Elder Porter Rawlinson Blog: Week 10: I am finally here!!

What's up everyone! I haven't emailed in a couple of weeks so I have a lot to catch you all up on. After what felt like an eternity in the MTC, my district made it to Bangkok safely last week. We got to meet our mission president, President Johnson, and his wife, Sister Johnson. They're soooo great! They're from Kaysville, Utah and have been here in Thailand since June. I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better these next two years. Anyway, we street contacted in the city the next day. That was interesting.... Most of the people that we ran into seemed like they were in a rush so it was hard to really get in any numbers. Still worth it though. On Thusrday, we had transfer meetings! I found out that I'd be serving in a city called Ubon. Ubon is in the Southeast corner of Thailand. Anyway, my trainer's name is Elder Anderson. He's from Sandy, Utah and he's been in the field since February of last year. Great guy. He knows the language really well and he teaches with the Spirit. He basically knows everything so I just follow him around do whatever he does.

So after transfer meetings, Elder Anderson and I ran around Bangkok all day getting things together etc etc so that we could take a train over night to Ubon. We got to the train station and the first thing that popped it my head was "wow, this place is soooo sketchy". And then it starting raining. Hard. And my bags we're still in the church building that we had transfer meetings in so we had to go back and get them and then come all the way back to the train station. At this point, I'm soaking wet waiting for the train at the station. It was 2 hours late. I was so tired. I literally fell asleep on my suitcase. Anyway, 11 hours on the train and we finally made it to Ubon..... Ubon is the coolest place ever. The members here are so strong and the people here are really nice. They joke around a lot with me cause I don't know the language yet but I just go with it and laugh with them since half the time I don't even know what's going on. The food here is amazing. We usually just eat street food and it's a little sketchy but worth it. The saying here in Thailand is "if it's not spicy, then it's not tasty". I'm not sure if that's true yet but the spicy food so far has lived up to it's name haha. Aside from that, it's pretty easy to just go up to random people and share with them my beliefs because of how understanding they are here. I love it. I live with two other elders. They're actually the zone leaders- Elder Finlayson and Elder Hartung. Both of them are great elders and they're super funny. One night, Finlayson went up to me and said "I think I have a worm" and I was just like "that's kinda creepy" and he then went off and told me about all these reasons for why he thought he had parasites. He's also super skinny and tired a lot so maybe it's true.... It's just been funny getting to know them and it's been nice for a change to actually have people to speak English with, even if it's about parasites etc.

Changing subjects now. Elder Anderson and I actually had a baptism for a girl named Sister Daaw on Sunday. Since Anderson was here last transfer in Ubon, him and his last companion were teaching her before I came in. She's the best. She goes to one of the schools close by and she's just all around a great person. The baptism went really well. One of the members baptized her and it was just a way cool experience to be apart of it. Sister Daaw was soooooo happy to get baptized and I'm excited to see her grow and progress in the gospel. From the baptism and from lessons Anderson and I have taught so far, I have a new appreciation for this work. The fact that this gospel can literally change lives is so powerful and I'm blessed to be a part of it every single day. Anyway, we have a few more investigators that we're currently teaching and it's been great getting know each of them personally. I love the members here like I said earlier. They help with the lessons when we teach. I love being here in Thailand. In all honesty, it's been a little hard for me to get used to life here but I know that as I put my faith in God, as I continue to trust Him with all that goes on in my life, things will work out. The language, the teaching, everything. Please remember that we never have to go through this life alone. Heavenly Father is just a pray away. I love you guys. Have a great week and stay safe!

Elder Rawlinson