More snakes, Cool!!!

June 21, 2010
This week was great and I’m loving the new callings. I’m in charge of four elders one of which is a Thai missionary so every week I have to give training in Thai which is way fun. This past week we meet with the bishop and discussed the ward and what we could do to help it grow. This week elder Mitchell and I have been asked to give talks at a special fireside on missionary work. There’s a lot going on but I love it.

This week we have seen a lot of great progression in our area and next week should be even better. I feel so blessed, we have two investigators who will be baptized in the next month and both of them are so awesome. I just talked to one of them last night on the phone and he said I want to bring a friend to our next appointment because I want a temple here in Thailand so bad and I know if I bring my friends we will get one faster. They understand so well. I really am so amazed. Their names are: golf and don.

This week we had a meeting with some of the stake leaders and our ward. I’ve never really had a temper but this week while in that meeting we had members start lying about us to the stake leaders right in front of our faces about how we do everything wrong and aren't doing things the way we should. I was sitting there knowing that everything they were saying was false and I wanted to really defend ourselves. One of the hardest things to hear someone tell me is that I’m lazy and don't work. I wanted to say so many things, the fact is we work hard and I mean dang hard, I’ve never worked harder on anything in my whole life. But I realized that arguing would only make more problems so we just sat there and took it all. Afterwards I informed them we would try harder in those areas and left it at that. The Lord really helped me in that situation. Oh the blessings of a missionary

We went to teach a man we meet on the street last week at his house. We had a great lesson, he broke down while talking about his life and his past and how he wanted to change it. Something you never see here in Thailand is anyone crying especially a man. This was an awesome experience. We showed him exactly what would help him and bore powerful testimony. Isn’t the gospel great, in the sense that it can change lives of grief and pain into one of happiness. It’s such a blessing to see this happen every day.

This week we also went to see one of our investigators who is a snake trainer or something like that. I asked "can I see your snakes?" and he got all excited and said "of course". It was an experience. It first started when he opened a box a little bit so I could see in. I could see part of a snake but couldn't see it very well. He said get closer and take a look. I leaned over the box and when my face was only about a foot away from the box this big cobra jumped up with its head all swollen only about a foot away from my face. I moved faster than I’ve ever moved before. It started striking but didn't get me. Then he said he had some tame snakes that weighed about 140 pounds. We opened up the box and got it out to play with it, this was the biggest python I’ve ever seen. Then he said he had another one that he wanted to show us. We opened it and this other snake almost as big as the first one started striking at us. It was so CRAZY!!! I will have you know that the one I almost hit a couple weeks ago was close to the same size as these ones. I’m going to attach some videos for you.

Well I must go. I love you all
Tyrel

Ps Don't worry I didn't get bit. In all reality it came close. That really big snake trying to bite the guy went after me too, but obviously I'm still alive... it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love ya

Pictures

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Senior

June 14, 2010
Life back home sounds great. I’m so glad everything is going just peachy! I’m glad it's been decided no one will be getting married till I get home, just make sure you remember that. if you need to write it down and put it on the fridge, the mirrors, the front door, the table and everything else then so be it =)

Well it's true, I’ve moved out of my last area into a place in the upper part of Bangkok called Bankean. President Smith just called me to be a senior companion and a district leader, no pressure right! It’s great though I love it to death. My new companion -Elder Michel and I are just loving the work here. The ward is very small (maybe 30 people). We’ve got some great investigators we're teaching right now who are planning on getting baptized next month. I’ll admit, being the senior companion is a bit different then I’ve experienced before. I’m now the one in the lessons that speaks when no one knows what to say, it was always great before because if I ever got stuck before I would just turn to my companion and he would handle the situation or answer the question that I didn't understand. I really do love it though, my language ability is growing so much, and it's only going to get better. I don't know what it is about another language but it's one of the funnest things I’ve ever done. It’s incredible all the things a language can do and all the fun you can have. In Thai there are three level of speech. There is a royal level: God the king... there is the formal level: government officials, how you talk if you’re giving a talk and then the common language which is just your every day on the street language. It’s so fun because you can be talking about the same thing but depending on who you’re talking to you have to use one of three words. And sometimes of you use the wrong word...well...it's not appropriate =) but all in all life is great, in all reality it couldn't be better.

The big focus of the church right now in Thailand is preparing for a Temple. It’s something that is very important for the members. The closest temple is in Hong Kong and it takes a lot of time and money to get there. There has been a lot of training for the leaders of the church here and there is some great progression being made. President Smith wants me to build up this ward again, at one point there were lots of members that slowly disappeared. I can't wait to see the progression here.

Well I don't have a lot of time right now. I love you all so much. You’re the greatest
Tyrel

Ps. that's great about Rachel and Josh getting their mission calls. Tell them congrats for me

The rest of the story

I’ll tell you what I told Tara about the snake: the snake story ends like this: when we were both about two feet from each other I pulled one of those moves you see in the cartoons where they start running but don't move for a minute and then they speed off. As soon as I saw the snake (HUGE AND FAST) I put my feet on the ground and started running backwards while I was still on my bike. The snake probably was scared to death and decided against whatever he had planned. Needless to say he sped off as fast as he could move which was pretty dang fast! It didn't bite me or give me a hug =) if only you knew the animals in my back yard (insert evil chuckle here) but we won't talk about those =)

There is a very good chance this is my last week here in Korat. I’ll admit I don't want to go in the least but if I’m needed somewhere else I’m more than willing to go. The members here are so great. There is one guy named dam (meaning "black") who helps us teach a lot and has a way sweet family who are way active in the gospel. I want to go on and on about all the members but it would take forever to tell you all about them.

You won't even believe what I found this past week! Last week Elder Dearden had to go down to Bangkok to extend his visa. While we were down there another elder told us about a store that had strait up American food. We went there and I found some Teddy Grahams. I wanted to grab as many boxes as I could hold, sit on the ground in the corner and just cry with joy. It’s true the price was out of the roof and going without a couple meals might be the result but I got a box of chocolate ones, and boy are they delicious.

Addressing your question of coming home. I have two options on a date to go home. There’s the middle of June and the middle of May. The group I came in with are leaving at both times. The things I’m considering is finding work, possibly taking collage classes before fall semester. It’s something that doesn't need to be decided for a few more months and I really don't know yet what I should do. If you have any thoughts or suggestions let me know.

Right now we have two people who are really close to baptism, their names are Bom and Somneuk. They have both been coming to church for a while and are doing really well. This past week Bom said he wanted to be baptized on the 27th of this month. Somneuk is giving up smoking and drinking right now but it really shouldn't be too long for him either.
I love you all, keep it up.

Tyrel

PLEASE DON'T EVEN THINK ANOUT GETTING MARRIED BEFORE I GET HOME!!!!