Song Kron Strikes--weekly letter from the boonies of ˹ͧ¤ÒÂ

So this week I can't really remember what happened. we had a switch off with the AP's on wednesday. that was pretty chill. the one I got paired with is from tenessee and he has got some wacko ideas about the gospel... one of them he was like "so, have you ever thought of this, How many wives does God have?" haha. I'm just going to assume it is one. but yea. it was fun, he was a fun guy to be with. it was nice to have a switch off with another missionary after being with the same one for 2 months now. man, thats a long time to be with another dude 24/7!

But yea. So also, songkran started this sunday. and let me tell you, these khon thais go HAM for song kran. It is crazy. kinda like 4th of july in utah where everyone is shooting off fireworks like crazy. except for you have people driving around in trucks throwing buckets of water. everyone is standing on the streets throwing water, and you have people with power sprayers lying in the bushes in wait to wreck you as you ride past on your bike. It is super fun. Its like a gigantic war zone. and sometimes as deadly. apparently quite a few people get killed during song kran. and quite a few missionaries get hurt. so mom and dad. If I die, I DIE. They are making us go in at 6pm so we aren't out when all the drunk people start roaming. but, just coming home from church after conference at like 2pm I got soaked. It was a battle just to try and take different little back alleys where there wasn't anybody to try and avoid getting wet. But, I got soaked. Good thing I wasn't wearing my suit!

today we get to play songkran all p-day. well, at least until 6 that is. it should be fun. hopefully I don't get a face full of water and eat gravel on my bike. but, I'll leave that up to my companion. he usually hurts himself like that.

This week was pretty normal otherwise. Went to swensens after district meeting on tuesday, as per tradition. swensens is an american ice cream place. I'ts soooo good. and pretty cheap too. 50 bot for 2 big scoops of ice cream if you go on tuesdays. and conference was fun to spend some time. didn't seem as eventful as last conference. but it was good. 

Also, I got this guy at the walking street market to make me a ring out of a 5 bot coin. its really cool, and he even wrote my name in thai on it. dooopppeeee. 

oh also we are trying to get this old guy baptized this week. it should be on sunday. but we will see if he can get off the whiskies by then. he seems to be doing pretty swell. this is the one I talked about who had the pink skinny jeans and chill flannel shirts. He would be a solid addition to this branch. because he is super fly!

also there is this lady that just cry's and cry's whenever we teach here.... its kinda weird.. she is a drug addict we found out... so I think she might just be mentally fried form all the crap she has done. but. I digress.

Hope ya'll have a good week! thailand is pretty hot. and pretty wet. whenever it rains all the bugs and little animals try to come into our house to seek refuge. I found a frog just yesterday night.

.... we ended up throwing it off our balcony and it splattered against the fence of the adjacent house.....  sorry little frog. next time don't mess with me in my HOOD!

have a great week peeps! love ya

-Elder Smith

Nother Week of Missionary Wurk

Mom sent me a post card set from the Sacred Gifts
exhibit at BYU. Jesus and I are giving the peace sign:)

So last pday we were able to go to Udon. There we went ice skating, ate at a really expensive Korean buffett then went bowling. It was really fun, but Elder wheeler fell Ice skating and busted his chin open. So after that we went to the hospital where I got to watch them put 7 stitches into his face. The wound went so far in I think I saw his chin bone. haha, that kid is just getting beat up. Also in the week we went to this one members house and cleaned up her yard and driveway. It was stinking hot and I sweated so much, but that is the usual. I just hope my clothes can stay white enough to wear.... already my "white" shirts are getting tinted a slightly grey brown color from all the sweat and dirt that is here. One thing is for sure I won't be taking any of these clothes home with me... Guess that means i'll be coming home naked.

soooo also when we were having a district meeting this crazy lady walked into the church crying and wanted us to teach her. The whole time we were teaching her she would just bawl and stuff. She had like 8 different bibles with here and had read all of them and knew about the book of mormon very well... It was kinda weird. We were unsure if she was just very emotional or actually crazy. It will take some more time to deduce this one. also we did, MORE CONTACTING. every day! one day we spent two hours straight just roaming around a scooter parking lot contacting people. then later that night we went to a street market to contact more. The street market only happens once a week on saturdays. But it is really cool because there is alot of people there, and alot of cool little things you could buy. There was a guy there that made all of us missionaries rights out of coins. Mine isn't going to be ready till next week, but still, he did it for free. He said since we were elders we get them free. I don't know why but someone must have left a good impression on him! :)

so still just doing my thing here in nong khai. transfers are coming up in a little over two weeks. also, we get to watch general conference next week! yay! its like the release of a new movie!..

not really

anyways, have a good week family!

love, Elder Smith

Buffet in Udon then off to bowling and ice skating.

Check out my awesome bowling score--5 strikes, a couple spares.

Wheeler and his stitches from falling while ice skating.

Terrific Korean restaurant in Udon.