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:
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
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