November 11, 2012

Buriram! Yeah, I'm still here. Hey Fam and Friends, how's it going?
It's going pretty good here in good 'ole Buriram. This last week was a
quick one with Transfers and everything going on. I told you what we
did Monday during the day (the mountain and temple, way sweet). That
night, we went around and tried to visit some LA's, and our
investigators. Not a single person was home. We just trekked back and
forth across the city (luckily it's not a very big city), trying to
make phone calls, but got nothing. So we went and got some food and
then went home to see if we could get some other phone calls made and
what not. Tuesday, we went and visited Sis. Nong. She's doing a bit
better, she will just always need someone going over there pretty
often to visit her (that's why we need to get home/visiting teaching
established here). Then we went inviting and handed out some English
fliers. Didn't get much. English class that night was pretty stressful
at first, but then turned out pretty good. We got there around 6, set
up, and waited. 6:30 rolls around...nobody. 6:45, one person. Finally
at like 7:10, about 9 people come in. What the? But whatever, it's
just the "Thai way." It was the review day, so we bought a bunch of
candy and played Jeopardy. Man, it's funny to see how intense that
game can get sometimes. If you don't IMMEDIATELY put points up on the
board, people freak! Hilarious. Of course, we still didn't know who
was moving at that time, like we figured, so we basically both said
goodbye to a lot of people, just in case. Wednesday we had District
meeting in Surin. The Zone Leaders called us on the way there with
moves information. Elder Segura moved from here, and Elder Adams moved
from Surin, so it's me and Elder Hunsaker left in the District. Once
we got back from Surin, we went around and visited a bunch of the
members so E. Segura could say goodbye. He was pretty bummed about
leaving, we both really got to like this area. We were going to go
back and pack around 7, but the power was out at our house again, so
we went to the church and a couple more members met us there to say
good-bye.When we went back to the house, the power was back on, so he
flew and got packed. I showered and chilled for a little bit, and
tried to get some things cleaned up for my new comp. At 11, we went
over to the bus station. Sis. Ooy, and two members, Sis. Mai (not
Ooy's daughter) and Sis. Ann came to see us off. Then a 5 hour bus
ride to Bangkok. We got in at about 4:15 and hopped in a taxi to go
over to the church. First ones there, yeah buddy. And...the gate was
locked. There's a night guard, so he opened it up once we got his
attention, but he had to key to get inside, so we sat there for a
while. A couple of other Elders showed up, walked behind the church,
and then walked out through the front door. They wouldn't tell us how
they did it, but I'm not complaining. All of the other missionaries
showed up, and it was great seeing them. I love seeing all of the
people that I served with, especially my MTC group and E. Raven. Good
times. Transfers meeting started, and my new comp is Elder
Christensen. He moved here from Bangkok. He's pretty good, and he's
actually the Elder that took me Dan Jones-ing when I first got here.
After the meeting, my MTC group had to go renew our visas, and then we
went to the bus station. We were hoping to get out of there around
4:30 but there wasn't a bus until 9! SO LONG! We went to the mall and
got McDonalds while we waited, so I guess it wasn't too bad. The last
3 days have been spent planning and visiting less-active members with
the Petersons, the senior couple who came here to do training. It was
a great last half of the week. I really want to focus on building up
the branch and helping it to function well this transfer, so the
training they gave will be really helpful. Elder Christensen is going
to be a big help, too. He's on transfers 12, so he knows how to work
things and is really good with the language, and is a really hard
worker. So I'll learn a lot for sure. Today is just chill, probably
going to visit some more less-actives with the Petersons. We weren't
able to meet with Mai or Mii this last week, but hopefully a few times
in the coming days. This Thursday, we have Mission Tour with the
member of the Seventy who is over the Asia area, Elder Watson. Should
be great.
Sounds like it's freezing back home! Yeah, you all enjoy that, and
I'll enjoy 95 (although some snow actually wouldn't sound TOO bad
right now). It's going to be so weird going home, so cold and so dry.
And I won't constantly be wet with sweat (seriously, you're soaked all
day and there's nothing you can do about it, so you just get used to
it. Not to great for the white shirts though). Major bummer about the
election! We saw it happen on a tv at a little restaurant right when
the results came in. Mitt was doing ok, then BOOM! Obama won. Too bad.
But I like the way Pres. Senior put it at transfers "I'm sure you've
all heard about the election, and I'm so happy to say that Pres. Obama
got re-elected" (we were all a bit confused at this point) "That just
means that the Lord is preparing for the 2nd Coming a lot quicker."
The whole room cracked up.
Well gotta go! I love you all! The church is true! And less than two
months and I'll be talking to you!
Love, Elder Sharp