Transferred!

So if you didn't get it from the title of this post, I was transferred! I'm officially out of my greeny area, and can I tell you...moving is so hard!!! As a missionary (especially a sister missionary) you just accumulate so much stuff from members and a ton of language books...and a bike...so yes...moving was quite difficult. 

Saying goodbye to the members :(

It was so hard saying goodbye to our recent convert Sister Mila!

Me and Sister Ja before I left Ubon

Got sent off at the bus station by some of the members

Sister Bee and Naan at the bus station

Bus ride!

But drumroll....I am now serving as an international sister in Bangkok (Asok). I love it so much!!!! Well, originally I was supposed to serve with a sister in BangKaen, an area in bangkok, but something happened and last minute I was transferred again to serve with the 2 international sisters...yup I'm in another trio!!!!! :) But I have honestly never felt more at home. It is us 3 (me, Sister Barber, and Sister duPlessis) and the 2 DinDaeng sisters (an area in Bangkok) living in this tiny ghetto apartment, and it is so much fun!

Me and my new comps/housemates (Sister Sahagun, Sister Carter, me, Sister duPlessis, Sister Barber)

And, I feel like I'm serving a completely different mission! First of all, I live in the heart of Bangkok, which is just a crazy difference from living in the Esan, which is basically just the countryside. AND...I TEACH IN ENGLISH! It's crazy how many people from all of the world live here in Bangkok. So instead of being restricted to one little area in Bangkok, as an international sister, we get to go ALL OVER Bangkok, and we find people and teach them in English...yup it's crazy weird. I feel like I don't even know how to speak English anymore, let alone TEACH in English....they didn't teach me how to do this in the MTC. But it's sooooo fun. I just translate the lessons in thai in my head into English...and it's been going ok so far ha.

And we got a baptism yesterday!!! My first week here and we got a baptism!! This area is seriously sooo blessed. Because we are International sisters...we don't really contact, so we do everything based off of referrals, and literally..we are never not teaching. We are always on the move, going from place to place, teaching these investigators. The work here and in this ward is just soo different from what I was doing in Ubon, which was basically ONLY contacting. But I love it, and I know that me being here in this trio is just so right!!!!!

First baptism in the Bangkok International ward! (Sister Avina from China)

Me and Sister Avina at a member's house

Ok, spiritual thought for this week. I was reading in 1 Samuel 17 the story of David and Goliath. And I was thinking about how we all have our own personal Goliaths (trials, struggles, challenges, whatever it may be). And if you read in the story, David refuses to take Saul's armor because it is not his and does not fit him. Instead, he chooses to pick up 5 stones, stones that he picked out and that he knew he could use. So the thought I had was, we cannot rely on other people's personal testimonies. Yes, they can help strengthen ours, but their testimony is not what will help us with our personal trials. We need to, like David, choose our own stones. Those stones could represent, courage, effort/action, humility, prayer, enduring to the end...whatever they are, God will help us. He did not send us to this Earth to fail. He sent us here to be tested, but He allows us help from Him. What is your personal Goliath? What stones from Heavenly Father will you rely on for help? I encourage you all to read this story and write down your personal Goliath and your stones that will help you overcome those challenges!!!! it has really helped me this week!!!

Sorry this email was so long!!!!!

love,

Sister Lam

Happy 6 Months!!!

I cannot believe that this past week, I past my 6 month mark on my mission....sooooo unreal!!! 

Got donuts with the district to celebrate my 6 month mark!

So that was a big celebration this week, not to mention the even bigger celebration we had for Songkhran! It was so incredibly fun getting to play with all of the members last Monday. And yes...those nasty ugly Hawaiian shirts are apparently a must for Songkhran. The members made us get them...yup not my best look, but it was all for the experience. And now I know where Hawaii sends all of their reject shirts...to Thailand!!! haha

 Me and Sister Weed trying to look cute in our ugly shirts.

 Thank goodness Elder Cooper has a waterproof camera!

Yup...Elder Cooper owned me with a bucket of water!

But outside of celebrating Songkhran, it was a pretty hard week in terms of contacting...EVERYONE was out of town, and because Songkhran is a Buddhist thing...everyone was feeling very Buddhist this week. So we didn't have too much success, but it's ok cuz this week is definitely looking up!

K, spiritual! So this week I have been praying very hard to our Heavenly Father for help; help with forgiving easier, help finding new investigators, help working in unity with my companion, help with my health, help. And immediately after I knelt in prayer, He led me to this scripture, Mosiah 3:19.

It reads, "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

So what stood out to me from this scripture is not only do we need to put off the natural man (aka stop worrying about everything bad that is happening to us) and start submitting to ALL THINGS the Lord sees fit to throw at us. And I feel like that has been something I've continually been learning since being in Thailand. It's time to stop worrying about myself, and just focus on helping others. Once we become submissive to the Lord and work on gaining those other christ-like attributes, those challenges/burdens we all face will be lightened just as it says in Alma 24.

Hope that helps anyone who is reading this and is struggling just as I have been!!! The Lord truly does listen AND answer our sincere prayers!

In other news, this week is transfers!!! ya, can't believe it's gone so fast. And everyone in our branch here in Ubon thinks I'm leaving since I've been here for 4 months already..haha hopefully they're not trying to get rid of me!!! :) But ya, I kinda get the feeling I'll be moving soon, but I guess you will all find out next week!!!

Love and miss you all!!!

Sister Lam

Happy New Year!!

This week was honestly very very slow because of the Thai holiday...so I don't really have much to say. I did finally get the chance to watch General conference however, which was soooooo great! Funny how excited I was to watch this year...a lot changes as you're a missionary haha.

I loved the talks by Elder Holland, Bednar, Eyring, but sadly I did not bring my notes to the internet cafe today because they would have gotten soaked! Not only is it raining, but today is part of "Sonkhran" and everyone just douses you with water and baby powder..so I literally brought nothing with me out today. Sorry no pictures today! But luckily Elder Cooper in our district has a water proof camera, so he will get to capture all the Sonkhran madness today, and I will send them next week!

But I encourage all of you who did not get the chance to go and watch General Conference cuz it's online for free!!!!

Next week's email will be better I promise! And I'll include a bunch of pictures too!

Love you all!,

Sister Lam

Happy!

This week was pretty much just the same old same old. But Thailand's new year is coming up, so next week there is supposed to be this enormous water/baby powder fight? haha should be pretty fun :) But because it's so big, it gets kinda dangerous too, so we only get to play on our P-day, and we have an earlier curfew too...I just hope we can actually get some work done though! And luckily we're out in the country, so it shouldn't get too rowdy I don't think.

Bowling on P-day (and yes, I did win)

I also found out that President Khanakham, from our mission presidency, just got called as the first Thai area 70 ever!!!! How cool is that!? And I was actually able to teach with him before, so yes, this news was very exciting for all of us here in Thailand.

I hope you guys all got to watch conference! We don't actually get to watch it until this next weekend, but I'm so excited!!! Ha, so weird that I'm so excited because before my mission...I don't think I could have said the same. 

One of the members wanted to do my eyebrows....she painted them brown...yup I look ridiculous

So something I've learned this week is that happiness is a decision! I was reading a talk by a general authority. And he was lamenting about his bought with cancer. Apparently he had 2 brain tumors, and after having them removed, he was diagnosed again with cancer. He had a tendency to focus on the negative...but I mean I think we all would if we were in his shoes. So one day, he was talking to his youngest son about his trials and how he wasn't sure what would happen. And his son responds saying, "Happiness is a decision." 

I don't know how I would have reacted if someone said that to me if I had cancer, but this General Authority just broke out of his depression once he heard those words come out of his sons mouth. How true is it that the majority of us focus on the negatives. We focus on the trials and struggles we have, but we do not focus on what things we have to be grateful for. I loved at the end of the story how this man, instead of focusing on his cancer, he turned outward and focused on all of the good in his life.

I really took this message to heart. As a missionary, the work gets so tiring and you get shut down and laughed at all the time. But rather than focus on the negative, I've decided to focus on the positive. Yes, I got shut down and laughed at, but I also found 4 new people ready to hear the gospel! We are the ones ultimately in charge of our attitude. Choose to be happy!

Me with the enormous pot of rice for break the fast (this pic is for you, Cami)

Me and Sister Weed waiting for our bus in Bangkok to head back to Ubon after a really long training meeting. Still choosing to be happy, though our face say otherwise.

Love and miss you all! I hope you all had an uplifting weekend watching General Conference!

-Sister Lam

Got a package from Auntie Grace!!!!! Best day ever!