Hola familia! Como estas, todos?
Just practicing my Spanish. I hardly remember any. My brain is just all full of Thai. I feel like I can't even speak English right anymore, cuz my grammer is all off. Oh, well at least the other missionaries understand me! Hahaha! So, another week flew by! So crazy! I am getting so excited to get to talk to you all again in TWO MONTHS!!!! That is coming up so fast! E-mailing just never quite feels like enough, so it will be way awesome to actually get to talk to all of you! Speaking of things coming up way too fast...HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!!!!!! Man, I cannot believe that you are 18 already. You are officially an adult as of Wednesday. CRAZY! And Happy late Irish Day...I celebrated by wearing green. We were gonna go eat something Irish, but...we're in Thailand, so...yeah. Kelsie, you are so stinkin funny! I was laughing so hard I was crying when I read that! Too cute! Kayla, hang in there with soccer. Your talent is a gift from God, and you have the kind of personality where everyone wants to be your friend, so hang in there, it will get better! Jennah, keep working hard on those grades, I promise it is SO worth it!
Sister Tano is doing good. We never went to get her shots, but the bite barely scratched the skin, and she seems to be ok, so that is good. We are just working really hard out pounding the pavement every day. It is great. Even though it is really hard and frustrating to be out inviting everyday, I love it because that is when I feel most like a missionary. When I am out walking around Thailand, sweating, with a Book of Mormon in my hands being rejected by one person after another after another. Those are the times I really feel like I am fulfilling my purpose. President Smith calls it "the anvil of our faith", and he always says that if we aren't being rejected we are doing something wrong. I am really starting to see how I can show my love for these people by being bold. We are here to let people know that they can be saved in the kingdom of God by repenting and being baptized. We have to let them know they have a choice, and to help make that choice clear for them, so if I can walk away from someone feeling like I have done that, it makes me feel good! Anyway, we aren't into rainy season, yet. It is still just hot. We will get into rainy season about July and it should last through about October. We only have one branch here, so we only have to go to church for three hours. Thailand is still so young in the church that they only have like 6 or 7 wards in one stake, all in Bangkok. The rest are all branches and districts. It is definately WAY different from the church in America. Our branch is one of the highest in church attendance and we only get about 80-85 people coming every week. The sad thing is that there are over 600 people on the records in our branch and only 85 of them are active. So us and the Elders are really working on visiting and re-activating less actives, and making sure our investigators are truly converted, so they don't get baptized and fall away. We ride our bikes everywhere unless we are inviting, then we park them and walk. My shoes are holding up SO well! I am way impressed with them! And they are so perfect when it rains too! If I could have anything from home....um, starbursts, skittles, cheese-its, pictures of the family...oooh, hair gel...my hair is SO frizzy here, it's gross. : ) Speaking of things from home, did you get a chance to send those letters from the kids?
Our week was crazy and way fun! On THursday we had a zone training in Khon Kaen, which was way fun! It is always awesome to get to be around other missionaries. It is always just one big party. Especially for the missionaries in Khorat since there are only four of us and all other areas have at least 6. So the pictures I am sending are of the sisters in my zone. They are SO awesome! So there is this one member here, her name is Sister Lek. She is super cute and is trying really hard to learn English, so she says some really funny things. We found out a couple weeks ago that one of the Phillipino sisters in our branch is pregnant, so Sister Lek went around telling every one in English, "Sister Lerma is pigment", but no matter how many times we corrected her, she just couldn't say it right! Then yesterday, we were sitting in ward correlation meeting, and she was talking to Elder Doria, shaking her fist at him and asking, "Do you want to eat a suckle?" Hahaha! She was mixing up knuckle sandwich and sucker punch, and came up with suckle! So funny! I just wanted to tell her, my mom is really good at making up her own language, too! HAhaha! So great!
K, well I had better end this novel now. I love you all tons and can't wait to hear from you again! Have a wonderful, fantastic week!
ซิสเตอร์ วอลเลซ
Sister Wallace
Jess
About Me
- Sister Jessica Wallace - ซิสเตอร์ วอลเลซ
- Bangkok, Thailand
- I love being on a mission and I love my family.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
March 11, 2012
Hello family!
I wish I could think of a more interesting way to start my e-mails, but for now, I got nothin! I SO love hearing how all of you are doing! It makes my week! Mama, it sounds like you are so busy! I am glad your new job is taking care of you! I just hope you don't get burned out! Yay! Soccer season! I love soccer season! I am excited to watch all of you play when I come home! As for Jared and the military, I used to hate the idea, but I'm pretty sure every Elder in the Thailand mission are in or want to be in the military and listening to them, my perspective has changed a bit. It really would be good for him...BUT it is NO EXCUSE TO NOT SERVE A MISSION!!!!!! There is nothing in the world that could ever replace or make up for dedicating that time in your life to serving the Lord. It is an opportunity that no young man should EVER EVER pass up! And I think that girls should all go to...unless God tells them otherwise! : ) Ok, that is my soapbox for the day. Interesting fact about Thailand, all young men when they turn 18 are required by law to serve in the Thai military for at least two years. So all of the Thai Elders in the mission are older, because of that. Wow! That is super crazy that Kristin and Nate had another baby! How fun! Grandma Pancheri wrote me a letter (so sweet) and told me about how they were going to induce Kristin on March 9th and, phaa dee, I got the letter on March 9th! Too funny! How is Austin's foot doing? I can think of another teenage boy who one accidently shot himself in the leg...maybe they could be friends! Hahaha! But, I am really glad Austin is ok. And I am way excited for Alyssa that she didn't get cut! Is she loving waitressing or not so much? It can be a really frustrating job somedays, but the cash in hand everyday is addicting!
Well, this week was absolutely nuts! On top of trying to get our investigators taught, and find new ones, and visit recent converts and less-active members, and teach english, and everything else we have to get done, we also got kicked out of our house...yeah. We have been trying to move and we had a new apartment all set up, but we werent' going to be able to move til the end of this month, cuz the crazy land lady wouldn't let us out of the contract until the end of the month. Well, I am not quite sure what happened, but we were teaching a lesson on Wednesday, and when we got out we had like 10 different missed calls and messages from the land lady and from the mission office saying that we were being kicked out and we had until 6pm to get our stuff out of the house. So we had to cancel a few appointments (so frustrating) and miss most of English in order to get moved out. Luckily, our new landlady at the apartment was totally willing to let us move in early, and we have AMAZING branch members! Seriously, within 30 minutes of all this we had half the branch at our house, packing up all of our stuff and loading it all into cars and trucks. We didn't even tell anyone what was going on exept the Elders, and I guess they told the Branch President who called all the members. It was the sweetest, cutest thing I have ever seen! These people are incredible. They are so willing to help, and they do it happily without being asked. So great! That was Wednesday, then Thursday, we got a call from the Elders asking us to go to the church to help translate for a man from California. So we went to the church and met this man. I guess he has a friend who's wife just kicked him out of her house because he is a crazy drunk, and is now detoxing.He needed us to help him find an apartment for this friend while he detoxes. He used to be married to an LDS women, and came to the church for help because he knew we would help him with no strings attatched. Well, turns out that this man is "Buddhist" and believes that in his previous life he was Japanese, and he came to Thailand and killed a bunch of Thai and Cambodian and Vietnamese people. So he came back to Thailand in this life to visit the place he killed them all at and ask their graves for forgiveness, and next year to make up for killing all those people in his past life, he is going to come back and teach the poor Thai people how to make Thai food so that they can feed themselves. Did I mention that this guy used to be addicted to just about every drug under the sun? He was quite a character! But he is a child of God too, and he came to church on Sunday, so maybe this is an opportunity for him to turn his life around? Also, Sister Tano got bit by a dog yesterday, and we spent like 30 minutes debating whether she needed rabies shots or not. She ended up not getting the shots, so hope she's ok. So, yeah, it was a crazy week, and time is flying! As of Thursday, I have exactly a year left before I come home...NUTS!!! How did we get to March already?
K, well, I love you all! Have a wonderful week, don't worry, be happy, Hakuna Matata, and all that kinda stuff! Love you tons!
Jess
I wish I could think of a more interesting way to start my e-mails, but for now, I got nothin! I SO love hearing how all of you are doing! It makes my week! Mama, it sounds like you are so busy! I am glad your new job is taking care of you! I just hope you don't get burned out! Yay! Soccer season! I love soccer season! I am excited to watch all of you play when I come home! As for Jared and the military, I used to hate the idea, but I'm pretty sure every Elder in the Thailand mission are in or want to be in the military and listening to them, my perspective has changed a bit. It really would be good for him...BUT it is NO EXCUSE TO NOT SERVE A MISSION!!!!!! There is nothing in the world that could ever replace or make up for dedicating that time in your life to serving the Lord. It is an opportunity that no young man should EVER EVER pass up! And I think that girls should all go to...unless God tells them otherwise! : ) Ok, that is my soapbox for the day. Interesting fact about Thailand, all young men when they turn 18 are required by law to serve in the Thai military for at least two years. So all of the Thai Elders in the mission are older, because of that. Wow! That is super crazy that Kristin and Nate had another baby! How fun! Grandma Pancheri wrote me a letter (so sweet) and told me about how they were going to induce Kristin on March 9th and, phaa dee, I got the letter on March 9th! Too funny! How is Austin's foot doing? I can think of another teenage boy who one accidently shot himself in the leg...maybe they could be friends! Hahaha! But, I am really glad Austin is ok. And I am way excited for Alyssa that she didn't get cut! Is she loving waitressing or not so much? It can be a really frustrating job somedays, but the cash in hand everyday is addicting!
Well, this week was absolutely nuts! On top of trying to get our investigators taught, and find new ones, and visit recent converts and less-active members, and teach english, and everything else we have to get done, we also got kicked out of our house...yeah. We have been trying to move and we had a new apartment all set up, but we werent' going to be able to move til the end of this month, cuz the crazy land lady wouldn't let us out of the contract until the end of the month. Well, I am not quite sure what happened, but we were teaching a lesson on Wednesday, and when we got out we had like 10 different missed calls and messages from the land lady and from the mission office saying that we were being kicked out and we had until 6pm to get our stuff out of the house. So we had to cancel a few appointments (so frustrating) and miss most of English in order to get moved out. Luckily, our new landlady at the apartment was totally willing to let us move in early, and we have AMAZING branch members! Seriously, within 30 minutes of all this we had half the branch at our house, packing up all of our stuff and loading it all into cars and trucks. We didn't even tell anyone what was going on exept the Elders, and I guess they told the Branch President who called all the members. It was the sweetest, cutest thing I have ever seen! These people are incredible. They are so willing to help, and they do it happily without being asked. So great! That was Wednesday, then Thursday, we got a call from the Elders asking us to go to the church to help translate for a man from California. So we went to the church and met this man. I guess he has a friend who's wife just kicked him out of her house because he is a crazy drunk, and is now detoxing.He needed us to help him find an apartment for this friend while he detoxes. He used to be married to an LDS women, and came to the church for help because he knew we would help him with no strings attatched. Well, turns out that this man is "Buddhist" and believes that in his previous life he was Japanese, and he came to Thailand and killed a bunch of Thai and Cambodian and Vietnamese people. So he came back to Thailand in this life to visit the place he killed them all at and ask their graves for forgiveness, and next year to make up for killing all those people in his past life, he is going to come back and teach the poor Thai people how to make Thai food so that they can feed themselves. Did I mention that this guy used to be addicted to just about every drug under the sun? He was quite a character! But he is a child of God too, and he came to church on Sunday, so maybe this is an opportunity for him to turn his life around? Also, Sister Tano got bit by a dog yesterday, and we spent like 30 minutes debating whether she needed rabies shots or not. She ended up not getting the shots, so hope she's ok. So, yeah, it was a crazy week, and time is flying! As of Thursday, I have exactly a year left before I come home...NUTS!!! How did we get to March already?
K, well, I love you all! Have a wonderful week, don't worry, be happy, Hakuna Matata, and all that kinda stuff! Love you tons!
Jess
March 4th, 2011
Hello family! Another week gone by and this one actually feels like it went fast! Hopefully they all start to feel that way! Monday and Tuesday were spent getting Sister Lish packed and ready to go home. Then Wednesday we went down to Bangkok and I got to spend the day with some of the other sisters, which was SO fun! Then Thursday we had transfer meeting! I got to see half of the people who were in the MTC with me, which was awesome! I feel like they are my MTC family and it was so great to get to see and catch up with them, since I haven't seen any of them except Sis. Farnsworth in over 3 months! So crazy! So my new companion, Sister Tano, is awesome! It's kinda funny, she just got done training Sister Farnsworth and now she gets me! She is super sweet and a really hard worker. I have never been so tired since I have been out here as now, but I have never been so happy either. It is so true when they say you just need to work hard and lose yourself in the work. And we just have tons of fun as we are working. It's great! Anyway, she is from Hawaii. The weather here is hot and muggy, but it is better up here in Khorat than down in Bangkok. Bangkok is SO STINKIN HOT!! Kinda glad I am not there right now, but I am hoping that I get to serve there at some point, cuz it is way cool! The work is still kinda slow here right now, but we have been working really hard, and I know that in the Lord's time He will bless us for that.
I'm so excited for the girls to get to go on trek! I so loved getting to do that and I'm sure they will too! I wish I could go too! That would be really good if you were able to move into a different house in your ward boundaries. I have gotten a couple of letters and an e-mail from Bishop Waite, and he seems way awesome! I can tell that he really loves all of you and is taking good care of you! I will pray that you are able to stay in your ward boundaries too!
As for my favorite scripture, the one that always gets me is Alma 26:11-16. I feel exactly that way. I know that without God I am nothing. I am one of the weak things of the world. But with God I can do all things, and I can glory in that knowledge. But I feel like I have a new scripture every week that touches me, and helps me get through the week, and this week is Ecclesiastes 3:1-11. They are such beautiful scriptures! I love how it talks about all of the joys and pains and heartbreaks and stuggles and fun times in life. "A time to weep and a time to laugh: a time to mourn and a time to dance". And then "I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it". I know that God gives us good and bad experiences so that we can be molded and refined, and a lot of times that molding and refining really hurts, but, "He hath made everything beautiful in His time". And then at the end of 11. We can't see the perspective God sees. We can't see the end result, but we weren't meant too. God can see it though. He sees the beautiful person we will become at the end of this life, and He knows what we need to experience to get us there. We just have to trust in Him, be patient through the pain, be moldable and wait to see the end result, cuz it's gonna be awesome. These scriptures were just a huge testimony to me of God's love for us, and how much more I need to trust in Him and in His timing.
I love you all so much more than I could ever say, and I know Heavenly Father loves you even more than that. I know that He is watching out for all of you and that He will make everything work out for the best. All we have to do is trust in Him, and keep His commandments. Well, enough preaching for one day...til tonight when I teach a lesson anyway! Have a great week! Be safe, return with honor, don't pick your underwear out of your butt where people can see : ) and keep smiling!
Love, Jess
I'm so excited for the girls to get to go on trek! I so loved getting to do that and I'm sure they will too! I wish I could go too! That would be really good if you were able to move into a different house in your ward boundaries. I have gotten a couple of letters and an e-mail from Bishop Waite, and he seems way awesome! I can tell that he really loves all of you and is taking good care of you! I will pray that you are able to stay in your ward boundaries too!
As for my favorite scripture, the one that always gets me is Alma 26:11-16. I feel exactly that way. I know that without God I am nothing. I am one of the weak things of the world. But with God I can do all things, and I can glory in that knowledge. But I feel like I have a new scripture every week that touches me, and helps me get through the week, and this week is Ecclesiastes 3:1-11. They are such beautiful scriptures! I love how it talks about all of the joys and pains and heartbreaks and stuggles and fun times in life. "A time to weep and a time to laugh: a time to mourn and a time to dance". And then "I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it". I know that God gives us good and bad experiences so that we can be molded and refined, and a lot of times that molding and refining really hurts, but, "He hath made everything beautiful in His time". And then at the end of 11. We can't see the perspective God sees. We can't see the end result, but we weren't meant too. God can see it though. He sees the beautiful person we will become at the end of this life, and He knows what we need to experience to get us there. We just have to trust in Him, be patient through the pain, be moldable and wait to see the end result, cuz it's gonna be awesome. These scriptures were just a huge testimony to me of God's love for us, and how much more I need to trust in Him and in His timing.
I love you all so much more than I could ever say, and I know Heavenly Father loves you even more than that. I know that He is watching out for all of you and that He will make everything work out for the best. All we have to do is trust in Him, and keep His commandments. Well, enough preaching for one day...til tonight when I teach a lesson anyway! Have a great week! Be safe, return with honor, don't pick your underwear out of your butt where people can see : ) and keep smiling!
Love, Jess
Sunday, February 26, 2012
D&C 50:40-42-Fear 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
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
Sunday, February 12, 2012
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
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
Sunday, February 5, 2012
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!
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?
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?
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