this week. was an interesting week for sure.

July 13, 2014

lots of stuff happening. it started off with a trip into downtown bangkok. running around and seeing all of the people trying to rip off the "farangs" (the white people) by charging them WAY too much for things. it's funny when they realize that you can speak thai. then they start being nicer to you. and the prices start going down. here's a discount for speaking thai! here's a discount cuz we're friends... it's pretty fun stuff. we had an appointment for that night... who never showed up. that's the depressing part of missionary work. the people that sound so awesome... that never show up again. but that's agency for you. (is it bad that people's agency is my pet peeve?)

tuesday brought a lot of interesting news. it seems as though bang khae is a really crucial part of the mission right now. (how is it that i never see these things until i'm right in the middle of it???) they just made the bangkok north "district" into a stake! and bang khae is going to be the center of the next stake in the west zone. so... we get to district meeting on tuesday and hear all of this BIG news about how important our time is here....... and i left feeling oh so blessed? definitely overwhelmed. and once again in awe of how much heavenly father seems to trust me. 

 

they want us to have 150 people at church. right now we're sitting at around 70-80. so... we either get another 70-80 investigators at church each week... or we go and find some members that aren't currently coming. we've got our work cut out for us. but the really cool thing was yesterday at 8:45, we had 6 investigators at church! 2 of them walked in and asked me if i remembered them. they were two people that we'd invited... who didn't give us their phone number and said they'd stop by "if they had time." (this usually ALWAYS means "not interested") WOW. what a surprise! then i had to recover really fast by saying YEAH! of COURSE i remember you! ahem. 

 

we definitely felt the blessings this week. by thursday... we basically had one investigator to plan for. so... we put off planning til sunday, hoping that all the people who said they were going to come would come! and YES! they did! 

(fist pumps in the air) 

 

basically the rest of the week was spent inviting. met some good people. some creepers. some potentials. but it's always the "sunday" business that gets us. but we did realize something this week. if you want to get people to come to church on sunday, you have to invite with that end in mind. if you want to find people to baptize, you have to look for those people that WANT to be baptized! so our list continues to grow. baptizeable. come to church. can actually meet with us before sunday... the portion of the population that this applies to continues to get smaller. but ever more so ready. 

friday. was july 11. anywhere else in the world... this day might be just an average day. but not in thailand. not for sister norrell and i. because july 11 is 7/11. did we go to 7 and get a slurpee? yes. did we spend too much money at 7 buying snacks? maybe... but that's ok... because "our diet starts tomorrow!"

 

 

my favorite comment of the week was the branch president saying 'my GET'... (he used the thai word for "not" = my and the english word... then went on his merry way with his conversation.) he almost sounded like a missionary serving in thailand. i can tell you though... it makes it really difficult to translate for someone who likes to mix thai and english. especially if their english still sounds like thai. what word was that? i have no idea... i'll just make up something about faith and repentance that sounds like it should be a part of the lesson..........

i got a really cool quote from an RC this week. it goes like this: Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees. 

do i love it or what!? there are so many times when i do not feel like i measure up to the qualifications for this work. that there are so many other people that could do it so much better. but i love this quote. because even a week one like me still has power over satan. we never need think that we are alone. because we have the savior of the world on our side. and nothing can beat that. 

 

ok. enough with the spiritual stuff. (just kidding) but some more funny moments of the week. 

there is this child. his parents bring him in during sacrament meeting, and he has a little roller-thingie that they put him in. anyway... so the child goes around and around and around and around all sacrament meeting. (don't know if i mentioned this before.) it's pretty funny. but yesterday he was free and crawling... all over the podium... in front of the podium... it was pretty funny to watch him. then... he started growling. and i swear he barked. 

 

i love church so much. 

oh. yeah. 

 

i will now speak on พูดผิดs. (this sounds like "poo-ed pits") just don't try to visualize this and you will be alright. 

you did. didn't you? 

essentially what it is... is when you say something wrong. a very typical thing in the life of sister ellis. and thai doesn't make it any better. like when you are inviting someone to come to church. the use of the word "cow" has many different meanings depending on the tone. including: rice, to enter, to kneel, him/her... let's just say you use this word (and all variations) A LOT. and they are usually spelled different. but the pronunciation is exactly the same. cow. 

anyway. while asking someone to "cow bode" (meaning to enter the church) you have to be really careful not to tell them "cow pode" which means corn. is it any wonder why i always get so many strange looks while i am talking to people? 

the last one for the day... instead of telling someone to "dress modestly" to come to church... i gave them a pre-emptive law of chastity lesson by telling them to "marry successfully"...........

oops. 

 

oh. cool thai fact for the week.

the 3 hour church block? started in thailand. (thank you thailand for not having to go back to church 3 different times every day!) 

 

i love you all! 

thanks for being so stinking awesome. 

xoxo

sister ellis

so hot here that they DID cook an egg on the sidewalk! 

 

well hello hello!

July 6, 2014

 

isn't this world a lovely place? 

a world full of missionaries, of birthdays (HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHITTUS!), of inviting, of adventures, of training meetings, of other meetings, switch offs, rainstorms, and riding in the back of more trucks than i ever thought possible. as well as the stood-up appointments, weird looks, and almost-fainting companions... 

 

life is so good. 

and we all accept the good as well as the bad. 

(that's one thing i learned from president uchtdorf. i think i wrote about that last week too... so i won't digress.) 

 

all in all, this last week was... fairly normal. normal for a missionary in thailand that is. a few miracles. daters we didn't plan for. other people that just... disappear. but it makes me more grateful than ever that we aren't doing this work alone. 

 

wow. this letter is really very short. nothing super great to report... just working really hard in a new area, with a new companion (the name's sister norrell. she's a quarter thai.) and trying to make miracles happen. it's good work. and the miracles ARE happening. we're just waiting for them to transform into baptisms. 

 

it was really cool though. we contacted a lady one night. i was sitting on one of the big concrete barriers that you usually see in the middle of a freeway (i was NOT in the middle of a freeway btdubs) just chillin on the sidewalk. asking everyone that went by if they wanted to wash their sins away. we started talking to this lady. pretty nice. kept saying how cute we were. gee thanks. can i get your number? deal. 

so i called her the next day. and the first thing she says is "i have problems." well. this is the message for YOU! didn't say that. i just invited her to come and meet with us and told her how much this gospel has helped me in my life. so she came. exactly at 6:00. that's definitely a novelty in thailand. but we had an amazing lesson with her. she just couldn't get over prayer. "you mean, i can ask HIM for help?" why yes. yes you can!

 

i think that was something that i've always taken for granted. the innate knowledge that i have that i have a heavenly father who listens to my prayers. that will answer those prayers. the think that i lack is the patience to wait for those answers. but often... the faith that these people use when they pray and sincerely ask... is amazing. and God WILL answer. because he wants them to come to know him. 

it's amazing. 

 

we had a training meeting on thursday... my favorite line of the day was "there is no such thing as a burnout with the lord." 

having spent too much time on youtube watching videos of burnouts... i thought it was funny. but oh so true. god IS hastening his work. he IS preparing people to accept the gospel. and he won't let us fail. we just have to trust him and do our very best. 

oh. one other thing. went on switch-offs on saturday with my trainer's trainer. it was so fun. she was also companions with my last companion in the mtc. lots of reminiscing. we have oodles of connections. it was kinda crazy. so our taxi took FOREVER getting back to thonburi... so we get there and BOTH investigators are there. so... "we're going to split up. you teach this girl the restoration, gospel, and all the commandments." say what? 

i've never completely taught a lesson before. like without another missionary there. 

freakiest thing ever. 

but i survived. and she wants to get baptized on the 13th. 

if the desire is there... if the spirit is there... no missionary (or member missionary) can do anything to mess it up. 

anyway. that's my little ramble of the day! 

hope you all are healthy, happy and keepin in touch with our father in heaven! he wants to hear from you. (i basically have to remind my investigators of that every single phone call...) 

it's a pretty good thing to remember i think. 

love you all!

sister ellis

me. my old companion.

my new companion. asian obsession with all things jellie....

the elders. gotta love a good rain. 



our church. probably the prettiest church in thailand. 

i go from a white room to a fancy shmancy church... spoiled much?

 

to my dearest family and friends (who are pretty much my family...)

June 29, 2014

what a big... week. it seems like a month.

we started it off with a p-day full of touring with the members. don't really know if we did anything that spectacular... but it was a really awesome day with the people that we love. the whole day was spent anxiously awaiting a phone call from the zone leaders to find out who would be moving. nothing. all day. finally, during fhe, the elders went upstairs to teach a lesson and the phone rang. he answered in english. i know that probably doesn't seem like a big deal. until you think about the fact that... we don't speak english here. we knew it was here. then we get this text. is sister ellis leaving? is sister mullen staying? see alma... i don't think i've ever looked up a scripture so fast. "i said unto them, yea." then i had to go back and re-read the text. it was weird. all of my feelings for the past week were confirmed. feeling antsy. feeling ready to go... as sad as it was, it all felt right. then we had to tell everyone. 

not my favorite experience in the world. 

 

but despite the tears, the warnings against not talking to them over facebook... i know that god wants me somewhere else. 

 

he wants me in bang khae. (you say it like care... but don't really say the r...) 

turns out, the stress wasn't over after a sleepless night in a bus from kamphaengphet to bangkok (all the while having the air conditioning leak on me...) fitting all of our stuff in taxis at 3:30 in the morning. not being able to sleep at the church. reunion with my trainer at 5:30. changing my clothes (to look like a decently presentable missionary) at 6:30. trip to the mission office to pick up all of the stuff for our cute little fledgling branch in kpp. back to the church. ate dinner at "my" big c. that was bizarre. haven't been back yet. transfers meeting at 2. no wait. how about 3. there was a really big group of elders that died this transfer meeting. and some really dang good ones at that. we have some really big shoes to fill here. 

 

turns out, my companion thought she was moving. she got to transfer meeting... and oops! it was actually her companion that had to leave. and hadn't packed. so we finally got all of OUR stuff in the taxi... i said my farewells to my dear earnest (my bike) *sniffle* and took off for bang khae. so much fun. 

this is probably my biggest apartment yet. it has 2 bathrooms. 2 patios. (it's basically my last apartment x2) 

that's about it. unpacking. getting right back to work. it doesn't really change no matter where you are. it is nice though. i'm in an area that actually HAS A CHURCH! and AC. and... i didn't have to speak, or teach 2nd and 3rd hour. it was a very nice.... relaxing? day. 

that's the dramaztic, crazy week of my life. but it is oh so good! 

apparently no pictures this week. (i can't control the condition of the internet here...) 

but life is sooooo good. and it always gets better. i love that about this gospel. about the promises that we have from God. that if we try. if we follow the commandments, he promises us peace. he promises us joy. and we are able to find that - through the gospel. i was reading uchtdorf's talk again this week. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! how our happiness and gratitude is not BECAUSE OF our circumstances, but IN SPITE of them. that because we know the truth, because we know god's love for us and his plan for us, we can be happy no matter what. 

oooooh. such good stuff. 

love you all! 

be the happiest this week. :)

sister ellis

(or as my thai friends say: alice in wonderland) 

tastes like chicken.

June 22, 2014

what a miracle-filled week!

 

it started out with munday. i accidently wrote sunday on mondays page. we couldn't have that for eternity... so it got changed to munday. and what a fantastic munday it was! emailing my favorite peeps in the whole wide world. ate some food. went shopping. watched some mormon messages... then went and toured the wats in KPP. we even got a special tour from a nice old monk. apparently kampheangphet is where the (4) buddhas came one time, and they left a footprint. if you looked up "buddhas foodprint" you could probably find out more about it that i did. i can understand most regular conversations that go on. as soon as people get excited (and talk super fast) or when they start talking about something "deep" my comprehension goes out the window. then comes the REAL test. of trying to stay engaged enough to re-enter the conversation when they say something i DO understand.... will i ever understand thai? is the question i frequently ask myself. it's got to be a gradual thing. there has never been a moment where it just "clicks". but i do have moments like in 'the best two years' where i will have a conversation, and then it gets over, and i think WOW! i got ALL of that. big smile. 

 

we have a weekly spelling test in our district meetings. which basically consists of me.... guessing how to spell things in thai. i mean... when you have like 6 different letters that make the 'd' sound at the end of a word... it's just a matter of luck in guessing which one you use. and of course, when it is my turn to pick the words... muahahahaha! this week i actually picked somewhat usable words... but you never know when you'll need to know how to say "robot" either! just saying... what happens if war of the worlds was actually a thing? 

 

i know you all love hearing about brother gamon. the crazy man. who is actually very sweet and buys us coke because it was hot outside. we were reading in 1 nephi 3 with him, because his book of mormon reading is... slow. he read until 2 nephi, but didn't even know who nephi was. that is a bit of a problem. so we made him start over. but in reading 1 nephi 3:7 he says, "i, nephi said unto my father, i will not go and do..." and sister mullen and i just start saying ja bye! ja bye! (it means WILL GO! WILL GO!) just wanted to make sure he got the RIGHT message out of the scripture... 

 

we met an investigator. his name is tawan. (that's how it sounds in thai.) he spelled it for us... thaval. i don't get thai spelling. sometimes when i am asking people how to spell their names, they will spell it for me in thai. doesn't help when i call them back and am asking for "thaval" instead of "tawan". spelling in thai from the get-go. much better idea. 

anywho. he was legit. met him saturday. came to church sunday. met with him tuesday, taught him ALL the commandments. he's believed in god for 40+ years. none of his family is christian. we made an appointment to go to his house on thursday. he said he'd come and pick us up.... no.... we'll follow you there! had to explain the rule... he was like ok! so we go to big c. he's waiting at the bus stop... and when we walk up, he pulls out HIS bike. so we all biked back to his house. the old 62 year old... outpacing us missionaries. it was embarrassing! ;) then we taught him the plan of salvation and gospel. he was even reading in the book of mormon. so, in the end - we had 2 lessons, 1 interview, and he got baptised yesterday! definitely a miracle. 

 

 

every week we have a scripture study class on thursday nights. usually... we just read through the scripture passage and ask if anyone has any questions. they always say no. so we started quizzing them. they didn't know what had happened! (we were reading about when nephi prophesies that the chief judge is dead.) so we decided to have them act it out. to make sure that they understood everything. so much fun. 

 

the next day (friday) we taught cute little sister somjeet how to bear her testimony. she had to write it down so that she could practice. (probably better than gamon getting up and turning it into a prayer...) 

 

but miracle #2 (ok... that's a lie. there were a LOT more miracles than that.) but last week we told Brother Dot Com to keep asking his parents until they said yes. even if it took him the next 3 years to get the ok. he said he would. and his parents said YES! and this is all happening the week before transfers. so of course we spend days trying to organize everything and asking for permission to baptize a 15 year old. who comes to church early, loves helping us with lessons, invites his friends to church... (yes, this is the same list that i gave to president when i had to call him. scariest phone call of my life!) and we need most priesthood here. and he said yes! so dot com got baptized yesterday too. 

it was a good day. 

 

we've had a goal to get 40 people at church this transfer. most of the time it sticks around 25-30. but yesterday we had 37! with a little help from people coming in from the branch presidency and friends of the unit leader... but still. 37! and turns out that one of the elders investigators brought his two daughters... they came and stood outside for a bit but didn't know it was the church, so technicallllllly... i guess we had 40 there. briefly. 

and i ate crocodile yesterday. we didn't have crocodile seasoning... so it probably tasted a little bit more like chicken... 

so. transfers are coming up this week. and in thinking toward that ominous, life-changing event, i must reminisce on the wonderful things i've learned over the last 10 (? really???) months. D&C 111:2-3 was a really cool find this week. i learned that no matter where you are, there are people to find. that even in a small city that only has one grocery store... there are still people there. people that the church needs. and the people that we (quite literally) ask to be baptized every day... it is just a matter of time until they say yes. until they decide that they want to learn too. 

usually i have a hard time finding spiritual nuggets during church. mostly because i spend so much time trying to understand the language. but i got one yesterday.

if we don't have the spirit with us, satan will enter. we don't need to invite him.

it got me thinking. we ALWAYS must invite the spirit. he's a polite spirit. he comes when we are seeking him. but satan's a little (a LOT) rude. he comes in, whether we invite him in or not. they have us calling our investigators EVERY DAY. i thought - hey! this is excessive! but the more that i do it, they more i realize why. they don't want these people forgetting why they gave us their number. if we let them forget about us... forget about all those wonderful feelings of curiosity they had... satan steps in. so we keep in touch. making sure that they meet with us. that they keep committments. that they keep all of those good feelings! and do even give satan a chance to get in the door! 

that's about it for this week! 

but miracles are real. mormon 9. 

it starts with faith. 

but you also need a little hope. 

and charity. don't forget about charity. 

(you can see how my personal study goes...) 

thank you for all of your prayers, your examples, and for being missionaries in whatever field the lord has called you to serve! 

love you all! 

every missionary's dream

June 15, 2014

is to baptize an old woman. a crochety old buddhist woman that has been buddhist all her life.

well... somjeet is not crochety. she is 71. and she was buddhist most of her life. and she got baptized yesterday!

 

 

baptisms in the river. no where else in Thailand!

 

it was a great day.

her story... is not very long. it starts more than a month ago in front of big c. then she left for 3 weeks to go vacation with her family. we wrote it down in our planners to call her on such-and-such a date. (but probably not really sure if she was interested or just giving us an excuse...) so we called her. our first appointment with her was friday the 6th of june. she got baptized on sunday the 15th. i always wonder how the lord does these things... but then i remember that he knows a lot more than i do, so i just trust that he knows what he is doing. 

 

we had a few ripples... she keeps some buddhist stuff in her house, mostly for sentimental reasons. we just told her that she can't "Y" it. (sorry... don't know how to spell that one.) 

but she came to church yesterday and paid her tithing. she doesn't even have an income... she is a retired teacher and she still wanted to pay tithing. cutest thing ever. and she is probably a midget. don't know for sure... but she's pretty small. it was funny just to look over at her and see her swinging her legs during sacrament meeting because her feet don't even touch the floor. 

 

what else about her? oh. she kept telling us she was going to "dam nam" which means "go diving" in thai. she could remember how to say "baptisama"... it is a weird word though. she also loved to tell us how good she was a swimming. calling herself a "child of the river." man. love her. 

miracle #2 at church. dot com. our 15 year old investigator. lots of missionaries see the "student uniforms" and don't talk to them because teaching them isn't always the most successful thing. (usually they just want to be friends with the white people) dot com (yes. that is his name) showed up, and at first he told us that he was interested... because katy perry was christian. sometimes they just like anything that has to do with america/culture etc etc etc... so we taught him the restoration. we'd planned on just a intro lesson and talk all about baptism, but sister mullen kind of "ahemed" and held up a restoration pamphlet and started talking about god's love for us........ it was such a good lesson. we watched the restoration video. and before he left, he told us that he felt so good! that he had come just interested in the foreign aspect of our church... but left with much different feelings. he even prayed like a boss. after that, we told him to go home and read the book of mormon and pray. he told us that one day during school his teacher wasn't really even teaching, so he pulled the book of mormon out in class and started reading! we've been teaching him even since. he comes to church every week. he is really good friends with the members. and he even brought us a referral.... (i just love it when investigators are doing missionary work!) but his mom wouldn't give him permission to be baptized. so we came up with a plan. we told him to pray. and then we committed him to asking his mom once every two weeks until he was 18. just so that he could show her how serious he was about it. she cracked. the first week! that's what a little bit of faith can do!

 

so he's getting baptized. if i get transferred this next thursday... i probably won't be here to see it. but that's ok. this work is too wonderful to be selfish... 

 

we do have some crazy members too. gamon gave his first talk this week. tried to pull out the white board... (last wee we reviewed what he was going to do, and he told us he was going to give out prizes for the person that answered correctly.) all i can say is... he'll be a good teacher. we'll work on the talk-part. he also doesn't quite understand what a testimony is either. he knows it ends with "in the name of jesus christ, amen." but... he pretty much turns it into a prayer every time. he. he. he. we get weird looks from some of the older members. then just shrug and go back to listening... 

that's another crazy thing. thai people... don't really tell you if they aren't showing up. it's just something they do. they don't want to disappoint you........ but they don't want to talk to you either. so magically their phone will shut off. or it will ring forever. so one of our speakers... didn't show up. and our other two speakers cumulatively spoke for about 10 minutes. with 20 minutes left in the program, we decided to throw in a special musical number, and then an elder got up and spoke for the remaining 15 minutes on charity. i probably should start preparing some kind of "impromptu" talk... just in case. 

 

gamon. sorry. this guy is just too funny. every ward/branch/unit needs a crazy person. likes to pray with his eyes open. even funnier when we have a new investigator... because they always get curious and open their eyes. so then... we have two people just staring at each other during the prayer. while he's saying "bless this invesigator blah blah blah..." oh. too good. 

we also had to remind him that the pamphlet... as good as it is... doesn't substitute for scripture. even if it is easier to understand.

his talk on the restoration consisted of: god is our loving heavenly father and the gospel blesses families. yup. that's it. 

(just so you don't get the wrong impression - gamon is AWESOME.) he's just not there all the time. 

side notes in my language study:

(things you can only learn from talking with thai people)

i learned the word for crush (translates as "to sneak-like" someone) 

damnation

camel

auspiciousness

and to slip (thank you joseph smith movie) 

 

my asian selfie

 

wind beneath my wings

June 8, 2014

the problem with only writing once a week... is that if i come up with a stellar title or topic for my email... i think of it on tuesday or wednesday. i forget to write it down. (because i'm lazy) and then my actually title is super lame. bit of a bummer because i want everyone to think i'm super creative. so sorry about the blank subject lines of cheesy on-the-spot ones.

this week has been an interesting one. the major event being zone conference up in chiang mai. what fun! i know most people would think that a trip to chiang mai would be 1. relaxing 2. rejuvinating 3. fun... i have to say that only 1 1/2 of those would count. definitely fun. and probably only SPIRITUALLY rejuvinating.... when you are boarding buses at 9:30 at night looking forward to a 6 hour bus ride (on which you KNOW that you won't sleep more than a half hour at best...) you are looking forward to a very sleepLESS weekend. it's alright. i wouldn't trade the training for anything. the topic of zone conference was repentance and the godhead. what an interesting combination! but it was very soon to be explained to us. i don't know how much i've told you about what we do here in thailand. especially in kampheangphet. a majority of our time is spent contacting. (since our less-active work is limited to a very few people) and we can only have so many recent convert lessons... i learned that the point of opening KPP is to establish a district/stake in the middle of thailand. and it will grow around a city we lovingly call "P-loge". (it's a 3 hour bus ride away for us. 45 minutes in a car... you can tell the state of thai transportation from that statement i hope.)

 

our transportation in chiang mai

we are the "branch builders" here in KPP. and president called us an "experiment". it's rough work. it's hot. i think it was 95 F in church the other day. no AC. but we have THREE fans. we need like a fan per person actually... then church might be comfortable... yuk yuk yuk. it amazes me every week. church is sweaty, hot, uncomfortable... and yet people still come to church. it just shows me how true this church is! (yet another testimony to write in my journal eh?) i don't know if i've ever had to deal with more issues. or more spiritually and emotionally draining dramas... but i've never been more rewarded spiritually either. god wants to stretch us. all of us. and if we expect life to be all AC and no heat... we're never going to grow. 

 

anyway. what we do here. we walk around asking people if they want to be free from their sins. all day. at zone conference president talked about how the savior didn't go up to people and ask them where they were going. what they were doing. or what they were eating. how many children they had... he taught them the way that they could be forgiven of their sins. that's what we are called to do. ALL of us. to preach repentance and baptism. they also want quick baptisms. it's fast. it's crazy... but god has people prepared to hear his gospel everywhere. 

 

how KPP does baptisms

but in getting "fast baptisms" sometimes people are still learning the process of repentance even after they are baptized. i know that i want them to be perfect. i want them to never struggle. but satan is real. and he wants them to fail. so god - in his perfect knowledge and love - gave us (all of us) repentance. the chance to change. to heal. to fix our mistakes. but what we talked about at zone conference is more than the checklist. more than the ABCs. we learned that true repentance comes from understanding WHO god is. his nature and his characteristics. that when we understand how merciful, loving, kind, and forgiving he really is, we will naturally want to repent. change will not happen because we are forced, but rather out of a change that is happening naturally within us. those desires will just disappear because our desires to follow god are so much stronger. 

and we made paper airplanes. 

ok. fine. the real story. we were each given a piece of paper. and asked to make it go the farthest it could without moving from our spot. so.... we all ended up crumpling it into a ball and throwing it as far as we could.... (i knew that my airplane folding skills left something to be desired...) and president asked us if we really wanted to return to our heavenly father crumpled and smashed up in some tiny ball... probably a no. 

then president showed us how to fold the "best paper airplane in the world." ours didn't necessarily go 120 feet... but it definitely did go farther than the wadded up ball... 

so what is the point? there needs to be someone to show us the PROCESS - someone who has gone that way before, to show us how to repent. and the thing i liked the most: repentance is something that will lift us higher. something that will take us all the way. because it isn't just us. we have our savior. the "wind beneath our wings" so-to-speak... with jesus christ, we are able to really accomplish anything and everything. 

i have such a gratitude for my savior. for this gospel. and for everything that it helps us to become. 

other things of note. (this email is excessively long... i apologize...!) 

we taught an OLD WOMAN! 

yes. sounds weird i know... but it is every missionaries dream to baptize an old buddhist woman. we're working on the baptism part. she believes in jesus. she also just likes buddhism because... that's how she grew up. i think that's the hardest thing here. people just feel like because it was a tradition in their youth, they have to keep doing it. even though they don't always necessarily believe in it. 

we basically told her she needs to throw it all away. (in nicely worded committments...) 

when we showed up yesterday to pick her up for church, she told us a bunch of excuses, and as we just sat there and smiled at her, she said, "i'll get changed" and then walked back inside. we continued to make phone calls until she was ready, and then we walked to the church. i think she liked it. she also told someone to pray louder (during the prayer) and got up to buy cucumbers in the middle of our relief society lesson (we will be reviewing sabbath day observance...) but she seems positive that she is able to swim (should the occasion call for it.) she is so stinking cute. she just needs enough of a testimony and witness to change. 

ok. well i think that is enough for today - except that jesus loves you! 

(i tell that to frustrating people - in english. cuz it somehow makes me feel better. and it's true. so i'm still doing my job as a missionary.) 

but you are neither frustrating nor buddhist. but he still loves you! 

as do i! 

til next week!

sister ellis

 

i had a good title yesterday. but i forgot.

June 1, 2014

wow. what a crazy week. since last sunday. we had fhe. which basically consisted of us going to a meat buffet. it's called moo-gah-taa. close. ish. in english. they put a clay pot full of coals underneath the table and then stick a dish with a moat around the outside on top of the clay pot. then you just lay the meat on top of said dish. and you eat and eat and eat eat eat! it's probably not healthy. or very sanitary. but........... both of those seem to be a little less important in this country. and i haven't died yet....

our mondays here are very exciting. this is what my planner usually has written. email. study. big c. (for groceries) fhe. 

what is the plan for the rest of the day you might ask? 

excellent question. usually...... nothing. the perks of living in hickville, thailand... you exhaust all of the sightseeing opportunities... very quickly. so now. we just stay inside. in the air conditioning. which... is actually a rare experience in and of itself. the only other place with AC in KPP is Big C. so home.... is hard to leave when you look out the window and you can just sense the heat. it is so hot. SO HOT. all the time.

and it gets hotter before it rains. i don't yet understand this phenomenon. right when you feel like your skin is melting, your blood is boiling, and that you could water the bushes on the side of the road with your sweat...... thick dark clouds appear out of nowhere. i don't think i've ever seen more lighting in my whole life! (can you tell... i'm excited?) i love storms. i probably have biked barefoot more this last month too... than ever before. why? because i refuse to get my nice shoes wet. i just wish the sky would tell me that it was going to rain. i probably should listen more closely to my sweat glands... they are pretty accurate. 

 

we spent the next few days stressing over the switch offs that were going to happen. not that we didn't want the zone leaders and sister training leaders to come... it was just very inconvenient. but then... it really isn't ever convenient. so we dealt with it. and it was an awesome day. i went on switches with sister crocket. she is one of the first 19 year olds to come on a mission. that is probably the weirdest thing for me here. being the "nong" (ps that means junion comp) in the relationship... when i'm like 5? years older. weirdness. and it always amazes me how AMAZING they are. they were meant to go on missions. i think about myself at 21. not ready. i wasn't supposed to go til i was 23. i'm a grandma here. but these 18 and 19 year olds.... they are powerful missionaries. i love em to death. they do annoy me to death some days too... but for the most part. they are awesome. 

another interesting part of our job here in KPP is being in charge of ALL of the unit stuff too. we're missionaries. and we're everything else. relief society teachers. speakers. visiting teaching coordinators. bah. it's a nasty headache some days.

but it's so much fun. 

 

we had to assign our recent convert gamon a talk for church this coming sunday. don't know why... but we spent a majority of the lesson trying to explain to him WHICH sunday he was speaking on. we finally thought he got it. and then when sister mullen followed up with him, she REtold him what day he was speaking. so yesterday. church. we had a fantastic fast and testimony meeting. oh these recent converts. they have issues. we deal with them. but oh man! their testimonies are rock solid! 

meeting ended. gamon walks over. and has a very confused look on his face. he thought he was speaking. nope. NEXT week brother. 

i couldn't even feel bad because i knew how many times we had told him that. 

switch offs. i don't know why they do what they do to me. 

before them. i hate them. i can't stand thinking about them. they stress me out. they make me feel like i'm going in for a test (i'm graduated for heaven's sakes!) 

but then they end up being a miracle day. i'm surprised that god keeps making them such great days... because of my attitude before them. 

i promise i'll learn for next time. :)

but we came away from that day with 25 numbers. (some days we think that we have literally talked to EVERYONE here. apparently not.) 

what we found out from that day... is NO FEAR. sister mack is a contacting genius. and not because she is the best at the language (don't get me wrong... she is REALLY good.) but she simply talks to everyone. everyone. everyone. 

how else are we supposed to sift out the ones that want to hear the gospel if we don't talk to every single person we see? 

i learned my lesson about asking people. about judging them. 

we were standing in front of big c. all 4 of us. and i'm just asking people. not really thinking that anyone wants it. finally i was like - hey! this guy. he looks super sketch. not at all baptism type. he needs it a LOT. ask him. yeah! i'll come to church. SAY WHAT? 

it always scares me when i actually GET a phone number. because it was "too easy". it just happens. and i don't need to force it. 

well.... that's about it!

lovin life. lovin this gospel. 

it's the greatest thing i know. 

it changes people - it can change everything in your life if you let it. 

i just realize that it's my fault when my life stinks. cuz it's usually my own laziness or disobedience. even not exercising in the morning.... (we did every day last week! and i didn't just lay on the floor....) 

have the best week ever!

me and god are rooting for you. :)

any week that starts a new planner... is a good week.

May 25, 2014

it's amazing. i'm as nutty about starting a new planner as i was about starting a new journal.

and already, the names that we had planned for this last week have changed. those people stop answering our phone calls, we find new investigators, they have their own issues... it is a truly never-ending cycle. and it's even better when you find one that sticks. one that wants to be baptized! 

we had many miracles this week. i just want to thank everyone who sends their prayers this way. we are definitely the recipients of more blessings that we deserve. god is very good to us. 

 

first of all. we have a goal to have 40 people at church. the closest we've ever gotten was 32ish... and that was with the help of a bunch of visitors from the closest branch (the branch president and his wife and another family... brought like 10 people). but this last week, we had 29 people at church! all on our own. it was definitely a miracle. and even more so because they stayed after my talk. (i mean... anyone who has to sit through 15+ minutes of me talking... deserves blessings. i don't know how my companion does it!) this was coming from last weeks... very dismal number. we knew where everyone was. they just couldn't come to church. and this week - we had 5 investigators show up! it just shows to me how god is the one doing this work... and that he will bless us if we continue to work hard and never give up!

 

other miracles of note:

goal stopped answering his phone - but he was replaced by A (เอ), Me (มี่), and Som (ส้ม). three new fantastic investigators. of course... they do have their issues. but all of them want to be baptized. even the crazy A... who, when we told him about the law of chastity, agreed to live it, but had problems not with telling his girlfriend they couldn't sleep together, but in making sure that he kept his thoughts, speech and actions pure. i mean, that is a great goal. but then he started going off on - so if someone wants to buy my food... and i want to sell it, but if i tell him that it's delicious and i know it really isn't??? that was his problem. hmmmmm.... i don't think that was the point of that bullet......

other than that. he drinks cocoa and milk instead of tea. and he says he likes it. 

atta boy. 

 

som is amazing! we taught her. she's already christian. but she just moved here from chiang mai and didn't know where to go to church. so we snatched her up! we decided to teach her about the restoration, and after we taught about priesthood, and explained that her baptism... wasn't... wasn't... that she needed it to be done with someone holding the priesthood of god found only in THIS church. it was cool. she just nodded and basically asked when she could be baptized. now we're just working through the fact that for whatever reason she can't get married to her boyfriend of 10-something years. (she'll need some good prayers.)

 

friday... we got grounded to our house. i don't know how much everyone else in the world is in tune with thai politics and stuff... still probably more than me. we just get a text on friday saying that we can go to the church if we have appointments, but other than that, we need to be at home. we had a morning appointment with som, but then had to come home... and after cleaning, updating our area book... yada yada yada... and eating rice and an omlete for lunch... we were out of things to do. that's when the elders called. and asked if we wanted to play uno. 

that's where the next 4 hours of our day went. sitting in the hallway, playing uno. 

and after it was all over... i would have begged to go contacting! 

that's weird. 

they texted us saying that saturday was a "normal workday", but that we were still grounded to the church. no contacting. ouch. it was a looooooong day at the church. but we did manage to keep pretty busy. super duper cleaned the church. got rid of all the crickets in the kitchen. (if we don't kill them they start chirping during sacrament meeting....) 

i was supposed to be writing my talk... but just like in english... it didn't happen. 

 

church was great. still no contacting. but the miracles still came! i think god might have been pitying us a little bit for being stuck inside all day... but we got two calls heading home on saturday night. one from a girl named cat. (i'd scratched her number off my list because she said she was always busy!) she said it was her birthday sunday, and for her birthday she wanted to go to church! the next number was from sister mullens aunt. (she's half thai) who said that she was coming to church! woah. it was cool. almost too many investigators at church to know what to do with... but our awesome RCs stepped up to the plate to be fellowshippers! 

i think the hardest thing is when people are so close - but something is standing in their way. sometimes they are easy concerns to solve... other times they are not. but we just need to have faith that god is in control. and that if this is the one time that they can come to the church, to feel the spirit, we need to make it so that they want to come back when the time comes. 

 

it hit me yesterday. how a lot of these people here don't know what they are worshipping. they believe in a higher being... but they are buddhist because their parents are. because everyone else is. the cool thing is when you meet someone that knows there is a god. that believes in him already... and you are just there to guide their knowledge. to teach them the truth. it's amazing! you are the one that helps them to develop a relationship with god and jesus christ. you teach them how to pray. how to build that relationship. and then you watch them blossom. :D 

 

it also struck me yesterday, how we shouldn't be looking for the so-so/lazy buddhists. just because we think they'll convert more easily. the really strong members will probably come from really strong people of other religious faiths. the ones that give everything they have to their religion. they put their whole heart into it. they just haven't been shown the truth yet. 

 

we had a really cool experience with sister mullen's aunt yesterday. she came to church, i watched her sit there and take notes, and when we were able to sit down and talk to her later, she expressed concerns about problems starting in her family if she "were to be baptized". oooooooh! she is sooooooooo close! you could just sense it. she needs some prayers too. 

 

this gospel changes people's lives. but it does more than that. it changes the people. from imperfect, flawed people - into people who are perfect through christ and his atonement. it's amazing. i've seen it happening in my own life. through the course of this mission. i know that my thai needs to work. my teaching always needs work. my mood needs some work (especially on those hot days when all i want is to go inside and drown myself in ice cream from dairy queen...) my appearance... probably could use some tlc too. but god is in this work. and despite all of my shortcomings. despite all of my flaws... he is still able to do his perfect work PERFECTLY. it's amazing. and i love it so much! 

i think that's it for this week!

love you all!

sister ellis

 

dinner on the river

I think it was the wind...

 

this week... was very strange.

May 18, 2014

A week of pitted appointments, of biking barefoot, of the hottest weather that I think Thailand has ever seen.... and yet... it just keeps getting better and better!

ps. this is the point where 1. i stop writing with capital letters (far too time consuming) and 2. bring my journal downstairs because i couldn't remember what happened this week for the life of me...

this week was another one of "those" weeks. the ones where you make all of these appointments, you confirm, you go to the church.... and they never show. thai people have a thing with time. sometimes they will show up 45 minutes to an hour late... and just saunter into the church. agh. so it makes us feel like we can't leave even after a half hour - what if they did show up? it was an epic journal entry on wednesday when TWO people actually showed up to their appointments. 

and. i didn't even know it. but i hit halfway this week. that was a very strange feeling. especially since i hadn't really thought about it at all. i got a package from home... "not to open until may 15th"... don't know how i didn't put that one together! it seems weird. i never thought i'd get to this point. i think i assumed i would either end my mission as a greenie... or suddenly be a seasoned, fluent thai-speaker. the work in the middle... that continues to take me by surprise. ;)

but it was weird. after all the hours and hours and hours and hours and (guess what?) MORE hours of contacting... we got to friday. hey! more contacting. these weeks are rough. when we have amazing investigators... that decide not to answer their phones. maybe they got in a horrible scooter accident and they can't use their hands any more? or maybe their phone fell into the river on their way to our lesson... and they got lost................

we like to be hopeful. but then we get realistic and go find more investigators. 

we are really blessed here. with the members. the investigators. all of it. something i've had to learn is the "letting go" part of teaching people. with the current way that we are teaching... you don't have time to hang on to investigators that aren't progressing. we are looking for and teaching people that want to be baptized. and they want it soooo badly. which is weird... i never would have expected that in a predominately buddhist country. but there are people that tell us that they always believed that there was a god. we were just standing there in front of big c to invite them to learn. 

i feel a little bit like i'm rambling today. but it is so good. it is always so good. i realize more and more how much heavenly father is preparing people to hear his gospel. and that we all can and will have the opportunities to share it. i had the thought that i had invited a lady too many times (there are some employees that literally walk back and forth in front of big c. typically we just keep inviting them.) but i decided i would just smile at her and ask her how her day was. at first she just looked surprised. then she smiled. about the third time she passed by, she stopped and asked me what we were doing. it's weird sometimes... we get into a groove of doing the same thing over and over and over... thinking there is only one right way to share the gospel. but i can guarantee that there is as much power in a smile as there is in asking somebody to be baptized. (just don't be afraid of doing the latter!) we CAN promise them that their life will change. we CAN tell them that god will help them. and it's a wonderful thing. 

ok! that's it for this week!

have an awesome week!

oh. ps. the mission just ok'd facebooks for us missionaries. 

WE AREN'T ALLOWED TO ADD PEOPLE FROM HOME.

so. you can look at it. you can follow it. but don't be sad if i don't friend you. i would love to... but this is a tool of our work here. 

thanks! 

ซิสเตอร์ เอลลิส (this is my facebook name)

 

 

a strange fruit called ngo... ngah... there is no way to write that in english...

a thai attempt at a pastry. pastry perfection...does not exist here. ;)

 

already sweaty.

May 5, 2014

This week. There is so much to be said! But for the sake of time... I will be brief.

Longest 2 days of contacting in the history of contacting. Standing outside of Big C. Asking everyone... and maybe a few dogs... if they wanted to be baptized. Not a single number. It was rough. So rough! And hard to stay faithful. Even when I know that sacrifice, that patience, that faith... all bring forth those blessings... those miracles - it was so HARD to do it. 

But do it we did. Probably 6 hours in front of Big C on Friday. 

Ohhhhh and was it hot!

But we survived. Of course - I had to! It was Mother's Day this week!!!

 

I do remember coming home that night... wondering where the miracles were. Where the fruits of our labors were. And maybe venting a little bit to the sister training leader how hard it was.......

Oh me of little faith sometimes! 

We did have a lesson with an RC the next day. That was about the extent of our plans... everyone else had cancelled, wasn't interested or was baptized. Rough life. That's why we needed to go find new people. But anyway. Great RC lesson. And as he's saying the closing prayer, I see a shadow. So I peeked. There's someone standing in the doorway. Creepy?

Amen. We look up and there really was someone standing in the doorway. Ok... so we went and talked to him. Yeah we teach. English? No. I came to learn about baptism. OK......... can we teach you right now? Sure. 

We taught him. All the commandments. You want to be baptized on the 18th? Ok! Come to church tomorrow. Deal! 

Wow. I don't think I've ever felt MORE humbled. And more blessed at the same time. 

God loves us. All of us. :) 

I'm just learning to recognize his love a little bit better. 

 

Our motto: already sweaty.

You know it's going to rain when your blood feels like it's boiling and your skin starts to melt off your bones. Other than that... you just forget you sweat. Then you look in the mirror and..... well... I'll stop there.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Sister Ellis

the ellis family getting to Skype their sweet missionary for mother's day!

oh. and another miracle. bew... our rc from a month ago. baptized his twin brother yesterday. :))))))

 

 

i go a-fishing.

May 4, 2014

this week. could have probably qualified as one of the shortest/longest weeks of my whole mission. don't know why... but time does wonky things here. some days just fly by... other days...

i usually look at my planner to help me remember what to write in my email. as i'm looking through it this week, i see things like:

try out a new lunch place.

pay bill

eat steak

zone training (when i look at that... i know it means 6 hours on a bus with no air conditioning)

call people

interview

"the only easy day, was yesterday"

president from chiang mai

inviting

inviting

inviting

inviting...

baptism!

so. at the end of the week. when every single one of our plans (or so it would seem at times) pits. fails. or stands us up... it was still a great week. 

 

 

we had two baptisms yesterday. "the referral" - the girl who's parents we met while contacting. the ones that are most definitely buddhist... gave us their daughters number. wow. AND she was interested. we gave her a date before we even met her. she almost didn't make it to church last week... because she was eating. but we forgave her of that... and she is the cutest thing ever! she saw that someone brought food for after church last week, and brought some yesterday! (even though it was fast sunday...........) so we waited until after we got back from her baptism to eat it. gah! it's so cute i can't stand it!

our other baptizee was gamon. (we finally actually learned how to spell it in thai this week. it was so easy it was ridiculous. to think. i could have been writing 3 characters instead of 5!) the first time we contacted him, he was shirtless. very impressed i could speak thai. didn't come to our appointment, so we almost dropped him. but one day we were walking down the same part of town (usually we ride our bikes...) and we found him again. he said he'd actually come, but there were people there and he was afraid to go inside. we recommitted him to coming, and he got baptized! 

i read a talk yesterday about being a "challenging and testifying missionary". if i could explain our mission... that would be it. the first (and pretty much only thing we do) is invite people to be baptized. everything else that we talk about comes after that. something that hit me was a line where it says "the lord knows who he wants in his church." and again, i realized that this isn't my job. it isn't my success or my fault when things do or don't work out. i can try as hard as i can, and people have their agency. but god has also prepared some pretty amazing people to come into his church. and he knows where they are. he also knows where we will be. and somehow he plays the puppeteer (aka us following the spirit) and gets us to find those people. it's quite an amazing experience!
 

my one thought for the day. comes from our district from chiang mai coming down to help our fledgling unit here in kpp. he gave a lesson to the members about basically how the church is supposed to work. he showed a picture of a fisherman. a nice fisherman at sunset. all alone in a river. pretty picture. said it was like missionary work. how many fish do you think you're going to get? a few right?

then he showed a picture of a team. with nets. all pulling. working together. it's true. missionary work alone.... is rough. but there is so much more that we can do together! not necessarily that everyone needs to get out and challenge people to be baptized. but everyone can reach out. we see that all the time with investigators. they might come because some gigantic blonde american invited them. they might come because they are curious. they might come because they've never been to a christian church before... but the members that step up and share their testimonies and share their love... will keep them there. my amazing companion shared a beautiful testimony yesterday and said, "if we want others to feel christ's love, they first need to feel our love." they will be able to feel his love through us. 

so go out. and love people! :) 

i love you all too!

sister ellis

it all started with... a not so preparational preparation day....

April 27, 2014

seriously. got done emailing last week. studied. ran errands. and it was 6:00. so depressing! but we vowed that we would make this pday even better. by coming back and napping. (pray that i actually get it in this week!) 

we had our "tree of life" experience.... so funny. and awesome. none of our converts had EVER done anything like this before... so we just said to follow the string. lots of tripping. lots of ducking under tables, stepping over boxes, and occasionally helping a person that JUST DIDN'T GET IT... they all eventually made it up the 3 flights to the tree. the best part was the one kid that knew what it was. zoomed past everyone else, and made it to the tree, past the tempters... he knew the goal! i definitely learned a lot. first of all... don't use plastic chairs if you are going to do the tree of life... they move WAY too easy. it looked like a war zone when we were done. we had a really good conversation about the tree of life. what it means. and how we are supposed to apply it. it's a culmination of things that we've been teaching them over the last few months. it is probably the most interesting experience ever - to start at square one. with EVERYONE. no one really has any better of a knowledge than the rest of them. so everything we teach is a new experience. 

 

 

we found out that elder kelley was moving. we got an envelope that said "the tribe has spoken" on it... (can you guess that was my idea???) and he has written ALL of our names on it. what??? we flipped them over and saw writing on the back. all of us stayed. except the aussie. 

the hard part about NOT moving... is that you don't get to go to transfers...

probably not as big of a deal for an elder. but we learned that almost every sister in the north zone (except us) was moving. so it felt like a party. and we didn't get the invitation. no worries. we had a super fantastic day on thursday. came away with 3 people with dates for the 4th. (one of them didn't come to church yesterday... so we're looking at the 11th for her now.) heavenly father does know what he's doing! and i am so grateful that i get to spend a little more time in kpp. 

the rest of the week has basically been getting adjusted to having all of the brains... gone. all of the people that knew how this area started... aren't here anymore. and some of us feel a little clueless. (mostly me) but we're all slowly finding out what needs to happen here.

we're in the process of finding a new building. becoming a branch. AND trying to find and teach people. it's.... a little more than the missionary work that i've become accustomed to. but OH! it's so much fun!!!! 

i think pretty soon i'm going to have part of my chemical makeup being... mango. here's sister ellis. 70% carbon. 10% oxygen. 5% mango. we eat them.... so much. i come home at night... and probably eat 3 or 4. not including what i eat for breakfast. and the new mangoes that we get from members. from investigators... 

so. many. mangoes!

 

mango sticky rice. i'm pretty sure that's the fruit lehi was talking about...

 

so that's basically it. there are moments when i think about things like... mexican food. and salsa. and other things from home... but the lord is too good to me. and he gives us lots of miracles here. i know that i don't deserve them - but it just shows me that this really is HIS work. and that it's all true. 

so if you ever think that the lord isn't mindful of you. that he doesn't care. or that he pays attention to other people more... it's a lie. he is SO mindful of every one of us. and he wants more than anything else for us to feel his love. sometimes we just need to make a little more effort, and to reach out to him. then he'll reach back. 

it's a great day to have a great day!

have the best one ever!!!!

sister ellis

 

waldo! I found him!

 

hello there friends!

April 20, 2014

this week... oh this week. t'was great.

it started out. with SONGKRAN!

the biggest. best. waterfight EVER. literally. in a small town like ours, everyone basically camped out around the river - they had big huge barrels full of water, and as the cars (or in our case bikes) passed by... it was free game for everyone to throw water. most of the time the cars would have a giant barrel of water in the back and there were probably 5 to 10 people stuffed in the back of each truck. when poor little bikers would drive past (aka US) we would basically have a constant stream of water being thrown at us. if this DOESN'T sound like fun... you are crazy. :) the OTHER part about songkran is the "bang". in thai, "bang" means powder. actually i think you can use it when talking about baby powder, flour... and anything with that same consistency. they mix it with water and then walk around and rub it on people's faces. imagine the fact that yours truly was quite the target... super tall, blonde... it almost seemed like an honor that they got to spread the gooey stuff all over my face. then it would all get washed off... and more people would get the opportunity. 

it was so great.

 

oh. and those nasty shirts? EVERYONE has them. it is "the songkran shirt". if you play songkran... you must have one. i loved the fact that it made me look especially touristy. 

when songkran happens... everything else basically stops. we managed to contact at big c on tuesday WITHOUT getting wet. which was a total miracle. we would just pray that no trucks with water-bearing fiends would pull up behind us when we were waiting at the stoplights. then we'd bike like crazy to the next one. 

actually... songkran seems like it happened years ago. i almost forgot to write about it! 

tuesday. english cancelled. (because of songkran. are you seeing any patterns here?)  

wednesday... pretty normal. no more water. we met with a referral... her parents were in the middle of feeding birds (a tam-boon... a way to get rid of sins in buddhism) and we asked them if they wanted to lang-bab (our way of saying "to wash away sins") they said no. but they did say that their daughter was interested in jesus. ok.......... her name is ploy. she just seems so ready to be baptized! only she didn't have her phone on all this weekend... so we have to move her baptismal date. bummer. 

we also met with a girl/guy/all i know is that it has an adam's apple..... said that he wanted to be baptized... but i think that he was a little less interested when we taught him (the guy wearing the lipstick and makeup) about the law of chastity. oh boy. 

later that night, i lent my belt to an elder that had popped the seams in his pants. so that he could make it home without holding the seams shut. 

saturday. oh my word. i acutally have so very few words for this day... because the only thing i can think of is MANGOES!

 

 

so many mangoes. big ones, small ones. green ones. orange ones. lightning ones..... oh wait. they're called "thunder mangoes". what started out as us going out to help our unit leader with service turned into a field trip to find us mangoes. i think he took home 2. 

the best part. we're driving down some random back road... and he stops. Oi! you need to try this! we're like huh??? so we all hop out of the truck, and he runs over to our side with a small, round, green orb. smaller than a baseball. and takes a giant bite. it's a mango... but probably barely bigger than a golf ball. we started looking around, and they are ALL over the ground. so i pick one up and take a bite. ohmygoodnessitwassoooooodelicious! they were so small they pretty much just needed to fall off to the ground to be ripe. the best part was looking around. the elders. squatting on the ground... they turned into mango-eating-machines! brother sutep said they looked like aboriginals. even sister mullen was eating them. we all got back in the truck... and started moaning. they were SO good. and i've never seen them before. 

 

typical elders...

our district!

we finally managed to make it home. we sprinted to the track, and met our RCs for sports day. played a really quick game of ultimate frisbee... it's bad. they are getting GOOD now. we can't dominate any more! then we came home. changed into our dresses, then got picked up to go to sister mullen's uncles house for dinner. 

the back story to this. sister mullens mom is from kamphaengphet. so her whole family lives here. and this was the first time that we've been over there since the first weekend we were here. none of them are members. and we got to meet with them! last time... they weren't so interested. but we had fasted on friday night for some extra help, and i know it came. they listened. and even though they aren't jumping in the river.... they're closer. 

it is wonderful! 

the best way to end this weekend was with our recent converts getting the holy ghost yesterday! 

oooh i love this sooooo much! :) 

and i love you! 

our heavenly father loves you all so much. and he will do everything for you. 

keep it up!

love - sister ellis

 

my home :)

other randomness that made me laugh!