Partying with the Phasays - 8/25/18

Eating dinner with the nonmember family of a current missionary

Cool fabrics at a Hmong shop

There's been a LOT of flooding this week. 

Hey Everyone!

This week has been pretty uneventful, haha. Sunday was good! We were able to teach a lot of people. Sunday night was really cool. We were finally able to make an appointment with Elder Phasay's family over here. His uncle picked us up around 4 in the afternoon, and then we headed over to his house. It was a really neat experience. For the next three and a half hours we went around their village, meeting a ton of random family members of Elder Phasay and going to the places that he went as a kid. It was awesome to see all of these random relatives who still recognize him from when he was 6 years old. They were all so nice!

The rest of the week was pretty much the English teaching grind, haha. We got to see a lot of cool members though. We've all been kinda under the weather lately. We think it's because we rode bikes for so long in the rain. We're getting better though! 

Today we'll be going up north to visit a lot of members in the northern villages! It'll be pretty fun. We will also see a bunch of the Hmong members there too. One of the YSA who is from there just put in his mission papers! He's so cool and I'm excited for him! 

That's pretty much been my week! I just want to remind you guys to always strive to be worthy and ready to listen to spiritual promptings. Remember President Monson's advice when he said, "Never postpone a prompting." If it invites you to do good, then it's from the Spirit. DO IT!!!!

Thanks for all of your love and support! I love and miss you all so much! I pray for all of you!

<3

Elder Ridd

Elder Phasay with a strange sword we found in his childhood home

 Elder Phasay's childhood home

50 Kilometers of Mud - 8/18/18

Some food from the awesome member family

Helping make food with the YSA we visited

Eating with Sister B, KD, and G at a funeral gathering for G's dad.

Elders Jorgensen, Eckersley, and Phasay at the (biking) halfway point

Us at the halfway point, after biking for about 45 minutes in the mud and rain

Hey Friends and Fam,

This week's been a good time. On Saturday we went and visited a member family up north and chilled with them. They are way funny people. 

We had a good day at church on Sunday. We got two new investigators, who are both these two little girls who came with all of their friends to church from one of the northern villages. We also gave one of the coolest people ever, TA, a date for baptism! She got super excited and almost cried during the lesson because she wanted to change her life, but didn't think she'd get an opportunity to. She is awesome. She is about 18 and is a friend of one of the YSA here.

The rest of the week has pretty much been the English teaching grind. Get up, plan English, go teach, study, visit a member, go teach, eat dinner, visit a member, come home and crash. So that's been taking up a lot of our time. 

A miracle that happened this week is that one of our less active members is learning to drive! The reason they haven't been able to go church is because the old church used to be directly across from their house, so they could walk there. Now, the church is about 30 minutes away from their house, so getting there has been a challenge. But now they are learning to drive! And not just any car, but a van! So they can take their entire family! Yay! That's pretty neat.

The most interesting thing that happened this week was probably yesterday. We decided to use our work day that we don't have English class to go and visit some members that don't get visits very often. We set out on our journey on the one day this week that rained all day. Wahoo! So, we faced the rain and biked about 25 kilos out to this nice old grandma's house. She was sweet and fed us some very Buddhist bread. She is a way nice lady, but she's been having lots of pain and she's pretty much deaf. Nobody really visits her, so she was way excited to see us. We also visited a member who is a member of the YSA. She hadn't been visited for about maybe 3 years now, so she was also so happy for us to come and talk/eat with her mom. Then we biked back another 25 kilometers in the rain and mud. It was a wild time.

Well, that's about everything that happened this week! I hope that you are all doing great! I love and miss all of you! You're all in my prayers!

Love you guyz,

Elder Ridd <3

Ch-ch-changes - 8/11/18

Me and my elephant buddies

Hey Guys!

Another great week out here in Laos PDR. This week's been pretty solid! On Saturday we went a little bit up north and I got to ride my first elephant! It was pretty cool, just really slow and bumpy. It was an awesome experience though. This one baby elephant really liked me and would keep feeling me up with its trunk though. I guess it was kinda cute. 

There was another baptism on Sunday! Sister TY was baptized. She is the mom of another member, Sister BN. It was way cool to see them take another step closer to being an eternal family. 

Teaching English is going well. Our students are way awesome and eager to learn. At first it seems kinda awkward to be teaching English to these 25-50-year old communist government officials, but then you start to feel like it's the most normal thing in the world. They all love us and bring us random treats and stuff. 

The biggest thing this week was probably the older three elders leaving Laos. (They’ve completed their missions). I am so glad that I was able to serve with all of them. Now it's just the four of us elders left, and it feels a bit lonely, hahaha. I'm now officially companions with Elder Eckersley, and I'm the Laos district leader, so that's pretty neat. 

It's so weird that this huge group of missionaries went home. It was a group of about 18 people who went home, and I knew most of them. Among them was my trainer, Elder Holland. Now that their group is gone, the next biggest group here is my group. Way weird. A bunch of people from my group are training or being leaders around Thailand now.

Well, besides that, not too much has happened with me! I hope that you're all doing well! I love and miss you guys so much! You're all in my prayers!

Love, 

Elder Ridd

Testing out DIC (Deseret International Charities) wheelchairs before they get donated.