April 24, 2012

Hey fam and friends! How's it going? I'm doing great here in the MTC.
But seriously, I want to get out. I'm so ready to go to Thailand and
teach people. Only 4 more weeks though (from yesterday)! So excited.
This week was pretty solid. Not as crazy as last week,  but a very
good one nonetheless. I'll start from the beginning.
Tuesday night, Larry Gibbons of the Seventy spoke to us about the
importance of member missionary work. It really put in perspective how
critical members are in conversion, because once the missionary is
gone, the convert needs someone to fellowship them and help them feel
like they belong. He also talked about how it's our duty as members to
do the work. As missionaries, we aren't supposed to say "Can you help
us by giving us any referrals?" We're supposed to say "How can we help
you?" because that's really what we would be doing. Helping members
fulfill their duty to do missionary work. So that was pretty cool.
Wednesday...Nccng Thais! It was sweet when they arrived, and pretty
funny to see there reactions to all things that go on in the MTC haha.
It's weird to think I was like them only 7 weeks ago. It's been fun
helping them get acclimated to the lifestyle here. There's 6 Elders
and 2 sisters, and I think they'll all be really good missionaries.
PHII Thai, dii maag (very good).
Thursday something pretty cool happened. We were all at lunch, and we
were talking about our new mission president. We new he was going to
be here, and that he was pretty young, so we had been looking at the
tags of all senior couple who might fit those descriptions, but no
luck. Well, while we were talking about it at lunch, Elder Bartling
saw a guy, but we couldn't read his tag, so he just jokingly said
"I'll bet that's him" but nobody really believed it. Then Elder
Haughton just stands up and walks right over to him and asks him who
he is because his tag says "Mission President: Language Tutoring." The
guy said "I'm not really at liberty to say...Sawad dii khrab." It was
him! Haha it was hilarious because nobody thought there was a chance
that he would be the guy. His name is President Senior. Him and his
wife came and talked to us for a little bit. They seem so great, I''m
way excited for him to be our president. Apparently they aren't really
supposed to talk to us here though, so we can't really ask him
questions. Still cool to know who he is.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were good, nothing too exciting really
happened though. Just normal busy days. I got to talk to Colton Van
Komen for a while on Friday night. He's liking it here, but I think
he's having a little bit of a rough time transitioning, especially
since his comps are so different from him (I can definitely relate). I
told him to keep working hard, because it's definitely worth it. I
love being a missionary.
I can't wait for Red to get here tomorrow! That's awesome that his
talk went so well, I wish I could've heard it. He'll love it here, and
he'll be a great missionary. I've heard the Tagolog teachers are
great, and his classroom will be just a couple floors above mine.
Kyle's room is two above mine, and I see him pretty often, so it's
good. It always helps to see a familiar face. I don't know if I'll be
able to pick Red up at the curb, because usually missionaries with 2
weeks left or less are hosts. But last week they needed extras, and
Elders Campbell and Haughton did it, so if they need extras again
tomorrow, I'll definitely be doing it. You'll love it here Big Red!
Once again, Sunday was great. Me and Elder Bartling has to teach
District Meeting about repentance and it went really well. Everyone
participated, and all of our testimonies grew. We mostly covered Alma
the Younger and his story. One of my favorite things that we taught
was even though it took some big thing like an Angel appearing or
something similar for most of the people in the Book of Mormon to
repent, it usually won't be and doesn't need to be that way for us to
realize that we need to repent. Everyone remember that! You don't need
some big, life changing thing to happen to you in order for you to
repent or realize you need to repent. Just recognize what you're
doing, and in the words of President Uchtdorf, "STOP IT!"
Sunday night devotional was fantastic (again)! When they showed who
was speaking on the screen, it was just some MTC or church office guy,
not a general authority, so I didn't really look at the name. Then he
came out and sat on the stand....it was Stephen B. Allan. a.k.a.
President Allan, a.k.a. our old stake president! It was so cool!
Apparently he's like the manager over all the missionaries or
something. I was sitting second row right in front of him, and I swear
he looked right at me, but he must not have recognized me because then
he just looked away (I wasn't expecting him too). His talk was so
good, and he's hilarious. He spoke about working as hard as we can as
missionaries, and then when we're on the plane ride home, Heavenly
Father, throught the Spirit, can tell us "Well done, my good and
faithful servant." That is what I want. That is all I want out of my
mission, to make my Heavenly Father proud, so that's what I'm striving
for. Afterwards, I went up and shook his hand and told him who I was.
He remember setting my brothers apart and "Brooky" haha. He said he
absolutely loved my parents. Of course he did, how could anyone not?
:)
The language is coming along great. Speaking is going good, and
reading is becoming a lot easier. So is teaching. Our compionship
really knows how to work togethter, and I think we had our best lesson
to date yesterday. All of our "investigators" are progressing nicely,
and Pragad should be ready for baptism in a couple weeks. Dom is
taking a little longer, but he'll come around. I'm currently a few
chapters into Helaman in the Book of Mormon, where is everyone else?
I'll say it again, best book on the planet. If you haven't read it,
read it. If you aren't reading it right now, start today.
Mom - Thanks for the letters and packages! Haha yeah, I was a little
surprised when I didn't find bank papers, but I'll get them back to
you as soon as I get them. I honestly don't have any other treat
ideas. Sorry! But whatever I get will be great, it's so nice to have a
little taste of home. I'm glad to here that the doctor went well, and
that the weather has finally cleared up enough to get out and start
working in the yard (I really love my mission haha). That's fun that
Pam was there. Sounds like you definitely had a full weekend with the
party and all. Keep the "home" updates coming, I love them. Love you!
Dad - It was so great to hear from you! It sounds like work is going
great! It's sweet hearing about all the new hires and everything
that's going on there. I can totally hear Scott's voice when he talks
about the Angels haha. GO YANKS! Keep the updates on them coming. So
you're ALL taking golf lessons? Never saw that one coming, but that's
so sweet! Man, now you'll all be better than me when I get home. I'll
have to catch up. Keep me updated on how that goes. Love ya!
Laur - Thanks for the letter! It's great to hear how you're doing. And
thanks for the advice about the journal writing. I have the opposite
problem, writing too little. I write everyday, but usually only a few
lines. Since I got your letter, I've written a full page every night,
and I'm gonna keep it up.
Brooke - Weekly updates, Dii Maag! That was so sad hearing about Linc
being sick, but so cute when he talked about Jesus and Heavenly
Father. Couldn't help but get a little emotional at that. Sounds like
the Party went great! Give Linc a big birthday hug for me, and Carter
a hug just because! 5K sounds fun. Hilarious to hear about Derek dying
afterward (no offense D). And that story about Lincoln and Carter
chasing each other...I was rolling. Keep 'em coming.
Car - Thanks for the e-mail last week :) Love ya!
All my other sibs - Love you all! I would love to hear from you!
Friends - Love you all too! Love to hear from you too haha! Prest,
Lando, Red, Roper, Riley, and Austin, you'll all love it here. Keep
preparing. Can't wait to see you tomorrow Big Red!
Anyway, gotta go. Love you all!

ความรัก
Elder Sharp