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
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