Thailand/Lampang week 41

สวัสดีคะครอบครัว!

Well this morning I woke up FREEZING. It is 55 degrees outside and I am so cold. My body has no idea what to feel. Happy because I'm not dying of heat or feeling like I'm going to cry because it hurts. Not sure. I'm grateful to be out of the sauna for a little while though haha! 

It was a crazy week though, lost lots of sleep but somehow my body is still going! We went to Bangkok on Monday night and after a fun and rocky train ride, we made it to Bangkok at 5 a.m. So we just went straight to immigration which didn't open until 8. Great thing was that there was a bunch of other missionaries renewing their visas! So I got to see Sister Rem and Sister Jo and a bunch of other peeps! After a long bus ride back we made it back to Lampang at 10 p.m. Tuesday night. I was so tired haha. We did have the most amazing Zone Conference though on Friday. We're changing the way we teach, the way we do our missionary work so we can have the spirit with us more. We're teaching repentance and baptizing converts! I always love learning how I can be a better and more effective missionary! A lot of things are changing for the church in Thailand. We're working with the leadership and the members to help bring them all together in the work. I love it! I realize it's going to be a rocky start at first but I see amazing things coming from this. We're looking for families! If Thailand is going to have a temple, it needs people, families that are going to use it. I think that the most inspiring thing I learned though was that we were not planted on this earth by ourselves. We were given a family and that's what all the members here in Thailand need. To go to the temple with their families, not by themselves. I'm so excited, This change is going to bless Thailand and bless the saints here. 

Life here in Lampang/Thailand is so great, it's one that I cherish a lot. I have been blessed by the Lord! I feel I always have a lesson to be taught by Him. There is no greater teacher than Him. Through patience and love, He's taught me how to be a disciple, how to be better! I know we all want to be better, Christ also wants us to be better, to rise from our hiding places and caves and have faith in Him. Last week I was thinking about this a lot and Elder Darby happened to share this quote in district meeting by C.S. Lewis that I thought summed it up beautifully. 

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

The Lord knows us. He knows who we are, our worries,our fears, our weaknesses. But He also knows what we can become. And that is why I respect, love and look to the Savior. Because He can make more out of me than I ever can.

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ซ. คาร์ริโย

That We Might “Not … Shrink” (D&C 19:18)

David A. Bednar

PS.  I got my Death Date.  It is August 25th.   I will be home by August 27th!  Exactly 7 months from today!

President and Sister Johnson came to visit Lampang again!

Our bus ride back to Lampang.

 Pretty sure it was a party bus, it had some fun purple lights.

 

Got to see some of my old companions, miss these two!

The church in Chiang Mai, I have 

been here so many times in the last 5 months!

 

Chiang Mai!!

 

Thailand/Lampang week 40

Hey Fam! 

Another fast week. We are still teaching Brother Jaycam! His daughter is so golden, she's a lot of what really pushed him to go to church and learn with us because she loves it. She loves praying for her dad a lot! Which is why it was so sad when he told us that her grandma told her she wasn't allowed to pray anymore. Apparently she cried forever about it. It was so sad! We told him though to tell her that she doesn't have to pray out loud but can pray in her heart. That made him feel better. Such a cute family, so lucky we get to teach them! Brother Santi's entire family was sick this last week so we haven't seen much of them :( Since his kids were sick we changed their date to get baptized for this week. Hopefully they feel better. This cold weather up here is killing everyone I swear! 

This week we have Zone Conference! Yayyy. President always gives us talks to read in preparation of it, which I always love because I feel like they are so relevant to me not only as a missionary but the inner struggles I have as well. Every time I ask the Lord what I can do better, I usually figure it out in my personal study and then I tell Heavenly Father that is what I will work on. And then it seems that exact thing I'm working on is magnified in every area and aspect of my life. Heavenly Father is definitely giving me the chance to work on it, to turn that weakness into a strength. Throughout this week, I have learned much about repentance. The process is not easy, really it's painful. I read a talk by Elder Holland where he said that when we are feeling that anguish of our sins, we are feeling just a little of what the Savior felt and ultimately what we would've felt for the rest of eternity if we hadn't repented. I'm so grateful for the gift of repentance. Christ suffered for us so that we wouldn't have to suffer (D&C 19:17), so that we could change from our fallen state. He made that change possible for us! I know that I have weaknesses and that I'm not perfect, but I also know that I don't just have to accept that's just the way I am. I have faith in my Savior, and I have faith in His atonement. And I have faith that through Him I can be cleansed and changed. As I always like to say, that which we persist in doing and changing everyday becomes easier and stronger and we become more "than conquerors through him that loved us". 

I probably have a couple more weeks here in Lampang so I've been trying to take everything in. We were at the park teaching one of the LA's we visit every week. I had a quick realization that I might only have a couple more times teaching her. Someday I won't be here in Lampang and that made me really sad. Time goes by too fast! I'm grateful for the time the Lord has given me to serve Him and serve His children here. I hope to be able to do everything I can the next couple weeks to make it stronger and better. 

So this week we have Zone Conference! And Sister Parker has to do her visa so we'll be going to Bangkok tonight. Chiang Mai and Bangkok in one week! Sister Parker says that I'm Dora the Explorer because I'm Mexican and I'm on an adventure. You can all just call me Dora when I get home ;) 

Love you guys, have a good week! Don't forget to pray and read your scriptures everyday! Spend some time with Heavenly Father :) 

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ซ. คาร์ริโย

Alma 36: 16-20

Lay's Chips! We had extra time during dinner hour

                                     so we went to 7-Eleven and this is what we did.

A Wat!

This is Khao Soi,a curry soup. 

And one of my favorite things to eat!

We went and ate Vietnamese food 

as a district, it was so yummy!

We went and invited at a market and they

 had all this yummy fish waiting to be bought.

Thailand/Bangkok week 39

Hey family! 

Well my life in Thailand has been so nice and cold! I've literally been freezing during some of the days. And I loved every single second of it! I miss being cold! But it also made me grateful that I'm in Thailand and that it doesn't get too cold haha. 

This last week we got to teach a lot of new people. Most of our teaching pool has come from Brother Santi. He'll call us and ask us if we want to go teach one of his friends and takes us to their house. And then after that he'll say that he also has another friend right down the street from there that he wants to introduce us to. One of his friends, Brother Jaycam, accepted a date to be baptized and now his daughter is learning with us too. She's only 7 so she can get baptized when she turns 8! They're such a cute little family though. They both came to church yesterday and his daughter loved it, she bonded with all the little kids. We would have never met them if it weren't for Brother Santi. We really can't do this alone. We've tried! Without members, we don't get anywhere. I testify that members make such a difference in this work. Every member a missionary! Share this with your friends, your family, think of all the blessings of the gospel you enjoy and then think of those people that are missing those blessings. Not only does it help them but we are strengthened by it as well. There is a certain type of joy that comes from missionary work, a joy that I always want to feel. It all comes from sharing with the world that Jesus is the Christ. 

This last week our Zone Leaders have talked a lot about having joy in this work. I reflected on myself and why I was so happy all the time. I'm happy even when it's over 100 degrees outside, when it's showering rain and the streets are flooded and I'm literally biking up a river. I'm happy even when it takes all the will power I have to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 am every morning. I'm happy even when everyone rejects what we have to share and really when just everything seems like it's not going right and the world feels like it's against me. I don't know how I could be dealing with all this and still have the capacity to have happiness. If I were in any other situation, I know that I probably would've given up a long time ago. Who signs up for that kind of stuff? But somehow, every single day of my missionary life, there has been a little light at the end of the day from my Heavenly Father to show me that He hasn't forgotten me. I've accepted that life is hard. There are trials, rocky roads, and dead ends. But no matter how hard life gets, I know who I am and I know why I'm here. I'm on the Lord's side and I know He's on mine! I've learned that there are times that I just have to laugh at myself, get back up and keep on going. Christ gives us that enabling power to do this! God didn't design us to be sad creatures but to have joy. So I'm going to say what I say to myself everyday, "Find Joy in the Journey Now!"-President Monson. We have so much to be happy about. 

This week, Brother Santi's kids have a date to get baptized. So excited! It will be another great teaching week, can't wait to see what else the Lord has planned for me to learn! 

I'm so proud of my little stud muffin' brother and his decision to be baptized. He is such a special little boy, he already looks like a little missionary!

Love you guys! Have a great week! 

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ซ. คาร์ริโย

3 Nephi 14: 7-11

District Dinner! (with Brother Don)

Elder's! Elder Darby shared with us some chili from home.

 It was so yummy, I always forget how much I miss American food!

Yay Children's Day! They have that in Thailand. 

Still don't know why America doesn't have one!

Found this cute little house by the river biking back home.

Found this on one of the notebooks at the store.

 I thought it was funny. Mainly because I was confused.

Thailand/Lampang week 38... More Miracles in Thailand

Hey Fam! 

It's Pday again! That was fast. This week the holidays are over and we're hoping that work will start back up again! The work has been kinda slow because everyone has been gone and not really wanting to talk to us. We've been working a lot with Brother Santi's family lately though. The Lord has surely been working with that family! I think I've mentioned how Brother Santi has had one foot in this church and then one foot in his old church since he got baptized. Last week, he all of a sudden changed, it was so weird. He knew before that this church was true but it was like he finally understood. He started calling us and asking to go teach with us and taking us to meet his friends. He's moving out of his dad's house finally! They bought a new cute little town house and are fixing it up right now. They had us come help on Saturday and some of the members will be going over to help today. 

Elders and Brother Santi destroying the ceiling.

 Getting Brother Santi's house fixed up! 

It was so dirty!

So funny story about this. When they were fixing the ceiling 

(it had water damage) all these paper birds fell out. 

Brother Santi said someone must've been missing someone!

They make these paper birds when they miss another. 

Don't know why they put them all in the ceiling.

 We found a bunch in other places as well.

Sister Angel taking care of this cute little bird. It couldn't fly anymore. :(

Brother Santi and Sister Meow all of a sudden have this want to help this branch grow and help strengthen the members. It's been fun hearing their testimonies of this church as they help teach their friends and their kids. They have experienced true conversion that only comes through Christ's restored gospel. It didn't happen all of a sudden. It all freaked me out in the beginning. I was scared and had no idea how to help them but I remember being comforted, the Lord telling me to be patient. I'm so glad I was patient and didn't give up on them. Their kids took a date to get baptized as well! That was another miracle I thought would also never happen. They just didn't seem to be accepting anything. But they finally wanted to be baptized! It has all been such a blessing from the Lord. I'm so grateful for the help He has given this family that I love so much! They just continue to surprise me everyday. 

The Lord just keeps showing us miracles in the most unexpected places. If I didn't look for them, I probably wouldn't see them. But I see miracles everyday here in Thailand. Here in the work, in the lives of the people, in my own life. How lucky I am to be apart of this! The Lord is with us, He knows us and He knows what we are capable of. I've mentioned it before, but this mission is just preparing me for the rest of my life. I believe God brought me here to this path so I could know better how to do the things I was always afraid to do. I hope we all remember to look for the blessings and the miracles that the Lord gives us everyday.

Love you all, have a great week! 

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ซ. คาร์ริโย

One of my favorite talks about discipleship (from one of our zone trainings we got a couple of months ago):

The First Great Commandment - Elder Holland 

"And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, 
and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; 
and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever,
 that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of 
 the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee,
 O house of Israel, may be fulfilled." -Moroni 10:31

"And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough,  
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." -Luke 9:62

Inviting on New Years at the clock tower!

 It was a party every single night there the entire week.

Sister Meow taught us how to make Kao Soi. 

I can't wait to make it for you guys when I get back, it's delish!

Went back to Mae Moh on New Years day!

Thailand/Lampang week 37 Happy New Year!

Hey Fam! 

My new years was great! We went home at 6 and planned and then just chilled the rest of the night. Watched Finding Faith in Christ, great way to top off a great year! :) We were so not into staying up late, it wasn't worth it to me haha! So we went to bed at the regular time 10:30. And then 12 A.M. that's when the world exploded. Everyone was just shooting off fireworks everywhere, and it literally sounded like someone had a cannon. Me and Sister Parker jumped out of bed and looked out the window and there were just fireworks everywhere. That lasted for about 10 minutes. It was pretty exciting! สวัสดีปีใหม่!!

This past week, I thought a lot about this year, 2015. How fast it went by and how different I thought it was going to be. This past year was full of so many different things. First off, leaving my family and home and then going to a what felt like a completely different planet, dying of heat stroke everyday, eating weird food and speaking a language that I'd never even heard of the year before. It was all an adventure. It was a hard adventure! I watched as I was torn down multiple times,  but each and every time the Lord was there to pick me up. "Sometimes the Lord will bring us low, so He can lift us higher." 2015 was a year I will never forget. It was full of hard things but I saw so many miracles. Miracles within myself, within others, miracles that have changed me. I believe in miracles. I believe that our faith has the power to make what seems impossible, possible. I am so grateful that I made the choice to be a missionary. I know that I would've been fine without being a missionary but never would I have had the chance to grow like I have. I love Thailand, I even love the heat, the weird food but more than anything I love the people! I know who I want to be now. I know what I am and who I am now. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and with Him, I can do all things. 

I'm excited for this coming year! 2016, here I come! 

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ซ. คาร์ริโย

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,and gave himself for me."

Galatians 2:20

Christmas dinner at Long Jims 

Yay Christmas!

The Christmas ornament was the best present ever,

 it's hanging on the wall right next to my desk

Went to a waterfall! เมร์รี่ครสต์มาส!

Sister Noy, sweepin' the floor.

 Literally, I have so much love and respect for this lady!

Brother Beck trying to do a handstand. The poor tree.