Thailand, Pakkret Week 4

Hey! 

Sorry my email last week was so sucky. I didn't realize how little time I actually had to email. We got down to one minute left and I hadn't really said anything so I just panicked and kidna threw stuff in there. I'll make up for it today and finish the last email. 

1. What type of music do they listen to in Thailand?

They listen to a lot of American music cuz Thai music kinda sucks to be honest. They do have quite a bit of Thai music that is kinda decent so a lot of people listen to that too, but a lot of it is similar. 

2. Do you listen to music in your apartment?

Yeah, we listen to a lot of MoTab and Piano Guys and stuff in the mornings and at night. My companion is a big music fan. He also bought his own guitar here so we play that sometimes. 

 3. Do you want me to log into your missionary email account and print off the emails you send and receive from others? I have a blog with the letters you send home. But if you want the emails you receive saved, let me know.

You don't need to print off the stuff I recieve cuz I can do that, but you can print off the stuff I send home if you want. 

 4. Tell about your investigators.

We have tons of awesome investigators. Most of them come from English class but we have also met some really cool people just out inviting (what we call "tracting" basically). We have tons of girls that we teach and hardly any boys. Here in Thailand, the men all stay out all night and drink and smoke with their buddies while their wives go to work and take care of the family and stuff. The message really impacts the girls and we teach tons of them, but guys not so much. I'll just talk about some of our more progressed investigators cuz we have a lot. First we have brother Top. He's way cool and is 100% ready for baptism, but he's gotta become a monk first before he can. We are kinda confused about that but apparently he made a promise to his mom that he feels like he needs to keep. Oh well, he'll get there. We have sister Suay and Bla who are both ready for baptism too. Sister Bla is cool and she really loves the missionaries. She threw me a surprise birthday party at English which was way fun. We teach a lot of RCs (recent converts) too including sister Boo, Aht, and May; sister Gah ("a" like in "apple") and Briao; and a couple more. Sister Gah is like the ward mom for all the investigators which is way cool. We are also starting to teach a woman named Goat, a man named Soot, and another man named Wan (I guess we have more guy investigators than I thought. Cool). Goat is this lady who runs a resturaunt that we just started to teach her and we got through the first 2 lessons in one sitting. She was so prepared and the heavy rain kept customers from coming so she wasn't busy which was a miracle. Soot is this 56 year old guy I can see being a stake president. He's just got that look. And Wan is 34 and covered in tattoos. Our first lesson he just sat there in his boxers which was strangely not surprising. I've just kinda gotten used to that kind of stuff. 

5. Whats church like?

Church is way cool. Everything is obviously just in Thai so I don't understand a whole lot, but the spirit is still strong. There are a couple little kids that just run around and climb on people the whole time so it reminds me of our family. They only have like 4 people that can do the sacrament each week but it's ok because probably only 60-70 people come each week. Also, after church all the members eat lunch together in the gym. They bring rice and stuff to put in it (classic Thai meals) and it is always SO GOOD! I love Thai food. 

 6. Tell me about the baptisms you’ve attended

I've been to 4 baptisms so far and 3 of them have been for our investigators so that's cool. The first one was my companion baptizing one of the sister missionaries' investigators. He's this super cute guy named brother Bah. We also had the baptism of sister Gah which had the water-in-the-font miracle, and the other 2 were for our investigators Briao and Aht. I was able to baptize Aht which was a way cool experience.

 7. My biggest curiosity is about the death of the King. How has that affected you as missionaries? Do you need to wear dark clothes to mourn with the people. Is it considered disrespectful if you are smiling and happy when you meet new people? Are they more receptive to talking about spiritual matters? Maybe it’s hard to note the differences since you were so new. I’ve been trying to read everything I can in the news. Do you feel safe?

Yeah, the death of the King was a major bummer for sure. People are still pretty sad about it and there are gigantic memorial pictures EVERYWHERE. Also, everyone is still wearing black including the missionaries which is a bummer because that means we can only wear black ties which I'm getting sick of. We can still be happy and smile and people smile back and talk and are happy or whatever, but the general mood is just kinda sad, ya know? I feel safe and we have had great experiences sharing about the plan of salvation because everyone is thinking about the King's death.

 8. How are you really doing? I’m sure you feel happy and sad and encouraged and frustrated. So I guess I need a few more details than just a simple one word answer.

I'm really doing fine! I will admit that I cried for the first time this week though. I was hoping it wouldn't happen, but I guess I am human after all. I've felt kinda discouraged with the language at points and my homesickness is a more than it's been so far, but after I pray and kinda embrace my emotions I'm able to have a great day and focus on the work. I'm doing fine and I love being a missionary and it's amazing to see the spiritural help I recieve from the Lord. There is no where else I'd rather be. 

Bam. So there are those answers, sorry I messed it up last time! 

This week has seriously been crazy. With it being my birthday, our investigators and the sister missionaries both threw separate surprise parties for me which was really sweet of them. At the English Class one of our investigators (sister Bla) wrote me a birthday card which reads, and I quote: "Happy Birthday Elder Willcox! Welcome to Thailand 2016. I wish you happy everyday- everytime. This we pray in they Holy name Jesus. Amen." Isn't that cute? She tried so hard. It really is pretty decent for a Thai person who doesn't understand English too well but I'm thinking we need to explain exactly what prayer is again... I love Thai-person English. Also, I cant remember if I told you guys about our spider experience, but one day we were cleaning the back room of our English Class because it's nasty, and we got it pretty clean and didn't find any animals living in the piles of junk that were everywhere which I was pretty pumped about. Then as we were doing the superficial cleaning, I reached down to pick up a bottle of some kind of cleaner that was left under the sink. I brought it up to my face and turned it around to read the label and there was a freaking HUGE spider on the back of it like 2 inches from my face. I yelled and threw the bottle down and then we used half a bottle of cockroach poison on it until we were sure it was dead. So that was a party. Then, on my birthday when we got to the class to prepare for english, the back wall had like 50 cockroaches on it mating or something cuz they were in a swarm. We took the bottle of poison to it again and it was fun. I got videos of both attacks but I'm not sure if I'll be able to send it or not. Also this week, Elder Neal did a flying kick through 2 layers of drywall at the church after he scored in soccer for sports night, we found out that the cute old lady that lives in the bottom of our apartment and makes us food every day went to jail for 12 years for murdering a guy with a kictchen knife, and we found out that sister Briao is in love with Elder Gremillion. It was a cool week I think. Oh, and sister Gah got me some teacups for my birthday. It was a nice though, but they were decorated with some classic-Chinese-art porn so I didn't really know what to do. Thailand is pretty weird, let me tell ya. 

That's basically it from out here in Thailand! It rains a lot, it's really hot, and the rivers are nasty. Keep emailing me and updating me on life back in the US! I'll See ya guys soon :)

Love, Elder Wilcox

PS- Dad, you only really need to update me on the Utes (although the top 25 rankings are nice) and a quick score update on the Pack. Mom, leave him be, I appreciate his efforts greatly ;) 

This sign shows that the price for the aquarium is double what it actually is for people who can read the Thai script numbers. Good marketing, taking advantage of the stupid Americans.

The baptism of sister Briao and Aht! Aht is the closest one to me.

That spider we killed. That coin is a little bigger than a quarter.