Brazillians have Thanksgiving

Hello Family and Happy Thanksgiving! Well this week was a little crazy! So last week i mentioned that my companion was sick, well we went to the specialist here in Ubon, but they were no help, so we were instructed to go down to Bangkok to go see the Drs there. So we left for Bangkok wednesday night and then went to the Dr. Thursday morning, and then we had to go pick up the new missionaries that just arrived! So we did all that and then we ended up going to Thanksgiving dinner with some other sisters that serve in the International Branch in Bangkok. It was so fun! We went to this members house who was Brazillian! and she had a few of her friends over that were Brazillian as well, and they weren't members! So it was a great teaching opportunity as well! We were laughing about the irony of it all afterwards though, b/c we were the only americans, and yet they still prepared us a traditional american thanksgiving, turkey and all! And they even through in some amazing Brazillian food too! It was so fun! they were all just so loving and great! I feel like I am already best friends with them! haha After the dinner, we ended up staying the night in Bangkok, b/c we needed to go to the Dr. again on Friday, so we stayed with my old companion from the MTC! S. Church! It was so fun to just catch up with them! Then we were running around all afternoon going to the office, picking up some things from there and then we had to go back to the Hospital! We almost missed our appointment thanks to crazy Bangkok traffic! But we just barely made it so that was good! Then we were off to the train station to head back to Ubon! It was an adventure! When we got there they said that there were no more beds on the train only seats, and that would have been miserable so we were about to go to the bus station instead, but one lady helped us and then we found out there were 2 beds left in "first class" So we were like SWEET! and we bought them, come to find out when we get on the train, the 2 tickets werent next to us, and we were in completely separate rooms! Which those of you who have served a mission know that that is against the rules! So we were freaking out, it was already about 8:00 at night and we just wanted to get back and didn't know what to do, but thankfully we were able to explain the situation with the people that were in the 2 rooms and they said they would be willing to switch so that we could be in the same room! Whew! That was a miracle for sure! So anyways we got back to Ubon finally and then we got another surprise! So we now have 4 sisters here and so the other 2 were suppose to open up a new area, but the district and zone leaders decided to throw us a curve ball and now me and S. Skalla will be opening the new area and the other 2 will be taking the area that I have been serving in the past 2 months, so it's going to be a little weird! I was not expecting that at all, but oh well! Here goes! I am a little sad/disappointed b/c that means that I will no longer be able to teach my investigators that I have been working with, but if this is what the Lord wants me to do, then that's what I will do! Anyways that's about it for the week, very weird but it was fun! I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving in Florida! Love you! Love, S. Itri PS. Today in my personal study i read in 1 Corinthians 13, now one of my new favorite chapters, so you should all read it :)

Always be Prepared

Well this week was a little weird. I honestly don't know what happened! haha My companion right now is sick with something that we aren't sure what it is.. so we have been in and out of the hospital all week and trying to figure out what she has. So we had to go on some splits a few times b/c my Comp. couldn't leave the house so it was just a lot of just being at the house. We also had to start preparing for our new sister that comes in on Thursday! So we started moving furniture around and cleaning... OH MY HEAVENS it was DISGUSTING! You could tell no one has cleaned some places for like 10 + years! So we started that... then after we were done we called the office to tell them that we would need to get air conditioning for one room and he said that it might be better if we just went and looked for a new house entirely! AH! So that's what we are going to be doing today is looking for a new house or apartment! I'm excited to do that! The house we are in is just really old and dirty! haha This week we also had Mission Tour. Elder Watson of the 70 came and spoke to us! It was way good! The theme of the conference was the Book of Mormon! Could you get a better topic?!? But ya it was super awesome! Last week all the missionaries were assigned a character in the Book of Mormon to talk about for 2 min. at the conference, Mine was on the Brother of Jared. So i prepared my talk and was ready for it and then when we got to the conference we were told we needed to give it in Thai! AH! So i was not prepared for that at all, so i had to do some very quick translating and some of it did have to come out in English b/c i was reading out of a talk, but overall it went ok! haha It was a good learning experience, that's for sure! Always be prepared for the unexpected! haha So that was a fun day! But as far as teaching this week, we didn't get to do a whole lot, but we had a couple of great lessons! One with Champoo, we taught about baptism and why it was necessary and then gave her the goal to get baptized on Dec. 1st! And she wants to! So we are soo excited for her! She already has such a strong testimony in Christ and just wants to follow him! She is so awesome! I am so excited for her! Well I hope you all are doing good! Have fun in Florida! Happy Birthday Jason! Eat lots of Turkey... I won't be! haha Love you! Love, Sister Itri

Already???!!!

Sawatdi kha Krabkrua! So this week was transfers again! AH. I cant believe how fast things are going! Please slow it down!!! AHHH!!! But it was another crazy week b/c our mission president decided to wait to the last minute to tell us if we were moving or not! AHHHH!! So we found out on wed. at about 2 that my companion was moving. :( And we also found out that they would be opening another sisters area here in Ubon and that we would have to prepare our house for 2 more sisters to come in! AHHHHH!!! then we found out there were no buses free to go to bangkok that night so we had to book it to the train station, we got there at about 4 and then train left at 6:30! AHH! So we had about an hour to pack all of my companions stuff try and get our house in semi working order for 4 sisters, and get back to the train station! It was soooo nuts! I am still not sure how we did it! It was a little stressful, but we managed ok. ha. I am way sad that my comp. moved, we just barely seemed to get things in working order here and started getting some progressing investigators and such, but of course once you get comfortable, that's when change happens right?! haha So when we were on the 10 hr train ride to bangkok, we were just chatting and then heard some other people speaking english... and thought, hm that's weird. Turns out it was some elders! haha One of them was moving as well and we all ended up on the same train together! ha It was fun to have some people we knew! haha Then we finally got into bangkok on Thursday morning and when we got off, we found out that my companions bike got off about 4 stops before we did! AH! So we had to book it back to the other train station where her bike was, then we had to book it to transfer meeting!! It was soo nuts! Once again, not sure how we did it! haha But it sure was an adventure! As far as transfer meeting, it is always so fun to see everyone! It was a little bitter sweet b/c me and S. Guildner got along so well, and you never know who you're going to end up with. So Like usual president had it all dramatic and had pictures of everyone and their areas, and it came up to Ubon and i found out my new companion would be S. Skalla! She is great! I am so excited to work with her! And then we found out that we would actually be in a 3-some for a couple weeks b/c the new companionship would be training, and one of the missionaries is still in the MTC in the Phillipines and won't be here for 2 more weeks! So right now we also and S. Malin who is thai! I have my first native companion (kind of) ha. But she is so great! So far it's been way fun and helped me have to speak in Thai all of the time! And i can't wait for one more to come! It's going to be soo much fun! Other than that not a whole lot happened. Transfers pretty much take up our whole week, especially when we are so far away from Bangkok! But i am way excited for this transfer! We have some awesome work ahead of us here! Our mission president wants to be able to split this Branch here soon so that will be awesome! Things are growing fast here in Thailand! I love that I get to be a part of it! This truly is the Lord's work! I love every second of it! Hope everything is going well at home! Sounds like you just had a snow storm? That's fun! It's still like 85 degrees and humid here all the time! haha Love you all! Love, Sister Itri

The Lights

Hello!! Well this week was so good!!! We were able to teach Praewa and she is doing awesome!! When she came for her first "real" lesson she came with, 1. Triple combination (BoM, D&C, and PGP), a Bible, a YW personal progress book and a for the strength of Youth Pamphlet!!! She was so prepared! It was awesome!! haha So we started with the Restoration, and just helped her to understand who Joseph Smith really was, b/c she had said she heard his name a lot, but didn't know really who he was. Then at the end of the lesson we asked if she believed that Joseph Smith had this experience and she basically responded, "Well yeah, of course, other wise we wouldn't have any of this" (referring to her stack of books) AHH!!! So awesome!!!! So she is doing so great! She has said she will get baptized when she get's her answer but hasn't yet accepted a date, so we are going to work on that more this week. But she is doing so great! I just love her to death! Then we had 2 new girls who came to English class this week, came to church as well! Their names are Champoo and Yong. They are ADORABLE! One of them is already Christian and seems sooo interested, she really just wants to learn more! And the other, Yong, isn't quite as interested, but she is still coming to everything, so that's good! So I am way excited to continue to teach them! This week I had the best opportunity ever to go see the floating lanterns!!! Like in Tangled!!! AHHHH!!!! It was sooooo coooooolll!!! It was some festival, i forget what called, But it was way awesome! They had tons of the floating lanterns and then there were fireworks going off and these awesome boat things! Ah it was just way cool! We didn't have much time so sadly i didn't get to send one up myself, but it was still so cool to see it all! Then this week we also had a halloween activity!! It was sooo fun! No one here really knows what we do for halloween, so we just played some random halloween games with them. 1st we had them all "make jack-o-lanterns", they don't have pumpkins here so we had them just color them, then we bobbed for apples which was hillarious! They loved it! And then we did doughnuts on a string which was also way fun! Over all it was soo fun! It was such a great way to get our investigators and members to get to know each other and build relationships outside of church! So it was awesome! It think that's about it for this week! I love serving and just being a missionary! It's so fun! I love helping others come unto Christ! It's so amazing to see people change! AHH! Anyways, love you all! Hope all is good! Love, S. Itri

Be Prepared

Hello family! Sounds like you had a fun week gambling this week???? hahaha glad to know my fam is keeping up good standards :) haha But sounds like you all had a good time so that's good! Well things here are going so good! This week was a little different than normal... me and my companion are really trying to do things a little different and experiment with ways of doing missionary work, b/c the standard of what normally goes on we just feel like hasn't been very effective, especially for how sisters have been working in this area for a LONG time... So we are changing it up a bit! This week we worked on organizing a bunch of activities and focusing again on English class and focused on going and just serving the members in our branch. And we have been trying to just find those people who are truly prepared to hear the gospel. So, as we were doing all this work and kept praying to find someone prepared, we got hit with the most prepared person i think we could have ever met! Especially in Thailand! So we started this activity night on thursday nights, and after it was over this week one of the girls who came to English on Tuesday came to our activity night, her name is Praewa and she started talking to us in English tonight and she was SOOOO GOOODD at English (which is very rare here) and so we asked her where she learned, and she told us she went on an exchange program last year and lived in America for a year...and she then tells us she was with a Christian family.. we just figured cool, that's better than most thai people so we got excited... but then it gets better... she then tells us she was with and LDS family!!!! AHHH!!! Then goes on to say that while she was there she not only went to church every week, she went to mutual every week and to seminary every morning, oh and she went to girls camp... oh and on trek... oh and she went to Utah to General Conference!!! Heard the prophet in person... has been to the Salt Lake Temple.... she toured BYU and BYU-Idaho... pretty much she is just awesome!! and soooooo prepared!!! Oh and one more thing... she lives around the corner from the church here!??!?!?!! WHHHAAAATTT?!?!?! Me and my companion literally were soooo stumped as to what to do with her! hahaha But she is soooo great and we are just sooo excited to work with her! Although, despite doing all of these things her understanding of the gospel is still very little... so we are sooo excited to have the chance to teach her in her native language.. it will help so much! Anyways that was like the biggest highlight of our week! She is just going to be sooooo awesome!!! Heavenly Father truly does prepare people for the gospel! :) This week we also began helping teach english at Ratchatani University and we were able to meet a bunch of new people through that too! I am just sooo excited to see all of these little efforts come together! AHHH!!!! I feel like we are soooo close to just having an explosion of stuff happen here! I just can't wait!!! We are really working on our patience right now!! haha Well, I hope everything is great at home... James you need to cut your hair..... Love you all!! Love, Sister Itri PS does anyone have some good object lesson ideas or ideas for like FHE things??? it really helps to use them here to help them understand things better so if you have any please let me know!!! :)