Happy Valentine's Day

Day of Love! Fantastic. I dont think that its really any special day out here.. but 7-11 does have special sandwhiches!

So how are you all? All you men spending ridiculous amounts of money on your women-- I mean beautifully, fantastic wives? Teehee.

Interesting week.. pretty good. Okay i lied it was AWESOME. Lets start with Brother Somchay eh? Okay remember this guy? Met him at the post office one day and he didnt even ask who we were just asked where our Church was? Yeah.. he totally got on an answer. BAM. So one night he said he was feeling really... frustrated with work and school. We had told him before that when he feelsl ike that (cause its quite often haha) to pray and he will feel better.. well he has been doing that quite often and says it helps. One night he prayed and decided to just open the Book of Mormon and read. He opened to Alma 34: 33... by the way im relaying his story when he told us face to face in a lesson. As he told us that, he opened the Book of Mormon with us to read the verse... Now brother Somchay speaks really fast, so as he was explaining he stopped for a second to say, "ah.. its about to happen again." Whats about to happen again? About to CRY again. He read that verse and said that he didnt know what to do.. he felt something crazy and just sat there... feeling like he wanted to tell someone what he was feeling, but no one was there (well, someone was there), so he just sat there and cried. Hes like, "what was that? Was that the Spirit?" "YES!" He then said that after he read it again, he turned to the back of his Book of Mormon where we wrote "27 February" as his baptismal date.. he said he looked at the date and he felt "yes. This can be the day. I dont need to wait until October as i once said." That night we had planned to teach about the Atonement, but instead followed his lead, and shared spiritual experiences. Then, we taught about the Word of Wisdom. Yeah, i know what you're thinking, "why such a big jump Elder are you stupid?" Yes. And no. He explained that he had thought to himself and has decided to quit smoking.. in fact since the last time him and i had talked about it, he quit.. about a week and a half now. Also, since the first day he met us, he quit drinking alcohol. He doesnt have a problem with coffee or tea. Hes also keeping the law of Chastity. So all in all.. its pretty sweet. This week hes pretty busy but he wants to keep meeting and will try his best to make time. Oh yeah! i Forgot the funny line he said.. one night he called us and asked us what our "goals" were.. "are you trying to make everyone like you and want to meet with like, 5 times a week? cause it worked.. i want to keep learning!" Yeah... ssssaaaawweeeet! Only problem was that he didnt go to church haha.. He told us saturday night that he wanted to check out his friends church... okay, no problem. Then sunday night he called us because he wanted to "confess that he sucks" (hey, his words) because he didnt go to that church either haha. He fell asleep sunday morning at 7 in the morning and woke up at 6 at night hahah.. said he feels way dumb and like a sinner haha. Well, I dont really have any room to "chastize" him because.. well you all know why haha.. not that i would even if i was a good person before the mish. Anyway, this guy is soo cool. Getting baptized FO SHO!

So that was the up.. this is the down: we met this girl who happens to be the friend of a recent convert. We were trying to meet as a family (4 all together) but it wasnt working out so one night we only met with the daughter (the friend), "play." Shes way nice and really open to talk about this stuff. We met her on a wednesday.. it was all good and a very happy lesson... friday morning we call to set up the appointment.. her boyfriend died. Yeah.. roller coaster? We havent met again for obvious reasons, but told her friend, the recent convert, to keep in contact every day. We handed that family over to the Sister Missionaries cause.. well, thats for them to handle.. and its a girl. After that sad note, we taught brother Somchay about the Plan of Salvation, and in particular, the Atonement. While teaching, not only did my testimony get stronger, and i just felt really good about it, but i thought back to her boyfriend.. at the end of the lesson we sang I know My redeemer lives... Such a perfect song. Even though he passed away, "he shall conquer death" BECAUSE of Christs infinite atonement... "What comfort this sweet sentence gives." Its such a blessing to KNOW that we will conquer the affects of the Fall and be saved from Spiritual and Physical death and be with the ones we love again... i cant imagine how much it has to ____ for Play, but like Alma once said, "how bitter were my pains... but how exquisite and sweet was my joy."

These were the highlights of the week.. actually there was one more.. we had zone conference and went bowling after.. oh man that was fun. Met up with one of my nongs' nongs and hes fantastic. Kinda reminds me of Brandon Nash.. my good 'ol roomie of only 1 semester. The zone conference itself was way fulfilling too.. funny too cause almost everything President said, him and I had talked about in our own personal interview the week before. Cool.

K so this is all i got for now.. love you all... transfers in 3 days... i gotta go down to Bangkok to renew my visa so definitely have to go the transfer meeting.. 2 people in our district our moving for sure.. dont know about Elder Tom.. we shall see.

Love, (especially today)

Elder Gudmundsen