Just another Dandy week in Surin

.

Dear All,

And I feel like I always have something to write about. 

I haven't talked about the food yet. I thought Thai food in America was good, but I was wrong. The original Thai food here, is 1000 times better than the Thai food in America. We go eat street food, and the most we will spend on the street food is about $1.50. It's ridiculously cheap, and I love it. There are a few restaurants where the owners already know who we are, since missionaries have been coming for years now. There's even one restaurant where the owners have a picture with some missionaries. It looks like it's from the 80s. 

Now, alongside the amazing food here, there were a few things that I did try...

The members around my age offered me crickets, and I tried them. They weren't bad, it tasted like popcorn honestly. Also, I was eating a small bowl of soup and scooped up some meat, and realized that there was a chicken foot in my soup. Yum? We also tried somtam, where it was super spicy, and I was sweating up a storm while eating it. 

My companion and I also went to a restaurant where they give us a bowl of raw meat, set a grill in the middle of the table, and we grill it on our own. That's a great idea to avoid lawsuits, just blame it on the customer that they didn't cook it well enough. Anyways, there was bacon, liver, squid, octopus, fish, and other vegetables and meats in that. I tried liver and octopus, and it was ok. 

Now for a fun food story: 

The other day Elder Cecil and I went to a middle-aged member's house. He hasn't been to church in a few months and we were trying to figure out why. Then at church the next day he came, which was great. During church he kept making eye contact with me and my companion, and smiling at us. Then he later invited us to his house for dinner, he said that he has got a whole chicken for us.

At his house, he handed us a bowl of soup with a big smile on his face. There were big chunks of meat in it, and it wasn't like the chicken that you would see in your Grandma's homemade chicken noodle soup. I couldn't recognize any of the body parts, but I think I ate some chicken feet. I also ate some chicken leg with the bones in tact. It was a little disturbing. Then I scooped up a piece of chicken, and then I just had a flashback of Mr. Knight's Anatomy class in high school, when we were dissecting cats. I recognized, that was a full chicken liver on my spoon. Luckily I didn't eat that. After we could finish what we could, he scooped all the leftover soup, put it in a bag, and gave it to us. Oh what fun. 

Anyways, I am still teaching some of the members around my age piano. Some really want to learn, and it's fun watching them not know any piano to reading and playing some of the music. 

My companion and I had to go back to Bangkok so I had to get my work permit signed. We left at 11:30 PM, took a 6 hour bus ride, spent some time with the other missionaries, waited at the labor building to sign my permit, and literally the whole process took 5 minutes. A 12 hour trip for me to sign something. Afterwards we had about 5 hours to kill in Bangkok before our bus leaves. So, 9 other missionaries and I spent some time in Bangkok, and we all got Carl's Junior afterwards. 

As some of you may heard, the King had passed away, after ruling for a long time. It is a little depressing to see it happen. I watched as some of the ward members found out, some were in tears. Everyone here in Thailand has pictures of him in houses and in front of buildings. He was a great King, and when we were in Bangkok, about 80% of people were wearing black in honor of the king. We can't talk about the King really, so we have codenames for him, such as the Jedi Master or the Big Cheese. Even at church last Sunday most of the members wore black.Us missionaries wore black ties in honor of him too. 

During church last Sunday I got to play piano for the congregation of 50. And last minute I decided to play a piano solo in front of everyone. It was pretty fun, and then I was invited to the stand to bear my testimony of the church. Afterwards people were smiling, so I don't think I made any mistakes in my Thai, so that's good. 

I also had a few bizarre small-world experiences too:

 While biking to a family's house, I rode past a house with three men in the garage. We went back after we visited the family. Why? Because one of the men was wearing a Purdue shirt. When my companion and I pulled up to the house, and I tried to talk to the man in the Purdue shirt but he walked away when we came. Later that day, one of the members around my age walked into the church wearing a Purdue hat. What? I asked him how the heck he got that, he just said one of his friends gave it to him and he has no idea what Purdue is. Apparently Purdue made it's way to Thailand

Also, we went inviting (street contacting) in a market one night. I started talking to a man in Thai, then he said he knew English. The Conversation went like this:

 

"Wow your English is really good! How did you learn that well?"

"I went to college in the United States."

"In Indiana."

"What?!? I'm from Indiana!!"

Anyways he went to college in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Funny how small this world is. He got a business degree in Fort Wayne and came back to Surin. He later gave me his number but he wasn't sure if it was right, since he just came back to Surin. He also said that he has a basketball court in his yard, and he said that us missionaries can come and play. Later on it turns out that he gave us the wrong number. Bummer. 

Oh the small connections.

Anyways, it is great to serve the Lord here in Thailand. I have seen a few miracles happen here, and it is good to know that I am where I need to be at the right time.

Take Care, 

Elder Brinkerhoff​

Mission in a Foreign Land!

                                                   
Sawadii- Greeting s from Thailand!

I still remember walking to the bus stop when I was in the 8th Grade. I would watch as the sun would slowly rise over the mountains, and I would be listening to the song "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay.

Some lyrics that stuck out to me was:

"Be my mirror, my sword, my shield,

Missionaries in a foreign field."

And now, it looks like I'm the missionary in a foreign field. 

I'm going to rewind back a few weeks first, to my last week at the MTC.

On our last weekend at the MTC, we had the opportunity to watch General Conference. It was very helpful, and really provided help and support right before I left. That Sunday night, all the Thai missionaries finished packing, and said our last goodbyes to everyone. It felt like the last day of high school or something, I really made so many new friends here. I think I got over 40 emails from all the missionaries. I also gave minion toys to a missionary per country. This should be fun. 

That night I talked to some of the missionaries in our group who decided to stay up all night, since we had to get up at 2:30 AM and head out. I got one hour of sleep, got up, and headed out. 

We flew to Chicago, then to Hong Kong, and then to Thailand. We didn't get to the mission home until Wednesday night. So think about that: We left on Monday at 3 in the morning, and didn't get there until Wednesday night. Lots of Flying. Many of the missionaries in our group got to tell many people about the gospel, and it was very cool to see. 

Thailand Time

On our first full day in Thailand, we received training from our Mission Presidents, in Bangkok. Later that night we all had dinner in a restaurant. We had the real deal Thai food, and man it was spicy. 

On our second day, we received our new trainers and then headed out to where we were assigned. And man do you get nervous on that moment!!! All 15 of us missionaries were on one side of the room, while the 15 trainer missionaries were on the other side. I noticed 3 other missionaries on the other side of the room, who were from Thailand, and spoke a little bit English. 

Then the time came where we were assigned who we will be with, and where we will be going, for the next 12 weeks. They called my name up, and I got assigned to Elder Cecil, who is from upstate New York. Then they assigned me to go to the town of Surin. I had no idea where Surin is. We then took a 6 hour bus ride to Surin, and we didn't get there until 10 at Night. 

Here are the video recaps of our time in Bangkok: 

https://www.facebook.com/mormonthai/videos/1266335676732045/

https://www.facebook.com/mormonthai/videos/1266725063359773/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Webelieve999/permalink/1634111399948247/

Surin- The town I am assigned to work in

Surin, surprisingly reminds me of West Lafayette. There's a downtown, and there are also people who live out in the country, who have to drive into town. There's also much open country outside of Surin. 

My first day was insane but fun. It was a little stressful at first, but it got better. 

I live with 3 other missionaries in our house. One is from Southern Utah who can do handstand pushups, another Missionary is from Hawaii, and also my companion. They are a fun group. There's a senior couple also serving in the town, and that is all the missionaries in the town. 

I got my bike, and I get to ride around town too, and that was a little crazy at first, but it's now fun to ride around town. 

While walking to teach a woman at at small cafe, my companion handed a middle aged man an invitation card. He looked at us and said in English: "You are very handsome! Where are you from?" My companion then said: "My mom." Then the man said: "You are very handsome! Do you like Thai women?" We declined and headed to teach the woman. 

The church, is a very small rented building. It is branch, which has about 50 people in it. There are 8 YSA people there (people around my age) and they are really fun to be around. They know a lot of English, and they are helping me out with my Thai. They taught us a few fun dances, and after a few days I then found out that I am performing this in a month, in front of a bunch of people, for the 50th anniversary of Thailand having LDS missionaries. Also, some women outside of town found out that I play piano, and they drove over an hour to the church building, so I could practice with them. Looks like I'm playing the piano in that celebration too. Should be fun.

Every time a Thai person looks at my nametag, they cringe. It's too long for them, and my companion tells them to just call me Elder Brink. 

The other day we drove out of town with the senior couple to see a church member, who is a cook at a small market. When we got out of the car, and went to talk to her. I noticed many Thai people stopping what they were doing just to stare at us. While we were talking I looked around and about 30 people were watching us. I guess not that many white people come by often there. 

It's really fun here.

The adventure continues,

Elder Brinkerhoff​