Sister Maisie Carrillo: Thailand/ Korat- week 1 First letter from Thailand!

Hello my family!

Well I'm finally in Thailand! My sleeping has been so off lately. The plane ride killed me! We went and met up with our mission president, President and Sister Senior (they are so awesome and fun!) and then left to go stay at a hotel for a couple days that is right next to the mission home. The mission home is where the temple is going to be built! It's just an old bank that they turned into the mission home that President Hinckley bought. The hotel was so nice! I loved being able to spend some time with the Senior's too. They took us to the park where President Hinckley blessed Thailand. It was a cool experience. That night we got to go eat at the Senior's home. It was my first home cooked meal and my last American meal in a while. I DEVOURED it. It was so good! I was dreading Thursday because that was transfer day and I was so sad that I'd be leaving my district and Sister Johnson. We sang our song we sang to everyone at transfers in sacrament meeting in the MTC. It was a very bittersweet moment. But yep, I got assigned to Korat! It's one of the bigger cities in Thailand in the Issan area. Sister Mamea is my trainer. I absolutely love her! She's such a good trainer and she's so patient with me. I got really lucky! We took a train here from Bangkok which took like 6 hours. It was the sketchiest train of my life. I swear it was just going to give out and fall over.

So we don't really go out and knock on doors, we just go out contacting. We literally ask people if they want to go to church or if they want to learn more about Christ. I kind of got sick of them saying no so I just ask if they want to learn English then (we teach English classes every Tuesday night). That catches a lot of the youths attention. People here are so awkward though because they're too nice! They don't want to say no or even look at me. Some people have ran away hahaha! They're scared of white people for some odd reason. My first day was super hard and awkward for me though because I'm just not that forward. A guy came up to me and acted like he wanted to learn more and he spoke English so I was really excited. We gave him our number and then he asked who's number it was. Sister Mamea told him it was both of ours and then he said he just wanted my number and then asked me if he could have dinner with me. I was kind of in shock and Sister Mamea had to fight him off because he wouldn't leave us alone. He didn't really understand that we are MISSIONARIES and can't date and that I'd never go on a date with him. I started crying after he left. I felt like a baby but I did not like that at all. The next day was a lot better! I got a lot more confident and stopped caring what people thought of us and hopefully if anything we'll catch someone's attention that is curious about church!

I love the ward members here! They just had a building open for this branch and they were all so excited about it. They had an open house and everything! They had food and had a choir and even had a ribbon they cut before everyone went in. They were so excited about it! I remember when our building opened across the street from us and we didn't really act like it was that big of a deal. But they met in this garage area before so this was a big upgrade. It made me appreciate a lot more of where we got to go to church, and it's only like a 2 minute walk! Some people here have to drive a long ways away. It just made me so grateful! Anyways, the members are so nice. They tell me my Thai is good alllll the time. I had to bear my testimony in sacrament in Thai and everyone told me "Keeng maag!" (not sure how to spell it). They're so friendly! And touchy! Girls will just come up to me and hug me and hold my hand. It was so weird to me at first but I'm kind of used to it now. They all say suay maag (very pretty) to me a lot! I've gotten circled a lot. It's so funny!

Well my mission president said that I would not have a culture shock. But it's definitely been a culture shock! I don't like the food. At all. I try so hard but I have a hard time with the taste. And the smell! I have the hardest time with the smell of Thai food. Mom, it is definitely not like your peanut thai noodles! I'll hopefully get used to it though. The heat is sometimes pretty unbearable. I'm always sweating pretty much. It's hot season though, so hopefully it gets better. But oh my goodness, sometimes I feel like I'm going to die. I've never sweated so unwillingly in my entire life! The language is still my MTC language. I've learned a lot more just from listening. I went to relief society and understood nothing. It's just funny because now I know how foreigners feel when they come to the States!

I'm doing good! A lot better than I was a few days ago. I have a hard time with change and having nothing familiar. Nothings familiar! The only familiar thing is the language. And I don't know the language! But I'm trying to learn how to submit myself. Heavenly Father has been helping me a lot or else I don't think I'd be able to do this. I would've given up as soon as I got to Korat. I'm definitely not living like I did at home. I don't think I would've ever walked into the house that I live in now or come to this area because at home, I'd consider this the ghetto. It's very dirty and poor. It's hard! We went to one of the members house and I was so silent because I wanted to cry! I don't understand why I got to lucky. I just kept thinking to myself, how dare I ask for more and more when these people have nothing and I had everything handed to me. And they're happy though! I had no idea people lived like this. It has been so humbling for me. We are so lucky!! SO LUCKY!

Well that's all I got! I miss you all so much! It was so fun talking to you all on the phone last week! I love you all and I pray for you all everyday. Heavenly Father always assures me He's taking care of you! Choog dii!

-Sister Carrillo

Fun Fact: No one can say our last name here. So I just told people to call me Sister Lilo like from Lilo and Stitch. So funny!