September 21, 2015

Elder Jesse Bundy enjoys the Chiang Mai landscape and Zone Conference

This is Elder Jesse Bundy with Elder Arne.  Jesse writes, "Elder Arne is one of the best missionaries in our mission.  He is way cool and an AP, (short for an Elder who is called to be an assistant to the Mission President).  Elder Arne helped me a LOT when I first came into the mission and we have become very good friends."

Elder Bundy and his companion spent several days in Chiang Mai for Zone Conference and interviews with their Mission President.  Then they returned back to their area to continue their work.  He wrote, "....so my interview with President Johnson was extremely good.....he is a way good guy....I feel like he is a real friend."  

Elder Bundy went on to discuss his progress in becoming the missionary he wants to be, "I've changed a lot over this last month......my companion has helped me in more ways than I have helped him.....I credit him with the opportunity I'm getting to become a better missionary, a better person...."

Elder Bundy sent some beautiful pictures of some of the incredible landscape in Chiang Mai and Gangenpet.

Here Elder Bundy is with other Elders on their way to the top of the mountain to ride some wooden carts like sleds down the mountain side.

Elder Bundy was awe struck with the beautiful scenery at the top of the mountain!

Elder Bundy with his companion and the Sister Missionaries in his district.

Jesse writes, "Can you believe how beautiful this is!  So yeah….Chiang Mai was awesome!!!!  We went way up in the mountains.....the best part was that they had these wooden carts that we were able to ride down the hill on…..it was soooooo much fun!!  I got it all on my Gopro, and I will send the videos to you on one of my cards.....it was so much fun."

This picture is of one of the beautiful old ruins in Gangenpet with Jesse standing at the top.  

 Elder Jesse Bundy wants his brother-in-law, Bryant to notice the tie.  These are more of the beautiful ruins he toured in Gangenpet.

These incredible waterfalls are deep in the jungle near Gangenpet.

Elder Jesse Bundy went on to say, "I love the movie, Ephraim's Rescue...tell everyone to watch it and show it to the grand kids.  Its awesome…"

Last week, Elder Bundy ended up with a bad case of food poisoning.  He wrote, "So, on the bus ride home from Chiang Mai, I got WAYYY sick!  The sickest I’ve ever been.....all of the sudden, I had way bad headaches, body aches, nausea....the symptoms have just followed me throughout this week.  Today, I'm just way tired and my head hurts way bad, so if its o.k., I'm going to be short and sweet so I can get some Gatorade and go to bed.....this week I have done my best to just work through it.....don’t worry mom, I'm alright, it was just harder.  And no.....it wasn't the bannas….lol."

Elder Jesse Bundy sent some flowers to his Mom via a photograph.  He writes, "Mom, I'm just way tired and my head hurts. I miss you taking care of me when I'm sick….lolol….. sorry this is so short and doesn't say much but I'm literally just thinking about food and sleep right now..lol....I'm sending you this picture of some really pretty flowers in a field.  If you were closer, I would  send you a bouquet of them….I love you." 

Elder Bundy ends his letter with, "Well, I think I might be going here pretty soon... I still have to get a haircut before I am able to rest and we have appointments later…So, I don’t want to run out of time.  I love you guys a bunch!  Don't worry about me mom.  I really am doing great and I really, really, really am loving my mission!  Thanks for everything you guys do for me.  Talk to you next week!  I miss you…."

Elder Jesse Bundy

September 13, 2015

Elder Jesse Bundy enjoying a peaceful 

ride, studying his scriptures on the back of a truck with members and his companion on P-day while traveling to Chiang Mai

Elder Jesse Bundy, his companion and others traveled to Chiang Mai on P-Day to enjoy the sights and attend Zone Conference.  Once a month, all missionaries around the world gather in their appointed areas with other missionaries in their zones, usually around 12 to 18 missionaries, to meet together for training from leaders and individually receive direct instruction and an interview with their Mission President.

Elder Bundy found a canteloupe and some bananas to snack on while on the 2 hour ride to Chiang Mai from his area. 

The others in the truck challenged him to eat ALL of the bananas, which he did!  He writes, "tell the nieces and nephews that this is NOT a good idea....but, I really, really love bananas!" 

Elder Bundy taking a much needed nap after all those bananas! LOL

Last P-day, Elder Bundy went to Gangpeng and writes, "Well……..this week has been pretty crazy!  Last Monday, we went to the Gangpeng, an old city full of spectacular ruins!  They were beautiful!  After that.....we went to see an awesome waterfall deep in a crazy jungle.   I did get some cool pictures and videos but unfortunately, I left the card with those in the apartment in Plok, so I will have to send those to you next week.  But here are a few from Elder Martindale's camera...."

I even had a local Thai man that was diving, take my gopro and swim with it under the waterfall!  He LOVED it and the video is wayyy cool!" 

Elder Bundy explaining to a local man that was diving, how to use 

his camera to get video while swimming.

Elder Bundy, Elder Martindale, Sister Hatch and Sister Pitts at the waterfall in Gangpeng

Elder Bundy went on to report on last week's work and p-day, "Last Thursday, we had training with our zone leaders.  They came to our area and did switch offs, where we each work with one of them as our companion for the day.  It was really good....my new Zone Leaders are pretty good.  The only negative was that all of our appointments fell through for the day, so we just spent the whole time street contacting.....right now we are actually in Chiang Mai.....Tonight at 6 p.m., we will have our personal interviews with President Johnson and tomorrow we will attend zone conference all day.  But until 6, we get to have our P-day.  We think we are going to the montains to some crazy go-cart sliding place."

Elder Bundy reported that he and Elder Martindale are doing well.  They are working hard and making a little progress every day.  He writes, ".....for several weeks, we haven't had ANY investigators coming to church.  Then yesterday, we had 7 come!.......it made me feel soooo good!"

Elder Jesse Bundy exiting the truck in Chiang Mai.....or is he trying to hang on....not sure?  LOL

Elder Bundy discussed his frustration with getting into a steady routine with his diet and exercise.  He writes, ".....sooo I kinda slipped up a little on my diet this past week!  But this week, I'm going to start again.... I bought a 5 kilo bag of brown rice.......last night, I boiled my chicken for the upcoming week."

When Elder Bundy was asked about his favorite food in Thailand, he wrote, "I really like pot pet mamuang, which is like cashew chicken.   I also like panang curry.   They make a lot of egg fried rice thats really good as well.   Oh, and I love the fried eggs that they put on top called kai jiaw.........ummmm, way good." 

Elder Bundy closes his letter with, "Tell everyone that I love them and thanks for the e-mails and packages!  I think we might be heading out here pretty soon anyway.....maybe this week I will send a micro SD in the mail with all of my videos.  You can download them.....send them to the family then send me the card back......we'll see how it goes because I only use 1 SD card and I have 3, so we could send them back and forth.." 

"Well.....I love you guys!  Ohhh, will you tell Kelsha thank you SO MUCH for sending me that email!!!!  It was wayyyyy good and  was just what I needed!  I am SO thankful to have brothers and sisters that have served missions and know just what to say.....Tell, her I'm sorry, but I just don't have enough time to respond to everyone individually....but I am so grateful!  Tell her it was wayyyyy good!  I'm gonna forward it to you mom....you'll love it!"

"Bye bye...wat di! I love you mom!!  I love you dad!"

Elder Jesse Bundy

September 6, 2015

Elder Jesse Bundy enjoying the beautiful 

Thailand countryside

LDS missionaries get one day a week referred to as their PDay short for preparation day, to take care of laundry, write letters home, enjoy their surroundings and plan their work for the upcoming week.  Here Elder Bundy and his companion are on their way to Gangpengpet with members to see some spectacular old Thai ruins and breathtaking waterfalls. 

Elder Bundy writes, "WE ARE GOING เที่ยว(tio)!!!! It's a Thai word for going on vacation/sight seeing/ having fun....we’re actually in a city called Gangpengpet.  It’s a smaller area than ours, but there are missionaries here.  We just stopped by to email our letters home before we go to the old Gangpengpet City, which is like some crazy awesome ruins!..... then we’re going to a waterfall.   Should be pretty fun, I hope.  We’ve worked extra hard these past two weeks."

Elder Bundy reported that even though it has been a drastic change in pace working with his new companion, the work is moving forward.  He writes, "Elder Wright is the boss and I'm really grateful for him and what he taught me.  I'm thankful he trained me!"  He goes on to ask everyone to pray for his area and the missionary work in general in Thailand.  "Like I said before, we have a LOT of golden investigators, but their road to baptism has had a lot of bumps... in Thailand, everyone works on Sunday.  It is very hard for them to come to Church instead of work."

Elder Bundy describes meeting an investigator while waiting for an appointment to meet them at the church.  "Yesterday, we made an appointment with a man we met while finding....but, he didn't show up.  So, while we were waiting outside of the church, I took my inviting card out and started dancing with it on the street.......I had been taught that on the east side of Thailand, that's how they sell stuff on the streets.....I did it for probably 20 minutes - but to no avail.....As I was about to give up and go back into the church, a man on a bike came riding up.  He didn't quite see me, so I just danced and yelled a little louder in his direction.  I was like, ‘do you want to be forgiven of your sins?!’  He immediately stopped, turned around and came to talk with me.   He is golden!!!  He wants 'the cleansing of sin'..…he gave me his number, set an apointment and rode off.  It was TOTALLY awesome and just what I needed....I loved it!  Heavenly father is good"

Elder Bundy shared some thoughts on his personal study for this week.  "When Elder Holland came and spoke to us, he told us that this mission would change us.  That this mission would set us up for the rest of our lives if we choose it, work for it... ..He said, ‘what you are now isn’t good enough, isn’t spiritual enough, isn’t mature enough, isn’t patient enough….’  Elder Holland went on to say that our only fear should be that we came on our missions, then after serving for two years go home the same person as we were when we first came out...’   So I’ve been contemplating a lot about change.   As you know.....I’m a pretty free spirt.....I like to mess around.. a lot!  And I don't always take things as seriously as I probably should.  So I’ve been studying in the Book of Mormon, specifically the book of Helaman.   The missionary examples of Nephi and Lehi are wayyy awesome!  Anyway, I wasn't finding a whole lot and I was just kind of stressed out about it.  But then, out of the blue, Elder Wright shot me a call... a VERY pleasant surprise.   Transfers were only a few weeks ago, but it felt like ages!!!  After we caught up, he just kept talking about how much he loved and respected me?….It was sure what I needed to hear…..After we were done and I hung up the phone, I found a scripture in the New Testament.....Peter is talking about how as he taught the Gospel, the Lord shaped and conformed him for the work…. So, I realized that I don't really need to worry about anything like not being good enough......as long as I’m doing the work to the very best of my ability, the Lord will shape and conform me to be what he wants me to be….I love how Heavenly Father hears, really hears and answers prayers!!"

Before leaving for work one day last week, Elder Bundy and his companion were blocked in.   There was a large fire next door to the Church just down the street from their apartment.   

Elder Jesse Bundy and his companion were able to get a few pictures of the commotion caused by the fire from the roof of their building as they waited for their street to clear.

Jesse writes, "....there was a huge fire right next to our church the other day.…no one was hurt......we were blocked in, so we watched them try to put the fire out from our roof.   It was 1 building away from the church and it ended up okay, just a bit sketchy…..They had 1 HOSE!! and it was a HUGE fire!"

Elder Bundy's mom asked him about his bike and his clothes.  He wrote, "My bike is wayyyy good.  Tell Dad that I've only had one flat tire! lolol…..it does just fine in the rain.....no rust yet....we keep them just outside our apartment locked up.  My pants take a lot of punishment.....but, it's soooo cheap to have clothes custom made here.  If they wear thin at all, I'll just have some custom stuff made for DIRT cheap.   My shirts are way good….they are un-stainable and durable as well!!!!  My shoes are the same.....so I'm wayyyy good."

Elder Bundy ends his letter with, "I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOOOOO MUCH!  I miss you mom.  I miss you Dad.....I really am loving my mission!!!

Elder Jesse Bundy