#thaipride

1. Sister Yanisa and I know how important prayer is. Sometimes we pray while thai squatting.

2. Me and Gato, the six-year-old son of our favorite family.

So this week I've started doing this thing called the Superman Prayer. It's where I tell Heavenly Father that I'm not superman but I need to be able to do superhuman things on any given day. And man does Heavenly Father just qualify me beyond anything I can do on my own! Especially this week, Yanisa and I have both been sick. And my voice was in and out on Saturday and Sunday. How can you be a "challenging and testifying missionary" if you can't open your mouth and preach? Use sign language?

Well, I don't know thai sign language, and Heavenly Father doesn't need me to learn that right now, so he provided a way and opened my mouth/vocal cords so I could say and do everything I needed to do despite feeling pretty crappy all week. He always provides a way when we trust Him. And our weaknesses are just a really awesome opportunity to take the Lord's hand and start walking on water.

This week was as great as every other week here. We somehow managed to get lost in our area (I've been here for four months, Sister Yanisa for three and se's a native to Bangkok), we had a lesson with our Laotian investigators and brought a Laotian Elder to help us teach (through speakerphone haha). We learned that one of our investigators hasn't really been getting anything we've been teaching him and so we need to start over and teach him everything even though we've already taught him a lot...but instead of getting mad, Sister Yanisa and I felt grateful that we finally figured out why he wasn't progressing. It was like a breath of fresh air. A new start.

And it poured rain a few times. No faster or better way to make my day than to make it rain. Heavenly Father knows me so well!

When one of our investigators, Sister W, got baptized this weekend, she got up and bore her testimony after. Most people stumble through their first testimony because they're just overwhelmed from the day or they don't know how to yet, but Sister W just said that she was grateful to her Heavenly Father for the opportunity to turn a new leaf and expressed her desires to remain steadfast. I almost cried. Proud tears. I'm so proud. And I didn't even do anything to help teach her! She flipping taught herself. All of it. One time a week or two ago we were talking about a concept in the gospel and she just burst into tears. At first I was worried something was wrong, but it quickly became apparent that she was just feeling the Spirit really, really strongly. After that, she progressed so quickly! God has prepared the hearts of His children here and is leading us to them (or them to us!).

3. Baptism! Sister W, a laotian sister, and all the people who have helped teach her/fellowship her. I've never seen anyone make friends in the church as quickly and easily as Sister W. She is so cute!

I feel really repetitive, but this is truly the greatest work we can be involved in. I love being a missionary so much, especially here in this choice corner of the world. Helping people enter the waters of baptism is such a special privilege. I love life!

I love you all!

Sister Z.

Oh I know, I'm no Superman...

1. Me and Sister Yanisa helping out at the Valentine's day activity here.

2. Had lunch with Sister Lam in Asoke this week! Comp reunion!

Every once in a while I take a step back and look at the work we're doing here, and it amazes me what we're doing. There's not a day that goes by that I don't thank my Heavenly Father for the support and strength I receive on a daily, hourly basis, because if I didn't have His help I swear I would be crushed from the pressure of all the things I have to do.

Sometimes my life feels like an episode of Scrubs and I'm JD, the awkward white kid who usually has no idea what they're doing, and Sister Yanisa is Turk, the best friend who has style and is in with all the members and the way to do missionary work. Seriously, I'm learning so much from her about how to love and serve completely. We'll be waiting for ten minutes for something and Yanisa will say "let's go clean the bathrooms!" and we'll spend ten minutes doing something productive. Never a dull moment here! The members here just love both of us, always giving us free food and snacks and making us fat and bringing us their friends and family members...and telling us not to move. We've tried to explain that it's not our call, but...with all the members here praying for us to not move, maybe we'll just be here together for longer. I wouldn't mind :)

The advantage of being with your companion for more than one transfer is you stop needing to coordinate everything and you just go and do what needs to be done. We are so unified in our efforts to help our recent converts, less actives, and investigators...we get so much done and it's like a weird equation where 1+1=over 9000 because the work we put in should not equal the results and miracles we're seeing here. The x factor in missionary work is always love, when it's there, we see our efforts multiplied.

We had an activity at church this week that we did instead of regular scripture class...it was a temple/family history fireside! We asked different people in the wards to present on the importance of temple ordinances and family history work. We even got everyone there to start doing their own family tree sheet and now we're working with our family history consultants here to get everyone FamilySearch accounts. We didn't think we'd have many people there...but we had 28 total (not including missionaries), half of whom were recent converts and two of whom were investigators who were family members! It was an amazing, spiritual activity and I'm so grateful it was such a big hit. It made an impact on me and I hope it made as strong of an impact on the members. Preparing for the temple starts with us!

We also spent a lot of time this week helping members set up for the stake Valentine's activity, a youth dinner and YSA dance! The members in the wards here are so creative and we had a lot of fun building a 4 meter replica Eiffel Tower Arc de Triomphe together. We stuck around long enough to see the final product with lights and balloons...these members know how to put on a party! I'm going on four months here and I've just loved every second, I could be here for the rest of my mission if I needed to because this area is just so big and the longer I'm here the more I fall in love with the members. We're family.

3. The Arc de Triomphe replica

God's plan is perfect. It's just all about families and love and there isn't a rule or commandment that we've been given that won't improve the quality of our lives and bring us happiness, TRUE happiness, that lasts beyond this life.

I love you all!

Sister Z.

We Dream the Same Dream, We Want the Same Thing

1. I can't control myself when I see dairy products.

2. Sometimes we get lucky and find lots of Dr Pepper, which is really a tender mercy because it just doesn't exist here (or "Mr. Pepper" as Sister Yanisa calls it because she can never remember what it's called and why I love it so much). Oh, the little things :)

3. How can I get homesick when there are so many cows here? ;)

We're all on the same team here! Maybe sometimes we forget that. In the end, we're all children of our Heavenly Father and we all just need to love and take care of each other.

We went to a member's house to do some family history work again this week, and I found a bunch of family names that I had no idea existed! All my great grandpa's siblings on one side. A whole family! While I was working and finding name after name, I felt very strongly that I was not the only who wanted to find these names -- that there were people on both sides of the veil trying to do the work. And I felt the support of my family members on both sides of the veil in the work I'm doing here on a daily basis. And man did that feel cool.

This week, I've seen the hand of the Lord working through me and qualifying me to be able to do and say more than I ever could on my own. Heavenly Father is infinitely patient and loving with ALL of us. He's picked me up more times than I can count this week alone. No matter how lonely it gets striving to do the right thing, I know I'm never alone because He's only ever a prayer away! I'm grateful that this period, while difficult, is really strengthening my relationship with the Lord. We've had many experiences that have helped me see the hand of the Lord ever more clearly, but one day this week sums it all up:

So we called up one of the recent converts, Brother F, to bring us to the house of another member, Brother B, because we hadn't seen Brother B in several weeks. When we got to B's house, he was there with a nonmember friend who comes to church sometimes. It was kind of awkward at first...almost like Brother B didn't want us there. He's had chicken pox and hasn't left the house in a few weeks. But we each shared a scripture with and testified, and told him how we loved and missed him. After we did so, he opened up and talked about the things that really bugging him, like the fact that he hasn't been able to get a job. That allowed us to testify more and extend commitments that were more personalized to him, instead of just "come back to church." We, along with Brother F, B, and the nonmember friend were all edified by the lesson.

Then, as we were walking back, we ran into Brother B's uncle, an older gentleman named Brother J, who apparently used to live in a ward south of us but now has become less active. He stopped because he recognized that we were missionaries (I wouldn't have recognized him otherwise) and he immediately began to tell us about his friend who he wanted us to teach. (This Sunday, Brother J showed up bright and early, shook my hand, and dragged me and Sister Yanisa to the foyer where he'd brought his friend. He's now a new investigator!)

THEN we went back to Central with F, where he introduced us to his friend, whom we invited to learn. He wasn't interested, but as we talked and testified about Jesus Christ, I KNOW he felt at least a bit of the Spirit...because I did. As we awkwardly walked away from them, we ducked into a store and nearly ran into...Brother J! Who got baptized in November and then has faded in and out of activity because he doesn't know anyone at church. We met him and his wife (we didn't know he had a wife) and his two month-old baby (didn't know about her, either). It was so good to see him because he hadn't been responding to calls and we hadn't been able to see/meet with him since the time he was confirmed.

So in total, this effort to find one member turned into a day of testifying, and we testified to EIGHT people who were either recent converts, less-actives, or non-members (or some combination of those three). This isn't about the numbers, though -- this is still a one-by-one endeavor.  And it's a process. It won't happen overnight, but it'll happen. What really struck me about that day was that we hadn't planned on ducking into a store, and we hadn't planned on walking back the way we did...but we just did, and the Lord put people in our path (or put us in the path of those who needed us). The temple is on its way!

Love, Sister Z.

Finding Joy in Finding!

1. Sometimes we get a little carried away cleaning the church. :)

2. I just really like donuts (and this one has a cow on it :))

This week has been all about FINDING. It all started when I was looking at my vision for this transfer, which is, that I will learn to enjoy contacting! Because that hasn't always been my favorite thing to do. So I spent all my personal study this week studying about finding in Preach My Gospel and the scriptures. And the result is...I LOVE CONTACTING. It's now one of my favorite things to do (along with baptizing, retaining, activating, and teaching).

And then Heavenly Father just decided to bless me with a ton of opportunities to practice the principles I learned this week. As we were contacting this week on a switch-off in Bangkhae, we met two women who were very interested and had many questions about baptism and why it was important. I was able to bear testimony about the restoration of the priesthood and gospel in the short three minutes we talked, and it felt so good...and the two women felt it too. When we testify, God can speak through us to those who we are finding.

We also happened to get in a taxi with a man who knew who we were...he'd taken missionaries places in the past...I was able to have a good 5-minute conversation about his family and him...he wasn't interested, but it was a sign to me that the Lord is preparing people and using us to help prepare those around us so that in 1, 5, 10 or 20-plus years, their hearts will finally be opened and they will let the light of the gospel in.

And this week we've had the unique opportunity to work with some of the English/International members in the Chaengwattana International ward here to learn about family history so we can help our recent thai converts to get started on their family history work. And let me just say, the Spirit of Elijah is REAL. I felt so excited as I started to work on my own family tree and was able to find people who need ordinances done in the temple. Finding isn't limited to street contacting...there are people already being taught on the other side of the veil who are ready to accept God's plan and be baptized...they just need someone to find them!

I promise that God's plan is perfect. He loves each of us so much and wants us to experience the happiness that comes from being baptized and living with our families for eternity.

Love, Sister Z.

We Will Embark!

1. Bangkok, baby!

2. P-day adventures are tiring...

3. Our family who got baptized!

4. My planner this transfer!

Well, another transfer week passed, and I'm still in Pakkret with Sister Yanisa! I am so grateful we get another six weeks together...we have a lot of work to do here and our momentum is only building!

A crapton of Elders went home last week...several of whom have made a profound impact on me as a missionary and as person through their examples and their level of consecration. Their work here has made an impact that will be felt for generations to come.

This week was crazy busy, as all transfer weeks are, but this week I noticed a theme about cleanliness. Transfer meeting is always held at our church building and I remembered that for my first transfer meeting, I noticed how clean and well-kept the building was. And when we went to seminary on Tuesday morning, I couldn't help but notice that our building was a little out of shape. So we grabbed some members one afternoon and cleaned the whole church! I didn't know I could get so exhausted cleaning...but the results were so worth it. The idea that you can feel the spirit in a clean atmosphere, whether that be your home or a church building or the temple, is true. And what better way to prepare the Thai saints for the temple than by helping them care for their beautiful church buildings?

On Saturday we went to Asoke (an area in Bangkok) for a special devotional with Sister Gong, the wife of the area-seventy for southern Asia. It was a Sister-missionary-only meeting and it was INCREDIBLE. We talked about fear and how to overcome it. We overcome fear when we have faith in God and love for the people and confidence in ourselves. And those three things increase as we are more obedient and consecrated. And from personal experience, I'm learning that the more consecrated I am, the more fun I have! And this work is all about joy. I've learned if I'm not feeling joyful every day...I'm doing something wrong.

Love you all, I love the Thai saints, and I love being a missionary!

Sister Z.

"This isn't missionary work...this is missionary FUN!"

1. Last P day we went to a place called "Break Away" where they lock you in a room and you have to figure out how to get out

2. Feeding fish!

3. Contacting on a bridge! I flipping LOVE this area.

Well I have very little time this week because we're off to go to a planetarium and go shopping for Elder Kohler's last P day! But this week can be summed up entirely with one word: MIRACLES.

Because how else can you explain a 13-year-old girl who decided she wanted to wake up for 530am seminary every morning this week and begging her mom to get baptized with her next Sunday? Those are our investigators right now, a FAMILY who wants nothing more than to be a part of this great gospel and this great work. GOLDEN.

And we've been getting up for early morning seminary for the last week and a half, too, because how lame are you when your investigator goes to more meetings and classes than you? ;) anyways, I've been getting so much out of seminary. We're reading in the Doctrine and Covenants this year and...the Thai members, they get it. They can read a section of scripture from anywhere and pull out the most basic, central, important doctrines that help build faith and testimonies. I can't say enough about the understanding and testimonies of the saints here.

We've spent practically this entire week hanging out (and eating) with members. And I'm learning so much, about how to just love the members, how to get to know them, how to talk to them. I've learned so much from Sister Yanisa these last six weeks about the Thai language and how to communicate better -- lessons that make me a better missionary than I was before. So grateful that Yanisa and I got to be companions! Literally my whole life has been in Thai for the last month, and it's been awesome. I learn new words and phrases every day and I'm loving every second of it. There's something about learning languages that clicks in my brain. I've been very blessed to be able to understand this language even with limited opportunities to study, but now with the opportunity to speak it 24/7, my brain has exploded! I'm starting to find it easier to speak in thai than english.

And another miracle -- we've been teaching our Laotian members and investigators: Sister K and her sister-in-law Sister B. But Sister B wasn't able to go to church because she works shifts from 2am to 2pm and our last sacrament meeting here ends at 2pm...but we walked into 1pm sacrament meeting and who was there but Sister B! I always feel the spirit so strongly around the Laotian members and investigators...there's something so unique and special about their connection to the Spirit.

I was thinking about Sister K, the Laotian member who got baptized two months ago, and as I was doing so I was overwhelmed with an impression that she will help build the stakes of Zion in Laos. Pretty cool, huh? I'm just so grateful I get to be a tiny, tiny piece in this huge picture the Lord is building here in this little corner of paradise.

A temple is coming to this country.

Love you all!

Sister Z.

Can't stop won't stop

1. Ice skating!

2. We were in the library when an investigator of the Elders called and they were busy, so we taught their investigator on speakerphone on the floor of the library with three members who happened to be right there. I flipping love being a missionary.

3. BAPTISM! Four more INCREDIBLE people who love the Lord and truly want to follow Him. We are growing so fast!

Well...I think my blood has gotten thinner, because this morning it was a brisk 20 degrees Celsius (about 68 degrees fahrenheit) and I was FREEZING.

Speaking of freezing...last week we went ice skating on P day! It was Sister Yanisa's first time and she's been begging to go the whole transfer so of course I couldn't say no. She only fell...I think about 12 times. Actually, she was way good by the end of it, too! I was very impressed. I of course had fun skating. I'm proud to say I didn't fall once and didn't hold onto anyone or anything for the whole time (Except when Sister Yanisa was hanging onto me for dear life, haha).

We had Zone Training this week...and our zone leaders asked us if the work we were doing in our area was helping the work in Chiang Mai, on the other end of the country. At first, I thought, no, how could my work in Bangkok be helping Chiang Mai? But then I thought about Sister Ellis, my last companion, who's serving there right now...and when I send her pictures of investigators getting baptized here, she gets way pumped up. Which makes her a better missionary. Which means that the work I'm doing IS helping the work in Chiang Mai.

And then our zone leaders asked us to think bigger. What about the work in Idaho? One of our Elders, Elder Web, is from Idaho, and I'm sure him sending letters home every week is helping his family there -- and therefore the work in Idaho. And I have friends all over the world, and when I hear about how well they're doing, it makes me a better missionary, so they're impacting my mission!

...See how missionary work is a worldwide effort?

This week I went on a switchoff to Bangkhen (I think you'd pronounce that Bahng-Cane), and I love doing those because you get to be with a different companion in a different area for 24 hours and I always learn so much/get a new perspective on missionary work. I got to switch off with Sister Adams and she is awesome. I'm so grateful I got to serve with her, even for just one day! She's a crazy good/efficient missionary and I appreciate what I learned with her.

Aaaand we've started going to early-morning seminary! At first, we started going because one of our investigators ตา (Daa) was interested in going...but now we go because we love it so much. We're studying the Doctrine & Covenants! Sister Yanisa never had the chance to go because she only joined the church a year and a half ago, and I have to say...I get so much more out of it now than I did when I was in the young women program. It's such a great start to the day that I don't even mind that we have to get up at 5am to go.

Sometimes I think I love members too much...yesterday I agreed to memorize the Young Womens theme in Thai to help a 12-year-old girl who just got baptized last month. And yesterday my favorite family agreed to adopt me because they're always feeding me extra food and their sons (12 and 6 years old) and I are way close. My conversations in Thai are getting faster and faster and I think the members have started forgetting that I don't speak thai natively...

I think I'm turning Thai? And I love it.

Go do some good today. We're all capable of it.

Sister Z.

Win some, lost someone

[photos down below]

Woo, another P day! Didn't we just have one? Oh yeah, we did.

Well, this time I have stories, so it's okay. We went to visit one of our RC's (Recent Converts), a Laotian sister named Khiaw who was baptized about a month ago -- she's incredible, but she has a hard time because she has an insane work schedule that pretty much only gives her enough time to come home, read her scriptures, and sleep before she does it again. So we went to visit her and read scriptures with her, and then she told us that her older brother and sister-in-law had just moved here from Laos, and that they were interested in learning with us. So she invited her sister-in-law Boonmee over...and Boonmee brought a Laotian Bible and a Hymnal! The Church hasn't translated an official version of the LDS Hymnal in Laotian yet, but the Hymnal she had contained hymns like How Great Thou Art and Come Thou Fount and all these Christmas hymns...it was AWESOME. and just because we were curious, we asked Boonmee to sing Come Thou Fount because we wanted to hear how it differed from the Thai and so Sister Boonmee sang it and it was incredible how strong the spirit was in that tiny little one-room apartment. Sister Boonmee has genuine desires to learn the truth for herself. Those are the investigators we go crazy over! It all starts with the open heart and willingness to search and learn.

Sister Khiaw has been a member for barely a month and through her we've taught approximately five other people -- her family, friends, etc. She wants so badly for everyone in her life to have the joy that comes from the gospel. I've learned so much from her example! She's amazing.

1. the aforementioned Laotian hymnal -- so cool!

Something that Sister Yanisa and I are really good at doing is having fun, even when we're doing things that we're not a fan of doing, like contacting for hours a day. Whenever that happens, we find ways to make it fun! Like last week, we turned down an alley and suddenly we were in a huge Buddhist Temple! We're not allowed to contact in temples, obviously, so we wandered around and I asked Sister Yanisa a hundred and one questions about Buddhism while we explored and looked at awesome murals. I learned a ton of things I didn't know before and took some really sweet pictures.

And on a random note...when you have eight baptisms in a month, sometimes doing confirmations in sacrament meeting takes up...almost the whole meeting, which is what happened yesterday. I love being a Thailand Bangkok missionary!

Well...on a personal note, one of my friends committed suicide last week. He was like an older brother to me in many ways -- a happy guy, a wonderful missionary, a kind man, energetic student...and an awesome friend. He will be missed. Tell those around you what they mean to you and that you love them...because, bleak as it sounds, you don't always know when it'll be your last chance. Live life with no regrets...worry less about the things that don't matter, that you can't control, and smile. Life is good.

love,

Sister Z.

2. THAILAND

3. Sister Yanisa being as adorable as ever!

4. "Inviting" water buffalo to be baptized.

It's a new world, it's a new start!

1. just some of the awesome people who have gotten baptized here recently.

2. we found Dr. Pepper!

3. we went to an aquarium a few p days ago...super fun!

สวัสดีปีใหม่! Hello, 2015 world!

So, a lot has happened since I last sent a weekly email...most significantly being eight baptisms, including a family that is so insanely prepared that they have even been gathering their family's names for years...when they found out that they can take their family names to the temple, they flipped. They're not actually our investigators, but the 11-year-old girl has adopted me as her older sister and we teach them too sometimes. They are sooo wonderful. This is why I'm here, to help teach and baptize families!

And of course, on Christmas I got to Skype my family! So good to see them all, and my kitty! I love my family and I'm so grateful for them and the sacrifices they have made and continue to make to enable me to be here serving a mission.

I also got an endoscopy two weeks ago, which was a scary but good experience which revealed that the stress I've been dealing with has caused some inflammation in my stomach and intestines which is what's been causing me all this pain. There isn't much that can be done while I'm living this lifestyle because it seems that the stress isn't going to go away, but if I regulate my diet I can decrease and even eliminate the pain.

President Senior gave me the choice, whether to stay or go home to recover. And after a ton of studying and praying and feeling unsure I finally just decided to stay. Because, really, I only have about 10 months left. That's not a lot of time! I can sleep when I get home. And since I've made that decision, my life has gotten easier. Not a lot easier, but I can feel divine help and prayers and love so much easier now. Which means, of course, that I've once again made the right decision.

I wish I had more time to tell some of the funnier stories that have happened this week. Maybe next week. We're off to go shopping and then we're having a snowball/nerf-gun fight at the church, and Sister Yanisa and I have no plans to lose. :)

Don't forget, you have a Heavenly Father who loves you infinitely more than you can imagine. He loves you just like you're His favorite kid in a billion. Don't give up. Don't stop moving forward. and don't forget that life is short...make it sweet.

Love,

Sister Z.