So apparently I'm Asian Now.

Hello family! So this week was a little crazy/weird/i don't even know how to explain it! haha So It started with the whole emergency transfer thing. So now I am in Bangkok, with a new companion, S. Carper, who goes home next week, and then our Mission President told me that I will be moving again and then my old comp. and S. carpers will both be coming back here once we both leave but right now they are working in the office trying to get better b/c one has a broken ankle and then the other they are still trying to figure out what's going on! AH! So yeah a little crazy! But as for this area i LOVE it! It is so great! The ward here is amazing! And just so willing to help us with anything we need! I feel like i've been here forever b/c of how quickly they just come up to you and just love you! its so great! The only thing that has been a little weird is the fact that they all say that I look like S. Church, My companion in the MTC.. EVERYONE is like OMG you look exactly like S. Church! And ok i know that a lot of the time we say all asians look alike, so naturally they would say all white people look alike, but here's the thing... S. Church is half thai!!!! So apparently i look like I'm twins with an asian. But that's great b/c I want to be thai anyways so cool! I'm Asian now! WOO! But ya it was so funny... one lady at church yesterday literally thought I was S. Church and had just come back to visit, and said how she missed me and stuff... but then she realized I wasn't her! hahaha I love it! Inline image 2 What do you think? are we twins or what!? haha Everything else is going so good too! We have some super solid investigators that are going to be awesome! It's a little weird b/c i just got here, but i will be leaving in another week so we are just basically "babysitting" the area for a bit, but it's fun! We are super excited to get it set up for the other sisters! I am sad that I won't get to stay and see some of these people progress to baptism, but that's missionary life right? once things start to get good and ready to go, it's time for a change! So yeah! It will be interesting to see what happens! But I am super excited to be here! I love it so much already, i've already thought of protesting President and telling him i don't want to leave! hahaha but i really just hope that maybe in the future i will have the opportunity to serve in this area again! It was interesting this week also, since it's Christmas time, we decided to study up on the Christmas story, and as we were, we started asking some members and a few others what they know about christmas... and its crazy to see how little they do know... members will say it's Christ's birth, but then don't know anything else about it, they don't know the story at all! it's sad! So we are going to try and teach it to members the next couple weeks. And then everyone else who's not a member thinks it's about Santa Claus or what they call "wan dek" or "day for kids" So yeah interesting to see! I am so grateful to know of the birth of our Savior! And for the true meaning behind Christmas! I hope that I can help people here understand it too! Well, that's about all for this week! I hope everyone is doing great and excited for Christmas! Love you! Love, S. Itri

Christmas in Thailand

Hi Family First off Happy Birthday Jon! Hope you had a great day! Things here are great! This week was a little crazy though because we had a big stake party thing here in Bangkok. It was 2 nights and we were performing in it as well. And oh my Heavens I have never seen a Christmas party like this before! Thailand knows how to throw a party! haha So they had like a million booths outside, with postcard making, reindeer hands, and like a million other things. Then they had a bunch of food, and then there was a big stage outside, with a band, and then that's where we performed our song. Our Zone sang/acted the song "I'll Find you My Friend" not sure if you've ever heard it, I hadn't until i got here, but it's weird in English, it sounds much better in Thai! haha So yeah we performed that, and then another Zone had this like full on production inside the church! I can't even describe to you how good it was! They hired actors to do this play and then had a choir and then like those Bible Video things going along with the musical... i don't even know how to explain it! haha But they seriously just go all out here! It's crazy! That's one thing i love about here, it is such a missionary country! Everything here was geared towards helping our investigators and such! They had like a huge banner advertising it outside the church and like flyers up everywhere. It is like a full on production! But everything was so fun! There really is nothing like it anywhere else... and all i have to say, is america needs to step up their game with throwing christmas parties! ha! At the party i also got to meet one of my investigators from Ubon's older sister who is a member, so that was way awesome! And another member from Ubon was there too! It was nice to see them! But overall the 2 nights were just so good! And on the second night our mission president was there and then he surprised us and had us all come out after the party and we lit off the "tangled" lanterns with all the missionaries! It was soo cool! But then right as we all had lit them, someone came out and yelled at us and we got in trouble, b/c i guess we aren't suppose to light them off where we did b/c it's close to an airport. WHOOPS! But by that point we couldn't do anything about it! haha Oh yeah and we had Zone Conference this week which was so goooooooddd!!! We started off and our mission president took us all bowling and we did some fun little competions and such so that was awesome! Then we went and had the actually "training" portion of it and talked about how to find new investigators and what were some good ways to do that, so that was fun! And we applied one of them, as we were on our way to go out to dinner we were on the subway, and we decided to sing carols for the whole subway w/ about 26 missionaries! hahaha! It was soooo fun! We got some great reactions it was awsome! And even our mission president was singing with us! But then we went out to the most AMAZING dinner ever! it was this suuuppperrr high-so hotel and we had an amazing buffet! Oh my goodness it was excellent! And it was so fun to spend time with our mission president and his wife! Ah it was just a great day! Also this week in regards to investigators, one of ours, Pat, has a goal to be baptized next month! She is so cute! She has been working really hard to figure out her work situation b/c she works on sundays right now, but she made a decision and found a new job! YAY! So we are just waiting for her contract to end at her old job and then she will be able to get baptized! She is so cute and just so excited to get baptized. Anyways this week has been a little crazy with Christmas stuff and also my companion is going home this week too so she's been a little stressed out, and I'm moving again tomorrow so ya crazy week, but a wonderful one! And I will get to skype with you all next week! AHH!!! So I think we will probably skype at about 9 am. here on tuesday which will be 7:00 pm. on monday for you, so i guess just plan on that for now... I don't have all the details at this point b/c i don't know where or who i will be with but ya i guess just plan on leaving monday night open and being home! i will probably just use my skype account which is just jenitri so you can figure that out and figure out who's you want to use. But plan on that! Love you all can't wait to talk to you next week!!!! AHH!! Love, Sister Itri

Surprise

Hello Family! Sorry I didn't email yesterday, but it's b/c we had a bit of a change go on! So as you know, my companion has been sick and the medicine she was taking didn't help, so our mission president was really concerned about her, so originally she was just going to be emergency transferred to Bangkok by herself and come to the Drs and what not, and i would stay in a 3-some in Ubon, so that was our thought all last week... Well then we got a little surprise Sunday morning. We got a text from our President that said this... "Sister Itri needs to say her goodbyes as well today, she will be coming to Bangkok tomorrow too." AHHH!!! So it was a pretty crazy day and not expected at all! haha So anyways, yesterday I was on the Bus all day to Bangkok... and that was a whole other experiecne! Let's just say, make sure the bus your on is reliable before you go! What was suppose to be an 8-9 hour bus ride, turned into a 13 hour bus ride! It was crazy! So yeah, lesson learned to always take a more reliable bus! haha Anyways other than that, last week was the Major Thai Holiday with all the floating lanterns and boats and stuff, so we got to go to that! and this time we were able to light off a lantern and send off a little boat thing... it was so fun! I don't even really know what else happened this week, because everything was just so crazy! But right now i am in Bangkok, and i will be serving in Bangkapi for at least the next 2 weeks until we have official transfers. So who knows?!? I hope everyone is doing good! Christmas is coming up soon... sooooo weeeeeiiiiirrrrdddd!! I literally feel like it is still the middle of June! So yeah very werid that there is probably snow at home! I hope you are all enjoying it! Love you all! Love, S. Itri