Thai Traffic

Hello Everyone!

It was a pretty good week! So i'll start off telling you about that! So last P-day we went down to the center of Bangkok it was awesome I bought a belt, 5 ties, and a man satchel (those are nice to have) I got all of that stuff for about 9 bucks. So ya stuff is pretty cheap here. They have everything that you can think of. So definately we need to stop there when you come. Also it isn't as bad as everyone made it. I was expecting worse and it is actually pretty nice but it is super crowded. We ride trains and rails everywhere and they are always stuffed every time of the day. So I have a picture of the huge traffic in bangkok also.

 We are going inviting at swensen's the ice cream place and inviting on the Word of Wisdom. Inviting is super different here. You have to explain baptism completely cuz they have no clue what it is. They don't believe in God and Jesus Christ. Basically you start with we have a message about families having happiness. Do you want happiness for eternity with your family. That usually gets them. Or they want to become clean from their sins so you go with a baptism approach. It is really a super fun experience and the language is coming. Slowly but surely. They speak fast but I'm starting to get it down to the point where I can follow a conversation pretty well and ask questions. Talking on the phone is the hardest part. Cuz you can hardly understand people. But I usually call about 1 person a day and follow up or invite or something! It is fun and hard. And yes we usually do it on speaker phone. And we also talk to people on those Song Thaw's which are the trucks with the seats in them! It is supper fun!

So today we went to the Middle of Bangkok to a park and played ultimate phrisbee with the Asok (Middle Bangkok) Zone and The East Bangkok Zone Mine. And I met up with a bunch of people. So I got some picks. We have 6 greenies in those two zones combined so I met up with some old buds! We had a great week!

It is really fun to teach the people here about the gospel and it takes a lot of effort! But I love it and am so glad to be serving here! The people are awesome and I know that we are so lucky to know the things we do! They believe in things and have no hope about life after death. They don't know where they go. We have lots of investigators with people who have passed away. It is really a message of comfort that we share and it is truly a blessing to be sharing it!

That about sums up this week.  I will write again next week.

Love

Elder Landon Simonsen

K so the food is amazing here. I have only had american food twice. Subway and Burger king. Usually you just eat on the street cuz that is where the good food is at! They don't have menu's here and every street vender cooks the same dish differently! It really is amazing! And actually you don't even like to eat the American food cuz it just seems weird. Cuz the street vender foods/ house's with a food place in it! Are only about 30 baht to 40 baht every time you eat. We get about 220 baht a day for food and bath supplies. Yes they actually have listerine and everything! Except deodorant. So I'm glad I am set!

Ok so a little about the weather it only rained today it was the only time this week. It was sunny and hot! So the usual. And as for the humidity ya your phone lies. It is close to 100 percent you can feel it when you leave. Basically you start sweating when you leave the house. The humidity owns you and the sun is hot. As for the earthquake last week we didn't feel it. To answer your question, even the Thai people complain about the humidity and how hot it is. It is definately more hot and more humid than I thought! But I love it here! You get used to the sweating after awhile! And tracting is fun! We knock doors and everyone has dogs that bark at you! But if you get bit you have to get a rabies shot so you don't pet them!

Last monday we had FHE at brother Chon Chay's and Sister Uang's house they are recent converts of about 8 months to a year. But they are sweet! Brother Chon Chay used to be in the Mafia and he  loves to joke with me with this thing they call yay yay/ leg leg. It is like big and small. It is weird but they love it! So at FHE we want to teach about the importance of it and to be with your family! The problem here is the translation for the word Family home Evening means Family Gathering/Party. So they always have food and invite a bunch of other members of the ward over. So we had about 3 families when we planned for one! They are all awesome! So we still need to work on that. But anywho they said I was to big to sit on the floor so they let me sit on the couch and brought a stool for my bowl! haha! It was so funny and then they took my chop sticks cuz I didn't use them right! They usually just eat with a fork and spoon but we had noodles. People here don't like when you use chop sticks wrong! So they let me use my fork. Haha.

 So I had English class this week! It was the bomb I loved teaching it! The people call me teacher and they really respect you and want to learn. They also like to learn slang like what's up!, what's cracking! Hey boss! It is funny! Anywho basically no one here can say my name. Usually they just call me Elder Simon.  This week they called me Elder Swensen (which is an Ice Cream store) Elder Cinnamon, Elder Simon Says. I get a lot of um because they don't know what to call me, but they really love to talk to you. They always ask if you know Harry Potter or Katy Perry. They love the American song artists!

Last night was fun! We ate at an investigators house. Called team girl squad. They are 3, 22 to 27 year old girls.  There used to be 4 but now 3. So We teach them and they don't really commit. but we wanted to meet with their families. So they had us over for dinner. So we went and we brought Brother Guy who is pretty funny.  Anywho so we are eating some Eason food which is probably better than Thai food. You can't get it in America so that will stink. Anywho we had a bunch of different dishes and I took one that looked like beef and stuff. Ya I took a lot cuz I hadn't had beef here yet. I learned quickly it wasn't beef. It tasted like rotten terrible tasting something! It was some liver seasoned in something. anywho I gagged like 4 times. But I took alot. (dinners are like pot luck You get like 6 dishes and share.) so I had about 6 pieces of liver left. I was done eating it was so gross. So I put the napkin in my shoveling hand and dropped it on my plate. Then stuffed the liver in my bag! haha. It is some gross stuff! Besides the liver so far the food has been super good! Thai people love liver though. Lets see besides that we got a lesson in about families but here parents didn't want to learn. and neither did her 101 year old grandpa. People live long here! They eat supper healthy!

K Church yesterday was awesome I understood nearly 60 percent of words! But I met the bishop yesterday! He was a missionary in thailand and he is super funny. He is about 5 4 and is awesome. He always hugs me. But that is usual here. The older people probably like 50's and up always slap my butt or grab my elbow. They are a very touchy people but they are probably some of the nicest people I met! They really are super awesome and love teaching them. So we have a good story. Yesterday we had an investigator come to church who wanted to learn about the BoM. She called a pass along card. Which never happens. She is Christian and came to church the next day. Her name is Diam. She came to all of church and then after church we gave her the BoM. Then she order the Liahona. Which is the Ensign, Friend, New Era in one basically. So hopfully this goes somewhere!