Hello everyone!
K so im not even gonna waste any time getting into the nitty gritty! We've got 6.. count em SIX baptismal daters! Fluke passed his interview so hes getting baptized THIS SUNDAY! Woot woot.. he got his divorced parents to commit to go to.. and Tawid got him excited about serving a mission as well. Awesome. Hes a sweet kid and this sunday is gonna be huge! He gave us his friend as a referral who is also baptist.. did i tel lyou about him yet? His name is Top. We committed him for the 2nd of January 2011! He accepted.. its gonna be troublesome with him cause his grandmother literally forbid him from going to church yesterday to help his mother sell crap.. but he had the desire.. just gotta work harder. So then we have Gade.. she is ALSO christian already.. the one i told you is like Joseph Smith? Confused as to why there are so many christian churches? Anyway, we had her committed for the 26th of December, but after meeting with her this past week, and yesterday, we told her we felt we could move it a week earlier to the 19th of December.. she is so sweet. She "wais" (the little bow thing) everytime we testify or do anything that she lieks.. which is a lot. She is determined to do as much as she can on her own without people asking her.. like going to Stake conference yesterday.. kinda far! But she said she would get a taxi and be there by herself. And hey.. she did. And she loved it too. Ill talk more about stake conference later. So after Gade... brace yourselves... AU, BON, NAT! All three in one appointment! BEEEYAAAAHHH!!! Just to put it simply.. Au accepted it like CANDY! Im going to write her words exactly after stake conference.. she said this to Komgrid while i was talking to Tawid about what we were about to teach them for yesterday: "When you missionaries first contacted us i didnt think the things you were teaching us were THAT important.. i thought they could definitetly help my kids.. but now its more than that. Today i saw and felt things that made me want to start reading from the Book of Mormon every day, pray every day, and have family home evening. I saw kids my sons age and families like ive never seen before. I want that. If im going to know these things are true, i need to do these things." Snap. Crackle. and Pop. She said this before we even got in the lesson so we both knew we were gonna get that committment out there.. so shared more feelings and we just got it right out there.. all three of them for the 2nd of January 2011! Bon took a little more effort but not much.. he followed his mothers example and is willing to sacrifice time for us, and Nat kinda followed Bons example too. We will see where it goes.. but we are very excited cause they should all have the opportunity to go see Flukes baptism this sunday.. including Flukes parents and little brother. Should be a good week. All in all, we are teaching more in unity and things are just awesome.
By the way, in case you didnt figure it out yet, i didnt move. Neither did Komgrid. But, we did get to participate in the Dan Jones activity that i did the first day i was in country.. did i tell you about that? Well, its where the office calls in elders to take these new greenies out on the streets for an hour and get them inviting.. was really fun AGAIN except this time i wasnt the greenie :) Got me fired up again seeing newbies come in and how far ive grown.
So.. thanksgiving.. ah it was so great! First off, we had a little dinner thing at the Church with out branch.. yeah, but not thanksgiving.. noodles? Cmon. It was really awesome though cause Wisan invited people to come up and share testimonies of thankfulness and what not.. and he picked (on) me to speak too. So.. after i was done speaking things of no interest whatsoever, and sat down, Elder Komgrid told me Wisans son cried.. uhhnyuh. This kids been having some problems lately and his parents have told us that they dont think he will serve a mission.. little bit of a turn around eh? Then, and heard this from Tawid, their son Win, spoke in stake conference.. i heard maybe 5 times from different members that everyone in the room was just astonished at how different he was.. that he wants to serve a mission and will prepare to serve it next year.. BEEYAH! Was a sweet day for him.
So we did have a sweet AMERICAN thanksgiving dinner.. so.. awesome! Oh yeah... they know you too hahaha. Yeah, they are Koreans.. they told me i looked asian as well... told em that i was half korean, but we didnt speak more than that because they were about to bless the food. After, i asked them where they were both born. She said something that i dont remember and the father said Taegu.. "oh no way, my Moms from there." "Really? Whats her name maybe i know her?" "Boon---" Both of their faces lit up brither than the Christmas tree behind them.. he stopped me before i even finished your name mom and they just freaked out.. "No way! Your Mom is Song Boonseon..." and then whatever your whole surname is.. its long (ish)! Anyway, i ate so much i wanted to die.. thats how it should be right?! Right. Elder Komgrid ate so much too.. loved American Thanksgiving. It really felt awesome that they were willing to open their house to us missionaries and feed us an amazing meal.. even more than that was the fact that i am so far away from California (and Korea for that matter) and i some how meet a family that we know?! Yeah huh... coincidence right? This is the first time theyve had Thanksgiving at their house in a while cause last year they were way busy.. but he made the decision months ago to make sure he would be home for the missionaries this year.. then even more than that, he barred 4 other missionaires from coming cause they had 12 on the list, but cut it down to 8.. lucky we didnt get cut right? Right. I dont actually know their first names hahah.. but they are brother and sister Kim. Really nice family. Hes got 3 daughters and 1 son who is planning on serving a mission next year.
Hey so other than this, i dont have anything haha.. but i just want to leave you with something Tawid said at conference (yeah he spoke): he talked about 3 important things - Daily scripture study, daily prayer, and family home evening... DO THEM. Those werent his words, but pretty much. They are so easy! Go open Alma 37: 6.. or is it 7? I dunno.. whatever, its good. Small and simple things people. K well i love you all. thanks for your supoort. I will talk to you next week!
Elder Gudmundsen
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sup
Yo. Elder again.
So i dont have a whole lot of time this week, so i gotta write fast. This week was WAY sweet. We had a zone conference last tuesday, which was way awesome, and about the area book. Suffice it to say we blew through our area book looking for previous investigators who may be interested in learning again, and whaddyaknow... found like 4. Havent met yet but they are interested. Other than that, we talked about companionship unity and lets just say Elder Komgrid and I are making sure we are in line together.. dont worry nothing happened we just want to be more in tune. It was way cool to see some other people in my zone cause there are some way sweet people ( went bowling with 2 of them today). Other than that it was just a way good time.. nothing really more to share about that.
On to the companion exchange.. yeah! I went to Rangsit again with Elder Cline right as the zone ( but really the whole mission) introduced this new goal; this was definitely the highlight of this week by far! We have been told to give the baptismal invitation ON THE INVITE... it makes so much sense! What are we trying to get out of inviting people? Its not "potentials" thats for sure... its baptisms. We dont need to beat around the bush.. just ask right away if after they know these things are true with they follow this example and be baptized.. whats even cooler is that it actually works. We got many people who said yes. We had a first lesson later that night with a family and 20 minutes in we asked them the question.. haha, we popped the question right? Yeah, anyway... they kind of hesitated but said mostly yes.. the father then asked what our purpose was.. why did we come back. I paused.. Elder Cline wasnt speaking so i just said," To baptize you and your family." I think Elder Cline was a little surprised but why dodge it.. i literally stated the "Purpose" we memorize as missionaries: "Inviting others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gosepl through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost ,and enduring to the end." Of course i explained that more after, but it was pretty much that. We havent met again yet, but thats what we are doing.. dont need to lie. This was a funny appointment because at one point they asked how long we have been in Thailand because i spoke more clearly than Elder Cline.. we both looked at each other like, "Uhhh.. do you want to say it or should i?" Elder Cline said a yea rand a half and i said three months.. hahaha. was way funny (another time inviting i had a guy say i spoke like good music to the ears.. something like that.. doesnt translate perfectly). Anyway, the exchange was awesome because i got to find out that i know WAY more thai than i thought.. and i can hold conversations, lead lessons, speak to people without my companion right next to me etc... was kinda weird but a lot of people are noticing.. the zone leader asked if this was my 3rd of 4th transfer in country.. he was surprised at it only being my 2nd.
Okay enough bragging for one day.. we have a sweet investigator (Mother of a former investigator who we never got to meet with) who is pretty much Joseph Smith.. she is Christian and she is so confused as to why "christianity has so many sects who all claim to believe in Christ yet argue one with another and speak so differently." She wants to know the truth and while i was in Rangsit, they gave her a baptismal date for the 26th of December.. yeah! So we got Fluke on the 5th and her on the 26th. We have yet to give Au a date, but we will soon.. speaking of which.. she FINALLY got to Church! And i think she loved it.. she told us she "liked" it but there is way more than just this... she is pretty crazy sometimes... in a good way. Her prayers are always so sincere and she is such a role model for her family... her 2 kids just play games and speak rudely to her, and her husband comes home from work and drinks beer all night. Last night was this huge festival that is like.. A HUGE DEAL for buddhists and none of her family went with her.. so we did. Her dad stayed home and watched 2012.. i know right?! If you are going to skip out on your wife AT LEAST watch a good movie right? I know, my thoughts exactly. Anyway.. he is a good guy.. i know he is.. but he has got some serious problems.. Au really appreciates us trying to help and when we told her we could be moving she asked if there was a way she could make sure we didnt hahaha. Well.. guess her wish was granted eh? Hopefully we can get her a baptismal date tomorrow or wednesday.. dont know yet. Oh haha on wed. i have to go back to the office to do that dan jones thing with my noongs noongs haha... so wed. will probably be a little busy too.
k well i have so much more than this to say but time is up already... and i have to go haha. K well sorry this one was so short, but i love you all the same.. i hear Cade got married right? Congrats bro! To the rest of you.. go look for referrals for your missionaries! They always need them! Find one for me too haha.. might be hard eh? My commitment to you haha. K gotta fly. Peace, love and a happy thanksgiving! Thankful for all of you and the fact that i even know you... been a blessing to think of the strength of our ENC ward and try to help branches here be like that. But that will be a while right? Yeah right. K peace!
Elder Gudmundsen
So i dont have a whole lot of time this week, so i gotta write fast. This week was WAY sweet. We had a zone conference last tuesday, which was way awesome, and about the area book. Suffice it to say we blew through our area book looking for previous investigators who may be interested in learning again, and whaddyaknow... found like 4. Havent met yet but they are interested. Other than that, we talked about companionship unity and lets just say Elder Komgrid and I are making sure we are in line together.. dont worry nothing happened we just want to be more in tune. It was way cool to see some other people in my zone cause there are some way sweet people ( went bowling with 2 of them today). Other than that it was just a way good time.. nothing really more to share about that.
On to the companion exchange.. yeah! I went to Rangsit again with Elder Cline right as the zone ( but really the whole mission) introduced this new goal; this was definitely the highlight of this week by far! We have been told to give the baptismal invitation ON THE INVITE... it makes so much sense! What are we trying to get out of inviting people? Its not "potentials" thats for sure... its baptisms. We dont need to beat around the bush.. just ask right away if after they know these things are true with they follow this example and be baptized.. whats even cooler is that it actually works. We got many people who said yes. We had a first lesson later that night with a family and 20 minutes in we asked them the question.. haha, we popped the question right? Yeah, anyway... they kind of hesitated but said mostly yes.. the father then asked what our purpose was.. why did we come back. I paused.. Elder Cline wasnt speaking so i just said," To baptize you and your family." I think Elder Cline was a little surprised but why dodge it.. i literally stated the "Purpose" we memorize as missionaries: "Inviting others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gosepl through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost ,and enduring to the end." Of course i explained that more after, but it was pretty much that. We havent met again yet, but thats what we are doing.. dont need to lie. This was a funny appointment because at one point they asked how long we have been in Thailand because i spoke more clearly than Elder Cline.. we both looked at each other like, "Uhhh.. do you want to say it or should i?" Elder Cline said a yea rand a half and i said three months.. hahaha. was way funny (another time inviting i had a guy say i spoke like good music to the ears.. something like that.. doesnt translate perfectly). Anyway, the exchange was awesome because i got to find out that i know WAY more thai than i thought.. and i can hold conversations, lead lessons, speak to people without my companion right next to me etc... was kinda weird but a lot of people are noticing.. the zone leader asked if this was my 3rd of 4th transfer in country.. he was surprised at it only being my 2nd.
Okay enough bragging for one day.. we have a sweet investigator (Mother of a former investigator who we never got to meet with) who is pretty much Joseph Smith.. she is Christian and she is so confused as to why "christianity has so many sects who all claim to believe in Christ yet argue one with another and speak so differently." She wants to know the truth and while i was in Rangsit, they gave her a baptismal date for the 26th of December.. yeah! So we got Fluke on the 5th and her on the 26th. We have yet to give Au a date, but we will soon.. speaking of which.. she FINALLY got to Church! And i think she loved it.. she told us she "liked" it but there is way more than just this... she is pretty crazy sometimes... in a good way. Her prayers are always so sincere and she is such a role model for her family... her 2 kids just play games and speak rudely to her, and her husband comes home from work and drinks beer all night. Last night was this huge festival that is like.. A HUGE DEAL for buddhists and none of her family went with her.. so we did. Her dad stayed home and watched 2012.. i know right?! If you are going to skip out on your wife AT LEAST watch a good movie right? I know, my thoughts exactly. Anyway.. he is a good guy.. i know he is.. but he has got some serious problems.. Au really appreciates us trying to help and when we told her we could be moving she asked if there was a way she could make sure we didnt hahaha. Well.. guess her wish was granted eh? Hopefully we can get her a baptismal date tomorrow or wednesday.. dont know yet. Oh haha on wed. i have to go back to the office to do that dan jones thing with my noongs noongs haha... so wed. will probably be a little busy too.
k well i have so much more than this to say but time is up already... and i have to go haha. K well sorry this one was so short, but i love you all the same.. i hear Cade got married right? Congrats bro! To the rest of you.. go look for referrals for your missionaries! They always need them! Find one for me too haha.. might be hard eh? My commitment to you haha. K gotta fly. Peace, love and a happy thanksgiving! Thankful for all of you and the fact that i even know you... been a blessing to think of the strength of our ENC ward and try to help branches here be like that. But that will be a while right? Yeah right. K peace!
Elder Gudmundsen
Monday, November 15, 2010
More pics
so this... yeah.. beautiful right? outside our house... is that cat drinking? or drowning itself?
Dinner time
this is a less active member.. i dont know why he is less active.. he knows his stuff and he is way into it at Church.. and if anyone walks in anywhere who doesnt have a seat he jumps up faster than anyone else to help. and dinner from Wisit and Superman.. in cute heart shapes and christmas trees! delicious
Aloha
Hey.. me again.
So i wont waste anytime.. Bii got baptized! Yeeeee soooonnn!! Seriously.. it was so awesome. We met with him a little bit this past week.. actually almost every day.. and reviewed things with him and read together that way when he was baptized he would continue to see the importance of reading. Also, we had him come and help teach with Au.. even though her kids werent home. Half way through she asked Bii a bunch of questions.. "Bii.. you were buddhist before right? What changed you?" This was TOP NOTCH.. he was like, "well the Elders came by and invited me to learn and i was just like, whatever.. why not. As they kept coming back i just liked it more and more and realized that it was changing my life... although they were the teachers, i was the one that had to accept it and change myself.. they couldnt do that." How sick is that?! Was like.. the most perfect answer he could have given at that time.. and she totally dug it. Anyway.. Au was unable to make it to the Baptism.. but her son Bon was able to go.. with his friend Nat... Nat is the one in the pictures acting like a model.. usually next to me.. Bon is the one smiling regularly.. and kind of lazily i might add haha. Fluke was there too as well and Brother P (the golden investigator with the problems with being baptized).. and it was a way good experience for them.. for priesthood Bon, Nat and Fluke went with Tawid (there are 2 pictures of him and his wife being weird) and Elder Komgrid and i stayed with Bii and P. We had planned to teach, or at the very least review what they were going to see in the baptism, in between the end of the third hour and lunch.. so i walked into their room.. BOOM. holy crap something changed.. like, its hard to explain and i dont even know if it will be fruitful, but man.. Bon was in the middle of speaking and his facial expressions, his tone, his posture.. his whole countenance was different.. in a really good way. Elder Komgrid told me that they all 3 opened their hearts a lot with them. So anyway.. the Baptism! Solid. I dont think Bii likes water though hhah.. after he came back up he was still holding his nose... and not just holding it.. like, making sure not even the slightest amount of AIR would enter it.. for at least 10 seconds hahaha... Was way cool. There was a special musical number from the 4 missionaries that were there: Myself, Komgrid, Olive (my noong) and Elder Cline.. but really? It was only Elder Komgrid and Myself.. holy crap! Elder Olive has an excuse at least.. he cant read thai very well (and josephs first prayer is hard in thai) but Elder Cline. cmon! Seriously.. you could hear a pin drop when he sings. And then.. Biis testimony.. ive never heard a more sincere, heart felt testimony than this one.. hes one of the most shy guys ever and you could tell that he was nervous as crap! But he got right up there and shared how he came in contact with the missionaries.. guess who.. Elder Crowley (by the way he says hi.. talked to him last night)! He shared how Elder Crowley said that they would come back the following day and share how Christ could help him in his life.. he expressed that he didnt believe them.. he didnt believe, "that someone who had died already could help him at all." Then he listened.. and he listened.. and he learned to change his life for the better and that Christ really could help him.. did help him.. and still helps him. This whole time by the way, you could tell he didnt remember what he prepared to say.. it was COMPLETELY from the heart, right then and there. After his testimony.. to close he actually said, "this is my testimony." and finished hahaha. Was way sweet and he was glowing. Its awesome cause hes already an example for 3 young kids... 2 of which are close friends (oh and Flukes Mom.. yeah she knows him.. dont know how, but she knows him). Bon wanted to go cause it was Bii, but didnt want to go without his mom.. so he got Nat to go. Even better. Speaking of Au.. she really wanted to go. she expressed that everyday.. but she had to go to school to dosomething for the staff or something like that... we commited her to go next week.. and spoke very boldly saying, "commit now and be ready to tell anyone who wants you to do something next sunday that you already have an appointment somewhere else." She said she would. So.. all in all.. yesterday was pretty sweet.. oh yeah, we also made an appointment to visit Bon and his family around 7 pm.. but when we got there no one was home... we were only there for 10 seconds when Bon came speeding back saying "sorry sorry im late! uh! wheres my mom?!" hahaha this time it was the MOM not home and he was actually dilligent about being home when we asked him to. And he went and picked up Nat to bring him back over. Pretty sweet right? Lets hope he continue this way right? So yeah.. good stuff.
So for other things this week... had a pretty sweet experience with the Spirit.. lately we have been biking past this one street to get to another part of our area.. every tim we pass it im like, "whats down there? ive never invited there." but since then.. about 3 weeks already, i havent gone down it. well, last wednesday we had a home teaching appointment at 5 pm.. i knew where she lived and we had about an hour to invite before the appointment.. i told Elder Komgrid where we would invite and we started biking there... as we were biking i remembered we forgot to pray. so we pulled off and did so. we started biking again.. i remembered a street we would pass by that we could invite for a while, that would eventually pop us right out at this members house (if you take the right path.. its a neighborhood short cut). so i turn off on this street... Tawid calls and says she canceled.. so we have pretty much the rest of the evening to invite here. after we invited that area for 3 hours, we had an appointment at Au's house... we continued down this one street looking for a way out, and guess where we popped out.. that SAME street we had passed by for 3 weeks where i thought "where does that go?".. it lead to this neighborhood where we got 16 new investigators. how good is that? yeah.. whats the moral of the story? listen to the spirit. do it.
Of those new investigators is a woman and her boyfriend who are experiencing problems.. they dont know whether to get married or not. she already has been, but he hasnt. they know its a big decision, but dont know what to do.. this came up about half way through our first lesson.. when we were talking about prayer. This is where you come in Staley.. I assume you have read at least one of my emails right? Anyway, i told em "i have a friend back home who is about to get married next month.. like you just said, its a huge decision... but i know shes prayed about it because as members we pray about everything.. thats what prayer is for. when we need help and guidance we pray and we know Heavenly Father will answer. Shes getting married, which means she got an answer to her prayers. You 2 want to know if you should get married or not? Start praying today.. ask if its right." Guess what? They have been praying since... usually when we follow up, investigators say, "no i havent prayed yet.. i dont have time." She said she prayed 3 times so far. Pretty sweet eh? Hope you dont mind me speaking for you Staley.. was i close? Too late haha.
So anyway... in other things this week.. i went on an exchange with Elder Olive.. my noong.. yeah... a greeny and just-under-2-monther... not too bad actually. Being with a thai companion is RIDICULOUS.. im so lucky. seriously, my development as a missionary has sky rocketed... it was good to experience what it might have been like 50 years ago when missionaries didnt have trainers that could say everything for you if you didnt understand what someone said. We didnt do too bad... and it was funny to hear people making fun of my companion for not speaking well instead of me. Oh, and people practically have a heart attack when i say ive only been in thailand for just under 3 months.. its all because of Elder komgrid.. and the Lord :) we had a woman yesterday who wouldnt stop asking me if i was kidding about being here for 2 and a half months... we were late to get to wisits house haahah.
K well i think this is all i got this week... love you all and i love being here. Almost done with 2nd transfers... WHAT?! How did THAT happen?! Church is true... can only be done through the spirit.. "if you dont use the spirit ye shall not teach." Its not an if thing.. its more of a commandment.. if you dont use the spirit, the Lord is DECLARING that we WILL NOT teach. Thanks for all your love and support.. sup ENC.
Elder Gudmundsen
So i wont waste anytime.. Bii got baptized! Yeeeee soooonnn!! Seriously.. it was so awesome. We met with him a little bit this past week.. actually almost every day.. and reviewed things with him and read together that way when he was baptized he would continue to see the importance of reading. Also, we had him come and help teach with Au.. even though her kids werent home. Half way through she asked Bii a bunch of questions.. "Bii.. you were buddhist before right? What changed you?" This was TOP NOTCH.. he was like, "well the Elders came by and invited me to learn and i was just like, whatever.. why not. As they kept coming back i just liked it more and more and realized that it was changing my life... although they were the teachers, i was the one that had to accept it and change myself.. they couldnt do that." How sick is that?! Was like.. the most perfect answer he could have given at that time.. and she totally dug it. Anyway.. Au was unable to make it to the Baptism.. but her son Bon was able to go.. with his friend Nat... Nat is the one in the pictures acting like a model.. usually next to me.. Bon is the one smiling regularly.. and kind of lazily i might add haha. Fluke was there too as well and Brother P (the golden investigator with the problems with being baptized).. and it was a way good experience for them.. for priesthood Bon, Nat and Fluke went with Tawid (there are 2 pictures of him and his wife being weird) and Elder Komgrid and i stayed with Bii and P. We had planned to teach, or at the very least review what they were going to see in the baptism, in between the end of the third hour and lunch.. so i walked into their room.. BOOM. holy crap something changed.. like, its hard to explain and i dont even know if it will be fruitful, but man.. Bon was in the middle of speaking and his facial expressions, his tone, his posture.. his whole countenance was different.. in a really good way. Elder Komgrid told me that they all 3 opened their hearts a lot with them. So anyway.. the Baptism! Solid. I dont think Bii likes water though hhah.. after he came back up he was still holding his nose... and not just holding it.. like, making sure not even the slightest amount of AIR would enter it.. for at least 10 seconds hahaha... Was way cool. There was a special musical number from the 4 missionaries that were there: Myself, Komgrid, Olive (my noong) and Elder Cline.. but really? It was only Elder Komgrid and Myself.. holy crap! Elder Olive has an excuse at least.. he cant read thai very well (and josephs first prayer is hard in thai) but Elder Cline. cmon! Seriously.. you could hear a pin drop when he sings. And then.. Biis testimony.. ive never heard a more sincere, heart felt testimony than this one.. hes one of the most shy guys ever and you could tell that he was nervous as crap! But he got right up there and shared how he came in contact with the missionaries.. guess who.. Elder Crowley (by the way he says hi.. talked to him last night)! He shared how Elder Crowley said that they would come back the following day and share how Christ could help him in his life.. he expressed that he didnt believe them.. he didnt believe, "that someone who had died already could help him at all." Then he listened.. and he listened.. and he learned to change his life for the better and that Christ really could help him.. did help him.. and still helps him. This whole time by the way, you could tell he didnt remember what he prepared to say.. it was COMPLETELY from the heart, right then and there. After his testimony.. to close he actually said, "this is my testimony." and finished hahaha. Was way sweet and he was glowing. Its awesome cause hes already an example for 3 young kids... 2 of which are close friends (oh and Flukes Mom.. yeah she knows him.. dont know how, but she knows him). Bon wanted to go cause it was Bii, but didnt want to go without his mom.. so he got Nat to go. Even better. Speaking of Au.. she really wanted to go. she expressed that everyday.. but she had to go to school to dosomething for the staff or something like that... we commited her to go next week.. and spoke very boldly saying, "commit now and be ready to tell anyone who wants you to do something next sunday that you already have an appointment somewhere else." She said she would. So.. all in all.. yesterday was pretty sweet.. oh yeah, we also made an appointment to visit Bon and his family around 7 pm.. but when we got there no one was home... we were only there for 10 seconds when Bon came speeding back saying "sorry sorry im late! uh! wheres my mom?!" hahaha this time it was the MOM not home and he was actually dilligent about being home when we asked him to. And he went and picked up Nat to bring him back over. Pretty sweet right? Lets hope he continue this way right? So yeah.. good stuff.
So for other things this week... had a pretty sweet experience with the Spirit.. lately we have been biking past this one street to get to another part of our area.. every tim we pass it im like, "whats down there? ive never invited there." but since then.. about 3 weeks already, i havent gone down it. well, last wednesday we had a home teaching appointment at 5 pm.. i knew where she lived and we had about an hour to invite before the appointment.. i told Elder Komgrid where we would invite and we started biking there... as we were biking i remembered we forgot to pray. so we pulled off and did so. we started biking again.. i remembered a street we would pass by that we could invite for a while, that would eventually pop us right out at this members house (if you take the right path.. its a neighborhood short cut). so i turn off on this street... Tawid calls and says she canceled.. so we have pretty much the rest of the evening to invite here. after we invited that area for 3 hours, we had an appointment at Au's house... we continued down this one street looking for a way out, and guess where we popped out.. that SAME street we had passed by for 3 weeks where i thought "where does that go?".. it lead to this neighborhood where we got 16 new investigators. how good is that? yeah.. whats the moral of the story? listen to the spirit. do it.
Of those new investigators is a woman and her boyfriend who are experiencing problems.. they dont know whether to get married or not. she already has been, but he hasnt. they know its a big decision, but dont know what to do.. this came up about half way through our first lesson.. when we were talking about prayer. This is where you come in Staley.. I assume you have read at least one of my emails right? Anyway, i told em "i have a friend back home who is about to get married next month.. like you just said, its a huge decision... but i know shes prayed about it because as members we pray about everything.. thats what prayer is for. when we need help and guidance we pray and we know Heavenly Father will answer. Shes getting married, which means she got an answer to her prayers. You 2 want to know if you should get married or not? Start praying today.. ask if its right." Guess what? They have been praying since... usually when we follow up, investigators say, "no i havent prayed yet.. i dont have time." She said she prayed 3 times so far. Pretty sweet eh? Hope you dont mind me speaking for you Staley.. was i close? Too late haha.
So anyway... in other things this week.. i went on an exchange with Elder Olive.. my noong.. yeah... a greeny and just-under-2-monther... not too bad actually. Being with a thai companion is RIDICULOUS.. im so lucky. seriously, my development as a missionary has sky rocketed... it was good to experience what it might have been like 50 years ago when missionaries didnt have trainers that could say everything for you if you didnt understand what someone said. We didnt do too bad... and it was funny to hear people making fun of my companion for not speaking well instead of me. Oh, and people practically have a heart attack when i say ive only been in thailand for just under 3 months.. its all because of Elder komgrid.. and the Lord :) we had a woman yesterday who wouldnt stop asking me if i was kidding about being here for 2 and a half months... we were late to get to wisits house haahah.
K well i think this is all i got this week... love you all and i love being here. Almost done with 2nd transfers... WHAT?! How did THAT happen?! Church is true... can only be done through the spirit.. "if you dont use the spirit ye shall not teach." Its not an if thing.. its more of a commandment.. if you dont use the spirit, the Lord is DECLARING that we WILL NOT teach. Thanks for all your love and support.. sup ENC.
Elder Gudmundsen
Monday, November 8, 2010
Nov. 8 pics
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| Elder Komgrid knows a lot of people and these are like his second family or something |
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| our new house... its so nice |
hey.. its me
Sup. It's me.
Well.. this week we had a sweet district meeting.. the focus? Families, families FAMILIES. We teach that this gospel will bless families.. "so why are there so many converts coming in by themselves?" Our leaders have told us that teaching families is the only way we will be doing this from now on.. of course there are circumstances that will be different, like if their family is in another part of the country, or dead.. or whatever else. For everyone else, its families. If we contacted a mother who has kids.. we WILL NOT teach her unless her family is there too. Contacted a kid? We WILL NOT teach him unless his family is present too. If we have to wait 10 minutes for someone to get him.. we will. If they wont be back tonight, we will come back tomorrow. This leads me to my scripture of the week: Ether 1: 41. Read it and tell me what you notice.
So this District Meeting was on Friday and that same day we had an appointment with "AU" and her family.. her son was playing Dota.. of course. And her daughter was kinda playing too. We didnt start. We just sat there waiting for her son and daughter.. they finally finished and we taught a pretty sweet lesson.. Bon is a nice kid but he needs to get his priorities straight... we hit him hard that night and you could tell.. it struck deep. Oh.. yeah, by the way dad.. SUCK ONE. All those times i played Dota? Yeah.. i incorporated that in the lesson. Told him that we wont teach unless its together as a family.. "Its like Dota.. your family is your team. What happens if 2, or even 1 person leaves the game?" Josh.. what happens? It was a no brainer and he really understood why families were so important. Just kidding about the suck one.. i love you :) hahaha. This family is way sweet.. i think if we exercise patience we can really get them off the bench.. how? Well it just so happens that their neighbor is Brother Bii who is getting BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY! Nice. He passed his interview this past saturday and is on schedule to be baptized this coming Sunday.. ho yeah! The interview may have taken almost 3 hours, but hey.. if thats what was necessary, its cool. So "AU" has been really curious as to what Church is like.. she has yet to be able to go, but last night she said like 5 times "i WANT to go to Church next week.. i speak truthfully.. i really want to go." When this woman speaks.. its truth.. she doesnt beat around the bush. So.. Church is an amazing experience for anyone who goes.. but, right after Church will be Bii's baptism.. if we can get her and her family to Church and SEE her neighbor make this commitment with Heavenly Father, we will for sure have them with a date this coming sunday. I am sure of this.. So... If we get AU, we will get Bon and his Sister.. if we get Bon and his Sister, Bon's friend Nat, will follow as well. Nat has kinda fallen off this past week.. never met with him once. He is addicted to friends and everytime we ask him to go to a church thing he asks, "is bon going?" You can hear it in his voice.. he wants to go, but not without Bon. If Bon goes, Nat goes.. if Bon has a baptismal date, Nat will too. Im really excited for this week. Don Muang is really excited too.. their first baptism in over a year and a half. We have a solid baptismal date for Fluk.. although it will have to be moved.. his date is stake conference.. plus i wanted to move it anyway.. further. Not that he isnt in to it, but now that we are enacting Operation Families Only, we gotta get his Mom and little brother too. Luckily, this is proving to be too hard. Yesterday, Fluk opened his heart a ton in Church.. Komgrid and i split for priesthood and komgrid went with him, and i stayed in Elders.. Komgrid said he opened it a ton about things he wishes that he never did with his mom.. things that made her feel bad. Later that day we went over to watch Finding Faith in Christ and Fluk was like, "hey.. i want you to teach me little brother and mother too." HAH! Hes totally Lehi-ing it! "Hey.. give this fruit to my family too!" Awesome. Its not working out too well however hahah. His Brother's got serious A.D.D....D.D.D.D.D.D, and his Mom is one of those where she understands it but doesnt think its important or applicable to her. But Fluk.. man.. hes getting it. When we went into his house he didnt even realize we were waiting for his Mom to finish going to bathroom.. he took the remote from me and pushed play.. i was like "wait a second! We want your family too." "no its okay they're coming! I want to watch this." Maybe im getting too excited about it, but it was sweet to see him practically begging me to start the lesson. The ONLY little problem is his stupid girlfriend.. holy crap! She calls every 2 minutes.. drop her man! What was that thing that Elder Holland said in the April conference? IF a relationship is getting too serious at a young age SEVER IT. Yeah.. something like that. He needs to. Or get her involved. Hey! All you little nuggets from ENC ward with girlfriends.. LISTEN UP. This next part is for you. seriously, if yo girl is going to get in the way of anything that is more important (like a mission.. or your family!) drop her. Sur'sly. Heres my phrase of the week.. my own personal one that i didnt even plan on using today, or in this way: "Drop em before you care too much." As missionaries you will have to prioritize who is progressing and who isnt, and "drop" those that arent. And if you wait too long, you will care too much and you will only get angry when THEY drop you.. like my investigator 2 weeks ago. It applies here too.. if you are starting to get serious with someone, you gotta stop. Lets be frank.. you cant do anything more than be "girlfriend and boyfriend" and you cant get married cause you HAVE to go on a mission.. so yeah.. date her and have some "fun" and then seriously.. GET RID OF HER. It sounds awful and i probably sound like a degenerate.. i dont mean to be.. but its the easiest way to say it. Be gentlemen of course, but have your priorities SET. What are those priorities? Exactly what i told Bon on saturday night: Family. I was actually about to say more than just 1 word, but if you analyze it.. your families are centered in the gospel.. your parents are more wise than you and they wont lead you astray.. what do they tell you to do? Get an education and get on a mission. So.. by simply saying family, it sums it up. I say this from experience because too often family was not my priority.. and now that im out here teaching about families i regret the fact that i didnt make them more important. Good to hear Whitehead sharin an experience about school and drugs. To you my young friend.. KEEP IT UP. To everyone else who hasnt had that experience yet.. be ready for it. Be ready to laugh at the cigerette or bottle of bear shoved in front of your face and say NO. Hold to the rod that Lehi described and dont be ashamed when they start laughing at you because you are different.. laugh at them because they are ______ stupid. Ok sorry that was quite the tangent.. felt like i should say it though. ANYWAY. Fluk.. hes an awesome kid. Nuff said.
Okay so thats it for our investigators.. our pool of potentials is pretty small.. we didnt get much inviting time this week because we had to go down to Komgrids university to make sure he doesnt get enlisted in the army.. such a stupid rule.. every kid at the age of 19 has the possibility of being a soldier.. you know like those big bingo games where there is a cage of balls and some guy spins it around and around and then ball that pops out is the next number? That is LITERALLY how it works for this draft.. everyone has their name on a ball and if your ball comes up.. you have to be a soldier.. no questions, no time to say goodbye.. you pack and leave. So dumb. Luckily, there is some kind of testing thing where if you do well enough you can get your name out of the cage for a while. And he passed his tests. So we have to wait only 6 weeks before he has to go again. Oh and we had to move houses.. so that took a while and we had no time for inviting. This week is gonna be a complete turn around.. gonna invite a ton and get some serious commitments out there. This was our slowest week across the board but we will turn it around this week for sure. Well.. we will see.. we are doing exchanges on tuesday and wednesday.. hahaha Elder Olive and I will be together in Rangsit and Elder Komgrid and Elder Cline in Don Muang.. Elder Olive is my Nong! Hahahaha hes been here for 3 weeks. We gonna get stomped.. just kidding.. gonna be so fun to experience what the missionaires 50 years must have experienced. OH! Almost forgot.. the new translation of the Book of Mormon.. heck, the whole 9 yards... came out! Its amazing... they finally have triple combinations and a font that everyone can read... new pamphlets are out.. new pass along cards.. new everything! They wont be sent out for another 2 weeks, but we had interviews with the president and i got to hold them.. ooooooo so nice! K well i just ripped a huge fart in this internet cafe so i should probably go now hahahah.. everyone looks really confused and im trying not to laugh and look confused as well.. And this is all i got this week.. love ya all! Even though we are both sick (again!) i feel strengthened! Im sending home my ipod today with all my song choices.. plus whatever else you want to give me... Not sending home the Christmas stuff yet cause i aint done. Love you all! Church is true yadayadayada! K talk to you all next week! Peace ENC
Love
Well.. this week we had a sweet district meeting.. the focus? Families, families FAMILIES. We teach that this gospel will bless families.. "so why are there so many converts coming in by themselves?" Our leaders have told us that teaching families is the only way we will be doing this from now on.. of course there are circumstances that will be different, like if their family is in another part of the country, or dead.. or whatever else. For everyone else, its families. If we contacted a mother who has kids.. we WILL NOT teach her unless her family is there too. Contacted a kid? We WILL NOT teach him unless his family is present too. If we have to wait 10 minutes for someone to get him.. we will. If they wont be back tonight, we will come back tomorrow. This leads me to my scripture of the week: Ether 1: 41. Read it and tell me what you notice.
So this District Meeting was on Friday and that same day we had an appointment with "AU" and her family.. her son was playing Dota.. of course. And her daughter was kinda playing too. We didnt start. We just sat there waiting for her son and daughter.. they finally finished and we taught a pretty sweet lesson.. Bon is a nice kid but he needs to get his priorities straight... we hit him hard that night and you could tell.. it struck deep. Oh.. yeah, by the way dad.. SUCK ONE. All those times i played Dota? Yeah.. i incorporated that in the lesson. Told him that we wont teach unless its together as a family.. "Its like Dota.. your family is your team. What happens if 2, or even 1 person leaves the game?" Josh.. what happens? It was a no brainer and he really understood why families were so important. Just kidding about the suck one.. i love you :) hahaha. This family is way sweet.. i think if we exercise patience we can really get them off the bench.. how? Well it just so happens that their neighbor is Brother Bii who is getting BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY! Nice. He passed his interview this past saturday and is on schedule to be baptized this coming Sunday.. ho yeah! The interview may have taken almost 3 hours, but hey.. if thats what was necessary, its cool. So "AU" has been really curious as to what Church is like.. she has yet to be able to go, but last night she said like 5 times "i WANT to go to Church next week.. i speak truthfully.. i really want to go." When this woman speaks.. its truth.. she doesnt beat around the bush. So.. Church is an amazing experience for anyone who goes.. but, right after Church will be Bii's baptism.. if we can get her and her family to Church and SEE her neighbor make this commitment with Heavenly Father, we will for sure have them with a date this coming sunday. I am sure of this.. So... If we get AU, we will get Bon and his Sister.. if we get Bon and his Sister, Bon's friend Nat, will follow as well. Nat has kinda fallen off this past week.. never met with him once. He is addicted to friends and everytime we ask him to go to a church thing he asks, "is bon going?" You can hear it in his voice.. he wants to go, but not without Bon. If Bon goes, Nat goes.. if Bon has a baptismal date, Nat will too. Im really excited for this week. Don Muang is really excited too.. their first baptism in over a year and a half. We have a solid baptismal date for Fluk.. although it will have to be moved.. his date is stake conference.. plus i wanted to move it anyway.. further. Not that he isnt in to it, but now that we are enacting Operation Families Only, we gotta get his Mom and little brother too. Luckily, this is proving to be too hard. Yesterday, Fluk opened his heart a ton in Church.. Komgrid and i split for priesthood and komgrid went with him, and i stayed in Elders.. Komgrid said he opened it a ton about things he wishes that he never did with his mom.. things that made her feel bad. Later that day we went over to watch Finding Faith in Christ and Fluk was like, "hey.. i want you to teach me little brother and mother too." HAH! Hes totally Lehi-ing it! "Hey.. give this fruit to my family too!" Awesome. Its not working out too well however hahah. His Brother's got serious A.D.D....D.D.D.D.D.D, and his Mom is one of those where she understands it but doesnt think its important or applicable to her. But Fluk.. man.. hes getting it. When we went into his house he didnt even realize we were waiting for his Mom to finish going to bathroom.. he took the remote from me and pushed play.. i was like "wait a second! We want your family too." "no its okay they're coming! I want to watch this." Maybe im getting too excited about it, but it was sweet to see him practically begging me to start the lesson. The ONLY little problem is his stupid girlfriend.. holy crap! She calls every 2 minutes.. drop her man! What was that thing that Elder Holland said in the April conference? IF a relationship is getting too serious at a young age SEVER IT. Yeah.. something like that. He needs to. Or get her involved. Hey! All you little nuggets from ENC ward with girlfriends.. LISTEN UP. This next part is for you. seriously, if yo girl is going to get in the way of anything that is more important (like a mission.. or your family!) drop her. Sur'sly. Heres my phrase of the week.. my own personal one that i didnt even plan on using today, or in this way: "Drop em before you care too much." As missionaries you will have to prioritize who is progressing and who isnt, and "drop" those that arent. And if you wait too long, you will care too much and you will only get angry when THEY drop you.. like my investigator 2 weeks ago. It applies here too.. if you are starting to get serious with someone, you gotta stop. Lets be frank.. you cant do anything more than be "girlfriend and boyfriend" and you cant get married cause you HAVE to go on a mission.. so yeah.. date her and have some "fun" and then seriously.. GET RID OF HER. It sounds awful and i probably sound like a degenerate.. i dont mean to be.. but its the easiest way to say it. Be gentlemen of course, but have your priorities SET. What are those priorities? Exactly what i told Bon on saturday night: Family. I was actually about to say more than just 1 word, but if you analyze it.. your families are centered in the gospel.. your parents are more wise than you and they wont lead you astray.. what do they tell you to do? Get an education and get on a mission. So.. by simply saying family, it sums it up. I say this from experience because too often family was not my priority.. and now that im out here teaching about families i regret the fact that i didnt make them more important. Good to hear Whitehead sharin an experience about school and drugs. To you my young friend.. KEEP IT UP. To everyone else who hasnt had that experience yet.. be ready for it. Be ready to laugh at the cigerette or bottle of bear shoved in front of your face and say NO. Hold to the rod that Lehi described and dont be ashamed when they start laughing at you because you are different.. laugh at them because they are ______ stupid. Ok sorry that was quite the tangent.. felt like i should say it though. ANYWAY. Fluk.. hes an awesome kid. Nuff said.
Okay so thats it for our investigators.. our pool of potentials is pretty small.. we didnt get much inviting time this week because we had to go down to Komgrids university to make sure he doesnt get enlisted in the army.. such a stupid rule.. every kid at the age of 19 has the possibility of being a soldier.. you know like those big bingo games where there is a cage of balls and some guy spins it around and around and then ball that pops out is the next number? That is LITERALLY how it works for this draft.. everyone has their name on a ball and if your ball comes up.. you have to be a soldier.. no questions, no time to say goodbye.. you pack and leave. So dumb. Luckily, there is some kind of testing thing where if you do well enough you can get your name out of the cage for a while. And he passed his tests. So we have to wait only 6 weeks before he has to go again. Oh and we had to move houses.. so that took a while and we had no time for inviting. This week is gonna be a complete turn around.. gonna invite a ton and get some serious commitments out there. This was our slowest week across the board but we will turn it around this week for sure. Well.. we will see.. we are doing exchanges on tuesday and wednesday.. hahaha Elder Olive and I will be together in Rangsit and Elder Komgrid and Elder Cline in Don Muang.. Elder Olive is my Nong! Hahahaha hes been here for 3 weeks. We gonna get stomped.. just kidding.. gonna be so fun to experience what the missionaires 50 years must have experienced. OH! Almost forgot.. the new translation of the Book of Mormon.. heck, the whole 9 yards... came out! Its amazing... they finally have triple combinations and a font that everyone can read... new pamphlets are out.. new pass along cards.. new everything! They wont be sent out for another 2 weeks, but we had interviews with the president and i got to hold them.. ooooooo so nice! K well i just ripped a huge fart in this internet cafe so i should probably go now hahahah.. everyone looks really confused and im trying not to laugh and look confused as well.. And this is all i got this week.. love ya all! Even though we are both sick (again!) i feel strengthened! Im sending home my ipod today with all my song choices.. plus whatever else you want to give me... Not sending home the Christmas stuff yet cause i aint done. Love you all! Church is true yadayadayada! K talk to you all next week! Peace ENC
Love
Monday, November 1, 2010
Happy Halloween!
K so Halloween doesnt really hold special value half way across the world.. they dont do anything! No little kids scaring younger kids.. no trick or treating.. no decorations.. AHH! Dont really like it.. not.. one... BIT.
Scripture(s) of the Week: 2 Nephi chapters 7 and 8 (cause thats as far as i got.. its actually more than that). I know what you're thinking.. "hey AJ wait a minute.. those are Isaiah chapters.. how can you like those?" I know, i know.. ive never liked them before cause they are so difficult.. but for some reason, this time i understood them! And i love Isaiah.. he just verbally slaps everyone across the floor! Seriously.. when i was reading a felt a beat, a rythym! People say "rappers" are lyrical geniuses.. ever read Isaiah? This guy wipes the floor with them! Just read 'em again.. SLOWLY, and you will feel it too.
This week was interesting.. had a lot of ups and downs... First.. we lost Daa and Phet.. well at least Daa. I havent had the chance to call Phat, but Daa told us straight up she isnt interested.. that she was "interested for her kids.." But now they no longer want to, she doesnt want to learn anymore, and she likes buddhism more. If phat says that he is lying.. straight up.. no way will i believe that. He knows hes felt something before.. i know he is. Ill call him later. We got Fluk to commit to baptism for the 28th of November.. so that was an up. He is pretty in to everything and he says he prays everyday at least twice a day... you know you have a good investigator when he knows the 3 commitments we want him to keep: Church, reading and prayer. It made me really happy when we asked him to read for only 5 minutes everyday and he said, "oh i already do more than that." He didnt get to go to Church on SUnday, so that was kinda sad, but it was because his parents got in a fight.. wouldnt let him leave. Hes a sweet kid though. Oh big thing.. Sister Blessing was baptized yesterday! Yeah, thats kind of a big deal. When i first got here, she was one of the first, if not THE first investigator i met.. soon after, we had district meeting to come up with a "vision" that we want to see by the end of the moves.. for me, i made a vision for the whole mission: "I see myself sitting in the baptismal services of my investigators listening to them testify of how the gospel has truly changed their lives, and saying to myself, 'yeah... they got it."' Yeah.. she GOT it. It was funny.. it was a Don Muang baptism at Bang Khen.. bitter sweet haha. Just kidding.. doesnt matter where she was baptized.. actually some thing she said in her testimony was just that.. "i didnt want to move to bang khen.. i have friends in Don muang.. i dont want to move. but Elder Crowley helped me remember that no matter where you are, its still the same 1 loving God". I teared up a little in her testimony because she told her conversion story rather quickly.. she was contacted by Elder Crowley at English.. she said "whatever! I can learn.. theres no problem in learning.. its just another religion." And she told how all of that changed.. She also shared her first experience with the language of the spirit.. she felt it first, or recognized it first, at testimony meeting.. my first sunday in thailand.. from something i said. I felt honored to be a part of her conversion even though i didnt get to see her through to the end by teaching.. but it was a very sweet moment and she was GLOWING with happiness and joy. Loved it. Bii is still going for the 14th.. ive really come to love this guy.. he is very humble because he is not very good at anything.. hes kind of lonely and his social skills arent the best.. but his desire is what matters here.. we are reviewing everything with him to prepare him for the interview this friday, and when we ask him, he says.. "i can remember.. i know i can, but i cant put it in to sensible words." Hes probably one of the most humble guys ive seen.. and he doesnt even know it. I hope he can be ready. His neighbors.. HEY! Brother Ball.. you had concerns about names here? Well this kid is named "Bon"... or, translated, Ball. Hah. Lawls. Yeah anyway, so he is 17 and a neighbor of Bii.. his Mom is name Augh.. thats the only way i can right it.. sorry Ball... Brother Ball that is.. anyone confused yet?! Anyway.. she is a way sweet Mom and one of the most respectful thais ive ever seen.. the Wai.. its the little clasped-hand-to-face-greeting-bow thing... when she does it, you feel the respect and the importance of what she is doing. She is really trying to do what we ask even though she is pretty deeply rooted in Buddhism.. but we've seen the change in her prayers.. the first time we asked her if she had prayed, she said no.. so we had her pray after that lesson.. next time we came back we said it at the beginning, "ok.. Mom.. we will open with a prayer, but at the end you will be the one to pray ok?" She was very shy and laughed and didnt want to.. these last few times? We same the same thing and she is totally ready.. she just says "OK" without hesitation. She opens her heart to us every time and even Tawid.. remember him? Member? Awesome? Anyway, even HE, a thai person whos already been a mish, said that hes never seen a person like her... im not sure what it is about her, but Thai people know each other and they both say she is different.. in a good way. Hopefully we can do work. Then, there is "balls" friend "Nat.." Or if that is too hard for you.. it translates to"Appointment." Hes a sweet kid of 14 years.. looks like hes 20. He has a problem... he has a pretty steady job.. but hes 14.. he hasnt finished middle school.. thats a crime on the heads of the parents.. so he needs to get back to school quick or she will send him to another part of the country.. We had a long talk with them last night, and although we made head way, especially in helping him to quit smoking, with him and his Mom.. although his Mom needs to talk to him with more respect.. she shows no respect, no love, no nothing for him.. kinda sad. But he went to Church yesterday, AND the baptism.. and he wore church clothes and everyone though he was a member hahah. Elder Komgrid was telling him that he should probably quit his job and go back to school... we hadnt really "started" a lesson because we didnt open with a prayer.. but i the Spirit was like, "HEY! He still understands prayer already! Bring it all back to the Church!" So Elder Komgrid was in a sentence and I, rather rudely i might add hahaha, interrupted and said "Nat.. you already told us you belive that prayer helps us.. so pray. Ask what you should do.. Your Father in Heaven will answer what you should do here." We are trying to get him to FHE tonight.. speaking of FHE.. Wisid asked if we should continue it.. if its really effective.. i immediately said Yes.. because of you Mommy.. loved that story. And thats pretty much all the investigators we have.. oh we had that Grandmother who had to go back to her home.. she wants to be baptized but she had to leave.. GAH! She may come back later, but i dunno...
K so what else this week.. oh, Komgrid and I had a sweet companionship inventory.. he kinda ______ me off this week... haha but dont worry.. we resolved it all.. and now we work together better than ever.. gonna DO WORK! We found a new house.. way nice and for the same price.. sweet! I will get to be the first to use it before Elders come after me and destroy it! We have to move this Thursday.. this week may not be very effective hahaha... plus Komgrid has to go take a test or something required of Thais.. dunno. We are supposed to have exchanges on the same day, which is 1) inconvenient for the move, and 2) our DL wants to swap my Comp with his.. who is my Noong from the MTC.. yeah real smart! Put a 2 monther and a 2 weeker together... we shall see.
K well i think thats all i got this week.. Thailand is great.. the language is coming along nicely and the weather is nice! like.. NICE. (Ask josh about "nice.." you will understand better). Hey, i heard Taylor Swift got a new CD? HAHA.. its playing behind me. K love you all! Thanks for all the support i feel day by day.. This gospel is amazing.. im so glad i got to see it change Sister Blessing.. everyone could see it.. that change only comes through this gospel.. OH. One more thing she said.. "Elders asked me to keep the Law of Chastity and i said yes. Next time they asked again and i was so confused cause i already accepted.. then they asked again..whhy? I realize now, its because if we dont constantly remind ourselves of committments and the things we need to do to remain strong in the church, we will easily fall away, like the Lehis dream." From AN INVESTIGATOR!! AH! Loved it. K gotta go. Say hello to the Ward.. give them bean dips credit cards.. you know.. the whole nine yards. JK. But seriously. Peace!
Elder Gudmundsen
Scripture(s) of the Week: 2 Nephi chapters 7 and 8 (cause thats as far as i got.. its actually more than that). I know what you're thinking.. "hey AJ wait a minute.. those are Isaiah chapters.. how can you like those?" I know, i know.. ive never liked them before cause they are so difficult.. but for some reason, this time i understood them! And i love Isaiah.. he just verbally slaps everyone across the floor! Seriously.. when i was reading a felt a beat, a rythym! People say "rappers" are lyrical geniuses.. ever read Isaiah? This guy wipes the floor with them! Just read 'em again.. SLOWLY, and you will feel it too.
This week was interesting.. had a lot of ups and downs... First.. we lost Daa and Phet.. well at least Daa. I havent had the chance to call Phat, but Daa told us straight up she isnt interested.. that she was "interested for her kids.." But now they no longer want to, she doesnt want to learn anymore, and she likes buddhism more. If phat says that he is lying.. straight up.. no way will i believe that. He knows hes felt something before.. i know he is. Ill call him later. We got Fluk to commit to baptism for the 28th of November.. so that was an up. He is pretty in to everything and he says he prays everyday at least twice a day... you know you have a good investigator when he knows the 3 commitments we want him to keep: Church, reading and prayer. It made me really happy when we asked him to read for only 5 minutes everyday and he said, "oh i already do more than that." He didnt get to go to Church on SUnday, so that was kinda sad, but it was because his parents got in a fight.. wouldnt let him leave. Hes a sweet kid though. Oh big thing.. Sister Blessing was baptized yesterday! Yeah, thats kind of a big deal. When i first got here, she was one of the first, if not THE first investigator i met.. soon after, we had district meeting to come up with a "vision" that we want to see by the end of the moves.. for me, i made a vision for the whole mission: "I see myself sitting in the baptismal services of my investigators listening to them testify of how the gospel has truly changed their lives, and saying to myself, 'yeah... they got it."' Yeah.. she GOT it. It was funny.. it was a Don Muang baptism at Bang Khen.. bitter sweet haha. Just kidding.. doesnt matter where she was baptized.. actually some thing she said in her testimony was just that.. "i didnt want to move to bang khen.. i have friends in Don muang.. i dont want to move. but Elder Crowley helped me remember that no matter where you are, its still the same 1 loving God". I teared up a little in her testimony because she told her conversion story rather quickly.. she was contacted by Elder Crowley at English.. she said "whatever! I can learn.. theres no problem in learning.. its just another religion." And she told how all of that changed.. She also shared her first experience with the language of the spirit.. she felt it first, or recognized it first, at testimony meeting.. my first sunday in thailand.. from something i said. I felt honored to be a part of her conversion even though i didnt get to see her through to the end by teaching.. but it was a very sweet moment and she was GLOWING with happiness and joy. Loved it. Bii is still going for the 14th.. ive really come to love this guy.. he is very humble because he is not very good at anything.. hes kind of lonely and his social skills arent the best.. but his desire is what matters here.. we are reviewing everything with him to prepare him for the interview this friday, and when we ask him, he says.. "i can remember.. i know i can, but i cant put it in to sensible words." Hes probably one of the most humble guys ive seen.. and he doesnt even know it. I hope he can be ready. His neighbors.. HEY! Brother Ball.. you had concerns about names here? Well this kid is named "Bon"... or, translated, Ball. Hah. Lawls. Yeah anyway, so he is 17 and a neighbor of Bii.. his Mom is name Augh.. thats the only way i can right it.. sorry Ball... Brother Ball that is.. anyone confused yet?! Anyway.. she is a way sweet Mom and one of the most respectful thais ive ever seen.. the Wai.. its the little clasped-hand-to-face-greeting-bow thing... when she does it, you feel the respect and the importance of what she is doing. She is really trying to do what we ask even though she is pretty deeply rooted in Buddhism.. but we've seen the change in her prayers.. the first time we asked her if she had prayed, she said no.. so we had her pray after that lesson.. next time we came back we said it at the beginning, "ok.. Mom.. we will open with a prayer, but at the end you will be the one to pray ok?" She was very shy and laughed and didnt want to.. these last few times? We same the same thing and she is totally ready.. she just says "OK" without hesitation. She opens her heart to us every time and even Tawid.. remember him? Member? Awesome? Anyway, even HE, a thai person whos already been a mish, said that hes never seen a person like her... im not sure what it is about her, but Thai people know each other and they both say she is different.. in a good way. Hopefully we can do work. Then, there is "balls" friend "Nat.." Or if that is too hard for you.. it translates to"Appointment." Hes a sweet kid of 14 years.. looks like hes 20. He has a problem... he has a pretty steady job.. but hes 14.. he hasnt finished middle school.. thats a crime on the heads of the parents.. so he needs to get back to school quick or she will send him to another part of the country.. We had a long talk with them last night, and although we made head way, especially in helping him to quit smoking, with him and his Mom.. although his Mom needs to talk to him with more respect.. she shows no respect, no love, no nothing for him.. kinda sad. But he went to Church yesterday, AND the baptism.. and he wore church clothes and everyone though he was a member hahah. Elder Komgrid was telling him that he should probably quit his job and go back to school... we hadnt really "started" a lesson because we didnt open with a prayer.. but i the Spirit was like, "HEY! He still understands prayer already! Bring it all back to the Church!" So Elder Komgrid was in a sentence and I, rather rudely i might add hahaha, interrupted and said "Nat.. you already told us you belive that prayer helps us.. so pray. Ask what you should do.. Your Father in Heaven will answer what you should do here." We are trying to get him to FHE tonight.. speaking of FHE.. Wisid asked if we should continue it.. if its really effective.. i immediately said Yes.. because of you Mommy.. loved that story. And thats pretty much all the investigators we have.. oh we had that Grandmother who had to go back to her home.. she wants to be baptized but she had to leave.. GAH! She may come back later, but i dunno...
K so what else this week.. oh, Komgrid and I had a sweet companionship inventory.. he kinda ______ me off this week... haha but dont worry.. we resolved it all.. and now we work together better than ever.. gonna DO WORK! We found a new house.. way nice and for the same price.. sweet! I will get to be the first to use it before Elders come after me and destroy it! We have to move this Thursday.. this week may not be very effective hahaha... plus Komgrid has to go take a test or something required of Thais.. dunno. We are supposed to have exchanges on the same day, which is 1) inconvenient for the move, and 2) our DL wants to swap my Comp with his.. who is my Noong from the MTC.. yeah real smart! Put a 2 monther and a 2 weeker together... we shall see.
K well i think thats all i got this week.. Thailand is great.. the language is coming along nicely and the weather is nice! like.. NICE. (Ask josh about "nice.." you will understand better). Hey, i heard Taylor Swift got a new CD? HAHA.. its playing behind me. K love you all! Thanks for all the support i feel day by day.. This gospel is amazing.. im so glad i got to see it change Sister Blessing.. everyone could see it.. that change only comes through this gospel.. OH. One more thing she said.. "Elders asked me to keep the Law of Chastity and i said yes. Next time they asked again and i was so confused cause i already accepted.. then they asked again..whhy? I realize now, its because if we dont constantly remind ourselves of committments and the things we need to do to remain strong in the church, we will easily fall away, like the Lehis dream." From AN INVESTIGATOR!! AH! Loved it. K gotta go. Say hello to the Ward.. give them bean dips credit cards.. you know.. the whole nine yards. JK. But seriously. Peace!
Elder Gudmundsen
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