Teaching the dead, mental breakdowns, getting pooped on, creeped on and hit by cars... Yep, I'm a Missionary Now!

Ok so WHAT A WEEK! It has been crazy here in P-Lok! But first off, I'm going to follow up on my commitment!! Who did it and how did it go?? I hope you all did! So now for some explaining... So this week we went to teach an LA that we didn't have a phone number for, so we just went to find him and when we got there we weren't sure exactly which house was his, so we asked some "neighbors" well turns out it wasn't his neighbors, it was his niece and she informed us that he had passed away about 6 months ago!! GAH!! We felt sooo bad! And I couldn't believe that no one had updated his records!! I guess that's what you get for being in an area w/ only elders for the past 20 years.... so yes that was an interesting day, and from there got worse... After we got back my companion got sick and was just feeling awful so we kind just rested for a while, and then we had to get her a blessing b/c she felt so sick! So that whole day was a mess! And then on top of that me and my companion have been pretty much switching off every other day w/ having some mini mental breakdowns from stress and such so that has been just awesome!!! We were on a role this week, it was almost every other day for a couple days there! haha at least it hasn't been on the same day yet! Ok so getting pooped on was a fun one... we had just gotten done w/ district meeting and were about to head home and as im putting my helmet on PLOP right on me was a nice thing of bird poop! GRROOOSSS!!! So i ran back into the church, a little bit screaming b/c it was gross... well the elders got a great kick out of it! At first they thought one of us had got hurt and were about to get the oil out, but when they realized i had just gotten pooped on they just busted up laughing at me.... so that was so fun! haha Creeped on x 2: the first one was this guy we had met on the invite and had gotten his number and we called him to try and set up an appt to teach, well apparently he didn't want to learn, he kept saying no no no just come over to my house i'll cook you dinner and we can talk then.... ya NO GOOD, so we deleted his number. Then we were at dinner later this week and this drunk guy comes up to our table and just starts going off about me apparently (I still don't understand anything) but my comp was saying he kept asking for my number and such... the best part about it... his wife was at the next table over!!! EEEWWW!!! So that was fun! Now for getting hit by cars! It wasn't me, but this week my companion got hit by a car!! AHH!! It was so scary! I just watched it all in the blink of an eye! This car just pulled out right in front of her and BAM! collision. Don't worry she is fine for the most part, she just has a nice bruise and she had some pre-existing neck problems which started to act up again though so we had to go to the doctor and get her some medicine... so basically the last 2 days she has been knocked out on muscle relaxants and i have been studying... a lot...!! So needless to say my brain is a little fried this week!! haha Now for some good news!! We have 2 DATERS!!! YAY!!! S. Naa and S. Bua are scheduled to be baptized on July 28th!!!! I am soooo excited for them! they are sooo great!! S. Bua asked what she has to do to get ready and it was so cute S. Naa was like, well you have to go to church and pray and study, Duh! hahaha It was awesome... they are 2 friends from school and both 21 so I'm super excited for them!!! We also had a great lesson with our investigator B. Woot.. I think i told you about him already, but he is the one who got baptized but not confirmed... well he is awesome! He really does have a testimony, he just feels really bad about how things happened w/ his baptism and such, so this week we went through Alma 36 with him and just kind of showed him that he hasn't gone out seeking to destroy the church like alma and alma was still forgiven, so he can be forgiven too and it was sooooo great!! And we got him to pray, which was really hard for him b/c he said he didn't feel worthy too... so I am just sooo excited for him!! Ok B. Art is another new investigator who is AWESOME!!!! we met him through English Class and he just really wants to learn more. This week we gave him a Book of Mormon and had asked him to read 3 Nephi 17, and at our next appt. apparently we didn't make it clear that we just wanted him to read that Ch. and he said he felt bad b/c he was only able to get through part of 1 Nephi! So cute!! I felt bad that we didn't explain that well enough, But he was reading and he came w/ questions! He asked us about the urim and thumum and stuff! So great! and he came to Church yesterday which is awesome!! I am a little bummed though b/c of the stupid Thai school system we won't be able to baptize him until the semester is over b/c he has school on sundays! same with B. Woot! Gosh I hate the Thai School system! But yesterday was a holiday for him so he didn't have to go to school so he came to church!! He is just sooo great!! We are meeting with him again tonight and i am super excited! So for some other fun news, yesterday i was trying to make some phone calls by myself while S. Maxwell was out.. and it was very interesting.. I first called B. Art to apologize that we had to leave church early (b/c S. Maxwell wasn't feeling well, so we only stayed for sacrament) And it was a disaster! He could not understand a single word i was saying! SAD DAY! eventually i just got out that we will call him back later when sis. maxwell was awake... haha Then I called another investigator of the Elders, B. Jay (who is getting baptized this week, YAY) To see if he could help us teach today, and he understood me, but i could not understand him!! AH! so i told him we would call back later too... so fun day with the phone!! hahaha Well I think that's about it for right now! It was a pretty crazy week, but that's the life of a missionary right?? I love this work and i know that this is the true church! I am so grateful to have this knowledge and to help others come unto Christ as well! It is soo great to see the changes beginning already in these people's lives! I just love missionary work soooo much!! YAY! Now for a commitment! Go on splits with the missionaries!!! Oh my heavens it can be so frustrating when you have an investigator (of the opposite sex) and can't find a member to go with you!!! b/c if we don't have a female member, we can't teach!!! So go help your missionaries teach!! They will love it! Love you all and hope things are going well! Love, ซ. อิฅรี

New Investigators. YAY!!!

So this week was really awesome! We got 13 new investigators, who all seem SOO amazing!! I am so excited to see them progress! Most of them were from English class, but one of my favorites was as we were going out inviting we came across this cute old lady and were talking to her for a minute, and when we asked her if we could come talk to her for a minute, she politely declined saying it wasn't convenient because she was about to watch some Muay Thai (the thai boxing) HAHAHA!! So funny! this sweet little old lady going to watch some boxing, which apparently is very common here and you really can't interrupt them during it! But we returned a couple days later and asked her if we could teach her then and she was much more willing b/c i guess muay thai wasn't on, and her family was there too so we got to chat with them as well and we are going back again this week and they just all seem great! her kids have talked to some elders a little a few years ago, but never with sisters and they seem really open and interested! and since i can't ever remember her name, she is just Muay Thai Maa to us! Ok now for a little bit of stressfulness!! So yesterday morning before church, we got a call from our elders saying that 2 of the speakers cancelled on us and so we would have to speak in church!! AHHH!!! so this was about 1/2 hour before church and I still cannot speak thai soooo it was very nerve racking! But i got up and basically made a fool out of myself cuz i know i completely slaughtered tones and mispronounced words, but apparently my faces and actions were enough to make up for that b/c several people made comments on how at least i was vibrant and made fun faces, so i guess it went ok! haha But then to add to the stress, yesterday we were double booked so we had to go on splits w/ some members and i was TERRIFIED!! I had to basically lead the lesson by myself and ya it was scary, luckily i had a great member with me to help, her name is Mink, she's 21 and knows what's she's doing thankfully! The family we taught didn't understand me AT ALL, so luckily Mink did and was able to translate my thaiglish for me! Then to add to the excitement, after the teaching was done,my comp called to meet back up and apparently as she was locking up the church the member she was with just drove off, not realizing that missionaries are not allowed to be alone! AHHHH!!! so that was fun! Me and Mink hurried and biked to the church and got her but how funny right? But ya so yesterday was a very stressful day, and to top it off all our investigators didn't show up, which was maybe a good thing b/c church was a bit of a joke yesterday! it was basically all run by the missionaries, which is not good at all! hahaha and the senior elder got up to speak too, and he just went off on these random stories and ya it was just an interesting day but the church is still true even if there were some possible apostate comments (which apparently happens quite frequently here in thailand) hahaha Another fun story was when we went to visit w/ an RC and his wife who is a current investigator (getting baptized on the 30th, YAY) but we were talking about temple work etc. and as we were explaining baptisms for the dead she asked us "so we get the bodies of the dead and bring them to the temple to baptize them right?" GAHHH!!! We quickly told her no, we do them ourselves to represent the dead, (which after made much more sense) But the best part about it, is that she has so much faith in the gospel that she was ok with that and on board, b/c she knows this is the true church!! She is sooo cute and i am soo excited for her to get baptized!! This week I also learned the importance of Less Active work, so since we are opening this area and really have nothing to work off of as far as former investigators go, we have decided to make LAs and members a priority here, which in thailand is also VERY rare, I may have already mentioned it already but ya most missionaries don't really do much in the way of teaching LAs or members, but i have a testimony that we need to be b/c of what we have seen this week! With the members, since they are pretty much all converts, they still don't have a firm grasp on what we can do in the gospel. So this week as we've visited we have been talking about family history and temple work and it's amazing that most of them have no idea that you can submit names to the temple and dont have to do them yourself (which is nice here b/c the closest temple is Hong Kong, so most members haven't had the opportunity to go) But they have just all gotten so excited to learn more so it's been great! we have awesome members here and I am sooo excited to see this branch grow!! We have also visited with several LAs who are just amazing, and just need some help coming back and feeling loved again and just need that little nudge and we got 3 to b in church yesterday which is awesome! we taught this one sister who is just amazing, she is an RM, in her 50s but when we were talking with her you could tell she just loved the gospel and just had some circumstances that she didnt feel right going to church, but she had all her mission pictures out and was tellling us about her mission and stuff, and she just is so great! and we had several other LAs like that too! I still can't believe no elders have gone to visit her though, on her record it just says less active RM which to me SCREAMS come find me and get me back to church!! haha But it was great to talk to her and help her remember how exciting it is to be a member of this church and missionary work etc. So since i am a missionary now I am going to leave you all with a commitment: Go find LAs in your ward and help fellowship them and remember their testimonies and bring them back to church!! Sometimes all it takes is having a friend to go with, so ask your bishop if there is anyone you can go visit! Or if not an LA just find someone who seems like they just aren't fitting in and be friends with them! Its amazing to see how much difference having a friend at church can make. President Hinkley said every convert needs 3 things, a friend, a responsibility and to be nourished by the good word of God. So go out and help them! Anyways, i think that's about it for the week! The pictures i added are from some ruins here in P-Lok of the old city from last pday.. super cool and it was fun to climb up them and see! Love you all!! Love, Sister Itri Oh another fun fact about our last name... if we spell it w/ a long e sound (ee) here it is a very innappropriate partical that more or less means in bible terms that yoru are a "harlot" AH so we had to call the office elders to make sure when they make my name tag they spell it correctly, and apparently the translation dept was aware of this and had to talk about how to spell itri in thai! hahahaha yay thailand!

Adventures in Thailand

hello family! So this week FLEW by!! I can't believe it's already PDay again!! But it was a fun week! We weren't able to do PDay in Chang Mai last week b/c our Zone Leaders vetoed it :( so sad, but we still went up there for zone training and that was a lot of fun! I also got to stay up there for a couple days for a companion exchange. So my comp for a couple days was sis. Murray from Utah and she is a GENIUS!! It was so fun to work with her, and apparently she goes to MIT and is studying physics as well, but ya she was great and it was fun to work with her! I really liked Chang Mai, everything was functioning very well and everything, but I am greatful to be where I am, which if funny b/c the nickname for chang mai is "the celestial kingdom" of the mission, but honestly I am so happy to be here in "the furnace" b/c it is a lot more work and a challenge, especially trying to open the area, but its so much more of an adventure trying to start from the ground up! This week we met some AWESOME people and I committed 2 people to baptism!!!! YAYYYY!! They are both so great, Naa and Tum, they are both so open and excited about the gospel and ready to learn and be baptized, so hopefully within the next month or so we will have a couple baptisms!!! This when we were inviting we found another great couple! the first time we talked to them, it was just the wife who listened but she was super open, then we went back the next day and the husband was GREAT!!! He was sooooo open and he said he felt peaceful as he was praying and ya just awesome! We are going to go see them again this week and hopefully get them to church on sunday! Then when we were handing out flyers for english class we ran into another great couple, they just moved here to Phitsonolok and are christians but didn't know where to go to church and he said he was trying to figure it out when he ran into us and said maybe god wants me to go here then!!!!!!! AHHHH!!! so great right?!?!? so they were at church yesterday and they are going to be great investigators! sadly they are in the elders area so we won't get to teach them but i know they are going to be great! So, another reason i love thailand.... we can talk to kids on the street and they will take us straight to their parents and its not creepy at all!!! hahahaha Oh the perks of being a farang in Thailand!! Like i said, just about everyone wants to know farangs and be friends w/ them so they are super willing to let us in and teach!! hahaha But so as we were talking to some kids they brought us to their dad who apparently is a previous investigator!!! WOOO... so we have high hopes for him and he used to go to church pretty regularly so we are hoping he will start coming again without too much troubles, and his kids want to come to english class so thats another great start with them! YAY!! I just love missionary work soo much especially when we meet people who are truly ready to recieve the gospel!! There are sooo many great people here in Thailand and i can't wait to meet more of them!! Everything is going great and i love it here!! Still not understanding everything, but slowly but surly i am getting a little bit more!! Hope everything is good at home, and now I am finally going to send some pictures!!!! most from the MTC but I do have some from here too!

Week 2 in Thailand

So i will warn you, this weeks letter will be a lot shorter b/c we are getting ready to head up to Chang Mai for some Zone training and to have our pday up there so sorry. Next week will be better and i will be able to tell you of our adventures in Chang Mai! But this week was pretty good! We were able to get to know the members better and in turn they took us to see some less actives and we got some great referrals!! We are really hoping to get the memebers exciteed about missionary work, and b/c they don't really know what sisters are here to do anyways we figured why not use that to our advantage and get them all involved! They are great though, so far super willing to help and it's been fun getttin to know them a little better. My comp says she has taught more members this week than she has the entire rest of her mission (1 year) so that's pretty crazy but like i said fun! (even if i don't understand a single word. I really wish I would have focused more on comprehension in the MTC b/c it is SO hard to say anything if i don't understand anything! haha) We met a great family this week that i am super excited to teach! They have a 16 year old boy that reminds me exactly of James: tall, skinny, lanky, etc. but he is super interested in learning and the mom seems pretty interested at least in letting us teach her kids, so we'll see! We had 2 baptisms on saturday sister Nit and Brother Taw and they are going to be solid members and i am so exciting we are finally getting some more priesthood in the branch! WOO! you would think after 40 years they would have more than i think 8 priesthood in the branch, but oh well! Just means we have to work that much harder here! Well, everything is going great! Hope everything is going well at home! Love you all! Love, Sister Itri