Bangna Letter--July 21, 2014

DIEGO GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D 

This week was weird. Yup. Really weird. Also, I apologize in advance because I feel that my English has gotten a lot worse this week. I now speak in mostly just Thai all day. So English … yeah … it might be best if Barbie doesn’t read these emails until someone else edits them first. (Too late)

Monday. Normal. Good. FHE was about the sacrament and the real reason we come to church—not for friends or social stuff but for God and Christ and to renew our covenants.

Tuesday we got the call that Sister Embley would be moving at the mini transfers on Wednesday. It was expected but still very sad. 

Wednesday morning we get to the office and the new missionaries have yet to arrive—some huge storm somewhere in Asia halted their arrival. We still had mini-transfers though. In my humble opinion, President Senior is insane. Perfect. Genius. Amazing. Fantastic. Has the vision. But insane. Do you want to know what mini-transfers were like? So the office has many floors, right? For the mini-transfers he had us all (about 16 people?) stand on the first floor while he, his wife, and his three assistants stood on the second floor. He said he had just finished reading about King Benjamin and his tower that morning, hence the inspiration for the set up. So yeah. First example of his insanity is the set up. Second, he had the trainers come forward first and some missionary commented that it was like the Hunger Games. He told us that our companions would be coming sometime around 1pm so we would have to wait. 

Noon comes along and they told us that because of the storm, the new missionaries still hadn't come. Stand by. Not super fun because you don't know how to plan for each day. You have to be very flexible. So Sister Du Plessis (another trainer) and I go back to my area (because my area is in Bangkok and hers is too far away) and continue working. 

Miracle during this time. As we were going to lunch, I called up one of our investigators—Gob—who was supposed to get baptized yesterday, trying to set up an appointment. She said she wasn't free all this week and wasn't sure if she even still wanted to get baptized. This obviously was very hard for me because I just lost one of my best and closest companions. I was also worrying about training, especially training in Thai. But! God is good. And this is His work, not ours. Not two hours later (on our way to Bangna) I get a call from one of the assistants. "Hey, so your investigator Gob is at the church here in Asoke and wants to learn. What do you want us to teach her?" Apparently she was working near Asoke and was able to find the church. It just showed me that God can do all things and there is never reason to fret. God's got it. Who better than the assistants to resolve our investigator’s concerns?

Thursday. Sister Du and I are in Bangna. Assistants called and said that the new missionaries would get in around the evening so to go to Asoke Friday morning. 

Friday. Finally get my new companion. Another story to show you that President is insane but also insanely inspired. All you can do with President is to expect the unexpected and enjoy the ride. There are five new missionaries, right? Two sisters and three elders. Sister Du and I are the sister trainers and we were pretty positive that we knew who would be companions with whom. One of the Thai sisters was from Bangkapi (a baby area) and that was only about an hour or two away from Bangna (my area), and that’s far too close. So, logic would say that she (Sister Yanisa) would go with Sister Du and the other sister (Sister Autamakul) would go with me. I forgot that logic plays no factor when President is involved. 

He asks all ten of us to go into a room to match us up. He did the elders first. He took the name badges of the new missionaries and 'randomly' picked out which one would go where. He made it look completely random but I'm pretty sure (or at least am hoping) that he knew which name badge was whose. So the elders went with their companions and it was now time for the sisters. We made the comment that we were pretty positive who we were already going to be with. He looked at us and then stood up and said that he had to pray some more. 

He comes back after a time and asks us four sisters to come into his office and explains the situation to us. 

Apparently that morning he was pretty positive that Sister Yanisa would go with Sister Du and Sister Autamakul would go with me. Then when he was praying about it (the first time, not this last time), the Lord said to switch it. President said that that made no sense. The Lord still said to switch it. Then President did the whole calling us into the room to match us with our companions. When he got to the Sisters and we had already 'done' it, he thought “Yes! That would make more sense” and that's why he went back to pray some more. The Lord still said to switch it. So President switched it. He also reminded us of the story when the Lord had Prophet Samuel pick David to be the King (Old Testament). God's ways are not the world's ways. 

So we all leave the room completely shocked but willing to do whatever the Lord said. Who needs logic anyway? They tell us to go eat lunch but to come back in an hour. 

An hour passes and we ten return. President calls us four sisters back into his office and starts telling us the Bible story of Abraham. God had tested Abraham's obedience by telling him to sacrifice his son. Abraham was confused, among other things, but he trusted the Lord and so obeyed. Before Abraham actually sacrificed his son though, an angel stopped him. President Senior told us that the Lord told him to switch the companionships back again. It was an obedience test. Were we—and mostly President Senior—willingly to obey despite the insanity of what we were told to do? Yes. :)

I'm almost out of time and I still need to write President Senior. 

I love you all very very very very very much!!! =D 

Bangna Letter--July 14, 2014

Hey family!

Um... I don't really know what to talk about. The new companion hasn't come yet - she will get here in a couple of days. We're excited!

Thailand just had a country-wide YSA activity. Apparently it was great! All of our RCs who went absolutely loved it. Apparently they taught about dating and marriage a good deal because our RCs came back with questions and a need for clarification. It was funny. 

Being a missionary really makes me feel like a mom with the RCs as our kids. We care for them, teach them, stress out over them, and watch them grow. I love it. I feel like in my other areas I really only got to see my RCs take their "first steps". Here in Bangna, we've watched them take their first steps and now they are running, jumping, and exploring. The RCs are flourishing here. They are so close to each other and are rooted in the Gospel and in each other. They've got each other's backs. We are forming our own little army of Helaman here. Seriously, one of our RCs has started drawing little stick-figure soldiers on everyone's name badge (did I explain the name badges last week? I can't remember).You know that scripture in D&C about great joy in heaven with the one soul that you've saved (D&C 18:15-16). I'm really understanding that joy. And if I have that much joy now, I can't even image how much joy it will be when we all get to heaven and they and their descendants have all been baptized and married in the temple. I currently feel like a mom with a ton of sons. We get a lot of proud-mommy moments. I like it. :) 

Example of a proud-mommy moment: So one of our female RCs (one of three now) used to have an issue with modesty. She didn't know and we weren't going to stress about it because frankly we were focusing on her understanding the basics of the church first. But members kept on telling me it was an issue and then God gave us a perfect opportunity to address it in a non-awkward way. And guess who was wearing a completely modest dress this Sunday? Yeah. Proud-mommy moment. She's great. :)

I really don't know what else to talk about because I feel like I am always repeating myself. I love being a missionary. It's the best thing in the world. I love being a missionary. I know this all is true. Bangna is amazing. I love my companion soooo much. The people here are fantastic. Because of this new contacting method, we are meeting sooooo many prepared people. 

Delsa's questions: 

I read in both English and in Thai. In English I'm studying about Alma the Elder. In Thai I'm studying about King Benjamin. Today though I studied about the sacrament because that's what we are discussing tonight for FHE. 

Fruits that are in season? There is this really delicious purple fruit. I have no idea how to spell it and I have no idea what it is called in English. I'll take a picture for next week.

Barbie's questions:

When it rains, everyone hides. We don't usually get sick because we usually try to arrange to do our contacting in non-raining time. meaning that we aren't in the rain for to too long. But sometimes we get pretty drenched. It's funny running home or to the Church in the rain.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK! What miracles have you seen this week?

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! and congrats to Kim on getting married! :)

Bangna Letter--July 7, 2014

I hit my year-mark in Thailand this week. How do I feel? Weird. Especially since we have a greenie in our district right now (District Leader is training) and I can reflect how I was as a greenie. I so much prefer not being a greenie. Greeniehood is super stressful. Your Thai is great, all things considered, but all you can think about is how much better it needs to be.

This week was really good. At the end of last week, Sister Embley and I made a goal to work with the church leaders better - aka make them more involved and all that fun stuff. We already have a good relationship with the leaders but it could always be better and more organized. So we made a plan and started to put it into action. Then on Friday we had zone training which talked about a lot of things that we had discussed. It was really nice because we were already prepared and zone training just enlarged and improved our plan. It was soooo nice because we were able to get a running start on everything they asked us to do. 

So I guess I should remind everyone what is going on in Thailand. The vision/goal: a temple. the plan: 4 stakes. Requirements: more members (baptisms!), more faithful tithe-paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders (baptisms! and reactivations), more temple workers (baptisms!, reactivations, and member strengthening) So yeah...running theme: baptisms. It's great. The mission standard/goal/aim/vision/whateveryoucallit is one a week so 4 this month (4th of July--haha). How is that going to happen? Inviting everyone you see to be baptized and going inviting for at least 2 hours everyday. "Would you like to be cleansed from your sin?" We say it so much during the day that I would be surprised if we weren't saying it in our sleep. I love it. 

Things that we learned at Zone Training plus things that Sister Embley and I discussed: the first is a world-wide change. All investigators must learn lessons 1-5 before baptism. After baptism, missionaries have to still take the lead reviewing lessons 1-5. I really like it actually - especially the lesson 5 prebaptism. It helps them see the bigger picture. In Thailand, we focus a ton on baptism. President Senior calls us missionary baptizing machines. We are really good at it now. We find, teach, baptize. Now we are refining our retention. Teaching lesson 5 before baptism helps the investigators truly understand that baptism is just the first gate. Next you have to go to the temple. If you don't go to the temple, you are still not fully saved. President Senior and the other Thailand leaders are pushing really really hard on more unity between the wards/branches and the missionaries. That unity will help the retention. At transfer meeting, the new stake president talked to us and compared this work to a relay race. It doesn't matter how fast you run the first part if the baton gets dropped and time is lost. He asked us to run with the second runner (the members/leaders) for a little bit while handing off the baton to ensure success. Members are sooooo important in this work. Without members, this work is nigh impossible. Yeah we can baptize but what's the point is all the fruit is lost. So yeah, we are focusing more and working harder at working with church leaders. 

We are soooo blessed to be here in Bangna because the leaders here are soooo amazing. Obviously there are always things to improve because we are all human and not perfect but whatever. Bangna is doing sooooooo amazingly well. The members are really supportive of the work too. In other areas I been in, a lot of members have complained to me about the fast baptisms. Here in Bangna, the members are really good at helping us keep the fruit. They are soooo good. They come to activities. They actually talk to the new members. They make sure the new members (and investigators) feel welcome and know that if they have any questions, they can ask. They are just sooo helpful. Retention rate in Bangna has gone up recently which is great. 

One thing I love about the church in Thailand is how many activities there are. Granted, they are mostly all missionary run but that will change with time. Monday we started FHE for the single members. Tuesday is English class. Wednesday is Book of Mormon class (to help new members and investigators gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon). Thursday is your night off. Friday is Institute and Seminary. Saturday is Sports Nights. Sunday is church and a lot of members stay from around 8:30am to about 8:30pm - especially the new members. The new members have really fellowshipped each other. They come to basically every activity (I promise we don't force them but we do highly encourage it and call them and invite them). And by a lot of members come every night, I mean like a couple of long-term families and mostly the new members. Other members come to activities every once in a while. It's still really great. I love how much the church feels like family here. 

What else?

Oh! A perfect new investigator. She is actually a referral from a long-term member here. She is really a dry Mormon. Her parents were sealed in the temple but they live really far away from the church. Her father passed away when she was little but her mom still raised her and her brother with the Book of Mormon and all the commandments. So she only goes to church like once every couple of years but she prays and read the scriptures and keeps all the commandments (even tithing). So she is up her for a couple of weeks for a country-wide YSA activity. A member called us up and basically commissioned us to baptize her as fast as we could. It was really funny because long-term members aren't always supportive of the fast baptisms. But yeah, so she is literally one of the easiest investigators I have ever taught because she already knows, believes, understands, and keeps everything. So she is getting baptized this Sunday. 

Speaking of baptisms this Sunday, did Diego's date change or is he still getting baptized this Sunday? What about those other two investigators of the Sisters? Did they ever come back? Are baptisms happening more frequently at home now? 

What else? So we teach a lot of group RC lessons because our RCs have just become so close to each other. Yesterday we went in-depth about the plan of salvation and the temple. We taught them about the 3 levels of the celestial kingdom. They were all very surprised about the whole marriage thing. It was super funny. I'm glad we taught them that so that they will start factoring that into their future. It was good for them. It was also good to remind them that they aren't "saved" just because they were baptized. You have to remain faithful and continue growing and processing. 

So yeah. Everything here is good. I love being a missionary. I truly just love it sooo much. It is so fulfilling. Thank you for getting so involved with the missionary work back at home. It truly does make our life so much easier when we know we have strong members we can rely on. 

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! Good luck at Young Women Camp, Mom! Have fun. Sorry about the rain in the house. Tell everyone at camp that I say hi. I invite everyone to consider serving a mission. It is literally the best decision in my life so far. You think you understand the gospel pre-mission but let me tell you, you could understand so much more. Your mind is truly opened and enlightened about the purpose of this life, about the gospel, and about the converting power of the Book of Mormon and the Holy Spirit, and of the Atonement. I am so grateful for the Atonement. I know it truly has the power to change lives. I have seen it change my life and the lives of my investigators. People truly can change. Good people made better. Terrible people made good. The lost are found. They truly are kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it. It's true. It all is so true. There is no way you can deny it. Everyday I see people change their lives. For some, it is a drastic change. Others, only slightly. Either way, everyone is planted more fully on the path to eternal exaltation. I love declaring repentance unto this people. It's all I want to do. It is truly the one of the most fulfilling things you can do. Either at home or in the mission field, every one can share the gospel. Everyone can be a watchman on the tower. Everyone needs to be. It is our sacred duty as Latter-day Saints. We need to share the good one. We need to save our loved ones - our family, our friends, our neighbors, and even those random people you pass on the street everyday. It's true. And I am so grateful to be apart of it. 

LOVE YOU ALL and I hope you have a great day and week and everything. Stay safe. 

~Sister Slaugh

Bangna Letter--June 30, 2014

I am sooooo happy about Diego. Like seriously soooooo happy I'm still smiling about that. That is soooooooooo cool! =D (Diego is one of Abbie's friends from high school who showed up at church last week on his own.  He ordered a Book of Mormon from Amazon and read it, then decided to start attending church.)

This week has been really good and so I shall take you through day by day. 

Monday. So you know how there is a church wide rule that you can't have activities on Monday nights at the church? So we got permission from the bishop to have an exception to that rule (not like anyone follows that rule in the first place because I don't think many people - especially missionaries - remember that rule because literally all of us teach at the church on Monday night but anyway...). Now every Monday night we will be having FHE at the church for single adults because the majority of our recent converts are males that fit into this category. We want them at the church as often as we can get them there because it is a safe place for them. Also we need them as strong as we can get them because Satan is working hard on them because they are the future Melchizedek priesthood holders that we need for a temple. We want them to be really unified amongst themselves so that they can strengthen each other too. We've had it twice already and it is a lot of fun. They are all sooooooo good! If anyone has any good FHE ideas, I would love to hear them. We've already taught and reviewed everything we need to so now we are just sharing scriptures stories and conference talks. so yeah. 

Sad news about Monday is that we found out about transfers. Sister Embley was told that she was moving. 

Tuesday. District meeting (including ice cream at Swensons afterwards because we can get it half-off) and English class. Had an RC help us teach one of our female investigators. She's super cute. We are pretty sure that he has a huge crush on her. She got baptized this Sunday too so can anyone say temple marriage (in a year)? :) Haha. What? Missionaries playing match maker? Of course not. What would ever make you say such a thing? We obviously don't sometimes pick the member to help us teach based on whether they would make a cute couple with the investigator. I claim all innocence in the matter. I plead the fifth. Moving on. :)

Wednesday. We had a really cool lesson today with an investigator (the one from above). She really really really wanted to get baptized but there was only one thing holding her back: her job. Lets just say it wasn't super in harmony with the commandments. So on Wednesday (after we realized that it wasn't in harmony), we asked her to change her job. Members told her it would be hard for her to change because of the nature of people who work at places like that. You know what her response was? Sure. She was totally willing to! We taught her about fasting so we fasted with her to be able to find a new job. She found one, and it's one where she can choose her own hours. She is sooo happy. She has so much faith. So much desire. She's soooo good. Taught some other people too. 

Wednesday Sister Embley packed. 

Thursday. So usually we have to be at transfer meeting by 9am so we have to wake up early to leave early to avoid traffic. This time though, the new missionaries' flight got delayed so they weren't going to get there till the morning so we didn't have to get to transfers till 2pm (unless you had to go to the training meeting at 10am which we didn't). So we planned to leave the house around 10:30 or 11am. Right as we are getting ready to walk out the door, I get a call from my district leader. "Hey, where are you guys?" At home. "So...you're training and you are supposed to be at this meeting right now." You are kidding me, right? So, he gives the phone to President who confirms that yes, I am training. President makes some joke about needing new APs because they forgot to tell me (and a couple of other missionaries) that we were training. Right afterwards I get a call from an AP. He said sorry and asked if there was any chance we could get to the meeting within the next 30 minutes - no. After that he said that I would be training a Thai sister who would be coming in another three weeks so we didn't have to go to transfers unless we wanted to. This got me really confused because Sister Embley was told she was moving - of course we would have to go to transfers. I mention this to him and then he got really confused why Sister Embley thought she was moving (...because you guys told us she was...). They decided it was because she will be moving in three weeks and they just told us incorrectly. So yeah. That was the craziness about transfers. Sister Embley and I are soooooooo happy to still be together. Like literally walking on cloud 9. I love serving with her. We work soooo hard and have seen soooo many miracles. Before transfers, we joked about telling President that we couldn't go to transfers so that we could stay together. We were soo excited that our stay together was extended by 3 weeks.

Friday and Saturday. More lessons and miracles that I don't have time to tell right now. 

Sunday. Three baptisms! These three have repented soooo much to get to this point. It was amazing. 

So...basically out of time again. So...I have to include my letter to President again so you see the some of the miracles from this week. I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOO MUCH!!!! =D

"Dear President,

...

"I guess the main thing I have to report on about this week is that it has strengthened my testimony of the power of the Atonement. One of the main reasons I love being a missionary is because I love seeing how the gospel can change people. 

"A couple of weeks ago, one of our RCs (อู๋) was really struggling because of past addictions and stuff like that. He told us how he knew he was slipping and was scared of himself. We have been working hard with him and he has been working really hard with himself too. Yesterday he baptized three of our investigators. Last night he called us and said thank you. Thank you to God for saving him. I reminded him of that one phone call awhile ago and asked him how he felt now. He said he felt like a child - สงบ. He said he wasn't scared anymore. 

"We also have another investigator (who พอดี happens to know อู๋) who has had a really tough past. He drives a motorcycle taxi, is some type of loan shark, and a tattoo artist. He also told us how he accidentally killed before. He came to church this Sunday and while before he wasn't too sure if he wanted to be baptized, he seemed really excited to know that he could be baptized next Sunday (after he repents and changes his jobs and all that stuff). 

"This Sunday we had three baptisms. Two of them changed a lot about their life to get to this point. One was severely addicted to coffee and porn. Another was a pole dancer. Both repented instantly and changed their lives to be in harmony with Christ's teachings as soon as we asked them to. 

"The Atonement. It works. This gospel is so true. There is no way it can't be. This many people cannot change their lives on their own this quickly. It just doesn't happen. And what would they be changing it for if not for the cleansing and saving hope that the Atonement brings. I am so grateful to be a missionary in this the Thailand Bangkok Mission. I am so grateful to be on the Lord's errand, spreading the good news with all that want to hear it. There is no place I'd rather be but here."

I love you all soooo very very much. I know this is true. There is no way it can't be. I love being a missionary. I love my badge and never want to take it off. One of the hardest things about transfers is seeing all the missionaries that have finished their time and are going home. It's scary. There truly is no place I'd rather be but here. I love seeing the power of the atonement alive in people's lives. 

I love you all so very much! Have a great week! =D

~Sister Slaugh

 

"These are the types of shoes we sisters usually wear here in Thailand. And these are my lovely feet in case you forgot what they looked like."

 

Bangna Letter--June 23, 2014

Apparently Sister Slaugh was really, really busy this day. That, or she got caught up emailing someone else and forgot about her main letter. Who knows?

So this letter will be short. Sorry. like really short.

This Thursday is transfers. I would really like not to move but if I do, that's okay. 

This week has been really much the same as every week. Inviting. Meet crazy people. People tell us it's raining so why are you outside contacting. Meet interested people. "Would you like to be cleansed from your sin?" One of our investigators told us that he accidentally killed someone before. Our response, "don't do it again." haha

Our of time. LOVE YOU!!!!!! =D

Bangna Letter--June 16, 2014

hey everyone!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! It sounds like it was crazy and fun. I remember last Father's Day I was in the MTC and I told you all to watch a Mormon message. I'm going to suggest it again: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013&lang=eng&cid=HPTU061014222

It's great and I feel like it is really true. :) 

This week was good. Yesterday was Stake Conference. THAILAND HAS A NEW STAKE!!!!!!!!! They created a Stake (Bangkok North) and a new District (Bangkok West). This is sooooooooo exciting!!!!! The first stake was created around 19 years ago. When Elder Anderson came to Thailand around a year ago, he said that when Thailand had 4 stakes it would catch the attention of the First Presidency so that we can get a temple. Bangkok West District should easily become a stake soon too. And the districts in the East and North of Thailand are doing well so....aka a temple in Thailand is coming soon! =D 

Yay baby blessings! =D I feel like family gatherings are always fun but super crazy. Did you guys take a family photo too or just of the grandkids? They look super different. They look soooo much bigger! At first I thought Audrey and Max were Rachel and Jayson. Max looks a ton like Jayson when he was that age. I thought Ben was Max too. Is Rachel turning 6 in two months? I think she is the only birthday I know of the 9 and that's really only because it's Mom's and Dad's birthday. haha oops. 

Life is good here in Bangna. We are working really hard on RC retention. We had two new converts that started to slip but they are getting a lot better. What's really nice about RC retention is that they have felt the Spirit recently and they remember what it feels like. One of our RCs was really hard to get a hold of for about a week but then the next week he was super repentant and wanting to meet with us. What happened? He missed the Spirit. One thing I love about the Spirit is that when you have, it can prompt you to do what is right but when you do something wrong, it's absence also prompts you to do what is right - to repent so you can feel the Spirit again. I've had that before in a different area of a shaky RC asking to meet with us because she felt awful and wanted to feel the Spirit again. 

I know when I was younger, yes I felt the Spirit but another thing that helped me to know if it was true was when I didn't feel the Spirit. Mom, do you remember that one time you took me to a school activity and then like 5 minutes later I called you, in tears, asking you to come pick me up? I do. I went to some 'battle of the bands' activity and the music they were playing there was so not good for me feeling the spirit. As soon as I entered the room, I felt the Spirit leave me. I felt sooo scared that I started to tear up. Then I called Mom and she picked me up and took me to some church activity. 

Another one of my RCs once tried some alcohol (after he was baptized) because he was curious what would happen. He said that the Spirit left instantly and he promised us that he would never do it again. While we were not happy that he did something that silly as drinking when he knew it was wrong (side note - being a missionary has really made me feel like a mom watching over our RCs), we were really grateful that it made him realize how important the commandments and the companionship of the Holy Ghost is. 

So yeah. Go Spirit. 

Over all, our RCs are doing super well. Yesterday we had a really cool lesson with Nat. We reviewed the gospel - the atonement, faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. We asked him why he had faith and he was kinda taken aback by that question - I don't think he had thought about it. Later I asked him how he felt when he read the scriptures and prayed. It was really cool to then help him remember how he was when he was first investigating. His first week learning, we asked him every day how he felt and it was always "I don't feel anything". During that period we talked about how learning to feel and understand the Spirit is like learning a new language - it takes time. First time you hear it, you don't understand - it doesn't mean anything to you. The more you hear it and study that language (read the scriptures, keep the commandments, pray, go to church. etc), the more you understand. It was really cool to show him the difference from when he first started to where he is now. 

I think that is one thing that I absolutely love about the gospel. It changes people and it's a change that you can see. 

Another story. Kem is one of our investigators who is getting baptized this upcoming Sunday. When I met him, I didn't really think he was anything special. I frankly don't even remember meeting him but his number was in my planner so I must have. We set up his appointment and confirmed and he actually showed up (remember, in Thailand, we usually teach at the church). We taught him the gospel, word of wisdom, law of chastity, and invited him to get baptized on the 22nd. He accepted everything even though he was really addicted to a few things. He quit everything cold turkey - even though he works a ton and used to drink 5+ cups of coffee a day for the past 10+ years. His body reacted soooo badly to him quitting cold turkey that he actually had to go the doctors and medicine to help him with the massive constant migraines. But still throughout all of this, he doesn't relapse. He hasn't had coffee or the other stuff for about two weeks. He wants it sooo badly. He keeps on telling how much happier he is now and how much more free he feels too. 

I can't think of any other stories right now. Oh! We met a farang Christian the other day and he attempted to use the Bible to call us the devil. That was fun. And then the next day we met this Thai Christian lady who said she really wanted to get a Book of Mormon from us because the other Christian churches she has gone to called us the devil but she thinks we seem nice so she wants to know what we believe and why other people call us the devil. So that was good. At stake conference, this long time member shared his conversion story and it started with him checking out another Christian church and the pastor saying that Mormons are the devil and he was really confused. He asked the pastor how he knew Mormons were the devil which made this member curious what Mormons believed. Later he was at the library and saw a Book of Mormon (in English) and started to read (he didn't understand any of it though). Conveniently enough someone saw him and asked if he was Mormon. When he said that he wasn't, the person (Elder Khanakham) asked him if he wanted to be. I may not have the story perfect so don't quote me on it but still, you get the gist. That Thai Christian lady from before asked me if I minded it when people called me the devil and I said I didn't. Why? Look how many missionary opportunities come from it. :) 

Um...what else? Everything is doing pretty good. This area is amazing. It truly is the land of prepared men. I promise we invite females too but besides that Thai Christian lady, usually everyone that is interested is male. All of our RCs are male. It's great though. Lots of really great strong priesthood holders. We love it. :) 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!! =D

Bangna Pictures--June 9, 2014

 "This is Nat and Joe." I suppose they are two of the people in white. We learned of their baptism in her last letter--dated June 2--if you'll recall.

Sister Slaugh simply labeled this picture "Toffee." In her May 5 letter, she announced that Toffee had been baptized but wouldn't be confirmed until the next Sunday that he had off from work. She also said, though, that if that took longer than 4 weeks he would need to be re-baptized. I'm not sure if this is an old picture she forgot to send in May or if it's from his re-baptism. I suppose it doesn't matter, though.

 And this picture has only the caption "ice skating." I have no idea what the gray is from--perhaps they stood behind a wall for the picture for some reason.