 | |||||||||||
| Right when we got his call!! Matt & Shae had to leave, but the Worthington's were able to say hi before they had to leave. What a great birthday gift for Collette!! :) |
 |
| Joseph's cousin, Kaiden, jumped into view of the camera - This is the moment Joseph saw him and he got so excited!! He is so happy for Kaiden's mission call to Russia. He was giving him some advice!! Also, the first time Joseph saw our new puppy, "Kitty"!! He loved her...just look at that face! Who wouldn't?! :) |
 |
| You can't really see him in this shot, but it shows how we were all gathered around so he could see us on his screen. |
 |
| There he is!! :) And there we all are in the little box in the bottom right corner. |
 |
| Showing us how he says some word in Thai! :) Throughout the whole conversation there were people using the computers behind him and they kept turning around to look at us. We would wave to them every time . :) |
Joseph called us on Skype last night about 10 p.m. He looked so happy and healthy and it was so
great to see him as well as talk to him.
Since we talked to him for over two hours last night, we told him not to
worry about writing a letter. I took
notes so I could share what he said with everyone on his blog. So here are the highlights:
He LOVES Thailand!!
He loves the people and he says the language is very beautiful and
poetic. He is still working on studying
it and learning it. He says he takes
taxi’s and trucks with no sides, just seats.
They never stop, you just jump on for a ride! He says “it’s the luck of the draw” with the
taxi drivers. He loves them!! One of his best memories was laughing with a
taxi driver who couldn’t understand him, but would laugh at everything he said. Another form of transportation are boats
along the canal…those never stop either!
The King of Thailand is well-loved and respected by the people. Every Tuesday people wear pink because it’s
his favorite color! Even some of the
taxi’s and buses are pink. He says he
sees wealth and poverty. There is a
gigantic Super Mall in his area, but right next to it there are tin roof shacks
built on stilts over the river and people doing their wash in the river. Most people live in apartments with
everything in the one big room. He says
people like to “squat” over there…like instead of standing or sitting, they
squat…and chat on a cell phone, etc. :) He got to attend a Buddhist funeral too!
He lives in a 3 bedroom house – one room is for changing,
one is for clothes and the other is for sleeping. They have a plastic washing machine that they
have to add water to wash their clothes.
There is another for rinsing, then they hang their clothes on a line to
dry. They sleep on mattresses on the
floor. It is really hot there right now,
but he said they have A/C and he even gets cold at night. They don’t eat at home much, although he did
ask me to send some cereal. Most of the
time they eat on the streets. There are
people up and down the streets selling food.
A variety of food on sticks! And
I am extremely happy that Joseph and I now share the same favorite fruit…MANGOS!!! (Someday I hope we go back with him, just so
I can have a REAL mango!!) He said their
Mission President encouraged them to drink Coca Cola because it helps with the
parasite problem. :( I gave him some stuff
to take for parasites and he told me he is taking them most days! He LOVES all the food there! His favorite drink is Ovaltine!! :) He told us names of stuff I could never even
begin to spell or pronounce!! He was so
cute because he would interject a Thai word to describe something all night long. He even forgot what an English word for
something was!! He says he is struggling
with the language and learning slowly, yet for us, he was throwing words out
there left and right!!
He has been teaching some investigators. He said that most of the people they actually
teach have already been prepared. They
have already stopped drinking or smoking by the time the missionaries find them
and start teaching them. I guess that is
something WE can do…not only pray for our missionaries, but pray for the people
– that they can be prepared for the missionaries when they knock on their
doors. They sometimes teach some
English, they mostly go by member referrals and they don’t use the Bible to
teach, because the translation is not the King James version and it has a lot
of translational errors. (He said we
should pray that the correct translation of the Bible will become available to the people of
Thailand someday!!) They can’t even call
themselves “Christians”, because the Thai people only associate Christians with
the Catholics (didn’t quite understand that part!), but they go by The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (obviously, cuz it’s our name…but they don’t
say they’re Christian because of being confused with the Catholics. I hope that makes sense!!) The Book of Mormon has just been translated
for the third time in Thai, perfecting the translation even more. The people are mostly Buddhists, so he says
it is “super cool to see people pray for the first time.” They challenged one investigator for baptism
next month. Her name is UUM IIM.
(ŌŌM
ĬM) :) So we can all pray for her!!
They live in the city of Don Muang, (North suburb in Bangkok).
The church in that city is a Branch and there were 35 people there last
Sunday. They have the largest church
building in the country, but a very small congregation. He is a Home Teacher and he gets to bless the
Sacrament. Their members were heavily
flooded recently and it took a toll on their membership. He said if we want to know what the members
are like over there, to read Alma 18-27.
He said they are super strong and they are just like the Lamanites when
they were converted…once their hearts were changed, they never turned
back! The Branch President is one of his
best friends!
Joseph has gained 5 lbs!
The first day when they got to the Mission Home, the Mission President
and his wife had a dinner for the new missionaries. He said they all sat on the floor and ate
dinner. He told us of a childhood memory
[premonition?] he had of being on his mission somewhere in the world and he had to eat fish. (He hates fish!) When the Mission President served fish “that
looked like it was run over by a car several times”, this childhood memory came
flooding back to him, but he tried the fish anyway and after praying that the
Lord would “sweeten the food like He did for Nephi,” he said he didn’t mind
it!!
He misses people who can sing, listening to classical music,
Banff (of all places!), and even though he says he is not homesick he does
think about us a lot…just different things that remind him of one of us, or
something he knows we would like. He
thinks of Mike and his “Attitude Therapy” sayings on a daily basis. He asked about Max and Bryce and to tell you
both hello! And that he loves each one of YOU
– his family and friends. And he will do
a better job trying to share his mission experiences with all of us at
home.
It was hard to say goodbye, but we know he is where he
should be and it’s very obvious that HE LOVES IT there!!! Thank you for all of your prayers for Joseph,
his investigators and missionary work in general! It is a great work and we are ALL part of the
Lord’s “work and glory.”
With lots of love and appreciation…til next week!
Elder Gibbons, as related by his mom’s notes!
