Sent April 21:
Why hello there. Are you all sabaaydeemai? Hope so. I am sabaaydeemaag.
I felt like this week was a much success (yes i just wrote that). This week was the start of the district meetings which trained on this months specialized training, which of course is family history. I gotta say.. the spirit was very strong this week. We sat in on 3 district meetings this week and they all went really well. I think the term "spirit of Elijah" has never really been understood by anyone until this week (myself included). The excitement from the other missionaries about using it finding and teaching was contagious! Elder Gambanat is really excited for it as well, and some may call us big dreamers, but we say, "why not?". This program is going to be bigger than it is.. and the Lord is going to open doors that no one ever has thought possible. I dont know if you know this, but Thai records are absolutlely turrible. They have no records for anyone unless your chinese. On top of that, it hasnt been that long since "last names" were introduced and so when you go back in history there are so many people with the same name, and no one with last names. Side note: interesting that the gospel was restored after thai people got last names. Paw Dee. Anyway we believe that as the members and investigators and missionaries really put a great effort into this program to find thai ancestry lines, the lord wll accept our efforst and open something big. I dont know what, but everyone thinks its impossible to break passed a certain line of ancestry which makes us say, "bring it on. Is there anything too hard for the Lord?". I think me says no. I wont be here for it, but ill certainly hear about it in the future. Elder Gambanat also talked about something kind of amusing.. everytime we talk to people about religion, they say that their ancestors are buddhist. However, if they could do their family history and make it back to Adam and Eve, well.... see where hes going? Just kidding! You're ancestors are not buddhist! Maybe you should change to make them happy haha.
This week we were up in Chiang Mai on exchanges with the zone leaders and Elder Wagstaff and I (yes, the same guy that was in my MTC group) decided to try and use Family History a lot in our inviting and what not. We biked out to a group of flat buildlings (very far.. like, extremely far.. so far) and kinda struck out for an hour or so. Finaly we made it to this room with an older woman and her son sitting and drawing. They were very nice and let us to sit down and cool off. It was obvious from the get go that the son (about 27) was not fully there. He seemd very slow and after a few minutes we could kinda understand that his mind was behind anything done or said by about 10 or 15 seconds. Anyway he asked me if i was chinese and if i was 32 years old.. ouch. I answered no to both and asked him if he was chinese. He answered yes. He said that his father was. We asked them if they had ever done their family history and they sadly said no, but that they had wanted to. Elder Wagstaff got out his pedigree chart and gave it to her... after which, uhh.. i dont think ive felt the spirit this strong on.. ever. Or atleast in a while. She instantly blew up with excitement and grabbed her glasses to read it.. but shes too old so she couldnt see it, so she grabbed her magnifying glass and started reading from start to finish. Elder Wagstaff and i just sat there in amazement at how excited she got. Soon after her daughter came home and after looking confused at the 2 farangs sitting on their couch, proceed to ask her mom what she was looking at... BOOM another one bites the dust! She got even more excited than the mother! She began to explain how she had once done her family chart but lost it and couldnt do it again; Shes always wanted to though. They started telling each other how they wanted to do it and we took the opportunity to invite them to church to meet with a representative who could help them get started again. They very willingly said yes. We askedif we could share a short message about why we do family history work and they looked like pros when they got on their knees to pray, including the handicapped son. After we prayed we testified of the importance of finding out about our kindred dead and how we have sacred places to do ordinances for salvation for them. Now, remember how i said the son was slow? Right after the prayer we very simply said that finding out about our ancestors gives us meaning and connection to the past.. instantly the son exlaimed and did a motion with his hands.. he made the connection with what we were teaching, and although he could not put what he understood just now to words, it was very sweet. He understood that there is a line from him going back of people who have helped him and love him, and he felt the spirit. So did we. It was very powerful. They said that would go to church and start their family history this sunday. So cool right? In a later district meeting (yesterday actually) one of the zone leaders confessed a story about when i told him about family history being taught in specialized training and he kinda made a face like, "really? thats dumb?" scolded him...well, after studying it and using it with a soon to be recent convert who broke down crying upon learning about her ancestors, he was convinced that it was a good time to start using family history. The Spirit of Elijah is real!!!!
In other sweet stuff, our areas is getting build up again.. admist the travel and the plane flights and all the other stuff we have managed to find some new people in our area (even though the assistants may or may not be moving soon). Its been fun. It feels good to fly out to the isan in the morning, teach a distrct meeting in the afternoon, fly back in thea fternoon and make it back in time to go out and invite on the very things we taught. Very fulfilling. Did i tell you i love this work?
Had an interview with President Smith this week.. hes getting interviews out of the way before his last zone conference cause its going to be BUSY. It was a very nice interview and i felt very edified.. normally the interviews feel kinda rushed, but this time around i could see that hes really trying to free up his time so he doesnt look bored or rushed in the interview. It worked. He revealed some interesting stuff and i gotta say.. i felt good. I may tell you later.
Did i tell you that its hot? Well, its way hot outside. We were out in the Isan one day this week and on a Tuk-Tuk.. that wind was not enjoyable.. it was like fire going up your nose without end! So hot! I called a zone leader one day and when he picked up he sounded when upset.. "whats wrong Elder?" "Its... WAY hot outside.. its 107 man!". hahah.. i lawled. Elder Wagstaff sweats like a boss.. 10 mintues after i stopped sweating hes still going! Its good.
K well im done for today. I leave you with an experience from last night.. we taught this guy who was housing a monk for a few nights (fancy that, monks cant stay at a hotel alone..looks bad) and after the lesson, the monk came home. When finding out we were missionaries his immediate response was "all religions just teach us to be good". Now, besides feeling pity for the guy, i thought to myself "what do i sound like when i testify of the Book of Mormon, or the savior?'. Do i sound like that? Do any of us testify of these eternal truths with as much confidence as this monk searching for the truth, but not obtaining it? I came to the conlusion that i can do better. When we testify we gotta sound confident! Not arrogant or prideful, but meek and powerful! Not like this monk with 0 confidence. Dont get me wrong, he was a nice guy, and i cant really blame him.. he doesnt know any better.. hes doing the best with what he has. Review your testimony and then grab it by the horns and release it on someone!... with love :)
This is the work of the savior. I know its true.
Love, Elder Gudmundsen
PS: Who do you know that the missionaries can teach?
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Sup
Sent April 15
Fun week. Probably the busiest week ive ever had on my mission. One word: Transfers. I feel like ive gained a new found gratitude for the so called "people behind the scenes" now that i was one. There is just SOO much that goes into a transfers meeting that 98 percent of our missionaries dont even know about. To them (and me before this) its just a 1 hour meeting and then go back to your areas. For us, its an entire week of planning and action with just so little time to do it. Our plans were super good on monday and then piece by piece, here and there, things would start to chip off the masterpiece. Nothing went horribly wrong, just little things make a big difference. For the msot part everything went pretty smoothly. It was an unusal transfer because there were 16 missionaries coming in to the country (by far the biggest that President Smith has seen while here) and 17 dying (6 of which were Thai). Everything from getting to the airport, loading allll that luggage back to the church, getting all of them interviewed by President Smith, getting their pictures taken, having a medical check up and getting them out to invite all between 1:00 and 6:00 pm... no easy task. We were running around like crazy. I really enjoyed it though, especially getting to see "greeny" fire again.. man, they were so stoke to be in Thailand.. kinda forgot that thats how i was almost two year.. now i just feel old and seasoned. All 16 of them are way prepared and crazy excited. Its funny to see how weird and exciting everything is to them.. a simple taxi they saw while we were driving home, which seems like nothing to me, was one of the coolest things to them. Their thai-glish was stellar.
Transfers day was very much filled.. let me remind you that transfers was on the last work day, for the entire country, before the holiday began. Busses out of Bangkok were impossible to find. The meeting itself went very smooth and Elder Revelli sang his solo for "His Hands" again.. very powerful. When i announced that he was singing his entire MTC group just looked at each other confused thinking, "he can sing?!". President Smith had one of the thai Elders come up and say something as well. His name is Elder Anon. This past week he was called home from the military to see if he would have to be drafted into the military or not.. the process? After body check ups he has to literally grab a ball out of a basket-like thing which is either red or black. Well i cant say it better than President Smith did: This is not my work, this is the work of the Lord. When Elder Anon went home and went to the military camp he walked up to the officer to register his name. The Officer looked at him and asked him why he was dressed so professionally; for work or school. He said neither and that he was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ. The guy paused and then asked, rather frankly, "you mean that group of white guys always biking around?". Elder Anon said yes. The officer continued to tell him that he didnt need to be here and that he could go home. Is that not cool or what? Elder Kambanat is officially in here at the office. Did i mention what happened with new Mission Presidents? The Brethren made a switch in mission presidents because of medical problems.. so now our new mission president doesnt speak Thai! Just made Elder Kambanat's schedule and role even higher than it was going to be before. The Assistants role is now changed drastically cause the new MP is going to not only need someone to take him around for a while, but also to translate for him in interviews, or in meetings. Fun. On top of that, the mission office is moving, along with the mission home, so things are going to be fun in the next 2 and a half months. Anyway, after transfers we had to help everyone get where they needed to be, which took the ENTIRE rest of the day from 12 noon to 1 am in the morning. We got up at 4 am the next day to take the missionaries to the airport (which included Elder Furr and McDonald) and we left the airport at 7:30 to take Elder Seymour back to the office to meet his parents.. that was a really sweet moment. After that we met with President to talk about what could be done better for the next big group coming in, and instead of going to sleep after that, we changed and made our way downtown for Songkran... yeah, that was fun. I think every missionary is Bangkok was in the same place this year. It was insanity. It was very different from last year.. up in Ubon the entire city is just completely filled with people, but here in Bangkok they closed down a few streets for everyone to gather in and play.. and when i say everyone i mean everyone. There were SOOO many people. A bunch of foreigners too. It was a good day to play because it was HOT. We played until 5 ish and then went home... then we had more work to do to get the remaining Elders and Sisters out of Bangkok.. so all in all, we got back to our house and had a normal planning session and i think i literally crawled into bed and passed out. One of the weirdest days i think ive had so far.
I dont know if you guys would like Song Kran or not.. but it was super fun.. dont know if i mentioned that yet. We didnt have any problems this year with decepticons or anything like that, and I actually got really good at dodging women trying to put powder on my face.. since i had a squirt gun (which was pretty powerful actually) all you gotta do is wait for some person who thinks they are going to succeed in getting powder on your face to be in front of you and shot em right in the eye (or their open mouth).. they just cant deal with it! And you get a good laugh out of the many different flinching faces you get to see. Elder Heslop and i had a giggle fit the whole time. My personal favorite this year was taking their own phrase, which would be somewhere along the lines of, "may i put powder on your face!" and say it while taking their powder from them and dumping it on their faces.. BOOM. Way funny. Josh, you would love this holiday for sure. But alas, it is now over. The streets are empty and im quite positive that we are the only people in the entire country working right now.
As far as investigators go.. well, pretty dry right now. However our area is Elder Kambanats old greeny area (Yes, he actually already has served here). At some point in time they switch or re-drew the areas and so now we are finding out all his old investigators. Pretty sweet. Since it was Song Kran everyone that we have taught in the last 6 weeks is just kinda,.... dissapeared. Seriously.. they dont pick up their phones! Our District LEader managed to get a baptism out of the week though.. thats nice.
We finally finished the schedule and calendar for this transfesr.. its a packed one. Something exciting: There are 10 thai missionaries coming in to the field this month on the 28th. Thats the biggest group that President Smith has ever seen. Boss. In addition there are 7 coming from provo and 5 going home.. which means we get to open areas! yay! Time is going to flyyyyy like the eagles. Gotta run! Love you all and thanks for all youve done. Thanks for sharing that story about our ancestors Dad.. im using it in the trainings for the next 2 weeks.. the one about building the steps in the manti temple? I imagined him building those stairs and thinking to himself how he was "building steps to heaven" in a way.. at least to the celestial room of the temple. I've taken that phrase now and we are going to use it help our missionaries build steps to heaven for their investigators. It may sound cheesy, but it sure sounds good to the ears in thai. We are opening an investigator family history class next thursday and the entire 2 up coming weeks will be spent training the missionaries. Yay. By the way, we ate dinner with the Kim's again.. they had 2 non member friends over for dinner as well and we got a chance to share our message in english.. boy was that weird.. felt like a moron trying to talk to an idiot.. why is english soo hard?! Anyway, ill talk to you next week.
Love, Elder Gudmundsen
Fun week. Probably the busiest week ive ever had on my mission. One word: Transfers. I feel like ive gained a new found gratitude for the so called "people behind the scenes" now that i was one. There is just SOO much that goes into a transfers meeting that 98 percent of our missionaries dont even know about. To them (and me before this) its just a 1 hour meeting and then go back to your areas. For us, its an entire week of planning and action with just so little time to do it. Our plans were super good on monday and then piece by piece, here and there, things would start to chip off the masterpiece. Nothing went horribly wrong, just little things make a big difference. For the msot part everything went pretty smoothly. It was an unusal transfer because there were 16 missionaries coming in to the country (by far the biggest that President Smith has seen while here) and 17 dying (6 of which were Thai). Everything from getting to the airport, loading allll that luggage back to the church, getting all of them interviewed by President Smith, getting their pictures taken, having a medical check up and getting them out to invite all between 1:00 and 6:00 pm... no easy task. We were running around like crazy. I really enjoyed it though, especially getting to see "greeny" fire again.. man, they were so stoke to be in Thailand.. kinda forgot that thats how i was almost two year.. now i just feel old and seasoned. All 16 of them are way prepared and crazy excited. Its funny to see how weird and exciting everything is to them.. a simple taxi they saw while we were driving home, which seems like nothing to me, was one of the coolest things to them. Their thai-glish was stellar.
Transfers day was very much filled.. let me remind you that transfers was on the last work day, for the entire country, before the holiday began. Busses out of Bangkok were impossible to find. The meeting itself went very smooth and Elder Revelli sang his solo for "His Hands" again.. very powerful. When i announced that he was singing his entire MTC group just looked at each other confused thinking, "he can sing?!". President Smith had one of the thai Elders come up and say something as well. His name is Elder Anon. This past week he was called home from the military to see if he would have to be drafted into the military or not.. the process? After body check ups he has to literally grab a ball out of a basket-like thing which is either red or black. Well i cant say it better than President Smith did: This is not my work, this is the work of the Lord. When Elder Anon went home and went to the military camp he walked up to the officer to register his name. The Officer looked at him and asked him why he was dressed so professionally; for work or school. He said neither and that he was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ. The guy paused and then asked, rather frankly, "you mean that group of white guys always biking around?". Elder Anon said yes. The officer continued to tell him that he didnt need to be here and that he could go home. Is that not cool or what? Elder Kambanat is officially in here at the office. Did i mention what happened with new Mission Presidents? The Brethren made a switch in mission presidents because of medical problems.. so now our new mission president doesnt speak Thai! Just made Elder Kambanat's schedule and role even higher than it was going to be before. The Assistants role is now changed drastically cause the new MP is going to not only need someone to take him around for a while, but also to translate for him in interviews, or in meetings. Fun. On top of that, the mission office is moving, along with the mission home, so things are going to be fun in the next 2 and a half months. Anyway, after transfers we had to help everyone get where they needed to be, which took the ENTIRE rest of the day from 12 noon to 1 am in the morning. We got up at 4 am the next day to take the missionaries to the airport (which included Elder Furr and McDonald) and we left the airport at 7:30 to take Elder Seymour back to the office to meet his parents.. that was a really sweet moment. After that we met with President to talk about what could be done better for the next big group coming in, and instead of going to sleep after that, we changed and made our way downtown for Songkran... yeah, that was fun. I think every missionary is Bangkok was in the same place this year. It was insanity. It was very different from last year.. up in Ubon the entire city is just completely filled with people, but here in Bangkok they closed down a few streets for everyone to gather in and play.. and when i say everyone i mean everyone. There were SOOO many people. A bunch of foreigners too. It was a good day to play because it was HOT. We played until 5 ish and then went home... then we had more work to do to get the remaining Elders and Sisters out of Bangkok.. so all in all, we got back to our house and had a normal planning session and i think i literally crawled into bed and passed out. One of the weirdest days i think ive had so far.
I dont know if you guys would like Song Kran or not.. but it was super fun.. dont know if i mentioned that yet. We didnt have any problems this year with decepticons or anything like that, and I actually got really good at dodging women trying to put powder on my face.. since i had a squirt gun (which was pretty powerful actually) all you gotta do is wait for some person who thinks they are going to succeed in getting powder on your face to be in front of you and shot em right in the eye (or their open mouth).. they just cant deal with it! And you get a good laugh out of the many different flinching faces you get to see. Elder Heslop and i had a giggle fit the whole time. My personal favorite this year was taking their own phrase, which would be somewhere along the lines of, "may i put powder on your face!" and say it while taking their powder from them and dumping it on their faces.. BOOM. Way funny. Josh, you would love this holiday for sure. But alas, it is now over. The streets are empty and im quite positive that we are the only people in the entire country working right now.
As far as investigators go.. well, pretty dry right now. However our area is Elder Kambanats old greeny area (Yes, he actually already has served here). At some point in time they switch or re-drew the areas and so now we are finding out all his old investigators. Pretty sweet. Since it was Song Kran everyone that we have taught in the last 6 weeks is just kinda,.... dissapeared. Seriously.. they dont pick up their phones! Our District LEader managed to get a baptism out of the week though.. thats nice.
We finally finished the schedule and calendar for this transfesr.. its a packed one. Something exciting: There are 10 thai missionaries coming in to the field this month on the 28th. Thats the biggest group that President Smith has ever seen. Boss. In addition there are 7 coming from provo and 5 going home.. which means we get to open areas! yay! Time is going to flyyyyy like the eagles. Gotta run! Love you all and thanks for all youve done. Thanks for sharing that story about our ancestors Dad.. im using it in the trainings for the next 2 weeks.. the one about building the steps in the manti temple? I imagined him building those stairs and thinking to himself how he was "building steps to heaven" in a way.. at least to the celestial room of the temple. I've taken that phrase now and we are going to use it help our missionaries build steps to heaven for their investigators. It may sound cheesy, but it sure sounds good to the ears in thai. We are opening an investigator family history class next thursday and the entire 2 up coming weeks will be spent training the missionaries. Yay. By the way, we ate dinner with the Kim's again.. they had 2 non member friends over for dinner as well and we got a chance to share our message in english.. boy was that weird.. felt like a moron trying to talk to an idiot.. why is english soo hard?! Anyway, ill talk to you next week.
Love, Elder Gudmundsen
Success!
Sent April 8:
So.. we officially presented our pitch on Family History to our zone leaders.. and i feel it was much success! Everyone seemed to receive it really well and the spirit was in abundance fo sho. Werd. Moving forward will take patience but we are ready. So i might as well tell you who is going to be leading out with me for the rest of my mission.. its Elder Kampanat! You remember him? He was my companion back in Buriram. Yes, being surprised is probably a correct response because that now means that i will finish my mission having been companions with Thai Elders for 9 transfers and with Americans for 7. Can't touch this! He actually just got off the phone with President Smith haha. Im sure hes pretty nervous/excited. Its gonna be good. He's totally a machine. He was probably the most quietest yet excited zone leader of the bunch. He's on board and i think his attitude and personality will really help the mission grow, especially in this time that we are changing mission presidents in about 2 and a half months. He's been prepared and he will get it done. Our mission is Obedient; period. And he is an obedient missionary. For some reason when mission presidents change, missionaries like to think that its the beginning of "comfortableness" in the rules; not so. Some of the members are convinced thats the case too; some people will be in for an unpleasant surprise. We actually talked about obedience at zone leader council... i didnt talk much, but all i said was what i noticed on a flight coming home one evening. On every commercial flight ive ever been on, one of the first things the attendants say is to stay seated with our seat belts fastened until the captain has turned off the fasten seat belt light (among a few other things). That light as right in front of our faces. Well, one night i closed my eyes and decided to have a little fun; i wanted to see how many i would hear: *click.. click... click, click...". In one flight i counted 27 clicks before the light was turned off (most of them RIGHT as the plane came to a halt, seemingly with no possible danger). It was very simple to me, yet profound, and like Elder Holland described last conference, "the Lord has drawn lines very clearly" on this field of which we must obey. To those 27 who released their seat belt when they were told not to, i wondered what went through their head... "no big deal... nothing will happen" "the plane stopped already, why should i have to keep it on". The similarities are striking when seeing missionaries dis-obey... no matter what we may think, we are clearly told what to do, and we should not have to question that, ever. I went on an exchanged this week with Elder Hardy.. he was in my MTC phii group. Before his mission he was in the army.. boy, i find it both embarrassing and a blessing that we aren't like the army; they beat their troops into obedience, but they also don't often ask questions. President Smith called me while i was with Elder Hardy and he asked me, "why didnt you tell me that i had it set for both Elder Merrel's to be companions?!" He said it while laughing, but i simply said, "uh.. uhnnyha.. its not my board! Its your call isnt it?". Elder Hardy over heard and said that;s kinda what the army was like.. you get told to do something and you never follow it by saying, "why?". I like that. The Lord lovingly gives us reasons to certain of his commandments, but in the end we should rarely have to ask the Lord, "why?". It was a fun exchanged.. hes a great Elder and his got some amazing stories about the army.. crazy different world. Elder Hardy is 25. Im impressed with his perspective on things.. at the end of the exchange i told him i appreciated the way he respects leaders even though hes older than all of them. He looked at me and said, "i dont know why older missionaries have a hard time with that sometimes.. one, you're a leader called of the Lord, and two why should i have a superiority complex? I look up to you guys.. i admire you all for getting out here at 19 when for some reasons i had to wait until i was older. I love serving with you.". Probably one of the best responses ive heard from someone on my mission. Theres always this "culture of human nature" to jam a stick up our rear (pardon me) and put ourselves on a theoretical "rameumptom" of sorts, when really there is no place for it. Love him. Its sad hes dying in 5 days. Oh yeah.. on a funny note, when he had his own little "cell" in the army, he had pictures up of his family on the walls instead of the traditional porn.. a fellow soldier, who happened to be a woman, came in one day and looked rather perplexed.. She sharply asked, "what? Are you gay?". hahah
On Friday we had to hop on a plane and go to Ubon and then go to surin for Elder Komgrits military stuff.. that was fun. I got to sit on my butt for 4 and a half hours.. did you know that cement is NOT soft to the touch? Whouda thunk roight? No i did not spell that wrong. On the bright side i got to talk to a few people about the gospel. One of them was Elder Komgrits former class mates.. he was interested.. like a lot. i love those! Its really fun to mess with them because you know from the way they ask questions that they arent gonna leave.. so i would like read the book of mormon between his questions, like i was done talking.. and then he would just be like, "whats that?" "Oh, its a book"..................................."what's it cal---" "The Book of Mormon! wanna read it?" "Yeah!". Pretty much like that. His name was Joe. Nice guy. Probably wasnt super popular.. i base that clearly on the fact that he remembered who Elder Komgrit was and Elder Komgrit didnt remember him. Sad. He lives in Bangkok so hopefully he gets in contact with the Elders around here. I met a mother who was sitting with her son.. he was skipping out on the draft and after learning that i could speak thai fairly well she looked at him and was like, "hey, wouldnt it be cool go to America and preach Buddhism?!"... yeah, good luck.
The night before the army stuff (which would be yesterday evening.. wow thats a lot easier to say) we ate dinner with Elder Komgrits parents.. that was way nice. His dad is way cool. Got to talk to him for a long time. His mom is cool too. You can tell his Dad is super proud of him. How couldnt you be? Except the fat part.. he aint too proud a that hahah.. when he picked us up at the bus station he took one look at him and said, "wow.. you as fat as a water buffalo!" (simliar to "fat as a cow" for us).. i lawl'ed.
We only got to watch saturday sessions of conference.. SO GOOD! I think Elder Bednar was my favorite of the 3.. way straight foward and i really enjoyed learning about his father.. especially how he baptized him. Way cool. havent gotten to see sunday's yet because of the military junk. But should be able to watch it this week on the computer. Love it. So glad we have this event every 6 months. I would ask for it more often than that, but im pretty sure it takes 6 months for everyone to come up with a talk pleasing to the Lord! That would be nerve wracking. Speaking of what should be nerve wracking is translating.. which they did awful. At one point they didnt turn off the mic and we could hear them talking to each other haha.. when Elder Archuletta came on you could hear a loud whisper, "NO WAY!". At one other point we heard the translator obviously talking to the thai translator say, "i have a question! how do you read this word!". hahaha. lulz. Face palm too. I heard President Uchtdorf was nice and in your face.. not like Elder Holland, but nice and straight to the point. good.
Okay im rambling. Love you all. Hope you had a great Easter weekend and arent getting fat from eating. This week is going to be crazy.. gotta pick up those 16 missionaries from the airport and get them out tracting on their first day. Transfers week is always hectic. But i think we got our heads around it nicely. Its gonna be weird seeing Elder McDonald and Elder Furr off onto a plane.. ahh! They're dead! Also, its SongKran festival weekend.. on snap. Its gonna be insane! Im excited for playing with water though.. legit. K, much love. Peace,
Elder Gudmundsen
So.. we officially presented our pitch on Family History to our zone leaders.. and i feel it was much success! Everyone seemed to receive it really well and the spirit was in abundance fo sho. Werd. Moving forward will take patience but we are ready. So i might as well tell you who is going to be leading out with me for the rest of my mission.. its Elder Kampanat! You remember him? He was my companion back in Buriram. Yes, being surprised is probably a correct response because that now means that i will finish my mission having been companions with Thai Elders for 9 transfers and with Americans for 7. Can't touch this! He actually just got off the phone with President Smith haha. Im sure hes pretty nervous/excited. Its gonna be good. He's totally a machine. He was probably the most quietest yet excited zone leader of the bunch. He's on board and i think his attitude and personality will really help the mission grow, especially in this time that we are changing mission presidents in about 2 and a half months. He's been prepared and he will get it done. Our mission is Obedient; period. And he is an obedient missionary. For some reason when mission presidents change, missionaries like to think that its the beginning of "comfortableness" in the rules; not so. Some of the members are convinced thats the case too; some people will be in for an unpleasant surprise. We actually talked about obedience at zone leader council... i didnt talk much, but all i said was what i noticed on a flight coming home one evening. On every commercial flight ive ever been on, one of the first things the attendants say is to stay seated with our seat belts fastened until the captain has turned off the fasten seat belt light (among a few other things). That light as right in front of our faces. Well, one night i closed my eyes and decided to have a little fun; i wanted to see how many i would hear: *click.. click... click, click...". In one flight i counted 27 clicks before the light was turned off (most of them RIGHT as the plane came to a halt, seemingly with no possible danger). It was very simple to me, yet profound, and like Elder Holland described last conference, "the Lord has drawn lines very clearly" on this field of which we must obey. To those 27 who released their seat belt when they were told not to, i wondered what went through their head... "no big deal... nothing will happen" "the plane stopped already, why should i have to keep it on". The similarities are striking when seeing missionaries dis-obey... no matter what we may think, we are clearly told what to do, and we should not have to question that, ever. I went on an exchanged this week with Elder Hardy.. he was in my MTC phii group. Before his mission he was in the army.. boy, i find it both embarrassing and a blessing that we aren't like the army; they beat their troops into obedience, but they also don't often ask questions. President Smith called me while i was with Elder Hardy and he asked me, "why didnt you tell me that i had it set for both Elder Merrel's to be companions?!" He said it while laughing, but i simply said, "uh.. uhnnyha.. its not my board! Its your call isnt it?". Elder Hardy over heard and said that;s kinda what the army was like.. you get told to do something and you never follow it by saying, "why?". I like that. The Lord lovingly gives us reasons to certain of his commandments, but in the end we should rarely have to ask the Lord, "why?". It was a fun exchanged.. hes a great Elder and his got some amazing stories about the army.. crazy different world. Elder Hardy is 25. Im impressed with his perspective on things.. at the end of the exchange i told him i appreciated the way he respects leaders even though hes older than all of them. He looked at me and said, "i dont know why older missionaries have a hard time with that sometimes.. one, you're a leader called of the Lord, and two why should i have a superiority complex? I look up to you guys.. i admire you all for getting out here at 19 when for some reasons i had to wait until i was older. I love serving with you.". Probably one of the best responses ive heard from someone on my mission. Theres always this "culture of human nature" to jam a stick up our rear (pardon me) and put ourselves on a theoretical "rameumptom" of sorts, when really there is no place for it. Love him. Its sad hes dying in 5 days. Oh yeah.. on a funny note, when he had his own little "cell" in the army, he had pictures up of his family on the walls instead of the traditional porn.. a fellow soldier, who happened to be a woman, came in one day and looked rather perplexed.. She sharply asked, "what? Are you gay?". hahah
On Friday we had to hop on a plane and go to Ubon and then go to surin for Elder Komgrits military stuff.. that was fun. I got to sit on my butt for 4 and a half hours.. did you know that cement is NOT soft to the touch? Whouda thunk roight? No i did not spell that wrong. On the bright side i got to talk to a few people about the gospel. One of them was Elder Komgrits former class mates.. he was interested.. like a lot. i love those! Its really fun to mess with them because you know from the way they ask questions that they arent gonna leave.. so i would like read the book of mormon between his questions, like i was done talking.. and then he would just be like, "whats that?" "Oh, its a book"..................................."what's it cal---" "The Book of Mormon! wanna read it?" "Yeah!". Pretty much like that. His name was Joe. Nice guy. Probably wasnt super popular.. i base that clearly on the fact that he remembered who Elder Komgrit was and Elder Komgrit didnt remember him. Sad. He lives in Bangkok so hopefully he gets in contact with the Elders around here. I met a mother who was sitting with her son.. he was skipping out on the draft and after learning that i could speak thai fairly well she looked at him and was like, "hey, wouldnt it be cool go to America and preach Buddhism?!"... yeah, good luck.
The night before the army stuff (which would be yesterday evening.. wow thats a lot easier to say) we ate dinner with Elder Komgrits parents.. that was way nice. His dad is way cool. Got to talk to him for a long time. His mom is cool too. You can tell his Dad is super proud of him. How couldnt you be? Except the fat part.. he aint too proud a that hahah.. when he picked us up at the bus station he took one look at him and said, "wow.. you as fat as a water buffalo!" (simliar to "fat as a cow" for us).. i lawl'ed.
We only got to watch saturday sessions of conference.. SO GOOD! I think Elder Bednar was my favorite of the 3.. way straight foward and i really enjoyed learning about his father.. especially how he baptized him. Way cool. havent gotten to see sunday's yet because of the military junk. But should be able to watch it this week on the computer. Love it. So glad we have this event every 6 months. I would ask for it more often than that, but im pretty sure it takes 6 months for everyone to come up with a talk pleasing to the Lord! That would be nerve wracking. Speaking of what should be nerve wracking is translating.. which they did awful. At one point they didnt turn off the mic and we could hear them talking to each other haha.. when Elder Archuletta came on you could hear a loud whisper, "NO WAY!". At one other point we heard the translator obviously talking to the thai translator say, "i have a question! how do you read this word!". hahaha. lulz. Face palm too. I heard President Uchtdorf was nice and in your face.. not like Elder Holland, but nice and straight to the point. good.
Okay im rambling. Love you all. Hope you had a great Easter weekend and arent getting fat from eating. This week is going to be crazy.. gotta pick up those 16 missionaries from the airport and get them out tracting on their first day. Transfers week is always hectic. But i think we got our heads around it nicely. Its gonna be weird seeing Elder McDonald and Elder Furr off onto a plane.. ahh! They're dead! Also, its SongKran festival weekend.. on snap. Its gonna be insane! Im excited for playing with water though.. legit. K, much love. Peace,
Elder Gudmundsen
Happy Easter!
Sent April 1:
I love you all! Hope your easter was fantastic this year! Just wanted to share my feelings today.. put simply there was a lot of crying (on my part).
I was asked to sing a duet in sacrament today (i had practiced) and for some reason i didnt think about it yesterday as i started my fast. Sunday morning came around and i realized that i had to sing... oops. I started pryaing super hard to be able to sing. Guys.. it wasnt the best performance ever, but i know that i was helped out today. Ive never sang at the podium in front of a microphone before and theres no way i sang by myself. The words and notes just seem to come out (theres fasting for ya). After that Elder Revelli (my kid) sang His Hands.. i lost it when the climax comes in at "they piece them". Its a powerful song and its all true.. i testify that they pierced his hands and he accepted it because of love. The glorious event of the Resurrection after his death truly is the greatest event in all human history.
Love, Elder Gudmundsen
I love you all! Hope your easter was fantastic this year! Just wanted to share my feelings today.. put simply there was a lot of crying (on my part).
I was asked to sing a duet in sacrament today (i had practiced) and for some reason i didnt think about it yesterday as i started my fast. Sunday morning came around and i realized that i had to sing... oops. I started pryaing super hard to be able to sing. Guys.. it wasnt the best performance ever, but i know that i was helped out today. Ive never sang at the podium in front of a microphone before and theres no way i sang by myself. The words and notes just seem to come out (theres fasting for ya). After that Elder Revelli (my kid) sang His Hands.. i lost it when the climax comes in at "they piece them". Its a powerful song and its all true.. i testify that they pierced his hands and he accepted it because of love. The glorious event of the Resurrection after his death truly is the greatest event in all human history.
Love, Elder Gudmundsen
Shalom
Sent March 31:
Well.. kind of an interesting week.. we have no lessons this week! haha. We were in Khon Kaen monday-tuesday and ubon from wednesday to thursday. Friday was at the office the whole time because we had to finish the specialized training on family history and present it to President Smith. Good news, is its all done and he approved it. Gotta say.. im proud of the product we came up with. We tried to make the training simple and grounded in doctrine from the scriptures. It was kinda weird.. the night before i was kinda stressin on it cause i felt like it wasnt.. complete. I couldnt figure out what it was and i was prayin really hard to figure it out, and when i finally came to the office to type it all up, it just kinda threw itself on paper. Im confident in the product and i think its gonna really explode.
On sunday i met with the family history director of Thailand and the consultant for the branch here in Pakkret. At first it was kinda awkward and they seemed confused at why we were meeting --by the way we met in the districts family history center.. pretty impressive. For this unit, that part wont be a problem, but for outside areas.. eh, we shall see. After about ten minutes of presenting the idea (using PMG of course) the sister, named Sister Wan of the country, just seemed to get it; it just clicked. She was explaining the vision that we have to the consultant and she started to get it too. After that it was smooth sailing. Just seemd like everything after that was what theyw anted to do. The vision that i see is very simple: as missionaries we are responsible and have a part in every aspect of the work (most importantly is teaching and baptizing) including finding, teaching and baptizing, retention of new converts, and activation of less active members. They we i see it is that this covers them all. When we go into coordination meeting and do it right, we come out with plans that encompass these 4 topics. Since we are training about how to use it in finding that part will be covered. The teaching will naturally come when people ask us why we do the work of family history. My favorite here is about retention. I read in preach my gospel the other day in the section under "establishing the church" which is actually right on topic with last months training about assuring real growth (which is not just baptism, but increase in church attendance). It says that those are have testimonies are baptized and confirmed, keep covenants, and prepare actively to go to the temple. I thought about that... how can they prepare to go to the temple without names of their ancestors. Also, if they have their eyes set on the temple, its a natural thing to stay strong. I think about the converts ive seen baptized and they are not all still strong. But the ones who are are the ones who have their eyes continually set on the temple. For activation.. pretty self explanatory. A lot of people are excited about this thing and i feel its going to take Thailand in a new direction.. that is assuming of course that people hop on board. It wont be hard thats for sure.. those who are family history consultants are they because they love it! Why would they reject it right? Ive contacted every director in the country for all 7 district/stakes and am currently compiling a list of every consultant for every branch. So far ive had no negative feedback (well, some just havent responded yet haha) but only very enthusiastic responses. Yay. When i get home i might show you the clip i made and the write up too; its a beaute! Just kidding. But really.
So you remember that father i told you about? Nugune? He got offended when nobody said hi to him at church one day.. dont know if i told you that but yeah thats it. Anyway, i was super bummed because he hadnt been picking up the phone lately and today.. he called me! He really has been super busy and not able to even pick up the phone. But he called to say thanks and that hes still praying every day and reading as much as i can when free. He said hes trying to clear everything so he can come to church. Hes been reading too and understands that everything good is from Christ and been super grateful for the trials hes experienced lately. That got me stoked for him again.. i dont know when he will be able to come again, but hes trying.
We had this other investigator from English.. way nice and has a ton of questions. Hes one of those that loves to write down everything we say in lessons. Hey, not exactly my style cause im lazy, but at least we know hes listening! He said he would come tomorrow.. yay, he gets to watch me sing in sacrament. Dont get too excited Dad! I already told you i would go to choir with you! Im singing a duet with Brother Art here in the branch.. hes probably the most talented musician in the country. We are singing "How great is the miracle". Very pretty. Great lyrics too. Short, and sweet. Wish me luck.
K love you. Gotta run. I know the work is true and im excited to see where Family History will take us. Even more excited (well, maybe not more) to take this home and work there! Oh.. by the way, im registering for classes this coming week.. Thats weird.
Well.. kind of an interesting week.. we have no lessons this week! haha. We were in Khon Kaen monday-tuesday and ubon from wednesday to thursday. Friday was at the office the whole time because we had to finish the specialized training on family history and present it to President Smith. Good news, is its all done and he approved it. Gotta say.. im proud of the product we came up with. We tried to make the training simple and grounded in doctrine from the scriptures. It was kinda weird.. the night before i was kinda stressin on it cause i felt like it wasnt.. complete. I couldnt figure out what it was and i was prayin really hard to figure it out, and when i finally came to the office to type it all up, it just kinda threw itself on paper. Im confident in the product and i think its gonna really explode.
On sunday i met with the family history director of Thailand and the consultant for the branch here in Pakkret. At first it was kinda awkward and they seemed confused at why we were meeting --by the way we met in the districts family history center.. pretty impressive. For this unit, that part wont be a problem, but for outside areas.. eh, we shall see. After about ten minutes of presenting the idea (using PMG of course) the sister, named Sister Wan of the country, just seemed to get it; it just clicked. She was explaining the vision that we have to the consultant and she started to get it too. After that it was smooth sailing. Just seemd like everything after that was what theyw anted to do. The vision that i see is very simple: as missionaries we are responsible and have a part in every aspect of the work (most importantly is teaching and baptizing) including finding, teaching and baptizing, retention of new converts, and activation of less active members. They we i see it is that this covers them all. When we go into coordination meeting and do it right, we come out with plans that encompass these 4 topics. Since we are training about how to use it in finding that part will be covered. The teaching will naturally come when people ask us why we do the work of family history. My favorite here is about retention. I read in preach my gospel the other day in the section under "establishing the church" which is actually right on topic with last months training about assuring real growth (which is not just baptism, but increase in church attendance). It says that those are have testimonies are baptized and confirmed, keep covenants, and prepare actively to go to the temple. I thought about that... how can they prepare to go to the temple without names of their ancestors. Also, if they have their eyes set on the temple, its a natural thing to stay strong. I think about the converts ive seen baptized and they are not all still strong. But the ones who are are the ones who have their eyes continually set on the temple. For activation.. pretty self explanatory. A lot of people are excited about this thing and i feel its going to take Thailand in a new direction.. that is assuming of course that people hop on board. It wont be hard thats for sure.. those who are family history consultants are they because they love it! Why would they reject it right? Ive contacted every director in the country for all 7 district/stakes and am currently compiling a list of every consultant for every branch. So far ive had no negative feedback (well, some just havent responded yet haha) but only very enthusiastic responses. Yay. When i get home i might show you the clip i made and the write up too; its a beaute! Just kidding. But really.
So you remember that father i told you about? Nugune? He got offended when nobody said hi to him at church one day.. dont know if i told you that but yeah thats it. Anyway, i was super bummed because he hadnt been picking up the phone lately and today.. he called me! He really has been super busy and not able to even pick up the phone. But he called to say thanks and that hes still praying every day and reading as much as i can when free. He said hes trying to clear everything so he can come to church. Hes been reading too and understands that everything good is from Christ and been super grateful for the trials hes experienced lately. That got me stoked for him again.. i dont know when he will be able to come again, but hes trying.
We had this other investigator from English.. way nice and has a ton of questions. Hes one of those that loves to write down everything we say in lessons. Hey, not exactly my style cause im lazy, but at least we know hes listening! He said he would come tomorrow.. yay, he gets to watch me sing in sacrament. Dont get too excited Dad! I already told you i would go to choir with you! Im singing a duet with Brother Art here in the branch.. hes probably the most talented musician in the country. We are singing "How great is the miracle". Very pretty. Great lyrics too. Short, and sweet. Wish me luck.
K love you. Gotta run. I know the work is true and im excited to see where Family History will take us. Even more excited (well, maybe not more) to take this home and work there! Oh.. by the way, im registering for classes this coming week.. Thats weird.
Hello
Sent March 23:
Pretty fast week. Im 21. yay. I feel old. Bummer.
We met with President Smith... transfers is going to be crazy. Song Kran is coming.. its going to be crazy. Fun. I know who my next companion is haha. But its a secret.
So we had some more specialized trainings this week and they have all been really productive. Im really impressed with how many different things President Smith saw coming from this activity (if you forgot the name its called the "Grinders".).. I dont know if i actually explalined this activity that well.. but it comes from the doctrine on finding, which the missionary department is currently focusing on this month (all around the world) because apparently we arent finding enough. After discussing the doctrine on finding from Preach My Gospel Chapter 9, we do this activity where we pick 3 topics that we usually talk about when knocking on doors (the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ, The restoration, etc) and come up with a 1 minute "short powerful statement" that encompasses the topic and links it back to the message of the restoration. At this point, President Smith tells everyone they should be writing the paragraph down because we will then use it to role play (sort of like a script). Here is where i see its kinda tricky, because its not hard to remember the stuff written down... but what happens (every time) is people quickly write it down, and then use the FIRST time through during the one minute role play. By the 2nd or 3rd time, no one is using notes, and the statements that they began with have changed already. When President Smith points that out, everyone nods there head in glorious agreement. The next thing, and my favorite part, is when he asks the NEWEST missionary how long he has been in the country, and they say about 3 weeks. He then asks the person that was role playing with the new missionary "did you understand him?" "yes". This activity helps even the worst (pardon my bluntness) speaker of the language able to give a powerful statement that the holy ghost can take to the herats of investigators. Its powerful every time.
Now, this was the specialized training that came from the missionary department (and we have a specialized training on something every month). Next month was supposed to be on repentance, but President wants it to be in May during zone conferences instead. So he needed a new topic for the month of April. After reading my email about our efforts to increase the use of Family History in the mission, he called on Wednesday (my birfday) and said he wanted me to design a specialized training on family history. Whoa. That was big. So right now im kinda trying to get my thoughts together on what is going to work. We are meeting the family history consultants here in the district and the branch this coming sunday, and are going to try and get the lists of everyone throughout the country. This could be big.. really big. We have to stay with it because its going to take some time to make it an effective program. But like i said, inviting and english are 2 of the tiniest bullets in Preach My Gospel.. Family HIstory is huge. Theres no way this is not going to work.
Other than this, we have the normal office work, and exchanges. Nothing super special. Trying to use time most effectively, which has proven to be difficult.. theres so much to do, and its all important.. picking the right thing to do on the right day is crucial.
Okay, love you guys. Thanks for the packages of delicious candy.. that will last me till i die. Was a good week. I miss you (kind of) and am really grateful to be part of our perfect (hahah, right) family. You're all psycho. hahah Peace!
Elder Gudmundsen
We met with President Smith... transfers is going to be crazy. Song Kran is coming.. its going to be crazy. Fun. I know who my next companion is haha. But its a secret.
So we had some more specialized trainings this week and they have all been really productive. Im really impressed with how many different things President Smith saw coming from this activity (if you forgot the name its called the "Grinders".).. I dont know if i actually explalined this activity that well.. but it comes from the doctrine on finding, which the missionary department is currently focusing on this month (all around the world) because apparently we arent finding enough. After discussing the doctrine on finding from Preach My Gospel Chapter 9, we do this activity where we pick 3 topics that we usually talk about when knocking on doors (the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ, The restoration, etc) and come up with a 1 minute "short powerful statement" that encompasses the topic and links it back to the message of the restoration. At this point, President Smith tells everyone they should be writing the paragraph down because we will then use it to role play (sort of like a script). Here is where i see its kinda tricky, because its not hard to remember the stuff written down... but what happens (every time) is people quickly write it down, and then use the FIRST time through during the one minute role play. By the 2nd or 3rd time, no one is using notes, and the statements that they began with have changed already. When President Smith points that out, everyone nods there head in glorious agreement. The next thing, and my favorite part, is when he asks the NEWEST missionary how long he has been in the country, and they say about 3 weeks. He then asks the person that was role playing with the new missionary "did you understand him?" "yes". This activity helps even the worst (pardon my bluntness) speaker of the language able to give a powerful statement that the holy ghost can take to the herats of investigators. Its powerful every time.
Now, this was the specialized training that came from the missionary department (and we have a specialized training on something every month). Next month was supposed to be on repentance, but President wants it to be in May during zone conferences instead. So he needed a new topic for the month of April. After reading my email about our efforts to increase the use of Family History in the mission, he called on Wednesday (my birfday) and said he wanted me to design a specialized training on family history. Whoa. That was big. So right now im kinda trying to get my thoughts together on what is going to work. We are meeting the family history consultants here in the district and the branch this coming sunday, and are going to try and get the lists of everyone throughout the country. This could be big.. really big. We have to stay with it because its going to take some time to make it an effective program. But like i said, inviting and english are 2 of the tiniest bullets in Preach My Gospel.. Family HIstory is huge. Theres no way this is not going to work.
Other than this, we have the normal office work, and exchanges. Nothing super special. Trying to use time most effectively, which has proven to be difficult.. theres so much to do, and its all important.. picking the right thing to do on the right day is crucial.
Okay, love you guys. Thanks for the packages of delicious candy.. that will last me till i die. Was a good week. I miss you (kind of) and am really grateful to be part of our perfect (hahah, right) family. You're all psycho. hahah Peace!
Elder Gudmundsen
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
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