Hey!
Last week, the Bishop of our Ward came up to me and asked me if I could give a talk in Sacrament Meeting on any topic that I wanted. With this invitation to be a speaker, as many of you may have guessed, I was not too thrilled about it but as a missionary, there is no way I could have rejected. So I smiled and graciously accepted his request. It wasn't anything new having to be up at the pulpit. Every time a missionary moves to an area, they have to stand up in sacrament meeting and bear their testimony, which is easy. But this was different because I had to prepare a 15 minute talk and be the main speaker. I wasn't to excited about it needless to say. But I wanted to make sure everyone enjoyed it and it was about something that everyone could use that also wasn't about missionary work (they get tired of that). So I chose to talk about patience because that is something that everyone can work on. Preparing it was no big deal but thinking about it was. I'm not the biggest fan of giving talks in Sacrament Meeting. Teaching at Zone Conference the week before was not to big of a deal because I was able to include everyone and ask questions. Talks are just you standing up in front of everyone and speaking by yourself for 15 minutes straight. Well Sunday came and they announce that I'm going to be the last speaker which is never any good because being the last speaker, you have to adjust your talk to make sure the meeting ends on time without going over or under time. For me the problem was not going under time because the last speaker before me ended her talk really quick and there was 30 minutes left in Sacrament Meeting! I now had to make my 15 minute talk take double the time! Luckily for me I took this into account while preparing my talk so I made sure I had enough stuff to talk about to last the whole time if I needed to. I'm very glad I did as well because it would have made me look bad if it all gone under time. Surprising myself, I was very calm and not nervous at all as I was up giving the talk. I was even able to take up that extra 15 minutes left on the clock! It was actually kind of fun giving the talk. Now for all you Ward Leaders that may be reading this, don't take any of this into account for when I get home, because I still don't really like doing it!
Well another Moves has come and gone and my companion and I are both staying here in Udon. I'll be his last companion of his mission because at the end of this Moves period, he goes home and then I follow. Its coming close! It's kind of scary but not that scary because I still feel like I have forever. Well I love you all and hope all is going well at home in that cold climate. Talk to you next week!

Steve

Hey Everyone!
Sorry about last week and not sending anything. I didn't have to much time to write anything. Life has been crazy lately. Especially in this last passing week. We were in our area here in Udon for only 1 day! Other then that, we have been having to deal with a lot of stuff. Last Tuesday we went back to one of my old areas, Khonkaen, for Zone Conference. Going to Zone Conference as a Zone Leader isn't as easy as it used to be. Our Mission President now has the Zone Leaders teach a lot of Zone Conference where in the past, he had the Assistants do most of the teaching and the Zone Leaders had no part in anything. Elder Brown and I didn't have a moment of rest the entire time. When we weren't teaching, we were having to translate for all the Thai missionaries. Translating was fun though. Elder Brown and I sat in the back of the room with a microphone that sent everything that we said into headphones that all the Thai missionaries were wearing. At first I was a little nervous to be translating because it was my first time doing it for real when it really matters but as I started doing it, I saw that it wasn't that hard! I was able to translate everything pretty naturally. Then closer to the end of the Conference, President Smith called me to give a special lesson about the Book of Mormon that he had asked all the Zone Leaders to prepare. He didn't tell us who was going to give it until the minute of. Luckily I was prepared and I think it went pretty well! I was surprised that I wasn't nervous because I usually get way nervous when I have to give talks and stand in front of big crowds. The Lord definitely helped me on that one!
Once Zone Conference was over, for the next couple of days, Elder Brown and I went of switch-offs with a bunch of companionships in our Zone. One of which was an emergency switch-offs that we had to go on because of problems between a companionship. It put a big damper on getting work done in our own area but it was something we had to take care of so there was nothing we could do. Out of the 7 days, we slept in our own beds only once. Our week was all over the place! I enjoyed it though. It makes the work exciting and more fun! I'm loving being a Zone Leader.
About this picture that I sent, your probably wondering why it's so special. Other then the fact that we are all wearing BYU shirts, the meat that we are eating is not your average meat. For dinner last night we ate dog! When we were in Sakonakhon on switch-offs, we went to a restaurant that sells dog meat and decided that we had to buy some and eat it! I have to say, it wasn't the best meat but it was cool to be saying I was eating dog!
So that was about how our week went. It was really fun and way busy! We have been dead tired lately and this P-Day today has been much needed. Well I love you all! Thanks for all your support and prayers! Talk to you next week.

Steve

Hey everyone,
This past week hasn't been the easiest week of getting work done with New Years in the middle of it. New Years is the big holiday here in Thailand. Thailand's New Years is like America's Christmas. Everyone goes home for New Years and celebrates together. We weren't able to really teach anyone last week. Everyone was gone or just not free! We did a lot of inviting with not much success. But on New Years Eve, the Branch threw a New Years Eve Count Down party that we went to. We only stayed until about 9 because we had to be home but it was really fun! The big thing that every Thai party has to have is Karaoke. Thai people love it! They love to sing, even if they aren't good. They aren't shy about their voices, they just think it's fun. So throughout the night, there was always somebody on the stage singing. In the end, they even got my companion and I to go up there and sing a song! We were kind of forced to do it and taken by surprise. The member that was the emcee (MC) of the party was an RM that had just barely returned home. We knew him pretty well and he wasn't afraid to make us do anything embarrassing. About 10 minutes before we were about to leave, the member got on the stage and said, "Before the Elders go home tonight, they have agreed to sing a special song for all of us and we would like to invite them to come up here and sing that song for us now!" We were completely thrown off guard and we weren't really in the place to back down because everyone started clapping and cheering. I thought, "Shoot!" I looked at Elder Brown and we decided that we had no choice...we had to do it. So we ran over to the DJ and asked to look at his songs. We had to think of a song that we both new pretty well and the only thing that was coming to my mind was Backstreet Boys! I didn't want to have to sing a Backstreet Boys song but it was the only band that we both new well enough to sing. I quickly picked a song and we jumped on stage and started singing "I Want It That Way". I was truly surprised at how well I remember the song! I had to carry us because Elder Brown kind of forgot the tune of it so he was just kind of following my lead. I don't blame him for having forgotten. I can't say that I'm proud that I didn't...but everyone loved it so it was good. Once we finished with the song, we hurried and said goodbye to everyone and headed home. It was truly a memorable New Year's Eve!
Well I've got to go but hey, Happy New Year! I love you all and hope to hear from you guys soon!

Steve