21st Birthday 6/24/2009

Hey Everyone,

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dad was right, we both can wish each other a happy birthday at the same time on our birthdays and it will be the other's birthday at the same instant. So I hope you had a great birthday! Everybody here thinks it is so cool that you and I have birthdays a day apart! Our district is going to meet up at the church today, make a birthday cake and play games for a while. Thanks so much for the packages everyone!

Things are going well. I do feel a little bit older. Today our group was supposed to go to Sisagate, another jungwat in the Isan, and have a zone "tiaw", which is like a zone activity. We have this every move. The whole zone gets together and play games, but last night we found out that 2 or 3 districts weren't going, so that means there would be hardly anyone there. We decided to bail too. It would have been nice to go, but I am kind of glad because that means that today I can finally get my picture discs made that I have been trying to make. I now have a ton of pictures since I didn't make them last move. There will probably be two discs full of pictures from the end of my time in Bang-na(songkrang, various activities and sites...) and lots of pictures from Ubon(tiawing by Laos, the cinco de mayo party at church, and SampaanBog "3000 holes"). I will explain about all the pictures in the letter, so dont worry, I won't leave you guys in the dark!

Well, an interesting experience happened last night. Rewind to about a month and a half ago. We met a man named Somkit, who lives in warin, he was a really nice guy. we talked to him about learning the gospel and asked him if he would be interested in that. He said he would think about it. Well, we didn't see him after that, and weren't able to get in touch with him. So, this past week, Elder Wiser, the district leader gave us a referral for a guy he met while inviting in his area. This guy's name was Komegrit, and he lives in Warin. We got a hold of him and went to meet him last night. Well, Komegrit had given us directions to his house, so we followed the directions, and came to a house that looked very familiar. A man came out and said, "hey elders" and Elder Palmer was like "wait...Somkit?!" and he said, "yeah", "its also Komegrit!" Wow! So we sat down and talked to him for a while. He is really interested in being taught so we will be meeting again soon. I think this man was meant to be found...again. What do you think?

Our area is doing really well. We have three investigators with a baptismal date, Narane and his wife Nongyaw, and a man named Chuuy. We haven't been able to meet with him lately because he has gone to Bangkok to find his son. I'm not really sure what's happening with that, but I hope he does find him. We are trying to get back with the security guard that Elder Wiser and I taught last week, because he is really good.

The Dodges (mission president and his wife) leave very soon. We had a great zone conference in Royyet last week, and their final testimonies were awesome! Everyone will miss them alot! I can't wait to meet President and Sister Smith (the new mission president and his wife).

Oh, one more thing. I talked to Anuwat this week, (mom's explanation... while traveling through Idaho on a college road trip earlier this month, Michael, William's younger brother, met Anuwat, or "Nuu" when we stopped for dinner. He found out Nuu was an exchange student from Thailand and that he had just attended "Especially For Youth" which is an awesome church camp for teenagers and that he was interested in learning more about the church and was thinking about getting baptized. He told Michael he was heading back to Thailand soon. Michael told him that he had a brother in Thailand and Nuu gave him his contact info and this is what William found out when he called him...) He is from Nakhon Sawan, which has no missionaries or church anywhere nearby, but he has been living in Rangsid, which is in Bangkok. He is living with his brother. So I called the Rangsid Elders, and they got in touch with him right away. We'll see what happens. He says he is interested in learning. I am excited for him, he seems like a really great guy!

Thanks so much for your support! It means a lot to me. I appreciate all your letters, packages, email and prayers. Take care guys.
-GodSpeed-Elder Schulte