Hey Family, can you believe that another week has gone by? It's amazing how fast time is flying, but a lot of great things are happening at the same time. This last week, some good things (and not so good things) happened with our investigators. Bro. Ari is probably our most solid dater right now. He's pretty close to being done with all of the missionary lessons, and his faith is sky-rocketing. We go out and see him close to everyday (30 ride each way. Rough! But worth it), but he likes to talk so much that it takes a while to get our lesson rolling, so we've had to take it pretty slow with him. The biggest (and only) problem so far has been smoking, but he's quit! This will be day 4 of no smoking for him. If all keeps going well, then he'll be baptized on July 20th (WofW problems have to be stopped for at least 3 weeks before a baptismal interview). Please pray for him! I know he can do it, and he is very determined.
We were finally able to meet with Pinky again this last Saturday night. She's had a bunch of freshman school activities for basically this past month, but now she's done and we should be able to teach her regularly. We shared the Message of the Restoration, and I feel like it went really well. She seems to understand pretty well, and asks good questions, but she has almost no foundation of Faith. It's actually really strange since she is the only member in her family who isn't a member. Yes, only her dad is active right now, and even he was inactive for a couple of decades, but still. She didn't even have any concept of God. She'll progress fast though, if she keeps the commitments that we give her. The only real problem I can see with her is keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. She has to go to school every Sunday, so she won't really be able to come to church. I've seen more miraculous things happen though, so please pray for her!
So, Bro. Gung has moved. We found out yesterday, and I'm way bummed about it. We're going to try and teach him over Skype (he only has one more lesson to go), and then it's up to him whether he'll make the trip to Bangkok (about 4 hours from where he is, I think) every Sunday to go to church. Elder Khanakham said that there is another member from Khon Kaen who is in the same place he is at (Rayong) who goes to church in Bangkok once a month, so maybe he could at least make that compromise. We'll see what happens. Sis. Boo is still doing good. She came to Sacrament Meeting yesterday, but then had to leave to go and do some school project. Gosh, I didn't think getting a higher education could be such a speed bump in the Lord's work. We're going to meet her tomorrow, and talk to her about getting baptized this Saturday. We mentioned it to her yesterday, but she said she's not ready. Personally, I feel she's as ready as she'll ever be. She's cruising through the Book of Mormon (probably in Alma now), and has gotten answers to her prayers, so she should be good to go. We are going to force anything of course, but we will get a gentle nudge. Please pray for her! She can be baptized this Saturday!
So those are our investigators! We have a few more potentials, but nothing has really happened with them yet. Please pray for us to find some new solid ones. We're really going to need the help, especially with Boo and Ari getting baptized in the near future.
On Wednesday morning this last week, I had to go to Maha Sarakham (an area that isn't even in my District) to interview an investigator of the Kalasin Elders. His name is Nooker, and he goes to school there, and goes back to Kalasin over the weekends. Anyway, he didn't pass, but I'll being interviewing again this coming Wednesday, and I feel good about it. After that, I went back to Kalasin with Elder Campbell for our switch-off. Now, this is the Elder Campbell who was in my MTC group. It was a riot of a day, but we worked hard. Man, I don't want to go to Kalasin though, just because of how bad that how is (did I just jynx myself?). So disgusting.
Bit of some bad news. Sis. Taan, my recent convert, got in a motorcycle accident yesterday. It wasn't life-threatening, but I guess her arm and leg are pretty messed up. Pray for her! We're going to try and visit her today or tomorrow and give her a blessing. Also, even worse, after church I saw one of the members, Sis. Ew, talking to some other members, and she looked really upset. She's a good friend of Taan's, so I thought that was what was making her upset. Well, Sis. Jew, the Relief Society president, called us over and told us that Sis. Ew's dad had apparently been in a very serious car accident in Udon about an hour before. I called the Elder's in Udon, and they agreed to go to the hospital and give a blessing once Sis. Ew and her husband got there. We said a prayer with all of the members, and then they left. Unfortunately, we found out this morning that her dad passed away. Please pray for her, she's going to need it. It just makes me so much more grateful for the Plan of Salvation, and the knowledge that we have of knowing that we will see each other again.
The District here is on fire. We're all focusing on what is most important with the key indicators, and bringing a lot of people to Christ. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I know that that is a huge reason why we're having so much success.
I hope everything at home is going good! I can't believe that this transfer is almost over (and that I have 8 months left!). I'm thinking that I'll probably stay in Khon Kaen for one more, and Elder Angkham will move. Trainers and greenies don't usually stay together once the training is done.
