27 Apr 2014--Leaving Chiang Mai---transferred to Pak Kret

 Here's a picture of Lolee---I love her so much~---The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives . . . 

FOREVER FRIENDS!

This is Brother โอท. He is 17, a punk, but I love this kid to death! He was baptized when I was in Chiang Mai.

So FYI, after this transfer, we are going back to 6 week transfers! Ahhhh so that'll affect my date when I finish the mission in Thailand! So just a heads up! 

The house looks amazing! Thanks for your advice! I loved it!

I really just wanted to say thanks for helping me out, and I love Sister Ladle. She's such a humble and loving companion!  She seriously is amazing. She is so patient with me and is willing to help me! The district seems good too! I'm so excited to be here and help serve! I feel like I'm recovering spiritually here in Pakkhret.

I really feel like President Uchtdorf's talk about being grateful is still ringing throughout my head. He's obviously right. I often thought when I've encountered trials, to just keep on enduring, little do I express my gratitude to God and realize the things that He has done and helped me with! Man, do I feel slow sometimes! 

Sorry I just realized something. You know how when we're going through a hard trial, we think okay I have to rely on the Lord, and to keep pushing, and sometimes wish ourselves away from this trial to ask for it to be removed? But then we look back on that trial and realize, had I not gone through that trial, I wouldn't have grown to who I am today? 

I've been experiencing that lately. It was hard in my first transfer with the language-- I was being hard on myself and felt humiliated a lot of times. However, Sister Huges helped me a lot with the language and was patient with me.  Sister Ladle is patient with me and the language and is willing to help me. Just over the past few days, she mentioned how much my reading has improved. I received a phone call from Sister Hughes not too long ago, and I had to take the time to thank her for helping me through that hectic time. I'm not perfect obviously, but I'm still learning! 

It's like the gardener parable where the tree asked "Why did you cut me down?" and the Gardener replies back with, " I'm the gardener here and I know what I want you to be. Some day when you're full of fruit you'll thank me." It's true. So why is it that we are grateful AFTER the trial and not during the trial? 

 just some food for thought...

But here's a scripture that I enjoyed from Personal Study.

Here's this scripture that I really liked In Mormon 9:31. I liked it because we have the scriptures to read and learn from so we don't make the same mistakes as they did. We're all imperfect, but it's through the Gardener, Christ, that we are able to be full of fruit again.

 31 Condemn me not because of mine ^aimperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.

Also during transfers, I felt like I was back at home talking to everyone all over again. I don't want this to sound cocky, but I feel like I'm here to be everyone's friend and let them know that they have someone that cares about them. I tend to adopt the therapist label I think haha. 

Also church here was hilarious. So we have a Thai branch we have to look after and an English branch. The english branch scared the heck out of me. I wanted to waay everyone and I just felt so awkward and felt like I was back in the states where I actually understood everything that was being said haha. It was funny. I don't know if I can ever go back now haha!

Also everyone here is awesome! I love these two members named Sandy, who is the sassiest Thai sister ever, and Brother Rat! They are willing to talk to me and are sooooo nice! Everyone at the Thai branch says I speak really well actually! I still need help and I'm still learning, but I'm truly grateful to God for His help!

I'm keeping you all in my prayers!

Hope all is well, and if you need any help, Let me know!

Sister Ladle and I :-D

20 Apr 2014--Chiang Mai

“I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see.

 I sought my God, but my God eluded me.

 I sought my brother and I found all three.”

                                                                ― Unknown

There's this Mormon message called The Will of God. It talks about how God loves us so much that He's willing to cut us down, so that He can build us back up again. It also discusses how we will look back on this experience and thank God for cutting us down and molded us to become more like the Daughter/Son of God we really are. You should check it out sometime! It's really good!

I was able to teach Lolee this week with Sister Reedy. It was very touching as she told us about what has been the cause of her depression. She really just needs someone that cares and loves her. She's been bullied her whole life or abused it seems. It's such a sad thing to see, a beloved Daughter of God be hurt. I expressed to her how much I loved and cared for her, and how sad I was to see the pain that she was in. I've felt so much love for her, and I know Heavenly Father loves her so dearly. Tears gathered in her eyes when I told her that, and she said, "I've never felt so cared for in my life." I was baffled as what to say next. I was literally speechless. I realized though, that sometimes the best things you can do, is to just let the Spirit take over, and just be quiet. It was a beautiful moment to be in. 

So you know how I've been doing the 40 day fast right? Well, one of things I'm fasting for is worldly music. Trust me it's hard. To me, music was everything. Before my mission, I literally listened to music 24/7. I could not live without it. When I was at BYU Summer Term, I'd play my Iphone outloud for everyone to hear, and just everywhere else I went. It was a way for me to distress and get away from all of the stresses in the world. 

However, I realized something during my fast, and it hit me when I was riding the rot dang. Since I played music all the time, especially when I was really stressed, I missed a lot of opportunities to talk to my Heavenly Father. I also missed out SO many opportunities and allow Him to speak to me and help me. How many times does that happen in our lives? It's too numerous to count. Not saying I'm never listening to music again, but I'm really going to be trying to listen more to the Spirit from here on out! 

I mentioned this part to President Senior:

President, I hate to be the one to say this. But sometimes I wonder if I'm actually here on the mission more for the missionaries or what? I know in my interview I mentioned that I don't want to be a burden, but that's what I've always felt like my whole life. I feel like I can only help missionaries, and I don't know how to teach and help my investigators, members, etc. I feel like the only person I really know how to reach out to is Lolee and a couple of other people. President, I hate to be that missionary that whines and such, but lately I just feel like I'm slowing the work down, and so I'm just trying to let  you know that I'm really trying. I'm praying for help, and seriously President I have this desire to literally help EVERYONE! I want to help everyone to know that they have a have someone that cares about them, and that with Christ all things are possible, and He knows and loves each of us. I just don't know how yet. Please be patient with me!

Thanks for always listening and caring. Please let me know what I can do to help! Love you!

Love,

Sister Woodbury

13 Apr 2014--Chiang Mai Lessons from Aladdin

How was general conference? how are you?

What are you doing to celebrate dad's birthday? Something that I suggest doing, something that I've been craving to do for a while is to go to the mountains, hike, and watch the sunrise and the sunset and just look at the stars. I wish I could do that with all of you all. I felt like there were SOOOO many good messages in general conference, and one of them is strengthening family ties. 

Oh and don't need to worry about cultural experiences, because we have this thing in Thailand called Songkran. It's this huge water fight that goes on throughout the WHOLE country! EVERYONE plays and it's kinda dangerous when we have to ride our bikes being attacked with water guns and buckets haha. It's so much fun and lasts for about 3 days.

I really did enjoy General conference and got a lot out from it. There were a lot of themes in their, from the Atonement, strengthening family ties, faith, obedience, to charity. I felt a lot of it applied to our district and it was much needed. 

Lately, I've been struggling with forgiveness. Typically I'm good at getting over things that people have done wrong towards me, but lately I haven't been able to do so. Instead I've been carrying this grudge around, and I didn't realize how heavy it was, and seeing how badly it was affecting me. I realized it was making me tired - emotionally, spiritually, and physically - and was burdening my heart. It takes sooooo much energy to be mad at someone. 

It reminds me of when Aladdin was tied up with a ball-chained weight and thrown into the ocean. The further we dwell and be angry with someone the further and further we sink into the depths of the ocean. However, when we forgive each other, oh how much lighter we'll feel. Sometimes it's hard to forgive someone that has wronged against you when you did nothing wrong. I remember having to pray for help to forgive this person and pray for the gift of charity so that I could learn how to love her. Do you remember that it was Genie that came in, and saved Aladdin? Well the Genie is Christ and is Atonement in our lives. When we put down our pride and ask him for help, He'll save us from going further into the depths of despair! I really liked President Monson's talk on Charity. I'm trying to be more loving, and once I forgave her and apologized myself to her, I felt so much better and lighter. I felt happy and could continue working. 

I'm still trying to help everyone, and doing what I can to help with district unity! I understand it'll take not only effort from our parts, but help from the Lord. It's a great lesson to learn. I want to say thanks for helping me out!  Please be patient with me as I'm slowly being molded into what God and the mission needs me to be! Thanks again!

We also received a baptism! Her name is Pim and she's SOOOO cute! She comes to english class and was willing to take lessons from the missionaries about the gospel too! She's awesome!

Also we have new music rules! We can now listen to any music that is a HYMN!  by anyone! It just can't have drums and obnoxious loud guitars like electric etc. It's so awesome except I want to listen to Josh Groban soooooooo bad! I loved hearing your stories about Julie and the missionaries. It's true to just speak by the spirit and also it helps to understand the other person's perspective before judging them. I sometimes forget that. 

06 Apr 2014--Chiang Mai What's keeping YOU in the Dark?

How are you? I haven't had the chance to watch General Conference yet... We're watching it this upcoming weekend though. They film it a week after in so that there is Thai translation!!

Also this is a short email of what's going on in Chiang Mai because our p-day is being post-poned till Wednesday since we have an English camp today!

 Goodness there is soooooooooo much to do in so little time! I can't believe it's already April! Time sure does fly! Well anyways I just wanted to share with you some of my scripture study in Helaman 5. This chapter literally is amazing! I'm going to try and break down the verses I like and what I got out from it (may be a lot...sorry about that!).

In verse 8, it reads:

 8 And now my sons, behold I have somewhat more to desire of you, which desire is, that ye may not do these things that ye may boast, but that ye may do these things to lay up for yourselves a^atreasure in heaven, yea, which is eternal, and which fadeth not away; yea, that ye may have that ^bprecious gift of eternal life, which we have reason to suppose hath been given to our fathers.

What I liked about this is that the work that we do here on our missions isn't for our own glory, but for Heavenly Father's glory. It's because of the Holy Ghost that helped us bring our investigators to the water of baptism. What I also liked about it is that missionaries are number-oriented. We feel that if we don't have as high of numbers as the rest of the missionaries in our district, then we're not successful. However, really we are all working towards the same goal and reward. So why not work together? 

I also wanted to mention that the district is struggling to find unity. I've been trying to find scriptures about unity, but what else is there that I can do to help bring unity to the district. I'm making more of an effort to talk to the other sisters, but I'm not too positive what I can really do to help the elders. They're really struggling. All I really know how to do is provide scriptures. Any ideas?

 26 And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did stand forth and began to speak unto them, saying: ^aFear not, for behold, it is God that has shown unto you this marvelous thing, in the which is shown unto you that ye cannot lay your hands on us to slay us.

I liked this verse too, because we have no reason to fear when God is on our side. If we just simply obey Him, He'll deliver us from whatever situation we're in. Good always triumphs evil. 

 30 And it came to pass when they heard this ^avoice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a ^bstill voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul—

I really liked this verse too, because of how the Holy Ghost communicates to us is through a small whisper and pierces our soul. We need to help our investigators to feel the same way! 

These are my favorite verses....

 40 And it came to pass that the Lamanites said unto him: ^aWhatshall we do, that this cloud of darkness may be removed from overshadowing us?

 41 And Aminadab said unto them: You must ^arepent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have ^bfaith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and ^cAmulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.

So my question to all is, what's keeping you in the dark? What sins, doubts, mistakes, etc. is keeping you in the dark? If we repent and pray with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength, and pray till we even have faith in Christ, our burdens in our lives are made light and we're able to see again! 

It goes on...

44 And ^aNephi and ^bLehi were in the midst of them; yea, they were encircled about; yea, they were as if in the midst of a flaming fire, yet it did harm them not, neither did it take hold upon the walls of the prison; and they were filled with that ^cjoy which is unspeakable and full of glory.

 45 And behold, the ^aHoly Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire, and they could ^bspeak forth marvelous words.

 46 And it came to pass that there came a voice unto them, yea, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper, saying:

 47 ^aPeace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world. 

I love this so much, because once we repent and have faith in Christ we'll have such great joy and peace within our lives! We no longer have to continue stumbling in the dark! 

I also wanted to share that I feel like I'm beginning to see somewhat of my purpose here in Chiang Mai. I may not be the best Thai-speaking missionary, but I know that we need to love everyone like Christ did. 

Sorry about the long email! There's just too many good scriptures!

Thanks for all that you do!

Sincerely, Sister Woodbury

30 Mar 2014---40 Day Fast Chiang Mai

"Mark well what kind of days they will be, days when, with special visibility, the Lord will “make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations.” (D&C 133:3.) God will also “hasten” His work. (D&C 88:73.) He will also “shorten” the last days “for the elect’s sake”; hence, there will be a compression of events. (Matt. 24:22; JS—M 1:20.) Furthermore, “all things shall be in commotion.” (D&C 88:91.)......Only those in the process of becoming the men and women of Christ will be able to keep their spiritual balance. . . . May we “walk by faith,” and, if necessary, even on our knees!" ~Neal A. Maxwell

Man, I miss you guys like crazy! Sounds like you had soooooooooo much fun this past week! 

Goodness, being a missionary, I feel like there are so many things I want to be better at when I get home. Like being a better sister/daughter and granddaughter. I miss grandma and grandpa soooo much! I really do appreciate our family sooooooooooooo much more. I'm so grateful to have you as parents. I feel like I'm becoming the daughter you've wanted me to be; to do things without being asked, etc. Thanks for being patient with me and helping me become better. I hope you all know that. Serving as a missionary there are a lot of old people in my branch and there's also  some investigators that are older. I really never fully appreciated senior couples until my mission. They are literally kids at heart and are crazy! I really do miss all of you too, but I know I'll be seeing you in a little bit more than a year.... CRAZY how much time flies! I also wanted to say thanks for your advice that you've given me throughout my life. I really do appreciate all that you do, even though sometimes in the past I was selfish and ungrateful. I apologize for that!

I also did the fast :) I can't wait to go to the temple! :)

Investigators are getting better! We're finally making our progressing investigators become daters now! So exciting! It's amazing to see their faith and how much they are willing to change for the gospel! Makes me sooooooooooooo happy! 

Lately, I've decided to do the 40 day fast challenge. I realize that it's hard, but it'll help me grow to be a better missionary. I've felt that sometimes I'm trying to teach points, but not teach people with the Spirit. The challenge is slowly helping me. I wanted to do the challenge, because I desire to have the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lessons, to have the gift of tongues, and the gift of charity. Trust me I've had to say a lot of prayers to myself. 

There are some more scriptures on the Strength to Endure! Seriously, just check out the topical guide on Strength in the Bible! It's amazing! Some of my favorites was 2 Samuel 22(especially verse 33) and 2 Corinthians 12;9-10

9 And he said unto me, My ^agrace is sufficient for thee: for my^bstrength is made perfect in ^cweakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may ^drestupon me.

 10 Therefore I take pleasure in ^ainfirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in ^bpersecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am ^cweak, then am I ^dstrong.

I've learned that it's through Christ that we're able to become strong. I even remember the scripture in D&C 1 about how those who trust in God's hand will be made strong! 

I hope this helps! Thanks for all that you do! 

I also wanted to share how I was having a hard day. We spent numerous hours contacting and I was just exhausted. We ended the night contacting, and it was actually fun. Some lady played a joke on me, and it totally caught me off guard. I asked if she wanted to wash her sins, and she said I don't have any. I retorted back saying everyone has sins! She laughed! I then replied, we all make mistakes right? And she replied saying, I have no mistakes! I thought how I wasn't getting through to her, and was about to go talk to another person. However, she laughed again saying she was kidding! I laughed so hard, and realized I need to have more joy in the work, and not be so tight! After I laughed, things got better from there! I was happy to share the gospel more! So thing to learn is to enjoy the work, and it'll be so much easier! :)

Love,

Sister Woodbury

23 Mar 2014--Chiang Mai Trying out the Cross Bow

I'm doing well, just tired ahhh! We have sooooo many new investigators. We just need to get them all to commit to a date! We taught 7 lessons on Saturday... it was ridiculous haha! Loved it! We also had a baptism! Her name is Dadaa! She's so cute and so golden and really loves Jesus and the Atonement! 

There's so much work to do here in Chiang Mai it's crazy! Sister Reedy and I have been trying the new methods that we learned at zone conference of promising blessings, testimony, then teaching, and it's working. We've noticed a difference in our lessons and that we can feel the Spirit more, especially since we're testifying more. 

I also think it's key to address in the first lesson with our investigator at the beginning of our purpose in teaching them. To help them come closer to Christ and be baptized in His name! It's makes it more clear and gives them something to work for at the beginning, rather then waiting to give them the commitment at the end of the first lesson. It also establishes why we're there teaching them. Just my thoughts. :)

Soooooo I hope you have your Scriptures on hand, because I did some studying... Lately, I've been interested in the message of Finding the Strength to Endure. Here's what I've found...

Scriptures:

Isaiah 40:31: If we rely upon the Lord, He'll renew our strength and help carry our burdens.

Isaiah 26:3-4: Whoever trusts in God will receive everlasting strength.

Isaiah 41:10: God is with us; NO REASON TO FEAR!

Hebrews 12:1: Lay aside our burdens, sins, doubts and fears, and we'll have the strength to endure to the end

2 Timothy 4:5-8: Prove yourself and let people know that you were there. Make them remember you and remember how they felt. Make them remember that you are a representative of Christ.

Moroni 7:45: We need LOVE!! If you don't have love and charity you won't want to do anything; You won't be patient, you won't be kind, you won't want to serve etc. 

Moroni 8:26: The Holy Ghost will help you

James 1:12: If we can endure temptation, great shall be our reward!

James 5:11: God is merciful and we need to be positive.

I read a talk also on The Strength to Endure. Here are a couple of things I got out from it:

"Spiritual strength we develop will help us successfully endure all the challenges we face in life."

And something I got from it as well was temptations and trials are times where we are tested on our character and testimony. 

It's true though. If we realize that we're being tried, we'll want to turn towards Christ and Heavenly Father. It's a time where we realize that we can't do it on our own; but through them we can. They'll carry the rest that we can't carry. That's part of the Atonement that Christ did for us. To help carry us in our most troubling times. God gives us trials to humble us and realize that we have to rely upon His help and remind us of how merciful He really is. I know that He also gives us trials to determine where our faith is at and see how long our faith will last. If there's anything I know though, is that God is mindful of His children, and will provide us a way to get through our trial. 

I've been witnessing it throughout my whole life. Recently, I went on a switch off in Lamphang. It was a great experience and I loved serving with Sister Samitra! She's sooooo cute and a fantastic missionary!  I prayed for help and the gift of tongues to be able to communicate through the Holy Ghost. I was able to carry on full conversations with her in Thai, and I know that it was through the aid of Heavenly Father. I also  loved contacting out there with her, and I felt that as I was contacting, I could feel God working through me with these people. I could feel of the love He had for these people. 

I also experienced an aha moment with her. We were out riding our bikes, and going up a little hill. I realized I should probably switch gears since I was experiencing some resistance. Then I realized something. Christ is a lot like the gears on our bike. Sometimes we don't realize we have the capability to switch gears and so we go up this impossible hill. We are going through this trial and experiencing a lot of resistance; however, we when we switch our gears, we realize that the trial is made easier. We still have to go up the hill, but we don't experience as much resistance. The same thing applies to our trials in life. If we just switch our mind sets and rely upon Christ, we'll see the burden/ resistance being eased off our shoulders. 

Sorry this is a lot, but I hope this message helps! Thanks for all of your hard work! Let me know what I can do to help!

Sincerely,

Sister Woodbury

p.s. I shot with a cross bow! Please know that I'm truly your daughter :)