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!!

Parenthood

This week was SO BUSY.

Which is weird because we dropped like, 80% of our investigators. It's a really sad situation, but we're finding some new potentials and it's looking up! It's just way sad to see people that you've come to love choose not to change and have better lives. :(

Almost every day we're just rushing from appointment to appointment. I'm so glad that it's like this for Sister Downs. When we first got to Don Muang we had nooooooothing. But she arrived to so much work. It's awesome!!!

Our one investigator who's actually progressing (mostly) has a baptismal date for 2 weeks. Her name is Oom. She's awesome! Just needs to understand obedience and commandments. hahaha If she keeps reading the BoM and praying she'll get it. She's opening a karaoke shop. It's gonna be so awesome!!! She's way cute and sweet. We usually teach her at this giant park that surrounds a big fishing pond. She shows up in her exercise clothing. We teach for a half hour and then she goes running. Love her.

We also got a new investigator named Gai. It means chicken. :) haha She has some great potential! She's been coming to English class for the last couple months. One time we had them talk to each other about what's on their bucket lists and how if today was their last day on Earth, what they would do. It was kinda a morbid lesson. LOL But then at the end we talked about how God has a plan for families to be together forever and than through the Atonement we don't have to be afraid or regret anything. She wanted to learn more so now we're teaching her! 

Sis Downs and I pretty much like all the same stuff. We have to try hard to stay focused because we want to talk about the shows and books we both like! It's way hard. hahaha I've started praying for help to stay focused. It's a problem.

One day we were going to teach Oom at the park but it started to rain so she cancelled on us (typical of Thai people). So we ran into a library nearby and tried to teach some teenage boys, but they weren't interested. So we left in the rain and were gonna go find somewhere to eat dinner when I had a strong feeling that we needed to keep working, so we pulled into a neighborhood and walked around in the rain. We ended up teaching a lady how to pray, found another lady who wants to learn Christianity and another woman whose daughter goes to a Christian school and is open to learning more! I'm grateful for the rain and for the Spirit. :D

I really don't have much to say about this week! We taught a lot of people. Met a lot of people. Lost a lot of people. Worked hard. In about 2 weeks I'll be a third through my mission which is NUTS. Hooooow did that even happen??

It's weird to think about how it's almost Fall back in the states and that it'll start getting cooler. Thailand is the same alllllll year. I miss cold. :( And hills. It's way flat here. haha

Love y'all!

Sister Zaugg

The Concert!

This is Sister Zaugg's Mom--A friend of mine posted the link to a video of Sister Zaugg's mission singing at the concert she mentioned. Turns out, the daughter of another old friend of mine, who is living in Thailand with her family, was the soloist. Small world, eh? It was wonderful to see Sister Zaugg even if it's a tiny video. (You can see Sister Zaugg in the front row if you look between the director and the soloist)

I'm a mom!

So last week was nuts!

First on Tuesday we had to go to Asoke for training on... training. I LOVE Asoke so I had no complaints there! Hahaha To get there, we took a son thew to get to the big road where we got a taxi that took us to the BTS which is like the AMTRAK in Bangkok. Then we got on the MRT which is the subway, and then we walked to the church. I loooooooooove Bangkok! I hope that they open an area in Asoke for sisters, and I hope I'm the one who does it!!!

Anyway, the meeting was great. Sister Barton and Ng were there! They're training too!

Wednesday was weird because Sister Reedy had to pack, and nobody could really meet with us and it wasn't very productive. By this time I was feeling way not missionary-esque and was itching to just go out and proselyte! 

And then Thursday was transfers!!!!! We got to the church bright and early and met all the new missionaries. They were all so cute. : )))) There were 8 sisters and 14 elders. Sister Reedy got called to open an area in Lampang which is in the North in the Chiang Mai district! We all flipped out!!!!! Our District Leader was really sad because he was 100% positive that she was going to open the new area in Pakkret. She's seriously been EVERYWHERE and she's only been out for 6 months! Craaazy!

Anyway, and then I got my ÅÙ¡ (loog)!!! I wasn't THAT nervous until they started assigning all the trainers to their greenies. Then I started freaking out. I was like, "I can't believe I'm TRAINING! I've only been out for 3 months!!!!!!! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO???" But then they put our pictures on the screen and we hugged and I brought her to sit in our district and it was all good! She was wayyyyyyyyyy confused. hahahah Sister Ng went to Chiang Mai! Luckkkyyyyy! And Sister Barton is finishing up the training on the group that came before this last group in Udon. So she's half-training. Weird!

Me and Sister Downs!

Anyway, my new companion's name is Sister Downs. In Thai they pronounce it 'Dow' which is the word for star. She's Sister Star, and I'm Sister Sock. lol She's like... 4'11''- TINY. When we bought her bike she had to get a special short bike because she's so small. She's awesome! Turns out we both loves KPOP and cartoons. :DDDD

She had a really weird first week. Her group didn't get to go Dan Jonesing when they flew in because their flights were delayed. And then we spent all day Transfer day getting her bike and going to choir practice, and then Friday we spent all day at the concert, and Saturday all of our appointments fell through and then on Sunday we spent all day at the church because of meetings and a baptism! However, we've had a few opportunities to go Dan Jonesing, and it's been AWESOME! We found 3 new investigators in 2 days. The first time I took her Dan Jonesing, I gave her a Book of Mormon and was like, "I'm here to back you up but you're in charge of where we go and who we talk to." And she was like, "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..............." So we just started walking in a neighbhorhood and she kept saying, "I feel so lost! What are we doing!!!" I just smiled and kept walking. :) We passed a ton of people, but finally we came up on this food ran that two ladies were hanging out at. I was assuming that we would keep walking so I didn't even slow down, but then I heard a teeny, "Sawatdii kha!" from Sister Downs so we walked over and talked to them. Basically what happened is that one of the ladies converted to Christianity 3 years ago, keeps the Sabbath Day already, reads her Bible every day but has a son who wants to go to church somewhere closer. She goes way far out for church and doesn't know of any churches that would be closer, and she was thinking about it just as we passed by!So we gave her a Book of Mormon and got a return appointment. :) What an amazing first experience for Sister Downs!

Brother Eg!

Since then we've found 2 more potential investigators. I can tell that good things are going to happen in this companionship!

I'm trying really hard not to stress out. What happens happens and all I can do is be obedient and work hard. I'm trying to pray for miracles and expect them. So far it's been working out pretty well!

The concert was way fun! It was like, a legit concert, too. It was at a fancy venue and everything! The choir was terrible hahahahhaa We really needed more time to practice, but whatevssssss. Brother Eg, the rockstar from my branch performed... he's so good! He's also way more famous than I thought he was. Every one at the concert was singing along with him and girls were freaking out and being obnoxious. hahaha 

Beyond 5 :)

Beyond 5 was good. They're very cheesy and boy-bandy but I liked it! Maybe that's because I've only been listening to MoTab for the last 5 months....... I bought their album anyway. I get to listen to it in a year! :D

Hope all is well!

Sister Zaugg

Thus ends my training....

What a week! It was the last week of this transfer, AND the end of my training. I'm no longer a greenie anymore!! I still feel like a greenie in a lot of ways, but Sis Reedy did a great job of forcing me to do uncomfortable things and learn how to lead and be a missionary! I feel fairly confident that I could do whatever the Lord asked me to do at this point. :) Speaking of which, on Saturday during companionship study I was like, "Hey, on Monday we're probably gonna find out if we're training" ('cause on Tuesday there's a big new trainers meeting). And she was like, "Oh yeah :O" And then I went to call a less active to make an appointment, but before I could press the call button, boop! Got an incoming call from President Senior!

This is basically how the conversation went:

"Hey President Senior! What a surprise to hear from you!"

"Hello! How's your training going?"

"It's great!"

"Great! You feel like you could train someone else?"

"Yeah, I could do it."

"Good, 'cause I'm, asking you to do it."

"Uhhh.... I accept!"

"Haha. Good. :)"

Yup! I'm training! I KNEW IT!! You know, 6 weeks ago I was way freaked out at the prospect of getting a greenie after JUST being a greenie, but I've grown a lot since then! My Thai is fair, my teaching is better, I have more confidence in the Lord and myself. It's great! But most of all, I just know that the Lord qualifies whom He calls, so I know that I can do it (it also helps that I'm staying in Don Muang). I'm only a month younger than Sis Reedy was when she got me! 

Speaking of Sis Reedy, she's training too!!! Again! And she's white washing! AGAIN!! Hahahahahahahhahaha When she found out she basically just screamed for 20 minutes. lol I know she can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Lord thinks so highly of her. Seriously. Every transfer he like.... turns up the heat on her a little bit. She keeps doing well, so he keeps giving her more!! hahah I'm so proud of her! My mee is awesome!

The new missionaries get here on Wednesday and transfer meeting is on Thursday, so next Monday I'll be a mom! YEAHH!!! I have a big 'ol list of things I want to be as a trainer and what I want to do as a trainer and how I want to improve and do better. :D It's gonna be great! I'm excited to stay in Don Muang. There was a week or two where I didn't want to stay 'cause I was way stressed out and sad about investigators and LA's, but I had an experience this week that really changed my views and my thoughts on missionary work and now I'm fine staying here for at least another 9 weeks!

Me and Sister Pannida!

That experience was going on switch-offs with the sisters from Pankheen. It was kind of random, but the sister training leaders asked us to do it. So I stayed in Don Muang and Sister Pannida, a khon thai from the Issan came and we were companions for a day! I learned SO much from her! She taught me to just love the people. Sometimes I get really caught up in worrying about the branch as a whole and wanting to get people to go to church to build up the branch so there can be a stake, so there can be a temple.... but after spending a day with Sister Pannida, I was reminded that this work is about individual's happiness and salvation. I just gotta love 'em and listen to them and the Spirit. If I love them sincerely and serve them sincerely, the Spirit will be able to touch them. I'm not here to convert them, the Spirit is! (Thanks Carrie :) ) She also taught me to not get too stressed out or have too many expectations. I can have the hope that these people will accept my message, but I can't like.... have all my happiness depend on whether or not this person who I think will change their lives is going to actually do it or not. It's a fine balance that I'm still trying to find. haha Anyway, I think the world of Sister Pannida! She dies in October, so we're not ever going to have a chance to be real companions! I'm sad. :( I want to learn more from her! 

Earlier this month Sis Reedy and I did NOT know who our baptism was gonna be!! But we knew we had to get one 'cause the AP's committed us to getting one, the Zone Leader's committed us, AND our District Leader committed us... so we knew we had to get it.... but all of our investigators were and are..... stuck. :I One day I was studying in the Book of Mormon... just trying to find out what we needed to do to, and I kept opening it up randomly and kept finding scriptures that said, "pray in faith". I was like... ".....oooookayyyyyyyyy....." So I did just that! I just prayed in faith. I just chose to believe that it would happen.

A few days later during long planning a member called us and asked if we were free to go teach her daughter. We paused planning and went and saw her and she accepted a date to be baptized this month!!!!!!!! She wants to change and is eager to learn. Basically she's free every day to meet, she's free every Sunday to go to church, and she loves reading the Book of Mormon!!!!!!!

I know that if we have a righteous desire and pray in faith Heavenly Father will answer our prayers. :)

Saturday was the kind of day that every missionary dreams of having. We taught ALL day! We only had 15 minutes to eat dinner IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then Sunday was great too! We got balanced key indicators again! AND there was a baptism! His name is Stephen. He's from Africa and plays football! ...Err.. I mean soccer. He's sooooo great! I had to interpret for some of the khon thais that attended.... It was SO HARD! Sis Reedy made me do it! I was so mad. I did ok. Anyway... Myheart was gonna try to make it to the baptism but got stuck in traffic. :( He totally missed it! But we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, and even thought he's way addicted to tea he said he'd quit!!! Yayyyyy : D He still isn't sure if the Book of Mormon is true or if the church is true 'cause he hasn't gotten an answer to his prayers yet, but I think part of it is cause he cant really feel the spirit ever cause of his snooker. :/ Plus he drinks an inordinate amount of tea, so we said that keeping the word of wisdom would help him feel the spirit more and get an answer easier!! 

So yeah. Things are good. Much better than last week. I was way stressed out last week. haha But I chose faith and things worked out alright!

Love,

Sister Zaugg

This transfer is almost overrrrrrrrrrrrr!

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

This one isn't Auytthiya....but it's a good
representation of Thailand. Somehow
Zebras are a sacred thing in Buddhism,  'cause you see them EVERY WHERE.
Sometimes you'll bike down a street and
there will be like a group of 10 of them. I don't get it! This one is way big. haha
And there's a jungle and a random dog. Perfect! :)

Last P-Day my whole District went to Ayutthiya!! It's the old capital of Thailand, and has tons of ancient Buddhist wads (temples) and other random ruins. It's way touristy so we ran into a lot of farangs and it felt wayyyy weird. I'm not used to seeing so many white people!! The Thai people were way impressed that we could actually speak Thai. 

 Took the train to Ayutthiya!

We took the free train to get there and we sat ALLL over it. In the nice spot, in the section between the cars that has the steps to get on the train (the coolest part... you could just.... jump out if you wanted haha!) and then in the back where the workers sit. We just talked to them and had some interesting conversations. :)

Ruins at Ayutthiya!

Ayutthiya was cool! Saw a lot of wads that are 2,000+ years old. Lots of humongous Buddhas, too. Buddhism is way confusing, most Buddhist people don't really even know what they worship. There's like, random Hindu gods around that they wai and worship. Suuuper weird. I miss the temple so much. :( 

A GIANT BUDDHA

As for this week..... well, some Mormon band from Utah is coming next week, and Pres Senior asked my zone to sing at it. So we have choir practices like, 3 or 4 times a week now. The first time I was just gonna sit in the back and read while Sis Reedy and the others sang, but Bro Art (a member who is correlating all this) FORCED ME TO JOIN!!!!!!!! I was way not happy. He chose some really hard songs. :((((((( But, Pres Senior gave us permission to listen to recordings of the songs and that's helping. Some of the songs are actually pretty cool, and I'm not as grumpy about singing as I was. :) The rockstar in my branch is gonna sing at the concert, too. It's a pretty big deal, actually.

Mali has gone missing. She like.... stopped wanting to meet with us. She just didn't understand anything and was so involved with her debt and stress that she just cut us off. She wouldn't listen to us. At one point she promised us that she would go to church and pay her tithing so that she could get the help and blessings she needs, but then a couple days later she just disappeared. Sister Phaa can't get a hold of her... not even her sons. :((((((((((((((((((( We're praying for her safety. Sis Phaa is such a saint, too! She's taken over Mali's sausage stand and selling in her place to pay off her debt until she comes back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's so wonderful!!! We helped her put sausages on sticks and set up the stand one morning. She's way worried about her friend. Ahhhhhhhhh :(((((((

All of my investigators are pretty much stuck. They all either have school on Sundays or parents who are way against Christianity. It's wayyyyyyyyyyyyy not cool! Sometimes it's hard not to get depressed and wonder what we're even doing, or why we have all of these investigators who can't change their lives, but I know the Lord has called me here for a reason, so I try my hardest to press forward in faith. Joshua 1:9 has been a real comfort to me lately. :)

 Love my District!

Even though Sis Reedy and I aren't having much success, the District Leader and his companion are!! They had a baptism yesterday. Their investigator is named Britcha. I can't remember if I talked about him yet. He's this wayyyyyyyyyy old guy. He's super short and round and bald and doesn't have much teeth. He has the CUUUUTEST smile!! He just smiles so big and he loves the missionaries. He calls us "than" which is a way honorific word to use. You really don't use it at all. When the Elders were teaching him about how through the gospel we have true happiness and eternal life he kind of just paused for a little bit and was like "Well.... I really need true happiness. And I really need eternal life!" He's so boss. His testimony is amazing. LOVE HIM SO MUCH. So happy I got to see his baptism!

So yeah, nothing too crazy has happened this week. Still trying to help investigators learn more and find a way to go to church.... 

Onward! Ever onward! 

Next week is transfers AGAIN. Whoa. Sometime I'll be finding out if I'm training and/or being transferred. Suuuuuuuper crazy! Where even does the time go?

Sister Zaugg