Stay Fly-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-

Today's email is a little late. The four of us went and visited some water falls in our area. They had some pretty cool hot springs there as well. Got some good picks. Only funny story is getting in. Most of the time tourists (or white people in particular) have to pay more than Thai people to get into tourist attractions. Thai uses different characters for numbers, so a lot of times there will be signs in Thai with the Thai numbers saying it only costs 40 baht (a little over a dollar), and then in English below it says 200 baht. Not always the exact numbers, but that's what it was today. Well, we saw the sign and read the cheap price, then the guard guy came out of the shack and said it was 100 baht. Out fearless district leader immediately rejected and said we would only pay 40. Elder Perkins walked the guy over to the sign and pointed out the cost. The guy kept pointing at the English saying it was 200 and that he was being nice by offering us 100. Elder Perkins told him he couldn't read the English. The guy asked said the cheap price was for Thais and asked us if we were Thai. Of course we said yes, despite our huge bodies and pasty white skin. I told him I was an "angel child" which is what they call people from Bangkok (Bangkok's real name is waaaaaaay long and starts with the phrase "City of Angels"). Eventually he gave in and let us in with the cheap price. Then he was like, "Seriously, where are you from?" So we told him and he kind of laughed. Good times. The rest of the day we hiked around in the jungle. Got some good pictures and video I'll send your way soon.

Last week was LEGIT! We had two baptisms (one on Thursday, on on Saturday) and two confirmations (Brother Iit and Sister Buu, who got baptized on Thursday). Sister Tuu will get confirmed this coming Sunday. The branch is growing slowly but surely. The work here really thrives on referrals from members. And the members are generally more than willing to share the gospel with their friends. Haha. We have an older sister in the branch named Sister KanGaew. She tells us every Sunday that she will bring 5 people to church the next week and then have us teach them. And she usually fulfills. Maybe not always 5, but 1 or 2 is better than 0. She tells us how all she does is prays and then people come and ask here. She says "phra ong geng na" about a million times every time we talk to her. I guess it translates roughly to "God is pretty skilled eh?!" And she always gives a thumbs up and a big toothless grin along with it! She rocks. It's funny how life works. How we always seem to be on the same up and down roller coaster. When I first got to Lampang, things were great. I felt like I was improving in the language daily, that I was getting more familiar with the scriptures, that my companion and I were just doing everything right. I don't feel like we really changed anything, but all of a sudden all that changed for me. I've been having a hard time speaking and improving my ability to speak, I feel like there is just too much in the scriptures to really ever wrap my head around, and hard days create tension between companions. Nothing massive, but you know it's there since we are both on edge after working our tails off and getting what appears to be nothing in return. I was thinking it is kind of like flying glider. You are up in the air and having a great time doing maneuvers and enjoying the view, then next thing you know you are running out of altitude and are almost outside of you circle of safety (distance limits). But another thing about flying gliders is that you can get more altitude off of thermals. Kind of like getting a little Heavenly assistance. You just watch your vertical speed indicator and try to stay in an area where you know it was in the positive. Or perhaps you might say you decide on a course of action to get out of your rut, tell Heavenly Father you are going to do it and ask for His help, and then do it. Suddenly you are flying again. Thai is easy. The scriptures you need during the lesson to help the investigator understand are easily recalled. Tension dissolves. You realize that you actually do have a lot of investigators who may not be golden, but at least they are sincere and want you to come back. So that is something interesting I have noticed lately. I like it. I am really discovering how to be a self motivator out here, and not only that, but how to get the one Being who simply can't loose to play on your side of the field. Decision+Prayer+Action=Success. It's as simple as that. We don't have to wait for the Lord to tell us what to do. He trusts us to make righteous decisions, so when we do and ask Him to support us, He will. So that's what I learned this week. Now I'll try to attach some waterfall pics to whet your appetite for a cd full of pictures and video of the jungles of Lampang. Love you all...... trying to think of something catchy to say besides "stay sweet" since I know Uncle Curtis won't like it....... how about....... "stay fly-y-y-yyy-y-yy-y-yy-yyy". Ask Megan and Jacob for the source on that one..... Someone will probably get upset about this as well, heh heh. Aaron

PS: Sent a picture of my tire on the way to last Thursday's baptism. Totally exploded. Sweet.