D&C 50:40-42-F​ear not, little children for you are mine

Hello again family!
Sounds like you all had a really fun, crazy week! I so love hearing all about eveyone's soccer adventures. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALYSSA!!! Everyone is growing up so fast! Jared is gonna be 18 soon! Nuts! I am going to be 22 in two months! AAGGHH!!! How did that happen? I still feel like a 15 year old teenager most of the time! I am so sorry that Dad has to be gone so much! That is so hard. I'm so glad you look for the silver lining, though, even when it is so hard. In Ether 12:4 it talks about hope in Christ being an anchor to our souls, and how we can hope for a better world. My companion always describes that as a better world after this life, but I like to think that when we have hope and faith in Christ we can hope that this world, this life will get better. We will recieve strength in our trials, and eventually move past them, and come out better, happier people for them with an even greater hope and faith in Christ and in God's love and His plan for us. That doesn't make the trials go away though. I wish it did sometimes. It was so great getting to talk to Dad last week, though! I missed getting to talk to you, Mama, but I am so grateful I got to talk to him. Oh, and I can't wait to get to bring you back here to Thailand and show you around! That will be so much fun! OOhh! I am so excited for the girls to get to go on trek. Both years I went were so amazing! It really is such a great experience! That is way cool that they are letting Kayla go too. Malary Trautman wrote me about it also. It is a stake trek, right? Awesome. She is way excited to get to go too.
So this week two of the older couple missionary office Elders came to visit us in Khorat because we are trying to move houses and they had to approve it and sign forms and what not. One of them is a thai Elder and he is SOOO funny. He told us the same joke like 5 times! In Thailand the year right now is 2555, not 2012. So he told us that this year is the year of song and laughter, because the words in thai for 2 and 5 are song and ha, so the year is song ha ha ha! Too funny! He thinks he is pretty clever, kinda like some other boys I know in our family! This week was way stressful. It was my 2nd to last week of training, so I had to lead all of the lessons and lead planning. It was way stressful, and I spent a lot of time crying, but I learned that I can do it! Which is good because in less than two weeks we have transfer meeting and Sister Lish will be going home and I won't be moving, so I will have to lead the area for a little while. So this week will be spent getting Sis Lish packed, visiting all the people she wants to say goodbye to and getting me ready to lead. Crazy!
Well I love you all tons! I don't have any crazy stories this week, sorry! More next week I am sure! Have an awesome week!
Love, Jess

February 5, 2012

Hello! I read this scripture this morning and it made me laugh! When things get hard, and when you are being attacked(by Satan) just do as the Nephites do and fight like a dragon! Speaking of...I forgot to tell you all...Happy New Year! A couple weeks ago it was Chinese New Year (huge in Thailand), and it is now the year of the dragon! Way cool! As for holidays, how was Groundhog day? Is spring coming early or late this year? I can't believe Jared is going to be 18 either! That is nuts! All the kids need to just quit growing up! I am not ok with it! Hahaha, as Dad would say, I'm just going to cut them all off at the knees! HAha! Wow, Alyssa's job sounds like tons of fun, and that is way awesome that you all get to go eat for free there! Way cool! Hey, I forgot to tell you, I thik it is way awesome that the prison will pay for you to get your RN! And it is awesome that you are willing to stick out this crazy job and crazy hours and still work toward getting your RN. That is way awesome! So, I found out that the Thursday before my birthday is transfer meeting.
That is way awesome that Michelle is so willing to help out! She is way awesome! Say Hi to "Aunt Shell" for me!
Sorry, I'm pretty sure I keep you working as much as or more than your four jobs! I did get the e-mail from Jeana! She is SO awesome! Love that girl, and I am glad she is doing so well!
Thailand is good. I am really starting to love it and love these people! We definately find a new adventure every day! Saturday we met this lady who makes some kind of herbal plant drink that can cure every ailment under the sun! She gave us one for free so we could try it. It was DISGUSTING!!!! Hahaha! So we just tried to sip on it a little at a time, and not puke it back up! Then later that day we met this cute little guy who runs a coffee shop, who talks a mile a minute and doesn't take a breathe and was telling us all about how he wants to travel the world someday, but He isn't sure he wants to see snow, etc. etc etc.......for like an hour straight! SO cute!
K, well I love you all! Have a wonderful week! And fight like a dragon, k?
Jess

Email from Jan. 29, 2012 - Sorry I have been so bad. The new job, I guess. I will be better!!

Hello family!
Thank you for the e-mail! It always makes my week to hear from you! Mama, it was SO great to get to chat with you last week! I miss just getting to sit adn talk to you, but it was awesome to get close to that! Are you so excited to start indoor soccer? That sounds like so much fun! It will be an awesome way for you and Jared to get some time together too! I am so proud of all of the kids for working so hard to get their grades up! It is SO worth it to put in the work and get good grades in school. I wish I would have worked harder. Please tell Kristin I am so sorry for her loss. That is so hard! put up some pictures of Christ by my bed like you suggested and it is really nice to go to bed and wake up to those. It helps me to remember that I am out here doing the work of the Lord and that He is always with me. If you can, I would love some print pictures of the family, and of the mountains! Hahaha, I never thought I would miss the view of mountains! It is funny the things you find you miss when you don't have them anymore. But it will make me more grateful for them when I come home! I am so excited for Cory and Tammy! Have they decided for sure what they want to name her yet? That is way awesome that Alyssa was able to get a job as a waitress! I think she will love it! IT is so fun! And I am SO glad Josh is still planning and working towards a mission. It will be so worth it for him! I think everyone should go on a mission if they are able! It is definately SO hard, but it has been so worth it for me to learn about myself, to come to know my Savior more personally, and to see the miracle of the gospel in people's lives and understand what an incredible blessing it is. I am sad that I have taken that blessing for granted for so long, but I am grateful for the chance now to show my gratitude. That poor man at the prison! What a crazy story! Mama, please be way careful working there. I know you will be, but still...scary!
This last Monday, Sister Lish and I got to go to the zoo here in Khorat. I have never seen such a huge zoo ever! We had to ride a golfcart around it to be able to see even half of it in two hours! SO cool though! Being there made me so grateful for Pappo and his love of nature and that he instilled that in me too! Other than that this week was spent looking for nbew investigators, which was really hard, cuz it rained...A LOT! And it isn't even rainy season yet! I have seriously never in my life seen rain like this. We were literally soaked within seconds. It is nuts! And people all think we are crazy when we are out trying to invite in the rain, which isn't super successful. But we got one really good referal. This guy is super nice and seems really interested! And he likes soccer! So it was cool for me to get to talk soccer with him for a minute. It really made him open up to us, and I actually felt kinda useful! It was so great! This week I have really been trying to work on being positive and looking for the good things in every day. I never thought that that would be hard for me. It never really was before. I have always been a pretty positive person, but it is hard for me right now. But I also know that that is Satan trying to get to me, and that if I just keep looking for the good, that is what I will find, and God will bless me for it. I have been reading the Liahona a lot lately, and found a really neat poem that Pres. Monson quoted that I LOVE!!!
"And I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year:
Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown.
And He replied:
Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the
Hand of God. That shall be to you
Better than a light and
Safer than a known way"
-M. Louise Haskins
I know that when we let God lead our lives, He will never lead us astray. And though sometimes it will still be dark, and we may not understand where He is leading us, we know that we can trust HIm, because He loves us and wants nothing more that for us to find true, eternal happiness. Even when that means we have to fight some hard battles in this life to get there.
I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week! Miss ya tons!

Did I really not post the most recent.......shame on me. Email from Jan. 22, 2012

Hello everyone!
Mama, thank you so much for that e-mail! You always have the best advice and I feel so much better today after reading it. You just always seem to know what I need to hear. So thank you thank you thank you!!! Wow, it sounds like Dad had a really scary experience, but I am SO grateful that He is ok. I am so sorry that you have to be away from each other so much. I can only imagine how hard that is on both of you. And working four jobs? Mom! that's crazy! Are you doing ok? Are you sleeping and staying healthy? That is really nice that they are able to switch your schedule at the prison! It will be awsome for you to be able to be home (hopefully?) in the evenings! Are you really going to play soccer and basketball? Way to go! That is so awesome! But are your knees going to be ok? Please tell Dad that I miss him and love him when you talk to him next, and that I know that he is crazy busy right now, but I would love to hear from him if he gets time! Mama, i am so grateful you write me every week! I feel like I am clingy-er (is that a word?) on the other side of the world than I was at home!! Hahaha! But you don't realize how good you have it til its gone. SO I just want to say I am so sorry that I took all that you did for me for granted at home. Being so far away and only getting to e-mail once a week makes me realize how grateful I am for a mom who loves me and does so much for me, and makes me grateful for and miss just being able to sit adn talk to you while you made dinner, or call you on the phone whenever I needed to. but I am SO grateful for e-mail! I thank I would go crazy if I had to wait for letters to get all the way to Thailand!



Wow, this week was hard. But I learned so much from it by the end of the week. So we went to Bangkok at the beginning of the week for Sister Lish to renew her Visa, and I got to see Sister Farnsworth!!! IT was so great to see her! I felt like I was seeing my sister again! But, I also found out that my noongs, the group in the MTC just younger than me, two of them didn't come this week like they were supposed to. One of them went home and one of them had some kidney problems and isn't coming til next week. I am glad the one is coming but it breaks my heart that the other isn't. Anyway, this week most of oujr investigators tinged us (decided not to meet with us anymore), and NONE of them came to church. Even the ones who have baptismal dates. And there has been someone at the church stealing money out of peoples wallets, and yeah, mine was one of those. Luckily, I only had 40 baht of personal money on me (about a dollar), but there was over 600 baht of MSF mission money stolen. I felt SO bad. I shouldn't have left my bag sitting there. None, of my cards or camera or anything else was stolen though, just the money. And the Branch President wanted to take my wallet and have it finger printed and then fingerprint all of the members and investigators at the church to find out who it was (luckily, he gave up on that one). So Sunday morning I felt so overwhelmed, and went into the bathroom to pray away from eveyone, and was adking God what I am doing wrong, what I need to fix to be a better missionary and to not lose investigators. And I just started thinking about how all week I had only looked at the bad. I hadn't stopped to look at all of the ways God had blessed me that week. I also just thought that I need to be trusting in the Lord. In His timing and in His plan. SO those are my goals of things to work on for this week! Oh, and we had transfers so we got a new district leader. His name is Elder Black and he seems awesome! It will be fun to see what he can help us accomplish in Khorat!
Well, I love you all tons adn miss you as always! Hey, by the way, could you please send me some family pictures? I don't have pics of everyone. That would be way awesome! Have a great week!
Jess
P.S. I heard David Archuleta announced he is going on a mission! Is that true?