Monday, January 25, 2016

The Gold Standard For Fillings in Thailand Is Gold, and Sifting Through the "Voices" Around Us.


Hey everyone! 

As you can see from the title of this email...it was one crazy week!! (But when is it not here).

This week started with this awesome member, Sister Sunny, taking us to see a cool wat and dress up in Thai costumes. We took a boat to the wat and it was so fun and pretty. All the Thai people were laughing at us dressed up in Thai costumes and wanted to take pictures with us. It was hilar... 


This week I also saw Sister Carrillo when Sister Coates went to get her visa renewed! (you get it renewed twice as a missionary, once as a greenie and once when you are about done). It was so fun to talk to her and hear all about Lampang.  And, strangely enough, on the way to the visa place, the taxi driver ran over sooo many orange traffic cones on the road....it was funny!

Okay as you can see from the subject of this email... we went to the hospital twice this week. The first time was to get my cavity filled. My mouth had been hurting a lot (guess I've eaten too much candy) so I finally decided to rip the fear band-aid off and go to the dentist...in a third world country. I was so scared and praying so hard that it would all be okay... and it was! My dentist was super nice, knew English, and was friends with members from the International Ward. She looked at my mouth and apparently I have like 3 cavities, but she only filled one.  It was close to the nerve.  At first she was like, "The standard for fillings here in Thailand is gold, but we will do white on you." I'm  so glad she said something, and it seems like she did a good job!  The only slightly sketchy thing was that her assistant's gloves seemed a little dirty.... (Hopefully that was just all in my head haha.) 

The second hospital experience was with Sister Coates.  She hadn't been feeling very well for a while, and in short had all the symptoms of Dengue Fever (a mosquito sickness, which in Thai translates to bloody fever....scary.)  But we got her checked out and she apparently doesn't have it. If she still feels badly in a couple of days we will go back. The doctor said there is a chance he missed it. 

Anyways, this week we also got to see this worldwide missionary broadcast! It was so cool to watch.  Missionaries all over the world watched it. The missionary department guy who started the meeting said, "Missionaries in Thailand, Tokyo and Tonga will watch this broadcast when they wake up." So that was cool to hear, and made me realize what I always forget...I really am a day ahead of all of you!

So this week I have been thinking a lot about voices, and how there are voices everywhere. The voice of the world, the voice of good, the voice of evil, the voice that tells you to be lazy, the voice that tells you that you aren't good enough, the voice of peace, and the voice of God. There are so many different voices in the world and the trick is finding out which one to listen too. Sometimes things you think are good can be deceiving, and the truth is hard to find... unless you listen to the right voice...the voice of God that comes through the Spirit with prayer. 

This week, a recent convert we work with is facing a lot of opposition from her family, who does not want her to go to this church. They told her a lot of things that were hard to hear, and told her they would distance themselves from her unless she decided to "quit". It was hard to hear this experience as she has so much faith.  She wants to follow Heavenly Father, but she also loves her family. We testified to her that if she follows Heavenly Father that all really will work out. And it is true - it will. The path of living the gospel and following the voice of God, may not always be the easiest in the moment, but in the end it is the only way to true peace and lasting happiness. When we testified of these things to her there was a peace that seemed to come, and she said she would pray about what to do. I know often times that we can only figure out what the truth is through prayer. So I guess that is what I want to tell all of you... if you feel stressed, worried, lonely, sick, or wondering what you should do... I invite you to tune out all of those voices of the world and come to Heavenly Father in prayer, because he will tell you what to do - every time, and a quiet and peaceful assurance will come into your life. 

Love you all!

Sister Remington

P.S. Mom, I got your Christmas card this week and it is soo hilarious! 


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