Water water every where and not a drop. . .

Oh that is too bad that Brady never served up here, it is really beautiful. You talked about Sala Kaew Ku Sculpture Park, that isn't too far from our house. We have an investigator that lives right outside of it, and it is so cool – The statues are amazing. About the fire out of the water, I haven't heard anything about that. But there is a good chance that I could be here for 4 moves which would be until November, so maybe I will see them (note from Mike – in the fall, there is fermentation that occurs under the water and balls of fire shoot through the air out of the water, apparently it is very cool to see). That is when elder Greene finishes. His family is in 3 Forks Bozeman area in Montana. I don't know where that is.

That is such a cool story about Kingsley Sabanda. It is incredible that you had that effect on his life. That has had eternal repercussions for the church. I hope to have stories like that by the time I’m through. I know I have already had some pretty awesome stories, which reminds me, I have a few to tell you in this letter.

1. This week we were out Inviting, and we came to this little place where this guy was building a square thing with bricks. We asked if we could help him and he said no. Just like everyone in Thailand (they are very independent people). We gave him a pass along card and our number and then started to move on. We noticed that there were a couple of guys across the street so we went over to talk to them. This one guy named Eddy seemed really nice, almost too nice and fairly goofy also. Immediately we did as dad did on his mission and considered him a drunk... I won't make that mistake again. Anywho he was nice and gave us his information and yesterday we went back and saw him, he was not a drunk! He is one of the nicest men on earth. He keeps inviting us back and wants us to teach him, his wife, and his 20 year old son and his wife. It was incredible. We got 4 new investigators off one contact. But here is the coolest part. This guy is a farmer, but not just any farmer, a crocodile farmer. When we go back on Tuesday he is taking us on a tour of his crocodiles. How sweet is that?! Oh yeah and he is opening a theme park around them, it is supposed to be the next big attraction in northern Thailand.

2. The water here in Nong Khai went out for a few days. All the water... The stuff you use to do dishes and shower and flush the toilet. All of it! So I went 3 days without showering! And this while sweating like crazy all three days. I have never felt more disgusting in my life. It was pretty bad. Elder Greene and I were like wiping off our bodies with these little wet wipes from a 7-11. It made me giggle.

3. We had an investigator come to church that we have been teaching. His name is Somyod. We have taught him like 4 times and he came to church, it was amazing. Most people don't come to church for like a month. I sat by him and helped him through all the meetings because my companion is the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency. It was pretty exciting! This guy has a heavy drinking problem and smoking problem. And the lesson in Sunday School was the Word of Wisdom, I think it was meant to be. He couldn't have picked a better day to come. I hope he has lots of questions when we go back to teach him.

4. I know you guys probably haven’t help the missionaries out too much since last week, but that’s ok. There at least must have been a want, because this week we had a member willing to help us at almost every lesson. We had a pretty terrible week when it came to lessons because most of our investigators pitted us (missed their appointments), but we had a member at almost everyone willing to help out. It was great!

So I know that we are going to have some bad weeks and some good weeks. But it sure does make the week a lot easier if it is good. I will however try to stay more optimistic.

I'm glad mom’s surgery is over with. I hope her healing goes really fast. It seems like she is back to her normal self of having a very high pain tolerance! I'm sure she we will be feeling better in no time. I pray for her all the time, and everyone at home, but her especially. Everyone better be taking care of her.

Something really sweet is happening on the fourth of July. President Smith (mission pres.) is coming up to do sacrament meeting at our branch up here in Nong Khai. How sweet is that? I get to go to church with the mission president in my first month in country, can you believe that? It is actually not such a good thing because he is coming to yell at our branch. They have a hard time supporting their leaders, so he is going to give them a talking to!! He is the number 1 leader over the branches after all. It should be a good meeting. I hope I understand most of it... (doubt it)

This Friday is zone conference, that means we have to go back down to Udon but it will be fun to see people from the MTC again. There are a few that will be at our zone conference. Because our zone is small we mix with 2 zones to make it bigger and more effective, I'm excited! Can you believe I’m half way through my first moves in country, this is crazy! It goes by way too fast.

I was going to tell you it takes about 2 weeks for a letter to get here or vice versa, at least that is what I was told. I will let you know when I get it to let you know for sure. I think packages probably take longer, but I don't know. The people usually don't get their packages until zone conference or moves meeting so I don't know how long it will take.

My companion and I are going out shopping today for some souvenirs from Nong Khai, I'm not sure what I'm going to get but I was planning on taking some money out, I hope that is ok. Oh yeah and if there is anything that anyone wants let me know because things here are very very cheap; however, not as cheap as they used to be, the dollar has gone down a bit in value. It is only worth 33 baht instead of the 50 it used to be, but it is still good because a meal costs less than a dollar, unless you eat at KFC, which we did this morning and it was just over 2 dollars. I still think it is a steal.

I loved getting the updates about the sports. IT was so cool about that tennis match, I'm so sad I didn't get to watch it. What a champion. It is too bad about America in the World Cup too... Oh well, at least they did really well. It is cool that you are hanging the Thai flag, I will, of course, be 10 percent Thai. Actually nobody here thinks I'm American about 90 percent think I'm from France and the other 10 have thought I was Mexican. Who would have guessed? Anywho, if you want to see a cool flag the kings flag is pretty sweet too.

I love you all. Tell mom I love her and to be strong. I know she will be ok.

ps. Tell Maren red one, red one , white one, black one, blue one, and silver one. (actually lots of cars in Thailand, and teenagers love bugs!)