Rescuing One by One (Sep 8)

September 8, 2013

Dear Family!

 

This week we had FOUR people come back to church!!! People that had since disappeared, are now coming back to full activity. That's insane.

 

Let me tell you a story. A small frog had made its way into our home because it rained, and trailed itself in and out of dusty areas. I saw it later that day, and I didn't recognize it at first. It was just a pile of dirt, stuck to the ground in the kitchen. (Not that our kitchen is THAT dirty.... but when a frog goes in and out of the 'no go zones'... it gets messy.)

 

I looked at the little guy and felt really sad for him. Once I realized it was the frog, I knelt down. He was helpless. I kind of made a face, thinking what to do about it. He certainly wouldn't like me picking him up. But he had gotten himself into a mess, and I was the only one that could do anything about it. I reached down, and peeled the dirt strand off him so he could be freed from the ground, and picked him up. He really was small. I took him to the sink, and slowly with tiny taps of water with my finger, peeled all the dusty particles off him so his limbs could eventually move. The last thing I took off was a matted bit over his eyes. The little guy walked around on my hand, now totally mobile, and seemed content.

 

I smiled and took him outside into the greenery and let him loose, free again.

 

So on Monday I gave an FHE thought about that experience and talked about repentance. God wants to forgive us even when we get ourselves in messy situations that bind us down. Every time I think of teaching investigators about being washed clean, I think of that little frog and how stuck he was, and later how free he became.

In other news, we have a great new investigator! His name is BiiMay. It means 'new year'. :) Buk, our sweet girl getting baptized in two weeks, brought him with her to a lesson. Ironically, we had JUST seen him put in our path on the road not 15 minutes earlier. I stopped and said hi because he's in our english class. Now he's learning the gospel.

 

Mary, the older sister of Molly (who we baptized 3 weeks ago), has been avoiding baptism. She's wanted to be baptized in like December, even though she is ready right now. So this week we had a district meeting about "helping people resolve their concerns". I don't think Elder Tatton (the district leader) or I could have ever imagined that 3 days later, Mary would tell me: "I have a question, Sister Painter. I have wanted to be baptized this whole time. But I have one concern. It's tiny. But that's what kept me from being baptized with Molly." ........ ONE CONCERN! I was like, "Is this really happening??" She finally, after a month, opened up to me and I sent her in for another interview for baptism.

She came out, and we looked at each other, and the district leader said: "Do you have a baptismal form?"

She's getting baptized on SATURDAY!!!!

I never expected God would give us so many miracles. I don't know why I ever thought He was limited in what He could do.

 

Other than that, everyone we work with has been growing so much and coming back into the church with flying colors. I swear, they were simply forgotten.

I love my mission!!!

Love,

Sister Painter

The Best District (Sep 1)

September 1, 2013

Dear Family!

This week I seriously am smiling because I'm about to laugh about everything that happened. I can some it up with one phrase: "I have the best district." Whenever we are with them, I have never laughed harder on my mission. Life is so happy here.

So I actually want to start with my favorite experience first because it was seriously too funny and awesome. So we live just the two of us in a tiny little house that looks like it came from the movie "UP". Its a nice little house comparatively, but at night we always get so creeped out. Weird stuff, just us, the works. Doesn't help that we live next to a big giant open field. :P But the worst is that our door actually doesn't shut proper, so it's hard to tell if the lock is even doing anything. So when we open and close it, you have to ram into it. It's ghetto.

So last night as I had turned off the lights, it just didn't feel good in the house. I tried laying in bed and just didn't feel good about the dark. We were both creeped. And then as I'm about to make myself fall asleep, I hear a big BUMP and the walls shake, shaking my bed a little.

Are. You. Serious.

So my first thought is the front door. That's stinkin scary. So I pray and I say the same quote of comfort in my head over and over. I tell Sis Packard about the sound and she's like, "Stop. I'm freaked out." So we try to decide what to do while not making any noise or turning on any lights, in case someone actually IS in the house. I decide to call the Elders. They live about 8 minutes away. So they say to hold on a second and they'll come check it out.

So they get there and call me and say they're at the front door. I ask if anything is suspicious? Nope, gates locked. So we come down totally weirded out still. The Elders are on their bikes in their shorts and stuff and Elder Yuen says: "We brought some... weapons... just in case."

So we see them and I burst out laughing. Helmets on, red lights on their bikes flashing, and the 4 of them with their "homemade" weapons. One had an umbrella flashlight, the other had a pocket knife, one had brass knuckles (HAHA are you serious?) and the last one flipped out a switch blade. I just about died laughing. Then they went through our house to check everything they could. They got rid of every last supsicious anything they could find by throwing them over the fence.

... Or trying. Elder Tatton, our district leader, takes the bag of stuff we had taken down the first week that we had hidden away, and says: "I threw discus in highschool!" and launches it towards the fence to send it over. Yeah, it hit the fence and the bag exploded with a ton of stuff flying RIGHT BACK INTO our backyard. So Elder Cahoon (brass knuckles) hopped the other fence and had to go get the stuff himself again and throw it over.

So anyway, after the Elders checked the house they said they actually felt like our room was the place that felt the safest and best. Then they both told us that they got the same thought, and I looked at them so unbelieving! They impression they had both gotten when they prayed in there together was the quote I had replayed in my head over and over!

I looked at them in disbelief. It just goes to show that God really does listen to prayers. I know the spirit was in our room keeping us safe and happy, from whatever scares we might have. It was way cool. We all had goosebumps after now it is one of my favorite experiences I can remember on my mission. AND our house feels so safe now.

God really does listen!

Other than that, we had miracles!

We actually found the houses of two people we thought we'd never find! One is now our investigator, and the other... well, she's crazy. But at least we found her house! Accomplished!

Both our younger investigators got permission to be taught! I wish their families were in this town so we could teach them too WITH their kids.

I ran out of my missionary fund. So I was living off of my trainee's stock for a bit. Then the day we both ran out, I reached into my bag... and found 100 baht that was NEVER THERE! So we were able to eat!!!!!

We had an amazing training conference, and it was hilarious because they did roleplays in these hilariously realistic outfits. They even hoisted a king onto a table in a dress. So great. I felt the spirit all day that day. It was so helpful to know what I need to do to be better-- this week is seriously already planned out and busy. IT WILL BE SO AMAZING.

But this weekend was the craziest-- the Area 70 of Asia President Gong came and talked to just my zone. Then we had district conference with the surrounding areas to get Roi Et into a STAKE!!!! A stake!!!! And our recent converts and less actives that we haven't been able to find or contact came!!!

And then there's Alice. She is 13 years old. She spoke at the conference and said that in her classes, some people don't like talking to her because she doesn't want to talk about a lot of the things THEY want to talk about. She is standing as a witness of God at age 13-- and the most amazing part? She RADIATES LIGHT. -- and she brought a friend yesterday who we are now teaching!

So there you go. Now I'm off to eat ice cream and watch 17 miracles with "the best district".

I LOVE MY LIFE! I am so happy! It's a rollercoaster and way hard, but I am finally finding that I can be happy all the time if I want to be!

Love,
Sister Painter

MIRACLES!! (Aug 25)

August 25, 2013

FAMILYYYY!

 

If that email title didn't get your attention, you have seriously high standards. Anyway! Yes! This week was incredibly filled with miracles. We would write them down every day and just be like, "How... did that even happen!!!" So I thought I would share. It all started with Sunday.

On Sunday, a girl called me named Buk (if you recall from last week), asking if I was at the church. I said yes..? Next thing I know, she walked in the door to the church. She stayed for all three hours in her little denim jeans, soaking in the gospel. By the end of the gospel class she had committed to pay tithing when she was a member! What? WHAT?

 

So the next day, I knew it was her birthday and I told her we would do something with her to celebrate. I call her and ask if she is free-- she is! So we take her to a special FHE at the Branch President's house! She brings her brother! They LOVE IT. That was one of my favorite things I've ever done on my mission. We just sat around a table after dinner with a guitar (President Suthep plays!!), first singing happy birthday, then church songs with his guitar still, then he shared many things with them in regards to the specialness of a birthday and what it means to be on earth. Best fellowshipping from a ton of great members. I had brought some treats, we ate them after the Elders shared a great message on prayer. They had investigators there too. So cool.

 

We only had one BOM on us, so we gave it to Buk, but saw them both the next day at english class, then on wednesday for a real appointment. They loved english class!! (Then at english class, Bop, a student, hesitated before leaving and wanted to learn more about prayer. We ended up teaching her this week too at a later appointment!)

 

So we sit down and teach them on Wednesday. That lesson could not have gone any better. We ended up giving her brother a Book of Mormon as well, but furthermore, after that 40 minute lesson, both of them walked away with an enormous smile and a baptismal date for the 21st of September.

Is this real life?

Then we're out running for exercise the next day. We decided we wanted to talk to someone every morning. But that particularly morning someone pulled US over and talked to US. We had a great gospel discussion and he had apparently learned before at some point but only once and hadn't gotten to find those missionaries again. We weren't sure if he was talking about the right church because he was only talking on the Bible. He left and we had memorized his phone number. Ran back home. Plugged the number into our phone-- HE WAS ALREADY IN IT! He almost came to our baptism on Saturday but got busy, but we will see him this week.

 

We also taught our dater who just got baptized, and oddly enough, her nephew runs in with a book of mormon eager to learn! What?? Then we found out he goes home fairly often so we CAN get permission to teach him! Then of course, Molly got baptized-- even without her sister who is dragging her feet!

In the course of the week, at least 3 people just WALTZED into the church....

 

And Buk came to the baptism! She made great friends throughout the week and she is so excited. She doesn't even need us to tell her where to go for sunday school and stuff, she just bolts in and takes her seat, eager to listen. She is an amazing amazing ready soul. She wants so bad for her brother to get back from their parents house so he can come and feel what she feels at church and learn with her. There were many topics on strengthening families and how to do it. She truly believes that prayer and scripture study can help her family. She is a golden star!!! Est, her brother, is just as amazing. I can't wait to see what happens with them, and furthermore, maybe their family!

 

On Sunday we made a point to call a million random numbers. Turns out, our less actives (hundreds...) were simply forgotten! Calling them was so amazing! I KNOW WE CAN GET THEM BACK!!

Roi Et is where I'm supposed to be. This is just insane. God seriously has been THROWING people into our doors, ready to meet us! Miracles, people! Miracles!!!

 

My companion is doing awesome. We are so close. Sometimes she has no clue what's going on, but she's always smiling and you know what? Somehow her charity is bringing all these people towards us. I just know it. She's a boss. And way cute.

 

Hey, my friends. I just want you to know, where-ever you are, whomever you may be engaged or married to, whatever you may be doing: school, work, whatever! I want to thank you for getting me here to Thailand. It's been made clear-- this place is ready to have a temple wayyy soon.

Love,

Sister Painter

Hello from Roi Et! (Aug 18)

August 18, 2013

HELLO FROM THE BEAUTIFUL ROI ET!

So yes, I got white-washed (go into the area where both of us don't know anything about it.)

But we weren't originally going to be here! We were orginally called to serve in Srinakharin, Bangkok. I was using subways and stuff for two days before President called me and said, "Hey, actually can you pack up? I need you to go to Roi Et." There's a sick sister that needed to be in Bangkok. So at first, I was a little bumbed. I'd never served in Bangkok!

After much moving this week, we are finally here in Roi Et, Thailand. And we're LOVING the branch. I LOVE THIS PLACE! I love this city! Forget Bangkok! THE EESAN IS MY HOME! They had an amazing mother's day activity (it was literally so well put together and more people came to that than there was mom's.) We're talking microphones, speakers, slidehsow equipment, a live band made up of branch presidency members... the works!

WE HAD A MIRACLE! On Sunday, we had no idea who belonged to our area, etc etc. but I got this call and it was this little girl asking if we were at the church. I said yes. Then she said some mumbled stuff and I wasn't sure what she was asking (I don't think she knew either) so we hung up. 15 minutes later, I'm hearing this chattering behind me. A member is explaining stuff to a girl in ripped jeans. I turned around to see who it is and the member introduces me quietly to Boog. A light bulb goes off! Boog was the name of the girl that JUST called me! She FOUND the church!! And she waltzed in all by herself!

Bro Khiaw (means green), taught an amazing investigator class at church for sunday school. He AND his big mole hairs on his face did an amazing job. He has these glasses that make his eyes HUGE. He is literally hilarious. All the members are the sweetest. We've been fed twice in two days at member's homes! The members just call and invite us all over! It's crazy! I've never been fed on my mission!

Elder Yuen (zone leader) swears that when us 5 new missionaries whitewashed into this area, it got brighter. And you know what? I feel brighter. I smile ALL THE TIME.

So like I may have said to you last week-- this transfer, this area, this sweet as sweet companion-- are my mission game-changers. I love everything about my mission. I know I'm supposed to be in Roi Et. Sister Packard and I are already best friends. She is the cutest of the cute and we have way too much fun. I am smiling all the time. Alllll the time.

Our district is great, the buddhist stuff is removed from our house (...why was it in there? How long have missionaries lived in there..?) and so the spirit can freely flow! :)

We've actually been remodeling the inside of our house. It's just us two who live in it, so we're doing WHATEV'S WE WANT! And are lovin' it. In fact, we have redone literally every living space in it. It looks legit now. And there are no ceremonial Buddhist things in there anymore.... Yay. :)

So we have a woman getting baptized on Saturday! And her sister shortly after! What a great way to come into an area.... :) But seriously. We showed up to church, and those two came, but then 3 NEW investigators came on their own (one by herself and two came with a member! so sweet!)

Anyway. I love Roi Et. There is an amazing breeze here. So we sit on our porch and eat breakfast on our tile floor after running. Its so nice. And we have a view of the tallest Buddha out our back window-- it is so cool. We're in Thailand!

My new companion is my new trainee! She is the adorable and tiny Sister Packard from Dallas, Texas. So now we're Paint and Pack as far as members are concerned. She is so easy going that she doesn't get stressed when she has no idea what's going on. She just says: "Hahahah. ...what?" I love it. I love her!!!! My new baby!!

Love you all!! Write me!!
Sister Painter

Last Day in Udonthani! (Aug 11)

Aug. 12, 2013

 

Hello family!

This is my very last day in Udonthani! I was informed that I have to be in Bangkok for transfers TONIGHT so I can go to a "trainers" meeting tomorrow morning before transfers on Thursday. So I'll be in Bangkok for 3 days staying in Saphansung.

I found out that I will both be leaving my area (transferring), whitewashing (two new missionaries not familiar with the area) because I am getting a new greenie! I'm starting over again! I don't know where I will be, but I know I am leaving Udon.

I want to reflect on this area a bit. I really loved it because of the members-- I have some eternal friends here. It was also the hardest experience in my life thus far. But from that, I learned a lottttt. So I'm taking everything good that I've collected and taking it with me to this new area, and leaving anything bad here. :p This'll be a brand new Sister Painter. A brand new trainer, and a brand new attitude! MY NEW AREA WILL BE MY MISSION'S GAME CHANGER! I'm stoked.

Last night I rode home side by side next to Yuuy while she was on her motorbike and I rode my bike. It was like I was on an outing with a friend I'd known forever. She is literally my Thai twin in so many ways. We finish each others sentences and thoughts! When I hugged her goodbye, It hit me how much I was going to miss these members here. Especially Yuuy, Jack and Bii. They are my closest friends here. So mom and dad-- expect to be taken to Udon when you come get me!

As a fun fact, a little boy playing the computer in front of me keeps tapping my foot. I can't tell if he knows it's me, or he's just taking his computer game too seriously. Now he's singing in a tiny Thai voice. This is real life.

So Melissa asked me if I had seen anything more gross and weird than a chicken leg on a playground. To answer that: Every. Day. Of. My. Young. Life. In fact, just last night, was eating at my branch mission leader's house at a massive party. One of his millions of huge dogs got in (its fine their all nice) but it was hungry! So it went straight to the kitchen. I saw it walk passed me way fast, then it was gone. Then it was swaggering back again with a CHICKEN HEAD from the neck in its mouth. No body, just the neck and sad dead head. Hahahah. That was more funny than gross.

 

This week my favorite part was going on exchanges to Sagonakhon. Not the bus ride, because it was long and not fun, but actually being there in a different area. I'd never left Udon before! That's when I started thinking that maybe it was going to be time for me to go. And hey-- apparently it is. I know I need to move-- with change comes progression.

In Sagonakhon I felt like a real missionary-- happiest day of my mission. That area is so amazing! It is seriously so clean (well, comparitively... my standards are fairly low. I'll probably freak out upon walking into a Walmart in America.) I saw giant Buddhist temples that were soooo cool!

We went to their park there and it was gorgeously green and happy. We went inviting there for a couple hours (Sagonakhon has never had sisters there before, and there hasnt been Elders there for like years and years.) So I found this student named Naam Phueng. That means Water of the Bee (AKA Honey.) Cute right? She turned into Sagonakhon's new investigator. I have never made a faster relationship on an invite, nor taught more smoothly upon first meeting. It was probably the best example of a good invite that I've ever done..... and of course it wasn't even in my area for my greenie to see! So I hope with all my heart that whoever continues working there will take care of Honey!

But either way, that day I felt a lot like Christ walking around in that park talking to the Thai's. I found myself feeding fish at the lake there and talking about the meaning of life with a man. It was so natural. AND SO COOL. I'm Thailand literally walking around telling people what they need to know to have peace in life while just smiling about. How cool is that.

But let me tell you a story. This is how to get blessed on your mission: prioritizing. So we're biking along and I see an elephant walking on the side of the road! This is literally only the second time ever in my life, so I think "I WANT TO SEE THAT ELEPHANT" but I knew we had an appointment that we needed to be at in a couple minutes farther away. So I rejected the opportunity and we went to our lesson. It went well! Then I told Sis Broeder this: "If God loves us, we'll find that elephant again."

AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, that same elephant was waltzing down the exact road we took!!!! Needless to say, I pulled over an elephant like a traffic cop I was so excited. I asked the guy: "Where you taking this elephant?" and he was so excited that I spoke Thai that he let us pet it and take pictures with it. It's hair was like 4 inches off its skin and so your hand wouldn't touch the skin because the hair was so strong and coarse! The guy that was with him said as emphatically as possible: "His name is DODO!!"

So there you have it. You serve God, you pet elephants. Then we let Dodo go his way and watched him cross the street at a stoplight using the crosswalk, running way fast (in elephant speed terms.)

And to end things awesome: Our investigator Knot has been feeling the Holy Ghost all his life in tiny blips, KNOWS it was the Holy Ghost, and it getting baptized next month! Every lesson we have with him, its like the spirit is POURING the words we need and how we can connect it to his concerns. Yuuy (my favorite member) said to me during the lesson that it was like she was a new investigator again the spirit was so strong. "You're teaching BOTH of us!" My favorite part was when they could NOT figure out how to describe something they were both thinking. They didn't have the write Thai words to explain. Then I said something and they both go: "THAT'S EXACTLY IT!!"

Trust the spirit to tell you what to say, and you'll discern the needs. EVEN in a foreign language than your own. The spirit speaks all languages!!

I'll keep you posted where I'm going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Love,

Sister Painter

Baby Pee and Osteoporosis...and MISSIONARY WORK!

August 4, 2013



Dear Family!!

I didn't realize so much happened this week until I was making a list of things to write about. It's a stinkin long list! So here we go! As the title implies, this week had more exciting "WHAT THE" moments! Stay tuned!

So, first things first. Let's address the elephant in the room (sadly, that is just a phrase. I still haven't seen another elephant. IS THIS THAILAND OR NOT.) .... okay, but really. The strangeness of the title of my email: let's address the baby pee.

So I learned a valuable lesson this week. Even if you aren't sure if someone is about to hand you a baby, be aware that they are PROBABLY about to hand you a baby!! Which, as you may know, is against the missionary white hand book. I am not allowed to hold babies! BUT, in a split moment of confusion, she was handing over a baby and if I didn't take it, that baby was going to be dropped! So I'm like, "Ahhhck ahah, OK. 2 seconds just 2 seconds for this photo." because I am now literally holding this baby while she swipes out her iPhone. Needless to say: in my moment of disobedience, this baby acted as a fireman spray hose and pee'd ALL DOWN ME. Like, I have never seen so much force or magnitude as was in this jet-stream. What a power house. By the way, her name is Champoo which means the color pink. The members were cracking up because apparently the baby was SO HAPPY. Note, this baby is the same baby that I saw on its first day on earth. So she's 2 months old now. Photo to come... right before the accident. :p

Keep the rules and you'll stay pee-free. Also, God's sense of humor is pretty legit. So I now know what lesson I'll be teaching my children one day....

In good news, the mom of Champoo wants us to come back and see her! I think she's ready to finally start taking the lessons! She's the daughter of a faithful member who has never been interested in learning with the missionaries, but she invited us to come! Yay!

So now on to Osteoporosis. Now I'm considered an old woman: my knees have been KILLIN' for about 2 weeks. I had lifted my bike seat up to see if extending my leg more could make me go faster. Turns out, that was a bad idea and I pulled some tendons and now every time I ride, I'm dyin'. So they sent me to the doctor to see if I had pulled something in my right knee. Got an x-ray, all is well bone-wise except the tendons. Turns out tendons don't like all the bike riding I do 24/7, especially after overstretching. So he says: "I usually just give this to very old people." and he gave me osteoporosis drink mix for each morning. I am officially an old woman. (Sorry if anyone who reads this has osteoporosis... it's nothing personal.... :p )

So with that said, a member went to take us to see a referral right after church. I've never met this member before, so I didn't have her phone number. Anyway, she ends up BOLTING going 50 miles an hour on her motorcycle. And we're on our bikes. And now I'm a grandma, so, heaven knows she lost us miles back! With no phone number. Yeah. So that was a hilarious moment yesterday when we realize we have no idea where she went. Vastly underestimated our super-human-biking powers.

Moving on.

We had a baptism for Naam (Water) and Phii. Way wonderful (and they're supposed to be in our branch. That's what happens when the area is all white-washed but you and you're the only one who knows the boundaries of the areas...oh well! It's perfect where they are for now.) They came up feeling completely clean and at peace! Love these testimonies!

Belle (my investigator and dater) decided all of a sudden that she wanted to be baptized this weekend. I was like, "What what?" because her date is the 24th, not the 1st! haha. But anyway, we're working to find a date in the middle that we can get her ready on her own time. She finally came to church for the whole time this week! She said she was so happy!

My stress levels have been a LOT lower since I've been breathing and not letting my heart go crazy. So life is good, I'm working hard, and I'm finally getting a real perspective of what I'm out here to do since we started switching up what we do to find people and serve others. Way successful: we even made balanced key indicators this week (to all missionaries who have just returned, you'll know what this is.) AKA we used our time effectively and people are progressing! And we made the goal of excellence as well! Let's do it again!

Oh, and remember how I can't make a successful cookie dough by myself? That statement still stands. BUT I WAS SET UP FOR NO SUCCESS. I was told that we had flour in the house. And so when I went to use it, I was like, "Hm. Flour smells slightly different in Thailand." But everything came out solidly looking like cookie dough. I was like, "YES. I AM AWESOME."

Until I tried it! It was nasty! I was like, "What the heck! This is perfect, why is this not perfect?!?" But in my pride I kept eating it, just to prove that I could do make a decent cookie dough. (wrong.) And so Sister Carter comes back from exchanges and told me she was so sorry that she set me up to fail. All we had was CORNSTARCH.

I MADE IT WITH 6 CUPS OF CORNSTARCH. AND I ATE IT. A LOT OF IT.

Sigh. Okay, next time, I swearrrr it'll be perfect. Because I got the order down pat. No juice, and no rocks. It was a perfect solid, it was just.... cornstarch. Not flour. Yikes.

So we put the dough in the waffle iron and ate a couple "biscuit" like things. Not bad. :p

I also learned how to make my own peanut butter! It is SO much cheaper here to buy a giant bag of peanuts and blend them yourself. I make a TASTY peanut butter. That's a shout out to Jared Hammer-- who did not have ANY peanut butter in Armenia. Hahah.

Last week I found marshmellows and sticks in our house (thank you Elders, who bought them from english class.) So I decided we should go make smores at my convert kids house! So we showed up and made a fire with them and roasted them. So fun. They loved it!

English Class this week was hilarious. I taught about going to school. So naturally I felt important that they knew what school items were called in English (something they'd actually use in the future, like 'backpack, pencil' etc, that is on a ton of things they buy here.) So I had them draw themselves going to school and what they'd need. Then I made it a competition. Whoever could label the most stuff on their drawing in english got a mondo prize next week. People started getting super creative. Also, a lot of very asian drawings. Soooo funny. One gorup of 3 boys had pictures that looked like Dragon Ball Z. It was precious. (And then later this week, one of those boys BAPTIZED the other boy! It was beyond adorable. They'd best friends, and one just got baptized LAST month!)

We served a lot this week too-- we went to the Amnuay's house (the 3 kids' grandma) and showed up with buckets. She couldn't refuse us then!! So we came in cleaned her walls, EVERYTHING was covered in 5 layers of dirt. I de-cobb-webb'd the whole place, and she had no idea everything was so white. I told her that when a home is clean, you can feel the spirit so much more. She looked at me and said, "I feel like I am at peace in here, that I can finally breathe!!" and she was so grateful that we just came and did it. She said she has been rejecting missionaries when they ask to help anything, but only because that's the culture. So I was so glad I followed the prompting to show up in dirty clothes with cleaning products. She invited us right in with gratitude and ended up getting us a coke for our help! (That's a lot for them!) It was so fun to scrub up the wood and watch my little 13yr old convert giggle and scream at how white it looked in comparison.

Also, we helped a member dish out food at the college cafeteria. She LOVED having us there, and when I sat down with her to share a message (she's a less active because she's stuck at work and the guy that usually takes her shift on Sundays disappeared for 2 months now, leaving her there and unable to come to church.) When I was sitting down with her and the other 3 missionaries (all 3 greenies on exchanges), she was overwhelmed with the spirit and she was more emotional than any Thai I have seen yet. She told me she holds a picture of Christ in her wallet, and then showed it to me. She says she sees that picture clear in her mind all the time. She ended up getting up to get a tissue, but first threw her arms around me. I was surprised and overwhelmed as well by her love of Christ. Then as we were going to leave later, she looked at me, tears in her eyes and said: "My family, and your family, will be forever grateful that you came here."

I have never been hit so hard by something said in Thai.

So this week, here I go again, even more dedicated. If for nobody than this one tiny tiny Thai woman in a cafeteria rice shop.

I'm headed on exchanges (first time I will have ever worked out of my area!!) to Sakon Nakhon to help out there from Wednesday til Friday morning. I'll be with an MTC missionary from my group, Sister Broeder. Here we go! So we'll be having a 5 companionship switcharoo here in Khongaen before we head over to her area!

LET'S DO IT!

Love,

Your Sister Missionary, Sister Painter!

Photos:

1. Roasting marshmallows with Bin (4 yrs old) for FHE over a fire we made

2. Shyfully displaying their Dragon Ball Z type art skills in English class learning vocab for school products. Hahahaha

3. People eat those. They are dead now... but we saw some SKINNED and still squirming around and hopping! Uhmmm EWW.

1. We're planning on bringing Koolaid to the workers this week and inviting them to church. There's like 20 that are working on these homes out our back window.

2. A tiny Thai lady who I helped lift some GIANT fish into her ice cooler at the market. I LOVE this picture. Because it shows how happy they are working!!

3. This week Gaew is going on her mission to SLC, Utah! So here's her with a ton of the branchs' kids!

1. Me and Belle, our investigator! :) So cute!

2. Me accidentally being handed this baby. At least I LOOK calm. Sister Narayanan's face shows that the baby was about to explode.... Don't hold babies on your mission!!

3. Not a really cute photo (I dont look happy for real) but here is Naam and Phii! After baptism!!

The Priesthood's Power

July 28, 2013

Hello family!!

This week started out with ice skating! As a fun fact-- Thailand hasn't mastered it yet here in Udon. HAHA. In fact, it was definitely half melted, and if you fell (which I didn't--booyah) you literally fell in a lake. Or in Makayla's terms, a puddle. (Because Makayla's "spill depth perception, as we all know, is WAY off.) Haha. Love you Mak-Daddy.

So a few awesome things this week! Boss (Sis Jin's son) got his mission call! He's joining our mission here in Thailand in a few months! WOOOOO!

Also, a couple of my favorite girls got baptized this week! They were two of the very first people I met in Thailand. Story came with the picture I sent!

We have two daters again! Belle finally understands that our church is important because we're the only ones with the priesthood of God in order to do those saving ordinances like Baptism. With that knowledge, her whole mind is opened! WOO!

Other than that, we finally had a good find! Someone who is willing and and ready to meet with us, learn, and change! We had a second lesson with him (where he was actually EXPECTING US TO COME! WOO!) and he requested that we went to the church. So we did, and we (me and Sis Narayanan as well as Sis Bii and Sis Yuuy, two members) all headed over with him. Turns out it was much easier for him to talk to us there, because he was able to tell us how he was feeling about his relationship with his parents and their expectations for him without them being there to butt in like last time. He's 29 years old now and he feels like he both has to take care of them and gets pushed around like a kid and he isn't able to progress in life, feel confident, etc.

I can honestly say the spirit was SO STRONG in that lesson. Yuuy and Bii were even raving about it afterwords. I finally had a lesson where I literally felt the Holy Ghost testify through me. We had already talked about the priesthood before in the first lesson a little. But this time I felt like he needed to know who he was and that he was more than who he thought. He told me he so wanted to have the priesthood. But furthermore, I saw it in his eyes.

He came to us first thinking the church would help his temporal problems. I'm so glad Yuuy was there, because her experience was exactly the same. She understands now that there is more to conversion than feeling like if we get baptized and do this and this, we're entitled to fortune and happiness and yada yada. That is just not so. You know what the church does for us? It gives us spiritual strength! Everything we get from it is of a spiritual nature! The things that are IMPORTANT. The things you will actually carry with you, like family, love, hope: all the spiritual gifts.

And having that spiritual strength leads to a brightness of hope and a greater attitude-- making your temporal, worldly problems seemingly insignificant.

By the end of our lesson, a man who came searching for a way to better his worldly state, left hungering for something greater. His name is Knot.

And I so can't wait to see him be baptized one day.

Also goes to show, we need the strength of members!!!

Love,

Sister Painter