Happy New Year!

Happy almost New Year everyone!!! I'm hearing that Thailand knows how to party for new years...they go big!!! People have been celebrating pretty much since Christmas ended...sooo there are a lot of drunk people running around, which is always fun ha.

Me in front of a really pretty "wat" aka a Buddhist temple

Me and Sister Orchard by this huge golden statue in the outdoor park in Ubon

This week hasn't been the easiest week for me, but we have still seen many miracles. Unlucky for me, I caught a bad cold at the beginning of the week. :( sooo it made working pretty hard, since I was coughing a lot and just couldn't really think straight. But don't fret, Sister Lam is still very much alive and is recovering just fine.

Hmmm...so some things that happened this week...we have 3 daters!! which means we have 3 people with baptismal dates: Sister Duun, Brother Thanaphad, and Sister Plooy. Seriously, these people were just sooooo prepared for the gospel in their lives. And I know Heavenly Father put them in our path for a reason. Brother Thanaphad is a funny story actually. So we were trying to get a taxi, and this super nice Thai lady went out of her way to flag us one down. So we were walking towards it...and then this group of girls just like ran into it and it drove off. Ha, so we were pretty peeved, but then the next taxi we caught was brother Thanaphad's! And he loves collecting different foreign currencies. So I said I would give him a nickel if he would meet with us :) And he agreed and then showed up at the church to be taught! It was such an amazing lesson. He has had some exposure to Catholicism, so he knows about Christ and God, but we taught him how to pray and gave him a book of Mormon, and he has been reading and praying every day and can't wait to be baptized and learn more! He such a rockstar (aka a golden investigator).

Then a member from Bangkok who is up here visiting her daughter invited us over today for lunch. A member in our branch, Brother "Icaneat" took us with some of his family because this house was like an hour away. But it was soooo beautiful. Ubon is pretty far out in the Esan, so we saw a ton of water buffalo and fields. It was really cool to see that side of Thailand. 

Rural pic ;) Sometimes I feel like I'm in a jungle here

 Apparently this is called the "Moon River" haha just reminds me of the Elvis song, but it is just sooo pretty out here!

 Pretty, pretty!

 Me and my khuu (companion)

 She pulled that fish right out from the water haha

 Brother "Icaneat" being silly (he's one of our branch members)

Cute old Thai men

 Me hanging with some water buffalo

...what happens to the water buffalo :(

Well, that's all for today I think. Thank you all so much for emailing! I miss you guys so much and am so grateful for your support and love! Keep on emailing, and ask me anything! Sometimes it's hard to sum up a week in just an email, so if you have questions about something I didn't really talk about, feel free to ask :)

Another "wat"

Have an amazing new year's! One of my resolutions is to always keep my thoughts towards the Lord. I think...What would Jesus do? as corny as that sounds, but it has really helped me in terms of where I keep my thoughts and how I act. Hopefully that can be one of your resolutions too!

Love always, 

Sister Lam

I'm Alive!

Hey everyone!!! And Merry Christmas! I am alive and safe here in Thailand! I'm serving in an area called Ubon, which is right up bordering Laos. And it's actually been pretty cold up here, which is very surprising. The language is sooo hard!!! I've truly been humbled. So everyone here speaks "Essan" which is pretty close to Laotion....and I didn't learn that in the MTC!!!! So it's been an interesting adventure thus far.

Zone Christmas party lunch (we had American food ha)

So this is how my first day went...Arrived in Bangkok at 12:30am...made it to our hotel and to bed by 3:30am..woke up at 6:30am and it was go go go from there. We got some bloodwork done, and then we went "danjones-ing"...basically proselyting just out in the street. In our mission our President has taken a new approach to proselyting where we introduce people to baptism right off the bat and then ask them to be baptized or if we can teach them more! And I got a phone number!!!!! So that was pretty cool, and then we rushed to the mission office to have some orientations and our interviews with the mission president. And then it was off to transfer meeting. 

Me and Sister Woodbury and Embley at transfers!

Companions!

Ya, it all happened so fast, and then I was introduced to my trainer Sister Orchard and were told we would be serving in Ubon, which is actually where her last companion (who is a native Thai) is from!!! So amazing. We've already seen her family and are planning on teaching them tonight!!! But then the crazy part is right after transfer meeting where we all make our way to the bus station with all of our luggage and the bikes of missionaries and travel to our areas!!! Ubon is a 9 hour bus ride from Bangkok....so ya I was traveling FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!! Then we arrived in Ubon at 6:30 am and it was time to start a new day. crazy ya?!?!?!

Sister Orchard, me, and our zone leaders at the branch Christmas party

But I have loved it so much here! The members are all so warm and inviting and they don't seem to care that I can't speak Thai yet. They just care that I'm here and trying my best to do everything that I can to help their branch and help bring more Thai people to the Gospel. 

Me and Sister Yong on her baptism night!

Elders and Sister Yong and Sister Om (they both got baptized on Christmas Eve!!!)

Oh, and I'm sure you're all wondering how the bike riding is going....well it's going! haha riding alone is tricky in a skirt, but then you add in Thailand traffic...ya it's been quite the adventure, but Sister Orchard is so great and has been trying her best to help me out and keep me safe!

Me and my brand new bike!

So seeing as we got here right before Christmas, there was a lot to be done to help with the Branch Christmas program. The missionaries (aka me and my district of 6) performed a couple musical numbers, and it was just a really great time to get to know all of the members. Then on my first Sunday in the ward they called me up to bear my testimony...haha it was pretty rough, but I know the members could see how hard I was trying :) It was funny cuz I actually didn't understand that they were calling me up to speak until the elders and everyone else in the ward was staring at me intently...so that was kinda scary ha. But i survived!!!

Zone sisters!

Zone bowling!

It's truly amazing how the Lord is hastening the work here in Thailand!!! Yesterday we were teaching English, which is something we do at the church every Tuesday, and this girl Doon and her mom Jenny are so ready to receive the gospel!!! I'm excited to start teaching them!!!! She actually came up to us and told us she wanted to be baptized! And the cool thing too was that we had 2 other baptisms last night, so she and her mom got to watch them, and the spirit was just sooo strong. THE CHURCH IS TRULY EVERYBODY! haha So we are planning on teaching both of them this week :)

Me and Sister Kittima

Well, there are a billion other things I could probably say in this email, but I don't want to bore all of you to death! 

I got men's shaving cream (the bottle was half empty) for my white elephant gift...and a list of pranks I could play on my companion with it ha

I'm so glad I got the chance to skype with you (aka the fam...and Jeff) today!!! I hope you all have the best Christmas and that you remember what this holiday is truly celebrating, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I cannot express how grateful I am for His birth and the sacrifice He made for all of us through the Atonement. This is most definitely a different Christmas experience than I'm used to, but it has really reminded me just what this season really is all about. And I hope you all remember too!

K well I love you all so much and miss you!!! 

love always,

Sister Lam

ps. my p-day is now on Monday! (wednesday this week though because of Christmas)

Last Week in the MTC!

Well...guess I'm heading to Thailand on Monday! Can't believe my time here at the MTC has come to an end...and I'm honestly pretty sad about it cuz I feel like I still don't know very much!!! Guess I'll just learn it all when I get there huh?

So we were surprised by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the 12 yesterday, and he came and gave us our Tuesday night devotional, which was pretty cool. And he gave us some insight as to how they choose where each missionary will serve. And a lot of it he said was based off of the mission president and their wife, which was something I had never really thought of. And that just made me really excited to meet President and Sister Senior in 5 short days!!

I said goodbye to my companion Sister Choi on Monday at 3:30am. Ya...it was a rough wake-up call and a really sad one at that. I had stayed up really late with her to help her pack and weigh her bags...so yup didn't get much sleep, and then once she was gone....it was just really strange and sad. Sister Choi was one of the best missionaries ever, and she truly was an amazing companion for me! She was always so kind and supportive, and she also got my humor, which was a plus. But I know she is probably loving it there in Hong Kong already and livin it up with her new companion. So I'm not too worried about her ;)

Another cool thing we got to do a few times this week was hosting. We hosted the new missionaries last week and then the Senior couples on Monday. It's funny how different those experiences were. The new missionaries are all just super frazzled, and the senior missionaries are just so ready to get out there and serve! I hosted this one couple who was going to Turks...and something in Jamaica, and this is there 6th mission!!!! Crazy right?! I think this is how mom and dad are gonna be :) They said that once they got started with missionary work, they just couldn't stop. They have served a few missions state-side, one in Africa...and I don't remember the rest. But they were all just super cute and so excited to serve the Lord! I hope that I look that excited, cuz I honestly feel like sometimes I just must look really stressed out and overwhelmed....like I am right now when I think about leaving Provo in 5 days to go to THAILAND?!? What the heck!?

Me and Sister Hunsaker. I love her. 

Well that's about it for this week! I can't believe this is my last p-day here at the MTC! But I am so grateful for everyone that I've met here, my 3 companions that I was blessed to work with, my teachers, and all of you who have supported me thus far! It's already been quite the journey here, so I can only imagine how Thailand is gonna be....HOT i'm guessing :) But I can't wait to get out their and serve the Lord in what ever calling!

And I recommend you all to read D&C 14. It's a lot like D&C 4, but I think section 14 talks a lot more about our role as members in this last dispensation. Every member a missionary!!!

Next time I write all of you will be in Thailand!!!!

Love always,

Sister Lam

11 More Days!

So you're all probably wondering what we do at the MTC for Thanksgiving...well the MTC does a really good job of making it special. We got to hear from Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the 12, and we got to do this huge humanitarian service project. We ended up filling 350,000 or something bags of dried soup for a local service project right here in Provo! I think they wrote about it in the Deseret News or something...but I'm really not sure. And of course the food....definitely not the same as our usual Chinese Thanksgiving, but it was pretty good for how few people were working here that day. We had actual potatoes...not from a box, turkey, candied yams, pumpkin pie, the works...but I still have to say that I missed the food from home (aka China Town) a LOT! 

But all in all it was a good...looooooong day, but it was nice spending it with my zone. :)

Thanksgiving service project...yes we all are rocking the hairnets.

It also snowed a TON yesterday....sooooo ya I'm freezing my butt off right now. and today they asked our district if we could host for the new missionaries coming in, which means I have to stand outside in the freezing cold forever....not too excited, but hopefully we can make it special for the newbies. I'm afraid I'm getting sick though, definitely showing some serious cold symptoms, but pray that I get sick now before we get to Thailand!

Me and my 2 Thai companions Sister Holmes and Sister Adams

Yesterday we were also supposed to hear from Elder Ballard, but apparently he couldn't make it because of the crazy snow weather. So we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Hafen (Emeritus General Authority), and he was seriously so amazing. You all should read D&C 109, which is the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple. It just says a lot of things that we as members should strive to do and to be. So I challenge you all to read it. I know that I want to try and "grow up in Christ" because as I do that, my mission will help push me into the work in a more permanent way, and I think that's something we can all try to do as members of this church, even if not on missions. And though we experience so many trials and afflictions in our lives, we can come to know God in our extremities and really grow closer to Him, and He will provide a way for us to make it through any trial as long as we are faithful.

So that's my little spiritual message for today.

Sunday Movie with Sister Choi (we watched the Testaments, sooooo corny, but we love it)

Me and Elder Arne being silly (ok just him)

Thank you all for the letters and packages! i seriously felt so loved this week! Hope all of you not in Utah are living it up because it is soooo dang cold here!!!!

love you all!!

Sister Lam

 Girls sleepover in Me and Sister Choi's dorm room..yup lot's of junk food yuuuuuuum

Roommates :)