May 26, 2013

hey!

i made it through a transfer! woooo! and i'm so excited to start another one, because now i'm not totally lost and inexperienced. maybe just a little. so last pday we went iceskating at the mall. they have this little crappy rink, and sis. wiganda had never been before, so we had to do it. if you know me well, you know i HATE iceskating, but it was actually kinda fun. i got a little penguin skater to help me out so that's good. English class this week was AWESOME. it was our review day, and they call it a showcase day, where everyone shows what they learned, and there's some fun performances too. we kinda started planning this thing the day of...so...basically sis. madsen and i got up without any notice and danced to 'call me maybe'. probablyyy not in the white handbook...but it was for the greater good of our students, and they LOVED it. also, you know you're out of shape when you're tired after dancing to one song. anyway, it was a huge hit, and our students may or may not have put it all on youtube...oh dear. but tanner, you would have loved it, i tried to do the baseball team dance moves and such. it was fun. 

remember the 'dan jones' experience i told you about? that i had to do when i first got into country? basically going out and placing book of Mormon's. Well the Srinkarin sisters (us) were asked to go and help the new missionaries tht came in this week do the same thing! so i got to see the missionaries tht i was with in the MTC but were 6 weeks behind us. It was so much better being the "experienced" missionary this time. Sis. Madsen and I took sis. Zaugg, and we ended up teaching 4 lessons on the street. it was so great! and then we got to walk all the way to the BTS in the pouring rain...that happens a lot here. I was soaked.

One of our RC's introduced us to her boss this week because she wants us to teach him. His name is JAckie and he is already Christian. and he's CRAZY! he wouldn't stop talking, and he's very passionate about what he believes. i think he'll be reallly good though. anyway, he basically forced us to let him buy us food, and then he took us around to all his friends and made them listen to us. he kept calling us angels from heaven, and he said i had the face of eve..and that i look german...ok weird.

We had a super fun sports day this week with a bunch of different wards. i got to play some volleyball, and a few sports that don't exist in America, but they were fun. oh and i'm really sad because mango season is coming to an end :(. but that's ok because i was introduced to mangosteen today, and it is SO good. i'll be eating a lot of that now. Our week ended really well with Ping's baptism. She was baptized yesterday! ah i love her so much. and her mom is so happy too. it amazes me how easy it is to love these people. i really do want them to be happy, and to know everything that i know. the work is moving forward here, and i have seen miracles every day. they're always there if you look for them!

bye now!

sis. emily steele

Ping's baptism

Ice Skating on P-day with Sis. Waganda and Sis. Itri

Sister Steele and Sister Itri at Yo Yo Land

This is a songtaw--main method of transportation--usually CROWDED with people sitting and standing in the back!

May 20, 2013

hey!!

i don't know where to start with this week! i can't even believe it's been only a week since Mother's Day...it feels like YEARS ago. and at the same time, week after week flies by, and i'm done with one transfer. i made it through! every missionary in thailand got to meet in chaengwattana so that we could meet elder andersen when he came. we got to meet with him on saturday, and then he spoke to all the members in bangkok on sunday. we had two of our investigators that came with us to hear him speak..sis. nuun and ping! i really hope it gave sis. nuun a kick in the pants. because she's totally ready! oh and ping had her interview this week and she's getting baptized this coming SUNDAY!! wooo! she's so cute. hopefully i can send you a pic when i get one. anyway, hearing from elder andersen was SO good. basically, he really emphasized that the saints here need to be faithful, and that in order to have a temple here, they need sufficient members to take care of the temple. aka...we're getting a temple here! it's not a matter of 'if' but 'when'! it makes me that much more excited to play a small part in helping the members here to prepare for that day. so exciting!!! i can't wait. it was really good to see my MTC companions when all the missionaries met together. it was like a giant reunion!

so like i told you last week, we went to a crocodile farm. i got to go fishing for crocodiles with raw meat and that was probably my favorite part. that and the time i got to hold a MONKEY! and now i've decided i'm getting a pet monkey when i get home. i loveeee them. oh and i rode an elephant too. nbd. today for pday we're gonna try and relax/ sleep because we had to lose a lot of sleep for travel time to see elder andersen. but we had it pretty good only traveling an hour or so. other missionaries in the north had to come 6-8 hours. ugh.

MIRACLES! i told you a little about sis. yupin last week. but she went from being semi-suicidal, to coming to church on Sunday! and she came to see elder andersen! it's amazing the change we've seen in her as she's starting reading and praying again. one day we went over there and she had a friend there that wanted to learn about Jesus. sweeeet. i love when referals fall right into your lap. i have seen time and time again that God provides. when there seems to be no way, He makes a way. we had a goal of 3 new investigators this week, and at the end of the week, right when i was thinking we wouldn't make it, we run into a dad and his two kids that want to learn. 3. God can make it happen, and He will make it happen if you ask Him.

so a few funny things from this week. we were getting some food at the grocery store, and i was searching everywhere for corn syrup, which i never found. but i was walking down the aisle and there was this little girl sitting in a cart by herself. her mom wasnt to far away, but when she saw me she look at me with big eyes and was like, 'uh-ohhhh'. i think she was a little scared of the giant white girl walking toward her. hahahah. one of our RC's this week said i 'phuud chat maag'. i misheard her and thought she said my thai sucks. but apparently 'chat' means 'clear'. phew. luckily my companion clarified that one for me. it's really funny here, because even though we speak very little, everyone we talk to tells us how great our thai is. they're probably lying, but i''ll take it. haha. so usually if we ask someone why they didn't come to church, a common excuse is because it was raining, or they had diarrhea. for reals. people are scared of the rain here, and will stay inside because of it. last thing: flirt to convert. we were at the mall for lunch, and this black guy asked us to go get shots with him. he was from africa and spoke english. we said we don't drink alcohol, but we drink water! haha oh wow. he asked if he could join us...so basically we had a nice little water date. but don't worry because we taught him a lesson and he said we would come to church and english class. 

one thing i've been thinking a lot about lately is faith. who do we have faith in? a big problem in the ward i 'm serving in is that a lot of people hate the bishop. and a lot of people have issues with other people in the ward, so they stop coming to church. but many of them still have a testimony. if we have faith in CHRIST, we FOLLOW him by doing what He says. we never have to worry about what happens, or who we 'don't like', because if you believe in Christ, and that you're part of His church, it's all simple. It's like Elder Holland said in conference, God has only ever had imperfect people to deal with. if there's any imperfections in the church, it's not in the divinity of the work. love that! and i know it's true. 

until next week, sis. steele

Elder Neil Andersen spoke to the missionaries in Thailand May 19, 2013
I spy......Sister Steele!

Em's new companion?

Mopping an investigator's floor

Sister Stewart and Sister Steele--matchy-matchy

Reunited with Sister Yim and Sister McDermott