12/9/12

Hey Mom and Dad,

This week was a pretty good week.  Probably the highlight of the week was zone conference.  It was the first one that Elder Jensen and i had ever planned so at first we were not sure what we were going to do but them President Senior gave us everything that he would like us to do and so that made it really nice so we didn't have to come up with everything.  I gave a 10 min talk about finding and developing the faith to find.  That was really fun and i felt like the point really got across.  After that President Senior gave a really good presentation about finding as well and about all of the different ways that we can find people.  The thing that we really focused on was talking to everyone and teaching anywhere.  For my mission so far we were only focused about sitting down with a person and praying to open and then taeaching doctrine but them President Senior asked us how the Savior taught.  He talked about how Alma and all of the other prophets taught.  They didnt have to start with an opening prayer or have to sit in a home before they started teaching people.  They taught on the hills, in the streets, in the most public places.  They were talking with everyone so he invited us to start doing the same.  He said that if we started talking to everyone and just teaching on the street to random people that we would be able to find people to teach and will find more of Gods children to teach.  It was a very cool way of teaching that we have never done before.  

After that Elder Jensen and i talked about finding for another 20 min and then we designed a role play where we sat in the back of something called a songtaew ( a pick up truck that has a roof and benches to sit on in the back).  It is actually a really nice way to travel and we rented 2 of them for the entire day to take us to certain places.  We had the whole zone get into them and we practiced talking to everyone in the back of them while they were parked in the parking lot.  We also were able to go bowling for a christmas present from the seniors.  That was way fun and i was relaly bad.  Most of us were because most of the people had not been bowling for over a year.  President senior was really good and so was an Elder from austrailia.  

After we had all of our meetings we went to a really nice hotel and the seniors took us to a buffet.  They had everything that i have not been able to eat since i left america.  Mom you will be jealous a little bit but i had BBQ lamb.  They had a chef there that would cook it right in front of you.  It was the best buffet ever!  The deserts tasted like they were actually from America.  All of us were so happy!  I didnt eat one thing that was Asian while we ate there hahaha.  Aftert that Elder Jensen and I went bakc to the church and then we taught a huge group of people and about 3 of them were really interested.  We asked all of the others and most of them said they were not wanting to learn after that visit.  They just wanted to know more about the culture of Christians.  But there were about 3 of them that were really good and so we are going to meet them again.  

This last week was way fast and this last transfer was ber fast was well.  I cannot believe that i have already been here in Khon Kaen for about 6 weeks.  

I love you all so much and i hope that everything is going great back at home.  I love you so much and thank you for all that you have been doing to help me do this thing for the Lord.  I know that you have sacrificed so much for me to be out here.  Next week for Skype, we will be getting directions from President in a couple of days so i will let you know on nest monday what will happen.  I love you very much have a good day.

Elder Revelli

12/2/12

Hey Mom and Dad,

I really dont think that i need anything else for this Christmas.  Just the usual basic stuff that i need that i cant get here.  Razor blades and deoderant.  Dad that sound awesome!  I read that and i thought that was the coolest thing in the world!  I will be really excited when i get to see the video.  I am nbot going to lie i just couldnt do it.  IO would much rather go sky diving.  I just couldnt jump off a bridge and trust in a cord.  Just curious what did it feel like?  That sounds like a pretty good trip to Canada over all.  

This last week for Khon Kaen was pretty good.  We didnt have anyone s\come to church but we did a lot of comp exchanges.  In one of the exchanges i actually sat in on a sister lesson.  They teacher very differentyl from the Elders.  I am not going to lie it just felt super wierd.  i have never seen a sister missionary teach so when i saw it the first time i just thought that it was very very very different.  The Sisters really get alot of work dont here but they just get it done very differently than we Elders do it.  

Other than that not much else happened.  This last week was the lantern festival.  The sky was filled with laterns.  Do you remember the movie Tangled?  It is basically exactly like that but in real life.  I thought that it was really cool anmd it is my second one.  Last one i was in Bangkok during the flood so there was not as much going on last year but this year they gave us permission to go and participate in the festival.  I didnt because we had some things to do but members bought some extra lanterns and we let them off a day later at the church.  It was pretty funny.  one of them caught fire before it left the ground so i just crashed and then we just watched it burn for the rest of the time.  I could get any good pictures of it but it is one of those things that just cant be caught with a camera very well.  

Overall this last week went by really fast and i think that i need to start bring my journal to email so that i can remember more about what happened during the week.  This next week we have zone conference and then we have one more week until we have moves meeting.  It feels kind of odd because it was moved to a tuesday instead of a thursday because the group has to go home 2 days earlier because the church could not get the tickets they needed in time.  I am doing great right now.  I love you so much and i hope that you all ahve a good weeek.

I love you so much Mom and Dad and i do have a question.  When are you going to serve your mission?  I know that they really need senior missionaries.  Dad how is learning German?  Who is Jessie getting married to?  If you can tell Lauren Holtem congrats and tell Morgan that i said hi.  

I love you so much and have a really good next week.  

Elder Revelli

11/25/12

Hey Mom and Dad,

This last week was really fun as well.  Thanksgiving was really nice.  As you saw in the pictures it was rely really really really really good!  i forgot what it felt like to actualyl eat food other than rice.  It was just so good!  The brothers name is Jeff.  He is a really nice man who actually is a lawyer that used to work for pepsi.  His whole family was very nice and it was kind of weird to talk to a whole bunch of people who knew so much about what was going on at home.  Jeff was actually at the same game that Adam went to in Notradame ( bad spelling i know).  After that dinner we went to an activity at the church where the members ate regular chicken and I told the history of thanksgiving.  That was relaly fun because they were all really shocked about the whole thing.  I also just told them the very elementary stuff.  People here really love to celebrate american holidays.  It really is fun but usually they just dont understand the actual meaning of the day.

We have met some really great people this last week.  We met a person whose name means pearl in Thai.  She is really great and really prepared by the Lord.  She said that she would love to be baptized when she feels like this thing is true.  It was very cool to hear that from her.  She is really smart too.  We are going to be meeting her again today so we will see how that goes.  other than that we went on exchanges with the Assistants to the President and that was relaly fun becasue i was with Elder Kampanat.  I know him pretty well because I was in the office when he was made Assistant.  He is so Christlike and i just feel so good when i am around him.  He also used to serve in this area before and all of the members love him so  much.  

It sounds like thanksgiving was pretty quiet this year.  The football game sounds like that was pretty fun though.  I would love to play football here but I have only actually found 1 football and that was while i was in Bangkok so i dont think that i will find one out here.  This city is pretty big but not big enough for a football hahaha but i have learned to love soccer and other sports.  I did learn that they might have a racketball place here so i might have to go and check that one out.  I will be out of practice but it will be so fun to get back on the court again.  

About School i know that onje day my mission will have to end so i have just accepted it and i know that i will have a life other than a missionary but i will work hard until the very last day.  This date is not 100% sure but i know that the transfers will be on April 25.  That would be the transfer that i would be sent home.  So we would usually leave that night and get back that same morning.  I want to go to BYU but i dont know if my credits would be transfered over.  If not i would like to finishe my twwo year degree at UVU and then transfer over.  But if you could find that out for me that would be really great.  

I love you so much Mom and Dad and Dad that sounds like a really good start for the duck season.  I love you so mucha nd i will keep working harder and harder.  thank you for your prayers.   I feel them help me everyday.  

Elder Revelli

11/18/12

Hey Mom and Dad,

This week was a pretty slow week for the area.  We were not here for three days of the week.  I did not know that the Zone leaders had this much stuff to do but the other Elder in the area are rock stars.  They found 20 new int\vestigators in the week.  That was more than the zone got combind.  These tow Elders are just amazing missionaries and they jsut work so hard and have so much faith.  I lvoe this area.  So the city is actually very large.  I has a hurge mall here and it is really clean here in this city.  Sometimes i feel like i am in America.  It veels kind of odd sometimes and the street layout is just like it is in America whee things are put out into blocks.  There air here is so good!!@!!!!! i have been running almost every morning and it feels so good to just breath oxygen again.  

the area is in the east part of thailand.  It is pretty large but it is just really nice weather right now because it is the cold season.  It is geting down to about 32 everyday and soon it will hit a cold spike.  Honestly i dont know it very well right now but i am getting to know it.  Not much else to say other than it is another college town.  most of the people at church are all college students that are single that we are all trying to get them married to our investigators.  We have one girl here that we just matched up with a new investigator and they hit it off pretty well hahaha.  

We just had a zone training meeting this last saturday where the Asia Area President was there.  It was very amazing and it was all just about the Book of Mormon.  I made a goal to never let a day go without reading at least 1 verse in the BofM everyday.  Soemtimes it doesnt have the answer to my questions everytime but it just calms me down and it helps me think more clearly.  I know that it is not just another book.  but it is just like Joseph Smith said,  It is the most correct book of any book on the earth and that a man would grow closer to God by abiding by its precepts.  

That is crazy that all of them are going on their missions now.  They waited long enough and now the age was moved i amd sure that they loved that.  I almost for got about those people. I am sure that if i saw a pictuere i would remember but honestly my life is justfilled with missionary work everyday i have kind of forgotten what life used to be like.  I just feel like i have been a missionary my whole life and that everything that we do just seems so normal even though it is amazing all of the time.  I just love this work so much and i just love serving the Lord.

I love you so much.  but the thing that i got most of this last week was the guidence ffrom the spirit.  We were seeking so much for the spirit aand we got it.  It was so amazing to just know what to do and where to go to follow what the Lord wanted us to do.  We need to make the first step bu thte lord will be there wiht us just like in the Ether 1  He was there waiting for them but they had to go and meet him first.  

I lvoe you so much and please keep praying for me.  I love you and i really cant think of anything other than deoderant.  

Elder Revelli

11/11/12

Dear Mom and Dad and the rest of the Family and everyone else who reads this email,

This last week was very very busy and way fun.  I had a feeling that i was moving but we never know for sure until we actually get the call from the Zone Leaders.  We were actually trying to talk to a family that we had contaacted a while ago and then the zls called and so i had to answer and i am the only one of my district that actually moved out so that was kind of weird.  i was kind of sad to leave Ayutthaya because of all of the blessings and the miracles that the Lord blessed us with there and the work that needed to be done.  I am so happy to have served there.  I love the members and investigators there so much and i will miss them so much!  I love them all but i am excited for this next adventure here in the east.  My new area is called Khon Gaen.  It is actually still a pretty big city.  it has a Central Mall so that makes it pretty big compared to my last area.  I love it here so far.  The Branch is really fun to be around and the leaders are really good here too.  The District President is about to move so there will be some leadership changes and that will make swork exciting but it will be very fun.  Elder Jensen is from Ogden Utah.  He comes from a pretty big family.  He is the last one in his family and before he was a missionary he was actually in the army.  He is really nice and i served around him before but just have never really served with him so it is fun so far and we have not really had any probelms at all.  We are actually \very similar in a lot of different ways.  He is really fun to be around and just a very spiritual person.  

He is helping me a lot because i have no idea what i am doing as a Zone leader.  i just barely understood what it was like to be a district leader and then when i got comfortable with theat the Lord decided to change it up.  The new area is about that far away but on the way ehre we actually took a train so  it was about 9 ish.  It was a sleeper train to that was kind of nice.    but i was super scared that we were going to miss our stop so i kept waking up.  It was really fun getting to the area on friday. We would have gotten there thursday night be we had Zone leader council right after the transfers meeting and that was about 6 hours long.  It was really fun to see even more of the little things that we have to do to keep the mission running.  I am doing really great but you all sound really busy right now.  Dad make sure you save some stuff for me to do when i get back remember you will have another set of hands eventually.  Mom i really do not know how you find out all of these things so fast!  We just talked about it with the other Elders in our house and it really creeps us out how fast the MMN  actually works.  We are pretty sure hat you get better informaiton than we actually do in the field.  Tell Lex that i said Happy Birthday and that she is awesome.  I lvoe you so much.  Tahnk you so much for your prayers.  I really feel like they help me in every partt of the work.  I love you so much and have a good week.

Elder Revelli

11/4/12

Hello Mom and Dad and everyone on the home front.  

This last week was another great week here.  Another person was baptized and that makes a whole family complete.  The son that was just baptized has a really funny story.  When we were teaching the parents and the other kids,  he would never talk to us.  He would walk in and bow and then walk into his room and shut the door.  (ok its not really a bow but i cant think of the english word to describe it) He would do that everytime.  He would ever ever want to talk to us until one day that we had family home evening and he sat in and we taught the plan of salvation with him there and he really did like it.  He said that it made him feel good when we taught them.  After that he wanted to be baptized.  He was baptized after his brothers and sisters but then i was talking to their mom and she said that she had a dream that she was walking up a mountain alone and that the first time she had this dream she couldnt make it up the mountain.  After that it wasnt until after her son was baptized that she had a dream that they were walking up that same mountain together and they all made it to the top of the mountain together.  They said that they never found the tree of life but when they got to the top they just felt cool air and could see everythng around them.  They all wanted to stay their and that is when she woke up.  It was very very interesting and i really was touched by that story.  I lvoe this family so much!  I am so excited for you to meet them when you come here but you need to start practice sitting on the floor with legs crossed because in about everyhouse that we go to. there is no couch or chairs.  So start practicing hahaha

That was really the highlight of this week.  I still dont know if i am going to move or not but i have a feeling that i might.  I wont know until wednesday but i will  miss this place so much.  I lvoe the memebers here and i will miss them so much.  I lvoe the people that we are teaching but the coolest thing that i have learned about in this transfer is the parable of the sower has really come to life for me.  I have seen those people who we met falling by the way side, those that were put on the rock and grew fast but fell away fast, i have met people who were choked my the thorns, but the best one that i have seen is those that were put in fertile ground and the plant grew until it was a tree.  I think that if we start applying the parables into our own lives they really do become real.  

I love this work.  This is the best work that i have ever done.  Better than acting, shooting, hiking, horse riding, scoutning or any of that stuff.  I love these people and the culture so much.  I am very excited for you all to take part in this.  I love you and i hope and pray that you have a great week.  

Elder Revelli

10/28/12

Hey Mom and Dad,

Im again sorry for the emial last week.  It was very sort but a lot has happened in the past week ut i will send you pictures and we all know that pictures are worth 1000 words so i dont have to email as long right?  hahaha just kidding.  This last week we have 3 people e baptized and even the est part was that their father was the one who baptized them.  His first child had to go under 3 times before it was good and the others were ok.  The first person was crying ecause she didnt want to share her testimony with everyone and she was crying before during and after because she was really scared to share it.  She finally got up and just said that she loved God and that she knew that God loved her.  I felt the spirit so strong when she said it i started to tear up but then i made sure that i did not startt to cry.  

Before that we watched the vidoes of the family history project that we did last week and it is weird watching myself speak thai.  I dont think that i sound very good but i guess it is like when i watched my self act.  I never did think taht i  was a very good actor.  After that we did go and see cool waterfalls last monday and i will send you some pictures and this week we worked with a lot of less active and recent converts.  We are doing as much as we can to make sure that they stay into activity.  One of the less actives that we are working with who hadnt een to church for almost 3 years has come back and he has plans to srtay!  He is so awesome and you can see the difference in him.  You can tell tht he feels like he really does belong.  That is about all that i have for this week.  I love you all and thank you Mom and Dad and the family for the prayers.  

How are the missionary lessons going with Lex?  What did her 
Mom think?  Tell lex to keep going and tell her i am praying for her.  Tell Spenc that i said hi.  I love you all so much and thank you for all that you ahve done for me.  Have a rally great week and i will be praying for you.

Elder Revelli

10/14/12

Hey Mom and Dad,  

This last week was pretty fun.  I was in another area for about 2 days on exchanges and that was way fun.  I got to know some more members in the area and i had my first baptismal interview.  The person was so prepared and just really awesome!  She had a very strong testimony and she was very excited aabout the temple.  She talked about her father and you could tell that she loved him very much and she was crying everytime that she talked about him she would just cry and she was so excited when she knew that she could help him be saved.  She was just very humble and you could tell that she had a lot of faith in Christ.  

I loved conferenc ethis week.  I really needed it really badly.  on satuday we had no one show up to the church to watch it so we went to an internet cafe and downloaded it on my hard drive and we went back to the church and watched it in english.  I really liked Elder Uchtdorfs talk the most about not looking forward to the finish but really enjoying the moments while we have them.  I really really learned a lot form this last conference but when we watched it in thai it was not very good.  The translators were not very good and they just didnt speak very good thai.  Im not saying that i am good or would do much better but it just was not as good.  There was an investigator that understood the english better than they understood the thai version.  It was still really good but it just wasnt as good and i tlaked to other misisonaries and they agreed so i felt better that i thought that too.  

That sounds like you ahad a good break.  Ciara told me about he thai coke shirt.  I actually bought one while i was here.  When i see it i will teach you all how to read what it says on the shirt.  Not too much happened this week.  I just feeling much better after watching conference.  I learned a lot of things that i needed to work on and a lot of other things that i felt like Heavenly Father was giving me a pat on the back for.  I definatiely feel like i will be a better person after watching and listenting to the words of the prophets.  

That is about all that really happened this week.  It was a fun and very spiritual week.  I love you so much and I hope that you have a really good week.

Elder Revelli

10/8/12

This week at conference sounds crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is a sign that more work needs to e done!  There is so much work to do here.  This last week  Elder pearson and i were jsut really tired because of everythign that we have een doing.  We have been working realyl hard trying to find new people to teach.  we have been really focusing on less actives now.  right niow in the branch we have about 125 memers and 45 come to church every week.  That is actually pretty good compared to a lot of the oter branches all over thailand.  There are some with over 600 members but only 90ish come to church every week.  The mission has really shifted its focus on rescue efforts.  We have been finding those who have just lost their way.  

We actually had a really ool expericne on saturday.  We were inviting and we just felt like we needed to go and visit some members.  We went to go and visit the firt one and they were not home and then we remember this other less active that hadnt een to church for 5 years.  We went to his house and he was home from work so we sat down with him.  He is a really good person and had no real reason to stop going to church.  We taught him and invited him to church and he said he would go and the next day he was at church in his shirt and tie and y the time that church was over he was just beaming with light on his face.  The members welcomed him back like there was nothing wrong and you could tell that he was very glad to e back.  He will have a goal to get the Melkisedek preisthood soon and then he will be off to the temple.  Before we left his house we asked him if he knew anyone else that we could go and visit.  He gave us a name and directions.  We got a little lost becasue it was after dark and we did not know the area very well so we called the member and she gave us directions and we finally found her house.  We made an appointment for the next day and then we went ack and she was really sick and asked for a blessing.  She said that the night that we call her she had just prayed and asked Heavenly Father to hlep make her life better.  She said that she will be back at church this next sunday for general conference.  

This work feel so good.  I am very very tired lately but it is very worth all of the work that we put into it.  I will be watching conferece this week but thank you for telling me all of the good news before i got to watch it hahahahahahahahahahha.  That is really cool that i will know so many people.  I love you so much Mom and Dad and everyone else who reads this email.  I hope that you have a really good week and talk to you next week.

Elder Revelli

9/30/12

Hey Mom and Dad and family.  

This last week was crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We had transfers and you might be getting another letter from president senior.  I hve been called as a district leader!  It is way fun because the our zls are way awesome.  one is in my group and the other is another person that i knew in the MTC.  It is really fun to serve with them.  This last week was really good.  We had another person be baptized.  His name is Nat.  He is way awesome.  He had a lot of problems right before he was going to be baptized but he and the Lord worked through them and was able to be baptized just yesterday.  I will send a pic of the baptism.  He was so scared because of the amount of people that were there but after he came out of the water he was a changed person.  He was willing to help us all of the time yesterday and he wants to help us teach and serve everyone.  

This last week was a very busy week and we are all very tired.  A couple of members were sick so they asked us to help them with their calling and we felt like we just wanted to serve them so we did.  It was a very special week and i really did understand more about how important all of the callings in the church are.  If we didnt have them the church could not run the Lords way but everyone is needed to build up His kingdom on the earth,  He created us all so why wouldnt He give us all somethign to do for His Kingdom?  

Transfers was really good.  Elder Mondragon, Grover and a couple of other Elders that i really loved are now home.  I miss them all and now i feel like i dont know hardly anyone in the mission anymore.  i only have 4 comps that are actually still here in thailand.  It feels like i am getting old in the mission but most of the time i just dont feel any different.  

Today i wanted to share a little bit from my personal study.  I decided to study about what Zion was.  I have started but i have not finished.  It takled about it in D/C about being pure in heart so that all leads to desires.  It was really really cool because i thought of it like this because i also read in 1kings 8:1 when solomon is getting all of israel together and the thing that brought them together was the temple and the ark of the Covenant.  So i thought about it and the Temple and all of our covenants bring us closer to the Lord and because we have that one point it is making us all one just like Zion.  

That is all that i have for today.  I love you so much and i hope and pray that everyone will have a safe and fun week.

Elder Revelli

9/23/12

Hey Mom and Dad,

This week was a very fast and a vey good week.  Yesterday while Elder Pearson and i were plaanning last night we were both so tired.  We were having a hard time staying awake and i dont even remember falling asleep last night because it just happened hahha.  Dad that is way good for the grass and when it is all done you will hav to send me pictures of everything that is done.  Yards here are just not the same as they are in america.  Most of the yards here are just jungle so they dont really have real grass.  I have only seen real grass once ever in my mission so i kind of miss looking at american yards haha but i am not going to lie the jungle here is pretty cool

This last week went by so fast.  We wroked very hard and rarely stopped moving.  We were riding our bikes to a lot of idfferent places.  We had a very odd experience at one of our lessons.  It was a christian group that one of our investigators goes to and she invited us to go.  We asked for permission to go from our leaders and they said that we could if we were there to teach and testify.  It was really really weird.  They were singing weird songs and doing stuff that is not in the Bible or the Book of Mormon or anything that they would do in the bible.  It was very very interesting and after they did their little sacrament we taught about the Book of Mormon and the leader of the group said that he would read it and pray to know that if it is true.  We are going to go back this next week and see if he really did.  It was very odd and we could not feel the spirit until we opened up in the Book of Mormon.  The thai bible is good but it is not translated correctly.  There are a lot of things missing and a lot of things that are not translated correctly.  That whole meeting helped me know that the Church of Jesus Christ of latterday saints is the Lords Kingdom on the earth!  

Last night we met a really awesome person.  Last night we were just about to go home after an appointment fell through and we heard this voice say Elder and so we turned around and this little old thai man speaking english said where you go?  We told him in thai that we were about to go home ad he pointed out to way for us.  We said thank you and i felt like we needed to sit down witht he man and teach him.  He was christian and his job was to make statues for the temple that was right across form his house.  He siad that he does nto worship them but that he jsut makes them for other people.  It is athe only way to get money for him.  He is very interested and you can tell that he really does love Christ and that he wants to follow him all of his life.  He was so nice and just takled about loving others and when we gave him a picture of Christ he hugged it and thanked us so much.  We prayed for him at his "house" ( it was really a shack with no walls where he did his work.  )  and taught him a little bit about the restoration.  It was really really cool and next time we are going to give him a book of Mormon.  

That is aweosme that the missionaries are over that often.  Tell them that i say hi from accross the world and that i said Hurrah for Israel!!!!!!!! from thailand and they are awesome!!!!

I lvoe you so much Mom and Dad!  thank you for all that you have been doing for me. Just so you know i am now listening to a man singing thai songs next to me so it took me a long time to actually type this haha just a little window into what i am doing right now.

Thank you so much and i lvoe you all.  

Elder Revelli

9/16/12

Hey Mom and Dad,

This last week sounded pretty aweosme for all of you.  Ciara did tell me abou tthat and Dad that sounds like a pretty good day.  I started really laughing about  Shaylins husbands shot hahah i could jsut picture you and Keith and what you were thinking about when he did that hahahha.  That really surprised me that i have to deside what i want to hunt for next year.  Put me in for Deer once in a life time,  Also for Antelope and Elk.  I want Moose but i want to be ready for that when i get home so i want to practice some shooting because i will be rusty for sure.  '

Ciara looks way tall now!  I noticed in that picture that she is tall.  She might even be taller than me.  Thai people are going to be loving her and how she is so tall!  

Im sure that Bracken loved being with the missionaries.  I would love to do that when i get home too.  I want to really help them teach.  Just so that i could see how it is done again.  

Well this last week was really good!  We had a really good week this last week.  It has been raining everyday but the coolest thing about this week was the amount of referrals that we have been getting from members and investigators.  We have gotten over 4 people this week and 3 of them are families that are close by the recent converts.  It was just a really good week and this next week will be even better.  So we taught a really good lesson with a 17 year old sone of a recent convert and he is progressing raelly well and he brought his new girlfriend over that was 20.  It was really funny when he picked up the law of chastity pamphlet and started reading it while we were teaching his girlfriend.  You could tell that he was really looking at it and pondering what was in there.  The funny part is when we were just takling right before the lesson and he asked me if she was pretty and while she was looking i mouthed to him in Thai if that was j=his new girlfriend and he said yes and we jsut laughed.  I didnt answer the first question hahaha.  Anyway but i love that family so much and they are so special to me.  I keep liking every area mroe and mroe. We also had a really cool thing happen this ssudnay.  We were getting ready to go home and then i got a feeling that we neede to go and visit this old investigator that i had met once but never sat down with him,  When we got there he invited us in and we sat down and talked for a while and then we opened with a prayer.  We had an amazing time and he asked what he needed to do to be clean from sin.  We taught about baptism and Christ and that through baptism he will be clean.  The spirit was so strong and you never know what will happen when we follow those impressions from the spirit.  It could change someones life and help their salvation.  

I love you all so much and please do something fun this week.  I lvoe you so much

Elder Revelli

9/9/12

Hey Dad and Mom!

That is way aweosme that Kimbal got to go hunting that same deay hahahaha.  I think that is way funny.  It made me think about the night that i was set apart that i forgot and almost started watching tangled again.  You will have to tell me how everything went in 94.  I feel like i haventl been there forever.  I know that the last hunt that i did was in 99 but it was still very good.  I ill make sure that i will e safe this week.

This week was pretty good.  We had a rough start but it was a really good finish.  We have been doing realyl good and we met a really cool person just yesterday.  It really strengthened my testimony,.  She did not really have time or want to be preached to but we were jsut there to listen to her.  Her husband jsut died 4 days ago and he was still  being cremated.  It takes a couple of day i guess and the next day that she was going to collect the bones and take them to Japan.  She is thai and he was Japanese.  They are very very wealthy and you could tell that she was fighting back tears when she was talking to us.  We talked about eternal families but she was not willing to pray becasue she waid thtat her heart was not full right now and that she needed some time.  After that we just started talking about our families and just about life and she really cheered up after that.  We met her children who just finished being monks as part of the cerimony and they were both ereally really funny.  It was a very good family and by the time that we left she gave us water and a lot of this sweet bread stuff that was really good and she said that after she gets all of her affairs in order and then she said that she would like to talk to us more.  By the time that we left she was laughing and that just made me so happy.  It also really humbled me because it made me realize that sometimes that is all that they need.  They jsut need a a friends and  a warm smile.  They jsut need to be lifted up by the light of Christ and they will eventually listen in the future.  

It was a very good experience and i really felt the spirit very strong.  We are finding a lot of people now and it has been very awesome!  The Lord is really preparing a lot of people here and thailand is really starting to explode.  I love what president Senior said.  "It is Asia's turn" talking about other missions all over the world have great success.  We have noticed the great success and the blessings of the Lord are really being wrought upon the land.  Thank you for everything that you are doing for me.  If you could just send deoderant and razor blades.  Usually those are the only things that i need.  I lvoe you so much Mom and Dad.  I love the rest of the family and i hope you have a really good week!.  

Elder Revelli

9/2/12

Hey Mom and Dad,

ok so that place is call the Elephant village but not a lot of people know about this one.  It is actually a farm where they train the e;e[hants.  That are way awesome and you get to feed them and if the boss is not there you get a chance to ride them but the bosswas there so we didnt get to ride them.  The members will take us there when we come back to that place and they will take us for free.  I never thought that i would every be doing something like this when i first submited my papers to be a missionary.  MY kid was a lot more excited because it was the first time that he had ever seen an elephant.  I feel like when i go back i want to take one with me.  Just a small baby one and let it grow up.  Do you think that the horses would get a long with it?  hahahahahahahahahahaha.  The odd thing is that i am actually older than all of those elephants in that picture.  

This last week another family was baptized and they are so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Their kids will be baptized very soon!!  The work is going forward very fast all over thailand right now.  We are almost at a 100 baptisms a month mission wide and we are about the have 3 stakes and after that it wont be very long until we have a temple.  We are so close to getting a church building in this area!  We just need 15 more people at church and the church will then buy land for a church and once we have 80 people at chruch we will have a building.  I love this place so much and even though i had a cold for most of the week we worked very hard.  I figured that i could just lay at home and be miserable or just get to work and rally help other people and that was a much better option.  I love it so much more than just sitting down.  

My comp is doing really good now.  He is getting better and better at the language.  I love this work so much but a lot of people say that i will be a district leader after this transfer but i really have no idea about that.  My prophesy is to be a district leader for 1 transfer then become a zone leader in a place  up north called Chiang Mai and end my mission with Elder Richardson or Elder Stott.  That is our dream but the Lord might have something different in store for us.  

Yes Dad most of the area is like that.  I love this place so much!  It is so beautiful and the sunsets and sun rises are the most beautiful that i have ever seen.  I love this place so much and i cant wait for you all to see what i have been doing for the last two years.  The people you will meet are so specialto me and you will find out why.  

Dad That is a really good and i just started laughing really hard when you said that star wars quote. hahaha I love it so much but my comp does not like to watch star wars haha so that was what i needed hahaha.  Well I wanted to share one thing that i read in the scriptures in the van to the sports day.  I was reading in Alma 60:24 and this is one thing that you both have taught me since i was a little kid.  I have not been the bestat following there but thank you for teaching me.  It is talking about Moronis epistle to Pahoran.  And Moroni says "... begin to be up and doing..."  I just really loved that when i read it and that is the motto for this transfer.

I love you so much and have a good week. 

Transfer Day

                  Bryce with Sister Tuk and his new companion Elder Pearson.

8/26/12

Hey Dad and Mom,

 

This week was pretty fun.  We worked really hard with everything and we had a lot of success.  It didnt show up in the numbers all of the time but we felt like we really did our best to bring people to Christ.  That is crazy about the antelope season.  I wont be able to shoot a gu very well when i get home but i will have to practice a lot before we actually go out and hunt. 

 

That is way funny that you have Brennen in a class.  How is he?  Is he the same old bren that we all new before?  I cant wait to start going througha dn helping with family history when i get back.  The family history work that goes on here is very hard.  They are not very good at keeping records unless that are from China.  The chinese take very good records and so they can trace their family back for a very long time.  But if they are really thai they have a really hard time doing that.  Most of the time all that they will have a a name on a wall of a temple.  Because of the flooding they are getting destroyed.  I am very happy that we have records that we can work with back there.  This next week we will be having a baptism for a family that is so awesome!  I will send you pictures when it happens and then after that we have a baptism almost everyweek in September! 

 

That is about all for this.  We are doing very well.  Tell Emily that i said hi and that i am way excited for her to be a missionary.  She will love it so much.  Here there are about 3 seasons.  Now it is in the raining season.  It gets super hot during the day and then in the evening it rains really hard.  In december it gets to about 70 degrees and thai people just freeze.  Actually i have noticed that i have been getting cold more often now.  I will freeze when i get home haha.  Well not much is going on.  My comp is doing great!  We are working on the language but he is learning fast.  By the end of the 12 weeks he will be a better missionary than i am for sure!  That is actually the point of the training.  I love you so much Mom and Dad. 

 

Mom that is a great number because it will be easy to remember.  Also i will be talking with the office today because i am in bangkok for an interview.  I love this place so much and i know it is coming the the end soon ish but i just like taking thw words of President Uchdorf and just staying in the middle of my Miision.  I love this so much!  Thank you for your prayers and for your example to me.  I lvoe you so much and have a really good week.

 

Elder Revelli

 

ps tell my "dad" and "grandpa" that i said hi. 

8/19/12

Hey Mom and Dad!!!!!

This week was a pretty crazy week.  We were realyl busy and it was way crazy Elder Bennett did move and i dont know how you know this stuff so fast!! It freaks me out sometimes that you know everything before i even think about telling you hahaha.  Elder Pearson is way awesome.  He is from a small town in Oregon.  He is really excited about the work and just sreally good.  He is not like i was at all when i was a greenie.  He is just willing to speak and try out some new things everyday.  He is very awesome and he is just so happy all of the time.  I love him so much and Elder Gudmundsen would be proud of his grandkid and Komkrit would be proud of his great grandson hahaha.

This week a family was baptized and it was just so amazing to see them baptized.  They have waited a very long time to be baptized.  We really didnt do very much for them but they still thanked us for \helping them ghet to that point.  They are such a special family!!!  I love them so much and they love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so much.  They know who they are and what they need to do to have eternal life.  I love this work so much and sometimes it is over whelming and i feel like i am not worthy to be here and doing such a great work.  I know that it is not from Heavenly Father but i just wish that i could do so much more.  

That is way crazy about everything that is going onat home.  So many people are going on Missions and getting married and all of that stuff.  I love hearing all of this news because people are just really happy.  Not much else is happened this week.  Yesterday the rain was really really bad and my kid was just blown away from how much water there was.  I  love this work so much!!!! I love this branch and this work so much.  Please pray for Elder Pearson and I to do all that we can and have the strength to do it. I love you all so much.  Thank you so much for your prayers and all that you do for me.  

Have a good week at school.  I love you so much and talk to you next week.

Elder Revelli

8/12/12

Hey Mom and Dad,

This week was a pretty good wek for all of you all.  Well i am doing really well.  I really dont feel that tired.  At first i did but then i realized that is was the fact that i was not used to riding my bike as much and as hard i i used to do.  When sitting in a van and driving all day was my old life it was very nice to be active again.  We are working very hard and we are seeing a lot of success.  I really am doing great.  I want to see pictures of the water feature asap.  It sounds like it is really cool so if you cn with the next email make sure that oyu send some out.  It is interesting because we have had to feel that same spirit of direction every day.  The days that we didnt prepare properly were some of the longest days because we didnt have that same spirit that we would have if we had prepared right.  The spirit is so essential in the work here.  It jus makes everything better.   I love this work so much and i really just have wanted to get lost in the work and I feel like i am getting better as i go and i know that i will know what i am doing when i finish hahaha.  I really am doing good.  Tell the bishop that i said hi and tell Dakota that he is going to love it here so much and that i a way excited that he gets to come to Thailand.  The Thai people will love him.  

This last sunday was probably the highlight of the week.  We had so amny members go to the district conference.  It was way awesome to see that 4 investigators were able to go.  Only a couple were able to go from the one family that we are teaching but they really lovd it and it was a good opprotunity for them to see and meet so many other members.  It was really nice seeing all of the members that i have known over this mission.  They all remember me.  They dont really remember my name but they know who i am.  They cant remember my name because they cant say it very well but they are all so amazing!!!  I now know what Ammon was talking about when he talked about seeing the fruits of his labors.  He knew that he did not cause their conversion but he knew that they were in the fold of God and that was all that really did matter to him.  Yesterday i felt the same way about it all.  I got to go back and see so many people that i was blessed to teach.  The ones in Pakkret are almost all going to be baptized soon.  They all mean so much to me and i took a lot of self control to not give them all a hug.  It was so good to see them and they are all doing really good.  I was very happy to see Sister Tuk.  She really was treating me like her kid yesterday and what was really funny is that President Senior asked why i knew so many people and i told him that it has been almost a year that i have been in this same zone.  He then asked if that was a hint or something because it is getting so close to moves hahaha.  

The spirit was so strong in the meeting and after the meeting.  I love it here and i really did feel the love of God and i really did find joy in my labors.  It just felt really good because you know me and how i sometimes get down on myself but yesterday i just felt pure joy to know that all of those people have done sacred covenants and will be able to enter the kingdom of God.  I love this work so much and i feel like my mission has passed by so fast.

Tell Jamie that i definatly approve.  He looks like a really good guy and he looks like he will be a great husband.  Tell her that i wish that i could hav been there to see it all but tell her if she would have waited i would have been there hahaha just kidding but tell her that she and him look great together and that i am very happy for them and give them my best wishes.  

I love you so much Mom and Dad.  Thank you so much for taking care of me eve when i am all th way aross the world.  I really do feel bad about my wallet but it is not the money that i lost that bothers me but my temple reccomend.  I have felt really weird without it.  I will interview this week and that will feel so good.  The cool thing is that it will all be in thai.  The temple workers will be very confused haha.  I love you so much and make sure you both take care of yourselves.  Have a good week and I will talk to you next week.

Elder Revelli

Long lost email

I have decided to post the latest email from Bryce and I will try to post each week (there are no promises).

Hey Mom and Dad,

This summer sounds like you  both have a lot to do for the house.  If you want to you can leave a little bit for me when i get home hahaha.  It feels weird that they are all going on their missions because it feels like it was yesterday that i was sitting in Priests with them.  I know i didnt get a long with a lot of them then but i know we have all changed so i wonder how it would be now.  

Dad i will pray for you so you can have a little extra strength to get all of that stuff done.  Kimball is still in town and so you can use him for some help and them brack gets back and then you can have both of them for about a month hahahaha.  Well not much has been happening here.  This last week Elder Bennett and i both got a little sick but it was nothing serious just a stomach ache but everything is good and ok now.  

This last sunday we did have a companion exchange and it was the first time that i have just been able to speack straight thai for a long time.  It felt good to know that if i spoke english he would not understand but that i would have to speak thai for the entire time.  It actually felt really good and i really did love it.  I got to go in their area and aon the way back to Elder Bennetts and mine area we sat in the van for a while right noext to the temle with all of the monkeys and so we watched them for about 30 min before the van left the station.  It was way fun to watch them and they are just so funny.  Elder Bennett told me that one time one of them stole a persons note book and climbed to the top of one of the buildings and started to rip out pages and throw them everywhere.  They tried to get it down with food but it was having way to much fun and so it just kept going.  

This sunday was really cool.  President and Sister Senior came here for church.  President had some temple recommend interviews to do and he isnt 100% confident with his thai so he asked me to translate just in case that he needed it.  He is really good. He has only been here for 3 weeks and he speaks and understands so well.  He also is the nicest person.  He encouraged Elder Bennett and I to start committing more peole to baptism and to start looking for a place for a church because when we are able to start getting 80 people to come for 4 weeks in a row they will be a church here.  That would help so much!!!!!!!!!!  right now no one can see our church and so that makes it hard to teach english because no one can actually find it but it is a nice building and very quiet.  The branch here is so awesome.  I lvoe it so much.  

Elder Bennett and i thought it was odd that Cassies car was in the front of his house hahaha.  We were just surprised more than anything hahaha.  

Mom and Dad I love you so much and thank you for being the example for me.  Also just telling me before i would go out the door.  "remember who you are and what you stand for"  That is the reason why i stood in the right place at the right time.  Thank you so much  I love you and here are soe col pictures of our p day today. 

Elder Revelli

3/24/12

 

Hey Mom!

Well it sounds like a kind of crazy week.  Yes i did get Grandmas and Grandpas card.  Make sure that you tell them that i said thank you and that i will be writing them soon.  Well this week has been really fun.  We had a couple of runs to the air port and back because we got a senior couple in.  The Elder was actually a companion with President Smith while they were here together.  It was kind of fun hearing them talking about the mission and about old comps and old missionaries and their lives.  It was really odd and interesting and me and elder gudmundsen talked and we both said that i would come back and be a senior couple and he would be the mission president and we would have that same conversation hahaha!

Well we are having another baptism at the church this week from another set of Elders whom i love!  they are a really good companionship.  Yes Elder Mondragon has a little sister and they live in Salt lake somewhere bnut i cannot remember where.  Today for my birthday there are some members who are taking us out to lunch and then after that we might go bowling but we dont know for sure yet.   Btw i might be getting a suit cut if that it ok?  There is a member who will do it for 3000 baht and that is fabric and he doesnt charge for labor.  I will tell you before i go fabric shopping because i have to go to china town and look first but this brother is actually a female clothes designer.  He owns a shop in china town and he said that he really likes cutting dresses for females more that cutting suits but he now does both haha so when you all come here we can stay here for two weeks and he will have dresses done for the girls and suits for the boys hahaha.  But ya i will tell you how much it costs first and if it is over i will just pass.

Not much has happened this week.  We did have one investigator and her daughter.  The daughte has changed so much for the better but her mother hasnt seen that at all.  The daughter has gotten an answer and she gave a really powerful testimony. I could see that they did not have the best relationship in the world and it made me more grateful for the relationship that i had with you and Dad.  The opprotunity to actually grow up in the gospel with you two.  I know that this is a gospel of families.  I dont plan on going up there alone because i know that you all can be right by my side and i will be by your side.  i am really excited for that day!  I love you so much Momma and sorry if i did answer all of the questions in case that i missed something hahaha but i will talk to you next week.

Elder Bryce

3/16/12

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Hey Momma! 

Ok i just wanted to let you know that everything got to me yesterday and thank you for the drivers thing.  I dont know what it is called in english so that last one will sound a little weird.  My companion is very grateful now that i can get my thai one and then i can start driving and he can relax now.  He doesnt like driving very much.  Well this week we have a baptism!!!!!!!!!!  She is an awesome lady!  She married a man from america and she has been an investigator for a long time now and she only recetly got serious oabout learning because she was having some family problems.  After really starting to learn and areally notice the love of God in her life everything in her life started to get better.  From what i have heard is that even her relationship with her husband is really good now.  Her husband works with the American army and so he is traveling a lot so he doesnt really get a chance to learn with us but he said that he will support his wife in this because he said that it has helped them so much.  We were able to sit down with him and teach him the restoration and the spirit was just so strong!  Things were amazing.  About half way during the lesson his wife put her hand on his lap and he grabbed it  and it was just so adorable and you could tell that they really loved each other and that the Gospel had really help her develope more love for him.  He also is now forced to read in the Book of Mormon because she cant read and so he has to read with her and she wants to read it all of the time so that is really good! hahaha.

I love serving in this branch so much!  ok these two branches.  All of the members are really nice here and we never run out of people to teach and they have said that next week will be the first week that we wont have a baptism here for a very long time.  Normally people are baptized every week here even though our district includes the Aps and us and we dont have hardly any time to actually go out and invite haha.  this week was really fun in the office and the opprotunity to get to see what happens here is really fun.  Random things that the president needs us to do is really fun and really great.  We get to go to the mission home a lot and everytime that we go there, we get rootbeer and some other american treats like pop corn and cookies and stuff.  I have been eating so much foreign food these last couple of weeks it is crazy!  I actually missed eating thai food a lot so i think for every meal that i eat i am going to try to eat thai food as often as I can.  I really do love spicy food now!  I thought i would never like it but i really do love it now. 

That is about it for this week.  Not much has happened jsut the normal stuff.  Thank you again for the packages it was really great.  Next week i will email you pictures of the baptism so you can see that i actually am doing work out here hahaha.  I miss you all and thank you Mom and Dad for everything that you have sacrificed for me to be here.  Mom and Dad,  I will pay you back by getting those steps made that Adam promised!  Tell Kit that i miss him and to get ready to go on a mission soon.  Tell everyone that i said hi and that i am doing well.  Also tell Cassidy Blake that i have not gotten a single letter from her.  A couple of other questions that i have had going in my mind.  How is Brittanie and her Husband?  I think that is about it for that.  I agian jsut wanted to say how much i love you Dad and Mom.  I love everyone back at home and that is about it for this week.  I hope for everyone to have a good week.

-Elder Bryce

3/9/12

 

Hey Momma!

Ya i thought they were supposed to send a letter to you before i was actually called but now they might not send a letter at all.  Im doing great.  Really there is nothing to worry about and my back is getting better now that i am doing really good exercises and getting back into shape.  I will have to tell you this momma.  Im tired all of the time hahahahha.  I once asked my trainer when i first got into country if he had ever felt rested.  He said no.  And now that guy is Ap and he talked to me last night and he said that he has never felt more tired in his life than now haha.  So basically i will probably always look tired until the day that i come home hahaha.  I really am tired everyday but what is more important is that i am more happy than i have ever been in my entire life. 

I really dont know why i am so happy and so tired.  I would have never thought that this work takes this much out of you.  By the end of the day my spirit is exhausted and so is my body. I go home every night feel like i could just sleep for ages and not want to get up the next morning.  I even have started getting grey hairs here and there so now i cannot make fun of you or dad anymore hahaha but i have really never felt better in my whole life!  I really love it so much.  The only tiring thing is when you are trying to get someone to progress and they wont do their part and it drives us insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but i have a smile on my face everyday and so does my companion hahah this last week one of the members told us that he loved us being around because we both just smiled and it is a real smile! 

Ok so for the story of the week.  Ther ewas one day that was so much fun and it was so crazy too.  We had meetings all day long and then we had to go to my last area and teach a foreigner over there and then teach someone close to our house.  With traffic it is about 30 minutes to do all of that.  The first guy that we taught is tony.  He is from California and born in oakland.  he is just an awesome guy,  His wife was born in Thailand but as a little kid she moved to the US with her family and she cannot speak any thai.  She is a member and he is now investigating.  he is really interested and really now wants to be baptized.  He was just a really cool guy and it was weird to teach in english for the first time in a while because now everything that i do is in thai.  My english has gotten worse and some of the members in the other branch cannot understand me sometimes and now i have thai people saying that i do and say things like a thai person would and that really freaked me out because i have only been here for 8 months.  by the way is that very long?  I really have lost all track of time here nad it really just doesnt exist in the mission.

I want everyone at home to know that i love you all.  I am doing really well with my health and my new calling is a blast!  I have an awesome comp and i get to work with the best people here.  I love this work and i know that theere is nothing better in my life that  i could be doing right now.  I lvoe you and I know that the Lord is watching over you.  Well Mom you dont have to wait too long to hear my voice so just hang in there for a little bit hahaha.  I love you Dad and Mom.  I love you Adam Steph Micah and Savvanh.  I love you Matt Rachel Maija and new baby.  I love you Cassie.  I love you Ciara. 

Elder Bryce

3/2/12

 

Hey Everyone so this is really going to throw you off but my p day is now on saturday.  You should be getting a letter in the mail soon but i am now an office Elder.  That means i have a lot of responsibilities now and i still have to get regular missionary work done too!!  I also get to drive this coming monday!!  I just have3 to go to the embassy and get a lot of paper work done and then i get a thai drivers liscense and i start driving all over the place.  We also now live with the assistants to the president and im not sure if you remember my old trainer Elder Gudmundsen but he is the new ap and his old trainer is the other one wo it is like a huge family reunion.  It is going to be way fun and way busy at the same time though.  All i ask is to pray for me and my companion that we will be able to do everything that we need to do. 

Mom and Dad,

          

 You can now send stuff to the office and i get it instantly so you dont need to sorry about transfers anymore hahaha  i am the one who gets all of the mail all of the time so now i dont have to worry hahaha.  I also get letters instantly and i can send them a lot faster too!  There are a lot of things that are really nice about being and office Elder.  The only thing that i dont like is that we will have to be at the office until 4:00pm everyday putting in member records and taking care of anything else that the mission president wants us to do.  His office is now right accross the hall so he has us do a lot of different things for him and other people in the office and we also have to answer the phone and mostly it is other missionaries calling for random stuff that we cant really do but we have to tell them that we will try but that is about all i know about the office now.

              

  My mission work is really cool!  We are supposed to look over 2 branches.  one of them is an all thai branch and the other one is a Foreigner branch.  there are a lot of different things that i now do in english that i used to do all in thai and now it is a little hard getting the languages mixed up because there are some things that are just eaiser to say in thai than they are in english hahaha.  This last week was a little crazy with moving and stuff but we got a lot of work done in my last area right before i left.  My last comp Elder Mondragon is actually training and really good things are starting to happen in that area.  2 people other peiople will be getting baptized there in the next few months and it was really sad when i left because they both want me to be there for their baptism but i cant go unless i get an investigator to go there too.  I love the people so much there.  they were all just so funny and just really good to the missionaries.  they helped the work a lot and the work is now exploding over there.  I miss it so much but im excited to get to know the two branches here.  We hardly ever have to worry about food because members constantly give us food and we are invited for meals all of the time. in the thai ward and the foreigner one as well.

                 

Well my new comp is pretty cool!  his name is Elder Buckner.  He is a really funny guy and i already love him a lot!  He is really willing to serve the Lord and everyone around him.  He has a really good heart and he is really good at what he does.  Him and i have been getting along great already and things seem to be getting really fun right now and it should be fun this next transfer.  Other than that i really dont have anything else for you this week. 

I love you so much Mom and Dad and the whole family!  I hope all of you will have a good and safe week this week and I will pray for all of you this week.  Sorry i didnt give you a heads up but here you go and i will talk to you next week!

-Elder Bryce