TRAINING!!!! :)

Yup, well if you couldn't catch it from the title of this email... I'm training a new missionary!!! Her name is Sister Belnap and she's from Arkansas, fresh off the plan this week from the MTC :) But honestly, you wouldn't think so with how amazing she already is at the language. Honestly, she's been making my life SOOOOO easy because of how good she is at just about everything!!! I definitely lucked out with this one!

Branch Christmas party and Elder Davis was Santa hahahaha

My old companion Sister Ladle finished her mission :( miss her

And so far, our first week together has started with a bang! We had Sister พลอย (ploy's) baptism yesterday!!! So her story is, she started learning with the Elders and she definitely faced a lot of trials getting to this point. Then her elders moved...so initially, she had a goal of getting baptized like 3 weeks ago, but after she started learning with us, she lost her job and got evicted...tough right? Satan definitely strikes hard when you are trying to do the right things. But after some serious fasting and praying through faith, the Lord gave her a miracle job that provided a free place to stay!!!! So this past Sunday, she was finally able to enter the waters of baptism, and I literally don't know if I've seen anyone smile as much as she did that day. Literally beaming from ear to ear, she smiled the entire time, even when she had to be dunked multiple times into freezing water...ya we let one of our new greenies baptize her...and let's just say he was pretty nervous! But it's ok, cuz she got baptized!!!!!!! And this branch welcomed her in with open arms, to which I am so grateful for. It really just is a testimony each time that members really do make the difference!!!! They are what keep people active and feeling loved!

Sister พลอย (ploy) got baptized!!!!!

New District!

So something that struck me from zone training this past week was a quote by President Senior. He said, "I would rather hope for the impossible and be wrong than not hope and be right." Hope, is something I've been focusing a lot of my studies on lately. We have this one investigator that just has lost hope because her mom is so against her learning. And because her mom is the only family she has, she hates to see her mom upset. Literally, she has just been torn apart because she knows the church is true, but doesn't want to disobey her mom...rough situation right? So I've been praying for her, and this quote really just stuck with me. As missionaries, we HOPE for the impossible every day. We hope that people will accept our message and come unto Christ. And to be frank...we get a lot more no's than yes's....which really can tear you apart inside. But that hope, keeps me going; the hope that I will meet someone who accepts our message every day, the hope that God has prepared specific people for me and my companion to meet, and the hope that we will help Thailand prepare to receive a temple! So even though right now our investigator has lost hope, I have not and will never lose hope for her. If she truly believes this is the true church of Jesus Christ restored on the earth, God will prepare the way for both her AND her mother to be baptized!!!!

NEVER LOSE HOPE!

Ever upwards,

Sister Lam

Sister Nattaya from our branch got her mission call to serve in Australia!!!!!