Water buffalos and snakes

- There was a Poisonous snake in our house this week. Scary. 

- We rode water buffalo today (just sat on it for 2 min, took a picture and got off) 

-I HIT MY YEAR MARK THIS WEEK! 

-We had an appointment with the mother of a recent convert. She is very timid and shy. It was raining like crazy, so hard that we couldnt hear each other speak because of the tin roof. We decided to read about Lehi's dream and as we read I drew out what was happening instead trying to speak because the rain was so loud. At the end, the rain settled down when she was trying to answer a question. 

- I have been loving the Book of Mormon lately so much. We have an RC who hasn't ever really understood the Book of Mormon until we read with her, commited her to pray before and then read a few chapters. Our next appointment, she was so excited and told us every detail from when Nephi gets the plates from Laban. 

No time gotta go! 

The branch president took care of it for us!

MAHASARAKHAM, bugs, gift of tongues

 Me and Sister Gagarin! She is awesome and is so good already! 

A member in Ayutthaya gave us T-shirts before we left.

They eat bugs here. Haha the big bug they don't eat, it was just a nearly dead one we found and I picked it up. I did not eat it. 

This week I said goodbye to the beautiful ancient city Ayutthaya อยุธยา, good byes are so hard. I learned so much from that area and was always in awe at the the beauty of the ancient ruins and elephants that I would bike past while proselyting. 

Transfers: Thursday morning we went to the Mission office in Asoke (where the temple will be built!) And met with my new companion Sister Gagarin from the Philipines :) She had to go do her visa so I got to wait at the mission office and talk with the people and other missionaries waiting there! After that we begged a Taxi man to take my 2 huge suitcases, my bike, and a box of Book of Mormons in his taxi to go to the bus station. He was a little annoyed at first and upped the price, but we were able to keep it relatively low. It turns out he was Christian and we were able to have a good conversation. I was also able to read him a few verses from the Book of Mormon and testify that I know it is true! 

8 hour bus ride.

Some members graciously picked us up after midnight. 

Weekly Bike Drama: The next day my bike brakes totally gave out, so I had to use my feet to brake. We also have to wear longs skirts now for the rainy season, so that has been interesting to bike in... 

Rejection!: We contacted one lady, and we thought we had a good gospel discussion going on and invited her to learn more, and then it totally turned and she just went off on how she's Buddhist and won't change, then said "so I'm going to have to reject you." We were a little stunned because that is not how Thai people usually respond. As we walked away, I asked Sister Gagarin "Do you think we gave her a clear chance to learn?" We both felt like we had. And that's all we can do! 

Violin School Girl: We were riding a สองแถว (public transportation like riding in the back of a pickup truck) on the way back from an appointment on Sunday and I was talking to the girl beside me about Jesus Christ and church. The girl standing in front of me I could tell was listening intently. After the first girl got off, this girl sat right next to me and said to me right away "I have been trying to find your church! I followed the map but couldn't find it!" She then pulls an inviting card from her violin case. She said that she wants to go to church! She was a tender mercy. I taught her how to pray right there and gave her a pamphlet. We will see her at church on Sunday. It's amazing to see how Heavenly Father puts people in your path. 

Gift of Tongues: There has been an emphasis on gaining members trust, and Elder Uchtdorf presented some training videos on how to bear your testimony when you first get to an area, and to be very enthusiastic.  So I did that. I felt the spirit very strong with me as I stood up and bore testimony, I felt like I was given the gift of tongues to help me give a clear and powerful testimony. After Sacrament meeting a sweet sister in the ward who I hadn't met yet asked to give me a hug and said she felt I had true love in my eyes. Another man was very impressed with my Thai and then said "You sisters should come to my house and teach my wife the gospel, I think you would be good teachers for her!"

I honestly don't think that I am that good at the language, like I'm okay, but I'm not amazing or anything. I think what the difference was that I was (and am) determined to love and serve these people and to see success, I prayed and asked God for help (many times), and I followed the counsel from leaders (Elder Uchtdorf's training). This just built my testimony of the importance of relying on the Lord, following leaders, and the importance of gaining the members trust. 

Love, 

Sister Peterson 

 

Last week in Ayutthaya

I'll be emailing again on Monday, so I'm making this one short.. I was able to talk to my family too! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

I'm moving to Mahasarakham (say that 5 times fast!)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maha_Sarakham 

Oops! Only Ben's ear made it into the shot!

The Office 🗻

Right now I'm on a passenger train going to Lopburi for a hike! I'm really excited. 

MOTHERS DAY: I will be skyping again next week. Mom, Dad, let me know what time works best for you. I can skype for 30-40 min.

This week has been great! I feel like the Lord really blessed us this week. I also feel satisfied with the work and effort I put forth - it wasn't perfect, but it was better!! Yay! Improvement! 

My bike makeover: My bike has been having all sorts of problems the last few weeks. Constant flat tires every few hours (alternating tires), the turning axle (is that even what it's called?!) Being stiff and making it hard to turn, my seat moving out of place whenever I stop my bike to try to talk to someone, my kick stand wobbly (therefore my bike would always fall down), with every pedal comes a 'clink' sound, and I have to hold my bikes basket together with zip ties. With all of these woes, we went to go get my bike fixed! The man was very nice and just fixed everything with my bike! I can stear my bike safely now, the kickstand works, my tires were great. Then the next day after I got my bike all fixed up, one of my tires went flat again. It was the worst. Yay bike trials! I also think one of my breaks needs to be replaced now too. 

The office: With all of my bike drama, we were around the bike shop a lot this week, so we went inviting, or contacting in an area we normally don't go, which is good! We were talking to people and we walked past some people who were going for their lunch break. I started talking to one man who looked like he was about to go for his break. I tell him that I'm a Christian missionary. He didn't seem too interested but was friendly. Seeing that he wasn't too interested I was about to wrap up the conversation, but before I did I asked him for a referral - like I ask every other person I talk to - and instead of the normal reply of "no I don't know anyone that is interested" he said "oh yeah I have a friend that's interested, just a second I'll go get him!" He runs back into the office, gets his friend, they were both on their lunch breaks so they invite us into the office (which looks like the TV show inside) and they sat down, gave us water bottles, and said "ok, share your message." Sister Smith and I were like "uh... what?" After a split second of trying to believe what was happening, we started right into teaching the Restoration! "This message is about a loving Heavenly Father, who is God. Because God loves us He has called Prophets to guide us in this life..." We taught them how to pray, gave them a commitment and set a return appointment. I'm so grateful that I have gotten into the habit of asking everyone for referrals, because it actually payed off this week! Now we just have to get some more of the members on board with giving referrals, because that is honestly the best way to do missionary work - member referrals. 

Prayer recording: we had a new investigator who was so excited to learn about prayer, that she insisted on recording Sister Smith's prayer, and then she said her own prayer. We had to clarify several times that we do not believe in recited or memorized prayers in our personal prayers. I'm so grateful that prayer has been a basic part of my life. This week I have learned more that the gospel has been such a blessing in my life, and I am grateful for it everyday. 

A man we contacted had a pomegranate tree. He gave us one. Its crazy to be that they just grow here so easily! Thailand is so beautiful. We just finished a hike and I felt like I was in the middle of the Planet Earth documentary. There were monkeys climbing the trees (which we try to avoid) and the most amazing view. 

I love this Gospel. I know that Christ is the only way we can return to live with Heavenly Father again in eternal families. This message is so important.  

Love, ซิสเตอร์พีเตอร์สัน 

Bronchitis, Sending Sister Pim Off & Pouring Rain

Like I said last week, President Nelson and Elder Holland came to Thailand. The members who went have been happy and their testimonies are burning a little more bright! 

Monkeys: Our District leader serves in Lopburi. In Lopburi there are an excess of monkeys at this particular ancient Buddhist Wat by the train station. These monkeys are savage. Elder Abbott had just bought snacks from 7/11. Elder Abbott was not smart and was eating his snacks past the monkeys. One monkey had a crazy look in it's eye and hopped on Elder Abbott's bag of snacks and he tried to shake it off and started to swing his bag around with the monkey on it as the monkey is tearing it to shreds. Anyways, the monkey stole his snacks. He was pretty sad. In other news the other Elder got hit by an old lady on a motorcycle. Elders... *Face palm

Hospital: Sister Pimsuwan got Bronchitis 2 days before leaving to go to the MTC. Poor thing. We went to the hospital, got permission for her to take a nap. She woke up and said in her 'lost voice' voice "I'm ready, let’s go back to work!" What a missionary. 

Airport: We got to the mission office to drop Sister Pimsuwan off to go to the Phillipines MTC. When we got to the office, we found out that me and Sister Smith would actually be the ones taking Sister Pim and the other two Thai Elders to the Airport (usually President and Sister Johnson do that). After we went on the Sky train (Air Port Link), got their luggage checked out and tickets. Then we sent them off. I really miss Sister Pim! She's all grown up now and going to the MTC! After that, Sister Smith and I found ourselves stranded clear on the other side of Bangkok. After navigating through one of the biggest cities using 5 different modes of transportation, to try to get back to my area (Ayutthaya, which is about an hour outside of northern Bangkok) I feel like I can navigate anything now! Lol not really.

Rain: it has been raining lately! Everyone here is afraid of rain and wear plastic bags on their heads. Yesterday, Sister Smith and I were trying really hard to find more people to teach and talk with and these people wave us over and ask us why we're out in the pouring rain, and then they gave us plastic bags to put on our heads. So we put the bags on our heads and put our helmets over top (tried giving them the opportunity to learn the Gospel) after that we were on our way running with our bikes through the rain because my tire was flat with plastic bags over our heads. 

Members: We have some investigators who haven't been coming to church in a few weeks, and the members were asking about them. After church we asked some members to help us go visit them, and before we knew it we had a group of 13 people piled into 2 vehicles and we just showed up at their house. I wasn't sure how they would respond to all these people just showing up so I was a little scared. But when we showed up and all the people were coming out of the vehicles, our investigators had the biggest smiles on their faces! The members just said "Hey! We've missed you at church!" That really built my testimony of the importance of members. Everyone back home: Go do something to either help the missionaries or help someone know the gospel! 

I know that God loves all of us. I know that we all need Jesus Christ, and we all need to lean on Him more. 

Love, ซิสเตอร์ พีเตอร์สัน