Dearest khrccbkhrua, (family...too bad this keyboard can't type in Thai script.)

 

I've been here for a month now! THis calls for celebration. My district is having a little fiesta later today because we all have loads of goodies that our families have sent us. So we're gonna combine the goods and share our spoils. One elder had his fmaily send him chips and salsa and soda. I've been sharing my candy little by little, but I still have a whole stash under my bed, so don't worry. I think mom is trying to fatten me up. One of my companions (Sis. McDermott) absolutely LOVES candy and is eating it all the time. So she likes to take it off my hands if I can't eat it all. SIs. Yim and I give her a hard time about some of her habits (not believing in exercise and not brushing her teeth). One night she said, "I do brush my teeth...but then I just eat candy after..." HAHAHA. that doesn't count Sis. McDermott. She's always keeping us laughing. I think that's probably the number one thing that has made my mission what it is so far. My companions really get me through a lot. It's awesome to me that as hard as a mission can be, it's also so much fun. Sometimes I wonder if I should be laughing as much as I do. Because we definitely have a lot of fun in our district.

 

Did I tell you that we had started teaching at th eTRC last week? Well we did. aNd we taught there again this Saturday, and will from here on out. It's actually one of my favorite things. We're basically just teaching members, and it's fun to talk to them and get to know them. Yeahhhh my Thai might not be so easy to understand, but they're usually really encouraging. I absolutely love my teachers. I really believe that we have the best teachers ever! One is super happy and good for our morale, and the other is Bruce R. Mackonkie's grandson. Enough said. Every lesson we have from him is so amazing and I learn something new each time. He's really good at motivating us too. Both of our fake investigators accepted baptism this week...WOO! I can't wait til these are real people in Thailand haha. The Phii Thais (older Thai's that have been here for about 12 weeks now) are leaving next week to Thailand. I'm so excitd for them. The next group comes in later this month I think. It will be weird for us to be the Phii Thai's...I don't exactly feel ready. But then I think of how far we've come in a month...God is amazing. We are going to sing 'God be with you til we meet again' in Sacrament meeting for our Phii Thai's. In Thai. YAY. It's really funny because our classes have evolved into ALL Thai now, so we sing out of the Thai hymn books, but we can't read script fast enough yet to keep up with the music, so must of the time our whole class is mumbling the tune, while the teacher sings the words, and then once we hit words like "Ah-leee--luuuu-yahhh" we all sing really loud. Because it's the same in English and Thai. hahahaha. it will come, it will come, it will come.

 

So this week was interesting because my whole companionship was sick. really sick. eh, it wasn't too bad i guess. I got a bad cold from someone in our district, and it turned into a sinus infection, and then i was pretty much delirious. sis. yim and sis. McDermott got it worse than i did, and at one point sis. yim had to go to the health center off campus to pick up some meds (sudafed i think). so naturally, we all had to tag along, which meant we got to escape the MTC for about a half hour! we were super happy about that, even though we only took about 50 steps down the street, but it was still nice to see the real world for a bit haha. sis. yim's still on the upswing, but i'm pretty much better now. germs spread like wild fire in here, so it's being passed around like crazy. oh have i mentioned how much i hate the laundry room. well i hate the laundry room A LOT. mostly because Tuesdays are the most common days to have p=days apparently, so there are people sitting on floors, tables, etc. and today it took us a good 3 hours to do laundry. being in that room stresses me out so i try to avoid doing laundry until i absolutely have to, and for those of you that know me well know that that's pretty typical for me anyway haha.

 

I'm trying to thnk of anything amazing that happened this week...sadly my letters might start getting less and less eventful, because all the weeks start to blend together. Oh--sis. Mcdermott was wearing her coat upside down today, and forgot her name tag. which is a BIG no-no here at the MTC. ALWAYS wear your nametag we're told. hahaha that girl is funny. Oh! Elder Ballard came and spoke at our Tuesday night devotional! It was awesome! It sounds like everyone is doing well at home, and that's really good to hear. I'm glad you're all having fun up at the cabin, and that Manu got to drive the snowmobile without crashing it or tipping it over...haha. Hearing about Ethan and Alisha's mission calls was awesome too! I am SO excited for them. I love being a missionary. Well, I'll probably think of so much more to say once I end this letter, because that's what always happens, but that pretty much sums up my week. Something that I learned this week: we are all literally sons and daughters of God. LITERALLY. I think it's amzing that I can call GOD my Father in Heaven. I had to take a little assessment on the white handbook (missionary rules) this week, and one question was "who do you turn to first when having problems on your mission", and like a dummy, i clicked on "my companion" becasue I didn't scroll down far enough to see all the options. On my feedback screen, the "right" answer was "Heavenly Father". It was something so little but it really made me think. No matter what, whatever circumstance, whatever page of life, we always have an all-powerful, all-knowing, unconditonally loving Father in Heaven. He knows how to help us better than anyone else we might turn to. If I ever feel alone in months to come, I hope I can remember that. That even when I have a tough companion, or can't communicate with ANYONE, or feel alone and scared, I can turn to my Father in Heaven, and I KNOW He will make my weaknesses strong. I am thankful that He sees something in me, more than I ever saw in myself. I am thankful that He has allowed me to be here, to be part of His work. If I ever feel like I can't do this task at hand, His response is, "I created you. I made you specifically for this job, and I know you can do it, so don't tell me that you can't." With God, all things are possible. If it wasn't possible, He wouldn't have sent us here, because He won't give us anything we can't handle. And now I'm rambling, so it's time to go get my clothes out of the dryer!

 

I love you all! Tell Walders hi for me!

 

Sis. Steele