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Rice fields in Laos |
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| Goodbye to Elder Hansen |
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| Me with a chick |
Hey guys, what's up? I hope you've all been doing well.
This
week's been pretty packed. I feel like it's only been a few days since I last
emailed, haha. There's been a lot of changes! Elder Hansen is now gone, and we
now have a new mission president, President Hammond. This Tuesday there will be
a zone “meet and greet” with him, but Elder Phasay and I can't go because we
are stuck here in Laos for awhile, due to some visa stuff.
On
Sunday, President Johnson came to church here in Laos. It was cool because he
chose to come here for his very last Sunday as mission president. We got to be
with him a lot of the day and ate dinner with him at the house of KP, a man who
was one of the first Lao members. It was really fun!
This
week had a bunch of English class ceremony stuff. We went to ceremonies to give
certificates to all of the students who passed the course. That was neat.
Another
highlight was that we were able to go help some members up north plant rice. It
was wild. We went up there in a bunch of clothes we could get dirty in and then
walked into some rice fields in knee-deep muddy water. It was a really good
time, except literally all of us missionaries were absolutely terrible at it.
We were working alongside some experienced Lao grandmas and they went harrrrd.
They literally got three times as much as we did, and they were done in a
quarter of the time. I've got some mad respect for those people who do that all
day. It was rather hot.
Some
other good experiences! We were able to teach Sister G's niece, KT, who we've
been teaching for a while, and she asked if she could be baptized! She decided
to get baptized on July 15th. We also have about 5 other people who have dates
to be baptized in July, so that's really exciting. There are so many awesome
people here.
Yesterday
was a really fun day. We went north to find a lot of less active members. We
eventually found them after a long trek of following another member’s kids
through the jungle, to the rice fields that the less active members were
working in. We were able to go out there and get to know them some more. They
said they would go to the church this Sunday! A lot of people are coming this
week because it will be the first week in the newly built church building! This
building is honestly amazing and is fancier than most churches I have been to
in America, haha.
This
week I read a talk that I really enjoyed. It was "Patience–A Heavenly
Virtue" by President Thomas S. Monson. One of my favorite quotes is as
follows, "Today in our hurried and hectic lives, we could well go back to
an earlier time for the lesson taught us regarding crossing dangerous streets.
'Stop, look, and listen' were the watchwords. Could we not apply them now? Stop
from a reckless road to ruin. Look upward for heavenly help. Listen for His
invitation: 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.'"
We
actually know that a lot of the bad habits and things that we do in life are
bad before we do them. We are often too prideful, in denial, or anxious about changing to stop doing them.
I really love President Monson's advice on the subject. We need to turn our
hearts to God when we desire to change our habits and ourselves as people. He
is the only way that we can have the strength and power to overcome the natural
man. That's just a quick thing that I thought was neat from my studies.
I hope
you are all making the most of life! I miss and love all of you!
Elder
Ridd
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| Goodbye, President Johnson! Photo Credit: Sister Terri Johnson |
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| Farewell dinner with the Johnsons at KP's home PC: Sister Terri Johnson |
Elder Phasay and I at a random dinosaur park
