Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 4:41PM (in the MTC)
HEY FAMILY!!! AND FRIENDS! Sawatdeekah!
Week One! What a DOOZYYYY. But in a good way (most of the time)-- I have a lot of jumbled thoughts here and not a lot of time to get them written down but I'll sure try my hardest.
First things first-- holy cow. There are a million missionaries here. And they all say hi in a different language. No Armenians yet, but I'm looking out! I've run into virtually everyone I know since the first day I got here. And I see them every day! I'm excited to see Melinda tomorrow!!!!!
So the first day I walked into my classroom with 13.7 lbs of book materials. No lie. And Bro. Burgess, my teacher, spoke entirely in Thai from day one. He's nice and occasionally speaks English nowadays, but the first day I got by with what I studied on Youtube, believe it or not! I answered his questions upon walking in, and the Elders were all mad. :) Anyway, as for language learning-- Thai is crazy! There is 5 tone marks: up, down, none, mountain, and valley. So "maa" said in 5 different ways is 5 different words. It's crazy. So I try not to talk when I'm excited or my phrases can go from: "Hi my name is Sister Painter" to "Horses run on the skyscraper" (Just kidding. There is no relation between those to statements, but I'm making a point here. It's crazy.)
I feel like getting used to having a companion around (24/7, WHERE ARE YOU SISTER STEWART) took the longest to get used to. It's definitely not being in a relationship-- It's like having a 5th limb that you can learn from and work with to get stuff done! Sister Melissa Stewart is my companion, she's from Boulder City Nevada. She's pretty cute! I like her.
I've had a congested... well, everything, the last week. In fact, I actually can't hear out of my left ear? Weird. So I went to the clinic and they really didn't know. So as of right now, I've been trying to get my ears to pop and I can't do it. :p It's rough! Anyone who has advice, dearelder it to me!
I don't have a lot of email time, so I suggest dearelder-ing me on Friday night so I can get it Monday and think of a response for Tuesday. It won't be that way in the mission field, but until Thailand, that'll save me some time so I can respond longer!
The first day in class when we got back to the classroom after dinner, it said on the board: "Don't worry, be happy" and I just knew everything was going to be OKAY! Jared always says that to me, so when I saw it, I was like, "Inspired message from my teacher!" Hahaha. The funniest signs are in the bathrooms: "OUT OF ORDER-- NOBODY'S HAPPY!!!!" and "THIS WAY TO THE MINISTER OF MAGIC" pointing to the toilet. I have literally seen it all.
I came in with 800+ missionaries last wednesday-- the largest group in 12 years or something crazy like that! There are 29 people that came into my District with me, so they split us up and literally found the smallest classrooms on campus to shove 15 Thai's into each. We realized we were in "Outer Darkness" when we saw the English missionaries' classrooms in another building. To sum it up, my English is even getting rough within 6 days because of how much I cram into my noggin' every day, so I said to Sis. Stewart: "The English missionaries practically sit in SLEEPY BOY CHAIRS!!!" And she's like, "...what?" And I was like, "Uhhh.. You know, those really comfy cushy chairs... Sleepy... boy.. chairs. No! LAZY boy. LAZY BOY CHAIRS."
Such is the life of Sister Painter.
My district of Elders always say at the end of the day: "Mail came today.... for Sister Painter." My district leader says: "I swear they are ALL for Sister Painter. ALWAYS." Hahahah-- tell everyone THANK YOU for all the lovin' and mail. Apparently the weekend was the popular time to write me, because I got 10 dearelders yesterday (holy cow, I had no idea I was so loved) and the Elders were like, "What the heck?!?!?" so I said, "Hey! I've been writing missionaries for a long time! It's my turn!" :) THANK YOU everyone for the support-- I can't even tell you how much that meant to me yesterday, because yesterday was the hardest day we've had I'd say!
We're currently teaching an 'investigator', and his name is Phii Ut. Thai is nuts! But somehow, I am learning and speaking Thai in what seems like a miraculous way. I just... do it. Like, it's not that hard. Yes, it's hard, but I just REMEMBER words randomly and put them together! Yes, it's "caveman" Thai, but it's still getting the message across! I actually am really loving learning. It's the 'drink from firehose' effect, but it's seriously working.
But the biggest thing: Something amazing is going to happen in Thailand. I just know it. They're in major change, and they're sending us missionaries out there at the front of it. Somethingggg is going to happen while I'm there, or Laos and Myanmar wouldn't be opened to service missionaries now. It's just amazing. We are the biggest group of Thai missionaries.... ever.
I thought the missionary schedule would be hard. Fun fact: It's long, but it's not hard. I have not been sleepy for 6 days, since I got here. I get up at 6:30am like, "Okay ready!" It's so... weird! I thought it would be grueling. However, don't get me wrong,
THIS IS HARD. I never understood really what Jared meant until I started living it.
Being a missionary is physically, emotionally and spiritually DEMANDING and DRAINING!
Fun fact about the scriptures! In Thai, every brother and sister has to be labeled, "Older" or "younger"-- so.... when you translate the Book of Mormon to Thai talking about the Brother of Jared, what happens??? Well, they prayed and asked Thomas S. Monson whether their decision was correct, and he said yes! So just for everyone's knowledge-- The Brother of Jared was OLDER than Jared! Crazy, right? Go tell your friends. The Thai's know what's up.
Anyway, so something in Thai before I head out real quick (in romanized english, not in symbols). There are people waiting for my computer:
Chan rag phraabida bon sawan le phrayeesukrid. Chan ruu sadsanaacjag khwaamching. Chan ruu phrayeeskrid le praphuupencjaw phrakod cooseb samid. Le Chan rag khrobkrua!!!
(Translation: I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know this church is true. I know Jesus Christ and God appeared to Joseph Smith. And I love my family!)
I'll write next week!
KEEP WRITING ME LETTERS!! I promise I will try to respond to everyone as fast as I can, but the MTC keeps us busy!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
(Chan rag raw!)
Sister Painter
PS: Can someone dearelder me Jared's happenings from his blog?
elderhammersmissionpage.blogspot.com (Thank you!)
