Sawaddii from this week!

First, I apologize sincerely for the whole email fiasco that was super frustrating. But good news: I get a whole hour for emailing now! Or so says my branch presidency... the little timer is still up but I have faith that they told me the truth! I'm not even sure if I have an hour worth of things to say. Haha We'll seeeeee

 

So the nccng thais came! We were suuuuper excited. TOO excited. We came up with an excuse to talk to Bro Phan (he's teaching one of the other districts as well) just so we could go see them! We stopped by their classrooms, but turns out Bro Phan wasn't teaching that day, but Bro Burges and Shipley are AWESOME so they let us fxg (practice) a little bit with the new arrivals. I must say, they looked absolutely terrified! That must have been what I looked like! It was such a confidence booster talking to them in Thai. I was like.. "Heyyyyyy I actually speak Thai a little bit!" It's so great! They ask us how to say things ALL THE TIME, and I know how to say them MOST OF THE TIME. Although, guess what: yesterday my companions and I had a 

My companionship and one of the Cambodian
 companionships, whom we absolutely adore.

full conversation in Thai THAT WASN'T ABOUT THE GOSPEL. At the end of it we were like... "Was that all in Thai? That was all in Thai!" It was an exciting day for us. :) ...Aaanyway, we were kind of afraid that we had overwhelmed the nccng thais the first day, because us and the Cambodians kind of swarmed them and fawned all over them. Buuuut, they all talk to us now and say how cool we are, so I think they like us! It makes me feel fuzzy inside. I was so lucky to be the Sister Training Leader when they came! I got to show them around campus and tell them how to do stuff and how they should study. It was awweeeesome! But then I got released. :( Sis Melton and Chii Stephens are awesome STL, though! I just really miss my calling. That's okay! I'm really grateful for the opportunity I had to serve! So, yeah, long story short, I love my nccng Thais, and it's weird being a Phii Thai. I remember my Phii Thais seeming SO COOL. They knew everything! I really don't feel that cool. But, I will serve my duty with honor as a cool Phii Thai. :)

 

So last week I left the MTC. :O Crazy, right? We went to the...... dentist! Sis Barton had to get a filling, so Sis Ng and I planned a lesson in a dentist's office listening to soft rock. Hahaha It was actually really productive! I think the weirdest part was being in the van. I was like, "Whoa. I haven't been in a car for 6 weeks." Odd. In two weeks I'm going to be on a van again! And then on a PLANE.

 

TWO WEEKS. Actually.... TWELVE DAYS. I leave for Thailand in twelve days. I can hardly believe it! I have really come to love the MTC. I have learned so much! I have learned to give my heart to the Savior. I've learned to serve my companions, I've learned to love my investigators, and they aren't even real!

 

Hey! Big news! One of my investigators committed to baptism!!! We're so excited for him! We're not sure when.... but we're just glad he said yes! It was kinda frustrating, because all of the Cambodians' invetsigators have already all been baptised, and we're just now getting all of our investigators to even believe in Christ. But you know what? I think our teachers are harder on us than the Cambodians. Our teachers aren't golden investigators. They don't just believe everything we tell them. If we don't teach with the spirit, they don't learn anything. It's great! It's forced me to really go down to the basics and just rely on the Spirit.

 

My district and two of my teachers!

 I love my teachers. I'm probably going to miss them the most out of everything here at the MTC. They care for us so much, and have pushed us and laughed with us and scolded us and eaten candy with us! They're awesome. We actually kind of have 3 teachers... or like... 4... the zone resource teachers come in a lot. So it's just a lot of fun. One is a Laotian speaker, but Laotian is very similar to Thai, so we can talk to him. Elder Calderon and I really like Laotian! We like to talk like Brother Harper and pick up random phrases from him, much to the dismay of our "real" teachers. Apparently Laotian is considered like... hick language to Thai speakers. haha! I hope I get sent to the Issan so I can learn it!

 

Our Taiwanese roommates have left us. : ( They're gonna do so great in Taiwan! Our room is just very quiet now....

 

Oh, so the newest gym craze is soccer. We love being outside, but honestly, the foursquare kind of stinks outside. The ball is really hard and the pavement isn't level, so the sisters have moved to soccer! I was super bummed about it at first, because the last time I've played soccer was in.... like... second grade, and I had bad memories from that, but turns out I'm not TERRIBLE at it. I can play! We've enjoyed getting to know the nccng thais better by running into them and kicking soccer balls at their heads. :)

 

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr So I feel like a lot has happened, but whenever I go to type up emails it all just all disappears! The MTC fries your brain. The only things I can think about are Thai, the Gospel and food. Food is important. I'm super excited to eat legit Thai food IN Thailand!

 

I'm even more excited to share the Gospel! As I've been preparing to teach each of my investigators I've really had to focus in on how the Gospel and the principles of the Gospel is going to help each of them as individuals. And it turns out, living the restored gospel of Christ helps everyone NO MATTER WHAT! I knew that already, but seeing it applied to my investigators with each of their struggles has really confirmed that to me.

 The Gospel is true! Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He loves us. He died for us! He's restored His Gospel on the Earth. Right now we're focusing on getting our investigators to have faith in Christ through reading the Book of Mormon, because the Book of Mormon truly testifies of Christ. I love that book. I have found so much peace and love by reading it every day. Don't take advantage of it! Study it EVERY DAY. You will find your faith deepening, and your desire to serve Christ grow. It helps every one, no matter their nationality. A convert from Thailand comes every week to be taught by us, she has such a love for the Book of Mormon. It's helped her and her family and she is using it to help her prepare for her own mission! I'm so excited for her.

 

Anyway, hope all is well! I'm doing great.

 

Love,

Sister Zaugg