Hey Mom,
Yesterday, I got the CDs you sent. I still haven't had the chance to listen to them because I don't have a CD player but hopefully I’ll find a member that has a laptop that I can use to put it on my iPod. I'm way excited to listen to the CDs though! Thank you so much for sending those to me!
So you asked me if I like the fruit here in Thailand. Well yes I do! There is a lot of fruit here that they don't have in America. Soooo much! Like Jackfruit, that’s way good, rose apples, Sakia, there is a lot! The pineapple here is really good too. Also Guavas are amazing. I like it all.
For the service project last week we worked on building a Cemetery that President Dodge is funding. At least I think he is funding it. It’s the only Cemetery in Thailand. Usually when somebody dies, they just cremate the body, they don't bury them. So we worked on putting up a fence around the cemetery and that took pretty much the whole time. That was all we had time to do.
I love you Mom, Thanks for the email! I still haven't gotten the shirts. I should be getting those in 2 weeks when we have Moves Meeting.

Steve

Hey,
So the other day the Zone Leaders come down to Khonkaen for switch offs and to interview 2 of our investigators for baptism and both Big and Gan passed their baptismal interviews so everything is up and running for two more baptisms this Sunday! We're way excited for them, and are so grateful to the Lord for his help also. Having four baptisms within one month is something very rare in Thailand and we know it couldn't have happened without His help. Also as we were on switch offs, Elder Spencer and I went and invited at a park near our house and as we were walking around we passed by this huge Buddhist temple and decided to stop by and see how it was and we had a run down with some Burmese Buddhist Monks. It was the battle of the religions! we didn't make any swift movements because we were out numbered and we were on there turf. So we decided to make friends with them instead! We said hi to them and then 2 of them came and stood right next to us as the other ones started taking pictures. I thought, wait a second! We are getting taken advantage of! They don't even talk to us but just come and start taking pictures of us...I felt like a tourist attraction! So we started talking to them and they were way suprised that we could speak Thai! They said they don't see white people a lot so they wanted to take pictures of us, so we said ok, but we want pictures too. Its not ever day you see a monk. Actually in Thailand you do...but I still wanted pictures! So we talked to a little and then parted ways. They were very nice people! I want one of their robs, they look way sweet and comfortable! Ha ha
So other news this week is zone conference. Usually, we have zone conference the first week of moves, but ths moves is different as we are doing a massive service project in Yasothon, so the date had to be moved to week three. Also, this is President Dodge's last zone conference as he and Sister Dodge are going home in three weeks so there is a lot of anticipation as to what this conference will be about. We leave tonight for Mahasarakham (a city about an hour away) where we will stay the night, then travel to Yasothon in the morning, give service, then go back to Roi Et where we'll have the actually meeting, spend the night again in Mahasarakham, then return to Khonkaen on Friday morning. It's going to be sweet.
So that's about it for the week. It was a good week and hopefully the rest of the week will be good as well! I love you guys!

Elder Olsen

ELDER OLSEN EATING A BUG

Hey everyone!

So last Thursday we went down to Bangkok for Moves Meeting and I went down because I had to renew my visa and that was a headache. Well not really, we just wasted time in a Taxi trying to drive around all of Bangkok trying to find the visa renewal place. We jumped in a taxi and told him were to go and he said he knew where it was but actually had no idea. So we drove around for about 2 hours trying to find it and we wasted good quality Bangkok time because after we renewed our visa we wanted to go to a market and buy 30 cent ties but because it took so long to find the place we didn't have enough time to go buy them and be back at the train station in time. So we missed out on it. It was ok though, only 6 more weeks until we get to go again...ha-ha. So when we were down in Bangkok, President Dodge asked everyone in the mission to fast last Sunday to try and up the ante of number of Baptisms around the mission for the next 6 weeks. We are getting a new mission President in a month and President Dodge doesn’t want us to get distracted. He wants us to still focus hard on getting baptisms so he called for a fast. So to start our fast, Saturday night we went to T-Bones Steak House. It’s an all you can eat Steak House Buffet and it only cost 109 Baht which is equal to 3 dollars! It would have been a sin for us not to have gone! So we got there and ate 2 plates of meat and potatoes, 1 plate of fruit and then a big bowl of ice cream. It was an excellent way to start a fast because after we were done, we didn't want to eat for another week we were so full! So we got home and started our fast and had no problem with the feeling of starvation then next day, it was great! Easiest fast I've ever had. So we had fasted that within the next 6 weeks we would be able to baptize 2 new people and as I was closing my fast on Sunday night, the phone rang in the middle of my prayer. I waited until I was done praying and then I called the person back and it was one of our investigators named Big. He has been an investigator ever sense I’ve been in Khon Kaen and he really wants to get baptized but can’t get off work on Sundays. We have had a lot of lessons with him to try and motivate him to talk to his boss about his situation but he just kept telling us he can’t do it and it won’t help. So we were about to give up and kind of let him go because he wasn't progressing but Sunday night when he called us changed all of that. He said that he had talked to his boss and he told us he wants to be baptized in 2 weeks because he can now come to church every Sunday! It was a complete answer to our prays and showed that God was responding to our fast. There was 1 of the baptisms. Then on Monday we went and taught Gan, the daughter of Gaw, one of our recent converts. She didn't get baptized with her mom because she felt she wasn't ready. So we have been working with her to help her feel ready and she has not wanted to accept a date but on Monday night we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and talked about Baptism and she said she was finally ready to be baptized. So we set a date to be baptized the same day as Big. There was number 2! It’s amazing how much power fasting and prayer has. Christ definitely leads this work and I have seen numerous times when you rely on the Lord, you WILL see miracles. This work is so wonderful and Christ is at the helm. I'm so grateful to be able to be a part of it! It has definitely changed my life! Well I got to go; I love you guys and want to thank you for all your amazing support! Steve