Speaking Thai (Pumpkins, Crosses, and Trousers)

Nothing too much on the health front. I've been very tired this week but a couple of early nights and I feel much better. I thought I might share a little about my experiences learning Thai. In recognition of Halloween, the Thai word for Pumpkin is fakthong. Unfortunately, the first 3 letters are pronounced like the mother of all swear words, the big one...the f bomb. It's amazing that the word came up a few times in Thailand (maybe we made excuses to use the word). :)

That is not the story that I wanted to tell though. When I was 3 months in country, I went to a new city to help with the fair. The city was Phitsanulok and we built a mock temple with pictures inside to present to all of the attendees at the fair. The front facade was that of the Salt Lake Temple (no where near as nice). The booth was very well attended. It was actually a great opportunity to use my recently learned Thai. I spent the days talking about Temples, Jesus Christ, and many other gospel topics.

I was getting a little cocky. I thought I could speak so well! An attractive young lady came in to the booth. We didn't have sister missionaries in that city, in fact we were the only two missionaries in the whole city. I began giving her the tour and showed her the pictures as I discussed the gospel and shared my testimony. At one picture, she became very interested. It was a picture of the Savior on the cross. I thought it was very impressive of her since many Thai's did not know about Jesus Christ. I became excited as I thought the message was sinking in. Then it happened! She asked the question...not the question that I wanted but a question. She pointed to the picture and asked why we don't wear those around our necks (speaking of the cross) as she had seen other Christians wear crosses. In my most eloquent Thai I told her, "We don't wear crosses in our church". Only trouble is that I got the word for cross wrong. I told her that "We don't wear pants in our church". She blushed, I knew instantly that I had messed up. You see...the word for cross is Gaankhen and the word for pants/trousers is Gaanggeng.

I tried to laugh it off and move on but we were both embarrassed. Funny thing is that she ended up taking the discussions. She did not end up getting baptized but it was a great learning experience. I've heard of other stories of new speakers making mistakes. I know my Dad once got engaged to a cute little Japanese girl but not intentionally. Please share your experiences with us.