Thanksgiving Week

Hey Family!

Well I am so excited to hear about Pin (Yupin) ! That is so awesome I will need to write her a letter! So something about her. I guess I never really talked to much about her. Well that is where I come in. I told my trainer that we just need to call her everyday to remind her to pray and stuff. He told me do it if I wanted. So I did it. I called her everyday to remind her to read and pray. She started to come back to church again. Eventually all she need was Eli to come back from America so she could get married, to get baptized. So we waited. Eli never came back until after I left. When he came back they got married the next week. Then they taught Eli. So my equation in this role is I talked to Eli on the phone about once a week. She calls me her son because I was the person who didn't give up on her. I made sure that she kept coming to church, I had to call her a lot. But it was worth it. I am so happy for her. I am just happy that she had the opportunity to listen to this gospel! She had some difficult paths along her road to baptism. Her daughter died in March. Her daughter was 8.  I am so thankful to have played a role in her conversion because she now knows she will see her daughter again. She has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. Hopefully I can see her at Stake Conference this week! That would be really fun!

Anyway great story! Besides that I learned so much this week! We had mission tour and the Asia Area President came. Six hours of lots of learning about the BoM! Best ever! He actually shared something that I really liked about his opening talk about writing home! It gave me some great ideas! So he talked about the most important thing to write home is how your testimony grew this week! Write about the experience you had that strengthened your testimony the most! Well I was like wow! Kinda like what P Brown said in his e-mail. Sometimes I know I don't bear my testimony in my e-mail or I leave out the spiritual side. So I really thought about that. And it is something that I want to apply. But I will do that later! So anywho. The mission tour was great! I loved learning about the BoM. Really helped me this week. When we talked to a white guy named Erwin from the Netherlands. Kinda started beating us down. About how we basically disregard the Bible. That why would we make a New Bible if we had one. That the Bible already has the word of God so he wouldn't make another one. Says we were going to Hell for tampering with God's doctrine.  I  Kinda see how the European missions are. Ya we just took it. Then bore our testimonies on Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Very great stuff. I really like standing by my testimony. I haven't really had to do that in Thai to much. Most Thai Christians aren't as stubborn and don't bash you. They just say we believe in Christ already then walk away. haha! So fun! Loved it!

So bringing up investigators. We are actually working with a few people right now that are doing alright. We tried to give a date to Pee but he felt he wasn't ready. He is doing really good but just doesn't feel ready himself. He reads and Prays everyday though. Pin(the bishops daughter) is also doing really good. We went and visited the Bishops family again and taught a lesson to her. The Bishop has such a great family! They are really cool and strong in the Church!  K besides that we are actually working a lot with some referrals we got. One is actaully Elder Appleyard's (British Fellow) Stepdad or something. So his mom's first husband. But some of there kids live with Elder Appleyard in London. So it is kinda fun. We are hoping to get him interested in the gospel. We have focused a lot on LA's the past couple of weeks a lot. Mainly because if we want to stay a ward we need 15 Melchelzedick Priesthood holders. We have 12 right now. We have a few potentials with Go and Bomb.  So anywho we need people to come back. So we were asked to focus a lot on LA's so we have been. We have been meeting a few of them. So right now nothing big I will keep you posted. LA's can be hard to work with, but it takes a lot less work to find those Priesthood holders than to go out and find one.

So about Thanksgiving first. We actually have an international family/ from the international branch that wants to host our companionship and the sister companionship for Thanksgiving on Saturday. In Thailand it isn't a recognized holiday so Brother Pinvises doesn't have work off that day. So we get it on Saturday. But I am really excited he said he was going to have turkey! So ya! Not everyone is that lucky outside of Bangkok you don't have to many international people. As for Thanksgiving day. We will probably grab a 4 dollar T-bone steak from Uncle Mustaches. It is a really good steak place. Should be good. It will just be another day in the mission. So we will still do work! I guess I don't get to play any American football on that day.

So for Christmas I am not sure what day we call on. Christmas is on Tuesday. So we do teach English at Night! I imagine we could call you on Christams Eve. Or I call Christmas Night here and it is Christmas morning there. I will keep you Posted.

So anyway Mom talked about the Primary and the Mayflower. Sounded fun! Yes I remember that rock in a pit. They called it the Plymouth. I thought it would be bigger! Haha!

So anyway the thing that strengthen my testimony the most this week was on Friday when I was on switchoffs with Elder Merkley. We went across the river and taught one of there Recent Converts. Well actually he wouldn't come out and talk with us. He is 17 and he is kinda stubborn. But we talked with his mom. So help me if I find another person who has to endure what she has to. It was very hard for me to here this story.  Well we shared with her. 2 Nephi 31:19 and 20 that we need to endure everything that the path to Eternal Life is not going to be easy. We talked about how Christ has suffered all our pains through his atonement. He knows what we are going through. We are given these trials to test our Faith. We then shared D&C 18:10 That every soul is of great worth in the eyes of God.  Because she is loved by the ward. That the ward needs her. She was feeling like no one recognized her or visited her. After that she thanked us so much. My testimony grew a lot. She really understands enduring. It is a sad thing to see.  But seeing her this week really showed me that Enduring to the End is so important. That Christ did atone for our sins. He suffered every kind of pain for my sins and for everyone elses. We need to remember Christ's sacrifice for us. I am so grateful to be able to be forgiven of all of my sins. Because without Christ's atonement we wouldn't be able to live with our families again. I am so thankful for my great family! This experience really showed me that I have such a great and loving family! That I have a family who teach's me to be a great person to live righteously! I love you all! Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Landon Simonsen