Pakkret. Spoiled. and Happy.

October 20, 2013

hello all! so. i know everyone is wondering. what is it like in thailand?

well i will gladly tell you. 

it is big. 

it is busy. 

 

i got a bike on saturday... so my trainer and i (her name is sister tilley) spent the first few days riding around in taxis. i should have relished them more. now that i have a bike... no more taxis. and no more nice ac. 

 

i hear i'm pretty spoiled. here we are over the international branch (of which there are only 2 in thailand...) and most people never serve in bangkok. so i'll get a nice city accent before i get sent to the boonies. it was really weird. i went in thinking transfers would be like off of the district. but that's a church sponsored thing... so it has to be reverent. ours was like a game show version. there was yelling and screaming... it was nuts. all the sudden my picture pops up, and another sisters picture pops up, all the sudden she is running and screaming at me and telling me she loves me and she is so excited for everything........... i just sat down. where am i going? i have no idea. i could have been going to laos for all i knew. turns out, i'm in bangkok. it's called pakkret. still don't really know where that's at.... but i figure all; in good time. 

 

i'm not fluent yet. just in case you were making bets. most of the time i listen really hard when my companion is talking. and she looks at me and asks if i'm ok. yeahhhhhh... just really super focused. then she'll ask me if i have anything to add... nope. all my thought processes were going into listening. give me a minute to think... 

 

we also teach english. every tuesday night. after member referrals, one of the main places they get referrals from is the english classes. i haven't gotten to do it yet. that's tomorrow. but we're teaching the introductory class. which is gospel-related topics. probably because that's the only thing they really teach you in the mtc. they don't want us to get too out of our league yet. 

 

so i didn't have a bike for the first few days. i think i mentioned that already. so we go to the place that they usually buy bikes from... and they don't have one tall enough for me. go figure. one of the first words i learned here was "soooooooon!" (long "oo" like food) it means tall. the longer you make the vowel, the taller it must mean you are right? it's a loooooong vowel. anyway, that was friday. the tallest bike they had was a 16". no. i don't think so. so we decided we'd wait. they were supposed to get in some 18" bikes in 5 days. so we thought we'd look around some more. later, we got a call from one of the member families in nichada (were the international/expats live) and they asked if we'd gotten the bike situation figured out yet. we told them no, and they told us about a place that they bought bikes from that the mission actually used to buy their bikes from before they started having the missionaries buy their own. we walk in there... oh it's the missionaries! it's nice to be recognized. most people don't know who christ even is, let alone the weird kids in nice clothes on bikes... but they went straight for a bike. a trek even. deal. done. next thing i know they were wheeling it in the back to get it set up with a kickstand, lights, rack and the works. i was in heaven. or really really really close. i almost asked them if they watched the tour de france, but i didn't know how to say that in thai. and i was just too much freaking out to remember. 

 

bike. check. 

it's snazzy. i love earnest. (that's it's name.)

 

so. about missionary work. i think i should at least talk a little about that eh? we study. we study a LOT. i thought it was a lot of studying in the mtc... but that was split up... now it's like boom. 4 hours. but i love it. and sister tilley is soooo good! if i can grow up (i'm a baby missionary right now) to be like her, and to speak as good as she does, i will be a very happy missionary. 

 

my first fully day here we went and taught a girl that was a friend of one of the member families. she works for them and has been having a few troubles in her life lately. we taught her about the restoration. (well... sister tilley taught most of it. she'd look at me, and i would say my few lines. then she would continue.) it is suddenly becoming apparent to me why role playing is so important. it didn't really make sense to me in the mtc. ok. we're going to teach this spoon, or this stuffed creature... now we are actually teaching a person. so it is good to thing about what that person is thinking. and it is really good to think about how i can best teach them - about the restoration, the gospel, or whatever. it's definitely an interesting experience. 

 

it has been an interesting experience for me. like everything. i remember dad telling me that motorcycles were dangerous. i think at this point they would be safer than riding my bike on the bangkok streets. at least then i would be moving at the same speed as the rest of traffic. but it gives me a lot of time to think. like a 40 minute long prayer every single day. to and from anywhere. i remember telling the lord that i wasn't brave. and you know what he said? nothing. he knows already. he knows that this is not in my comfort zone. in fact, everything about this is pushing me in every way possible. talking to people... talking to people in a language i barely understand... being afraid of sounding like an idiot, which i'm sure i do often. being afraid of not being good enough... but even with all of these fears, i have a much greater assurance of the lord's love for me. he knows all of this. and he wants me to overcome it. he gave me this chance to grow, and curling up in a ball doesn't help much. so ready or not thailand! here i come!
 

here is our activity for tonight. 

one of the brothers in the branch (cutest old thai man on the face of this planet. seriously.) wants to go inviting with me and sister tilley. it basically goes like this. we walk around. he goes up to hand someone a pass along card, and i get to do the talking. no joke. that was his request. pointing at me and saying 'she practice speaking thai!' oh boy. i'll keep you posted on that one. 

something different about thailand. everything here is tall. it reminds me of a mix between instanbul and jerusalem. tall buildings. hot. humid. we live on the 8th floor of our condo building. (it's small... but i think it might actually be bigger than brooke's apartment...) just kidding. i don't know if i've ever been in the 8th floor of anything. other than maybe a hospital. now i live 8 floors up. and bike everywhere. i said i wanted to know what city life was like. i definitely got my wish. i said i wanted to bike everywhere.... i DEFINITELY got my wish there. i think i should stop wishing for things... or maybe wish for a golf cart and a million investigators. with baptismal dates. that'd be nice. 

well... that's all for now!

my favorite quote: the work is working!

in soooo many ways! 

love you all! 

sister in pakkret. 

 

To the MISSION FIELD:

 

airplane snacks anyone?

 

downtown bangkok view from the hotel

 

my morning view now

 

 

my companion

my first KFC in Thailand

 

Missionary Arrival

October 16, 2013

 

Dear Brother and Sister Ellis:

 

We are happy to report that your daughter arrived safely in Bangkok.  She is in good spirits and is anxious to begin laboring in the Lord’s vineyard in Thailand.  I love her enthusiasm and spirit.  She will be an amazing missionary. Your daughter will be oriented today by the Office Couple Elder and Sister Jones, the Mission Assistants and also by Sister Senior and me.  She will experience her first opportunity to meet people on the street in a “Dan Jones” street contacting experience later today.    Later this evening, Sister Ellis and her group will be joining my wife and me for dinner at the Mission Home.

Sister Ellis will receive her first assignment tomorrow morning.  Preparation day will be on Monday and she will be able to email you each week.  I am sure she will have much to share regarding her experiences with Thailand, missionary activities and first Sunday in her assigned area.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions during Sister Ellis’s missionary service.

 

Sincerely,

President and Sister Senior

 

 

Mission Home Address:

THAILAND BANGKOK MISSION
1645/6 New Phetchburi Road
Makkasan, Ratchathewi
Bangkok 10400

They Love Foiling My Plans...

October 9, 2013

we don't leave early in the morning on monday. we are supposed to report to the travel office at 2. we then board the trax, go to the airport, and then we're off! so no taking great joy in making my luggage deliberately *thunk* *thunk* *thunk* down the stairs...

i hope the package gets here too! i don't really know what the mailroom does if you get mail after you leave... maybe they do a version of storage wars. they bid on the packages and hope that they get something good in them ;)

 

so what is up with the government??? we've heard things, and yet none of it makes sense. seriously. a war could have started and we probably wouldn't know... unless we received a reassignment. that's about the extent of our news here. 

 

other things of note: i got a super awesome book from aunt kathy this week! it was "it's not easy being green" by jim hensen (the creator of the muppets). such a cute book. and it had so many good thoughts about life. and about change. and about being true to who you are. a perfect book for a missionary. 

and that it's about a frog. just perfect.

so i managed to live away from home for 5 years... and never really did anything horrible to my clothes. until i came to the mtc. maybe i should have paid more attention to them... or just not brought a silk shirt with me. however it happened...i 'm just grateful that it happened now, and not in the field. (i've heard silk doesn't do so well in thailand anyways... it's probably for the best.)

 

wasn't conference fantastic? 

and being in the mtc just made it about the coolest thing ever. one of the funniest things was when they announced that the intermediate hymn would be called to serve. me and about every other missionary in the room jumped out of our chairs we were so excited! that's one that i wish i could have filmed. 

 

so sunday night for devotional... instead of hearing another speaker (i think my brain would have exploded... we had a devotional by Vocal Point! BYU's acapella group...)

it was great. 

they sang a song written by one of the members, a medley of come come ye saints and "noyana". you would love it. maybe the have it somewhere? but they did what they called a "hymn share" where certain members would give a short thought and then they'd sing a hymn. 

one of them showed us his sleeves. they were too short. (i thought i could relate)

but he gave a really good parable to the short sleeves. 

he said to not focus on how it fits. 

because the gospel fits everyone differently. 

it might feel too small

or itchy

or tight...

but just think about who's gospel it is and the name that is on your tag. 

who are you representing?

he also said "enduring to the end is not crawling to the finish line... it is doing it with a smile on your face." (my thought: even if you ARE crawling.)

my letter today might be a little bit different... 

i figured since we're nearing the end of our stay in the mtc, i might reflect a little on the things that i've learned here. (i definitely won't do all... but i'll say enough to let you know i'm actually doing SOMETHING here...)

i've learned that there are showers that drain and showers that don't... 

you eat breakfast at the temple on pdays

there are pizza days! 

they serve ice cream on wednesdays and sundays

they serve bts cake on tuesdays. 

you can make your teacher laugh by calling them a ghost (the would "you" with a different tone...), giving them half eaten cookies (sister barber says she didn't... but it looked fairly suspish...), or calling this child a challenge. when you meant to say earth. hmmmm. 

conference is just better at the mtc.

some people can just learn how to play volleyball in a month. other people it takes practicing for years. 

the secret rooms where they have printers.

where narnia is. in the bathroom. seriously. there is a bathroom with a door... and a bedroom in it. 

the lord's time travels differently than other time.

i can speak thai! not well... but still.

what page 33 of the white handbook says.

"thug khon choob cookie!" (everybody likes cookies! our teacher said that when we had cookies and wouldn't share... we asked him if he liked cookies. he gave us this look like *duh* and then said...)

the gospel and the atonement are the same thing

the spirit makes things move. even lazy people like me.

there are miracles that happen every day. and we see it first hand here.

i make the gospel too complicated. and the more i understand it... the simpler (and more complex) it seems to get.

i am not the real teacher.

this gospel requires everything we have. 

and miracles require diligence. not ability.

i love you all. 

so very very very much! 

this work is working.

in me. in all of us. 

and it is so GREAT!

:)

til next week!

(and then i'll be in thailand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

choge dii! (good luck!)

 

 

guess who I found!?

(Jessica and a friend - Marissa Lewis)

it says boo.

 

we wanted to make the 7 oclock session this morning... which means we ran out of our apartment with about 2 minutes to get ready. but what a beautiful morning!!!

 

 

 

Sifting Sand to find Gold Flakes.

October 2, 2013

1.5 weeks left! holy cow were did the time go?

 

i remember thinking that october would never come. (first august 14... now october 14...) i remember the wives of our branch presidency saying that it would just fly by. and me thinking - this was the LONGEST 3 days of my life!!! there is no way!!! and yet. here it is. 

 

i think one of the cantonese elders said it best. "before i came to the mtc, i expected to leave with this amazing testimony, a ton of doctrinal knowledge, and to speak the language fluently. now we are about ready to leave... i don't have a perfect understanding, my testimony still has a lot of room to grow, and i have to explain it all in a language that i don't even know." amen elder. 

 

so i think pretty much the whole world knows what i did this week. i sang in the conference center! (must be read using a sing-song voice). talk about amazing. i got the best seat ever. right below the biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig pipes! my feet kept vibrating when she'd play the big huge chords. i was pretty close to heaven right then. i kept praying that they'd show me on the screen for just one second. enough for you all to know i was "ok". but he was good enough to bless me with a few more. 

 

i can't even explain to you how much stress there was in preparing for it. a mulititude of make-up checks, dress checks pretty much every single day before we sang. they told us they wanted 'jeweled-toned-collared-shirts'. ummmmm. i'm going to thailand? what part of that means that i have a jewel toned collared long sleeved blouse in my suitcase? yeah. that's what i thought. but we were blessed by the old navy fairy. i knew they still had some good! i had more blush on my face then i knew what to do with... it felt like she took a drill with a blush brush attached to the end of it right to my face. and then trying to make my face as long as possible all week long so that my vowels would be nice and loooooooooooooong. just in case you didn't see the sheer concentration on my face. and then they tell us to have happy eyes. i think my brain is going to explode! ;) 

 

but by the goodness of heavenly father, he waited until the day after. i woke up the next morning with some sinus something. i didn't know a person could make that much mucous in such a short amount of time. i have a personal kleenex box on my desk. 

 

i think i have a few more favorite songs now. but it was quite an amazing experience. we didn't get to hear as much of the talks... as strange as it sounds, the conference center is built for the audience. not the singers. by the time the talks echoed back to us, there were about 4 different talks all going on at the same time. so it's a good thing they re-broadcast it to us this saturday. so we get to go watch it when the elders go to priesthood. 

 

on sunday we had mission conference. they usually do a devotional for the sisters instead of relief society (which is always amazing) but mission conference is equally as fantastic. this week, i have so many notes my hand was rebelling and refusing to hold a pen anymore. the computer is defnitely a nice change. 

president brady talked about "something that will help you learn faster, grow closer to the spirit, and change your life in ways you never imagined..." sounds pretty awesome huh? he talked about having a nightly devotional between you and the lord. a time when you can give an accounting to the lord for how you have used the time that he has given you over the course of the day. something i really liked was something he heard from a missionary "you won't have a wasted life/mission is everything EVERYDAY is right between you and the lord." he talked about it being our personal appointment with the lord. (we wouldn't be late to one of those right?) and that the answers we are seeking will come gradually as we continually approach him and live our lives more and more in harmony with his will. 

 

sister roach is one of the mtc president's wives. i really liked one thing she said. "we wait, watch and WORK for promised blessings to be fulfilled."

president roach was talking about eternal perspective. we need to stand back and look at the big picture. this helps us realize and confirm our place in the lord's plan. to keep an eternal perspective, we need to 1. know who you are 2. know your purpose and 3. strive to be diligent and obedient. he talked about what his mom said when he was on his mission - "when you are discouraged, work. when you are homesick, work. when you are sad, work. when you are happy, work." and "you only need to decide once to be obedient." he also told a story about someone giving you a handful of sand and promising that there is gold in it. what do you do? do you just throw it away? or do you sit there and sift through it, slowly turning that sand over and over again... until you finally see the flecks of gold that were there all along? :)

 

sister nally is my favorite. she gave a list of things for us (missionaries) to do in order to receive power from the lord. but i think it goes for anyone. 1. set goals. 2. be obedient. 3. be selfless. 4. be diligent. she told a story about tad r callister wrestling his children when they were younger. he would pin them to the ground and ask them if they gave up. if they would say yes, he would say "no! you never give up!" eventually they started to get it. "do you give up??" "no dad! we NEVER give up!" sister nally then said that you can see it in the eyes and faces of good missionaries. HANG IN THERE.

 

president nally got up and spoke last. i don't quite get how all of these old people can still be all googly-eyed... he told the story about samuel smith, the very first missionary. in describing effecitve missionaries, he said the lord uses dedication and effort. that they are unafraid and bold. that discomfort never interferes with their labors. and that they have an unshakeable testimony of joseph smith. 

 

i'm almost done with the book of mormon! i managed to read alma in 4 days... and most of 3 nephi in one. the speaker from yesterday talked about reading the book of mormon like a book. instead of reading simply verse by verse. but i can definitely feel the power of the book of mormon as i have been trying to understand the stories behind it. i don't know who said this, but "there is power in the book of mormon that will begin to flow into our lives the moment we begin a sincere study of it."

other random (but good) quotes of the week:

miracles come from diligency, not ability

life is good. but it is SWEET because of the gospel.

sometimes the only way out of a problem is THROUGH it.

we are rewriting the course of history. 

this sacrifice is hard for me... but it will mean the world to someone else. 

 

tonight you will hear english as it was meant to be spoken. (our speaker last night had an english accent. so awesome.) he basically told us how awesome our church is. i agree. and i am proud to be part of an amazing church that only does what the savior would do. he talked about after the earthquake in japan, missionaries going out to help clean shinto shrines. and after the tsunamis in india, helping rebuild some islamic villages... they asked us if we could help them find some more scriptures, because theirs had all been destroyed. so we bough 700 korans. it really made me aware of how i need to be as a missionary. this is god's work. i may be his missionary, but those are his children. and i need to be respectful of all of their beliefs as i go out and teach. 

 

random story. we have a plethora of bananas in our room. do i know how they got there... not really. and i don't know if i really want to. but i overheard a few of the elders debating the best method of hanging bananas. when i asked why (dangerous question) they replied that they were going to hang them from a tree. and see how long it took for someone to take them down.....

 

i have also seen an elder jeffords and sharp here. i think they recognized me before i recognized them. (maybe because my clone is running around in rexburg)

i also met a sister jamieson from nampa. small small small world!

 

and a pre-happy birthday to my little brian-man! :) happy number 12!!! love your guts! 

 

 

i love you all! 

the work is working!!! 

sister ellis

 

Life at the MTC:

 

 and isn't that companionship love right there?

 

look at the sign behind the elder. 
(Please do not sit on the... )

 

singing! :)

 

my view.  

my companions

my zone. love these girls!!

 

my sick face :(

 

An Old Fisherman's Tales

September 25, 2013


on another note, just to remind you of what i have to deal with on a daily basis... we have 6 elders in our district. they amuse themselves at dinner by slurping jello. like whole. as in like jello in a cup that is probably 16 ounces or so, full of jello. which they flip over on to their plate and then *wwfooop!* jello gone. the less successful times include a lot of gagging a choking. but a few of our elders have gotten pretty good at making the jello simply disappear. elder sugihara managed to eat 7 jellos.

yeah.

 

a couple of thoughts from this last week. there is so much to tell!

we've been singing like crazy this last week prepping for the general RS broadcast... there have been some really good times. and some less than ideal moments. like the time they told us that we all needed to wear jewel-toned collared shirts. as in the exact type of shirt i did NOT bring to go on a mission to bangkok, thailand. that was a little stressful. so the $20 charge on my card... that was the beautiful shirt i will be wearing for that. but all is well! 

 

in choir we've been talking a lot about the songs we're singing. i'm not going to spoil them for you... because they are going to be SAWEEEEEEET! but i did come away from practice this morning with one very definite thought. 

"be who and what you committed to be."

that includes going on missions, going to school, getting a job, and basically this whole entire life. we came here because we were committed to seeing it through. it's our job in life to be the people that we told god we would be. and become what we came here to become. he's gonna help us the whole time. 

 

i've been cruising through the book of mormon - it's my goal to finish the whole thing before i leave in *gasp* 2.something weeks! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! 

i made it through alma in 4 days. i think that's definitely a record for me. but it definitely has made me more aware of the story of the book of mormon. it's pretty fantastic. and i NEVER realized how completely ALL ABOUT missionary work it is! i mean... you turn around and mormon goes off telling another story about another amazing missionary! i know that i have been lapping it up. i mean, there is no better way to prepare for a mission than reading about great missionaries! i think my favorite was getting to helaman and reading about nephi and lehi. i think i just used to skip over those guys. a lot. i mean - they pretty much converted ALL of the lamanites. in the course of just a few years. and it all started with just one missionary companionship. holy cow. not that i plan on converting a whole country or anything... but it just shows you what the power of the lord can do. it also shows the importance of conversion. we keep going back to this same elder bednar talk about the "character of christ" - but he talks about conversion. he talks about the people of ammon, and how they had a knowledge of the truth (aka testimony) but it was those who had a knowledge and were converted to the gospel that never fell away. so it takes both of them. 

 

"there's no such thing as an unmoved mover"

 

our devotional last night was from don r clark (born in rexyburg idaho!) 

it was fantastic. 

he started off with a quote. 

"first you run with your heart, then you run with your mind, THEN you run with your feet."

this missionary thing is a thing of heart. 

i'm not going to get it all right the first time. i gotta leave my brain out of it and truly learn to rely on my heavenly father through all of this. 

but he gave some promises. and i think that this applies to all missionaries. with a name badge and without. 

 

D&C 84:88 he will be with us. always.

D&C 31:2-3, 100:1-2 our families will be blessed for our service.

D&C 18:15-16 real JOY. "this work only works when it is based on LOVE"
D&C 31:5, 62:3 forgiveness comes through serving God
D&C 24:12 "talk to as many people as you can each day!" - he will make us strong when we choose to open our mouths. he will put the words that we need there.
Matt 4:19 to be a great fisherman: 

 

we must know where the fish ARE, know what they NEED, know what they LIKE to eat, and know what they WANT. 

"fisherman who catch fish are the ones with their lines in at the right depth: 80% of the fish are in 10% of the water." we have to know where they are.

Heavenly Father knows where the fish are. (John 21:6)

he said something else. our nets don't have to be empty. if we ask our Heavenly Father, he will help us fill our nets. 

 

"We need you to be what is needed"

funny story. so there are some sisters here from thailand that are going to serve in temple square. they are here learning english. she was wearing a scarf yesterday. so we asked her if it was hot in thailand. her laugh sounded especially ominous. (as ominous as a cute asian high pitched laugh can sound) she went on to tell us how it is pretty good from september to january... but then told us that it is so hot from april to august. ugh. sister peterson said "i'm gonna dieeee!" then this cute little sister (who is probably 5' nothin) says "not die..... but almost!" 

how reassuring. 

 

we haven't heard anything about our visas yet... they usually don't have problems with the thai visas. we've been hearing a lot about reassignments from brazil, argentina and even some in denmark. but we don't even get out flight plans til two weeks before we leave. (Ahgsdfaafsdhshlals that's this week! maybe.) if not, we'll probably find out as it gets closer to leaving. 

alright. i think that is all for now. 

i love you tons and tons and tons! 

fight that good fight! finish strong! 

loves! 

sista ellis

 

 

too much rock for one hand

A Week in A Day.

September 18, 2013

it's amazing how quick this time flies!

i remember a month ago, walking in the front door to the mtc. 

today, i waited at the curb for new missionaries. 

i was the mean sister that walked away with their suitcases...

actually no. they told us to make mom happy. they also told us we could take up to 4 minutes. i thought it was  pretty generous. ;)

saturday was our halfway mark. 

holy cow. 

i'm gonna be in thailand in 4 weeks. 

scary. 

 

i don't speak thai. 

is that a problem?

so we have the "TALL" program that helps us learn the language. it's been a little tempermental for the last week... so we tried listening to general conference in thai. i don't know if that was a smart or a very dumb thing to do. i did recognize a few words. like prayer. and children. and earth. and i actually understood the testimonies at the end. it was pretty cool. i just can't wait til i understand the whole thing!!!!

 

i've found it to be really hard to condense the whole week into a few hundred words. it doesn't work so well. but i'll keep trying.

 

we had a pretty awesome experience last week at devo. we sang joseph smith's first prayer - an absolutely gorgeous arrangement. it gave me shivers the whole time. but i think better than the singing is actually going to choir. the conductor is a seminary or institute teacher... so he knows how to keep youngins' entertained. Or maybe just missionaries. We think that things are so funny here... that probably wouldn't be as funny anywhere else. we were singing the song, and he kept making bird sounds and making us think about running rivers and the breeze... to try and get us to really paint a picture while we were singing the song. then he started telling us the story of the first vision. and what led up to it. and how we should really be singing the song. it was probably the first time that i really realized that this is a story about a boy. at 14 year old boy at that. who saw God the father and jesus christ and that they called him by name. while we were singing that part, we slowed down, and just sang "joseph" like heavenly father would have said it if he were talking to his child. hear him. another pause. then a huge shout as all of us came together in our 5 parts to sing the phrase "oh how sweet the word!" i never realized that there was a narrator in that song. but right after we got done singing that part, the director stops us and tells us to sing that part with our whole hearts. he says, just think about what this narrator is thinking as he is telling this story - oh how sweet the word! then like he was poking his head though some sort of invisible window, he says "It's a new dispensation!" I don't know why that was so funny. but we were all in a riot. :) missionary humor. 

the rest of devotional was amazing too. elder schwitzer and his wife were the speakers. he gave some great thoughts about great missionaries of the church. he talked about peter, paul, alma and the sons of mosiah. he said what made these missionaries the best was that they understood the process of repentance. they knew what it was like to need the lord and to fully rely on his atonement. which got me thinking. i'm not the 'vilest of sinners'... so how can i be that kind of missionary? i didn't  think about it for too long before elder schwitzer answered my question. he said that the atonement isn't only for the pauls and the almas. it is to make the bad good. but not only that, it makes good better and the better best. it is talking about everyone! :) 

 

he also gave an example about what makes a good missionary. he talked about a missionary when he was serving in russia. and about a missionary there that was always surrounded by people. he said that the first week he was there, this missionary approached him and just started asking him questions. his russian wasn't very good, but this elder didn't care. he just loved the people. he then said that he saw the missionary's companion, sitting alone a little ways off thumbing through his scriptures or a book. "what makes a good missionary?" he asked us. the missionary that is not afraid to open his mouth. the missionary that learns to love those he serves, and in turn, is loved by those people. i decided that it doesn't matter how much thai i learn or how thoroughly i understand the gospel. but i will come home not having done my very best if i don't love the people in thailand with all of my heart and show them how much i love them. 

i know i mentioned this in another email, but we went and saw the character of christ (elder bednar mtc devo) video on sunday. it was incredible. again. if you can listen to it, you definitely should. 

the whole talk can be boiled down into 2 words... but those 2 words will take a lifetime to understand and to really internalize. turn out. seems simple enough. but he gave a quote from elder mcconkie, "the atonement could never have occurred without the character of christ." (or something like that). the character of christ is to turn out, when the natural man in us wants to turn inward. 

it was a pretty amazing talk. 

 

other fun stuff of the week.

shots. i got three. 

my companion almost passed out.

got free orange juice while they made sure she could make it back to the classroom safely...

 

we help with service on wednesday afternoons, and they have these gigantic room dividers. they are so big you can't just pull them shut, so they have to have two people to initiate the electronic closing... my companion (sister peterson) ran in front of them and was standing right in front of it right before it closed. she was quoting some potential headline "missionary dies - death by room divider" until the lady in charge of the service said "sister, you really don't want to do that." ha. it got even funnier when our other companion (sister barber) said that she'd turned around and said "don't mess with me, i'm a fate worse than death." hahahahahaaaa....

when thai people write ha ha ha, they usually just write 5 5 5 5 5.... (five in thai is haa)

 

so they usually have people leaving at like 2, 3, and 4 in the mornings to make their flights in slc. unfortunately for us, our room is right by the stairs. and also unfortunately for us, most sister missionaries aren't quite as athletic as me. so we wake up (most mondays) hearing sisters leaving in the middle of the night thud thud thud thud thudding down 4 flights of stairs. needless to say, i'm not the happiest person when i get awaken in the middle of the night. sister barber got up to ask them to stop... when they continued to drag their suitcases down the stairs, she gave them the 'evil eye' and told them it was NOT a suggestion - that they pick them up and carry them the rest of the way down the stairs. no more thudding. :)

 

aray in thai means what. some of our elders have a fascination with saying "ARAY" like a parrot. kinda like a "polly wanna cracker" kinda voice. the best part about it was that we had rye dinner rolls the other night. the best moment ever was when one of them said ARAY?! and we just looked at the roll and went - we found it! ok. so maybe it's more really lame missionary humor. 

oh i almost forgot! 

ron tanner came and gave our devotional on sunday. probably doesn't mean anything to most, until you find out that he produced 17 miracles. and the new movie ephraim's rescue. he talked a lot about pioneers, and how we need to remember them. he reminded us "no matter what - don't quit." it's gonna be hard, but always keep perspective. he also showed us some clips from ephraim's rescue. which left it at a clifhanger... i don't know what kind of horrible person does that to a bunch of missionaries that won't be able to watch movies for at least another 17 months........

 

 

i love you all! 

i hope that you are feeling the love of your heavenly father and your savior! if not, i'll just have to pray a little bit harder! 

 

:)

sister ellis

aka jess!

 

 

 

 

Another week. Already? Wow.

September 11, 2013

it seems like these weeks are just picking up speed. one saturday we'll be halfway!!! 

and yet... i'm gonna speak baby thai when i actually get over there. 

waaaaaaa.

we're learning lots. (no kidding right?) we have weird words like hay and day, that have very important and specific uses in thai. they basically use them all the time. and i hate them. they kept telling us that they would tell us how to use them (for 3 weeks) and they finally did! i just wish i could ignore them some days. but in the meantime, i can actually pray MOSTLY in thai now! as long as it is kept to religious/doctrinal stuff... i'm great. you ask me about door, spoon, walking, and words like that... then i can't tell you anything. :P it is a pretty cool way to learn. 

i know how to say seed too! it's maled. at least ish. tones are really hard to describe via anything other than speech. i'll work on that. 

one favor. i want the WHOLE text of elder packer's byui devotional called the "20 mark note". they block byui's website here. :( but it is intense! elder bednar gave a devo at the mtc where he talks about that 20 mark note... it's called "the spirit" i think. i don't know how many of these talks i tell you about you can actually find, but if you can - they are AMAZING! and you should definitely listen to them. 

another great thing about thai. NO CONJUGATION!!! best thing ever. minus the tones. but i'm sure everyone that has learned spanish dislikes conjugation like i do. maybe someday i'll learn spanish too. sister peterson and i were calling each other on the phone the other day... which consisted mainly of us holding our "hanging loose" gang sign up to our ears and trying to use the word "gamlang"... she said something in spanish and i responded. the look our teacher gave us........ could have melted my chocolate. nay phasaathay! was his response. (in thai!!!) oops.

so i had a thought the other day. you can do it if you want. or not. so for sunday, we have to prepare a "talk" and then they randomly select 2 missionaries to give their talks. i gave mine the 2nd week, so essentially i'm home free. BUT, i'm still doing it for my personal study during the week. (they're kinda important...) i think it would be cool if you guys wanted to do the same thing. you could study about it all week with me (until october) and then on sunday or monday night just do that for fhe. it's been really good for me to learn about the doctrine that i'm going to be teaching. we did the atonement the first week, baptism this last week, and recognizing the holy ghost this week. (just a thought). after sacrament we all get together as a district and share our talks with the companionships in our district. that's a little bit less stressful. but i wasn't too overwhelmed by speaking in sacrament. i don't think that'll be anything compared to the first time i'm asked to bear my testimony in thai. ahhhhhhhhh! i'm scared already. 

eek.

other things of note. almost died eating a thai pepper. 

an elder's family decided to plant them in their garden when they found out he was going to thailand. but now that they are grown, they don't know what to do with them.... so they sent them to us. i think it's just a method of torture. the elders came into our classroom with them and told us to eat some. it looked so small and innocent. i should have known. 

the pain was delayed a little bit. but when i say pain, i mean there is no taste to those little boogers. just pain. and heat. and pain. drinking water doesn't do anything but swish it around in your mouth. so sister peterson takes off running back to our room to get food... anything. so we run out after her. not a good idea. i got back to the room and my tummy was just angry. rawr! it felt like a civil war was happening inside of me. needless to say it was suprisingly warm. i don't think i would have felt so bad if i hadn't attempted a sprint right after eating it. i'll just have to figure out the pain part...

we listened to sounds of sunday (on sunday) and they sang "it's a grand night for singing"... does that sound familiar brooke? i was humming along with it, and it made me think about you. 

if you guys want to check out any other blogs from my district, i believe that there is one from an elder osbourne (from provo) and sister barber. another sister's blog that is there right now is a sister hughes. if you want to stalk people and see what it's like over there. 

ahhhhhhh i just love you guys so much! i could talk to you forever and ever and ever. but time is limited. i just want you all to know how much i love you! your support has been tremendous! and i love knowing what is going on at home! i know that heavenly father will take care of you if i totally commit myself to this work. but i'll make sure to keep you posted on everything that's happening! i am going to send my journal home when i leave the mtc. i'll be done with it by then. (it's already halfway full.) so then you can read all about my experiences from here AS i experience them! so i haven't been too worried about giving you a play by play of every single day. i hope you can survive with that... ;) 

you guys are the best. love you oodles. and tons. and gobs. i think about you all the time and i pray all the time that heavenly father will keep his eyes and his guiding hands near you. :) 

love you bunches! 

jess'm

Tales from the fat(tie) little notebook

September 4, 2013

 

So I bought a notebook the first weekend we were here. I was noticing that the one little flip notebook wasn't going to last me for very long. So I decided that another one was necessary. (I have since gotten 3 more.) but they all have very separate purposes. the fattie notebook (it says "fat lil' notebook" on the front) is where i write all of the awesome things that I am learning. all of my studying, all devos, spiritual thoughts, brain blasts and the like. it might only last for a couple more weeks. same with my first journal. you guys might be getting that back before I've even left the mtc. what can I say? I have a lot to say.... 

We heard from Elder David F. Evans of the seventy last night at devo. Mind blown. (but that does that actually surprise anyone anymore???) he talked about revelation. more specifically about how we receive revelation line upon line. it made me think about deciding to come on a mission. I definitely didn't decide to do it all at once. not like most of these young elders and sisters here. mine took a lot more convincing and a lot more thumping me on the head. but he talked about how the age change a year ago was the result of revelation. one year ago in October, we had 58,500 missionaries. last week, we topped 76,000 missionaries! :D and by the fall, we are expected to have 85,000 missionaries serving. SO COOL!!!! he told us about how two days before the announcement was made, the general authorities were discussing Jacob 5. I don't have my scriptures right in front of me, but just read it. and read towards the end. the servants are prophets, and throughout the course of the allegory, the continually ask the lord of the vineyard for more time. until one of the last servants - he doesn't ask for more time - he asks for more servants. I get chills just thinking about it!!!! it reminds me of the quote that dad sent me last week. the work is truly increasing to a degree that no one could ever have imagined. (verse 73)

Another thing I've learned a lot about here is obedience. not that I think of myself as a disobedient sort of person. i just like to do things the way I like to do them. you all know this. and sometimes young elders don't know how to say things nicely. or how to be quiet. so sometimes I have to be grumpy gramma and tell em to hush. or give them a look that says "do you know how you sounded just now?" but most of the time I love em all very much. they are definitely a lively bunch. even more so than the elders in the other district. but our district is really tight. we are actually getting in about 30 more people today, basically tripling the size of our zone now. no more Thai kids, but we are getting in Hmong, Cambodian and Vietnamese speakers. they'll have 9 weeks after today. Muahahaha! (we only have 6 weeks left!) it's crazy how fast these weeks fly by. Sooooo crazy. I totally agree with the fact that the first 3 days are the hardest. if you can make it past those three days of orientation and feeling completely lost... you'll survive. but I love it here! the scheduling is perfect. I pretty much did that in my previous life anyway. and love love love love love love liausdogighbnafjdaisldjflisadf loooooove the devos/conferences/class/gym... if only real life could be like this all the time. the last 2 weeks have just zoomed by. and they only seem to be going faster. I misses you guys like cray cray. (that's for Harmon). I can't tell you how much your dear elders mean to me! they make me all happy and fuzzy inside. they might make some of the elders a little jelly, but that's ok.

 

ummmmm what else is there?
hehe.
prize for the one who gets that quote! 

 

So we started learning script this week. oh my gosh it feel like all those times when you try and write in code to your pen pals. but this time you have twice the alphabet, and certain things (and combinations of things) make different sounds. and now you have vowels over, under, before and after the consonant. what the heck? i think someone was feeling high when they wrote this language. it's crazy. but i love it already! we still don't know how to say much that isn't church-related... they teach you in this very unique way that i think actually helps you learn it better. they teach you grammar skills WHILE teaching you to say things in Thai. so we learned how to pray, in THAI. we learned how to bear our testimonies (saying things like I believe "the following") which actually is a grammar principle of using the word "waa"... and other things like learning how to use the verbs to be (I thought Spanish was funky when it had two.) we have pen (ben), khxx, and yuu. ben refers to titles or roles (like Thomas S. Monson is the prophet, Susan Ellis is my mom, etc) khxx (think of kinda saying an "uh" sound while smiling like elder perry) is an is for explanation - like this IS the true church. or prayer is the way we receive revelation. yuu is all about location. it's uber fun.
they have different "classes" of letters in Thai. and depending on the class of letter you use, will depend on the tones that you have within a word. and more words have multiple syllables. so most words have different tones. actually, let me rephrase that. EVERY syllable has a tone. even a "no tone" syllable is considered a tone. and if you say the word chay differently, it can mean either to use/to spend, or it can mean yes. the word sua can either mean tiger or shirt. so I want you to go put your tiger on... probably wouldn't go over too well. but then again, maybe you have a tiger suit hiding in your closet... I just might be a little surprise later. 

 

I don't know if I've told you, but my sleep schedule is very weird here. I think the last year has programmed by body to sleep really well... for about 2 hours. then it decides that it doesn't need any more sleep, so it just makes me toss and turn for the rest of the night. I'm getting double what Ii used to get, so I haven't been tired for the last 3 weeks. at all. it just takes me a few minutes to wake up in the morning. and my prayers usually end up lasting about 15 minutes. praying in Thai WHILE sleepy... probably not the most effective combination. 

 

I hope you've been getting my letters! A lot of time I am able to write at nights after I get done with my journaling... so I write to my favorite people on the whole wide earth! I hope you guys are all doing well. I know life gets busy, but I DO SO LOVE to know that life is still moving on outside of these walls! we see a car and go whoa!!!! especially if it is a moving car. we don't see a lot of those... 

I never considered myself a picky eater either. but I think my palate is a little beyond cafeteria food. I know I shouldn't complain. but I just wanna eat authentic Thai food soooooo badly!!!! 

 

 

love you all.
bits and pieces.
it's soooooo fuzzy! 

I just might die. 

:D 

choog dii! (choke dee)
*it means good luck/have a good day

Jess (Sister Ellis)