June 1, 2015

Elder Bundy's first handstand in 

Thailand !

This is the group's last picture in front of the Provo Temple just 

before they left Provo for the Salt Lake Airport.

This is Elder Merrill and Elder Bundy at the SLC Airport 

just after talking with their families on the phone.

Elder Bundy wrote home that he LOVES Thailand!   After leaving  Salt Lake somewhere around Monday morning; they arrived in Portland, then immediatly hopped on their plane to Japan!  In fact, they almost missed their plane to Japan, but they made it safe and sound.

After arriving in Japan, they had a 2 hour layover in which finding what they needed to be difficult and a bit of a culture shock.  The phone cards they purchased didn’t work in Japan, and Elder Bundy found that he most definetly does NOT speak or understand Japanese.  Elder Bundy put his expertise at playing charades to good use so the Elders could communicate.  Elder Bundy wrote,  "I guess the word for, 'your welcome' in Japanese sounds like: “Donttouchmymustache," because I feel like I heard that a lot!"  

The Elders soon met a sister missionary who was returning to visit Thailand who had served her mission in Bangkok about a year earlier.  The plane ride was long but were excited to have Thai flight attendants to practice their new language skills on.  Elder Bundy and Elder Merrill showed no fear in speaking Thai to them, and apparently were pretty good, cause they ended up with all of the extra food! 

When they arrived in Thailand, they went thru customs super easy, as their paperwork and everything was in order.   When they arrived and after they grabbed their luggage, they saw a HUGE Captain Moroni sign in the middle of the airport!  It was President and Sister Senior and the APs.   They all loaded up in this huge van  and were off to the mission office.  Elder Bundy was at a loss for words in trying to describe the roads in Thailand.  He compared them to the roads in Mexico, but with twice as many people, and half of all the vehicles on the road were people on mopeds.  He reported that the drivers were a little crazy as there are no apparent rules.  He wrote, "I haven’t seen a speed limit sign or a single police officer of the law yet.  But for the most part I haven’t seen any accidents either."

After maneuvering through the city, they arrived at the mission office and received important instructions, before walking a few blocks to a HUGE building of a hotel where they stayed for the next couple of nights until transfers.

This was Elder Bundy's first view of Thailand out the window of the Mission home.

The next day, all of the Elders and Sisters went with President Senior to the park where President Hinckley dedicated Thailand for missionary work.  Elder Bundy wrote, "It was a super awesome experience to read the dedicatory prayer and talk with President Senior a little about the history and customs of Thailand."  On the way back, they had their first experience riding the subway and were went straight to work street contacting.  Elder Bundy seemed to really enjoy just talking to everybody that would listen, handing out passalong cards and asking if anyone is familiar or intrested in hearing about Jesus Christ.  That night, the missionaries were treated to dinner at the President's house, which is on the 30th floor of this huge high rise building.

The next day was transfers where Elder Bundy met Elder Wright, who will be his trainer and first companion in Thailand. Elder Bundy wrote, "We introduced ourselves to all of the missionaries and they all went nuts.  I guess in the mission, transfer meeting is just a blast every time."   

Elder Bundy's FIRST AREA: PHITSANULOK

This is Elder Wright cooling down the cement to prepare it for Elder Bundy's handstand of the week.  

They are on top of the Church.  Behind him is PHITSANULOK

Phitsanulok is a fairly big city with loads of people! Markets, stores, shops and really, really hot!  It is reportedly the hottest area in the mission.  There are just one set of Elders - Elder Bundy and Elder Wright - and one set of Sisters in all of Phitsanulok.   There is just one church building, but there are close to 60 members coming every week to church.  Elder Bundy is excited about the strength of the members already there and the prospect of so much work yet to be done. 

This was Elder Bundy's reaction to the HEAT!  He said, "It is SO hot here!"

FIRST COMPANION: ELDER WRIGHT

Elder Bundy and Elder Wright getting ready to go to work!  

Elder Wright has been out for almost a year.  Elder Bundy wrote, "He’s a boss at speaking Thai!  He’s been in Phitsanulok for two transfers now and he’s had a bunch of success.  He actually baptized someone my first Sunday!  He has some really awesome goals and he helps me a bunch." 

This was taken at Brother Chu's baptism

Elder Bundy really appreciates Elder Wright and all of his help and the example he is setting for him.  He also reports that Elder Wright resembles his good friend, Isaac Mattis from Gallatin. 

Elder Wright helped me get a nice bike for a really good price.

Elder Bundy going to work! He is really excited about the bike riding.

Elder Bundy reports that he is really loving his mission so far!  He writes, "Our members are super awesome!  All of the youth want to serve missions and help us teach lessons."

Elder Bundy wrote that his Thai is progressing.  He loves talking to people through just going up to people on the streets.  He wrote, "Sometimes it’s just super hard because everyone has a different accent.  Listening closely is my biggest weakness." He finds it much easier to read the Thai language at this point, but hopes his other language skills will quickly improve.

Elder Bundy loves the food in Thailand.  This was surprising to him because before he left, he tried some curry at a Thai restaurant and was not impressed.  He writes, "I can’t even begin to start to describe how absolutely delicious it is !   We stop at this one little shaq almost every day and eat lunch.  I get this fried rice and fried egg stuff…..it’s just good!"

Okay, soo some of the street stuff isn’t sooo good lol.   The other day we didn’t have time for dinner so we just grabbed these sausage things off the street… OH yeah!  That night I had some tccngsia (broken stomache (diarriah lol))!!!!!  The tap water isn’t safe to drink here either.  It’s like brown, so we just drink bottled water.

Elder Bundy eating his favorite breakfast......rice, milk and brown sugar!  Just like home.....

Elder Bundy reported that his favorite thing he's done so far was probably biking all over the city streets contacting everybody. He really enjoys hearing all of the excuses people come up with as to why they can’t learn about Jesus Christ.  Elder Bundy is excited about the announcement of the new Bangkok Temple that was announced.  He wrote, "I especially enjoy finding a man walking down the street with his two little daughters and telling them that they can be a family forever."

Elder Bundy reports that the houses in Thailand are pretty different from the states.   They are not quite huts, but close and he says it's all they need.  He writes, "though....but... the shower and the toilet are in the same spot."  He is learning to adjust to the culture and societal norms of Thailand, but says it is taking some doing, like they do not have toilet paper.  So that’s pretty different?   As for the heat, he writes, "We only have AC in our bedroom and we can only turn in on before we go to bed at night."

This is their kitchen/dining room table.  This is where they eat and study every day.

Elder Bundy loves the children!   Although, he is sad to see all of the little children that don’t have water, places to live, or even parents.  He writes, "The thing that gets me every time though, is that they all look exactly like my nieces and nephews!  Right now were teaching this little family and the little girl looks EXACTLY like Roxy, and the little boy looks just like Holten." 

Elder Bundy ends his experiences this week with how much he loves it so far and that he is really excited for all that they are doing.