Yo Yo Yo

Well hello everyone! Loved reading all your emails today.. and im trying to send some pictures home with this email.. it may be a few emails, but what'er. Ill get em to you. They consist of our trip to the SLC airport and our travels from the THailand Airport to the mission home... sorry there arent that many, but i havent had that much time to take pictures... but there are still some nice nuggets to see. Also, some hilarious pictures too.. particularly the picture for the bathroom... hahaha thats on the other side of this room in the internet cafe right now... epic. K, first things first... DONT SEND THE PACKAGE YET! Ive got some stuff to add to it.. I need a back massager.. im not talking one of those whimpy ones.. i need an epic one... you know how my back is.. it sucks. And when i come home at the end of the day it is just killing.. even right now it is but im ignoring it. Like.. i need one of those brookstone ones that Josh and I used to always want when we would spend a few minutes in there when shopping.. ya know? It just hurts so much lately, what with standing up all the time, or sitting in weird positions... or whatever. Please and thank you! Also, in addition to the pictures you said you would send with it, include some wallet sizes eh? When Thai people ask about you they ask about your family too and ask if you have pictures.. so i have never been able to show them anything. Dont be shy now send me some nice family ones! haha. And then just include some goodies in there too.. you know what i like... sour patch, jelly bellys, twizzlers... ya you know.
Ok so i dont have a scripture of the week this week but i do have a Phrase of the week: "Oh you are missionaries? About Christ? Oooooo! They're all the same! Every religion teaches everyone to be good people...." GOSH! I swear i hear this more than anything else here! So annoying! If they are all the same why are you buddhist! In addition to my "Are you a thai person?" count, i am now counting how many times i hear this phrase too. Im up to 67 of "thai person" and 59 of "every religion..." I only started counting the second one just a few days ago so i just assumed i had heard it at least 50 times already.
Let's get you up to speed on our investigators! Remember พร? "Blessing?" Yeah.. we lost her. Erika, to answer your question, she does have a baptismal date, but technically she doesnt live in our area... so on sunday we met with her and told her that she had to go to the ward in Bang Khen, which is a little ways away, and progress with those missionaries.. who happen to be Elder Shipley.. remember him? My phiithay from the MTC? Yeah, i trust them completely.. but it sucks cause she was our strongest investigator and Don Muang hasnt had a baptism in over a year.. so we were stoked to baptize her, but now we cant. But it was still reassuring cause she accepted it even though she really loves us, and agreed to transfer and still get baptized. Sooo.. oh well.. the work is still progressing whether it is us or not. But yesterday we solidified a baptismal date with another "baptismal dater" named บี (bii), and all in all i feel pretty good about him... we asked him how Church was for him yesterday, cause he went, and he said he really enjoyed learning more about the God Head and about Joseph Smith and the restoration. We asked if he believed in that.. he said yes.. we asked why.. he said because when he was hearing it, and the description of the Holy Ghost, he said he felt exactly how we described answers would come. He said some other stuff too, but i didnt catch it all. His biggest obsticle right now is สุบ บุรี (sub burii - smoking) because we committed him to stop like a week and a half ago, but then didnt get to see him that whole week, and he of course smoked. He said he needed to gradually stop.. which he didnt.. So yesterday we said just stop now.. throw it all away. He said he knew with the help of the Lord he could. I also said the second he feels like doing it, call us. We'll see if he does or not hah. So he is set for the 10th of October. Ok who else.... ah yes.. ยัง (yang), who is a crazy chinese dude, who we have been with for a little while. The other day we asked him how he felt about his reading in the Book of Mormon.. he said "i read it and think, yea! Jesus Christ definitely did all this.. hes real!" Elder Crowley, "Great! So you believe in Heavenly Father and God?" "No."... uhhh.. what? Me: "Uh.. why not?" Him: "Never seen him."... GAH! "Okay, so will you still be baptized?" Him: "uhh.. no. Im lazy.." hahahah i almost laughed actually. He also said, "when i was little i had a fear of water and pools because i always thought that there were sharks in the water." Gosh.. this guy is tough right?! Anyway, we gave him Ama 5 to read.. dun dun dun!... and we decided that if he didnt go to Church yesterday we would drop him.. we dropped him. Pretty funny though right? We have a couple others, but my favorites right now are a couple name Nat and Juuy... we've been there twice and both times... FEAST! Most thai people get us water but Juuy... no, she gives a feast! She just starts pulling out food from everywhere! Crackers, bagel chip things, fruit of every kind, omelettes, candy... i love it! hahah but more than that, they have faith in Christ! It's been interesting trying to get him, Nat, to commit to baptism, because hes blind.. and he thinks that he will be a burden to the branch if he is baptized... gah! One of the Sisters in the branch was there when he first said this, like a month ago, and she pulled out Mosiah 2:17 (?) about "when in the service of your fellow beings" and said.." Dont you dare deny us our right and privelege to serve you." haha! How epic is that? So.. what do we learn from this? Dont deny people who are willing to help you!

So thats all i can remember about our investigators right now. On to other things that have happened... we had switch offs! Friday afternoon i switched with our district leader, Elder Cline, to go over to Rangsit, with his companion, Elder Chaiyawat (a native dude) who is AWESOME! He's such a funny little thai person haha! Not really little though.. like 6 foot 2 or something.. maybe just 6. Whatever. Anyway, during the switch off i realized something... Don Muang is GHETTO! Im conviced it pretty much the ghettoest part of Bangkok. Rangsit wasnt much better, but there is a distinct difference between the two.. kinda crazy. Anyway, i was with Chaiyawat for friday afternoon until saturday night when Cline and Crowley came over to Rangsit house to spend the night.. their house is so much nicer then ours.. you will see pictures... but their study room is bigger than our kitchen and study room combined.. granted, it was originally for 4 Elders, but now its just big and only for 2. Anyway, first night we didnt get the chance to eat, so we ORDERED Mickey D's! hahaha as if that place doesnt make people fat already, now its delivered here! (hahaha Hans and Josh.. theres 5 thai kids playing dota right behind me! hahahah.. you were close enough Hans.. havent seen Starcraft 2 in here.. yet.) Okay, so saturday morning, it freaking POURED! From about 9 to 130 it was just a down pour outside! We couldnt go out, so we ordered Mac again haha! But we finally had to go out around 130 and the streets were just flooded. What did i do? Here we go everyone, its Paper Towels! Oh crap, look.. theres water up to my ankles while im biking.. no big deal! Just took some paper towels... BAM. Threw some down.. they just soaked up all the water! Just kidding.. but seriously the water was really that high.. my, being a noob, pedalled my bike like normal.. then realized Chaiyawat knew what he was doing and then i only pedalled half way, back pedalled, pedalled, etc... The first 30 seconds my feet pedalled into the water up to my shins hhahah! So awesome. By the way, if anyone reading this was lost with the paper towels things, go on youtube and type in "paper towels.." should be the first thing that comes up, and its infomercial style.. watch it. Its epic. So after a day of inviting and not much success, Chaiyawat and i had an appointment with a couple at 8 pm. We got there at 750, waited for a member to meet us, and didnt leave the appointment until 921.. hahah! I know, we're horrible missionaries! But, it was so good. After teaching them about prayer and heavenly father more, we sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" for them slash with them... Dad, you will rub it in again, but when we finished, the guy, whose name i forgot, started talking with Elder Chaiyawat about me saying, "He's only been here for 10 days?! And he can read Thai AND sing like that? (then he looked at me) Elder Gudmundsen.. you sing wonderfully." Now, i dont say that to brag.. but it was very humbling because the Spirit was totally there and the 2 really appreciated the song... and maybe i enjoyed singing too :)
Ok some other funny slash miscellanious stuff... one night we were planning and it started raining.. they the loudest crash of thunder shook the house and the power went out... i kinda screamed like a girl.. then, EXACTLY LIKE FEAR (the game) the lights kinda flickered... and i got chills! I was like, "No! this is how the lights worked right before Alma jumped in your face and then dissappeared once the lights turned back on!" I was scared hahaha.. but Josh you know what i mean.. it was freaky.
I saw Rattenball for the first time! Rattenball is volleyball, without your hands or arms! The net is only about head high, but its so amazing to watch! I got a video of, which ill try to send, but if i cant, look it up on youtube... its so cool. Again.. im a bad missionary, but its hard to resist looking at the TV when its on.. which it is everywhere... now before you condemn me! i look because its HILARIOUS! Thai TV is the most ridiculous thing ive ever seen! Every program, whether its news, or soap opera, uses friggin scooby doo noises! You know what i mean.. like those goody noises when someone falls, or like a snare drum cymbal crash for jokes? Yeah, those.. all the time. Combine that with soap operas which are worse than American soap operas.. you got a winner. Remember in Enchanted? When whats his face... wormtail? the fatty... is watching the TV and finds that ridiculously over dramatic show? Yeah try and imagine that with the scooby doo noises. Its so funny. OH, i got into a cab and almost crapped my pants! The driver had the FATTEST mole ive ever seen! With hair comin out of it that was longer than the hair on my head! Apparently it signifies Wisdom here.. yeah.. and jumping the empire state building signifies bravery. Rip that thing off man! Elder Crowley has the best sneeze ever.. the first time i heard it i thought i was in Street Fighter! Its like got that power like Ryu's Harruken! And yes i do say "Harruken!" every time he sneezes. So pineapples.. they are my favorite.. except when i eat too much.. my tounge starts tripping out! Like, after enough, i BECOME allergic to them. But they are soooooo good! Speaking of fruit... there are the coolest fruits ever here.. beyond being delicious.. they just look cool. Dragon Fruit.. its like, neon pink/purple on the inside and the outside looks like you could strap in to a stick and use it as a mace! This place is heaven for fruits. Speaking of food... i figured out why i cant eat things.. FISH SAUCE! Its called "nam plaa" and they have it on everything! If i even smell that crap i lose my appetite! So as soon as we took it off my food, i can eat... well there are still things i dont like.. but i can eat now! Pad thai.. amazing. Saturday i had fried pork with garlic and pepper.. delish. Oh! Jannette! I say hi hahah.. Sister Nooy comes up to me every sunday (which in this case is only twice hahah) and talks about you! So awesome to hear Krisina already went in to the MTC! She will love it! Sister Nooy loves talking about you and she reminds me a lot of you anyway.. you know, freakishly loud, but some how loveable.. hahahah! Just kidding.. but seriously, I do love you.
K last things... sorry Josh! I cant fit enough time to email everyone so these big ones will probably be the standard weekly emails. But i want to hear from you still! How was it with Aric!? Starting school soon? Hows Portal 2 look (question fo you too dad)? I re read Dads last dear elder and didnt realize that he talked about that.. thats crazy! Bet it looks awesome. Dad, the address you got is correct! I dont know what will happen with FedEx but Crowley says standard Mail has no charges.. why not try FedEx if thats easier for you? If we have problems the first time, we wont anymore. Try it. To everyone, there are no problems with letters or packages.. send em however. I think keep to email for the fam though cause otherwise if you send letters they will just get to me after a P day since it takes more than a week. Separate emails are okay dad.. i read fast :) Crazy to hear about Shawn! Tell him congrats for me! Glad to hear Padres stopped sucking if only a little bit hahaha. But thats cool that it was fun. Its been "cool" here lately... meaning still about 90 and 90 percent humidity.. but quite bear-able actually. The language is coming along... almost everyone says "oh you speak thai so well!" But yesterday i got the rare one.. "oh, you dont speak thai very good at all."... gee thanks lady! Ive heard that one once.. Crowley heard it 4 weeks ago hahahah! I found pants that are washable, but didnt buy them yet.. they are only like 5 bucks and pretty nice quality.. im gonna try washing a pair of pants i already have cause Crowley said some Elders did that and they are fine, if only losing their pleats.. which you lose anyway from rain or sweat. So, if that works, ill probably still buy some later, but for now will be fine. Don't really know what to say for 9/11 but i hope it was memorable and "good?" Yeah.. thought about it the other day.. interesting with the mosque and all.. they really shouldnt.. just asking for trouble.. yeah its sad that we cant accept them, but seriously.. why right there? Do they forget they are in New York city? hahaha. Oh well. K gotta run. Good to hear from you all. Sorry if i forget to write about anything, but its hard to remember everything. Ill get more pictures next week, but for now these will have to do. Stay safe! Church is true, this work is true, and its been fun, even though im sick! hahah.. bye now!
Elder Gudmundsen
PS: Say what up to Chase, the Twins, Steven, Jacob.. you know who.