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.