March 27, 2016

Elder Jesse Bundy encourages everyone to keep the Sabbath Day holy, enjoys Easter Sunday and attends an entire family's baptism!

Elder Davis, Elder Jesse Bundy, Gur (an investigator), our very good friend Birdman, Elder Hunt and Elder Weaver enjoy an Easter program at church together.

"I have had ANOTHER great week!... I've been reading and studying M. Russell Ballard's book, 'Man's Search for Happiness.'  It is SO good and has really helped me teach why it is so important to keep the Sabbath day holy.  Everyone should read it!"

"Last Tuesday, we had a GREAT District meeting.  We talked about how we all came on our missions for the Savior!  That we are serving here in Thailand because we have testimonies of Jesus Christ and want to share His message with the world.  I showed them the resiliency motivational video, 'Let's Go.'  We then went out and had a big inviting day and taught an English class.  Sadly, when we went to teach one of our promising investigators, she told us that she didn't want to learn anymore, because she had chosen to become a Buddhist.....we had a member with us who proceeded to really speak to her very plainly, which became very awkward and not good.  So we stepped in, bore our testimonies and asked her to pray about it."

Last monday was Elder Davis's birthday, so the Elders enjoyed some ice cream at Swensen's

"Wednesday was another AWESOME day!  I got to do switch-offs with Elder Davis!  We taught tons of lessons and it was just incredible.......First, we taught Bly's family (the one with the little boy who fell off of a motorcycle and it did permanent damage to his face).  We taught them about the power of faith.  The spirit was very strong and the lesson went really well.  We then were blessed to teach a new investigator by the name of Bida.  He is already a Christian, so we were able to teach him about the restoration.  He was excited and agreed that he would pray about it.  We then rode back to the church to teach two more investigators who are very solid, one of them even committed to a baptismal date!  We ended the evening teaching our table salesman, Siin and Geek who both have baptismal dates.  It was a GREAT day!"

These are called 'spirit houses' and are located just outside Jesse's apartment window.

"During our study session this morning, I looked out the window and saw a beautiful, plump dove perched on our hedge.....it was a great start to the day!  Later that day, we taught a way solid investigator named Gur.  He has a strong testimony and will be baptized next week.  Gur's girlfriend is a member and introduced us.  We love teaching investigators that members already know!  We finished our Thursday evening off with inviting, teaching a Book of Mormon class and teaching some new members......it just doesn't get better than this!"

'My lunch!'  Elder Bundy LOVES Eisan Thai food!

"Friday, we went with our man, Dton, to teach our table salesman. We taught them about the Word of Wisdom and informed them that they would have to give up drinking and smoking.....they both agreed to quit right there and then.  It was awesome!  We then taught Bida another lesson to help him get closer to his baptism.  His house happens to be right next to a school.  There was a big pick-up soccer game going down.....so I just hopped in the game.  It was so much fun and I ended up inviting all of them to English class!  We left there and taught Gur again and interviewed the Sister Missionaries family of investigators for baptism.  They all passed!  Then we played sports at the church with the members."

A nice guy we helped unload his truck while we were out inviting.

"On Saturday, we had a blast doing a HUGE service project at a member's house.  We helped clean out the side of his house that was full of a bunch of junk, overgrown trees, bugs and creatures!  It was a great big mess!  But.....a bunch of members showed up to help and we got it all taken care of.  Even though we almost were bitten multiple times by large spiders like ever 5 seconds...we had a great time.....

Just one of the many little creatures that are EVERYWHERE here in Thailand.  

After, we went to the church and had a coordination meeting the all of the ward auxiliary leaders.  We were intrigued because they kept telling us about a part of our province that has a bunch of members that don't come to church because it is just too far for them to travel every week.....Immediately, all four of us Elders went to the bus station and hopped on a bus that went that direction!  We threw our bikes on top and just went!  It was a very shanty bus that was very crowded.  In fact, at first they wanted us to sit on top of it with our bikes...lol!  We threw just a little fit about that suggestion and eventually, we were able to squeeze in down below...."

Elder Jesse Bundy, Elder Weaver, Elder Davis and Elder Hunt squeezing on a bus seeking for members who live far out in the countryside.

"We made it out there....or, so we thought?  The bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere and said, 'here it is!'  We weren't anywhere....and he just left us standing there!  Sooooo.......we called a member who told us that we should have stayed on the bus for another 10 kilos.  We decided to just start inviting all of the people we could find in the little farm houses along the way, since we were here and decided not to go the extra 10 kilos on our bikes.  It was a very INTERESTING adventure!  None of these people had ever seen white people, let alone missionaries!!  It was a miracle that we ended up finding 6 families that are very interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ!"

"After finding such great success, it came down to the fact that we were going to have to bike the 30+ kilos back home in the dark...not a good idea.  We all were praying......when at the last second, one of the families we had just barely invited said he had a big truck and was on his way back to town that very moment!  PRAY WORKS!  We tossed our bikes in the back and went home....it was a crazy great day of following the spirit, receiving such great blessings and seeing miracles.."   

"Church was AWESOME Sunday!  We had our table salesman, Siin and Geek as well as Gur and the all loved it.  During the third hour, we all combined in the Sacrament room for an Easter activity.  The Bishop had set up a TV to play the Bible videos that depict the Saviors atonement, His crucifixion and the resurrection.....there was only one problem....the videos were all in English only.  The Bishop handed me the mic, sat me right up front of everyone and told me to translate all of it for them!.....I will admit that it was a little scary, but I had an AMAZING experience doing it....."

We have the best ward members ever!  Here are some eggs they made for us for Easter.

"After that, the Sister missionary's family of investigators were BAPTIZED!  It was just SO cool!  We grabbed Gur and Bu and showed the restoration video to them.  We ended the day inviting at a market picking up 30 phone numbers in 45 minutes and teaching 2 new investigators.  

Elder Jesse Bundy, Birdman - a good friend and member and Elder Hunt

It was a WAY good day!  To top it off, we were blessed to eat dinner at the Bishop's house....it was SO good!"

"Well momma!  That was my week.....I need to go.  I love you guys!  Until next week...."

Elder Jesse A. Bundy    

  

March 20, 2016

A happy, exhausted Elder Jesse Bundy meets 105 prospective investigators, is excited for 5 investigators who have committed to baptism and welcomes Elder Davis to his District!

Elder Bundy catching a quick nap while riding a train home after biking more than 30 kilos to teach an investigator in the countryside.

"It has been a GREAT week!  Elder Weaver and I have added 105+ phone numbers for contacting and we have 5 people who have committed to baptism and have dates!  I'm excited to have Elder Davis here.  He only has 3 months left on his mission and I am going to learn ALOT from him!"   

Elder Jesse Bundy continues with a day-to-day diary of his exhausting, but GREAT week.  He writes, "Last Sunday, we sadly did not have a baptism, but Sister Buu received the Holy Ghost and some of our great progressing investigators were there.  After church, our ward mission leader told us of a less active member who lived quite far out of town.  He hasn't come to church for a long time and is having some problems.  Elder Weaver and I were not scared of the distance.  But......we bit off a little more than we thought we could chew....hahaha!  We ended up biking more than 15 kilos out of the city!  The best part was that we had a GREAT meeting and he was very glad to see us.  We ended up finding out that his little brother died recently and he just hasn't been able to attend church meetings.  After giving our condolences and giving him some scriptures to read, we biked the 15+ kilos back home.  We got back in time to have dinner at a member's house to top off a great Sabbath."

While out contacting, we found Brother Wichiean's cows running loose.  We stopped to help him herd them back to his place.

"Monday was a GREAT inviting day!  We taught another less active family and committed them to coming to church.  We found a crazy back road with a sign that said, 'wild boars'.  OBVIOUSLY, we could not resist venturing down it.  Unfortunately, we found a whole dog colony with at least 35 dogs that tried to chase us down!  We felt like we were in a zombie apocalypse or something....it was great.  We made it out of the woods and stopped by a member's house for a quick family home evening.  It was a GREAT day."

Some of the beautiful countryside Elder Bundy watched out the window while traveling home.

"On Tuesday, we had a surprise and Elder Williams was transferred.  Elder Davis was transferred in to take his place in my district.   He came from Loburi, the monkey capital of Thailand.  It's just north of Bangkok and he said that monkeys' just run around the city......crazy.  He is a boss!!  We are SO excited to work with Elder Davis!  He is an obedient, great at speaking Thai dude from Arizona.  To top it off......he is a two time state champion wrestler!! Everyone gets along great and it is bonus that we can start wrestling together for work out......We had a GREAT district meeting...the spirit was so strong.  Our district is going to kill it this transfer.  We set some high goals and everyone is pumped and obedient, so we are going to be able to do some real work.  In the afternoon, we taught a new investigator, taught English class and finished up the day teaching Dang and Pob, our two investigators with baptismal dates."

"On Wednesday we took Brother Kim, a 17 year old who is preparing to be a missionary, with us to teach 3 different investigator families.  It was SO good!  He loved it and the investigators are going really well, progressing slow, but good.  We then took Brother Kim inviting with us and were able to obtain a bunch of numbers."

Elder Weaver and Elder Bundy on the train after biking 30+ kilos to visit and teach an investigator.

"In the afternoon, we had an appointment with an investigator at their house....little did we know that her house was 30 kilos away....haha!!  We biked it and taught a great lesson.  On the way home, we hopped on a train with our bikes like hobos!  After getting off the train, Weaver got another flat tire.  We fixed it and got home.."

Elder Weaver on the back of Elder Bundy being towed by a member as they continue to come up with creative solutions to Elder Weaver's bike problems.

"Friday morning, we woke up to yet another flat tire on Weaver's bike!  We are getting really good at fixing all of the crazy things that break on it, tires, gears, pedals, brakes.....

A member towing Elder Bundy and Elder Weaver home.

"Later that morning, we taught Le and Dit.  They are doing so well and want to be baptized, but they are still scared of their family.  After that, we went with a member to find a less active member.  When we got to her house, we found out that she had married an Islamic man.  She explained to us that if she doesn't change religions, she will be killed.....it was a very sad and awkward conversation!  We then went to teach a member from the ward who kindly served us some corn milk......it is NOT good, but I 'gratefully' drank it.  Toward the end of the day, we went to a print shop and made HUGE signs for an activity we are going to have on Saturday.  We ended the evening at sports day at the church and set up for the activity."

Some members helping us get Elder Weaver's bike back to our apartment.  It is always breaking!

"Saturday we had a HUGE ACTIVITY with 9 wards/branches from all over the eastern side of Thailand....we had dancing, food and a TON of people!  It was in celebration Relief Society's anniversary.  It turned out so good!  We received some awesome referrals and had a blast!  After that, we did some contacting and calling for the church, then cleaned the church up and prepared some documents we needed for Sunday meetings.  It was a very busy and fun day!"

Elder Weaver and Elder Bundy with a small chicken they found running around inside their apartment when they got home one evening.

"On Sunday, we attended early meetings in the morning and were able to set transfer goals and our vision with the Bishop and Ward leaders.  Church was GREAT!  We ended up having 107+ people attend, which included a lot of investigators!  After church, I sat down with the clerk and figured out the records that have not been kept here since October for people who have been baptized....this has been very frustrating, but it's all good now.  Later in the afternoon, we taught a family, went contacting and finished off a great day eating at the Bishop's house."

"Today for P-Day, it is Elder Davis's birthday, so we went on an early morning fishing excursion.  It was really fun, but sadly we have not caught any fish yet.  We cannot manage to catch even 1 fish!  It's terrible...lol"

"Well momma!  Tell everyone I love and miss them!  I am LOVING my mission and I am really thankful for this opportunity.....I'll talk to you next week."

Elder Jesse A. Bundy

March 13, 2016

Elder Jesse Bundy and his district are staying together this transfer as they continue working together to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in Sisaket Thailand

The Sisaket Squad!  Elder Jesse Bundy, Elder Williams, Elder Hunt and Elder Weaver

"We received transfer calls last night and it turns out that ALL OF THE ELDERS IN THE SISAKET SQUAD will be staying!  I am way excited to stay with Elder Weaver!  We are going to kill it again here and see all of the families and people we have been working with through to baptism....I am WAY pumped to keep working here with these guys and the Sister Missionaries that are here.  We'll be getting one new Sister missionary because one of the Sisters is going home this week."

"So, here's how my week went......

"Last Tuesday, was the last district meeting of the transfer.  I talked to the missionaries about....you guessed it, ACCOUNTABILITY... hahaha!  We have a Sister who is just finishing her mission......it worked out exceptionally well.  I shared a couple of quotes from the talk you sent to me mom and then we read the section in Preach My Gospel on accountably.  After that, Elder Weaver and I hit it hard in contacting, taught a less active member and taught an English class.  There were two people who stayed after class.  They are very interested in learning about the gospel and we had a great lesson.....we will see where that leads."

"When we went home, we heard Elder Hunt in the bathroom yelling for help, 'THERE'S A HUMUNGUS SCORPION in the corner of our shower!!!!  HELP!!!'  hahahaha.....sooooo, we caught it!  We feed it a cockroach daily and it is nasty, but way awesome at the same time!  I think we are going to cook it up and eat it! hahaha.."

Their scorpion

"On Wednesday, we taught our baptismal daters, Le and Dit.  They are SO good!  Their whole family is going way good and progressing in the gospel.  The only problem is on the 22nd of this moth when they have to go with their family to worship idols for their grandparents......We've been really trying to build their faith to get around going, but they are extremely afraid of their own parents!"

Some idols at a Wat Jesse visited and an example of some of the many idols worshipped in Thailand

One of the beautiful Wats Thai's go to worship idols in Sisaket Thailand 

"Unfortunately, we ended up getting a little lost out in the boonies and when it got dark, we found that Weaver's flashlight was out of batteries.  When it got dark, we had to use the phone for light and ask for directions periodically while continually fighting the dogs off......but, we made it home safe."

The Elders a little lost in the 'boonies'

"After a rough start Thursday morning, I did temporary companion switch-offs and Elder Williams came with me for the day.......we taught Le and Dit and ended up moving their baptismal date back.  But, they asked us to give their sick kids priesthood blessings....they are amazing kids and the spirit was SO strong!"

"Friday, Sister Buu, the one who was baptized this last week, brought us to her house to teach her brother!  He is SOOOO good! We taught the Restoration, but the best part was that Sister Buu was sooooo excited to share her testimony and all she knew! IT WAS way cool!!"

Some of the roads and a typical home Elder Bundy travels and visits while out teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to people in Sisaket Thailand.

"A LOT of members help us teach the gospel here......regularly, which is GREAT!!  So we made some brownies and delivered them around to say thank you.  In the process, we helped herd a member's cows across a street, and, in return they made us blow darts...We finally made it back for sports night at the church and had a blast!  Crazy AWESOME week so far!!

"We woke up early this morning again, had a fire and did our studies in the woods.....it was incredible!" 

Our early morning fire for scripture study

"....I just found out that Elder Wright stepped down from Assistant to the President because this will be his last transfer before going home!  Elder Mitchell, (the Elder I went on a switch-off with and looks like my brother Jake), will be replacing him in the office.  He is a BOSS!!!  This coming Monday is a work day, then NEXT Monday will be our PDay....

"So....ya, scorpions are very venomous here....hahaha.  There are quite a few mosquitos, but in the day they're not bad, just about like a summer in Missouri during the day and evening.....We just keep the doors closed to the house and keep the lights off....Mango Sticky rice is called khawniaw ma muang.  It is totally MA MUANG (mango) season in Thailand right now!  But I can't eat any of it cause it's SO FATTENING!  I'm being so good!  I DON'T EAT ANY OF IT because I am going to be a national champion BABY!!"

"Today, we are going to probably get hair cuts, eat some food and sleep a little.....we are also going to go and do our chores.....

Thank you Mom and Dad for being super AWESOME parents!!!  I really know how lucky I am and I love you guys!!  Can you believe my year mark is in exactly 2 weeks?  Isn't that crazy????  Time flies by SO fast!....we are going to head out.  I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

Elder Jesse A. Bun

March 7, 2016

Elder Jesse Bundy enjoys another exciting week preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in Thailand!

Elder Jesse Bundy, 'the BEST Branch President' in Thailand, Sister Buu and Elder Weaver just before Sister Buu's baptism on Sunday.

Jesse Bundy's week has been filled with adventure and spiritual experiences.  From teaching English, to hunting with blow guns, to fishing with a net to a special baptism!  He writes, "...Today has been crazy so far!  We will be going out to the boonies with the members and hunting with blowguns in the forest!.......My week has been great!  And.....to answer your question and so you don't worry, my knee is getting better.  It still hurts every once in a while, but it's getting better.  Thank goodness for priesthood blessings!  But before all of that, I'm going to back up.....I'm going to give you a daily log of what I did this past week....."

Elder Williams (blue t-shirt),  Elder Weaver (camo hat & scarf), Elder Hunt & Elder Jesse Bundy after biking into the woods, having a camp fire and studying their scriptures.

"On Tuesday, a return missionary who is in our ward took us around to some less active members we didn't even know yet and also taught our baptism daters, Le and Dit.  We had a WAY cool experience!  The only thing holding them from getting baptized now is the fear of changing religions and what their family will say....They told us that on the 22nd of this month, there is a ceremony for their ancestors that they need to go to and worship idols!  We tried to work through it, but they are SO scared of what the rest of the family will think if they don't worship as well......Then we taught English and showed Johnny Lingo in the class.  It turns out that selling wives for cows is a Thai cultural thing, hahaha.....so that was WAY awkward and a bit difficult to explain, but kind of funny..."

"Wednesday, we went to go teach one of our families that lives in the woods, but sadly they weren't there!  Then we worked hard in street contacting and taught the old branch president who is now less active!........After that, Weaver and I almost died from some dog attacks!  We found a sling shot and air soft bb's.....We have become VERY good shots....and, they don't attack us anymore.  To finish off a perfect day, we taught Sister Buu.  She is progressing toward baptism VERY well and she has a baptismal date for this coming Sunday!"

"Thursday, another one of our families kind of dropped themselves...Waa, Da and Noy.  We also went to teach Le and Dit.  They are reading their scriptures and praying everyday!  They still are unsure about baptism, but they are progressing very well.  We spent the rest of the day doing a contacting session and teaching a lesson with our baptismal dater, Sister Buu.  She is doing very well...we taught her about tithes and fasting.  Then we ended the evening with a Book of Mormon class at the church."

"On Friday, we had a zone training in Ubon with the zone leaders.  It was waayyy awesome!!  Then we took a bus home and did some inviting along the way until sports night at the church.  The missionaries played the members in volleyball and it was WAY fun!"

Elder Jesse Bundy showing off the spiders in Thailand!  YUCK!

"Saturday, we were lucky to do service at a member's house stacking their hay up into a huge pile.  It was really hard, but super fun and I really enjoyed it!  We then taught Le and Dit about the 10 Commandments.  We then spent some time inviting people, and we found a neighborhood with a bunch of kids playing outside.  They loved us!  They were SO excited that they took us to meet all of their families!  ALL OF THE KIDS WE INVITED CAME TO CHURCH THE NEXT DAY!! Hahaha..IT WAS AWESOME!  I don't know if any of my District will move or stay here this transfer, I just really hope we all stay.  I feel like we are finally getting somewhere.....Ohhhhh, I almost forgot to tell you the most exciting news!  It was waayyyy cool!  Sister Buu was interviewed for her baptism by the zone leaders and passed!  Oh ya!"

Elder Bundy, the Branch President, Sister Buu and Elder Weaver just before her baptism on Sunday.

"Sunday.....Sister Buu was baptized today!!  The best Branch President in Thailand ever baptized her and Elder Weaver and I did a special musical number.  I sang and played the Uke and Elder Weaver played the harmonica!  We did a mix of 'I Need Thee Every Hour,' and, 'Lead Kindly Light.'  It was SO MUCH fun!.....After Church, my tire EXPLODED!  So, we rode on Weaver's bike to the Bishop's house, at dinner with Le, Dit and the Bishop's family.  During dinner, Le and Dit announced that they want to be baptized next week!!"  

Elder Weaver outfitting his bike with electrical tape and a cushion to give Jesse a ride to the Bishop's house.....lolol

"THE PERFECT SUNDAY! Even when on the way home, Weaver's bike EXPLODED and we had to walk all the way home!!  We didn't care!  It was a GREAT day!!"

"Soooooo, this morning;  IT WAS NUTS!  We had another 3 a.m. wake up and biked into the woods......we had a fire and studied the scriptures overlooking the BEAUTIFUL Thai sunrise and a field of khwaay; at 7 o'clock, we swung by and dropped by a member's house who talked to us about some dart guns they wanted to show us and then invited us to go hunting with them...so we went.  

Elder Weaver and Elder Jesse Bundy having early morning scripture study

"Turns out, he had 2, 9+foot blow dart guns in his garage, lean-to thing!They are crazy long and heavy..... His family invited us to go with them to another member's house to catch some fish (with a net) and shoot frogs and birds with the blow dart guns...ALL TO EAT FOR DINNER....it was a BLAST..."  

Elder Jesse Bundy learning to shoot with a blow dart gun....

"...it was way tiring.....The hunt didn't end up being much for frogs, but I snuck up on a khwaay and shot it in the butt with a dart that I made.....it totally stuck in and the khwaay started bucking around......good times!"

Elder Bundy facing off with the khwaay he angered with a homemade dart...

 "Transfers are weird this time because President Johnson has to attend a meeting in Hong Kong next week.  So transfers will be this week!  Crazy!!  I can't believe I've been here this long already.  We will know who is going where on Wednesday of this week and move NEXT Monday...So, this coming Saturday will be our next PDay......Today we are going to FHE at Sister Buu's house with some other members...It will take us a while to bike out there..."

"Well Momma!  That's it for this week.....I LOVE YOU!!  Tell everyone I love them!  Thanks for being my fam!!!!"

Elder Jesse A. Bundy