Well fam and friends, it really just doesn't get better than this... I am now on my 5th moves in country and I have a Thai companion! She is awesome. Her name is Sister Amnuaychoke! The best part about her is that she speaks fluent English also, so no awkward miscommunications because of language. We have already taught 2 amazing lessons and there is just such a profound difference having a khonthai (native Thai) teach because they can understand all of what she says. I just know the Lord has been preparing the area for the talents both of us bring to the table. We are dynamite!! This is going to be an awesome moves, I know it!
OK, so my week has been awesome. First we had the groundbreaking of our new Stake Center on Saturday which some of you have seen on Facebook thanks to Mink! (the name that starts P is her real name... we call her by her nickname Mink...) It was so good to see the church growing here. Then Monday we went to Loperi (about 2 hours north of Bangkok) and did switch offs with Sister Marks and Sister Webb. Sister Webb is doing so good. She had only been back in Thailand for 4 days after going home for 6 weeks because her sister died of cancer. (she died while Sister Webb was there- so it was to be expected) She said it has been hard at times to really be motivated to work, but said that there was no question about coming back. She is my hero. I loved Loperi, I would love to serve there. They have lots of monkeys there, and they are EVIL!! They tried to steal my stuff... But they are cute to look at...
Tuesday we came back early to go to dinner at President Smith's house to celebrate his birthday which was that day and Elder Perry (one of the APs) moving. (perks of serving in the area with the office! I love it!) Tuesday we also found out that Sister Nielsen was moving, so Wednesday we said goodbyes and packed. Mom you would have been so proud of me, I cleaned our whole apartment! :) So then Thursday was moves meeting and it was just so good to see all of my friends :) Especially Sister Hulme, my last companion. I love her so much!! She gave me some presents that people gave to me from Korat who I didn't get the chance to say goodbye too, so that was fun too! Sister Bradfield was sick, so I was sad I didn't get to see her because this is her last moves!! She dies on March 18th. And speaking of dieing missionaries.... I can't believe Jeff (my cousin) is coming home!! He just left... WOW! November is just around the corner guys...
So these first two days with Sister Amnuaychoke have just been awesome. The miracles are just pouring out!! haha. We taught the first lesson to the CUTEST family, a mom (Mai), a dad (Go) a 5 year old boy (marvin) and a a new born (martin). They call the 5 year old Vin and the new born TinTin. So cute. I HOPE they progress!! I just can't tell you how amazing the lessons are. There is no stress about not understanding something important and the message is delievered so clearly. I love it. I am so happy right now.
I love you all so much! Hope all is excellent at home, it's just amazing here.
Love,
Melissa
Sunday, January 31, 2010
You got 'em Sis...
Imagine this, it's about 8:45 on a pleasant Thailand evening. You're racing home from an awesome appointment alongside one of the many narrow canals that are all around Bangkok. Along the waters edges are exotic plants and trees alive with birds and insects all foreign to us Americans. Cars are speeding by on the narrow road, and you are forced to ride single file. Two motorcycles pull out in front of you and are going at a good pace, though unusually slow for the typical motorcycle on the roads. Behind you, your companion, an athlete who usually rides her bike ridiculously faster than you can but is now forced to stay behind you because of the narrowness of the road, quietly says under her breath: get the motorcycles. You aren't quite sure if she was serious or not, but know that she often sets targets and pushes herself to get to them and here is a perfect target right in front of you. The adrenaline starts pumping through your body as you push yourself harder than you ever have before. You pedal faster and faster and the cool air blows through your face and suddenly you are on the top of the world! You have never felt so alive! The motorcycles pick up speed a bit, but by this time you are going so fast, the goal is obtainable! Now you are going so fast that you can even pass the motorcycles! You feel great! And right when you get to the motorcycles, your companion, in a very deep, serious, proud voice says confidently:
You got 'em Sis.
Wow, I've never felt so good to hear those words from her. After all the times she has to stop and wait for me because she is riding her bike so fast, and I just can't, this time I can. And I did. We both laughed and now it's a joke between the two of us, "You got 'em Sis." I still laugh when I remember the experience. That actually happened a few weeks ago, but I thought about this experience yesterday and compared it to being a missionary. Sometimes as you are riding along on the journey of being a missionary, it can get hard to stay motivated. As amazing as the gospel is, preaching it every single day can get, well, old and sometimes you just want your old life back. But among the many things I have learned from Sister Neilsen in our 6 weeks together, one of them is found in this little experience, and that is setting targets to get to those things that are obtainable, but will push you.
A lot of what is done in missionary work is found within the missionary themselves. God provides the miracles when we have the desire to see them and then make something of them. I have found that there are about a million excuses to keep you from working hard and it is really easy sometimes to give in. But I also realized last night as I prayed for the motivation to keep going that by my working hard in times when I would rather not be is a true sign of my faith. The faith that the miracles will come, even when I am not expecting them. And interestingly enough the word in Thai for goal is also the word for target, so I am now setting some targets to shoot for, and just like those motorcycles that night on my bike, these targets are obtainable, but I will have to push myself. I have seen how attaining my goals and seeing results gives me that awesome, I'm-on-top-of-the-world feeling that I felt that night and that is what I am looking forward to. This work is so good.
As for this week, it has been truly awesome. We had a great zone conference on Monday where we talked about the Book of Mormon and President Smith gave us all a new copy of the Book of Mormon and asked us to read it and mark in red, every reference, including pronouns, to the Savior. I am already on 2nd Nephi 25 and I LOVE it. I am seeing the Book of Mormon in a whole new light. The cool thing too is that we got to listen to a talk from the New Mission Presidents seminar (which was given while I was in the MTC, but I wasn't present for the talk) by Quentin L. Cook and he talked about how his mission president had him do the same thing. I also learned that he and Jeffery R. Holland were companions!! It was so cool! Both of them bore testimony on how the experience helped them to testify with power of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and after last conference, we all know that means a lot more coming from Elder Holland! :) So that has been a highlight of my week.
We had some special visitors too! Sister Lo (who is from my Stake in Sacramento) and Sister O'Neil had to renew their visa's so they surprised us on Tuesday morning! And Sister Marks is moving up to Loperi with her companion Sister Webb who is coming back to the mission after going home because of a tragedy in the family (her sister died :( ) So she spent the day with us on Wednesday before Sister Webb's flight came in. We are doing switch-offs with them next week, so I will let you know how she is doing. These are just the perks of serving in the area with the office. :)
The work is going great too! พี่ Sea has a baptismal date for March 7th! :) She has a problem with work and coming to church, but she has a lot of faith so I know it will get worked out. น้อง Pim is as cute as can be and we are going to get her a date next week too! :) Our miracle พี่ Pear (she is the one who came to the office and said she wanted to start coming to church) is progessing now! I had an awesome experience with her on Thursday. We had an appointment and taught the 1st lesson. It was going kind of rough, and Sister Neilsen was about to end it, but the spirit told me to ask her if she had any questions and to just testify. She had a lot of questions about answers to prayers and I bore my testimony of how God answers prayers and the spirit was very strong. Then she said the closing prayer and it was pretty incredible. Pray for her! :)
Well family and friends, thank you for being a faithful reader of my emails. It really means a lot to know that you are still interested in my life all the way around the world. I really do miss you all and wish you could be experiencing this with me. Hopefully my emails help you to know what I am up to and that I miss you all.
Until next week!
Love,
Melissa.
You got 'em Sis.
Wow, I've never felt so good to hear those words from her. After all the times she has to stop and wait for me because she is riding her bike so fast, and I just can't, this time I can. And I did. We both laughed and now it's a joke between the two of us, "You got 'em Sis." I still laugh when I remember the experience. That actually happened a few weeks ago, but I thought about this experience yesterday and compared it to being a missionary. Sometimes as you are riding along on the journey of being a missionary, it can get hard to stay motivated. As amazing as the gospel is, preaching it every single day can get, well, old and sometimes you just want your old life back. But among the many things I have learned from Sister Neilsen in our 6 weeks together, one of them is found in this little experience, and that is setting targets to get to those things that are obtainable, but will push you.
A lot of what is done in missionary work is found within the missionary themselves. God provides the miracles when we have the desire to see them and then make something of them. I have found that there are about a million excuses to keep you from working hard and it is really easy sometimes to give in. But I also realized last night as I prayed for the motivation to keep going that by my working hard in times when I would rather not be is a true sign of my faith. The faith that the miracles will come, even when I am not expecting them. And interestingly enough the word in Thai for goal is also the word for target, so I am now setting some targets to shoot for, and just like those motorcycles that night on my bike, these targets are obtainable, but I will have to push myself. I have seen how attaining my goals and seeing results gives me that awesome, I'm-on-top-of-the-world feeling that I felt that night and that is what I am looking forward to. This work is so good.
As for this week, it has been truly awesome. We had a great zone conference on Monday where we talked about the Book of Mormon and President Smith gave us all a new copy of the Book of Mormon and asked us to read it and mark in red, every reference, including pronouns, to the Savior. I am already on 2nd Nephi 25 and I LOVE it. I am seeing the Book of Mormon in a whole new light. The cool thing too is that we got to listen to a talk from the New Mission Presidents seminar (which was given while I was in the MTC, but I wasn't present for the talk) by Quentin L. Cook and he talked about how his mission president had him do the same thing. I also learned that he and Jeffery R. Holland were companions!! It was so cool! Both of them bore testimony on how the experience helped them to testify with power of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and after last conference, we all know that means a lot more coming from Elder Holland! :) So that has been a highlight of my week.
We had some special visitors too! Sister Lo (who is from my Stake in Sacramento) and Sister O'Neil had to renew their visa's so they surprised us on Tuesday morning! And Sister Marks is moving up to Loperi with her companion Sister Webb who is coming back to the mission after going home because of a tragedy in the family (her sister died :( ) So she spent the day with us on Wednesday before Sister Webb's flight came in. We are doing switch-offs with them next week, so I will let you know how she is doing. These are just the perks of serving in the area with the office. :)
The work is going great too! พี่ Sea has a baptismal date for March 7th! :) She has a problem with work and coming to church, but she has a lot of faith so I know it will get worked out. น้อง Pim is as cute as can be and we are going to get her a date next week too! :) Our miracle พี่ Pear (she is the one who came to the office and said she wanted to start coming to church) is progessing now! I had an awesome experience with her on Thursday. We had an appointment and taught the 1st lesson. It was going kind of rough, and Sister Neilsen was about to end it, but the spirit told me to ask her if she had any questions and to just testify. She had a lot of questions about answers to prayers and I bore my testimony of how God answers prayers and the spirit was very strong. Then she said the closing prayer and it was pretty incredible. Pray for her! :)
Well family and friends, thank you for being a faithful reader of my emails. It really means a lot to know that you are still interested in my life all the way around the world. I really do miss you all and wish you could be experiencing this with me. Hopefully my emails help you to know what I am up to and that I miss you all.
Until next week!
Love,
Melissa.
Another Week in Paradise
Family and Friends,
Oh man, what a crazy awesome week it has been! First off, my dear old Dad is 55 years young today and Kurtis is going to be 24 on Wednesday! แก่แลว!! Then I have a new cousin! :) Baby Garrett! I hope to see pictures soon! Congrats Amy and Mike! AND Joe is getting married tomorrow!! Congrats to the almost newlyweds! :) And Jeff is going to be 21 and coming home from his mission way soon!! I am just loving the way the Lord is blessing our family! Does it get better than this family? I don't think so... ;)
Today is also special because Sister Neilsen and I went to the biggest market in Thailand called JetTuuJak. It has over 6000 vendors from all over Thailand and everything is way way cheap. Plus if you can speak Thai you can get things even cheaper! :) It's so awesome. I got a famous expensive Chang Mai Purse that is usually around $20 (which doesn't sound expensive, but is compared to the other purses) for only $12. They are expensive because they are very intricately made and hand designed, so everyone is different. Then pretty much everything else I got was about $3... purses, sabai pants, thai silk scarves, thai sandals, thai silk neck ties (for the boys and my friends...) and lots of jewelry! It was fun to see all the tourists there shopping and know that they will never know Thailand the way we know it! :) I LOVE my life.
Well, the work is just thriving now! We had two more miracles this week with investigators coming to us, one brought her daughter to English class and is interested and the other just came to the office and said she wanted to start coming to our church! They will both be coming to church on Sunday and hopefully we can start teaching them next week. พี่ Sea and นอง Pim (พี่ is what you call someone older than you and นอง someone younger) are both progressing very well and we should be giving them baptismal dates soon! We haven't been able to teach พี่ Noi and her family since the first lesson, but they say they are still interested so hopefully that will work out! And then พี่ Aom and her kids are still learning with us, but don't seem very committed to being members. Aom just wants her kids to know about Jesus Christ. She is a very good mom and sweet girl. I hope they progress! พี่ Petra is ก๊ OK and then we have one more eternal investigator who is great as always!
Other cool things that happened this week... A man offered me a job! Haha, he was really nice. He is the director of some engineering firm and he gave us his card and said if we ever had any problems with engineering type problems to call him and he would help us. He said he needs people to speak English on the phone because his English is not that good. I said thanks, we'll see.... haha. I love Thailand, but don't want to live here my whole life! It was really cute though because he told us that he wanted us to have a good impression of his country and the people of Thailand. He was a very nice man. I invited him to English class, which he said he would come and then church, but he started talking to me about meditation and other Buddhist things, so I don't think he was interested. But that is ok. :) It was just nice to meet him.
Alrighty then! Until next week, I hope all is well with all of you, and as always, would LOVE to hear from you all!! :)
Love,
Melissa :)
Oh man, what a crazy awesome week it has been! First off, my dear old Dad is 55 years young today and Kurtis is going to be 24 on Wednesday! แก่แลว!! Then I have a new cousin! :) Baby Garrett! I hope to see pictures soon! Congrats Amy and Mike! AND Joe is getting married tomorrow!! Congrats to the almost newlyweds! :) And Jeff is going to be 21 and coming home from his mission way soon!! I am just loving the way the Lord is blessing our family! Does it get better than this family? I don't think so... ;)
Today is also special because Sister Neilsen and I went to the biggest market in Thailand called JetTuuJak. It has over 6000 vendors from all over Thailand and everything is way way cheap. Plus if you can speak Thai you can get things even cheaper! :) It's so awesome. I got a famous expensive Chang Mai Purse that is usually around $20 (which doesn't sound expensive, but is compared to the other purses) for only $12. They are expensive because they are very intricately made and hand designed, so everyone is different. Then pretty much everything else I got was about $3... purses, sabai pants, thai silk scarves, thai sandals, thai silk neck ties (for the boys and my friends...) and lots of jewelry! It was fun to see all the tourists there shopping and know that they will never know Thailand the way we know it! :) I LOVE my life.
Well, the work is just thriving now! We had two more miracles this week with investigators coming to us, one brought her daughter to English class and is interested and the other just came to the office and said she wanted to start coming to our church! They will both be coming to church on Sunday and hopefully we can start teaching them next week. พี่ Sea and นอง Pim (พี่ is what you call someone older than you and นอง someone younger) are both progressing very well and we should be giving them baptismal dates soon! We haven't been able to teach พี่ Noi and her family since the first lesson, but they say they are still interested so hopefully that will work out! And then พี่ Aom and her kids are still learning with us, but don't seem very committed to being members. Aom just wants her kids to know about Jesus Christ. She is a very good mom and sweet girl. I hope they progress! พี่ Petra is ก๊ OK and then we have one more eternal investigator who is great as always!
Other cool things that happened this week... A man offered me a job! Haha, he was really nice. He is the director of some engineering firm and he gave us his card and said if we ever had any problems with engineering type problems to call him and he would help us. He said he needs people to speak English on the phone because his English is not that good. I said thanks, we'll see.... haha. I love Thailand, but don't want to live here my whole life! It was really cute though because he told us that he wanted us to have a good impression of his country and the people of Thailand. He was a very nice man. I invited him to English class, which he said he would come and then church, but he started talking to me about meditation and other Buddhist things, so I don't think he was interested. But that is ok. :) It was just nice to meet him.
Alrighty then! Until next week, I hope all is well with all of you, and as always, would LOVE to hear from you all!! :)
Love,
Melissa :)
Monday, January 11, 2010
Miracles happen in Pakkret too!!
Family and Friends,
Wow, an amazing week has just past by again and I can truly say the Lord does answer prayers! So basically when I moved here to Pakkret the first thing Sister Neilsen said was, we don't really have any investigators. And she was right. All the people they were teaching weren't really going anywhere. As I sat in moves meeting I really felt a confirmation that this was where the Lord needed me to move and I knew that we would get the work moving. So I came and it was New Years and we had no one to teach. I just couldn't stand inviting for 5 hours straight, it was killing me. So we got out the ward roster and started making phone calls (I think I mentioned this in last weeks email). I really believe the spirit was guiding me because on Monday we went and met with a less active named Jiew who still has a testimony. It was so sweet to teach her and have her say the closing prayer where she asked Heavenly Father to help her repent and be a strong member again. The best part is, her daughter Pim will be 10 next month, which means she is an investigator!! We now have a weekly appointment to teach her daughter every week and she wants her to get baptized!! I know having the lessons every week in their home will bring the spirit back into their home and help them to be strong members again. The desire is there. Ah, we are so blessed!!
OK, so there is one new investigator... but it gets better. So Elder Westwood, who is Elder Gnem's cousin, (he is a missionary who is currently serving in Sacramento), is so awesome and invited this woman and gave us her number. So we called her and she was really excited to meet with us. We taught her the intro lesson on Thursday with her daughter and son, they loved it! And get this: They asked US if they could come to church!! HA! Miracles!! They are so prepared!! Her name is Noy and her daughter is Fern and her son is Louis (hehe) Her husband is living in England right now, I'm not sure if he is English or Thai, but will get those details as we keep teaching her...
OK, seriously, it gets better... So Thursday we get a call from Elder Westwood again (he is SO awesome) and a woman had called the office (he is an office elder) and asked to meet with the missionaries again. We met with her yesterday and had an AWESOME lesson. She is so ready! She really feels the influence of the Lord in her life and told us of some amazing experiences she has had! I felt the spirit so strong with her and already love her! Her name is Sea. She told us she doesn't really think it's important to go to church... so we'll see how the lessons go. But she is amazing. I'm so excited.
And can you believe it, IT GETS BETTER!!! Yesterday we get a call and the Senior Missionaries talked with a woman named Ohm who works at a shop right down the street from the office and she said she was very interested in learning from the missionaries and wants her whole family and friends to learn!! We were like, WOW! will these miracles cease!! Haha, I hope not! :) So we went and met her and she is just so cute and nice! We weren't able to teach her because she was still working but have an appointment with her on Sunday.
So I know all these stories are pretty typical mission stories, but it was just so sweet to have them all happen in a matter of days and to see the work go from nothing to something. I know the Lord is answering our prayers. I feel so grateful to be trusted by Him to be able to teach his children the gospel. It is so good. I got a letter from Jerom (my cousin) this week, right when all the miracles were happening, and he said that he and his companion were going to double their baptisms because they BELIEVED they could. It is all about believing. I know that is right. Before the Lord could bless us with this success, he tried us... and it was hard. But through our faith and diligence we are now making things happen in Pakkret.
I just love being a missionary. Especially in Thailand. We had the wonderful opportunity to go to an FHE at the Branch Presidents house on Monday and hear them playing their Thai instruments. It was so cool! I even got to play the bell thingy! (what is that called again... like a chime? I don't know... it was easy though. I got a video of it so maybe I will send it next time.
I hear everyone is freezing cold right now? Hahahaha. I love Thailand. It did rain REALLY hard yesterday though! We were going to bike to a members house before we taught Ohm but it down poured SO hard. I thought of Forrest Gump (the weather here is the same as Vietnam) It was big ole' fat rain. I have definitely never seen it rain at home like it does here! We were drenched... We had to go home and change our clothes. It was an adventure! :) Everyday is an adventure here! I am just loving life.
Ok, well I have been so happy to get everyone's Christmas cards! I feel so loved! :) Keep writing because I LOVE getting mail!! :) And remember I get packages as they come! so feel free to send them! hehe :)
Love you all... can't wait to hear from you!! Hopefully there will be baby news from the Wadman's next week!! Good luck, Amy!!! Also, Happy, Happy Birthday Ginny!! Love you! Congrats to Joe and Courtney next week on the wedding! Please send pictures!! Your announcement was beautiful!!
Love,
Melissa
Wow, an amazing week has just past by again and I can truly say the Lord does answer prayers! So basically when I moved here to Pakkret the first thing Sister Neilsen said was, we don't really have any investigators. And she was right. All the people they were teaching weren't really going anywhere. As I sat in moves meeting I really felt a confirmation that this was where the Lord needed me to move and I knew that we would get the work moving. So I came and it was New Years and we had no one to teach. I just couldn't stand inviting for 5 hours straight, it was killing me. So we got out the ward roster and started making phone calls (I think I mentioned this in last weeks email). I really believe the spirit was guiding me because on Monday we went and met with a less active named Jiew who still has a testimony. It was so sweet to teach her and have her say the closing prayer where she asked Heavenly Father to help her repent and be a strong member again. The best part is, her daughter Pim will be 10 next month, which means she is an investigator!! We now have a weekly appointment to teach her daughter every week and she wants her to get baptized!! I know having the lessons every week in their home will bring the spirit back into their home and help them to be strong members again. The desire is there. Ah, we are so blessed!!
OK, so there is one new investigator... but it gets better. So Elder Westwood, who is Elder Gnem's cousin, (he is a missionary who is currently serving in Sacramento), is so awesome and invited this woman and gave us her number. So we called her and she was really excited to meet with us. We taught her the intro lesson on Thursday with her daughter and son, they loved it! And get this: They asked US if they could come to church!! HA! Miracles!! They are so prepared!! Her name is Noy and her daughter is Fern and her son is Louis (hehe) Her husband is living in England right now, I'm not sure if he is English or Thai, but will get those details as we keep teaching her...
OK, seriously, it gets better... So Thursday we get a call from Elder Westwood again (he is SO awesome) and a woman had called the office (he is an office elder) and asked to meet with the missionaries again. We met with her yesterday and had an AWESOME lesson. She is so ready! She really feels the influence of the Lord in her life and told us of some amazing experiences she has had! I felt the spirit so strong with her and already love her! Her name is Sea. She told us she doesn't really think it's important to go to church... so we'll see how the lessons go. But she is amazing. I'm so excited.
And can you believe it, IT GETS BETTER!!! Yesterday we get a call and the Senior Missionaries talked with a woman named Ohm who works at a shop right down the street from the office and she said she was very interested in learning from the missionaries and wants her whole family and friends to learn!! We were like, WOW! will these miracles cease!! Haha, I hope not! :) So we went and met her and she is just so cute and nice! We weren't able to teach her because she was still working but have an appointment with her on Sunday.
So I know all these stories are pretty typical mission stories, but it was just so sweet to have them all happen in a matter of days and to see the work go from nothing to something. I know the Lord is answering our prayers. I feel so grateful to be trusted by Him to be able to teach his children the gospel. It is so good. I got a letter from Jerom (my cousin) this week, right when all the miracles were happening, and he said that he and his companion were going to double their baptisms because they BELIEVED they could. It is all about believing. I know that is right. Before the Lord could bless us with this success, he tried us... and it was hard. But through our faith and diligence we are now making things happen in Pakkret.
I just love being a missionary. Especially in Thailand. We had the wonderful opportunity to go to an FHE at the Branch Presidents house on Monday and hear them playing their Thai instruments. It was so cool! I even got to play the bell thingy! (what is that called again... like a chime? I don't know... it was easy though. I got a video of it so maybe I will send it next time.
I hear everyone is freezing cold right now? Hahahaha. I love Thailand. It did rain REALLY hard yesterday though! We were going to bike to a members house before we taught Ohm but it down poured SO hard. I thought of Forrest Gump (the weather here is the same as Vietnam) It was big ole' fat rain. I have definitely never seen it rain at home like it does here! We were drenched... We had to go home and change our clothes. It was an adventure! :) Everyday is an adventure here! I am just loving life.
Ok, well I have been so happy to get everyone's Christmas cards! I feel so loved! :) Keep writing because I LOVE getting mail!! :) And remember I get packages as they come! so feel free to send them! hehe :)
Love you all... can't wait to hear from you!! Hopefully there will be baby news from the Wadman's next week!! Good luck, Amy!!! Also, Happy, Happy Birthday Ginny!! Love you! Congrats to Joe and Courtney next week on the wedding! Please send pictures!! Your announcement was beautiful!!
Love,
Melissa
Monday, January 4, 2010
2010!
Sawatii Pii Mai!!
A new year; a new decade. Yesterday I was thinking back to December 31, 1999. I remember walking home from Desiree's and thinking wow, a new Millennium... since then I have graduated from 8th grade, high school and college and served almost half of my mission! What a great decade... I read the conference talk from last October by Dieter F. Uchdorf about the Love of God. I meant to write the quote down to share it with you all, but forgot, so I will have to paraphrase. He talks about the love of God and how it is infinite. Then he talks about how we can love God more. He says we show our love to God by keeping the commandments and being obedient. The way we become more obedient, he says, is to simply try. He says to take something difficult and try until it become possible. Then take that thing that seems only possible and keep trying until it becomes a part of you.
SO i have decided to make "love" my goal for the new year and the new decade. I have come up with two things that are difficult and will try until they become possible, and then two things that are possible and try to make them more of a part of me. In all my goals, love is the motivation. So the first two will help me to love others and to love myself more. First I want to not be so selfish with things. I want to be a more giving person and give before I would take. Second I want to not eat when I'm not hungry... (that's to love myself more :) It's hard here where there is food EVERYWHERE and people give us a lot of food too! So those are things that are difficult that I would like to make possible. Now for the possible things that I want to become a part of me are, first, my prayers to be more sincere, and second my scripture studies to be more meaningful. Anyone who has served a mission knows that awesome, heartfilled prayers are amazing, life changing scripture studies are possible. They really do happen. But I want to make every prayer, night and morning, more personal and every scripture study a little more meaningful until those two things become a very part of me.
We talk a lot about progressing investigators, which is an investigator that is keeping their commitments and, well, showing progression. But Sister Neilsen and I have been focusing lately on being progressing missionaries. Missionaries who are continually keeping our commitments to the Lord and serving with all our hearts, might, mind and strength and continually recommitting ourselves to the Lord. We are so blessed. I love it.
OK, so this past week has been just amazing. Probably one of my hardest in some aspects, and my best in others. Ah, the mission.... gotta love it. Ok, so hard: Like I said before, they don't celebrate Christmas so New Years is a huge huge deal. Everyone goes home and spends time with family. The way Thailand works is a lot different from home. Everyone sells stuff on the street, so a lot of peoples stores are also their homes. Well, because it is new years, a ton of people aren't selling so the streets are WAY quiet. It's weird. Anyways, every appointment we made canceled on us and I have only met one of our investigators because everyone we call told us not until next year. Even today, which is the 2nd, the streets are still pretty empty. So Tuesday was one of the hardest days for me because I realized that this area is just a lot harder than my first. In Korat we had tons of people to teach and people were progressing. Here there are more people but the people are more busy and less open to the message. Inviting was something that was the very last option, if everything fell through, in Korat, and here it is something we do every day.
Well, we are going to turn the work around here. Because we don't have a lot of investigators, we are going to turn our focus to the less actives and start asking for referrals. Everyone we taught in Korat was a referral... So the past two days we have spent in the rosters calling members we don't know. I feel like I am getting a good grasp of the ward and the area. We have already seen miracles by making appointments with less active members who are willing to see us. (that is always a good thing) I am also experiencing for the first time members who don't like the missionaries... that is sad. So things are looking up, we have tons of people to visit and I am just so excited to see this area start booming! All it takes is lots of faith and hard work.
So for the good things that happened this week: first off I had probably the best companionship study of my whole mission... Sister Neilsen is amazing and knows the atonement more than anyone I know. We read Elder Hollands talk from April 2009 about Christ walking the lonely road and we both just cried as we felt the reality of the atonement. It was incredible.... life changing. I see now how every trail in our life just makes the atonement so real and how much trails are blessings. I feel changed.
Yesterday was pretty sweet too. We went to this American grocery store and I coveted the cereal. Oh man I miss cereal!!! I almost spent 200 Baut on a box of cinnamon toast crunch (that's $6) but decided that I can eat all the cereal I want when i get home... and it will probably taste better then anyways... haha.
AND! I got a package from Lyndsay!! :) AH! I love her!! Thank you, Lyndsay!!!!
Everyone please write me!!! I would love to hear from all of you!!
Love,
Melissa
A new year; a new decade. Yesterday I was thinking back to December 31, 1999. I remember walking home from Desiree's and thinking wow, a new Millennium... since then I have graduated from 8th grade, high school and college and served almost half of my mission! What a great decade... I read the conference talk from last October by Dieter F. Uchdorf about the Love of God. I meant to write the quote down to share it with you all, but forgot, so I will have to paraphrase. He talks about the love of God and how it is infinite. Then he talks about how we can love God more. He says we show our love to God by keeping the commandments and being obedient. The way we become more obedient, he says, is to simply try. He says to take something difficult and try until it become possible. Then take that thing that seems only possible and keep trying until it becomes a part of you.
SO i have decided to make "love" my goal for the new year and the new decade. I have come up with two things that are difficult and will try until they become possible, and then two things that are possible and try to make them more of a part of me. In all my goals, love is the motivation. So the first two will help me to love others and to love myself more. First I want to not be so selfish with things. I want to be a more giving person and give before I would take. Second I want to not eat when I'm not hungry... (that's to love myself more :) It's hard here where there is food EVERYWHERE and people give us a lot of food too! So those are things that are difficult that I would like to make possible. Now for the possible things that I want to become a part of me are, first, my prayers to be more sincere, and second my scripture studies to be more meaningful. Anyone who has served a mission knows that awesome, heartfilled prayers are amazing, life changing scripture studies are possible. They really do happen. But I want to make every prayer, night and morning, more personal and every scripture study a little more meaningful until those two things become a very part of me.
We talk a lot about progressing investigators, which is an investigator that is keeping their commitments and, well, showing progression. But Sister Neilsen and I have been focusing lately on being progressing missionaries. Missionaries who are continually keeping our commitments to the Lord and serving with all our hearts, might, mind and strength and continually recommitting ourselves to the Lord. We are so blessed. I love it.
OK, so this past week has been just amazing. Probably one of my hardest in some aspects, and my best in others. Ah, the mission.... gotta love it. Ok, so hard: Like I said before, they don't celebrate Christmas so New Years is a huge huge deal. Everyone goes home and spends time with family. The way Thailand works is a lot different from home. Everyone sells stuff on the street, so a lot of peoples stores are also their homes. Well, because it is new years, a ton of people aren't selling so the streets are WAY quiet. It's weird. Anyways, every appointment we made canceled on us and I have only met one of our investigators because everyone we call told us not until next year. Even today, which is the 2nd, the streets are still pretty empty. So Tuesday was one of the hardest days for me because I realized that this area is just a lot harder than my first. In Korat we had tons of people to teach and people were progressing. Here there are more people but the people are more busy and less open to the message. Inviting was something that was the very last option, if everything fell through, in Korat, and here it is something we do every day.
Well, we are going to turn the work around here. Because we don't have a lot of investigators, we are going to turn our focus to the less actives and start asking for referrals. Everyone we taught in Korat was a referral... So the past two days we have spent in the rosters calling members we don't know. I feel like I am getting a good grasp of the ward and the area. We have already seen miracles by making appointments with less active members who are willing to see us. (that is always a good thing) I am also experiencing for the first time members who don't like the missionaries... that is sad. So things are looking up, we have tons of people to visit and I am just so excited to see this area start booming! All it takes is lots of faith and hard work.
So for the good things that happened this week: first off I had probably the best companionship study of my whole mission... Sister Neilsen is amazing and knows the atonement more than anyone I know. We read Elder Hollands talk from April 2009 about Christ walking the lonely road and we both just cried as we felt the reality of the atonement. It was incredible.... life changing. I see now how every trail in our life just makes the atonement so real and how much trails are blessings. I feel changed.
Yesterday was pretty sweet too. We went to this American grocery store and I coveted the cereal. Oh man I miss cereal!!! I almost spent 200 Baut on a box of cinnamon toast crunch (that's $6) but decided that I can eat all the cereal I want when i get home... and it will probably taste better then anyways... haha.
AND! I got a package from Lyndsay!! :) AH! I love her!! Thank you, Lyndsay!!!!
Everyone please write me!!! I would love to hear from all of you!!
Love,
Melissa
Hello New Year! :)
Family and Friends!
Oh it was so good to talk on Friday!! Yes, I was trunky! But it's ok, I have already forgiven myself. I had a wonderful Christmas in Thailand. No they don't celebrate Christmas here, only in the mall where there are Chirstmas trees, lights and Christmas sales everywhere (and Christmas music!!) None of the people celebrate it. It was a normal day for most people. I even had a guy tell me yesterday that December 25th is the day America celebrates new years and the Thai's celebrate it on December 31... So basically when you are saying Merry Christmas, a correct response would be Happy New Year, because its the same thing here... I love saying Happy New Year because it's Sawatdii bii my (which translates to Hello New Year) and it's just fun to say.
So Christmas Eve was really fun! We sang Christmas carols and went to President Smith's and ate sugar cookies!!! I was SO happy because I really missed eating sugar cookies! On Christmas day I talked to the fam in the morning and it was so good. It just went by so so fast!! I didn't like that... but I am already excited for May which I know will come in no time! After talking, my companion and I ate lunch at an Italian resturant, and I had raviolis!!! SO good!! :) Then we went to a members house, Mink (the one on facebook) and had an awesome lesson about Christmas. We read Luke 2 in the Thai Bible and bore our testimonies. Mink's was so strong. She is only 18 and the only member in her family. She told us how her dream is to one day read scriptures with her family on Christmas day, but that she was so grateful we were there to read with her and that we were like family to her. :) She is amazing. We went to Impact center, which is like Arco Arena to this thing called OTOP where tons of Thai vendors are selling all kinds of different things. I bought myself a necklace, Sister Neilsen and I matching purses and the boys, dad and the elders I had for secret santa, ties (like I promised!! :) After that we went to the mission office and watched the Christmas devotional, ate pizza and opened presents. It really felt like Christmas :) My favorite part was just going to the office and laying on the couch with a blanket (the office is always freezing!!) It felt SO nice to just relax!! That is something we never do at 7 o'clock at night! So Christmas was awesome!
Honestly though, the day after Christmas had to be one of the most fun days of my mission!! We rode our bikes ridiculously far and it was a miracle that I even had the strength to ride as far as we did. It felt really good though! :) I just can't tell you how much I LOVE Sister Neilsen. I loved Sister Hulme and Sister Brad, I really did, but Sister Neilsen is just hilarious!!! I laughed until I cried FOUR times!! The first time was on our first long stretch, our first two appointments cancelled so we decided to write a note to a new investigator who's trust we are still trying to gain. We go into the 7-11 and we were just drenched in sweat (in December!) from the long bike ride and Sister Neilsen grabs a water from the shelf and drinks half of it before she even paid! I just couldn't stop laughing! OK, so maybe you had to be there... The second time was when we were leaving the 7-11 and I was turning my bike around and accidently ran over my own foot... some how my shoe came off of all my toes besides the big one, and all this happened in front of like 5 people who were giving me pity smiles... I just laughed... So now we are riding to our next appointment and Sister Neilsen, who HATES dogs, is riding in front of me and a dog comes out and starts barking like crazy at her. So she does the only logical thing to do... stops right in front of the dog and stares at it as it furociously barks at her (that was sarcasm) I almost hit her, she stopped so quickly! I said Why did you stop?! I laughed like crazy and am still laughing as I am writing this.... hehehe. And finally after we rode our bikes ridiculously far and I thought I would die, we made it home and stopped at the 7-11 to buy carbs and Sister Nielsen was opening up the banana chips she had just bought and having a hard time. After yelling at them, she finally bursted the bag open and the entire bag of chips fell on the ground.... It took every last bit of energy in me to laugh until I cried.... Ah, what a good day! But more than just laughs, we taught two really good lessons and invited a lot of people. It feels so good to be a part of the teaching. The first lesson was just a spiritual thought with a recent convert and I taught the entire lesson on my own about how the Savior heals us from sin through his atonement. It was so good. I love my life.
And finally today was SO fun. It is Sister Bradfield's Birthday! So 7 of us sisters went out to an island in our area and road bikes along these tiny little roads that remind me of Rainbow Road in Mario Kart (because there are no sides) Then we took a boat around the island and it was just so beautiful! I LOVE Thailand! I took lots of pictures so I will send them home for sure! :) It was an amazing trip. We ate lunch in this cute little restaurant and now I am emailing! The work here is so good! But I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I do feel like I am just on vacation. But as Dad says, if you love what you do, you never have to go to work a day in your life!! And it's true. I love sharing the gospel with the Thai people. They are so amazing and many are ready for the gospel. I am so grateful for this experience!
I love you all so so much. Have a great new year and everyone write me! or send a package ก๊ได้
ซิสเตอร้รักคูณมำกๆๆๆๆ
Love,
Melissa
PS OK the pictures...
I LOVE THAILAND!
Oh it was so good to talk on Friday!! Yes, I was trunky! But it's ok, I have already forgiven myself. I had a wonderful Christmas in Thailand. No they don't celebrate Christmas here, only in the mall where there are Chirstmas trees, lights and Christmas sales everywhere (and Christmas music!!) None of the people celebrate it. It was a normal day for most people. I even had a guy tell me yesterday that December 25th is the day America celebrates new years and the Thai's celebrate it on December 31... So basically when you are saying Merry Christmas, a correct response would be Happy New Year, because its the same thing here... I love saying Happy New Year because it's Sawatdii bii my (which translates to Hello New Year) and it's just fun to say.
So Christmas Eve was really fun! We sang Christmas carols and went to President Smith's and ate sugar cookies!!! I was SO happy because I really missed eating sugar cookies! On Christmas day I talked to the fam in the morning and it was so good. It just went by so so fast!! I didn't like that... but I am already excited for May which I know will come in no time! After talking, my companion and I ate lunch at an Italian resturant, and I had raviolis!!! SO good!! :) Then we went to a members house, Mink (the one on facebook) and had an awesome lesson about Christmas. We read Luke 2 in the Thai Bible and bore our testimonies. Mink's was so strong. She is only 18 and the only member in her family. She told us how her dream is to one day read scriptures with her family on Christmas day, but that she was so grateful we were there to read with her and that we were like family to her. :) She is amazing. We went to Impact center, which is like Arco Arena to this thing called OTOP where tons of Thai vendors are selling all kinds of different things. I bought myself a necklace, Sister Neilsen and I matching purses and the boys, dad and the elders I had for secret santa, ties (like I promised!! :) After that we went to the mission office and watched the Christmas devotional, ate pizza and opened presents. It really felt like Christmas :) My favorite part was just going to the office and laying on the couch with a blanket (the office is always freezing!!) It felt SO nice to just relax!! That is something we never do at 7 o'clock at night! So Christmas was awesome!
Honestly though, the day after Christmas had to be one of the most fun days of my mission!! We rode our bikes ridiculously far and it was a miracle that I even had the strength to ride as far as we did. It felt really good though! :) I just can't tell you how much I LOVE Sister Neilsen. I loved Sister Hulme and Sister Brad, I really did, but Sister Neilsen is just hilarious!!! I laughed until I cried FOUR times!! The first time was on our first long stretch, our first two appointments cancelled so we decided to write a note to a new investigator who's trust we are still trying to gain. We go into the 7-11 and we were just drenched in sweat (in December!) from the long bike ride and Sister Neilsen grabs a water from the shelf and drinks half of it before she even paid! I just couldn't stop laughing! OK, so maybe you had to be there... The second time was when we were leaving the 7-11 and I was turning my bike around and accidently ran over my own foot... some how my shoe came off of all my toes besides the big one, and all this happened in front of like 5 people who were giving me pity smiles... I just laughed... So now we are riding to our next appointment and Sister Neilsen, who HATES dogs, is riding in front of me and a dog comes out and starts barking like crazy at her. So she does the only logical thing to do... stops right in front of the dog and stares at it as it furociously barks at her (that was sarcasm) I almost hit her, she stopped so quickly! I said Why did you stop?! I laughed like crazy and am still laughing as I am writing this.... hehehe. And finally after we rode our bikes ridiculously far and I thought I would die, we made it home and stopped at the 7-11 to buy carbs and Sister Nielsen was opening up the banana chips she had just bought and having a hard time. After yelling at them, she finally bursted the bag open and the entire bag of chips fell on the ground.... It took every last bit of energy in me to laugh until I cried.... Ah, what a good day! But more than just laughs, we taught two really good lessons and invited a lot of people. It feels so good to be a part of the teaching. The first lesson was just a spiritual thought with a recent convert and I taught the entire lesson on my own about how the Savior heals us from sin through his atonement. It was so good. I love my life.
And finally today was SO fun. It is Sister Bradfield's Birthday! So 7 of us sisters went out to an island in our area and road bikes along these tiny little roads that remind me of Rainbow Road in Mario Kart (because there are no sides) Then we took a boat around the island and it was just so beautiful! I LOVE Thailand! I took lots of pictures so I will send them home for sure! :) It was an amazing trip. We ate lunch in this cute little restaurant and now I am emailing! The work here is so good! But I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I do feel like I am just on vacation. But as Dad says, if you love what you do, you never have to go to work a day in your life!! And it's true. I love sharing the gospel with the Thai people. They are so amazing and many are ready for the gospel. I am so grateful for this experience!
I love you all so so much. Have a great new year and everyone write me! or send a package ก๊ได้
ซิสเตอร้รักคูณมำกๆๆๆๆ
Love,
Melissa
PS OK the pictures...
 |
| From Melissa's Mission |
1) Christmas day, the Italian Restaurant. Note the cute new shirt my mom sent! I am holding a 1000 Baut which is like $30 |
 |
| From Melissa's Mission |
2) Us riding our bikes on the beautiful island! SO fun!! :) |
 |
| From Melissa's Mission |
3) Getting on the boat top row, S. Bradfield, S. Meyers, S. Nielsen, S. Marks, Me, S. Amnuaychoke, S. Young |
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| From Melissa's Mission |
4) The boat ride was so fun and beautiful!! :) |
I LOVE THAILAND!
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