More Than Tree Sap: April 2014

Hello all!

This week was a hot one. Like really hot. Sweat dripping and lots of water drinking. Nonetheless, I wouldn't trade being a missionary in Thailand for anything in the world!

As you already know, this week we had transfers. No one in our District moved except for Elder Arne and Elder Schmitz (then serving in Thonburi). I don't like being one of the ones left behind...but we got a nice surprise! Our district has grown. Now we have 2 Elders in Thonburi, with 2 Sisters and FOUR Elders in Bangkhae. Yeah! We are so excited to have 4 Elders here. We are going to have a blast no doubt. Elder Pyne is training a greenie, straight from the States. But it isn't even fair. He's already awesome at Thai. He got 2 phone numbers in the first day! That's not just greenie power - that's great missionary power! The other two Elders are Elder Beatty (from my MTC group!) and Elder Gandun (in the same group as Sister Sawangwong - He's a native Thai). Like I said, we are going to have a blast!

Sister Gift got baptized yesterday! She was nervous, but she did it! And Elder Arne's first convert here in Thailand baptized her! He's 16, but apparently when he received the Priesthood, the person ordaining him didn't know how old he was, so he just made him a Teacher instead of a Priest...so there was a little drama with that, since no one knew it was a problem. But no worries, he was interviewed, ordained a priest, and baptized Sister Gift all before 2 pm Sunday. :) He was way excited! He only had to baptize her twice! He would have done perfectly had the water not started draining out as soon as we filled the font. Oops. The water was a little low and only her skirt was a little above the water. I'd say it was pretty good for Brother First's first time! :) Sister Gift is awesome. She even wants to be a missionary someday! I am so thankful that I can be the conduit of the Spirit that brings such conversion to children of God. I can guarantee you that it was not us that impressed her and left this desire with her!

In addition to that we got a new dater yesterday! Sister Lek. She's pretty awesome. She has a dat for the 18th, and I think she might even progress to the point where she could make it for the 11th. But I'll leave that up to Heavenly Father and I'll just keep on teaching.

This week seems like it was time for everyone to tell Sister Norrell all their personal problems. At first, it was starting to feel like a heavy burden, but then as I started seeing ways that I could always connect their problems back to the basics of the Gospel, it got a lot easier. I still am seeking a lot of direction on how to help each of them individually, but I have confidence that no matter what the problem, the purity and fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will help them.

Okay funny story time. So Saturday, we were teaching Sister Gift and we had some time before a meeting, so we decided to clean the church. We go to the supply closet and start sweeping and mopping the floors. Then Sister Sawangwong hears a noise like the stack of boxes is being pushed. We're all to scared to look - it's only us, Sister Natthaya,and Sister Gift at the church at the time. It doesn't seem like anything is back there but boxes and dusty air filters. Finally Sister Natthaya muster up our courage and decide to go look. I really don't see anything, but then we realize that the hole goes back way further than we thought. It's slanted because it is under the staircase. Certainly there was nothing back there in that narrow cubby space. But we look anyways. As I strain to see if anything is back there in the hot, humid, dark cubby space, I see something. It's the top of someone's head. We both scream run out. Perfect timing - the Elders are walking up. They go back and look. At first they say they see nothing, then all the sudden we hear "Sawadee Brother, thamalay tiinii...." (Hey Brother, what are you doing here?) Yeah. Harry Potter was just chilling in his cubby! We were there for like 30 minutes, which means he was probably there a lot longer than that. Creepy, yes. Expected...yeah pretty much. That's the 4th time we've found the same person. He likes to sleep in the church. I guess he's found all the good hiding spaces too... I just wonder what he was thinking the entire time we were talking about him... Oh well. Hopefully that's the last time we find him!

That's it for this week!

Love,

Sister Norrell

Hello all,

I am emailing later today because we went out to see some sights today! It is the last P-day before transfers (Thursday) and Elder Arne really wanted to go to Pra Ram 9, or the King's Palace. So that's where we went! It was so much fun! We went with 3 members and our investigator that is getting baptized on Sunday. It was very pretty - it almost makes me want to learn more about Greek mythology! It was really hot too...but that's pretty typical for Thailand. :)

This week was interesting. We found out today that the only people moving from our district are Elder Arne and Elder Schmitz in Thonburi. They are the only ones that have been here longer than 1 transfer. The rest of us are pretty relieved to not have to pack everything up again. Plus we will be here for Sister Gift's baptism on Sunday! She came to church for the first time yesterday and she loves it. She is so thankful that she met us when she did, otherwise she wouldn't know where she would be in life. That's the kind of people we need to find - the ones looking for happiness but can only find it in superficial and worldly ways. But she knows where she wants to be right now, and that is exactly where she is going to stay. She's only 17, 18 next month, but she's wiser beyond her years. She's a little scared to get baptized - she thinks whoever baptizing her won't be able to lift her out of the water, which is ridiculous because she's tiny, but we keep telling her that it is all going to be okay. Just keep praying! It is really always the answer. :)

So Easter...Saturday the Branch President calls us at around 10:15 - only 15 minutes of language study then we're out the door. He asks to speak to me, and in those few moments he gives me the assignment to give a talk in Sacrament meeting about Easter. For 15 minutes. Originally he planned for me and another member to speak for 7 minutes each, but the other member couldn't come, so he gave me all 15 minutes. I tried to volunteer Sister Sawangwong to be the other 7 minute speaker, but he wasn't budging. Sister Sawangwong thought it was funny, and she said that when I got home I would have to give a 30 minute talk (which I don't believe to be normal at all), and that 15 minutes is nothing. Right, the time is fine, but the language...its sometimes hard to just fill time. In my mind, this is my way of controlling how long the meeting goes, because normally all 3 blocks are over about 30 minutes... of course I accepted the call! Originally I thought I would speak about the Plan of Salvation, but in my 30 minute preparation before calling all of our investigators Sunday morning, I felt that I shouldn't speak about that. And even then I still didn't really know what I was going to speak about. I had time to look up a few words I didn't know, and that's about it. I'm standing at the pulpit, I give my talk, and totally just have to rely on the grace and ennobling power of the Atonement. Here's a little what I talked about - what Easter means to me!

1) Because Christ lives, we can be cleansed from sin

- Baptism is the only way! And then we renew our covenants each week by taking the sacrament.

2) Because Christ lives, we can be confident in all things

- We don't have to worry about the storms of life when we have the Savior as our foundation

3) Because Christ lives, the Gospel of Jesus Christ in it's fullness has been restored to the earth again

- It is because of His sacrifice for our sins

4) Because Christ lives, we never have to be alone in life

- We have a Savior that understands us perfectly, even when other people can't.

5) Because Christ lives, we too will live again with our families for eternity!

- All things are possible through Christ, even the Resurrection and uniting of our bodies and souls after this life, taken to live with God and our families for eternity, if we live our lives worthy to receiving this blessing.

Overall, I was thankful for the opportunity to speak on Easter Sunday. It was a special privilege - and more especially because we had 3 investigators who were there for the first time. One was Sister Gift, the other two were people I had met just Saturday. The Lord was very merciful to us this week, and I am so thankful for all His many blessings! Plus, one of the Elders' investigators - Brother Joseph from Africa, said that I was a very good preacher and that I should peruse it even after I finish my mission...and that's when we had to explain to him that we don't have women preachers, or really preachers at all. He was a little confused, but I still felt goof that he was impressed with my "preaching". :)

Weird experience - Saturday I woke up just feeling really stressed and worried about something. I still have no idea what caused it but I couldn't shake it. And I certainly didn't feel like I could go throughout my day feeling that way. So I called the Elders and asked for a Priesthood blessing. They gave it to me, and it seemed like everything just got a million times clearer. It gave me the strength I needed to go out and work - to bring souls to Christ. I felt like the hole in my heart was immediately filled to the brim with the love of the Savior for me, and with the power of His Atonement. I feel confident in the power of the Priesthood. It is the means by which Christ's disciples performed miracles, it is the means of our salvation. It truly is the power of God on earth today, that was restored through the Prophet Joesph Smith. It is the means and authority of acting in God's name on earth. Without it, we can't truly be cleansed from sin, we can't be counted as members of God's kingdom on earth or in heaven, and we couldn't perform saving ordinances for ourselves or for the dead in the temples, including that of being sealed eternally as families. How grateful I am for this power! It helped me once again this day to have the stamina to work, and comfort was immediately spoken to my soul when other sources seemed to have failed. How fortunate we are to have this blessings available to us in this day and age!

Lots of pictures this week from our adventures!

Us soaking wet in Siam Square - during Song Khran of course!

After Song Khran at Central World - we were soaking wet and freezing!

Us with Sister Natthaya inviting outside of Big C!

At Wat Pra 9 - the first is us at the entrance...furongs have to pay 500 baht while natives get in free. They even separate you in two lines to go in. This is us: Sister Sawangwong- full Thai. Elder Arne - Half Thai. Me - Quarter Thai. Elder Pyne - all white. We cover the whole scope! Too bad it isn't based on this - they only care about your citizenship card. But we just thought to take a moment to commemorate the time we had to pay 500 Baht to do something we might have been able to do for free.