Week 16

สวัสดีครับ!!

This week has been good, last Pday we went to this restaurant buffet where there is a pot of boiling broth and you put whatever you want in it. They will give you all sorts of meat to cook in it, you can add veggies or noodles, I poached an egg in it. They also had ice cream. So that was awesome!

This week we taught a lot more. We have been teaching Sister ทอง and she is so FIRE! She has all the questions and concerns but has so much faith. We taught about the word of wisdom and she said she wasn't able to stop drinking coffee, we saw her at church the next day and she had stopped drinking แล้ว. And she invites everyone to come to church . We also found these 3 friends who are way interested. We taught the restoration with a member, her daughter, a return missionary, and two of her friends. It was a lot of people but it was such a good lesson! Everyone shared. We taught and the members explained further. Our taxi driver didn't come to church this Sunday. He has a really weird work schedule and he is really shy. This Sunday we had our three friends, Sister ทอง, and this old man named ดวงคำ that came. It was awesome because for sacrament all the institute students bore their testimonies, and then a man who had served in Thailand and his wife bore their testimonies because they are going back to America. And that was fire!

I love you all!! Thanks for all your prayers!

Elder Shill

We got this fun message from Elder Rotelle, Collin's companion.  I'll try to add the video, but Collin got in the taxi and after a little conversation, Collin started singing, I Am a Child of God - in thai.

Week 15 - First Baptism

สวัสดีครับ!!

The past week and a half have been so great. Last Thursday was the Baptism!! It was so cool. I got to the church and got ready, then Sister Best came and we all just got so excited, but it was a reverent excitement. The baptismal service was great. I baptized her in Thai - which the hardest part is just remembering their whole Thai name. But I had spent the last two days making sure I knew it. It did take two tries; the first wasn't quite full submersion. But she didn't mind. She knew it was my first baptism in Thailand. The next day I went on companion exchanges with Elder Butnon. He is such a good missionary! He is Thai and has been out for 11 months. We did a lot of biking! Which was fun because it was different then walking or riding in a sawng tao or taxi. It was also terrifying. If anyone from the Young Mens back at home reads this.. Yes, the mountain biking for the Young Mens Stake Encampment was training for your mission. If you thought that was hard, try keeping up with a Thai person through Bangkok. Lots of weaving between people, cars, motorcycles, dogs, cats, and poles, on the most uneven pavement. We also rode our bikes on this 2-2.5 ft. broken windy cement path over a river. It was honestly so fun though. This week we had 3 people we are teaching come to church. One of them was our taxi driver แขก!! We were so glad he came!! He is super busy and we have a hard time meeting with him but he is still awesome. We also found this lady named Sister ทอง. She is way awesome. She was already Christian, she had just moved to Bangkok and opened a small restaurant. She came to church, has given us two referrals, and has given a Book of Mormon to her friend. We visited, taught, and ate at her ร้าน a lot this week. She is concerned about not working on Sunday, which everyone always is. But she has a ton of faith. She also makes really good food. I was ordering and someone else was eating something that looked good so I asked her what it was called and asked for that. I ate it and it was really good. She was like, wow you eat thai food really well. I thought she just meant how spicy it was. Then she was like falangs  (white people) don't usually like liver. So I guess I like liver because that's twice I've ate it and thought it was beef. This week we also gave a baptismal date to an 18 year old named ดัง. We found this 20 year old and his gf who are friends with someone Elder Robinson and Elder Butnon are teaching. He came and ate with us and then came to English class. They said they will come to church. We also had this guy I invited the first or second week call us and said he wanted to meet. We had dropped him because he wouldn't answer our calls and when he did he said he wasn't interested. So that was way cool. On Monday we ate at the Bishops house to talk about the ward - which was awesome. He went to BYU Hawaii and his wife went to BYU Provo as a nonmember and got baptized there. So they have a nice house and fed us so well. They fed us a falang dinner: Spaghetti, alfredo chicken, salad, and ribs, and ice cream :) they also gave us Christmas presents of assorted Oreos and Tim Tams!!  Yesterday we did a ton of service for Red Cross making care packages. We filled an entire semi to the brim. That was way fun. Transfers are tomorrow. Elder Robinson who is only one transfer ahead if me is going to the onlyy area in the south which is an island with two Elders and his companion there is only one transfer ahead of him. We will be getting two new missionaries in my district which will be funny to see who because I was with them for 4 weeks in the MTC.

Well hope you guys are all doing well. I pray for you and feel your prayers จริงฯ. 

Elder Shill

Mango Sticky Rice!! Traffic, Spicy fruit salad... with tomatoes, A much needed gift after a long bike ride (coke), Night time, A clementine that is ripe green, Christmas gifts of Oreo's and Tim Tam's, bumper to bumper traffic with lots of motorcycles in-between the cars and a taxi completely horizontal in the middle of the road,  Sitting on how many transfers we have left.

Week 14

Not a ton to write about this week.  Lots of inviting and trying to serve people. So a week or two ago the 12 Apostles sent President Hammond an email saying we had to do 10 hours of service per week. Some of that is teaching English. But we have had 0 success in getting people to let us serve them. Even if they do want us to serve they are too เกรงใจ which is like not wanting to be a burden/afraid of offending/shy. So pray that people will let us help them.

Last P-day we went to a golf driving range which was pretty fun. One of the Elders in our district, Elder Robinson, is a pro golfer and it was cool to see him swing. That night and Tuesday we went finding and found a bunch of people. There are a lot of people that are willing to talk about religion but very few people want to do Christian things. So it was awesome that we found a few people that we think are actually interested. On Wednesday we had interviews with President. It was quick and simple but it's always fun to talk to P. Hammond. That morning we had an appointment with our taxi driver and we taught the Plan of Salvation and committed him to baptism. It was so awesome he seemed excited, but then he dropped of the face of the earth and hasn't read any of our messages or answered our calls... so pray for him too.

One of the people we found on Monday is Brother ปี (bee). He is on fire. He was already Christian and loves the Book of Mormon. We have some other investigators we are working with. The biggest problem we run into is people are just SO busy with work and school. Literally like 14 hours a day every day. People just need money. 

This week I gave another priesthood blessing, that was cool. I felt the Spirit influence what I said, and I think it was a meaningful blessing to this lady. 

So the members eat lunch together at the church every Sunday after our meetings. We were still fasting because we started ours late Saturday night. But we stayed to talk with members and help clean up. We are trying to build more trust with the members so that they will give us referrals. Anyways,  I was drying dishes when the Sister missionaries and one of the people they are teaching walk up to me. Her name is Sister Bess. And she says, "I want to have conversation" I'm thinking she just wants to practice English. Then she says, " you are more silent".  I kind of laughed and said ya I should probably speak more. Then she talked about how she liked more silent. I agreed with her and said sometimes its nice to have silence to think. Then she looked at the sister missionaries and said "okay, I choose him". She had just passed her baptismal interview and had been watching the Elders and little did I know that she was actually interviewing me. So I will baptize Sister Bess on Thursday. I am so excited!!

Okay, I guess I had more to talk about than I thought. thanks for all your love, prayers, and support.

 

Elder Shill

 

1. Sweet coconut milk sticky rice with beans. Mangoes are out of season right now but this week a member made this and it was so good

2. Funny parrots at the golf place

3. The golf place, yes those are pine trees. I almost felt like I was in Utah :)

 

Week 13

สวัสดีครับ

This week was so awesome! We went to the beach last Tuesday. For P-day we can go anywhere in Bangkok. (No, we didn't go in the ocean) We ran into some other missionaries from my MTC district. We rented some of the bikes with multiple seats with some members and rode those around. This week we finally met with our taxi driver. He is so awesome. We taught the restoration and had a member help us. He seemed to believe everything we taught. We also taught 3 more lessons this week which all went well. One of them is this funny man who learned a bunch of Catholic stuff and was confused why there wasn't a picture of Jesus at the front if the sacrament room to pray to and tried to pray to all the other pictures in the hallways. We had a hard time explaining how we pray and how we don't do the cross gesture that Catholics do. But he is a really sweet man who loves Jesus. This week we had a Thanksgiving party for English class. 60ish people came and we all had a great time. On Thanksgiving we had zone conference, which was awesome. I learned so much and they fed us really well :) Then on Saturday we had an 8 hour workshop where we learned how to teach English better - which was cool. A lot of what I learned I think will help me learn Thai. Yesterday was Stake Conference which was held in a giant room in a super fancy hotel. Both President and Sister Hammond spoke. There was a lady from our ward who translated Sister Hammond's talk. President and Sister Hammond and two of their kids sang I am a Child of God - which was so awesome.

I love it here so much. I wont lie. I'm always exhausted, its really hot and humid, and sometimes the food is weird. Not to mention how hard the language is. But I love it. I love God and feel all of your prayers! Love you all.

 

Week 12 Bangkok

สวัสดีครับ!

What a week! Thailand is so cool! So many fun and different things here. Last P-day we went to this park with an outdoor "gym" with all this rusted and bizarre machines for exercising. And people use everything in any way they want. This one old buff guy started talking with us. He had this weird oil stuff that he had us rub on our arms, he saw I had some acne on my arms and back so he rubbed a bunch more on and it burned so much, but he said it would help. It didn't burn to any of the other missionaries who didn't have acne so who knows. Then as we were exercising this other guy came and helped show us better technique. We talked to him and got his number. He owns a fancy Italian restaurant so this week me and my comp and the two sister missionaries and two members went to his restaurant. It was really expensive but was honestly so nice to eat some good food that my body was familiar with. And it was super peaceful in there with Josh Groban and other Italian music playing. We met with him again and had a good discussion. We taught about prayer and gave him a Book of Mormon. As for our taxi guy that I talked about last week. We called him and he said he started making a bunch more money when he started praying and says he thinks God wants him to be a Christian. So that was awesome. He was out of town so we couldn't meet with him. But he said he'd come to church. Well he came to church... a half hour late and saw that we started and so he left. But we have an appointment tomorrow. For Sunday school we had a meeting with some of the ward missionaries and the investigators. Last week Brother Golf gave the lesson, the return missionary from my grandmas mission, and this week his girlfriend taught it. It was an awesome lesson about the restoration. She had me talk about Joseph Smith and I gave the first vision. In priesthood meeting I couldn't understand anything but it was about ministering.

This week we had companion exchanges. I was with Elder Robinson who is one transfer older than me so we saw each other in the MTC. He is awesome. We met with some LAs and did lots of inviting. We were walking and I started talking with this guy in front of an auto shop. We talked for a while and shared some scriptures. He is interested and has a big family, but the other companionship gets them :/ but its okay, we just got a bunch of referrals from a member.

Some other cool experiences this week was me and my comp gave 2 priesthood blessings. So I got to do both parts of the blessing. It was a little stressful because I have a very limited vocabulary, but was a really neat experience. 

 

I love you all, God is real and loves all of you. Thanks for all your prayers!

 

 

Pictures, 

song tao (two rows): what we usually use for travel

Me and Elder Robinson on comp exchanges

Us at the italian restaurant

Pad Thai

Krispy Kreme in the mall

 

Week 11 In Thailand :)

สวัสดีครับ!

Oh my goodness what a week! So much has happened! So two Fridays ago I told the doc I felt good enough to go and he cleared me. They said they would call my mission president and see when he could take me. Well on that Monday I got my flight plans to leave the next day at 3:30am. So I spent all night packing, slept for an hour and headed out. I spent the next 20ish hours navigating myself to Seattle, then to Souel Korea, then to BANGKOK! President and Sister Hammond where there to pick me up. They are so amazing!! I slept at their house and met my companion in the morning. His name is Elder Ratelle. He is so amazing! He has already taught me o much! We went for the next day and a half getting all these logistics done like blood work for a work permit, and buying a phone. So my area is a section of the great city of Bangkok called Srinakarin. At the end of the day we went to get some food. There are tons of these tiny restaurants just hidden in the streets and we went to one and while we where ordering, this young couple that were members and that my companion knew came up and we introduced ourselves. I was wearing my name tag that had my name in both English and Thai. He asked if I knew a Sister Shill from Pocatello. My mouth dropped. My Grandma just served a mission in Pocatello and at my farewell gave me the name and address of a missionary who just recently finished his mission in Pocetello from Thailand. Well, I lost that paper in like 3 weeks, and thought that there was a 0% chance I could find him anyways. But God is real and found him my first day in Bangok and he is in my ward.

The food here is awesome, It is so different. We eat with members a lot and that is always a party. I haven't eaten anything too weird, maybe liver but I didn't know it was liver until after I ate it.

On one of our trips somewhere we took a taxi. We talked with the driver and eventually got on to a religious topic. His name is เขก (kake) He is Buddhist. But believes that some higher power created the earth. We taught him about Heavenly Father and about Prayer. I taught how to pray and read some scriptures that worked perfectly. We have an appointment to meet with him tomorrow. 

The language is stressful. I can't understand people. But I'm getting better at recognizing the words that I know. But when I speak people can understand me just fine. But then they think I can understand them. And that's always kind of awkward. But my companion can speak and understand Thai, so its all good! 

Well I love you all! Stay safe!

Elder Shill


Elder Shill meets his first companion, Elder Ratelle

Week 10 Headed to Thailand :)

I leave at 3:30am tomorrow to Seattle then Seoul Korea to Thailand

Week 9

สวัสดีครับ!!

Another week to remember. Full of lots of smiles and lots of tears. It started pretty amazing with another Apostle coming to talk to us. Elder Soares came and talked about how to have a successful and happy mission. It was really powerful. Another sick missionary and I almost didn't go to the devotional because we were trying to rest. But some elders in our zone emailed  us telling us it was an Apostle. So we ran over and made it just in time. Elder Soares is a new Apostle. In my mind the twelve Apostles are the ones I have grown up with. I accepted Elder Soares as an apostle but still didn't value him and his teachings like the other Apostles. But, as I sat at the devotional we started by singing some prelude hymns. I wasn't singing because my head was hurting, but the last song was Nearer My God to Thee. I love this song so I decided to sing along, then at the climax of the song Elder Soares walked in and we all stood. I cried as I sang the rest of that song. I know the Spirit testified to me that Elder Soares is an Apostle of God and has all of the same power and authority as all the other Apostles. So that was a really cool experience. The next day I went to my concussion place and the Doctor told me I needed to stay for a week or two. My follow up is tomorrow, so hopefully they will give me the thumbs up to go to Thailand. I am feeling a lot better and I am SO GRATEFUL for all of your prayers!!

The next day was pretty rough. We had one of the new Hmong elders go home. It was so confusing to all of us. He is a new convert and has this amazing testimony. And it was all so sudden. I had been resting in my room and my companion walked in and told me he was leaving. I got out and our whole zone walked with him to the building where he got picked up. He hugged all of us like 5 times. Lots of tears from everyone. But that Friday was even worse. One of the Vietnamese elders went home too. He had literally made it the 9 weeks. He was everyone's favorite and had a great testimony. He had done competition shooting and we would have a duel every night with these little nerf guns. He had to go home because of anxiety. It was so sad. Our whole zone went with him as well to see him off. That was really sad. Then everyone else started packing to go to there respective countries and I just kind of watched. It was a mix of excitement and "Oh dang it I still have two weeks here". They all left Monday morning at 3:30am. We all went to the building where the bus would pick them up and we all said our goodbyes. 

So, they left and I am now in a trio with the only two other Thai elders. Then there are like 10 Khmer elders and the Hmong district. They are good missionaries. I love my two Companions. There names are Elder Burgess and Elder Lemone. Going to class is kind of weird but is actually pretty fun. I love all the teachers and everyone in my district. I got to be with them for a TRC and listen as they struggled their way through the lesson with someone me and my companion taught 7 weeks ago. It was so fun because this time I could understand a lot more of what he said back to us. And I could explain it to my two companions after. His name is Brother Brown. He has come to TRCs every Monday for the past 3 years to listen to missionaries struggle to say anything in Thai. When me and my comp taught him 7 weeks ago we struggled a bit and he told us to have confidence. At the end of the lesson yesterday I was able to bare my testimony about following the prophet and the blessings that come to us and our families as we do so. It was really fun for Brother Brown and me because of the obvious growth that had taken place in my Thai and ability to invite the Spirit in Thai. 

 

ผมรักพวกคุณ! The Gospel is true! God loves His Children! I love you all!

Elder Shill