Sent today!
There is currently a drop of sweat creeping down my backside.. would you like to get that for me?
How are you all? sabaaydii! I wonder how someone would pronounce that in English? probably pretty Talog. So big news.. i didnt move from Asoke! Oh wait.. i think i already told you it.. oh right, big news is im with a Thai elder again.. HHAAHAH... i guess my thai really is that horrible that i need a 4th thai companion.. wow. Got to transfer meeting and knew already it was going to be this Elder (Elder Siripan) and so we sat together. President SMith called his name we both stood up next to each other.. President Smith looked up and just chuckled... "goin to the Beast with Elder Gudmundsen.".. yee son! So at least another 6 weeks with nothing but Thai. Super.
Lets get into it then.. Sandy: Passed! With flying colors. Elder Grover said that by her prayer he knew that she was already ready. She brought a friend too! Her name is Lucky. She has 3 kids. She sat in sacrament. She cried during the prayer. She will get baptized hahahah! So boss. Sandy is gonna bring some friends to the baptism as well. Will be pretty sweet. In Gospel Principles she shared a thought about the concept of angency and everyone was looking at her like "is she a member or an investigator?!".. like, astonished exceedingly at the awesomeness that was her response. She cited President Monson from a talk that she read a while ago.. wow.
Tam and Nog.. uh, well lets just say we had to move the date again because the arent ready. Some things came up. Some things that we have to be sensitive too and work it out with them. Thats the beauty of the gospel though.. as we were stressing out (actually when i say we I mean myself) about what to do to help them, we just went with our original plan because the basic principles of the gospel can cover it all and fix the biggest problems with small means (isnt there a verse that says something like "by small and simple things great things are brought to pass?". Something like that.. ;)
Last week after email, we went to teach this one guy named Andy. Met him a while ago but he went to Phuket for the holidays and got back just recently. We went to follow up with him about his experience at church and he said he really enjoyed it. Hes a super funny guy.. best Thai-glish in the world.. HANDS down the best ive ever heard.. he speaks thai and just replaces all pronouns of "you" or "I" in thai with just that.. You or I. Its hilarious. And he speaks way fast. Anyway, we went over there and read the Book of Mormon with him. He felt great. Asked him if he believed that it was true.. he said "sure kind of". We had already given him a soft commitment and then we committed him to pray in front of us then. He prayed. Asked him how he felt.... "uh.. how bout you guess what im feeling.". We "guessed" (if you want to call it that.. but really we just listend for the spirit to tell us what to say) and hit the money.. 5 times. He was surprised none the less and was just like... "okay thats weird, but yes, exactly". Committed him to baptism. Hook line and sinker! He saw the baptism of the other Elders investigators and felt way good too. Yesterday Brother Tom (my comp Tom) totally took him under his wing.. so nice when you dont have to ask people to do that! We were teaching Lucky before sacrament and so we didnt have time or the opportunity to grab someone to sit with Andy, but when we went into sacrament meeting (right as it started) Tom was already sitting with him. Lagiiittt.
Niyome. Still a boss. He tries so hard to read the scriptures.. just never gets. Sat down with him.. "have you inquired of the Lord?". He hadnt been praying before and after his reading sessions. The next time we met: "ohhooo! Elders ive been praying before and now everything makes sense!". Pretty boss. Mack is his fellowshipper and is still a boss. Niyome is like his bets friends.. its quite adorable.
Other than these people, the other investigators we are teaching are just starting.
This week we met with the Stake President and he is a great man. It felt really good to walk into his office and see on his board a bunch of ideas that him and his councelors talked about concerning the Asia Area presidencies invitations for this year spewed all over the place.. they didnt waste a breath on getting out and applying the thigns learned in the stake. He is super enthusiastic about the work and respects the missionary work with all his heart. Hes good for the stake.
So today.. i leave with you this: Does everyone know who you are? The Elders Quorum lesson was about "Dare to Stand Alone" from President Monson. At the end, the teacher asked for a show of hands to say what they learned. One member cited a story that an Elder (missionary) shared about talking with people. The member said that "its not necessary to speak loudly or wear a name tag around like they do, but we people ask we need to make it known. We also need to pray for them to be able to open their mouths and talk with people like that". So.. what part of that is wrong? I politely disagree: It as NOT necessary to wear a name tag around because we doitn have that authority, but it IS necessary to open YOUR mouth so YOU can talk to everyone and make it known. You may not have a black name tag with Christs name on it, but you sure have a book with his name on it and you sure can open your mouth and share it with others instead of praying for the missionaries to do your work. So.. do people know who you are?
Love you all,
Elder Gudmundsen
Monday, January 23, 2012
Hello
Sent Jan. 16:
Good week. Fun. Shorter than the concentration limit of a 2 year old.
Sandy = Boss. Her kid is learning too (the one named "got money") even if he has a lot of extra school.. stupid school (just kidding). Way nice kid. Hes reading the Book of Mormon with his momy and praying too. Eventually hell get baptized. Sandy is working on referrals for us. Her entire work place has work off on SUnday.. thats like.. asking to be drowne--i mean thrown in wat--i mean baptized... yeah thats the one i was looking for. One of them is name lucky.. oh is she ever!
Tam and Nog.. doing well. They are pretty much like the people that ALma described as "more blessed" in ALma 32.. because they arent compelled to believe in the word.. they just do. We were reviewing the baptismal commitments with them and their testimonies are pretty strong. Their kids? Doing swell. Pheonix just walks around the church like she owns the place now.. and she goes into nursery no problem. I was standing outside the Gospel Principles class about to go in and Nog went in before me.. i was so surprised because usually it takes about 10 minutes for Pheonix to get along with the other kids and the teachers.. not yesterday son! Boss.
Niyom is doing fantastic as well.. taught him a lot of stuff.. hes going through BIG changes.. lot of old bad habits that he hasnt kicked yet.. but hes so willing to do it. He has started on the road to repentance and is not getting off it. Him keeping the sabbath day already truly helps him.. that day is so important for him.. doesnt have to worry about work or any nonsense like that.. just think about the savior and repent. And serve if needed.
We had a lot of inviting this past week.. trying to find new investigators cause a lot of the old people just arent progressing. We did find this one girl that was totally into it.. taught the message of the restoration in the first lesson (she was from english) and she totally got it. Everything clicked for her. She accepted the date with flying colors. SHe was one of the ones that Joseph described as "not knowing where to find it". But.. then that all changed.. at some point, she decided that she loved us.. like.. LOVED us. She called over and over again without stopping and then when we finally picked up, she dropped the bomb.. yeah hung up that phone immediately! She decided to text us after that. a lot... i wont read any of what was said just because its too.. innappropriate. Granted, we arent teaching her anymore. It was such a weird change.. we didnt see it coming at all.. like.. at all! The lesson was so bomb. But you know.. how quick to do iniquity and slow to do good are the children of men right? Bummer.
That one 13 year old.. such a boss. He went again to sacrament meeting. We went to pick him up (a little alte) and couldnt find him.. just walked around for ab it while ELijah waited in the car. Upon not finding him, we decided that we had to go.. as we turned out of the apartment, he comes flying around the corner on his brothers bike (his brother is a decepticon) huggin his book of Mormon! So perfect timing. Before that Brother Elijahs daughter (way funny by the way) yelled, "why isnt their a kid in this car!". Oh man! So funny.. i called them today about FHE and she picked up. "You want to talk to daddy? Sure.. wait... DAAAAADDDDDD!!... wait... wait... wwwwaaaaiiiittt.... waiit.. wait.. wait... wait..wait..wait...wait...........................wwaaaiitt..." Oh man.. she should do stand up! Anyway. Tong is doing good. He doesnt know a lot nor does he understand, but hes just so humble! Gotta work out the logistics to make sure we can teach him and bapitze... hopefully his father will see it and get on board again.
In other things.. well now much.. we went sight seeing today.. you will love these pics for sure! But i dont have time to upload them right now.. sorry. Next week. And then there was this big thailand priesthood training meeting from Elder Gong of the Asia area presidency. Way good. I think this will do a lot of good for thailand. They talked about 4 "invitations" for the priesthood body to start doing.. obviously it starts in the leadership, so they only had district and stake presidencies there, bishoprics and elders quorum presidents. They talked a lot about why these things need to be done in unity and together in one body. They used a lot of the words of the prophets and then had everyone stand with the missionaries that they work closest with.. it was kind of ironic when some of the leaders couldnt figure out who they worked with.. what a SLAP to the face. Really good stuff.
Well, time is short (like my time left) and we gotta run to some appointments. Things are bustling in thailand. Say goodbye to Elder Furr (but not asoke!) and say hello to my new companion. Literally.. just say hello to "new companion" cause right now thats his name. Love you all. Thanks for your support.. Read your scriptures!
Elder Gudmundsen
Good week. Fun. Shorter than the concentration limit of a 2 year old.
Sandy = Boss. Her kid is learning too (the one named "got money") even if he has a lot of extra school.. stupid school (just kidding). Way nice kid. Hes reading the Book of Mormon with his momy and praying too. Eventually hell get baptized. Sandy is working on referrals for us. Her entire work place has work off on SUnday.. thats like.. asking to be drowne--i mean thrown in wat--i mean baptized... yeah thats the one i was looking for. One of them is name lucky.. oh is she ever!
Tam and Nog.. doing well. They are pretty much like the people that ALma described as "more blessed" in ALma 32.. because they arent compelled to believe in the word.. they just do. We were reviewing the baptismal commitments with them and their testimonies are pretty strong. Their kids? Doing swell. Pheonix just walks around the church like she owns the place now.. and she goes into nursery no problem. I was standing outside the Gospel Principles class about to go in and Nog went in before me.. i was so surprised because usually it takes about 10 minutes for Pheonix to get along with the other kids and the teachers.. not yesterday son! Boss.
Niyom is doing fantastic as well.. taught him a lot of stuff.. hes going through BIG changes.. lot of old bad habits that he hasnt kicked yet.. but hes so willing to do it. He has started on the road to repentance and is not getting off it. Him keeping the sabbath day already truly helps him.. that day is so important for him.. doesnt have to worry about work or any nonsense like that.. just think about the savior and repent. And serve if needed.
We had a lot of inviting this past week.. trying to find new investigators cause a lot of the old people just arent progressing. We did find this one girl that was totally into it.. taught the message of the restoration in the first lesson (she was from english) and she totally got it. Everything clicked for her. She accepted the date with flying colors. SHe was one of the ones that Joseph described as "not knowing where to find it". But.. then that all changed.. at some point, she decided that she loved us.. like.. LOVED us. She called over and over again without stopping and then when we finally picked up, she dropped the bomb.. yeah hung up that phone immediately! She decided to text us after that. a lot... i wont read any of what was said just because its too.. innappropriate. Granted, we arent teaching her anymore. It was such a weird change.. we didnt see it coming at all.. like.. at all! The lesson was so bomb. But you know.. how quick to do iniquity and slow to do good are the children of men right? Bummer.
That one 13 year old.. such a boss. He went again to sacrament meeting. We went to pick him up (a little alte) and couldnt find him.. just walked around for ab it while ELijah waited in the car. Upon not finding him, we decided that we had to go.. as we turned out of the apartment, he comes flying around the corner on his brothers bike (his brother is a decepticon) huggin his book of Mormon! So perfect timing. Before that Brother Elijahs daughter (way funny by the way) yelled, "why isnt their a kid in this car!". Oh man! So funny.. i called them today about FHE and she picked up. "You want to talk to daddy? Sure.. wait... DAAAAADDDDDD!!... wait... wait... wwwwaaaaiiiittt.... waiit.. wait.. wait... wait..wait..wait...wait...........................wwaaaiitt..." Oh man.. she should do stand up! Anyway. Tong is doing good. He doesnt know a lot nor does he understand, but hes just so humble! Gotta work out the logistics to make sure we can teach him and bapitze... hopefully his father will see it and get on board again.
In other things.. well now much.. we went sight seeing today.. you will love these pics for sure! But i dont have time to upload them right now.. sorry. Next week. And then there was this big thailand priesthood training meeting from Elder Gong of the Asia area presidency. Way good. I think this will do a lot of good for thailand. They talked about 4 "invitations" for the priesthood body to start doing.. obviously it starts in the leadership, so they only had district and stake presidencies there, bishoprics and elders quorum presidents. They talked a lot about why these things need to be done in unity and together in one body. They used a lot of the words of the prophets and then had everyone stand with the missionaries that they work closest with.. it was kind of ironic when some of the leaders couldnt figure out who they worked with.. what a SLAP to the face. Really good stuff.
Well, time is short (like my time left) and we gotta run to some appointments. Things are bustling in thailand. Say goodbye to Elder Furr (but not asoke!) and say hello to my new companion. Literally.. just say hello to "new companion" cause right now thats his name. Love you all. Thanks for your support.. Read your scriptures!
Elder Gudmundsen
Sup
Sent Jan.8:
Good week. Fast as sin (dont ask about the comparison).
Elder Furr are almost to the end of our long awaited companionship... NO! But alas, it must come. This week will be about as long as the concentration duration of a 2 year old... Yeah, that short. Can you dig?
Weve got a couple training meetings, followed by some exchanges (yay i get to exchange with Elder Komgrid!) and then another training meeting, which should be amazing by the way, and then thats the week.. done! Should be fun. There is a country-wide leadership training meeting happening this saturday that is being taught by Elder Gong (the same that conducted the mission tour not long ago). I get to go. Yay.
So over here in Asoke, lets go over our investigators shall we? Sandy.. doin great. She fasted.. barely made it. Ironically after that (and right before her interview for baptism) she broke her fast.. by eating at a restaurant next to the Church... face palm. Instead of having her go in and interview for the 2nd time and get rejected, Brother Tom (yes, my companion Elder Tom) sat down with her and just simply laid it down: "You cant be baptized now". She took it well and of course felt super regretfull.. but she understands the importance of it. She went home and was praying and reading and repenting and called us back to say that she is glad that she now has more time to give the amount of importance to the Sabbath Day as it requires. Good.
Her son (whos name is Got Money! hahahah.. thats so boss) is totally on board. Like, even Sandy is surprised.. he cried when his father made him go to school before church.. but the stud somehow came to church on his own anyway. Yeah. Boss. He loves Koreans.. nuff said, right? haha. But he feels way good at chruch. Bam.
Next would of course be Tam and Nog. Doin way good.. they looked way happy yesterday. Funny story.. last week i was talking to this member and trying to get a referral out of her (didnt get it as of yesterday) and committed her to take this book of Mormon and write her testimony in it and give it to a friend. She said she would.. unfortunately it wasnt a clean/new book of Mormon.. it was Tam's! Haha he left it on a chair and so i just grabbed it quickly. Later that night he was freaking out trying to find it and when we finally figured out where it had went, we of course gave it back.. yesterday. He took it and just lit up like a baby on Christmas morning! He was like flippin through it just lookin to make sure that all his notes were there and his papers.. quite adorable. Fino and Phoenix are doing great.. cute as ever. They will be interviewed this week assuming all goes according to plan.
This one gay named Niyom.. i think ive written about him already.. he drives a taxi? Yeah, hes got a date for the 11th of Feb but we met some obstacles with question 4 in which he will have to have a 2nd interview. He understands why they were wrong and is on the path to godly sorrow. Mack is like his best friend.. we taught him on saturday at 1130 and we left to teach another apointment.. we came back around the church at 330 to eat and begin our fast, and he was still there chatting away with Mack.. its really quite adorable how much Niyom respects Mack.. you remember that taxi driver from a ways back? 2 things happened with that guy.. the first would be his son went to Church. and the 2nd would be the fact that we are gathering a possy of taxi drivers to go get him to church.. Pow. Anyway, hes a stud.
So on to that kid.. one day we were waiting for a member to meet us in Tam and Nogs neighborhood to go teach a lesson and as we were waiting a group of kids came over to talk to us.. they asked if we were going to go see Dong (how else am i supposed to right it?). We answered "uhh.. no not today, why?" "Cause he goes upstairs everynight and prays.. says hes gonna be Christian soon."... Elder Furr and i just did a double take at each other.. "well.. if his father isnt interested lets at least get the kid!". On saturday we stopped by the house after a long while and sat down just to ask if Dong wanted to go to Church. he said yes but he doesnt have a way to go. "if we came to pick you up will you go" "Yes!". So we did. Brother Elijah came in his oversized american toyota sienna (without license plates and the drivers side on the wrong side of the vehicle) and picked him up. As we were walking down the stairs to the car, i kid you not.. at least 7 times we heard from people, "hey where you going? Dong what are you doing? Where you going?.... "Church!... Church. Church!.. Church... Church!".. hahaha such a stud. Hes only 13 but he made it to church and then had a fun time. He hung out with Sandys kid too.. about the same age. Sister Nang took care of him when we were teaching.. good thing too shes old enough to be his mother! Lulz. We took him home.. we didnt hear the questions and frankly we didnt need to to know what was asked.. Just dongs responses suffice.. "Church!.. Church.!" haha. Bam and Pow.
In other things.. I had a fun time on exchanges.. had to go interview this guy from another district leaders area for baptism.. he lives out in Chonburi which is not actually an area.. its about an hour and a half from the nearest church unit but half of that church units members are from it (why hasnt it opened yet? Dunno..). Anyway.. we exchanged and started heading out there at about 3 oclock.. long story short, we got there at 730.. yeah, we knew we werent getting home on time for sure.. but i mean when you are already passed the point of no return (on time) we had to make it worth while.. I didnt start the interview until 745 and then stopped just to talk to Elder Larson (the AP) about it just so he knew what was up. He said to keep going and just get home when we could. I was feeling pretty bad about not being obedient, but his counsel afterwards made it a lot better. I wont tell you what time we get home (or how either.. that can be another day.). It was a good experience though and he did end up passing. During the interview we were talking about the Book of Mormon and its power and although he believed, I asked him if he had every prayed about it to gain a higher more firm confirmation.. he said no. So we got on our knees and he asked Heavenly Father about the Book of Mormon. When he was done, he sat up and just kinda stared off in a daze.. i asked him how he felt and he said he couldnt describe it, but that he knew for sure it was from God. It was pretty powerful and my short story doesnt do it justice. Same thing happened to Elijah's daughter.. the international Elders were teaching a vietnamese family at his house and they committed the family to pray about the Book of Mormon. Elijahs daughter over heard and asked later "we can pray about anything we want?!". Elijah testified of it, and his daughter (like.. 8 years old) went into her room and asked God if it was true.. she said she felt at peace and really happy and knew it was from God. On sunday she bore her testimony in sacrament meeting! Bam.. anyone ever scared of testifying in front of the congregation? How bout when nobody can understand you? Boss! I testify to those things to.. if you pray about it and listen, you can and will get an answer (of course in the Lords timing). Pretty amazing. Its nothing new either, but everytime its miraculous.
Well, i think im done for today. I leave you with the words of President George Albert Smith: "Our religion must find expression in our everyday lives".. I like that. Ask yourself: Does it? If it does, awesome. If not, find out how to do so. Like everything else, i cant promise that the Lord will bless you with riches, but i can promise that he will richly bless you. Love you guys. Thanks for your support.
Elder Gudmundsen
PS: Read your scriptures. I wanna hear your SpiT's (spiritual thoughts).
Good week. Fast as sin (dont ask about the comparison).
Elder Furr are almost to the end of our long awaited companionship... NO! But alas, it must come. This week will be about as long as the concentration duration of a 2 year old... Yeah, that short. Can you dig?
Weve got a couple training meetings, followed by some exchanges (yay i get to exchange with Elder Komgrid!) and then another training meeting, which should be amazing by the way, and then thats the week.. done! Should be fun. There is a country-wide leadership training meeting happening this saturday that is being taught by Elder Gong (the same that conducted the mission tour not long ago). I get to go. Yay.
So over here in Asoke, lets go over our investigators shall we? Sandy.. doin great. She fasted.. barely made it. Ironically after that (and right before her interview for baptism) she broke her fast.. by eating at a restaurant next to the Church... face palm. Instead of having her go in and interview for the 2nd time and get rejected, Brother Tom (yes, my companion Elder Tom) sat down with her and just simply laid it down: "You cant be baptized now". She took it well and of course felt super regretfull.. but she understands the importance of it. She went home and was praying and reading and repenting and called us back to say that she is glad that she now has more time to give the amount of importance to the Sabbath Day as it requires. Good.
Her son (whos name is Got Money! hahahah.. thats so boss) is totally on board. Like, even Sandy is surprised.. he cried when his father made him go to school before church.. but the stud somehow came to church on his own anyway. Yeah. Boss. He loves Koreans.. nuff said, right? haha. But he feels way good at chruch. Bam.
Next would of course be Tam and Nog. Doin way good.. they looked way happy yesterday. Funny story.. last week i was talking to this member and trying to get a referral out of her (didnt get it as of yesterday) and committed her to take this book of Mormon and write her testimony in it and give it to a friend. She said she would.. unfortunately it wasnt a clean/new book of Mormon.. it was Tam's! Haha he left it on a chair and so i just grabbed it quickly. Later that night he was freaking out trying to find it and when we finally figured out where it had went, we of course gave it back.. yesterday. He took it and just lit up like a baby on Christmas morning! He was like flippin through it just lookin to make sure that all his notes were there and his papers.. quite adorable. Fino and Phoenix are doing great.. cute as ever. They will be interviewed this week assuming all goes according to plan.
This one gay named Niyom.. i think ive written about him already.. he drives a taxi? Yeah, hes got a date for the 11th of Feb but we met some obstacles with question 4 in which he will have to have a 2nd interview. He understands why they were wrong and is on the path to godly sorrow. Mack is like his best friend.. we taught him on saturday at 1130 and we left to teach another apointment.. we came back around the church at 330 to eat and begin our fast, and he was still there chatting away with Mack.. its really quite adorable how much Niyom respects Mack.. you remember that taxi driver from a ways back? 2 things happened with that guy.. the first would be his son went to Church. and the 2nd would be the fact that we are gathering a possy of taxi drivers to go get him to church.. Pow. Anyway, hes a stud.
So on to that kid.. one day we were waiting for a member to meet us in Tam and Nogs neighborhood to go teach a lesson and as we were waiting a group of kids came over to talk to us.. they asked if we were going to go see Dong (how else am i supposed to right it?). We answered "uhh.. no not today, why?" "Cause he goes upstairs everynight and prays.. says hes gonna be Christian soon."... Elder Furr and i just did a double take at each other.. "well.. if his father isnt interested lets at least get the kid!". On saturday we stopped by the house after a long while and sat down just to ask if Dong wanted to go to Church. he said yes but he doesnt have a way to go. "if we came to pick you up will you go" "Yes!". So we did. Brother Elijah came in his oversized american toyota sienna (without license plates and the drivers side on the wrong side of the vehicle) and picked him up. As we were walking down the stairs to the car, i kid you not.. at least 7 times we heard from people, "hey where you going? Dong what are you doing? Where you going?.... "Church!... Church. Church!.. Church... Church!".. hahaha such a stud. Hes only 13 but he made it to church and then had a fun time. He hung out with Sandys kid too.. about the same age. Sister Nang took care of him when we were teaching.. good thing too shes old enough to be his mother! Lulz. We took him home.. we didnt hear the questions and frankly we didnt need to to know what was asked.. Just dongs responses suffice.. "Church!.. Church.!" haha. Bam and Pow.
In other things.. I had a fun time on exchanges.. had to go interview this guy from another district leaders area for baptism.. he lives out in Chonburi which is not actually an area.. its about an hour and a half from the nearest church unit but half of that church units members are from it (why hasnt it opened yet? Dunno..). Anyway.. we exchanged and started heading out there at about 3 oclock.. long story short, we got there at 730.. yeah, we knew we werent getting home on time for sure.. but i mean when you are already passed the point of no return (on time) we had to make it worth while.. I didnt start the interview until 745 and then stopped just to talk to Elder Larson (the AP) about it just so he knew what was up. He said to keep going and just get home when we could. I was feeling pretty bad about not being obedient, but his counsel afterwards made it a lot better. I wont tell you what time we get home (or how either.. that can be another day.). It was a good experience though and he did end up passing. During the interview we were talking about the Book of Mormon and its power and although he believed, I asked him if he had every prayed about it to gain a higher more firm confirmation.. he said no. So we got on our knees and he asked Heavenly Father about the Book of Mormon. When he was done, he sat up and just kinda stared off in a daze.. i asked him how he felt and he said he couldnt describe it, but that he knew for sure it was from God. It was pretty powerful and my short story doesnt do it justice. Same thing happened to Elijah's daughter.. the international Elders were teaching a vietnamese family at his house and they committed the family to pray about the Book of Mormon. Elijahs daughter over heard and asked later "we can pray about anything we want?!". Elijah testified of it, and his daughter (like.. 8 years old) went into her room and asked God if it was true.. she said she felt at peace and really happy and knew it was from God. On sunday she bore her testimony in sacrament meeting! Bam.. anyone ever scared of testifying in front of the congregation? How bout when nobody can understand you? Boss! I testify to those things to.. if you pray about it and listen, you can and will get an answer (of course in the Lords timing). Pretty amazing. Its nothing new either, but everytime its miraculous.
Well, i think im done for today. I leave you with the words of President George Albert Smith: "Our religion must find expression in our everyday lives".. I like that. Ask yourself: Does it? If it does, awesome. If not, find out how to do so. Like everything else, i cant promise that the Lord will bless you with riches, but i can promise that he will richly bless you. Love you guys. Thanks for your support.
Elder Gudmundsen
PS: Read your scriptures. I wanna hear your SpiT's (spiritual thoughts).
Sick...
Sent Jan. 1, 2012:
Hey thanks for writing me everyone! I got no emails to respond to. In that case, ill just have to talk about myself.
Good week. I hate new years. So annoying.. too many drunk people.. too many hung over people... too much beer. Drove past a group of dudes on Friday.. drove past those same dudes 2 days later on sunday morning.. still there.. only the number of bottles compiling up was significantly higher that before. Crazy. Is Kaoraoke rreally that fun? Guess so. Ill tell you one thing, everyone totally flees the City of Angels during this time.. the streets were absolutely DEAD. Like, it was even hard to get a taxi. I wish the City of Angels was always like this. Unfortunately, everyone is on their way back right now and the roads will once again be bumper to bumper. Boring.
As far as investigators go, well Sandy needed a little more time before shes ready, but shes super ready already.. yeah i just used those words repeatedly what of it? Anyway, she brought her 2 kids to Church! Woohoo! Awesome. They enjoyed it.. i think. The one daughter has a lot of extra studies to do (i dont know how to say it in english cause if i did i would end up saying Special Learning which makes her sound like she is a _____ you know the word Josh) and so isnt that free. Since it was new years however she was able to go to Church. We gave Sister Sandy President Uchtdorfs talk about what matters most and committed her to read it.. hopefully she will see what we are getting at when he says that love is spelled t-i-m-e TIME! If she doesnt get it, well we will just tell her she needs to take her out of special learning haha. Shell get it. Her baptism will be next week. For sure!
Tam and Nog. Studs. We learned some new stuff.. most of it good. Its nothing that will be a problem for them, its just what happened with some members. They left a few times in the middle of church (meaning between hours) and we asked them why. They said that when members gossip about their kids being loud, and do it loudly like not even lopeing it, they kinda would rather be at home. So sometimes they left. Elijah, like the boss he is, told them that his kids are way louder than theirs and that nobody cares about kids being loud, but then double taked and said "if anyone does, well who cares about them".. haha. Couldnt have said it better myself. Seirously though.. i dont know why people make such a big deal out of it.. like, ive heard this before and ive come to the conclusion that it is totally bologne: "the loud kids interrupt the spirit".. bologne! YOU getting mad at the parents OR the kids is what interrupted the spirit. I refuse to believe that the spirit with withdraw itself because of a kid that "has no responsibility" and doesnt know what he or she is doing. Thats a bunch of apostate crap if you ask me. The Savior commands us to "suffer the children to come unto him, and FORBID them not". How could it be any clearer!? I finally understand what the Savior meant when he said 'SUFFER it" to be that way.. if you literally ahve to suffer through it, you better make sure you shut up while doing it. Now, of course it doesnt hurt to take a crying baby outside into the foyer if they are having a fit-coutesy is always good- but never does a kid drive the spirit away, no matter how loud they are. If they are eight, well they arent kids anymore and are then responsible for their own actions. I think this might actually be one of my tender-ist strings to pull.. i dont think i ever want to hear anyone complain about little kids in sacrament, or anywhere in church for that matter, ever again! If i do, whoever is complaining will have a lot more to "suffer" through than a baby crying in their face. Werd. Anyway, they are studs. Great faith. Great sacrifice to get to Church. And their kids.. i might steal them. Pics are up. Their date is on the 28th.
In addition to these people, we got 2 freebie daters basically (well actually they werent freebies, and ill explain why not later). One of them was a taxi driver that drove a member to church and he came last week. Hes has always wanted to learn about Christianity and so when the member invited him to learn more (wow.. so simple.. an invite) he said yes. We taught him and he accepted the date no problem. He knows about not worshipping "dumb idols" and about the word of wisdom and what not. Way nice guy too. We only taught him once, but hes on the path. His name is Neyome.
The next one is Aum. She is from the zone leaders in Bang Bua Thong (yeah, go ahead an laugh at the name, but that is literally how it is spelled in english). Havent gotten to meet her actually but she separated from her boyfriend and moved to our area.. doesnt get much more free than that.
Now, the reason i say that it wasnt necessarily free is because there has to be a sacrifice first. The sacrifice? "The sweat of a mans brow". Simple. You get out. You invite. You sometimes teach. You are blessed. As we sacrifice by pounding pavement, the Lord will lead people to us. Its pretty sweet that President Monson talkeda bout attitude.. cause thats all it is. You want to have a good time while sweating, you will. Make jokes, have fun, be fun. Thats all it is. Do everything is wisdom of course, but you cant be hitting the pavement with a frown on you face. You can make it fun if you so desire it. Elder Furr and i discussed this and taught it in a district meeting on tuesday.. it was perfect timing. THe next day, President Smith lead a discussion in zone leader council about how the mission is slacking on inviting and pounding pavement. The Spirit is with us. Theres this myth going around that inviting will be done away with eventually. false. Of course, it should be members finding and us teaching, but frankly some places (thailand included) arent ready for that. We can barely keep hold of those who are baptized right now, at THIS rate. Some people spend hours in their homes trying to figure out a way to help the work progress and they think that it fulfills their purpose.. quite frankly, hittin the pavement is way more effective and way more efficient. Plus, you still have time to GET referrals if you follow PMG. Speaking of which, we met Sister Nang (who got baptized in november) to bring us over to meet her family. Yeah, that was awesome. THey didnt know she was Christian. "Sister Nang could you share what role prayer has had for you? Sure, so you guys dont know this yet, but im Christian. Yeah i was baptized a few months ago and...." oh man! Some of the widest eyes ive ever seen! But they accepted it well. Her testimony was strong. Her younger step sister went to be a monk for 5 days so we will teach again when shes done.
Good week. Happy New Years. Have fun not achieving your new years resolutions (just kidding). For me, well it is to continue reading the Book of Mormon every month. Finished on the 31st. 10:20. Made it to bed on time too. Im memorizing a verse a day too. Ever since i started that those verses have become even more applicable during inviting and teaching. Cool. That last one i have is i carry a small notebook around with me now.. just write everything i think of.. well not everything, but a lot. Love you guys. This work is true. So true. We are so priveleged to be a part of it (i know i didnt spell it right). 6 months! Home strech. Lets get it done!
Elder Gudmundsen
Hey thanks for writing me everyone! I got no emails to respond to. In that case, ill just have to talk about myself.
Good week. I hate new years. So annoying.. too many drunk people.. too many hung over people... too much beer. Drove past a group of dudes on Friday.. drove past those same dudes 2 days later on sunday morning.. still there.. only the number of bottles compiling up was significantly higher that before. Crazy. Is Kaoraoke rreally that fun? Guess so. Ill tell you one thing, everyone totally flees the City of Angels during this time.. the streets were absolutely DEAD. Like, it was even hard to get a taxi. I wish the City of Angels was always like this. Unfortunately, everyone is on their way back right now and the roads will once again be bumper to bumper. Boring.
As far as investigators go, well Sandy needed a little more time before shes ready, but shes super ready already.. yeah i just used those words repeatedly what of it? Anyway, she brought her 2 kids to Church! Woohoo! Awesome. They enjoyed it.. i think. The one daughter has a lot of extra studies to do (i dont know how to say it in english cause if i did i would end up saying Special Learning which makes her sound like she is a _____ you know the word Josh) and so isnt that free. Since it was new years however she was able to go to Church. We gave Sister Sandy President Uchtdorfs talk about what matters most and committed her to read it.. hopefully she will see what we are getting at when he says that love is spelled t-i-m-e TIME! If she doesnt get it, well we will just tell her she needs to take her out of special learning haha. Shell get it. Her baptism will be next week. For sure!
Tam and Nog. Studs. We learned some new stuff.. most of it good. Its nothing that will be a problem for them, its just what happened with some members. They left a few times in the middle of church (meaning between hours) and we asked them why. They said that when members gossip about their kids being loud, and do it loudly like not even lopeing it, they kinda would rather be at home. So sometimes they left. Elijah, like the boss he is, told them that his kids are way louder than theirs and that nobody cares about kids being loud, but then double taked and said "if anyone does, well who cares about them".. haha. Couldnt have said it better myself. Seirously though.. i dont know why people make such a big deal out of it.. like, ive heard this before and ive come to the conclusion that it is totally bologne: "the loud kids interrupt the spirit".. bologne! YOU getting mad at the parents OR the kids is what interrupted the spirit. I refuse to believe that the spirit with withdraw itself because of a kid that "has no responsibility" and doesnt know what he or she is doing. Thats a bunch of apostate crap if you ask me. The Savior commands us to "suffer the children to come unto him, and FORBID them not". How could it be any clearer!? I finally understand what the Savior meant when he said 'SUFFER it" to be that way.. if you literally ahve to suffer through it, you better make sure you shut up while doing it. Now, of course it doesnt hurt to take a crying baby outside into the foyer if they are having a fit-coutesy is always good- but never does a kid drive the spirit away, no matter how loud they are. If they are eight, well they arent kids anymore and are then responsible for their own actions. I think this might actually be one of my tender-ist strings to pull.. i dont think i ever want to hear anyone complain about little kids in sacrament, or anywhere in church for that matter, ever again! If i do, whoever is complaining will have a lot more to "suffer" through than a baby crying in their face. Werd. Anyway, they are studs. Great faith. Great sacrifice to get to Church. And their kids.. i might steal them. Pics are up. Their date is on the 28th.
In addition to these people, we got 2 freebie daters basically (well actually they werent freebies, and ill explain why not later). One of them was a taxi driver that drove a member to church and he came last week. Hes has always wanted to learn about Christianity and so when the member invited him to learn more (wow.. so simple.. an invite) he said yes. We taught him and he accepted the date no problem. He knows about not worshipping "dumb idols" and about the word of wisdom and what not. Way nice guy too. We only taught him once, but hes on the path. His name is Neyome.
The next one is Aum. She is from the zone leaders in Bang Bua Thong (yeah, go ahead an laugh at the name, but that is literally how it is spelled in english). Havent gotten to meet her actually but she separated from her boyfriend and moved to our area.. doesnt get much more free than that.
Now, the reason i say that it wasnt necessarily free is because there has to be a sacrifice first. The sacrifice? "The sweat of a mans brow". Simple. You get out. You invite. You sometimes teach. You are blessed. As we sacrifice by pounding pavement, the Lord will lead people to us. Its pretty sweet that President Monson talkeda bout attitude.. cause thats all it is. You want to have a good time while sweating, you will. Make jokes, have fun, be fun. Thats all it is. Do everything is wisdom of course, but you cant be hitting the pavement with a frown on you face. You can make it fun if you so desire it. Elder Furr and i discussed this and taught it in a district meeting on tuesday.. it was perfect timing. THe next day, President Smith lead a discussion in zone leader council about how the mission is slacking on inviting and pounding pavement. The Spirit is with us. Theres this myth going around that inviting will be done away with eventually. false. Of course, it should be members finding and us teaching, but frankly some places (thailand included) arent ready for that. We can barely keep hold of those who are baptized right now, at THIS rate. Some people spend hours in their homes trying to figure out a way to help the work progress and they think that it fulfills their purpose.. quite frankly, hittin the pavement is way more effective and way more efficient. Plus, you still have time to GET referrals if you follow PMG. Speaking of which, we met Sister Nang (who got baptized in november) to bring us over to meet her family. Yeah, that was awesome. THey didnt know she was Christian. "Sister Nang could you share what role prayer has had for you? Sure, so you guys dont know this yet, but im Christian. Yeah i was baptized a few months ago and...." oh man! Some of the widest eyes ive ever seen! But they accepted it well. Her testimony was strong. Her younger step sister went to be a monk for 5 days so we will teach again when shes done.
Good week. Happy New Years. Have fun not achieving your new years resolutions (just kidding). For me, well it is to continue reading the Book of Mormon every month. Finished on the 31st. 10:20. Made it to bed on time too. Im memorizing a verse a day too. Ever since i started that those verses have become even more applicable during inviting and teaching. Cool. That last one i have is i carry a small notebook around with me now.. just write everything i think of.. well not everything, but a lot. Love you guys. This work is true. So true. We are so priveleged to be a part of it (i know i didnt spell it right). 6 months! Home strech. Lets get it done!
Elder Gudmundsen
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Love you all. Thanks so much for your support and your love. It was great talking to you all this Christmas.. last one right? Crazy. Stay strong, be good examples. Eat more cow (what?).
Elder Gudmundsen
Elder Gudmundsen
Almost Christmas (not x-mas)
Sent Dec. 19, 2011:
Sup. Are you all enjoying the season? Is it nice and cool over there? Cause it sure is here.. sometimes. Just kidding, its actually quite blistering today.. (my pits are leaking).
Anyway, fun week.. started out really strong, and then preparations for the Christmas part, and random stuff popping up like usual got in the way.. kinda annoying. But still a good week.
First up, Sandy. Golden as always. She has prayed about everything and she gets answers to everything she asks.. Now, i know that sometimes praying and opening up the Book of Mormon right after and finding the answer to what you prayed about isnt ALWAYS a definitive answer from God.. i know it can be disputed.. but its happened almost EVERY DAY this past week. She had questions about how to live her life... Alma 37:37... she had questions about how to repent.. Alma 36... she had questions about this and this and this, and everytime she opens up the book of mormon and gets it. Pretty cool. Its just cause she has enough faith to get answers! Pretty epic. She said one day.. "Elder i feel that the Book of Mormon is super AMAZING.". Now after typing that already its not quite as funny as it was in real life, BUT thats okay! She said everything but "amazing" in thai, and then exclaimed amazing in english.. pretty funny... laugh! Shes great.. cries a lot. Cries = testimony right? Wrong. But in her case, yes.
Next is Tam and Nog.. pretty studly.. favorite thing every from his this week: "I was reading the Book of Mormon and dinner and a co-worker who is protestant walked passed me and stopped.. he looked at the Book Of Mormon and sarcastically said 'what is this? Is it even about Christ?' I responded, 'uh, yeah. His name is on the front cover and the church is called in his name.' He walked away."' Pretty funny. Was it the best way to get a referral? Maybe not. But he wasnt even trying to say it in a mean way, but really, is there any other way to put that without sounding sarcastic and sassy? Cant really say it was wrong! They are getting their answer too.. way studly. But they wont make they date just because work is still way busy and well.. they arent ready yet. Plus they will have to be interviewed a second time and they will have to travel a bit of a ways to get there and that will need some planning. They will get it. We set their date for the 14th of next month (and next year) in case i didnt put that one there already.
We have met a lot of formers and a lot of new investigators this past week. In fact, most of our pool it seems like is former investigators. For whatever reason they got set aside for a little while, so hoipefully most of them are ready now. Met a bunch who are still in the SAME neighborhood as the rest of our investigators.. we really dont go anywhere else in our area except for this neighborhood. and we are still not yet finished with it. So many to teach! So many to baptize! So little time.. speaking of time, Elder Seymour, one of our district leaders, came up with a really funny quote.. now, you guys dont know Elder Seymour, but if you did, you would laugh your head off at this phrase.. in fact, you should anyway. So saturday night he was teacfhing late at the Church and we needed to get home.. we looked through the window pointing at our watches and he got the idea.. immediately, he got the quote in his head. "If time were a person.... id punch it in the face, give it a hug, and then walk away."... HAHAHA.. if you dont laugh at that, im convinced you have... no.. SOUL! Funny kid. Hes from San Diego. We shall chill. He dies in 3 ish months.. same with Elder Furr.
On saturday was the stake christmas fireside.. pretty nice. We had a part in it. Sang 2 pieces and it went pretty well. We only practiced 2 days or something like that, but it came out well. We sang It came upon a midnight clear and then Angels we have heard on high. The first was a simple from the hymn book one and the second was a special number with piano. I really liked it. It was a 2 Tenor, Bass and Baritone part song.. Elder Pimp and i sang Tenor.. oh man those notes were kinda high. Sounded deece.
Um what else.. Oh yeah! This... so Elder Grover who is one of our district leaders in Asoke, was checking out less active members in the phone and in other places and decided to call a few. He called a family. Simply said who he was and invited them to Church. They came.... thats the end of my story! Imagine that.. it is really as simple as that. Now, we will just work with the different quorums and auxilleries to get them back in to full activity.. but really.. thats it! All Elder Grover did was make a phone call and he came. Members were saying they looked like the happiest people on the planet yesterday. Crazy. The family went up to Elder Furr and asked him if he was the one that called him and Elder Furr said it was someone else. Elder Furr asked Elder Grover when he taught them and how he got them to church.. Elder Grover responded.. "what? I dont even know them! Never met them in my life... all i did was call em!" Laughing insued. So cool. Call someone! Invite someone to an activity! Invite them to Church. Just get people to feel of the spirit. Such a cool experience. Other thing that was amazing at church was that they called every recent convert within the last 2 months to bear their testimony in sacrament. Brilliant. All i hvae to say about it.
Okoay well im over it.. tired hahah. Ill see you next week.. for real. Love you all. Church is true. Merry Christmas!
Elder Gudmundsen
Sup. Are you all enjoying the season? Is it nice and cool over there? Cause it sure is here.. sometimes. Just kidding, its actually quite blistering today.. (my pits are leaking).
Anyway, fun week.. started out really strong, and then preparations for the Christmas part, and random stuff popping up like usual got in the way.. kinda annoying. But still a good week.
First up, Sandy. Golden as always. She has prayed about everything and she gets answers to everything she asks.. Now, i know that sometimes praying and opening up the Book of Mormon right after and finding the answer to what you prayed about isnt ALWAYS a definitive answer from God.. i know it can be disputed.. but its happened almost EVERY DAY this past week. She had questions about how to live her life... Alma 37:37... she had questions about how to repent.. Alma 36... she had questions about this and this and this, and everytime she opens up the book of mormon and gets it. Pretty cool. Its just cause she has enough faith to get answers! Pretty epic. She said one day.. "Elder i feel that the Book of Mormon is super AMAZING.". Now after typing that already its not quite as funny as it was in real life, BUT thats okay! She said everything but "amazing" in thai, and then exclaimed amazing in english.. pretty funny... laugh! Shes great.. cries a lot. Cries = testimony right? Wrong. But in her case, yes.
Next is Tam and Nog.. pretty studly.. favorite thing every from his this week: "I was reading the Book of Mormon and dinner and a co-worker who is protestant walked passed me and stopped.. he looked at the Book Of Mormon and sarcastically said 'what is this? Is it even about Christ?' I responded, 'uh, yeah. His name is on the front cover and the church is called in his name.' He walked away."' Pretty funny. Was it the best way to get a referral? Maybe not. But he wasnt even trying to say it in a mean way, but really, is there any other way to put that without sounding sarcastic and sassy? Cant really say it was wrong! They are getting their answer too.. way studly. But they wont make they date just because work is still way busy and well.. they arent ready yet. Plus they will have to be interviewed a second time and they will have to travel a bit of a ways to get there and that will need some planning. They will get it. We set their date for the 14th of next month (and next year) in case i didnt put that one there already.
We have met a lot of formers and a lot of new investigators this past week. In fact, most of our pool it seems like is former investigators. For whatever reason they got set aside for a little while, so hoipefully most of them are ready now. Met a bunch who are still in the SAME neighborhood as the rest of our investigators.. we really dont go anywhere else in our area except for this neighborhood. and we are still not yet finished with it. So many to teach! So many to baptize! So little time.. speaking of time, Elder Seymour, one of our district leaders, came up with a really funny quote.. now, you guys dont know Elder Seymour, but if you did, you would laugh your head off at this phrase.. in fact, you should anyway. So saturday night he was teacfhing late at the Church and we needed to get home.. we looked through the window pointing at our watches and he got the idea.. immediately, he got the quote in his head. "If time were a person.... id punch it in the face, give it a hug, and then walk away."... HAHAHA.. if you dont laugh at that, im convinced you have... no.. SOUL! Funny kid. Hes from San Diego. We shall chill. He dies in 3 ish months.. same with Elder Furr.
On saturday was the stake christmas fireside.. pretty nice. We had a part in it. Sang 2 pieces and it went pretty well. We only practiced 2 days or something like that, but it came out well. We sang It came upon a midnight clear and then Angels we have heard on high. The first was a simple from the hymn book one and the second was a special number with piano. I really liked it. It was a 2 Tenor, Bass and Baritone part song.. Elder Pimp and i sang Tenor.. oh man those notes were kinda high. Sounded deece.
Um what else.. Oh yeah! This... so Elder Grover who is one of our district leaders in Asoke, was checking out less active members in the phone and in other places and decided to call a few. He called a family. Simply said who he was and invited them to Church. They came.... thats the end of my story! Imagine that.. it is really as simple as that. Now, we will just work with the different quorums and auxilleries to get them back in to full activity.. but really.. thats it! All Elder Grover did was make a phone call and he came. Members were saying they looked like the happiest people on the planet yesterday. Crazy. The family went up to Elder Furr and asked him if he was the one that called him and Elder Furr said it was someone else. Elder Furr asked Elder Grover when he taught them and how he got them to church.. Elder Grover responded.. "what? I dont even know them! Never met them in my life... all i did was call em!" Laughing insued. So cool. Call someone! Invite someone to an activity! Invite them to Church. Just get people to feel of the spirit. Such a cool experience. Other thing that was amazing at church was that they called every recent convert within the last 2 months to bear their testimony in sacrament. Brilliant. All i hvae to say about it.
Okoay well im over it.. tired hahah. Ill see you next week.. for real. Love you all. Church is true. Merry Christmas!
Elder Gudmundsen
Sup
Sent Dec. 12, 2011:
So another week has gone by.. and i dont know what happened.. im actually being serious, for some reaosn i cant seem to rembmer anything that happened. lemme think...
Okay got a little bit.. we had a fireside yesterday! A senior couple from Thailand who is serving their 2nd senior couple mission came and spoke.. very straight forward, and very moving. They showed that one video of the Church growth since 1830 played to the spirit of God.. pretty epic. Then they showed a video clip about a family that got baptized 2 years ago and just went to the temple to be sealed forever.. very moving. I think everyone got the idea. They were very simple in their speech and basically said what the Prophets have said all along: "It is not the job of the missionaries to be out finding people to teach.. it is really only their job to teach and baptize. It is our job to be finding people for them to teach and baptize." WERD!
As far as investigators go, Nog and Tam are doing okay.. its the end of the year, so his work has gone up quite a bit.. Tam works late and comes home to take care of the kids and usually just doesnt get to eat and continues working at home.. they didnt make it to Church so we gotta move the date so they can make it to church again.. its not big deal, because they still want to go so bad. When we went over there to talk to them after Church we wanted to make it clear that it wasnt okay to just not go to church.. of course we understand that his work is heavy right now, but church has to come first.. we kinda did say anything because once we got there the first thing that he said was that he felt pretty bad and guilty that he didnt go to Church... oh man! What are we supposed to say to that?! Well, actually we just kinda agreed haha.. hes trying to finish all his work load as quickly as possible so nothing will get in the way of going to church and preparing for baptism. No wurrs.
Sandy.. well, still golden as ever. She cried. A lot. She gave in a little bit and drank a glass of coffee.. before we started the lesson we of course opened with a prayer.. wetted the floor with her tears.. we felt so bad! Ive never seen anyone feel so bad about that before! WE almost felt bad in telling her to repent.. then of course when she prayed at the end, she cried. So sweet. She loves church, she loves the Book of Mormon (really, she still says that everytime we talk to her on the phone.. also in particular, Jacob. She read chapter 2 over and over again haha.) and even wants her daughter to go to BYU haha. Well, we pretty much said she might as well be a member BEFORE she goes, cause once she gets there, it will take not ime before she is one. Lulz. But seriously. Her daughter is just way busy right now. We shall get her.
For other people.. Tuk... shes doing better. She is still so confused because she always hears something that she doesnt like.. well duh! If you want to you can always find something that you dont like in anything. Trying to help her look at the good things only. She is progressing and she wants an answer so bad.. theres not much for us to do except just show love for her and keep praying for her. Thats really all she needs. A little bit of charity can go such a long way. Also watching your mouth.. ก็ดี she is really sweet and all she wants is an answer.. we of course cant explain why it is taking so long to get an answer, but all we have been promising her is that it will come.. we will talk to her about fasting in the coming weeks and do a special fast with her.
What else is going on.. well, uh time is something that we never have enough of... there has been this fatty service project over at the new church which is kinda of a mish to get to.. and it just takes forever.. so many blankets! The entire cultural center is just filled with stuff thats going to people in the floods.. apparently somewhere around 10000 packs that we are doing. Its fun, just time consuming. Its nice to see that our efforts actually make dents in the pile haha.
The mission is about to get a huge change.. Elder Furrs group is just hugantic.. 17 missionaries will finish in that group.. whoa! Right now they are taking up all the leadership positions and so President Smith is trying to figure out what to do with all them, plus who will be getting calls in the not to distant future. Its gonna start changing this transfer. Speaking of people finishing.. my sisters! Ahhh! Sister Itow and Sister Eyestone are daed already! Way weird transfer meeting when you are staring your sisters in the face for the last time (before you yourself are dead!). The last 6 months went by supa fast and the next 6? Dont even wanna guess. Craysay. Really does fly by. Oh well, lets not think about that then no?
Another highlight was Elder Tom.. my old companion up in Warin? Yeah, he died and came back to his ward, which is the ward im at! Yay! It was way cool to sit with him in sacrament and with his younger sister and younger brother.. both very nice, but a little shy. Brother Tom bore a short, but very moving testimony.. he just stood and said thank you in a way that was just.. sincere.. you could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice the conversion that took place in hist heart over the last 2 years. He is going to be a great member for the future of thailand.. i know that President Smith absolutely loved him and wants to make sure that he is in a leadership position to help the church grow here. Thailand needs him too. Him, Elder Komgrit, and Elder Gambanat (all of my old companions) are being trained right now to be powerful members in the future. Cool to see. Really.
So anyway, i think my time is up. Love you all. Hope everyone is having an enjoyable Christmas season. Do i miss Christmas? Does a bear go to the bathroom in the woods? But i lvoe it here. I ride north!
Love Elder Gudmundsen
So another week has gone by.. and i dont know what happened.. im actually being serious, for some reaosn i cant seem to rembmer anything that happened. lemme think...
Okay got a little bit.. we had a fireside yesterday! A senior couple from Thailand who is serving their 2nd senior couple mission came and spoke.. very straight forward, and very moving. They showed that one video of the Church growth since 1830 played to the spirit of God.. pretty epic. Then they showed a video clip about a family that got baptized 2 years ago and just went to the temple to be sealed forever.. very moving. I think everyone got the idea. They were very simple in their speech and basically said what the Prophets have said all along: "It is not the job of the missionaries to be out finding people to teach.. it is really only their job to teach and baptize. It is our job to be finding people for them to teach and baptize." WERD!
As far as investigators go, Nog and Tam are doing okay.. its the end of the year, so his work has gone up quite a bit.. Tam works late and comes home to take care of the kids and usually just doesnt get to eat and continues working at home.. they didnt make it to Church so we gotta move the date so they can make it to church again.. its not big deal, because they still want to go so bad. When we went over there to talk to them after Church we wanted to make it clear that it wasnt okay to just not go to church.. of course we understand that his work is heavy right now, but church has to come first.. we kinda did say anything because once we got there the first thing that he said was that he felt pretty bad and guilty that he didnt go to Church... oh man! What are we supposed to say to that?! Well, actually we just kinda agreed haha.. hes trying to finish all his work load as quickly as possible so nothing will get in the way of going to church and preparing for baptism. No wurrs.
Sandy.. well, still golden as ever. She cried. A lot. She gave in a little bit and drank a glass of coffee.. before we started the lesson we of course opened with a prayer.. wetted the floor with her tears.. we felt so bad! Ive never seen anyone feel so bad about that before! WE almost felt bad in telling her to repent.. then of course when she prayed at the end, she cried. So sweet. She loves church, she loves the Book of Mormon (really, she still says that everytime we talk to her on the phone.. also in particular, Jacob. She read chapter 2 over and over again haha.) and even wants her daughter to go to BYU haha. Well, we pretty much said she might as well be a member BEFORE she goes, cause once she gets there, it will take not ime before she is one. Lulz. But seriously. Her daughter is just way busy right now. We shall get her.
For other people.. Tuk... shes doing better. She is still so confused because she always hears something that she doesnt like.. well duh! If you want to you can always find something that you dont like in anything. Trying to help her look at the good things only. She is progressing and she wants an answer so bad.. theres not much for us to do except just show love for her and keep praying for her. Thats really all she needs. A little bit of charity can go such a long way. Also watching your mouth.. ก็ดี she is really sweet and all she wants is an answer.. we of course cant explain why it is taking so long to get an answer, but all we have been promising her is that it will come.. we will talk to her about fasting in the coming weeks and do a special fast with her.
What else is going on.. well, uh time is something that we never have enough of... there has been this fatty service project over at the new church which is kinda of a mish to get to.. and it just takes forever.. so many blankets! The entire cultural center is just filled with stuff thats going to people in the floods.. apparently somewhere around 10000 packs that we are doing. Its fun, just time consuming. Its nice to see that our efforts actually make dents in the pile haha.
The mission is about to get a huge change.. Elder Furrs group is just hugantic.. 17 missionaries will finish in that group.. whoa! Right now they are taking up all the leadership positions and so President Smith is trying to figure out what to do with all them, plus who will be getting calls in the not to distant future. Its gonna start changing this transfer. Speaking of people finishing.. my sisters! Ahhh! Sister Itow and Sister Eyestone are daed already! Way weird transfer meeting when you are staring your sisters in the face for the last time (before you yourself are dead!). The last 6 months went by supa fast and the next 6? Dont even wanna guess. Craysay. Really does fly by. Oh well, lets not think about that then no?
Another highlight was Elder Tom.. my old companion up in Warin? Yeah, he died and came back to his ward, which is the ward im at! Yay! It was way cool to sit with him in sacrament and with his younger sister and younger brother.. both very nice, but a little shy. Brother Tom bore a short, but very moving testimony.. he just stood and said thank you in a way that was just.. sincere.. you could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice the conversion that took place in hist heart over the last 2 years. He is going to be a great member for the future of thailand.. i know that President Smith absolutely loved him and wants to make sure that he is in a leadership position to help the church grow here. Thailand needs him too. Him, Elder Komgrit, and Elder Gambanat (all of my old companions) are being trained right now to be powerful members in the future. Cool to see. Really.
So anyway, i think my time is up. Love you all. Hope everyone is having an enjoyable Christmas season. Do i miss Christmas? Does a bear go to the bathroom in the woods? But i lvoe it here. I ride north!
Love Elder Gudmundsen
Happy Thai Father's Day
*Note from the sister: Woah... Turns out, I totally forgot about posting letters here.My bad. So here's a whole bunch to get caught up. Sorry!
Sent December 5, 2011:
Fun day. Sorry to email so late. Now i have very little time :(
So, pretty okay week.. kinda tough, but it was another one none the less.
Nog and Tam are doing alright.. its the end of the year and so his work is getting super tough and busy and hes been praying super hard every day but doesnt really feel like God is helping him or answering his prayers all the time. It isnt breaking his testimony or anything, but its discouraging for sure. As we taught him i think he felt encourage to keep pressing on and he definitely wants to. He understands and takes it as a trial of his faith, but ill be honest.. ill felt kinda of inadequate in answering his questions.. i dont know what it was that day, but i felt helpless.. i was trying to find scriptures to share, but the ones we were sharing didnt seem to do much.. finally i just decided to relax and listen for the spirit to tell me what to do (huh.. whoda thunk that would be a good idea right?).. i remembered PMG and how it says that in order to invite the spirit we can do many things :Use scriptures, pray, and share personal experiences (to name a few).. felt that just simply sharing personal experiences about trials would be the correct path to take.. it was cool, as we started to share personal experiences instead of scriptures, since we clearly werent prepared, the lesson started to flow; my mind was clear and the spirit was very strong. Was a nice lesson. They didnt make it to Church though because there was so much work the previous night that he didnt finish and was up way later trying to finish.. just couldnt wake up. No worries.. we ride north! Gonna go see them tonight.
Nong.. well hes good. Doing a lot better but headed back to his family for a few days, maybe a week. Hes trying to find new work and so he was gonna look over in Korat (which is where Elder Clark is right now). If he cant find it, hell come back here. Good kid. Doing well. Will get baptized.
Sandy is still so prepared.. Golden as.. well i wont say that, but you know what i mean. She says this quite frequently on our daily phone call, "I love the book of Mormon!". So funny. She really does. And she totally understood all of Jacob.. like, really? Shows whos seriously trying to read the Book! We didnt get to meet her this week because, well.. we kinda blew at being missionaries.. kinda forgot that this is Bangkok and getting to 4 lesson an hour is a feat already, SOOO we decided to try and get 4 appointments in 3 and a half, with an exchange with other missionaries in at the same time.. smart no? Yeah that failed. Hard. Anyway, she made cookies at Church instead.. thats okay by me! Long as she got friends! Fail *face palm*.
Tuk.. have we told you about her? She is a former investigator.. shes learned in Australia and here as well. She has a lot of doubts and is just trying really hard to find the truth. The lessons with her are INTENSE. And somehow they are always driven by the spirit and end with her somehow progressing further.. its pretty cool. Shes getting closer..
Hey guess what.. i have a surprise for you... gotta go! Surprise!
Love you all. Gospels true. My little message today: Dont get offended! No one can offend you accept yourself. Choose to be not offended. Evar.
Elder Gudmundsen
PS: Would you like another pillow?
Sent December 5, 2011:
Fun day. Sorry to email so late. Now i have very little time :(
So, pretty okay week.. kinda tough, but it was another one none the less.
Nog and Tam are doing alright.. its the end of the year and so his work is getting super tough and busy and hes been praying super hard every day but doesnt really feel like God is helping him or answering his prayers all the time. It isnt breaking his testimony or anything, but its discouraging for sure. As we taught him i think he felt encourage to keep pressing on and he definitely wants to. He understands and takes it as a trial of his faith, but ill be honest.. ill felt kinda of inadequate in answering his questions.. i dont know what it was that day, but i felt helpless.. i was trying to find scriptures to share, but the ones we were sharing didnt seem to do much.. finally i just decided to relax and listen for the spirit to tell me what to do (huh.. whoda thunk that would be a good idea right?).. i remembered PMG and how it says that in order to invite the spirit we can do many things :Use scriptures, pray, and share personal experiences (to name a few).. felt that just simply sharing personal experiences about trials would be the correct path to take.. it was cool, as we started to share personal experiences instead of scriptures, since we clearly werent prepared, the lesson started to flow; my mind was clear and the spirit was very strong. Was a nice lesson. They didnt make it to Church though because there was so much work the previous night that he didnt finish and was up way later trying to finish.. just couldnt wake up. No worries.. we ride north! Gonna go see them tonight.
Nong.. well hes good. Doing a lot better but headed back to his family for a few days, maybe a week. Hes trying to find new work and so he was gonna look over in Korat (which is where Elder Clark is right now). If he cant find it, hell come back here. Good kid. Doing well. Will get baptized.
Sandy is still so prepared.. Golden as.. well i wont say that, but you know what i mean. She says this quite frequently on our daily phone call, "I love the book of Mormon!". So funny. She really does. And she totally understood all of Jacob.. like, really? Shows whos seriously trying to read the Book! We didnt get to meet her this week because, well.. we kinda blew at being missionaries.. kinda forgot that this is Bangkok and getting to 4 lesson an hour is a feat already, SOOO we decided to try and get 4 appointments in 3 and a half, with an exchange with other missionaries in at the same time.. smart no? Yeah that failed. Hard. Anyway, she made cookies at Church instead.. thats okay by me! Long as she got friends! Fail *face palm*.
Tuk.. have we told you about her? She is a former investigator.. shes learned in Australia and here as well. She has a lot of doubts and is just trying really hard to find the truth. The lessons with her are INTENSE. And somehow they are always driven by the spirit and end with her somehow progressing further.. its pretty cool. Shes getting closer..
Hey guess what.. i have a surprise for you... gotta go! Surprise!
Love you all. Gospels true. My little message today: Dont get offended! No one can offend you accept yourself. Choose to be not offended. Evar.
Elder Gudmundsen
PS: Would you like another pillow?
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