6/14/15...This last weekend history was made and a new Stake was formed in Thailand!

I found the Space Needle??? HELLO SEATTLE

FAM!!!

So you guys got the package... a public apology issued to Big B about the lame empty bottle of Mansome!! But yeah, I have something that I am sending him to make up for it!  Just you wait Mr. Spring Sportsman of the Year..... 

haha seriously you guys, such a SUPERB week. SO AWESOME!! Here is a little rundown...

So many cool new investigators this week and the existing ones are doing so so great! We are feeling so blessed that Heavenly Father has prepared these people and is using us. 

One of our new ones was a random former investigator, จุม (Jume) that I decided to call one morning from the Area Book. He is an older guy who sells clothes at the walking street and is actually kind of sickly. He is way nice. But anyways, he agreed to meet with us that same day, and totally remembered lots about the first vision and reads from the Book of Mormon still. He went to church on Sunday and has a date to be baptized next Sunday! 

Then ฟ้า (Faa?) and ชมพู (Shampoo!) have just been the best little missionaries and we are teaching their friend มี่ (Me!) now and she is doing so great! It was actually way cool, like 2 weeks ago we had an appointment to review with ฟ้า(Faa?) and ชมพู(Shampoo!), and they brought มี่(Me!) cause they were coming straight from school and I think ฟ้า(Faa?) was just like giving her a ride home or something. So we are teaching the gospel and she wasn't way into it, just kind of sitting there. Well we invite her to baptism at the end and she says no and doesn't even give me her phone number when I ask her for it. So it was kind of like, ok she is just not feeling this but I was just like "I'm not sure if ฟ้า(Faa?) has shared with you about her baptism yet, but I think you should ask her about it and we are so happy to help you understand more if you change your mind." So then the next day or two later ฟ้า(Faa?) calls and is like "Hey, I was just calling to say มี่(Me!) wants to be baptized!" Seriously SO surprised! So we have been teaching her and her only problem right now is being able to consistently come to church on Sunday cause she has to help out at her family restaurant. Pray that she will see the importance of the sacrament and also that her family will allow her to come!

ฟ้า ชมพู and มี่ (Faa? Shampoo! and Me!)
I told them I would send a pic of them to my cute 17 year old brother... they were pretty excited!

I wish I could write about all of them but other ones are this student เอ๋ (A) and this cutest couple ever. Pray for all of them, especially for time and time specifically on Sundays!

Also, เบล (Bell) is doing WAY good. We ended up going to the Dr. with her and it was so great. It was one of those times where you are just sitting there with someone who has had a lot thrown at them- her mom left their family for a teaching job far away, her older brother is a lady boy, and she is just living with her dad in a situation not really able to do anything with her life- going why was this your lot and mine, mine? The only thing that can answer this question is that the Atonement and gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing that can make right all unfairness, hardship, or discord in this life. And for her right now, it is totally doing just that. Her countenance has changed, hearing her pray and all of a sudden be able to say "I know I can quit smoking" etc when before she couldn't at all, is proof of the Savior's workings. She got a blessing this week, and the spirit was so strong and the brother that we asked to go with us was just way inspired. Little by little we are seeing a miracle before our eyes! Pray for her please!

Ok so then... As you maybe know, this last weekend history was made and a new Stake was formed in Thailand! We have known this was going to happen on June 14th for a while, and I had pretty much made it known to everyone and their dog how cool I thought it was going to be and badly I wanted to go. But อุบล (Ubon) is totally not in our zone, so the chances of getting to go were SO slim... haha as in zero. Well, Sister Parin totally wanted to go too, (she has served in อุบล and just same as me, knew it would be so special!) so she decided to go out on a whim and offer to translate for it. It kind of got shot down at first.. but then its Friday morning, I am just sitting there thinking to myself about what a super week it has been, kind of trying to think about what we need to do on Saturday and we get a call from the Zone Leaders. And BEST thing ever. They said President and Sister Senior gave Sister Parin and I permission to travel to อุบล(Ubon) for the conference and that we needed to be there by 2 o'clock on Saturday. We were so shocked and SO excited! 

So seriously best weekend ever! President Gong from the Quorum of the Seventy was there with his wife, who are both so so nice. We got to translate for a Relief Society session on the temple..  it was like a Q and A panel for the women to ask anything they wondered. Then the general session at night was so awesome. President and Sister Gong were right on note with Dad on the invitation to a more spiritual dedicated sacrament meeting. I LOVE THAT. As you can see from what I said about our investigators, Satan truly is attacking the Sabbath day, and I think a reminder to consecrate the time and use it to draw nearer to the Savior is EXACTLY what we all need. Such a simple, yet completely profound concept to focus more fully on the basics.  I wish you were all there!

The new Stake Presidency!

Then Sunday was SO special. It was so awesome seeing the implications of the formation of the Stake in this part of Thailand. Simple things like now having bishops, high priests and not having to set up with the Mission President for temple recommends etc. I couldn't help but cry a little as I saw members from ร้อยเอ็ด (Roi Et) who are so dear to me, receive stake callings and bear such humble grateful testimony for the opportunity to serve the Lord. The new Stake President is from there and he will be SO amazing. 

Sustaining the new Stake Presidency

Other highlights of the weekend were seeing so many fun missionaries (all wondering why the heck we were even there!?) reuniting with my ร้อยเอ็ด(Roi Et) FAMILY (seriously it was SO good), around 16 hours of total bus travel, and my first HOT shower in over 2 months at the hotel! 

Sisters from the อุบล zone at the Hotel!

Thank you President and Sister Senior for letting us be a part of such a special occasion!

So yeah, this week was a good one... back in the motherland and ready to work hard! We have Zone Conference this week too, so we are way excited for that. 

All is well, all is well.

And in case you were wondering, Sister Coates and Sister Olsen survived without us there to keep them in line.. Sister Coates only suffered one nearly fatal tumble down the stairs. haha Oh brother....

XOXO 

Sister MORGAN

ps I am realizing how much I say so or SO in these letters... and I hope it doesn't annoy you as much as it just helps you see that I really do love this work SO much!! if its annoying I can try to stop, but I'm not making any promises...

HAHA ok have the best week ever people... and make sure to put that footage of Ty on the anesthesia on Youtube

Elder Gong from the Quorum of the Seventy! He is so great. And also, the debut of my newly cut Thai skirt! I got the fabric at the market in NaaKaa on Monday and one of the cutest แม่s(Mahs) here made it for me!   

Sister Stoker <3

Elder Kanikam from the Area Presidency

you are wondering, what is this a picture of? This is scripture class in the dark because of the CRAZY rain storm that made all of the power go out! to paint the picture: we are like sitting in a hot box with no air flow, crazy thunder, old people with poor vision trying to read by the light of cell phones, baby chicks chirping in the background (don't ask me why one of the members had a shoe box of baby chicks dropped off for her in the middle of the class), little kids running around screaming, and us missionaries are just trying to help them get something out of Alma chapter 20... hahaha sometimes you are just like OMG this is my life and its AWESOME!

So Sister Coates and Sister Olsen got these throw blankets on Monday when we went to the markets in NaaKaa, and they have been having endless fun with them....

surprise attacks on the regular...

our little Sister Olsen is getting so grown up...
hahaha seriously just get a load of this girl.......