August 29, 2016

Elder Jesse Bundy gets a new companion, attends a Mission Leadership Conference and translates the 'Meet the Mormons' movie for a single adult activity

Elder Jesse Bundy with new companion, Elder Cherdchayaphum

"Hello everyone!  I'm still in Udorn and things are SO good!  My new companion is Elder Cherdchayaphum from Korat Thailand, which is in the east area, but a lot more south than where we live now.  He is just AWESOME!  He works hard, is really funny and also loves to work out!  We work really well together and there just won't be any obstacles for us to reach our goals in baptizing, teaching and helping less active members come back to church.  I am so excited....."

Elder Cherdchayaphum studying in the study room

"Our mission just received a ton of new missionaries.  It's really exciting.......we have 7 or so new ones in our zone, so that will be really fun.  I am still a Zone Leader in the Udorn Zone and tonight, we are flying down to Bangkok for a special leadership conference with President Johnson, all Zone Leaders, the Assistants and Elder Funk (the area 70 President)." 

"This past week has been the best week of my mission!  I know I keep saying that.....but just when I think it can't get any better, it does.  The past two weeks, the Lord really blessed us......my companionship taught so many lessons that the office elders called and asked if the numbers we sent in were typos.  President Johnson even sent me a text message and told me good job!  Apparently, we have been teaching more than twice the lessons of any other companionship......kinda cool.....I just feel really blessed.  We are just setting our goals high then working really hard to achieve them.  We are really excited because we have 7 investigators that are rapidly progressing toward baptism!"  

"Last night, the church had an activity for all of the single adults.  They showed the movie, "Meet the Mormons," and they had me translate the whole movie for them.  It was SO much fun...hahaha!  Our golden investigator, Brother Num came.  He loved the whole experience and will be getting baptized next week!"

"Oh ya, I did buy two pairs of pants last week for a little over $10 a pair.  They are really good pants, and yes Mom, I am keeping my apartment clean.....well, we need to be going here soon.  The work is going really great!  I'm having a great time and doing my best to work as hard as I can.  I'm seeing miracles just about every day!  I am just loving my mission...I really hope you and Dad know how much I appreciate everything you guys do for me!  Tell Dad I love him.....so many times, Dad is my 'why' in a lot of the things I do."

"Today, we will get Elder Chud a haircut and a rabies shot because he got bit by a monkey...don't ask.....then grab something to eat.  Then tonight, we will be flying down to Bangkok for the Mission Leadership Conference with Elder Funk.  Just a really great day....."

Sister Funk sent this e-mail:

Dear families of Elders and Sisters in the Thailand Bangkok Mission,

Elder Funk and I have been visiting some of the missions in the Asia Area. Today we met with the missionaries from the Thailand Bangkok Mission during their Mission Leadership Council.

President and Sister Johnson are great leaders and are leading this mission with inspiration. The missionary leaders in this mission are happy, engaged, and working hard. There was a wonderful feeling during our meeting. The missionaries of this Church are simply amazing.

We are grateful for this opportunity to meet your sons and daughters. We pray that the Lord will continue to watch over and bless your missionary and the people of Thailand.

Sincerely, Sister Funk

"Okay, thank you, thank you mom!  I couldn't do any of it without you.  Tell everyone hi for me and that I love them!  Next week, I'll have a ton of better pictures for you.  I LOVE YOU!"

Elder Jesse A. Bundy 

August 22, 2016

Brother Dang gets baptized!  

Elder Bundy experiences miracle after miracle teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and gives Elder Daybell a bike ride around town

Elder Daybell, Jesse, Brother Dang, his wife Awe, his son Donpai and President Tiger just before Brother Dang's baptism.

"BROTHER DANG'S BAPTISM!!  This week has just been awesome.  It has been filled with crazy, amazing miracles!!!  This has been Elder Daybed's last week as a missionary in Thailand.....we shot for the stars on our goals.  With our Father in Heaven's help, we were able to accomplish all of them and more!  Everyday, we made a conscious effort to be balanced on all sides of the work, i.e., activation and strong member work.  By putting into practice what we were taught at MLC, and with the Lord's help, we were able to meet and exceed our goals in teaching investigators and finding new ones!  It was just INCREDIBLE!"

Elder Jesse Bundy, Brother Dang and President Tiger

"One of the many miracles that happened to us this week took place while we were street contacting Saturday night.  My companion and I were standing outside a large mall.  There were masses of people walking in and out.  I just kept placing my large body in the way, trying to slow them down to tell them about Jesus Christ.  It looked like no one seemed to be interested enough to stop and listen.  They just kept saying that they didn't have the time.  Even when I managed to get people to stop for a split second, the most common responses were, "That's interesting," and, "Where?  Well, maybe if I have time," with no trading of contact information!  It was very disappointing! Even on a slow day, we usually are successful in obtaining at least 15 or more telephone numbers from interested people wanting to know more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ....."

Elder Bundy

"After all that time spent talking to everyone and anyone, I only received ONE number and was feeling pretty discouraged about that entire session of finding.....(We were there for a total of 4 hours due to multiple cancellation of appointments because of rain).  That night, we went home feeling pretty down.  Before going to bed, we sat down to evaluate the week and do our planning for the next day.  We found that we were 6 lessons short of reaching our extremely high goal of teaching 25 member present investigator lessons, (a companionship usually teaches 7 to 10 member present lessons in a week).  We were also missing adding 2 new investigators to our investigator pool to meet our equally ambitious goal of getting 10 new investigators...."   

Elder Jesse Bundy and Elder Daybell with a few branch members

"We only had one more day left in the week to meet our goals.  So, we decided to take a leap of faith and set our next day goals to one higher than we needed to meet our already high goals!  We realized that there was barely enough time in the day to reach normal goals let alone to reach the stars plus one like we decided to do.....AND, doubly difficult with it being Sunday!"

"Mom, I was completely humbled by what happened.  Sunday was just full of miracles!!  We were blessed to teach lesson after lesson after lesson.....person after person just walked in to be taught, old investigators along with new investigators!  EVERYONE came.  We even taught a man from Italy, (Daybell has had some French lessons in his background and I used what little Spanish I was taught in high school and we were able to teach him how to pray)!  We even taught a man from Vietnam....."

"The day was action packed.  We ended up teaching 8 lessons, exceeding our goal by 2.  We also picked up 3 new investigators.  Just when it couldn't get any better, 5 of the people we taught set dates for baptism!  Three of those 5 people were people I had talked to at the mall Saturday night.....people I didn't even think were listening.  They were not only listening, but they came to church and have set dates to be baptized!  It was truly one miracle after the other all day long!  I LOVE THIS WORK!"

 "A nice cheap way to get around the city.......even cheaper when you pedal yourself!"

Elder Jesse Bundy giving Elder Daybell a ride.....

"Today we are going to have a big District wide luncheon with the Senior couple.  We are going to have tacos.....then I am going to go shopping to buy a couple pairs of pants because mine are all ripped and are a little too thin to repair...hahaha."

 "An awesome meal we had when we went to the mountains last week."

"Thank you SO much for everything you do for me and keeping me updated on everything and everyone at home.  The pictures you sent were awesome!  I really appreciate it mom.  Well, I really need to get going.  Tell Dad thank you and how much I miss him and love him....as much as I miss you guys, you need to know that I am just really LOVING my mission!  Until next week....."

Elder Jesse A. Bundy  

August 13, 2016

Elder Jesse Bundy celebrates moms on Thailand's Mother's Day, works with the AP's and other missionaries and enjoys the beautiful Thai countryside

Elder Bundy with assistants on p-day at a Wat 

"Hey everyone!  I am going to apologize right from the get-go....I don't have ANY time today.  We went with the Assistants yesterday for switch-offs and they are with us today for P-Day.  But before I tell you about that, let me tell you about the week.  Last Tuesday, we had such a great day!  We taught Dang and prepared him for his baptismal interview, then taught an English class.  After that, we hopped on a plane for Bangkok.  Wednesday was Mission Leader Council.  I learned SO much and really loved it!  We were introduced to a new English program.  We will be using pre-prepared power point presentations instead of books and have many more media resources to help us.  We also talked a lot about doing our missionary work from a more balanced perspective.  We flew back to Udorn that evening."

"Remember last week when we were building the Branch President's Chicken coop?  Here is the finished product.....well, our part of it anyway.  Pretty good, huh?"

"Not bad for not knowing what we were doing...."

"Thursday, we did switch-offs with the Udorn District Leader and his companion.  It was awesome to work with these great missionaries, help them out in their area and put into practice what we had just learned in Bangkok.  We were able to do some solid 'balanced' missionary work with him.  It was great!"

"On Friday, we trained the Zone with the training we received at MLC.  Then I switched off with Elder Chamberlain, the younger AP.  It was INCREDIBLE!  I learned a ton of great stuff and to top it off, Dang passed his baptismal interview!!!  It was also Thailand's mother's day......sooooo, Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!!  It made me miss you pretty bad!  You are truly THE BEST mom on the planet.  I am so grateful for everything you do for me.  You have so much wisdom, can do anything and have the strongest testimony I have EVER known!  I don't know what I would do without you...I LOVE YOU!"

Jesse wishing his Mom a Thai Happy Mother's Day!

Elder Bundy's Mom...

"Today, we went with the Assistants and President Tiger to visit a mountain.  We had so much fun!  I am sending you a bunch of pictures from our trip up the mountain...."

 "It is SO beautiful and green here!  Reminds me of Missouri..."

 

"This is my 'spirit' creature, or the nickname they gave me here.....it's a Yak......The Yak in Thai culture is a giant that stands at the gate of the Wat to protect it.  So that's the nickname they gave me....hahaha.  It's not my legit spirit creature, people don't have those, it's just the name the local people gave me here.  Every Thai has a real name and a nickname.  Mine is Yak."

"Here is another statue of a Yak...."

"Look at the size of this statue!!!  It's crazy!"

"For the rest of the day today, we are going to teach lessons to investigators and take the AP's to the airport.  We have a whole family coming back to church.  They are the mother Sang, a brother Lamb, the father Chai Daid and a sister.  They are doing really well..."

"Oh....I forgot the MOST exciting news!!  Tomorrow is Dang's baptism!  It will also mark the beginning of Elder Daybed's last full week here in Thailand.  The week after that on Thursday will be transfers...."

"I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MOMMA!!  Tell everyone I love and miss them terribly! We have to get going.....remember that my next p-day will be Monday, the 22nd.  Tell Dad I LOVE him!"

Elder Jesse A. Bundy

August 8, 2016

Elder Jesse Bundy prepares investigators for baptism, renews his visa and helps build a chicken coop while continuing to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in Thailand

"Some of the cutest kids EVER jumping on their bed in their room....hahaha"

"My favorite scripture is in the Book of Mormon, Alma 7:14:  

'Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven;  therefore, come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.'

"I LOVE teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ!  I am witnessing first hand how it changes people's lives for the better.....This week's been really good even though it has flown by EXTREMELY fast!  On Tuesday, we began rebuilding the Branch President's chicken coop that was destroyed by a storm.  We woke up at 5 a.m. and went to work digging and cutting down trees to make the posts."

"The Branch President of Branch 2's chicken coop that was destroyed in a storm."

"Later that morning, we went to Khonken, an area in our zone.  Daybell and I decided to show up unannounced to their District Meeting to see what they were up to.  It was really good to work with them and be able to help them out.  We finished up the day by teaching Brother Beer, one of our daters.....then teaching an English class."

"Wednesday was just AWESOME!  Brother Dang announced he wanted to be baptized.  It was soooooo GREAT!  He has been putting it off for so long.......at last something changed in him and he decided to make the commitment!  After receiving that great news, we had a bit of a downer experience.  We went to see a less active member and found him reverting back to his old ways.  It was SO sad!  He was right back practicing all of his old bad habits and did NOT want to discuss it.....it was very, very sad.....It is so hard to watch people change their lives for the better and be SO happy, then go right back to behaviors that make them miserable..."

Elder Jesse Bundy catching a ride to a teaching appointment in style....

"Later that day, I was able to invite a woman named Napaa at the water utility building while we were paying our bill.  She was very excited to hear about Jesus Christ!  We met with her that very evening to begin teaching her the Gospel.  The spirit was so strong and I just know she is going to progress towards baptism for sure.  After having such a great moment with Napaa, we stopped over to an investigator's house by the name of Biag.  He wants to change so bad!  But he struggles with giving up a few bad habits and resolving some family problems.....but he is trying.  We had a very busy, great day of teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ before hopping on a plane to Bangkok.....it was necessary for me to renew my visa.  So Thursday, we took care of that, then flew back to our area in time to teach Biag again and do some more inviting....it was a great day!"

"Daybell cutting down trees to make posts for the chicken coop..."

"Thursday, we went back to the Branch President's place to continue the construction on the chicken coop.  It is looking kind of like a building now....kinda, hahaha.  It is literally only Daybell and I building it with one member of the branch presidency from the other branch.....hahaha.  We have no idea what we are doing, but we're doing it!  I hope it turns out.  Later that day, we did a switch off with Sakornakorn.  I got to work with a new greenie and we had a great day!"

"Saturday was a normal work day, but Sunday.....church was full!!  We attended Branch 1 and the building was full of people!  It was the most people they have had to church in a very long time.  After church, we taught Beer and Dang to prepare them for their baptisms for hopefully, next week.  It has been a very busy and exhausting week that has just flown by.....I LOVE it!"

An exhausted Elder Jesse Bundy showing statues they visited on P-Day......

"Finally!  Our collective health issues have subsided and the work, even though it is moving at a slower pace than I am use to, is starting to pick up......Over this weekend, we were able to kick things into a higher gear and get some things going.  We now have two solid daters (investigators progressing toward baptism), Brother Beer and a Brother Dang.  Brother Dang has a WAY cute little family, (those are his kids in the picture I sent you)!  His wife was baptized last year and it has taken him this long to finally commit.  I invited Brother Beer at the park just a couple of weeks ago and since then, he has been doing awesome!"

"I thought the nieces and nephews would enjoy seeing this gold monkey...."

"Today, we visited this cool place with all these statues in some caves.  Later, we are going to run our errands, do our shopping, clean our apartment and stuff.  Oh.....this next week, the AP's are coming to do switch offs.  So, our p-day has been moved to this coming Saturday, and we won't have much time to e-mail that day.  Then our next p-day will be all the way in two weeks...that next Monday.  Time is going by SOOOO fast!  Daybell goes home in just 2 1/2 weeks, and it's already been a year since I was a greenie training with Elder Wright!  It's going by too fast......"

"I'm out of time mom!  Just know how much I LOVE my family and how much I am LOVING my mission!  I don't want it to end.....and yes, I am doing my best to work hard.  I love you guys!  I'll write again in just a few days."

Elder Jesse A. Bundy