Sister Maisie Carrillo: Thailand/Korat- week 8 There are so many miracles happening here in Thailand. The Lord's hand is definitely playing a big part in all of this.

Hello!

This week was such a good one! We were traveling and going back and forth everywhere. It was really tiring, I have the hardest time sleeping on buses but it was fun! Sister Mamea had MLC down in Bangkok on Wednesday so we went Tuesday night and stayed the night with some of the sisters down there. Sister Mags (from the MTC) was in that house and we both screamed when we saw each other. I miss my MTC group a lot! While Sister Mamea was in her meetings, all of us who are companions with the sisters in the meeting just worked in the office. Sister Beckstrand and Sister Johnson were there too. It was a fun little reunion! We went out and handed out Thai Liahona's for free and invited people to come to church. It was really fun. I really love Bangkok! I thought I wouldn't really like that city because I'm so not a city person but it's really Americanized so it feels like I'm home. I don't feel like such a foreigner there. I got to eat a lot of American food too but I discovered that my stomach is not accustomed to our food anymore. Thai food isn't very filling but American food is and I'm so not used to it anymore! It made me sick, but it tasted so good so I ate it haha! We came home on Wednesday night and had training on Thursday. We have training at least once a month. I always love it, this last time we were trained on how to overcome trials. We had a goal last month to have four baptisms and everyone was so pumped for it. But no one realized the trials that we would meet in that because Satan definitely doesn't want us to meet that! We did pretty good though. Last month there was 175 baptisms in this mission. That's about a baptism per companionship. But we set the goal this month to get 4 baptisms per companionship again. We're ready for this month!

On Friday Sister Mamea had to train in Roi-Et so we spent the day there (it's about 4 hours away). I really love Roi-Et! On our way back though we took a bus and we thought we were going to die. It all of a sudden started to smell like gas and we started getting light headed. We were like oh my gosh we're going to die, they're trying to gas us! They would stop the bus and go out and look at something and the smell would disappear. And then it would come right back. We just pulled our clothes over our noses because we didn't know what else to do. No one else seemed to be bothered by it. We were too scared to fall asleep. It was ok though, we survived. The Lord still has work for us to do! It was really scary though.

We're still trying to find investigators. We have some but like I've said before, they're just all so busy! We taught Brother Thongdii on Thursday and it was quite the lesson. He really likes to just sit and talk, and I had noooo idea what he was saying. Neither did Sister Mamea. Luckily the members help us in lessons or else we'd be lost. But apparently he's into the Hindu religion and he says that for his job spirits go into him and they talk to people through him. (What?). And he wanted to see if he could have the spirit of Christ go into him. It was weird! We're going to teach him commandments next time and if he's not willing to keep them we're going to have to drop him. He's already said he's not really willing to give that up because it's his way of living. It was crazy though, I've never heard of that before.

Anyways, since we haven't been here basically all week we're trying to catch up with everything. Including inviting! Because we really need new investigators! We invited a lot on Saturday at the Buung (the big huge park with the lake). I love inviting there because there's always so many people running and walking around the track. And we go the opposite way than everyone and invite them. They're so nice. Even though we're totally going the wrong way, we are in their way and have probably already invited them a million times already, they still just smile and say no and keep going. I'd be so annoyed if someone was doing that to me. I give props to them for being nice! Plus this is important because it's their salvation we're talking about. They all know who we are though, it's so funny!

This week we'll be traveling again. We're going to Ubon for Zone Conference. I'm excited, it's my first one! And there will be food! It will be our last one with President since he leaves next month. Our new president comes in next transfer. It's very bittersweet! We'll also be there for district conference because they're making a stake! The Roi-Et zone (the zone I'm in) and the Ubon Zone are going to be a stake now (which is crazy because we're about 8 hours away from Ubon). I'm so excited for the people here and that I get to be here for this. There are so many miracles happening here in Thailand. The Lord's hand is definitely playing a big part in all of this. Right when we came into the country, President asked us if we thought that the Lord had ever visited Thailand before. We said yeah, sure He has! And then he asked, "Do scriptures to back that up." We all just kind of stared at him and then he quoted the scripture from the D&C (Im sorry I can't remember the reference off the top of my head!) where it says something like, "I will go before you and be one your left and right and my angels round about you." It says that the Lord has been here before us. I know that He has! I know that He loves these people here so much because I feel that love for them every single time I talk to them. It's an amazing feeling. You just love them and you want them to have what you have so bad. You want them to know who they are! I'm grateful to be apart of this work, how lucky am I to be a servant of the Lord!

I hope you guys have a great week! I miss you guys a lot, I think about you all the time. It's been hard but before we know it, I'll be right back home! Love you all! Take care!

-Sister Carrillo

Found this scripture while I was reading the New Testament. It's a goodie!

Luke 4: 18-19