Monday, March 21, 2011



Sigh... huuuhhhhhh

Dangit.. im over the hill already! *Cry*

Just kidding.. but seriously a little bit. 20 already? Thats so... old! No more teenage years? How sad.

So how are you all doing? Missing me to death? I would too.. Its ok.. fight on!

So.. Woohoo! Brother Somchay got baptized! I got the pictures on Picasa already.. saturday was a very special day.. we saved 4 souls.. booyah! The Sisters got 3 and we got 1. Brother Somchay is such a pimp.. he invited 4 of his friends to it, and i thought there would be at least ONE dude among them.. nah! He only has the women. They are all pretty interested now, but they are also all about to go home cause of the end of the semester.. actually the end of college. But.. at the very least, they got a chance to hear it. On tuesday when we were preparing him for the interview, I asked him if he was nervous.. he said no. I said, dont worry about it.. you will be friday. Friday comes around... haha he was so nervous/excited. Then saturday before he got in the water... same. Then sunday, before the Holy Ghost.. same. So great. Im pushing him pretty hard to be a missionary.. he doesnt really like the idea right now, but he at least has a little bit of an interest. I gave him a copy of preach my gospel and told him to start reading it a lot! I tease him everyday about the day he gets his tag: Elder Somchay! Sunday after he got confirmed, he went and helped us teach Brother Yong.. oh! And a new girl named Joy (that name is actually pronounced exactly how it looks.. like Joy to the World). Joy is the cousin of Yong and shes kinda been learning for a long time already... just not actually sitting down with us. She came to English last tuesday with Brother Yong so we could watch the Restoration.. it happened to be her first lesson, but since then, she has a baptismal date, and has pretty much learned everything Yong has.. which is like.. a lot. Brother Yongs totally gonna be ready! His interview is this wednesday (or thursday) and his baptism is this saturday. He totally gets answers to his prayers.. like every time.. i dont know why he gets it so easily.. his heart is just super open and he listens really well to his heart. Joy is kinda the same.. she understands way good, and she already got her answer.. she prayed once and something told her to just open the hymn book (of which she really knows nothing about) to page 145 in the thai version.. she read it and said it just hit her like a ton of bricks (not like that really.. they dont have that phrase in thai, but you know what i mean). She knows God is there and answers her prayers and that without Jesus Christ, we are pretty much doomed. This week was sweet because ive been with the Zone Leader (whos a stud), Elder Fowles, pretty much every day.. last monday for Pday, then english, then exchanges, in which we traveled to another place in our zone (the zone is exploding with baptisms.. actually the whole mission is.. we are going to get above 50 for sure.. its a record.. never gotten it in forever), then saturday we traveled again. Ive been learning a ton and am starting to teach a lot differently.. by really focusing on repentance and baptism. Its a really smart method and gets people to understand our purpose faster, and clearer. Traveling is also really fun.. but seriously? We took a train back from one branch.. 14 baht! Thats 7 baht a person.. not even 50 cents! Not even a profit.
What else is going on.. oh we got a member referral and the guy is detoxing from alcoholism right now.. like, its kinda hardcore alcoholism. He came to church with a member (he lives 60 kilos away) and he has already learned the Word of Wisdom from the member.. he knows he needs to quit but its so difficult right now. As I was teaching him, he was pretty much collapsing.. but his desire to change is so incredible. We sang i am a child of god for him, and he pretty much broke down in tears. I dont know if it was from the alcohol poison leaving him, or the spirit.. ill bet it was both. He came to Church and said that hes never felt anything like it before.. its nothing like Buddhism, and in fact he said he doesnt like how selfish the religion is.. that its all about "the 1 person" and not about family or true happiness. It was very humbling to be able to teach him.. if we can, we are going to set some time aside this week to drive all the way out there.. it will take almost the whole day, but him and his wife already said that they will be baptized, so its definitely worth our time.

Okay.. so the event of this week (besides the baptism of course) was last night: Elder Tom somersaulted over his bike! Man.. that front brake is such a problem! We were biking and as we were, the sisters came up behind us in a car so of course we were just like, "uh buh.. huh what? oh hey!" and we werent paying attention to the front.. i had slowed down up front, and Elder Tom didnt see it, so when he turned around, he met me, and flew over his bike.. haha! I thought it was hilarious... but its awesome.. totally got some battle wounds for it too. Dont worry! Hes fine!

Love you all! Im 20! Woohoo!

Elder Gudmundsen

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Yo

So how Japan doing? We heard from President Smith just the other day to fast and pray for Japan. Pretty crasy eh? One investigator asked if we heard about it, and of course we hadnt.. who are we again? We dont know a thing from the outside world! He said it was like 10 meters high? Thats huge. Hope they are able to fix the power plants.. thats messed up.

So, big things that happened here.. uh where do i start... Brother Somchay. Hes doing great. His scheduled baptism is this satuday.. woohoo! He will interview on wednesday. The other night he called us and was like, "i just got invited to a party.. should i go? There will definitely be drinking and smoking and stuff." So here was my response... "Okay.. good question.. but your questions REALLY is: 'Do i trust myself?' Do you trust yourself?" Brother Somchay, "........No." "Exactly. So dont go. If you know 100% that you arent going to do anything wrong.. hey! No prob.. go have fun. But, you ask us this, which means you dont trust yourself, which means you arent ready to go there." "..... Good point." He ended up not going, and instead caught up on sleep and reading in the book of mormon. Its good. Oh, and im pushing him super hard to prepare to be a missionary. He had the opportunity to go teaching and inviting with us, which was a good experience for him.

On to Brother Yong... we moved his date from the 7th to the 26th of March! We want him baptized as fast as possible. We told him our reasoning and had him pray about it to know what to do. He chose the 26th. We will meet him many many times in the next 2 weeks to prepare him well.. hes so got it. He knows that Joseph Smith restored the Gospel and that the Book of Mormon is true. He has already begun to keep the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. Hes starting to share it with his friends too.

Ah.. Sister Jeng (the 27 year old with the 72 year old).. she got her answer. We watched the Restoration DVD and at first she was like, "um.. at first, i didnt believe it... but im starting to feel like its true." Bam! We got on our knees and prayed.. she said that she felt it was true. Later that night they went home to talk, cause Brother Olay doesnt feel the same yet.. he thinks its good, but didnt have any feeling that was super strong. But when we met them again, Sister Jeng was like, "its totally true.. i know it is." HAH! Brother Olay is like, "give me some time.. im a little slow with age and everything, but i need to know for myself before the 9th of April." What is the best thing about this family, is how much they have already changed in just 2 weeks. Its a miracle that we are even friends with them.. including how we even met! Brother Olay is a man who doesnt really care to talk to anyone that he doesnt know. Think back to when we met.. we knocked on the door, barely even introduced ourselves, and he let us in his house to talk about religion. Sister Jeng has told us many times that she was complelely surprised that when she came home that night, people were in her house talking to her husband. More than that, they tell us everyday they absolutely love us and feel that we are part of their family... yeah.. that doesnt happen just "because..." thats the truth of the Gospel effecting lives... 2 weeks! Thats it! They also told us that before they met us, they didnt really do anything together, or even talk to each other, that much. Now they do everything together and its centered on family prayer and reading in the scriptures. Its so cool.. really hope nothing gets in the way for this families baptism.

So as far as other stuff goes.. i dont know what else ive got.. Oh, Noy and El... they are doing.. "okay." They arent yet willing to keep the sabbath day holy. They wont be ready for the 26th of March.. will have to move it to another day. This week will pretty much fix this.. if they can keep this commandment, they will get baptized for sure. Noy says this all the time (along these lines): "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." HIs heart wants to be baptized and keep the sabbath day holy, but he doesnt have enough faith to do it.. actually he thinks that he doesnt have enough faith to do it, but he totally does. Weve promised him many times that if he does this, his life will get better and every problem he has will go away. They wont close their store though.. if they dont go to Church as a couple this coming sunday, we are going to have to stop for a while..

Ok, so all i got for today.. kick thomas in the butt for me.. dont even think about getting married man! Its too soon!! Love you all... hope everything is okay at home.. prayin for the people in Japan. Hope everything works out.

Elder Gudmundsen

PS: Next time you hear from me ill be 20! Holy buckets of fruit loops!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Oops, Missed one....

From Feb. 28:


Hi!
Yeah that was a pretty quick week. Pretty legit week too. So what happened... well, right now we have 5 people with Dates... Brother Somchay is a for sure one.. he did have a relapse though. It was basically a mini grad night and all his friends were tempting him.. he gave in and drank and smoked a little.. and when i say a little i mean A LOT. But we taught him the process of repentance and committed him to begin repenting of his sins. At first he was kinda hesitant about everything.. but yesterday he told us himself that he would prepare and get baptized on the 12th. We only have a little left to teach him before he will be ready. He didnt have a problem with the Ten Commandments or the Sabbath day, which was kinda suprising, but hey.. whatever ill take it. As far as his family.. well, his mom isnt fighthing him against it, but definitely isnt for it. His family probably wont come. But he has a strong enough testimony that he will do it anyway. Great dude. We still have Noy and El, both of which are progressing very well. Noy's faith.. holy.. just getting way up there. When we first met them he was the one saying that he couldnt go to Church becuase he didnt know anything, then after a little while he said he could go, but the 2 of them would have to switch together... like, 1 would go and the other would look after the shop.. when we asked them to go together, El responded right away saying, "no we cant! Maybe we can get someone to Look after it for us..." After that, Noy stopped and said, "no.. you know what.. we can just close it and go together." Was way cool.. i actually wasnt there, but Tom told me after. In fact, i only met them 2 or 3 times last week. We have been having switch offs so much.. trying to spread the time apart where 1 person finds and the other teches.. works really well helps our teaching pool stay strong. So remember what i said when i first got here? Average of 6 lessons with a member.. this past week? 20. Yeah.. get it. Doesnt even compare though to the 2 sisters.. they had 33.. thats just with a member! They are doing work.. Our zone has a total of 30 people with a date, and the Sisters in our district have 11.. whoa! So much better than Elders! We need more sisters! Anyway, Noy and El have a date for the 26th of March. On to the next family.. yeah! We found a way sweet family last monday. Old dude and his wife, with their son. They are progressing really well and have a date for the 9th of April.. guess whose birthday! So this family is special.. the Dad is 72.. the wife? 27. Yeah.. little bit of a gap no? When we first met them i missed the part about them being husband and wife and thought that it was his daughter. They are really nice and want to be baptized, but arent sure yet just because they just got to know this stuff. But they feel really good when they pray and want to meet often so they can know everything.
One of my favorite moments this week was when i was with Brother Ice (one of the recent converts ive mentioned before) on an exchange... we were taking the Sisters to one of our investigators to hand her over, but she wasnt home. So we were biking down this hill by Brother Naay's house and i was just like, "hey.. its been a while.. lets go over there." We went to his house and hey! He was home.. pretty rare because of the fighting going on over by Cambodia.. but he was home! He asked me, "howd you know i was home? I told you guys that i would be gone almost all the time.. how do you know to come today?" Well.. do i beat around the bush or tell him the truth? Tell him the truth of course! THe spirit led us to you! Although hes been gone he has been continuing to pray and feels that when he prays, hes not alone.. but someone is always with him. We shared a few scriptures and he felt great.. he wants to be baptized and meet with us often, but he has to keep up his duty as a soldier, especially since if he doesnt do what he is called to do, he gets put in jail. He went off already to Cambodia but he felt strengthened and ready to go.
So.. i think this is all i got today. The weather is fantastic! Im totally lying but i made a committment to myself that i wouldnt say anything negative about how.. works out pretty well haha. We are changing for the summer schedule already.. we wake up at 600 and leave our house right away and study at about 1 in the afternoon... that way we dont you know.. die. Will be like this until july. So, hope you all are fantastic! Thomas, cmon man.. dont get married.. you just got home! Chase.. your sitch is diff.. but i have to say it.. dont get hitched! Love you guys too much! Say what up to Steven for me.. pretty sweet that he just got made AP.. responsibility! K love you all.. say hello to Encinitas 1st eh? 

Elder Gudmundsen

yo

So.. pretty cool week.

Brother Somchay.. ah! Had to move his date.. didnt get to meet with him at all this past week. Hes finishing school so hes been super busy. But weve basically been teaching over the phone haha. We moved it over to the 19th of March.. ha pretty close to my Birfday eh? With Brother Somchay we are trying to make sure that after hes baptized hes gonna stay active (duh). He will finish schooling and go back home with his family.. unfortunately we have no missionaries or branches close to his home.. the closest is Bangkok which is still about 2 hours away. We want to make sure that prayer and reading in the Book of Mormon will keep him strong while hes away.

We have a new kid named Yong. Hes 23 and so golden! He went and found one the Sisters investigators (who was really ours but we handed her over already) and told her he wanted to learn with us. He met with the Sisters first, and before we even got to teach him, he got his answer already. He went to Church before he was technically our investigator, and got an answer to his prayers. When he prayers its so legit.. he knows already that hes speaking to God, and he already knows that the Book of Mormon is true. His date is for the 7th of April.. oh, hah! What a coincidence. He wanted it to be the 7th because its his birthday! But, in reality, we want him to get baptized in March.. no need to wait. He will totally be ready by then. We will probably move it to the 26th.

Weve got Noy and El.. Noy is about to drop himself. He doesnt have enough faith to drop work on sunday.. but knows he has to. El is ready to follow almost everything. We think we will come across a problem when El keeps progressing and Noy doesnt, cause he will do work on sundays alone. But hey... if he is willing to follow God all the way, he wont have any problems. They are both in debt, and the only way they will get out of it is if they get baptized and live the law of tithing. They can keep waiting for a miracle to happen, or just trust and go, and then they will be the miracle. Hey.. thats my phrase of the week.. dont wait for anything to happen! Trust, go, and you wont be waiting for miracles.. things will happen through your actions and YOU will be the miracle.

Speaking of miracles that need to happen: Member Referrals. I would say that we need "more" but that implies that we already have some.. which we dont. Saturday, Sunday and this morning, i spent my study time writing up ways to get this miracle going.. Elder Tom is behind me 100 percent, and hes gonna train the district this next District Meeting. The zone leader is gonna talk to President Smith about ways to get it REALLY going. First place we are starting at: The Book of Mormon. Im willing to bet that 70 percent of members dont read the Book of Mormon every day. I dont know how the percent how high the percent really is, but i never read before my mission. thats a good place to start my assumptions (yeah i know.. assuming is bad). After that.. well, we are going to get the ball rolling on members bringing investigators to Church. The goal? 1 friend, or family member, of a member at Church every 2 weeks. Thats it.. not that hard! Get it done back home too eh?

So what else was sweet this week... we're eating pizza a ton! So delicious.. im bored of thai food. Yeah, cool no? They have a special promotion right now: Buy 1 get 1 free.. delivery too! Split between 2 people, its only 220 baht each. Yeah.. awesome. The weather? Yeah.. lets just say im shiny day by day. But i made it a goal to not talk about that part of my life! If you dont mention the heat, you're okay! Not really.. its REALLY hot. But its okay! "Blessed are they who suffer for my name's sake."

K all i got! Im good.. having fun.. its great!

Elder G