Watdiiiiiiiiiiiii
This week... well, let's see if I can remember what I did this week. haha.... I am SO exhausted. It was so crazy!
 This week there was MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) in Bangkok on Wednesday. Because I'm a sister training leader Sis Maughan and I had to leave Tuesday night to get on an overnight bus with our zone leaders to get to Bangkok on Wednesday morning. We got to the mission office at around 5AM. The gate was open, but the guards there didn't have authority to open the office for us, so we just camped out on the steps until President Wisan from Don Muang came and opened it for us at around 6:30. We got served pancakes and sausage for breakfast and it was way fun being able to see all my friends from around the country! It's always the best when I get to hang out with Sis Reedy. :)
This meeting was all about taking the way we contact and stepping it up a notch. Pres Senior said that we've found a miraculous way to find and baptize people that more than doubled our numbers, but now we're looking to redouble those numbers, so we need to redouble our efforts. We've been hearing rumors around the mission that the Elders in Asoke are just going ham over there- literally running around screaming repentance and baptism. Well.... it isn't a rumor! They showed us a training video. They literally invite every person they see to be baptized. When they don't have time to talk to people, they just run through the crowds and yell: "laang baab" which literally translates to: "wash sins". And guess what............. IT WORKS!! One time when they were running around a lady stopped in the crowd and was like, "WAIT COME BACK!!!!" so they booked it back and she was like, "Last night I decided that I wanted to be baptized... but I didn't know where, so I prayed. I just heard you guys yell "lang baab". How can I be baptized?" And she got baptized two Sundays later!
The Isaan is different from Asoke in that there aren't a million people milling around, but that's the cool thing; the Elders over there can't talk to every one, because they can't! But here in Nong Khai..... we can literally ask every single person here if they want to be baptized. haha It's possible. So that's what we've been doing! We've pretty much thrown out any sense of shame/self-consciousness. We'll stop our bikes every couple minutes, run up to someone, ask if they want to get baptized, get their number and an appointment if they do, or run and get back on our bikes if they don't. We talk to them in 7/11's, at the Post Office, EVERYWHERE! One time I walked past this like... office... thing? There were a ton of people sitting at computers. I just walked in and was like, "IF ANYONE WANTS TO GET CLEANED FROM SINS RAISE YOUR HAND!" No one did, but we all laughed and it was a good experience. :) We've found some people, though! We've got two baptisms lined up for this Sunday, and at least one for the Sunday after that. It's amazing!! I really feel like a prophet of old... like Lehi or Abinadi. It's a way cool feeling.
Uhhh So yeah. After MLC I had to go to Udorn to help the Zone Leaders do some training, and then did it again in Nong Khai. Monday through Friday was suuuuuper busy! We didn't have a lot of time to do actual proselyting and teaching. But we managed to get balanced this week!
This Sunday our district had 3 baptisms! We each got one. Ours was the little half cambodian girl who kind of got thrown on us. On Saturday we rode our bikes to her neighborhood to go over the logistics of her baptism. Basically to find her you just have to ride around and scream her name until she pops out. She is sooooooooooo cuuuute! We just want to take her home to America. Love her! After we talked to her and her mom, she and her little brother hopped on a bike and took us to another member's house in the nieghborhood who is a recent convert. It was super fun riding around with our favorite little cambodian girl. :) We got to the member's house, but had to wait for her to buy food for her dad. There were a bunch of people hanging around her house so we were just asking who was who. The conversation went like this: "I'm her Dad." "I'm her cousin." "I'm also her cousin." "I'm drunk."
Uhhhh.... hahahahahah! He was reeaaaally drunk. This shirtless guy sitting on a mat on the ground. At one point he got into a staring contest with a really scary rooster. And then he passed out and I was afraid that the rooster was going to eat him! That was a fun experience.
So yeah! Pen (the cambodian girl) got baptized! She was so cute! She prepared a little talk and everything!
The District Leader's investigator for some reason wanted to get baptized in the river........ So she did! That was kind of cool.
So Sunday was pretty awesome. We got a baptism and got balanced! We had to work SO hard to get it, though!
That's a fun story. After church yesterday we were counting up our numbers and realized in order to get balanced we still needed two more lessons and a dater for baptism. Our third person didn't come to church so we were short one. We also still needed to contact for one hour to be completely obedient. After the baptism in the river a member was like, "Hey, I'm gonna go see a member who hasn't been to church in a long time. You wanna go too?" And we were like, "Perfect?" So we hopped on our bikes and she hopped on hers, and we took off in the direction of our house (ie. the countryside). I was like, "cool! we get to see what's down this road!"
Here is where I learned my first lesson about the Isaan: When going to visit LA's, always ask how long it takes to get there on bike.
My first clue should've been when the member was like, "You know, I thought about riding my bike with you guys, but I decided the motorcycle was better."
 It wasn't until about 45 minutes later when we were riding in the jungle and through rice fields that I was like, "Sister..... how far away does she live????" And she was like, "NOOOOOOOOON!" which means "wayyyy over there!"
So we get there, teach a lesson. And then still had to ride allllll the way back!!! It ws getting late and we still needed one more lesson, a dater and one more hour of contacting! We asked if there were any other LA's on the way back. She took us to one home... but they weren't there! Then she took us to another home and they weren't there either! By then we were really almost out of time before it was time to go home, and Sis Maughan was DYING. She's had a nasty cold all week bu she refuses to rest... and the bike ride pretty much did her in. We were wondering, "She we just give up and let Sis Maughan go home and die?" But then we were like... "NO! WE WILL GO ON!!" and we found an LA who was home, read the Book of Mormon with her, and then climbed back onto our bikes and started hobbling towards the 7/11 by our home. The plan was for me to contact the last hour while Sis Maughan passed out on the steps. But then the DL called us and told us we needed to send him all our goals and stuff which required us to go home. PHEW. So we went home and called the dater who didn't go to church... turns out she accidentally slept in but still wants to get baptized, so in the end we got balanced!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But get this: to get balanced you need 12 lessons... and when we added up all our numbers........... WE HAD 13!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somehow we had counted wrong earlier. @_@ We killed ourselves over that extra lesson. hahahhahahaa Ohhhhh dear. Well, it was a good lesson, regardless! I don't regret it. But man I'm tired. I've been doing all the teaching, contacting, and phone calling this week because Sis Maughan hasn't had a voice. I'm POOPED! That's OK, though. It's all worth it!
Uhhh SO yeah! That was my week. Nong Khai is awesome. Even though that bike ride was like a million miles long, it was GORGEOUS! Bangkok has got nothing on this place. Some future P-Day we're gonna go back a\out and take lots of pictures. We tried to on our bikes but they weren't very good.
Have a great week!
Sis Zaugg
PS Fun fact:
Total number of 7/11's in Nong Khai: 3
Total number of wads in Nong Khai: 1,000,000+ (no joke)
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Sunday, March 9, 2014
Watdiiiiiiiiiiiii!!
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You are doing amazing Sister Zaugg! Keep up the momentum. :)
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