Seriously Funny Stories and Real Intent

Hey everyone!! 

This week was a week full of funny stories, and awesome experiences. Let's begin with the funny stories:

 

1. "My hair is falling out"

This story is not new news, but my district's advice for me was hilarious. Lately, the Elders have been doing some "working-out" at a member's house on p-day. The last time they went, he was also giving them some workout tips. He told them that when he works out, he eats dog food. The Elders were taken aback and were like, "actual dog food?" And the member was like, "Yes, dog food helps your body to have a bunch of nutrients and helps your hair grow super thick." So when I mentioned my hair was falling out, the elders told me Ishould just eat dog food....I will not be taking this advice.  Oh! And last time they worked out with this member, he asked them if they wanted a cookie...turns out the cookie was a dog treat.... Bahahahahha 

2. "I can't teach in English"

This week we did a bunch of contacting, hours and hours a day and we weren't seeing any success finding new investigators, so we decided to call through some former investigators in our phone list. We called this one guy and made an appointment. On the phone we were having a hard time understanding him, but in the end we managed to communicate that we wanted to meet at the church at 3. The investigator showed up, and as it turns out, he is a guy from Cameroon, Africa or something, and speaks English (explains why we couldn't understand his Thai on the phone)...his dad is also the minister of a Baptist church, so he tells us we have 10 minutes to teach him what we know. I was so scared, because I have taught in English only 3 times on my mission, and those times were at the beginning. Anyways, we start teaching the "restoration of the gospel" and it was such a struggle... I was forgetting gospel words in english, and so was sister Carrillo, so I don't know if it made much sense. Our lesson went like this: "And then Joseph Smith blee the Book of Mormon". "Wait...what does blee mean?" "Oh yeah, translate...and then Jospeh Smith translated the Book of Mormon." It was sooo hard, and really a wakeup call for me that I should learn how to teach in English... 

3. "I'll help you find him"

This week we got some new "inviting" pictures which included a new picture of Jesus Christ, (taken from a movie or something) ...its like a photo of a person- if that makes sense. So I am in Macro this week (Thai Costco), and I ask someone if they know Jesus Christ, and they answer back, "no, but I will help you find him". At this point, he then proceeds to show the picture to all the Macro employees saying, "this girl lost this guy". Sadly, when I explained what I really meant they weren't too interested.  Haha

4. "I've never been near a foreigner before"

This story happened at English class this week. A new lady walked in and I went to sit next to her to help her. All of a sudden, she looks at me, quite alarmed,  and says, "I've never sat this close to a white person before"... she then pokes my arm and says, "whoa, I have never touched a white person before." It was soo funny. 

Anyways, lots of really great miracles happened this week too! Our one investigator (she's been investigating since last transfer) is really building her testimony. It is cool to see her learn about repentance. The other day she said she did something wrong, and then she said she prayed to say sorry and then it was really weird, she said as she was going to sleep she was "smiling to herself. Repentance really is a great thing. She also went to a party this week and just sat there and didn't break any commandments, all because of a scripture that a member texted her.  

This week (and last week), it has been hard to find new investigators. We have been contacting tons, and doing all we know how to do, but last week no one came to church, and this week we had so much hope that if we were doing our best Heavenly Father would make up the difference. It was Fast Sunday so we decided to fast in order to find new investigators...we did, but no one made it to Sacrament Meeting. After Sacrament one investigator showed up, but still no new ones. I'll admit Sister Carrillo and I were a bit discouraged, but then at the very last moment, after church was over, two people (a girl and a guy) walk in. It turns out they were friends of our Branch mission leader, and that the girl had been wanting to come to church here for 3 years!!! We taught them and they seem soo great. I know Heavenly Father can perform miracles if we have faith...and sometimes it takes a little patience, but it all works out. I know Heavenly Father lives, and loves me...as well as you all.

One other thing I have been thinking about lately is real intent. In this month's Liahona, there is a talk about this one guy who in seminary is challenged to read the Book of Mormon. The seminary teacher makes this chart, and puts it on the wall with each students name, and each time you read a chapter you get a gold star. This guy soon sees that the other students are waaay farther ahead of him and have way more gold stars than he does. So he starts reading the Book of Mormon every chance he gets, between classes, after school etc. He describes,  "In doing this, you would think that I developed a strong testimnony, or finished it first, but no "I got none of that...all I got was what I went for...gold stars" This really made me think... what are my intentions in my life, are some things I do just for the "gold star" or for the praise of it, or is it truly for to serve and love God? It was really good to think about. 

Anyways, I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Remington

P.S. Its so awesome you guys saw my Thai friend, Ariel (Sis San from Chiang Mai) on Temple Square!! 

P.P.S. This is some legit Thai food our investigator took us to eat..spicy somtam (papaya salad), and yes...bugs

Artistic Elephants and A Time to Endure to the End

Hey everyone!

Today was a fun day! This morning we rode elephants, and saw an elephant show. This is the third time on my mission riding elephants, but no one else in my district had yet so off we rode. Elephants in general are probs a one time thing, but today at the show I saw them paint pictures and realized....man elephants are waayyy more artistic than I am!

This transfer is over now, and Sister Carrillo AND my whole district are all staying in Lampang another transfer! WE are so happy! We love it here. 

This week I went on a switch off with Sister Peck (she dies (finishes her mission) next transfer), and she is crazy good at Thai! Man I have a long way to go still. On this switchoff we were inviting at Central, which is the mall chain all over Thailand, and we got kicked out! Getting kicked out is nothing unusual, but this time the Lady was blowing her whistle at me saying I needed to leave immediately...so we did...classic. 

Another funny thing that happened this week was we were on a bus and this guy and his family starts talking to us in broken english.  I respond to him in Thai thinking he was Thai, he is then all, "I don't understand you." To which I continued saying the same stuff over and over in Thai. Finally, I clue in and ask, "Where are you from?" And it turns out they were from Korea....oopssss. I swear they looked Thai. They wanted to take a picture with us when we got off the bus though, so I guess it was all chill. That same night I was contacting and I did the same thing again...but this time it was someone from Nepal...oh man so embarrassing.

. 

One day this week when Sister Carrillo and I were going to teach an investigator, Brother S (the guy that got baptized last week), called us and wanted to help teach.  A while later, he rides up on his bicycle in a suit and starts following us all around the town... it was waay funny. 

Lately here in Lampang the weather will be crazy hot in the morning and then it will crazily rain at night...like up to your knees while riding your bike rain.... I finally bought a rain poncho at 7/11 though so hopefully I will now be able to show up a little less wet to lessons. 

I have been feeling so tired lately, it is crazy. One day this week Sister Carrillo and I were reciting these memorized quotes in Thai, and switching  back and forth with who said one. As she was saying one... I somehow managed to fall asleep...in the space of like 10 seconds, and sitting up too!  Sister Carrillo just said she watched me for a minute or two because she couldn't believe I had actually fallen asleep. Lately I feel like I have felt kinda far away, I feel like I have been here so long (In a week I will have been on my mission a year), and it feels like it has been both fast and slow. It is a weird feeling and the work feels....not slower, but more routine. I know this is just Satan though, and that when we face a trial we need to, "Point our faces to heaven and say.... I know what this is Lord, a time to prove myself...and then partner with him to endure well to the end." 

I love you all!!

Waffles and Donuts

Hey everyone!! I am super low on email time again, so if i didn't email you back...don't worry I still love you. 

This week was a great week, we had zone conference in Chiang Mai!! It was a really fun experience and some members and one of my recent converts came to visit me! I was so happy to see them!! We went to the wooden go-cart on the mountain place again (my district hadn't been, but I'd already been as a greenie) and it was good. I didn't do the cart thing again, but I did get to eat some really overpriced waffles on the top of a mountain! 

This week I realized that now only Elliott and Sawyer live at home...it was a weird realization. 

This was a good week, sadly one of our investigators with a baptismal date moved away (Thai people move so suddenly), but another one of our investigators got baptized this Sunday! I will tell you guys the story of how we met him and whatnot. 

The story of Brother S:

It was one of my first days in Lampang, and we were still figuring out the area. We were at the church to teach someone, but they hadn't shown up for  their appointment. We walked out of the church, and I saw this guy on the street. He asks me what time English class was, and I said, "Its at 630, but do you want to learn about Jesus?" He promptly replied, "Okay." The next day we taught him and as it turned out he'd had lessons with the missionaries about a year earlier. We tought him and he readily accepted everything.  When Sunday rolled around and he brought his wife and 2 kids to church! We were so excited and kept teaching him. One day he invited us to his house, and we realized that his house is the office of another Christian church where his father is the pastor, and he holds a leadership position. We thought it might be an obstacle as his father was not very happy, but in the end Brother S got baptized, and now his wife and kids are learning with us! The testimony he bore on Sunday was SOOO GREAT. He just testified of the restoration and his gratitude that we had found and taught him. The restoration is real guys, Joseph Smith really did restore this church. I am so excited to continue to teach him and his family. 

One day this week, it was totally pouring rain and Sister Carrillo and I were contacting...we felt a bit miserable and then this one Thai lady gave us her umbrella and another lady gave us juice. Thai people are sooo nice!! That same night we were contacting in the rain again and Sis Carrillo and I were talking about how we missed talking to our moms, and for some reason that made me think...."Man, all I want is a donut."  We didn't have time to go get donuts though, so we just got on our bikes to head home. We then see this white guy, and I dare Sister Carrillo to go invite him. (We hardly ever see foreigners in Lampang so we are more nervous to invite them) She proceed to say hi to him and a Thai girl with him. No sooner than she says hi the thai lady is like, "Here, take these donuts"....we were floored. They ended up not being to interested in learning with us, but we rode home floored that all we had said was hi and that lady had given us donuts. Defs a tender mercy. 

I love you guys soooo much, and was thinking about this scripture: Alma 26:27

Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

love,

Sister Remington

Fear not I am with thee, oh be not dismayed

Hey everyone! 

Sorry this email is going to be kinda short because I am super low on time. I am in Chiang Mai for zone conference so I am just writing this quick email. The STL's in Chiang Mai called me and also told me to come early tonight because all the members want to see me!! SO nice. 

It is so crazy to me that Wyatt is a freshman in college now! I feel sooo old. Everyone starting school makes me kinda miss it too, but I love being a missionary!! 

This week was good! It started off with the Elders doing, "The challenge". In this mission "The challenge" means:

-eat 1 large pizza from Pizza Company

-8 giant scoops of icecream from Swensons

-and slam (drink with milk) 8 tim tams

and all in the space of one hour. The Elders barfed... and it was hilarious. 

One kinda funny thing that happened this week was when I was inviting I asked someone, "Hey, do you know who Jesus Christ is?"

Their response, "One second, I'll google it for you."

It was pretty funny. 

This week we nearly had a new convert, but then he didn't show up for his baptism, so that was weird... and sad.  Fortunatley, we are teaching a couple other families right now, and they are awesome!!

This week we went and visited one of the families we are teaching only to realize... THEIR HOUSE IS AN OFFICE FOR ANOTHER CHRISTIAN CHURCH!  It was interesting...they are doing awesome though! They even gave us all their coffee to throw away. 

I was way sad one day this week, because I looked at the back of my head, and so much hair has fallen out I literally have a bald spot...so that was freaky, Hopefully I can do something about it, so I don't have to walk around like this for the rest of my life.  I think it is just lack of vitamins or something in the food here. 

This Sunday I was really impressed by the lyrics to, "How Firm a Foundation." My companion plays the piano for church and normally we all just sing along in Thai, but this Sunday I felt like when I sang, I needed to sing quietly in English. I did, and in doing so remembered the lyrics. 

1. How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!

What more can he say than to you he hath said, 

Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

2. In ev'ry condition--in sickness, in health,

In poverty's vale or abounding in wealth,

At home or abroad, on the land or the sea--

As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.

3. Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

In every condition we are in....sickness, health, far from home, working, starting University, or whatever - Heavenly Father is with us. In Thai the words are a bit different and essentially translate too...God will never leave us. I know he never will...no matter what our circumstances, he knows them and can help us. I love the first line of the last verse too, "Fear not I am with thee, oh be not dismayed." 

We don't need to fear. God is with us. He will strengthen us. This is my testimony, that we can pass through all trials with peace if we remember this. 

Love you,

Sister Rem

Just Do Your Best (and Auburn's 20th)

Hey everyone, this was another good week!

I found out that one of my investigators, Sister Ava, just got baptized back in Mahasarakham...so that was super happy news! 

This week I turned 20! I feel sooo old. Birthdays on missions are really weird too. But all in all it was a good day. Sister Carrillo made me some breakfast, which was Jackfruit and an "egg peanut butter and jelly sandwich". It was great! 

That night we had pizza for dinner, and then our Branch Mission leader and this other member got me a cake! We all ate the cake after English class and then we get on our bikes to go home, but unfortunately, my bike had a flat tire! So I was like run walking my bike home for like 15 minutes, until I finally got someone on the side of the road to just pump it up so I could ride really fast to get home. Good times. 

This week (to my relief) Sister Carrillo and I bought new beds! We went to this store called Home Pro (basically like Home Sense/Goods, Thai version), and I managed to order new beds for us and had them delivered to our house...all in Thai! After ordering I had this moment like, "Woah...I guess I actually speak Thai now." haha Anyways, the whole reason we got new beds in the first place was because they were like 67,328,964,839 years old, super uncomfortable, on the ground (well that's normal), and I kept finding spiders and lizards in my bed. 

I feel like I learned a pretty big lesson this week. There was one day we didn't really have any plans. No recent converts or investigators were available for a lesson, and we didn't know where to find any less active members etc.  Suffice it to say, we were planning on doing a lot of contacting. That morning in my studies I had read this story about this guy named Dave, who after his father died, inherited his business. Dave wasn't very old when he inherited, and as such was very worried about many of the decisions for the business.  Whenever he came to a decision regarding something he felt was critical to receive inspiration about, he would pray, but he wasn't getting any answers. Suffice it to say he was a little discouraged and frustrated. One night he had a dream in which he saw his Father and Dave decided to ask his Dad why none of the prayers about the business are being answered. His dad responded by saying, "Dave we don't much care about the business up here, what we care about very much is what you become because of your business." 

I loved this...it made me realize it doesn't matter so much what we do on a day to day basis, as long as we ensure that we are working towards becoming the person we know we should be. Heavenly Father always has a plan for us. 

Anyways, that day...the day with no plans, ended up being a great day!  We started off by going to give a member her phone back (she had left it at the church). That member then helped us locate where some LA's lived, and then we went and helped fold laundry at this other member's house (they have a laundromat), and then I asked that member if he could take us to see some LA's.  He was like, "when?" And I said, "Like right now?"  Immediately, he got on his bike and off we went.... we ended up finding 2 LA's, and one of them came to church that Sunday! After that we ate dinner at this AMAZING pizza place that this guy from New York opened up here, and then taught a really fun Book of Mormon class! It was such a good day. It really taught me that as long as you are trying to do your best, Heavenly Father will lead your path...and you will become. 

Lampang is really good! So many funny things happen on a day to day basis, and my comp and I have so much fun. We have a good number of investigators, and some with dates to be baptized. I will keep you all updated! 

Have an awesome week!

Love,

Sister Remington 

Prayers Are Always Answered

Hey everyone!!!! 

This week was so good!! I love it here in Lampang. I love the area, the district, my companion. Life is good. 

This week for P-day we went to go see some waterfalls, and a wat on the top of a mountain! We left earlyish this morning...and oh man, here's the scary story:

So a member offered to take us (so nice as it was an hour away), but he drove CRAZILY. I literally thought I was going to die. He was going like 120 up this giant canyon, dodging in and out of cars, and his car kept bottoming out and hitting the ground. My district and I exchanged looks of terror more than once. Finally we arrived at this beautiful waterfall, but then had to take this crazy pickup truck straight up the side of the mountain.....which we had to sit in the back of and hold on for dear life. We then get off and hiked straight up to the most beautiful Buddhist temple ever! I'll send pictures... that will explain. 

Anyways, this week was really good... I am having trouble remembering what happened...but I promise it was really good. We had a fun game night at the park on tuesday and played the classic Thai games of "ninja" and "do you love your neighbor."...yeah. 

We had some interesting experiences with a few interesting people here, but I'll save those stories for another time. 

This week we saw a lot of miracles. Whitewashing in, we didn't have very many investigators, but this week we were able to find some from contacting!! One of them brought his wife to church, and they all have dates to be baptized! We were also really blessed to see some LA's we visited come to church!

Sister Carrillo is really fun as a companion, and we have started running some mornings (T25 the other ones). When we run I feel like I am going to die, I am so out of shape....anyways its a good time. 

Okay, I promise I will write more next week, but I will close with a thought. One day this week I felt really worried... it was about a really little thing, but nonetheless I was worried. I was on my bike, biking around trying to contact and find LA's etc and I just was praying - praying to ask Heavenly Father to help me find the answer...that day. On that bike ride I felt comforted, and then later that day, something one of our RC's (who is 10) said comforted my worries. It was after the lesson was over, and just a passing comment, but I realized..."hey, that was an answer to my prayer." I guess where I am going with this is that prayer works. When we pray in faith, and not just say meaningless words, but pray like we are actually talking to someone, our Father, our prayers will be answered. They may not always be answered in a big way, and sometimes it takes some pondering to realize what the answer was to our prayer...but they are always answered. 

I love you guys.

Sister Remington  

I've Moved to Lampang- Back To The Mountains!

Hey everyone!!!!!!!! 

Woah SO much has happened since I last emailed. Like SO much. 

First off I will start with the fact that I moved areas!! I am now in Lampang, so I am in the north part of Thailand again, about an hour away from my first area,  Chiang Mai! There are mountains all around and the weather isn't so hot...I love it!! 

You may remember that Lampang is the place I went on a switch off as a greenie and got the WORST food poisoning of my life!  When I got transferred there, everyone in the mission seemed to have heard that story because they all thought it was pretty funny that I am here. 

I LOVE IT HERE!!! MY NEW COMPANION IS AWESOME. Her name is Sister Carillo, she's 19 and is from Meridian, Idaho and we get along so well! She's been in Thailand only about 4 months! We are already having so much fun! My district is awesome too, and (PLOT TWIST).... we all whitewashed into Lampang. Whitewashing means that they moved the 4 old missionaries that were here away, and moved us four in....which is fun but a bit scary. We all literally know nothing about this area, where to go, or any of the members. So far everyone has been super nice and helpful!! All we have to go off of is a book with some pictures and sticky notes.  I know we will all get to know this area soon, and see a lot of good stuff happen. 

Okay, let me back up now. Flash back to last Sunday...Elder Holland came and spoke to the Thai members, and it was an amazing talk! All the missionaries got to go to Bangkok to hear it. Something that I liked from his talk was that he spoke a lot about missionaries. He spoke of going to visit Palmyra, and seeing a Thai sister missionary there giving tours. He thought of how far away she was from home, and as such took his grandchildren back for 3 tours, all because he wanted her to practice teaching, he wanted her to have a good mission experience. He then asked that all the Thai members do the same...that they provide people for us to teach, and help this work go forth. He said he knows that the Thai people are praying for their sons, daughters and family members on missions, and that our families...far away in America, Canada or herever they may be are praying for us too, praying that we will have a good experience and love our missions. I just know that you guys pray for me and I just want you to know that it makes a HUGE difference. 

Elder Holland also shared this quote, "What we've been given...we need to give away. What's been handed to us, we need to hand to others." I really liked that as I realize more and more on my mission how much I have been given, and how important it is to share with others. 

A really happy moment happened this week. It was at transfer meeting in Bangkok, and I saw a member from Chiang Mai who I hadn't seen since I was a greenie. She told me she had gotten her mission call to England! She then thanked me for helping her so much, saying I was a person who had helped her decide to go on a mission. She explained to me that she was so worried about her life around 9 months ago, and couldn't decide what she should be doing...if she should go on a mission, school etc. She said one night Sister Ellis and I were talking to her, and she couldn't decided what to do.. Sister Ellis gave good advice, and I said what I could at the time in the Thai I knew...but then I went into another room and brought out a Liahona Magazine and gave her an article about making decisions. I totally remembered doing that...going into the library in Chiang Mai and trying to find an article about making decisions, opened to one (I don't think I'd read it) and then gave it to her. She explained to me that it was the article that helped her decide to go..and that she's shared it with other people, and she said it has helped them decide to be missionaries too. It was such a happy moment to hear this, as sometimes when you start your mission it is easy to feel like you didn't help very many people, but that is never true...God will always use YOU, and what you know...no matter how little will be enough to help. 

Leaving Mahasarakham was sooooo sad. I will miss all the members and RC's there soo much. It has been hard not to worry about them as we whitewashed out, but I trust all will be okay. Sister Dew drew me some awesome pictures of me (which I will send)...and Sister Nok gave me the cutest bird earrings (as nok means bird) to put on if I miss her...which I will! It literally felt like Sister Nok was my best friend in Thailand...she helped me so much in so many ways that I can't even explain. Suffice it to say a few tears were shed. 

What else is there to say...I feel like so much has happened!! Oh yeah! Last Sunday some members from the US that live in Thailand invited us over for dinner and it was sooo good! They are the same people that made that "pirating" commercial that is all over the place...you know the one that's like, "You wouldn't steal a car, you wouldn't steal a tv...pirating is stealing." Wyatt will know what I am talking about. Anyways...the food was sooo good! It was probably my 2nd time I have had homemade food on my mission (that's american). 

Lampang has been great so far, yesterday at church the members were so nice and helpful! I am excited to figure things out a bit more here. In fact the first day we were here..we were studying (our house is like by this river in kind of a jungle), and two random ladies (maybe the landlords?) peaked their heads in our window and start talking to us...asking us how things are going! So hilar. 

Okay...I just want to close with a thought.  It is a bit of what Elder Holland talked about. He told this story of a boy going to a birthday party who saved up all his money to buy a present for his friend..he wrapped it up carefully and gave it to his friend..who immediately rejected it saying, "I don't want this!" Elder Holland then related it to how if we reject a gift, "we reject the giver." Our lives are a gift, the gospel is a gift, and the atonement is a gift...we need to accept and use these things with gratitude and happiness...so that we don't reject the giver who is Jesus Christ. I love this work...and I love you all!!

love,

Sister Remington