I hope heaven is crowded

Sorry the time is short, we just sent a brand new sister missionary from Lao to the airport. She will be going to the Provo MTC and then heading off to the Sydney North mission in Australia! It was a blessing to be able to meet with her, I'll have to send some pictures next week!

We've had some pretty great miracles lately, but the one I love the most was yesterday night, we crammed about 20 people into a members tiny one-room apartment, plus a few of our investigators. It was crowded but we ate food, and sang songs and shared a spiritual thought and then this thought came to me: I hope heaven is just like this. I hope that heaven is crowded with barely enough space because you are surrounded by all of your friends and loved ones eating and laughing and singing together.

Also I just want you all to know it's the little things like this have made my mission worth it. I love the gospel, I love all of you, have a great week!

Choose Your Path

Sunday inviting at the university!

I've started a new list since being on my mission. It's called, MIRACLE not Coincidence. This made it. Yesterday morning I woke up while waiting for my turn to use the bathroom, read a quote on the back of another sister's guitar from the book Alice in Wonderland, the same quote that President Monson used in his talk, "Choices".

Alice: “Which path shall I follow?”
Cheshire Cat: “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.”

Then at church, a member used the same quote and the talk that President Monson gave, and I was like--"Hey I read that this morning"

Unlike Alice, we know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for the path we follow in this life leads to our destination in the next life.

So then I went home and read the talk by President Monson during my studies and highlighted a part I liked.

Giving out flowers during contacting time
with our investigator Sister Bo

May we choose to build up within ourselves a great and powerful faith which will be our most effective defense against the designs of the adversary—a real faith, the kind of faith which will sustain us and will bolster our desire to choose the right. Without such faith, we go nowhere. With it, we can accomplish our goals.

Miracle > Coincidence

But it's not over!

That night, literally at the same moment while mentioning this very miracle during follow up calls and simultaneously flipping through my other list I've started since being on my mission called "LYRIC ideas", I found something I had randomly scrawled out a couple weeks ago:

"Choose your path, Alice."

Then I felt a little creeped out.

Anyway, the church is true! While I'm working on understanding the purpose of this miracle in my life, I give you all the same commitment that President Monson shared with us:

"May we maintain the courage to defy the consensus. May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong."

I hope you all remember that God loves you.
CTR people, CTR!

Valentine's Day activity

eating lunch at the church that the
elders brought from home (we forgot)

First sunday eating dinner at the Johnsons

Our investigator, Bo (left) and sister missionaries

View from our apartment in Bangkok

lunch at Que Pasa after an amazing devotional
by Sister Cordon and Elder Evans

My companion and I at Que Pasa

Inviting at Lumphini Park

The clocktower where President Hinckley
gave his dedicatory prayer in Thailand

Food truck during a switch off with my old MTC companion

Thai fries

The "Last Leg"

Me and my companion, Sister Fuai-Ngarach

So we're on the last transfer now, this was weird. I'm still in Asoke, but I am with Sister Fuai-Ngarach and she's so awesome. she's also eating a packet of bologna right now (currently memories of Kate and Evan eating schmears of bologna are flooding back).

I'm also in the same house as my first companion from the MTC, Sister Kwak! It's fun to see how much we've grown. But don't worry. I'm still the same height.

This last week we had a great miracle start. A 25 year old girl named Lukpra was interested in a church tour. When we introduced all the weekly activities to her (sports, family home evening, Institute, English, Valentine's Day Activity) and then asked what seemed most interesting to her.

She answered, "Institute."

"Why?"

She explained, "I've never actually learned about Jesus Christ before and I think that seems like a great class to learn more."

And then of course we taught her. I love people that love institute! Have a wonderful week, the church is true!

Finding "Lost Sheep"

This week was an adventure. We went and found some "lost sheep". One member hadn't been in contact with the church for 5 years until I met her off a street invite the other day, and now she is open to learning with the missionaries again. Miracles do happen.

I came across a scripture in my studies this morning. And I don't know why but this scripture--at least for me personally--illustrates perfectly God's love for all of his children.

"And the Lord of the vineyard caused that it should be digged about, and pruned, and nourished, saying unto his servant: it grieveth me that I should lose this tree; wherefore, that perhaps I might preserve the roots thereof that they perish not, that I might preserve them unto myself, I have done this thing."  --Jacob 5:11

Sometimes crazy things happen to us in our lives, and we don't know why. I testify that God does these things for our benefit--it's to preserve us--in order to grow and be like Him.

This verse also reminds me of a video from Elder D. Todd Christofferson so I will share it.

I know that the church is true. God wants what is best for us and he doesn't want to lose us. Let's all make the choice to never give up!