Helloooooo

Hellooooooooooo!

This week was wayyyy awesome! Finallyyyyyyyyyy. I was getting pretty worn out there.

A secret passage-way. :O

Tuesday was Zone Conference! Which was AWESOME! I love Zone Conference, seriously. We spend our whole missions building up others' faith, it's nice to have a zone conference every now and again to help build ours! We had a competition which I'm going to try to explain:

Winning the Zone Conference competition. :D

There are 5 planks that serve as stepping stones for one person who has walk across them to the finish line. But the planks have to be held above the ground. So the rest of the team holds the planks up and the person who crosses just grabs everyone else's heads and shoulders as he/she attempts to step across the planks without falling. The only problem is that we have to get from one end of the field to the other, so as soon as the person steps off your plank you have run around and put it in front of him/her so he/she can keep walking! I hope that makes sense. It was pretty intense and a little dangerous. Each plank said things like, "scripture study" "prayer" "keeping the commandments". If the person fell off they had to start at the beginning and do it again. My team crushed all the other teams and won 200 baht vouchers for Swenson's each!! Whoo hoo :D I'm not actually sure what it was supposed to help us understand.... something about how we need to do those things repeatedly and it's hard,and sometimes we fall and have to repent, but if we make it to the end it's way worth it (salvation/ice cream)! 

Us on a way crowded song thew.

On Wednesday we saw one of my investigators who I've been teaching since wayyyy long ago. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with her. We asked her if she believes that Christ lives and she was like, "I'm not sure yet...." But then she read us a conversation she had with a friend in America on her phone. He asked her why she wants to change religions and she basically just bore testimony to the fact that Heavenly Father and Jesus are there and help her and love her. Sis Downs and I were like, "Do you hear yourself?!?!?" We committed her to baptism for like, the millionth time and she said she's gonna do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH! I am soooooooooooooooooooooo happyyyyyyYyyYyyyy! She's cute, she only wants like, 5 people at her baptism. lol 

As we were riding our bikes away from her house we tried to fist bump but then I almost crashed my bike. Not sure if we'll do that again.

That day there was also a mini-transfers and Sis Braeder in our District got switched out for Sis Macdurmat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss Sis Braeder but I also LOVE Sis Macdurmat!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's way awesome. She's been in her greenie area in Pitsanalog for 6 months and this is her first adventure in Bangkok. She was like, "You mean you have a REAL church? With PEWS????? And most of the members speak/understand English?? What IS this place?!" I was like, "Welcome to Zion's Fist. :D"

On Friday we taught another one of our investigators who's been a Buddhist monk before. He said he's really beginning to believe Christianity is true! He also accepted a date for baptism!!! 

On Saturday there was a big event at the church called "Family Values Awards". It's a big public affairs event that the church does in Thailand to help get the church's name out there. It's also to help dispel some of the bad feelings that's been going around after some careless missionaries a took some sacrilegious pictures on a Buddha head a few years back. haha Basically they honor two members from the community who are well-known for their service and family values. It was a huge event. I guess the equivalent of the head of the Pentagon in Thailand was there. The press was all over it, too. :O It was fun! We were the choir (again). 

Before the event there was like a special VIP meal that no one else but the VIPS could enter. But after the event we all got to go into the dining hall and eat the left-overs. You know how fancy American food is actually really gross? Well, fancy Thai food is 10 times more gross. All us missionaries were just staring at it all thinking "What.... is this???" We did find the secret stash of cake, though, so all was well.

Then we taught another investigator who we actually gave to the other sisters because she doesn't live in our area. :( It was a great lesson though! She liked the other lessons, says she knows the Book of Mormon is true and is gonna get baptized! I'm so sad we have to give her way because I love her soooo much!!! But the Sisters will take care of her. :)

Two of my FAVORITE sisters!!!!! Um Im and Pim

Yesterday Sis Downs and I took two sisters from the branch to try drawing portraits in the park as a means of finding new investigators. I drew a lot of babies. haha We didn't get any new investigators, but we'll try again another day. 

We're definitely working on finding new investigators since we're kind of low... but things are pretty good here in Don Muang! Transfers is is 2 weeks. o___o I just can't believe tomorrow is OCTOBER!!!!

Sis Zaugg

'Sup?

Weeeellll hello er'rybody!

As usual, this week flew by. I actually had a dream last night that I had just finished my mission and had gone home and was WAY sad. It's just crazy that I'm a third through... because I feel like I have soooo much left to learn and don't know that a year is enough time to learn it all!! Yikes

Supposedly it's rainy season in Thailand? And there was a giant storm that came from China. Basically it's like way cold and rainy and flooded every day! The members hate it. haha It's been obnoxious 'cause my feet are just always wet! They never get a chance to dry off so I have old lady prune feet a lot. >_< We go out in the floods with our bikes.... then get to a dry place... then it rains (or a Thai person sprays our feet 'cause they're "dirty")... or I splash into a puddle.... I'm just wet. Allthetime. hahahah Some members call the floods the "Bangkok Sea" or the "Black Sea". 

Well, let's see..... This week we saw a lot of members. That's been our focus lately is visiting members and finding ways to serve! It's kinda hard to find ways to serve Thai people though 'cause they just refuse to let you help!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But we've been praying really hard every day to find ways to serve and we've started finding ways! It's great. Prayer works. :,)

We helped one member (one of my FAVORITE members) do her visiting teaching this week. Phim is so amazing. She's hilarious, too. She didn't tell her mom she was getting baptized until she brought her to the service. hahahahaah Her and her friend Um Im are just so lovely. They help us teach a lot and are so solid! Even though their families don't support them being Christian, they fulfill their callings and are super strong in their testimonies! 

As for investigators... I almost don't wanna say anything 'cause I always seem to jinx myself. Haha That 9 year old girl who's afraid of baptism is still afraid. We're just taking our time with her. She knows it's all true and likes church.... so eventually she'll get it figured out. :) One of our investigators whom we've had for a long time went to church for the first time this week!!! Two sisters who we take to teach her took her to church and she really liked it. She was so excited and nervous before Sacrament Meeting it was so cute. :) She said she really liked it and wants to go again!! Yeahhhhh She's so close to getting a firm testimony. If she keeps searching she'll find it. :D

On Saturday we ended up helping the primary set up for a giant activity. It was way fun! We blew up these bizarrely shaped balloons for a wayyyyyyyyyyyyy long time. We were pretty tired by the end of it. But we ate lunch at a restaurant owned by an american afterwards so I was a happy camper. I miss white people food sometimes. 

Eeeyup! I feel like I don't have much to say these days. We're just working out of a rut and I've also been here for so long that I just don't have too much new to say. haha Thanks for the words of encouragement! It's rough sometimes, but I never get depressed. I'm happy, just sometimes way stressed. @_@ I'm just learning a lot about faith and trust right now. It's good for me. :)

Love youuuuuu!

Sister Zaugg

Howdy!!

Howdy every one!!!!!!! One day I answered a call from a Zone Leader with 'howdy' and he was really amused by it. haha

This week has been fun. I've never felt so exhausted in my entire mission!!!!!!!!!!!! I went to- count them- THREE Sports Days this week! The first one was the Zone Sports day last P-Day (granted, I didn't do anything at that one 'cause I wanted to write letters instead).

My team won the volleyball tournament!

The second one as a branch Sports Day at the Pankapi ward. On Thursday evening we went on switch-offs with the Sister Training Leader in Pankapi. I went to Pankapi with her greenie and Sister Downs stayed in Don Muang with the Sister Training Leader. That was a really interesting switch-off day. So I remembered that one of the Elders from my first District in Thailand moved to Pankapi last transfers and I was pretty excited to get to see him since I LOVED my first district! But durings studies on Friday morning he called Sister Slaugh (my temporary companion) and asked if we could bring him gatorade because he "couldn't move". So we bought some weird Thai gatorade and dropped it off. Apparently he had a bad fever. Later in the day he actually went to the hospital! So basically that whole day Sister Slaugh and I took care of that companionship. We bought them food..... taught their investigators..... took care of the Sports Night activity..... Yeah. Didn't even get to talk to that Elder! Haha It was a fun experience. I was way jealous of the fact that they all live so close to the church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate how Don Muang doesn't have its own church. :/ Anyway. Sports Day at Pankapi was fun. I totally bruised my hand playing volley ball, though.

We switched back at the church at Pankapi and went home! Our taxi driver on the way back was a lady. WEIRD. Her car broke down twice. I felt really bad for her. :( 

So then the next day our branch had its own Sports Day! We're still trying to help the branch members get to know each other since they still don't have a ton of unity after the split. Not a ton of people went to the activity, but we had lots of fun with those that went! One of our investigators went, too! It was way fun. But we basically played sports from 9AM to 6PM and I was DEAD tired after that. But we still managed to find the energy to go visit Sis Lek and her girls and after sharing our message taught them clapping games for like a half hour. hahaha I love those girls so much!

Yesterday I was sooo tired. I was falling asleep all through church. However, we taught a great lesson after church, made brownies to share with the members, had choir practice (somehow I got wrangled into ANOTHER choir), and then took a member to visit a less active member who we've been visiting for about a month. The lesson with the LA was soooo awesome. We taught her son who's 5 years old the Restoration. It was awesome! We made it fun and at the end the LA gave the closing prayer. The first time we met her she wouldn't even commit to praying on her own. Soooo awesome!

Putting the 100th stamp in my booklet!
When you buy certain stuff at 7/11 they give you stamps.
 We're saving up 400 so we can buy the 7/11 backpack. :)

The member who we took to visit the LA is so lovely. We've started working with her a ton in the last week. She served in California! I feel like every time we go out with her I learn so much and want to be better. I wish we started working with her sooner!!!!! Oh well. I'll just soak her up while I have the chance. :D

We're hoping to have a baptism in a couple weeks! The 9 year old girl who we teach says she'll be baptized!! She and her aunt are praying for a date. It was a miracle, really. She was terrified of it, but we took two primary workers and taught about the holy ghost and they helped her feel comfortable with it and she's gonna do it!!! Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!

If you keep walking it isn't so bad.
It's when you stop that questionable things
 start sticking to your legs. Yikes!

It's been raining a TON in Bangkok right now. Don Muang was a giant pool for like, 2 days straight. It's been way fun! (Plus the weather is pretty cool which is nice. And when I say cool, I mean, like, 85 degrees F).

After riding in the rain/flood.

Don't have too much else to say today!! I'm fighting on. I hope every one else is pushing through their hard spots. :)))

Love,

Sis Zaugg

Helloooooo

Well, in terms of numbers, this was the worst week I've ever had. I'm not sure how it happened, but we just kinda of got deeper in the rut that we were in last week. 

We found out one of the LA's we visit has been living with a married man this whole time, 3 other less active members who were so sure the were gonna go to church didn't, and we still don't have any investigators that want to be baptized. The closest we have is a member's niece who is 9 years old. She's afraid of baptism, though, because when we were explaining it to her, the aunt was like, "It's a symbol of DEATH." And she's been terrified ever since, even though she's been to one already... >_> Ohhh members. haha

However, yesterday was District Conference (like stake conference). A member of the 70 from China came! Elder Wuu? He was an interesting character! He was a little too impatient to wait for the translators and it was hard for the Thai people to understand because he kept cutting the translator off. hahah But he had some really great things to say! He talked about how he noticed that at the Saturday conference hardly anyone came because it had rained, and how that we should always do whatever it takes to serve the Lord, even if it means going out in the rain if you're a Thai person. :P lol! He talked about being a good example and being the light that will change the lives of your family and friends. It was great!

At the leadership training he talked about having the missionaries and the ward leaders work in more unity, too. He also mentioned how missionaries should find investigators through less active members. When he said that the Spirit whispered to me that my companionship needs to do that. So we made a goal to start finding as we teach our less active friends. :) 

I don't have too much to say this week just because nothing has really happened! I do have an experience to share about obedience and following the promptings of the Spirit:

On Sunday the district conference started at 10, an hour later than our usual services. So after we got ready in the morning, we still had about 30-40 minutes before we needed to get a taxi. We kind of just started to read the scriptures when I remembered President Senior saying that he didn't want missionaries who didn't have church in the morning to study until it was time to go, because Sunday is a good day to find people. But then I tried to shoo the thought away by thinking, "Well, we don't have that much time before we need to go... and we can't really do too much work in just 30 minutes, plus I don't want to be late if something happens!" But as I continued to try to read the Book of Mormon I kept thinking about President Senior and I knew we had to go. So we went out and walked to an apartment complex close by. We walked around several buildings but every one was either hurrying to go to school or work or prepping to sell for the day. Every one was too busy to talk! Eventually it got close to be time to find a taxi, so we started to exit the apartment complex to find a taxi on the main street. We passed a lady selling pre-cooked meals when I felt that we should start a conversation, so I went back and asked her if any taxis would be coming by soon. She tried to direct us to the main street, but in my head I was just like, "Noooo!!! I know already! I just want to talk to you!" As I was trying to ask her another question a lady on a pink moped pulled up. Somehow, I dunno how, we ended up having a long conversation with her. She was pretty interested in having us go to her house and teach her!!! Just as we finished getting her name and number, and realizing that we needed to get a  taxi now or be late, a taxi pulled around the apartment building next to us. The lady selling the food was like, "Hey! That's crazy that there's one here!" I'm grateful that I was obedient and was able to do the Lord's will!

Well, I'm choosing faith and believing that things will get better. I'm not perfect, and the Lord knows I'm not perfect, but I'm sure trying hard to give him my weaknesses, and I know he'll turn them into strengths. (Ether 12:6) 

Love ya all!

Sister Zaugg

Hey people who I love!

Waiting for members to come visit a less active
member with us. It was SOOO HOOOOT

Wow this week has been a roller coaster. Basically we just kind of watched everything fall apart on us. Our investigator who was set to be baptized this week kind of dumped us. :,( A lot of potentials turned out not to be interested, and almost every appointment fell through every. single. day. We visited a looooot of less active members this week. haha

Howeverrrrrr, some way good things happened too! On Saturday Sis Downs and I started our fast to find an investigator that would be ready to be baptized in September. Well, as I said, every appointment on Saturday evening fell through! So we had some (and really I mean a lot of) time to go contacting. As we were praying to know where to go, I kept getting an image in my mind of this one place that Sis Reedy and I had been to once or twice, but I could NOT remember where it was for the life of me!! But I felt like that was where Heavenly Father wanted us to go, so as we got on our bikes I prayed that he would guide us there. Well.... it sufficeth me to say that we biked for a while. We did a lot of U-Turns, going down random streets, stopping, turning around- you get the picture. At one point we found a petting zoo. That was pretty cool. Well, after a while the sun was starting to set, but I just KNEW that we had to find that street!!! Eventually we got stuck behind a garbage truck... but just beyond it I saw a street that looked familiar.... and it was it!!!!!!!!!!!! I found it!!! For being completely destitute of any sense of direction, I was able to find it!!!!!!! It was a miracle. Really. So now it's almost dark, but it gets dark at like, 6:30, so we still had time to talk to people. We parked our bikes and started walking! The first little street we went down had some dogs at the end... and they started growling at us so we just turned right around and looked for another street. When we exited that street there was an old lady watching us... probably wondering what the heck we were doing no doubt, but I just smiled at her and kept walking. But then she started following us and talking to us! Turns out she and her son and daughter-in-law are all Christian! She wanted to know if we were from the big Christian mission home that's right down the street from where she lives. We said "no", and she invited us in. We taught her the Restoration and the Book of Mormon.

We pass this school that has really

 funny Engrish Disney murals. Also,

 you can see my dorky fanny pack bag. B)

You know, she really didn't understand it. LOL Most people in Thailand who convert from Buddhism to Christianity just don't get the whole "one Christ, one doctrine" thing. But she was way happy to hear us talk about it and accepted a Book of Mormon and said she wants us to come back and meet her son and his wife! To be honest... I'm way nervous. She says that she's worked with those other missionaries before, and her son is training to be a preacher. I'm a little scared of what they'll tell her when they show them the Book of Mormon. Buuuut..... we obviously had to meet this woman. I felt so strongly that we needed to go there, and we found it even though I couldn't remember where it was, and the first lady we talked to was her!! Soooo. I dunno. Maybe somewhere down the road she'll understand the Restoration. :)

HITLER KITTY!!!!!!

Yesterday we taught a student from English class. He used to come to my class, but his English is too good so we sent him to intermediate. There was a month or so that he stopped coming, though. He came back, though, with no hair or eyebrows. He'd done that Buddhist thing where you go and be a monk for a while to get karma points for your parents or something. Anyway, one of the Zone Leaders asked if he wanted to learn about Christianity and he was like, "Yeah." But turns out he actually doesn't live in our area or something? Basically Elder Appleyard didn't ask for his number or anything! So a couple weeks ago I felt impressed to ask this kid again if he wanted to learn and he still wanted to! Basically our leaders just told us to teach him anyway and see what happens. So we taught him at the church, and it was awesome!!! He wants to know how he can have peace in his life and we sure testified that the Savior is the only way to have peace. We're meeting again on Thursday! Whoo hoo :)

This is a member who just returned to activity
 in the other branch. One time on switch offs
 Sis Sahagun and I went to an orphanage with
 her to visit her baby. She is SO funny. Love her!

Also, Foam hasn't been able to meet with us for the last 2 weeks 'cause she had a giant English test last Friday that she was prepping for. BUT She said that she prayed every day and read the Book of Mormon before she read her test books. YEAH!!! I called her yesterday and asked how she did on the test. She laughed and said, "I creamed it." Yup. If you keep the commandments you get blessings!

There's also a less active member who is really ready to go back to church. We brought some members to go visit her yesterday and she LOVED it! I think she's so ready to be active again and get blessings for her and her son. :DDDD And today we might get a priesthood holder who hasn't been active in years to go to Family Home Evening at the branch president's house tonight!!! 

District party at Swenson's!!
(Missionaries' most FAVORITE place
in Thailand... after church.)

So things have been rough, but at the same time... maybe Heavenly Father just needed me to do those hard things for Him. I can deal with that. I can also see that he's blessing us here a little and there a little. This week at Sacrament Meeting there were 97 people. 

The Lord loves Thailand! Good things are happening. Maybe on the outside it doesn't look like a lot is happening, but I know I'm doing the Lord's work, so I must be doing SOME good. 

Love y'all! As the seasons change and it starts to get cool, think of Sister Zaugg laboring in the never-changing hot climate of Thailand. haha I miss being cold. So bad.

Sis Zaugg

We've also met a lot of new people and I'm feeling pretty pumped for this week!!