Yuu the Theeb!

Hello everyone!

That's right, I am currently chillen in Bangkok right now. AHH what an adventure this is! It is SO different than the last time I was here (the first day in the country) it's a lot more... normal. But still WAY cool!! Ahh, I love it. I'm in a really good mood right now, so I will probably throw in a lot of AHHH's and I love it!!'s because I am just that happy!

SOO many great things happened this week.... let's see if I can even fit them in! First off we had an amazing district meeting (we seriously have the best district in the mission... just 2 elders and us two, but we are on FIRE!) So we are sitting there reading the vision we wrote a month ago and seeing how everything we wrote is REALLY happening!! The Lord really accepted our vision and made it happen through our hard work!! We call this moves, the Good's and the Positive's, cause that's what its all about! OK... so I am sitting there after a most amazing district meeting and I say to everyone, Guys... really... does it REALLY get better than this??!! AHH, i dont think so.

OK! So there are lots of really sweet little miracles that have been happening, but im only going to share a few for times sake and then i just have to tell you how awesome church was!!!!!!!!!!! So sister brad and I are seriously so blessed because this past week we have just been in the right place at the right time all the time! It just feels so good to be riding my bike a long way, knowing that what we are doing may seem like its not worth the time, but to know in my heart that it is right, and then to see after the fact that it really was right! ok. so we had to go clear on one side of town by 6 but we both just knew we had to go visit Phon (the one who came to church last week who is awesome) but we had a feeling she wouldn't be there, so we took the time to write her a letter in thai. As we are going, we think, lets go buy our bus tickets for bangkok because it is on the way... turns out you cant buy them in advance, BUT the member that we have been praying for who we haven't been able to get a hold of suddenly WORKS there! So we talk to her and yea, the Lord answers prayers. AND it gets better... Phon wasn't there like we thought, but she called us the next day and told us how much she loved and appreciated that note and how we are her closest friends right now (she is going through work problems and a divorce) yes, the Lord answers prayers...

OK so then Sunday happens. We are way stoked because Em, the elders investigator got baptized and Sally and their daughter were there too!! It was awesome. I loved finally seeing a baptism (there are surely more to come!) So we taught Sally and it was sweet, she is totally ready to be baptized November 8th. AND we are also excited because Mae was coming to church for the first time!! (in Korat, she has been an investigator for 2 years and is SOO close to baptism, its not even funny! Just marriage issues and she's in there like swimwear!) ok.... It gets better... Gigi, this sweet investigator who is really busy all the time calls us at 8:30 to ask how to get to the church... that's right, she came to church! It was great, during the 2nd hour of church the lesson was on the law of chastity and she said, I totally agree with this! This is how I live my life and i know a lot of people dont agree with it, but i really like it... ok. she needs to be a member! she is so great. I just love her. OK... you guessed it, IT GETS BETTER! So a member in the ward, Brother Nipon called us saturday night with a referal. He said he wanted us to come right then and teach her but we had an appointment, so she came to church on sunday and I sat next to her. I could totally understand her! Well, for the most part. She is telling me how much she loves the book of mormon and how good she feels throughout the whole sacrament meeting!! haha. she is AWESOME. she loves it already! AHH I am so happy.

OK, so Sorry Lyndsay, I was a week early, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! :) I miss your letters! I will try to get one out to you next week! And dad thanks for sharing that awesome experience about the lady and the records, isn't it amazing to see the Lord answering prayers through you! Keep up the missionary work in the ward. The Bishop is the head of the missionary work, the missionaries are only tools in the work. You're great.

Oh man, I love you all so much. Especially you that have read this far! I know missionary stories aren't the most fun to read when you aren't there seeing the miracles, but I am so so grateful to all of you who are supporting me in my mission. I am the happiest I've ever been and I know I have the capability to always be this happy in life. It's my choice, and I choose happiness!

I love you,
Melissa

Kamlang theiw nay Roi Et!

Sawatdii Kha!

For all of you who don't read Thai, which is all of you, I am currently staying in Roi-et, a little town about 3 hours east of Korat. I love it!! We are doing switch offs right now with the Sisters and I had the most amazing experience last night! I got to switch off with Sister Widchatra (she is thai) and she is amazing!!! She has so much power with the people we teach, first because she can speak with them in their own language, and second because she is just amazing! I learned so much from her in the little time we got to be companions.

So yesterday we had our Zone Lesson in Mahaa Sarakham in the morning and then came to Roi-et in the afternoon. Sister Brad went with Sister Lifferth and I went with Sister Widchadtra. She went to BYU Hawaii before her mission so she speaks good english. She is so cute!! She is like my hero now... haha ok. So we had lots of appointments and since Roi-et is so much smaller than Korat, we could do appointments every hour. Our first appointment was with a member and it was amazing because I could really understand what was being said almost the whole time! My language is improving every day, but I just felt like it was extra good last night. So I was way confident in myself. Our next appointment was an investigator. The spirit was SO strong in the lesson and I participated a lot in the teaching. I always participate, but I just felt really good about the things I was saying. Sister Widchadtra is so good, she was commiting her with boldness! We left the appointment glowing! Sister W. said she was impressed with how much I contributed! :) Our next appointment was just as amazing. The lady we taught, Wiphon, told me in english that Thai's feel lucky when they get to practice their english with foreigners. So keeping that in mind, I bore a simple but powerful testimony in english about how much the gospel blessed my family. It was powerful. Her son was there and she wants him to be a member so he can have more friends, she is worried about him. I said the things the spirit told me to say, and then Sister W. clarified, because the boy didn't understand everything. But he felt it! It was so good. I love it.

Things in Korat are going great too. Uncle Gary sent me an awesome letter talking about how the gospel blesses family. If every ward had a mission leader like Uncle Gary, the work would be doubling! He is so good!! Those missionaries are very lucky to have him!! Sister Brad and I studied what he wrote, talked about it, and translated it and have been teaching very powerful lessons about how the gospel blesses families. The best lesson for sure was to Phon, oh man I LOVE her!! She is getting baptized, I just know it! We are still just introducing right now, but she loves praying and for sure believes in God. We had an awesome teaching appointment with her in her new home she just had build in the outskirts of Korat, her house is WAY beautiful! She came to church on Sunday and really felt the spirit. Church was AWESOME on Sunday too!! We normally have about 60 people at church, this week we had close to 90!!! the chapel was full. We need to get 120 regularly attending to get a new, bigger church. That's the goal!! The youth just had a seminary activity with the region and they went up and bore their testimonies, it was so sweet! Phon loved it!! :) AAAAND the elders have a baptism this Sunday! YAY! my first baptism! His name is M and he is awesome! Now we are teaching his wife and daughters, who are way sweet and hope to be baptizing them soon too! Once M gets baptized and gets the priesthood, he can do it. Ah, i love the gospel!! :)

As for our other investigators, we have William and Penapah, who will hopefully have the money to come to church soon and get baptized, Mae- who will get baptized once she works out marriage issues. Fern, who is in the same boat. Som, who is just great, she is 18 and very inquisitive. Were hoping she will want to be baptized soon too. And On and Jo, who are related to one of the members. Great things are happening in Korat! The work is going forward!!! :)

OK, well time is coming to a close :( Happy Belated Birthday Aunt Terry! AND Happy, Happy Birthday to Mike today! And Lyndsay and Larissa on Friday!! :) I love you guys!

Well life is just good. And I am so so happy!!!

I love you all!
Melissa

Family and Friends!!!
Ahh! Another amazing week in Thailand has come and gone. I apologize, this letter is going to be very short because I just HAD to watch President Holland's amazing talk in English (we only got to see the talks in Thai :( ) and I wanted to get my pictures downloaded and reply to the people who wrote me and now I am very short on time. So this is gonna be a quick one. But I have tons to say!!

First of all, CONGRATS CHRIS AND ANNIE!! holy cow! the Patterson family is growing! You will both be great parents. And Annie and Amy get to be pregnant together! :) Amy looks adorable! I want pregnant pics of Annie too!! You're gonna be the cutest little pregnant woman! And Kyle is ADORABLE! Sister Brad and I just loved the pics you send mom! :) I love babies!

Kurtis and Ashley, woah... model status! Your pictures are beautiful. What a cute couple you are! It's good to see Kurtis so happy :)

OK, so I think that is it for family business, I am so glad everyone is doing so good!

Thailand is great. We had my second mission conference on Thursday and it was just amazing. First of all, I love it because we get to travel to get there and the Esan (Northeast part of Thailand) is INCREDIBLY beautiful. Everytime we travel I just can't believe how lucky I am to live here. But the conference was SO good. Words just can't sufficiently describe how amazing I feel. The only way I can really define it is true happiness. I honestly think it's a happiness that consumes the heart and can only be felt by the righteous. Because when you feel this kind of complete happiness, it is just a strong witness that the love you are feeling is straight from the Lord. There are no doubts in my mind that this is His work and His true church and I have every capability under heaven to bring to past mighty miracles (Mosiah 8:18).

Next to the satisfaction of serving the Lord by preaching the gospel, is the joy I feel from my daily scripture studies. The scriptures are just packed full of amazing cousel that, when followed, allows us to have that happiness I described earlier.
OK well, like always, there is just so much more I want to say about everything, but time is slim and I want to talk about the pictures. (remember our crazy humid climate!) HA!

From Melissa's Mission

Our district! Elder Blaustine, Elder Lilly and Our Mission Leader Brother Michael! And me and Sister Bradfield.

From Melissa's Mission

Yes, I really do live in this beautiful jungle! :) Sister Daa is an awesome member and will be a missionary when she is 21! She is helping us find less actives.

From Melissa's Mission

This is me in the back of a Songtaw (Song means 2, taw means bench... its basically a truck with two benches in the bed and rails on the back as you can see in the picture...) it's a major mode of transportation here. The buses go far places and the Songtaws stay in town.

Ahh, I love Thailand!! :)

OK, last but certianly not least..... where the heck is Mike?! I think he died... Someone let me know if Mike died! In other words.....mike write me!

OK!!! I love you all SO so much. I love the letters I receive! It really makes a difference! Would love to hear from all of you!!!

Love,

goin' to thesunthesun

Hello everyone!

Oh man what a week it has been! I feel like a whole new person from last week! But from what I am noticing, that is pretty typical on the mission. You learn life lessons and grow at way faster rates than normal life. OK. So I have some funny stories. (oh man we had fun this week) Some spiritual stories, and some growing and learning stories. Ahh it's been a good week.

OK. SO funny stories... You may be wondering about my subject heading... so, we have this member named Wiwat who, lets face it, is just kinda crazy. He is the nicest guy and LOVES the church. He is the one in sacrament who is singing really loud and off tune and sometimes people look at him, but he doesn't care, he just loves it! I love that about him. So testimony meeting, he gets up to bear his testimony.... uh oh. Another thing about Wiwat is that it has been hard for him to give up some of the Buddist rituals... So I still can't really understand thai completely, just words and phrases. and when they talk fast its hard to know exactly what they are saying, but i heard sadsanapud (buddhist religion) and was a little worried. Then i heard him start saying things like "the moon the moon" and "the sun the sun" really fast. I wasn't sure if it was English or not, and Bambi, who was sitting next to me said she had no idea what he was talking about... but then everyone started laughing and realized that what he was bearing his testimony about what that Buddhists were all going to the Terrestrial kingdom (the moon the moon) and HE was going to the Celestial Kingdom (the sun the sun). HA! So now it is a running joke between us that we are all going to thesunthesun!

Another classic missionary moment I had this week was when we were teaching a members son and his wife the first vision. We started to just introduce prophets and then the member, Sister Ying, who is just great, but talks really really fast, (i really can't understand her) started to clarify, but just got so excited that she ended up telling the entire Joseph Smith story in under a minute... and in one breath... We had no idea where she was going with it until we heard her say con fan thaan (hear him- as in, this is my beloved son hear him) we couldn't stop laughing. On the way home we laughed and laughed about it. I guess you just had to be there, because I am still laughing about it right now... :)

OK, so on a more serious note. This has been a week of so much growth for me. Sunday was hard. William and Penapha weren't able to make it to church which means they can't get baptized on October 18th. My heart was set on it, but I learned I need to trust in the Lords timing, not mine. We got a new district leader named Elder Lily who is just great. We had an awesome District meeting on Monday about how we are going to motivate the members of Korat to expand their visions to what this branch can become. He also asked us to write our visions for Korat, our companionship, and our own lives the day we finish our missions, 5 years from now and 10 years from now. The visions I wrote are so special to me! I may send them home fam. My favorite part about them is that they are all centered on me being worthy to enter the temple, studying the scriptures, raising a righteous family, and staying close to the Lord. There is no mention of salaries, cool cars I hope to drive, or what I want to look like. I hope to always stay true to these visions and not let those other things get in the way of the happiness my life can and will have as I stay close to the spirit. I would challenge all of you that read this to pick a time in the not-to-distant future of significance and write a vision for where you see yourself at that time, then 5 years and 10 years from now. I think it will surprise you to see what you will write. After I did this I read my patriarchal blessing and found that numerous things I wrote were in my blessing, sometimes word for word.

OK last story, this is about how I overcame discouragement this week. First off I need to say, there is no such thing as a bad day on the mission. Sure, you will have times where bad things happen, but every day, good and great things happen. Well, it was one of those times where I'm just not having the greatest moment. One of those times where you know you will overcome it, but in the moment, it just doesn't feel like it... So, of course, I prayed to know how I could overcome these feelings of discouragement and on Monday morning as I was getting ready, Come Come Ye Saints

was playing, and I heard a line that struck me in a way that has never struck me before. "Why should we think to earn a great reward, if we now shun the fight?" I was overcome with emotion as I thought of the pioneers suffering great amounts of mental and physical pains- literally fighting to get to the place where they could freely worship Our God. EVERYDAY we fight the fight against sin... EVERYDAY. Exaltation comes with a very big price tag. And in my moment of discouragement, I didn't want to do anything bad, I wasn't going to go break my covenants with the Lord, or anything to that degree; but I wanted to give up, I wanted to give in, I was ready to shun the fight. The miracle I learned in that lesson was that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the means by which we can have the power to overcome these feelings and have the strength to keep fighting and to even win the battle with sin!! (See David A. Bednar's talk In the Strength of the Lord) AH, it's true, it's true. I can not deny it.

Well, we are continuing to teach great investigators... I will talk more about them next week as I am running out of time (as always...) but I hope and pray all of you are doing well. I really do love you all and think about you from time to time. Please write me and let me know how you are all doing. I mean that sincerely. I miss you all, but I am so happy to be here in Thailand.

Keep praying, Keep pondering, Keep the Faith.

Love,
Melissa

PS: Thanks Jakey, you're the best! :P

And it just keeps getting better...

Friends and Family,

Oh man... what an amazing week it's been since I have written you last!! Great things always happen on Thursdays because I have to wait a whole week before I can write you about them! So Thursday started off pretty unproductive. We were long planning and then got a call from an investigator Annie, who is great, that we haven't talked to for a long time! We were so excited and went to a restaurant to see her and her friend. It turns out her friend was this Australian guy who has had a way crazy life! We got into conversation and ended up staying way too long. We had correlation at 5 and then nothing really to do at night... This girl who lives by the church, whose name is Fern, is Korats eternal investigator. She has been investigating for years and no one can just drop her because she has a great testimony, but just won't be baptized.

So we decided to go visit her, and oh what a blessing that was! She was way happy to see us and told us that she had been praying and got answers to her prayers and knew that God loved her. She was so happy! We asked her, "Fern, why aren't you baptized?!" and she said, "I want to be!" She has to wait for her boyfriend to move out, because she knows she can't get baptized if she is living with him, so when he goes off to be a soldier she is going to get baptized! When he comes back they will get married!! We were so pumped!! And it was funny because right before we went to teach her we were saying, she just has to get baptized one day... maybe it will take someone special to do it. And now she is!

So that was great, but honestly, Sunday was the best day of my mission and one of the best days of my life!! First Saturday, we had a whole day planned out and everything fell through (the life of a missionary) but President Smith and Sister Smith came and we visited Sister Dim and her family (the one I wrote about a few weeks ago) It was great...President Smith boldly invited them to come back to church... he was kind of weary about coming back because he feels like he has lost his name and doesn't think he is worthy of his priesthood anymore. (He was the former branch president) But on Sunday THEY CAME!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing! Only for the third hour, but it was him and his wife, his daughter and one grandchild! It was so special!! :)

So that was great, but what really made Sunday special for me was that WILLIAM AND PENAPAH CAME TO CHURCH!!! (remember them?) OH man I wish I could just bottle up the smile she had on her face as she walked into the church, she was radiating!! She sat down in the chapel and just wept as she prayed a sweet prayer of gratitude to her Heavenly Father. Words can not describe the joy it brought to me just to see that. She was thanking Sister Brad and I the whole time! And Relief Society was just an amazing, life changing time for me. I am sitting there with Penapah, feeling so happy, and in walks Sister Dim and her daughter, back to church for the first time in 8 years, and Sister Smith tells this amazing heart warming experience about a time she felt the love Heavenly Father has for Thai people in the Hong Kong temple... Sister Brad translated and everyone was in tears. Penapah and I just sat there and cried! My life felt complete! I felt like every choice and decision I had made in my life, all the times I went to church and church activities and chose to follow the Savior, led me to this amazing experience in my life!! I will never forget it as long as I live! I felt true joy!


This past Sunday we had 11 investigators at church and 7 of them have baptismal dates for October 18th! We will see how things work out!! Oh man, I just love this work!

Yesterday was pretty awesome too. I want to go into great detail, but am running out of time. basically we road our bike really far and really fast (i dont really know how far, but I was beat after...) and met a 17 year old girl who told us she wanted to be a member of the church and asked what she had to do to be one... WHAT?! Who asks that! hahah. Love it! She is a great girl. Her name is Som. I am so excited to teach her!! :)

OK... so some shout outs! First, Ashley thanks so much for writing me! I really appriciate the words of encouragement from a fellow (former) sister missionary! I'm so happy that you are getting to know my family. They are awesome! Hope you and Kurtis have a great time at Conference!! Give him a hug for me!

Oh yea, Conference... we don't get to see it until next weekend, so this is just a regular week, but we do get to watch it in English.

Eric Sawyer... thanks so much for asking about me! Sounds like you're doing awesome! The best way to write is dear elder.com. It's .89 cents I think! I get mail once a week, but haven't received many letters since being in Thailand.

Lyndsay, you are amazing. Thanks for all the support, I love you so much! All the letters you wrote me at the MTC are at home, but I can send you the one you sent here.

Everyone else, my wonderful family, Grandpa and Ginny, my awesome aunts, uncles, and cousins, and of course my great friends, I love you and miss you and cannot wait to hear from ALL of you!! Hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Melissa!