Hello Family!
I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far and that
Mom is having a great time at Girl's Camp! Wahoo!
Thank you SO MUCH for the amazing
birthday package! Our zone had a blast with the pinata and party favors... I
even saw some of our teachers sneaking the pinata candy. haha The best,
everyone kept saying how awesome our family is. We had so much fun, thank you!!
I love my elephant necklace so much! I've been wearing it
and everyone keeps complimenting it and saying how cute it is. And thank you so
much for the cute notecards, I've been running out. I love my little red
notebook, I think I'm going to make that my church journal/new vocab journal.
The elephant bag was adorable, and I love that Ben and Jerry's lipgloss. I am
so spoiled! Also, the package with the nuts made my day! I love the pics on it,
and those nuts are a perfect snack at night. Thank you also for the NY taxi
chocolate, make up, and post-its. Holy Cow, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!
It was such a wonderful birthday!
My district got me a birthday card and they all wrote sweet notes in it. I love that card! They also bought me some candy and wrapped it up cute, as well as a Tide pen (I've become infamous for accidentally drawing with pen on my shirt/body almost every day. Weird... I've never had that problem before. haha). Also, at 12:00 am on my birthday, all the sisters in my room jumped out of bed, turned on the light, and popped party poppers on my bed! They are the cutest and so much fun!! I felt so loved by everyone!
My district got me a birthday card and they all wrote sweet notes in it. I love that card! They also bought me some candy and wrapped it up cute, as well as a Tide pen (I've become infamous for accidentally drawing with pen on my shirt/body almost every day. Weird... I've never had that problem before. haha). Also, at 12:00 am on my birthday, all the sisters in my room jumped out of bed, turned on the light, and popped party poppers on my bed! They are the cutest and so much fun!! I felt so loved by everyone!
What made this birthday even more
amazing was, of course, that amazing broadcast! It was so crazy to be sitting
right behind 11 of the 12 apostles. They were so close to us, and Elder Nelson
kept looking back at us before the broadcast began and would give us thumbs up.
He even blew us all a kiss! So cute! It was really cool to experience the whole
behind the scenes of this broadcast. We had to really follow the choir director
because they were cued to the video and we had to be exactly on with it. I
agree, though, that they could have done without the video and just shown the
missionaries. If I was a parent I'd be dying for the camera to pan over my kid!
After the broadcast we all went back to our classroom and watched all the parts
where they videoed us and we found everyone in our districts, even if it was
pretty small! So fun... we also decided to watch about 20 minutes of it in
Thai. It was surprising how much we could all understand! Encouraging! Anyway,
the broadcast was wonderful! It really got me even more excited to get out
there and use the members as much as possible! I loved how Elder Perry said
that "by virtue of our membership in His church, our calling is to invite
others to come unto Christ." So true! I hope when I get back I can still
be an effective missionary. I also like how Elder Packer said that
"revelation begins to flow when we start." We just need to start
teaching/inviting/helping others and Heavenly Father will help us! Anyway,
there were so many great things in this fireside, so awesome to be a part of
it! Grandma Pat went to it, but I never saw her :( She said she looked for me
and asked a whole bunch of missionaries if they knew me, but she never could
locate me.
It was an AMAZING birthday! :) Thank you for making it so so
so great! I LOVE YOU ALL!
Also, I just made the connection a few days ago that one of
the Nccng Thais is the daughter of President Croft in Gma/Gpa's stake. Remember
when we met him before I left for the MTC at stake conference? She's super
cute!
So, the big day finally arrived last Friday! OUR TRAVEL
PLANS CAME! I sent you a letter after I got them, and I'll attach a picture of
the schedule. But basically, we're leaving here at 3:15pm or so, taking trax to
the airport, and then flying to LA at 8:25pm. From there we'll leave for Hong
Kong at 11:55 pm! So, I'm not going to have a ton of time at either SLC or LAX,
but I'll call at SL first, and then if there's time at LAX. I have a phone card
with 300 minutes, so I'll try to call both phones! CANNOT WAIT TO TALK TO YOU!
Yahoooooooooo! I've been practicing cool phrases to tell you in Thai! haha
Oh... we're leaving on Monday, July 1st! Also, OUR NAME TAGS came in! Wahoo! I
now officially know how to spell my name in Thai. It's a hard name for a Thai
speaker to say, so it's pronounced, "Suh-dtii-wen-sun."
On Saturday for TRC we got to skype with members in
Thailand! So so so so so so much fun! Sis N and I skyped with a guy named
"Ron" who works in the mission office. I think he understood us, at
least he responded and acted like he knew what we were saying. And we could
understand most of what he said! So awesome! At the end he said (in English),
"I'm sorry, I break rule and speak English. You two speak very well, but
do not be discouraged if people have a hard time understanding you at first.
Just practice hard." So... we
probably have some pretty dang strong English accents, but we'll work on it!
And it'll come once we're there a while. Such a fun experience! Can't wait to
meet him when we get there.
Lately Brother Booth has been bringing in a lot of pictures
from when he was serving there and telling us all sorts of stories and giving
us advice. It has been so fun and we cannot stop smiling because we're leaving
so soon. I have loved this MTC experience, but I am beyond ready to get there,
even if I'm not totally ready language wise. I just CANNOT wait! Good thing we
leave in five days!
Okay, one of the best stories yet at the MTC... So, on
Monday, one of the sisters in our district had to go to the doctor for
something. As she was leaving the doctor noticed some bite marks on her arm
and told her she had bed bug bites. Sooooo, as a result, all the girls in
our two phii thai districts had to take all of our clothes to the laundry room
in big red bags that said "Biohazard- infectious waste," and wash our
clothes. We then had to take EVERYTHING out of our rooms and spray it with this
killer bug spray that's not suppose to touch your skin. We then had to
all shower and put on our "decontaminated" clothes and move to a new
room in our building. They then shut down our two rooms to disinfect them. So,
we basically got all of our packing and cleaning done a week early! haha I just
loved all the stares as 11 of us carried our "biohazard" bags across
campus! Funniest day ever. We missed class and literally spent from 4:00pm
until midnight trying to get all the laundry/cleaning/packing done! This should
make moving out really easy!
Yesterday Janice Kapp Perry and her husband, Douglas, came
to speak at our devotional. They are just wonderful! We're so lucky that we've
gotten to hear from them twice now. They spoke a lot of how music brings the
spirit and how missions are sanctifying experiences. At a certain point she
told us how she just loves the BYU campus because that is where she and her
husband met in a music class. She told us her husband’s first line, "Those
lips look like they were made for something much better than playing the
clarinet..." haha But then her husband promptly got up off the stand, ran
to the pulpit and gave her a huge kiss on the lips! Then he went to go sit
down, but decided otherwise, turned around, and gave her another huge kiss!
That got the missionaries excited! haha So funny. Later in her talk, she was
telling us how she decided to make a family song to unite their family. She
recorded it with all of her family, and she decided to play it for us all. She
sang her part live, and her husband had a little line that he sang. When it was
his turn to sing his little part, he got up out of his chair and danced his way
to the microphone. It was the cutest/funniest thing ever! Afterward, Sister
Perry said, "I know that man like a book, but today I do not know what
page he's on! But I do know one thing- he's a keeper!" Most entertaining
devotional ever!
Okay, so I think I will be sending some stuff home that I
won't need/don't have room for. I' m going to send a few clothing items to the
free place where Gma P or someone can pick them up. I'll find out more about
that today and send a letter off. I'm also going to send home all my DearElders
and some of my letters. They are precious and I don't want them to get lost. I
also don't have room!
I'm about out of time, so I'm going to start sending
pictures. I love you all so much and am so so so grateful for your support and
love. I am so blessed to get so many letters and packages from you! I
appreciate it sooooo much!
Next week at this time, you'll be receiving an email from
THAILAND, baby!! Wahooooo! (I think pdays are on Mondays there, but we'll see
for sure soon.)
I LOVE YOU SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!
Love,
Liz
Liz
