Tiger Kingdom and More

สวัสดี!!!!!!!!!

So excited to talk to you guys this week! Also, after Christmas my P-day will be Monday again! 

This week was a great week! It started off with my whole district hiring out this bus thing  to TIGER KINGDOM, where I was able to take pictures with a bunch of tigers...and walk one like a dog on a leash! It was so cool!  Also, by the way,  tigers smell really bad...and sweat a ton...and in half the pics I look like I am scared to death, because I was. 

Also on Sunday, Sister May was Baptized!! She is this girl that we met outside the mall one day and asked her if she wanted to learn about Christ.  She said she always wondered why so many people believed in him and said sure! She was one of the most prepared people ever, and her baptism was so nice to see. She said she felt so free after she was baptized.  It really was such a nice and peaceful day. 

Oh! And our investigator Sister Sa is getting Baptized tomorrow! She is the one from Cambodia and she is seriously the best. She's been coming to church for quite a while now, and I love teaching her. She is so grateful for the changes that knowing about Heavenly Father's love has made in her life. We downloaded the hymns on her ipad for her and she said she is loving listening to it as she works, she said her boss and everyone is asking her why she is so happy now, as she was so sad before. She also had a really cool miracle happen when we taught about tithing. At first she was hesitant to pay her tithing, as she doesn't make a lot of money and is saving to go live with her daughter in America, but we testified that this is Heavenly Father's commandment and not ours. After that she agreed to pay it, and then the next time we taught her she said her boss had come up to her and agreed to start paying for her internet!  Because of this, she will now be saving more money then she would pay in tithing! Man that was such a witness to me that if we keep the commandments we are blessed. Also, teaching Sister Sa has really just made me realize how important the love of God is...and how Heavenly Father's perfect love changes it all. 

Actually, just as I was typing this now I realized that a big thing I have learned on my mission is that love changes everything. Going through all the big miracles that have happened, as well as the small,  it is interesting to see that the love of God, through prayer and service, is what changes everything, what keeps us on the path, what gets people on the path, and what helps us overcome all obstacles. 

Anyways, this week lots of other stuff happened, the Christmas Zone Conf (we watched "The Best 2 Years"), and I got to start the 12 Days of Christmas Grandma sent me! (so fun!)... but I think I will leave it at this!!

Love you all!

Sister Remington 

A cool bridge from WWll

We Can Control Our Reactions To The Hardships Of Life

Hey everyone! You are all probs wondering why I am emailing so early today.  It's because we are going to A TIGER WAT...WHERE I GET TO HOLD A BABY TIGER! I am so excited... 

Anyways, this week was my 1 year mark in the country of Thailand. Yes, I have officially been living here for a year...crazy. 

This week Sister Coates and I had some CRAZY things happen to us...but I guess that's pretty normal.   

This week was highlighted by some lessons, where I could just feel the Spirit testifying through me that those things were true, as well as this cool story: 

When I was by the MRT stop I invited this guy named Gan. Gan readily accepted to wanting to learn about Christ, so I called him and made an appointment. At the appointment we talked about prayer.  After we are done introducing it all, he looked at me and he said, "You know Sister Rem, people have been inviting me to learn about Christ since I was like 10 years old, but I always rejected them, as it seemed like they were talking badly about other religions. But when you invited me, it didn't sound like that at all.  Your message sounded so good and happy." I was so happy when he said that.

This experience also reminds me of something Sister Coates and I saw this week.  We had a pretty hard day one day this week, and at the end of the day we saw this guy wearing this shirt that said, "Let them see the light through your voice". because of the circumstances of that particular day, Sister Coates and I looked at each other and were like, "That is so true" (Also so encouraging)!

For Family Home Evening this week, we went to a member's house and it was so fun! (And in a very high building) They made us spaghetti and told us an interesting statistic of how in Thailand apparently there is only 1 boy to every 70 girls...don't know if that is really true, but it would make sense. 

I also went on a switchoff with Sister Mon this week.  She is a missionary from Myanmar and is so nice! She put some facial paint on all of us that they wear in Myanmar....I will send a picture. 

As for our investigators, things are going well! One of our investigators is constantly thanking us for introducing her to Heavenly Father and his love....it is so cute. She said her life is SO much happier now that she knows. 

Right now Sister Coates, Mcknight, and I all are pretty sick...we have the worst colds and fevers and what not.  It is so weird to be sick in Thailand, as it is always like summer here! 

This week for my ending spiritualish thought, I want to talk about hard things. First of all, life isn't easy... that is something everyone knows.  Hard things happen and you wish they wouldn't. But, although you can't control all the hard things that happen to you, you can control the way you react to them. Something I have really learned on my mission, is that when we are putting Heavenly Father first...all works out.   When we are reading our scriptures, praying, and serving others, hard things will happen but we won't be phased by them.  As the scriptures say, we will "be blessed with the peace that surpasses all understanding." (or something like that.)  I know this is true.  As we navigate those hard things in life, we truly can endure them with peace, happiness, and hope in our hearts ....if we are doing those things we know we should. 

I love you guys!

Love,

Sister Remington  

I Didn't Beat the Buzzer

Hey everyone! 

This week was a good and interesting week all in one. 

Yesterday we had the craziest day... it even involved me being alone... in Bangkok...

Let me explain:

So Sister Coates and I were running to the train  in order to get to our next appointment, we see that the train is already at the station, but also that the doors are about to close. Now with trains here if you hear the buzzer on the door go, you know you won't be able to jump in before the door closes. Many a time Sister Coates and I have jumped in, beating the buzzer, but yesterday as we were running to the train, Sister Coates was a bit ahead of me and as such she jumped on the train, I, (still on the platform), hear the buzzer and second guess my "jumping on" abilities, thinking that if I do so, the doors will cut me in half. So the door closes, and Sister Coates is on her way going to the next stop while I am still standing on the platform...oops. It felt really weird to be alone, and kinda scary. At the beginning of my mission I never thought I would be able to get used to being with someone all the time, but now that I have been a missionary for so long, it felt sooo weird to be alone. Anyways, long story short Sister Coates and I met up at the next stop and had a good laugh. 

The other really crazy thing about yesterday, was we were inviting this nice family in a park when this CRAZY lady, comes up to us and starts yelling at us in this mixed babble of thai and english... we got nothing out of it other than, "God loves you", which is always nice to hear..but then when we saw her again she was like yelling and it was scary...anyways. ya.. 

This week a lot of new Thai greenies came in, and as such Sister Coates and I were given the responsibility of preparing lunch for them. Sister Mcknight is training a missionary from Cambodia, who doesn't speak Thai or English, so she has to go back and be a missionary in Cambodia. However, in the meantime they are staying at our house and its really fun! Sister Mcknight may even be serving here until transfers! 

This email is so random but I just want to say 3 things that were really happy this week:

1. A less active member from the international ward took us to get italian food at this delicious restaurant. 

2. On a day I was feeling a little down, and 3 little Thai girls came up to me and asked if they could hug me and Sister Coates. They thought it was so cool we were from Canada and America.

3. I got Sawyer's letter! Her story about Remembrance Day was soo cute!

The coolest miracle that happened this week was that Sister Sa (our Cambodian investigator) brought us this card with Jesus on it that was super old.  On the back it had a picture of the old cover of the Book of Mormon in Thai. We asked her where she had gotten that card and she said she had found it among her deceased husband's things (he died around 10 years ago) She was amazed to know that this was the same church that her husband had a card for, all those years ago. Life has very few coincidences, and the hand of God really is in all things.  Oh, and on a side note Sister Sa lived in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge was a thing.  She said she had a lot of scary, scary experiences, but I won't go into detail now. 

This week was also MLC. MLC is this big meeting with all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders, the Assistants to the President, and President and Sister Johnson. President and Sister Johnson as well as the Assistants trained us on some new vision, goals etc for the mission, and then it was our job to go to all the areas in our zone and train the districts on what they said. It was a lot like giving a group presentation to a lot of people. Anyways, I was a little scared to do this.  I was feeling a bit like everyone else had a lot of good things to say and maybe I wouldn't have anything, but I prayed for the Spirit's guidance and read this scripture:

Deuteronomy 1:17:

Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

I loved this scripture, and it really spoke peace to me and realized that everyone needs to speak out, whether you feel small, or whether you feel great... your voice matters. We need not fear as we can talk about anything with God, and he will hear us and help. Over my mission, I have been amazed at the answers you can get to prayers from the scriptures. It turned out that the training was great! I wasn't scared, and had lots to say. 

I love you guys!

Sister Remington