Here we go again!

Hello everybody!!

This week was great! 2018 is all over. In that time i have had s total of 10 companions, 5 different areas, trained 2 amazing missionaries, became fluent in a language I didn't know at all before, and talked with more people than i ever have in my life!!!! But the best part has been seeing change in those I have worked with as they pursue a life of enduring to the end until they reach the celestial kingdom. What a ride! I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.

Monday was great. We spent the whole day looking for fabric so that Elder Chin could do a suit for himself, but it was really cool too because when we got to the suit place, it turns out the suit maker is interested in reading about the Bible and so we taught him about Daniel and then we have a return appointment to go and teach him again. Then we got haircuts and I almost crashed my bike, but then we finished out the day running around, breaking into other elders houses so that we could get them clothes because they were stuck in the hospital. Then we got back and studied before New Years. Tuesday morning we studied and then Elder Chin and I went to teach our suit man, which unfortunately we missed that appointment, but then after that Elder Morgan and I went to teach a different investigator and tried to pick up the bikes from the police station, but they didn't let us take the bikes so we have to go to a hearing later, which was kind of stinky.

Then we had district reading, which was really good. We finished studies and had dinner and English class and that was about it. Since it was new year's no one came to English class, so Elder Chin and I went to buy tickets at the bus station so that we could go to a switch off in this next week. Wednesday, we started out the day by going to really old investigator's place and we talked to him and then we saw the suit man, finally. He's super, super good. After that, we visited an RC at his work because we're trying to teach his wife, but she's kind of not into it right now. Then we found this old lady that we served on Monday and met her with the sisters and kind of turned her over. Finally we got some lunch. Then we taught another investigator who is way awesome. We gave him a baptismal date. He is the older brother of a strong member and our ward.

After that we finally got some studies in, visited and investigator before a McDonald's dinner, at the train station, before we got on a bus to go to Chiang Rai. Our switch off in Chiang Rai was way fun. I spend the day with Elder Kearsley. He's a third transfer right now, but he is pretty stinking good at Thai. He is probably his Thai is probably better than mine. So we spent the whole day, the whole morning inviting. We found some really cool people, got some free food from a lady who fed us some free rice and then we had some lunch, taught a PI investigator, studied, went to goose girl's house and taught her. She makes Styrofoam gooses. Then we invited for a bit before dinner at a market and they did more inviting. Basically a whole day of a lot of finding. Found some cool people. Some are interested some weren't. I found some really cool investigators they will be able to work with.

Friday morning we got on a taxi at, rode a taxi for three hours to get back to Chiang Mai. That was a lot of the day. Then we got back and did our weekly planning and tried to visit our suit man, but he wasn't there, unfortunately. Neither was another PI that we have set up at a park, but our man that has a date, he was ready. He was there and we taught him. He's doing really good. His name is "Get-e-saht". And then we studied. It was a good day. Saturday was a pretty busy day. We found an investigator then dropped him. We found 100 investigators and invited for a loooong time. This morning was pretty good. After that, we headed over to our suit man who wasn't there. That was okay. We taught different dater, whose son has mental problems and we helped him feel better. Then we taught some other people and study and invited and it was just a really good day. We worked hard and ran all over the place, just as usual. Sunday was awesome because we went to an 80 year-old man investigator's house, and we rode to church with him on a bike. He's eighty years old and he can ride a bike. We rode to church with them. He's way awesome. After that we had some appointments. Talk to some different people.

Brought in another investigator to a later hour, later session of church and then we invited for a long time that evening and found some really cool investigators and missed our interviews with the president, but that was okay. Tomorrow is zone conference. Yay.

Spiritual Thought is from Elder Holland. "I remember one fall day—I think it was in the first semester after our marriage in 1963—we were walking together up the hill past the Maeser Building on the sidewalk that led between the President’s Home and the Brimhall Building. Somewhere on that path we stopped and wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. Life that day seemed so overwhelming, and the undergraduate plus graduate years that we still anticipated before us seemed monumental, nearly insurmountable. Our love for each other and our commitment to the gospel were strong, but most of all the other temporal things around us seemed particularly ominous.

On a spot that I could probably still mark for you today, I turned to Pat and said something like this: “Honey, should we give up? I can get a good job and carve out a good living for us. I can do some things. I’ll be okay without a degree. Should we stop trying to tackle what right now seems so difficult to face?”

In my best reenactment of Lot’s wife, I said, in effect, “Let’s go back. Let’s go home. The future holds nothing for us.”

Then my beloved little bride did what she has done for 45 years since then. She grabbed me by the lapels and said, “We are not going back. We are not going home. The future holds everything for us.”

She stood there in the sunlight that day and gave me a real talk. I don’t recall that she quoted Paul, but there was certainly plenty in her voice that said she was committed to setting aside all that was past in order to “press toward the mark” and seize the prize of God that lay yet ahead. It was a living demonstration of faith. It was “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). So we laughed, kept walking, and finished up sharing a root beer—one glass, two straws—at the then newly constructed Wilkinson Center."

I have learned the future is as bright as our faith!!! Even ask my companion!! He is so good!

Christ is at the head of the work! I love you all!!

Elder L