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