Super Awesome Week

Hey family,

Well this week for Halloween. We will maybe have a cool Halloween District meeting or something. And maybe carve some weird Thai Pumpkins. haha! Or just eat ice cream and call it good. I'm not sure. They know of it here. But no one celebrates it here. Haha! So. No problems. Loved the pics of Kira and Sophie in their costumes!  And Cam and Serena's costumes! All four are super cute! And the house is looking pretty different! That is way awesome you have been talking with Elder Gage's mom! haha! Small world isn't it! 

So this past week has been really good! Missionary work is going here. We have been helping out the Sisters here in the area! And now I am pretty sure there area is doing better than ours! haha! But hey that is fine! Same work. And in the end everyone needs to be taught the gospel so me and Elder Gage are more than happy to give some investigators. We gave them Tanya. So hopefully all goes well in their area. They got two new daters this past week. So it is way good.

The District is great. We had our combined District meetings with Elder Unsworth and his District. and all 8 of us are working together as a MegaDistrict. Our areas all kinda have the same problems with finding and member help. So we are working together. It is way good! We all love it. Plus I get to split teaching at District meeting. Way nice. They work in our Branch anyway and the work in the Tonburi branch. We actually had the opportunity to go to Elder Astle and Elder Unsworth's Unit this past week. Way cool experience. 4 missionaries and 1 member. But really fun to see. They are a great help to the branch and overall we had 9 Investigators between 3 companionships at church. So really great! It will be good to help this branch. We are really trying to focus on serving and helping the members build friendships with us. So I hope that we can really start to help this place kick off.

Our investigator finding has been going great! We have been contacting and doing all that fun stuff. And you know not seeing a bunch. But we saw some great stuff with referrals and from finding LA's and teaching there friends. So things have been going. We are teaching a new guy named Bakery and he is doing great he came to church and my companion taught him every part of the gospel in one sitting! haha! I love the fire of new missionaries. Way eager to teach and it is way good! We found him from a Senior couple who taught him english and sent him to our church for sports day.

Poom and PP got back in town and are doin just fine. They came to church. They are still just a little shy and I don't know about there friend peer pressure. But hey are good! We went out to a steak place with them.. It should be great. I am excited for them and we have been great friends with them.

We are hoping to help a few LA's this next week. Sister East is awesome. Her and her husband Noom are members and they just had a father in the family pass away last week. And this past week we taught them the Plan of Salvation. It was an awesome experience.

Missionary work is going great. And Elder Gage is great. I love doing work with him and we are having some fun as well. Missionary work is meant to be hard and fun and that is why we are here and we will have a great transfer. I know that this work is true and I love seeing people every week come unto Christ. Sometimes it is a little hard, but hey I know this work is truly the work of Salvation and it is all worth it. There is nothing better than serving the Thai people and I love every moment of it. I always think about how much a mission has changed my life and how grateful I am to be serving here in Thailand. I know that I have come to understand the Gospel more fully and I have learned how to love the people around me. I hope that you all have a happy Halloween this next week! Thanks for the e-mails and everything.

Love,

Elder Landon Simonsen

Training in Bang Khae

Hey family!

This week was awesome! I had a lot of meeting but it was worth it!! From the subtitle. Yeah I am training! It is super fun! I am with Elder Jordan Gage from Springville Utah! Turned 19 in August.He is awesome! President Senior is way good at picking out trainers and trainees and placing them together. We have really a way close personality and we both played and loved football. So it is great. He really wants there to be lots of connection and unity between the trainers. We had training on Tuesday and it really helped me realize how important it is to train! So I am so excited to do it! I really am looking forward to the next 9 weeks. Typically the training is 12 weeks but President has asked me and Elder Gage to finish it in 9. So it will be great. Elder Gage is a hard working really good missionary and has really helped me remember lots of great things about Thailand and the mission. It has helped me be more obedient and helped me rely on the spirit to help us teach and train. It is awesome and I am really looking forward to it.

 

 

 

My District is a District of 4. But we are technically in a District of 6 with the other Elders kinda weird but fun! Elder Unsworth from Bang Na area is serving where Elder Hansen was.  He is just in charge of 2 other Elders. Way fun. I love Elder Unsworth. Both our sisters finish there missions and we got two more. A Greenie Sister Barber and Sister Sombuunit a Thai sister. She speaks way good English. But it was so fun to have so many fun experiences with Elder Gage. It is fun to see how many things I took for granted in Thailand. Like the good, weather, the people. It is all so new, so exotic. Fun. I love working with him. We have been hitting the streets. Lots of our investigators are just in spots where it is time to choose whether they will follow Chirst and his commandments or not.

Blay is doing great!! She didn't come to church yesterday. So we will need to push her date back into November. But she will still be getting baptized. No doubt about it! She is awesome. Really sweet fun girl. We actually got to sit down with Peter and he kept talking about how Heather added him on facebook. Way funny! He loves your guys wedding picture! He says how my mom is still the same and way beautiful and then my dad. Had awesome hair just like him and they lost it! haha! Way funny. Every asian that sees mom always compliments her for her great skin ton and great hair color. It is funny. Because usually we call mom white. But thai people love moms skin color. So you will love coming over here and getting complimented like a storm. But Peter, Beam and Blay are doing so good! really happy for them.

 

 

 

Poom and PP are doing great we have been talking with New and Ice about being good examples by reading and praying. Poom and PP are still out of town. So it is kinda just a weird time. of year. School is out. But things will get back to normal. They are coming back this week. So they will most likely be getting baptized in November as well. 

To answer questions for Nathaniel and Sebastian. We wear church clothes every P-day unless we are going to play sports. You get used to wearing church clothes everyday. And it actually feels really good when you know that you are keeping all the rules of the mission. Sometimes others will break rules. But it is always best to keep all of them. Sometimes you don't understand why. But they are there for a reason. Because your leaders in the church and Heavenly Father know better. When you serve a mission. You dedicate 2 years of your life to serving the Lord. You promise to be obedient. And he promises so many blessings when you obey the rules. You will be happy. You will have health. You will be safe.

Choosing to come on a mission was the single best thing I have ever done in my life. I love being a missionary. And there is nothing I would rather do. It involves sacrificing the things you love. But when you sacrifice those things to serve your savior, he promises you so many blessings. A mission will not only bless your life, but the lives of all those around you. Thanks for all the e-mails!

Love,

Elder Landon Simonsen

Loved General Conference

Hey Family!

Well I want to start off by answer a few questions. First to my favorite girl!!! Kira of course I miss you! And I love you so much! I have all the cards you have sent me! And I wouldn't leave them. And Kira the Elephants say, "Hello". And next Tanner! That is awesome you are preparing for a mission! I am so excited for you. It is really one of the best things I have ever done in my life. It brings the most joy I have ever had. I invite you to read the scriptures. Read in Alma about the Son's of Mosiah. They are the best examples of missionaries you can find. They have faith and they trusted the Lord. Everyone told these young men that they couldn't convert the Lamanites. But they had a sincere desire for there brethren. This is one thing that I have learned. No matter where you go. No matter who it is. Love them. This is a principle you can use right now. Serve and help those around you. I know your desire for your brothers and sisters salvation will grow as you love them. So Tanner, I wish you the best of luck. The experiences you will have are meant for you. And no one else can do, what you have to offer.

 

Well as you all know. This is transfers week. It is about 50/50 who stays who goes. We won't know until tomorrow or this evening. But I am happy for whatever happens. This has been one of the best transfers in my mission. A transfer that has changed my life. In ways honestly I can't explain, but feel. That I can't share. But know that this transfer has been one of the most humbling transfers I have had. And I have truly grown from the people here in the area. Know whatever happens I gave it my all. And am happy to be here till the end of my mission, if that is the Lords will. This past week Conference really inspired and uplifted me. One of the best and truly most amazing conferences I have listened to. So applicable. I found so many personal answers and got so many revelations. That is something I wish I knew the power of before my mission. I really know that the Prophets are called of by God and receive revelation for us as members of the church.
 

This week was truly a great week. Kind of a rollercoaster. But things just didn't go as planned in the long run! Investigators didn't keep commitments or were out of town. So unfortunately no one at church. But Peter is doing great. This week we officially started to teach his wife. It is a good start. We just talked about Prophets and the opportunity to listen and receive revelation from them. Her name is Beam she is awesome. We have been working for the past like 3 weeks to show her love. We treat her like our Thai mother. Brother Peter explained she has been super sad and down since the death of there son. So we have been trying to love her like her sons. We go and serve them and just laugh with them and try and help them feel the Saviors Love.
 

Poom and PP are doing alright. But just out of time. It is the end of the school Semester and are out of town.  Anyway this week things will pick up again. Should be good next week! Bri Cha is doing good. But just sells/ fixes stuff on Sunday. Kind of stinks. Things just take time. Conversion and understanding doesn't come easy. But it will come. Well I really don't have to much more for the week. I will keep you posted next week. Who the new comp is. Thanks for all the e-mails and everything.

Love,

Elder Landon SImonsen

Super Great Week in the Oriental City

Hey family,

This week was awesome! It is going really good! First to answer questions. Conference is next week here! Here in Bang Khae we do have the option to watch in English. We have two members from the phillipines here so we but it in English. But I watched the last one in Thai and English because They have headphones so you put in one ear and listen to the Thai and English.

Next questions. Of course we teach English every week! It is kinda just the same thing every week. We have 24 lessons in a book and I am on the 4th time through the book. Super fun! And the people are awesome! It is really fun to serve. We have on average 55-60 people every week. So it is really fun. That is our main source of investigators here in Thailand. We share a quick gospel thought after every lesson. In my class we have about 25 people. I teach the beginner class with Elder Hansen. So it is really fun.


Well for this week it has been a blast. We are really starting to get creative with our teaching. We realized that teaching Poom and PP. We had to actually prepare meaningful and fun lessons. So this past week we have used some really fun comparison/ analogy activities. We used a cup of water poured in red food coloring to represent sin. And then used bleach to make it white again. But still it wasn't as clean as the first so to get a new glass of water you need to be baptized! The next lesson stepped it up again. The Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity. We used Ice Cream. Which Thai kids love and don't get a lot. So we did the comparison we need to keep our bodies clean because Alcohol, drugs, and stuff aren't good and aren't meant for our body. So we represented that with putting ketchup, chilli sauce, fish sauce. On our ice cream. It doesn't go with our body. Then said that the thing we need are good foods. Excersie and stuff. And this was represented by the Choocolate sauce, oreos and stuff! So way fun. They were going crazy when we poured ketchup on the ice cream. haha! Way good. They understood the commandments way well! So it was really fun! And are progressing pretty good towards there date.

Peter is doing great! He just got ordained to his calling yesterday at church. And we are still working with his daughter and wife. They are doing so awesome. Blay is doing good. We got to go out and serve at there house. We helped package his goods for his pet shop. It was really fun! They sold every bottle of lice killer we packaged! Kinda a funny blessing! So it was good. Peter is doing great at helping us with our investiagtors! He loves serving. Peter is awesome and I really love how he explains religions he never bashes on or degrades another religion. He always talks about what that religion does good. And then he says how we can even magnify that even more with our church. It is great and a very good teaching method. You can really feel the love when he teaches.


The Elders quorum president got a way awesome home teaching plan going. So hopefully we can get it going here. Home teaching is a huge struggle all over Thailand. But if we can get it going it will help our RC's and Members stay active. So I am excited to see the Branch try and do this. They know it is really important to retain members. So I am happy for them! We have been working with the LA's a lot here as well. We have been traveling out into the province over and meeting people out there to help them feel the love! It is way fun! It is testing my traveling vocab a lot! haha! All the different vehicles and places we have been going. Has been really fun!


Elder Stenier is doing great! He still talks in his sleep, this week he started yelling my name and saying there was Spiders everywhere in the room. It went like this," Elder Simonsen!! Elder Simonsen!!! There are spiders everywhere! I see them! Elder Simonsen!!! The me, " What... What... Dude...Wake up!!! Then he woke up and was confused on what was going on. Way funny! Crazy! But we are starting to do mediation at night and I think it is helping haha! Well family have a great week! I know that the work here is truly the Lords work! Our message is a message of true happiness. I am so grateful to help bring the Thai people into the light and knowledge of the truth. I am so excited to hear the Prophet and apostles speak next week. I know that through the atonement of Christ we can all change and become better every week. And I am so thankful for these two years to serve my Savior. The time is going fast and seeing my friends come home is so crazy. But I know that I still have time left and I will make the most of it. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Landon Simonsen