Mahasarakham

July 29, 2012


Companion: Elder Buss


Why is it, when we take everyone for a fun family outing, that someone cries, doesn't get there way, or winds up half dead on a golf course? What's up with that? I'm glad to see that you're trying. I was freaking out all the way over here! I had to read it twice, because I thought it had something to do with Laura getting hit by a ball, but that's even worse. I probably would've been with Matthew, crying. That's scary stuff, and I'm glad to see that Dad has minor injuries. Sounds like y'all need a vacation away from the kids. We were told two transfer meetings ago, that we only receive packages at transfers. I think that is what you meant in your email, but it sounded otherwise. We do see some missionaries here start having terrible English, and just speak English can't. Not as bad as forgetting English. Sorry, no cold showers yet. 


Yeah, that picture, the teenagers just wanted me to keep playing songs, that's not even in my area, by the way. I was on switch-offs in Roi Et. They do watch the Olympics, and did catch a news feed on the opening ceremonies. Mr. Bean was in them! I am so upset. It looked funny. President Senior is making a playlist of songs, and music that we will be allowed to listen to. Currently, only Mormon Tabernacle Choir and General Conference is allowed, so hold off on the iPod until further notice.

Monday: I decided to make myself a satchel. I'm getting tired of a backpack, so I making a satchel. Done and done.

Tuesday: I was having a terrible time at English, not knowing what to do. So, I came up with a brilliant game, and saved the day.

Wednesday: The best day ever. We taught a wonderful lesson about the Word of Wisdom to one of our daters. She works at a coffee shop, so we meet her there. After, the lesson, she asked if it was okay to SELL coffee. This was something that we had talked about the night before, so it really excited us. We said that the law states that we don't DRINK coffee. She got a big smile on her face. We went to the Rajchaphat (university apartment central thingy) to put up fliers for our English. We finally found a place to ask about it, and a guy that I might have given a hand-out to opened the door. He was super excited and wanted to interview us about what we were doing. We did it. Afterwards, he told us how to bring our family name honor. We have to write a big book with our knowledge and put our name on it. That's it. 


As we were leaving, Elder Buss was like, "You know what freaks me out? When girls don't look at me." Girls here check us out all the time, probably because they are teenagers/college girls and we are two foreigners. Funny. To end the day, we went inviting.

Thursday: We had an amazing Zone Conference. You should be around when President Senior is around, he does great. So many funny things came out of his mouth.

Friday: Exchanges with Elder Mondragon again.

Saturday: We did planning and decided that we need to teach and think like children, teach like a greenie teaches (simple and clear), and do more role plays.

That's my week. Hope you enjoyed it. See you soon.

Mahasarakham

July 22, 2012


Companion Elder Buss


Hello Everybody!

We are sitting here complaining about our keyboards and computers at this crappy internet store. FAIL. Some keys don't even work! sad day. It sounds like a trip to South Carolina is just what the Underwood family needed, but it also sounds like they shouldn't have come back. lol. That sucks that the flight was cancelled and then that the rooms were terrible. We should just be thankful for nice restaurant employees, cheap hotels, and our own homes. ahhh. So nice. I hope that everyone actually enjoyed their trip though. 

Here is MY week:
Monday: nothing, we sat at the house while I organized more binders and other stuff. We do that a lot. 

Tuesday: Our English Class program is getting better. We were able to try out our new idea. It worked, and we are gonna do it again tomorrow. 

Wednesday: I was "bit" by a dog. Let me explain a bit, because people freak out about that here. Mostly because of rabies. There is a restaurant that we seem to go to everday, inside there is a small puppy. I love to play with this puppy, til a certain point. Biting. This restaurant has a linoleum floor. Understand yet? I was playing with this puppy, and it ran off to get some food. I wasn't paying attention and I let my hand hang to the side. The puppy ran back to play, and it being a happy puppy, ran into my hand with its mouth open. I received two little punctures. We asked the owners about it, and they said that he had his shots already, and on time. I am safe, no need to get shots. Funny thing was: Elder Buss and I were talking about it, and the discussion changed direction. I wasn't paying attention, and he said, "We have until Friday." I was worried now, he just gave me a death date. lol

Thursday: Elder Buss tattooed himself. Not really, but he cut his finger with his ruler while he was trying to wipe off a marker streak. It's gone now. Later, we terrorized a teenager. We locked in a room, (held the doors shut), and at one point, we got ahold of her phone. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! She was freaking out, and while she wasn't looking, we hid it in this cubby and let her out. She thought that we still had the phone, so she started chasing us. She had been waiting for seminary, but was on her phone/sleeping. Her seminary teacher showed up and the teenager was like, "She'll make you give it back." We sat in the seminary room, and talked about it. The teacher agreed, of course, that it was good that we took the phone and had hidden it. We committed her to not have it for 45 minutes. Priceless. 

Friday: I needed to wash my ties, so I put them in the washer. When I pulled them out, I realized that I had done a wrong. End product: clean ties, but two were destroyed and the rest had seams undone that I now need to fix. Dumb. I'll never do that one again (Bill Engvall voice).

Saturday and Sunday: We were at the house all day not knowing what to do, so we started looking up Former Investigators and started trying to contact them. Sunday, we decided to suck it up and invite those one-room apartments. We taught 3 lessons in 1 1/2 hours. Score!

That's my week. I don't have any pictures to send this week, so I'll try to have some next week.
See you soon,
Elder Anthony Susi

Mahasarakham

July 16, 2012

Companion: Elder Buss/Elder Slaughter

Hello, everyone,

It sounds like going to the temple was good for the kids. I'm sad that I
missed a history museum, and a beach. But, can't do anything about that now can I? It's okay though, because I didn't need a beach to see lots of water, just needed lots of rain.

So, last Monday while teaching a lesson, it started raining way good.
There was lots of thunder and lightning, one was way close! Less than a mile! Streets started flooding and the street that we normally use was way flooded, took some pictures, waded in it.It was great.

Tuesday: We tried to go see an investigator. He lives kinda far, so we
have to take a sontaew thingy there. It turned out, he wasn't there, he had
completely forgotten that we were coming. So, we decided to see where our color would go. There are different colored sontaews that take different
routes. We have two that go to the university, which is where ours' went.
It was neat to see a university. Especially in Thailand. Not any different than in America. We also decided that our English program here sucks. So, we made some ideas, and have most everything ready. We hope it will be awesome.

Wednesday: Went to District Meeting in Roi Et, and came back with a
different companion, Elder Slaughter!! I was on exchanges with him. It was
great, I got to do lots of things with him that he hadn't done yet.
Granted, it had been a week since he got here, but I took had the
opportunity to take him inviting for his first time! Wow, Roi Et is doing
really good. They apparently have 10 people getting baptized in the next
month. That is outstanding. By the way. I took Elder Slaughter to a
less-active family. Had a awesome lesson, saw a less-active member that
I've only read about. She is awesome, and they all 3 people came to church
just long enough to get the sacrament and leave. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! It was
apparently an election day, so we'll have to see what people's excuses are
next week. Attendance was low again.

Thursday: Still with Elder Slaughter, lots of inviting done. Helping him
with his Thai.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Not much happened. Elder Buss and I were trying to figure out what to do with our hour before going home. We are having trouble with the 8pm hour, it's hard to invite and find anything to do. We did go visit this one vegetarian restaurant. Elder Buss is vegetarian,
loved the place. The people there are part of this religion where they take
a little of EVERYTHING and mash it into one, they believe in Christ,
they believe that Buddhism is closer to the true church.

Well, that's my week. I hope that you have a good week this week.

ok, bye,
Elder Anthony Susi

Mahasarakham

July 8, 2012


Companion: Elder Buss


Hello, the people of the world,

I have had a little bit longer week, but have enjoyed it. I am still in Mahasarakham, but with a new companion. I'll get back to that later. So Brandon just got in? Dang, that email has been waiting a while. I'm glad everyone had a good Independence Day. Here, nothing happened. I was like, "Hey, it's mom and dad's anniversary, and a major holiday in the US. At moves meeting, we were all discussing that, and saying it was weird. An Elder from England, who just got back because of foot surgery, was like, "I don't know about you, but I stole money from an American on that day." Way funny. He didn't steal money, but borrowed money and hasn't payed back yet. Elder Tanawut is in Bangkok, just chilling with another Thai person. Swimming sounds so good right now. Jealousy. I can't believe that I missed Fred's fireworks, maybe in a couple years. Also, we are excited that Bill and Mary are getting sealed. BAM. So, here is my week:

Monday: I kinda knew that Elder Tanawut was moving. So, I cleaned that house like a boss. Swept, and organized folders and cleaned some outside. I was so tired and bored. The house looks amazing though, so whatever. 

Tuesday: Went to a Meet-and-Greet in Khonkaen, which was good. Met President Senior and his wife Sister Senior. They are from Arizona, and funny story: they met on a blind date, and then she rejected him. AH SNAP! He persisted, and now are married, obviously. They are really funny. They told lots of stories, and President Senior surprised the heck of us with his Thai! He only spent eight days in the MTC, and he spent 10 minutes sharing testimony, without a mistake, or thinking for too long! Whoa! Also, to show how amazingly funny he is, here is another story. So the Roi Et district was taking a couple photos together. I was in the back, and right when they said 3, an old man head appeared in my peripheral vision! What! Awesome-sauce! 

Wednesday: Kinda wasted that day. Went to Roi Et to have a District Meeting, and then kind of spent the rest of our day there, and then spent two hours at a bus station. 

Thursday: Arrived in Bangkok, Asoke at about 5:30. Killer. I didn't sleep so hot, never do. Met with some missionaries, and I talked a butt-ton to the ones from the North. It was way fun to talk to more people, especially in English. Elder Tanawut and I didn't talk much, mostly because we wouldn't understand each other when we did. Had our Transfer meeting. A lot of us were scared as to what would happen during that, only because it was President Senior's first one. It was awesome. It was a very planned out Power Point that showed: where the area was, what area and who was there/new companion. It was awesome. I'm with Elder Buss. He was in the district that got stuck in the MTC for three extra weeks. So, he is only two transfers ahead. So far, we are getting along great. Had some visa things to do and then headed for home. 

Friday: Arrived in Mahasarakham at 3:30 in the morning, but I didn't recognize the street we were on. I had like never been on it. I was freakin' out. I didn't help that I was half asleep either. A member picked us up, and took us home. We slept and started our day. Which was really shopping for things for the house. He is big on cleaning, and our house still needs a ton of work, so we basically shopped all day. We still did missionary work, don't worry. 

Saturday: Had more lessons. Trying to get a feel on how each other teaches. Told jokes. All that jazz.

Sunday: Was a bummer, half the normal congregation. Which means, it went from 60 to 30 people. Ouch. Elder Buss went around saying he was a greenie. Not many people believed him. Which brings me to two stories. One: A missionary tradition is that when a missionary moves to that area or if it is their first time there, they are a greenie. So no members tend to believe it anymore. Story two: Elder Mondragon has devised a devious plan to get at a couple members for that. We have a greenie in Roi Et with Elder Mondragon, in fact, it is Elder Slaughter! This week or next week, we are going on switch-offs and Elder Slaughter is going to come here with me and we are going to show those members. It will be way funny. 

Well, that is my week. We have committed someone to baptism: Brother Chang (elephant), and he is excited. We are excited. I hope that you have a terrific week and get ready to celebrate Pioneer Day. Try to remember their hardship and thank them for the work that they have done. See you all around,

Elder Anthony Susi

Mahasarakham

July 1, 2012


Companion Elder Tanawut


Hello! I email yet again.

This week has been good. Just good. We are starting to slow down, because Elder Tanawut is pretty darn sure that he is moving. This is never, ever set in stone, so I should never slow down. Tomorrow we go to Khonkaen to have a Meet-and-Greet with President Senior and his wife, Sister Senior. President and Sister Smith left yesterday, and we will all miss them here. This week has just begun, and I'm pretty sure a lot is going to change in this week. So, before I start, I would like to say that wherever I am next Monday will be awesome and I will love it. 

Last Monday, I cleaned our house a butt-ton. It looked pretty decent, there was still one problem. We were confined to the first floor. That was taken care of on Wednesday. I also made some No-Bake cookies. I was content. They were delicious. I discovered on Tuesday, that almost nobody ever participates in English Class. Last week, we had 30+ people show, and we could only get 2 or 3 people to ever answer. I am going to try to fix that tomorrow. Maybe. I don't know how. Hmmm. So on Wednesday, like I said, we opened the mysterious upstairs. I was on exchanges with Elder Mondragon, our District Leader. He wanted to open the upstairs as badly as I did, maybe more. BAM! Opened that up, and cleaned it, and moved the desks upstairs. We threw away everything that was keeping it closed too. There wasn't any reason that it needed closed. We had heard rumors that Satan was living up there, it was infested with spiders and/or some Elders were too lazy to clean up there. 

Anyway, because somebody said that Satan lived upstairs, Elder Tanawut has kept me from opening it for five weeks! Thais are very superstitious, by the way. When he came home, he immediately exclaimed, "You're crazy," and wouldn't come upstairs for a half-hour. On my exchanges with Elder Mondragon, I discovered that he can make food appear. We got 3 free meals+free ice cream, from the same member. He is magic, and we were happy. On our way to Roi Et to end our exchange, we got on the wrong bus. We had tried to buy tickets and the people told us to get on the bus getting ready to leave. We did, and soon discovered it was the wrong bus; it was going the wrong way entirely. 

So yeah, the rest of the week was fun. One more thing: HAPPY 16th ANNIVERSARY!!!!! 


Also, I baptized chin.

Elder Anthony Susi


Sent to Dad

Everything is just happening so fast, every week there is some new news that I didn't dream would happen.   The working world will never stop, but we must never let work get us down.

Answer 1: We have all of our meetings on Sunday, just like the rest of the world.
Answer 2: yes, we speak mostly Thai, because he IS Thai. We do speak a little English, because he is trying to learn English.
Answer 3: Language is better, definitely needs work. President Smith, here in Thailand, always said that, "Us farangs will never be fluent in Thai, but some can get pretty close." I will never be fluent, but I can learn much. My biggest problem is that I don't understand what they are saying to me, I understand awesome-like when I read, though. Go figure. Writing is good too.
Answer 4: As far as I've been, I would say Chiangrai. Most of the really pretty stuff is at least a half-hour about of the city. I would like to take the family on small tours of each place I serve/a drivethrough. Just so I can say, "I've been here." Missionaries aren't allowed in Phuket yet. Mostly because of it being very touristy, and not having other requirements met to have missionaries.

I hope you have a good anniversary, and see ya around.

Elder Anthony Susiok, bye,