THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!
We had to go to the office last Monday to get money for Sister Orchard so afterwards we stuck our heads in the mailroom. I was so excited to get that package. Thank you soooooooo much!!!!! =D I've really missed having a Bible and having a personal set of scriptures. They feel really really nice. I really love them. :) Thanks again :)
Things have been going well in Bangkapi but there is still drama. Some of the young women were too casual with the Elders and past missionaries never did anything to fix the situation. So, my companionship and our two Elders sat down (Order of the Phoenix style) and made a battle plan of how to correct the situation. One of the young women blew up at us a couple of times because we were trying to fix the situation but everything is all good now. That girl and I had a really good relationship before the issue so I think she had a hard time being mad at me. :) Friday she tried yelling at me but she couldn't get totally mad at me. Sunday we were back to the usual being friends. I think it also helps that everyone in the ward thinks of me as a little child and can you really get angry at a child? Things have improved between her and Sister Orchard as well (she yelled at Sister Orchard for a good 15 minutes last Tuesday). So things are on the up and up. :)
Our two Elders and the four Lat Prao Elders are hilarious and so much fun to work with. Sister Orchard just cracks up constantly and she has a contagious laugh. Bangkapi and Lat Prao used to be combined but we are currently working on splitting them. The Lat Prao Elders still come to our church meetings, meetings with the Bishop, and correlation meetings but they are working hard to make a self-sufficient ward down in Lat Prao. Really great things are happening here in Thailand. We are working really hard for a temple. Our goal is to get a temple announced next year. President Senior has asked us to emphasize the law of tithing and to strengthen the Melchizedek Priesthood holders here in Thailand. It's so exciting to be working here at this time.
We went on another switch-off last week - I stayed in Bangkapi for it. Sister Orchard is a really great Sister Training Leader. She has a lot of responsibilities though. The day (Friday) of switch-off, our two Elders got super sick so I was in charge of Sports Night. I do not like stress. Or having one of my favorite members annoyed at me because of our determination to keep the rules. But... everything got better since that night too. It was a big testimony builder to me. Friday morning I studied about how Christ rescues us in the 4th watch - at our breaking point. There have been a lot of times in my life where I feel like I'm about to break because of issue but it is at those points when the relief comes. We endure and do our best for as long as we physically and emotionally can and when we literally can't do any more, God steps in. He is with us the entire time supporting us but it's at our breaking point that we can most easily see the miracles. "It is by grace we are saved, after all we can do." That's in 2nd Nephi somewhere. Maybe chapter 2? [2 Nephi 25:23]
All in all, this week has ended fantastically. Our two daters passed their interview on Saturday and are getting baptized next Sunday. Their mom is pretty sure she can get off work for their baptism. We are teaching this other amazing girl Pogan. She gets things so easily and is so willing to keep the commandments. She is so sweet and it is so obvious that she has been previously prepared by the Lord. Our other investigators are doing well too. Two of them love learning and are really sincere but their parents are very against them being baptized. We might have to drop (stop teaching) one of our other investigators soon. She loves having us teach her but she won't put forth any effort on her part. Won't go to church, won't keep commandments, etc. We really love her but we've taught her everything already. We can't help anymore and we need to devote our time to people who are progressing. Oh well. Maybe right now just isn't her time and the missionaries after us will be able to help her better. All in all, the work here has been good. I love Thai people so much. I love this ward and all the members. Some members around my age have started teaching me Thai slang because they are sick of me always asking the same questions (like how are you?). I can only use it with them though because those phrases would be really rude if used with people other than your close friends. Good times in Bangkapi :)
Um...that's all really to report. I love it here in Thailand so much. I love the people here so much. It's so sad to think that if I didn't go on a mission I wouldn't have met these wonderful people or learned this amazing language. Or had this fantastic food. I love Thai food so much. I really need to work on eating spicy food though. I'm still really bad at it. Oops. :)
The members I work with the most: Sister Aay (17), Sister Eve (18 or 19 - Aay's older sister), Sister Jane (18 or 19), Brother Bob (20 - his name sounds like Bop), Sister Gay (40ish, pronounced Guy - means chicken), Sister Janti (33, nickname is Ganster), and yeah. They are so much fun and I love them so much. So great.
I'm glad to hear everything is going well at home. I'm sending a lot of prayers. Congrats to Chris! How is Mrs. McAnulty? Hope everything is great with seminary. And that's super exciting about Newark!!!! Yay!!!!! =D [The Newark meetinghouse was dedicated Sunday. It houses the Newark Ward, Spring Garden Branch, and Ironbound Branch. The Newark Branch was formed in 1979 and made into a ward around 1996. Getting their own building has been a long, hard struggle.]
Much love! =D
~Sister Slaugh
(P.S: If you would like to send pictures for Christmas, I would absolutely love that. And if we have an extra copy of the Testament. Or any MoTab CDs - that's all we are allowed to listen to here. Yup. And Peanut Butter M&Ms. That's currently it. Or any recipes. Like for pizza. I would really like the pizza recipe because it is super expense here. Much love! :)
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