TEACHING THE ARMY!

hey!

wow what a week! i hope this email works out ok because the settings are being really weird and this computer doesn't have google chrome...don't know why that would really matter..but anyway. so much has happened this week! sometimes my head is spinning because there's so much going on, and i still have to try with all my might to know what in the world is going on sometimes haha.

so i've mentioned it before, but we teach an English class here every Tuesday. it's our way of serving the people here, and hopefully opening doors to people that could be interested in the church later down the line. it's really successful in the mission too. some areas are more successful than others, like in Srinakarin ALL of our investigators came from English class. we've been struggling here in Korat to find investigators through English class, so we've been trying to find more people that are interested in learning. Here in Korat they have one of the biggest army bases in Thailand, and in other areas, missionaries tried to start an English class and teach the soldiers. it's only been done in one or two other areas, and they decided it would be worth it to try it out here. so we've been having a lot of meetings lately with the bishop in my old ward (Srinakarin) and our ward mission leader, and the missionaries here to get it started. we met with the staff of the Army base this week to propose what we wanted to do, and he said they would definitely bbe interested! we are supposed to be teaching 3 days each week for 2 hours, and we are starting our first class tomorrow...with 80 soldiers. woahhhhh. it's such an awesome opportunity, especially if it works out like it did in Bangkok. they had 10+ baptisms come from it in 1-2 months. it really is so amazing to see God opening up ways that we never would have thought of to find even more of His children. so i'll keep you updated on how that goes...i'm kinda overwhelmed with the thought of it, but more excited than anything.

we had the opportunity to go to a wheelchair ceremony this week. the humanitarian funds of the church partnered up with some rotaries here in Thailand and were able to get a lot of wheelchairs purchased and we got to give them out to people who needed them but didn't have them. we got to go as missionaries to represent the church, and meet with a lot of different rotary members and talk to them about our beliefs. we also got to go and help one of our ward members with his rice stock. it was cool to see where all the rice we eat comes from. we helped him load all the grain into huge bags, and then loaded the bags to be stored. it kind of reminded me of hauling hay in a way...oh how i miss that...hahaha;) i really am thankful for so many opportunities to serve. and i'm so thankful for parents who taught me how to work hard.

we met a couple from Singapore this week. it was totally divine intervention. they're so interested in learning more about the gospel, and we got to go to their house this week and teach them...in ENGLISH. it was weird. but so good. i also realized that my english skills are going down the drain the more i speak Thai. there were a few times i would slip into Thai and they would get a really confused look on their faces. the lesson went SO well, and hopefully we'll get to teach them again this week. when we were explaining what we believe, he was like, "wait wait wait i'm confused. You say you BELIEVE in only one God...OR... there is only one God. which one is it?" i thought about that, and i realized that these are things that I KNOW. he was under the impression that there were many Gods, but we only believe in one of them. There is one God, and He is our Heavely Father. Jesus Christ is His only Begotten Son, who came to earth and paid the price for all of our sins so that we could return to live with Him again. He is a living, breathing, existing being. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He knows how to help us. I am so thankful to know these things! Erik and Kathryn (the couple that we taught) were so shocked that we could live with our families forever. He said that was the first time he had ever heard that before. He said that his Buddhist beliefs didn't allow him to believe that. I asked him what he wanted to believe. and he said of course he wants to be with his family forever. how amazing is the plan of salvation! it's the only thing that makes sense, and it's God's perfect plan for us. i'm so thankful that i get to be with the ones i love for ever and ever. love you all!

sis. steele

Sis Stack and Sis Steele in Korat

"Our investigator Mou. He loves the violin, and we play together sometimes. He came to church yesterday for the first time! He wheeled himself there, and brought his violin too! i can't even tell you how special he is, and i'm so thankful to have met him."

Filling the Rice Bags

The Wheelchair Cemermony

hello!

this week has been really good, and i'm pretty much over all my tummy troubles. the elders had to go into Bangkok for transfers meeting, because elder Martin moved, and now we have 4 elders here in Korat! They were gone for a few days, so it was kinda weird just being 2 solitary missionaries here. i never thought i would be going through elder withdrawals haha. we had to help the elders get their house ready for 4 elders, so the night before they came back, we had to bring some mattress pad things that we had at our house over to the elders house. well because i wasn't thinking straight (which is happening way too much these days) we let the tuk tuk guy leave (the guy who drives the 3-wheeled, open car taxi) and then we realized we would have to carry the mattresses to the elders' house. luckily they only live a few blocks away, but it was already 9pm, etc. so we started walking. carrying two huge mattress pads down the street at night. i realized it was going to be a longggg walk. then this random guy smoking a cigarette pulled up in his truck and told us to put them in his truck bed and he would take us to where we needed to go. i had an internal battle for a few minutes...and at first told him, no it's ok, we'll be fine, but he insisted, and so i was like ok what the heck. the whole time i was praying that we wouldn't be abducted. although i knew i would probably deserve it, and it would be God's way of punishing me for breaking a rule. hahaha. oops. we made it there safe and sound...and then the next day we were reading out of the white handbook and got to the part where it said/ "do not ride in a car with anyone of the opposite sex without someone else of your same sex with you..." hahaha great timing.

the work is really moving along here, and as of right now we have two investigators that are preparing to be baptized next month. i love them so much! one is a 12 yr. old girl and one is 16. i never really imagined my self teaching little girls, but i love it. not only do i love them, but I know God loves them. i can literally feel it, and i don't just want to drag them to baptism and dip them in the water so i can mark a number in my key indicators. i really want them to be so happy for the rest of their lives. i think that's why missions are so stressful. and so hard. because we're dealing with real people, and their salvation. i've really been trying to work on being a better representative of Jesus Christ. because as long as we go about doing as He would do, we'll be ok! He knows the way because He is the way. and i just wanna go tell everyone what He has done for them. He literally SAVED the world.

until next time,

sis. steele

Food Poisoning is Fun

hey everyone!

i don't have a lot to update on this week, plus i don't know how long i'll be able to stay at the computer before i have to run to the bathroom...i'm seeing my first experience with food poisoning lately. I'm kinda surprised i hadn't had it up to this point in my life, or even up to this point in my mission. let's just say i am afraid to eat anything now, because you never know how people are preparing their food. anyway, it hit me pretty hard lately, and i spent most of the night on the bathroom floor, and then all day in bed. which was frustrating, because sundays are the worst days to be out of commission. i was supposed to play the violin for the special musical number for the elder's baptism, so i felt really bad about that. i feel a lot better today, but still don't really feel like eating anything. in the past few days i've eaten 4 pieces of bread. yum!

even though we weren't able to go to church, we had one LA, Bro. M that came back to church! And another one of our investigators now has a date to be baptized on Sep. 8! God works miracles that you don't ever expect.

I got to go on companionship switch-offs this week, and i got to go to Kalasin with Sis. Madsen! It's about 4 hours east of Korat. Also a lot more in the boonies.

So let me tell you a little about my companion. since i realized you probably don't know much about her. We call her 'pig voice'. She's probably just about as quirky as i am. when something startles her, she snorts. and it's totally natural, she doesn't mean to do it at all. oh it's hilarious. so anytime the phone rings and startles her, or she almost drops something, or she almost falls off her bike, she snorts. so anytime we're riding along and i hear a little pig behind me i have to ask 'what happened this time?" she's really awesome. it's really good to have someone to relate to and someone to laugh with. we've definitely gone through a lot together in the past transfer, and we work really well together. she's from salt lake, and she knows a lot of the people up at Primary's too, because she volunteered there for a while. she has a major sweet tooth, which has ruined me, because now every time i finish a meal i want something sweet..curses.

transfers meeting is this transfer, and neither of us are moving. but one of our elders is moving. i'm kinda sad about it, because he's really helped us out a lot here in Korat. He was in my same group in the MTC. as far as i know, the transfers are changing from 6 wks. to 9 wks. so i should be here in Korat for another 2 months or so! i love it!

one last little thing. i read josh's last email that was forwarded on, and i loved what he said about how the mission changes you. it's really not just about on the mission. i really do want to keep changing every day, and i'm so excited for life after the mission, because i want to always be a missionary. we got to watch the worldwide broadcast this week, and yeah, it motivated me for here on the mission, but mostly it made me so excited to get involved in the work as a member after i get back. i know that the gospel of Jesus Christ CHANGES people. 

i love you all!  sis. steele

Why is the food sooooooo good?

guess what???

I have now been a missionary for 6 MONTHS. wow i can't even believe it! 1/3 of my mission. it's kind of a weird thought. 

so this week has been crazy. so much has happened and i'm pretty sure all the days just blur together. my bike is currently...fixed. but i've been to the bike shop a total of 5 times in the past week. there was one day when i realized my bike tire was flat...again. but it was right before we had to meet a member at the church to go to an appointment. we were running late, and the appointment was really important, so i rode as fast as my bike would allow me to with the dumb flat tire, and by the time i got to the church, my legs were jello. the whole time i was cursing satan, because i knew he was just trying to make me mad and frustrated. what a bum. ha i guess he was doing a good job.

we went out to the house of a little family we've started to teach. it started out with just the 12 yr. old daughter, but then her dad said he would learn with us if he had time. and then at this lesson, we got to the house, and her older brother came and listened! he said he would pray about a baptismal date for this month. and Bah, the 12 yr. old girl, accepted a date for November! (she has to wait 3 months if she's a minor.) the spirit was awesome as we taught about the restoration, and Bro. Nok was the one that came to help us teach, and he's doing so well. it really all started with him. just 2 weeks ago, he was less active, and now he's helping us teach all the time. so great.

there's an area called nong waeng that we visit a lot, because there's a family out there that is so far they can't come to church a lot. but they're so strong. it takes almost 2 hours to get to their house, so we go out there about once a week to share a lesson, and to go inviting in the area. pres. senior said that if we can get 10 more people baptized in that area, they could start a new branch out there! so cool! so we've been working on getting that started.

highlights for the week:

one of the five times we were waiting for our bikes to be fixed/change tires, etc. this random guy came over and gave us...some sort of drink. and said the guy across the street had bought it for us. we asked what it was and it was coffee. so we went and thanked him for it, didn't have the heart to say, "thanks, but no thanks." so instead we talked to him about Jesus and got his number to go teach him again. we can't wait to get to the word of wisdom lesson and have that awkward moment where he'll be like, "wait, what did you do with the coffee i bought you that one time??" haha.

sis. stack and i both crashed our bikes yesterday. there's a first time for everything! we stayed at the park too long talking to people, and then it starting POURING rain. we had to ride back to the church, and at one point i guess our tires lost traction, and so some lucky guy got to see two dumb white girls eat it. we're both ok so no need to worry.

sorry this one is so long. yesterday we also got to go to the funeral. a buddhist funeral. very interesting. it involved a lot of monks chanting, and a bunch of stuff i didn't really understand. anyway, it was a cool experience, just because it made me think about where we go after this life. and that there are SO many people that don't have the truth. they think that this person who just died is going to be reborn as a different person. I am so thankful for the perfect plan of happiness that Heavenly Father has prepared for us, because this life is not all there is. in fact, "it's just a small blip on the screen" as mom would always say. and if we endure it well, we will be exhalted on high. i can't wait for that day!

i love you all so much!

sis. steele

Sister Steele in her poncho

A family that the elders and sisters helped move.

The cows are a bit different in Thailand!

One of the families being taught by Sister Steele and Sister Stack

I Like to Ride My Bicycle

heyheyhey

this week has actually gone by pretty fast, which is kinda weird. i think it's because we're finally starting to find our way around this place, and it's getting more natural and normal to go day to day and be productive, rather than spending half our time riding our bikes around and being lost. although that still happens haha.

one thing about being in the issan (eastern Thailand) is that people live a lot further away, and sometimes appointments will take an hour or more by bus to get there. we visited a member in our branch this week with the elders, and we ended up getting caught in a huge rainstorm. we had to walk a little while to her house, so by the time we got there we were soaked. her house is also her hair salon, so she offered to dry mine and sis. stack's hair...which then turned into her washing our hair, drying it, and straightening it, and then braiding it....and THEN Elder Willamas wanted to get his haircut. hahaha so we spent a nice time with her getting all pampered. and the whole time i was just laughing because i knew we were just gonna have to go right back out into the rain. anyway, i was a little worried because it took so long, and we had to cancel another appointment that we didn't make it back in time for. but then right before we were about to leave her house, she introduced us to her friend that wants to learn about the gospel, but she just hasn't had an opportunity yet. the Lord works in mysterious ways.

highlights of the week:

Bro. Nok, the LA that came back to church last week, has been giving us referrals all over the place. he introduced us to a family that he knew, and we are now teaching the dad and his daughter. she called us the night after we had our first lesson and asked us to remind her how to pray, because she was about to pray before she went to bed...ah! so cute! she's 12.

the branch pres. called me on thurs. night and asked if i would speak for 10 min. at the ward activity on friday...about pioneers...in thai..i really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. i was pretty sure if i said every single word i knew in thai it would never fill up 10 min. anyway, somehow it all went well...hopefully everyone understood what i was saying...and i will never ever forget the word for 'pioneer' in Thai.

my bike FINALLY came from Bangkok. i bought sis. itri's from her so they had to send it from the office. anyway, after the first day of using it both tires are flat. wooooooo. i love my life.

the dogs here are pretty fiesty at night. and because my bike was out of service, we had to walk home last night, and there was a dog that was waiting for us in the alley way, growling and acting like it would attack us any minute. as we were walking past it i was literally praying out loud, while sis. stack was laughing so hard she started crying. we are safe and sound so don't worry.

i'm so grateful to be doing what i'm doing right now. i couldn't imagine it any other way. even though i'm exhausted day in and day out, and even though i am COMPLETELY inadequate, God continues to amaze me. i am thankful that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to CHANGE people. the 'enabling power of the Atonement' is something that is said a lot, and we never really quite fully understand it. but i know i've felt it. EVERY day. because there have definitely been days when i think i just can't do it. there is no way. and every time i'm about to break, God sweeps in and saves me with one of His tender mercies. He will never let us fall!

well...i'm probably gonna go find someone who can fix my bike now. รักคุฌมๅกๆ

ชิสเฅอร์ สฅิว 

If you see my bike, I'll be there...

hey!

wowwww it's been a crazy week. and by crazy i mean i'm really starting to realize how tiring missionary work is. i think it's mostly because we have to ride our bikes everywhere, and by the end of each day, i'm exhausted and can barely stay awake for planning haha. we always joke that we'll never be as ugly as we are on our missions...yet people will never think we're more beautiful than they do now hahaha. i know i'm a disgusting mess all day long, but people here are always so nice. they tell us we're beautiful all the time, and even if they're lying, it's nice to hear haha. that's something i'll miss for sure.

i've decided that every area in Thailand is like a different mission. the branch, the work, the area, etc. we've had a hard time finding investigators lately, but we've been doing a LOT of work with less active members. President Senior and his wife came one morning and we had our morning studies with Sis. Senior. They challenged us to reach 15 reactivations of priesthood holders in our branch. by the end of august. the branch has given us a list of people to work with, and who we should focus on. i'm not gonna lie, it's super hard for us, especially being sisters, because we have to have another female member with us when we go visit. but we worked our little buns off this week and we were able to contact a lot of people. and even though i've been discouraged a lot of this week about trying to pull these people back to church, we had a really cool experience with bro. Nok.

We went to his house in the afternoon and he was so happy to meet with us. he's been a member for 3 years but only comes to church every month or so. we shared a little message with him, and normally i would've been like, ok that's good, let's go. but i felt like we should stay and talk a little longer. as he got talking, he said that he had been meeting with the Jehovah's witness missionaries. and that he'd been going to their church the past few weeks. in my head i was cursing the Jehovah's witnesses, and thinking all was lost. but as he continued to talk, he talked about how he felt when he decided to be baptized, and that he knew the book of mormon was true. he knew that all of it was true, and he could not deny it. he said that when he decided to be baptized he felt the spirit so strongly, and he and the elders were crying. as he told us this he started crying, and said he felt like he was feeling now. by then, we were all crying, and the spirit was so strong. and me telling this story really doesn't even do it justice...ah! it was so awesome. he promised us that he would come to church on sunday, and he did. and he gave us a referral for a whole family that he knows! i learned a lot from this experience: 1. it had nothing to do with us. at all. i literally did nothing. it was all the spirit. 2. if you help people to rekindle their testimonies, the spirit will be there, and there's nothing more powerful. 3. if you put forth all that you have, and lay it all on the table, God will provide. We worked so hard this week, and i felt like nothing was coming of it. until that happened, and i knew it was a tender mercy from God. even if we bring but one soul unto repentance, great shall be the joy. It's so TRUE!!

i love you all,

Sis. steele

Road Warrior!

Sis Steele and Sis Stack in a duk duk

Mission Time is Warped!

heyloooo

sometimes weeks here fly by. but most of the time i look back to last monday and i can't even believe that it's only been a week...because it feels like a year! and sorry that i never capitalize anything, or use 'I'. tanner keeps telling me i need to type properly, but sorry doonis i'm too lazy.

anyway, oh man i don't even know where to start with this week! we're still trying to get things rolling in this area. the branch here is phenomenal. i wouldn't be surprised if they became a ward soon. last sunday after church the RS pres pulled us into her car and just drove us around to visit less active members. that doesn't happen in Bangkok. i was amazed. this week she took half of her day to show us around the area a little more, and she took us to a park called Bung, and it's so beautiful. hopefully i'll send a pic. we went there to go inviting, and we hadn't been able to find it earlier, so she had us follow her on our bikes. i expected her to leave after, but she walked around with us and talked to people with us. WHATTT. she is so incredible! the people here make me want to be not only a good missionary, but a better member when i get back. i had NO idea how much went into missionary work before I came, and i had no idea how closely you need to work with the members.

so...we pretty much get lost on the daily. actually i would say that it stresses me out more than the language does. hahaha. and i know dad is just rolling his eyes at me now :) if i knew where everyone lived, and could understand directions, i would feel completely adequate. but i don't have either of those advantages, so we're getting to know this area the LONG way. we got lost for about 1 1/2 hours the other day trying to find an RC's house. i must have called her back and forth 10 times, handed the phone to random strangers to interpret, etc. until we FINALLY found her house. so that's been fun. and now sis. stack and i both have sunburned arms from biking all over tarnation. by the way, sis. stack is AWESOME, and she's from Salt Lake. she actually volunteered at Primary Children's too! i think we must have bumped into each other a few times. we work really well together. even though i've only been here 12 weeks, and she's only been here 12 days, we seem to make things work:)

highlights/exciting events of this week:

sis. itri's bike was supposed to be sent to me, but it still hasn't come, so i've been using the elder's bikes. andddd i totally blew the back tire of one of them. oops. the poor elders. they've been so patient with me hahaha.

i dream in thai now

we taught two cute little girls a few times this week. i get 40 mosquito bites every time we go to their house because they live right on a swamp, but i love them so much. they took notes when we taught them how to pray. 

sorry that my letters are sometimes pretty long. you don't have to read everything if you don't feel like it. but i know i'm gonna want all of these when i get back, because i never ever ever want to forget the experiences i'm having and the miracles i am seeing every day. there's no way this gospel isn't true. how lucky i am to be able to share it with these wonderful people.

love you all more than you know.....SIS STEELE!!!