Testifying in Thailand: 2/22/15... Perfect Love Casteth Out All Fear

Switchoff Selfie in Lampang

FAM!!! Such a good week here in P-Lok!!!!!

This week literally flew by, but as always here are some of the details:

So part of the reason it went by so fast was that we went on a switch off to ลำปาง Lampang (further north) at the beginning of the week which was so fun! It was like a 6 hour bus ride on Tuesday, then we worked for the day with them there on Wednesday and then got on a bus at night and headed home. It is always cool going to new areas, working with different missionaries-I got to work with Sister Larson who was with me in the MTC, she is so great! So we taught this family that they have been teaching for a while, it is like two brothers who are grown and their mom, seriously they are hilarious. If I was to try to give you a description of them I would say the mom is like a classy version of the grandma on Napoleon Dynamite and the older brother is to a T-- Bob Wiley. Obviously we hit it off. hahaha. Other side notes from the trip would be that their house in ลำปาง (Lampang) looks like a Disney princess cottage (seriously too fitting if you know these Sisters.. I imagine that on p-day the animals help them with their chores as they sing) and I saw my first water buffalo. Altogether ลำปาง(Lampang) was a success!

Then I am just going to give you some details of all of the MIRACLES of this week... there were TOO MANY!

So this week we started teaching this guy บระสงค์ (Brasong) who I met at the train station the other day, totally all decked out in his Buddhist necklaces and stuff. Well it turns out he used to be a monk! He is seriously SO amazing, Sister Nethercott and leave our lessons with him and are just on a little high because the Spirit is so strong and his understanding and desire to know are just so there. When I call him to follow up he just talks about how grateful he is that we are teaching him these things and how good he feels when he prays. He has a date to be baptized the 8th, but is really nervous about going to church on Sunday with lots of people etc. Please pray for him to have the strength to do the things required as he receives a witness that this is the truth!

So we taught ฟลูค์'s (Fluke's) dad again at their house... I love love love this family! We taught the Plan of Salvation which is always such a special lesson in the light of families. บุญธรรม (Fluke's dad, Boontaam) totally came to church this week which was HUGE, ฟลูค์ (Fluke) got the priesthood, and we have a goal for ฟลูค์ (Fluke) to baptize his dad next Sunday. Please pray that all goes according to plan and this happens!

So now I am about to go into one of those stories that might be kind of hard to follow.. but I seriously can't leave it out! So a few weeks ago I invited a guy by the river and when I called to see if he wanted to learn with us he said no, he already has his religion pretty decided. So I move on, then like 2 days later he calls back and says there is a girl that works for him named Guitar who is interested... what?! random referral from someone who isn't even interested... YES! So we meet with her and she is AWESOME and we get her a baptismal date. The only problem is that she doesn't have a car or a motorcycle and works all the time! She hardly ever answers her phone but we finally got another appointment to go visit her at her house when she would get off work at 5 on Friday. So we tell her we will call her Friday night and have her explain to a Tuk Tuk driver how to get there, and we were going to have Bro Gep meet us there on his motorcycle to teach with us. So the Tuk Tuk driver explains to Bro Gep how to get there and we are all set (seriously sometimes we are so helpless when it comes to directions etc! haha) By this time it is like 5:30 and the Elders had a baptism that night too, and Bro Gep was the one who was going to baptize the person, so he didn't have tons of time. Well we get there, and I call Bro Gep to see where he is, and he says he can't come cause the Elders need him to stay. I am just standing there like.. "Ok Heavenly Father what are we going to do?" and right then Sister Som, an RC from the ward rides literally RIGHT INTO MY FACE on her motorcycle and just says "Sisters is there anything I can help you with??" She helped us teach and it was SO good. Sure we could have taught the lesson without a member present, but what an instant answer to a prayer and such a testimony that Heavenly Father truly is in the details however small they may be!

Ok so one more... we have been trying to go visit this less active member named Glass for a while and finally made an appointment to teach her and her family Friday morning. So we get to their house and she is just SO adorable. She is about 16 and just has such a close cool family. She told us her parents were pretty set into Buddhism, but we had the BEST lesson/conversation with her dad and little siblings. We just bore testimony and shared scriptures, and the look on Glass's face was just so shocked but so happy. Her dad invited us back anytime, and I KNOW little by little we are going to help this family accept the gospel. AHH it was awesome.

Anyways, we were able to teach her for a little while before her dad came in too and she just expressed how excited she was that we came to see her. She talked about how she had no idea there were Sister missionaries because she learned with Elders and said every time we had called these last few weeks it was right when she needed a little pick me up. It left me thinking about how divine our calling as SISTER missionaries is.Fast forward to Sunday and I am talking with this cutest girl in the ward, Sis Mint, and she just pulled me aside and asked me how she could start preparing to be a missionary and had all sorts of questions about it. It really made me reflect on my time as a missionary and my decision to serve a mission in the first place.

With these experiences with Sister Glass and Sister Mint this last week I have just been overwhelmed with gratitude for my calling as a full time Sister missionary to represent Jesus Christ. I just finished the Book of Mormon this week, and the scripture that has been stuck in my head all week is from Moroni Chapter 8, short, simple, and so true.."perfect love casteth out all fear." I have been thinking about that in the light of being a missionary and I am grateful for this period of time where I can really practice having perfect love for ALL, and in the end my fears and doubts about anything are being cast out. What a cool concept that we can apply no matter if we are missionaries or not... PERFECT LOVE=FEARLESS

Now I am about to break out into Fearless by Taylor Swift..... yikes

haha just kidding, but I hope this letter was somewhat understandable, kind of lots of tidbits but just know the work is moving forward and I am so so happy!

I love you guys so so much,

Sister Morgan