10/27/2013

เอ็ลเดอร์ ออสบอร์น

So that's my name in Thai in case any of you were wondering what my tag looks like!! So cool isn't it!

Well, to say the least a lot of things happened this week. haha.

So first of all, right outside of the internet raan (sorry, I guess it's called an internet cafe in english.) haha there's a coco raan, a place where they make these delicious chocolate drinks. We started talking to the family that runs it last week after email, and guess what. We've already had two lessons with them and they're awesome! I don't know if they've started reading the Book of Mormon, but we'll check with them when we finish emailing. That's pretty neat.

Um, did I talk about our investigator last week? Well, we have one investigator who is a dance instructor. He has to work on sundays and that is the only thing stopping him from being baptized. We gave him a date on nov 24th and he has been praying a lot for help with work on sunday. We've joined our prayers with his and have been praying for a miracle. He's the only one who knows a certain dance that is really popular and he has to teach it every sunday. This week he talked to his boss, and got permission to move the class. The next day he talked to all of his customers and got the class moved!!!!! Prayers. Answered. He can come to church now and we might move his baptism to nov 10 now! I can't express how excited we are for him.

So I remembered where Elder Wilko is from. Kaysville.... how did I forget that?! haha

Still haven't found my bag.... that's okay though. It's not too big of a deal. I got a new dictionary and we don't really wear normal clothes. haha, except when we go to harvest rice!!!!

So, cool story. We went to harvest rice this week!! We met at the church at 6 in the morning to drive out into the bush and the rice patties. We were harvesting for sister พร. (PS she is the greatest woman in the whole world.(Besides my mom. :)   ) Such a sweetheart, so strong in the gospel, so loving of others. I kind of feel like she's my mom here in Udorn.) We moved rice bales( are they called bales? I don't know. haha) into a machine that seperated the rice from the...non-edible parts of the rice... haha I think my english skills are failing. I can't remember any english words anymore. It really was so fun and it was so great to just give real service. เเสม (that investigator who is a dance instructor) came too and he looked like a criminal cause he was wearing a ski mask! haha they wear lots of clothes so they don't get a corn rash. I didn't get one, but they made me wear socks on my arms so I wouldn't get a rash. hahahaha I have some good pictures.

Oh! Last monday night we had FHE.

Like no fhe you've ever experienced. Really though. Here, when they do family home evening, half of the ward comes with all of the investigators too, we play games and eat and take pictures (they love to take pictures more than life itself) and have a little spiritual thought. FHE is like a massive family reunion. More like a ward party, thailand style. haha so much fun!

Oh, and on tuesday. while we were contacting at a lake, we were about to leave and we heard "Elder!" yelled behind us. We went and talked to the guy, he pulled out his book of mormon and just told us right of the bat. "I have faith." What?! I definitely didn't expect that. Long story short, we gave him a baptismal date on the spot and gave him a reading assignment, which he started to read before we could finish the sentence. And, when we went to go meet with him the next day, he didn't come. And I guess most of the missionaries in Udorn have met with him and I guess he's not completely there... bummer. That would have been so neat!

When we hear, "Elder!" yelled behind us it is always the best. Cause whoever it is knows us and is willing to listen. Another time it happened it happened to be a Sister who moved somewhere we aren't and hasn't been able to go to church for 10 years. She's gonna call us this week cause she's back in Udorn and will come to church on sunday! And the other time it happened the guy came to church!

I love this mission. Thailand is awesome. I just wish there were more of us. Only 10 missionaries for 3 million people where we are. And in the country about 160 for 70 million. There's so much to do, we're always so busy. So busy, but so happy. Honestly I'm in heaven here in Thailand.

Well, Until next time.

Elder Osborn

These are all at FHE.

And the air conditioner in our room rains on us all day. So we keep all of our not waterproof stuff off of our study desk to keep it save. Haha

10/21/2013

Oh my goodness.......................................................................................................................................................

I put all of those dots there to show my excitement. If you feel the need you can pretend they are exclamation points. haha.

Well. first of all typing right now is kind of freaking me out because every single key has like ten different markings on it. So as long as I don't ever look at my hands I'm good. But, right now we are in an internet cafe. A whole bunch of teenagers are all around us gaming and yelling and laughing. It cost us 20 baht to get an hour and a half of computer time. 

So... Thailand!!! Can you believe that? I am now in Thailand. It's kind of like a dream. Completely surreal. The flight was an eternity. Our group placed... hmm let me think, I think it was 4 Books of Mormon. We placed 4 books of mormon on the first flight to LA!!! I didn't cause I was next to Elder Davis, but it was cool nonetheless.

Those first few hours were completely nuts!! We got little lays (haha, I Don't know how to spell it.) and took a bunch of pictures. We spent the first night in a hotel and our room was freezing! 16 degrees C. It felt great though. We had transfer meeting on Thursday and I got my new companion! Elder Wilko! He is amazing! He's from... ooohhh. that's embarrassing, that city right next to... ah man! well never mind.

But he is great, he's 20 and has been here for 14 months i think. We got assigned to Udorn 2nd branch. So after the meeting we caught a 12 hour bus ride up to Udorn Thani. It should have been only 8-10 hours but there was an issue with our luggage and it couldn't all fit on the bus so they sent our bags the next day. And I lost my small bag and suit jacket. But that's all right... I guess. Not too big of a deal, nothing essential, just inconveniencing. Thank goodness it was only my preach my gospels, some toiletries, my $94 dictionary, and all my normal clothes, except my favorite shirt and one pair of gym shorts! Thank goodness for that. But it's okay. I'll survive. haha

OH! I forgot, that first day they had us go Dan Jonesing! I placed my first Book of Mormon with Elder Tirrell( Who knew! I didn't know he was in Thailand!) Oh, and President Senior said we had to go together. BTW, President Senior is the best. Don't believe anything any other missionaries say. haha

Sorry if this is kind of all over the place... Cause it is. But I'm just pretty happy and excited and trying to type quickly. 

Udorn Thani is a city near the border of Laos. In the north east of Thailand. They speak a suprising amount of what is Laotian, and that's throwing me off, cause two really common words, both of which sound like mai, but with different tones, are here said b((   (haha I use the parentheses to type อ ) Hey! I can type thai stuff now!!!  And they dont say their ch sounds... So I struggle a little bit to understand them. But I'm okay with it. I'd say the biggest struggle here is not being able to understand people. But I've decided to just try my hardest to understand and increase my language a little bit every day and rely on the Lord's help to learn this language. Other than the language everything is perfect.

Here's a list of all these perfect things! 

-The days are busy
-My backside hurts from the bike
-I might have a blister
-We don't own any toilet paper but we have little sprayers in each bathroom....( haha )
-The food is too delicious
-The work is awesome
-My bike is legit,
-My companion is awesome
-I'm in the same house as the Zone Leaders and they're awesome too.
-The church is ten minutes away on the bike and the ride is awesome. I think I'm losing weight already.
-This city is huge, but nothing compared to Bangkok.
-The people are so nice.
-Ward volleyball is way more entertaining here than at home, and I thought it was crazy in Provo.... haha
-The chapel is on the second floor and I don't understand the entire meeting, or any of the meetings.
-One of the boys asked me what thriftshop is. haha
-We gave two blessings yesterday, one to a woman in a wheelchair, the other with a member who has been inactive for 12 years and his wife wasn't feeling well. I cried.
-One of our investigators is a dance instructor. and he is so funny during ward volleyball.
-The district president speaks english and is super funny.
-Well, everyone is probably super funny I just can't understand them. hahahahahaha
-This food is absolute heaven.
-Riding your bike on a highway with buses, trucks, motorcycles and cars is an exhilarating experience. Sounds dangerous, but we're good. Don't worry.
-Giving books of mormon to people is cool. This on guy, who we happened to ride with twice on his Tuk Tuk wrapped it up in his little cloth that he wears like a belt ( I can't remember what it's called ) because he didn't want it to get dirty or ruined.
-My reading is getting better so quickly! They have tons of weird fonts that are hard to get used to. and I thought some of the English fonts were impossible to read... haha
-I jammed my thumb at ward sports night/ ward volleyball and soccer. and i bruised the other one. So I have a discolored thumb and a swollen thumb! haha
-Food is cheap, so I don't feel bad eating all of this delicious food.
-Well everything is cheap.
-My shampoo is in a bag.
-The milk tastes weird, but I think I like it more.
-Sister Hart makes us waffles on sunday nights. Well she makes the mix and we have to make them.
-Our beds are all in the same room, just mattresses on the floor.
-It's hot here, but not too hot. And dryer than I expected.
-Brother Spooky (I don't know where he got that nick name ) is hilarious and I can't understand him. He plays volleyball like a boss and cracks jokes with me that I don't understand so I just laugh and say chai!
-Ward choir is amazing. I thought I knew how to sing, I guess not. These thai people really know how to sing. Everyone is so off tune that I can't even find my note or hear the piano. And I can barely read, so when they asked us to watch the conductor I decided it was impossible to do both, I can hardly do it when I'm singing in English. And the Sopranos... have the voices of angels. But no matter how interesting our choir sounds, it is the best choir I have ever heard.
-Ward choir is definitely no MTC choir. haha
-They had me bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. Now I understand the meaning of, "my head was swimming". Cause my vision was all over the place, it was like I just got off of a very spinny roller coaster.
Oh, Elder Wilko is also the district leader, so tomorrow we will take a bus to a different area for a baptismal interview.
-Oh, because our bags were gone for a couple days, I didn't brush my teeth for two and a half days... sorry about that. haha

Well, I'm running out of time.

I love you all!
Elder Christopher Osborn

This is the Book of Mormon I tried to place on the plane... The woman next to me was very nice and we had a great conversation. She just didn't want to take my book. But maybenray. Or it's alright.


 It was pouring the first day we got here in Bangkok. And the streets were pretty much lakes. Super fun to drive.
 in.


 These are tuk tuks... beautiful 3 wheeled vehicles. One of our investigators drives one of these things.

This is my new bike!! Itwill not be new for very long... haha

Typical Udorn. A beautiful City :)

My desk, super dirty, but it was worse when we got here. I'll clean it today since it's pday. 

 This is my view out of the window next to my desk. Every morning while we study the sun shines through the window. I would say that's one of my tender mercies for every day.

These are our beds. haha awesome isnt it?

10/15/2013

Dear Brother and Sister Osborn:

We are happy to report that your son arrived safely in Bangkok.  He is in good spirits and is anxious to begin laboring in the Lord’s vineyard in Thailand.  I love his enthusiasm and spirit.  He will be an amazing missionary. Your son will be oriented today by the Office Couple Elder and Sister Jones, the Mission Assistants and also by Sister Senior and me.  He will experience his first opportunity to meet people on the street in a “Dan Jones” street contacting experience later today.    Later this evening, Elder Osborn and his group will be joining my wife and me for dinner at the Mission Home.

Elder Osborn will receive his first assignment tomorrow morning.  Preparation day will be on Monday and he will be able to email you each week.  I am sure he will have much to share regarding his experiences with Thailand, missionary activities and first Sunday in his assigned area.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions during Elder Osborn’s missionary service.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Senior

dsenior@ldschurch.org

10/09/2013

Oh my goodness... for the first time since I got here I can say  that a lot has happened this week!

1. We got our travel plans!!!! I was so excited that I did a heel click. And I normally don't do those. And I didn't know I could. So that just shows how excited I was to find out. Thank goodness we are all actually going to leave on Monday!! Our flight is in the afternoon and we leave the mtc at 2 pm!

We're finally going to Phrataadthay!! (Yet again, my best attempt at writing thai, in english. I apologize... again.)

2. General Conference................... Honestly. I could write so much about General conference it would be just as long as the entire lord of the rings trilogy and all six star wars put together. Some of the best hours of my life. But not even exaggerating... I got over 21 pages of notes... And I have so much to work on after it too.

3. Elder Gage and I were chosen to help in the "missionary experience" with all the new missionaries who get here today. There were about 10 companionships chosen and we get to basically do a first lesson while being watched by 40 brand new missionaries, then we switch rooms and do it again. So that'll be fun! We do that tonight instead of going to class, which I'm a little sad about, cause we had a great lesson planned for our investigator. It'll be sweet. although it'll be really strange cause we've never given a lesson in english before. So when we were practicing I almost started speaking in Thai on accident. haha

4. We are going to Thailand on monday!

5. We are going to Thailand on monday!

6. We are going to Thailand on monday!

I think you get the point. haha

So, as you all know my wonderful sister is running this entire thing and I just want to thank her for helping me out while I serve. So thanks,  Mad. :)

She did give me a few things to write about today cause I asked her what to write about because I'm sure you are sick of hearing about how great choir is every week.

So choir was awesome this week!! haha jk, it really was great, we sang "I feel my Savior's love" -- so great!

Q 1: What is your favorite meal in the MTC? 

I love... hmmmmm. that is a good question. I really like icecream days. Sundays and wednesdays. and I really love the salads. It's the only meal I can eat and not feel like I'm going to explode after.

Q2: Take me through an average day there?

Wake up, breakfast, personal study, companionship study, TALL, GYM!!!!. Lunch, class for three hours, language study for an hour and a half, dinner, class again for three hours, planning, personal time to get ready for bed, personal devotional, sleep, and start again!!! they change a little bit every day in order but it's the same idea each day. We teach our investigators during class time. Do you see why so many people gain weight here? All we do is sit and eat! haha

Q 3: What do you do on P-days?

We wake up half an hour early, take our sheets downstairs to get new ones, go to the temple, eat our favorite meal ( that's it!! my favorite meal is the only one not at the MTC!! haha ).

We come back, change, do missionary portal/email/email the branch pres.. We prepare for laundry, grab a sack lunch and just take a few minutes to eat and relax. We write letters and go to laundry, where we continue to write letters. Then we fold clothes and clean the room and go to service where we set up the chairs for that "experience" that we will actually be in tonight!, we than go to dinner and have class as usual.

Q4: Are we at rain tree or the main campus?

We are at the main campus, and I am so glad! We never have/get to go anywhere! haha that's a positive and a negative...

Q5: What do I like most about the MTC?

Let's see... I probably talk about choir the most, than gym next, than the devotionals.. but I love everything so much!!! I really love personal study and the devotionals probably the most.

Q6: What do I like least?

How short gym time is.

Q7: What do your sundays consist of?

Lots of study time, a devotional, choir practice, sacrament meeting, a temple walk. It's still pretty busy.

So this is my last P-day in the MTC. So my next email will be all about Thailand!!!!!! Until then! I love you all!

-Elder Christopher Osborn

 Elder Gage and I before devotional.

The laundry room.

So this is our class room. we spend many hours every day in this one room. try and guess which desk is mine...:)


This is what the temple looked like just after we finished! So sad to leave the temple for two years. My eyes got watery as we walked down the walk and I said goodbye to my favorite place in the world.

Here's our travel plans :)

   A picture of me with Elder Sugihara. We got haircuts today.


This is me with Elder white and Elder Larson! They're pretty great and they come join in our p-day eve parties and all of our other awesome things.

10/02/2013

I should probably figure out how to type thai... That'd be way cooler than trying to type thai words in english...

Okay... So much to speak about!!! But as usual, when I actually get the chance to say anything, I forget everything I wanted to say! So, as Elder Gage has been doing, I will start writing down things I want to say so I'll be able to fill next week's email with big juicy fruits of the spirit. haha! I'm also trying to make my writing more exciting, so please forgive me of my cheesy analogies and other such nonsense.

So speaking of trying to do things better than before. I think I'm going to talk a little bit about repentance. 

Before I came into the MTC I always felt like repentance was a painful thing. Something I should be afraid of. I understood how important it was and was grateful of it, but I was scared of it. Like it was a backup plan. Only to be used when I mess up. 

NO.

I've come to the great realization that repentance is the most beautiful gift in the world! I've learned through experience, others, and the spirit that repentance is changing from bad to good, from good to better, and from better to best. The word for repentance in thai is kaanklapcay. It literally means a return of heart. So much can be learned from this idea! There's a reason why they chose the word kaanklapcay to mean repentance. Because repentance is a change, a turn to God. Even in English repentance actually means to turn back. The MTC is the refiner's fire not because we are thrown in a crazy missionary schedule and we try to learn a language in less than two months. The MTC is the refiner's fire because we repent every day. Every hour. Almost every minute. Every time you see or realize something you can be doing better and have a desire to change, you are repenting in that moment. All day every day I'm realizing that I can be doing better at something. And therefore I'm repenting all day long. As we repent every day and give up our flaws and become more like Christ we find happiness.

I wrote in my journal a few days ago, "Repentance is when you look at yourself, realize your faults and impurities, and with His help, remove them, leaving a more pure, more perfect you." 

I hope I was able to leave you all with a hint of the greatest thing I've realized in the MTC. Because repentance is everything! 

Sunday was fast sunday...

You all know what that means for a whole bunch of young men aged 18 and 19... hahaha.

But what was great about this Fast Sunday, was that instead of spending over an hour of our day eating, we go to spend that time studying!! I didn't have any letters to write so I just read, marked, and wrote. I received so much revelation on Sunday it was amazing! Also, we had mission conference, which is a mini general conference! So much knowledge! 

One thing I want to say specifically is whenever you have a question you should think: "what would the Lord have me do?" I know this question doesn't always give a perfect definite answer to everyone, but for me it does. As a missionary I can always know what the Lord would have me do as long as I'm aware and willing.

Another thing I loved was another talk about Power and Authority. These two words are always used in reference to the Priesthood. But I want to expound a bit on my new knowledge. At least for me, I have been given Authority. When I was called as a missionary and set apart I was given authority. But you cannot just be given power. Power is determined by a willingness to heed to the Spirit. To have power you need to be aware of others and humble. It's that simple. Of course worthiness is in there too, as it always is, but I like that. You need to be aware of others, and humble. Authority is given. Power is earned. 

 I think I'll end with a few great quotes that I've gotten from those around me. :)

"Life is good, but it is sweet because of the gospel of Christ. Because of what we have." -Brother Callister

"No one can take your place in your mission, life, and family. It is your calling" - Sister Nally

"God is not dead. Nor does He sleep. The Heavens are not closed." - Elder Baxter

"We cannot be ashamed of it. We just have to embrace [persecution] because we know it's true" - Elder Codling

"We have the ability to rewrite history in the lives of others" - I don't know. It's just written in my journal and I love it.

"frequently stand back and look at the big picture...to realize and confirm our place in the Lord's plan." - President Roach

"Gifts of the Spirit are seldom manifested publicly." - Brother Brady

"The day a missionary is happy is the day he cares about others more than himself." - Dan R. Clark

"Don't preach. Just invite." -Also Dan R. Clark

"the principle of being connected with Him is obedience." - Also Dan R. Clark

Well, I think that's all I have to say. If I think of anything else. I'll write it down.

 - Elder Osborn

PS: I'm on 2 Nephi 31 now. 

PPS- We might get our travel plans this week!!