A week for the Books

Yeah... you ready? This was a CRAZY week.. just all over the place. Strap in.

First things first, Sister Blessing? Dropped. She dropped herself. Yeah, surprising isnt it? She has what Josh dubs "fake faith"- trust and love in God until you get opposition.. then throw in the towel. We taught her on Monday night to prepare her for baptism and she had to things that needed to be cleared: The sabbath, and living with her boyfriend. We gave her her options, according to the spirit (which would not let me leave until she understood EXACTLY what needed to be done), and asked her to council with Heavenly Father on what to do. What it really came down to was that she could not continue live in the same place with this man. We made it very clear that they did NOT need to break up, but that they simply needed to be in separate places until things are figured out - by that i mean, whether or not they would get married. She said she would, and when we called her on Tuesday morning to confirm our appointment, she said, "im done. its too hard and i feel like im being forced to do things. I dont like it. Im going back to Buddhism.". Surprised? Yeah i was! Verge of anger as well. She wouldnt listen to us and wouldnt even let us go over and sit and talk before she decided what to do. Actually, she DID say we could, but then when we went, she wasnt there. Purposeful. It was great! Talk about frustration and discouragement. We put it aside and went out stomping pavement to find new investigators... 3 hours of nothing. Went to the church to study and what do we get? A Church that smells like death! We couldnt find the source and instead just went upstairs to study. When we came down around 4 we decided we should probably fix that before English starts. Dead... rotting... rat carcus! Delicious. That was fun cleaning up the body along with the maggots eating it (too vivid?). Then comes english: we had hoped to have a lot of peole from the 1200 flyer hand out we did on saturday... zero people came. At least zero from the flyer hand out. A couple that had come before, and a few kids.. sweet! No help for finding investigators. By the time we went home, i think we both knew that it would be a rough week.. and so it was.
Wednesday, we continue trying to push through the utter dissapointment that came from Sister Blessings choice, and taught a few lessons to people that werent interested... or didnt listen. THe first lesson we taught on tuesday was AWESOME.... felt the spirit - both sides - but at the end, "can we come back in teach ag--" "I have no time!".. ugh... what a slap to the face. During the evening we chased down a referral from a member in Surin (not my area) and when we finally found the house, her husband wasnt home, and she had NO idea who "Elder" is. Yeah.. great! Then after that, had every appointment that was lined up fall through, with no one saying that they wouldnt be able to make it. Tried to make contact with the referrals that we received from the members on the previous sunday... nobody had made contact with any of them. We have sinced dropped every name.. members didnt understand, or we didnt explain it well enough what a referral meant.
Thursday, we met a guy from England and taught him at the Church. This, was an up. Hes a very nice guy, and very sensitive. Whenever we even mention God, he starts tearing up. Chase, you got any advice for English people? THis is your neck of the woods. Plus, i suck at speaking English.. he even Called me out on it after i said the opening prayer... "arent you American? Why does your English sound so broken?" that was amusing. "I havent prayed in English for a while!". Anyway, he has a lot of potential and he seirously needs God right now.. hes just a little hardened right now. And then he kinda dissapeared on us after Thursday... couldnt contact him, couldnt meet him. Didnt go to Church. The rest of that day was spent inviting a bunch of teenagers who were drunk, about to start drinking, or not interested... yeah, what time it was doesnt matter... 9 in the morning, or 5 after noon.. everyone was getting housed... is it a holiday? No.

Friday: epic. We contacted a former investigator that went down to the south and just returned. She said we could meet her. Her house is FFFFAAAARRRRRR away. Heres where it gets really fun. So, we biking on what might as well be the auto-bahn of Thailand (which is really any straight road that stretches out for longer than a mile) going about pretty fast.. i dont know how fast but we have 24 gears and i was on 22. Fast. As we were getting to the point where we need to turn, we had to change lanes over to the far right, from the left. I was in front, and saw Elder Gambanat changing behind me, so i started swerving over as well... okay! What happens next happens in about 3 seconds: Elder Gambanat hits the curb and almost eats it, i see it out of the corner of my eye, and dont realize im about to do the same, i look forward in front again, and my bike is already colliding with that curb.. adrenaline! SURPRISE, my hand clenches the front brake.. yeah, you see where this is going dont you? "I believe I can fly!" and boy did i ever... ejected instantly. The rest was a blur.. next thing i know, im laying on the median. I get up and have nothing but a tiny raspberry on my right palm. Ive gotten bigger raspberries from volleyball! Oh, dont forget the part where my bike got hit by a CAR! Yeah... imagine if the bike and my body switched places... done. The bike is surprisingly okay. Got up, brushed myself off, and went and taught this investigator. Her names Rain. She has a date now.. WOOHOO! Was a powerful lesson... she wasnt sure if God was there, so we asked her if she knew if the Book of Mormon was true.. she said she felt good when she read it, but doesnt know. Told her it was the key to know if hes there. Make a long story short, we had her pray right there to know.. "How to do you feel?" "Its true..." Sweet! Yeah it is. "will you be baptized on the 3rd of July?" "Yes." Legit. Spirit was so strong. THis is the real "UP" of this week: Ive felt like ive been listening to the promptings of the Spirit the MOST that i ever have. And its yielded some pretty ripe fruit. After that, well.. nothing. Bunch of close eared investigators.

Saturday: I may or may not have rabies. hahah... dont panic, i went to the hospital already. So that raspberry from the bike accident? Yeah, being the tard i am i didnt wrap it up before we left the house, so it was techincally and open wound. We were talking to a family that evening and there dog came out of nowhere and, being the 2 month old dog that it is, starting licking us and going crazy... it licked my hand. Since we were trying to listen to the family talk, we just kinda brushed the dog away, not paying attention to the OPEN WOUND on my right hand.. until a though screamed in my head: "GO TO THE HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW." Yeah.. i listened. Told Sister Smith on the way and she said, "that is absolutely what needs to be done. Go right now." They wrapped it up nicely and gave me the first of 5 shots for rabies :) Yeah.. see what i mean? Crazy week. After that we had a lesson with the other Sister Blessing... dont even get me started... suffice it to say that a member didnt understand that WE are the teachers and SHE is the one to share her testimony and be her friend. She destroyed the lesson. LIke... epicly. Shes got skills in destroying lessons. But shes so willing to help! Feel so bad to say like, "hey sister, can you shut up a little more?".. of course i wouldnt say it like that, but you know what i mean.

Sunday: wake up EXHAUSTED. Sore from falling, sore from a shot in my arm, tired and fasting, and dont forget that we're missionaries. Oh yes.. this week had suffering :) Church? Yeah we had about 7 people CONFIRM by the phone that they would be at Church by 850 in the morning... ZERO showed up. Rain went. We taught her at church, which was a very spiritual lesson in which she prayed for forgiveness, and like seriously? That spirit was insane... so thick you could cut a knife through it! Just kidding, but seirously, LOL. Then after that, about 5 hours of inviting... no one. Until the very end... went to visit one of the guys that said he would go to Church that didnt go and found his son... his son is a pretty smart kid, and already hates beer and cigarettes.. wow, what a gift. We told him about the Book Of Mormon and how it is the evidence that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. He was having trouble believing it... and that point, i got a very clear thought that simply said, "Tell him to open up to page 321 and read the first verse his eyes look at"... uhhhhh what?! Okay, "follow the spirit no matter how crazy it seems!" was part of my answer way back in the MTC. So i did. He was super hesitant to open it and was smiling saying, "whats going to happen?!" I simply smiled... because i had NO idea what was on that page hahahah.. seriously. He opened to Alma 12:15.. good verse. He read it and was like, "uh.. i have no idea what this means." "Yeah pretty intense vocabulary isnt it... how old are you?" "25" "And YOU dont understand it? How many years of schooling have you had?" "I graduated college already." "Think you could write this?" "Not really.. i dont even know these words." "Try not finishing college, high school, or anything over 3 years and then write it." His curiosity was significantly peeked. He agreed to read and pray to know if its true. However, he wouldnt make another appointment cause his schedule is never for sure.

So.. by the end of the week, NO new investigators. Suck. As we invited on this last day, sunday, it was tough for me.. i was trying not to judge others, but lets face it.. i was pretty frustrated. People give excuses that are pretty pathetic and some even straight up say they are lazy. You just get super down because all you want is to help them yet they just dont understand. Ive cooled down since and repented for being so impatient, but it was seirously a trying week.. i didnt even write EVERYTHING that happened, but this is a nice nutshell. All in all, i had to rememer and be grateful for the amazing experience that Sister Rain had, and the answer that Heavenly Father gave her right in front of us. I had to be grateful that i didnt DIE. Thats nice. ANd i had to realize that the spirit was very strong this past week. It was a GOOD week. I found solace in the scriptures and prayer once again.. helped me get through it. MY companion is a champ and our district leader really helped to. Come what may and love it. I know that this was a growth opportunity and i am grateful that he loves me, and each one of us, to "cut us down" sometimes so that we will be more humble and more reliant on him. Everyone can always be a little more humble. A little repenting and a lot of forgiving goes a long way. I always have my family too :) Love you guys. Thanks for the support and your prayers.. really feel em.

Love you,

Elder Gudmundsen