Week 16: transfer from Chaing Rai to Phuket

Robert Lowe

Sun, Sep 23, 8:55 PM 

So this week has just caught me totally by surprise. I'm still a little in shock about everything. But long story short, I love PUKHET!!!

First, leaving Chiang Rai. Honestly just one of the hardest things as a missionary is leaving an area that you have come to love so much. I loved the members there so much and all of the investigators were so kind too. But all good things come to an end. Transfers were this week which means I went all the way to Bangkok, picked up my new คู่ (companion), and we were on our way to ภูเก็ต (Phuket). My new companion's name is Elder ทู (thuu) and he is Samoan. He is super chill and wants to work hard so that's all I could ask for. Anyways, that bus ride was by far the longest bus ride I have ever been on...I think it was about a 14 hour bus ride but no worries, I got to Phuket in 1 piece! This place is super beautiful and very very hot. I'm literally living on an island right now teaching about Jesus Christ. Life can't get much better than that, right? 

Second, what caught me by a huge surprise was the lack of people we are teaching here. In Chiang Rai we had a bunch of people to teach but when I got here my companion told me we have nobody that we are teaching. This area is brand new so a lot of these people have never heard about God or are not interested at all. It honestly feels like we are the pioneers just trying to find anyone that is willing to listen to our message. The key is to have faith to find the elect and trust God that he can help me! 

Because we don't have too many people we teach, I have the sweet opportunity to talk with everyone. It's funny because in Thailand there are timers on the stoplights so I know exactly how much time I have to deliver our message. Sometimes with only 10 seconds I just ask where they are going and tell them I am a missionary that teaches about Jesus Christ. Anytime I pull up to a stoplight, if someone pulls up next to me on a motorcycle they already know I am talking to them! I've past out so many inviting cards because I am trying to plant these seeds for future missionaries. 

Overall I have gotten to speak so much more already. I talk with everyone I see, my trainer has me lead almost all the lessons, and I am now talking probably 60% in the lessons and my companion is talking 40%. It's just a complete turn around where I went from not speaking too much in lessons to being the one that answers questions and leads the lessons. I know it has got to be God helping me because I just feel way more comfortable and I don't really have to think about the words I am about to say they just come out naturally! But, I know I still have got such a long way to go because I am nowhere near fluent. 

I believe that God is giving me the gift of tongues this week. He has sent me to Phuket, a new area with only me and my companion. We both are relatively new in the mission and have a long way to go as missionaries. But, I can truly see God's hand in my life helping me teach these people in order to progress his work down here in the south. 

I feel so blessed to be here in Phuket. The people are still soo nice and I love the members here too. They are all shocked that I am a greenie and some of them say that I speak better than my trainer who has been out for 7 months in country. I think they are just being nice though. We visit members a lot and they always feed us so much. One member made a bunch of spaghetti and I thought I was in heaven. Overall the Lord is blessing me and has sent me here for a specific reason. I just have to find out what it is. 

Love and miss you all. Until next time

Love 

Elder Lowe 

1) me with sister ไหมา and brother พายุ and there crazy kid

2) last time teaching ต้น with Elder Davis 

 3) some guy dressed up in an elephant costume haha 

 4) the fam (my trainer and his son with my trainer's trainer and his son)

 5) my companion wanted in on the fun

6) the nicest people on earth or some of the members in Phuket 

Week 11: ทำงานหนักให้มีความสำเร็จ

This week has been such a grind! We go out every single day and just talk and teach people! Literally, all day every day just working and working! Also, I didn't realize how much it rains here in Thailand until this week. It honestly rains about 5 times everyday and every time it rains I just get soaked! All of my shirts are so dirty and muddy - I love it. 

On Tuesday I got the opportunity to give part of a blessing in Thai, or the anointing of the oil, which was super cool. Also, we  teach English to the Thai people every Tuesday night and we taught them about weather. It's funny to see other people struggle just like me at learning the language, haha!

The next day we taught so many people and prepared sister หล้า for baptism by asking her the baptismal interview questions. She passed! 

Well, later that night, I had to go all the way back to Bangkok on another 12 hour bus ride; we arrived in Bangkok around 6 in the morning. It was all good because I got to see all my buds from the MTC. Love you all!! I came pretty much 12 hours just to sign a piece of paper and then go straight back. But it was worth it because I was able to talk with this Thai person on a train in Bangkok. He was Buddhist and I asked him what he knew about God. He didn't know very much so I taught him about what I believe and I taught him the restoration of the gospel. He loved it and I ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and getting his phone number and Facebook. It was sweet. 

I took a flight for the way back to Chiang Rai. In the airport I got to eat McDonald's, which was expensive, but totally worth it because I haven't had any American food in like a week and a half. Everything in Thailand is like soooo cheap it's insane. Once we got back we immediately went out and gave some lessons and committed two more of our investigators to baptism! The work here is awesome!. The key is just making sure people are reading the Book of Mormon everyday. 

Friday just poured all day and we went inviting and knocking doors. Super hard day with everyone rejecting us and not being able to understand what people are saying. It is super tough to understand some people because they don't speak very clear! In the end the key is to have more faith, to not worry, stay focused, try my best, have a good attitude, have fun, and rely on the Lord!

The good stuff:

Saturday was sweet! The day was all centered around sister หล้า because it was her baptism day. She is about a 50 year old woman who was born into Christianity and then married a Muslim. And now is coming back to Christianity. I was asked to be the one who baptize her which was super cool cause it was my first baptism. Her name was like 10 syllables long so that was hard to remember Haha. We taught her like everyday and I became pretty close with her. It's awesome the amount of lives we can change here by helping others draw nearer to God. 

Church was much better this week and I understood a lot more. Not gonna lie, it's been a tough week not being able to speak that much or understand, but I know I just have to be patient cause I've only been here a week! Good thing I got today to relax and ride elephants...that's right I'm gonna go ride elephants today!!! Its gonna be so fun! I'll let you all know how it is next week!

Love you all and miss you!!

ประเทศไทยสนุกมากๆครับ ด้วยอาหารอยู่ที่นี่อร่อยเลย. ผมชอบเชียงรายและประสบการฌ์นี้สุดยอดเลย. ผมคิดถึงทุกฯคน! โชคดีนะครับ

Love

Elder Lowe 

Also this week I got to eat some bees lol. They were not good!!! Too mushy

5) me eating some bees  

4) mural of the soccer team that got stuck in the cave here in Chiang Rai  

3) sister หล้า baptism   

2) flooding from all the rain  

1) flying back to Chiang Rai from Bangkok   

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