HELLO HELLO Everyone!!
Wow.
WOW.
wow.
I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll just go in order starting from the airports. First of all, SORRRRRRY!!! I really didn't get to talk to anyone for very long at all. I think Dad won with the most time- So congrats. ;) But just so you know-I love you all- SO MUCH- Thanks for all the emails and love and support. and I promise that at Christmas time we'll have more than 4 min each, then make someone else call a mysterious pay phone. :) Everything happens so fast now. Those few hour layovers were not boring at all especially the one in LA. That international terminal is horrible right now. Plus, we were like lost little children, even though LA is my home town, I still really had no idea what the heck was going on. The flights overall weren't bad at all. From SLC to LAX I stuck inbetween 2 of the Elders, one of them being Elder Murphy, so that was comfortable. Then from LAX to Taipei, we were all scattered about the plane, so I sat inbetween two randos. That plane was packed! And I pretty much sleep the whole way. I woke up when the cute, little, yet aggresive asian flight attendent pretty much put my seat in the upright position FOR me, then I think i started to realize what was going on when I noticed my tray was pulled out and she yelled at me "chicken or beef". I was just like.. "what the...? Chicken?" Dinner time. THen I feel asleep again until we were flying over Japan. We were in Taipei for maybe 2 hours and then on to another plane (jammed between the same two elders). It was fun sitting there listening to the announcements, looking around at each other, asking "oh no...was that THAI? I hope not...please tell me that was Mandrian or something." (it was mandrian, thank goodness... but I still had no idea what the Thai annoucement was saying.) THEN we got to THAILAND! WOOO.. Beautiful airport. We walked outside and I'm pretty sure I have not stopped sweating. ever. It took us a while to find President Smith, but we did and loaded up and went to their house. They have a beautiful house and we stayed there for a night. The next day was "moves" meetings. No one seems to know it's called "moves" and not transfers, but whatever. Sister Knudson describes moves kinda like a game show. She was right. It was fun. "and the new district leaders are:...." They made all the greenies get up and say hello in THAI, and that was fun.
SO....the new companion and area is:............!
I am in Baangna (southeast Bangkok) and my cute and amazing trainer is Sister Wichittra. She is a KhonThai (native) Actually, she's Chinese, but born and raised in Thailand. She speaks amazing English too, so that's kinda nice for me. Score. (she studied at BYU-Hawaii so we say she is 70 % Thai, 20 % Chinese and 10 % American/ hawaiian)
So unlike my expeirence at the MTC where I really can't remember anything that happend the first week or so, I can remember pretty much every detail of my life here in Thailand so far. Kinda weird, but cool. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm glad I can remember some things, becasue I swear I forgot all my Thai (but that comes later...so hold your horses). So after Moves meeting was over, we walked with some of the elders to a place to go eat. First place I ate at in Thailand : Subway!? (yes, american sandwiches) What the...Elders? But it was ok, becasue I wasnt really hungry anyway. Then we all hoped in some taxis [everyone is a taxi driver here....seriously...either they drive cars, mopeds/motorcycle taxis (maxium number...who cares... can you fit? jump on! I've seen 5 people on one mo-ped. no joke.) or Tuk tuks, buses,
trucks, other unidentifable vehicals..whatever...If it moves, it's probably a taxi. Maybe I can make some money while I'm here too. ;) ] Anyways... so we hopped in taxis and went to the other side of town to get our bikes. All 8 of the greenies and their comps were in the store getting bikes and it was fun. I have a sweet new green bike, with a basket and all the goodies. Then we put my bike in the Taxi (yes, in the back seat with us) and went back to the mission office to pick up the rest of my stuff and finally go to our house.
My HOUSE.. haha, oh man. What a happy place. Litteraly becasue we live in a little nieghborhood called "happy land." The elders like a couple streets over and their house is nicer than ours (or so I'm told, I acutally havent' even seen it yet) so we're either going to make them trade with us, or we're move out. OUr house seriously makes me laugh. It's a 3 story little apartment, with no kicthen (although we do have a refrigerator- score), no kitchen sink (it's out in the "back yard" along with the washing machine, right next to the cinderblock wall that divides our back yard and the factory /.sweet shop behind us...who knows... I think Nike owns it....ok, not really... but it is some kind of factory). ONe thing I like about our house is the stairs and the secret rooms we really don't use on the 2, 2 1/2 ish (?) and 3rd floors? (i'm not really sure...some are locked...and the roof definitely is... dang, gina) We use padlocks to lock our doors and selves in everynight. OH, and thank goodness for the Airconditioner that mostly works in our bedroom. Without that... i would just..... well.... i guess I would just sleep anyway...
but still. Awesome. The second day I was there, we came home and all the weeds/trees out in the front were gone. Made it look much better. And then we cleaned it today, too...so my life is better. Although... i am still going to clean more. My companion said today " you're not like other farangs (white peps) You like to clean." That's too bad that other people aren't clean... but i am. So yes. way to clean.
Let's see... Language. The first couple of days, I had great experiences with speaking and learning (again) that that Lord will qualify you for the work, depsite your weaknesses. We've had some great lessons with some people. (we TEACH all the time, BTW. Every single Taxi ride, walking around the street, and also to all our investigators). My favorite one so far was with this family. Jerjan's family. I, for the life of me cannot understand AT ALL.... but all the kids (ages 14 -24) are nice. We have high hopes for them. I'm not going to lie though. It's so hard! And I always feel better and the end of the day, then I do at the begining. But my comp is fantastic and helps me everyday. My favortie times are when I absolutely can't understand ANYTHING...and then I just smile and say "Well....God loves you. Sawadii Kha." I need to try harder. OH, so I asked Sister Knudson if people in Thailand speak softly (becasue i've always felt like most Asains speak quietly) and she said No... GOHOK.. (LIES!!) They totally do. Most times I can't understand ANYTHING becasue I can't hear them. But it's ok... i think I won't think they talk quietly when I can understand everything. So yay! for that day.
We have a good ward. THey made me speak my first day. Typical. And it was fine. They are all so nice and they all make great food.
Speaking of food. It's good. The first couple of days I was not hungry at all, so I didn't really eat, but now i'm doing better/ (well... i wasn't sick...so i'm not doing "better " casue i wasn't "sick" but i think you know what i mean).
Man... hmm.. I don't know what else. IT's so cool over here. Crazy. Busy. Crazy Busy. and I love it. There are dying dogs everywhere (our favorite is called zombie) and everyday as we ride our bikes around i hear "farang! Farang! Uan! Farang!" which means "Hey look! White person! A fat
white person!" excellent. I love Thailand. I'm going to count tomorrow and see how many times i hear it. Thai people love white people. But we do stick out. I didn't realize it until I saw 2 other ones the other day (and no, it wasn't the Elders).. cuase i was like- "oh, white people"
I hope that is a good enough report for now. We're going to go shopping at the market /mall. (sooo awesome..) Then it's off to teach English.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, YOU ALl. Thanks for all your prayers and love. They really help! The Church is still true. Even in Thailand. Even in the year 2552 (oh yeah.. it's the year 2552 here in Thailand. Thanks Buddah).
Love,
Sister O'Neen (how Thai's say my name)
Jul 18, 2009
Jun 30, 2009
This is it... Dont get scared now
Sawadii KHA for the LAST time at the MTC!!! Wooo.....never thought this day would come.. blag (weird). And man! WHAT A WEEEK to report on:
Where to start:
Well, this week was the Mission President Conference so that made things really fun here at the MTC (long lines at the cafeteria because half of it was cut off and saved for the mission presidents, everyone turning into stalkers trying to find the apostles or mission president, etc...more security). We sadly did not get to meet our mission president becasue they didn't want any of the presidents to get swine fly, so the only time we could have seen them was during the big devotional...but i didn't know what they look like..But whatever...I'll just wait 7 more days and then meet them in Thailand.
So The first exciting story from this week was getting our flights plans. That's always an exciting time. So it's offical: We leave the MTC on Monday at 5:30pm; then we have a layover in LAX from about 10pm to 1 am; then a layover in Taiwan, and then finally get to THAILAND on Wed at 11am. So I'll be making some calls during that time. (Sorry, if I wake anyone up). [oh, mom, to answer your questions... I don't think I need anything. thanks! The phone numbers are great! If you do need to get anything to me, just make sure it all will get here by noon on Monday the 6th. Dear Elders are the way to go if you need to tell me anything]
Continuing on... Friday was our big devotional and all the major Mormon Celebs were there. We had 7 out of the 12 : Holland, Perry, Oaks, Christofferson, Andersen, Bednard, Cook. AWESOME. Elder Holland talked to all of us (Mission Presidents and missionaries) about having a "Divine Companionship," not only with our companions, but with the Holy Ghost.
We've had AMAZING talks on listening and recognizing the Spirit while here at the MTC from the apostles... I've really loved my life. Sitting there in that devotional was really just amazing. Soo spiritual and fantastic to be there with all the missionaries and the presidents. Wow.. if you could only feel it.
Then Sunday was seriously, a Perfect day. My district and I were all sitting outside the main building, "studying" aka stalking the Presdiency.. (over the weekend, all 12 apostles AND the Presidency were here, but I didn't see them all). We sat outside and enjoyed the hot summer weather and then we noticed they started the cars up. Then, President Uchtdorf and his wife walked out, waved and hopped in the car and took off. (he's soo tall! acutally, they all are). As we're watching Pres. Uctdorf drive off, the Prophet walks out! He then walked over to where we were and we ended up talking to him for about 30 min. By the time he left, the group have grown from 10- maybe 150 or so...and we were right up front. We told him where we were going, and 3 of my elders talked with him. It was sooo cool. He's basically been everywhere.. Elder Jensen (in my district) asked him "where haven't you been?" and Pres. Monson thought about it for a min, smiled and said "home" He's amazing. So then I look over and President Erying is out there too, talking with the other group. So it was great. All three of those men are so tall and you can just feel the power and Spirit oozing out of them. It was just great.
Well, I better go.. time is almost up. Everything is just great. The church is true and I love my life. I love you all too! Next time I'll be writting from the other side of the world, and the future.
Love!!!!! Hilary
Where to start:
Well, this week was the Mission President Conference so that made things really fun here at the MTC (long lines at the cafeteria because half of it was cut off and saved for the mission presidents, everyone turning into stalkers trying to find the apostles or mission president, etc...more security). We sadly did not get to meet our mission president becasue they didn't want any of the presidents to get swine fly, so the only time we could have seen them was during the big devotional...but i didn't know what they look like..But whatever...I'll just wait 7 more days and then meet them in Thailand.
So The first exciting story from this week was getting our flights plans. That's always an exciting time. So it's offical: We leave the MTC on Monday at 5:30pm; then we have a layover in LAX from about 10pm to 1 am; then a layover in Taiwan, and then finally get to THAILAND on Wed at 11am. So I'll be making some calls during that time. (Sorry, if I wake anyone up). [oh, mom, to answer your questions... I don't think I need anything. thanks! The phone numbers are great! If you do need to get anything to me, just make sure it all will get here by noon on Monday the 6th. Dear Elders are the way to go if you need to tell me anything]
Continuing on... Friday was our big devotional and all the major Mormon Celebs were there. We had 7 out of the 12 : Holland, Perry, Oaks, Christofferson, Andersen, Bednard, Cook. AWESOME. Elder Holland talked to all of us (Mission Presidents and missionaries) about having a "Divine Companionship," not only with our companions, but with the Holy Ghost.
We've had AMAZING talks on listening and recognizing the Spirit while here at the MTC from the apostles... I've really loved my life. Sitting there in that devotional was really just amazing. Soo spiritual and fantastic to be there with all the missionaries and the presidents. Wow.. if you could only feel it.
Then Sunday was seriously, a Perfect day. My district and I were all sitting outside the main building, "studying" aka stalking the Presdiency.. (over the weekend, all 12 apostles AND the Presidency were here, but I didn't see them all). We sat outside and enjoyed the hot summer weather and then we noticed they started the cars up. Then, President Uchtdorf and his wife walked out, waved and hopped in the car and took off. (he's soo tall! acutally, they all are). As we're watching Pres. Uctdorf drive off, the Prophet walks out! He then walked over to where we were and we ended up talking to him for about 30 min. By the time he left, the group have grown from 10- maybe 150 or so...and we were right up front. We told him where we were going, and 3 of my elders talked with him. It was sooo cool. He's basically been everywhere.. Elder Jensen (in my district) asked him "where haven't you been?" and Pres. Monson thought about it for a min, smiled and said "home" He's amazing. So then I look over and President Erying is out there too, talking with the other group. So it was great. All three of those men are so tall and you can just feel the power and Spirit oozing out of them. It was just great.
Well, I better go.. time is almost up. Everything is just great. The church is true and I love my life. I love you all too! Next time I'll be writting from the other side of the world, and the future.
Love!!!!! Hilary
Jun 28, 2009
Sawaddii Kha
Hanloo there!
Well, it's good (as per usual) to hear from you today, Mom. (i just noticed it said 3:35 am... can you still not sleep??!) Sounds like you're continuing to have many adventures. Yay for little Cracker. I can't wait to meet that kid. Sounds like Jenny will have a fun summer. Very busy! Good. Busy is the way to be. Life is better that way. However, I do think you, Mom, are too busy sometimes. And Dad. You should take a breather sometime. :) Which reminds me, When is the family trip? I was thinking about it today, and I only have about 2 weeks left here. Less than...I'll be on a plane somewhere over some ocean 2 weeks from today. We should get flight plans later this week, which is ridiculous to think about. (i just got here! What?!) So everyone, if you want to send me something while I'm still here in the MTC, make sure you do so by Next
Sat...the 4th. (yoah, 4th of July already?!) Oh and Mom, While i'm thinking about it...I need the phone numbers of everyone who would like to cause me to call them from the airport (sorry...that was just THAi grammar...weird). Are you going to be traveling all together on July 5th or 6th? I'm not sure yet what day we leave, but I'll be able to tell you next week.
So...let's see what I have to tell you about this past week. (I'm glad you got my letter about last week, and for typing it and sending it. Lisa said that you did. So yay.) Don't worry, I'm still healthy...we're all on Tamiflu (which acutally makes me want to throw up somtimes, but I'll take that over the real SWINE). I feel like this was a rather uneventful week to report on...We really just do that same things everyday. But rather than just saying "i'm still on a mission" I'll share some of the things I can remember from this week:
Bishop Edgely (the presiding Bishop of the Church) spoke to us last week. He talked about being happy...different ways we can be happy and more Christlike. It was great...as per usual. I would explain more about it, but I don't have my notes from it, and I can only really remember THai words right now. But just trust that it was great.
On Sat, we taught in the TRC (as per usual) but this time I taught in a Trio with Elder Hollowell and Elder Partridge. We thought Partridge would still be in Qaurantine, but he was out and we all taught together. I got to teach the natives again...Still can't understand them, and they can't understand me, but I still LOVE it. And them.. They are fun. (I got a letter from my Phii-Thais (Sister Lifferth and Christensen) who have been in Thai Town from a month now and they said that no one can understand them, but they love it and can't wait for me to experience it too. They
said the elephants and longsia (broken stomach....aka Dierreah) are waiting for me. Ummm.....Yes, please. (?) ahah. Oh man...I can't wait. Speaking of mail. Yesterday was like Christmas...literally... Grandma is so sweet and she sent me some chocolates. De-lish. Christmas in (almost) July. Thanks!
The temple is now closed...That is too bad... it's weird having 3 extra hours to do things... I'd rather be at the temple. Oh well..I'll do that in a year and 4 months when I come home and feel awkward about life so I just end up going to the temple all day. Excellent. Can't wait. haha.
Oh, this week is our fun and exciting "celebrity" week. Wed starts the mission president conference, so there will be all kinds of General Authorities lurking around. Ok... I doubt they'll be "lurking" but maybe I will be, trying to see them. :) Becasue of the SWINE, I don't think we'll be able to meet our President becasue they don't want them to get sick, but that's ok...we only have to wait a week and then they'll pick us up from the airport in THAILAND. I'll be sure to give you the full report on the happenings here next week.
Well...time is almost up. I better go now. So you can acutally get it this week. I would hate for that to happen again...especially since i just spent 30 min typing this whole thing up.. :) Oh, but one last thing. Can I just tell you how much I still LOVE being on a mission. Thank you, AGAIN and always for you love and support. I miss you all. I'll talk to you (litterally...in voice...(not person) very soon.) LOVE YOU!!
Love, Sister O'Neil ( Hili)
p.s. "Oh, dear."
Well, it's good (as per usual) to hear from you today, Mom. (i just noticed it said 3:35 am... can you still not sleep??!) Sounds like you're continuing to have many adventures. Yay for little Cracker. I can't wait to meet that kid. Sounds like Jenny will have a fun summer. Very busy! Good. Busy is the way to be. Life is better that way. However, I do think you, Mom, are too busy sometimes. And Dad. You should take a breather sometime. :) Which reminds me, When is the family trip? I was thinking about it today, and I only have about 2 weeks left here. Less than...I'll be on a plane somewhere over some ocean 2 weeks from today. We should get flight plans later this week, which is ridiculous to think about. (i just got here! What?!) So everyone, if you want to send me something while I'm still here in the MTC, make sure you do so by Next
Sat...the 4th. (yoah, 4th of July already?!) Oh and Mom, While i'm thinking about it...I need the phone numbers of everyone who would like to cause me to call them from the airport (sorry...that was just THAi grammar...weird). Are you going to be traveling all together on July 5th or 6th? I'm not sure yet what day we leave, but I'll be able to tell you next week.
So...let's see what I have to tell you about this past week. (I'm glad you got my letter about last week, and for typing it and sending it. Lisa said that you did. So yay.) Don't worry, I'm still healthy...we're all on Tamiflu (which acutally makes me want to throw up somtimes, but I'll take that over the real SWINE). I feel like this was a rather uneventful week to report on...We really just do that same things everyday. But rather than just saying "i'm still on a mission" I'll share some of the things I can remember from this week:
Bishop Edgely (the presiding Bishop of the Church) spoke to us last week. He talked about being happy...different ways we can be happy and more Christlike. It was great...as per usual. I would explain more about it, but I don't have my notes from it, and I can only really remember THai words right now. But just trust that it was great.
On Sat, we taught in the TRC (as per usual) but this time I taught in a Trio with Elder Hollowell and Elder Partridge. We thought Partridge would still be in Qaurantine, but he was out and we all taught together. I got to teach the natives again...Still can't understand them, and they can't understand me, but I still LOVE it. And them.. They are fun. (I got a letter from my Phii-Thais (Sister Lifferth and Christensen) who have been in Thai Town from a month now and they said that no one can understand them, but they love it and can't wait for me to experience it too. They
said the elephants and longsia (broken stomach....aka Dierreah) are waiting for me. Ummm.....Yes, please. (?) ahah. Oh man...I can't wait. Speaking of mail. Yesterday was like Christmas...literally... Grandma is so sweet and she sent me some chocolates. De-lish. Christmas in (almost) July. Thanks!
The temple is now closed...That is too bad... it's weird having 3 extra hours to do things... I'd rather be at the temple. Oh well..I'll do that in a year and 4 months when I come home and feel awkward about life so I just end up going to the temple all day. Excellent. Can't wait. haha.
Oh, this week is our fun and exciting "celebrity" week. Wed starts the mission president conference, so there will be all kinds of General Authorities lurking around. Ok... I doubt they'll be "lurking" but maybe I will be, trying to see them. :) Becasue of the SWINE, I don't think we'll be able to meet our President becasue they don't want them to get sick, but that's ok...we only have to wait a week and then they'll pick us up from the airport in THAILAND. I'll be sure to give you the full report on the happenings here next week.
Well...time is almost up. I better go now. So you can acutally get it this week. I would hate for that to happen again...especially since i just spent 30 min typing this whole thing up.. :) Oh, but one last thing. Can I just tell you how much I still LOVE being on a mission. Thank you, AGAIN and always for you love and support. I miss you all. I'll talk to you (litterally...in voice...(not person) very soon.) LOVE YOU!!
Love, Sister O'Neil ( Hili)
p.s. "Oh, dear."
transcription of hand written letter
Well, Family--
It happened: I spent 30 minutes writing you the best email ever, telling you all about my week. How Elder Benar came and talked to us. And how I was mumified alive (aka, tested for swine flu) and how I felt like I forgot all my Thai because I missed 6 hours of class because I was sick in bed, but then how it was all OK because we had an "English Fast" yesterday. So I feel back on track and how I taught a couple from Thailand on Saturday at the TRC and felt like I was beat with the "humble" stick because since they were natives I had NO idea what they were saying but I still LOVED it because they were Thai and I loved Thai people and on and on and then the timer cut me off 5 seconds early! And hence . . . no email from me this week: SORRY!
That is the dark side of things automatically shutting down. I was a little upset, but oh well . . . what can I do anyways? I just wish it would have automatically saved it. It was good one. I'm not gonna lie. Oh well.
However, P-day is so short! and I already wrote to ya, even though you didn't actually get it. Sorry So I will have to give you the short version. OK the medium ish one since I really already told you everything right up there.
This week was great. Like I mentioned before, Elder Bednar came on Tuesday (I wonder who will come tonight?) and gave an amazing talk on follwoing the spirit. He said the #1 question he receives no matter where he is in the world is "How do I know if it's the spirit or just me?" His answer. "Stop worrying about it" He said "if it's a good thought: do it! All good comes from the Lord so it doesn't matter if it was just you or the Spriit. Just do it." Oh man. It was so great. I really could have listened to him for a couple more hours. He was so funny too. He said "Some people don't think we apostles have any personality because we don't tell jokes and such at conference. General Conference isn't the place fo pop off." I love to be blessed to see all these great leaders in such an intimate setting. I met President Monson's daughter on Sunday. Sister Dibb talked to us for RS on Sunday. Yeah for YW leaders. You're lucky Jen. These leaders are so good for you. Don't forget to finish your "Virtue" award.
Good news. I don't have the swine. However, I was tested for it on Friday aka mummified: they put an 8" Qtip up both your nostrils and give your brain a high 5. That was interesting. One Elder in my district (E. Partridge) and 2 in the new Thais have it though. They are now in quarentine. And we're all taking Tamiflu. I was sick though. I had to miss 6 hours of class because I was so tired. So I felt like I lost all my Thai. But like I said, we had an "English Fast" and talked the ENTIRE day in Thai so I got right back into it.
Saturday at the TRC, Elder Blaustein and I taught 3 people. Nani, an RM who we have taught before, also a native couple. They were so cute but I really had no idea what they were saying. Oh man. . . I can't wait for Thailand. Only 3 weeks away!
Well, it was good to hear about all the progress being made at home! It sounds like it will be nice when its done. Sorry to hear about all the little set backs and physical pains. What kind of spider was it, Dad? I'm excited for all you little and big adventures ahead. Yeah! Please give little Cracker a kiss from me.
I love you all!
Sister O'Neil
It happened: I spent 30 minutes writing you the best email ever, telling you all about my week. How Elder Benar came and talked to us. And how I was mumified alive (aka, tested for swine flu) and how I felt like I forgot all my Thai because I missed 6 hours of class because I was sick in bed, but then how it was all OK because we had an "English Fast" yesterday. So I feel back on track and how I taught a couple from Thailand on Saturday at the TRC and felt like I was beat with the "humble" stick because since they were natives I had NO idea what they were saying but I still LOVED it because they were Thai and I loved Thai people and on and on and then the timer cut me off 5 seconds early! And hence . . . no email from me this week: SORRY!
That is the dark side of things automatically shutting down. I was a little upset, but oh well . . . what can I do anyways? I just wish it would have automatically saved it. It was good one. I'm not gonna lie. Oh well.
However, P-day is so short! and I already wrote to ya, even though you didn't actually get it. Sorry So I will have to give you the short version. OK the medium ish one since I really already told you everything right up there.
This week was great. Like I mentioned before, Elder Bednar came on Tuesday (I wonder who will come tonight?) and gave an amazing talk on follwoing the spirit. He said the #1 question he receives no matter where he is in the world is "How do I know if it's the spirit or just me?" His answer. "Stop worrying about it" He said "if it's a good thought: do it! All good comes from the Lord so it doesn't matter if it was just you or the Spriit. Just do it." Oh man. It was so great. I really could have listened to him for a couple more hours. He was so funny too. He said "Some people don't think we apostles have any personality because we don't tell jokes and such at conference. General Conference isn't the place fo pop off." I love to be blessed to see all these great leaders in such an intimate setting. I met President Monson's daughter on Sunday. Sister Dibb talked to us for RS on Sunday. Yeah for YW leaders. You're lucky Jen. These leaders are so good for you. Don't forget to finish your "Virtue" award.
Good news. I don't have the swine. However, I was tested for it on Friday aka mummified: they put an 8" Qtip up both your nostrils and give your brain a high 5. That was interesting. One Elder in my district (E. Partridge) and 2 in the new Thais have it though. They are now in quarentine. And we're all taking Tamiflu. I was sick though. I had to miss 6 hours of class because I was so tired. So I felt like I lost all my Thai. But like I said, we had an "English Fast" and talked the ENTIRE day in Thai so I got right back into it.
Saturday at the TRC, Elder Blaustein and I taught 3 people. Nani, an RM who we have taught before, also a native couple. They were so cute but I really had no idea what they were saying. Oh man. . . I can't wait for Thailand. Only 3 weeks away!
Well, it was good to hear about all the progress being made at home! It sounds like it will be nice when its done. Sorry to hear about all the little set backs and physical pains. What kind of spider was it, Dad? I'm excited for all you little and big adventures ahead. Yeah! Please give little Cracker a kiss from me.
I love you all!
Sister O'Neil
Jun 9, 2009
Hanloo
Hello dear Family!
OK... so i came to this realization yesterday.. one month from today I will be in Thailand! What the? That is unbelievable. And crazy exciting. I'm glad to see you got my email last week. I was worried that you didn't becasue I litterally pressed send with 1 second remaining. Awesome. I'm not going to do that again becasue I kept thinking you didn't get it all week...So at 5 seconds, I press send...even if it's in the middle of a sentence. OK. Thanks for the email. Um, can you send it next week again, but not as an attachment? They do let us open them on these computers apparently. Sorry. So you can use DearElder.com if you really need me to get it today. But no hurry. Just so you know. :) I hope everyone had a great week. Did you have the birthday party already? I bet it was so fun (or will be, if it hasn't happened it).
This past week was fun and full, as per usuge (Usual...just shorter sounding) Today starting off really fun with MTC mattress sleeding! We got a note on our door yesterday that said we were getting new matresses and that we should take our matresses down to the main floor in the morning. So at 6:30 this morning I woke up, prayed and then pulled off all my sheets and dragged my matress to the stair well where I promptly yelled "sawadiiiiiii" as I jumped on to it and slid down. Definitely a fun way to start the day. I did it with 3 mattresses, with a total of 9 staircasses. It really reminded me of working at DT. (and Tanner, who I'm pretty sure DOESN"T read this, but maybe might this week becasue I know Kellie does and maybe she'll tell him about it on FB or something.. I know how you people work. Awesome. But if TJ you do read this. 1st... "I will cut you" and 2nd. "dang, anything else?" and 3...Don't judge me for not writting to you when I don't even have your address...you're fault. :) Anyhoo. yes...Good old times at DT. "sometimes i like to jump down the stairs like "weeee!!")
Then of course the Temple. I love starting my day at the temple.. I highly reccommend going there. :) Oh, today on my way back, I actually ran into our own Dr. Brown. It was the first time seeing him, and I'm not sure if he actually really knew who I was at first (or still.. don't know) but it's ok.... He's REALLY BUSY right now at the MTC. We've had people all up in the quarentine area this week. I told him "thanks for keeping us healthy. I know you're really busy right now." and then he kindly reminded me to wash my hands all the time. :) Hopefully I'll
finally REALLY break my habit of bitting my nails.. I REALLY don't want swine flu, so I haven't touched them in a few weeks. This week I'm also realyl glad i got all those shots. You were right mom. As usual. So thanks again! I love you!
We taught in Thai again this week.. Well.. we're really still all in All Thai. It's sooo fun. But I think I kind of hit a wall earlier this week.. I keep forgetting things. Too much is going in to remember it all. But the Lord does have a way of reminding us of our progress. For example:
This week we got 15 new Thai speaking Missionaries. WOO!!! So I now have 3 new roommates [Sister Akagi, Larson and Young (yes, related to all the famous youngs)] They are all so cute and fun and it's neat to have more sisters speaking Thai. There are also 12 new Elders and So far I pretty much love them all. But the reason why I say the Lord helps you when you are weak is becasue with the young Thais being here and them really not knowing ANYTHING yet, and the constant questions of "how do you say this?" and "what does that mean?" It made me realize I have acutally progessed a bit. I KNOW I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more to learn, but to see some progress was really nice too. A tender mercy, if you will.
Oh, so on Sunday I had the opportunity to sit in front of the whole MTC at our fireside becasue my comp was offering the closing prayer. YAY! It was really neat to sit up there and see/hear everyone singing. I loved watching the excitment everyone had when the director said that last
prelude hymn would be out of the Childrens' hymn book. Missionaries are sooo funny. I love it. OH, and you really can see EVERYONE from up there, I noticed every little thing everyone did. Now I know why the presidency always asks us not to do childish things.. haha.
Ok. Well.. 1 min left. I Love you all and hope you're doing well. Thanks again for all the constant love and support. I feel your prayers everyday, so thank you! Rak rak rak (love, love, love) Thai's really not that cool in Romaized...haha) anyhoo.. Goodbye!
Love, Sister O'Neil
OK... so i came to this realization yesterday.. one month from today I will be in Thailand! What the? That is unbelievable. And crazy exciting. I'm glad to see you got my email last week. I was worried that you didn't becasue I litterally pressed send with 1 second remaining. Awesome. I'm not going to do that again becasue I kept thinking you didn't get it all week...So at 5 seconds, I press send...even if it's in the middle of a sentence. OK. Thanks for the email. Um, can you send it next week again, but not as an attachment? They do let us open them on these computers apparently. Sorry. So you can use DearElder.com if you really need me to get it today. But no hurry. Just so you know. :) I hope everyone had a great week. Did you have the birthday party already? I bet it was so fun (or will be, if it hasn't happened it).
This past week was fun and full, as per usuge (Usual...just shorter sounding) Today starting off really fun with MTC mattress sleeding! We got a note on our door yesterday that said we were getting new matresses and that we should take our matresses down to the main floor in the morning. So at 6:30 this morning I woke up, prayed and then pulled off all my sheets and dragged my matress to the stair well where I promptly yelled "sawadiiiiiii" as I jumped on to it and slid down. Definitely a fun way to start the day. I did it with 3 mattresses, with a total of 9 staircasses. It really reminded me of working at DT. (and Tanner, who I'm pretty sure DOESN"T read this, but maybe might this week becasue I know Kellie does and maybe she'll tell him about it on FB or something.. I know how you people work. Awesome. But if TJ you do read this. 1st... "I will cut you" and 2nd. "dang, anything else?" and 3...Don't judge me for not writting to you when I don't even have your address...you're fault. :) Anyhoo. yes...Good old times at DT. "sometimes i like to jump down the stairs like "weeee!!")
Then of course the Temple. I love starting my day at the temple.. I highly reccommend going there. :) Oh, today on my way back, I actually ran into our own Dr. Brown. It was the first time seeing him, and I'm not sure if he actually really knew who I was at first (or still.. don't know) but it's ok.... He's REALLY BUSY right now at the MTC. We've had people all up in the quarentine area this week. I told him "thanks for keeping us healthy. I know you're really busy right now." and then he kindly reminded me to wash my hands all the time. :) Hopefully I'll
finally REALLY break my habit of bitting my nails.. I REALLY don't want swine flu, so I haven't touched them in a few weeks. This week I'm also realyl glad i got all those shots. You were right mom. As usual. So thanks again! I love you!
We taught in Thai again this week.. Well.. we're really still all in All Thai. It's sooo fun. But I think I kind of hit a wall earlier this week.. I keep forgetting things. Too much is going in to remember it all. But the Lord does have a way of reminding us of our progress. For example:
This week we got 15 new Thai speaking Missionaries. WOO!!! So I now have 3 new roommates [Sister Akagi, Larson and Young (yes, related to all the famous youngs)] They are all so cute and fun and it's neat to have more sisters speaking Thai. There are also 12 new Elders and So far I pretty much love them all. But the reason why I say the Lord helps you when you are weak is becasue with the young Thais being here and them really not knowing ANYTHING yet, and the constant questions of "how do you say this?" and "what does that mean?" It made me realize I have acutally progessed a bit. I KNOW I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more to learn, but to see some progress was really nice too. A tender mercy, if you will.
Oh, so on Sunday I had the opportunity to sit in front of the whole MTC at our fireside becasue my comp was offering the closing prayer. YAY! It was really neat to sit up there and see/hear everyone singing. I loved watching the excitment everyone had when the director said that last
prelude hymn would be out of the Childrens' hymn book. Missionaries are sooo funny. I love it. OH, and you really can see EVERYONE from up there, I noticed every little thing everyone did. Now I know why the presidency always asks us not to do childish things.. haha.
Ok. Well.. 1 min left. I Love you all and hope you're doing well. Thanks again for all the constant love and support. I feel your prayers everyday, so thank you! Rak rak rak (love, love, love) Thai's really not that cool in Romaized...haha) anyhoo.. Goodbye!
Love, Sister O'Neil
Jun 2, 2009
Dii thiisud!
Hello Hello!
Yay for seminary being over, ect. ect. It was funny; when i read about Ray and Dad being up her in Utah last week, my first reaction was : WHAT? And they didn't even say hi. Rude." but then i realized...oh yeah...not liek i'd see them anyway. Haha. But that is fun. I heard from Laura and Tara yesterday. My stomach still hurts from laughing (what is this a fairy tail? Plus the English lesson sheets... too bad that's what i sound like, but in Thai. Thanks Tar and Larvina.) Oh dear... I love those girls.
Jenny!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! WooHOO!!! In two days you'll be 16! What the? that's Baaabaaabooboo (that means ridiculously crazy... and since it's in romanized script, it dosen't really sound like that... but that's the best i can do right now... but don't worry- you'll hear me call you that IN PERSON some day and then you can finnally know what it sounds like) BUT YAY!!! It sounds like you are going to be having an AMAZING BIRTHDAY PARTY.. HOLLA!! I'm a little jealous that I won't be ther to party with you, but i'll do a little dance and pretend i'm there. Chris!! Happy Birthday to you too, you old man. ;) Oh my goodness, I just love you both soooo much! YAY! And i'd also like to give a shout out to Ryan. I'm 97.56% sure it's your birthday this week too. Holla! I hope you do something... Anything, really.. It might be a nice change for you . ;) j/k. Yay!
So now let me tell you about my week: We TAUGHT in ALL THAI!!! This week and ESPECIALLY Sat was kinda crazy/fun/stressfull.. Sat was our big slap in the face with Thai becasue it was do or die time. (k- that sounds more dramatic than it probably was...but yeah...) But you know what...? It was SOOO Cool. It was acutally a really big testimony builder or faith. We definitely learned that the Lord qualifies those He calls for the work. AND that we will be able to talk when we need to. It was so cool, and fun. The craziness of this week really helped our district become closer too, becasue we were all forced to work hard. YAY FOR new companion!! My new comp, Sister Essma is this adorbale girl from Idaho. She is a ballerina and just a lot of fun. (kinda of an Amber....but fun.If you know what i'm talking about, awesome, if not, just have jenny explain it to you. Thanks Tiff.) The MTC is becoming so croweded. More and more missionaries come each week and no one is leaving (at least for this week...google Provo MTC lock down or something to that effect. We're quarentined for a time. No worries. I just know it was on the news becasue we saw like 4 camera crews outside when we were coming back from gym. But like I said.. no worries. I'm sure DR. Brown is having a grand time right now. :) ) I'm excited to finally meet the 15 new Thai missionaries tomorrow. Yay.
My last P-day was really fun too. I acutally had what I call a mission miracle and got to spend a large chunk of my day with CAMI!!! yay! Since she teaches here, I get to see her on occasion and since I really had no comp for the day, I made her be mine. And it was so fantastically fun. I got to help here prepare her room for her new district. I just love her. Ahh the benefits of being a solo sister.
I think you should read the Ensign article by Larry Hiller about Hope. It's really great. OH!! And Sunday for relief society we got to hear from Sister Susan Black, one of my favorite teachers EVERY. It was a mission miracle. She taught us all about the history of RS and what RS meant to her in her life. I felt like I was back at BYU frantically taking notes. Awesome. Well, I better get off. 54 sec. I LOVE YOU ALL.. SO MUCH!!!
Love, Sister O'Neil
Yay for seminary being over, ect. ect. It was funny; when i read about Ray and Dad being up her in Utah last week, my first reaction was : WHAT? And they didn't even say hi. Rude." but then i realized...oh yeah...not liek i'd see them anyway. Haha. But that is fun. I heard from Laura and Tara yesterday. My stomach still hurts from laughing (what is this a fairy tail? Plus the English lesson sheets... too bad that's what i sound like, but in Thai. Thanks Tar and Larvina.) Oh dear... I love those girls.
Jenny!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! WooHOO!!! In two days you'll be 16! What the? that's Baaabaaabooboo (that means ridiculously crazy... and since it's in romanized script, it dosen't really sound like that... but that's the best i can do right now... but don't worry- you'll hear me call you that IN PERSON some day and then you can finnally know what it sounds like) BUT YAY!!! It sounds like you are going to be having an AMAZING BIRTHDAY PARTY.. HOLLA!! I'm a little jealous that I won't be ther to party with you, but i'll do a little dance and pretend i'm there. Chris!! Happy Birthday to you too, you old man. ;) Oh my goodness, I just love you both soooo much! YAY! And i'd also like to give a shout out to Ryan. I'm 97.56% sure it's your birthday this week too. Holla! I hope you do something... Anything, really.. It might be a nice change for you . ;) j/k. Yay!
So now let me tell you about my week: We TAUGHT in ALL THAI!!! This week and ESPECIALLY Sat was kinda crazy/fun/stressfull.. Sat was our big slap in the face with Thai becasue it was do or die time. (k- that sounds more dramatic than it probably was...but yeah...) But you know what...? It was SOOO Cool. It was acutally a really big testimony builder or faith. We definitely learned that the Lord qualifies those He calls for the work. AND that we will be able to talk when we need to. It was so cool, and fun. The craziness of this week really helped our district become closer too, becasue we were all forced to work hard. YAY FOR new companion!! My new comp, Sister Essma is this adorbale girl from Idaho. She is a ballerina and just a lot of fun. (kinda of an Amber....but fun.If you know what i'm talking about, awesome, if not, just have jenny explain it to you. Thanks Tiff.) The MTC is becoming so croweded. More and more missionaries come each week and no one is leaving (at least for this week...google Provo MTC lock down or something to that effect. We're quarentined for a time. No worries. I just know it was on the news becasue we saw like 4 camera crews outside when we were coming back from gym. But like I said.. no worries. I'm sure DR. Brown is having a grand time right now. :) ) I'm excited to finally meet the 15 new Thai missionaries tomorrow. Yay.
My last P-day was really fun too. I acutally had what I call a mission miracle and got to spend a large chunk of my day with CAMI!!! yay! Since she teaches here, I get to see her on occasion and since I really had no comp for the day, I made her be mine. And it was so fantastically fun. I got to help here prepare her room for her new district. I just love her. Ahh the benefits of being a solo sister.
I think you should read the Ensign article by Larry Hiller about Hope. It's really great. OH!! And Sunday for relief society we got to hear from Sister Susan Black, one of my favorite teachers EVERY. It was a mission miracle. She taught us all about the history of RS and what RS meant to her in her life. I felt like I was back at BYU frantically taking notes. Awesome. Well, I better get off. 54 sec. I LOVE YOU ALL.. SO MUCH!!!
Love, Sister O'Neil
May 29, 2009
Aray Kan?
Aray kan (what's up?)
Well... here I am....STILL.... in the MTC. Today's a bit weird for me
though. I don't have a companion! I don't even have any roommates. I'm
truly a "loner Sister". The Phii-Thais left yesterday and are probably
still in Taiwan, leaving me with an empty room. It's kinda nice though..
only becasue It gives me a chance to clean it and prepare for the next
roommates. My new comp, who is also going to Cambodia, arrives tomorrow!
yay! And then next week we get 15 new Thai missionaries (only 2 are
sisters) So that will fill the room back up.
I left my room and forgot to bring my little sticky note with what I
wanted to tell you this week, but I think I can remember it. Hopefully.
If not...you'll never know anyways. :) Oh, Happy memorial day. I didnt'
even realize it was yesterday until some random missionary was like
"what's memorial day?" And i said "what the? And you call yourself an
American...." (shaken head) and then he said "actually...no.. I'm
Canadian." Oh, right. haha. Holidays and days of the week don't exsist
in my world anymore. It's just all Sunday- ish... And happy b-day
Adrian! OH! which reminds me: We had 4 elders in our branch for a while
that were going to your parentals mission! They left probably a week ago,
but I kept forgetting to tell you. I was really excited. There was this
one kid, Elder Finance (yep) who we called Napolean casued he seriously
was Napolean Dynamte (yep). Anyways.... I made sure to tell them who
lucky they were every week (cause they really are. That'd be SO fun to
have the McCrackens as my Mission Presidents) And every week I drilled
them to make sure they knew my name and then made them promise to tell
your parents hello for me. So I hope they succeeded in life. For me.
Nicole! I hope you're feeling better! That does not sound like fun. :(
Oh, while I remember. Please forgive me in advance if I forget any really
important date (i.e. Birthdays, anniversaries, O'Neil family national
holidays, independence days (of anyone or country), Pi day, etc etc...)
Like I previously mentioned...I don't know days here, let alone
dates...but I'll do my best. Oh! And please forgive my ridiculous
spelling, I try to go so fast, I don't even care. And then this email
system is so ridiculous it doesn't even have spell check! (so maybe
proofreading this before posting it would be cool.. ;) is that too much
to ask? Sorry I'm so needed... I'm just saying... ) Awesome.
Oh, also while I remember. Check out Dearelder.com... it's a really easy
way to get letters to me that same day FOR FREE..... (FOR FREE!!!?!) yes.
It's like email, but then put in my box everyday in hardcopy form. So
that's fun for everyone.
Umm...what else about the week.. Like I said before, we're 100% in Thai
now. But even more; We're TEACHING in Thai now. For the last 5 weeks
we've been teaching in English, but from here on out, we're TOTAL THAI.
Script is still coming along. I can acutally sing out of a Thai script
hymn book now. It's helping becasue it's broken up into syllables and we
don't really have to worry about tones so much... yay!
Oh, I went to the Referral center to do "chats" this week. If you ever go
to mormon.org and you click on that "wouldn't it be nice if all your
answers could be answered now? Ask us!" button.... you'll be getting
me...Or my fellow MTC missionaries. It's kinda fun. But honestly, people
can be so ridiculous...and by people...i kinda mean Satan. People take no
responsibilty for what they say when they're chatting on line becasue
it's not in person. However, I'm not going to lie...SOME of the chats can
be highly entertaining. (like yesterday someone asked me if getting a
gold grill for the dog so they could have a gold mouth dog"!" would be
considered animal cruelty.) I laughed for a while... And then other
chats are really great and spiritual so it's really neat.
Oh... so i didn't really think there were callings for sister
missionaries, but there are. I'm the new coordinating sister for my zone
(by defult-cuase i'm going to be here for FOREVER) but I like it. I just
get to know everyone who comes through a little bit more. OH! and i get
to go to these great meeting with Sister and President Madsen (Mark
Madsen's parentals. They are so great and funny and Sister Madsen is one
of my favorite parts of the week (she kinda reminds me of Shannon from
Afognak, mixed with Sister Morgan and Sister Roberts) I love her. She
told us how she ate mangos in the bathtub with her companions.. So we
all ate dried mangos on the top bunk together.
Ok... well that's it... 50 sec.
LOVE YOU ALL!!
rag, Hilary!
Well... here I am....STILL.... in the MTC. Today's a bit weird for me
though. I don't have a companion! I don't even have any roommates. I'm
truly a "loner Sister". The Phii-Thais left yesterday and are probably
still in Taiwan, leaving me with an empty room. It's kinda nice though..
only becasue It gives me a chance to clean it and prepare for the next
roommates. My new comp, who is also going to Cambodia, arrives tomorrow!
yay! And then next week we get 15 new Thai missionaries (only 2 are
sisters) So that will fill the room back up.
I left my room and forgot to bring my little sticky note with what I
wanted to tell you this week, but I think I can remember it. Hopefully.
If not...you'll never know anyways. :) Oh, Happy memorial day. I didnt'
even realize it was yesterday until some random missionary was like
"what's memorial day?" And i said "what the? And you call yourself an
American...." (shaken head) and then he said "actually...no.. I'm
Canadian." Oh, right. haha. Holidays and days of the week don't exsist
in my world anymore. It's just all Sunday- ish... And happy b-day
Adrian! OH! which reminds me: We had 4 elders in our branch for a while
that were going to your parentals mission! They left probably a week ago,
but I kept forgetting to tell you. I was really excited. There was this
one kid, Elder Finance (yep) who we called Napolean casued he seriously
was Napolean Dynamte (yep). Anyways.... I made sure to tell them who
lucky they were every week (cause they really are. That'd be SO fun to
have the McCrackens as my Mission Presidents) And every week I drilled
them to make sure they knew my name and then made them promise to tell
your parents hello for me. So I hope they succeeded in life. For me.
Nicole! I hope you're feeling better! That does not sound like fun. :(
Oh, while I remember. Please forgive me in advance if I forget any really
important date (i.e. Birthdays, anniversaries, O'Neil family national
holidays, independence days (of anyone or country), Pi day, etc etc...)
Like I previously mentioned...I don't know days here, let alone
dates...but I'll do my best. Oh! And please forgive my ridiculous
spelling, I try to go so fast, I don't even care. And then this email
system is so ridiculous it doesn't even have spell check! (so maybe
proofreading this before posting it would be cool.. ;) is that too much
to ask? Sorry I'm so needed... I'm just saying... ) Awesome.
Oh, also while I remember. Check out Dearelder.com... it's a really easy
way to get letters to me that same day FOR FREE..... (FOR FREE!!!?!) yes.
It's like email, but then put in my box everyday in hardcopy form. So
that's fun for everyone.
Umm...what else about the week.. Like I said before, we're 100% in Thai
now. But even more; We're TEACHING in Thai now. For the last 5 weeks
we've been teaching in English, but from here on out, we're TOTAL THAI.
Script is still coming along. I can acutally sing out of a Thai script
hymn book now. It's helping becasue it's broken up into syllables and we
don't really have to worry about tones so much... yay!
Oh, I went to the Referral center to do "chats" this week. If you ever go
to mormon.org and you click on that "wouldn't it be nice if all your
answers could be answered now? Ask us!" button.... you'll be getting
me...Or my fellow MTC missionaries. It's kinda fun. But honestly, people
can be so ridiculous...and by people...i kinda mean Satan. People take no
responsibilty for what they say when they're chatting on line becasue
it's not in person. However, I'm not going to lie...SOME of the chats can
be highly entertaining. (like yesterday someone asked me if getting a
gold grill for the dog so they could have a gold mouth dog"!" would be
considered animal cruelty.) I laughed for a while... And then other
chats are really great and spiritual so it's really neat.
Oh... so i didn't really think there were callings for sister
missionaries, but there are. I'm the new coordinating sister for my zone
(by defult-cuase i'm going to be here for FOREVER) but I like it. I just
get to know everyone who comes through a little bit more. OH! and i get
to go to these great meeting with Sister and President Madsen (Mark
Madsen's parentals. They are so great and funny and Sister Madsen is one
of my favorite parts of the week (she kinda reminds me of Shannon from
Afognak, mixed with Sister Morgan and Sister Roberts) I love her. She
told us how she ate mangos in the bathtub with her companions.. So we
all ate dried mangos on the top bunk together.
Ok... well that's it... 50 sec.
LOVE YOU ALL!!
rag, Hilary!
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