It's officially rainy season here in Thailand! It's been raining
every single day since last Wednesday. That was my first witness of a
Thailand rain storm. It was insane! We were in the car on the way to an
investigators house and you could see the big
black clouds from the distance. It was literally just a wall of rain
coming towards us. And of course I just love watching the khon Thais
freak out about it. It finally hit us and we could barely see out of the
car window. I was grateful I wasn't out it in.
The elders were stuck at the park! The rain here is just so crazy. You
go out in it and you're instantly soaked. The roads get flooded and it's
like biking through a river, and it's fast moving! The elders
neighborhood got flooded. Everything pretty much gets
flooded and then everything comes up, all the trash and bugs, it's
really gross. I've gotten so many mosquito bites on my legs! And you
can't scratch them or else they turn into scars, but they're super
itchy! It's way fun.
It was such a miracle week. This week, we got 10 new investigators!
We've had so many members (especially Bro. Miit and Sis. Jenny sharing
the gospel with their friends and then we get referrals from them.
Referrals are my favorite because then the members
get the chance to be missionaries and then the new investigator has a
friend at church and that support from someone they know. Brother Miit
has been talking with his neighbors and so we finally set up
appointments to go and meet them at their houses. It went
really well! It's just a matter of getting them to come to church. This
week has been one of the busiest weeks but it's been one of the funnest!
We've been running around visiting members/investigators houses (they
want us to get into members houses more and
teach investigators at their houses as well) and we've been teaching a
lot this week. It's been really good for me, I've learned a lot of new
words this last week! Plus we've been visiting RC/LA's like Pinky. I
just absolutely love Pinky! I talked about her
last week, she's the one who can speak English and she got baptized not
even a year ago. She's going through a lot, and she likes to be around
me and Sister Jo a lot. I really want to help her! We're trying to get
her to stop drinking coffee and start praying
again and she says that she will but her heart really isn't in it. I
think what will help her the most will be to get her to come to church
which has been difficult to do these last couple of weeks. We're going
to get her back though!
Brother Teerawut (the old man me and sister Mamea taught, I've been
teaching him for about three months now!) and Brother Wiit are getting
baptized this coming week! We were a little worried about Brother
Teerawut because we felt like he wasn't really
having that conversion and was there just to be there (and he likes
learning a lot) but I've been amazed in the change that I've seen in the
past week. He finally stopped writing out his prayers and then
rehearsing them and now just prays. It's been amazing
to see how much he's grown! Wiit has been a lot of fun to teach, he's a
soldier and is really busy all the time so we've been teaching him over
the phone a lot. He has really good questions about Christ and really
loves learning about Him. We taught him the
Word of Wisdom a couple of weeks ago and he is a smoker, I think he
smokes like 20 cigarettes a day! But he got down to 5 last week and now
he doesn't smoke anymore. It's just amazing to see how Christ really
does change people. I love being a missionary!
So, I just have to mention Sister First. She's Brother Mitt's
daughters friends and I have only known her for like three days but I
just absolutely adore her. The STL's came on Friday to do a switch off
and me and Sister Brown were going to teach Brother
Miit at his house. Sister Bon was suppose to come with us and show us
the way but couldn't so we went there by ourselves. When we got there, I
realized the other reason we needed Sister Bon was because we need a girl
to be with us if we're teaching a boy. We told
Brother Miit that so he went around his neighborhood asking everyone if
they would come learn with us. Finally he came back with Sister First.
She's 9 years old and I instantly just loved her. I think I like her so
much because she reminds me of Aubrie when
she was younger. Her mom lives in Bangkok and she's just living in a
nursery right now. So I decided I'd be her older sister! Anyways, we
taught the Restoration and then went and visited some of the families
that Brother Miit said were interested. Sister First
came with us as well! She came to church on Sunday and we're going to
start teaching her. I'm just so sad because now I feel like I'm running
out of time here in Korat. Transfers are coming up again in the next two
weeks and I want to teach all these people
and be here for them. And I could possibly be moving! I hope I get
another transfer here. I love Korat, and the members have just become
like family to me. It will be hard for me to leave, but if that's what
the Lord asks of me then I'll do it. I'm just praying
that He'll send good missionaries here who will take care of them for
me. Which I have no doubt He will. We have awesome missionaries here in
the Thailand Bangkok Mission!
This week we were teaching about the Book of Mormon a lot so I
studied about it a lot in personal study. It really made me think about
my own testimony of the Book of Mormon and how much of a blessing it has
been for me. It is promised that anyone who
reads it will be brought closer to Christ. I have seen that so much in
my own life. I remember the first time I read it. I read it because I
had to for Young Women's but I remember that I really didn't want to!
But as I read it, I felt the spirit so strongly.
I was happier while reading it and I remember not wanting to put it down
because I didn't want that feeling to ever leave me. I already knew it
was true. I don't think it could make me feel the way I did if it wasn't
true. I've had so many experiences though
since then where the Book of Mormon has answered so many of my prayers.
The Book of Mormon truly was written for our day! If you think about it,
the Lamanites and Nephites, none of them, got to even read it but it
was saved for us. Just like they were waiting
for the coming of Christ, we are now in this day waiting for His second
coming. It has examples of missionary work, standing tall when
persecution arises, and so many other things that we are facing today.
It has been such a blessing to my life and millions
of others. I know that if we read it everyday, even if it is just one
verse, we will truly be blessed and we'll see such a big change in our
lives. It's a shield for us against the temptations and dangerous things
in the world. The Book of Mormon is true and
because it's true, Joseph Smith was a prophet and this gospel is true. I
know that this gospel is true! Alma 31: 5
This week is another busy week, we've already got a lot of
appointments. I'm excited for this week! My reading has gotten a lot
better. Mainly because Sister Jo makes me read everyday. I hate reading
in Thai but she makes me do it anyways. And it's helped
a lot! I'm really grateful for her, she's taught me a lot about being a
good missionary. I'm grateful that I've been able to be comps with her
at the beginning of my mission. She's setting me up for the rest of my
mission!
That's ok that you couldn't send those things! Sis. Jo says it
takes about three weeks so they should be here on time for when I go to
Bangkok.
I'd love to add something in to your FHE! There are so many things
that we could do to hold on to the rod! It takes faith and keeping
commandments and doing the little things like reading the Book of Mormon
and praying. Doing the little things that make
a really big difference. I love the idea of faith and hope because I
feel like those are the things that keep us going when things are really
hard. They drive us to put one foot in front of the other on our road
through mortality to eternal life with Heavenly
Father. If we have faith in Christ, we'll want to follow those
commandments, we'll want to hang on. Because we might not understand why
we can't watch this, or why we shouldn't listen to that, or why we
can't do this. But we'll know that Heavenly Father loves
us and knows what is best for us. He knows us better than we know
ourselves, and He will only lead down the path that will make us
happiest, the path that will bring us back to Him. It might not be an
easy road, it may be the hardest that we've ever traveled
down. And sometimes we'll think that we can't do it anymore, that it's
too much and that God has left us because of our trial. I felt like that
so many times being a teenager, where I was teased because I chose not
to do things and it was apparently holding
me back. But really it freed me. My life would be so different if I
hadn't made the choices I did. I might not be experiencing a mission
which is one of the hardest things that I've ever done. There are so
many times I've cried myself to sleep not understanding
why I felt so strongly that I needed to be here when I'm just stressed
and homesick. There are so many times where I have just told God that I
can't do this anymore. It's too hard for me and I'm not cut out to do
this type of stuff, I'm not strong enough. I've
wanted to turn back so many times and I've almost let go. But it's been
my love for my Heavenly Father and my Savior that has kept me going.
It's been my faith and hope that's kept me from giving up on myself. My
soccer coach always told us that we finish a
race, even if we have to crawl to the end. I want to finish this life
knowing I did everything that I could to hold on, and not just hold on,
but keep my face pointed towards zion, not looking back and wishing for
Babylon. My greatest reward will be when I
meet my Father in Heaven again and He will say "Well done, thou great
and faithful servant." That's what this life is all about, is getting
back to Him. And in the process we get the opportunity to learn and to
grow in this life. I'm grateful for the gospel
that has shown me the way and made me who I am today. I don't think I'd
ever know what I was capable if it weren't for the gospel. So I just
want to say, that when the road gets tough, and you feel like giving up
or giving in, don't. Keep going, keep putting
one foot in front of the other and never let go of the rod. Let your
faith keep you going. I love all of you and I'm so grateful to be apart
of this family. You've all had such a big influence in my life! I miss
you all! As the Thai people say, suu suu! (keep
fighting).
-Sister Carrillo
2 Kings 6: 15-17 Love this scripture, it just shows that we really are never alone
I of course had to take some selfies!
It was quite difficult while biking,
but I managed! :)
We were on way to LA's house and we went
a little to far. Took us out to the outskirts of Korat, so pretty!
One of the houses we visited had the cutest puppies ever!!
They were so tiny, like little teddy bears!
This is Sister Uan, one of the investigators holding one
of the cutest creatures I have ever seen. I told her I was
coming back for sure!
They were having this Pokeman thing at the mall
and had a giant Picachu.
Had to take a picture!
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