Rawn Ja Taay

"Rawn ja taay" is how you say, "It's so hot, I'm gonna die" in Thai.

It is so hot. 

I don't think I've EVER been this hot before in my whole life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's so hot, all I have to do is stand outside and I sweat bullets. Then I ride my bike and I get SOAKED. I'm dyyyyinnnggggggg.

 From left to right: E. Wheeler, E. Sae Dan,
E. Smith, E. Watkins, ME, S. Briaw, S. Maughan

Songkraan was on Sunday through Tuesday. So on P-Day we actually got to play in the water fight! After emailing we went to go eat lunch at the only restaurant open in town on that day...... and got soaked in the process. I wasn't lying when EVERYONE plays in the waterfight. If you don't get hit by the pedestrians there's always a truck passing that will get ya. I had managed to stay pretty dry actually, not too far from the restaurant, until some drunk dancing guys decided to walk right up to me and throw water in my face. When I opened my eyes I quickly realized that I was crashing into a motorcycle. 

By some miracle I stayed on my bike, but I TOTALLY took the girls out. They went flying! They were alright and got back on and went on their merry way. My knee hit my bike and got a cut, but it could have been much worse!

And that's just one reason why songkraan would be illegal in the USA.

Pretty much all day we just went to members' houses and threw water at passing cars and motorcycles. It was way fun! A huge parade came through at one point..... the floats had transvestites all dressed up in traditional Thai apparel.... they were there for the purpose of being a target for water. hahahaha In between each float there were hoards of old drunk people dancing. They would walk up to us, smear baby powder all over our faces and then we would dump water over their heads.... hahahah Weird.

After a while we decided to go walk through the major street in Nong Khai. THAT was crazy. The entire street was backed up with trucks full of people with water. And both sides were lined with tents and dancing people. It took an hour and a half to walk down the whole stretch...... I've never had my face grabbed more times in my life. That baby powder stuff starts to burn after awhile....

 I got a police officer. hahahahahha
He was way nice about it and gave me a high five!

So songkraan was crazy and I was exhausted afterwards... and that was just one day! They play 3 days in a row! I don't know how they do it.

Tuesday we could NOT get any work done... so we cleaned the church instead! It really needed it.

A cool restaurant that we ate at.
When people were done eating
they would just jump into the river! Gross!

We were invited to go eat lunch with some members at this one place by the Thai-Laos bridge, and we thought that we could prolly make it there without getting too wet. WRONG. We all got soaked. NO WHERE was safe in this town during songkraan. The streets got sooooo muddy! Sis Maughan got trashed by her bike. hahaha At the end of the day we went to Tesco to buy cleaning supplies for the house and felt like wet dogs in a nice home... somehow everyone in Tesco were dry and clean! They must have not ridden their bikes there. haha

 Prepping to go back in the fray.

Tii is my favorite investigator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He's finally getting baptized on Sunday!

Two of our investigators were interviewed and passed! They are getting baptized this week. :) Yayyy!

Our favorite homeless man.
The Elders named him Sweet Caroline..........
We smile and wave at him everytime we see him
and he scrunches up his face and waves back. SO cute!
The locals take pretty good care of him.
He's always munching on free food that someone gave him. 

One investigator is getting interviewed this week... he just needs to really decide that he wants it bad enough. We're not 100% positive, but we're pretty sure that he sells drugs. We don't ask for the details, but from what he's said we're pretty sure that's his major hang up. He really wants to change, though! He's so awesome. 

We also found out that one of our other investigators murdered someone and did 20+ years in prison. 

So when we asked, "Do you know any murderers, adulterers or drug dealers? ...Can we get their number?" We weren't joking!

Easter was an interesting experience.... Because it didn't really happen! We didn't sing a single Easter song at church! It was way disappointing. Just when I was feeling like I was the most appreciative of Easter.... was when no one else did! I don't blame them... most of the members are converts and have never celebrated Easter before, but still. :(

EASTER!

Sis Maughan and I celebrated Easter by making dinner for the missionaries and the members who always help us teach! Turns out we were able to buy all the stuff necessary for Gramma Wright's Easter/Christmas dinner! Perfect! It was soooo good, but we got stuffed SO fast. It also made us sick.... we haven't eaten real American food in sooo long! 

 I drew this for Book of Mormon class.
It's Lehi on his death bed talking to Laman,
Lemuel, Zoram, Jacob and Joseph.
It made me laugh... a lot. Probably too much.

So that was my week!

I know that Christ lives! He is our Savior and Redeemer. I love Him and love serving Him as a missionary.

Have a wonderful week and HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!

Sis Zaugg