Monday, March 28, 2016

Because He Lives :D <3


 we went to play dohs closet on preparation day with the sister training leaders (sister wise & kirchoeffer) and that was quite fun! i also was craving McDonald milkshakes really bad so we stopped and i got a 50 cent nce cream cone. so cheap. so good! we also had dinner with bishop chaplin and his family who are just wonderful. it was great to be able to talk about the members over dinner. they have the funniest kids too. and they are oh so cute! we also went o visit a less active sister carter with sister chaplin after dinner. shes a great woman! she loves antiques and showed us all the wonderful stuff that she got from a recent auction. we shared the visiting teaching message with her and it was great to be able to just remind her and myself of our divine heritage. the message was about how we are all created in gods image. we really are all children of a loving father in heaven.

district meeting was hilarious! we had to share a super power that weve always wanted. sister katz and hansen from lake Michigan always steal the show. we just love them. their hilarious! but we went over some teaching skills in pmg which was a great refresher for me. im working really hard to get through every chapter but theres just so many and they are all soo good! i got to finally meet a less active sister perry. she was so excited to hear that ive only been a member about five years an dos she shared her conversion story with me. sister stier in the milwaukee 1 ward which im serving in took us to dinner at the machine shed. it was like a barn restaurant full of cows, plows and mason jars. it was adorable and so good!

we get a ton of bible referrals here which is great! its just hard to keep up haha! so we spent a lot of Wednesday contacting those referrals which was very nice! we went to visit a less active sister and her mom who both have many health issues. they are always so grateful when we come visit. she said that we always share just what she needs or had a question about. im grateful for the spirit because we dont know what everybody needs or is going through. heavenly father does though so his spirit is able to help us know what each person needs to hear. 

we went on exchanges! i stayed in milwaukee 1 with sister kirchoeffer. i tired to find my way around the area without sister gross haha. it was like a blizzard outside with some hail and off tracting we went for a bit! gotta love th emission life! :) we had a great lesson with anaya on jill on the gospel on jesus christ. we were very unified in our teaching and the spirit was most definitely there. jill is not smoking and is doing great! we tracted and contacted some referrals in wauwatosawhich is another city in our ward bounds. we had dinner with the petersons and the boyles. i just adore them i got to see some real guns in person! my face was priceless. but my favourite thing was talking about easter. Christ loves us all so much that he died for us so that we can all live again with our families. i am grateful that i have the opportunity to testify of this matchless gift everyday. i love my Savior! and i love you all! :D <3
#hallelujah



​Sister mansfield & Sister kirchoeffer



Week 20 in Field!


This past Saturday, Sisaket Ward went over to a members house to help them de-junk and clean up their yard!
Hard physical work felt so GOOD!! 






Thai People... Double machete...




On Easter this year, this beautiful family was baptized!
Sister Coates and I initially found them while neighbourhood inviting.
We decided to bike around and go back to anyone that smiled at us as we passed by.
This family was one such case.
They've had bumps in the road along the way, but they have overcome them with faith as they diligently prepared to be baptized together as a family!
As I have spent countless hours with this family, I have grown to love them so much!
I knew that the gospel would be blessing in their family, and I desired nothing more than their Salvation. 
I was so excited for them to be baptized, and was so overcome with love for this family and a renewed appreciation for the Atonement of Jesus Christ as I watched them reborn from the waters of baptism.
I was brought to tears to be able to hear their heartwarming testimonies of how the gospel has brought happiness into their family.
I could not have asked for a greater blessing this Easter Sunday! 




Brother Aut, Brother Fuk and Sister Booyi ^^



They were literally radiating with light after they were baptized!! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

MEE Boom took us sight-seeing today for PDAY! 
We went to go visit a couple Buddhist Temples.




Monday, March 21, 2016

Teaching & Testifying of the Living Christ

Hello everyone! :) so preparation day was lovely! we spent it with the lake michigan sisters hansen and sister katz. they are the cutest companionship of life! sister katz is our little hipster and sister hansen is our hippie! thet work so hard! we went shopping at the outdoor mall which was really cool and fun!

we had exhanges tuesday with the stls which was fun! we did a blitz in tgheir area. i was with sister wise over the brookfield ward. we both felt prompted to talk to this lady taking a cigarette break outside of the salon that she worked at. her name was bonnie. she told us about how she was troubled over he rmoms recent passing. we were able to share the first vision with ehr and talk about the glorious easter season and of the resurrection of christ. and that because of Him we will all be ressurected with perfect bodies and that we get to be with our fmailies forever. it is so great to be able to testify and lift peoples spirits. we had dinner with sister haynes from that ward who recently lost her husband. she just kept bearing sweet testimony about how she knows that she will see him again and all her ancestors as well. we talked about the blessings fo the temple and how we are so grateful for the priesthood that binds us to our love dones eternally. 

sister wise and i woke up extra early to go to my first seminary class! i loved it! we read in isaiah about the latter day restoration of the gospel. it was really cool since isaiah is a hard read but theres so much good stuff in there! the kids were super excited to have us there though. they were so enthusiastic at like 6 am it was refreshing! we did hae to wake up an hour earlier for that but i os gratefultn hat we did. and io found out that sister wise knows my mommy fromt he canada toronto mission sister chelson. the lds world is so small. i love it! we had dinner at the rs presidents house sister vanhille. her kids are adorable! so we had french onion sauce for dinner and fry sauce. i didnt know that i was supposed to dip the burger int he sauce. sister gross and vanhille jsurt laughed and said guess its a utah thing! yep! haha. 

we went to help a less active named sister jensen make protfolios for her daycare. she was jsut so grateful that we were able to make time to help serve her. we hope that as we serve an dlove her that her heart will be softened to the messages of the gospel once again.

we had a great lesson with a less active youth named anaya and her non member mom jill. they are having some struggles right now so it seemed like perfect timing to share the plan of salvation with them. and oh yeah jill just decided to quit smoking cold turkey after our last visit. almost forgot that huge miracle. but yeah sharing the plan of salvation with them just seemed to help give jill an ete5rnal perspective. we brought sister young the young womens president with us. anaya is so knowledgeable about the gospel and she has a sweet testimony. i love love lveo heavenly fathers plan of happiness. it just helps us know why were here and where were going. and im just so  grateful for my saviour this easter season.im blessedn to be able to testify of him to everyone that we emet. im grateful that becausse of him i get to see and be with my wonderful family forever. make sure you check out this beautiful easter video about the saviour and share ti! : followhim.mormon.org . i love you all! :D <3
#hallelujah



this is me enjoying ym friend chicken at poopeyesd yummy! oh p.s. i broke a tooth this wee4k too. im waiting for president cutler and a dentist from one of the wards to get back to me on that so no picture this week haha. im so clumsy! just my luck!

Week 19 in Field



As it turns out, I didn't just go to Korat, but all the way down to Bangkok to pick up my new companion! It was supposedly an 8 hour bus ride down there...but it took closer to 10 hours to get there and 9 hours to get back! 
We now have two new additions to our district: Elder Davis and Sister Sattatip! 


On Sunday Evening last week (March 13th), the members said their Goodbyes to Sister Coates! 


On Monday, many of the missionaries who were being transferred met up at the office to switch companions...
Soon after, we all set off for our areas!
Some of us had the opportunity to spend some quality time with each other at the bus station while waiting for our buses...
I had the privilege of seeing Elder Hilton again! I was so grateful for the opportunity to see him again and talk about Srinakharin! :)



This is Sister Sattatip! She's my new companion and is Native Thai! 
This was our first official day together in Sisaket! 


These are some of the investigators that we are currently teaching.
Sister Coates and I found them while inviting in their neighbourhood and have been teaching them here, at their home ever since.
As I have taught Sister Ddum, and Brother Gii... I have come to learn that there are two types of investigators.
Brother Gii is the first type of investigator. He is the type of investigator that is knocking on that door. He knocks away because he is truly, sincerely interested in learning more about the gospel.
He is willing to keep commitments, and receives answers to his prayers because he has opened his heart. 
His mother, Sister Ddum, is the other type of investigator. 
She is (and perhaps understandably) scared of change, and although she has already received a witness that the gospel is true, she is choosing to not act upon it. 
She's the type of investigator that is hiding behind a tree, peeking around the edge and observing the person knocking on that door.
She is 100% supportive of her son learning with us, and has already given him permission to be baptized...
But only after he has served as a Buddhist monk because it's a promise she made to her mother.
She doesn't want to start keeping commitments until after she has seen her son serve as a monk.
Whether she understands it or not, we know that she has felt the Holy Ghost testify of the truth to her.
We've seen it in her eyes, felt it, and she's even told us that she gets goosebumps every time we come over to teach her.
But, because all she's ever known her entire life is Buddhism, she is hesitant to change. 
She is lacking the faith and courage necessary to fully convert. 
As such, she hasn't really been able to get direct answers to her prayers for a confirmation of the things that she is realizing are true. 




And the work in Sisaket continues!
Spending quality time with investigators, LAs, RCs and other members! 






On Friday, we had a switch off in Sisaket!
And guess who my new STL is?!
AUNTIE!! 
It was so fun to be able to spend a day being her companion again!!
She is currently serving in Roi-Et (about 4 hours away from Sisaket)
And then on Saturday, we had a stake wide Relief Society Activity!
Sisters from 9 different wards/branches came to Sisaket to celebrate Relief Society. 





Missionary Booth









Partying it up in Sisaket with lots of food and dancing!





No one can stop the Elders from entertaining the crowd...


Isan Dancing!



STLs serving in Roi Et: Sister Burbank & Sister Blaylock
Sisaket Sisters: Me & Sister Sattatip 
This had to be one of the hottest days ever! All of us were so exhausted and sweaty from the heat!




Today, we celebrated Elder Davis's Birthdayy as a district at Swensen's! 
3 of our Elders couldn't resist teasing our waitress... poor girl... :P


Elder Hunt and Elder Bundy are baby trunky! 
This 6month old baby was the smallest baby I have ever seen...


I'm pretty sure all of us are going to be sick from eating boatloads of ice cream!


Clockwise: Elder Davis, Elder Hunt, Elder Bundy, Elder Weaver, Sister Sattatip, Me


And now it's time for another intense week!!
I know that when we put our trust in the Lord and have faith in Jesus Christ and good things to come, Heavenly Father will bless our lives.
We don't have to ENDURE to the end, we have HAPPINESS until the end and beyond if we are willing to keep the commandments that our loving Father in Heaven has given us.
He didn't give them to us to make our lives complicated...But he gave them to us so that He could bless us. 
When the storm clouds seem to be dawning, don't forget to smile!! 

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Week 18 in Field



It's transfer time! Again...
I feel like transfers just happened! 
But that's probably because I had to move in the middle of a transfer...
I'm sad to see Sister Coates go because I've only been companions for 3 and a half weeks, but after a full 18months of service, she deserves to go home :)
My new assigned companion is a Kong Thai! (meaning that she is native Thai)
I'm pretty nervous to get a Thai companion because my Thai isn't all that great...but I guess I will learn lots of Thai from her!
I hope she likes Koreans...
I've come to know that a LOT of Thai people love Koreans! (Thanks to Kpop and Korean Dramas!)
Tomorrow I'm going to Korat with Sister Coates, where she will go down to Bangkok with Sister McNight and where I will stay there with Sister McNight's companion until my new companion comes, and then we'll come back to Sisaket!
Transfers can be pretty crazy here in Thailand since the Mission covers the ENTIRE country (plus Myanmar and Laos) which looks to be about 3 times the size of South Korea.
Round trip to Korat will probably be about 10hours... (5 there and 5 back).
Coming to Sisaket from Bangkok took about 8 hours...
ROAD TRIPS! 

Anyways, here is an update on my week: 

This past Monday, we went to go visit a Wat! (A Buddhist Temple)
We biked close to 10km to get there...and 10km back...
It was probably the hottest day I've had in Thailand!


A most awkward picture with one of the monks...

This is the ISAN!








We spent some time with MEE Mayulee (white hair), looking at her pictures from when she was younger and listening to some of her stories.
And we did the same thing with two other sisters, MEE Ganjana and MEE Malee that same day.
It made for a very fun day indeed!
All three of these wonderful women have been faithful members for many many years.
Now, there just too old to be able to make it church every week, but they still glow with the Spirit!

It's so precious to see senior ladies like this taking care of each other! (this is MEE Mayulee and her friend) 


On Wednesday, we got permission to go see this Historical Celebration in Sisaket!
There was dancing, music and a play about the legend of Sisaket!