I want to thank all of you for your prayers on my behalf this past week.. i felt uplifted in a really weird way this week, and now i realize i had a little help from all you. Thanks.
So, picking up from last week, which once again, was NOT the worst week a missionary can have, we "pressed forward with a steadfastness is Christ" hoping that things would get better. Of course, when i say hope i mean exercising faith.. not sitting around waiting for something to happen.
As for our daters, Sister Rain is still a dater. She didnt make to Church (in fact we had ZERO investigators at Church) but she had to go to the hospital.. good excuse. We saw her last wednesday and she is continuing to repent. She has plans to move down to Phuket after her baptism, but we emphasied that "not doing that is better". We helped her realize that her 2month old (wow im almost did it again.. ill explain "it" in a sec) child already doesnt ahve a father, and if she goes, he wont have a real mother either. Her faith is of course not incredibly strong yet, but she is still progressing towards true faith in Christ. Hey, repenting is the easiest way to feel of Christs atonement.
Thats pretty much the only investigator we had going into this past week.. actually not "pretty much", she was the ONLY investigator. We spent many a days out in the heat inviting.. and the Lord did give us success.. we met a lot of people that are actually pretty interested, just they were going out of town this weekend and we havent gotten the chance to meet again, and FINALLY.... we met some DUDES. This branch needs a serious priesthood boost, and fast (by fast i of course mean the Lords time). The guy that has the most potential right now, and is a progressor, is named "Times" as in the multipication sign (wow thats kinda cool.. i hadnt known what that meant until i asked my Companion a second ago). Our first lesson was kinda strange... we went to his house because we actually didnt have an appointment with him, but with his friends who live at the same house. His friends were "not free" so we talked with him instead. He was a really nice guy and seemed a lot different that his buddies (who are pretty much like, hooligans on steroids.. not literally(?)). When we asked if we could pray with him he was super open and told us to come right in. He shared with us some really interesting things.. i really like it.. he said hes sick of being an adult. When we asked him how he likes his life he said: "Eh.. its alright. like its not bad, but its nothing im proud of or especially like. Honestly, I miss being a kid. I want to go back to when i didnt have to really care about anything. I used to have dreams about being a famous football player, or something like that.. now its just work and im only 21!". Suffice it to say that he was pretty open to our message, and although it may not make him a football player, he can still change his life to be happier. On Sunday, he wasnt able to make it to Church, but we did meet him again and gave him a Book of Mormon. He prayed and at the end, we asked how he felt. He said. simply, "I feel hope. I feel hope that its not too late to change things". Now, for me, that was a truly unique and thoughful answer. And frankly, id never heard it before! But why shouldnt that be an answer.. we should feel hope from these things! Was really moving and we felt the spirit very abundantly, even though the sky was just dumping on us. AHH i want to baptize this guy so bad. Hes one of those that doesnt really care what other people think, but at the same time is the kind of person that WILL care what heavenly father thinks. He lives with like 8 guys from his childhood but he isnt at all like them. While they are inside the house, drinking and yelling at the TV, he was outside playing guitar in the rain. So chill.
We met a lot of many other interesting people, just no one has stuck yet. The last house we talked to last night was hilarious.. it was a very normal invite, "Hello!" "Not free" "Just 10 minutes" "Not free" "Cmon!" "NO!-------alright come on in." HAHA.. im actually being sarcastic, it usually does not happen like that. He let us in and had Lady Gaga blasting (a new song too haha) and said "okay we're sitting.. share with me!" We told him that we would take ten minutes and then leave but first the radio needs to be off. He wouldnt do it and said no problem, its fine. We didnt give in. Then his friends came home, and then he started smoking- 5 minutes passed already. "Hey man, we want to share these thing with you, but 2 things need to happen.. the radio needs to be off, and you need to stop smoking." "Seriously? Hang on a sec..." Then he started mingling with his friends - 2 minutes left... finally he came back and was like "alright well are you going to share with me or not?" "we told you, the radio needs to be off, but more than that we also said we would take 10 minutes.. now we have 1 minute, we need to go." "What?! You serious? Why?" "We said 10 minutes!" "NO! Wait! Dont leave.. hang on, you're no going anywhere.... ima turn off the radio, throw this cig out and then you are going to pray with me..." HAHAH.. he totally did it too! It was really time to go home though, so he made US commit to coming back tomorrow (today) to pray with him. Was a funny experience, but a really cool one.. he just seemed like THAT guy who would just not be interested in listening to us at all, and then just flipped completely around. Hey, it happens.
So i had the chance to exchange with my district leader, Elder McDonald (who is seriously Matt Damon) and uh.. so the 2 of us just CANT speak english.. for some reason when we talk to each other (Elder to Elder) theres no problem, but when we meet foreigners, we just cant do it! Its bad too.. like, thai mixed in, or just plain wrong english grammar.. so, with that said, we found a new neighborhood and decided to invite there all day. Guess what? Every... SINGLE... house was foreigners! Yeah, i had more trouble speaking english that when i was a greeny in thai. People look at us, and they dont speak english anyway cause they are from sweden, or france, or England (hah), and are just straight confused. They look at their thai wife, who doesnt have a clue what we are saying either, and then asks her what WE are saying in his BROKEN and impossible-to-understand-thai, to which she then looks even more confused, and then eventually everyone just says an awkward goodbye and parts ways.. hahaha we walked away laughing quite frequently.
The highlight of the work however, was sunday. We went to Church with 17 Books Of Mormon, and came home with only 3 left. We got plans from 11 members on who they will give their copy of the Book of Mormon to, and on what day. Then 3 more dont know who yet, but want to give a copy out. Its legit. When members were coming up to US and asking for a copy of the Book of Mormon to hand out to a specific friend, you gotta feel good. Legit.
ALright im done.. thanks so much for your prayers once again guys.. i feel em. Werd.
Elder Gudmundsen
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