"It has been another pretty normal week. I didn't really do much other than contacting. Monday after talking to you, Elder Johnson and Elder Marshall went to get haircuts. Me and Elder Passey just walked around the market. There wasn't anything other than knives and clothing that we don't wear. Then we met up at the the Mall. We bought some super cool ties for cheap and then went home to rest before heading to eat with our new investigator Brother Oat. He is so cool. We ate Esan food and it was so good! I had som dum, meat and lots of sticky rice."
"Tuesday we studied the entire morning and prepared to begin an English class in Lat Phrao. There was a problem with the English class in a different area and they needed two Elders to go teach the beginner's class. Elder Johnson and Elder Marshall went, so Elder Passey and I had switch offs again and we taught the advanced English class alone. Since the class was mine, I had to take charge and lead the class. It was good because they all speak ok English and so I only had to speak a little Thai. I had to teach about syllables and vocab. It is hard explaining these to the Thai people and we always go off on huge tangents. This week the topic was friends and forgiveness. At the end, we had to give a spiritual thought on forgiveness and it was awesome!"
"Wednesday we had to go meet with the Bishop in Bangkapi and had to stay there the entire day. We had maybe 4 or 5 meetings that day! The meetings cut into our time because they don't tell us ahead of time, so we have to adjust our schedule at the last minute. We had no time to study at all that day. Our last meeting was at 7 and lasted til 9. We got home late and didn't even have time to plan for the next day. It was such a long day and super hot!"
"Thursday we we took the morning to study and plan for the day, since we couldn't the night before. We then had to go get some Bible videos for our lesson we were going to teach. We had to get them off the computers, but we are timed, so we only had an hour and it was a race to the finish. We went back home to try it out on the DVD player and it didn't work, so oh well. haha We made some phone calls. I had to call a guy named Johngreat and he was very hard to understand because he has such a thick accent. I couldn't really understand the Thai people either. I had to hand the phone to Elder Johnson once because it was so confusing. After that we went contacting which is always fun. We go outside to talk to people who are not interested and then go inside again. I try so hard to get them interested, but they just want to leave when we approach them. I know we do get blessings from being obedient, so I will keep doing it."
"Friday was sports day! It is a normal contacting day until about 5 pm and then we get to play. We always show up late because it takes us an hour to get there. We played this game like basketball and I was pretty good, but Elder Johnson is just so tall! haha We also played a game called, "never have I ever." I'm sure you've all heard of it. I was terrible because try playing that game in another language! haha I was always it because I didn't know what they said and had to switch. haha We had some people from the English class come. It was super fun. I'll try to take pictures there next time."
"Saturday it poured down rain and we were stuck at the house for 2 hours just studying and adjusting our plans. After that, we went contacting again and then met at Brother Isreal's house to teach a lesson to Brother Oat. Later, we went to a farewell for one of the members named Brother Firm. He is going on a mission to Thailand and leaves on Thursday for the Phillipines MTC. His farewell was at Pizza Hut. Like I said before, it's all about the "falung" food. The pizza had fake seafood on it and no sauce. I guess you are suppose to pour ketchup on it...ewwww! I ate it plain and it was alright, but maybe I was just super hungry by that time."
"Sunday we left early to try to find Johngreat. When we found him, he said that he had last minute plans and couldn't go. It turned out that he is Christian and really just wants to learn Thai so he can get a work permit. Oh well too bad. We went to church in Bangkapi and told everyone that we are having a little branch in Lat Phrao and they all went crazy! There was even a meeting after church about it. The Bishop said he knew nothing about it, even though we told him 3 times! It is sometimes hard here because the older people expect to be listened to and they have a hard time with the fact that the Bishop is younger than them and in charge. The church leadership can sometimes struggle."
"I haven't had any Zone meetings yet, but there is one coming up on Thursday. District meetings are nothing really because we all live in the same apartment and already know what is going on. We just get together to make goals. I don't remember the names of all the foods I eat, but I'll try to write them down. I have eaten many fruits and let me tell ya...Turian is super nasty tasting! It is so gross! I haven't seen any of my mission buddies and have not seen or heard from President Senior. The language just sort of keeps coming along. That was my week. Not much is there yet, but I still have two years! I love you all so much!"
Elder Jacob Smith
