Transfers Again!

Well another transfer meeting came and went, and good news, me and Sister Belnap are still together here in BangKhae!!! And I'm waaaaaay happy about it cuz it means that I get to finish her training and be her one and only "mission mom" and I get to stay and keep teaching all of our awesome investigators!!! 

Got hugged by an elephant ;)

In other news, I also got the call to be Sister Training Leader for the Bangkok West and North zones....yup...soo that's gonna be a fun adventure since the last time I was STL (the MTC) I didn't really do a whole lot. I'm sure this will be quite the growing experience. More details to come I'm sure.

In front of a "standing Buddha"

Fun at the zoo!

A member told us to pretend meditate...haha

This week we also had the amazing opportunity to have a mini fireside with Sister Gong (wife of President Gong of the Asia area presidency) for all the sisters serving in Bangkok. It was super personal and she pretty much let us lead the discussion, which was really cool and different. We focused on things that we've learned since being out here on the mission, and on how we can apply them to our lives after the mission. One thing that really stuck with me that one sister said is how that since she's been on her mission, she doesn't just LIVE the gospel, but her life has BECOME the gospel. And I just loved that. I feel like many of us live the gospel...as kind of a side-note to our lives...when in reality, the gospel is what has given us everything. Without it, we would be nothing. And for me, I just really hope that I can become like that sister and not just live the gospel...but really have my life become the gospel, where it is my main focus as opposed to just a side-note.

So with that, I give you all the same challenge! We all are capable of changing so that the gospel can be our central focus, and if it's not there, then we all have things to work towards then don't we :) When it gets hard though, as I'm positive it will, just think back on all the blessings this gospel has given you thus far in life. And when we are exactly obedient to the commandments, we can receive even more blessings! And it reminds me of the talk that President Uchtdorf gave at the Sister's meeting last conference. He said, "Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us. It is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us. His commandments are the loving instructions and the divine help for us to close the umbrella so we can receive the shower of heavenly blessings."

I love you all soooo sooooo sooooooooooooooooo much and hope you can let your umbrella's down so that you can see the shower of blessings our Heavenly Father so sincerely wants to shower upon you!

love always,

Sister Lam

Thailand is really really beautiful.

Transfers again...

Another transfer has come and gone already, and it's blowing my mind!!!!!! Well me and Sister Belnap made it through half of her training together, so I'm praying that we can stay together so that I can finish it and be her one and only mission "mom" :)

Me and Sister Belnap :) we realized we never really take pictures together.

This week was actually really good!! We taught a ton of first lessons and got some good people in our investigator pool all who are pretty excited about baptism! One of them is Brother อึง who has been just such a miracle!! After receiving a priesthood blessing last week, he's been able to quit smoking cold turkey!!!! He was actually supposed to be baptized yesterday, but because of some family setbacks, we have to move his baptismal date. But it's ok!!! We're not losing faith! We just know that because he is trying to make good choices, Satan, the adversary, is gonna try even harder to detour him. But we know that God will prepare the way for him to be baptized just like He did for him to stop smoking! I just hope and pray that I don't move so that I can be here for all of these amazing people!!!!! The work is soooo good here in บางแค, and it kills me to think about the fact that I could leave this amazing area!!!!!! But as always, you'll hear from me in next week's email about whether or not I've moved....but pray that I don't!

Our beautiful church building here in บางเเค

What we live next too...fun

Another miracle person we met this past week is Sister ซังซัง, who was actually a referral!! We contacted her mom at the mall the other week, who at first said no...and then she found us later and asked what our church could do to help her family, in particular her daughter. ซังซัง is this cute adorably awkward 23 year-old, who struggles with depression. But boy, was she ready and prepared for the gospel. After one Sunday, she committed herself to learn more, and this past week she accepted a baptismal date for next month!!! I know that she believes this gospel can make the difference in her life, and so do I. I've seen it change people, both inside and out, and I know that I've already started to see the change the gospel is making in her life :) The church is true!!!!

FHE at Brother โอ๊ต's house!!

I love you all and pray for you everyday!!! Every member a missionary!! Keep looking for opportunities to serve and I know that God will bless you all with opportunities to share the gospel as well :)

Love always,

Sister Lam

The Refiner's Fire

My new boyfriend ;)

So this week has been quite the doozy! I had the awesome opportunity to do a switch-off back in my old area Asoke!!! And while I was there, my "child" Sister Belnap was with Sister Beuchter...also another greeny...Yup..we made them do a greeny switch-off, but honestly, Sister Belnap is waaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond her mission age. She has been such a blessing because yes, she really is talented in both the language and her teaching abilities. So i was not even worried for a second when Sister Peterson asked if Sister Belnap was up to a greeny switch-off for her first switch-off. I knew she was up for the challenge, and they didn't die!!!! :) so i call that a success :) And it was such a blessing for me to return to my old area!!! I never quite realized the impact that those members and converts in Asoke had on my life! It was fun to see some old faces and lots of new faces that have come into the church since I served there! Just a testament to me of how fast the work is moving here in Thailand!

Got to do a switch-off back in my old area Asoke!!!!!

This week has been so great though! We taught a lesson with President ทิพ (Tip), our Branch President, and he just really really helped our investigator Brother อึง (Ung) who has been struggling lately....specifically with smoking, his family accepting the change in his life, and he wasn't sure if he could take every Sunday off from work. But President was just such a boss and brought in the 10 commandments, tithing, basically everything we taught that day, and pointed to how all of these things were for the benefit of his family, to help build them up and strengthen them as a family unit! It was so cool! Brother อึง  then committed to coming to church every Sunday AND to quit smoking cold turkey right then and there! He asked for a Priesthood blessing, and he has been using so much faith since we first met with him!!! And so far so good, he hasn't smoked since that lesson!!! :) and I know it's because he knows that he has a Savior always there beside him to help lift him up when he feels like he can't go any farther! Such a cool lesson. AND, he has a date for baptism THIS SUNDAY!!!!! So everyone pray really hard that the spirit works within him all the time so that he can combat the adversary's attempt to derail him! I know that with faith, Brother อึง will be baptized this week, which will open the door for his wife and son to be baptized as well!!! The church is so true!!!

Learned how to make kimbap...yup...Korean food...woops. Sorry family! I'll learn how to make Thai food eventually!

Not much to do on p-days lately...so we go bowling....and i still stink at it :(

For my spiritual thought this week, I want to talk about the refiner's fire. While I was back in Asoke this week, I met a really really interesting recent convert. His name is Mickey, and he was actually baptized in L.A.! He was baptized this past September, and a few days after his baptism...he really faced the refiner's fire. So a little background on this guy: He got his undergraduate degree from Stanford, and went on to do law school at Harvard...yaaa....he's a genius this guy. Then after working for a bigwig law firm for a while, he realized this was not helping him become the person he truly knew he had the potential to become...So he quit his job to do some soul searching, which led him to travel the world, including Thailand, where he met his wife. And he started this health center business back in LA and in Thailand. So one day while he was home in LA he was doing yoga, and he fell asleep in a position that cut off blood circulation to the bottom half of his legs to the point where he passed out. Hours later, his friends found him unconscious at home in this yoga position, and he woke up in the hospital, paralyzed from the legs down....But never, and I mean NEVER has this man lost hope. Slowly but surely he is regaining nerve function again in his legs, but as a result of that freak accident, in one of his legs he had to get the majority of his calf muscle surgically removed and so walking will never be quite as easy....ya....but seriously, this guy is such a powerhouse! He told us that he KNEW the adversary would try to tare him down after he was baptized, and boy was he right. But he has never given up hope or lost faith. Weeks later after being released from the hospital, Mickey was able to receive the gift of the holy ghost, and has found the church here in Thailand now! 

"The refiner's fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God." (Elder Quentin L. Cook) 

I know that quote is true. I know that Satan will try to do all that he can to tare us down, but with the help of the Savior, with never-ending hope and faith, those hardships can work for our gain. We can gain qualities of character and righteousness that will perfect and purify us for the day where we will stand before our maker, and He will welcome us in with open arms :)

I know this church is true and that God loves and protects His children!

Love always,

Sister Lam

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

What the heck!? It's already 2015????? Seriously, being a missionary has just warped all sense of time for me. I can't believe I spent the entire year of 2014 in Thailand!!!!! CRAZINESS!!!

Doesn't it look like it says "Hell 2015" instead of "Hello 2015"? My companion and I thought it was funny.

This week our investigator Sister พา (Pha) got baptized!!!! She's this cute spunky 25 year old who I just have grown to love sooo much! Her grasp of the Atonement and the repentance process just baffles my mind! She just get's it! I've never seen someone just soooo readily accept everything we've taught and have so much faith to not even question anything. Once the spirit starting working within her from day 1, she just hasn't been able to deny it :) God truly prepares His children! And I've seen it time and time again as I see His children enact the saving grace of the Atonement and truly turn their lives to be in harmony with God's plan and will for them! So ya :) it was a pretty amazing Christmas and New year's gift for me and Sister Belnap to see our investigator make personal covenants with her Heavenly Father.

Sister Pha's Baptism!

Other than that...things have been pretty slow here since everyone pretty much goes out of town for Christmas and the New Year. And seeing as our curfew got changed to 7 for the new year...me and Sister Belnap have just been spending lots of quality time together :) But it has also left me plenty of time to get in some good personal study time!!! I feel like every time I study from D&C my mind is blown and I just get this overwhelming influx of knowledge..and sometimes confusion. I was studying a lot in D&C 88 and 76...which focuses a lot on the different kingdoms of glory we will all be able to receive after we die, are resurrected and judged. I recommend that you all read it, cuz it just clearly states who will receive exaltation and what the requirements are. And that lead to me to a further in depth study of King Benjamin's speech to his people in Mosiah 2-4. If anyone is unclear of what the requirements are, King Benjamin lays it out plainly in these chapters where he pretty much just lays out the Gospel of Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. These are things we teach our investigators EVERY day, but before my mission....I don't think I can confidently say that I knew these were the requirements for exaltation. So if you did not know....study up!!!!! It's a new year, make it a resolution to study the scriptures every day IN-DEPTH, and I promise the Lord will open your eyes to a deeper and greater level of understanding of His will and word. I have never felt more grateful than I do now for the scriptures our Heavenly Father has blessed us with. They just are a well of knowledge for us who are consistently yearning to gain more knowledge! Not only that, but for those of us who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our "triple combinations/quads" can be used so much more effectively for our gain when we use the cross references that have been listed for us right there on the same pages!!!! No doubt, inspiration from our very wise Heavenly Father to our leaders in the Church today...So in summary...this week I just have found such a greater love and appreciation for the written word of God! We have the answers to so many of life's questions right in those very pages..or right in the palm of our hands if we have the scriptures downloaded onto our smart handheld devices!!! My advice to you...USE THEM!!!!! They will help us prepare for the day of judgment that will inevitably happen whether we are prepared or not...but I mean...wouldn't it be better if we were prepared?

Love you!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!

Sister Lam