RAIN!!!!!

Wow I don't know where to begin! I love this place so much, the
people are so welcoming and always trying to make you
comfortable which includes plates and plates of rice every meal
because as soon as I get close to finishing they fill it again, and
yet I still lose weight? I don't get it!

I had my first real rain storm the other day, and when I say rain
storm I mean a rain like you have never seen before. We were
in a lesson teaching a man when we started to hear the thunder,
we looked out and could see the cloud coming, it was the coolest
thing ever. After the lesson we looked out again, while watching
the cloud approach I could hear a buzzing/static noise. The man
turned to me and asked if I could hear it, then he said it was the
rain falling miles away. Then he said "This will be one heck of a
storm." We started biking back to the church to drop off our stuff
so it didn't get wet. Then the rain hit! I was soaked all the way
through in less than 10 seconds, the rain hurt when it hit because
of how big the drops were. I couldn't believe it. We were planning
on going trackting for the next hour and a half and I was so excited
to be out in the rain that was until the sewers started to overflow
out into the streets. Here we were walking through water and
anything else you can imagine, and some stuff you can't imagine=),
it was up past our ankles. I started thinking of Hel 5:12 which just
made me all the more determined. We were talking to people
under the coverings but the rain was so loud that we were
screaming at them, it was so cool! I saw an old lady out in the
rain; I guess her motorcycle had died on her. We ran out and
spent the next few minutes trying to get it started (at this point
the "rain" was about 6inches deep), finally I got it started and she
went on her way. We keep walking around trying to find people
and had some great discussions. People thought we were crazy
because we were the only ones out in the rain. Finally, after we
were done and the water was up to our knees, we went back to
the church to get our bikes. When we were riding home the
water was almost to our knees and I've never had to peddle so
hard in my life. What a crazy experience. I LOVE THAILAND!!!!!!!

I was going down the street the other day when I sat down next
to a guy who was a dook dook driver (taxi with three wheels).
We started talking about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration,
then I looked down at his feet, he was missing a couple toenails
that were so infected and brown he had maggots and other
little bugs crawling through them. You wouldn't believe some of
the living conditions here.

The playboy bunny is more popular then the Nike sign, everyone
has one on their shirt, car, bike and everything else they own.
We go to eat and they have porn all over the walls, it's so sad to
see. We were teaching a guy the other day, he had two friends
over who were all drunk and smoking and there was porn all over
the walls. Right after we got there we were getting to know
everyone when I turned around to talk to one of them. I started
turning my head around to talk to him when my head just
stopped; it was like I couldn't turn my head. Then I got the
impression "Don't turn around!" I still don't know what was going
on but I'm so grateful that God isn't too busy to help a young
missionary maintain virtuous thoughts!

Oh, you won't believe this... we got hot water this week!!! I
decided to go all out, so I took the shower hose and took it over
to the tub, and yes, I filled it up and took the first warm bath
in months. It was the greatest thing ever!!! Not that I like warm
baths or anything, right fam=)

I had another language mess up the other day. I was talking to a
man about his family when I asked him how many siblings he had,
he went off on something and I was really lost. After he was done
I thought "I'll go with a safe response and just say "oh that's great,"
so that's what I said. Everyone looked horrified for a minute but
then started laughing. He had told me his father had just died
and I said "that's great" you can imagine how red I went!

God lives, this is His work. Jesus Christ is my Savior, your Savior
and has an unconditional love for every one of us. This is His
church. I love you all and pray for you all of the time!

p.s. I'm sending this early because we've got zone conference for
the next couple days!
p.s. I had chicken foot soup this past week. I've never prayed so
hard in my life to try and finish something. It was terrible!