I brought my umbrella!

Hello!  
So this week, although we had a ton of rain, I still kinda felt like I was in a spiritual drought.  Not that I was spiritually weak, but rather I felt like I had exhausted all my reserves - I felt like I did everything I possibly knew how to do and worked as hard as I thought I could, and still it seemed like nothing came out of it.  I wasn't changing my expectations - if anything, I raised my expectations because I felt like we were working that much harder.  But nothing.  I felt like we were in a drought.  I felt like I received a lot of guidance this week through my studies and also from my companion.  She shared a lot of things that I really needed to hear.  One of which was this quote by Richard G Scott: 

"When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Prov. 3:11- 12). He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain."

I think I felt that stretching a lot this week, and even over the past couple months.  But I was still trying my hardest.  I felt like I couldn't possibly be getting punished, because I wasn't disobedient...so that only left one other solution - it was time for me to grow.

I also read a story this week about the early pioneers in Utah.  They were going through a drought and their crops were at stake. The members in the area got together to fast for the rain to come. The Saints gathered one last time at the end of their fast to say a prayer of desperation and need for the rain.  As one family prepared to go, the daughter, around 5 years old at the time, ran back inside to get something she forgot.  She came back out with a bag.  As the party gathered in the field to pray said the final "Amen" the rain started to fall.  All the people ran for shelter as the rain got heavier.  All left, leaving only the bishop and the little girl standing in the field.  She asked, "Bishop, do you want to share my umbrella?"  She was the only one that brought an umbrella, even though they were praying with all their faith that it would rain.  

Good thing we brought our umbrellas!  ;)

We were so blessed this week.  I felt like I hit my lowest point on Saturday, Sunday morning, things didn't seem to look too much brighter, and then Sunday afternoon/evening comes.

We have been working with an investigator - a referral from Sister Eye and Sister Jane from about 2 weeks ago.  She's 17 and adorable.  We met her 3 times this week, and she really wants to get baptized - only problem is getting parent permission.  But she has such great faith.  She always has experiences of when she has felt like she needed to pray - for example, like her wanting to pray to help her dad quit smoking after she learned the Work of Wisdom.  How much she loves the Law of Chastity because she sees how much her friends have been in trouble because of breaking it (she no longer sees sexual sin as an acceptable thing!).  She had a friend pass away from cancer this week, right after we taught her the Plan of Salvation, and she felt so happy knowing that he wouldn't just go to hell, like other people had told her.  But rather, he would also have the opportunity to learn and accept the Gospel.  She reads the pamphlets we give her to her family, "as loud as I can", she says.  Her dad was a little more lenient on letting her become Christian, especially since he has seen a change in her (how committed she is, and also how she is dressing more modestly).  And then yesterday, she didn't come to church, because she had to do something with her family.  But she already told her dad that she is going next week for sure!

So Sunday.  Sister Mamea and I are planning, and she calls us.  She says "Sister, I really need to talk to you.  Are you at the church?"  It sounded urgent, and it really freaked us out.  We thought it was the end!  So we hurry to the church, get a member, and then run in a room and talk.  We even forgot to pray first because I really just wanted to know what was going to happen!
So she is at home, and she feels like reading the Book of Mormon and praying.  She does.  Then she has the impression to go and talk to her dad again about getting baptized.  She does, and then her mom also comes in, and AGREES TO LET HER GET BAPTIZED!  She called us immediately!  I was stunned.  I didn't know what else to say.  I could only smile.  Good thing we brought our umbrellas.  ;)  If we have faith that we will receive, shouldn't we also be prepared to receive the blessings, whenever it is that they should come?  :)  She's getting baptized in September!  
It was a great week!!!!! :)

Love, 
Sister Norrell


Pictures:
Weird things you see in Thailand.

Bike theft prevention. 

So we live in the Elder's old house.  And then we found this blanket.  We decided not to use it.  :P 

We ate some Korean bbq...or something like that...with the members.  Totally would be illegal and against so many health regulations it is not even funny.  Pretty sketchy here too...I probably shouldn't eat that any more. 

Wouldn't you like to use this toilet?  It had a feature for spraying water and drying, and heating the seat.  After coming out, I told Sister Mamea I felt like Buddy the Elf when he sees the ginormous toilets "Have you seen these toilets??  THEY'RE HIGH SO!" Haha.  The lives we live as missionaries. 

Sunday!  

Sister Lam, Sister Grathaay กระต่าย (rabbit), and I.  :) 

Sister Mamea, Sister Loogbla  ลูกปลา (baby fish), Sister Jane, and I. 

Another week in Bangkapi!

Hello!
This week was so good!  We had some great training from President and Sister Senior, had many many hours of contacting, got hot and sweaty and even rained on at some times.  It was fun!  Sister Mamea and I love the work here!
I think this week we learned a lot about being better teachers and being more prepared to be able to teach any investigator with any kind of concern, no sweat.  A lot of our focus this week was on improving ourselves so that we can be prepared to do what the Lord requires of us.  
On Thursday we received a great training in which we had a Zone companionship study.  It was great!  President and Sister Senior were our "Senior Companions" as you will and led us in a discussion about teaching people and not just lessons.  I learned a lot about it, and took a lot of notes about what we needed to improve on.  A lot of it goes back to asking inspired questions in order to discover people's backgrounds, expectations, and concerns.  I realized that instead of looking for people without concerns who were ready to be baptized, we should instead be looking for those that the Lord has prepared for us, regardless if they have concerns or not, and then I should just learn to improve my teaching so that we can accurately and appropriately address people's concerns.  :)  I never expected this work to be easy, and it certainly has lived up to that expectation!  However, with the Lord's help, improved teaching skills, and the ability to discern people's real needs, we don't have to worry because Christ helps lighten our burdens.
This week was so good in that we got 4 new investigators!  3 of which were a referral from Sister Eye - they all go to the same school as her.  Apparently everyone at her school knows that she is Christian (which is a big thing here in Thailand) and always asks her questions, but sometimes she isn't sure if they are sincere.  But here are 3 great girls who are actually really interested in Christianity.  The only problem they have is that their families aren't really supportive.  But with the new training we received we had a greater vision of what we needed to do to understand them, and it went great!  It is amazing how much asking questions to better understand someone can really help them feel that you love them and that you really want to help them come unto Christ.
I also realized from this experience, really how much members and missionaries must work together.  We are preparing for an open house on the 31st and the members made little fliers, then gave 2 to each member with instructions to pray about 2 of their friends that they could invite to come learn more about our church.  I realized that no matter who we are - youth, adult, missionary, member - we always have a responsibility to help the Lord's work of salvation so that it can reach every nation, kindred, tongue, and people!
And this is why:  (2 Nephi 2:6-9)
6 Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.
 7 Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.
 8 Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah,who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.
 9 Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved.
He is the reason - even Jesus Christ himself.  He is the reason we are here, and the reason that we can return to live in the presence of our Heavenly Father again, with our eternal families.  Is there no greater reason to be a disciple of Jesus Christ than Jesus Christ himself?  Certainly God has placed people in our paths who need to be brought to know of the knowledge of their  Savior and Redeemer, for no person can return except they shall receive Him, repent of their sins, and keep His commandments.  Christ already suffered for each of us.  He payed the price of sin.  
Part of keeping the covenants we make when we are baptized is to repent and serve Him to the end.  That is the whole purpose of this life - so why no live it up to the fullest?  Our personal salvation and the salvation of those around us is not just a personal work.  It is impossible to keep our covenants and be alone in this work - unless we are actively working with others to bring about God's eternal purposes, we cannot possibly be keeping our covenants.  It is God's work and His glory "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  Certainly, He needs our help to do this too.  Otherwise, He wouldn't need missionaries!
 11 And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance,which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls. (Helaman 5:11)
Each of us can be God's angels to those around us.  Become a blessing in someone else's life by just caring more sincerely and acting on the promptings you receive to share.  God will not fail us in this work - we only need to try our hardest and He will make up for the rest!  Don't short-change yourself by not living up to your eternal potential.  :)
Love you all,
Sister Norrell

God never ceases to SURPRISE!

Hello all! 
This week was...cray cray.
But really!  We went to the crocodile farm on Monday, and that was fun.  We all made it out alive - all of our body parts still intact.  I wish I could say the same for the performers...
Just kidding.  :)

We also got THE CALL #1.  I was moving, and Elder Wheeler and Elder Johnson were moving to Bangkapi.  SURPRISE!  We thought there would be more moving than that...but nope!  Small and simple!

Tuesday: We had to go to Jaengwattana to do visa work for Sister Ng.  Between that, packing, and English class, we had no time to do anything.
And, while we were in Jaengwattana, we got another phone call.  THE CALL #2.  I got called to be a trainer for a new missionary coming in!  I immediately had a rush of a million different emotions all at the same time.  Excitement, curiousity, nervousness...but overall, I just felt peaceful because I knew it was a calling that I received from God.

Wednesday: We had the training meeting for trainers.  (Redundant...maybe.  Informative...yes.  Pressure is on...most definitely!)  I wasn't really nervous until the meeting, when they told us that this is the most important calling in the mission, and that the new missionary's mission and the rest of their life depended on their trainer... After getting up at 4:30, getting to Asoke, and then traveling back, packing... we were EXHAUSTED.

Thursday:  Transfers meeting!  The BIG DAY!  It was crazy.  Sister Crockett finished her mission, along with a lot of other Sisters.  So weird.  But then we had 14 new missionaries come!  So it wasn't that sad.  Sister Jackson and Sister Ellis were both training too. I love them!  We were all in the same boat, wondering which new missionary would be our new companion!  I don't think I was even scared about my new companion - I was more concerned about the fact that we were whitewashing and training.  Which means we were going to be moving in with completely new slates, not knowing the area or the people in it.  And training.  Scary?  Yes.  But luckily, we didn't have to go very far - Just to Bangkapi. Yep STILL IN BANGKOK!  Just on the other side of it!  (east instead of west).  And my companion is Sister Mamea from Hawaii.  She's a boss.  I love her!  She's so self-motivated and already so good at speaking Thai.  She's already 10 steps ahead of me than where I was as a new missionary!  I don't know how I got so lucky!

Funny part about moving to Bangkapi...almost everyone I have served with has served here and LOVED IT.  It is a ward (the first one I have served in in Thailand...and dang does it function SUPER WELL.).  No one knew there were going to be 2 sets of Sisters coming...so when I found the other set they were like "Our house is way too small... guess we will have to switch with the Elders!"  So the Elders moved out of their house that same day and we moved into their super sweet high so house that they just moved into 5 weeks ago.  (It was still clean... I was really impressed!)  So it is the nicest house I have ever seen for missionaries in Thailand.  One of the bathrooms even has a shower curtain.  :D  I feel so spoiled.  Mind you, our air didn't work, so the first night we sweat to death, the second night we were cold and on the floor, and the third, we got it right with our new fixed air conditioning.  Little cold, but it was so good!

I love training.  It really is a sacred responsibility from the Lord.  I don't know how I get so lucky!

Favorite scripture of the week:  Doctrine and Covenants 68:6
 6 Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.

Love you all!  Keep going strong.
Sister Norrell

Pictures:
We went to the crocodile farm last P-day in Nakorn Baptom.  They had an awesome elephant show, complete with dancing elephants, war, and explosives.  All part of the show, folks!

Dancing Elephants!  SO CUTE!  
And we may all be missionaries...but in reality we are all just 19, 20, and 21 year olds.  Is that excuse enough for still playing on the monkey bars?

That first one was our first Sunday at church!

Us and our weekly Sunday night follow up conference call.  Yep, our phone is in that bowl because we couldn't hear a thing.

I got called to be a trainer...
This is me after waking up at 4:30am to go to a training meeting in Asoke and then traveling all the way back and getting there around 12.  Then we still had a full day ahead of us.  Mainly of packing up ALL my stuff.  Good thing I never really unpacked in the first place...  :D

Me and Sister Mamea - my new new companion!  :)

Silly pictures of us on P-day and spending time with Sister Ng!

21 แล้ว

Hello!
So besides feeling a little more creeky around the joints, being 21 is good!  Not too different, but good.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes!
This week was full of wonderful birthday surprises.  It all starts with Monday when Sister Ellis and I were minding our business on a song taew, eating our half of McDonald's fries, when the phone rings.  Sister Ellis answers and at first I think she is just talking to our English investigator, but then she is acting too happy for it to be him or the Zone Leaders, or the Elders, or the Sister Training Leaders...so who in the world is she speaking English to??  And then her face changes, and she looks confused and concerned all at the same time, while still trying to keep face.  Then she says "Wait?  Who is moving?...Yeah, she's right here" and hands the phone to me.  WHAT?  The screen lights up and I see who called.  The Big Man himself:  President Senior.  He says "You are getting a new companion.  Sister Ng is going to come tomorrow morning to be with you."  I was so confused - where is Sister Ellis going?  Turns out, Sister MacDermott is coming from Chiang Mai to be her temporary companion, for about 10 days.  No one is moving, technically.  He says "There will be 4 of you.  Can you make it work?"  I must have sounded unsure, because then he says "good, because you are going to have to make it work!"  We go home, prepare our house for 2 more Sisters, try to figure out what the heck is going on...no one knows.  The other Sisters call to confirm plans.  No one still knows.  The Assistants to the President call, and they are asking us for information.  Absolutely no one knows what is going on!  
My thoughts:  Do I need more monitoring?  What did I do wrong?  What is going to happen?  Where are we going to sleep?  Way too many thoughts and lots of confusion. But it is good confusion, because I get to be with Sister Ng again!  :)
Tuesday comes, and we are all together!  The other 2 run off and do their "Top Secret Mission" errands.  We come home and they are packing and getting ready to leave.  They said they'll be back in a couple days!  Since then (Wednesday), we haven't seen them.  We kinda know where they are, but overall, we are all just really curious as to what is going to happen this next transfer!  :P 

This week, it has been nice to have Sister Ng around to help balance me out.  I feel like there are several reasons we are together (I had a feeling we would be companions again last transfer!).  But as to what those reasons are, I really don't know.  :P  But all of it just worked out way too conveniently.  I was supposed to move last transfer, and I didn't.  She moved to the international branch in Asoke, which is like 1 hour away from where I am.  There are lots of little things that are just too coincidental to be coincidence.
It is fun being together again.  It is like my greenie times, except I am not so green anymore.  And she is going home in just 6 weeks!  But it is funny that we still cherish the same things we did when we were in Chiang Mai - good food and lots of talking - from morning to evening we are talking, and eating only the best food.  Which means I will be broke, even sooner than I was last month!  But it is worth it to eat good  :)
This week I learned a little something about our potential. We learn in D&C 93:29 that "Man was also in the beginning with God."  
We lived with God before the world was, and before we lived here with our bodies, our spirits were with God.  We can't remember that time that we spent there, but surely we grew in light and knowledge, but it could not be complete without coming to earth to gain a body.  
In the latest General Conference, President Uchtdorf talked about our potential: "We are truly sons (and daughters) of the Most High and are endowed with unspeakable potential. We are designed to soar freely through the heavens. We are not meant to be shackled to the earth, imprisoned in straitjackets of our own making." He also spoke about a young man who, when he received his patriarchal blessing, saw himself as the valiant and influentially righteous person he was in this premortal existance.  How can we really forget?  But we do!  We can't remember, but this short time in mortality is the time for us to learn and realize it and also to live up to it. This really made me think.  I know that once we die, and stand before the judgement bar, we will remember everything - all our joy and all our sin.  No one is exempt.  Yet, in this life, it is nearly impossible to see and live up to our potential and all that we are actually capable of.  Our flesh makes us weak, and though we are constantly battling to overcome it with the help from Christ's Atonement, we will not reach our full potential until after this life - until after we prove ourselves faithful.  

As I was studying this morning, I came across a favorite scripture in Alma 37, verses 6-7. 
" 6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.
 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

I think that all too often we sell ourselves short.  We think that perhaps we don't have the power to make a difference, or we may see our circle of influence as something minuscule and insignificant.  But that is not true!  God knows what we are capable of, and if we come unto Him we will be shown what we can really do.  It doesn't have to be anything large, and I think that is what I struggle with.  I want to see all the results now, or I want to see that I am doing a good job now.  I want it to be immediate, but then I forget that sometimes I need to focus on the people that did show up instead of the ones that didn't show up.  Or sometimes I just need to remember that the foundation we are building is not one that you will see immediately.  It takes time.  But through our small but not insignificant efforts, the Lord doth confound the wise and bring about the salvation of many souls.  Isn't it an amazing work that He does and allows us to take part in? :)

Love you all!  Transfers is this week, so we will see where I am next week!
Sister Norrell

Pictures:
Birthday pictures!  A member bought me a swenson's ice cream cake that we chowed down on after English Class. 

My friend...he must like me because he doesn't run away! 

My present from Sister Ellis.  How does she know me so well? 

Me and Sister Nat with our rambutan mustaches. 

We went to Sunrise Tacos in Terminal 21 after a meeting in Asoke.  They had an "All you can eat" deal going on...  this is a picture of Elder Hartung before he ate his last taco... #24 and 2 pieces of Pie.  Sadly, that wasn't even the record!  The real record was 39 tacos and 9 pieces of pie - by a girl.  But according to all the missionaries, he was the new record!  We want to get is started in the mission news letter...  haha 

We found a cup stacking competition.  Lots and lots of kids, and lots and lots of cups.  I didn't know it was that intense of a sport... but this is Thailand... 

Me and my "new" companion, Sister Ng!