Sisters Kwak and Mansfield

Monday, January 16, 2017

Pictures!

The Bible & The Book of Mormon giant versions :)

Merica haha

Candy store in downtown Manitowoc

Churchin

Zone conference

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Week 62 in Field!

Last P-Day, we went to a trampoline park!

While Sister Ward and Elder Stevens did their flips, and Elder Brown did tricks of his own.... I was at a loss at what to do (never really played on trampolines growing up) :P

BUT, it was still a lot of fun :3

And then....the highlight!! My new rideee!!! :D

With Sister Ddu and Sister Bird, two strong, faithful women ^^

Playing soccer inside the house! I am proud to say I won 3-2 :P

On Thursday, I had to go the office in Bangkok for a meeting for missionaries going home in the next few months.

We got there at about 4 in the morning and camped outside for a while.

Sister Ward just passed out. She didn't even know I was taking pictures, or that CoCo came to play :3

CoCo

Soon later, some of the office workers came and let us in, and the sleeping continued :P

On Friday, we went to Khaw's school to support her in her performance for Children's Day!

She is one good dancer :D

On Sunday, the Elders' investigator, Sister Nong got baptized!!!

It was also Brother Ddong's birthday!

...more of his shrimp farm...

YAY! SHRIMP!

For his birthday, Elder Brown let Brother Ddong make this glue cast for his hand!

Some of the highlights from this past week:

On Saturday, we experienced three huge miracles!

1) The investigator we went to go find at the market wasn't there, but we finally got the chance to talk to another really nice lady who has always been friendly towards us. We invited her, and introduced her and her husband to the Godhead and invited them to church. We were pleasantly surprised that both of them were open to learning more! (It was our first time meeting the husband, and at first we were only talking to the wife, but he joined in and had questions about confessing sin in Christianity). I am so excited to teach them next week! They even like the idea of trying out church on Sunday!

2) After that, instead of sticking to our plan for that time slot, I felt prompted to go back and see Pa Tongpoon and MEE Somboon who we didn't get a chance to see earlier as planned. On the way there, we stopped to invite an old man whom Sister Ward felt prompted to invite for the past couple weeks, but we had not had the chance to (because after we started trying to invite him, he wasn't around). Although he seemed a little crazy, we could tell how lonely he was and we knew God needed us to invite him that day.

3) Then, I felt strongly that we should go to the church to plan for English Class instead of going to see Pa and MEE. I felt bad for switching plans again, especially because I didn't know if I didn't want to go see them out of laziness and lack of emotional capacity to deal with sad old people (especially after the man that we had just invited), or if it really was a prompting. But, after explaining this to Sister Ward, we went to the church. As we were about to leave the chapel to go visit Sister Li, MEE Gope called asking about Yaay Gulap ( we had previously planned to teach her, but it fell through). MEE said that she would still come by the church, and so we waited. While we waited, Sister Shompoo showed up out of the blue and asked us to pray with her because she needed a spiritual boost. As we prayed with her, and started sharing a spiritual message from the Book of Mormon, MEE Gope joined in. As it turned out, MEE Gope had a hard day too, and so we were able to help both of these ladies through the scriptures and our testimonies. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to show my love for them by opening my mouth and standing out of the way of the spirit.

Sunday was a miraculous day too!

1) When we walked into church, To our utter surprise and absolute delight, Ddon was there! Ddon and Goi had moved to Ayuttaya for work, but had come back because they missed Korat and church!!

2) Fern, another one of our investigators who we didn't see the week before showed up too!

3) In total, we had 5 investigators at church and the Elders had 4!!

Monday, January 9, 2017

Week 61 in Field!

This past week was challenging.

Throughout it, we felt that the work was slow with plans falling through, and not teaching as much as we wanted to...

BUT, by the end of the week, we realized just how much we had accomplished and just how much the Lord has filled each and every day with miracles!

A new friend!

Elder Stevens's "aunt" and "uncle" came to visit him last pday!

We all got to tag along and were treated to delicious Shabushi :)

They spoiled us with snacks and even got us any toiletries we needed!

Being able to get some facewash that I had put off because I was broke was truly a miracle and huge blessing from Heavenly Father!

After that, we spent pday playing an intense game of Monopoly...

On Monday evening, we had FHE at MEE Gope's with Brother Oh and Sister Ddu's family.

Early on that day, we ran into Guide who didn't go to work that day and so we invited him to come to FHE with us!

What a miracle and blessing that was!

The Elders burned some ties! A belated celebration for their six months, and year marks.

On Tuesday, at district meeting, we had a special guest :P

That afternoon, I had the most delicious meal I had ever had.

PA Tongpoon, and MEE Somboon invited us for lunch.

Their simple preparation of chicken and some pork, and hard boiled eggs was delightful!

They didn't have much at all, but being able to feed us was a joy to them.

My companion and I ate silently because it was hard to find the words to speak.

We were struggling to fight back our tears.

Sister Ward and I just had the overwhelming feeling of just how lonely PA was.

From the bits and pieces we gathered, we think MEE might have Alzheimers and is sick often.

I could just feel how much of a good person PA was...and just how much patience and love he has.

It broke our hearts to see him so alone.

We did our best to share a spiritual message to help him not fear death and have more faith in God's plan and left with slightly heavy hearts, tummies filled with the single most wonderful meal we had ever had, and a renewed gratitude for the Plan of Salvation.

Beautiful moments continued on throughout that day.

We were able to teach MEE Bao with Sister Ddu, and although her husband came by towards the end of our lesson trying to thwart our beliefs, MEE Bao seemed to have a silent conviction of the truthfulness of the Gospel, and her desire to learn more showed in her countenance.

After that, we ran into Brother Gosone, who is one of the councilors in the bishopric.

We had never had the chance to sit down and get to know him before, and were delighted to know that he had some time he could spend with us.

As we read Alma 5 together, and discussed what we had learned, there was no doubting why he had been called into a leadership position.

I was so very grateful for the opportunity to learn from his firm testimony and understanding of the gospel!

On Wednesday morning, we spent to Brother Ddong's house to surprise Guide on his birthday.

Brother Ddong has taken in Guide, Goi and Ddon under his roof as these youth/young adults don't have anywhere else to go.

Guide left home when he was 12 and has been on his own ever since.

What a big hearted man Brother Ddong is!

When Guide finally woke up, and stepped outside his tent shirtless, he gave a groan and mid-stretch, turned around to see us, four missionaries looking at him!

He gave a yelp and dove for some sheets!!

We had never seen anyone so surprised before!!

Once he found a shirt, we wished him a happy birthday and gave him the cake and card that we made.

He was positively beaming and in shock :)

I'm not sure if anyone has ever celebrated his birthday with him quite like how we did.

Although his hard life situation may have matured him a little faster than average, a kid of only 16 years old, definitely needs more love.

Another blessing from visiting Guide on his birthday was that we got the chance to talk to Goi who has been really busy with work and not able to meet with us.

When I approached her and asked if it was okay for us to stop by the next morning and teach her more, she replied, "Yes! Because the Jehovah's Witnesses came by and invited me to learn with them, but I already threw away their pamphlets!"

I was a little taken aback, but grateful to witness Goi's faith and testimony of our church starting to grow!

Fun facts about Brother Ddong:

He is a 36 year old, single man who breeds shrimp for a living.

He has thousands of very large shrimp that he breeds and sells.

The best part about it is that he is allergic to them and cannot eat them!

Brother Ddong also likes to make these strange drinks...

The one he made for us that morning had strawberries, corn, protein shake, raw fish, cilantro among other strange things....

This past week, Sister Ward were so tired, we literally had no control over our sleepiness!

On Wednesday afternoon, MEE Gope helped us teach Yaay Gulap and her daugher/Sister Rungtip's mother who are not yet members.

It was MEE Gope's turn for the 40 Day Fast and this family was her answer!

Both MEE Gope's daughter and Sister Rungtip are missionaries serving in the Thailand Bangkok Mission right now, and they even started at the same time!

So, it was powerful for MEE Gope to invite Sister Rungtip's mother and grandmother to baptism.

At first, there was a lot laughter and goofing around as MEE Gope was excited to visit their home for the first time, and for them to see each other again for the first time in a long while.

I was a little worried because MEE Gope seemed to be pressuring these two women to be being baptized, but then she started bearing the most heartfelt, powerful testimony about the blessings of the gospel!!

MEE Gope helped us teach Yaay again on Saturday, and the more I listened to her conversion story and testimony, the more my love for this faithful woman grew.

I have so much respect for MEE Gope for having the faith to face her trials and for trusting the Lord to take care of her and her family.

Later that day, we went on an adventure and visited two Sisters who have been members for about 40 years.

Just being near them, and seeing the light of Christ shine from them was a blessing.

Sister Ward and I were so grateful for the opportunity to learn from these long time faithful saints!

Fluffy things always adds a little ray of sunshine into Sister Kwak's day!

Tender Mercies from our loving Father in Heaven through Angels!

We went to go have lunch at MEE Ddeo's little restaurant with the full intent to pay for our food and help her business, but she refused to take payment from us! :')

Finding the joy and fun in the little things :)

On Thursday, Brother Aut from Sisaket called.

Brother Aut and Sister Booyi have never been the first to call me because they understand that I am only allowed to call them on PDAYs and have always waited for me to call them in case I was busy.

So, it was a shock to see a call from them. I cautiously picked up and Brother Aut asked me to talk to his wife.

Sister Booyi was in tears as she explained that she was in the hospital and it almost sounded like she was saying her farewells to me as she told me that she would get better and wait for me to visit her in Sisaket.

I said a prayer for her through the phone and encourage her to remain strong.

The next day, I was feeling pretty worried and fasted for their family.

It didn't feel right to pray for her to be healed, but it felt more right to pray for this family to have the faith to endure this trial in their life, and to accept the Lord's will, and for the doctors to at least figure out what was wrong.

After a long day of fasting and praying, I was pretty tired and still a little worried because I didn't know how Sister Booyi and her family were doing.

But, I still felt peace in my heart and trusted that the Lord knew best.

With that, I could still find the fun in the small things like a toy car that I drove around the church parking lot during sports night!

Interesting Sighting 1:

Interesting Sighting 2:

A miracle filled SUNDAY!

Our investigator Pa Wichay came back after being way for the past two Sundays and we were able finally able to commit him to a baptismal date!

We also had Guy (a former investigator), Sister Giao's son come and sit in sacrament without us having invited him :D

We also had Goi there for all three hours, and a drop in investigator, May, who says a friend introduced her to the church!

I was sick after church and wanted nothing more than to just go home and sleep it off, but had lessons to teach.

Sister Ward I switched off with Sister Ni and Sister Nang and taught two investigator lessons. I prayed for the strength to be able to teach the lesson and boy am I glad I sat through it because Pa Wichay is now a dater!

In the evening, we went over to teach Goi at Brother Ddong's home and he made us sushi (Thai style)!

When we taught Goi on Thursday morning, we committed her to some hard things.

1) quit work on Sundays

2) either move out or get married to her boyfriend

On Saturday evening, we ran into each other at the church and she beamed as she told us of her desire to be baptized!

She wanted to be baptized the very next day!!

We told her that she needed to make sure she was keeping all the commandments first in order to show her desire to be faithful to the Lord, and she agreed to do so, positively glowing the whole time!!

Her sincere desire to accept and follow the gospel is truly inspiring!

I am learning a lot from her incredible example :)

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Week 60 in Field!- Another Perfect Week

This past week was another PERFECT WEEK!

It was another full week full to the brim with miracles.

Just when we thought things couldn't get better, Heavenly Father blessed us with even more miracles!

On Monday, we had Family Home Evening with Sister Bird's family.

We got the chance to meet and teach her mother too :)

In the Korat Ward, we are doing a 40 day fast.

We asked each member to prayerfully consider a person in their lives who may be ready to hear the gospel, and this was Sister Bird's answer. Grandma who had never read from the scriptures before, was able to share what she like from Alma Chapter 7 as we read it together!

The 40 day fast has been a huge blessing for us in not only finding new investigators, but in helping the member build stronger testimonies. Several members were amazed at how powerful a fast could be and we impressed that they could fast for a full two meals as many of them were not able to do that before. I don't have words sufficient enough to express my gratitude and testimony about the power of fasting and praying with a righteous purpose!

On Tuesday, as we approached the church building for District Meeting, we ran into a couple of ladies who had wandered into our yard.

We quickly found out that they came by because they wanted to learn more about our church!!

We set up an appointment for that evening and it was a tough, but good lesson.

Boongki and Bom, especially Boongki seemed to be sincerely searching for the truth.

Boongki had all the right questions!

At the end of the lesson, with the invitation to read and search for answers in the Book of Mormon, Bom proceeded to pray out loud, asking a question and opened the Book at random to find her answer.

The first time around was a little unclear, but the second time, she was able to get a clear answer!

Sister Ward and I area excited to continue teaching them in the New Year !!

Wednesday was a little rough because we had almost all of our plans fall through, but the Lord is merciful and we were able to see His Merciful Hand in our day.

After teaching an investigator, we were left with an hour block because our plans had fallen through. As we were trying to decided what to do, my companion turned to me and asked, "What? You want to go visit Sister Nxn? " She looked confused as I, equally confused, answer, "What? No, I didn't say that." Sister Ward could have sworn she heard me say it. It wasn't part of our plans, or back up plans that day, but we decided it was something Heavenly Father needed us to do and made our way over to visit her.

There weren't any firework moments, or flashing lights telling us why we were there that day, but we knew it was where we needed to be.

Soon after that, we were inviting in a neighbourhood of soldiers, when we saw an older lady with her granddaughter sitting by a market. We approached and invited her to learn and was able to easily set up an appointment for the next day!

Up until that point, our inviting adventures seemed fruitless, but boy were we glad we didn't give up and found her!!

Tender Mercies in the form of little fluffy puppies!

Thursday was a BIG day!

Sister Ward and I found ourselves laughing the whole day, rejoicing in our Lord!

Every hour was graced with a miracle.

On our way to go find an investigator, we ran into Bank who happened to be free and agreed to help us teach!!

When our investigator we went to find wasn't there, Sister Ward and I decided to try and find an answer as to what we were to do with our time by opening up our scriptures.

We didn't get a direct answer, expect to repent and make proper backup plans next time.

We then decided to go ahead with going to visit a member who worked near by that had been one of the possible backup plans for later hours.

And we were grateful to have followed that plan!

We found Brother Dam, smiley as usual, but found out that he had been away because his older brother had passed away.

Brother Dam has always been easy going, likes to joke and has a big, warm smile on his face.

He was much the same that day, but we could see the sorrow in his eyes.

The scripture that we had planned to share with him was perfect, and as we testified of the Plan of Salvation, we could see the Spirit touch his heart.

As we were able to share those short minutes with him, sharing his sorrow, my own testimony and gratitude of the Plan of Salvation grew!

We will see those who have passed on again because our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ overcame death.

We can all return to Heavenly Father's Kingdom as we faithfully endure the trials in this life.

What a magnificent truth that is!

After that, Sister Jenny took us to see two of her friends!

After the first lesson, we needed to take a TukTuk.

As Sister Jenny just finished saying, "I'm not sure where we'll find a TukTuk. They very rarely come down this street," a TukTuk came speeding down the street as if out of thin air!

All three of us squealed in delight and thanked the Lord for his mercy!

We are so grateful for Sister Jenny's incredible loyalty to our God and for diligent efforts in finding people to teach and share the gospel with.

She has already helped so many come into the fold of Christ, and she is definitely not finished!!

Go Sister Jenny!

Jenny and James - we ran into James at the market where we went to find our second referral!

He is currently waiting for his mission call, and working to support his family of two, him and his mom.

What a talented boy :)

The best thing that happened on Friday was our lesson with Bao, the lady at the market in the soldiers' neighborhood that we met a couple days prior.

As we testified of the Restoration, she attentively listened.
At the end of the lesson, she said, "It's weird. Everywhere I go, the apostles come and find me. They come and ask to teach me.

Well, I guess calling the my siblings is a better term for them"

I could not believe my ears! "Heavenly Father misses you! He wants you to find the truth!!"

She had learned about Christianity before, but hasn't been to church in a while. She says she's just Buddhist now, but was delighted to know that she could still pray and learn about Christ's teachings even if she's not converted yet!

We are so excited to teach her more about just how amazing the gospel is!

We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for preparing Bao to learn about the fullness of the gospel and for leading us to her!! ^^

Sports Night

On New Years Eve, everyone seemed to be out of town, but we found people we could go visit.
It was really a day where we visited a lot of Elderly members, many of whom are now sick and cannot come to church every week.

As we spent time with them, and bonded over the gospel, I was grateful for the faith and examples of these amazing sons and daughters of God!