My First Week In Thailand!

 So awesome to finally arrive!

 This says, 

"The Church of Jesus Christ 

of Latter Day Saints"

 President and Sister Hammond will serve in Thailand for 3 years. We are the very first group for them to welcome.

 Receiving instruction.

 AWESOME food!

 Interesting fruits!

 Applying for our work permit and visa.

 My new tags.

 Headed to the zoo on our Prep Day!

 I found a basketball in Bangkok! It's flat...

Update after my first week:

Hello world! It is official. I am finally in Thailand! The flight was super long. All the people in my "district" that were going to Thailand woke up at 3 in the morning in Utah and said goodbye to some of our friends who lived in the same dorms as us, and we left to head to the bus that would take us to the airport. We traveled to the airport with the missionaries that learned Japanese, so I got to see Elder Taylor (My Bro in law Nate’s little brother) one more time. He is so cool!

Anyways, we rode a bus to the train and then we rode the train to the airport. When we got to our gate in the Salt Lake City Airport, we got to see the missionaries that speak Vietnamese again.  We were very good friends with them all at the MTC!  I was just talking to some of them when someone came up behind me and hugged me really tight. My first thought was that it was just another missionary, but I turned around and it was my MOM! Talk about SHOCK! Apparently she went to my cousins wedding and her plane back to home was leaving right across from my gate 30 minutes earlier. It totally just came out that way without anyone planning it. Crazy! She gave Elder Benteti and I some snacks for the plane, she let me used her phone to call the family and it was so fun to be with her even though it was TOO SHORT! Soon she had to leave on her flight. We waited a few more minutes and then we were off to LA.

The rest of that day was just a bunch of flying from LA, to Hong Kong, and then we got to Thailand. It was strange because we were flying for about more than 30 hours or so, but the sun never went down until we got to Thailand because we were chasing the sun in the plane all day to the other side of the world. When we got to Thailand, we met our Mission President, President Hammond, and his wife. They are both so nice and they care about every single one of us a ton. We all drove to the mission home and got to see that, and then they took us to our hotel so we could get like 5 hours of sleep for the next day.

The next day was basically a lot to getting prepared and settling in. Then President Hammond gave all the companionships 100 baht (which equals a little more than 3 dollars) and he gave us a few random items to go buy and a Book of Mormon to go try to talk to people about the gospel and give out the Book of Mormon. It was very fun walking around Thailand and experiencing Bangkok. There are SO MANY motorcycles. The first time I saw a group go by, I thought it was just a motorcycle gang, but then they just kept coming and going nonstop. 

As for the language, I know exactly what I am saying and how to speak the few words and phrases I know, but I don't understand the Thai for a lick. Haha! Their accent is very different then my teachers in the MTC and it is very hard to understand. I just have to get used to it though and that will just take time.

We slept in our hotel again that night and the next morning we went to the mission home again to figure out who our trainers will be! I forgot to mention one important thing. It is sooooooo humid here. I will sweat all the time without even doing anything. It rains like at least once a day and we don't even use an umbrella because we are already wet from sweat. It is totally fun!

Anyways, we had our meeting with our Mission President and I found out my new companion is Elder Steele! He has been out in The Land for almost 1 year. (a little bit of slang for ya) He is from Layton, Utah, super cool and very good at Thai. He helps me all the time because it is hard for me to know what is going on when we are walking around in our assigned area or teaching lessons to investigators. The area that we are in is called Bangkapi.

We travel everywhere by bus and I am getting to know all the members better. They are all so fun! One of the members named Clikes talking to me because I know a little Thai and he knows a little English and we both want to get better at the other language so we help each other out. He is 19 years old. There is also a little girl who everyone calls MJ who likes following me because she likes the Keychain of a bear I have on my bag. So in Thailand, everyone has their given name which is super long and hard to remember, so they give themselves a nickname that they go by instead. Their nickname is sometimes an English word that they hear and they want to go by. Some of them are pretty funny. For instance, these are names of some people I’ve met: Fern, Eve, Butter, Donut, and DotCom. It is very fun. =D

My first Sunday going to church here was great. I got to bear my testimony of what I know to be true about the gospel in Thai in front of everyone. That went well. I think all the Thai people were laughing because my white accent. =) It was still pretty much like a normal church day that I am used to in Arkansas except that it was just in Thai. After church we had a big lunch in the church building with everyone it is super fun getting to know all the Thai people without understanding Thai.  Haha!

Every Monday we have a preparation day that we call “P-day” it is a day to rest from teaching, prepare for our next lessons, and we have the opportunity to do fun things and see more of Thailand. For my first P-day, Elder Steele, Sister Rogers, Sister Harris, and I went to a zoo. It was super fun, and there were tons of awesome animals.

I totally had a great week! I have been dreaming of being a missionary and doing these things my whole life. So excited to finally have it be a reality! Thanks to you all for reading my letters. I love when I get emails from you! 

Love-Elder Barron