Note: Amber had some problems with the usb reader today so she couldn't send the pictures from this week. She will try again next week.
Hello from Chiang Mai!
This week has been great! I'm
kinda short on time today for emailing (our District is going on another
adventure in the mountains today!) but I will try to remember everything that I
need to say. :)
Last Monday we went to a wat in the
mountains - I think it was called Wat Suthaeb or something like that.
Thai words put into English letters gets weird sometimes.
Especially since c's are j's and k's are g's in romanized Thai. Our
favorite things are to see all the signs in English that just don't really make
sense. They use wrong words - basically its written like Thai
people speak - without articles and tenses. Or when they try to use
contractions (ends up looking like don'nt). It's pretty great. Anyways,
the wat was pretty high up in the mountains and it was sooo pretty. It
was the perfect day to go too. We could see for miles (or I guess
kilometers). And the air was so cool and clean - it was definitely a nice
change from the city! I'll try to include some pictures :)
One of my other favorite things to
do is to go to the grocery store and watch people shop. All the meat in
the stores are in huge refrigerated bins. They have tongs and buckets and
you just pick through the bin and get what you want then take it to the counter
to get it weighed. It's actually really gross. It smells like raw
meat and fish and as you walk by you see all various parts of animals. I
feel sorry for any vegetarians! But the best sight in the grocery store
is when people are buying durian. They smell them to see
which ones are good. Why in the world would you put your face that
close to a durian! They smell like...nastiness. And how does
smelling it really tell you which ones are good if they all smell bad...?
I don't really understand. But it made me laugh! They also
have weird cute-sy foods in the stores here. (Of course they do, I am in
Asia after all...). But they have these meatballs. They are cut
into different shapes and its kinda weird. They are colored too. So
they have Nemo shaped ones, and smiley face ones and just odd things. I
don't know how I would like that floating in my soup. Haha :)
This week was a great week for
contacting. I'm becoming so much more confident in my abilities. I
feel like I can understand at least 5% more than I could last week! I
still definitely get confused, and sometimes its just easier to pretend like I
know what they are saying and then hope I am not agreeing or confirming
something that I am going to regret later. :) But the Thai people
are SO incredibly patient. Since we are in a super touristy area the Thai
people that work here don't expect us to know Thai because we are fulong (the
slang word for white people, which is also the name for guava?). So the
best thing is when we are in stores and the Thai people start to talk about us.
Then we just speak Thai to them and they get a little embarrassed.
Or when we are contacting and we stop to talk to people and they are
shocked that fulongs can speak Thai too. They are even more surprised
when they find out that I only learned for 3 months and Sister Ng has only
learned for 5. It makes me feel better when they tell me I am gang
(skilled), even though I know they probably can't understand half of what I
say. Like I said, the Thai people are the nicest I've ever met. I
am pretty sure that's one reason Heavenly Father sent me here instead of
somewhere else. I think it's going to be extremely hard adjusting back
into life in the States. But I have a while before I really have to worry
about that. :) So anyways, back to contacting. We made some
really good contacts this week - several of which could have been our new
investigators, but they live in Bangkok, so we gave their names and numbers to
other missionaries in their areas. But it is the Lord's work all the
same! We have been praying to meet people who are prepared to receive it
and we have definitely seen that happen more and more this week. We did
our part, and they are still now in the Lord's hands. We know for sure he
will guide the missionaries to them, if they are not guided to the
missionaries.
The biking scene has definitely gone
better this week! We had to make a few minor adjustments to the bike (I
wasn't allowed to ride it around before we bought it so it ended up being a
little too big) and then the gears were being weird? My bike is just
causing me trouble. Anyways, we biked around quite a bit the past couple
days. It's been fun, except for when it rains. Then it feels good
but the roads are slippery and there's always big puddles you have to ride
through and then cars also splash you. Yep, the joys of bike riding in
Chiang Mai! :)
I found out this week that our Zone
(Chaing Mai, Chiang Rai, Phitsanaloog and another place I can't remember the
name of right now) has a baptism goal of 20 people for the month of September!
That is SO INSANE. But we are so excited! Right now we have
one investigator with a baptism date. She is a little hesitant but we are
trying our hardest to help her realize that she does have the strength and
faith to be baptized and to remain active. She has already had 2 set
baptism dates, but she feels really good about being baptized. We taught
her on Tuesday and she said that ever since the time we taught her last week
she has been thinking more and more about baptism. Like non stop.
And then she had a dream that she was going to Hong Kong. Her
friend/boyfriend who is a member told her it was because there was a temple
there! (It is the one people from Thailand primarily go to). We
showed her a picture of the temple and I think she really believes it all to be
true. So we are excited for her and to continue to work with her.
She really lives in Bangkok (or southern Thailand, I'm kinda confused
about the whole situation) and she has been planning to go back for a while,
but we are not really sure when that will happen. But we will see if we
have a baptism on the 14th of this month! Keep her in your prayers :)
Between our two branches we will have already had 3 baptisms by next
Saturday. We had one last night and I love seeing everyone gather to
support these people who are changing their entire lives to follow the example
of the Savior. This is what missionary work is all about!
We also taught Cookie again this
week. She had some concerns, and some difficult questions for us to
answer (partly because they were a little vague). She is seriously the
sweetest person and I am so glad that she is letting us teach her! It is
such a joy and privilege. Her friend who introduced her to us submitted
her mission papers this week! So we should find out soon where she is
going! :)
I love the members here and their
desire to serve. Another Recent Convert has such a strong desire, but so
many problems arise when they are not really citizens of Thailand. It is
hard for her to get a passport and fill out her paperwork because she is from
Myanmar/Burma. We also have a sweet family who want to get baptized so badly but
can't because it is not legal for her to marry her "husband" because
she's from Burma and he's a khon Thai. It's difficult but I know they
will be blessed for their strong desire to do what is right. My heart
hurts for them, but they are amazing people and I know God definitely has great
things in store for them.
One of our investigators (who has
already been baptized into another Christian church) brought one of her really
close friends to her lesson on Saturday! We taught her on Wednesday about
the necessity of the Priesthood in performing sacred ordinances. We felt
so bad because we were basically telling her that her first baptism didn't
really count. She looked thoughtful the entire lesson, but she said she
believed that the Priesthood is important, and that if it was real, baptism by
the proper authority would be necessary as well. We were a little afraid
she wouldn't want to learn from us anymore. It really is a big deal to
tell someone that. But we let the Spirit guide us in our words and
actions, and I believe that is why she agreed to meet with us again. And
she brought a friend!! We are so glad that she feels like she can trust us with
her friend, even after we had that hard but necessary lesson with her.
She was even helping us teach her friend how to pray! And they both
came to church yesterday, The work is definitely moving along!
Just a thought I had this week.
There are so many times during lessons where I have thoughts as to what
to say or do in a certain situation, but I am hardly ever brave enough to
assert myself into the middle of a conversation. I feel like that's just not
really who I am. But I realized that those thoughts, no matter how random
they may seem in the context of the conversation, are from God through the Holy
Ghost. Every time I don't say what I feel like I should I am withholding
a chance to help those we teach come closer to Christ, to find and resolve
concerns, and also to help me learn and grow. So little words of advice:
Be confident. Be bold. Never suppress a kind thought or
gesture. I'm going to try my hardest to act on every good thought I have
in order to help others and to show Heavenly Father that I will be an
instrument in His hands whenever he needs me to help His children. I am
so glad to be able to put on Christ's name every day. I love that people
see my tag and recognize who I am. When we walk past people look and say
to each other "Oh, Phrayeesuu" (Christ) because they recognize
who we represent and who we serve. I love it! I always feel safe
and protected, because I know that as long as I am doing what I am called to
do, He will always be with me. I know that I am never alone because I
have the Savior by my side. I want others to know that when they are
lonely or sad, they can always have someone to know exactly what they are going
through and that God is always listening. That is the message of hope and
love I am called to share with the people of Thailand, and I wouldn't have it
any other way! :)
I'm out of time, but I hope
everything is going well in the States! Until next week...
Love,
ชิสเตอร์ โนร์เรล
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