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