Hello from Thailand

Hello Family!

Happy New Year! Well it was an excellent week here in Thailand! I guess I will start off Monday New Years Eve. We actually got to go to family home evening with the ward it was really fun. We ended up getting home at 7:30 because the members kept stuffing food in our hands! Well something crazy I woke up at 12 because all the sudden it felt like WW2 and we were getting bombed. So I went over to the window and I saw atleast 25 places shooting off Fireworks within a probably 10 Mile radius. New Years is way bigger here than in America! That is for sure! You could here fireworks until about 12:30 then they stopped. But it was crazy. To look out the window and see everyone shooting off fireworks cuz they aren't illegal to buy Mortars and stuff so everyone has them. It is cool. Fun experience. And I am not exaggerating they love the New Years. They usually take off about 5 days for the holiday.

So on Tuesday we had English class and 5 people showed up. Because well it is New Years. Pretty crazy stuff. But fun. So anyway we have this new thing in our mission to help us stay motivated to talk with people about the gospel. You count how many people you say hi to in a day. How many people you serve in a day. How many people you talk to about the gospel and they reject you a day. And how many people commit to do something in a day (come to English, church, learn, etc.) So it is really fun to see I guess how much we do in a day. So I guess it helped us realize that we need to be doing a lot more than we do. They did this to help us get away from knocking doors and to help us street contact. So we walked down the street. Follow the Spirit as mom talked about! That is the key part! You definately can't talk to everyone. But if you follow the spirit. He will guide you to those who are ready or need to hear the gospel. So anyway It was really awesome. We went to a hospital to do service. They gave us a list of things we could do. And told us to come back during the week. Cuz we went on Saturday. So we are doing that tomorrow! I started to help this old lady set out her fruit at a stand and she kept complimenting me about my Thai and stuff. It was really interesting. We serve all the time. But I usually don't think to much about it. But it was really fun to see and count how many times we serve others a day. We helped push this guys motorcycle down the street when it wouldn't start. Carry people boxes. I carried a huge bag of rice for a Older Lady that was carrying it herself. I guess it was just interesting to see what we actually do in a week. I never really talk about it that much but it is something I have done my whole mission. But it is something that you don't really think about because when you are a mission you don't think about yourself. Ever. That is a fact. You always no matter where you are look to serve others. That is a huge thing that I realize. And I want to write more about those experiences, cuz I don't really, but I do them everyday. Usually they aren't hard things but every little act of service means something to that person.

So lately we have been visiting tons of members and we went out and visited some. And guess what they gave us referralls. The thing is we actually gave it to the sister missionaries. His name is O. He is from Cambodia. The day after Christmas Sister Nguwen/ Nuwen came to our area. She got hit by a car and broke her leg. Then she had surgery, got infected. Long story short she has been in our district I just forgot to tell you. She came the day after we skyped. She is really awesome. She is from Cambodia also. So well we put two and two together. And a mission moto we have. One Team, One Mission. So invite everywhere you go. Because it shouldn't matter who gets the glory. Because we want all our brothers and sisters to follow Christs example and be baptized. So well we gave him over. Well funny thing is. The next day. We met Sawong he is awesome! he came to church yesterday. He is a referral from a lady in the ward that served a mission about 35 years ago. Still doing missionary work! Awesome! So we got to meet him. Really interested guy. Liked church a lot. We also have been teaching our security guard at our Condo.  So weird. But he is coming along. Nice guy hard hours to teach him. I hope that we can get him to start learning more. Usually we just talk to him as we are leaving or coming back.

So Apichad is doing great! Also we found a guy yesterday named Ott. He is cool. He has biked around Thailand four times. Is Christian and lives with 20 other people. We met him outside getting ready to ride. Which is weird cuz his house was in the middle of no where. But kinda funny when you make plans to do something how the Lord will place those people in your path at that right moment. Really interesting. But it shows the importance of having a plan for the day so you can see those blessings that the Lord will place in your path. He is really cool I got to play with his pet Gibbon (a monkey with no tail.) Nicest thing in the world! It would pet my head and I would pet it's head. Really fun. But then we went in and talk with the guy so I didn't get to take a picture with it! But it was awesome!

So anyway one way my testimony grew this week is that I realized that God has his time for everyone. Everything has God's hand in it. I know that every time we go out into the world whether it be in Utah, Thailand, or wherever. God puts people in your path. Not necessarily for you to share the gospel. But to serve. To love. To help your fellow Brothers and Sisters. I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants section 88:43 and 44. Says,"And their courses are fixed, even the courses of the heavens and the earth, which comprehend the earth and all the planets. And they give light to each other in their times and in their seasons, in their minutes, in their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in their months, in their years--all these are one year with God, but not with man." Goes on in the section to talk about how the Lord works with each of the 12 servants each for an hour. But I like those two verses. How I interpreted it in my head. Is man can't comprehend what God has in store for us. That things will happen in there own due time. According to God's time, not to mans. But it showed me that my time here is so so short. And I know that God places people in my path everyday who need to hear the gospel. It is their time to hear it. It all depends on that one instant in time. It is like street contacting. If you miss talking to a person and then you think. I should have talked to them. It is usually to late. It made me realize I need to take advantage of every moment that God gives me to serve his children. I love it here. I am so thankful to be a missionary. I know that God watches out for me.

 Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Landon Simonsen