Brother Bo and District Talent Show

Area: Roi-Et

Companion: Elder Yuen

September 30, 2013

Hi!

Right now I’m in Bangkok I had to come down to renew my visa and so we get to spend P-Day down here because tomorrow is Mission Leader Council with President Senior!

We had a baptism this week Brother Bo got baptized! He was so prepared I have never seen anything like him before he got baptized only 25 days after we first met him on the street! He is so solid! He reads and even more than that he studies the Book of Mormon he takes notes in every meeting. When he was baptized there was such a special feeling the spirit just blanketed the room, and there was such joy in my heart! He is going to be a great leader soon! In his testimony after he had changed as he finished he said that he was going to offer his life up in service to God in his kingdom, it was so sincere I know he will! 

Yesterday we also got to go to a family dinner a lot like our potlucks that we have where the big extended family gets together each Sunday and has a big meal it was so awesome and so like what we do back home except Thai style! And so we got to meet their whole extended family and we are going to start teaching the sisters uncle he is really interested in the Book of Mormon. It was also Sis Gift's 18th birthday she is so good at English its ridiculous when Pres Senior came to visit he told me I can only speak English with her so she can get into BYU Hawaii!

Another awesome part of the week was the District Talent Show it was in Khonkaen so our whole branch rode in a tour bus for two hours and watched Mormon messages the whole time! The youth had 2 awesome dances and the two heartthrobs of the branch played two songs on the guitar and totally rocked the house, the Relief Society did a way cool traditional Thai dance and for part of it dressed all us missionaries up in traditional Thai wear from each of the 4 parts of Thailand. My costume was from the south and it was so cool! I looked pretty legit! It was so much fun I am in the coolest branch ever I love them all so much! And I really miss them when we are away in Bangkok or on switch-offs! 

Elder Yuen's Chinese grandpa is getting baptized on Oct 12th!!!!!!!!!!! Such a miracle!

We are way excited here for conference too! Let me know about school stuff I am allowed to do that on P-Day yep still sciences! That’s so cool about our ward wooh! Yes I think teaching the kids poems is a great idea! I love you Mum you are such a fighter!

I have never seen a monkey! I ate this one vegetable that looks like lettuce but it acts like wasabi if you eat a whole leaf it goes up your nose and makes you cry but then goes away immediately and it’s not hot! Its wayyyy fun to eat! Longboarding is siccckkk! atta girl Kenny! I love you Jeana! can we !!golf when I get back? Ben that is going to be such a sweet season with Tommy! That’s crazy that you are going to graduate soon! Do you want to go to BYU with me? haha wouldn’t that be legit?! Here in Thailand you can’t get your license until your 18! but that’s alright cause everyone rides motorbikes anyways! 

Love You!!!!

Elder Cahoon

Brother Bo and his amazing fellowshippers!

Brother Bo's Baptism

Introducing Brother Bo

A Tale of Two Princes

Pretty Much Amazing!

Our service project we built a chicken fence for our Branch Mission Leader!

I LOVE miracles!

Area: Roi_Et

Companion: Elder Yuen

September 23, 2013

Helloo!

Thanks for the letters guys sounds like you had a way sweet weekend I’m glad LCI won (someones gotta beat Raymond!) That’s so sick that you guys can just take off and go do something like that Mum and Dad sure trust you! I’m sorry about the volleyball tryouts Teddy. Ben did you know that my son Elder Hill can talk to deaf people it’s so cool! He was teaching me a little but I want to learn more when I get home. I learned from Elder Hill and from my current District Leader Elder Tatton to really broaden my horizons and take a sampling of all that life has to offer. They have had so many experiences and have tried so many cool fun things like cooking, theater, singing, harmonica, martial arts, sports, sign language, Spanish, Chinese, there are so many things that I want to try when I get home! 

There were so many awesome miracles and way fun times this week! On Wednesday we went up to Udon for zone conference! When we got in we went to Central and ate at a sweet Japanese buffet called Shabushi! It is so good and we were so full! We stayed in another nice hotel (not quite as posh) with all the Elders in the zone and the Elders from Lao, namely Elder Murray! Super stoked to see him! He is doing great! Then the next day was zone conference! It was so great to interview with Pres Senior again I love that man! He is so inspired and he loves so much! It was funny we talked after and I told Elder Yuen that we just talked about him in my interview and how I want to minister and serve more like him and how I can learn so much from him, and he was like that’s funny cause in my interview we just talked about you! haha Elder Yuen is such a boss I’m so lucky to serve with him. The conference was about conversion and real growth and it was so good! I really want to become fully converted I feel like I am so close and that that will be the thing that allows me to serve with my whole heart and soul! There was an Elder Fronberg who I had served around before just in the same zone. But when I saw him at the zone conference I almost didn’t recognize him it was still the same face but everything was different his countenance had changed completely. It was kinda like how you had explained Braeden when he came back and I have seen it happen to many exceptional missionaries that have served, and it is the one thing that I want so bad to experience and to become, to have the Lord change me like that!

After zone conference we got in a motortricycle thing it does not translate to English. All 6 of us got in the back with all our bags and we belted out amazing grace in 4 part harmony (we were practicing for the special musical number for the baptism this week) It was way squishy and Elder Yuen was basically hanging onto the end that was until we wheelied the trike after that he dove in on our laps and held on tight till we got back! We ended up staying the night in Udon cause there were no busses back so we stayed with the Elders and Sisters their and Elder Gilley is ZL up there so we got to spend the night with him which was sweet!

On Friday when we came back we taught Bro Bo the law of chastity and word of wisdom and learned of a miracle 3 days after we taught him the first time he went home and threw away all his pornography, everything! We had never even said anything remotely related to that but he told us that he felt it was wrong and he needed to change! It was incredible he had been so prepared, he has also started to keep a study journal and records amazing thoughts and experiences I feel so blessed every time to go teach him. And Bro Det is such an awesome fellowshipper for him he calls him and chats all the time!

Another miracle was yesterday after church we still needed 2 new investigators in the week to get balanced key indicators but it was pouring all day but as we were biking through the driving rain to go teach some LA's we would periodically stop and talk to people that had shelter and there was one part after we taught a lesson we had to go through a bunch of rice fields and we found a nice hut (it wasn’t a house just a rest area for when they had a break from farming) and there was this big extended family up there chilling waiting for the rain to stop and they invited us up cause we were soaking too so we introduced ourselves and joked around to try and break the ice but nothing was working and it was starting to feel a little awkward so we played a game called 9 books with them and it worked like a charm! They loved it and after that we were able to introduce the gospel and talk about the importance of families and they were really interested and wanted to learn more! So we ended up with 6 new investigators! And we got balanced key indicators! I LOVE miracles!

Love 

Elder Cahoon

Living the Good Life

Area: Roi-Et

Companion: Elder Yuen

September  16, 2013

Hey Guys!

Thanks for all the awesome updates! I will try to make this a better letter and there has been tons of exciting stuff to fill it up with. But first I wanted to respond to some of your letters.

Chrissy - why do you have to take early morning? That sounds like death! But pretty fun chillin with Shelby! Thank you for responding about my letter too! What is your best class this semester? So you get to drive the car to school or does Mikaela take it to work? How is the speaker system in it? Do you have an iPod hook up? Have y'all seen the new iPods? They are saweet one of the new missionaries had the new nano and I was like woah what is that??

Teddy - That’s rough that school is kinda dull but it’s just the beginning of the year it will get better I promise! I don’t remember are you going to play volleyball this year you said you were thinking about it. Are you going to play basketball? Hey I just wanted to tell you and Chrissy that I have been thinking about you lately just starting and about to finish high school! Its pretty sweet! but high school can be a pretty rough place and I just really want to encourage you two to keep to the gospel standards don’t change them for anyone, friends are so fun please make sure they are helping you be the best you, you can be! You two are awesome and I have prayed for you every day this week that you will stay on the high ground and be safe from all the spiritual dangers that are all around you in high school. I love you too so much you are both such beautiful young women! 

Kendra - Ahh sitting in the classroom when there is beautiful weather outside is the worst! When does school start every day? That is awesome to have a cool friend like Mya next time you see the Proctors tell them hi for me ok? Tell them my companion is half Taiwan too!

Ben - Dude I love cubs soo much fun! That activity sounds pretty stellar! so mum tells me your pretty fast! That’s sweet keep it up bro! Speaking of golf the District President here in Roi-Et is way good at golf and he offered to take us out for a round on a P-Day! It’s going to be so much fun but I am going to be pretty terrible! haha

Jeana - You have so many cousins to play with now it sounds like you all are the best of friends! I bet you hit golf balls really good too that’s how Uncle Markie taught me to hit golf balls it’s like a dance! ha! 

Olivia - Who is grandpa Librado? There is an LA who just came back to church he is like 50+ who told us he wanted his name to be Frachesco Sancho and he wanted to be a cowboy! He is sooo funny!

Mikaela - Ahh crazy days! That’s less time then I spent in the MTC! Speaking of which how long are you going to spend there? Also some things you gotta check out: find a pillow room the jungle room, chicken ciabatta sandwiches, blueberry muffin top cereal, the wrap bar, narnia holes anyway that just a couple of things off the top of my head! It’s going to be so awesome! A couple of mission things make sure to memorize the 10 HTBT points, the first vision, your purpose, James 1:5, D+C 4, and the baptismal commitment! For clothes make sure you have a lot of variety but go for quality rather than quantity it’s better to have a few really nice things than a whole bunch of alright stuff. Are you reading the Book of Mormon and PMG daily? Are you taking notes too? I can’t wait till you get to start your own mission experience! It’s gonna be great! Did you ever get a calling?

Mum and Dad

I think BYU would be way cool it’s a great school very inexpensive and I’m going to be able to see all the friends from the mission. Also BYU has almost no freshman class they are all on missions! ha would it be possible to transfer to BYU I would like to go there! Elder Chelson from my MTC group called and asked us if he could do that today so I was giving it some thought already what does it to take to go to BYU I probably have to take the ACT right? That’s cool about the field. Congrats to Maureen! That’s way cool about Ben atta boy! Dad you work so hard. You will be a great gospel doctrine teacher personally I really hope they put me back in primary when I get back, so much fun! Just make you sure that balance Bro Stonehocker once said put God first and everything else will fall into place or fade out because it wasn’t needed.

Well on my week we went and did a training on Tuesday in Galasin and then Wednesday we got on a bus for 4 hours to Korat and did another training and a switch off with the district leader and then on Thursday 4 hours back. There is a lot of travel involved in the work of an Essan Zone Leader! I went on one with the trainer in the district so kinda a 3 way switch off it was way good and we went and taught a member family and it turns out I had met them before back when I was in Warin! We took pics together it was pretty sweet! And we stayed in a sick hotel! This Saturday we had a baptism it was the sisters investigator and our investigator Bo went and after we moved his date up to be this month he has been so prepared I have never seen someone progress so fast its incredible he is so willing and faithful! Everyone in the branch is way excited about missionary work and it’s because we are doing it with them and teaching their families and friends and helping old members come back and we are doing it all together!

I love you guys!

haha hugs and kisses!

Elder Cahoon

P.S. Teddy keep breathing! haha lol

The District 101 (from Elder Yuen's camera)

The Good Life (Hotel in Korat)

Oh yeah it was so nice it had a continental breakfast and granite in the bathroom and a flat screen that we watched mormon messages and the work of salvation on after planning and while we were working out in the morning! and get this $20 a night!