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
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
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
Monday, November 14, 2011
Letter Home 11/13/11
Sawadii!
Ok, so life here in Thailand is NEVER boring!
First off, my birthday was great, having real milk was divine. I won't even tell you how fast it was gone. Since we're back in Chiang Mai we might go get some more. Going to see the tigers was pretty awesome. We went and played with the full size ones and the 2-4 month old ones. It was weird to be that close to them and be able to touch them. They definitely aren't sedated either. One of the little ones was all over the place and got in trouble for trying to play with us by nipping at our skirts and hands.
So, you know how I flew back to Bangkok on the 9th. Well we did. Sister Sorge, Sister Yinn, and I all hopped on a plane for Thailand at 6:30 in the morning. It was a nice short flight, we got in aroud 7:15, found our luggage and got a taxi to our house in Saphaan Suung. There we met the Sisters who had been moved there, Sister Tano, Sister Knight, and Sister Lisch. They had actually been stuck in a members house for a week the day after we left Bangkok. We would've been there too if we hadn't left. Anyway, one of the streets next to our house was flooded but you could still get in from the other street but we knew that probably meant we would have to move that night. We were catching up with the sisters and eating some lunch (we can only eat packaged food in Bangkok right now because of contamination issues so we were just eating crackers, bread, and cereal) and just as we were getting ready to go to District meeting, around 10:30, President Smith calls Sis. Sorge and tells her that apparently the MTC decided not to send the new missionaries again (Pres. found this out on the way to the airport) and therefore the three of us needed to get on a bus back to Chiang Mai immediately, Sis. Sorge still needed a companion.
So yes, I am writing you again from Chiang Mai haha. Basically I went to Bangkok for lunch and came back. We were literally in Sapaan Sung for an hour and a half. After Pres. called we threw all our stuff back together and caught a bus that ended up leaving around 2:00 for Chiang Mai. It was a reasonably nice bus, one of those big tour buses. Anyway, the ride out of Bangkok, ususally a 20-30 minute ride, took 5 hours. I am not exaggerating. It was nuts! We drove through all the most affected areas, Rangsit, Ayuttaya. It was crazy. The main highway is high enough that it can still be used but traffic was unbelievably slow but I'm glad we had the chance to see the flood. It was completely surreal. We drove past the smaller airport used for incountry flights and it was completely submerged in water. There was a plane still on the runway and the water was all the way up past the belly of the plane. It was weird to see all the people hanging out on the side of the highway, and people walking, driving, or boating in the water. At the same time all the buildings seemed completely deserted. Where ever you go in Bangkok, even in the unaffected areas, there are empty cars lining the highways and bridges because people wanted their cars to be safe. I hear that the biggest danger from the flooding is people stepping on power lines and dying or people trying to help people who were shocked. After that is the problem with snakes and crocodiles. I also heard that the dog population dropped, sad but probably a good thing.
Anyway, we got back to Chiang Mai at the lovely hour of 4:00 am and got a good 2 hour rest before getting back to work on Thursday. On Thursday night we did have the chance to go with one of our investigators to play a little for the Loy Gratone Festival. It is the holiday where everyone sends floating lanterns into the air and floats flowers and candles in the water. It was literally like I was in the lantern scene from "Tangled". So sick! Meaning it was gorgeous. There was a full moon and thousands of lanterns lighting the sky. We were definitely lucky to be in Chiang Mai for it.
We had a bit of a rough week in terms of missionary work, part of that was not being here for a day. But one of our families dropped us and they had had a date. It was a bummer. The mom, who was super interested and reading and praying everyday, was also reading the gospel principles book in her spare time and she loved everything it taught about families and all the good things in it. But she got to all the commandments and I think she just got scared. She told us she couldn't keep them. There were too many and she couldn't do it and her mom couldn't either. Her mom has high blood pressure and the doctor told her to drink beer and neither of them can give up coffee. We told her that she is welcome to call us whenever she feels ready. Obviously the key word here is "can't". If she had the faith and desire, of course she could do it. We didn't feel like we should push it right now though. She'll come back when she is ready. She knows that every commandment is for her benefit. There were some other let downs but also some good things. Sister Ann, a longtime investigator, is getting baptized this week. She's been ready for a little while but we were all hoping her husband would progress a bit faster so they could get baptized together but it's time for her to move forward and we know he will follow. Her husband, Brother Jack, is great and will definitely get there but he's not ready to give up his job to be able to keep the Sabbath holy. He dotes on his wife and son though and everything he does is for them so he'll make it happen eventually.
We have some great goals this week so we know it will be better and that we'll find new people who are ready for this message. Tomorrow is Zone Conference and Elder Gong from the Area Presidency is coming (Is this our Elder Gong, I can't figure it out, I guess I'll find out tomorrow) so it should be a pretty great meeting. We have been asked to study the Restoration specifically to prepare for the conference. This morning for personal study I decided to read the Joseph Smith History to brush up on his experience. What an incredible testimony! I've read and heard it a hundred times but it never ceases to amaze me, the testimony he bears. I was definitely getting getting goosebumps as I read, the Holy Ghost's favorite way of telling me something is true. As incredible and unbelievable as Joseph's story is, you feel the sincerity and truth of his words as you read. As Elder Holland has said, no bad man could make up a story like this, could fake the Book of Mormon and no good man would. I love the Restoration and the way it just makes sense. Everyone needs to know that God still speaks to a prophet today, that his authority is back on the earth and that we have the ablility to return to live with God because we can perform the ordinances necessary to do so.
Love you all!
Sister King
Ok, so life here in Thailand is NEVER boring!
First off, my birthday was great, having real milk was divine. I won't even tell you how fast it was gone. Since we're back in Chiang Mai we might go get some more. Going to see the tigers was pretty awesome. We went and played with the full size ones and the 2-4 month old ones. It was weird to be that close to them and be able to touch them. They definitely aren't sedated either. One of the little ones was all over the place and got in trouble for trying to play with us by nipping at our skirts and hands.
So, you know how I flew back to Bangkok on the 9th. Well we did. Sister Sorge, Sister Yinn, and I all hopped on a plane for Thailand at 6:30 in the morning. It was a nice short flight, we got in aroud 7:15, found our luggage and got a taxi to our house in Saphaan Suung. There we met the Sisters who had been moved there, Sister Tano, Sister Knight, and Sister Lisch. They had actually been stuck in a members house for a week the day after we left Bangkok. We would've been there too if we hadn't left. Anyway, one of the streets next to our house was flooded but you could still get in from the other street but we knew that probably meant we would have to move that night. We were catching up with the sisters and eating some lunch (we can only eat packaged food in Bangkok right now because of contamination issues so we were just eating crackers, bread, and cereal) and just as we were getting ready to go to District meeting, around 10:30, President Smith calls Sis. Sorge and tells her that apparently the MTC decided not to send the new missionaries again (Pres. found this out on the way to the airport) and therefore the three of us needed to get on a bus back to Chiang Mai immediately, Sis. Sorge still needed a companion.
So yes, I am writing you again from Chiang Mai haha. Basically I went to Bangkok for lunch and came back. We were literally in Sapaan Sung for an hour and a half. After Pres. called we threw all our stuff back together and caught a bus that ended up leaving around 2:00 for Chiang Mai. It was a reasonably nice bus, one of those big tour buses. Anyway, the ride out of Bangkok, ususally a 20-30 minute ride, took 5 hours. I am not exaggerating. It was nuts! We drove through all the most affected areas, Rangsit, Ayuttaya. It was crazy. The main highway is high enough that it can still be used but traffic was unbelievably slow but I'm glad we had the chance to see the flood. It was completely surreal. We drove past the smaller airport used for incountry flights and it was completely submerged in water. There was a plane still on the runway and the water was all the way up past the belly of the plane. It was weird to see all the people hanging out on the side of the highway, and people walking, driving, or boating in the water. At the same time all the buildings seemed completely deserted. Where ever you go in Bangkok, even in the unaffected areas, there are empty cars lining the highways and bridges because people wanted their cars to be safe. I hear that the biggest danger from the flooding is people stepping on power lines and dying or people trying to help people who were shocked. After that is the problem with snakes and crocodiles. I also heard that the dog population dropped, sad but probably a good thing.
Anyway, we got back to Chiang Mai at the lovely hour of 4:00 am and got a good 2 hour rest before getting back to work on Thursday. On Thursday night we did have the chance to go with one of our investigators to play a little for the Loy Gratone Festival. It is the holiday where everyone sends floating lanterns into the air and floats flowers and candles in the water. It was literally like I was in the lantern scene from "Tangled". So sick! Meaning it was gorgeous. There was a full moon and thousands of lanterns lighting the sky. We were definitely lucky to be in Chiang Mai for it.
We had a bit of a rough week in terms of missionary work, part of that was not being here for a day. But one of our families dropped us and they had had a date. It was a bummer. The mom, who was super interested and reading and praying everyday, was also reading the gospel principles book in her spare time and she loved everything it taught about families and all the good things in it. But she got to all the commandments and I think she just got scared. She told us she couldn't keep them. There were too many and she couldn't do it and her mom couldn't either. Her mom has high blood pressure and the doctor told her to drink beer and neither of them can give up coffee. We told her that she is welcome to call us whenever she feels ready. Obviously the key word here is "can't". If she had the faith and desire, of course she could do it. We didn't feel like we should push it right now though. She'll come back when she is ready. She knows that every commandment is for her benefit. There were some other let downs but also some good things. Sister Ann, a longtime investigator, is getting baptized this week. She's been ready for a little while but we were all hoping her husband would progress a bit faster so they could get baptized together but it's time for her to move forward and we know he will follow. Her husband, Brother Jack, is great and will definitely get there but he's not ready to give up his job to be able to keep the Sabbath holy. He dotes on his wife and son though and everything he does is for them so he'll make it happen eventually.
We have some great goals this week so we know it will be better and that we'll find new people who are ready for this message. Tomorrow is Zone Conference and Elder Gong from the Area Presidency is coming (Is this our Elder Gong, I can't figure it out, I guess I'll find out tomorrow) so it should be a pretty great meeting. We have been asked to study the Restoration specifically to prepare for the conference. This morning for personal study I decided to read the Joseph Smith History to brush up on his experience. What an incredible testimony! I've read and heard it a hundred times but it never ceases to amaze me, the testimony he bears. I was definitely getting getting goosebumps as I read, the Holy Ghost's favorite way of telling me something is true. As incredible and unbelievable as Joseph's story is, you feel the sincerity and truth of his words as you read. As Elder Holland has said, no bad man could make up a story like this, could fake the Book of Mormon and no good man would. I love the Restoration and the way it just makes sense. Everyone needs to know that God still speaks to a prophet today, that his authority is back on the earth and that we have the ablility to return to live with God because we can perform the ordinances necessary to do so.
Love you all!
Sister King
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Letter Home 11/6/11
Sawadii!
So Chiang Mai has a nickname here, "Heaven" and that's pretty much what it is. The only place better is just a little north in Chiang Rai, that's the "Celestial Kingdom" haha. President Smith even uses these names in "moves" meetings. Sadly only 2 Elders serve in the "Celestial Kingdom. On Wednesday Sister Yinn and I fly back to Saphaan Suung. It will be good to see everyone again. I missed both of my first two baptisms but at least they happened! Everyone is moving this week to their new areas but everyone else has to take the bus for about a 15 hour ride. Apparently we're special. They said there wasn't room on any of the buses. Dang ;)
Thank you for all the Birthday wishes and Halloween cards! I had the most mail in Chiang Mai this week :) How did I get lucky enough to happen to be in Chiang Mai for my Birthday on Preparation Day? I have no clue. Today we are going to the dairy to get cheese and yes, milk. My choice of adventure for today, going to the Tiger Kingdom to hold and play with tigers. I'm pretty excited, I liked the tiger stamps Mom put on my card. Last week we went up in the mountains to the Doi Pui village and dressed up in traditional Hmong costumes for Halloween. We even had pumpkin pie ice cream. This is the beauty of Chiang Mai. I've had Israeli, Mexican, Greek, Italian, American, and Meditteranean food here. And it's all amazing! But I do miss our usual little places in Saphaan Sung.
I do hope that I have the opportunity to serve here again. If not I'm super grateful I got a little taste of it. It's been great to see a larger ward with lots and lots of strong investigators. Like I said we've seen a lot of RCLAs and actually seen a lot of improvement and growth. We have about 10 daters right now and they are all really solid. The majority, if not all, should make it to baptism.
Last night I gave a hard baptismal commitment to this really sweet lady named Hom. It was the 3rd time she'd been taught and she knows absolutely nothing about Jesus Christ. But from the moment she came into the lesson I knew we would be extending that commitment and that she would except. You could just see how pure she was in her smile and her eyes. One of the recent members brought her to learn and for both of them Thai isn't their first language but the Spirit is so strong in them and you can tell that they feel it.
We also taught Bro. Gone yesterday. He is planning on getting baptized on the 20th of November but we were worried he was still wearing praht (buddhist jewelry) and that he thought it was okay to still tombuun (donate money) to the Wats. We reviewed the 10 commandments and it seemed to clear things up for him but it also showed us that he had a firmer faith than we thought. He had questions about his work. He is an artist and he has the next 6 years lined up to work in Wats and paint historical murals about buddhism. He wanted to know if he would need to change that. He was worried about how it would look for him to do that and be Christian. We weren't sure but the Branch President let him know that it was okay because it's the statues and objects they worship, not the murals. But it was cool to hear him consider changing his future because of his belief in the church. Sister Sorge was really happy because she didn't think his faith was quite that strong.
Let's see, one of my favorite people here is this brand new member named Zhou Li (pronounce Jolie). She got confirmed last Sunday. She is Chinese and came here by herself to study and learn Thai and English. 2 months ago when the sisters started teaching her, she didn't know any English or Thai. She's still working on her Thai but she can communicate in English pretty well. The Sister who just left Chiang Mai before we came knew enough Chinese that they were able to teach her the gospel. It's kind of mind-blowing. She is 25 and the sweetest most innocent girl. It's crazy that she is here on her own. If there are even a few people like Zhou Li in China, it will be incredible to have that country open.
It is so amazing to see the strength of these people who are living the gospel without the support of anyone outside the church. There are those people everywhere but I think you just see it because it's magnified by the Buddhist culture here. I am dying to have a temple here for all these people. Not only for the members here but so that everyone else who sees it will want to know what's inside and what they have to do to get there. Pray that Thailand will be prepared for a temple because Cambodia is waiting on Thailand as well. Even though they have enough activity there to have one, the government won't let us build one there. It's up to us!
I love the perfect plan that Heavenly Father has laid out for us and put right in our hands. It is so simple, don't make it harder than it is. He has told us exactly what we need to do to have true happiness in this life and to live in complete happiness with our families after we die. All we have to do is follow that plan, do what he asks. He knows we're not perfect so he made up the difference for us. I don't know why we would want to thank him or anything. Being happy is a huge sacrifice. I can't believe that's what he wants from us! (Sorry, my sarcasm is coming out haha) All He does is love us. It's crazy and uncomprehendible but that is all that He does. I'm so grateful for that knowledge and I've got to keep spreading the word. So until next week!
Love,
Sister King
Say "Hello" to Sister Naegle for me!
So Chiang Mai has a nickname here, "Heaven" and that's pretty much what it is. The only place better is just a little north in Chiang Rai, that's the "Celestial Kingdom" haha. President Smith even uses these names in "moves" meetings. Sadly only 2 Elders serve in the "Celestial Kingdom. On Wednesday Sister Yinn and I fly back to Saphaan Suung. It will be good to see everyone again. I missed both of my first two baptisms but at least they happened! Everyone is moving this week to their new areas but everyone else has to take the bus for about a 15 hour ride. Apparently we're special. They said there wasn't room on any of the buses. Dang ;)
Thank you for all the Birthday wishes and Halloween cards! I had the most mail in Chiang Mai this week :) How did I get lucky enough to happen to be in Chiang Mai for my Birthday on Preparation Day? I have no clue. Today we are going to the dairy to get cheese and yes, milk. My choice of adventure for today, going to the Tiger Kingdom to hold and play with tigers. I'm pretty excited, I liked the tiger stamps Mom put on my card. Last week we went up in the mountains to the Doi Pui village and dressed up in traditional Hmong costumes for Halloween. We even had pumpkin pie ice cream. This is the beauty of Chiang Mai. I've had Israeli, Mexican, Greek, Italian, American, and Meditteranean food here. And it's all amazing! But I do miss our usual little places in Saphaan Sung.
I do hope that I have the opportunity to serve here again. If not I'm super grateful I got a little taste of it. It's been great to see a larger ward with lots and lots of strong investigators. Like I said we've seen a lot of RCLAs and actually seen a lot of improvement and growth. We have about 10 daters right now and they are all really solid. The majority, if not all, should make it to baptism.
Last night I gave a hard baptismal commitment to this really sweet lady named Hom. It was the 3rd time she'd been taught and she knows absolutely nothing about Jesus Christ. But from the moment she came into the lesson I knew we would be extending that commitment and that she would except. You could just see how pure she was in her smile and her eyes. One of the recent members brought her to learn and for both of them Thai isn't their first language but the Spirit is so strong in them and you can tell that they feel it.
We also taught Bro. Gone yesterday. He is planning on getting baptized on the 20th of November but we were worried he was still wearing praht (buddhist jewelry) and that he thought it was okay to still tombuun (donate money) to the Wats. We reviewed the 10 commandments and it seemed to clear things up for him but it also showed us that he had a firmer faith than we thought. He had questions about his work. He is an artist and he has the next 6 years lined up to work in Wats and paint historical murals about buddhism. He wanted to know if he would need to change that. He was worried about how it would look for him to do that and be Christian. We weren't sure but the Branch President let him know that it was okay because it's the statues and objects they worship, not the murals. But it was cool to hear him consider changing his future because of his belief in the church. Sister Sorge was really happy because she didn't think his faith was quite that strong.
Let's see, one of my favorite people here is this brand new member named Zhou Li (pronounce Jolie). She got confirmed last Sunday. She is Chinese and came here by herself to study and learn Thai and English. 2 months ago when the sisters started teaching her, she didn't know any English or Thai. She's still working on her Thai but she can communicate in English pretty well. The Sister who just left Chiang Mai before we came knew enough Chinese that they were able to teach her the gospel. It's kind of mind-blowing. She is 25 and the sweetest most innocent girl. It's crazy that she is here on her own. If there are even a few people like Zhou Li in China, it will be incredible to have that country open.
It is so amazing to see the strength of these people who are living the gospel without the support of anyone outside the church. There are those people everywhere but I think you just see it because it's magnified by the Buddhist culture here. I am dying to have a temple here for all these people. Not only for the members here but so that everyone else who sees it will want to know what's inside and what they have to do to get there. Pray that Thailand will be prepared for a temple because Cambodia is waiting on Thailand as well. Even though they have enough activity there to have one, the government won't let us build one there. It's up to us!
I love the perfect plan that Heavenly Father has laid out for us and put right in our hands. It is so simple, don't make it harder than it is. He has told us exactly what we need to do to have true happiness in this life and to live in complete happiness with our families after we die. All we have to do is follow that plan, do what he asks. He knows we're not perfect so he made up the difference for us. I don't know why we would want to thank him or anything. Being happy is a huge sacrifice. I can't believe that's what he wants from us! (Sorry, my sarcasm is coming out haha) All He does is love us. It's crazy and uncomprehendible but that is all that He does. I'm so grateful for that knowledge and I've got to keep spreading the word. So until next week!
Love,
Sister King
Say "Hello" to Sister Naegle for me!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Letter Home 10/30/11
Sawadii jow! (Up here in the north they say jow instead of khaa)
Happy Halloween! (They don't really celebrate but we have plans to make the day festive, don't worry. I plan on eating some pumpkin, you can get it everywhere.)
So I am officially serving in Chiang Mai for the time being. Not sure how long though. Could be a few more days or the rest of the transfer (which just started). We don't really know but it sounds like Saphaan Sung isn't out of trouble just yet so we're thinking at least a week or so longer. I flew on the Royal Thai Airline Dad, I thought you'd like to know :) I was surprised they flew us up in a 747, seemed kind of big for incountry but go-die (sure). Sis. Naegle and Sis. Sorge but when Sis. Naegle and I saw each other we just burst out laughing. We both cry really easily when we laugh so we were looking pretty ridiculous. This whole thing has been ridiculous but quite the adventure. From Tuesday to Thursday we went on switch-offs. Sis. Naegle took me around to teach members and formers that she taught when she was here last year. Sis. Yinn and Sis. Sorge went and taught the regular investigators.
Chiang Mai itself is pretty great. The variety of food choices is awesome! We had way good falafel and baklavah the other day at an Israeli restaurant, there's Mexican, Steakhouses, and you can even buy real cheese at a reasonable price. This also means there is real milk. That is what I asked for for my birthday. Surprised? The ward here is really big. It has boomed in the last year or so with about 53 baptisms, that's a lot in Thailand :) In Saphaan Suung we have about 60 or so members. Here they have around 150. They are planning on splitting into wards within the next 6 months. It's been cool to jump into teaching with new companions and also start with all new investigators. Not always easy but they have a lot of awesome investigators here as well. I do miss everyone in Saphaan Suung. Some of the people we didn't get a chance to tell we were leaving have been calling and checking up on us. The Elders are trying to keep track of the investigators in all 3 areas over there.
I got to meet Sis. Naegle's parents, we've eaten with them a few times, they're way fun. I also met this random couple from back home. The guy served here like five years ago and he knows Danielle's (my roommate) husband because he served with him in a few areas. His wife went to school at Brighton and knows Kortni. She told me she facebooked Kort and gave me a hug from her haha.
From the lessons we've taught this week I've realized how much RCLA (recent convert, less active) fellowshipping is. Because they were trying to use Sis. Naegle we taught an unusually large amount of RCLA lessons. I think it was 7. Our goal in Saphaan Suung was one and we didn't always meet it. My definition for someone less-active has also changed. I don't think I ever realized how many people are less active before the mission. Even at BYU. When we aren't following the commandments we are losing activity. This includes reading the scriptures every day, praying every day, going to church every week, fulfilling our callings. I definitely have missed days of reading my scriptures and forgotten to pray and most of us have those days. As long as we repent (an every day activity as well) and get back on track the things that most affect activity are going to church and fulfilling callings. I realize I had many friends that are great people, with strong testimonies that are very faithful and believe they are strong members of the church. They are, but they'd be fine with missing church every few weeks, no big deal. I've missed for no good reason myself. But when that becomes a habit, I can promise you that you gradually lose the Spirit more and more. You don't notice it until you reflect back. When we don't go to church we miss out on renewing our baptismal covenant, in becoming clean every week. I've grown to understand the importance of covenants and especially baptismal covenants, so much more here. It's a huge deal! When we don't go to church we aren't keeping our promise to build the Kingdom of God. Church is where we fulfill our calling it is where we fellowship others and support each other. I don't know, right now, I have such strong feelings about taking church for granted. Here, Sunday is nothing, I think I've said that before. It is one of the biggest sacrifices people make to join the church here. As a missionary you see how important each members commitment to come to church is. How if there weren't those members that were consistant and faithful in being there every week, this work would fall apart. The church would fall apart. We aren't obeying the commandments if we let other people hold it together. If those who were less active were reactivated and became those consistant, strong members, think about how much faster this work would move, how much stronger every member would be, how much more faith we could have in other people.
Okay, sorry for my rant. Not what I had planned on emailing about and not trying to condemn anyone here. Thank you Mom and Dad for being perfect examples of consistancy in going to church and fulfilling your callings. I didn't realize how much it affects the entire church. It was something expected of me my whole life so I can happily say that is one thing I've pretty consistantly done. I appreciate it more now then ever before.
Love you all!
Sister King
Happy Halloween! (They don't really celebrate but we have plans to make the day festive, don't worry. I plan on eating some pumpkin, you can get it everywhere.)
So I am officially serving in Chiang Mai for the time being. Not sure how long though. Could be a few more days or the rest of the transfer (which just started). We don't really know but it sounds like Saphaan Sung isn't out of trouble just yet so we're thinking at least a week or so longer. I flew on the Royal Thai Airline Dad, I thought you'd like to know :) I was surprised they flew us up in a 747, seemed kind of big for incountry but go-die (sure). Sis. Naegle and Sis. Sorge but when Sis. Naegle and I saw each other we just burst out laughing. We both cry really easily when we laugh so we were looking pretty ridiculous. This whole thing has been ridiculous but quite the adventure. From Tuesday to Thursday we went on switch-offs. Sis. Naegle took me around to teach members and formers that she taught when she was here last year. Sis. Yinn and Sis. Sorge went and taught the regular investigators.
Chiang Mai itself is pretty great. The variety of food choices is awesome! We had way good falafel and baklavah the other day at an Israeli restaurant, there's Mexican, Steakhouses, and you can even buy real cheese at a reasonable price. This also means there is real milk. That is what I asked for for my birthday. Surprised? The ward here is really big. It has boomed in the last year or so with about 53 baptisms, that's a lot in Thailand :) In Saphaan Suung we have about 60 or so members. Here they have around 150. They are planning on splitting into wards within the next 6 months. It's been cool to jump into teaching with new companions and also start with all new investigators. Not always easy but they have a lot of awesome investigators here as well. I do miss everyone in Saphaan Suung. Some of the people we didn't get a chance to tell we were leaving have been calling and checking up on us. The Elders are trying to keep track of the investigators in all 3 areas over there.
I got to meet Sis. Naegle's parents, we've eaten with them a few times, they're way fun. I also met this random couple from back home. The guy served here like five years ago and he knows Danielle's (my roommate) husband because he served with him in a few areas. His wife went to school at Brighton and knows Kortni. She told me she facebooked Kort and gave me a hug from her haha.
From the lessons we've taught this week I've realized how much RCLA (recent convert, less active) fellowshipping is. Because they were trying to use Sis. Naegle we taught an unusually large amount of RCLA lessons. I think it was 7. Our goal in Saphaan Suung was one and we didn't always meet it. My definition for someone less-active has also changed. I don't think I ever realized how many people are less active before the mission. Even at BYU. When we aren't following the commandments we are losing activity. This includes reading the scriptures every day, praying every day, going to church every week, fulfilling our callings. I definitely have missed days of reading my scriptures and forgotten to pray and most of us have those days. As long as we repent (an every day activity as well) and get back on track the things that most affect activity are going to church and fulfilling callings. I realize I had many friends that are great people, with strong testimonies that are very faithful and believe they are strong members of the church. They are, but they'd be fine with missing church every few weeks, no big deal. I've missed for no good reason myself. But when that becomes a habit, I can promise you that you gradually lose the Spirit more and more. You don't notice it until you reflect back. When we don't go to church we miss out on renewing our baptismal covenant, in becoming clean every week. I've grown to understand the importance of covenants and especially baptismal covenants, so much more here. It's a huge deal! When we don't go to church we aren't keeping our promise to build the Kingdom of God. Church is where we fulfill our calling it is where we fellowship others and support each other. I don't know, right now, I have such strong feelings about taking church for granted. Here, Sunday is nothing, I think I've said that before. It is one of the biggest sacrifices people make to join the church here. As a missionary you see how important each members commitment to come to church is. How if there weren't those members that were consistant and faithful in being there every week, this work would fall apart. The church would fall apart. We aren't obeying the commandments if we let other people hold it together. If those who were less active were reactivated and became those consistant, strong members, think about how much faster this work would move, how much stronger every member would be, how much more faith we could have in other people.
Okay, sorry for my rant. Not what I had planned on emailing about and not trying to condemn anyone here. Thank you Mom and Dad for being perfect examples of consistancy in going to church and fulfilling your callings. I didn't realize how much it affects the entire church. It was something expected of me my whole life so I can happily say that is one thing I've pretty consistantly done. I appreciate it more now then ever before.
Love you all!
Sister King
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Letter from 10/24/11
Hello Kha!
Yeah............ About that flooding. Apparently it's a bigger deal than we thought. We still have yet to see it but that doesn't change the fact that I am being flown up to Chiang Mai in the morning! hahaha It has been completely nuts this week!
So, here's how it all went down. On Wednesday night Sister Naegle and I had just barely finished planning. We got a call from the AP's and he told Sister Naegle to get ready to pack her bags (at this point she thought we were all being evacuated) "because you are joping (finishing your mission) on Saturday." It would be an understatement to say she was surprised. Let's just say we were all bummed that night. Sister Naegle was also on the phone with the assistants and President a bunch to figure out what she was going to do with her parents coming to pick her up.
On Thursday she was given permission to email her parents and have them call her about it all. So that day was disrupted a bit. We were able to get some teaching in. We didn't realize it would be our last day teaching our investigators though. During our last lesson we got a call from the assistants again saying to meet in Asoke at 4:00pm on Friday. So that night we were up late rushing to help her get packed.
On Friday the other sisters at our house got a call from the District leader saying they needed to go buy big garbage cans to fill with water in case our water was turned off. We already had like a months worth of food and a few weeks worth of drinking water stored. So while they were doing that I was helping Sister Naegle get ready to leave. She was able to eat lunch with her favorite members and then the four of us were off to Asoke to drop her off. Yes, the plan was for me to be in a three-some with the other sisters. We got to the hotel around 3:00 pm and we had to wait there to take another Sister to dinner with us while her companion ate with the jopers as well so we didn't get home until around 9:30 that night. It was a lot of waiting but I was glad to be able to say goodbye to Sister Naegle. We were both really sad that our time was cut short but her hope was that she'd be able to get back into Bangkok and come see us with her parents even though it wasn't a sure thing. It was a long day and I didn't feel very missionaryish sitting around the whole time but it just gets better.
Back home in our apartment, on Saturday,(side story: we had a huge bag of eggs sitting with our food storage and one must've cracked because it reaked. Sis. Tano went over to check it out and it was crawling with aunts and maggots, ugh! After one day! So gross!) we started off the day normally, studying, doing my training and such. It kind of felt like a switch off. It seemed like Sis. Naegle would come back in a day or so. Anyway, we were able to figure out a bit of a plan for combining our areas and then we went to teach investigators and the Saturday night scripture class. We were all excited to get things back to normal. We have a big group of daters and progressing investigators so we had a ton of work to do.
Sunday morning we were planning on going to Sii Nakerin for Stake Conference with two of my daters, Sis Meow and Sis. Fawng. We were still able to go with them but the Elders called right before and told us to pack our carry-ons, you're flying to Chiang Mai tonight, don't know exactly what time yet. Apparently President felt impressed to have us go up there even though there has been no problems in Saphan Sung yet. So when we got home from Stake Conference we got up to our room and guess what... The power and water were off. Poddii we got to pack in a sauna in the middle of the afternoon haha. It was pretty hot. But we got everything together and hauled it down our four flights of stairs (not fun) and walked it over to the church. So we hunkered down and waited for the word. Turns out we weren't leaving that night so we wish we'd known that so we could teach somebody. We worked on combining our area books a bit more but the problem was we had no lights, AC, or water in our apartment so going back would be rough but the Elders asked us to check if it had been turned on. So we walked back with our luggage, nope, still off (luckily we had not lugged our luggage back up!). So the assistants sent us to sleep at the Sister's in nearby Sii Nakerin (where, poddii, we had been that morning). This is probably about 9:30 at night and we got into Sii Nakerin around 10:15. The Sisters there were so nice though and made food for us and helped us get situated so we got a good night sleep.
This morning we left for the airport at 7:00 because apparently the reason we couldn't fly out on Sunday was because we had to be there in person. Also, only Sis. Yinn and I are going up to Chiang Mai and Sis. Tano will go to Ban Kaa with Sis. Knight and Sis. Lisch. A bunch of the Elders are off to the Isaan but our District leader is staying and taking care of our district and Ban Kaa is in Bangkok and Bang Na still has sisters as well. I don't know. It's crazy! But anyway, at the airport the earliest flight we could get to Chiang Mai was tomorrow so I will be up there for probably at least 2 weeks. I'm kind of excited! haha but I'm also really bummed to leave right now, right before these baptisms are supposed to happen. I was telling Sis. Meow that we were leaving and that we weren't sure when we'd be back and she asked if she was still getting baptized, she was way sad about it. I told her she was nanon (for sure) getting baptized. We would still plan for the 6th but the flood might affect it but I told her that she would get baptized no matter what. It was really sweet. I'll be super sad if I can't be there to see her baptized, mostly because she is my first, but it's the fact that she's getting baptized that matters, right. I just have to remind myself of that :)
So right now I am with Sis. Knight, Lisch, Tano, and Yinn in an internet cafe in Bangkapi (also in Bangkok). We came and cleaned out the Bangkapi house and moved everything to the upper floor and we're all sleeping in Ban Kaa tonight. Things are a little crazy over here as you can probably tell. It's okay though. All the missionaries are safe and President is going all over trying to get everything in order.
I heard our Nong thais from the MTC won't come in for at least a couple weeks as well so we'll be down in numbers for a bit over here.
I've got to finish up here. Sorry, not much missionary work in this email but hopefully I'll have some good experiences up north. I promise my testimony is growing everyday and that I still know this Church is true. Without a doubt. Love you all!
Sister King
Here's something funny, my maa (sis. Naegle) is hanging out up in Chiang Mai with the Sister there so I'll get to see her for another week or so. Way weird!
Yeah............ About that flooding. Apparently it's a bigger deal than we thought. We still have yet to see it but that doesn't change the fact that I am being flown up to Chiang Mai in the morning! hahaha It has been completely nuts this week!
So, here's how it all went down. On Wednesday night Sister Naegle and I had just barely finished planning. We got a call from the AP's and he told Sister Naegle to get ready to pack her bags (at this point she thought we were all being evacuated) "because you are joping (finishing your mission) on Saturday." It would be an understatement to say she was surprised. Let's just say we were all bummed that night. Sister Naegle was also on the phone with the assistants and President a bunch to figure out what she was going to do with her parents coming to pick her up.
On Thursday she was given permission to email her parents and have them call her about it all. So that day was disrupted a bit. We were able to get some teaching in. We didn't realize it would be our last day teaching our investigators though. During our last lesson we got a call from the assistants again saying to meet in Asoke at 4:00pm on Friday. So that night we were up late rushing to help her get packed.
On Friday the other sisters at our house got a call from the District leader saying they needed to go buy big garbage cans to fill with water in case our water was turned off. We already had like a months worth of food and a few weeks worth of drinking water stored. So while they were doing that I was helping Sister Naegle get ready to leave. She was able to eat lunch with her favorite members and then the four of us were off to Asoke to drop her off. Yes, the plan was for me to be in a three-some with the other sisters. We got to the hotel around 3:00 pm and we had to wait there to take another Sister to dinner with us while her companion ate with the jopers as well so we didn't get home until around 9:30 that night. It was a lot of waiting but I was glad to be able to say goodbye to Sister Naegle. We were both really sad that our time was cut short but her hope was that she'd be able to get back into Bangkok and come see us with her parents even though it wasn't a sure thing. It was a long day and I didn't feel very missionaryish sitting around the whole time but it just gets better.
Back home in our apartment, on Saturday,(side story: we had a huge bag of eggs sitting with our food storage and one must've cracked because it reaked. Sis. Tano went over to check it out and it was crawling with aunts and maggots, ugh! After one day! So gross!) we started off the day normally, studying, doing my training and such. It kind of felt like a switch off. It seemed like Sis. Naegle would come back in a day or so. Anyway, we were able to figure out a bit of a plan for combining our areas and then we went to teach investigators and the Saturday night scripture class. We were all excited to get things back to normal. We have a big group of daters and progressing investigators so we had a ton of work to do.
Sunday morning we were planning on going to Sii Nakerin for Stake Conference with two of my daters, Sis Meow and Sis. Fawng. We were still able to go with them but the Elders called right before and told us to pack our carry-ons, you're flying to Chiang Mai tonight, don't know exactly what time yet. Apparently President felt impressed to have us go up there even though there has been no problems in Saphan Sung yet. So when we got home from Stake Conference we got up to our room and guess what... The power and water were off. Poddii we got to pack in a sauna in the middle of the afternoon haha. It was pretty hot. But we got everything together and hauled it down our four flights of stairs (not fun) and walked it over to the church. So we hunkered down and waited for the word. Turns out we weren't leaving that night so we wish we'd known that so we could teach somebody. We worked on combining our area books a bit more but the problem was we had no lights, AC, or water in our apartment so going back would be rough but the Elders asked us to check if it had been turned on. So we walked back with our luggage, nope, still off (luckily we had not lugged our luggage back up!). So the assistants sent us to sleep at the Sister's in nearby Sii Nakerin (where, poddii, we had been that morning). This is probably about 9:30 at night and we got into Sii Nakerin around 10:15. The Sisters there were so nice though and made food for us and helped us get situated so we got a good night sleep.
This morning we left for the airport at 7:00 because apparently the reason we couldn't fly out on Sunday was because we had to be there in person. Also, only Sis. Yinn and I are going up to Chiang Mai and Sis. Tano will go to Ban Kaa with Sis. Knight and Sis. Lisch. A bunch of the Elders are off to the Isaan but our District leader is staying and taking care of our district and Ban Kaa is in Bangkok and Bang Na still has sisters as well. I don't know. It's crazy! But anyway, at the airport the earliest flight we could get to Chiang Mai was tomorrow so I will be up there for probably at least 2 weeks. I'm kind of excited! haha but I'm also really bummed to leave right now, right before these baptisms are supposed to happen. I was telling Sis. Meow that we were leaving and that we weren't sure when we'd be back and she asked if she was still getting baptized, she was way sad about it. I told her she was nanon (for sure) getting baptized. We would still plan for the 6th but the flood might affect it but I told her that she would get baptized no matter what. It was really sweet. I'll be super sad if I can't be there to see her baptized, mostly because she is my first, but it's the fact that she's getting baptized that matters, right. I just have to remind myself of that :)
So right now I am with Sis. Knight, Lisch, Tano, and Yinn in an internet cafe in Bangkapi (also in Bangkok). We came and cleaned out the Bangkapi house and moved everything to the upper floor and we're all sleeping in Ban Kaa tonight. Things are a little crazy over here as you can probably tell. It's okay though. All the missionaries are safe and President is going all over trying to get everything in order.
I heard our Nong thais from the MTC won't come in for at least a couple weeks as well so we'll be down in numbers for a bit over here.
I've got to finish up here. Sorry, not much missionary work in this email but hopefully I'll have some good experiences up north. I promise my testimony is growing everyday and that I still know this Church is true. Without a doubt. Love you all!
Sister King
Here's something funny, my maa (sis. Naegle) is hanging out up in Chiang Mai with the Sister there so I'll get to see her for another week or so. Way weird!
Monday, November 7, 2011
THE BOOK OF MORMON Letter Home: 10/17
Sawadii,
So I'm guessing you've heard a bit about the flooding in Thailand. Apparently it's a pretty big deal. I guess around 300 people died in one area. Don't worry though, no flood here yet. And if it does come, we live on the 4th floor so I think we'll be good. I guess some areas around Bangkok have had huge problems with it and everyone here is way worried about it but they've said it's supposed to flood for like the past week and we have yet to see it. We prepared our house and everything but I think, at least in our area, everyone's overreacting. Every person we talk to says something different. So no flood, yet, but it's funny because it still affects our work a little bit. People have cancelled appointments with the excuse of "nam tuam". That's pretty much all they say. We've learned to stop trying to explain that there is no water right now so we can come visit. They just keep saying "nam tuam" haha.
We had a great week with our daters. Phii Meow, the one I wrote about last week, is doing awesome. We've had her as an investigator for 11 days and have taught her basically everything and she drinks it all in. I'm trying to remember that she still hasn't been baptized. She's seriously incredible though. I mentioned that her mom is the person that helped her develop a testimony in Christ. Her mom lives outside of an area in the Isaan about 100 kilos but we're trying to get the Elders there and because it's a referral they should be able to go. But she got the Book of Mormon we sent to her this past Wednesday and don't worry, she finished the entire thing by Saturday, no prob. Ridiculous! I'm telling you, these two women are amazing! So Meow and her mom talk on the phone everyday and read the scriptures together and talk about them. On Sunday Meow shared an experience her mom had. Like I said, her mom was already Christian and the sect she belongs to is just the one that is closest to her house so the missionaries from that sect come and visit her every week or so. But she basically has nothing and they always want her to attend their activities but it costs money. I'm not really sure what "activities" include but she doesn't go every time because she doesn't have the means. So the missionary-type people were giving her a hard time, telling her she didn't have enough faith and would go if she had faith. So she was really hurt by that and then they saw the Book of Mormon on her table and asked where she got it. They said it was the wrong color (their bible is light blue) so she must've gotten it from farangs (white people). They told her it was false and said they would take it for her and go burn it. I love picturing this little woman clutching the Book to her chest and telling them to leave. The missionaries haven't even met her and she knows it is true! I love it! That is one thing I tell my investigators every time, that the Book of Mormon has omnod (power). That you feel it when you read it. This woman I don't even know just reaffirmed that for me.
Gib has been working like crazy. We hardly talk to her which is not good because we're supposed to be in contact with daters everyday. So we were a bit worried about her but luckily, when we talked to her on Sunday everything is great. She is completely on track and has an apartment all set to move into before she gets baptized. We realized that she is working on Sundays though. I think her work changed awhile back and so we didn't know and she still came to church so we didn't even think to ask. But we talked to her and she was really nervous about it but said she'd ask her boss if she could switch her day off to Sunday. She said if he said no that she would just quit. We were so happy to see her take that step of faith. So we prayed with her before she left the church to go to work. 2 hours later she called and everything was fine. Her boss let her switch!
We were a bit worried about Fawng as well. She had accepted the commitment to be baptized right off but as we taught her the next two times it seemed like she didn't really understand the magnitude of what we were offering her. She wants to be friends but she was like, "You want to meet to talk about Christ the whole time again?" So it was like she wanted what baptism promised but didn't get the how big of a deal it was. But we taught her again and she has soooo many great questions so we decided to just answer them with scriptures, every single one. Finally she was all, "It seems like the scriptures have the answer to everything, I really want to go and read them right now." Nunlet! (exactly) She got it. We'd explained that to her before in almost exactly those words but until she saw it for herself she didn't understand. It was awesome. Again, the Book of Mormon is sooooooo true!
Our last dater is Phii Subeen. He's an interesting story as well. We've only taught him twice but it was him who came to us as well. So he has come to English the last couple times and is way gang (skilled) at English so he is in the class I teach. We actually heard the branch president joking with him that he was a neverending investigator. Apparently he'd learned with the missionaries years before and would come to English off and on. So it was really interesting when he came up to us an asked to start learning with us. Of course we accepted but we didn't know what to think. But at our first lesson he told us that he is looking for something to bring happiness to him and his family. He didn't remember everything he'd learned before so we reexplained our purpose as missionaries and what the Book of Mormon is and he was all, "This is exactly what I've been looking for. I don't remember how the missionaries explained it to me before but if I knew the importance of what they were teaching me, I would've read this from then on."
So I guess my entire letter this week is about the Book of Mormon. I didn't really realize that all these stories were so focuse on it until I wrote this haha. But seriously, it is the most powerful thing on this planet, no joke! Read it! Everyday. I can promise it will make a difference in your day and your week. Tangible evidence that God knows and loves us and that He works through revelation today. I love it!
Love you all! Seriously though, read it!
Sister King
MEOW Letter Home: 10/10
Kroobkrua and Purran,
I'm trying to figure out if it feels like it's been a month or more, or maybe less. It really is like you're in a time warp on the mission. I thought the MTC was weird but throw in a different country and a full schedule and I don't know what to think.
I actually haven't been getting Jordan's emails. If you want us to send those emails straight to each other that's fine. The last one I got he started with the Utes so just let us know. I'll send this to him as well. And anyone can email me. I just don't have much time at the place so I have to print everything off to have time to read it all.
I'm glad BYU seems to be getting into the groove, that's what I like to hear! I did get both postcards from you so thanks! I have the one of Salt Lake sitting on my headboard thing. I miss the mountains!
So it ended up that I had to watch conference in Thai. I was actually really disappointed but the Branch President wants to get it in English for me so I can watch it on a preparation day if I want. I think the DVDs ended up at the next city over. I loved seeing the familiar faces and just the familiarity of conference and the power in our leaders. It was a bit rough to not understand anything for 8 solid hours but like I said the familiarity of it all made up for it a bit. I do have 4 pages of notes from conference but I won't share any because they're way random. It will probably be really funny to read what I wrote and compare it to what was really said. Mostly I just heard a word I knew and wrote down my thought based on those things or what I thought the general direction of their talk was. Pretty sure I missed the point most the time haha Other times I just started thinking abouth things and wrote so some of it isn't related at all. It seemed like a really good conference though :)
You asked where the other sisters in my district went and I forgot to tell you. Sister Knight is the only other sister in Bangkok with me. Elder Thacker, Elder Whitaker, Elder Petersen, and Elder Slack are all in or very close to Bangkok. Elder Thomas went up North but is still below Chiang Mai. Elder Crawley is in the Isaan on the Border in the North East I believe. Sister Roper is in Roi Et, Sister Murray is in Udon, and Sister Carper and Sister Monterrosa are in the same house in Ubon. We had some sad news on Thursday. At the service project you heard about I got to see Sister Knight, Elder Thacker, and Elder Whitaker. Elder Whitaker told us that at 7:00 that morning Elder Slack had gotten on a plane home. His knees are awful and it's to hard to walk and bike so he has to get knee surgery. The recovery is supposed to take 6-8 months so he probably won't be able to come back. We're all super sad about it. He was one of our zone leaders in the MTC.
So today I just want to tell you about this incredible investigator! Her name is Meow (kind of like a cat) Our first time teaching her was on Thursday. She came to the church last Sunday at about 1:00. We didn't see her but the other sisters talked to her and introduced the church a bit. When she came in she was apparently super sweaty and out of breath. She told the sisters that she knew church was over but she had run here to make sure she could talk to someone. That night the sisters told us that she was in our area and to commit her to baptism. So we didn't see her until Thursday night. We planned to talk about Heavenly Father, family, and to focus on prophets so we could invite her to conference. As we got to know her a little bit she said her mother had encouraged her to find a Christian church to attend and that's why she came to ours. She has a lot of faith in God and Christ because of her Mom but most of her knowledge is through her Mom. But as we started teaching it was apparent that she is ridiculously prepared for our message so we pretty much ended up teaching the entire first lesson. When I was saying the First Vision it was crazy. She knew what came next pretty much. She said a couple words before I said them. It was so weird! We commited her to baptism and she is so excited. We visited her the next day and right away she told us that ever since we had asked her to pray about Joseph Smith she felt so energized. She woke up so refreshed, she didn't even want coffee in her ovaltine. Poddii (I can't think of the word for this, kind of "of course") We had planned to talk about the Word of Wisdom. When we did she mentioned again that she did drink coffee but she'd totally give it up for God. She came to both sessions of Sunday conference and is having us send her mom a Book of Mormon (her mom's in the Isaan). I can't even explain how weirdly prepared she is. Sister Naegle says she's never had anyone like this. We're able to teach a lot faster and deeper with her and she loves everything. It is so true that there are people prepared for this message. I didn't think I'd see it this obviously. You hear it in stories from other missionaries sometimes but in Thailand it feels like it takes a little bit for them to start getting it. Probably because it's such a new concept. I love seeing everything make sense to her. It's a huge testimony of the reality of God's plan and how perfect it is. It just makes sense.
Anyway, things are going well. I'm sending some pictures in the mail soon because I just never have time on here but I'm working on being better at taking pictures. Thanks for all the emails! I love hearing about everything!
Love you!
Sister King
3 INVESTIGATORS WITH DATES Letter Home:10/3
Sawadii!
Sorry last weeks email ended a little abruptly, I'm going to watch my time better.
So, after I emailed last week we went with some of the other Bangkok Sisters to play Muay Thai. Pretty fun, no? We went to the National Statium and were able to have like 2 hours with the National Team's head coach and some of the team for 300 baht. Don't worry, that's like 10 dollars haha. It was soooo much fun! We definitely got a workout though. We started with jump roping for 5 minutes and then we stretched and did across the floor excercises. I loved it because it was so similar to my dance classes. My teacher from this past Winter semester trained in martial arts over in China so we had a bunch of the moves from different styles of Asian fighting and it was nice to be sort of familiar with it. Brother Pet (the coach) said I was really good and wants me to come back and train haha. It was definitely a good preparation day though.
So we didn't get to go to the Relief Society Conference. We had planned to but you have to have an investigator or a new member to go with and our investigator woke up sick that morning so we couldn't. We were way bummed but at least we get to see Conference this week! I am way excited! Our Branch President is even getting it for us in English which you don't usually get in other areas. He's so great, hopefully it works out because I won't understand to much of it if it's in Thai. That's so great that there's going to be a temple in Star Valley!!! And another one in Provo?! Geez! Do we know when they'll be done?
Let's see, oh, we ate at a legit Italian restaurant right by our house the other afternoon before we started our fast. It was way yummy, but super expensive. It was almost 10 dollars a person! :) But they had a real pizza oven and we're pretty sure the owner was Italian. I don't know but I had lasagna and it was super yummy. Sister Naegle was drooling over the real cheese on everything. Apparently this is the land of no cheese. Even on dishes that do have cheese it's like bottled cheese. I don't think I have been in Thailand long enough to really appreciate how different that meal was but it was a fun outing :)
On our way to a lesson the other day, there was a dead dog in the middle of the road and it was pretty mangled. I couldn't look at it because it's was way sad. There are soooooooo many dogs here. Everywhere. They believe that dogs are the closest to being human when it comes to reincarnation so they don't ever kill dogs, no matter how sad or rabid they are. If they killed them they believe that person won't become human in the next life. It has to die naturally I guess. There are some pretty sad looking dogs. I would be scared to have a dog here because it would interact with the gross ones. I miss Lupin :( I did see someone with a Siberian Husky the other day though. I don't know how it lives in a humid place but it was really cute.
So as of today we have 3 daters. And they're are all set for November 6. I think that's a pretty good birthday present if I do say so myself! All of them are women. Nang is one and then we have Gib and Fawng. Nang is doing pretty well, she is working all the time and she's had some issues with her teeth so her mouth hurts all the time. But she really does want to be baptized so we're trying to make time to meet with her. At one of our lessons she asked us what she needed to do to be ready for baptism and she was really worried that she wouldn't be able to keep the commandments, that she wasn't good enough. She is so sweet. We went back and went more into depth with repentance and helped her to realize that she doesn't have to be perfect and that enduring to the end is really just sincerely repenting daily. She's doing well though.
Phii Gib is 20 something and has been learning with the missionaries for over a year. She is SO ready to be baptized. She would have been baptized earlier but her boyfriend is African and has to go back to Africa to get the papers to be able to get married and he won't be going for like another 3 months. Gib has been waiting but she finally wants baptism more and is moving out this month. She has such a strong testimony. She has been at church consistantly for the last year. It's so great to see her finally taking this step.
Phii Fawng is so cute. She's in her 20's as well. She was taught a short introduction lesson at English and we've only taught her one real lesson but she asked so many questions and was so interested in everything. We extended the baptismal commitment and she accepted. She even has an Uncle and friend that are interested in learning :)
We had a really good weak of finding and receiving new investigators. It was really encouraging. It's hard to realize that some of them might not end up accepting because they are all so great but at least the seed are being planted.
I love the hour of personal study we have everyday. It was nice in the MTC but it is so great here. It's a little time to yourself but it's also so cool to see the things Heavenly Father puts in front of you for your investigators. It's so much more obvious when you have the possibility of really using the things you learn to help others. The Book of Mormon is crazy powerful and so inspired. I can't get over it. My scriptures are getting really colorful. Sometimes it's hard to comprehend how true this gospel is. There is no other way. I just want all these people to get that!
Well, time is about up but I love and miss you all. Thanks for the emails, support, and prayers.
Sister King
FOOD, ENGLISH, AND TRACKING Letter Home: 9/26
Hello all!
Sounds like things are going well back in Salt Lake City. It's weird to think that it is still Sunday over in your neck of the woods. I get these emails at around noon or 1:00 on Monday here. So around midnight there? Not really sure.
So I really am planning on sending pictures but we're in Asoke right now and I didn't bring my cord to hook the camera up.
We just rode the klong monster (the boats) into the main part of Bangkok and we're getting ready to learn some Muay Thai in a bit haha. It should be an experience. Apparently we're learning with the National team and coach. No big deal. I'll let you know how that goes! I probably won't remember everything I want to tell you right now either. I don't have my journal with me. We were planning on emailing later but I'll try to remember.
Okay, so you ask about food and I keep forgetting to mention it. It's delicious, that's all there is to it. We really don't cook at all. The microwave is about the only thing we have to cook with. We've made like ramen and soupy stuff a couple times but that is about it. For breakfast I usually just eat yogurt, apples, and granola (the milk here is disgustingly sweet, I can't use it like regular milk, it's just not the same) but the rest of the day we eat off the street. You can pretty much find whatever you want. Sis. Naegle says I have a pretty good pet (spicy) tolerance for a greenie. I can handle a bit. She loves pet though. I'll work up to it though :) I have yet to try something I don't like and I try to try something different every day. I've only eaten a few things twice. When I remeber their names I'll tell you more about them. I love the pineapple that is everywhere though. You just get it in a bag and eat it with a stick, aroy! (delicious) Fried rice is super good, we had a thai version of macaroni that was really good the other day. They have yummy buns with like black bean filling and stuff like that that I really like. Their desserts are super different. Not as heavy or sweet and usually healthy for you. They think corn is a dessert so it's in things a lot. Nam kane sye is like sugar water and coconut milk on ice with chunks of coconut or taro root and gummies, Thailand is all about the gummies. They are in everything. My trainer loves these hot dog things called luug chien. The regular one is a hotdog on a stick but they have different fish and other meats and fake meats that they grill or fry and then dip in yummy sauce. When we're in a hurry she loves to get those. Everything is way good though and I have yet to get sick at all. Oh, and the best thing about Thailand? My meals are usually like a dollar in american money. It's great! I will miss getting this much, way good food for a dollar when it would be at least $8 or $10 back home.
We ride our bikes everyday. In some of the other Bangkok areas they don't but we do. There isn't really a subway in our part of the city but there is a system in Bangkok. When we have to go farther we take Son Taws, the bus, or a taxi if it's worth the money. Son Taws are fun. Just a bunch of people packed into the back of a truck. It's pretty great. We pass out lot's of English papers that way though.
I taught English by myself this week. I taught the advanced class, mostly because I wouldn't be able to understand anyone. Sis. Naegle went and taught the gospel so some of the members were our companions. It's fun seeing English from a different perspective. Thai seems so simple in comparison.
On Thursday, we had to go back to the mission home area because there was training for our trainers. So we had switch-offs and I was with Sis. Knight! It was so great to see her again and compare experiences. It was only for Bangkok area so I didn't get to see any of the other sisters but it was definitely an experience. We had the option to study together at the church but we decided we wanted to go out and invite haha. Two greenies out in the city on their own for 4 hours ahahahahaha. Two of the Elders helped us find a taxi and told him where to take us and then we were off. We had the goal to get 5 people's info to set up return appointments. It was rocky going with our language skills but we did it and it was cool to see how our different strengths complimented each other. I have a hard time being forward enough to start the conversation and I'm really no good at small talk but Sis. Knight is great at it and had no problem going up to people and getting us started but then I am better at getting our message across quickly and knowing when to ask for their information so it was cool to see how it worked out like that. And we know Heavenly Father was helping because we got kicked out of the neighborhood right when we started heading out even though we'd been knocking doors for over 2 hours.
Phii Nang เนง is doing alright. She had some problems with her teeth that had her going to the doctors all the time and she works like crazy so we only saw her once and she didn't come to church but she's okay. She's still excited and praying everyday and trying to fit reading in. We'll probably have to push her date back just because we need to have her at church a certain amount of times but she's still wanting baptism so thinks are looking good. We have one other baptism coming up, she's been coming to church for over a year but has a boyfriend from Africa who has to go back to get papers before they can get married but she finally said she doesn't want to wait anymore and so we set a date for her in November. We're working on moving it up though, we think we'll be able to.
Got to go but i'll write better next week!
Sister King
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