Rainy and Hot!

My family here on Earth,

Well It was a pretty good week for me down where it is hot and rainy everyday. I still don't get the weather here. It is like 100 Degrees in the morning and dry. Then it gets hot and humid. Then it rains. Then it get hot and sunny. In a half hour it rains. Lets just say it is pretty crazy stuff!

So you asked about the speaking and English vs. Thai mix.  Last week I taught the Basic class with my Companion. They don't really know any English. We have three classes Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. In basic mostly Thai because you explain words in Thai. So you get to speak Thai. In Intermediate you speak a lot of English. But still speak Thai. In Advanced you speak all english. This week I am teaching Gospel though. Where the new people come out of class for like 5 minutes and you ask them if they would like to learn about the gospel. So I only speak Thai this week. As for the language I understand a lot better than I can speak, The tones kill you if you don't get them right because they don't understand you.  I am getting a lot better. I can follow about every conversation now, except for the few occasional words I don't know.

So you asked how Mamm แหม่ม was doing. She is great she already helps all the companionships teach lessons! haha! We are really struggling finding fellowshippers in that age. So she is staying involved definately. We have even started the after baptism lessons with her. It is kinda weird here because the church doesn't have enough members to give only like one or two callings. Most people have at least 3 callings. So the ward missionaries just help us teach all the lessons. We have like 6.  We got to meet with Mamm Last night and she thanked me again for the baptism.  She is awesome! As for a mission news letter we don't have one right now. But that would be cool if we got one. I am in the Zone leaders district and they do show me the mission stats. As for stats we only taught 5 lessons last week.

So anyway I went on Switchoffs with Elder Pipat our Zoneleader from Lopburi. Ya he taught me a ton! He is a great inviter and it was fun being with a khonthai (native thai) The weirdest part about being with him was being the only non-Thai person in the lesson! haha it is fun!  It was a great experience to teach with him.

So fun story with the the suits It looks very good! Ya you can get them tailored.  They are super cool I will send pictures probably in two week because I get it next week. It is charcol with a red inside. It has Elder Simonsen embroidered in the inside. Turns out to be like 60 bucks.  So anyway we are getting measured and stuff. So I go first and I go with Elder Pipat and he was on the phone and the guy just starts pointing at my pants and saying stuff in Thai. My vocab for suits isn't very good. So I was like what do I do. So then the guy starts tugging on them. And then I figured he just wants me to like drop my pants or something. So I just unzipped my pants. The guy does all the missionary suits. But when I started to unzip I figured out that I was just supposed to lift up my shirt so he could measure my waist.  That was a close one!!

Ok so on Thursday we all got to go to the mission home to sign up for work permits!  We will know if we get accepted in like a month or something like that. It makes it so you only renew your visa once a year. I got to see everyone in my group except Elder Davies who is in Chang Mai.  So it was fun to see the gang again. We went out to eat at Capasa's a mexican resturaunt in a Farang neighborhood.

As for investigators we have a few and we have a lot of appointments set up this week. So keep praying for me.  So anyway with Maks family they are so good! I love teaching them! They are progressing great and everything is going great! They even came to stake conference. We also have Wasawn. He is super good. His whole family is budhist but he is super willing to learn.  But we did get 7 new investigators from English last week. So that is good!

Anyway stake conference  was awesome! The Area Seventy spoke and he is super funny! He spoke in English and was translated into Thai! I met him after and he asked what my parents fed me in Farmington! haha! President Smith also spoke! I think that is finally the last time I will see him! He got teared up. He has made a huge difference here in Thailand with the mission! It has grown a ton! He is a great guy! He had all the missionaries who have served from Thailand stand up. I would say about 150 to 200 people stood up male and female. It is great to see super strong saints in Thailand! I love em here! I know that this church is true! I have no doubt that this church is true that everything I have been teaching is so I can help people come unto christ! I love serving a mission! It is the best thing you can do to feel the spirit! I love you all and have a great week at the wedding!  So have a good week! And Thank you for the Support!

Elder Landon Simonsen