Monday, November 11, 2013

"The field is white (yellow) and ready to harvest."



Top of Form
Hello Querida Familia! :)

 
Sam, way to go on your buck! That's way awesome!  And SNOW! I keep forgetting there's actually snow back home! It does not feel like winter at all here! Yesterday in church they sang Christmas songs (!) and I thought that it was pretty strange because I thought we were so far away from Christmas. But then I remembered that we are already well into November! haha Crazy!

I'm so sad for all those people killed in the Philippines and their families. That is just awful. We haven't felt any effects from the typhoon out here in the Esan, or anywhere else as far as I know.

So, yes, I am the pianist. There are two youth that can play about as well as I do. So we switch off. It'll be good, maybe I'll get better at the hymns! Also, yesterday at church we gave a "special" musical number. E Chelson was asked to play his violin, but he must have chickened out (or didn't practice enough haha) because he roped us all into singing "Redeemer of Israel" instead. It was not very good, but it was fun!

Also, Dad, thank you for the latest letter! Always so exciting! Elder Chambers told me I'm worse than the elder on Best 2 Years that is always getting mail. haha

You asked about the food here and it's pretty good. To be honest, I like American Thai food that I’ve had better. Sad. I think I just haven't really found good places here, and a lot of the food is Esan, which is not what I think of when I picture Thai food. But I really like Som Tam and there are some really good noodle places, too! I have had durian in all its forms! It definitely smells bad, but when you eat it fresh it's okay. It is not, however, very appetizing when they make it into a paste to eat with a spoon.  

Last Monday was way fun! Sister Ud rented a song tow and took us to see a few places around Mahasarakham (out in the bonogs). Sister Wiganda (her daughter who just returned from her mission), Sister ChuanPhid, and the Elders came also. First they took us out to this really pretty river and mini wat. Then we went to the fish sanctuary! (we went there on accident a couple of weeks ago but didn't look around too much because we were contacting) It was really fun. There's a little mini zoo there with rabbits, guinea pigs, cows, birds, and MONKEYS! The monkeys are pretty aggressive.  I was trying to get a picture of one of them and it reached its hand through the bars and smeared banana all over my camera. Gross! It was fun to spend some time with the members. We had a little picnic, too. It was such a relaxing, fun day.

Also, one reason things may have been extra slow this week is because there was a huge annual market (gniw) that pretty much the entire city goes to. Waaaaay fun! We went and shopped around a bit on Monday, and then returned a few times during the week to eat food and jaag eggesons. 

Also, Sister Nok went and got me a ring with my Thai name engraved on it. So sweet of her! I don't remember if I’ve ever written about this, but Sister Mullen's Thai name is Tadsanee, and Sister Nok's real name is Tadsanaa. So, Sister Nok (a couple transfers ago) gave me the name Tadsaneeya! (ทัศนิยา). Fun! She got us each a ring with our names, and got one for Sister Crockett that said CTR in Thai (ลสด). 

Okay, so it's been a long time since I’ve really talked about Sister Bu. But we stopped by this week and had a great lesson on faith and prayer. I really felt the spirit in the lesson and I think she did, too. We shared Alma 37:37 (which always makes me think of Gma Lynn) and she was really touched by it. She even highlighted it!!!

Tuesday English class was pretty fun! We ended up taking about 8 new college students who are about to graduate in accounting and help them prepare for job interviews!

Also, warning to anyone traveling to Thailand: lettuce is a sure way to get sick. Learned that lesson the hard way one too many times this week. haha

Oh! This was way fun! On Thursday we went to harvest rice! We went to the same member's rice field that we went to a few months ago. When we helped the first time back in August we were just plucking the rice out to replant it. But this time we actually got to harvest it. The Elders, Sister Nok, and I went out to the rice field to help. We each got a sickle and went to work cutting down the rice and putting it into piles! It was fun, but also a little dangerous. Both Elder Chambers and Sister Crockett sliced their pinkies pretty good on the sickle, so Sister Nok had to go buy alcohol and bandaids. They're fine. Besides that, it was really fun!

This week we also had some nice lessons with B. She's been taught everything, but is still waiting to get baptized because she wants to finish her Buddhist ceremonies for her husband. However, I don't know if she feels good about doing that or not. We taught about prayer and faith, with her also. And Sister Crockett pointed out that the best possible thing that she could be doing for her husband would be to get baptized, then help him by doing his work for him.

We also finally met with her daughter, P! She's 16 years old and is a radio host. We found her at her work and she is adorable! We only talked for about 15 minutes with her, but I already love her to death! I am really hoping we'll be able to teach her. Her mom wants her to be baptized, so that will help a lot if they can support each other! So happy!

So, the dog laser- doesn't work super well with dogs, but little lizards love to follow it. We had a lot of fun with it one day while we were waiting for an investigator to show up to a lesson! haha It's provided a lot of entertainment!
  
Yesterday we had some really good contacting! We extended 6 baptismal commitments (none of which were actually accepted) and got one new investigator. It's so fun! I am actually starting to like contacting more and it's becoming a lot more fun! I feel more confident about it and I LOVE sharing this gospel!

So, those are the main events of the week! Just so you know, I FINALLY found a good souvenir place! Christmas shopping, here we come!

I love you all so much! Thank you so much for your love and support and encouragement! I hope you all have a wonderful amazing week! Picture time!

Love,

Liz :)