A very tired Sister Chem
Yeah that's right... Im in THAILAND!!!! After the huge hassle of thinking I couldn't go with my group, being devastated thinking I was never going to go to Thailand, then à 36 hour journey, not sleeping for like 3 days I am HERE!! A ten hour train ride from Bangkok and life is wild over here in Udorn. I have a Thai companion which is awesome. Her name is sister yamma! And I go by sister chem because it's a lot easier for them to say!
the train with beds we took to udorn!
Okay let's get right into it.
Funnies:
Okay so everyone here either loves "Falangs" (white person) or is scared of them. The little girls love touching my face and skin because I'm white lol and they always just stare at me a lot aha.
People never refer to me as sister clement just always oh the "Falang" and they'll say wowww "Falang gin gang mag" which means wow I can eat super well (huge compliment here lol)
Since rice is such a big part of meals here every person I see or meet, especially the members always ask me if I've eaten rice yet. It's like the equivalent of oh are you hungry, have you eaten yet? It's like the main greeting here
random rice field with some lovely people we had just met! I got to harvest rice for the first Time
Just out here harvesting some rice
Mom's note: The member who was driving the missionaries about 90 min out into the country just decided to stop on the side of the road and talk to these random people and invite the missionaries to help with the harvest!
Haha older ladies touch our bums, it's just what they do and it really caught me off guard lol. Now I'm starting to get used to it.
Thai Culture:
So here in the esan everyone calls each other mom and dad! So like every person older than me you just call them that. It's like we are one big happy family it's so great!
Also eating is a hugeeeee aspect of the Thai culture. I'm def going to get fat because we eat so much. We teach a lot of people so we eat À LOT. The food is so amazing I can't get over it
Lunch at a members house!
Everyone is soooooo nice here. So smiley and loving to everyone. And just such charitable people it's amazing
One of the girls I skyped for trc before coming here!! She's so cute
The girls in our branch at the mtc!
Our district, I miss them already!
Language:
Its so hard here because they speak a different dialect and really don't speak clearly but it's okay I'm really really trying. I still love it a lot!
The work:
There are so many people we are teaching who are so interested! Our days our jam packed with people to teach and I love them all so much, even if it is hard to remember them all lol. They have such a desire to learn about God and Jesus Christ and it truly is wonderful!
Inviting people to free English class at a crazy busy market!!
Spiritual thought:
Love has been on my mind a lot this week. Love is so important. Without love we have nothing. Jesus Christ was the most loving person. As a missionary I realized this week that ultimately my job here for the year and a half if to just love people and be there for them when they need me, because that's what Christ did. I know he loves everyone more than we can comprehend and I'm slowly starting to be able to feel a small portion of that love for the Thai people.
Love you all!
Sister Clement
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