5/17/15... Sometimes you do all you can to have 6 baptisms... and none of them happen.

Washing that hair in the street..............

สวัสดีคะ SAWATDEE KAH! 

So good to hear from you guys! I can't believe it was only one week ago that we were in the flesh (ish) haha it seriously feels like SO long ago for some reason..... this has been quite the week! 

Lots of learning, pondering, praying, and still nonetheless, miracles! 

There is this part on the District videos (the videos we watch in the MTC and during training and actually, sometimes just for fun special occasions cause that is suddenly fun in the life of a missionary HEHE) But this Elder talks about how sometimes you do all you can to have a baptism and it just doesn't happen... I remember sitting there on the bed in Bangnaa watching that segment on  our little portable DVD player during my training and thinking like that will never happen to me! I am going to have the faith to make every baptism possible happen! 

Well after this week, I would salute the Elder on the District and say sometimes you do all you can to have 6 baptisms... and none of them happen. 

So there you are at the end of the week wondering how or why it happened that early in the week 4 of the 6 daters for this Sunday had already interviewed and the other 2 just needed to interview. All was set, why did the Lord not see it fit for this good, essential step to take place according to plan for any of them?

It has been another lesson in the timing and plans of the Lord being different and better than ours. 

With เฟ and JJ & ฟ้า and ชมภู่ Heavenly Father's greater vision is for us to teach their families too, help them take these steps with their parents as well. Pray that this week their parents open their hearts (and their schedules quite frankly) to meeting with us. 

With เเบ๊งค์ his conversion is going to mean so much more to him to have the sure answers that he wants. Pray that this week he understands even better the implications of the fact that he knows that the teachings of the church are true (ie MAKE COVENANTS :))

I have been pondering one of my favorite talks "The Challenge to Become" by Elder Oaks.... and one of the things he says has given me a lot of perspective:

"We learn that the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become."

I think of this in two different lights. For the investigators that didn't get baptized this last week, baptism is more than just a checklist item that they needed to do sooner or later. Despite it's essentially, it is also something that will help them become and continue on the road of conversion. Then for me, a missionary. I am reminded that my Final Judgement is more than likely not going to include a number of baptisms that I "deposited into some heavenly account". To become what He needs me to become through experiences that maybe aren't all that easy is what it's about. I am ever learning even becoming here and I am grateful for the fact that the road isn't always just roses..

My other favorite talk "Missionary Work and the Atonement" by Elder Holland puts it so beautifully (sorry 2 quotes today...if you can't handle it skip ahead, but it is too good not to share! haaaaaaaaaaa) : 

"I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.  Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary."

This last week has been a precious reminder of that. But still, miracles happened.... and a little craziness too. Here are some of the other highlights: 

Brother น้อย was confirmed on Sunday and is doing so well! Totally just so friends with the ward already and just SO happy. I love watching him embracing everything so giddily. 

There was a HUGE district sports day here at the church, so like members from the entire district came and played... so fun and so cute! Totally priceless watching the different branches battle it out playing chair ball in the pouring rain.

I learned how to make the YUMMIEST Thai curry soup... and I have almost convinced เเม่ Pawn Sawan to go home with me and be our live in chef at home. hehe for reals she is the best! And she has taken quite the liking to me for some reason so any food I request she will make special haha I love my เเม่s..........

Suki at Sister Jinthana's! Mom you need to get one of these for Sunday dinners.... it is so fun and delicious. Sister Jinthana is our mom here..... we LOVE her

Started teaching the CUTEST girl named ครีม (Cream) who I met at the University the other day... she is AMAZING. She quit drinking coffee in 3 days and is just so happy with everything she is learning. pray that she will be ready for her date this Sunday! 

Sister Stoker stopped in to see me on their way back from a District Conference that they went to! So fun to see her and talk for a minute.

Then our favorite part of the week  

Saturday morning our water just all of a sudden stops working.... what?! Well we find out that our pipe burst in front of our house, so we have totally had no running water for the last few days! But the best part is... Saturday night the four of us go out and are washing our hair from this spicket in front of our house.... haha party! The guy who guards the neighborhood was totally laughing at us and we had him take pics for us and stuff, but then Sis Nitaya invites him to church. He says he'll go and we are like ok sweet! So then we are sitting there in Sacrament meeting and we get a call from an unknown number... I silence it, but they call again. So I assume it's important and slip outside, and turned out it was a wrong number. But as I am out there, I look over and there he is, our neighborhood guard just sitting at the top of the stairs smiling at me! We would have had no idea he was out there if they hadn't called. Haha how fun is that.... the Lord will use broken pipes and misdialed phone calls to get his children where they need to be :) haha miracles I tell you!

Well that is all I have for you... so excited about this coming week and all that we are going to do. I can smell the miracles already..... 

Are you going to kill me if I say the word miracle again in this email?

miracle.

xoxo Sister Morgan

ps pray for the miracle that our water pipe actually does get fixed HAHAHA 

BIG HUG BIG KISS from Udorn Thani...... have a GREAT WEEK!

never a NORMAL day with this crew!!

Another Funeral. A member was diagnosed with cancer earlier last week, and his Funeral was this week. It was actually really neat to see the contrast of the Thai Funeral we went to a bit ago with this one... The Plan of Salvation is so sweet!

this cuteness........ the haircut, the shoes, all of her

just some casual rollerblading in between Sacrament and Primary.... hahaha I don't know why this is so funny to me

For District Meeting this week we had to come prepared with a pic of our superhero identity with one special power and a catchphrase.... here is our dream team, 
can you guess which one is mine???

yep you guessed right....  :) sorry Dad.....

hahaha I hate myself for sending this....but it really just shows how sweaty and gross we are ALWAYS so I had to document.. Me and my dear Sis Coates in our matching shirts at FHE last Monday **note this was the best option of like 9 tries... yikes Thailand you make us crazy but we love you!

5/10/15... Mother's Day Skype and More Miracles

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Fam!! 

Seriously so good to see you guys... you all look SO good!!!!

I gave you most of the details from the week etc, but here is a little written update:

THIS WEEK WE SAW MIRACLES!!

Brother น้อย was baptized on Sunday and it was so special. Like I told you, he is definitely an example of the Lord sending the prepared to you. I am so excited to keep working with him. 

We have 6 daters for this next week and they are all SO good. 

We have Brother แบงค์, this 18 year old kid who has just had the most awesome questions. It has been so fun teaching him, because he really thinks about everything so much and loves to read in the scriptures. Not every investigator is like that!

Then ลูกปัทม์ม, the girl who came and found us at the church. She is absolutely adorable, says the most beautiful prayers, and just pray that she will have time to meet with us this week!

JJ and เฟ are 2 of our others who are the kids of the dad from LA who came and found us at the church. We are so excited to be working with them with the vision of an eternal family. I know that they are going to be the first steps to their parents accepting the gospel! 

Then I just have to write out the awesome experience with the last 2 of our daters for next Sunday ฟ้า (Faa?) and ชมภุ่ (Shompoo!). They are the two cutest 17 year old girls who called us and asked if we still taught English at the church. I asked if they have ever learned with missionaries before, they said yes, and so I set up an appointment with them. Our first appointment we reviewed the Restoration and they were so hesitant about baptism, saying they weren't sure if their parents would give them permission and also not really seeing the necessity of it. So we meet with them again, and we teach the Plan of Salvation and also about temples. It was seriously the most special lesson.. the spirit was just so so strong. As we were saying the closing prayer, I knew I needed to promise them that if they would go home and pray about being baptized on the 17th, they would receive an answer that it was right. They agreed, and leave, and we start our next lesson. A few minutes later, they come back in and are just like "Sister, we just discussed it, and we  know we want to be baptized on the 17th." TEARS. so so happy for them. They interviewed and everything, just please pray that everything will go smoothly with permission from their parents! 

On top of that, this last week in ร้อยเอ็ด two of the people I had invited/ been working with got baptized! บอย (Boy) and หวาน (Waan). Such awesome kids, it is SO fun to see the work carry on and see their testimonies build to the point that they are ready to make covenants with Heavenly Father. But really, Sister Alley and I can't decide what it means that the Lord is always sending her to my areas right after... is she cleaning up after me or am I setting up for her?? hahaha we decided that any way that He wants it done is fine with us! 

Other miracle for the week was that we survived some seriously CRAZY rain this week! And of course always a miracle that we survived the seriously crazy heat too.... Oh Thailand! :)

What a great week.... ever evident that the Lord is aware of Thailand, that He is preparing people all the while, we just have to go out and find them (or sometimes let them come and find us!) Like I told you this morning, it is such a special time to be in Thailand right now. I am so grateful. 

And even more grateful for our little time this morning... I LOVE YOU GUYS & HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!

Ty, I am working on the blow dart shaka as we speak....

hahaha

XOXO Sister Morgan

Brother น้อย's baptism!! This pic doesn't even really capture what a smiley nice guy he is... so awesome!

Day trip to หนองคาย last Monday... across the river is Laos! How cool is that??

funniest story behind this skirt... Sis Adams this one is for you! literally died when she walked in to church HAHA but how cute is she?? The members here are awesome!

Thailand is so inventive... not ice cream cones... ice cream tubes?

this City Creekish place where we invite here called UD Town. So fun!

Pics from friends I was working with in Roi Et, my last area...

Sister หวาน's baptism! she is so sassy.... we got along so well :)

Brother บอย's baptism! I <3 ร้อยเอ็ด

5/3//15... This has been a great week here in อุดร(Udon)!! --Lots of crazy times, but miracles nonetheless. :)

Sister's in all black at my first Thai funeral...

FAMILY!! Of course, as always you guys are doing so great.. Brad and PJ tears in my eyes... when did you two get so old and so talented?! ONE PROUD SISTER OVER HERE!

This has been a great week here in อุดร!(Udon)  haha lots of crazy times but miracles none the less. :)

Here are the details:

So we received this special training last Sunday, and one of the big changes that was made was that instead of inviting people to come to church when we go out and talk to everyone, President really wants us to be BOLD. Testify about things close to our heart, baptism, family, the temple, Jesus Christ etc. and trust that the elect will be ready to respond to a more bold, commitment seeking approach (as apposed to an "I don't want to offend them or scare them so I will safely invite them to come see for themselves on Sunday that what we have to offer is good!" approach)

For a lot of us who have been here in the mission for a little while.... we felt a little lost.. HOW DO I INVITE WITHOUT SAYING "พี่สนใจเข้าโบสถ์ไหมคะ?" (Hi! are you interested in going to church?) We have been doing it, and doing it fruitfully, for months.. some people years! But I kid you not, this week as we have been obedient to this new direction, there have been miracles! Not only have the people we have gotten numbers from been more interested, but the Lord has literally dropped the elect and the prepared in our laps. 

Like on Tuesday we had the cutest girl come find us at the church ลูกปัทม์ (Loog!bat) who has learned everything with Elders before, but somehow got lost and just never got baptized. She said she prays everyday (seriously she closes our lessons with such beautiful prayers) and just felt like she wanted to come learn english at the church again that day. We are reviewing everything with her, and she has a date to be baptized on Sunday! 

Then that night, she brought her older sister to English class. As I finished sharing the spiritual thought I really felt like I needed to testify of the Book of Mormon, how it is a guidebook for our day, and let everyone know that they could have their own copy (usually don't do that). She came up after and just wanted one so bad and has been reading it ever since! How awesome will that be..I am so excited to start teaching her and see these two sisters progress together!

Then on top of that, we had this other guy นอย (Noi) come find us at the church after we had apparently invited him at a stoplight somewhere? He has been to church in Bangkok too and literally is just so ready for baptism. He has a date for next Sunday!

But yeah! so many awesome investigators right now.. some crazy ones, haha literally crazy, like one who has randomly taken such an extreme liking to me that she kisses me on the neck like European style just about every time we are done with the lesson and are parting ways. It is always so unavoidable and actually hilarious because Sister Nithaya just feels sooo awkward around her. hahaha bless her heart, she apparently has 5 husbands and can't get rid of any of them so needless to say, I think we are not continuing with her...

kisses on kisses.... yikes!

One of the things that has been on my mind this week though, is happiness in the success of others. I think that is something that I am continually trying to develop and work on as being my natural instinct in any situation. I LOVE Alma chapter 29 verses 13-16 which specifically talks about happiness in the success of other missionaries:  

"Yea, and that same God did establish his church among them; yea, and that same God hath called me by a holy calling, to preach the word unto this people, and hath given me much success, in the which my joy is full. But I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of Nephi. Behold, they have  labored exceedingly, and have brought forth much fruit; and how great shall be their reward! Now, when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my joy."

Sister Coates and Sister Olsen had the most golden investigator named Four. He literally just absorbed everything like a sponge, always at the church with the members, just SO awesome! He interviewed for baptism on Wednesday, everything all good, just so ready for his baptism on Sunday (yesterday). Well Saturday night, he calls our phone and asks to speak to Sister Nithaya and says that his mom doesn't want him to get baptized and that his entire family is Buddhist and he just can't do it. We were so shocked, sad, and a little confused because this kid has just been glowing this past week and we were all SO excited for him to be baptized. It felt like such a "team loss" in a sense, because their success was our success like it says in the scripture. A big lesson in trusting the timing of the Lord for all of us, but even more a personal realization for myself at the fact that true joy really does come from the success of your friends (or the opposite in this case but you get the point!). 

It is really is way cool the bond that you feel with the fellow missionaries, especially the Sisters. You rejoice together, you sorrow together, everything. As for today, we are going to หนองคาย (Nong Kai) together to get fabric and see all of the cool things.. apparently it is amazing there! Look up pics or something! 

And! send me any requests for scripture cases, ties, skirts, stretchy pants! I almost have your package finished up, just getting the last few finishing touches... it is so good! 

I love you guys so so much! So grateful for your support and even more grateful for the fact that I get to see your FACES in seven days..... ARE YOU READY?!

I can hardly wait!

xoxo Sister Morgan

one with Sis Nithaya!

here is a pic our cutest living room! The house is SO great!