Sister Maisie Carrillo

Sister Maisie Carrillo

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Thailand/lampang week 36 Merry Christmas

Hey Fam! 
Well I have a short amount of time to email today! This week was another great one, December has just flown and now Christmas is this week. Crazy! Anyways, Brother Big got baptized, which we were so excited for. 

We also had a really fun Christmas party and there was SO MANY people there. It was definitely a party. 

I think my favorite part of this past week though has been the spirit we have felt. We have seen so many miracles. This past week has changed a lot of me. I know the Lord is with us in this work and even though it still feels like July outside, Christmas has been with us this entire month. My favorite thing has been sharing with members and others what Christmas really is about.It was funny, last week we taught Sister Miaw about Christmas and Christ's birth and she said she had no idea. She said that she thought it was just for white people when you give each other gifts. We taught her about it's true meaning and I think she loved it because she turned to Sister C-Game and said, "where can I get a bible?" Haha! I'm so grateful for this Christmas season and that I've been able to spend it here in Thailand. This time has been so special! 
I love you all and hope you have a great Christmas season! I've thought so much about the gifts that God has given me throughout my life and one of the greatest that He has given me is my family. Like Nephi I've been "born of goodly parents". And now I get to share what I have been taught and know to be true.
Love you all!:)

ด้วยความรัก
ซ. คาร์ริโย
2 Cor 8:9
 I'm going to be skyping around 7 pm your guys time on Christmas Eve. Can't wait to talk to you guys, have fun in Phoenix!:)
Me and Sister C-Game got eachothers's gift 
for the white elephant exchange!

Everyone came to the train station to see Elder Lindley off!
Goodbye Elder!!
Brother Don made apple pie for us!

Trying on Sister Gift's boxing gear!

Inviting at the mall
 
We went and visited Sister Chomyong this last week.
 This is her working in her garden.
Sister Chomyong gave us flowers!
We went and visited Sister Wadsana and she wanted all her neighbors to know she had white people over at her house. So her and Brother Dang put on their Santa hats and we sang Christmas songs  really loud around this Christmas tree. Haha! 
 This is the baptism water. We tell the people that are getting baptized that it's full of people's sins, that's why it's dirty. And they believe us! haha!

Monday, December 14, 2015

Thailand/Lampang week 35 The Lord is in every detail of our lives. Let that be something that we never forget.

Hey Fam! 
This week was another busy one. I love being busy! We finished up teaching Brother Big and he passed his interview! SO he gets to get baptized this Sunday! :) So excited for him! We always check up with him every night and see how his reading and praying are doing. Last night he was like, "don't worry, I do these things everyday!" He's a "good egg" as Sister Parker would say. We had some more awesome people come to church yesterday! Sister Noy's student, Brother Bia, came! He's about 10 years old and kind of shy. So I went and talked to the other kids and asked if they'd invite him to play with them. They were so nice and went and introduced themselves and invited him to go and play football with them. He had a good experience at church, he felt so welcomed and said he wanted to come back again. I've realized how incredibly important it is to be welcoming to those that are new. Members are so important in this work. As cool as us missionaries are, they need members to hang out with as well! It turned out to be a great Sunday, I'm always so stressed out on Sunday's, trying to call people and get them to church. And then when not that many people come it's kind of discouraging. But then I can't enjoy the rest of church, I don't feel the spirit because all I'm doing is worrying about people not leaving or people that didn't come. But yesterday, even though some things didn't go the way I wanted it to, I saw so many tender mercies of the Lord. I found myself enjoying church for once and feeling the spirit. It was a great lesson that I learned, that even when things seem to not be going right, I always see the little miracles and blessings the Lord has given me. There's so much to be grateful for and sometimes we forget the those little precious moments that truly make life great. Something that I loved that was said in the Christmas Devotional  (I can't remember who said it!) was that the Lord is constantly showering blessings upon us, that we can't even comprehend it. The Lord is in every detail of our lives. Let that be something that we never forget.  
We went and taught Brother Kit's family with the elders!

This Christmas season definitely doesn't feel like Christmas at home. If you walked outside you'd think you were in the middle of July! And I always thought it was so cheesy when people said that Christmas comes from within. But now with the trees, the food, the lights, the snow, everything out of the picture, I feel like I understand more. I love the Christmas Mormon Message put out last year (I literally watch it everyday and show it to all our investigators and the members). In it it talks about how our Lord and Savior is the gift. He is the gift that Heavenly Father gave to us. As I thought about that I thought of what that meant to me. I looked over my life in this past year. How different I was from the beginning and how much I'd gone through and overcome. And I knew that all of this was done because of the gift of the Father. I realize that there are so many things that I can't do on my own. But there are so many things that I can do because of Christ. And that in it itself is the greatest gift. So even though it's not the Christmas season you'd picture, it's been one of the most amazing Christmas seasons I've had. So I'm going to become one of those cheesy people when I say that the Christmas spirit truly does come from within. Our charity and love towards others and the Savior. The things that we give instead of receive, that's where the true Christmas spirit lies. A Savior is born! And because of that, we can become who we were destined to be! 
 They made a cute little nativity in the church back yard! So cute! 

It's transfer weeeeek! I swear, I blink and the transfers are just over. This transfer was only five and then the next one will be seven so that those dying can go home before Christmas. I'm putting my guess on the table and I think I'm staying :) Six months in Lampang, I'm so up for that! This last week, we had some fun things happen.
1. First off I talked to a white guy from Holland and talked to him about Christianity and God. He ended up telling me that I didn't know that there was a God. Apparently I think there's one but I don't know for sure that there is one. Haha! I just said I know that God lives and He loves us. I wouldn't sacrifice 18 months and come to Thailand to lie. So that was fun!
2. Elder Darby also shared a fun scripture with me. He started off by telling me that when sharing Nephi 3:7 with an investigator who just agreed to baptism, to make sure it's 1 Nephi not 3 Nephi. Read it. I died laughing. Finding scriptures and pretending to share them with our investigators and picturing their reaction. That's where us missionaries get our laughs from! 
3. It's also been cool enough for me to wear a sweater (sometimes). 
4. We went to eat pizza at Long Jim's with a bunch of the members. They were impressed (?) that I could eat five pieces of pizza. They were dying at three! I was still hungry.  

Love you all, hope you're all having a great Christmas season! Have a great week! 

ด้วยความรัก
ซ. คาร์ริโย

1 Nephi 21: 15-16
Biking! (this is the road we live on, it's so pretty!)
I love this dog! It's one of the neighbors dogs and every time we come home it comes running. We named it Happy because he always looks like he's smiling.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Thailand/Lampang week 34 Christmas Zone Conference and switch off in Chang Mai

Hey fam! 
This week was such a rush. So we taught Sister Nat and Nang on Tuesday and they gave us their answer that they wanted to get baptized! And they wanted to get baptized that week. So all week we tried to teach them as much as we could before we left for Chiang Mai on Thursday. I love teaching them, they were so prepared by the Lord. It's always cool to hear their testimonies at their baptisms because they always share their experiences while we taught them. Sister Nang shared how when she went home after we taught them that she sat and read the Book of Mormon and just felt in her heart that this was Christ's church and that what we taught had been true. And then Nat talked about how when she felt a certain spirit and happiness at the church that she didn't feel anywhere else. It's always so great seeing the hand of the Lord in your investigators lives. I forget that He is on our side and helping us as well. It's not  just me and my comp teaching and helping them. Heavenly Father is working with them as well! They got baptized yesterday, it was another great day!


 We were so happy for them, it's amazing how happy it makes you as well to see others come closer to Christ. There really is no other greater happiness that you could have! We went and visited their mom afterwards, we really wanted to meet her. I was kinda scared at first but she was super nice, told us we could come over whenever we want. She totally supports her daughters going to church and being Christian because she has seen the great happiness it has brought her daughters. It was a fun little experience! 
So Friday we had zone conference in Chiang Mai! Except it wasn't really a zone conference it was more like a Christmas devotional. Sister Parker was asked to sing and didn't have a piano player so I kinda got stuck doing that haha. She sang Oh Holy Night while I played. It was fun! Anyways at conference we played Christmas games, ate lots of good food and best of all we got to watch The Best Two Years!! That was a nice surprise. It was a great conference though, at the end President talked about how this Christmas probably won't be like the Christmases we've had at home. Where there's Christmas lights everywhere, Christmas music, trees, snow, Christmas food. None of that stuff. But he talked about how no matter what we can have the spirit of Christ with us no matter where we are or what time of year it is. It definitely doesn't feel like Christmas at home. But even without the tree, the lights or the food, I still feel like it's that time of year.
Got Santa hats from President and 
Sister Johnson to wear at zone conference!
Sister Sirikwan and Sister Bon (I was with them in Korat) 
are now in the Chiange Mai zone with us!
 I was so excited to see them!
Our District!

This past week I thought a lot about what Christmas really means to me. What a great blessing it is to us all. It was a day that changed each of our lives. It was a gift of love from a father to His children so they could have hope and eventually attain everything He had. I'm so grateful for my Father in Heaven. I know that He loves each of us, and if we ever doubt that all we have to do is look to our Savior and we will understand. It's the most wonderful time of the year that's for sure!! As this season goes on, I encourage us all to remember and think about why it is the most wonderful time of the year for us personally. 
So this week: 
1. For the first time ever, since I got on an airplane from Salt Lake, I was FREEZING. It rained really hard Friday night in Chiang Mai and I was so cold! It probably wasn't even that cold, I'm probably just a baby now.
2. The other day was Father's Day. Brother Santi brought me and Sister Parker flowers yesterday since we didn't have our dads with us. It was so nice! 
3. Apparently I look like Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games. It's probably only cuz I'm white and have brown hair and no one else does. 
4. Whenever I get frustrated with myself or other people or just anything in general, I sing "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus". It really works!! 
I'm excited for another week of the crazy missionary life. I love this life though. I'm not a perfect missionary but I know I'm not here to be perfect but to learn. Everyday things get easier and I get stronger. And then Heavenly Father gives me something else to work on. Haha! But I know these things are here to help me. Help me on my road to becoming like my Father. 
Love you all, have a good week! 

ด้วยความรัก
ซ. คาร์ริโย
Rev. 17:14

Got to go on this fun adventure with Sister Belnap!
 It was a fun switch off!
I was half expecting to see Tarzan swinging through the trees!
My switch off in Chiang Mai involved visiting a
 little mountain tribe on top of the
 mountains outside of Chiang Mai.




This is Sister Noke, we got to teach her family!
 Their house was literally on top of the mountain!

Went to go เที่ยว to Mae Moh today. It was so pretty!

We went Sliding!
Mae Moh was such a beaut!

Took this for you mom!  
I know how much you love my funny face pictures!!


 Sister Chomyong! She is one of the RC's that we take care of.
 I love this lady! We went over on Tuesday to celebrate
 her birthday with her. She was super happy!
Our Christmas tree! 
Haha Sister Parker's grandma sent it to her.