
Well I love you guys! I hope all is going good at home! I love you!
Steve
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