September 18, 2016

Elder Jesse Bundy chronicles last week's events enjoying his mission through pictures

Elder Chud and Jesse with the grandchildren of an investigator they enjoy teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to in Thailand...

"Hi everyone!  I have had such a great week.....it has been the perfect mix of hard work in teaching, doing service projects and fun....We have some really AWESOME new investigators we are teaching as well."

Elder Jesse Bundy and several other Elders in a missionary apartment.

"I read this the other day during personal study.....I TRULY LOVE READING AND STUDYING THE SCRIPTURES!

Alma 33:21-23

21  O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?

22  If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass their resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgement day, according to their works.

23  And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith.  And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life.  And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son.  And even all this can ye do if ye will.  Amen."

Jesse with other missionaries in his Zone going to work for the day.

"I really love working with my companion and the missionaries in my Zone!  They are a great group to work with.  We are really working hard to meet as many people as we can, teach as many Christ centered lessons as we can, do as many service projects as possible and enjoy everyday along the way...."

"This tiny little horse was wandering the streets!  Look how little he is?!?  I couldn't resist stopping to pet him and feed him a little something.  After that, he tried really hard to keep up with me....hahaha.  Too bad pets in our apartments is against mission rules.."

"This is our new investigator, Brother Bank.  He is wayyyy solid.  He stayed at the Church for morning services, afternoon meetings, the baptism AND the activity afterwards.  It was great!"

"We stopped to get some lunch the other day and Elder Chud took this picture...mainly, I'm showing you how good I have been with my diet....hahaha."

"So.....I'm thinking, where did all the water go?  This canal is ALWAYS full...no one could tell me what was going on with the water....lol"

"While we were out contacting the other day, we kind of got tired of standing in front of stores, or on the main streets.  So we went contacting in a back alley....we found some really humble and VERY interesting people there..."

"This is Don Pie....HOW CUTE IS THIS KID!  He is Brother Dang's son.  Brother Dang is so good to us."

This is Jesse and Elder Chud with a new investigator, Allah Mohamed Jesus...."He's awesome and a LOT of fun!"

"Here we are on a river walk next to the river.  Look how brown the water is?  Yuck!"

"I promise....it's not what it looks like....haha"

"The other day, a member of the District Presidency, President O (and my really good friend), decided he was going to pin me...hahaha.  It was a no go for him.....my pants were the only losers." 

"Last week on P-Day, we went to the market in Nong Khai.  We had SO much fun and a much needed break.  The next several pictures were taken at the market."

"You know me....if there is a musical instrument anywhere close by, I will find it....and I will do my best to play it.  I stopped to talk with a homeless guy on the street.  He was playing this 'homemade' guitar....seriously!  He made this guitar and it actually played...totally awesome!  And below, of course I had to try these flute-like things...."

 "Pheewww....I'm right on track with my diet and exercise plan.  Wrestling world, here I come.  Even though the technician thinks I'm too big.  Apparently, I make two of her.....hahaha?"

"I AM the Yack Thai Warrior!....hahaha..."

"I know mom, the dark spots on my shirt are mud from riding my bike in the rain all day!"

"This is me with our new investigator.  He is from China and he took us to the VIP Lounge in the mall.....it was NUTS!  I'm just trying to fit in....hahaha"

"My homemade microwave popcorn popper didn't turn out so well! But it was still good..."

"I really miss you guys mom!!  I didn't know how much I'd miss you and Dad, like a LOT!  Make sure that Dad knows that I'm with him and everything he is going through.  Make sure he knows how much I love him and tell him to keep fighting.....Only 6 months left!  We are keeping the pace, or trying our best to keep up the pace in working hard.  I'm really so grateful for this opportunity and I know I tell you all the time, but I'M REALLY LOVING MY MISSION and I am so very, very thankful."

"I love you guys...good luck with everything and I'll talk to you next week."

Elder Jesse A. Bundy

September 11, 2016

Elder Jesse Bundy works with Sakonakorn and Udorn District Leaders, loves doing service projects, enjoys beautiful scenery in Laos and Nong Khaay while continuing to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Thailand

Elder Jesse Bundy and his companion go to work with the District Leaders in Sakonakorn for a day

"Hi Mom!  Life is just AWESOME here on the mission.....I am doing so good!  We had some really great experiences this past week.....we have some really good investigators progressing towards baptism.  My companion and I also did switch offs with the District Leaders in Sakonakorn and Udorn.  Both of those days were just crazy awesome!  We were able to teach a lot of lessons.....just in those two days, we taught 12 lessons and picked up 5 new investigators.  It was GREAT!

"Our bikes and the rain in Sakonakorn as we get ready to work with the District Leaders for the day." 

"Elder Cherdchayaphum (I call him Cherd for short), and I are doing really well.....his work ethic is a little different, but we are adjusting.  That adjustment comes with every new companion, but we are doing great actually.  This week was just how I like it!  We set really high goals, then went to work to achieve them.  To start out, we had a lot of opportunities to do service.  We cut down trees, helped some elderly people clean their house and we fished a dead dog out of a water supply.  By just doing these and other simple acts of service, we saw two less active members come to church this past Sunday and found a potential investigator!"

"This is Brother Uen, one of our new investigators.  We love teaching him."

"We have also been teaching three other investigators who are friends.  Their names of Nam, Faa and Bykhao.  We've been working really hard with them to help them understand the gospel and hopefully get them on track for baptism.  This past Saturday, the District Presidency held an activity at the Church about receiving a temple recommend and going to the temple.  It was a really GREAT experience for not only the members, but for our investigators as well.  Mostly because all of the members here thought you had to pay for a temple recommend and had to already be going to the temple to get a recommend."

Elder Jesse Bundy with another Elder and an investigator

"Our investigators were very intrigued......the interest in the temple brought them to church this past Sunday and they all stayed for the entire 3 hour block!  It was just AWESOME......then, our recent convert, Brother Num received the Holy ghost also this past Sunday and told us that he wants to be a missionary.  He has been helping us teach and goes out with us contacting every free second he gets....he is just an incredible guy."

Jesse with a few of his friends.

"In a little bit, we will be hopping on a bus back to Udorn.  We need to stop back at our house before going to teach an investigator at 6.  Today, we went with Brother Dang and his family to Nong Khaay.  It was in the mountains and there was a really cool marketplace there.  We shopped a little bit for some fabric for ties.  I sent you some pictures.  The scenery was incredibly beautiful......." 

Elder Cherd, Brother Dang, his family and Jesse

Jesse posing midair for a picture.  Across the river is the country of Laos.

"I took these on the way up to Nong Khaay with Brother Dang and his family.  I just can't tell you how beautiful it is here!  There was this incredible rainbow...."

"I have been fairly good about working out....I get up early and do an Insanity workout, but I really need to step it up....I only have 6 months left!"

"This is a beautiful picture of the country of Laos....."

"O.K.  Thank you so much Mom for putting everything together for me....you are the best and I really, really mean that.  Tell Dad good luck and that I love and admire him.  Tell him that he can do it and that he is a champion in my book!  I'll keep working hard Mom, don't worry about that....I am really loving my mission."

"I love you guys!  Until next week.....wow, it's a big week, keep me posted."

Elder Jesse A. Bundy

September 4, 2016

Brother Num gets baptized!

Elder Cherdchayaphum, Brother Num and Elder Jesse Bundy just before the baptism.

"Hello everyone!  It's been another really GREAT week her in Udorn Thailand!  Brother Num is just awesome!  He has changed so much in such a short period of time.  He found one of my inviting cards just lying on the street and felt like he needed to come to church.  He has read the Book of Mormon with real intent and prayed to know the truth.  He received his testimony and wanted to be baptized immediately!  The members were SO great in fellowshipping him and giving him a second family at church.  This past week, we have spent a lot of time with him in helping him prepare for his baptism......It has been SO great!"

"It was an AWESOME baptism!"

"I am sending you a lot of pictures this week.  We will be leaving early today to go with Brother Dang and his family to some mountain, or something for his son's birthday....I won't have pictures from that outing until next week.  It should be a lot of fun.  Brother Dang is the one who got baptized several weeks ago."

"This is us eating dinner with Sister Laan and her family.  It was delicious!!"

"Every year, a certain number of people at the local University are nominated for getting good grades.  Then, those people who are nominated have a huge event for competing in certain categories, i.e., looks, talent and skills.  My friend, Brother Go totally won!  Now he is going to Bangkok on some crazy scholarship to fill an internship position.  It was crazy....he showed me his video of his competition and it was just nuts....this is him..."

"This is Brother Go, the one that won the big contest at the University....."

"These next couple of pictures are of Branch President Golf and his son, Gate.  He is such a great guy and his son is so adorable!  He has such a strong testimony and he helps us out a lot."

 "Just look at that face!!!"

"This is Brother Wat, one of our investigators we loving spending time with and teaching."

 "I totally LOVE finding people on the streets to talk to about the gospel!  I meet so many different and interesting people.  The next several pictures are of some of the random people we met while out finding the other day..."

 "These pictures are just random people we met on the street while we were finding...they were kind enough to pose for a picture with us....hahaha.  The guy in the one above is of a real Thai airman.."

 "He wasn't interested, but was all to happy to take a picture with us...hahaha."

"Monday night, we had Family Home Evening with Brother Bik, one of our favorite people."

"This is another one of our investigators, Brother Jack.  He is doing really well with the lessons..."

"This is where we get our hair cut....love my Thai hair cuts, lol."

"So....the other day, the sun looked like this?  I thought it was the second coming or something....lolol." 

"But, Elder Cherd explained to me that when the sun is centered with us, it's hot enough to turn the clouds around it into rainbows!"

"I was still freaked out!  These pictures are pretty great, but really....you should have seen it in person!"

 This is Elder Cherd and me finding, stopping everyone and anyone in the street that will talk to us about the gospel of Jesus Christ...I AM LOVING MY MISSION!"

Jesse contemplating the meaning of life...hahaha.  He and his companion were boarding their flight for Bangkok when he took a moment to pose for a picture.

 "Here we are on the plane flying down to Bangkok for MLC...good times!"

This picture was taken last week at the Mission Leadership Counsel meeting with Elder Funk.

"This is one of my really good friends in the Mission, Elder Lindley.  I got to catch up with him at MLC."

"Elder Cherdchayaphum showing off his new go pro, a gift from a friend."

"Well....I hope my letter in pictures was good for this week.  Just know Mom, I have a strong testimony....I am SO thankful to be out here serving the people of Thailand.  I am seeing spectacular miracles on a daily basis and I feel so lucky....not to mention that my testimony is growing stronger and stronger every single day!  I am learning so much.  Tell everyone that I love them...I'll talk to you next week."

Elder Jesse A. Bundy