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!