Hello all!
This scripture described my week! I read it on Tuesday and since then I have been seeing nothing but fulfillment of the promises He has promised.
3 Nephi 1:8, 12-14
8 But behold, they did watch steadfastly for that day and that night and that day which should be as one day as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been vain.
12 And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:
13 Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.
14 Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.
This week I learned a lot about the Lord's timing (as I feel like I do almost every week...). There were a lot of blessings being poured out upon our heads - we felt so filled that we were about to burst! On Thursday we got a phone call from an investigator that we didn't remember. He said that he and his friend were on their way to the church right then. We felt a little frantic because they speak English (they are from Pakistan) and they were both male and we could think of no one to help us teach on such short notice. We ended up having to wait outside the church for someone else to come (missionary rules...). When our member got there, we taught them basically everything because they just kept asking questions. They are Christian and apparently when they were back in Pakistan, one of their friends gave them a Book of Mormon in their native language. But he didn't think much about it. We met them twice near the mall, but never really thought anything would come out of it. They accepted everything really well, and even want to get baptized...but they can't because they don't have visas. Sometimes it is all in the Lord's timing.
Another great miracle this week. I met a woman at the church - it just so happens to be an older member's younger sister. She came to church last week too and her sister had spent the past couple days teaching her all about the Church, including the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. As we sat and talked to her, we heard the story unfold. She doesn't live around here, but lives with her husbands family pretty far away. She wasn't happy and she's been searching for answers for a long time. She decided that she couldn't take it anymore, so she called her sister to come get her. Her sister that she hadn't talked to in about 2 years. From her sisters perspective: She had been praying every single day for the past 5 years for her sister to be ready to receive the Gospel. And now the timing was perfect! As we extended commitments to her to pray and read, she was firmly committed. And then as we asked her to pray about the truth of these things, she said "Its all true. I know it is true." She is so prepared. Things she's been longing for have all been given her in the two short weeks she was with her sister. She even wanted to take a Book of Mormon to her husband. She said it would take a little work, but she's willing to do whatever it takes. She'll be getting baptized for sure in the future, but she has to go back home so it will be hard for her to come to church. Sometimes it is all in the Lord's timing.
I know that God is preparing souls to be baptized. I have seen it and I am so grateful that I have been able to be a part of this amazing work. I love seeing the faith people have, and their conviction to choose the right and stay with it once they've found it. They long for it, but just don't know where to find it. God truly loves His children and will not let our faith be in vain. He has promised us many blessings, and they all depend on our faithfulness and willingness to keep His commandments. He has many blessings in store for us - let us all be aware and ready to receive them in the Lord's timing.
Love you all,
Sister Norrell
Bangkapi Ward
Hello all!
This past week we had transfers (Which means that I only have 12 weeks left....crazy!) So what had happened was....everyone moved out of the area except for Sister Mamea and I. Which means that we are now the most experienced ones in the area. We got 4 new Elders in Bangkapi! And no new Sisters...stinks. But seeing everyone was so good! Sister Ng is now at home, and everyone is moved to different places. We enjoy getting to start over, and now with double the work since we are taking over the other Sisters area too. Yay! :P
Nothing too exciting happened this week really. Yesterday (Sunday) was good! I have been working a lot more on prayer, especially after a special "All missionary meeting" we had after transfers. I have been feeling a lot of comfort recently and also just a lot of guidance telling me that I need to work on my personal relationship with God. I can tell you it has gotten so much better since I have been a missionary, but there is always room to improve! I love how in the Bible Dictionary it says that Prayer doesn't change the will of our Heavenly Father, but rather changes us as we ask for things in the name of His Beloved Son. Sincere prayer comes from understanding our relationship to Him as we are truly His children whom He loves and desires to help us.
One scripture that really stood out to me this morning in studies was Mormon 9:27-28
27 O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.
28 Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God.
I know that as we come to Him on our knees with a humble heart and contrite spirit, He will give all things to us in His due time.
One example came yesterday. We had an investigator come to church for the second time this week, but she still has like no time to meet with us. During Sacrament Meeting I was just praying for guidance to know how to find more daters. Then I just had a thought : Just ask her if she wants to get baptized. So I did after the meeting was over, and she said that she did want to! How else would we have known if it wasn't for the Spirit and by the prayer of faith?
I know that as we pray sincerely to our Heavenly Father, He will hear and answer our prayers. He wants to bless us, but sometimes we have to ask before we will receive these promised blessings.
Funny stories for the week: We had to switch houses with the Elders. We went from 2 stories to one room. We packed all of our stuff and managed to get it all to the Elders condo in a little over an hour. I think we are masters! Too bad the condo was actually filthy so we had to spend a lot of Saturday fixing it up and just doing a deep cleaning. We just couldn't function! Sometimes I wonder what these Elders' "next life" will be like if they don't learn how to clean now! (If you know what I mean...haha) The condo is new and pretty nice (now that it is clean and that the drain works in the shower) and it is closer to the main road. The only draw back is that it is small. I told Sister Mamea that we are going to get really close this transfer...literally. Haha ;)
Other story: Saturday some members wanted us to go eat Swensons with them. As we were attempting to find our way out of the mall (its a maze!) I see a Thai guy wearing a BYU shirt. I stop and hesitate thinking about how awkward it would be to walk over to him, but then I just threw all reason out of the window. Bad idea. He actually had no idea what I was talking about. He probably just thought I was flat out crazy. I should have figured since I've seen all kinds of shirts (Even Alabama football shirts) in Thailand. After I tried to explain to him why I was talking to him in the first place, I figured it was too awkward so I went to my fall-back plan "Do you want to go to church tomorrow?" I am not sure if that merited a weirder response than before. We decided that either he really just had no idea, or he was a Less-Active member that just didn't want to be found. Oh well!
I love you all. Thanks so much for the love and support you provide for me. Your prayers are appreciated.
Love,
Sister Norrell
SO this week...it was great! It started out REALLY hard, just for various unknown reasons, but by the end of the week I feel like the blessings were just being poured freely upon us.
Sometimes it is hard to see all the blessings that God is giving you. But even if you are doing your hardest, you can see them. And sometimes you just have to wait for the promised blessings to come. I really learned this week that sometimes God makes us wait to receive these blessings because He wants us to develop patience, persistence, and faith. The longer we have to wait, the more we want it. The more important it becomes to us and then our "true colors" will show. Either we will give up and decide that God is not answering us, or we just keep going on with faith - working to qualify for the miracles that God has in store for us.
So what's your choice?
(See https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/if-ye-love-me-keep-my-commandments?lang=eng)
This week we definitely saw a lot of blessings coming from the Lord. We took some direction from the last training and we were able to open all the many area books downstairs and call tons of former investigators. We got a referral from one, and then another one was so ready!
She was really willing to meet and asked a lot about Joseph Smith on the phone too. We met her Saturday, and found out that Thursday night she had watched the Restoration DVD. Then Friday morning she was taking her daughter to school and really just thinking a lot about it, wondering if Joseph's account was true or not. Then that same afternoon, we called her. After meeting with her, I think her biggest problem is just that she doesn't yet have a foundation. She's ready to be taught again! Who would have thought that she was downstairs in our house the entire transfer? (Her information, that is) :)
Another miracle - yesterday after church I started talking to a member about Less Actives that we could work with. She mentioned a family, and I asked her when she could take us to meet them - she said she was free right then! So we called the daughter and headed over. 4/5 members of the family were there - all 5 of which are members of the church.
We got to know them and get a feel for them, and then they had to all go about doing their business. The only one left was the oldest daughter. We had a heart to heart with her about everything. She really wants to come back, but since her dad wasn't really motivated, the whole family wasn't either. She wants to see her family go to the temple, and her brothers become missionaries, and I think she wants to be one too! She promised that she would come back to church this next week, even if she had to come by herself. I felt like with her and her family, I could relate exactly to them - like every life experience I had ever had was something they needed to hear and could learn from. Its been a long time since we actually got to go to someone's house, and I am so thankful that we did. We will be seeing them again this week!
We were so blessed. I don't know how I ever could have doubted. Sister Mamea and I are needed here, and it is only the beginning of knowing why.
I love you all! Trust the Lord, keep on going with faith, and the Lord will surely bless you!
Love,
Sister Norrell
This week was really good. I swear the weeks just go by way too fast! I don't know where the days go, so it is really hard to give a day-by-day replay...all I know is that it is Monday and I am reporting about last week, then it is Thursday, then it is Saturday, and then Sunday again. I guess time really does fly when you are totally engaged in the greatest work on the earth! The work that engulfs the earth with the Gospel that must by proclaimed to ever nation, kindred, tongue, and people. There is no where on earth I would rather be than in our little portion of the Lord's vineyard: Bangkapi.
There has been a little drama this week - and of course everyone tells the Sister Missionaries about it. (Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be as "in the dark" as an Elder...haha!) We were getting all the latest updates and we got so overwhelmed that we didn't even know what to do with the situation. Basically after receiving the most recent news, we were so astounded and shocked and at a loss of what to do, we just started laughing about it. It was so ridiculous, yet so serious that we just couldn't stop laughing even though the entire time we were like "We really shouldn't be laughing about this!". Sometimes, you just have to let go and laugh. It doesn't do much good to be too stressed about things, especially when it is all beyond your own control to do anything about.
We saw a lot of success this week in our inviting efforts. I still wasn't feeling completely up to par, but I prayed really hard that the Lord would just help me forget about myself and let me invite for our two hours so that we could be obedient. It was some of the best two hours of inviting we have had in a long time! We didn't get a lot of numbers, but I felt happy and just like I really had the Savior's enabling power become part of me. Two of our investigators at church on Sunday came from that inviting. One of them, who originally passed both of us and then decided to come back, said he just felt like he NEEDED to talk to us. He felt like we could answer the question he has had in his heart for a long time. He came early and stayed for all three hours of church! After it was over, I was back to feeling a little weaker again, but it really was a testament to me that God does answer our prayers!
Saturday we made another trip to the hospital to get more antibiotics. (Hopefully this round will clear it all up!) And then we were going to be in Asoke anyways because we were blessed to be able to go to a special meeting. (Yay for being missionaries in Bangkok!) We got to receive a special visit from Elder Allen, the head honcho over all the missionary affairs of the church. It was so so good. He talked about perfecting our missionary work - working through the members and also holding onto the fruits of our labor. It was exactly what we needed to know in this mission. We've gotten fast at baptizing - but there's always a better way to do it. It was almost like a slap in the face, but it was okay because it was done through the Spirit and with love. It was so good to get some further direction, and also be in the perfect place to receive some personal revelation on how to be a better missionary in all aspects.
Sunday! We had 3 investigators at church. YES! Talk about success!! It felt so good to have people at church again. Then the best part is after church. We got a new investigator. We met her at The Mall Bangkapi - she actually came up to us and asked us where the church was. But she got stuck at work so she didn't make it. Turns out she just became Christian because God helped her find work but the church she was going to was all in English so she didn't even know what being Christian entailed. She wanted to meet with us so she could know more. She came, we taught her the Restoration of the Gospel - about Joseph Smith and the First Vision, about the Crucifixion, about prophets and about the Priesthood. By the end she just asked "Is it all true?" We asked her if she really wanted to know and she said "I want to know so badly. I will change my whole life just to know and to follow it." We told her that the best way is for her to know for herself so we committed her to pray and bore our testimonies. She has a couple problems, but she is so willing just to overcome them all. She works on Sundays, but she's totally willing to take a pay cut for not going in just so she can go to church. Or she will just find new work. She's so perfect. I can't wait to continue working with her!
This week was so great. I was so thankful for all that the Lord blessed us with this week. Something I really liked that I learned this week is that there is a difference between change and repentance. Repentance involves the Savior. We are told that no man can be saved except for it be on the conditions of repentance. I love the account of the Nephites in the Book of Helaman. When pride and wickedness was presented before them, they took this inspired approach:
35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea,even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God. (Helaman 3:35)
True repentance comes when we learn more of the Savior and just try our hardest to yield ourselves to Him. He knows more than we do, and we just waste our time when we fight against Him and His will. He knows what is best for us, the question comes if we will know or not what is best for us. In order to know, we must submit to Him and be humble unto repentance. There is so much more to this life - especially when we realize that what we do in this life determines the state of our next eternal life. How much urgency should we display in this short time of probation and preparation that we have to meet our Eternal Father again.
13 That ye turn to the Lord with all your mind, might, and strength; that ye lead away the hearts of no more to do wickedly;but rather return unto them, and acknowledge your faults and that wrong which ye have done.
14 Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you.
This time is of infinite worth. Remember to look to God in all things, and constantly strive to improve. We can try to change on our own, but what good will it profit us if we try to do it without the help of our Savior? He is the only one that can free us from sin and forgive us for our mistakes. How great is our need for Him. He truly is the Son of God and our Savior and Redeemer. Remember that it is never too late to start where we are.
27 Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.
28 Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. (Helaman 3:27-28)
I love you all! Until next week!
Sister Norrell
Funny pictures: Saw some cute outfits for dogs. Maybe Chewy needs a Halloween costume!
Hello all!
This week was crazy! Time flies way too fast. I can't believe it is Monday again! We spent so much time at the church between activities and preparing for our open house! Yeah, we had an open house on Saturday. It was awesome! We were praying super hard that it would not rain. And it didn't! It was so good. Lots of people (a ton of new people whose first time it was at the church), lots of friends and family of the members. It was a great fellowshipping opportunity! I love meeting the family and friends of people who are already members - it is the most precious kind of contacts we receive. It really does add that much more to the central theme of our open house: Families can be together forever. I know they can! It takes a lot of effort, but it is a goal that can be achieved. We should always have our sights set on the Holy Temple of the Lord. Through introducing these eternal principles of the Gospel, we received several referrals and are hoping for them to be our baptisms for his coming up month! :)
Sunday - I felt like it wasn't even Sunday since we were at the church literally all day Saturday. But it was good! We got a walk in at church and also some more referrals! I love this ward so much.
Sunday was also interesting because I finally decided to stop procrastinating and just go to the hospital. My stomach pain came back and everyone was freaking out because they thought I had appendicitis and if I kept waiting I could die. So I just went to the really nice hospital. It took them a while to figure out what was wrong. They took me to like 3 different areas and specialists. Finally, they just gave me a CT scan. Good news: my appendix is normal! No surgery, no death. Wonderful. So the actual results are "unremarkable" as it says on the paper. (Not really sure what that means besides the fact that they don't really know what's causing it).
Turns out, the pain all this time is being caused overall by a gastrointestinal infection. So the pain is actually coming from enlarged and swollen lymph nodes on my small intestine. I think I had all the doctors stumped. If only they understood how long I had actually been having this problem! I had been stuck with too many needles, and I was really glad to be getting out. Since it was late at night on a Sunday by the time we were getting ready to leave (we'd been there like 5 hours), I was like the only one left (yet I still had to wait a long time for everything? not really sure how that works) so everyone was paying attention to me. They were all like "We're taking this needle out now. We don't even know why it was still here in the first place. She's ready to go home! She hasn't even eaten dinner and she's been here for like 5 hours! Leave her alone! Are you okay to walk? Can we get you a wheelchair?" It was great - it wasn't even that bad. I guess they had nothing better to do, except to watch "Thailand's got talent". After seeing snipets of it, I might argue that it wasn't even talent, rather just who is the best entertainer, and who can wear the most outrageous outfits.
The last doctor I saw prescribed me an antibiotic (since they don't even know where the problem is, they just know the outward result of it: pain) and said "We hope to never see you again!" I definitely return those feelings tenfold.
Overall this week, besides all the craziness happening, I really got to dive into my study of the most recent General Conference. I read President Monson's address "Love - the Essence of the Gospel" this morning. It really impressed me how he talks about us on our mortal journey, and how EVERY DAY we have the opportunity placed before us to serve and to show love - whether it be to family, friends, or to a complete stranger. God wants us to help His children! Everyone that we see every day is placed in our path for a reason - and we have the potential to serve each one of them.
It is amazing to me that God knows exactly why we are where we are right now. We may have our other reasons or thoughts as to why we are where we are. Like me: I know why I decided to serve a mission. But there are more reasons than that that God has sent me here at this specific time. It surpasses our ability as mortals to see or comprehend all that God has in store for us. He knows the eternal scheme of things, and He knows that what we are doing now will help prepare us for that time. So I have resolved to never miss a chance to love and serve someone, and also to never miss a chance to learn from whatever comes our way. God will prepare the way for us in all things, we only have to give Him our willing hearts and our willing hands to contribute to His work in accomplishing His eternal purposes. I invite you all to do the same! Don't be afraid to lose yourself in the light of His love and in service to Him.
Love,
Sister Norrell
Pictures:
Selfie arms. (Technical name: Unipod.) You may look stupid using them. I wasn't converted until a Recent Convert gave me one for free. It makes taking group pictures so much easier! Look it up. They're the best!
Us making the gifts for the open house...I love these members!
Ice cream! Mine was on sandwich bread. Whole new meaning to ice cream sandwich.
Another fun perk of selfie arms: the longer you are taking pictures, the more people you have to join in the picture taking, and the longer you have to extend your selfie arm! Greatest Asian invention ever.
Someone invited the choppers to the open house. And a indie singer actor guy named Starbucks came. Really interesting crowd!
There was a replica someone built of the Salt Lake Temple.
And someone donated free t-shirts for the open house! :)
