Nothing like American Candy

July 26, 2010
Man life is great! I’m training an Elder named Elder Shipley, he's from New Jersey and is a stallion. Every single day I try and throw him out of his comfort zone over and over in order to show him how capable he really is and it's been great for the both of us. Sometimes as a new missionary you don't see how well you can speak and what kind of situations you can handle. It’s great! He’s so willing and eager to grow and work hard. I’ll admit my goal for this first week was "work him to the ground" there wasn't a second of "slow down" or "take a brake". We worked like crazy and we have both seen the hand of God every day, we count our miracles every night and are blown away at the ways we are being led. We get along really well it's so much fun to almost re-live my greenie days: eating all the crazy food, making it so spicy on purpose, and all the rest!
people say that on normal days we use only about one tenth of our brain power (could be false, I don't know) but as a trainer I feel like I’m forced to use a lot more than that, it's always saying "what can I do". It's helped me change my thoughts from "me" to "them", I think it's something that has really helped me understand my purpose as a missionary more and helped me want to work even harder.
Oh I got the package, thanks for everything it's great but I don't know if I’ll have a chance to use the blue suspenders. Every time I eat American candy I forget how good it is. I loved the book with the letters from everyone.
Well I’m out of time; tell Grandpa I’m praying for him and London too.
I love you all
Tyrel

Trainer

The baptism went great. It’s such a great feeling after teaching someone for so long and then seeing them enter into the one covenant that allows them into Gods kingdom. As I sat there after the baptism listening to Golf’s testimony my thoughts were being directed by the Spirit which is an amazing experience. I started thinking about how this baptism means I’ll be able to be with Golf and Ton for all of eternity. I think sometimes we don't entirely understand the implications of what we do in this church. When we say eternal life it's so much more then we can even remember. Sometimes I get into the mindset of "endure" till the end of the day, or till dinner but if we truly understand that everything we do has results. The people I have been able to see baptized will be with me in the next life and the happiness there is so much more then what we are able to feel here. Fear and doubt are merely tools of the adversary trying to make it hard for us to achieve our greatest potential and help others achieve theirs.

A couple days ago late at night a huge rain storm came in. We were trying to sleep but an occasional thunder or lightning would wake us up. There would first be a big burst of light followed by a huge bang that sometimes made the house shake a bit. There was one part of the night where I was laying awake thinking about my Area and what to do to help out investigators when the loudest bang and biggest flash of light exploded outside our window. It was so powerful that my whole body just hurt for a few seconds, it was the craziest feeling ever. I laid there and said "wow" and Elder Mitchell said he felt it too. Some of the thunder storms here are pretty intense.

President Smith called me yesterday calling me to be a trainer to a new missionary who is at this time flying over from America. I’ll admit I’m a bit nervous but way excited. I don’t know what happened, just a few months ago I was the new missionary and now I’m in change of teaching him Thai and about all their customs and how to be a missionary. Everything I’ve ever accomplished on my mission was only accomplished through the help of the Lord and I know this will be the same; I can’t do it on my own


Sounds like you had a great experience with that Baptist family, one of the funnest things about being a missionary is all the crazy questions you get asked and then trying to answer them using the scriptures.

I love you so much
Tyrel

PS. my card can't take out money from my account unless it's in checking. If you could switch that over it would be great.

Forgot to post last week

July 5, 2010
Well I just got back from being lost in the middle of Bangkok (man that's a big place) but it so happened that I found a tie shop and got 16 ties for about 6 dollars. The prices here in Thailand still kill me. I know I’m going to be blown away when I get home and have to pay more than one dollar for a full meal. But I think I’ll get over it =)
GUESS WHAT??????? This Sunday we are going to be having a baptism. His name is Don he's about 30 ish and is the most prepared investigator I’ve ever had. He knows the gospel better than most members. He always is talking in church and participating in class he says "Well if I want to learn I need to be involved". I’m telling you this man is teaching me as well, I now talk a lot more in church=) he really is sacrificing a lot to be in this church, his family are all catholic and are really high up in the church and don't like what he's doing. I wish you could hear his testimony and just talk with him. I’ll send you pictures.
This last week has been a real challenge for us. But it has really helped me appreciate hard times and challenges in life. We read in the scriptures that we are given challenges to make us strong. I think this week has been one of growth for us; we did everything we could to work as hard as we could but day after day appointment after appointment fell through and our "results" were really bad. In all reality I wasn’t stressed about it because I know Gods in charge and that his will will be done. This Sunday we had 6 investigators at church which is something we've never done before. Oh the blessings. I just love this gospel and the fact that Gods work will not come to naught (d&C 3;1)
Sorry this is short, it seems that the longer I’m here the less time I have. I love you all
Tyrel

Dog Gone

July 12, 2010
Sounds like a fun week, and as usual...busy! It sounds like it was a great experience for everyone; I hope I’ll be able to see it when I get home.
Colton is home! Man can you go up and smack him in the chest and tell him Hi for me!
The baptism this week went great! We had lots of people who came to see it. It so happened that after the font was filled there was a leak through a small pipe that we didn't know about. After listening to all the talks we all went over to the baptismal font opened the door and the water was gone. Everyone looked at me and I just smiled right back. To make a small story short we used buckets and in 10 minutes it was all back in order and Ton was baptized. After that he bore his testimony in front of everyone. He talked about how he found this church on his own through the internet; he talked about his conversion story and about how his life had been changed through this gospel. It was one of the most powerful testimonies I’ve ever heard. He already wants a calling and to help bring others into the church. This next week we have another baptism as well. His name is Golf; he's 19 years old and wants to convert the world to the gospel. He just got interviewed and is way excited. People come here and visit our ward and everyone thinks he's a member. I’ll send you pictures next week.

So this week we went on switch offs with the zone leaders which was awesome. We were out inviting down in some small streets when we turned down into this very small neighborhood. Okay I need to add something really quick. I’ve never seen more dogs on the streets in my life then here in Thailand. It doesn't matter where you look there are DOGS EVERYWHERE!!! Ok back to the story... I was with a Thai elder and we were talking about stuff when I saw a hole in a gate and I heard a bark. This is something I hear all day long and it's nothing unusual but for some reason all of the sudden I knew we needed to leave. The thought came into my head and a split second later I was walking backwards pushing my companion when a dog came flying out of the hole towards me. I have a small handbag I carry so I pulled it off my shoulder and brought it down on the head of the dog right as it lunged for me. This only made it madder. The Elder I was with didn't have anything so I jumped in front of him when five more dogs came out. I didn't know what I was going to do. The dogs here work like wolves sometimes to kill other dogs and stuff, so as you can imagine I was a bit on the scared side. So me and my handbag were fighting off these dogs for a while, while we were trying to back out of that neighborhood. Finally they gave up and left after they took my dictionary from my bag but we both escaped without a scratch. I couldn't believe it. If we would have kept walking we would have been stuck in that neighborhood up against a wall and probably wouldn't have been able to get out. It’s so great that God watches over his missionaries.

It's also the rainy season again here in Thailand and this last week we were just about to leave the house when it started to rain really hard. We just sighed and walked out into it. After a few minutes the streets were all flooded. We didn't have an appointment to we went inviting. While we were riding out bikes as our feet dipped in and out of the water passing people with water to their knees. But even in the midst of that all we were able to meet some people and get some return appointments. It’s such a wild experience inviting while it's flooding, but man is it ever fun.
Well I’d better go. I love you all
Tyrel
Ps. I’ll send pictures next week

Oh that I were an angel

June 28, 2010
This week was an exciting one. I guess I’ll start with zone conference. President Smith gave an amazing talk on the Atonement. It was so powerful and inspiring. That’s something I’ve studied so much and still grasp so little of it. I have no Doubt that if people truly understood the Atonement and just what Christ went through and how much it was focused on each and every one of us, people would do everything possible in this life to follow the Savior. It's so hard to see less actives and people I meet on the street every day who really just don't understand what this life is all about, sometimes I feel like Alma when he said "Oh that I were an angel and could have the wish of mine heart...that I might declare repentance with the voice of angels..." I want so badly to show every single person the things they individually chose before this life: Christ, eternal life, heavenly direction. There are sometimes I’m talking to someone and it just kills me inside that they just can't see it. In the book "Our Search for Happiness" Elder Ballard spoke about the word "Remember", this is exactly what I spend every effort doing, helping people remember what they’re here for, who really can help them and where that all can go... when people say this is the greatest work on earth, it truly is. I honestly can’t describe in words how much I love this work and the opportunity I have to give ALL to others and my Father in Heaven.

This week we were in a meeting at the church when a huge explosion went off outside and the whole building shook. After a while we went out to see what happened. Someone had placed a bomb in a building about 50 yards from the church. When it went off there was a big gas tank that exploded with it. There was a huge cloud of fire. It ended up blowing up part of a building and killing some people. When we went to see what happened we found a man who had been in the middle of it all. I’m not going to describe it but he was as close to dead as you could be. The Police finally showed up took care of the man though.

The true test of your language ability is talking to little kids, if they can understand you and you can understand their overly fast speech then your okay. Every Tuesday we teach English at the church. There is a member who teaches the little kids and we usually teach the advanced class. This past week that member wasn’t able to make it so the Zone leaders taught the advanced class and we were given the little kid class. I knew I was in for it when I walked into a room of about 30+ little kids under the age of 12. I went in scared to death. When I walked in and they were running everywhere and talking as loud as they could. To make a long story short Elder Michell and I had one of the greatest times teaching ever. The kids were so funny there were times I couldn't stop laughing. This has been the matter of the mission. I end up doing things that are a bit scary and afterwards I love it to death. I just can't say it enough...I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!
Well I’m out of time. I love you all
Tyrel
Ps. easy, easy... no dating for another 8 or so months...