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