Yummy dog

Hello Family


Well in light of last week events I decided to follow the advice that Elder Blackhurst gave me, to write my letters in Word first then attach them in the email. That way if anything happens to the email I will still have everything because it will be in word. Although I really like this new email. It’s gmail.

Well this week has gone by really fast as Elder Blackhurst and I prepare for the next. Next week Elder Blackhurst is going to make the trip to Bangkok to renew his visa. He will be switching off with a zone leader. I on the other hand will be switching off in another area to help the work keep moving, I just wish it was in Sakon Nakhon. We will leave tomorrow and go to Udorn and from there Elder Blackhurst will ride a bus or a train for 8 to 10 hours to Bangkok and I will stay there. He’ll make the return trip on Wednesday night and we’ll leave Udorn and come back to Sakon Nakhon on Thursday morning. That’s a lot of travel in the week. It takes about 2 or 3 days out of our week and makes it way hard to keep things moving as fast as President Smith wants things to, but where there is a will, the Lord will provide the way.

This last week was filled with some great things. I think I will start with Thursday. The week before last the Zone leaders Challenged us to do 2 service projects each week. One that will benefit the community and one that will benefit a member of the branch. We have been searching long and hard for both opportunities all week. Finally on Thursday we told a member that on that day we would come over and serve him and his family even if it requires us to clean the house. So after we did the weekly planning we hopped on our bikes and rode 30 minutes to his house.

When we got there they had us wash the windows of their store, which hadn’t been washed in a long time. VERY long time. So we were glad to do it. It took us about 3 to 4 hours to wash everything inside and out. A little long for a missionary services but we were happy to get the job done. FACT: when you do not have cloth to wash windows, Newspaper is a decent substitute.

After we finished Elder Blackhurst and I were served the meal of a lifetime. Sticky Rice and you probably guessed it Dog meat. Yummy. Believe it or not it was really good. It had a similar taste to chicken, But it was a little more bony and had a lot of fat in it. If I get the chance to eat it again I’ll probably take it.

As we were eating I wondered where the dogs come from. Brother Nxng, for once in Thai, told us that the owners of the shop go around and work through different companies to catch the wild dogs that attack people and livestock and other things, then they catch them and bring them here to eat. So where in America they put problem dogs to sleep, here they just eat them. What an efficient way to take care of a dog problem.

Friday was a crazy day for us as we were trying to set up the last interviews for 2 of our investigators to get baptized. One named Lek had his interview yesterday. He had to make the trip to Udorn, which is a 4 hour trip by bus but, he has a really nice police bullet bike and did it in hour and a half to 2 hours he wouldn’t tell us. He did however say that he went close to 160 kmh and got pulled over 3 times, but because he is a police officer he got off every time. He passed, so he will be getting baptized on the 14th of this month. The other investigator will be getting interviewed on Saturday and if he passes will be baptized on the same day.

Today Elder Blackhurst and I did a thing that I think Dad might be a little jealous for. We went and played golf. Well really we just hit balls at a range because it was 95-100 degrees outside at the time. And we didn’t have a lot of time to play. But still I got to play golf in Thailand. It was fun. Elder Blackhurst played golf for the Brighton high school team, so he showed me up a little. That’s all right. He also impressed some of the employees at the range, who I think that they think he is a pro.

Sounds like the family is doing well, and life is getting busy like normal around this time of year for everyone. Please wish Nate a happy birthday. Man I can’t believe its polo season again. I’m glad Stu is a polo coach this year, I wonder how he and the Beckwiths are doing these days I haven’t gotten a letter from Stu for a while.

Well Life here is getting better. The language is getting easier to understand and we are getting more and more people to teach. I had a fun experience last week. As Elder Blackhurst and I were inviting we sat down with a group of police/soldiers that were guarding some of the government places and started a conversation with them. As we talked we found out that 2 of the men were catholic believers in a neighboring town and that one other man had had contact with the elders about 5 or so years ago. All the time as we talked none of them could believe that I had only been speaking Thai for 6 months. They kept telling me I was speaking really clearly. It’s not much of a compliment in English but in Thai I’ll take it.


Well last week before last we had zone conference were President Smith focused on inviting and the importance of always finding people to teach every week. He also told us that we are going to have a schedule mix up. Starting today we wake up at 6 am every day. Then get ready and leave our house at 7:30 am. We then work until 1:30 pm, where it is the hottest part of the day, and go home and study until 4:00. Then we leave the house and work again until 8:30 where we go back and plan and get ready for bed. We sleep at 10:00. He is working with his past experience of a missionary when he realized that nobody not even the street dogs are outside. I like it.

Well that’s about it. I never got a report on State, I can’t wait to hear about it. Also, Mom do you have a recipe for making root beer. We have root beer extract in our house and think we should put it to good use J Also I don’t remember if I asked you to send my cd player? We don’t have one here yet and can’t seem to find one to buy.


Ok I got to go

I love you all

Elder Brandon J. Holt