Anyways! This last week has been soooooooooo sooo good. Tons of way good experiences. So much stuff happened this week that were just so like.. sentimentalish and nostalgic. Definitely gonna look back on this time in my life in a bunch of years and get way sad hahaah. I'm thankful its not even close to being over yet ;)
The day after Christmas we had a huge Christmas activity in Kumphawapii. It was way good. They have a small church building there, its about 30 minutes outside of our city here in Udon. Normally about 30 people go there a week so its one of the smallest branches in Thailand. Well, they have been promoting this Christmas activity HARD CORE for the last month or actually probably more than that and it was HUGE!!! They had a role with everyone's names and numbers and they counted over 400 people there with at least like another 200 people that didn't sign up. Mind blowing for real. Super exciting and we are way pumped to see the effects it has on that little branch. The missionaries there are doing great stuff for the area.
Sunday was a good day. We helped the former district president move houses. He actually just recently got released from being district president over the Udon district in order to be in the mission presidency. His names is Tiger haha way sick guy. Talk about him more later cause we got to spend some good time with him during the week!
Monday was just a normal work day because pday got moved to Friday for new years. We had a switch off in Kumphawapii and I went with Elder Gardner. He's a stud! We cleaned up the church from the activity on Saturday for a bit, then went out and taught some lessons and went contacting. Super solid day, just plain and simple hard work.
Tuesday was way busy. We had district meeting that was way sick. It was about finding joy in the work. We all shared great experiences from our missions when we have had a ton of fun while working hard as well. We taught our investigator brother Dang who seems to be progressing really well. His wife is a recent convert and a great example to him. We then ate some stuff and taught some English did some inviting then went home to prepare for Wednesday, when we would be going to Nong Kai to do another switchoff. We have had sooo little time in our area in the past weeks and its not gonna change any time soon ha.
Nong Kai is such a dope area. Its on the border of Thailand and Laos. I had the chance to be companions with Elder Christiansen from Las Vegas, he just finished training but he's a beast at Thai and a natural at the work. We spent the day serving and painting a house. It was waaay out in the countryside and painted this old lady's house white for her. It was such good experience because her next door neighbor was outside playing Thai songs on the guitar the whole time and it was just super chill and fun. We then rushed around the town to 3 different lessons and we were just biking like crazy and after all those were done on the way home there was a way gorgeous sunset. We were going through all these little streets and backroads and all the sudden we popped out right next to the river where there was a beautiful sunset and both of us didn't even say anything we just dropped our bikes and walked over with our jaws open at how beautiful it was. I'll be honest I had a moment hahah I kinda teared up... I just love this place so much. It's beautiful beyond belief- the country and the people. The whole day we were just losing ourselves in the service of others and it just makes you have a warm fuzzy feeling inside. I know that feeling comes from God, because as we learn in the scriptures, while we are in the service of other we are in the service of our Father in Heaven.
I feel like I received some good personal revelation at that moment. So often we as missionaries or even in school or work we focus way too much on numbers and statistics but we don't take time to stop and just notice the little things. As a missionary we can often be motivated by getting lots of lessons taught or baptisms to the point that we stop looking for the opportunities to serve or noticing the small miracles every day. There is no requirements for "miracles seen" or "service done" or "people you made smile today" or "beautiful sunsets that made you grateful for God's creations" or anything like that hahah... But those are the things that really matter. I think the reason those aren't numbers that we record every day as missionaries is because those are the things Heavenly Father trusts us with to look for and seek and thank Him for. These are the things that should be our motivation. It's not about getting lots of statistics that plead your case for you being the best missionary out there, its about being like our Savior Jesus Christ. And doing it for God, out of your love for Him and His creations. I hope that made sense to you guys haha.
Thursday was New Years Eve, normal day. We had a curfew at 6:00 though cause things get pretty wild at night out here in the Land of Thai haha. Friday we woke up at 2:30AM!!! We woke up so early so we could go with President Tiger and his wife to see the sunset up at the border of Laos. I'll just let the pictures be worth a thousand words for you guys haha. Way crazy. Nothing but good vibes. We then went diving and crawling through a cave!!! It was soooooooo awesome! We had to literally squeeeeeze through tiny little places on our stomachs and stuff (OBVIOUSLY I had the hardest time) But it was SOOO FUN!!! We then spent some time shopping for Thai Silk then I got a haircut. Super solid New Years day. I could go on for ever about the refreshing feeling of the new year and the stuff I just talked about. Seriously, nothing but gratitude for this life.
Friday night me and Elder Jeng ran by the local gym to see if we could get some member$hips. Hahah it worked out and we worked out a deal with the guys to come open the place for us at 5 every morning so we are gonna try and start getting pretty jacked. Saturday morning we went and it was way fun, but on the bike ride home with the sun rising.. a HUGE SHOOTING STAR!!! Or should I say freaking meteor was streaking across the sky! Not like a little flash but it was literally like tearing the atmosphere. SOOOO bright too! So beautiful. Wish I had pictures. Saturday ended up being a way good day. At night we played soccer with the kids from the branches and I got reminded that I need to just stick to playing video games and putting casters and handtrucks together for my grampa. Lol.
Sunday was good. WE WERE SOOO SORE hahahaha. Our time for church changed from 9 in the morning to 1 and I think it will be way good for the branch. We skyped with the Elders in Laos and it was great. Getting way excited for our switchoff we have planned with them for next week.
This week is going to be way busy. Tomorrow we are flying on a plane (yay) down to Bangkok for MLC on Wednesday, then we will be heading back Wednesday night and Thursday morning be traveling a couple hours by bus to get to Khon Kaen for our switchoff and to train them. There will also be more trainings too but we'll talk about all that good stuff next week!
I got a bunch of way good pictures but I think in order to fit it in the email I'll have to shrink them down a bunch and the quality won't be as good. oh well love you guys bye
1. a homeless guy came to church and was looking through our garbage hahah here is me and elder jeng waiting patiently on him to finish lolol
2. this is the sunset in nong kai that made me cry
3. this is the sunrise over the border of laos on new years. first sunrise of 2016
4. more
5. more
6. the cave, it was actually way cooler than this pic it makes it look like a cheap hotel room bar
7. cave
8. cave
9. me n a kitty
hey! i forgot to tell you all i wore a BYU shirt that i found in our house for the first time ever on new years day. definitely a one time thing ;) GO UTES
