Thailand/Korat- week 6 I believe everyone should serve a mission. There is no other place where you could grow like this. It's so amazing!

Hi Mom! 

This week was a really fast one again. We were biking around everywhere to teach Brother Kim and Sister Jenny so they could get baptized this week. We tried moving Brother Kim's baptism to the 24th instead of the 31st just because we thought he was ready and there was no purpose in waiting. He's come to church every week! We had him pray about it and he said he's just more comfortable with the 31st. We were fine with that, we knew we did all we could. We biked all the way to his work pretty much everyday to teach him and get him ready but the ultimate choice was his. We gave it all we could! We biked also to Jenny's work every day too. She's so prepared by Heavenly Father, it was crazy! She got so excited when we taught her how to pray. She said she never knew how, she would just say things to God in her mind. She calls us her teacher, it's so cute! Satan really did not want her to get baptized though. She had to go to a work thing on Thursday and was coming back Friday night so she could have her baptismal interview on Saturday morning. She said she was almost not able to make it home and then when she finally found a ride home, she said the spirit told her to wear a helmet. She ended up getting into an accident! But she made it safely back thankfully! After we were done with everything Saturday morning she told us to sit down. We were kind of surprised but she took both of our hands and told us thank you for teaching her and for biking everyday to save her. She showed us a picture (I've seen it on Pinterest before) of these kids saving a dog and pulling it out of a river. She said she was the dog and we saved her. It was so awesome! I've waited forever to do this! Me and Sister Mamea were both crying. I cry all the time now, it's just great. She got baptized yesterday though, she was so excited. She said she's been waiting for this for 50 years. It was a great day! 

We have a bunch of people that we've been teaching! It's just hard because they're all so busy. They work so much just because they have to. They don't really make a lot here so they have to work ALL THE TIME. But we try to work around it! It's funny because most of our investigators are old and they think they're about to die so they really want to learn. A lot of them really don't have much of a Christian background. When we go inviting a lot of the time they don't understand what I'm even saying but they say no and then they walk away asking their friends what I was talking about. So I repeat myself over and over until I finally see it click with them. They're so funny, they don't say "what?" or "I don't understand". They have no idea what I'm saying but they just say no, smile and walk away. OR they start trying to speak English to me! I get really confused because I'm listening for Thai and they are speaking English.  They're such nice people though.  I once went and invited this guy and he's like, "no, I'm ok. I already know everything I need to know right up here (pointing to his head). Did you know that there's more than one God? Yeah so you have to be careful about which one you're praying to." (all I was thinking in my head was the scripture that says they think they are wise and rely on their own strengths!) and then I told him about the church which he had already heard about. And then he said that he'd look it up online. I told him to go to lds.org and he said "that's ok, the internet says everything that I need to know. That's how i know so much because I can just google everything." And then I said, "You really let everything you know rely on the internet which anyone could put information on?" and then he's like, "oh yeah!" He was in a hurry though but before he got away I gave him the lds.org card and said to go there for info! Some of the white people get annoyed with us when we invite them because they already know who we are hahaha. 

I'm so glad you're reading Journey to the Veil! It's true, everyone really does need to read it. It just gives you such a different perspective on things. I think when you're so much more focused on God and spiritual things, you're perspective on life and everything just changes. My perspective on so many things has changed. I think I've really realized what's important and what's not. I wish I would've focused on scriptures and learning more than focusing on my phone and tv. I just didn't know what to do with my life! I thought life was so hard and stressful and I just had to push through everything. But I appreciate it so much more. Even through all the trials that I've had to face here, I've tried to learn something from them. I know for a surety now that Heavenly Father only gives me them to become stronger and learn. I've learned so much here! I can't wait until I can share it all with you when I get home. Email is just too hard to say it all! I believe everyone should serve a mission though. There is no other place where you could grow like this. It's so amazing! 

So what's going on at home? What are all the new graduates going to be doing? What's Kourtnee doing? What about Cassidy? What about Kevin? What's he been up to? Has anyone else gotten their mission calls? Alexis leaves soon for her mission too! It's crazy how many people are going! 

Hope you guys have a good week! Love you! 

-Sister Carrillo 

Celebrating the baptism at sizzler!

FHE at Mee Kop's

We got locked out of our bedroom!

We could Not open it!

Sister Siri accidently locked it.  haha

Elder Baldwin toilet papered our study room while

we stood helplessly watching because we couldn't

get into the house.  He is such a gem!  haha

It became a race between the elders to see

who could open the door and who could get through

the window first.  Elder Wager (we had betted on him)

got it opened!

Happy that its open now!

Sister Mamea and I are obsessed with

the donuts here!  They are So good!

Sister Beuchter made us air popped popcorn in our

rice maker.  I have never been so happy!!

Our weekly outing as a district! 

Ice cream at Swensons!

 We love sister Jenny!!

Thailand/Korat- week 5 I have learned so much about faith while being here!

Hello Fam Bam! 

This week was a crazy one! It was spiritually as well as physically draining all week. We taught so many lessons, more than I have the entire time I've been here. But we have about 5 people that are committed to getting baptized this month and the beginning of June! We ask them the first lesson if they will be baptized and they've all pretty much say yes. It's just so amazing because they feel this spirit that they have never felt before and think it's amazing that we have a life after this one. That this life isn't just all about eating, sleeping and working. That there's more too it! Their spirit recognizes that truth that it already knows in our message. It's been so great! But I feel like because of that, I've also been hit really hard with everything that is wrong with me and that I can't do this. I recognized last night that it was Satan telling me all that. I really just don't think Heavenly Father would have sent me here if I wasn't able to do it. I realize that I'm here in this specific part of the world and whether or not I know the reason really doesn't matter. It was a hard week but I'm ready for this next one. I'm just grateful that I was able to recognize that. 

This week is crunch week because next week is the end of the month! I still believe that we can have 4 baptisms by the end. We've been working way hard for it. But even if that doesn't happen, I will have comfort in the fact that we did everything we could. Next week is also transfer week! So crazy that I've been here for almost an entire transfer. I only have 11 transfers left and if they all go by as fast as this one did, my mission will be over in no time. The days and weeks just fly because we're so busy. We're trying to get stuff done before transfers though because Sis. Mamea could leave next week. She's already been here for two transfers so I'm praying that she stays for three because I'll probably end up staying here and I really don't want a new trainer ha! But we don't know, we won't know until next Monday when the AP's call. Anything could happen! 

Well, I finished the Book of Mormon again and I decided that I would start reading the New Testament! I'm almost done with Matthew and I could probably just read on forever! I love reading about Christ. I've never really realized how much Matthew talked about faith. Christ heals those and performs miracles but He always mentions that it happened and is possible because of their faith. I have learned so much about faith while being out on my mission and I'm pretty sure I'll continue forever learning about it, because there's just so much to it! I think I always thought that Heavenly Father would hand me things just because I had faith and it would frustrate me a lot when things didn't happen. But I've learned that sometimes we have to have the faith to not be healed or have the faith for God to not hand what we want over to us. Having faith means aligning our will with the Father's and I always have to tell myself that this isn't about me or about what I want but what Heavenly Father wants. There's a lot of power in that of submitting ourselves and saying "not mine but thine will be done". 

I hope that everything is swell at home! Everything is swell and sweltering here in Thailand. I've almost made it through hot season, hallelujah! Next is rainy season, I'm so excited! It rained (more like showered) here last week. People probably thought we were insane because we were walking out in it (I was in love!) and plus they're afraid of rain (I still think it's weird). Love you all, praying for you guys always! 

Love, 

Sister Carrillo

Rain won't stop us from sharing the Gospel!

What do you do when the street is flooded on your

way to church?  You have a photo shoot while riding

bikes through the water! So Fun!!

Dedication for the new church building!

Love these sisters!

Our fun P-day activity.  We watched 17 Miracles!

Don't our Elders look like they're just having so much fun?

Anyways, while I was in the MTC I fell in love with the

song Savior, Redeemer of My Soul. 

Lots of people sang it at Devo's! I didn't realize that it was on my MP3 player

until I came here, the one by Dallyn Bales.  I also didn't know that it was

on 17 Miracles!  I listen to it everyday and I pretty much almost

cry every time I listen to it.  It's one of my absolute favorites!

While we were out contacting we saw this guy with

these dolls plastered all over his cart. 

The dolls light up and everything! 

We found it quite hilarious!  And Creepy!! 

I don't know what this is called but it's delicious!!

It's a banana covered in dough and fried!

It's SO good!!  I really love bananas in Thailand!

This is Sugii!  It looks gross, but it's not bad.

I mainly liked the noodles in it and the broth.

It's apparently really good for you, so I ate it!

Out inviting in the pouring rain!

Thailand/Korat- week 4 President is calling this MAY-racle (miracle) month, because we are going to see some miracles!

Hello family! 

My week was great! I didn't get to go to Bangkok with Sister Mamea this week but I got to stay here with Sister Buechter and Sirikwan which was really fun. I feel a lot safer too when we go out inviting when there's more of us. On Thursday when we were out inviting we invited this family that was Buddhist and the dad didn't want to hear anything that we had to say. So we kept on walking and then Sister Siri stopped walking and we could tell she was upset. I couldn't understand what she and Sister Buechter were saying because they were speaking in Thai but Sister Siri started walking away and I turned to Sister Buechter and asked what was going on. She said Sister Siri wanted to go back and share something with the dad but she was scared to. I turned around and yelled (in Thai), "Sister Siri! If you don't follow the spirit and go back now, you will regret it. You don't want to have regrets!" She looked at me and said ok and we walked back and kept telling her we'd back her up. She was so brave! She talked with the dad and there was another guy sitting there (we didn't know he was the son). Sister Buechter said we hadn't invited him yet so we went over and asked if he'd like to be cleansed from sin. He looked at us really confused about what we were talking about. He asked us how, and in as much Thai as we could we tried explaining what baptism was and who the Savior was. We got his number and after Siri was done talking we left. The dad didn't come to church yesterday but the son did! He has a baptism date set for the 24th of May! Had we not gone back, none of that would've happened! So important to follow the spirit. Even when I'm scared or feel weird, I sit there and tell myself that I don't want to have any regrets of what I wish I would've done. The worst thing that could happen is they say no! President is calling this MAY-racle (miracle) month, because we are going to see some miracles! Four baptisms per companionship is going to happen, I'm going to make it happen! At least our companionship is. We have a bunch of appointments with investigators this week, so we're crossing our fingers! 

Well, things are getting a lot easier. I read a talk the other day (In The Strength of the Lord) that talked about how the atonement not only helps us be clean from sin but it also gives us that enabling power for the things that we wouldn't be able to do on our own. It is only by the atonement that I've been able to give more than what I have and become stronger. I'm so grateful that I realized that!  

Something that you should all watch (it's maybe on Lds.org) is the John Tanner video. I think it's about 20 minutes but it helped me a lot the first week I was here. I cry every time I watch it (me and Mamea watch it a lot!). After watching that video, I decided to change my attitude. It helped me realize that I'm not here for me and it's not at all about what I want but what Heavenly Father wants. It was hard for me to submit up first and I kept telling Him I just didn't know how to be submissive. But He's taught me and every day it gets easier and easier.

Right before we went out for a mission wide inviting

it decided to pour rain!  I'd rather it be rainy and wet

then sunny and Hot!  Tender mercy from the Lord!

It poured!  I wish you could see how hard its raining!

Had a movie date night (day) and watched

 Ephraim's Rescue for P-Day!

This is our beautiful house we live in. 

Isn't it lovely!  Home sweet home!

It was so great talking to you guys and I can't believe I forgot to tell you Mom but HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! I hope you know how much I love you and how much you help me even though you're across the world from me. Every time I feel down or don't know what to do, I honestly can always hear your voice. Everything you've taught me and have said to me goes through my mind and it always gives me strength to go on. Thank you for being the best Mom ever! I love you Mommio!  

I love you guys all so much, I pray for you every day! Have a great week!

-Sister Carrillo 

Thailand/Korat- week 3 This mission is really making me push myself

I got to ride in a Song Theew!

Hi Mom! 


Me and Sister Sirikwan, love her!

My week was really good! We left for Roi-Et last Monday night and got there late .It was way fun though, I really liked Roi-Et. They have a lot more American food than Korat does! We went to this Italian place and I pretty much ate an entire pizza and carbonara pasta. It was so good, it kept me full the rest of the day. I was companions with Sister Castell for a couple of days in Roi-Et while her companion and Sister Mamea did STL stuff. She was so much fun, I loved getting to know her. Roi-Et I think is more of what I pictured Thailand looking like. It has the coolest park! 

Loved this park!

We came back to Korat on Wednesday night and we got trained on Thursday. We did switch offs that day and so I was companions with Sister Sirikwan. She only speaks a little English and sometimes didn't understand what I was saying. I had to speak in Thai to her most of the day so I got a lot of practice in, it was great! We went to a members house that night to eat and it was one of the first times I actually enjoyed the food! I think they made it not very spicy for me haha. But it was way good, and I think they were happy that I enjoyed it so much. They also had the funniest dog named Pepsi! I could actually pet it! There are dogs EVERYWHERE here, I've never seen so many dogs on the streets before. 

Found some stray puppies on the side of the road while we were
out inviting.  They were so cute!  I wanted to take them
home with me!

So as I mentioned before, we got training on Thursday about the new vision for our mission. So we are not supposed to ask people if they want to go to church but instead invite them to be baptized or ask if they want to be cleansed from sin. They told us to be OBSESSED WITH BAPTISM. Our mission's goal for this month is to have 4 baptisms per companionship. This mission is really making me push myself. I'm so not the type of person to just go up to someone and start testifying but that's what we're being asked to do now. It's so scary but I'm going to keep pushing myself until it becomes second nature. In one of the talks we were given by the AP's it says that they don't even need to hear all the lessons or anything to be invited to baptism. It's just so crazy to me! It talks about how we just need to testify of Christ and baptism and teach by the spirit and once they recognize that we're representatives of Christ, we invite them to baptism. I'm going to learn to be so bold from this. At least that's what I want to learn from it! I really want to push myself even though I'm not that type of person. Heavenly Father will help me become that type of person! Everything we do needs to be surrounded around baptism and inviting people to come unto Christ. 

One of the ladies we met at the park a couple weeks ago came to church yesterday! She's so funny. She acts like our mom. She's so social though, she was talking to everyone at church and we were just thinking how well she fit in with everyone. I sat next to her in Relief Society and she told me she felt good inside. I was so happy! 

I'm getting used to the area! I'm starting to feel not so much like a newby, especially at church. I actually leave Sister Mamea's side and go and talk to people (or at least try). It's been such a crazy learning experience for me. Definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone! I'm not sure I'll ever get used to this heat. I've never felt anything like it before, and pretty much all the missionaries, not matter how long they've been here, complain about the heat haha. It's going to be weird though when I get back home to not walk outside and instantly start sweating. I sweat a lot! Yesterday was probably the first day since I've gotten here that I haven't sweated, because I was inside all day. I love it when it's cloudy here though! Usually when it's super hot in the morning, it gets cloudy and stormy at night. It's so funny, the Khon Thais are afraid of rain. I don't know why, since they live in it!

So with the food stuff, I don't enjoy it at all still. There are some things that I can eat but this last Saturday we went to a members house for a barbeque and I ate a pepper thinking it was like the ones you put in fajitas and my mouth was on fire! My eyes started watering, everyone was making fun of me. I really hate spicy food. But I try and buy a lot of my own food, we don't really eat at members house that much. I eat a lot of eggs, yogurt and fruit that's for sure! I'm obsessed with their fruit here so it's lucky for me that they have fruit stands everywhere! They have cereal here but it's definitely not as good as American cereal. They have Special K so I get that! The milk is fine if I just eat it with my cereal haha! Khon Thai's are so funny though. Here they are obsessed with being white! This one time when we were on a Song Theew (I thing that's how you spell it?) we were talking to this boy and I asked why he was wearing a sweater when it was so hot outside! (Yeah they'll wear sweaters and jeans in this heat while I'm dying in a skirt and t-shirt!) He said because he wants his skin to be white! It's so funny because in America it's SO opposite. While we wear tanning lotion, they wear lotion that whitens their skin. They think that being white is beautiful! So girls wear what looks like baby powder all over their face. It's so different. 

Things have been getting a lot better! Sometimes I get a little depressed but then I know that I just need to go do something to distract me. I'm constantly trying to distract myself. The hard part is is that I can't play the piano. Our mission president said we can only play hymns so I can't play my French song or Egyptian Rhapsody which are the songs that used to calm me down. I've cried so many times about it. It's so hard for me! I've begged Heavenly Father to not let me forget those songs if I be obedient. So I've been obedient because I need to be exactly obediently to the Lord if I want His spirit with me always. I can't ask others to obey God when I can't even obey Him. But I just take it one day at a time. The days go by so fast, I've already almost been here for three weeks! I'm really trying to appreciate it and take it in. But yeah, everything gets better everyday. 

I miss you guys! I honestly think about you all the time even though I try not to! It seems like it was another life that I was home. I hope everything is going good, I can't wait to talk to you guys next week! Have fun in Lagoon, make sure you go on Wicked for me ;) Send me pictures! 

Love you lots! 

-Sister Carrillo 

1 Cor 2: 9 - Love this scripture! The Lord has great things in store for all of us! 

Also tell Aubrie I was thinking about her all day Friday! I wrote a letter and everything like a week ago, I just haven't been here to send it. It's probably going to take a while to get it but I wanted to send something!

Riding the high bus back to Korat!

This guy in the store let us ride this,

It was so fun!

 

Bike Selfies!



On our way!

They have the prettiest sunsets here!

Stealing MEE Gop's bike. 

They're such fun elders!

Yep I needed a suitcase for a 2 day trip!

You better believe I got made fun of!

We were trying to be models!

Letter to Taeli-

Hiya T! It's been a good week, it's getting better! The weather is insane here but I'm pretty much used to it. I don't remember what it was like to go outside and not just automatically sweat. This place is so much different than home. I sleep on the floor with a mattress, we have the tiniest fridge ever, we don't have a stove just a little burner thing on the floor, we have to bring our water in from this thing that cleans it when we run out, we have one shower and there's absolutely no such thing as carpet here (except in the church). Boy, I did not know how lucky I had it at home! I feel like I'm such a diva here haha but it's been so humbling. Where we live is a lot nicer than most of the members homes though. I've almost cried going into others homes because I just didn't know people lived like that. I mean I did, but to see it in live action is shocking. The people here are so just not worldly though, they don't even care. They're happy anyways! 

I've missed you a lot too T! I try not to think about home a lot but when I do I always remember all our good fun things we did. I cried when I heard I might not be back until September. It's not a set and done deal but yeah I cried. I might not care until then but I was sad I won't be able to spend more time with you guys before I go back to school. We won't know until six months before I get back though! IT's ok though, I'll be back before you know it! 

Well I love you T! I pray for you all the time, I miss you a lot! I'm always an email away! 

Love ya! 

-Mais