Week 6 in the Field!!

The biggest news of the week! 

I have a NEW TRAINER!!!

Yes...it happened...When the call came that Sister Hayes was going to transferred out of Srinakharin leaving me behind...Both of us did not want to believe it! 

Sister Hayes and I had only been together for 5 weeks and I am still a Greenie, so the two of us were pretty confused and sad to find out that we would no longer be serving together...

But we decided to trust the Lord and went off to Transfers...

And sure enough, I quickly saw that the Lord doesn't just put random people into our lives, and sends us off to random places.

If Sister Hayes is my mother, Sister Blaylock, my new trainer is my "cool aunt."

Sister Hayes set the vision for my mission. Through her example of diligent service to the Lord, she helped me to engrave an image of what my mission should become.

With Sister Blaylock...I feel as if I can slowly, but surely learn and progress in order to obtain that vision.

Whereas Sister Hayes was a powerhouse, full of light and something close to that of a perfect missionary...

It's clear that Sister Blaylock recognizes her own weaknesses and is in the progress of learning and progressing.

With Sister Hayes, she seemed so very far ahead of me, and I was always running to try and keep up with her.
Many times, I was discouraged...

With Sister Blaylock, I feel like we can progress together. 

Although she has been in the country for 10 months and has much more experience than me, I feel more like her companion, and not just a lame appendage...

Maybe it's because with Sister Hayes gone, and Sister Blaylock new to the area, it's my responsibility to help her get to know the people here....

Or maybe it's because with the switch in companionship, I feel like I can take a bold step forward...

Or maybe it's because I can connect with Sister Blaylock's experiences more...

Whatever it is, I am so very thankful to my Heavenly Father for recognizing what I need on this mission to be successful...

On this mission, I was given birth by an amazing mother who will always be my role model and I will always strive to be a missionary like her...

But I have also been given the opportunity to be raised by a cool aunt who is caring, someone who recognizes her own imperfections and strives to work together with me to be successful in this area! 

With a powerhouse mother and a more laid back aunt, I am learning that there isn't just one rigid way to do missionary work! 

There are so many different ways to be an obedient successful missionary, and most importantly to be optimistic and have fun! 

Another blessing from transfers was that I got to see Sister Smith and Elder Blad there! 

It was so good to see my companions from the MTC and catch up!

Although I had seen Sister Htway and Sister Black a couple times, it was so rewarding to see my two companions! 

It was so wonderful to see that the two of them were glowing with light!

Although each of them have many challenges...they are staying optimistic and trusting in the Lord.

Their smiles were radiant. They were smiles that only someone emitting the light of Christ could have!

To add to these blessings...at transfers I surprised myself with how much Thai I could understand and how much I could respond to questions of the Thai members!

I could actually have a conversation with them!! 

This was not something I could do when I first came into the country...so it was a comforting to know that I have progressed in the language...

To add the cherry on top, I had two full conversations on the phone with members that day, something that I have never been able to do before.

This transfer was definitely a great blessing! 

Singing Christmas songs with some cute kid's at Sister Lek's Children's Library! 

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Raise the Hammer!

monday-we had dinner with the stockwells. they are so cute! poor brother stockwell wasnt feeling well so i gave him some suggestions on what he could take. keep him in your prayers please!

tuesday-we met with our investigator d at the library. he accepted to be baptized on january 8th and were so pumped! we had dinner with joey holtbys grandparents so that was a fun experience! i see his parents every sunday too and i signed his christmas card haha he will have no idea! 

wed- zone conference was the best! president and sister clayton had us sing the twelve days of christmas and had us all make up an action to go with it. then we sang hymns and president takes his conducting very seriously! i love the claytons! as missionaries we dont have much to give during christmas time in terms of material things. but what we can give christ is our will. we must turn it over to him and develop his attributes. we had a great coordination meeting! our ward mission leader read a letter to my neighbour and was really inspired to make some great changes in the ward to help with the work. yay! 

thurs-today was a good day! lots of good lessons! sister saul gave us lots of cookies and ice cream. im gonna roll out of this are when i leave :).

fri- we met with two of our investigators jen and cor. jen has commited to be batized january 9th. cor has a great desire to really come to know that the book of mormon is true. she loves studying it and has many questions yay! 

sat- we met with d. hes been reading the book of mormon yay!and he came out to church and stayed all three hours!

sun-the sabbath is a delight! i gave a talk about the atonement and the gospel of jesus christ. i was pretty calm when giving the talk so prayer works! we went to the bishops for supper and it was full of laughs!

i love you all :D <3

Week 5 in the Field!

I can't believe it's been a whole transfer already!!!

Transfers are on Thursday this week....Today I find out if I am staying here, in Srinakharin with my Trainer...or if one, or both of us are being transferred!

There's only a very slight possibility that that will happen...but still...makes me marvel at the fact that my fate for the next 7 weeks will depend on that one phone call! 

My mind is full to the brim with many different thoughts and emotions that I don't how to do justice and formulate into words...

But maybe sharing with you a little snippet of an email I sent to a dear friend last week will summarize some of my thoughts and feelings at this point in my mission:

If I am honest, and search deep into my soul...

This mission is mind bogglingly (is this even a word?) hard!

Sometimes I stop dead in my tracks and ponder...

'WHAT?! I am doing what now? I am in a country where I cannot speak the language, talking to random people, stopping them mid stride, teaching people in the most random corners of Thailand...

Feeling so inadequate beside a trainer who's been out only 9 months, but fluent in Thai...who doesn't always fill me in on what's happening...

Feeling so lonely because I feel like an awkward, lame appendage that doesn't understand conversations and cannot contribute...

People turning us down over and over again, often giving us annoyed looks...

The heat...

The overly spicy food...

The long days from 6:30am to 10:30pm...

And so many other things...

I should've quit and gone home by now!'

BUT, I feel so much strength and happiness by being here. It's hard to explain...

In my head I know there are so many reasons to be stressed that it should make me sick.

But, I get up everyday without any thought of wanting to quit and go home...

Yes, it's only been 3 or 4 weeks...But so much has happened that it could have been several months!

The Lord is so very merciful...

Despite my endless imperfections, He blesses me with the chance to see so many wonderful miracles, each and every day.

He truly does care about just one little girl, lost on her mission. 

2 Corinthians 4: 8-10 , 17-18

 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The words contained in these verses are so true! 

We can be happy and we can endure our trials without distress and without despair because Christ atoned for our sins and because He endured through it all.

He knows how it feels.

He knows each of our feelings because He has experience it! 

We can gain strength from Him.

God gives us challenges because He knows we can handle it.

He qualifies whom He calls.

No matter what our calling is in this life, He will give us what we need to succeed. 

With that said...

Here are some highlights from this past week!!

To finish off the week...our ward had a baptism!!

Br. Cruise, one of the Elders' investigators was baptized by Elder Larson who is finishing off his mission this week and going home!

This wonderful brother is so full of light! His smile says it all!

How beautiful it is to witness a soul turning towards their Father in Heaven, and accepting to follow the example of Jesus Christ and to covenant to apply the Atonement in their lives! 

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Last P-Day!

We went to the Crocodile Farm!

And be jealous....because we got to play with a tiger cub and a leopard cub too!!! 

Getting ready for Christmas!!

We got these beautiful inviting cards to use to find people! 

The Christmas Story is on the inside!

And our beautifully decorated home is always a pleasure to come back to after a full day's work!

I finally got the chance to see Sister Phan again!!

It was on Friday, exactly 4 weeks, to the day from the last time I got to visit her! (I lied 4 weeks ago about being able to see her every week apparently)

And...I also realized that I wore the exact same clothes as the first day I met her!

It's crazy how much has happened in the 4 weeks in between visits to see her...

But she was glowing just as brightly, if not more this time! 

Her angelic smile, so full of love, is Heaven sent, and her faith is never dwindling! 

I feel so inadequate next to her...

I love her so much!

I was on exchanges with our STL that day...

And needless to say, my STL, Sister Tau, also fell in love with this miraculous woman! 

St Catharines Ontario! :D <3

monday- my last pday with the bodacious brampton zone so sad! we went to eat at the mandarin buffet which was so fun and yummy ofcourse! then sister chelson and i had dinner at the shermans to bid them farewell. its funny because they were the first members that we met with when we opened the area so it was bittersweet.  then we dropped by the sousa family and sister h to say our goodbyes. brampton its been a great run!

tuesday- hello st catharines! so guess what!? im a tripanionship! so fun! its like a slumber party all the time! my companions are sister bell who is my sister on the mission and sister cook who is my niece. weird fmaily dynamic lol. sister cook and i are both finishing up training. so first we met with a retuning member sister p and taught the law of chastity. that went well. shes so straightforward its fun! then we met with a recent convert named sister e. shes adorable! and has desired to serve a mission! yay! then we street contacted downtown with the christmas initiative. check out the video on www.christmas.mormon.org its so good! then we prepared a misison prep lesson for the young women. then there was a relief society christmas dinner so i got to know some of the sisters. they put on a play about the women in christs life. it was nice. i met ericas friend rachel! small world! 

wed- we volunteerd in a womens shelter making them meals for a couple of hours. it felt good. i realized that its really hard to cut a cabbage! exercise! the women there are really kindred spirits. we actually ate lunch with them after and found a new investigator there! her name is c. she wants to discover why a saviour was born yay! then we spent some more time downtown contacting people. the kings had us over for dinner and we had some fietas yum! then we role played the restoration with the young women. some of them were super into it! i see some future sister missionaries! 

thurs- we taught an invesigator named d at the library. we taught him the restoration and he took everything super well. he really wants to find a good church with nice people because hes joined many previously. then we met with a returning member sister c. shes wonderful! she reads and prays often but just cant seem to make it to church because she has some anxiety issues so were working with her. we taught her about the plan of salvation. she needed that because she was thinking of and missing her parents during this christmas season. im so grateful for the plan of salvation. then we met with the investigator that we found in the womens shelter c. we shared the christmas video with her and she loved it! now shes anxious to learn more about our church! the we went to the chungs house and had the children learn of the restoration with us. sister chung made us some delicious loaf! 

fri- we met our district today! its alot smaller than my last one but there a fun bunch! we learned about how to better use the christmas initiative so that was fun! then we had some lessons with members and an investigator named j. shes super cute! we read enos 1 with her and talked about it with her! she has a baptismal date for december 19th! :) sowe went offroading by accident in the countyr on the way to the mencias house oops! :)

sat- we met with a returning member named c at the drowmeys house. we shared the christmas video and talked about the atonement. we went to visit sister p a returning memebr snd she shared her conversion story with us. 

sun- stake conference! elder schwitzer of the seventy talked about the book of mormon mixed with history and it was really awesome! the toronto temple presidency also talked about eternal marriage yay!  then we had lunch with loretta and her family and shared the christmas video. such a sweet spirit comes with that video! we also brought a referral a book of mormon in the hospital that felt good. then we had dinner with the macjanets, they live in a mansion! but yeah it was nice to get to know them and watch the a saviopur is born video with them.congrats marci and di on your calls thats so exciting! i love you all and discover why #asaviourisborn on www.christmas.mormon.org ! :D <3

week 4 in the field

Today, I am a little shaken with some sad news from home that Calico, our cat who has been in our family for 14 years and who is practically my younger sister passed away a few weeks ago...

And news that some of my extended family members are not doing so well, health wise....

But on the brighter side, life out in the field is fantastic! 

Here are some of this week's miracles and adventures! 

Dec 4 2015

Our miracle came in the form of three little angels...

These three angels, each took us by the hand and took us around their neighbourhood, taking us to corners that we would otherwise have missed, and enabling us to talk with people that we would otherwise not have been able to reach out to. 

We were strangers to them, and yet they were so excited to help us! They fought over the pass along cards, and competed with each other to see who could pass one out  first to the people that we stopped to talk to. 

I could not help but feel their closeness to the Spirit World, in which they were with our Heavenly parents, not too long ago. 

I knew that these girls who were about 6 or 7 years old, were more in tune with the Spirit than I was... 

I knew that the Spirit was working through them, and leading us to the people that we needed to meet today. 

Without really understanding, these angels were helping us to gather Israel!

One could not deny the light of Christ in their eyes and the Spirit filling their countenances! 

As my companion loves to remind me, everyone will have their own conversion story one day.

With these beautiful little girls, maybe it will be that years from now, they remember that one day, when they were only 6 or 7 years old, they ran along beside a couple of missionaries who stopped by their neighbourhood, and they helped spread the gospel. 

The little girl beside me is the same girl that helped us out last week! 

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How awesome is she?! Writing out our potential investigator's contact info for us!

This is what happens when you get a little girl to take a picture...

But it doesn't matter because the one important thing in this picture is captured perfectly...

Our potential investigator is smiling beautifully in this picture, holding a picture of Christ... 

I know that when someone accepts Christ into their lives, they glow with Heavenly light.

I know this because I have witnessed it.

This girl has made a step forward in learning more about Christ and accepting Him.

I don't know if she'll accept Him any time soon, but that's not important because she has made a step forward, a step closer.
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Dec 5 2015

Today was Sister Hayes's Birthday! And Father's Day...And the Thailand King's Birthday!

We started our day off by taking some pictures wearing our "Bike for Dad" shirts that practically everyone in Thailand has for Father's Day, which is also the King's Birthday! 

Then we had a cake for Sister Hayes's Birthday..

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But what happened later on in the afternoon was most precious of all! We were on our way to visit a recent convert, who is starting to become less active.

On our way, Sister Hayes decided to stop and talk with a girl who looked distressed. 

Her countenance was dark, and there wasn't much light in her eyes...

Thank goodness my trainer stopped to talk!

As we talked with her, and testified to her that she had a Father in Heaven who loved her so very much, and wanted nothing more than for her to be happy...

all this poor girl could do was hold the Plan of Salvation pamphlet close to her chest and weep. 

Her right hand was missing their fingers, her clothing dirty, and her face bruised and cut, which made me wonder if she was a victim of domestic abuse. 

I am so thankful that the Spirit led us to this poor little girl, who seems to have nothing but misery in her life right now.

If we had not been there, at that location, at that exact time, we may never have met her. 

This was the first time on my mission so far that I really felt the power of the gospel, the power to drastically change someone's life. 

She committed to coming to church the next day, but fell ill with a fever and didn't end up coming...

But it is my greatest hope and prayer that we will be able to see her again, and to teach her and help her to accept Christ so that she can have true happiness and peace in her life. 

First rain storm for Sister Kwak in Thailand!! 

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A present from one of our investigators because my name is Minnie! 

I put a name tag on her so that we can both be missionaries... 

Birthday Cake from one of the members~

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Week 3 in Field!

Another fabulous week has gone by!! 

Here is a little glimpse of some of the best things that happened this week...

Wed Nov 25 2015

We got lost! We were on our way to stop by a member's little children's library...but we ended up somewhere unfamiliar...

We decided that it was because that's where the Lord wanted us at that particular time. 

We said a prayer together and set off to invite. We took all the little random turns, through narrow paths into tiny neighborhoods not easily seen from the bigger streets.

This little street was a blessed street~ 

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First there was one..

then two...

then four~ 

We started talking to this little old lady about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

She listened, and as we shared the beautiful truths that the gospel contains, we were able to share our love and make her smile.

As we stood up to leave, I felt that we needed to go back and pray with this old lady...

We turned around mid step, and went back to ask her to pray with us...

As we started to explain to her what prayer was, this other little, young lady came by and stopped to watch, intrigued by what we were doing.

We drew her in to join in on the goodness, and we taught the two of them to pray. 

As Sister Hayes prayed, I felt the presence of two little boys, who had been playing nearby, stop dead in their tracks and join our little group.

I put a finger to my lips, indicating to the boys that they should be quiet and they were very still throughout the entire duration of the prayer.

When the prayer was over, the two little boys scampered off, as the two ladies sat still and meditated (as Buddhist people do).

It gave the Spirit a chance to really sink in. 

The young lady wanted a picture with us, and after getting her number, we went our separate ways.

As we continued on with our day, contacting random people on the streets, we were able to meet more people interested in learning more, a man who wanted a picture with us (he even held up the picture of Christ on our pamphlet of his own accord in the picutre!) and an LA. 

To finish off our day, we were able to spend some time with a group of our members and join in the "Lay Gatone" celebration.

This traditional celebration is the opportunity (originally a Buddhist tradition) to send off a candle lit float on water, symbolic of letting go any bad habits.

One of the members graciously made us each a float, and we added our little contribution to them (Elder Larson, our district leader's idea!)

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Fri Nov 27 2015

Scripture of the week: 3 Nephi 20: 40

"How beautiful upon themountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidingsunto them, that publisheth peace; that bringeth goodtidings unto them of good, that publisheth salvation; thatsaith unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!"

We decided to go inviting to a place we had never been before. As we worked, we met many nice people, including a girl from Germany and a girl who overlooked my stuttering Thai, and expressed her interest in learning more.

If I had to pin point my favourite thing about today, it would be that a little girl took us by the hand and led us through her little neighborhood. 

I cannot help but feel that children really are more in tune with the Spirit and that they know, maybe without really knowing it, when they feel the warmth of the Spirit and the Light of Christ. 

If we could all be just as humble, and trusting as this little girl is, how much greater could we all be? 

She intently listened as Sister Hayes explained a little bit about Christ and the message contained in the pamphlet!

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Sat Nov 28 2015

The GREATEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!

Here were all of the gifts that I received for my birthday this year (in order that they happened):

-morning surprise from my awesome Trainer, Sister Hayes

- a wonderful drop-in investigator who felt the spirit strongly

-Sushi

-birthday cake surprise from Sister Auh (one of the members) 

-the chance to meet Abdul's beautiful family from Pakistan who have the most beautiful testimony about prayer and God's miracles (yet to accept the gospel)

-stake conference with Sister Black, Sister Htway and two of my Phii Thai's from the MTC (Elder Gremillion and Elder Ho Ching)

My Birthday Cake all written out in Thai!!! How fantastic is that?!

With my some of my favourite members!

These two lovely ladies are off to the Temple (in Hong Kong) for the very first time this week!!! WHOOOOOHOOOO!!! 

I'm so very excited for themmm! 

Stake Conference with the members!

Christmas Zone Conference with some of my favourite missionaries!

Our District

On the left is Elder Wager...our district's creation!

MTC buddies!!

and.. Stake Conference with Investigators!

With our mission mama!

​Early Christmas presents!!

And.. My companion!

I love her...

​Sweat and all....