16 Mar 2014 I love you so bad ... (the joys of) contacting in Chiang Mai

"Wherever you now find yourself on the road of discipleship, you are on the right road, the road toward eternal life. Together we can lift and strengthen one another in the great and important days ahead. Whatever the difficulties confronting us, the weaknesses confining us, or the impossibilities surrounding us, let us have faith in the Son of God, who declared, “All things are possible to him that believeth.” ~Neil L. Andersen

Chiang Mai is sooooooooo fruitful here with so many investigators! It makes my day! We had SIX investigators come to church yesterday! That's awesome! Hopefully, if we keep working hard and continue to put forth our full faith and trust in God, we can find more people that are ready to be baptized! Also we had SIX investigators come to church! Crazy right?! May not seem like a lot, but in Thailand, that's a ton! It's just getting them to commit to a date that's the issue....

We have so many investigators, it's crazy! I love it, I know this is going to sound bad, but that we can't contact for 2 hours because we are teaching the whole day! However, if our investigators don't come, we just go out and contact to find more! It's so great, and it warms my heart when there are SO many people that are ready to be baptized!

We also seem to have a lot of luck finding a lot of investigators that are basically grandpas. They are hilariously crazy! Brother Boy, one of our investigators, just rambles on and on and he's hilarious! During one of our lessons with him, Sister Reedy asked him to pray, and he tried to back out saying he didn't know what to pray for. We encouraged him that he could do it, but he tried getting me to say the prayer. Well we all bowed our heads waiting for him to say a prayer, but he didn't say anything, so I looked up, and his face was priceless. It was like watching the kid from the Goonies who got stuck with Sloth. He begged, "Woodbury, Woodbury, help me out!" Then Sister Reedy asked him" Brother, are you thankful for anything?" He then replied with, "Oh,...." and said a prayer. Priceless!

Also..... I'M TEACHING A MONK! He wants to be baptized, but he has to be a monk for one more year since he gets free schooling out of being a monk....:p we're about to change that though...
Also Lolee, is coming back this week. Only thing is that, since I'm now in branch 2, she's not my investigator anymore.... but I'm glad she's coming back
 

Also thanks for helping me out. What is the Balm of Gilead? Also I really needed to hear that cuz lately, member have been telling me or our investigators how I don't understand Thai or speak it etc. and I've just felt awful lately about my capibilities of speaking Thai and being able to Teach....

So I have a question and could use some help. Lately, I've been feeling down on myself, and not sure how effective of a missionary I am. How can I strengthen my faith in myself? I know that through God all things are possible, and I've been asking for Him for help, I could just use some advice as to how to find faith in myself and believe that I can teach instead of making the lesson awkward or confusing. Any thoughts?

Also I'd like to share one of my a-ha! Moments that I had with Sister Reedy.

My madre used to tell me as a kid, "People aren't going to come to you. You have to go to them first." SHe told me this because I had a hard time making friends, and was at quite a loss as what to do. Through her wise words, I've learned how to be comfortable with going up to people and getting to know them.

God is the same way. Often times we forget about God in our lives, or expect Him to grant everything we want. We think that God already knows how we feel, what we want, need etc. So why bother?

It seems that when we're in times of desperate need, do we call upon His power and ASK for help. Little do we realize that God is willing to give us the things that we NEED and willing to help us, ONLY when we humble ourselves and turn to Him.

We just have to ask. It's as simple as that. Numerous times in the scriptures it says, "Ask and ye shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." In Alma 37:37, it says, "Counsel with the Lord in ALL thy doing, and he shall direct thee for good."

God wants to help us, byt we have to put forth our effort, and show that we actually WANT it. In D&C 101:7 it mentions how those who are slow to hearken unto God's voice, will receieve slow answers from God. So He's going to test our faith and make sure that we trust Him. In the Bible Dictionary it mentions how, "The object of prayer is not to change God's will, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is WILLING to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them."

So really we have to go to God FIRST, and then we'll receive the blessing and help that we NEED! Prayer is a way to humble ourselves, and acknowledge that we need God in our life, and see how merciful, powerful, and loving He truly is. I end with this scripture....Jacob 4:7:

Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.

Thanks for everything! Also let me know if there's anything I can do to help!
Love,
Sister Wolverine..
The bishop in the second branch calls me this, because one of the monks that comes to english class would call me that by accident since he just saw x-men..... Living the life? haha

09 Mar 2014--Chiang Mai Waterfalls

"When involved in the work of the Lord, the power behind you is always greater than the obstacles before you."  Elder Dallin H. Oaks

I wanted to say thanks for this past letter! I thought it's funny cuz I just read this talk last night. Well I just wanted to let you know that I love being companions with Sister Reedy, because I LOVE to travel! Traveling to different parts of Thailand was very eye-opening to see! The downside was that Sister Reedy is sick with a cold now. Just our luck right? I don't know, but for some reason it seems that I always get the sick companions! Sad day!

Anyways, I just wanted to share with you some of my spiritual highlights for the week! Sooooooo if you ever have time here are some scriptures that I enjoyed about Trusting in God:

Alma 38:5
Alma37:36-37
Alma 36:27
Matthew 11:28-30
Psalms 50:15
Mosiah 7:19, 33
Proverbs 3:5-7
Proverbs 28:25
Isaiah 40:31
Mormon 9:20
Moroni 7:33,37

These scriptures discuss about how and why we need to trust in God. When we trust in God, our trials are made light and so on. What I also liked was that we need to counsel with God always about everything. I know that we as people have this instinct that since God knows how we feel, and should know what we need, He'll just magically grant it to us. That's not necessarily how it works. Instead, we have to ASK! How often do we forget that? It's so simple. We just have to ask God for help/blessings etc. God specifically will give us trials to help us remember that concept. To just ask. These trials humble us to the point to get on our knees and pray. We should always be doing this. It shows that we need God in our life, and that we trust Him enough to allow Him to help us. In Alma, I think it's chapter 34... It says Blessed are ye that are lowly in heart. or something like that. So God is always there, we just need to have faith in Him and trust that He'll help us.

 Elder M. Russell Ballard says that trust is "... a matter of faith and action on our part".

Also I know that I mentioned I love to travel, but I'd like to share with you an analogy about traveling. When we first begin our ride, we're excited to see and expound our horizons of what else is out there. However, after a while it gets boring, and we drift off to sleep. That or we become really impatient and continuously look down at our watches to see when we'll arrive to our destination. When we finally arrive to our destination, we hurry and get off and continue to go on with our lives and think nothing about that little trip we just made. Well all I want to say is to enjoy the ride! Enjoy the bumps that you encountered during the ride, or the person you sat next to for the past 5 hours! I feel like this applies to mission life and life in general! We get so caught up on when we finish our mission, that we forget to really enjoy our "ride". We lose that fire! There is a quote that I liked from Sister Majorlie Hinckley. "The trick is to Enjoy life! Don't wish away your days for better ones ahead!" Have fun! Make the most the mission and life in general! Don't be caught up on final destination! I know this is going to sound ignorant, but YOLO! (You Only Live Once) I'd Iike to change that to You're Out here on your mission at this time ONCE! So make the most of it! 

02 Mar 2014 --Chiang Mai What IF?

I  hope all is well with you! Chiang Mai is so fruitful right now, and I'm so ๆ grateful so be serving up here in the north! Sister Reedy is such a hard worker and makes me want to push harder in regards to finding more people.

I made some phone calls this past week, and I thought I'd decide I'd contact some of my old contacts. Amazingly some of the people came to church and have a baptismal date. I'm trying to believe that practically everyone we teach at the church will be baptized and I'm trying to have faith in them that they'll commit to the gospel. It makes me sad when I see other missionaries don't have that much faith in their investigators, and doubt that they'll actually follow through.

I want to share with you, something that I shared with Sister Hughes. We were talking about relationships, and I shared with her that instead of always thinking of what if it goes WRONG in the relationship, think instead of what if... it goes RIGHT? Then what? IF is a very strong word. I know that everyone has doubts, but from an email that I read, "Doubt is something that comes before the miracle" or something like that. We have to push through that doubt, block it out, and keep on going in what the Lord asks of us. "We receive no witness until after the trial of our faith." Well anyways I told Sister Hughes, that if we think that the relationship can go bad, then we will NOT put in our full heart and effort, because we'll think we'll fail anyways. 

This applies the same way to our investigators. If we doubt they'll come to church or how many of our investigators will actually be baptized, how many of them will actually be baptized? We need to have more faith and trust in them and that the Spirit will help guide them. 

Here's a quote that I really like that Jax shared with me. I think it can relate to a lot of different aspects of life and the gospel.

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes into rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting up an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage; but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

I really like this quote, because often times we don't understand what God has in store for us. We don't understand the reasons why He puts certain people in our paths, or gives us certain challenges. I feel like I'm learning a lot more about Christ, God, and myself. I know I don't know a whole lot, but I know that God gives us trials because He knows 3 things. A.) We can overcome it. God doesn't tempt us above that we are able. B.) He's molding us to become the person He sees in us. C.) He likes to test our faith. I like to think of trials as either learning experiences or "pop-quizzes". He wants to see if we're willing to put forth our trust and effort in Him. It's also a humbling experience too, when you realize that as a natural man, you can't do it all by yourself. You need divine help. I feel that right now my faith is really being tested. I'm trying to continue onward, and I know it's hard. It requires patience. I always like to think though, especially when I'm out running, that "Thine afflictions shall be only but a small moment".

23 Feb 2014 ---Staying in Chiang Mai!

So Guess what! I'm staying in Chiang Mai! My new companion is Sister Reidi! She's from all over; America, Scotland, Angola, and now England!She's about to finish her mission in two months! I'm her last companion! :( She's amazing though! She's sooooo hard-working and pushes me to be better at contacting and be a better missionary! However, We are now in a different branch, soooo I don't know if I'll be able to teach Lolee anymore. I'm sad about that. I'll email you next week about the sisters meeting, because it's too much to write for today! Haha sorry about that! Also thanks for the jewelry and package! It's perfect!

Also the protests are just in Bangkok really. Nothing else is really going on in Thailand. It's pretty crazy though as we had to go to transfers down in Bangkok. The protests cause pretty bad traffic :p.

Well crazy thing is that we're teaching  มาย, the girl that I found while contacting, now! She's our only investigator now. She loves the church! She just needs to get a new job so that she doesn't have to work on sundays. She's also friends with one of our past investigators from the first branch! Yay for fellowship!

 There's so much to think about and do while on a mission. This week I've been thinking about a lot of things, and I hope I'll be able to share it in a way that makes sense. I'm a bit scatter-brained in case you haven't noticed already... Anyways here it goes...

My question this past week is what is the difference between Faith, and Trust? If you think about it, the words are easily interchangeable with each other. Like: Put forth your full faith in the arm of God. To put forth your full Trust in the arm of God. So what's the difference? When I was studying it I found how HOPE and PATIENCE are involved too in this question.

Faith I like to say is a verb. It requires action, and effort to show. Most people know about Faith is like a little seed, if planted it will grow. However, a seed needs work. There are so many action words that it requires: Planting it, watering it, give it sunshine. etc. It also requires patience. A plant takes time to grow, but you need to have faith and continue in taking care of the seed to help it grow. It's a lot like our testimony, in the fact that you have to keep it up by reading your scriptures, pray often, going to church etc. It also applies to our investigators. As missionaries, we have to take care of our investigators. We give them commitments and we have to have both faith and trust in them that they'll do their part to come closer unto Christ. You also need to have patience with your investigator, because testimonies don't grow overnight. They take TIME!

In the Bible Dictionary of Faith, it says "Faith in Him, means you trust  Him. Your faith will be made manifest through diligence and work." It also mentions that you "Have confidence in something or someone." Doesn't that sound a lot like trust?

In PMG (Preach My Gospel), it talks about how "Faith is a principle of action and power. Whenever you work toward a worthy goal, you exercise faith. You show your HOPE for something that you cannot see." In Hebrews 11:1 footnote b: The Joseph Smith Translation says You can exercise faith in Christ when you have an assurance that He exists!

Since I couldn't find trust really in PMG, I looked at the Christlike attribute of Hope. Hope defined that we TRUST in God's promises. In True to the Faith, it mentions how "With hope you can find joy in life. You can have PATIENCE, and bear with ... afflictions." It also mentions how when you have hope you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good.

Also in PMG under patience, it talks about how "patience is related to hope and faith - you must wait for the Lord's promised blessings to be fulfilled.

16 Feb 2014--Chiang Mai

Soooooo this is all that's going down this week...

 We've had to do some switch offs because of emergency church calls and appointments. It's been fun teaching with Sister Slaugh! I've been finding that I've been growing language and spirituality wise. With the missionaries help, I can go in more depth conversations, which is great! I find myself being able to read faster today. I can understand people sometimes at their normal speed, but it depend on what they're saying.

Also madre, do you remember that one song, Murder In the City? Well Sister Hughes knows the Avrett Brothers and is familiar with the song. It brought back memories. You should read the lyrics again. Two lines that are my favorite in that song is " I'm so proud of you both in so many different ways", and " Nothing is worth sharing than like the love that let us shares our name".

Something that I've been learning is to rely more upon others. Ben Hardy, mentioned in one of his letters that when you're struggling you need to communicate it more with others, and with the Lord. Sometimes we bottle our emotions and try so hard to not show what's really going on underneath. We feel that if we share our emotions, it's a sign of weakness. That or we feel like we're inflicting our burdens upon others. However, it's not the case. My brother-in-law shared that when you don't share or communicate your stresses etc. you deprive yourself of letting others help you out. I've been finding out more about that.

 I've been learning how keen communication really is. That without it, things can turn bad very quickly. I came up with an idea of an activity where we have to communicate and work together. Little did I realize, that as I'm trying to delegate the activity to others so that I'm not necessarily in charge of the activity, that I was experiencing my own communication and working to together activity. You have to be able to communicate with others as to what you want to happen, be willing to accept other peoples ideas/opinions, and be able to make decisions. I guess dad was right all along ;) haha. I feel like I'm adapting more tendencies of dad, mainly communication.

If there is anything that I'm learning from Lolee and God, it's patience. We find all of these golden investigators, but they're never in our area. We have yet to find any new investigators lately, and I'm not sure what to do yet, except keep contacting. It feels like we're fishing. You either hit really good spots where all the fish are at, or you keep on reeling nothing but bait and keep on trying new spots and new bait.

A lady's car broke down yesterday in front of our church. She's been Buddhist her whole life, and Sister Hughes and I had her come into the church. We took her into the sacrament room, and Sister Hughes started to explain what goes on in the sacrament room. The lady though stopped her in mid-conversation and said, "What is this feeling?" She then explained how she felt goose bumps and this electricity all over her and into her heart. Sister Hughes explained it was the Holy Ghost. The lady explained how she felt safe, and protected. She's also a bit crazy and told us how she walks to work and everything and explained how there is a samurai statue she walks by everyday with a long sword. She explained that if the samurai were to come down and chop her head off with the sword right now in the sacrament room, she'd be fine... She's still golden though! Haha!

Thanks for supporting me madre! Also thanks for always having the ability to make me smile! I want you to meet Sister Slaugh, because she's a lot like you. She cares about everyone else except herself! That's a great trait to have, BUT don't forget to have some YOU time! Ben also told me that we're like bow-strings. If we don't loosen up a bit, we lose our spring.

09 Feb 2014--Chiang Mai

So lately I've had quite a few "aha" moments. We had switch offs and I was with Sister Reidi! She's so awesome and intense (in a good way!) We were traveling in the red truck and I was really taking in my surroundings. I've passed by these buildings millions of times, but at the moments I was really beginning to notice the small details and the tops of buildings. I've been so focused on finding others that I forgot to Look Up. There's a talk about it, which is really good. However, what I realized is that sometimes we get so caught up in the world, that we forget to look up, and include God in our lives. We're so focused on things, that we forget to really rely upon the Lord. Sister Reidi and I talked about it, and she mentioned how it's cool that on missions, we're forced to look up. We have to depend on the Lord always. Otherwise, we won't be able to teach. There was a time where I had to get on my knees and pray, because I had to teach a lesson on a companion exchange since we had appointments at the same time. So I basically had to teach a lesson by myself, with a member present to help me along with the investigator. I felt so unprepared. However, I prayed and I felt that even though I felt unprepared, that God would prepare a way some how to help my investigator understand the lesson that I was going to teach. However, as it turns out, the investigator didn't show up on time, and so I just talked with Sister Baam for a while. It was good. I realized that I really do have to reach out to God and put forth my whole faith and trust in Him.

I was reading in Alma, and how Alma and Amulek were delivered from prison. I looked down to the footnotes, and it linked to a scripture that I really enjoyed. It's James 5:10-11. It reminded me of what blessings are promised to us when we endure to the end, and include God in our lives. We just need to be patient.

10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

 11 Behold, we count them happy which bendure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender emercy.

I've also been finding that serving others brings me great joy. With Sister Hughes and Sister Slaugh both being sick, I get the chance to show that I care for them. It makes me think more about others and what I can do to help them, rather than always thinking about myself. I really want to lose myself in serving others! That's my goal for my mission!

01/27/2014 Doi Suthep

Doi Suthep

Thanks so much for everything that you do! You're awesome! That picture with the flowers, was at the Chiang Mai zoo haha..... Thailand is very pretty though. Hopefully you can see it sometime soon.

I love that story that you shared about the atonement, movie, and Mary Poppins song. I wish more people could realize how much they need the atonement in their lives! We're working on it, but everyone has their agency to choose.

We ended up dropping some of the investigators sadly, because they don't respond to us, nor come to church which is frustrating. However, it's everyones choice... I just want to see what we can do better in our lessons to help more investigators stick more. Any ideas?

So here's what's been going on the past week and spirituality wise:

I can't express how much I love Lolee. It literally feels like she's running this marathon, and I'm running alongside her and trying to help her reach that goal. We both want that same goal for her! I seriously can't express it in good enough detail how much we want this. Lately, she's fallen in her marathon and she's smoking again. For some reason she's feeling depressed again, and is getting help again. She's taking EST today. She said we can come visit her in the hospital though. I want to surprise her with something big, like balloons, cookies, etc. I think I may take your advice and see if some of the members in the branch can go check up on her. I wish I could always be there for her, but sadly I can't.

I finally witnessed my first baptism, with Bombay. He's such a stinkin' cute kid. He's 9 years old, and reminds me of Russell from Up. It was definitely a glad moment. There were four other baptisms that day, and it truly was an amazing sight to witness. I couldn't help but think of how beautiful they all were in white. Sometimes when we're out contacting, I try to think of some of these people in white, and see them in having a call within the church. I know that not everyone we contact is going to be converted, YET. But we can at least be the ones who start by planting that seed.

I've also been reading the book of Mormon, and I'm finding so much more about God, Jesus, Satan, and trials and such. It's amazing to see that pride cycle within the book of Mormon. To see how wicked the people can become, by just a small influence. But it's amazing to see how merciful God is to each and everyone of us. Everytime I see a scripture about mercy in the scriptures, I've noticed that it always says how God's arm is extended out towards us. It's true though. Everytime we think we do something wrong and we're not worthy of God's love, His arm is still extended out towards us. It reminds me of a quote that President Uchtdorf said. "Man is nothing compared to God. Yet, we are everything to God." Or something along those lines.

I've also been finding a lot of scriptures about trials. We really just need to be patient with ourselves, turn to God and have faith that He'll provide for us. Also sometimes He gives us trials, as a type of 'pop quiz'. He just wants to make sure that when the tough gets going, is our faith going to wither, or be steadfast in God? Some of the scriptures that I've enjoyed lately are Mosiah 23:21-22, and Jacob 4:7-8.

The members here are amazing and never cease to amaze me with their testimonies, and their courage for standing up for their beliefs. They have such faith in doing what's right, and are willing to make changes for the Lord.

Sister Hughes and I are doing well. We've gotten along, but the past week we had a companionship inventory and shared about some of our true feelngs.  (Not the awkward ones that you share at long-planning haha). It was good, and I feel like we came closer together after it! She's so funny, and just makes life fun and an adventure! It's awesome!

Also for FHE last week, we got to have dinner at Sister Yiim's house. She's only 21, her brother is 19, and they're both serving missions! She's going to San Diego, and he is going to Saint George Utah! Cool! Anyways, for FHE it was just us, and a whole bunch of members that are around my age. It felt like I was back home with my friends. Crazy huh? We made dinner too, by frying chicken and cutting up watermelon. It felt like we were having an adventure with Peter Pan, Wendy, and the Lost boys. It was fun!

I hope all is well!

I love you!

Sister Woodbury

BAPTISM!

UMM . . . YUM?????  (2nd line on the menu)