I got to help cook at President Arms house.
Doing paperwork, paying bills.
We had a family night at one of the members houses. An awesome group of people were there and we had a great time!
This is Brother Larson, one of the nicest people I have ever met. He went to Thailand on his mission long ago.
When we went to the Cambodian Border.
Brother Suk and after he got his new tablet from Brother Larson. Fun day!
Bus ride we took to Buriram.
Me getting a haircut.
Shoes galore.
Surin views.
We got to do service at President Arms house
(our Branch President) We carried dirt.
Me trying to be muscley like Elder Siebert.=)
We found this massive scorpion while
digging in the dirt. We killed it.
One of the cool night markets.
Food food and more food.
A little cafe that I ate food at.
Some freaking HUGE cockroaches.
The market.
Some Cambodian money that I got.
Letter Update:
Wow this last week has been very eventful and amazing! Last Monday, we had dinner over at one of the members houses. It was so much fun because a ton of the members came and it was a really good way to strengthen the friendship between all of the members in Surin. I was having fun joking around with the old ladies there. They were all telling me that I was too tall. They told me I need to stop growing or I never would get a girlfriend! I asked “why is that?” and they replied with, "It hurts our necks just to look at you, and it would hurt even more if someone had to kiss you." so I replied with, "That is why someday I will need to find a tall girlfriend!" They looked like they were in pain they were laughing so hard at me.
This last week for District meeting, we went to Buriram. (Surin and Buriram are in the same district and we have to ride an hour long bus to get to district meeting. Every week we switch which place we have our meeting at so we don't have to ride the bus every week.) Elder Siebert and I rode the hour long bus ride and walked about 20 minutes to the church building in Buriram. We didn't see where the Buriram Elders were, so we called them. It turns out that they were headed to to Surin on a bus! It was kind of funny, but also annoying at the confusion.
One thing about Elder Siebert. He loves being super healthy, so every morning, he makes his own breakfast. Once a week, he buys all the ingredients that he needs and every day he eats a ton of chicken. I thought it would be cool to know how to make what he makes and so last week when he bought the food for himself, I bought myself the same stuff, and I am learning how to make meals and stuff. It is fun! And it gives me an opportunity to eat more food which is always good.
Lately we have been teaching a new person named You-tana). We found him for the first time just riding bikes down little streets and talking to people outside their homes. (Nobody has front doors, so we just have to do that.) The second time we wanted to meet with him, we told him we would meet outside his house on a certain day at a certain time. We waited outside his house for about 15 minutes at that time, but he wasn't there. It is kind of sad when people skip our appointments that they make with us, but we decided to wait 5 more minutes. We said a prayer together that he would show up and right when we were about to leave, he drove up in is car and apologized for being late! I was so happy. He is a very intelligent man and when we told him that following the commandments of God could change his life for the better, he we so ready to listen. He is a man that loves his family, so I really like that about him.
This last Thursday consisted of a lot of service. We started out in the morning by going our to our Branch Presidents house and we cut up branches and pulled out trash and we did a lot of clean up. Then we hauled a ton of dirt from his front yard to the back yard. Because he didn't have a wheelbarrow, we used buckets. It was super fun! We found a few cool wildlife too! (a few spiders, two venomous scorpions, a million ants, and more!!!)
There is one kid in in our branch who is nineteen years old and he doesn't come to church super often, so we wanted to make friends with him and help him come back to church. His name is Leew. He always tells us how much he wants a girlfriend and since Elder Siebert is a body builder, Leew asked if he could help him work out, so we worked out with him. It was a great way to be good friends with him and just do some service.
At the end of Thursday, (this is my favorite story) we were riding to one of the night markets to go inviting, and we were about to ride across a big intersection to get to the market, but I saw this man who was in a food cart. (these are carts where they have bags of food or snack that hang off everywhere and usually it is like a bicycle also so they can ride it around) This man was leaning down and using his hand to turn the wheel to cross the intersection. I thought he had a flat tire or something, but it turns out, this guy can't use the bicycle pedals because he had no legs. He only had a lever that he moved back and forth to spin the wheels, but he could use the lever until he got himself going by turning the wheel with his hands. It is hard to explain, but it was very hard for this guy to get around. He wasn't going to make it across the intersection in time because he was moving so slowly, so we pushed him and his cart across the intersection to help him out. At first I thought he was just headed to sell at the night market, but he was actually going home. I offered that we could just push him all the way home because we could ride our bikes on either side of the cart and hold on to his cart with a hand. The man kept saying no because his house was too far, but that just made it a better reason why we should help him, so we kept pushing him along. We probably rode our bikes pushing him for about 30 minutes down dirt roads and pot holes and the whole time I was just wondering how this guy possible got this far away from his home on his own. It would have at least taken 2 hours for him to go on his own. While we were going down the roads, there was a giant pack of dogs that ran up to us and were barking and nipping at our legs, so I kept pushing him and Elder Siebert fought off the dogs with a stick. It was an adventure! Lol! When we got him to his home he told us that he makes that same ride every day all by himself so he can go sell things from his cart. This guy amazes me. It was so fun to help him that night.
We got to visit a member named Mah-noon). He used to work with dead bodies. He would dress the dead bodies for funerals, and he would let the missionaries come help him sometimes, but when I came here to Surin, he changed his job and now he just works with blood. I was a little sad that I would never be able to dress a dead body, but I guess it is okay.
Lately, Elder Siebert and I have been teaching a girl named Sooin. She has been learning with the missionaries for a long time now and some people were starting to tell us that she is an engineer, or someone who will never stop learning and also never get baptized. We refused to let it stay just like that, so we had a good talk with her and gave her a baptismal date to help her work towards the goal. I also think she is intrigued by the temple being built here in Thailand. We taught about families and the blessings she can receive in the temple. She is a great person.
This last week as Elder Siebert and I were headed home we decided to take a detour by the basketball court and see if anyone was there. There were people there when we got there so we split up to talk to different people, and I met a guy who was playing basketball. Apparently he had been taught by the missionaries six years ago, but he wasn't super up to learning again, so I told him we can play one on one and if I win we get to meet with him again one time, and he agreed! I won 16-2. Hopefully we can spark his interest to learning again.
Today on P-day, it was Chinese New Year! They didn't really celebrate at all here, except for some Chinese lanterns and cute Chinese baby pictures on some of the local stores. I don't know if the baby pictures are part of the Chinese New Year, but they are still pretty cute.
This was a great week! On to the next! I hope everyone else has a great week too!
-Elder Barron
