March Madness is over!

Well everyone, the test is over and turns out we actually passed!

Last week after finding out Sing may not get back from Cambodia in time to get baptized, we started praying super hard that things would just work out.  We talked to the Zone Leaders and they were completely willing to do anything for Sing to get baptized on Sunday.  Even if he came back Sunday morning, they were completely willing to come from Asoke (about 1 1/2 hours depending on traffic) t interview him.  Oh, the lives missionaries live.  Always slightly stressed, but more than anything, just relying on God and the power of prayer.  Wednesday we tried calling him but his phone wasn't working, so we just assumed he had already left.  Then he called us back and told us that he wasn't going.  Turns out it wasn't actually necessary to go right then to pick up his visa, and that at that point he didn't have enough money to go anyways.  Well, even though we prayed for him to get back in time, our prayer was answered by his decision to just not go.  Wow, sometimes it is just as simple as that.

He interviewed on Saturday night, passed, and then was baptized by Elder Arne on Sunday after church!  Sing is so awesome. He just explained that he felt happier and closer to God than he ever had before.  It seems like only yesterday I was talking to him for the first time on the street, inviting him to go to church as a response to his longing to belong somewhere.  He surely has a place of belonging now - a Branch family and a member of God's family.  Seeing him go down in the water made all the hard work so much sweeter.  Sister Natthaya asked me before what my favorite part of being a missionary is, and I will have to say that this is what it is all about.  I do love seeing people with a new found light and purpose in life, making changes, coming closer to Christ and repenting.  It all does have worth and eternal importance.  But what are faith and repentance without the next necessary steps of baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  That is the pattern established by God for His children - the only way that we can return to live with him again.  Those 30 seconds of that person standing in the waters of baptism, with someone holding the proper Priesthood authority, being fully immersed and coming out, being a clean person with a new life.  Nothing could make the work we do each day any more rewarding.  

That is the real missionary purpose.

So in regards to companions: I now have my 3rd companion for this transfer, and hopefully it won't change for a while.  I am now companions with Sister Sawangwong - a native Thai from Ubon.  She has been out just 3 or 4 weeks less than I have, but of course she's already better at the language than me...  ;)  She's awesome! We have so much fun.  Man, I am so lucky!  :)

With my new companion Sister Sawangwong in front of the church

Last Day with Sister Holmes

Well... I think that is about it.  Yeah.  I love being a missionary!

Love,

Sister Norrell

A member from Chiang Mai came with her parents to our branch today (She is at home in Asoke for school break.)

Our new desks

Just having fun

Sometimes travel can be scary, ok not really!

We got cotton candy from a RC, Yay!

No smooth sailing!

Well, it is past testing week, except we still don't know what our grades are and we technically are still in the middle of testing. This whole week was spent doing crazy things. Ultimately our goal was to get as many new people at church on Sunday as possible, that way they can qualify for baptism on next Sunday. Yep, that's right. We have investigators that are so ready they can be baptized after a week. That's the state of Thailand - God really is hastening his work. The normal learning time for investigators is no longer 2-3 months before the "big commitment". Now, it is less than a month. It is really just insane, but it is what God wants here, and it really does work. You only have to find the prepared people!

 

They are out there. We did a lot of contacting this week in preparation for Sunday. Well the last half of the week we did anyways. The first half was a lot of traveling. My companion, Sister Stack, is sick so she is currently in Asoke recovering. I received my new companion on Wednesday, and after that we were off to work. I am companions with Sister Holmes from Sandy Utah. She just barely finished training, but she is so awesome. She motivates me, even though daytime contacting is just rough. There's no where to go that has lots of people, but we did it, and we will soon be reaping the rewards! We are not really sure how long this switch will take place...maybe we will know some more today? At first we were told 2-3 days and she was told she was moving permanently, then only for 2-3 weeks, then 2-3 days. It has now been, what, 5 days? Yeah, that's the life of a missionary for ya. Always on your toes yet trying to keep your feet firmly planted in the work or the area. It's an odd balance I don't know that anyone ever gets the hang of.

 

Investigators this week were great. We are really looking forward to having 3 baptisms this next week. Please pray for this! Our investigators are so good, they just need an extra little push...from above.

- Ched - He was going to get baptized yesterday, but he isn't legally married to his fiance and they are living together. He says to move out would be against Thai culture. I say that to live together without being married is against God's commandments. He knows the right choice, he just needs approval from his family first. Pray for him!

- Sing - He is a Cambodian man we met last week. He said that he had Christian friends in Cambodia but has since lost touch. He said he was lonely and looking for a place to belong. He's seen the missionaries around and always wondered what we were doing, but was too approach us and ask. Thankfully, the Spirit guided me to talk to him. It was a clear impression - "talk to him". And he wants to get baptized! His problem - he is picking up his visa on the 28th, so he couldn't get baptized this past week, but we are praying for this next Sunday to be his day!

- Gii - a girl that just showed up yesterday to church from a simple street invite to church. We are teaching her officially for the first time today! (She still has a date for this coming up Sunday! :)

 

Wow. Things are going good so far. We're praying hard and working hard - there's no better combination!

 

Funny quotes from this week:

 

"Can I give you my phone number?" - Street contact that works at Toyota. That never happens! He also bought us Nom Yen (pink bubble gum flavored milk) while we taught him the Word of Wisdom. In his own words: "How are you able to work if you don't drink Coffee every morning??"

 

"I want to help with your missionary work! If you ever need help just call me! I'll grab my Bible and I'll be ready to go!" - Kingsley - a guy from Camaroon that we met. He is here as an evangelist and he really wants to help us (missionary work is his passion!). He is having a hard time because he doesn't speak Thai, only English. Our reply to his question: "Well, you could start by getting baptized..."

 

"We are going the wrong way!" - Yeah, that's right we got kinda lost. I knew where we were, just not how to get back. I thought it was the right SongTaew! But nope, we were soon turning left and onto the freeway. We were in the middle of inviting people to get baptized, then I realized what was happening. We stopped the songtaew, asked people where to go, went across the highway, and headed back home. Yeah, exciting things. Of course they were all probably just judging the lost Furongs. And of course that would be right after the Zone Leaders called to check up on us to see how we were doing and if we were getting around okay... I guess I needed a humbling experience...

 

There are plenty more I am sure, but I'll save them for another day. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Norrell

Another week in the neighborhood

Well this is awkward.  I just typed this email and then accidentally deleted it.  Here's the watered down version...again. Technology- love it and hate it all at the same time!

Things I love hearing from street contacts:  "What day can I get baptized?"  "What time?"  "What do I have to do?"  "I'm pregnant...can I still do it?" Of course you can! 

Awesome miracle of the week:  Even though we were out of our area for about 3 days this week, we were still amazingly blessed by the Lord.  Yesterday we had 5 investigators at church - 3 of which want to get baptized really soon.  As in this month.  YEAH!  We had a goal for 6, we already had one.  Only 5 more to go, and we still have another week of great finding opportunities.  

One girl that came - Boat - is just awesome crazy prepared.  She has some doubts about what her family will think, but it will all work out.  I actually contacted into her when I first came to Bangkhae.  She is adorable - 22 and finishing school this next month.  Yesterday she was just telling me that she has had some experienes in her life where she just knew God was real.  She told God that when she had the opportunity, she would do anything to take advantage of it.  She started studying about religions, and then she met us.  GOLDEN.

I love this.  I love people wanting it.  I love talking to EVERYONE.  Literally everyone, and inviting them to change their lives and be cleansed from sin.  What greater joy is there than the rejection and then the soon following success?

Other fun story - I reached my "hump day"!  I am officially "over the hill" in mission age.  Weird.  I only have 9 months left.  Then sometimes it is more like "I still have to do 9 more months of this?" (That usually is only a 6:30 am deal...).  But yep.  I am officially half-way done.  So weird.  And I think the longer time goes by, the more Thai I am starting to look.  Everyone is like "You're from America!  You don't look like it!"  Yep, that's right.  I'm a real Asian now.  ;)

 

9 months complete and 8 more to go!

I had a moment this week where I thought I was in America.  We were in Asoke and we found a really hi-so place to go eat.  It was Au Bon Pain - a place I used to see all the time I was in the Dallas Airport.  Weird.  Then you look at the menu - everything has hot dogs in it.  All the drinks are bright green from all the green tea.  And they sell passion fruit mango and aloe vera shakes.  Welcome to Thailand my friends.  But on the bright side - they had REAL BAGELS.  What???  Heaven.

Yeah...sorry not much time left, but next week it will be better!

Love,

Sister Norrell

Rejection is sweet!

So this week was hard.  It is always hard as a missionary, but it is even harder when Satan knows you're close to succeeding.  This week our District, 2 Bangkhae Elders, 2 Bangkhae Sisters and 2 Thonburi Elders made our District goal for number of baptisms this month.  We, in the month of March, are planning for 20 baptisms.  That is UNHEARD of in this area.  But we are going to make it happen.  But with high goal setting comes hard work and lots of temptation and trials from the Adversary.  Satan knows that we can do it and that we are going to try our hardest to get there, so he will try anything he can to distract us or keep us from meeting our goal.

We prayed so hard to have 2 people baptized this week.  We had such faith that it would happen, but ultimately they used their agency and it didn't happen this week.  But we will have this week, and even the rest of the month to make it happen.  Ultimately it came down to what other people will think.  Right now, they just aren't willing to make the sacrifice, or to step outside of their comfort zones.  One sister's father said he wouldn't talk to her anymore if she changed religions.  The other is just afraid to give up what he's known and done his entire life - and he's afraid of his family.  I just wish that I could help them see how minuscule those problems are in the grand scheme of things.  I just wish I could help them have the faith and courage it takes to stand up for what they have come to know is right.  I know it is hard, but I also have come to know more and more how much it will really bless their lives and how important, and crucial it really is not only in this life but for eternity.  This preparatory and probationary state is so short - I just wish they would use their time more wisely!

Yes, we got rejected a lot this week, but no matter what, when we have faith, good things do come.  Even if they are not what we expect, they still come.  Like the fact that a new investigator came to church on Sunday even though she didn't seem like she was going to.  Or the fact that we are just being blessed with random people showing up.  Like last night we get a phone call from a 17 year old girl, asking if we called her friend's phone.  I have no idea, we call way too many phone numbers every day, I don't remember who I called.  But she said that she lives pretty close and that she's really interested in becoming a Christian.  It was weird being called "Pii"  which means that I am older than her.  (I just call everyone that because distinguishing Thai people's ages is impossible.)  Anyways, she really wants to come to church and see how it is.  We really are excited that she is interested and we just hope that she will have time to come!  See - unexpected miracle right there.  Good things do come out of the faith we exercise.  We didn't have 2 people baptized this past week, but there's always more miracles just waiting around the corner.  When things are at their hardest, we can know that we are almost to the reward for our faithful endurance!

I don't have lots of time left, but know that I love you all!  We are going bowling...Mom, feel free to laugh.  Even in Thailand I can't escape it!  :P  But I don't think Khon Thais can bowl either, so I might be pro in comparison!  ;)

Love you!

Sister Norrell

Another week in Bangkok

Hello all,

We had the awesome privilege of being able to go to Asoke yesterday and meeting with Bishop Stevenson, the Presiding Bishop of the entire church. It was so cool. He explained some about the process of missionaries being assigned to their missions. They see your face, and a little info about you, but other than that it is just pure inspiration. The members of the Quorum of the Twelve have explained it to be the clearest and most direction they receive. Sometimes they think about the mission president in the missions, or sometimes they think about what the missionary will be like after finishing their mission in a certain place...

 

I am just so glad that I was sent to the best mission in the world, with the best mission president in the world. I believe that there are people waiting for missionaries to come see them and invite them. That's all it takes.

This week was just amazing. We got to teach, find, and get rejected. Lots of each, every day. I definitely had a strengthened testimony this week about inviting, though. I have been thinking a lot about the salvation of souls. This week I have come to desire it more than I have my entire mission, I believe. I studied a lot about the saving of the righteous, and just bringing people to the knowledge of the error of their ways, to their need of repentance. So many people tell us that they don't sin, so why do they need to get baptized?

 

Usually when we contact, or invite, we stand outside the Big C near our house. There are soo many people going in and out, we just talk to hundreds a night. Most avoid you, look at you like you are crazy for saying that it is possible to be clean from sin, and walk away quickly. But I did have an experience Saturday night where people just came to me. I was standing talking to crowds of people just passing by. I was talking to a couple of girls, when all the sudden this one just comes out of no where. Her name is Boat, and she wants to get baptized. There's the one. The one that will hear the Shepherd's voice even when I wasn't even directly talking to her.

There was another. We walked up to a group of people and asked if they wanted to change religions. There were about 5 women that just laughed and said no. Then there was this one guy off to the side who said that he wanted to. The women just stopped in astonishment. Another of God's sheep, willing to come to the fold. I am thankful for these people. The prepared.

 

We did have a baptism this week! Pum. He's an awesome kid (17 years old) who was so prepared. And the best part - his parents were able to come to the baptism last minute! So many tender mercies. So many miracles. I love being a missionary!

 

Love,

Sister Norrell