Hello family!
Just a disclaimer: I have a whoppin 30 min a WEEK to email, so these letters won't be as detailed and descriptive until I get a little more used to this program here and esp when I get out in the real field, so I'm sorry if this seems abrupt and short!
But wow. That's all I can say here. Sooo much has happened in one week! There's a saying here that "the days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days." This first week has felt like a month because there has been so much happening ALL THE TIME. I have been getting your letters (and Bryce's, lol) which has really helped me. Also, I've been trying to write in my journal more lately - I think sending you excerpts via copy/letter mail would be more rich and informative than me trying to scramble across a keyboard - you all know how bad I am at typing... ;)
Let me just tell you with the time I have left, that I LOVE IT HERE! The structure though, is a lot to get used to, I'll admit, but organizing of an army of missionaries that number about the same as the students at Alta, it takes a lot of perciseness and precission - same with organizing yourself in the gospel. I want you all to know that I love you all and that Jesus Christ is our Savior (or "phrayeesuukhrid ben phraphuuchuayhayrood khoong raw," as we like to say round here). I have learned that the spirit speaks in Thai! Our third day here, Elder Creer and I taught Phii Aphiwat - our first investagator - in Thai. It wasn't easy, but loving him was. It's amazing how much the spirit works through you to get the job done - whether you feel like you can or not. Often times, like when you call yourself a bowl of rice or ask how your "teeth" are doing instead of your "girlfriend," it feels like you're never going to get a hold on this language... But I learned more Thai in two days than I did with all those Rosetta Stone lessons. Oh well, Eden (Cope) has it and that's fine by me. But the gift of tounges is real here, and so is divine guidance. For example, I have the absolute BEST district I could ask for (more about our Elders here later), but I'll tell you that our room (hang kahng raw) is AWESOME. Elder Davies, Elder Harely (or Ender Hah-ley Dav-eed-son Vroom Vroom! as Aphiwat calls him), and my copmanion, Elder Creer are best friends to the point that we've had "Story Time" every night since we've got here about...well that's something else...
But yeah, my computer's logging me out, so I'll just close by saying thank you (khapkhuun khraap) for all your support and prayers - I really have felt them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I know that prayer is real (as explained in Anna's letter to me) and that it is essential to salvation.
ดด!!
