Welcome Home!

My last week!

It's my last week but it doesn't feel any different. Or it does, I'm not super sure.

This past week has been filled with miracles and blessings and even a trip to Lampang! (companion exchanges)

We also met two new investigators who are WAY solid.

Sister ตา (Da) we met at English class and she said that she wanted to learn more about Christianity and English and then saw our church and felt like it was right. So we made an appointment and taught her and then she went to our relief society activity and then came to church! She's so great.

Our other investigator's name is ป๊อก (Pok) and he is an engineer who wanted to know more about our teachings and he wasn't free yesterday to come to church but wants to come this week.

I know that this church is true and miracles happen. God prepares people to come unto His fold and we can find them if we 1. come unto Christ ourselves by partaking of his word. and 2. spreading the good news through our actions and words.

Have a great week, keep it real! Love you all.

Investigator baptized!

MTC district members reunited

Our investigator got baptized last week! Also, I sent my MTC companion off, she just finished her mission and we took her to the airport where her parents picked her up. It was a great reunion!

Sister Sanong was baptized

Last week we also visited the beach down in the more southern parts of Thailand. Don't worry, no swimming.

I know that this church is true, and that God loves us. I love God. I love the gospel. The other day I passed out a card with a picture of someone being baptized. And I said "Through Christ, you can be washed from sin." And when I said that, I was also saying it to myself. Inviting others to come unto Christ makes me happy because I know that as I repent and keep covenants, I am cleansed from all my weaknesses and the things I've done wrong. The gospel is true. Repentance is the best.

Have a great week!

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!

Eager Investigators in Asoke

This week was pretty big--we had a worldwide missionary broadcast and they changed how we do some of our planning. Did I mention we watched the broadcast at our president's home, eating Sister Johnson's homemade legendary cinnamon rolls? That's another story. 

I love our investigators here in Asoke. One of them lived in Idaho for ten months with a host family that were members. Now she is applying for BYU Hawaii, and that's how we met her...coming to church for her ecclesiastical endorsement. Another is sister Bow, she reads the book of Mormon and writes down small summaries of what she reads shares them with us to make sure she understanding right. Our other investigator is Brother Nat. He drives a car for a rich Japanese guy and takes his Book of Mormon with him everywhere. His boss asked him what he was reading and now he's going to give a copy of the book to his boss. #Spreadtheword.

Asoke is a blessed area. The city is big and full of potential. I was walking down the street one day contacting with my companion and we met someone who showed us a sketch of the temple on his phone. I am so excited for the temple to be here in Thailand.

I know this church is true and the Lord loves you.

More Miracles and a Poem

Hey family,

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!

For an update, I'm not sick anymore. And miracles are always coming our way, like when we met a strong Christian protestant and I prayed to God that I could share my testimony about the Book of Mormon--and I did. And then she let us go with her to visit her daughter in jail the following morning.

There's a poem I'd like to share by Larry Beacham

If you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it;
to work day and night for it
To give up your time, your peace, and your sleep for it
If all that you dream and scheme is about it
And life seems useless and worthless without it
If you gladly sweat for it and fret for it and plan for it
And lose all of your terror of the opposition for it
If you simply go after that thing you want
With all your capacity, strength and sagacity
Faith, hope, and confidence and stern pertinacity.
If neither cold, poverty, famine, nor gout;
sickness nor pain of body and brain,
can keep you away from the thing that you want
If dogged and grimmed you beseech and beset it
with the help of God you will get it.

I love the last part--no matter how much we want it we still need the help of God to get it. And we can.

I love you all. Shoot for your dreams. Pray. Choose the right. I'll do it to.

I know this church is true and missionary work is the greatest work I could be doing right now. Keep it real and stay happy! Life's too short to be sad for too long
😁

Recovering today

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!

I am so sorry I don't have time to reply to you this week, I will next I promise.... I got sick again, and now I'm in recovery mode. I'll be doing some post-celebrating later when I'm fully better.

I know this church is true and missionary work is the greatest work I could be doing right now. Thanks for all of your love and wishes.

Keep it real and stay happy! 😁

Baptism!

Sorry I'm keeping it short! We are going to do something with shells this week, so I don't have time to email.

I thought I would tell you last Sunday we had a baptism! It was a great experience being able to help one of our investigators feel the spirit on her special day. I felt so impressed the way she has been integrated into the ward. We also had the opportunity to go to her house and let her grandmother know about her baptism. There were definitely tears but it was so sweet to see our investigator bear her testimony of the things she believed.

I know this church is true and I know Christ lives.

Saying Goodbye to "Home"

Transferred to downtown Bangkok!

Transfer calls came in, and I'm out. I will miss my Roi Et home...

On the other hand I got my new call, and I'm in Asoke! Or in other words, the biggest of Bangkok you can get. I'm right down at mission headquarters.

Culture shock! This is not like camping in Roi Et.

My new companion, Sister Phosawat, was briefly in a tri-pan with me at the beginning of her mission while she was waiting to leave to the Philippines MTC.

My new companion...again! Sister Phosawat!

It's a bittersweet experience but I am so excited for a great transfer and of course McDonalds.

I know the church is true. My mission has changed my life and continues to do so. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Happy new year!

Saying good-bye to everyone in Roi-Et

Pics and Testimony on Christmas Day!

During our video call on Christmas, Sister Smith shared her testimony of her time serving in Thailand so far (see video at the end of this post).

Jeep was baptized

Jeep and others attending her baptism

At JR Burger with sisters in our zone. 

Playing musical chairs during English class!

Switch-off with my "little sister" in the mission

Sunset in Roi-Et

Sister Smith bears her testimony of the Gospel.

A week of Adventures and Miracles

We'll start with today since I remember it the most. We woke up early and went sunrise camping, which involved s'mores and hot dogs and deer. It was unforgettable.

Right now we are teaching the cutest investigator, she's the little sister of one of our recent converts; she's 9 years old and her name is Jeep. The other day we went to go meet her and she said, "Sisters, the other day I prayed about Joseph Smith and I have an answer. I know that this church is true and that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon." Children are the best.

This past week I've finally gotten to the Isaiah chapters and there is a verse I'd like to share, it says:

Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word; and it shall not stand: for God is with us. 

I know that when we counsel with the Lord, with our companions, with our friends, and bear testimony, the walls of fear come down as we know that God is there to back us up. I encourage you all to keep sharing the gospel. I know this church is true, and that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon.

Merry Christmas!

Some Learning Experience From My Mission

I'm recovered! I'm doing so much better, and this week has been full of lots of great events. Here are some highlights:

We had Christmas zone conference, and I watched It's a Wonderful Life, and loved it. It's my new favorite movie and it has such a great message.

We also had a lot of sisters over for that so it's been really fun. Last night they all left and it was lonely only have 4 sisters.

We also got to go to stake conference and I had the privilege to translate for the president's wife, which was sort of hard but also exciting.

We found a gym in Roi Et and every morning it opens up at 6 for the missionaries and they blast EFY music while we all work out.

We helped with our investigators rice farm again. This time we beat rice with sticks. I have a few calluses now, and I feel like I will be really good at beating my kids if that ever comes up

I know that this church is true and I'm grateful for all the great experiences I've been given. I am grateful that you have taught me to live the gospel, and ever since being here I know how important it is for families to raise their children in the gospel. I love you and merry Christmas. Thank you for your stories, I appreciate hearing from your experiences to see how your mission changed you. I can't say how much I absolutely love being here. My faith has grown so strong and I have loved every minute of it, ups and downs.

Love, Sister Smith

Another Sick Week

This week I got really close to the Atonement of Christ. I felt in a lot of pain these past few days, and for some reason the scripture kept popping up into my head, "the Lord will prepare a way for man". Or something like that. Man has a way because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and because my mission right now is to serve him, there is a way prepared before me, as long as I don't complain like Laman and Lemuel, and stick to the rules like Nephi admonished us time and time again.

I just realized I should clarify. I am alive. No hospitals. Just got a cold last week and then gastro-whatever so I've just been throwing up the past few days. I'm ok now!!!

I know the church is true. I know God loves us. Have a great week!

Testimony

I've gotten sick again so I'll keep it short and share some thoughts that came to me while picking rice this past week.

I know this church is true. I know God is real. Diligence is nothing without faith. I know the Jesus lives and is the Son of God and our Savior.

I love you all, merry Christmas!

New Companion!

I forgot it was Thanksgiving!!!!

This week has been busy with transfers. I have a new companion, Sister Panasuto! She is from Mahasarakham but got baptized at Roi Et so she knows lots of members here already. She looks likes she is from Tonga and she has an afro but she is Thai. To put it simply, she's cool as.

This week there is a scripture I found this morning:

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. (Ecclesiastes 2:24)

This week I want to you to

1. Take time to eat and drink as you celebrate Thanksgiving!
2. Reflect on the joy and good that your labor brings. At the end of the day, if you don't like what you're doing, you're doing it wrong. Do good and look for the hand of God in your labors, and soon you will begin to see how much joy that you can have in the work--school work, job work, house work, missionary work. 

Also, just curious to see how the family is on that challenge I gave you a little bit ago about inviting those in our life to learn the gospel. Has anyone shared anything yet? I'd love to hear.

Boo baptized, 50-year celebration

Boo's baptism

Our investigator, ปู่สมาน got baptized this week! In Thai we call him "Boo" which means grandpa. (but that depends on the tone though too because Boo also means crab)

50-year anniversary celebration of LDS Church in Thailand

We also had Thailand's 50 year anniversary celebration of the Church being dedicated in Thailand.

Now if you're interested, here's a dose of miracle for your day:

I had a switch off in an old area of mine, actually with my old companion too, Sister Nan. We had an appointment at the university there with a new member. We walked to the cafeteria to wait there, and sat down at an empty table next to another table where a girl was by herself eating lunch. We struck up a conversation, chatting about life until she invited us to sit at the same table as her. Then we start talking about the gospel and why we are here waiting at the university, when our member we planned to teach walked up and sat down at the table with our new friend named Bom. We invited Bom to continue to sit and hear a message with the new member we had an appointment with, and she accepted. It turns out, it's just what she needed. Bom was pretty stressed with a lot of things going on in her life and she didn't know how to deal with it all. Because we made the effort to start a conversation, we were able to introduce prayer and invite Bom to pray before we left. After Bom finished praying, she surprised us by asking how many times she was allowed to pray during the day. Of course we replied happily, "all day, every day!"

What I love about this miracle is that we could have just as easily sat there waiting for our member to come, not talking to anyone, but because we reached outside of our comfort zone, we became useful instruments in God's hands. A comment that brought goosebumps to all of us is that Bom didn't know why she came to eat at the university. She's not a student there, and she said she normally just makes food at home. Something inside her made her feel like she should go eat at the university that day. And because we were putting ourselves out there, a miracle occurred. I can't count the number of times I've sat down and had conversations with people that aren't interested, how many people have rejected our message. But I do know that all we do is for the small moments we can bring to pass like this miracle. I have a testimony that miracles are real and that with faith and lots of effort, they may come to pass.

Love you all, work hard and seek out the miracles!

Getting ready to go to the 50-year anniversary celebration

Photos!

Sister Donlaya and me at Mission Tour
in Udorn with Elder Wong

This week I can't remember. But I do remember the church is true!

Here's scripture I'd like to share:

Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life. (3rd Nephi 15:9)

I know that as we choose to make Christ the center of our lives we will be granted eternal life. It's the most simple yet most awesome doctrine known on this earth. I am grateful to be able to share it with everyone.

MTC companion!

Road in exercise park

Exercise park

Road by rice fields

Rice fields

Rainy days

Sister Donlaya teaching gospel principles

Teaching kids about Lehi's family

Practicing the song for 50-year anniversary

"Does this orange net make me look cool?"

Homeless in BanPhai for a night

Sleeping in BanPhai

Sleeping at the bus station

Sleeping at the bus station

"Finding sheep" activity
(send cookies to less active families)

Team UNO in "finding sheep" activity

Buffalo

Visiting members

Visiting members

Visiting members

Baking cake service project

Me and my companion

WASHINGTON REPRESENT!
Sister Donlaya, Sister Smith, Elder Bastian, Elder Latimer
(guess which 3 are from Everett/Lynnwood Washington)

Little boy "stole" my helmet

Crazy dog

Biking in the middle of nowhere
with Sister Phosawat

Switch-off with Sister Phosawat

Book of Mormon class

Bishop playing piano

On the road with my companion