taryn 10.14.09

Hey everybody!> >
First off, i want to say that computer games are destroying this world. Every week in the internet cafe it is filled with young kids playing games, wasting their life away. Satan sure is smart. Coops, Ash, Chan, and all those others that spend time playing games on the computer, STOP!!! PLEASE!!! it is such a waste of life. do something productive. please. There is so much more to do in life than sit on the computer or play nintendo, or actually anything that comsumes more time that we should spend. I wish so badly i would have realized how precious time is before i came here, and i am still trying to realize it. i am trying to take this in and tell myself that this isnt going to last forever (though right now i dont feel like i am ever going to go home). i wish i could see how important the younger years are, how much more of an amazing person i could be now if i would have really tried harder in everything, like in seminary memorizing all the scriptures. boy would that have been helpful! i am now trying to do all the ones that i didnt. I wish i would have realized how amazing the scripures are. reading for 30 minutes a day was so hard for me, hah i dont know how i could have ever felt that way. an hour is not enough study time for me now! mom i smiled at your last letter, you saying that you are obsessed with the scripures now and Jesus the Christ, i am finding i am getting obsessed with the words of the prophets and the scriptures too!! they are filled with SO MANY treasures. if i dont get anything else from my mission, it will have been worth it just so that i can realize the treasure that they are. I try to spend any extra time i have at night or in the morning reading and studying. I am going to start reading Jesus the Christ, im excited to be able to share thoughts from that mom:)>
hah jordan and i have decided we have some people to hurt. i want to punch the person that started buddhism in the face, and he wants to punch the person that started catholicism in the face. hah satan amazes me more and more every day with his abilities to confuse the world. >
This week has been very good. Being out here is getting a little easier. i am used to seeing two cops riding together on one motorcycle (not sure how effective that is???), seeing a crab, cow, water buffalo, humongous lizard, nasty looking dog crossing the street, big pancake frogs stuck to the ground, getting served whole BBQ burnt fish with a stick from its mouth to its tail- trying to hide the bones that im supposed to eat and the scales- or riding through flood water. the people are so kind, i cant wait until i can say anything i want to them and be able to express my feelings to them. there are a few members in my branch that have so much faith and are willing to serve us and all others so quickly. they have shown me the importance of service. i hope that when i return home i can be like them, so quick to serve, never having to think twice. >
a few scriptures that i love this week:>
dad: i read moroni 8:1-2. it reminded me so much of what you keep saying to me. thank you. you are incredible. i hope that your birthday was amazing! you should hopefully get a letter soon. >
mom: i am reading in alma right now with the stripling warriors. man, they were so so amazing. so much faith. this morning i read the scripture that everyone always quotes in chap 56:47-48. it reminded me of your first email to me while i was here, telling me how you knew i could do it and that i was going to do it. i hated that email when i first read it, not going to lie. i just wanted you to tell me that everything was going to be fine if i went home. thank you so much for me so much smarter than me. mothers really do have a special insight on their children. i can do this because you have faith in me and you have not doubted me. you are with all those amazing mothers of those young men. >
cader: this morning i was reading in D&C 13:1 and thought of you. you have that priesthood!!!! you have a power that is higher than most people in the world. you have the power of GOD!!! you have the "keys to the ministering of angels!!" reading that this morning made me so proud of you, thinking back to the first and only time i have gotten to see you pass the sacrament. what an amazing thing that you can do, giving people the sacred sacrament. always remember how important you are and the power that you hold!!> >
I also read D&C 31. love it. it is my perfect scripture and is going to be one that i read almost every day from now on. > >
hah sorry this is so random, i just write a list of things and then go through them in my letter. >
andie lou, thank you for writing me!!! i will try to get a letter back to you soon! i am SO SO proud of you! dont worry, my first semester i had no idea what was going on, i didnt get the best grades!! my tip: go use the TAs as much as possible!!! and elle, awesome job with tennis!!! keep working hard!! especially in school so you, andie, and i can all go to school together!!! :)>
The work here is going along very well. we havent had time to invite (go tracting) in weeks because we spend all our time teaching. we try to invite along the way. we have 5. yes 5 people with baptismal commitments right now. that is way high for here!! we are really excited about that, i hope taht their testimonies can continue to grow and we can get them all in the water. just yesterday we asked a girl named bow. we have taught her only 2 times before. she is someone that has been truly prepared. she 19, going to nursing school at a catholic university, the only one here, but she is buddist. she has gone to other churches and knows that there has to be one true church, and knows that there is a God. she reminds me of elle, tall (well for a thai person, still a lot shorter than me) and super tiny. >
this morning we took what we call a khlong monster, the boats that take us up into the city. i kind of felt like i was on the jungle cruise at disneyland, but with buildings everywhere, or more of its a small world. this place is just so different. huge gold wats, crazy trees and flowers tall buildings, lots of trash and little shacks with clothes hanging out lining the river. i thought about a book i love "travels with charlie" i wonder what charles dickens would have thought and written about if he ventured to thailand. this place really is unlike anything else. i with you could all see it with me. this truly is a great experience, i just wish it wasnt soooooo long!!! i am 1/4 done though, another month and i will only have a year left!!>
well, i am about out of time. i LOVED reading the emails from the kids:) ill try to get letters to them again soon. and thank you for all of you that write me. i really love hearing from all of you, it keeps me carrying on and gives me hope. i read them often through the week:)>
i love love love you all. chan rag khun!!!!! i miss you so much.>
love taryn >
(i just have to write that, i miss my name!!!!!!!!!)