HEY!

Amir received the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday, and we saw 4 more souls baptized! It was an awesome week! But with success always comes a lot of opposition I am starting to realize. So yes, we did have some miracles this week, including the discovery of a couple named Amir and Summaya from Pakistan, who are some of the few lucky souls to have found work here as Asylum seekers. And because they found work, they now qualify to get work visas and can be baptized! 

Baptisms!

But after these miracles, we did face some challenges, mainly that of investigators dropping and getting more rejections than usual, not to mention Sister Greenwood's declining health. So eating food just hurts her. It's soo unusual. So basically, she can't eat anything, and the amount of traveling we do around Bangkok as international sisters hasn't been helping. We've seen a few doctors already, but nothing seems to be helping her get healthy. Keep her in your prayers! And we are trying to do all that we can for her while also trying to help in the progression of the work!

Had to say goodbye to Kita and Kevin who got placed by the U.N. in Chicago!

On a spiritual note, this is what I took away from personal study this week. "We may at times find ourselves surrounded by others and yet standing in the minority or even standing alone concerning what is acceptable and what is not. Do we have the moral courage to stand firm for our beliefs, even if by so doing we must stand alone?" That quote was taken from a talk by President Monson a few years back. And it just gave me a lot of perspective on the opposition we all face. Sometimes people will yell or throw food at you because you are a Mormon...trust me, I know. But that should not stop us from sharing what we know and standing up for what we believe in.

And that led me to this random quotation: "When the time for decision arrives, the time for preparation is past." We all need to prepare NOW! We never know who will stand in our path and try to make us fall. If your testimony is shaky right now, do all that you can to make it firm in the faith!

I love you all! Hope you all enjoy the pics from this past week :)

My first picture with an elephant on my mission!

Got to feed some crocodiles some tasty fish heads

Love you all!

Sister Lam

Transfer 4!

So the news is...I am staying in the International Ward in Asoke for another transfer!! But sadly transfers are only 6 weeks now, so I have a feeling it is going to fly by! My 2 other companions, Sister Barber and Sister Du, were both transferred...which means I'M LEADING THE AREA!!! haha...that probably sounds like I'm excited about it..not so much, but leading the area is always a good experience. And drumroll....I have 2...yup count em 2 new companions: Sister Greenwood and Sister Ng. I guess President Senior just likes to keep putting me in trio companionships. But it's actually been awesome. I loved my last trio, and this trio has been amazing so far. Sister Ng is 22 and from New York/Idaho, and her family is actually from Hong Kong as well, so everyone here just laughs at us when we tell them our heritage and then can't speak Cantonese and only Thai. They think we're freaks, but it's fine. And Sister Greenwood is 21 and from Canada, but grew up mostly in Texas. Her family is french Canadian, so she speaks French too, which will be awesome in our International ward.

The new companions: Sister Greenwood and Sister Ng

Last picture with these 2 companions Sister Barber and Sister Du at transfer meeting

But so ya, it's definitely been a struggle leading and navigating our way all over Bangkok, but Heavenly Father has truly blessed me with patient companions, who basically are just willing to follow my lead even though I don't really know what I'm doing, which has been really nice. And...we had a BAPTISM this past Sunday. His name is Amir...and I did attach a picture..but please do not pass it around. The story is, he was actually Muslim and is from a Muslim country. So the fact that he got baptized does put him at risk. Luckily he has an awesome family, who even though they are Muslim, support him in his decision. Which is a miracle in and of itself because usually when someone in the Muslim faith converts to Christianity, it is their families that are allowed to punish..exile..or even kill that member of their family. So he is our miracle, and his family even came to the baptism to support him! :)

We had a baptism!

He showed so much faith by putting his culture behind to follow who he knows to be his savior, Jesus Christ. We met with him every single day for the past 25 days...he gave me that number..I wasn't really keeping track, but he made sure to haha. And we still meet with him every day. Luckily, he has a lot of good young members in the ward that are trying to fellowship him as well. They have him involved with all the YSA stuff, which is awesome. And he told me after his baptism yesterday that he wants to be a missionary!!!!! So ya, he is amazing, and definitely the miracle of the week.

That's about it for this week! Now we are off to some crocodile farm for a P-day Zone building activity or something. So that should be fun!! 

Miss you all, and keep sending me updates!

Love,

Sister Lam

What the...transfer week already?

Seriously, this transfer just FLEW by. I can't believe that we could be moved this week. I literally just can't believe it's been 9 weeks already. And starting this Thursday, our transfers will be only 6 weeks long! My mission has been flying by!!!

Realized we never took one of these pictures together! Me and my amazing companions outside the church building in Asoke.

This week was a blast as always. But it has been kind of a sad one because half of our district will be returning home on Thursday after 2 years of faithfully serving the Lord. I truly have been blessed with some amazing missionary examples, and I'm so sad to see them leave! And who knows, this time Thursday I could be moving areas too...not exactly the same as going home, but leaving an area is always hard. The members are just so amazing where ever you serve!!! And today we were totally spoiled. A member who is now moving back to Utah treated us to a little farewell breakfast, and then Sister Senior (mission president's wife) called and asked if she could take us sisters out for lunch. Goodbye's are the worst!!!!!

Me with the Seppes! (cute Senior couple)

But we saw many miracles this week. One of those was the reactivation of a dis-fellowshipped member. Saddest story ever, but he has managed to completely turn his life back around and step by step is on the road to full membership again! This week he basically called us every day to come and teach him and help him get his life back on track. He's really a rockstar! He has involved himself in just about every church activity this week, and he got to see 3 baptisms this past Sunday! The lord is truly mindful of ALL of His children!

Got sent to the airport to retrieve a returning missionary serving in Australia from Myanmar (didn't end up leaving with her because she never left her gate cuz of a lack of visa or something...stayed up till 12am waiting for her ha! #adventuresinBangkok)

So on a spiritual note, today...and this whole transfer pretty much, I've been thinking a lot about the perspective you can gain as a missionary. I definitely feel extremely spoiled and lucky to have had the opportunity to serve in the Bangkok International ward. It really has proved to me that like America, Bangkok is in and of itself a melting pot of sorts. God has prepared his children ALL OVER the world to receive His word! He literally has no boundaries! Each day I get to go out and not just bare my testimony to the Thai people, but to God's children from all over the world! I feel so blessed to be given this opportunity because I know that most missionaries get to experience that here in this mission! 

And it has just truly afirmed my testimony that we are ALL children of God, and He really has a plan for EACH and EVERY one of us. So if you ever doubt that, don't! Because I have seen the way God has looked out for His children every day since being on my mission! If you're feeling down and like you have no purpose, stop it! You do! You just need to look for the blessings that God has already provided for you and keep doing all that you can do to help build His kingdom. These are in fact the last days, and we all need to work together to help hasten the work!

Our cute RC's (recent converts) Theban and his wife Kita! Kita got placed by the U.N. in Chicago and leaves this month!!!! Keep her in your prayers!

ok sorry sorry for the preachy email. Guess I just took the words "preach my gospel" to heart this week...every week? haha. I love you all! And shoutouts to mom who gave an amazing talk in church on Sunday!, Sister Kelsey Jean Briggs the newest AP of the Temple Square mission, Cami who's getting married to the tallest guy ever!, Ally livin it up in Ireland, miss Sophia who's killing it in LA, and McKinzie who is having a birthday this Tuesday!! I love all of you guys, and if I didn't mention you, I guess you aren't very important. JOKES! I love you all!

Foot massages on P-day! (only in Asia haha)

Love always,

Sister Lam

Zone Conference, etc.

This week was complete craziness! 

My cute companions prepping to brave the rainstorm..luckily I brought an umbrella ;)

First we had zone conference, and then we had stake conference with Elder Wilson and Elder Gong of the area 70! Zone conference was so great, as we focused on the Godhead, as well as the act of Repentance, 2 gifts that we have from our Heavenly Father. And all of the missionaries that will be finishing their missions this month had the opportunity to bare their testimonies. Crazy that basically my entire district this transfer is "dying!" One of the Elders, Elder Marshall has been my zone leader for my entire stay in Thailand so far, and I cannot believe its already time for him to leave! 

Companions!

Tried to get a complete district photo, but sadly 4 of the Elders ran off.

And then we got the crazy awesome news at stake conference: the Thailand Bangkok mission is indeed the fastest baptizing mission in all of Asia! By the end of this month, our mission will have baptized 1000 people this year! The Lord has truly prepared Thailand! Elder Wilson seconded this, as they were called to reorganize the stake here. Thailand so far has had just 1 stake and 5 districts (which are smaller than stakes, only made up of branches). But yesterday, Thailand got its 2nd stake!!!! Not only that, but another district was created instead of losing a district! So we now have 2 stakes and 5 districts, 2 districts of which are very very close to becoming stakes! Once there are 4 stakes in Thailand, we can build a temple!!!! It was soooo amazing and exciting hearing this from a servant of the Lord!

The beautiful sisters I get to live with!

Companions at Stake conference in this swanky hotel

K sorry, that was probably super crazy hard to understand, but it was seriously such an amazing stake conference! Thailand is making history!!!! And I cannot believe how grateful I am to be apart of it! And it was just super cool too because as they were reorganizing the stake presidencies/branch presidencies here in Thailand, they were doing the same thing back at home! Cannot believe that you've been stake president for 9 1/2 years dad!!!

K and here's my spiritual thought for the week. So with transfers coming up next week, I have been thinking a lot about the theme of my next transfer. For those of you who don't know, I pick a scripture each transfer that I hope to implement or apply in my missionary service. So next transfer, transfer 4, I chose a scripture from the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. It says, "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord they God is with thee withersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1:9)

Even though we all struggle at times and feel so downtrodden by others, the Lord is ALWAYS with us. He will not abandon us, but with Him, we will have the strength, the courage, the ability to overcome anything that the adversary tries to throw at us to knock us down. The Lord will not let us fall. We just need to TRUST in Him to be that guiding and lifting hand in our trials and tribulations that we are facing and WILL face in the future.

Ahh this week was soo good! Another cool thing we got to do was lead a young women's activity. We started out by introducing a little bit about missionary work, and teaching by the spirit, straight out from Preach my Gospel. And then we had the girls come out and work with us for a few hours. They taught lessons with us and our real investigators, and we also got to take them out contacting. It was so fun! And I know we have some future sister missionaries here in Thailand!

That's all for now!

Love,

Sister Lam

There's No Title Here!

So with Zone conference coming up tomorrow, we were each asked to prepare a talk. My topic: Repentance. So something I loved from my personal study this week that worked well with my topic of repentance was this quote: "Infinite and eternal, only our Savior's Atonement transcends time and space to swallow up death, anger, bitterness, unfairness, loneliness, and heartbreak." (Elder Gerrit W. Gong)

I know that it is only through the Atonement of our Savior that repentance is even possible. Though it may seem hard at times, I know that as we enact our agency and CHOOSE to repent, those feelings of anger, heartbreak, unworthiness, doubt, discouragement, can and will be cleansed by the healing power of the Atonement!

Ah I love it here so much in Asoke! This week, it truly proved to be rainy season, as we got rained on a ton...not too big of a fan of that, but it made for an exciting week haha. We taught lots and lots of lessons, and it was a miracle week because we have 6 people who accepted dates for baptism THIS MONTH! The Lord truly has prepared people to receive the Gospel!

Got caught in a rainstorm!

So a story this week, we found out that one of our recent converts, Kita, who is a refugee, got the news that the U.N. will be placing her in Chicago on July 22nd of this year! It's seriously so amazing because there is something like 16,000 refugees and asylum seekers here seeking placement by the U.N. But I know that the Lord has prepared the way for her, and I am so excited for her to start her new life in America with the help of the Lord on her side! Her husband Theeban has not received any news yet, but hopefully once Kita gets settled there, that will open the door for him to join her there soon! Keep them in your prayers!! And I ask that you keep all of the other refugees in your prayer as well, because many if not all of them have come to Thailand to receive that religious freedom that was not granted to them in their home countries. But there are not enough resources to help all of them here, and it seriously kills my heart. So pray for them with me!

Love and miss you all! Keep emailing me :) I love to hear all of your updates!

 Went to this 3-d picture place last week. Ha this is me and an elephant!

 This is me getting squished by the elephant...

My companions trying to kill me. haha joke!

Love,

Sister Lam

Onward!

So since last week was an amazing baptismal week for us, we are pushing really hard to find new investigators and people who are ready to hear our message! This week, we had the blessing of finding a single mother with 3 children who all want to be baptized!!! And she is also an asylum seeker, but she's one of the few that have the right visas that allow for them to be baptized!!! So we are looking forward to this family's baptisms later this month :)

In other news, the 2 men that were baptized last week both received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday, and next week they'll be receiving the priesthood!!! It truly is a miracle how God has placed these people in our paths and how fast the work is progressing here in Bangkok!

So my studies this past week led me to this quote by President Monson, "We can not truly love God if we do not love our fellow travelors on this mortal journey." So a lot of the time as missionaries, we have not the nicest of words thrown at us by random strangers...kinda hurts, but even those who mock us are children of God. And if we do not love them, are we truly fulfilling the commandment that we should love our neighbor as thyself?

"Above all, remember that of all the service you give, none is greater than to help people choose to qualify for eternal life." (President Eyring)

Sorry no pictures this week :(

Miss you, and I love hearing from you guys!

Love,

Sister Lam

I believe in miracles!

So you're all probably wondering about the military coup that happened this week and how it affected the mission. Hopefully I can ease all of your minds! We are safe and sound, and it really didn't affect us too much...except for maybe more traffic? President informed us that if we did not have any scheduled appointments we were to stay at home and try to work from there. Luckily, us international sisters are pretty good at stacking up our appointments every day, so even with the military coup we were allowed to go to the church and teach! Good thing too, because we saw 2 baptisms yesterday from our appointments this week!!! Such a miracle!!

Brought our shopping cart full of our 72 hour kit home (cuz of the coup)...yup literally rolled the cart into our kitchen ha

We all got matching nighties!!

Yesterday we saw the baptisms of Brother Allen from Oregon, and Brother Zsolt from Hungary! These men were just super prepared souls!! Although it was a bit of a struggle teaching Zsolt because of a large language barrier, the spirit was always very strong in our lessons. And I found Allen on the subway and just quickly in passing gave him a card with our phone number on it. and guess what, he used it!!!!! He texted me saying he was interested to learn more, and was baptized within a week!!!!! God truly does prepare His people!!

Our investigators, the 2 in the middle (Allen and Zsolt) were baptized yesterday!

And today in my studies I came across and awesome scripture, which reads, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:4-5)

And this is so true!!! Without God, we can do nothing!!! These 2 miracle baptisms could not have been possible were it not for the guiding force of God's hand in the lives of these 2 men! God truly prepares a way for us to teach and serve His children!! Don't forget to be missionaries guys! Even though you don't wear the tag, you can still help the work progress!!! ok, sorry I'll get off my soapbox now ha!

I almost broke the office laminator...woops

My companions wanted to see if I could fit in this suitcase...I did...

Love you!!! Hope you like the pictures this week!

Sister Lam