Sister Maisie Carrillo: Thailand/Lampang- week 24 I feel like I have finally found myself and who I want to be!

Hello!!

This week was a great one! Went to Chiang Mai three times (doctor, then switch off, then doctors again!). I love that place! And the week just flew by. Pretty much the story of every week of my life as a missionary. Anyways, we've been working with Brother Santi's family. We're still trying to figure out stuff with them. Brother Santi still has one foot in his other church and his wife still doesn't want to stop drinking coffee. They just don't have a testimony though, we want to try to teach the restoration again and then see where to go from there. I dunno, we're going to work with them some more this week! We've also been working with this 22 year old who just showed up to English class about a month ago. She's a total party girl, totally into drinking and partying Friday nights and at first we really didn't take her seriously. But holy cow, she's way good! She knows everything is true. She knows the church is true, she just doesn't want to change her lifestyle. She told us a lot of her friends have told her that she's changed and different now. She really has changed a lot! She seems a lot happier and she's said that this is the happiest she's been. We've have so many long talks with her about the plan of salvation and how this is not what is going to make her happy. Yeah, she knows it's all true. She just needs the desire to change! I love teaching her though! She actually asks questions, really good questions (I love when they ask questions!) and her understanding of the scriptures is amazing! She's definitely a prepared one. She wants to get baptized but wants to wait until she can keep all the commandments. Yesterday we set a goal for her for the end of October so she has something to work on! We love her and we have so much faith in her. I know she can change. God has definitely been working with her, she's seen her life change a lot since she started learning with us. Sister Pen is our other investigator who was suppose to get baptized yesterday but has to wait until the 11th to get baptized so she can get a marriage license. Yeah it's been really hard with investigators lately. And we've contacted a lot lately and we just haven't been really seeing anything. It's so hard because I always feel like I'm doing something wrong, like not saying enough, not being spiritual enough. Everything! But we really have been doing everything we can and that's all we can do. We're trying to stay positive and keep on working hard!

I'm still loving my life as a missionary. It's a very fast paced life. The hardest part is getting up in the morning! So crazy, I've never had such a hard time getting up in my life. But I refuse to let myself sleep in. That's definitely a promise I made to myself at the beginning of my mission, that I wouldn't ever sleep in! Most of the time wake up ten minutes early to dogs barking. They all like to howl at the same time for some odd reason. My patience for dogs has gone downhill since I became a missionary. They're very much what I would call pests here! There's this one big golden retriever that lives by the round-a-bout in Lampang and everytime we go by that it chases us and barks at us. It literally looks like a lion. I just yell "come at me bro!" kind of childish but I really don't like dogs here. We ride our bikes everywhere. The only reason I don't like it is because it's in a skirt. And I sweat a lot!! But it's nice to get 24/7 exercise. I've gotten pretty good at biking! The other day though I wasn't so smart. I thought I could get around a car before it turned. But I wasn't fast enough and yeah, I got hit by a car. It wasn't bad! It just knocked me off my bike! It was pretty funny. But not at the time. The poor guy that hit me, he was probably more freaked out than I was! But it was definitely a blessing I didn't get hurt. I just got right back on my bike and went. But now I can say I've been hit by a car before.

Transfers is this week! And we're all staying in Lampang, none of us are moving :) I'm super excited, I get to stay another transfer with Sister Remington and another one in Lampang! Elder Parker thought it would be funny and told us both that one of us was leaving and then wouldn't tell us who and so we freaked out and begged him to tell us. He told us Sister Rem and we about died. Finally he told us that none of us were leaving. It was a relief. But we were so mad at him haha. I love the north and especially Lampang! I have no desire to leave anytime soon. There's so many things to do here. Today we went and rode elephants. That was so fun! It took us through the jungle and walked through the river. I'm so lucky to be serving in a place where I get to do cool things like that!

It was a way good week. I can't believe the transfer is already over. This coming month marks my 6 months in country which is so crazy! I feel like I should still be a greenie haha. But the more time goes on the more I realize how much I love this calling and how much I love these people. And how it's going to be the hardest thing in the world for me to leave it all. I'm trying to live it all up! I've realized in the past couple of months how fast time goes by. This life really is short. It seems sometimes like things are going to last forever but everything passes. Before you know it, that time in your life is over. It's kind of sad, but change is good. I've always hated changed, but without change nothing could progress. That's why we have to appreciate the moments that we are in while we have them. Every single second has been such an adventure, an adventure I will never forget. I used to think that I got the wrong call and that it was so weird to me that God would call me to Thailand. But the more I'm here the more I realize why I'm here and the more grateful I am that I was called to this place. I love Thailand! I love being a missionary! There is nothing in the world that is more important than the work I am involved in right now.

Love you family! Keep on going forward with faith and always keep your faith and trust in the Lord.

Have a good week!

-Sister Carrillo

1 Nephi 17:13