จ.ม. แต่ไกล

Loosely translated: Letters from a distant land
Gotta love the Thai to English dictionary.


Trivia: The word "from" has 11 different ways to be spoken in Thai. According to the translation dictionary that I used anyway.

Hey Mom and Dad,
I am now out of Bangkok and serving up north in a city called Lampang, or ลำปาง. Total peridime shift from what I am used to seeing. Bangkok is loud and noisy with tons of people to talk with. Just like any other big city. Lampang is not that. The city Lampang itself is still like any other city, but the, um, province I think is the word, is pretty rural in some parts. Our area is split up into north and south with four elders, two covering each part. Our area is the whole province, but it's so big that we work mostly in the city. Even then some of my area is still straight up Thailand. For example, just yesterday we were teaching this guy who had expressed interest when the elders first met him. Elder Nordgren, my new companion, and I found him laying in a hammock under this bamboo and banana leaf overhang thing. That's where we taught him. In the middle of the lesson I hear these monster footsteps coming through the grass at my right. I knew it couldn't be a Thai guy, because they are so small. So I look over, and there are these two cows are coming over to join in. They were sniffing all over the place to find food. The small one didn't do much, but the huge one came right over next to me, so I petted his massive forehead. Then this little mangy dog comes over and starts barking at the cow like he is going to scare him off or something. Nothing much else happened, and the lesson ended in the guy, Sayaam, accepting another appointment. Just the fact that there were cows interrupting our lesson should give you an idea of how different my new area is from my last one! haha. I live with four elders. My companion is Elder Nordgren. He is only two moves ahead of me. We are going to improve dramatically in the language. Usually the senior companion is good enough to handle any situation, but he and I are pretty much on the same plane. We are going to have to work together. The other two elders are Elder Stanley, who is only one move ahead of me (he was in the MTC for my first 6 weeks there) and Elder Palmer who is on moves #9. He is our district leader. It's a good time having more than just two people in the house. Little harder to get work done... but still a good time! haha.
Love,
Aaron

Some nice P-day pics:

The first 5 are at a place called Ayuttyah, the city with the temples Mortal Kombat was filmed at. For the Volk boys this is important stuff! This was their favorite video game BITD and when the movie came out they were all over it!

The next 5 pics are a Christmas/New Year celebration with the whole mission



Can you find Aaron?

A portion of Bangkok from the water

This is Elder Bauer with Aaron. He was Aaron's companion at the MTC.

Thai temple or "wat"

Wait till tomorrows even cooler pics!!!