jacob 4:12. my favorite of the week!

Sept. 28, 2014

this week. wow. this week has been a bit of an interesting one. 

i am so very blessed this week... with a lot of learning, a lot of humbling... a lot of joy, stress... and smiles. 

sister brown and i decided that we were going to do what president asked us to do: become "all-purpose" missionaries. still trying to work out the exact recipe for that one... i'll let you know when this french baker (oh wait - that's whitney... aka sister ellis #2! shout out for the soon to be missionary!!!) figures it out. but it seems like i bumble into a lot of good things. god seems to lay the path out before me as i do what i feel like he wants me to. i seek the inspiration, i try to follow the spirit... but i feel like he knows how little i know and how hard i am trying. and he helps to make up the difference. 

you ready for a story? i love stories!!! ;)

we decided that we were going to find some less actives this week. didn't know a thing about finding them... other than walking around... asking people if they knew where this street was, were this house was... yada yada yada. well. we knew that our houses were around the mall, so we planned to eat lunch there, then to head out and find our people! but stuff happens. (you know how that goes...) we walked out of our house. talked to some people. got to the mall later than planned (at which point we were getting pretty dang hungry)... and as we were waiting for sister browns blizzard at dairy queen, we see a member frantically waving at us from next to the pond that's right smack dab in the middle of the mall. so we ran over to talk to her. i love this member so much. she's the one that prepares all of the baptism suits for sundays. we started talking to her, and she introduced us to her husband. (who i've never seen before.) turns out... he's a less active. she invited us over this coming week to meet her at her house. (i sense a scheme coming on here... ) and then she told us that there is a less active woman that lives down the street from her. 

wow. 

essentially... all the time that we had planned to go find "our LA" was gone. we had to sprint back to the church for a lesson. but... i was taught a very valuable lesson. god knows who he wants in his church. he knows the people that need the help. and if our intentions are good. if we are doing what we need to be doing.... he fills in the gaps. he gives us success. the thing that has astonished me more than anything is the amount of blessings that i seem to receive... for not doing more than getting up at 6:30 in the morning. 

i went on a switch off this week with sister jax. i love that girl! she is like me... in din deng. only better. (i don't know if she feels the same way... but i'll tell it to the whole world! she can retract it later if it is untrue...)   it was really fun to change it up. it always is. it was a wonderful day of learning. of remember what it was that i love about missionary work. you see... because i had been stressin. a lot. trying to figure out what it was about missionary work (the BEST work in the whole world) that i wasn't completely and utterly happy with. that was frustrating me. the fact that i wasn't completely loving everything. 

but i found answers. in the scriptures. through prayer. and through (as usual) perfectly timed companion exchanges. it was wonderfully revelatory! and i came back home so excited for the work. so excited for the next day. no matter what was going to happen. 

i am so grateful for a heavenly father that loves me so much. and i think it gives me a little bit of a glimpse at how much he loves each one of you! 

just a little one. 

another crazy lesson we had was with mama. we've been meeting with her for a while, but it was always more of an "acquaintance" level. she told us that she wanted to learn english... we told her the only way we could teach her was to teach her the gospel too. so we planned a lesson. tried to use as many english things in it as we could... but about halfway through the lesson... english was forgotten. and the real concerns came out. i feel like there was a lot of interest in the gospel hiding under the disguise of learning english. i could feel it in her telling us about her problems. she wants something more to believe in, something to give more meaning to her life instead of "rice in the morning, rice at night." (a saying here) it means there is never any change. and i realized! wow! this gospel - it gives people a meaning to their lives. sometimes... we pretty much have to work every single day. but how is it then that i am the happiest i have ever been? i still haven't figured that one out. 

all i know is that it is true. 

saturday we decided to be total americans. and make somtam. 

while contacting. 

it was hilarious! 

all the thai people were walking around, laughing at the "farangs" making somtam. you know it! 

lots of pictures taken. i'm a star! not really... just a spectacle. and i'm so happy doing it. 

the thing i learned - we look different. whether or not we're a white person in thailand making somtam, or a member of the church keeping the law of chastity when the rest of the world says it's ok to do otherwise... we look different. and people will stop and ask why. and then we point them to jesus christ and tell them why. 

i love you all! 

keep pointing to jesus!

sister ellis

fhe in thailand. 

this is nothing like playing the piano!!!!

my plea for forgiveness...

this is my email.

apparently the crappy err.... less than nice email place that we used last week... sent no email from me. i distinctly remember writing furiously to get it sent! 

irritating. just a little bit....

maybe it was the spirit saying that the last part.... was too apostate and it wouldn't send it. 

ha. we'll see. 

(this was part of last week's email)

 

September 14, 2014

 

this week. was a week of miracles.

it started out by getting stuck in traffic. (gotta love the big city life! or not... but i do wonder what this transfers week will bring.... it's always interesting for sure!)

tuesday was pretty typical. sister brown tells me that i talk in thai in my sleep. i don't quite know how i feel about that. especially since she can't tell me what i said. ;) 

wednesday. we went and paid 40 baht to eat lunch at an LAs restaurant. (the kind that is a bunch of umbrellas and tables set up in the side of a parking lot.) i'll pay 40 baht a week to see someone come back to church. besides... the food is fantastic. we had a goal to find some other LAs this week... but so far, everyone is LONG gone. like 6 years gone. before "the flood" gone... it's a bit of a bummer in trying to find these people... but we got some good contacting in talking to their neighbors.

another cool thing of the week was having T show up at church. he called us

on tuesday and said "i'm at the church." we didn't think we'd see him again until sunday. so we sped walked from big c all the way to the church. i would have run if it would have seemed more respectable. 

thursday we studied. made lunch. long planned....... makes for a looooong day inside. but it is necessary. got stood up. *sad face* coordination meeting. but them met with an awesome investigator (the one that came to FHE with us a few weeks ago.) now THIS is a cool guy. we met him contacting a few weeks ago. he was only interested in english class. but he would always come and pay attention. he even seemed to like our spiritual thoughts. so we invited him to meet with us again. and then... it rained. i was pretty sure that he wouldn't show up. (typical story in thailand... it rains - no one shows.) but he came! walked in a little wet... but happy. and we had the best lesson. sister brown and i have been working on teaching with the spirit more this week. in really focusing on the needs of the investigators and trying to follow what the spirit is telling us. we've had some really amazing lessons too. chai's lesson was so good. doesn't have a date yet, but he will very very soon!

the other miracle of the week is sister mark. 

(end of email. i don't remember what else i wrote so i will move on to this week!) 

September 21, 2014
 

this week was GOOOOD! 

man. i'm still angry at that computer for not sending my email! makes me think of all the tears my mom and my fans probably shed for not being able to hear from me this week... ;) 

i'll do my best to make up. this week... though was a little strange. 

as is every week of transfers. turns out. i'm staying. 

i love it when you FINALLY know. it's the waiting part that is difficult. i'm staying. i'm happy. and i'm with my incredible companion. so life is good. 

monday: was an ADVENTURE of epic proportions. for all you history buffs... does "the bridge over the river kwai" ring any bells? been there. done that. almost got run over by a train in the process...

 

 

 

 

we also went and hiked some legit waterfalls... hung out with RCs... everything that is good in life. (pictures to come.) the best part... was that hiking is not considered "an activity that can reasonably be done in a skirt..." you can imagine my glee...

 

just so you know how much i sweat here.

 

in district meeting on tuesday, we did the "christlike attribute" assessment. always a good check on how you are doing. then it tells me that i am uncharitable... ouch. so i've been working on it. and then it's always funny to see how you are able to grow. and the opportunities that god gives you to work on these things! 

i don't even remember what happened on wednesday... 

thursday was transfers. i didn't move. but the elders needed help getting all of their "stuff" to the meeting. oh darn..... do we really need to take an extra taxi? ok fine. i'll sacrifice...!

transfers meeting was SO good. we are having a lot of changes happen in the mission. not changing directions so much as we are now focusing more on being an "all-purpose" missionary, as president called it. it makes sense though. an extreme of any kind is too much. and we work and serve better as we achieve moderation in all things. so not only are we focused on baptism, but on teaching, finding, retention and activation. (i speak as though this is only my mission. it isn't. it is the constant quest of every missionary around the world! to learn to be the same kind of missionary that Jesus Christ was.) 

i always feel like i have missionary work "figured out". that i know how to do it. and then... something happens. i will move areas... i will get a knew companion... and it changes again. the work we are doing is still the same, but we can't do it the same way. but we get better. we apply what we have learned and we get better at teaching, at finding, and helping others... it's awesome. that's about all i can find to say about it. 

it's the best thing ever.

my favorite thing is when we have plans... and then you look at the plans at the end of the day and wonder - what happened? that seemed to happen a lot this week. but we still did the work. the only unfortunate part to the week was the bout of food poisoning that i got on saturday night into sunday morning. not the kind where i was throwing up.......

'nuf said. 

 

shrimp on a stick. i don't know why i found this so funny.....

(the food poisoning... was not very funny afterwards...)

but i'm amazed at god's ability to direct and coordinate his work. we've seen so many random (?) miracles happen... that you know that they can't be random. these people that call us, that want to be baptized... god leads them here. and we just have to be doing what we are supposed to. then everything works out. 

i don't think we have any new news about our investigators. noone baptized last week... but what we are really working on now is for them to be truly converted. not just come... and then leave. it's such hard stuff! but i always love a challenge! (and the best part is... that we don't have to do it alone...)

ok. hopefully that made up for the sin of me not writing last week....

forgive me mom? :) 

i love you all! 

 

mexican food exists in Thailand!

the cemetery.

 

 

 

what i found in my soup. referrals.

September 7, 2014

this week... was honestly a little weird.

don't remember a lot of it. so i'll be using my planner as my source of information today...

monday says: ADVENTURE. written in capital letters. sounds pretty legit.

truth be told. we went to the park. with a giant buddha statue in the middle. laid in the grass. (can i just say how AWESOME that was?! i don't think i've been so happy... scratch that. i have. but it was goooooood.) fed the fish. almost got eaten by fish. started raining. stuck all of my valuable techno-stuffs inside of the fish food bag... knowing i was going to regret it. but not willing to take any chances. getting a call from our investigator on the way home telling us he was already there. did i forget to mention that the phone was in the fish-food bag? didn't bother to take it out. so had to smell the fish food while i was telling him to wait there until we got there. then... getting him down the street to the house. another adventure. i'm a sister. can't have him sit on the back of my bike...... so the elders try. little lao elder can't muster up enough strength to get the bike moving. switch bikes. big farang elder hops on and wooosh! off they go. so funny. but not really an uncommon site here in thailand. fhe was great. by the end of it, our so-so invesigator had definitely felt something. or maybe it was the competition of the jenga game. (which i totally dominated bee-tee-dubs.) there is something that is irreplaceable about interaction with members. i will speak more of this LATER!

tuesday. a meeting day. an english day. teaching english. still not my fav. but it's good. i just make a fool of myself every week... it's as much of a learning experience for me as it is for them. learning how to spell "grandparents" in thai. "boo-ya-daa-yay" except when i spelled it... i spelled "die" instead... it means dead. ha. oops. everyone was like NO NO NO! and i couldn't figure it out. then i read it. oops. :) 

wednesday was a switch off with the sister training leader from asoke! (that's where the office is...) who also happens to be one of my good friends! we didn't rig anything. i swears. ;) 

but it was so much fun. we went an found an LA... got stuck in a rain storm. luckily she had a poncho. so we shared. so here's two white girls walking around with a poncho covering... their bags. are we missionaries or what? we didn't even care we were soaking. as long as the scriptures and our planners were safe. while we were talking to the LA, she told us that he mom wouldn't let her come to church. so we turn to the mom, a nice old lady of approximately 70+ years of age. who wouldn't consent to letting her daughter go to church. as we sat there trying to bargain, beg, bribe?... she would NOT consent to letting her daughter go. so as we left, sister jax turns to her and says "we will pray for you that you open your heart..." with the biggest smile and most charity that i've ever seen anyone say something like that with...

got my companion back. had the scariest... and possibly the shortest? taxi drive of my whole life back home. 

the rest of the week was fairly predicable. meeting with the branch mission leader... (ha. NOT normal. we just got a new one. he's awesome. it's the first meeting i've had since december. sad huh?) teaching the sister of a recent convert. going to asoke and getting to meet elder allen. the executive director of the missionary department... coming home and checking our carbon monoxide detector (sister brown doesn't want to die on her mission. come to think of it... i don't think i do either...) FIRE FIRE FIRE! the whole time she was sitting on her bed plugging her ears and saying, "why won't it go off?" 

we survived. 

bad news of the week. 

i ran out of sticky notes. any of my companions know... i use sticky notes like nobody's business. so. today's p-day business: to go buy more sticky notes. :) who cares about food? i need my stickies!!!

sunday was.... i think i need to take a breath. wow. 

stressful. i think that's the only word for it.

and i don't even know why. trying to get people to church. when i finally decided that it was in god's hands... in walks our second investigator! i think that was "hint: don't stress about this! i got it" from god. 

he knows what he's doing.

aside from all that... i have a few thoughts of this week. 

when we met with elder allen, he talked to us about the importance of having relationships with members. about how our numbers (which come mostly, if not all, from contacting) aren't right. that the numbers should be higher coming from referrals. so i'm repenting. god always provides a way... and i believe that. so i was told to get more referrals. that's what i'm going to do. (i'll report back next week.) 

but, on the flip side. this is my plea: don't make the missionaries back home (wherever they are!) need to go contacting! the way this work is SUPPOSED to work, is through cooperation with the members. it works SO much better that way. we are teaching the sister of a recent convert. she's awesome. she talks to her sister about this all the time. she feels the spirit not just when she meets with us, but when she talks to her sister as well. she has a friend, she has a connection... and i think that satan is working really hard on her right now because he knows that she will stay. i think he realizes that is the major danger... if they don't have that connection... they get lost. and fast. we see it all the time. but IF THE MEMBERS ARE THE SOURCE... they stay. 

just my soapbox, prayer, pleading, battle cry of the day... 

i love this work. it's amazing. it's awesome. and it changes everyone involved. (not just the person that gets baptized.) 

in the words of my branch mission leader (translated of course):

if you eat, you'll get full... but then you'll get hungry again. 

it's like sharing the gospel. for a while you will feel full, but then you'll want to share the gospel again, so that you get that feeling back. 

thai people also like food. so... it makes sense. 

thank you for being the wonderful people you are! i love you! 

sister ellis

what i found in my soup

our adventure

3 of 5 elders. one american. one thai. one lao. 

it's called buddha monton

I love Thailand!

for kathy: a squirrel. (what happened to the end of his tail? i have no idea....)

this week. it was a good one.

August 31, 2014

 

lots of stuff happened. 

but it really does feel like every week... builds up to a sunday. you go out... meet people. invite them... meet with them... and then - sunday. is the day of TRUTH! whether they come or not tells you a lot about what to do with them in the future. 

an interesting thing about my planner this week comes from the war chapters in alma. (it mostly has to do with all of the thai words that i was learning this week - which all come from the war chapters.) words like traitor... tactics... attack, disobey, fight against... probably not words that i would have picked out myself... but definitely needed in order to read the book of mormon! we'll see how it helps my proselyting skills...

we had an interesting district meeting. the meeting itself was normal. the conversation that followed was very interesting. and i learned a lot. our senior missionary brought up the idea that is very common here in thailand: "all religions teach men to be good". and they do. they, in essence, help people to step up from the telestial kingdom to the terrestrial one. churches have the power to do that. but no one has the power to help men to go from the terrestrial kingdom to the celestial kingdom. except the restored gospel of jesus christ. i thought that was interesting. and it hit me again how similar everyone is. everyone really is trying their very best... for what they have been given. and i feel honored and privileged to help other people get to the path that will help them to reach the celestial kingdom. even though my part is ever so small and really... i don't do anything. sometimes i just feel like the vanna white that sits there and points - here! it's here! and heavenly father does the rest. he prepares them and he leads them to us.

which leads me to another awesome "thing" of the week. (i call it a thing... because i don't really know what it is. miracle? testimony? blessing? all of them.) we had a day when we needed to do a lot of contacting. part of it was because we didn't have any appointments, and the other part was because we needed to find people to teach. so find we did! i had felt like the night before i needed to fast. don't know why... i just felt like i needed to. so, saying my prayer at 10:28 that night, i started my fast. (kinda grumbling inside about why he couldn't have told me sooner so i could eat lunch...) but willing to do it. i woke up the next day, studied about fasting. impressed by the idea that POWER comes from fasting. i like this idea........ it ended up that sister brown had also had a similar impression when she was studying about needing to fast. so we decided to fast together. about the people we were teaching. that we wanted to get baptized. to help us to get some of that power that was promised. it was a great day! i think we ended up getting 16 numbers. (a pretty hefty amount for walking around and talking to people...) 

every day, sister brown continues to teach me. about faith. about diligence. about trying new things. and the thing is: they WORK! i think it's the faith that comes behind it... but when you have faith - god makes ALL things possible. it's amazing. and i'm super lucky. 

on saturday night we were trying to get an investigator to the church so we could teach her... then get her baptized on sunday... it seems like god and traffic had other things in mind. she is pretty awesome thought. wants baptism SO BADLY! it's cool to get an investigator like that for a change. that was the one that found US. that calls US to ask when she can be baptized... and is willing to change everything for it. (more updates next week. we'll see how it all goes...) 

the worst thing about church is the stress. whether it is calling investigators to make sure they're coming... to trying to wrangle them all and make sure they stay there and that they are having a good time/making friends... whew. and then. i get asked to play the piano in sacrament meeting. (i thought that was all over!!!) but no. so they tell me i can use the auto setting... too bad it's tempermental and likes to play it's own music. and then i have to try and figure out how to change it back to normal... and then start playing myself halfway through the song...... ugh. if i could have banged my head on the keyboard it probably wouldn't have sounded too much worse... ;) 

but we survived. people didn't apostatize because of the music... so everything is still ok. 

that's pretty much it. 

 

my companion. very ingenious. ;) doesn't like her bag falling while she is riding her bike.... 

this is what they put in the somtam. i normally don't eat these things... but with a thai person looking at me with those big eyes.... i couldn't say no! :/

 

what to write about?

August 24, 2014

 

wandering around in the mall? 

eating ice cream at swensons?

that all feels too... "fluffy"

this week was definitely interesting. 

good thoughts from district meeting: YOU HAVE ACCESS TO MORE THAN YOUR NATURAL CAPACITIES. it made me think of what we do. i remember plugging in my "learn thai" cd in the car... and turning it off when they started talking about high class, middle class, and low class tones. there is no way! but actually... there is. and it feels weird to be on the receiving end of something like "the gift of tongues". i don't really feel like it started to take effect until i had to train. then... BAM! i feel like i can actually speak thai now. maybe it's just the necessity... maybe it was just in my head all along... but whatever it is, i like it. 

ps. what is borsch? (senior couple mentioned it... i just liked the sound of the name.) 

this is what happens when i don't have google.

wednesday... we went an saw our adoptive mom. (well... sister brown's mom. i am like the "step-child" that just gets dragged along with the relationship. but if the perk is a free dinner... who's complaining?) it's also funny when they don't understand each other, and i hear "hey aris! blah blah blah blah blah..." my thai translating skills are getting some use! well... i feel more effective than i do translating in church. that one is ALWAYS an adventure. i think i just end up making up half of the stuff. "i think they are saying that getting baptized is good........." i mean... it is, isn't it? 

as we were waiting at the mall for our new mom, we were going down the escalator, and i feel like i should talk to this guy behind me. (ps. we aren't supposed to contact in the malls. they kick us out.) so. me. being daring and turning to slyly (is that how that's spelled?) talk to this guy... i turn and "are you missionaries?" 

jaw dropped. 

yeah.

"i'm buddhist. but i want to be christian. can you baptize me?" 

jaw hit the floor. 

and we taught him. there. at the bottom of the escalator. i'm pretty sure we had some security hovering... but we didn't start the conversation! 

just proves to me that God puts us where he needs us. exactly when he needs us there.

(tony is a flight attendant. goes to australia every few weeks. but he came to church yesterday! and he wants to get baptized when he comes back. boooyaa!) 

my main pet peeve of the week. or actually... of being a missionary. people that give you their numbers... and hang up on you as soon as you say "hey, this is sister" or even just "hey!" or answer their phone - say they are interested AND make an appointment. then never come. just a little trying on my nerves. hopefully i expend some of that by calling them several times a day. i just wonder how they feel on the other side of the phone...... 

it does help to weed through all the numbers that we get. 

on friday we went and met a recent convert at her house. they basically told me "soy 22" (a soy is a street) and to walk until i found the school. so i call, and her daughter answers. "i'm on soy 22! now what do i do?" then i hear a bunch of wind sounds.... so i keep walking. hopefully in the right direction. and then i hear "SISTER!" and see the cute little girl waving from the other side of the street. 

yeah. we would have gotten soooooo lost. followed her... turning this corner, that corner, into a small blue gate and up a small staircase at the end of a long hallway....

yeah. it was pretty tight. 

but we had a really good meeting with her mom. it just amazes me how humble these people are. how hard their lives sometimes are... and how they still manage to find faith amid it all. it seems like an analogy to life. sometimes we don't know where we are going. but we always have the spirit there... or a little girl in a blue dress... to lead us to our destination. it doesn't always speak to us. sometimes it just stays far enough ahead that we can still see it. but it is always there. and it will always show us the way. 

on saturday we had a new training. 

it was a little hard for me to swallow at first. 

they want us to be getting 10 member lessons and 10 RCLA lessons every week. i don't know if i've ever gotten 10 member lessons my whole mission. i could feel the stress level rising... almost to the point that my head was hurting... but then i remembered. i asked for more faith. (isn't this funny how it always happens?) 

i asked. i got an answer. 

i know it's going to be hard. it will require a lot more work (and probably a lot more planning) than i've done up until this point. but the thing is - we can always do what is asked of us. 

and SUNDAY!

it's strange how stressful they are. 

and so rewarding. 

BAPTISM! 

 

 

 

our wonderful couple (that got married last monday) got baptized yesterday! 

ah! 

i love them so much! 

 

so. that's the end of an epic week. 

lots happened. too much to write. but i love you all and thank you for your own faith and support! 

god needs everyone to help move this work forward! 

sister e

 

ah. and i got my bike back. did we ride it? yes. 

did my companion survive? yes.

 

district ice cream party. happy birthday elder kandun! 

yes. believe it. i made somtam all by myself. :) 

bamboo forest?

what a wonderful place... where watermelon grows year-round!

and somtam... comes with FRUIT too! didn't know it could get any better... and it did.



a sugar glider

 

i didn't believe it when they told me...

August 17, 2014

but when you become a trainer it is like your mission starts all over again. it's true. you get super comfortable doing... stuff. you get into the routine. and than WHAM! it all changes. and it's the best experience ever.

it does feel weird to be the "experienced" one now. i never thought of myself as one that is really good at the language... or really good at teaching. but now... i'm the expert authority on the matter. (at least as far as SHE is concerned.) it reminds me of something that president said: "training is the only time when someone THINKS that you know what you are doing." it's true. we do this work... and it is so much about faith, not ability. i really can't do anything. it is all up to the lord. but i am so grateful for the wonderful new missionary that i get to help train. 

speaking of which... we had some pretty great experiences this week. (i'm really trying to not say "greenie"... cuz we were told not to. sometimes it still slips out thought.) but holy smokes! GREENIE POWER! i felt it this week. it was awesome. there is something amazing that an extra boost of sheer faith will do. especially when you don't know what is going on and ALL you can do is have faith. we went out last night contacting... and had a really crummy start. drunk people. canadian people (that chewed us out because we were mormon) and a rude guy on a bridge... didn't make us feel the spirit very much. we just felt so angry/sad/depressed/fed up! and then we felt like we should pray again. 

we had a goal to get 9 other lessons yesterday. that's 9 numbers. 9 people interested in baptism. that's..... a lot. usually we get like 1 or 2. but we had a goal. and we (probably mostly sister brown) had the faith that we could do it. we got the 9 numbers. we also got an extra 7 more. of awesome people that want to come to church and learn about jesus christ and baptism. it was.... a miracle. 

and we came home feeling soooo blessed. i knew it was way more than i deserved. wow! i still can't believe that it happened! and we tried to figure out what made it different. whyyyyyyy.... and it all boils down to faith. faith... makes EVERYTHING happen. 

we had a couple of investigators. that are a couple. and they want to get baptized SO BAD. it was then interesting... when we taught the law of chastity and told them that they had to be married before they could get baptized. i talked to him this morning and THEY DID IT! ah. i'm so happy. (that moment off of the incredibles when the kiddo plops down on the seat. "i love my mission!") 

they're getting baptized this sunday. 

other moments of note. walking home... there is always a bunch of chickens... or the thai version of a chicken wandering around behind one of the restaurants. hmmmmm. then sister brown - "oh look! the chicks! they're playing in the dirt..." you couldn't even see them because of how much trash was there... but occasionally you would see a little head pop up over the top of the trash. a bunch of little heads following the mamma chicken...

tuesday was mother's day in thailand. didn't do a whole lot. not a lot of people were out and about... so everything pit (fell through) sending us home at 9:00 with a brand new missionary with her first full day "everything pits". i forgot how that feels. it just seems to normal now. they flake... you move on. find new investigators. cross out the number. but it reminded me of how much we still need to love them all.... even if they decide NOT to accept our message. 

the weirdest part of this week was my thai. the weird realization that.... i get it. at least most of it. that i remember words. that i learn them easier. that things.... are working! kinda freaked me out. i was talking to someone and using random words that i'd learned from the scriptures... like "root" and "pride"... 

needless to say... it's not my doing. it's all heavenly father. he really does qualify those he calls. 

sister ellis. signing off. 

telling everyone that life... just keeps getting better and better. (i decided that was my motto this morning.)

love you all! 

(i would send pictures... but i forgot my cord at home today. ooops!) 

these last few weeks. have been very strange...

August 10, 2014

i certainly felt like i was living in a strange dream-land of a mission... it was all preparing me for what was to come. isn't that how it always is?

(ok. enough for strange, vague-sounding intros...)

 

i'm training. 

i got the call on tuesday while we were at the office. the assistant called me and asked if i'd be willing to train. i swear he said "next transfer". so i did a very thai thing. i asked the same question, three different times, three different ways. 

yes. i'm willing to train.

so is that the group that is coming in?

hmmmm.

soooo. like. the group that is flying over the ocean right now?

i see. 

so. like the group that is going to be at transfers tomorrow?

yes. sister ellis. 

that group.

ok. yes. i'm willing to train.

and as strange and new as everything was going to get... i felt strangely at peace. except for the fact that i couldn't sleep for 3 nights. other than that life was great. 

it made me think a lot about when i was trained. the things that i liked, the things...... i didn't like so much. 

and then.... the day came.

other than worrying about stuffing all of our stuff in a taxi, getting lost on the way home, and getting someone that had more stuff than i did... i was perfectly calm. 

my planner. is the most interesting it's ever been. because i was a gypsy for a week living out of a duffel bag, i don't have much written. then comes wednesday for the trainer's meeting... no plans. but every hour and every cranny of my page is filled with notes. 

transfers also was a pretty empty day. 

said lots of goodbyes. we had 11 sisters that finished their missions on thursday. that will be a space that is really hard to fill. i would say nigh impossible... but then i remember luke 1:37

that's one thing that i learned from sister brown. (my new companion)

nothing is impossible. 

i've been so impressed by new missionaries. by their (and especially her) willingness to "go and do". to testify. to preach the gospel to everyone they meet. and then i remember me during training... very scared. and i'm sure that it wasn't as long as i remember it being... but it seemed like i spent an eternity being scared... not talking to people... being shy... 

definitely not the way that i feel now. 

so if i had to tell anything to a new missionary - no matter where they are serving, no matter what language they are speaking (or even if you simply commit right now to being a missionary for the rest of your life) to scrap the fear. don't listen to the doubts. and do what you know how to do. i realized that's why the ONE thing they teach you how to do in the MTC is to bear your testimony. because it is the most valuable asset that you have as a missionary. 

say what you know. 

and say it to everyone. 

 

we had a lot of miracles this week. 

4 people at church. 

my companion got 4 numbers her first day contacting. by asking people if they wanted to go to church and then making a phone sign by her ear. she's amazing.

we got a phone call from the elders saying one of our investigators was at church.... she was taught by sister norrell before she moved and OH MAN! she wants baptism. she told us this cool story about how she knew that she needed to sundays off to come to church, but she can only ask for one day off... so she prayed that heavenly father would help her when she asked one of her friends if she would work for her that day. and the friend said yes! 

life is just riddled with the little miracles. 

and i love it so much.

i am definitely more blessed than i deserve.

this was a week to be remembered.

July 27, 2014

 

started out with a mission to the seacon mall... to see the superhero exhibit for REAL. (not just stumble upon it by accident while contacting.) 

spent several glorious hours wandering around the mall. looking at books. (i love thailand's love of books!!! and pens. and all things stationary...) trying on a pair of PANTS! woah. that was a weird experience. i would have sent a picture.......... but we didn't think about that until AFTER i'd peeled myself out of the super-skinny jeans. there was no going back. 

we had lots of good experiences this week. a lot of good one-liners. a lot was learned... and hopefully people were invited to come unto christ by receiving the restored gospel... 

so that's where my story starts. 

we're in the middle of district meeting, and one of the senior couple is sharing a little bit about the plan of salvation. he's talking about the spirit world, and elder wheeler's phone goes off... and he says, "it's here! i can hear the spirit world right now!" 

i also learned that god doesn't let your hard work go to waste.

we had an investigator planned for tuesday. he calls us right at 5. tells us he's outside, but that he has "business"... we run outside enough to catch him and he tells us that he'll meet with us the next day. no answering his phone calls... no showing up. drat. so...... our next few days were spent inviting. a lot of inviting. it's good. i have a feeling god has a good handle of what he's doing. so i'm just going to trust him. 

we decided to take a different street in contacting on thursday. not really productive.... we got on a songtaw to see where it would go... went into a part of town that i've never seen before. then it went to go park. ehhhhhhh? luckily there was another one just leaving. so we hopped on that one. while we were in the middle of our trek back to the places that we knew.... we get a call. from a random person that wants to meet us at the church! (how did we know that would happen???) 

we get to the church. she wants to be baptized. unfortunately SHE... dresses like a HE. and likes girls. good thing we taught the law of chastity in the first lesson. but she came to church. stayed all three hours. and called us later to make sure she knew what date she was getting baptized on. miracles..... they are never the ones that i necessarily want, but they are always the ones that we need. 

after that, we had a very interesting lesson with a black man from cameroon. and his 2 friends. they are very christian. had a little bit of a problem with the restoration. and pretty much everything. i don't think my patience has ever been tried more in a lesson......... and the only thing we kept repeating is that "you must find out for yourself." but he came to church on sunday. loves it all. just...... needs a testimony of the book of mormon and joseph smith. we'll work on it. i don't think i've ever prayed harder in a lesson though. like... ever.

(funny sidenote to that day. i came up with a list of 5 qualities that i wanted to work on: love. kindness. longsuffering. gentleness. persuasion. ALL of which were tested on that 25th day of july.) 

"dalods" here are like farmer's markets in the states. they have a lot that move around, some are open every day, and some are only open on specific days. on saturday we heard about one that is only open on saturdays. so we decided to try it out. we got there around 3. it didn't even start until 5. oops. so we just wandered around and started contacting on our way back to the church. that was about the extent of our saturday. 

then. sunday. the "test" of our week! to see how many people show up. to see how much our effort paid off... (but we all know that real success is not measured by investigators at church...) we had 3 people in sacrament! the black man. the tom. and some man that said we invited him.... that we don't remember at all. he said that he's been looking for another christian church and we gave him a pass along card. he even said "thank god!" right there. he knew his prayers were answered. and ours were too! another investigator showed up when church was over. but he got to watch the baptism! wow. what a day.

what a week.

what a life!

this week i've been thinking a lot about what makes a powerful missionary. i read about it in preach my gospel all the time. i don't feel like an ammon. or a nephi or lehi. but i was reading in helaman 5 today. seriously. probably one of the best scriptures of all time. (ha. don't we missionaries say that about EVERYTHING?) and i realized something. if you are trying. if you are praying, treasuring up the good word, working diligently, testifying... and doing everything in your power... you will be powerful. 

i still haven't baptized 300 people. but there is still time........ 

my one-liner from sister norrell this week: WORK LIKE YOU'LL BE HERE FOR YEARS.

MY good one from this week: Ha! Your face is rotten! "He said the BASE was rotten!" 

(sister norrell backs me up on that one. he said your face...) 

ah! something else cool i found. just thinking about it. found the word "god-ward" in the bible dictionary. and thinking about direction. what do we want to do with our lives? do we want to move simple "for"ward or "back"ward? i think there is more to life than that. but the real change happens when we move "god"ward. in the direction that he wants us to go. 

ok! that's it for today! 

i love you all! 

you are the best. 

sister e

 

the risk you run with ordering random things on the menu. sometimes... super nummy.

other times... you get tentacles??????

 

daily miracles.

July 20, 2014

so i usually devote a certain amount to study time on monday mornings to the things that I should say in my emails home.... this morning... i kinda of forgot. so hopefully someone is spiritually uplifted by something i say, because it will probably just be a part of all of the rambling that i am about to do!

this week... was very strange. we had a ton of miracles. some that were big miracles in the moment... but didn't pull through. some that we have yet to see continue in the future. that's one of the hard things about being a missionary. about seeing miracles. one day you have all of these wonderful things happen.... does that mean that they aren't a miracle when they don't come to church on sunday? i don't think so. i think god gives us the miracles that we need day by day. his work keeps moving... and it's just a process of trying to understand god's plan and his will in all things. 

this week... was a lot of inviting. we, for whatever reason, could NOT get people to meet with us at the church. it was rough. but in the midst of it all......... i discovered "jelly ice" a popsicle that turns into jello as you lick it. 

ok. so that's not really the best miracle. but it was sooooo interesting. 

this saturday we decided to try something that other areas found really successful. they did a church tour on saturday night, and had great success with getting people to come to church on sunday. so we did it saturday, and had an amazing 6 people show up! (the other companionships had like 1 or 2...) definitely a miracle. sunday rolls around......... and no one answers our phone calls. and none of them come to church. 

what happened to our miracle??? 

nothing. 

i have a feeling that god knew full well what he was doing. and i am (hopefully patiently) waiting for the fulfillment of his blessings. 

that's about it for this week. 

moments like: "you're going to do what? you're going to sleep with peanut butter in your socks?" 

don't actually know what i said before that... but that is what my companion heard....

in church yesterday we were translating for our senior couple in gospel doctrine class. woof. good thing it was going from thai to english... and they were using the bible. (if i had to know how to say the word "raven" and "juniper tree" i'd probably pass out. 

but i love the story of elijah in 1 kings 17-19. 

cast out, rejected. alone.

i feel like we all feel like that sometimes. 

we even sit down underneath our own juniper tree and might ask god to just make it all go away. but i am so grateful for a father in heaven that is patient with me. that loves me... even despite my impatience and ingratitude. he still gives me oodles of blessings. he leads me through all of the hard times in my life. 

because he has such wonderful things in store for us. 

guess what happens when you go contacting at the mall... and they have a superhero exhibit? 

 

ps. how does the kid sitting next to me have 99999 hours on his computer and i only have 2? 

i think someone is playing favorites here.......

 

love you all! :)

stay happy and healthy - and i'm praying for you!