Sawadii! Suksan wan bee my!! (Happy New Year)
How late were you all up celebrating? If you were up until 12:30 I was thinking of you because I glanced at my iPod that tells me the time in Salt Lake City and Santiago. I think I we had just got home from church. We didn't actually do much to celebrate seeing as it was mandatory that we got home by 6:00 that night to study. They didn't want us getting caught up in any crazy celebrations I guess haha.
Well, Bukie is baptized and now a member of the church! She is so great, I love her so much! Everything went smoothly and we even got to meet her dad. We'll be following up on that in the coming days. One of the best things about Bukie's baptism was that Wan was one of the speakers. Bukie wanted Wan to participate and since it's okay for the speakers not to be members we were all for it. So Wan (the one who is some sort of monk every summer) spoke on baptism and bore her testimony. It was awesome! She was pretty nervous but we helped her prepare and then she did the rest. She talked about how she has a testimony of keeping commandments and how it has made her happier. She said she has seen Bukie change for the better and is really glad she chose to get baptized. I loved hearing Wan's testimony and knowing that she is close to making the same step.
Right now Wan is scared to ask her dad for permission to get baptized. Her parents are separated and when she asked her mom she said no and she feels like her dad will react the same way. Her family is a lot more Buddhist than Bukie's by far and so the change is harder for her. She wants it though, we can tell. We're trying to help her gain a testimony to the point that she will do anything to make it happen. She's so close!
On Saturday we had some very good luck (meaning Heavenly Father organized everything) and had gone on switch-offs (that's the English way we say that by the way, Jordan) so Sister Roper had gone to teach someone with a member and Sister Maxwell and I were preparing for the baptism at the church. We had just walked to a little market to get a bottle of water and were on our way back when we noticed a couple in the church parking lot kind of looking around. So of course we went over to talk to them and come to find out they want to know when we namasakan or have worship service. We told them every Sunday morning and they said they would come the next day. We talked to them a little more and found out that they call themselves Catholic and have two daughters. It's funny how things work out like that because if we hadn't been at the church at the time (which was the original plan), no one would've been there. They ended up coming on Sunday and they brought their two daughters. Pretty awesome considering this will be my first full family interested in learning. We're pretty excited about them because it's the dad, the head of the household, that wants to learn and change. When we talked to him more on Sunday we found out he is the only one who is really Catholic and that he was only really practicing as a child so he is very open to learning and just wants to bring his family closer to Christ. It's funny how much of a difference it makes when the husband is the interested one. I've already had a lot of experiences with an interested wife who we end up having to drop because we can never teach her with her husband and he's not okay with it or interested. It makes such a huge difference. We're really excited about this family though, because they came to us. Those always turn out better than people off the invite.
Funny story; Yesterday, Sister Roper was calling a referral and apparently we had the wrong number. Anyway we were trying to call this 20 year old guy and a woman answered and didn't know the person we were trying to call and Sister Roper was about to hang up and then just asked the lady if she'd ever wanted to learn about Jesus Christ or learn English and that we were missionaries. Apparently the lady was friendly and so Sister Roper told her she was pretty sure she had called the wrong number because this lady needed to hear the message we had because there was a concern or problem she needed help with. Sister Maxwell and I were trying really hard not to laugh and if you know Sister Roper she was just going for it, kind of laughing too. But the lady agreed to let us give the number to the missionaries in her area. So maybe something will come of it, who knows? I guess you never know if those random people you pass by, or smile at, or randomly call accidently are prepared for the Gospel. Good thing Heavenly Father is in charge because we would miss a lot if it were up to us.
This morning I read some General Conference talks from the Ensign you sent me (thanks by the way! It's like Christmas every time I read it because I didn't understand it the first time) and I read the one on the Book of Mormon and the Bible by Elder Callister maybe and then Love Her Mother by Elaine Dalton. Both were sooooooooooo good! I love when he talks about the single point on a piece of paper that represents the Bible and how you can draw an infinite number of straight lines through that point. He compares it to the different churches and interpretations of the Bible in the world. But if you put a second dot on that paper representing the Book of Mormon you can only draw one straight line through both of those points. Only one!!! There is only one way to follow God there is only one true church on this earth! So cool!!!!!!!!!!!! How lucky are we to know that. When I was reading Love Her Mother I thought of Dad and my future husband (weird, I know, but I do have an excuse... I'm a missionary, we're allowed to be weird right! haha) anyway that talk is so awesome and I hope every man reads it because it's true. Good thing the talk described my dad already :)
Anyway, I have to go but I love you all and hope you are ready for 2012!!! Craziness!
Sister King
Monday, January 2, 2012
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Letter Home 12/26/11
Sawadii Wan Chrisamas!
It was lovely to talk to everyone this morning! I'm pretty sure you're all in bed now that it's probably 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning over there.
You were asking what we did for Christmas and I don't think I explained that well.
Ok, on the 24th we woke up and rode our bikes to the hospital first thing (sounds exciting or maybe scary, I know). Here's the thing. In Thailand, the hospital and the doctor's office are the same thing. Sister Roper, Elder Todd, and I all had to get a second physical to get work permits. I think I forgot to tell you I had a physical in like October. Anyway, when I got the first physical they didn't make us get our blood taken so that's why we had to go again on Saturday. Our work permits couldn't be completed until we sent in the results of our blood test. I don't have syphilis, in case you were wondering. The work permit thing is a new deal. I guess the government wanted to keep a closer eye on voluteer missionaries. Anyway, you know how much I love needles so that was fun.
After that we went about our usual day of study and teaching but we stopped proselyting around 5:30 to go get ready for the big gitchagom (activity) at the bode (church). Just like the Ward Christmas party at home (ok, not just like it) they have them here. The entire week the members had been rehearsing, and planning, and sewing, and decorating. They go all out over here. So the church parking lot looked awesome. They built a stage and a cattle stall made out of palm leaves. It was pretty cool. So that night they had the members reenact the Nativity story with narrators and everything. They had the missionaries sing and they had some fun talents after dinner. The young men/young women did a skit on the prodigal son and the Relief Society did a traditional dance. And they had this yummy homemade ice cream. Way fun! It was pretty cold though. It definitely dropped to like 60 degrees... It was great to see a lot of part-member families there and some new faces as well. We got some referrals and new potential investigators so that was exciting.
On Sunday we woke up to presents from Santa (Mom) in our stockings and yummy pancakes made by Sister Roper. We rode our bikes to church and had a lovely Sacrament Meeting. After that we got to see Sister Noy get baptized by recent convert Brother Sing. It was awesome, though they did have to try three times before she went completely under. Afterwards she shared the testimony she had written out all by herself. So sweet! We ate lunch and then watched the Christmas devotional in Thai. I will be watching it again later tonight in English. Once that was finished we went out to work as usual. At 6:30 we went to a members street restaurant for Christmas dinner with a bunch of members and investigators. I love them all so much!!!! They are so great! Sister Dograck, the member who owns the restaurant, made mashed potatoes and spaghetti along with the usual Thai food. So good! After that we got to go home and relax after planning. I'd say it was a pretty good Christmas!
This past week we had the chance to go to Khong Ken for Zone Training with President and Sister Smith. They wanted to visit every Zone for Christmas. We focused on receiving and discerning revelation through the Holy Ghost and the role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion. Good stuff! Always something I can use help with. It was fun to get together with the rest of the Zone too. There are quite a few missionaries in the Udon Zone. Our District has only 7 people in it but it's one of the strongest in the Zone. Elder Todd as in Bryan Todd who went to elementary with Jordan, Ruth Todd's son, is in my district. That's what I was trying to say. Anyway it was a great meeting and I LOVED how President Smith talked about Christmas. He took some time to share a thought about Christmas and read through a lot of 1 Nephi 11. I'd never thought about it as a Christmas chapter but it was awesome. President called it his Ultimate Christmas Story. Check it out.
I love this Gospel so much! The Spirit is like the most awesome thing ever and just watching people get things is probably my favorite thing in the world! So now Bukie is getting baptized a week earlier than scheduled and she has received, recognized, and accepted answers to her prayers and therefore our prayers have been answered too (following Elder King's lead on this line). It's all so true! Nothing else makes you happy like this. There is nothing about it to hurt you if you fully accept the Gospel and Jesus Christ. How great is that? Well, you heard a lot more than usual from me this week so I'll leave you to the snow and regular life. I'll be here in Thailand, just being happy!
Love you all!
Sister King
It was lovely to talk to everyone this morning! I'm pretty sure you're all in bed now that it's probably 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning over there.
You were asking what we did for Christmas and I don't think I explained that well.
Ok, on the 24th we woke up and rode our bikes to the hospital first thing (sounds exciting or maybe scary, I know). Here's the thing. In Thailand, the hospital and the doctor's office are the same thing. Sister Roper, Elder Todd, and I all had to get a second physical to get work permits. I think I forgot to tell you I had a physical in like October. Anyway, when I got the first physical they didn't make us get our blood taken so that's why we had to go again on Saturday. Our work permits couldn't be completed until we sent in the results of our blood test. I don't have syphilis, in case you were wondering. The work permit thing is a new deal. I guess the government wanted to keep a closer eye on voluteer missionaries. Anyway, you know how much I love needles so that was fun.
After that we went about our usual day of study and teaching but we stopped proselyting around 5:30 to go get ready for the big gitchagom (activity) at the bode (church). Just like the Ward Christmas party at home (ok, not just like it) they have them here. The entire week the members had been rehearsing, and planning, and sewing, and decorating. They go all out over here. So the church parking lot looked awesome. They built a stage and a cattle stall made out of palm leaves. It was pretty cool. So that night they had the members reenact the Nativity story with narrators and everything. They had the missionaries sing and they had some fun talents after dinner. The young men/young women did a skit on the prodigal son and the Relief Society did a traditional dance. And they had this yummy homemade ice cream. Way fun! It was pretty cold though. It definitely dropped to like 60 degrees... It was great to see a lot of part-member families there and some new faces as well. We got some referrals and new potential investigators so that was exciting.
On Sunday we woke up to presents from Santa (Mom) in our stockings and yummy pancakes made by Sister Roper. We rode our bikes to church and had a lovely Sacrament Meeting. After that we got to see Sister Noy get baptized by recent convert Brother Sing. It was awesome, though they did have to try three times before she went completely under. Afterwards she shared the testimony she had written out all by herself. So sweet! We ate lunch and then watched the Christmas devotional in Thai. I will be watching it again later tonight in English. Once that was finished we went out to work as usual. At 6:30 we went to a members street restaurant for Christmas dinner with a bunch of members and investigators. I love them all so much!!!! They are so great! Sister Dograck, the member who owns the restaurant, made mashed potatoes and spaghetti along with the usual Thai food. So good! After that we got to go home and relax after planning. I'd say it was a pretty good Christmas!
This past week we had the chance to go to Khong Ken for Zone Training with President and Sister Smith. They wanted to visit every Zone for Christmas. We focused on receiving and discerning revelation through the Holy Ghost and the role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion. Good stuff! Always something I can use help with. It was fun to get together with the rest of the Zone too. There are quite a few missionaries in the Udon Zone. Our District has only 7 people in it but it's one of the strongest in the Zone. Elder Todd as in Bryan Todd who went to elementary with Jordan, Ruth Todd's son, is in my district. That's what I was trying to say. Anyway it was a great meeting and I LOVED how President Smith talked about Christmas. He took some time to share a thought about Christmas and read through a lot of 1 Nephi 11. I'd never thought about it as a Christmas chapter but it was awesome. President called it his Ultimate Christmas Story. Check it out.
I love this Gospel so much! The Spirit is like the most awesome thing ever and just watching people get things is probably my favorite thing in the world! So now Bukie is getting baptized a week earlier than scheduled and she has received, recognized, and accepted answers to her prayers and therefore our prayers have been answered too (following Elder King's lead on this line). It's all so true! Nothing else makes you happy like this. There is nothing about it to hurt you if you fully accept the Gospel and Jesus Christ. How great is that? Well, you heard a lot more than usual from me this week so I'll leave you to the snow and regular life. I'll be here in Thailand, just being happy!
Love you all!
Sister King
Monday, December 19, 2011
Letter Home 12/18/11
Sawadii kha!
Is everyone ready for Christmas over there? Do we even have a Christmas tree yet...
Roi Et is pretty great. It doesn't really feel like Christmas but the members are still ridiculously excited about the activity they're planning so it should be fun. So I thought we would ride our bikes more out here but we actually don't. We still use them but 2 of the members are samlaw drivers. This is a different vehicle Dad, I think we should get one :) It's like a songtow (the truck with seats in the back) but it's all on the back of a motorcycle instead. They're pretty fun.
Yesterday we were outside at the church just talking with some members and this giant centipede came crawling up out of one of the drains in the parking lot. So gross!!! I got some pictures I'll send to you and it was definitely nasty but I was brave and tried to get some good pictures.
On the 17th it was Sister Maxwell's birthday so we celebrated by making a pineapple-upside-down cake at the church. It was way yummy and one of the cute members who helps us all the time came in and so we wanted to share it. It was pretty funny. She took a bite and said that it was really sweet. We started laughing way hard. You could tell she didn't really like it so we told her she didn't have to eat it but she just said "no, it's way good!" She was like shoveling it in her mouth and wouldn't let us take it away. She totally hated it haha. Our deserts are way sweet to khon thais. Another interesting thing they don't like is cinnamon. You can't find anything cinnamon here so when we get it we love giving it to them because it is way to spicy for them. It's way funny.
So we have some pretty great investigators at the moment. We're working with 5 people who have dates and a bunch of others who are really close. One of these daters is Ma By. She is about 72 and probably the cutest little old lady ever! Our only challenge with her is that she is deaf and she can't read. No worries though. For some reason she understands. It's kind of incredible because there is a member in the ward that grew up with someone that was deaf so she can communicate pretty well with Ma and is able to tell us what she is saying. Apparently she has had dreams and answers to prayers about the different things we teach and she is just such a sport. She comes to church every week even though she can't hear anything. Pretty amazing!
Anyway, I'll have to share more next week, I took too much time figuring out skype and emailing you about it. But I will be seeing you next week and I am so excited!
Merry Christmas! The Gospel is true! Love you!
Sister King
Is everyone ready for Christmas over there? Do we even have a Christmas tree yet...
Roi Et is pretty great. It doesn't really feel like Christmas but the members are still ridiculously excited about the activity they're planning so it should be fun. So I thought we would ride our bikes more out here but we actually don't. We still use them but 2 of the members are samlaw drivers. This is a different vehicle Dad, I think we should get one :) It's like a songtow (the truck with seats in the back) but it's all on the back of a motorcycle instead. They're pretty fun.
Yesterday we were outside at the church just talking with some members and this giant centipede came crawling up out of one of the drains in the parking lot. So gross!!! I got some pictures I'll send to you and it was definitely nasty but I was brave and tried to get some good pictures.
On the 17th it was Sister Maxwell's birthday so we celebrated by making a pineapple-upside-down cake at the church. It was way yummy and one of the cute members who helps us all the time came in and so we wanted to share it. It was pretty funny. She took a bite and said that it was really sweet. We started laughing way hard. You could tell she didn't really like it so we told her she didn't have to eat it but she just said "no, it's way good!" She was like shoveling it in her mouth and wouldn't let us take it away. She totally hated it haha. Our deserts are way sweet to khon thais. Another interesting thing they don't like is cinnamon. You can't find anything cinnamon here so when we get it we love giving it to them because it is way to spicy for them. It's way funny.
So we have some pretty great investigators at the moment. We're working with 5 people who have dates and a bunch of others who are really close. One of these daters is Ma By. She is about 72 and probably the cutest little old lady ever! Our only challenge with her is that she is deaf and she can't read. No worries though. For some reason she understands. It's kind of incredible because there is a member in the ward that grew up with someone that was deaf so she can communicate pretty well with Ma and is able to tell us what she is saying. Apparently she has had dreams and answers to prayers about the different things we teach and she is just such a sport. She comes to church every week even though she can't hear anything. Pretty amazing!
Anyway, I'll have to share more next week, I took too much time figuring out skype and emailing you about it. But I will be seeing you next week and I am so excited!
Merry Christmas! The Gospel is true! Love you!
Sister King
Monday, December 12, 2011
Letter Home 12/11/11
Sawadii Kha!
Hello from the Isaan!!! No, I am not yet a trainer, thank heavens and luckily I probably have at least 2 more transfers before that's even a possibility. Yep, I have moved yet again. Though this time I'm not a refugee. I am in a threesome again though so good thing you prepared a Christmas package for 3!
Okay, so here are the details; I am now serving in Roi Et, the small city with the largest freestanding Buddha in the world. Kind of ironic to be sharing the message of Christ in it's shadow haha. I love it so far though! I have now been to all 3 parts of the country; Bangkok, the North, and the Isaan. My companions are Sister Maxwell, who was companions with Sister Yinn and Sister Tano in the MTC and then Sister Roper who was in my group. You talked to her mom while we were in the MTC I believe. We also have Elder Todd and Elder Heap in our district, two of our phii thais from the MTC, so there are a lot of familiar faces. One of the weirdest things about this moves is that President ended up whitewashing two sister areas and one of them happened to be mine. Whitewashing is when both missionaries in the area are moved and the new missionaries have to take over with only the help of what the old missionaries left for them. Kind of intense and President usually tries to avoid it but he had to do it this transfer to make everything work. I'm glad that Sister Knight went to Saphan Sung to take care of it though. I was sad we had to leave it like that. Luckily our area book was up to date and we had time to make extra notes to help them know the investigators better. Sister Yinn also got moved to the Isaan, she is now in Ubon with Sister Carper. Two sisters from our group are now in a companionship with a Khone Thai (native). Sister Monterrosa is in Bangkapi (Bangkok) with Sister Alisa and Sister Murray is in Udon (Isaan) with Sister Rochana.
So I never thought I'd say this but the last 3 days it has been freezing here! I know, crazy! We all had to pull out our little sweaters and jackets from the bottom of our suitcases. During the day it's a comfortable 60 degrees but at night it drops to about 50. All the Thai people are walking around in their parkas and always ask us if we're cold. They say it gets a little chilly here occasionally but that it has been unusually cold this week. It seriously feels like fall or something. I love it! Thanks for the fall leaves by the way. They smelled like Utah in the fall :)
By the way, I got my Halloween package, my Christmas package and all the cards you sent. Did you say there was a seperate birthday package or did I misunderstand. If there was I haven't gotten it yet but yeah, if not then no worries!
What about Roi Et? you ask... I am so excited for this transfer! I love this place and I absolutely love the investigators here already. It's actually kind of strange how much I already love them.
There are these two, Beautiful, 17 year-old girls named Buki and Wan and I honestly adore them. They are both super mature but so fun and so amazing. Buki has a date and Wan is soooooo close. They love meeting with us and love the message. Buki is super fun-loving and likes to goof around a bit but she loves the gospel and is really gaining a testimony for herself. Then there's Wan. Wan is incredible. So smart, so beautiful, and so good at understanding the gospel. She has a testimony and has received answers but we know she is scared to recognize it. Every summer she is a monk and right from the beginning she told the sisters, she's Buddhist, she isn't going to change religion but we know she feels the Spirit every time we teach her and we know she wants to be baptized, she's even admitted it. But she is scared to admit that the feelings she has are an answer to her prayers. She's close though. We had a great lesson with them last night about the Law of Chastity and then about Baptism and we almost got her to commit. She almost gave in to the Spirit and she even told us she was scared to get an answer (see, she already knows the answer :)) but I was kind of overwhelmed by the love I felt for them in that lesson, I definitely got a little teary.
We also have an investigator named Noy and she has a date as well. Her mom is actually a recently baptized member and Noy lives with her. Noy is about 40 years old and is handicapped in some way. She doesn't really talk very much and sometimes needs help understanding but she is so sweet. Apparently she used to leave the room whenever the sisters would visit her mom and she was super shy and kind of scared of everyone but they got her out and the more they taught the happier she got. She is still really shy and kind of hesitant but she has a lot easier time answering questions and she can finally read the Book of Mormon out loud and pray without any help. I love visiting her. She's just got that purity that people like that have, that innocence. The Spirit can be so strong because of her and you can see it has made her happier.
I can definitely see a change in myself, especially when it comes to charity and humility. I know that the mission has helped me develop into a more Christlike person. I love this message that we are sharing and I know it's true. Nothing else could change people like it does.
Love you,
Sister King
Hello from the Isaan!!! No, I am not yet a trainer, thank heavens and luckily I probably have at least 2 more transfers before that's even a possibility. Yep, I have moved yet again. Though this time I'm not a refugee. I am in a threesome again though so good thing you prepared a Christmas package for 3!
Okay, so here are the details; I am now serving in Roi Et, the small city with the largest freestanding Buddha in the world. Kind of ironic to be sharing the message of Christ in it's shadow haha. I love it so far though! I have now been to all 3 parts of the country; Bangkok, the North, and the Isaan. My companions are Sister Maxwell, who was companions with Sister Yinn and Sister Tano in the MTC and then Sister Roper who was in my group. You talked to her mom while we were in the MTC I believe. We also have Elder Todd and Elder Heap in our district, two of our phii thais from the MTC, so there are a lot of familiar faces. One of the weirdest things about this moves is that President ended up whitewashing two sister areas and one of them happened to be mine. Whitewashing is when both missionaries in the area are moved and the new missionaries have to take over with only the help of what the old missionaries left for them. Kind of intense and President usually tries to avoid it but he had to do it this transfer to make everything work. I'm glad that Sister Knight went to Saphan Sung to take care of it though. I was sad we had to leave it like that. Luckily our area book was up to date and we had time to make extra notes to help them know the investigators better. Sister Yinn also got moved to the Isaan, she is now in Ubon with Sister Carper. Two sisters from our group are now in a companionship with a Khone Thai (native). Sister Monterrosa is in Bangkapi (Bangkok) with Sister Alisa and Sister Murray is in Udon (Isaan) with Sister Rochana.
So I never thought I'd say this but the last 3 days it has been freezing here! I know, crazy! We all had to pull out our little sweaters and jackets from the bottom of our suitcases. During the day it's a comfortable 60 degrees but at night it drops to about 50. All the Thai people are walking around in their parkas and always ask us if we're cold. They say it gets a little chilly here occasionally but that it has been unusually cold this week. It seriously feels like fall or something. I love it! Thanks for the fall leaves by the way. They smelled like Utah in the fall :)
By the way, I got my Halloween package, my Christmas package and all the cards you sent. Did you say there was a seperate birthday package or did I misunderstand. If there was I haven't gotten it yet but yeah, if not then no worries!
What about Roi Et? you ask... I am so excited for this transfer! I love this place and I absolutely love the investigators here already. It's actually kind of strange how much I already love them.
There are these two, Beautiful, 17 year-old girls named Buki and Wan and I honestly adore them. They are both super mature but so fun and so amazing. Buki has a date and Wan is soooooo close. They love meeting with us and love the message. Buki is super fun-loving and likes to goof around a bit but she loves the gospel and is really gaining a testimony for herself. Then there's Wan. Wan is incredible. So smart, so beautiful, and so good at understanding the gospel. She has a testimony and has received answers but we know she is scared to recognize it. Every summer she is a monk and right from the beginning she told the sisters, she's Buddhist, she isn't going to change religion but we know she feels the Spirit every time we teach her and we know she wants to be baptized, she's even admitted it. But she is scared to admit that the feelings she has are an answer to her prayers. She's close though. We had a great lesson with them last night about the Law of Chastity and then about Baptism and we almost got her to commit. She almost gave in to the Spirit and she even told us she was scared to get an answer (see, she already knows the answer :)) but I was kind of overwhelmed by the love I felt for them in that lesson, I definitely got a little teary.
We also have an investigator named Noy and she has a date as well. Her mom is actually a recently baptized member and Noy lives with her. Noy is about 40 years old and is handicapped in some way. She doesn't really talk very much and sometimes needs help understanding but she is so sweet. Apparently she used to leave the room whenever the sisters would visit her mom and she was super shy and kind of scared of everyone but they got her out and the more they taught the happier she got. She is still really shy and kind of hesitant but she has a lot easier time answering questions and she can finally read the Book of Mormon out loud and pray without any help. I love visiting her. She's just got that purity that people like that have, that innocence. The Spirit can be so strong because of her and you can see it has made her happier.
I can definitely see a change in myself, especially when it comes to charity and humility. I know that the mission has helped me develop into a more Christlike person. I love this message that we are sharing and I know it's true. Nothing else could change people like it does.
Love you,
Sister King
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Letter Home 12/5/11
Sawadii kha!
I don't get Sister Poulter and Sister Davis' emails directly so thanks! I love reading them!
This week has been kind of weird. Being back is nice but it's been kind of hard because a lot of the other investigators we had a month ago, ones who maybe were close to progressing or just starting to progress, seem to have lost interest in learning. The Elders took care of all 3 areas while we were gone and did a good job, but the focus was obviously on the people who were really progressing. So we're really grateful for their hard work, getting Meow and Gib baptized and keeping track of everyone but it's rough having an almost blank slate to work with otherwise. We have a lot of time to fill so that means jagging (handing out) english flyers and inviting, my favorite activity as everyone knows. So far we've had a little bit of success but 3 of the really great people we found are from other areas in Bangkok, thus, we get to hand them over to the Elders in Asoke. Kind of a bummer but the goal is to help all of Thailand grow, right!? We have two new Sisters coming in on Thursday and it will be interesting to see what happens with that. There is a chance that Sister Yinn or I could move, nothing is nanon (for sure). It's been great to see Sister Meow again, I haven't seen Sister Gib yet, but Sister Meow is doing great. She's going to be a huge strength to the ward here. She really wants to go to the temple. It's going to be rough to wait for a while.
Before I forget and in case we aren't together much longer, about my companion, Sister Yinn. Sister Yinn is from Stockton, California. She's been in the field for 7 months. She is a convert of 3 years and the only member in her family. Her family are Cambodian refugees and her parents can't read or write and only speak Cambodian and Thai. She grew up Buddhist. I believe 3 of her older siblings died in the genocide in Cambodia. She is half Thai because both of her parents are half Thai and then she is part Cambodian, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Many of the people we speak to think she is Khon Thai (native). Sister Yinn grew up speaking Cambodian and English and went to a Cambodian ward in California. It's cool to see the perspective of a convert and a Buddhist convert at that. I think it helps me understand the members here and Thai people in general. She's great and has a way strong testimony. She has a real desire to help people and to understand the Gospel better. She's super smart and always willing to help me with language and things like cockroaches :) It will sad if we change companions on Thursday. Hopefully we'll get to spend Christmas together but she'll be training in one of the next two transfers so either way we won't be together too much longer. I'm trying to soak it all in while I can.
So, today in personal study, I was reading in 1 Nephi 13 and 14. Every time I read these chapters it's like physical evidence to me that this Gospel is true, that the Book of Mormon is true. Maybe it's my love of history, but the fact that Nephi, in 600 B.C. is writing about everything that happened after Christ and we know that it happened according to what he says... How can anyone deny this Book?! Even if you look at it logically, scientifically, intellectually, which I do sometimes, scholars admit that this is an ancient record. How then, did a man in 600 B.C. predict the Great Apostasy, the finding and founding of America, and so forth. Blows my mind. And this is just looking at it logically.
I think the thing I've learned most thus far; the simplicity of the Gospel. I got it before but it's like I say, "Duh!" to myself everyday. Teaching people who are generally not Christian, or their basis of Christianity is usually not very deep, has made it necessary for me to only teach the basics and thus I learn them over and over again. It's interesting to understand more of church because over here, though they dig deeper in Sunday School and Relief Society, I still feel like they focus more on the simple, basic necessities. I think, maybe because that's what they learned that's all they had in the beginning. At home we know so much, we get bored with the primary answers; prayer, scriptures, church. But honestly, we need to make sure those are the foundation of every lesson, the focus of what we teach each other. Reminding people to follow those commandments because that is how we receive salvation. Not by understanding everything. Why do you think the subjects of General Conference are always the boring basics? If you haven't noticed, we've heard the majority of Conference a million times. If we truly believe they receive revelation from God we should realize what they teach and focus on those same things in our teaching, studying, and applying.
Sorry it's a little short this week.
Love you all!
Sister King
I don't get Sister Poulter and Sister Davis' emails directly so thanks! I love reading them!
This week has been kind of weird. Being back is nice but it's been kind of hard because a lot of the other investigators we had a month ago, ones who maybe were close to progressing or just starting to progress, seem to have lost interest in learning. The Elders took care of all 3 areas while we were gone and did a good job, but the focus was obviously on the people who were really progressing. So we're really grateful for their hard work, getting Meow and Gib baptized and keeping track of everyone but it's rough having an almost blank slate to work with otherwise. We have a lot of time to fill so that means jagging (handing out) english flyers and inviting, my favorite activity as everyone knows. So far we've had a little bit of success but 3 of the really great people we found are from other areas in Bangkok, thus, we get to hand them over to the Elders in Asoke. Kind of a bummer but the goal is to help all of Thailand grow, right!? We have two new Sisters coming in on Thursday and it will be interesting to see what happens with that. There is a chance that Sister Yinn or I could move, nothing is nanon (for sure). It's been great to see Sister Meow again, I haven't seen Sister Gib yet, but Sister Meow is doing great. She's going to be a huge strength to the ward here. She really wants to go to the temple. It's going to be rough to wait for a while.
Before I forget and in case we aren't together much longer, about my companion, Sister Yinn. Sister Yinn is from Stockton, California. She's been in the field for 7 months. She is a convert of 3 years and the only member in her family. Her family are Cambodian refugees and her parents can't read or write and only speak Cambodian and Thai. She grew up Buddhist. I believe 3 of her older siblings died in the genocide in Cambodia. She is half Thai because both of her parents are half Thai and then she is part Cambodian, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Many of the people we speak to think she is Khon Thai (native). Sister Yinn grew up speaking Cambodian and English and went to a Cambodian ward in California. It's cool to see the perspective of a convert and a Buddhist convert at that. I think it helps me understand the members here and Thai people in general. She's great and has a way strong testimony. She has a real desire to help people and to understand the Gospel better. She's super smart and always willing to help me with language and things like cockroaches :) It will sad if we change companions on Thursday. Hopefully we'll get to spend Christmas together but she'll be training in one of the next two transfers so either way we won't be together too much longer. I'm trying to soak it all in while I can.
So, today in personal study, I was reading in 1 Nephi 13 and 14. Every time I read these chapters it's like physical evidence to me that this Gospel is true, that the Book of Mormon is true. Maybe it's my love of history, but the fact that Nephi, in 600 B.C. is writing about everything that happened after Christ and we know that it happened according to what he says... How can anyone deny this Book?! Even if you look at it logically, scientifically, intellectually, which I do sometimes, scholars admit that this is an ancient record. How then, did a man in 600 B.C. predict the Great Apostasy, the finding and founding of America, and so forth. Blows my mind. And this is just looking at it logically.
I think the thing I've learned most thus far; the simplicity of the Gospel. I got it before but it's like I say, "Duh!" to myself everyday. Teaching people who are generally not Christian, or their basis of Christianity is usually not very deep, has made it necessary for me to only teach the basics and thus I learn them over and over again. It's interesting to understand more of church because over here, though they dig deeper in Sunday School and Relief Society, I still feel like they focus more on the simple, basic necessities. I think, maybe because that's what they learned that's all they had in the beginning. At home we know so much, we get bored with the primary answers; prayer, scriptures, church. But honestly, we need to make sure those are the foundation of every lesson, the focus of what we teach each other. Reminding people to follow those commandments because that is how we receive salvation. Not by understanding everything. Why do you think the subjects of General Conference are always the boring basics? If you haven't noticed, we've heard the majority of Conference a million times. If we truly believe they receive revelation from God we should realize what they teach and focus on those same things in our teaching, studying, and applying.
Sorry it's a little short this week.
Love you all!
Sister King
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Letter Home 11/28/11
Sawadii!
I am back in my birth place, Saphaan Suung! We took a bus down yesterday, that is why I am emailing today. It was kind of crazy. The assistants called us on Sunday afternoon and tried to get us out of Chiang Mai that night but luckily they didn't have any buses.
It was definitely bittersweet to leave. We'd grown really close to a lot of the members and investigators and it was a fun place to serve, but splitting one area between two companships was a bit rough, sharing investigators and deciding who would teach who. It will be nice to have our own area. I didn't realize how much I missed Bangkok either. I didn't think I would that much but I did miss the bigness of it and riding in taxis, and my own bike! We haven't really had a chance to see any investigators or members yet but tonight we're teaching English so that should be fun. They had to shut down the English program here because they only had to Thai Elders here while we were gone. They depend on us farangs :)
Corbin will be happy to know I had to deal with a house full of cockroaches when I got back. That is an exaggeration but we definitely had some cleaning to do. From leaving everything a mess the first time we evacuated to the residue from the refugees who slept over for a few nights, some deep cleaning had to be done. In each room we found at least 2 dead cockroaches (I think the heat got to them, it was roasting when we got home). And in Sister Yinn's old room there were a few live ones hanging out. I am a lucky girl and have a companion who isn't scared to sweep them up or to spray them so she was sweet and told me to just stay out of the way. Most of the people reading this will probably think this story is lame but some of you know that this was quite the rough experience for me. You can laugh though. I know it's ridiculous. Heavenly Father is probably slowly preparing me for other houses that aren't generally as cockroach free as ours. In my next area I'll probably have to sweep up a dead cockroach, gag me! We figure that the unoccupied house as well as the flood probably attracted the cockroaches to the fourth floor apartment.
I will be sending pictures in my Christmas package to you. Hopefully it will be on time. I'll probably send it tomorrow.
So this past week was fun. We did have the chance to have a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at the Hideaway, the place where I can get real milk. It was very expensive at about 400 baht or $12 but soooo worth it. It was almost as good as the food at home though I did miss everyone. I got pumpkin cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie though because I knew it wouldn't compare to Grandma's.
The night before we had a fun evening with some of the recent converts and members we were close to in Chiang Mai. We went to eat dinner together and had a chance to teach them a lesson. We asked what they wanted us to teach them and they said Thanksgiving. So we taught them about the holiday, where it came from, and what we usually do at home, some of the traditions we have. Then we all went around and talked about what we were thankful for and about gratitude. It was really cool. It's awesome to see how strong these converts were, especially getting baptized only 2 and 5 months ago. They are both the only members in their family and they are so willing to come and help us teach whenever they can. I'm pretty sure we learn more from them then we could ever teach.
In that same spirit, I am super grateful for all the opportunities and blessings Heavenly Father has given me in my life. I don't know exactly why I have the life I do but I am thankful for every bit of it. My parents who give me every opportunity they can and brought me up in this gospel. My little brothers who are all such great examples to me. The best extended family in the entire world, no contest! Education, extracurriculars, more than I need. And especially for the knowledge of the Gospel in my life. For Jesus Christ's Atonement, His suffering just for me. For the opportunity to serve Him, in Thailand, with the sweetest people on the planet! I don't know what I did to deserve this, Oh wait! We don't deserve any of it. We are all human, we all make mistakes. Even if I served a mission for the rest of my life I couldn't pay Him back for everything He has given me. When you have a hard day, when something awful happens in your life just take a minute and remember everything good. It all comes from Him. Even if you can only think of one thing, I can guarantee it makes up for any bad time you experience.
Sorry this is so short but know that I am grateful for the chance to live this life, even when it's hard, in order to become like God someday. I'm grateful He made it possible for us do do that.
Love you all!
Sister King
I am back in my birth place, Saphaan Suung! We took a bus down yesterday, that is why I am emailing today. It was kind of crazy. The assistants called us on Sunday afternoon and tried to get us out of Chiang Mai that night but luckily they didn't have any buses.
It was definitely bittersweet to leave. We'd grown really close to a lot of the members and investigators and it was a fun place to serve, but splitting one area between two companships was a bit rough, sharing investigators and deciding who would teach who. It will be nice to have our own area. I didn't realize how much I missed Bangkok either. I didn't think I would that much but I did miss the bigness of it and riding in taxis, and my own bike! We haven't really had a chance to see any investigators or members yet but tonight we're teaching English so that should be fun. They had to shut down the English program here because they only had to Thai Elders here while we were gone. They depend on us farangs :)
Corbin will be happy to know I had to deal with a house full of cockroaches when I got back. That is an exaggeration but we definitely had some cleaning to do. From leaving everything a mess the first time we evacuated to the residue from the refugees who slept over for a few nights, some deep cleaning had to be done. In each room we found at least 2 dead cockroaches (I think the heat got to them, it was roasting when we got home). And in Sister Yinn's old room there were a few live ones hanging out. I am a lucky girl and have a companion who isn't scared to sweep them up or to spray them so she was sweet and told me to just stay out of the way. Most of the people reading this will probably think this story is lame but some of you know that this was quite the rough experience for me. You can laugh though. I know it's ridiculous. Heavenly Father is probably slowly preparing me for other houses that aren't generally as cockroach free as ours. In my next area I'll probably have to sweep up a dead cockroach, gag me! We figure that the unoccupied house as well as the flood probably attracted the cockroaches to the fourth floor apartment.
I will be sending pictures in my Christmas package to you. Hopefully it will be on time. I'll probably send it tomorrow.
So this past week was fun. We did have the chance to have a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at the Hideaway, the place where I can get real milk. It was very expensive at about 400 baht or $12 but soooo worth it. It was almost as good as the food at home though I did miss everyone. I got pumpkin cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie though because I knew it wouldn't compare to Grandma's.
The night before we had a fun evening with some of the recent converts and members we were close to in Chiang Mai. We went to eat dinner together and had a chance to teach them a lesson. We asked what they wanted us to teach them and they said Thanksgiving. So we taught them about the holiday, where it came from, and what we usually do at home, some of the traditions we have. Then we all went around and talked about what we were thankful for and about gratitude. It was really cool. It's awesome to see how strong these converts were, especially getting baptized only 2 and 5 months ago. They are both the only members in their family and they are so willing to come and help us teach whenever they can. I'm pretty sure we learn more from them then we could ever teach.
In that same spirit, I am super grateful for all the opportunities and blessings Heavenly Father has given me in my life. I don't know exactly why I have the life I do but I am thankful for every bit of it. My parents who give me every opportunity they can and brought me up in this gospel. My little brothers who are all such great examples to me. The best extended family in the entire world, no contest! Education, extracurriculars, more than I need. And especially for the knowledge of the Gospel in my life. For Jesus Christ's Atonement, His suffering just for me. For the opportunity to serve Him, in Thailand, with the sweetest people on the planet! I don't know what I did to deserve this, Oh wait! We don't deserve any of it. We are all human, we all make mistakes. Even if I served a mission for the rest of my life I couldn't pay Him back for everything He has given me. When you have a hard day, when something awful happens in your life just take a minute and remember everything good. It all comes from Him. Even if you can only think of one thing, I can guarantee it makes up for any bad time you experience.
Sorry this is so short but know that I am grateful for the chance to live this life, even when it's hard, in order to become like God someday. I'm grateful He made it possible for us do do that.
Love you all!
Sister King
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Letter Home 11/21/11
Sawadii!
Yes, I just got back from riding elephants! Pretty awesome I must say. Yes, this week is Thanksgiving. Being in Chiang Mai we will probably just go out to dinner at the place where you can get milk and cheese. They have a full-fledged Thanksgiving dinner so we're pretty excited, though there is no way it will be as good as at home. I will miss Grandma's pie for sure! We are for sure going to be in Chiang Mai until Thursday but the water is gone from our house in Saphaan Sung. If we get back by Saturday evening we might get another Thanksgiving dinner by a foreign member in Bangkok. She apparently has a huge dinner for the missionaries every year so lots of Elders and Sisters will be there. Hopefully we will get to go, especially if we have the ability to work in Saphaan Sung.
This week was great! Starting off with a wonderful Zone Conference. It was way fun and the Spirit was super strong. It was fun to have the family connection to the Gong's as well. We were lucky to have a smaller meeting than most areas. There are only around 15 missionaries in the Zone up here and apparently they combined Bangkok so we would've been in a huge group if we'd been at home.
On Saturday our Nongs finally came. Sister Sorge is going to be Sister Knutson's trainer so now we just have two companionships working in one area. It's really fun. It's crazy to see Sister Knutson again and hear about her life at the MTC. They ended up having about 4 more apostles come after we left haha, of course. It is beyond weird to realize how much I've learned in the last 2 and a half months. Things I've started to take for granted are so new to her. I'm starting to feel like I can really understand conversation. If it has nothing to do with the gospel it's still pretty hard but it's cool to be able to see the progress and realize how much I can do with help from Heavenly Father.
We had a really great Sunday this week. I finally got to see a baptism of someone I've taught! It was way exciting. Sister Meow and Sister Gib did get baptized on their dates, by the way. This week Sister Ann got baptized. I think I mentioned her before. She learned last year for awhile when she was pregnant but she got super sick so they stopped teaching her and then they lost track of her. About six months ago the missionaries went to go find a former and poddii they had moved away but Ann and her husband had moved in. She'd had her baby so they started teaching her again and here we are. She has been ready for baptism for a little while but she was waiting on her husband Jack to see if they could get baptized together. On Sunday he came for the entire 4 hours of church and her baptism. It was so great! He has work around 10:30 but he just didn't go. He's a super sweet dad and dotes on their little boy Nursery. We took pictures with their family and Ann looks incredibly happy in them. That day she was just ridiculously smily and talkative. She is normally really quiet and the difference on Sunday was so obvious. Funny thing is, the 3 of them were up the entire night with food poisoning and were still running back and forth to the bathroom at church. They always have a hard time getting to church on time because of the baby and they were a tiny bit late on Sunday but we had mentioned to Ann that she might see more obstacles right before and right after her baptism and I think someone was working pretty hard to stop her baptism from happening. We know Jack will follow soon. He is planning on having us continue to teach him.
Sister Yinn and I also had a really great hour of inviting in the afternoon after church. We were pretty close to the church and we met this man and a woman who worked with him and asked if we could talk to them for a little bit. We ended up talking with him for about 45 minutes and his wife and son came home about half way through. They were just a really cool family and they were super interested in prayer and asked about coming to church and were really excited to have met us. It was a cool experience. Especially since inviting is not my favorite thing, by any means. But it was a definite testimony that Heavenly Father puts people in your path when you are looking for an opportunity. This man was standing to the side of a little food stand and usually we don't invite people who are working so we almost kept on going up the street. Lot's of people were out that night. But we said Sawaddii and for some reason I did a double take as we walked by and poked Sister Yinn. "Are we going to give him something?" "Sure" and that is the only reason we stopped. I'm excited to see what happens with them. I hope we can help them have the experiences they need to know the truth.
Maybe I'll even want to go inviting next time :)
Love you all!
Sister King
Yes, I just got back from riding elephants! Pretty awesome I must say. Yes, this week is Thanksgiving. Being in Chiang Mai we will probably just go out to dinner at the place where you can get milk and cheese. They have a full-fledged Thanksgiving dinner so we're pretty excited, though there is no way it will be as good as at home. I will miss Grandma's pie for sure! We are for sure going to be in Chiang Mai until Thursday but the water is gone from our house in Saphaan Sung. If we get back by Saturday evening we might get another Thanksgiving dinner by a foreign member in Bangkok. She apparently has a huge dinner for the missionaries every year so lots of Elders and Sisters will be there. Hopefully we will get to go, especially if we have the ability to work in Saphaan Sung.
This week was great! Starting off with a wonderful Zone Conference. It was way fun and the Spirit was super strong. It was fun to have the family connection to the Gong's as well. We were lucky to have a smaller meeting than most areas. There are only around 15 missionaries in the Zone up here and apparently they combined Bangkok so we would've been in a huge group if we'd been at home.
On Saturday our Nongs finally came. Sister Sorge is going to be Sister Knutson's trainer so now we just have two companionships working in one area. It's really fun. It's crazy to see Sister Knutson again and hear about her life at the MTC. They ended up having about 4 more apostles come after we left haha, of course. It is beyond weird to realize how much I've learned in the last 2 and a half months. Things I've started to take for granted are so new to her. I'm starting to feel like I can really understand conversation. If it has nothing to do with the gospel it's still pretty hard but it's cool to be able to see the progress and realize how much I can do with help from Heavenly Father.
We had a really great Sunday this week. I finally got to see a baptism of someone I've taught! It was way exciting. Sister Meow and Sister Gib did get baptized on their dates, by the way. This week Sister Ann got baptized. I think I mentioned her before. She learned last year for awhile when she was pregnant but she got super sick so they stopped teaching her and then they lost track of her. About six months ago the missionaries went to go find a former and poddii they had moved away but Ann and her husband had moved in. She'd had her baby so they started teaching her again and here we are. She has been ready for baptism for a little while but she was waiting on her husband Jack to see if they could get baptized together. On Sunday he came for the entire 4 hours of church and her baptism. It was so great! He has work around 10:30 but he just didn't go. He's a super sweet dad and dotes on their little boy Nursery. We took pictures with their family and Ann looks incredibly happy in them. That day she was just ridiculously smily and talkative. She is normally really quiet and the difference on Sunday was so obvious. Funny thing is, the 3 of them were up the entire night with food poisoning and were still running back and forth to the bathroom at church. They always have a hard time getting to church on time because of the baby and they were a tiny bit late on Sunday but we had mentioned to Ann that she might see more obstacles right before and right after her baptism and I think someone was working pretty hard to stop her baptism from happening. We know Jack will follow soon. He is planning on having us continue to teach him.
Sister Yinn and I also had a really great hour of inviting in the afternoon after church. We were pretty close to the church and we met this man and a woman who worked with him and asked if we could talk to them for a little bit. We ended up talking with him for about 45 minutes and his wife and son came home about half way through. They were just a really cool family and they were super interested in prayer and asked about coming to church and were really excited to have met us. It was a cool experience. Especially since inviting is not my favorite thing, by any means. But it was a definite testimony that Heavenly Father puts people in your path when you are looking for an opportunity. This man was standing to the side of a little food stand and usually we don't invite people who are working so we almost kept on going up the street. Lot's of people were out that night. But we said Sawaddii and for some reason I did a double take as we walked by and poked Sister Yinn. "Are we going to give him something?" "Sure" and that is the only reason we stopped. I'm excited to see what happens with them. I hope we can help them have the experiences they need to know the truth.
Maybe I'll even want to go inviting next time :)
Love you all!
Sister King
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)