New Years Frustrations

bah. the creative juices obviously don't work as well on thursdays as they do on monday. 

sorry for the horrible letter that i'm about to write. 

just saying.

this week. was interesting. between christmas... to new years... it's been an interesting week to be a missionary. definitely NOT normal. i'm getting pretty good at "guess the asian" game that i have to play while inviting... 

most of the time i start asking someone if they want to come to church... then they look at me and AHHHH MAN! chinese. then they give me the most confused look i've ever seen. i quickly ask them if they'll come to church. at which point they tell me that they won't be here sunday. darn. moving on! we like to frequent the parking lots of malls. because most of those people we KNOW live here. (sometimes.) but we don't walk around the cars. we walk around the scooter parking lot. it's a lot harder for people to hide from us or avoid us there. 

muahahaha.

this week was pretty extraordinary. aren't they all? but nothing really to report. other than my companions wheel popping completely off of her bike. a potential concussion... but she lived through the night! (she seemed pretty coherent... we just weren't sure if she hit her head or not!) the only real side effect is that she's a little sore. errrr... a LOT sore. 

that's about the only SUPER exciting thing this week. 

new years. lanterns.

my life is tangled. 

i had a connection with a girl in a "rot dang" (it means red truck) over rapunzel. then i invited to learn english. (don't worry... she told me she didn't want to get baptized first.) 

i eat more "farang" food than i've ever eaten in my whole life. it's probably the reason my MSF is low. 

#chiangmaiproblems

but let's just take a minute to reflect and to look forward. 

this last year. (i almost wrote week...) i've been a missionary for ALL 365 of it's days. and it has been SO rewarding. i had no idea when i started out what i was in for. but i have been blessed every single on of them. from seeing people baptized, to friends that i have made, to adventures, sadness, heartache, stress... all of it just makes this work WORTH IT! every single second of it is one that i will cherish forever. 

i think what i have learned is that life is what we choose it to be. it can be stressful, or it can HAVE stress and be joyful. it can be sad. or it can HAVE sadness and be filled with joy. we can choose what we want. and i've chosen to make my mission one where i am happy to get up every day to face the day. 

on to next year! 

สู้ๆ ต่อไป!!! (soo-soo daw bye! something like that.) 

love you all!
sister ellis