Siam I Am: 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.

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