It's a COUP!

So on Thursday evening we were teaching our investigator, George, when he got a call from a friend telling him about the "curfew". And so he was like, "Well, snap, guys. We all gotta go home before the police get us." And we were like, "Curfew? What curfew?" They tried to explain to us about the military taking over but even though I've been living in Thailand for a year (March 22nd was my year mark in country!), I am completely oblivious to all of the political turmoil, so I didn't really get it. haha All I know is that they can't pick a prime minister. There's two political groups: the red shirts and the yellow shirts, and the yellow shirts are the ones causing all the problems. So basically right now there's a curfew at 10PM every night. If the army catches you out after then, you get fined. There are big army trucks that patrol the city and soldiers with big guns are stationed at big intersections. It's actually not too scary. I've heard even in Bangkok it isn't that bad.

This is what we did for P-Day last week.
Turns out you actually can't rent them for more than an hour. :( #dreamsofproselytingtandembikestyledashed

So, despite the curfew, we were still able to teach George and interview him and get him baptized on Sunday! George is a cool dude. A few weeks ago Sis Stewart and I were riding around Udon, getting lost, you know, when a guy on his motorcycle shouted "Hey!" at me at a stop light. I yelled back, "Do you wanna go to church?!" and he was like, "Uhhh... actually, yeah!" so I told him to pull over and we made an appointment to meet at the church. When I got back on my bike Sis Stewart was GONE. hahahahahah We ended up being separated for a good 10 minutes. Luckily we both decided to go to Landmark and we were happily reunited!

George is just wayyyyyyy funny. He like... would say that he wasn't that interested, but he would always keep the commitments we gave him and call to make appointments himself. It was like he couldn't tell that he was slowly being sucked in. LOL He speaks pretty good English but just doesn't really know how to express positive remarks correctly. For a long time we thought he was uninterested because of the way he would respond to our questions. "Hey George, how did you like church?" "Yeah.... OK." "Hey George, are you excited to be baptized?" "Yeah, fine, OK." We later figured that that was his way of expressing joy when we asked him how he felt about marrying his girlfriend who he loves to death and he responded, "Yeah.... OK." hahahhahaha

So uhhhhh yeah! Besides that, there hasn't been too much to write home about. We're having lots of fun getting to know our Elders better. Our district has become OBSESSED with riddles. Elder Jex is the master riddle teller. He'll just throw one out and the district goes mad trying to solve it! It's fun. One day we had to be quarantined at either our house or the church for precautionary measures after the curfew was announced, so we ordered McDonalds' and told each other riddles. 

Livin' the life! Love you guys!

Sis Zaugg

Finding Joy in the Journey

Well, hello again everyone! It seems weird to be emailing again so soon, but A LOT happened this last week. But let's first start with the most exciting part: BAPTISMS!!!!

In total there were 7 people who were baptized. Sis Stewart and I had 3, Adams and Tilley had 3, and the ZL's had 1. There were SO many miracles involved with each of these beautiful people.

We had Oi, Jin, and Tom. Oi, the woman next to Sis Stewart in the picture walked into church last Sunday. She said she was Christian already and had come to the church 10+ years ago. The other sisters asked if she wanted to be baptized but she said "no". But then after the baptism, Sis Stewart asked her (not knowing that she'd been asked already) again, and Oi said "yes"! So we started teaching her. Turns out that she's kind of strange... she came to church one day acting way weird. She said that she had a demon of some kind for many years and that she felt empty and sad and that she needed help. She would shudder and make weird noises and burp (sounds weird but it was pretty creepy). We had some members give her a priesthood blessing, and the next day she said she felt MUCH better and finally felt like herself and could see the light. The other weird thing about her was that she said that she knew she was baptized, but she wasn't sure which church she had been baptized into. She also already knew all of the discussions... like... she taught us the Plan of Salvation and the law of tithing perfectly. It was kinda weird. We looked her up in the records to see if she was baptized, but she hadn't... so she must have been an investigator a looooooong time ago and somehow still remembered it all! Crazy. She was SO ready to be baptized. She gets the scriptures and LOVES them. She's so sweet! I'm so happy for her. She really wanted this. :)

This is the chasm river thing that Jin lives by.

Jin was a miracle in and of herself. She is the woman who gave the prayer that blew me away. She went to church on Sunday and then went out of town and we couldn't get a hold of her for a loooong time! We were kind of freaking out, so Thursday afternoon we dropped by the noodle shop that we found her at. The owner pointed us across this chasm... river... thing... to a grouping of houses where we found her! She was wearing the white Buddhist clothing and looked reallllllyyyyy sad. Apparently the reason we couldn't get a hold of her was because she had gone to a wad to meditate and try to ease her pain (she has family problems).... but obviously it hadn't helped. She looked a million times worse than how we found her. We asked if she'd prayed and she said 'no'. We were kinda just standing outside of her house awkwardly, but we weren't just going to leave her! We asked if we could pray with her, and she lead us to this courtyard behind her house and we sat on this shabby little table thing and prayed. I prayed SO hard for her and that she would feel God's love. When we opened our eyes she was quietly sobbing and we kind of just sat in silence for a while. Before we left I asked if I could give her a hug and she just fell into my arms and sobbed. We taught her everything the next day and she was baptized! She just seems so full of hope and light now! I will never forget Jin. That experience at her home just made me remember the reason why I'm here in Thailand doing the things I do. The Atonement heals!

Tom is awesome! He was so proud of himself all day. He smoked his last cigarette that morning and was so happy!!

We were long planning and somehow
a baby ended up in my planner......

I'm so proud of ALL of them. :))))) Sis Tilley's and Adams' investigators had to go through a lot to be baptized. They're all awesome. Bowing was cute, because TIlley and Adams are OBSESSED with lipstick and are always waltzing into the church touting new bags of lipstick that they'd just bought, and they found this little round woman who is always wearing BRIGHT pink lipstick. hahaha I love it!

OK So on to the less-important stuff.

There's the keys.

Monday an hour before P-Day ended, we realized that SIs Stewart had LOCKED us out of our house. We called the handy-dandy lock-pick man, and in the mean time tried to see if we could break in somehow. We discovered an open window in the back- but the problem was that all Thai windows have bars over them. 

We almost died laughing watching Sister Stewart 
try to get the keys with that broom

BUT we could see the keys on the table maybe 5 feet away from the table, so we broke into the Elders' house and stole their broom and tried to make a reaching contraption to try and grab the keys from off the table. In the end we just knocked a glass off the table and shattered it, knocked the keys even further away onto the floor, and looked like a bunch of loonies. The man came and unlocked the house and we had a good laugh.... but we're not planning on doing it again.

This is what I walked into after
he unlocked the door

NEVER AGAIN SISTER STEWART

 Siiiiiinging in the rain!

Tuesday afternoon we were contacting at Central, the big mall in town and were about ready to head out to meet Oi at the church. We ran into Elder Burke and Tanawat, and they pointed outside. It was POURING. Like... you couldn't really see outside at all it was pouring so hard. And it was windy, too! The rain was falling sideways! I was thinking, "well...... I guess we'll just hang out 'til it stops" and then Tanawat was like, "Hey, your investigator was at the church when we left." And so Sis Stewart took that as an excuse to run into the rain and ride back to the church. OH I WANTED TO KILL HER I literally could not see in the rain! The wind almost knocked me off of my bike twice! We showed up at the church soaked. And guess what, the investigator there wasn't even OURS. Ohhhhh I was ticked in an I'm-not-really-man-but-boy-I'm-wet kind of way.

Hip-hip for companionship unity rings!

I went to Nong Khai for switch offs on Friday. I went for a walk down memory lane with Sis Downs. That was soooooo long ago that we were companions! It was fun. The best part was that I got to teach an RC lesson to Tii. Have I ever mentioned how OBSESSED I am with this kid?

Taylor Swift is coming to Bangkok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh... what? *cough* How did this get in here?

So yeah! This week has just been full of crazy 4-sister-house adventures and awesome investigators. I got in another motorcycle accident. It was a hit and run, but somehow I landed on my feet so all is well. 

I've been trying to open my eyes up to the beauty
that's all around in Thailand
so here are some pictures I've taken!

The work is good and Udorn is FUN. We played ultimate frisbee this morning with our elders for exercise. Looove it! The other morning Sis Stewart was listening to "Finding Joy in the Journey" by President Monson and it made me remember to enjoy just how good it is here. 

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life--here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey--now."

Sister Zaugg

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Today I don't have too much time, but I have good news:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I HAVE A BABY SISTER!

(My mom had a baby for anyone who didn't know)

Witnessed her 3rd poop EVER.

Yii!!!

Our investigator, Yii, got baptized!! She is sooooooo adorable. She has been coming to church religiously for 2 months now. She had one more month before she could get baptized, but we got special permission to baptize her early, just because she was so ready for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other good news: 

CUT IT ALL OFF

I cut my hair! One morning when we were getting ready to leave, I had braided my hair and was lamenting the pile of hair that had fallen out in the process (the msg in the food makes my hair fall out). And then.... all of a sudden there were scissors in my hands.... and then I was cutting off my hair! And then I just kept cutting it and cutting it! hhaha I'm actually thinking of taking another inch off. ...oops haha

Me and Stewart on the border of Laos

This last week we found lots of new investigators! We found a man who lives at a Buddhist temple with his dad who is like the Pope of the temple... but the man wants to be Christian and is going to be baptized next Sunday!!!! He's so awesome.

Udorn is pretty cool looking.

Udorn is pretty cool looking.

This procession of monks caused a traffic jam

We also found a woman named Jin. We met her one day after the zone leaders sent a text out that said, "Invite every single person you see today," and we passed her on our bikes and she wanted to wash her sins! She came to the church the next day and expressed such a great desire to come unto God and to start over. We taught her some commandments and she was so excited about them! THEN. We asked her to pray. It was her first prayer in her entire life... and it was literally THE most beautiful prayer I've ever heard. She prayed that God would help her draw nearer to him, thanked Him for the commandments she learned, and then asked for forgiveness of her sins. She paused for a few moments, and I looked up and she was looking up with tears streaming down her face! Then she kept praying for her family and that they would recognize their sins and that they would repent and return to God. It. Blew. Me. Away. Wow. She came to church on Sunday and is SO ready for baptism. I loooooove her!

This member is the most FABULOUS woman
 I have ever met. She's like, 3 feet tall
 and drives this red wagon around. Lovely.

Meet Jack.
He is ALWAYS playing this game
 on his ipad called "Cookie Run".
Anyway. He holds the branch together.
He's 2nd counselor in the branch presidency,
branch mission leader, branch clerk AND
always helps the missionaries teach.
He. Is. Incredible.

This week Sis Tilley almost ate a gecko! One morning we were all making breakfast

and Sis Tilley opened up her fiber cookies box and grabbed a cookie out and put it in her mouth. What she failed to notice was the big 'ol BLACK gecko that was placed perfectly on top of the cookie and only noticed it when it started wiggling in her mouth!!!!!!!! She spit it out and screamed for soooooo looooooong! Poor girl. Glad it wasn't me.

So yeah! It was a good week. Today Sis Stewart and I are going to look into renting a tandem bike for a week and do missionary work oppa tandem style. :) Will let ya know how it goes!

Have a wonderful week! Love ya

Sis Zaugg

I have a companion!

So before I start this week's letter let me clarify something first:

To 'die' in a mission means to finish a mission. OR if you're a missionary in Thailand you can also say 'job' (like the Bible Job), which means to end/finish. Sorry for any confusion my last email caused! Lots of missionaries died last transfer... but they're in a good place now. Resting with their families. :)

SO anyway.

The 9 hour ride back to Udorn.....

I got my companion! Her name is Sister Stewart and she is awesome. We picked her up in Bangkok when I had MLC down there last Wednesday. MLC was cool this time around because there's a lot of new Zone Leaders since a good portion of them died at last transfers. Also, my first AP ever was at the office! Back from America for a visit! It was weird seeing him in real people clothes... it made me realize that there is a real world out there where you wear jeans and use technology for facebook. haha

They gave us hotdogs on the bus
and I was the only one brave enough to eat it.

Udorn, Udon, whatever. UDONTHANI!!!!!

Sis Stewart has spent the last 7 months
of her mission in a walking area,
so this is her first time wearing the "vest".

Anyway, it was SUPER nice to come back to Udorn with a companion and to start working on my area! Sis Stewart is actually my phii! She came in the group before me. CRAZY RIGHT? I never thought that I would go junior companion again! I've been waiting for this moment ever since I finished being trained by Sis Reedy. haha Except- our companionship is weird because she's older than me in the mission, but I'm sister training leader, so we cancel each other out so neither of us are senior or junior. It's pretty nice. 

Anyway. We met with two investigators who the sisters before us were teaching. It was a couple who I invited outside of a 7/11 about a month ago. I gave their number to the sisters and they had taught them almost everything by the time I got here. The couple was christian from before and I had a desire to be baptized, but their only hold-back was that they weren't legally married... and they just wouldn't go do it for some reason! They tried and tried but just couldn't convince them to get married. So Sis Stewart and I planned to take them to the Browns' house (because they're married) to have a throw down with them and help them see how wonderful marriage is and how it fits into God's plan for them as an eternal family (they already have a 4 year old daughter). We weren't really sure how it was gonna go.... partly because Sis Stewart and I had never taught together before. So Thursday evening comes, and we take this adorable little family to the Browns' house and teach them the Plan of Salvation. And guess what, I get the prompting to share Alma 7 with them. We talk about how Christ plays a big role in their life, and why they believe in Him. They say they have faith in Christ and want to follow him! So we commit them to be baptized that Sunday and they say YES! And then they ask: "What do we need to do to prepare?"

....

"Well.... get married."

"Oh, yeah, sure. We'll go tomorrow morning."

Huh?

Wait- where was the drawn out explanation of why they needed to be married to be baptized? The 'Family: A Proclamation to the World' discussion, the "we love being married" speech from the Browns? THEY DIDN'T NEED IT!

All they needed was to be reminded of their commitment to Christ and His Gospel? Once they decided that they were going to do everything possible to follow him... well, the rest just fell in place.

The Spirit was SO strong in that lesson. Sis Stewart and I teach so well together. It's a perfect balance. Her Thai is BEAUTIFUL. I'm so excited to teach more with her!

Adorable kids at the City Hall
think the two white girls are hilarious.

Anyway, so Friday morning we met them at the City Hall and supported them while they filled out the paperwork, and then Saturday they were interviewed, and Sunday they were baptized! I was so impressed with them. They were really proactive about it all. They were the ones preparing themselves. We didn't really have to do anything! It was amazing.

Officially married!

Baptized!

I was so... I dunno.... just HAPPY for them! My dream as a missionary has always been to baptize a family. That is really hard to do in Thailand. It doesn't happen often. But finally I've been blessed with the opportunity to see a father and mother enter into the waters of baptism and begin an eternal family. I want to DIE it makes me so happy.

The Sagonkorn songthew.

Sunday was District Conference, so we had all the branches and missionaries from Udorn, Nong Khai, Sagonakorn, Gumpawapi and Laos meet in our church for the day. Sagonakorn rolled in on this HUGE songthew. They had ridden for 4 hours to get to Udorn. Talk about dedication!

My bro, Tii.

Tii was there! He is the COOLEST kid ever. We just clasped hands and he (very dramatically and Tii like) was like, "Sister! Miss you!" I could have just hugged him right then and there. He is my favorite 17 year old kid in the whole world! He gave the closing prayer in the district conference. So boss.

 This is the Branch President of Gumpawapi.
His son's name is Mormon,
so that when people ask him
about the name he can share the Gospel. :)

Pim and Um Im from Don Muang!
Pim just got her mission call to Australia!

A man who I contacted at the City Hall came to church. He was interesting... we've decided not to continue teaching him. We think he's into weird voodoo stuff and hard drugs and he wasn't willing to quit those things. He was kinda freaky to be honest, but maybe he'll remember the good feelings he had at the church someday and want to change!

Next week we're hoping to get our investigatar Yii baptized. She is the SWEETEST 15 year old girl. She's so solid! Love her to bits!

Contacting at the walking street near Nongprajak park.

I've been sick the last 2 weeks and my nose just won't stop running. I'm pretty sick of blowing my nose and eating my own snot. Yuck! but other than that, things are great! I live in a house with 3 of the coolest girls in the mission. We have lots fun!

Have a fantastic week!

Sis Zaugg