Sapansung Letter--October 27, 2014

This is Sister Slaugh's last mission letter! It's so exciting! She's coming home!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STU!!!!! =D

So because I am cheesy and cliche, I just reread my first email that I sent as a missionary.
My thoughts:

• Did you guys ever continue/complete the "Walk to Thailand" that Lorri suggested? haha :) To see how far along we got, check out the chart on the right of this page. It is a record of how far we got.
• In my first letter I mentioned how I was lost without my planner and watch. Haha wow and that was only my first week. And I mentioned how cut off I felt from the real world. Imagine how I feel now. I may have taken an extra planner so I can use it at home. Literally it is my life. Without it I have no idea what is left or right or up or down. haha oh no. :)
• At the beginning I thought the Thai Bible was translated from German. It's actually from Spanish. 
• In my third letter, I asked that you guys take pictures of the house because "I have a feeling that things will change during these next 18 months"—haha how right I was. :)
• In my third letter I also mentioned how my German was better than my Thai. HAHAHAHA oh man. My German is soooo gone. Hopefully it will come back quickly if I start reading in German. But really, I'm going to focus on mastering my Thai. Though it would be nice to be able to speak German too, it's just not as important anymore. 

Wow. Last letter. On one hand, a mission is all I can think about—I feel like I can hardly remember life pre-mission. On the other hand, I feel like my mission was so soo sooo short. Some of the best 18 months ever. I've been doing a lot of reflecting lately. It's been kinda nice having someone else in the district who is ending his mission—he and I have kinda bonded over that. If that makes any sense. We can talk about it. Don't worry, we are still working hard. :) I really really really want to leave this area off well for the next sisters. We had two baptisms yesterday and we have a good bunch of progressing investigators. One even calls us to set up her own appointments. That like never happens. She is really cool. 

To answer some of Delsa's questions first. 

• What am I going to miss the most? I am going to miss being a missionary. I have this amazing opportunity to help people change their lives. I get a front row seat to the Atonement. I'm going to miss the Spirit that I feel—I eat, sleep, breathe the gospel. This is what I do. Now I have to do other stuff. I was talking to my companion about this the other day and I really like her response. She said that nothing needs to change. I can still see the Atonement change lives—mine and the lives of people around me. Also, I can keep the gospel as the most important thing to me. 
• What I am most looking forward to? Naps and cookies. Haha joking (but if you guys wanted to make chocolate chip cookies before I got home—or at least had the ingredients—there would definitely be no complaints from this girl:)). Family. friends. Family. And I know that I should be looking forward to the rest of my life. Haha only 20. My companion says that I can work hard to have another life-changing 18 months. Sister Peck has some really good advice. haha :)
• Three words to describe my mission?: the best mission? haha :) um... I've grown to understand more about God's love, the enabling power of the Atonement, true repentance, and what truly matters most. So maybe What Matters Most. Haha no clue. 

Haha I haven't cried yet at all but writing this letter kinda makes me what to. Just reflecting on my mission. I'm excited to come home but man am I going to miss this.

Dad, I really am grateful for your letter. It puts into words what I'm feeling. What next? I had my last interview with President Senior today. He gave me four things I have to do when I get home. Many people say that the MTC is the training center for the mission and that the mission is the training center for life. Today I studied my patriarchal blessing. I have no idea what comes next. haha. Luckily I have school again in January to give me some structure. And I don't mind that the house isn't done yet, that will give me something to do to keep busy. As a missionary, I was soooo focused on others—on my investigators, my recent converts, my companion. Now who do I focus on? Ahhhh.... haha :) At least I'll have Facebook to talk with the people here ...

Mom: That's sad that the sisters leave right before I get there. I was looking forward to helping them. Are there just not enough sisters so they have to close the area? About that whole cooking Thai thing ... I did it. But whether I remember it? That is a whole other question. Luckily I have made friends with many people that are really good at making food. Yay Skype and Facebook. Also, I can follow a cookbook—even if it is in Thai. :) I am planning on making Thai food at home—I'll miss it too much if I don't.
I'm really glad that we have stake conference. Church. That's something I can do now. But ... if anyone asks me to pray it will have to be in Thai. Haha. Sorry Barbie. I mean, I can try in English but ... it's more meaningful in Thai. But really. Usually my personal prayers are in Thai or at most Thaiglish (Thai-English).
And yes I can help with the candy problem. Just sliding it in there but candy corn and peanut butter M&Ms are't something you can find in Thailand. :) (But if I had to pick one, chocolate chip cookies).
Also, we just had a whole zone conference on the sacrament. Did you realize that it is supposed to be a spiritual experience every time? Pre-mission it definitely was not that important to me. I mean, I knew. But I didn't understand.
I feel like my mission has taken a lot of things that I knew and changed it to understanding. Ah I love my mission so much. I feel like I have so much purpose as a missionary. Truly the way to find yourself is to first lose yourself in the service of God and our fellow-men.
I'm pretty sure that I will think about my mission every single day. It has literally changed me so much. Ahhh I don't feel like I can express my feelings as much as I want to.
If anyone in seminary is debating about serving a mission, I suggest that they prepare to serve. God will stop you if it isn't right for you or if you are supposed to do something else (like get married, convert your boyfriend, or anything else - a mission isn't for everyone). If He doesn't stop you, I would say to go for it. It will change your life in more ways than you could imagine. It is one of the best things you could do for yourself, your future family, and for all of God's kids.

Well, I feel like everything else I can tell you in person. Wow. Weird.

Haha I have already told Barbie that I request a coat for when you pick me up. I'll already have a scarf with me so I'll good in that sense.

Also, if anyone feels like making pizza for dinner someday soon, I definitely wouldn't object in any sense. haha :) or anything. I'm good with everything - but literally I am. :)

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! =D

Sapansung Letter--October 20, 2014

Recently I read in the scriptures about how in the last days, God will shorten the days for our benefit. I have no idea if that means the days will be shorter or there will be fewer days but I guess it doesn't really matter. I feel it happening but I'm not sure if it is really for my benefit. Haha :) Days are going by sooo quickly. 

It's really cool looking at pictures of the house 25 years ago. What is the sign above Stu and Sam's room? It looks like it says Boy on it so ... it is from when Sam was born? Haha that was in August. Kinda funny how it was still up. (Sam’s birthday had been 2 years and a couple months before that picture was taken. The sign 25 years ago was from my birthday, and says “It’s a boy girl” because Mom expected a boy.) When did we cut down that tree? I half want to say that I remember it but I don't trust my memory. :) I remember when the house was green! I like the sign on the old garage. :) I'm also glad the trees are still taller than the house. :)

This week was good. I went on switch-offs with the two other sets of sisters in this zone. It was fun and productive. I remember being on the other end of the switch-off, always getting really good training from the leaders. And now I'm on this end, not always knowing what I'm doing but hoping something works. Haha. Thank goodness for the Spirit because without Him, nothing would ever get done. Or at least not well. 

With the switch-off in Bangkapi—I went there. If you remember, that was my greenie area. It was really cool to see a lot of the members that I had worked with. They all said that my Thai has improved sooo much. Haha well it has been a year or more. It was also really cool to see how the ward was changing for the better. 

With the switch-off in Bangna (my previous area), I stayed in Sapansung but worked with the senior companion from there. I prayed about how it should go and that was the answer. I had wanted to go to Bangna to see my RCs but I also worried that it would be weird seeing how I just came from there. In the end, we went with the Lord's way (obviously). It worked out well because I was able to train in my area but also still be able to help her with the RCs in Bangna—I could give her some insights from serving there for 5 months. I felt that it (and the switch-off in Bangkapi) went really well. 

We've been seeing some really good miracles (good miracles...are there such things as bad miracles?) here in Sapansung. 

We have a plan for two people to get baptized (or receive baptism as it’s said in Thai) next week. One is an 18 year old girl. I love her soooo much. She is really cool. She does competitive riflery and karate (or self-defense). She also understands English soooo well (we were looking at her homework and she is sooo good at it). I feel like she would get along really well with Jon, Sam, or Stu ... except for the fact that she is utterly terrified of boys (all-girls school for a looong time is the excuse that she claims). She is a really good sport about it and laughs with me when I laugh at the situation (not at her, of course). She also knows that she will have to overcome her fear because there are a lot of guys at church ... and there are the Elders. We are trying to get her to talk to the Elders a lot because if she doesn't feel comfortable with them ... haha that will be an interesting baptismal interview. It's really comical though. But she is amazing. We first met her over a month ago (she wasn't super free the first couple weeks) and since then she has read the Book of Mormon 6 times. I was so confused when she told us that. "So you mean those little books we gave you, not the big one." No. "You mean the first chapter" No. "You mean the first book" Nope again. The entire Book of Mormon 6 times. Apparently she reads like 2 hours a day. What? Haha she still doesn't understand it all the way but she says it's getting better. She really wants to get baptized too. 

The other one is a boy that is 17 years old. He is actually a former from about a year ago. He has still been coming to church every once in a while with the member that introduced him to the church but he never got baptized because he didn't feel ready. Now he does. And he really is. 

Sister Embley and I used to compare investigators (and just all people in general) to cake mixes. Some are just a bag of flour—not even close to ready yet but could be with time. Some are all the ingredients measured out but not combined—takes a little bit more time but ready. Some are the box cake mixes—ready but you just need to add a couple more things. Some are easy-bake cake mixes—you just add the water (baptism) and the fire (Holy Ghost) and you've got a fantastic member. Going along with this comparison (even though it obviously is not a perfect one), I think a year ago, this boy was probably the bag of flour or the measured-but-not-combined ingredients. Right now, definitely easy-bake. Haha. We missionaries sound sooo weird. 

Another cool new investigator we met this week is actually also a former investigator (meaning that she once learned but then stopped). I was just calling random people from the phone (contacts just build up throughout the years) to see if they wanted to learn again and she was one of them. When we actually were able to meet with her, we asked her some of the usual get-to-know-you questions—Why are willing to meet with us today? What do you expect out of meeting with us today? Why are you interested in learning about Christianity (because the majority of the people we teach are Buddhist)? Since she was a former, we also asked her why she was willing to meet with us again. She said how the first time, she didn't feel ready to change but know she did. We asked why she wanted to change. She said that she didn't choose her first religion—she was born into it. So why Christianity? She said she really liked the idea of prayer. She loved that we could just pray straight to God and we didn't need to go through anyone. Also we could pray about anything because He is our Father. Prepared? I would say so. At this moment we shared Alma 37:37 with her about prayer. When she finished reading she told us that she felt really good and warm. We were then able to testify of the Holy Ghost and His role and what He did. It was such a cool first lesson! She didn't accept a hard commitment to be baptized (meaning she didn't accept a date) but she did accept a soft commitment (meaning that she wants to be baptized but doesn't want to commit to a date). She is really cool. AND. here is another cool thing to show how God prepared her. She works at a nearby gym, at which one of our members is a member. She said that she has never really asked anyone about their religion before but she felt that she should ask the member. There was just something about the member. It was really cool because that member was able to sit with her at church yesterday and explain any questions she had. Yeah miracles!!!! =D

This week is Mission Tour—Zone Conference: Special Edition. We have Mission Tour once a year. It's when one of the area presidency (I think?) comes and tours the mission. So that's happening this Thursday. And because it's my last one I have to (get to) bear my testimony. They always have all the ending missionaries bear their testimony at their last zone conference. Whee... 

And the week after that is transfers ...

Luckily there is still a lot of work to be done here and lots of people to take care of so it's really easy to stay focused. 

I remember when Sam and Lorri di ... ended their missions and how excited we were for them coming home. I'm assuming it's the same way (haha I hope) but because you guys love me and understand how I feel you don't mention it. Thanks. I hope you all know that I am excited to see you guys. I really am. It's just ... yeah, you know ... I’m going to really miss being a missionary in Thailand. Luckily every member a missionary! haha :) 

To Mom's question two weeks ago, I don't think I have any preference about where I live in January. I don't really remember much from the thing I went to pre-mish about all the housing options. Campus Plaza with Uncle Bill sounds great. I would like to be somewhat close to campus because it will be winter and my body currently really really does not like the cold. And I would like to be somewhat close to Delsa's place (which I guess comes from being close to campus) because there are four little people I would like to see (and I guess two big people too :)) I think every place is probably the same distance from Sam's so that doesn't really play much effect ... did I say that phrase correctly? Lately I have been making up new words on accident. Like dramastically - dramatically and drastically. And there were some words like that this week. Dude English. *shudders*   

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! =D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BARBIE and HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO STU!!!!!!!! =D

P.S. As a side note, the Bible videos on lds.org are really good. :)

Sapansung Letter--October 13, 2015

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS SOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! Today for P-day my companion and I are going to get ice cream and watch the priesthood session. Haha we want more conference. :) 

Actually, I have a good experience to share about Conference. Prior to Conference I was kinda worried about what our investigators and new members would think about it. As much as I love conference, I also realized that sometimes things included in talks are really complex for new member or new investigators. We did our best to prepare our new members and investigators by testifying that we love conference, that everything we will hear is truth, that these people representatives of God, etc. but I was still kinda worried. Throughout conference, I was constantly praying that they would at least kinda understand the main topics. It turns out—obviously—that I had no need to be worried. After the first session I talked to two walk-ins about their experience. They didn't understand much of anything but they said they felt good. They felt peace. They knew that this was good. They agreed to meet with us during the week. That experience strengthened my testimony of finding the elect (or them finding us) and of the power of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is real. He is working harder than us to help these people. 

I loved the common themes. The prophet. God does in fact still speak to man and He has called leaders of the church to guide us and to be His spokespeople. We need not be afraid because God is near. As long as we have prepared ourselves by properly listening to His chosen, we will be alright. I love how they talked about working with people of different faiths and standards. Love truly is the answer to everything and the essence of the gospel. I also loved how much they emphasized that we all need individual and strong testimonies. For the last days ahead, we need to be prepared. We will face trials and struggles and tribulations of all sorts but we can be confident. We can disagree without being disagreeable. I also love how much they emphasized the sacrament—do we prepare ourselves enough for this sacred ordinance? I loved Elder Oaks’ talk. And President Monson’s talk. And Elder Klegindat's about "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence." I also liked how much emphasis they put on protecting the home. The home truly is the most important thing. I love watching how Lorri, David, Delsa, Jon, Sam, and Samantha raise their kids. As a missionary, I try so hard to help people gain the faith of a child—I try to copy what parents do for their kids. I'm an example of what a good family with parents who keep their covenants can do for a kid. Obviously there are still exceptions and obstacles but the principles are always the same. 

As always, it was fun seeing how many scripture masteries they used. Speaking of scripture masteries, Mom, I will do my best to memorize those scriptures. I'll try to do it in Thai but I can't promise anything. Haha :)

Yay missionary experiences! Yay talking to people. :) Yay family history work! =D 

Speaking of Thailand and small worlds—an RM here knows Lorri too. I don't know his full name but I will find out and let you know when I know. President Senior thinks it's cool how someone Lorri taught is currently a missionary (I think this is referring to someone else now that gender has changed). I love seeing her at meetings. She is doing really well. 

Dad, that is really interesting about the fireside. I think it is interesting how Elder Perry and Elder Christofferson just want every church to increase their activity—it doesn't have to be just ours. I really like. They just want more people of faith. Yay :) 

In other news, things are going well. Unfortunately, our fantastic 'golden' dater from last week stopped answering the phone (which hurts the most because we don't know what happened) and our other golden dater couldn't come to church yesterday so her baptism has to be delayed a week. But, on the up side, we had two rescues and prevented one RC and another member from missing their fourth week and going LA (according to missionary standard). You win some and you lose some but you keep on going. :) I liked President Monson's talk about walking as the Savior walked—we still have disappointments but we are still successful. 

I'm not sure if I really have anything else to report. Haha. I hope everything is well!! =D

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! =D

Sapansung Letter--October 6, 2014

I AM SO EXCITED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!! I get to watch it this Saturday and Sunday at the church. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! =D It's odd how the idea of sitting in front of a TV watching older people giving talks for 10 hours is exciting BUT IT IS!!!!!!!!! When we teach new members and investigators about conference, we usually ask them to prepare about 5 questions that they want answered. Then they have to come to conference (as much as they can) and listen carefully. The more they put in, the more they will get out. I've really enjoyed doing the same. 

This week...I felt that I was in a taxi for most of it. Haha. On Wednesday we had MLC (mission leadership council) in Asoke. Then for Thursday and Friday we (Zone Leaders and us) went around to the different areas in our zone (4 not including ours) to give the training that we received at MLC. So many taxi trips. I felt really bad for my companion because she gets car sick … yeah … So we are really grateful for the days that we are just in our home area. :) 

I really love this new training that we got. Lately we have felt confused at the direction from different leaders and haven't felt super unified. The new training has solved all of those issues. It's sooo good! We now are BRAFTing missionaries ... yes I know it sounds weird. Our purposes: Baptism, retention, activation, finding, teaching. Anyway, it's really good and we really really like it. :) 

I have a question. The window above mine ... is that to the attic or to your new bedroom? Is the attic on the same level as your bedroom? Huh ... I am really curious to see this in person ...

I'm impressed you guys have already started decorating for Halloween. Some of my mission friends have already made suggestions what I should go as: a dead missionary (in missionary lingo a dead missionary is one that finished their mission). Originally I thought I was travelling during Halloween but it has recently come to my attention that I get home Halloween morning? (Actually about 7pm Halloween) I actually have no idea...nor does it matter. Unfortunately this topic comes up a lot because one of our zone leaders (we are in the same district) is dying as well. Members bring it up a lot. 

The work is going really well here. God has made a lot of miracles happen this week even though we haven't been in our area every day. Sister Candy got baptized!!!! Her getting interviewed and passing was a miracle in and of itself. We had scheduled the interview for Thursday morning thinking that there was enough buffer time before Sunday (the baptism). She lives with a member and that is her mode of transportation to the church. Unfortunately, the member had to go to work early Thursday and Friday ... and Saturday. The thing is that we needed to meet with Candy before Sunday. So what was the solution? We meet her Saturday at 7am. Haha. Soooo early. We had to wake up at 6 to get ready in time. Technically, we really shouldn't be leaving the house till like noon every day because of studies (we have extra studies because Sister Peck—my companion—is a new missionary). But whatever it takes to get them ready for baptism. Haha. :) 

We had a really cool investigator come to church yesterday. His name is Jackpot. He is sooooo cool! He has been wanting to change religions but was always kinda too scared to go to church. Luckily (or divinely) he met us two weeks while we were contacting. He is sooooo good! He has such great understanding.  He wants it. And you can tell he wants it because he reads the scriptures every day. He prays every day. He isn't ashamed about praying in front of his friends. He gets it. He is sooooo cool!!!!!!! =D He is on schedule to get baptized this next Sunday.

Oh. Yes I totally approve a dual open house. (Another missionary in our ward is coming home at about the same time as Sister Slaugh, and his family suggested we hold a dual open house for them.) I very much approve. Though I apologize in advance that I might not be much for parties ... I am planning on huddling under about 20 blankets because I will be so cold.

Delsa:

I am most excited about conference and Jackpot getting baptized.

I approve of Rachel’s cast colors. haha. I also approve that she is becoming left-handed. It's a good. :) 

YAY COCONUT WATER!!!!!! I literally drink it like all the time. I am so happy. 

Family:

So what is everyone going as for Halloween? 

Hm...I don't know what else there is. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! =D