bodthii!

That subject line means "lesson" but i felt like yelling something in thai. Cause that's what Elder Hess and i do anyway every day. We pass people and they obviously have no idea what we are saying, so we can say whatever we want, and its never hello. Always something like "khrccbkhrua! (family)" or "phom uan!..." which is a particular favorite cause when people here another language they try and say it back to seem cool or what'er.. so "phom uan" means im fat, so when people yell it back.. HAH! Yeah.. we showed them. Lately Elder Hess and I have adopted a black-anese voice.. "Oh wazzup baby bboi.. i see you workin that walk.. you work that dear elder." I know, the MTC does things to you.

K anyway, i couldnt find a  "good" scripture that i wanted to use in my scripture of the week, but i do have a Thai Word of the Week.

"Yiahaa" - translated it means a brand of anything.. clothing, shoes, etc. But it has 2 mountains tones on both syllables so its pronounced as if you were a cowboy and on a horse, cause i know I am not the only one who has wanted to do that. Scream it! I know you want to. So when we were talking about buying stuff we had to put this word with everything.. i say it loud and proud :)

 

So what's new... we have nccngthays! 11 elders.. yeah.. holy nuts right? The little ginger kid from my floor at BYU is among them.. he's having a hard time cause he hates his companion.. its normal. They will kiss and make up eventually. Jk. I certainly hope not. But seriously. The rest are all pretty chill.. there is one of them that is like 23.. a little late? Hah! Nah im kidding he's cool. Volleyball aint his strong suit though, hah! One thing you should never do.. or always do i guess, is respect your elders! And i am talking about myself and the rest of my district! Elder "Ginger" Thompson's roommate, Elder Merrel (yes another elder merrel) tried to correct OUR thai the first night he was here.. uhh... cing ruu? I was gonna smack someone. Not really, but seriously. I mean, im not against correction if its warranted, but he was way wrong and he had been there for a night! gah! Oh and he tried to give a super flowery explanation of our teacher, Brother Wilmore, during LGM (you remember brother Wilmore? Super funny laugh way awesome? I told you about him) and Brother Wilmore didn't say anything, but did that look where your eyes get bigger and you're kinda making fun of them with body language. You know the one i mean. yeah, that shut him up. Love Brother Wilmore. Too bad yesterday was his last day. Yeah, bummer i know. I shed a couple tears.

 

Ok so about the actual week this week. We had our 2nd TRC session in thai, and holy crap! We had fun! The task at first was to go buy clothes and stuff (yiahaa!!!) and for some reason we were just so natural and into it! The investigators were way chill so that added to it, but Hess almost died when one of them wouldnt break character (for anything) and was trying to tell us what he studies at his univeristy.. "phom may ruu.. uhh nay passa ankrid 'L-I-N-GUISTIE" (i dont know.. in english linguistics?). We finally got what he was saying and Hess just started dying. So we had a good time in that and then taught a solid lesson on the restoration. Solid. Brother Saakha loved our teaching.. dunno. Didnt think it was THAT good but he loved it. One of our investigators was our Branch President's son, who went to Thailand, so we saw him again in Sacrament meeting on Sunday and he finally broke the thai speaking (after 5 more minutes!) so that was fun. Speaking of Sacrament meeting, i gave my testimony in Thai and enjoyed that. Figured i had to say my testimony cause this is our last fast sunday. Yeah, you heard me, our LAST ONE! We leave August 30. Ish. Yeah, you are thinking right.. thats not 12 weeks. its only about 10 and a half. Dunno why but i dun curr. You know what stinks? Brother Duval leaves us in 2 weeks... dangit! We love him and he has to move 2 weeks before we head out. We will probably have a weap-a-thon. He told us the best story ive ever heard about a missionaries 1st day anywhere (yeah i know what you're thinking how many have i actually heard.. just this one but its hilarious). Basically after getting to Thailand and getting asigned to East Bangkok, and getting his brand new bike (rodcakrayan. which i will have to get too.. i think its 450 dollars so like 30,000 baad? ill look into it more) he was following his companion across a FREEWAY and into an alley that goes over a "khlccng" or, canal of sewage(!), and he didnt make it across. Yeah, he fell into the sewer on the way to an appointment, right next to a Korean restaurant and 2 thai children that were watching and then laughed while yelling "ferang bon khlccng! ferang bon khlccng!" The way he told it to us was just so funny it was ridiculous. Hess lost his voice from laughing so much.

 

K so im almost out of time. Hope you all had fun this weekend at Aaron's wedding! Tell me about it. Like the pictures i got. Dont have time to print them off, but i love em. Dad you look so "law" in that picture :)   Josh sorry again that i have no time to write.. this sucks! Ill try to write a small follow up letter with anything i got but dont expect much. To anyone that has written me a letter Im sorry i havent written back yet.. im trying! P-day's are actually one of the most hectic days ever! Dad, i give Josh permission to get on my facebook if he needs to. Give him the password. Dont abuse this Josh!!! I will punch you from thailand. I will send a "durian" fruit to your bedside (its a fruit that even THAI PEOPLE think smells bad). Anyway, love you all thanks for all the support you give me each day. Sup Enc 1. Stay sweet. Peace!

 

Elder Gudmundsen