IT'S WAR!!!!

So the biggest Thai holiday sounds an awful like the word for 'war' in Thai. Songkhraam (war) and Songkraan (Thai New Year). But to be honest, I wouldn't be able to tell you the difference from what's going on outside right now. 

Basically the whole country has shut down for three days and has turned into a MASSIVE WATER FIGHT.

My whole mission people have been telling me about songkraan and how nuts it is.... but I just didn't believe them! I thought they were exagerrating.... but ohhhhhh no. They were not.

Elder Smith. This picture makes me smile. :)

The last 3 days we have not been able to get any one to commit to going to church on this last Sunday because they've all said: "I'll get soaked! It's too dangerous!" And we were like, "pffffft no you won't. just come." But then yesterday morning we rode out of our house and saw that every house had giant barrels of water being filled with hoses, or people filling swimming pools and water guns. Literally. Every. House. Entire streets were blockaded by dancing people with water just waiting for vehicles/bicyclists to pass just to soak them. Every truck that passed (and that's most of the cars that aren't motorcycles here in Thailand) was loaded with barrels of water and people splashing water at you as they drove by. Even on the bigger roads that didn't have houses had stations of water to splash and refill every 20 feet. Every one that we passed was wet. We were SHOCKED. IT'S TRUE. 

 I got stuck.....

elDER

So right now it's warring outside and we get to play in it today. :) Yayyyyyy! Yesterday I somehow managed to make it around without getting too wet... but Sis Maughan got soaked through. hahahahhahahaha Not sure how that happened.

Literally the coolest holiday ever.

Pausing a moment from inviting
to call an investigator.

This week we found a couple new investigators who really seem to be ready for baptism! The first is a guy that I met at the park. His name is A. He's way cool! When I invited him, he said, "I don't want to commit to anything, but I would like to go to the church to learn more!" When we taught him we found out that his grandpa recently passed, so we decided that the Plan of Salvation would be an excellent message to share with him! That morning I had read a talk about being the kind of missionary who teaches and testifies by the Spirit, and that we should always be bold and that if we teach by the Spirit, then the investigator will be ready to make any commitment! So I testified my heart out! I really felt the Spirit working in that lesson.... and then we decided to read a scripture in Alma 7 about the atonement of Christ, and how His atonement frees us from sin and death. 

 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

 13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

After we read that together he kept looking at it, so we figured that he was just thinking about the verses, but then he looked up and was like, "I really like verse 14."

 14 Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

And we were like "YES YOU DO" and committed him to be baptized right then and there! So now he has a date for the 27th! So awesome. :)

SHEEEEEEEEEEEP

So, funny story about that day at the park: we were walking around and saw this huuuuuge herd of random sheep run across a bridge onto one of the mini islands floating in the middle of the park. So, of course I was like, "SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP" and dragged Sis Maughan over to take pictures. Well, we ended up talking to the shepherd, invited him to be baptized and got his number! hahahhaa We still haven't taught him yet, but it was a way awesome experience.

Me and SHEEEEEEEEEEP

Pouring water on old peoples' hands?

On Friday the branch had a songkraan activity. I guess it's Thai tradition on Songkraan to pour water on the old peoples' hands and wish them a good year, and then they say things like, "I hope you have happiness and find a handsome husband" lol Then after you've done that they smear white powder on your face and it turns into a water fight. It was the only time in my life where I would feel OK about dumping a giant bowl of water over an old lady's head. hahah!

Wearing the songkraan flowers!

Oh, yeah. I forgot to talk about the part
where Sis Briaw, a recently certified nurse,
took out E. Wheeler's stitches at the church.
LOL

General conference was AWEEEEEEEEESOOOOOOOOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Elder Packer's talk blew my mind. His last testimony of Christ made my heart stop:

Cooped up in the clerk's office
for 10 hours watching GC.

"After all the years that I have lived and taught and served, after the millions of miles I have traveled around the world, with all that I have experienced, there is one great truth that I would share. That is my witness of the Savior Jesus Christ.

Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon recorded the following after a sacred experience:

“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

“For we saw him” (D&C 76:22–23).

Their words are my words.

I believe and I am sure that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He lives. He is the Only Begotten of the Father, and “by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (D&C 76:24).

I bear my witness that the Savior lives. I know the Lord. I am His witness. I know of His great sacrifice and eternal love for all of Heavenly Father’s children. I bear my special witness in all humility but with absolute certainty, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

I love the apostles and prophet! I know they have been called of God to be Christ's special witnesses. I can't wait to study the talks that were shared by them in this last General Conference. It was my last as a missionary! :,(

Have a wonderful week everybody! I'll be over here getting soaked. :,)

Love ya!

Sis Zaugg

'Sup

So there's this furniture shop on the road that our little house is on. Every night we pass it and every night the guy yells, "Hello!" and we say, "'Sup!" In the last week or so he's been yelling, "THUP!!!!" at us. We're teaching good things here, people!

Eating at a Japanese place with the district last P-Day!
Sis Maughan gave up on the chopsticks.

Then we went bowling!
(I'm in non-missionary attire because
we were about to go iceksating)

The hospital is always the best way to end a P-Day.

So this week has been alllllllll over the place! On P-day we went ice skating with our district and the Gumpawapi elders. It was really great until E. Wheeler went wayyyyy too fast on his iceskates and tried to stop with his chin. We took a fun trip to the hospital in Udorn. 7 stitches!

Tuesday night we took a van down to Udorn and took an over-night bus with the Zone Leaders down to Bangkok for missionary leadership training! It was way good. We focused on filling the cracks in the mission to keep us going forward. The official number for baptisms in March was 218. Yeah. THAT IS AMAZING. That has never been done before in the Asia Area. I am SO sososososososso blessed to be here right now! I love this work, people. I love Thai people, I love our missionaries, I LOVE THAILAND!!!

I also really love my mission President and his wife. I know I've said it a MILLION times already, but they have changed my life forever. I finally got an interview with Pres Senior. The last one was in August. I wished that I had problems or something so that I could talk to him longer! hahahaha At the end of the day when we were all leaving to our various areas across the country, I watched Pres Senior walking away from the office in his spiffy suit and briefcase in hand. And I just realized how much he sacrifices for the Lord and for Thailand. We all know that Pres Senior is disgustingly rich, but he's dedicating his time, energy, money, and to be honest, his whole soul to getting a temple here in Thailand. I have SO much respect for those two.

I went on another switch-off in Udorn, and then finally made it back to my own area on Friday! Phew!

This week Sis Maughan and I slowly started realizing how crazy we've become on our mission. It's just been slowly unfolding and last night was when we really truly understood just how CRAZY WE ARE!! 

It started last Tuesday when we were standing outside of 7/11 for like, the 3rd time that day in the BLAZING heat, and had invited the like, 3 people that we've invited on at least 4 other occasions, and we were like, "We.... are here.... all day. Every day."

 I think this is the Buddha version of Scout Camp.....?

And then it got worse when we were talking to the zone leaders on the bus when they told us about THEIR own realization. They said, "If we were in America, we would be two huge, African men wearing their traditional garb who stand outside of Walmart all day EVERY DAY in the blazing heat, who ask every one they see to wash their sins. THAT IS US." We DIED laughing.... because it's TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then it got worse on Thursday when we were making more of an effort to ask people who we invite for referrals of people who would be interested. Sis Maughan was like, "Hey, Sis Zaugg.... what do you ask them to get referrals?" and I was like, "Hey. Do you know any drug dealers, murderers, or adulterers? .....Can we get their number?" and then we died again!!!!!! BECAUSE IT'S TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No wonder people think we are crazy! BECAUSE WE ARE!!!

But in such a good way. :,) We have a solid group of investigators right now who 90% of them came from contacting like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thai people think we're crazy for it, but for some reason or another they fall for it. hahahahhahaa! They want to wash their sins! We just gotta ask them. :)

In Udorn we helped a member clear our her garden!I took a family picture with my daughter!

Yes, hatchets were involved.

Timberrrr!!

Here's another funny 7/11 story:

Hahahaa......

For branch sports day we played basketball at the Chinese school in downtown Nong Khai. Half way through, this wayyyyy huge group of HUGE Thai guys wandered over and was like, "Hey... you wanna play full court?" so all the missionaries minus Elder Sae Dan and myself played them. Somehow Sis Maughan ended up guarding the biggest one out of the group, and because she was raised on a res and played dirty in high school, she totally stuck her foot out in front of him and tripped him. He was a total baby about it and wouldn't play afterwards. So fast forward a few days, and last night we were contacting at 7/11.... per usual, and two guys in basketball jerseys pull up on a scooter. I invited them, and it was way awkward 'cause they were giving me the funniest look, and I didn't know why. And then I realized that one of them had his ankle all wrapped up and was limping. I looked at Sis Maughan and we were like, "NO WAY." We were soooo scared! hahahah they kept glaring at us the whole time they were in the 7/11. We were so afraid that they were gonna kill us. lollllllllllllllll Oh dear.

For April Fools day we put that dead fish on Elder Sae Dan's bike seat.

Our April Fool's joke! :)

Sooo yeah! It was a fun week. We made bookmarks with Pen, my favorite cambodian girl! We are OBSESSED with her!!!!!!!!! She is glued to us at church! We draw pictures during sacrament meeting and she gives us lots of hugs. :))))))))

We love riding bikes with Pen!

Right now we have about 4 investigators and ALL of them are male! That's so crazy!!!!! We're really excited about all of them. Whoop whoop for potential priesthood holders!!! The church here really needs 'em.

I'm SO STOKED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!! It kills me that we have to wait. It's better than Christmas, yo. It's gonna be pretty crazy this weeked, because General Conference falls on the biggest holiday in Thailand: Songkraan... which is basically a giant water fight. :O I'm way excited!

It's ridiculously hot and the work is good! 

Have a great week, y'all!!!

Sis Zaugg

Hello~

This week had some fun stories. ....Let's see if I can remember them.

We get so sweaty that we've started a game
 where we sneak up on each other and stick
each other in the forehead with a card. lol

Well, first of all, we had a baptism!!!! .......In Korat. hahaha It was Tong. Her uncle, Bro Noke went to his home town, Korat this week to go vote, so he took her with him.......... and she ended up getting baptized down there! I'm sad that I wasn't able to see it, but I'm super happy that she finally got baptized! She'll get confirmed up here in Nong Khai. :) She's SO CUTE! I love her! 

Also, other news: WE GOT 212 BAPTISMS THIS MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's another milestone for the mission! Soooo happy!

Sis Maughan getting a drunk guy's number.

Okay.... let's see..... on Friday we did a "Lehi's Vision" activity for our Book of Mormon class. We made a huge obstacle course upstairs with yarn, and at the end we had an old christmas tree and donuts for the Tree of Life. :) The members had to hold onto the yarn and if they let go, they had to go to the "repentance room". haha We were so ghetto, we didn't have blindfolds so we used trash bags.

On Sunday a member took us to go see 3 members who didn't show up to church.... and we ended up seeing everyone and their dog EXCEPT for those three members.

Catching chickies!

At one point we found ourselves sitting in a huge abandoned construction site while we waited for a member to come meet us there (because I guess she thought her house was too dirty for us to go to?).... and then later we ended up at another member's house and caught chickens.... and then at the end, when we were getting dropped off the member who took us in the car was like, "Hey, do you have a fridge?" and then shoved a whole dead fish into Sis Maughan's hands! She was like, "Yeah, it hasn't been filleted yet, so you're gonna have to do that." uhhhhhhhhhhhh......... 

We're saving it to prank our Elders with on April Fools. hahaha

I don't really have much else to write about this week! Hopefully I'll have some more next week... I'm going down to Bangkok again! Yayyyy :)

Love y'all!

Sis Zaugg

Wuddup

Well, another rough week for us people in Nong Khai, but we keep pushing on!

 "Jerry Cake"

On Monday we went to go teach Tong, that one member's niece. We got there and he was like, "Surprise! It's my birthday! You're going to eat with us." So we quick taught her a lesson, but it was supes awkward, because the brother had a bunch of friends from work over and they all just kind of sat awkwardly in the corner and listened.... we tried to include them but they wouldn't have it. haha So then we followed them over to the river where we ate a weird assortment of fried chicken on matts. Before we had to go home Bro Noke pulls out his "birthday cake". We were like, "What kind of cake is it?" and they're all like, "Jerry cake!" ...huh? And then they took it out of the box and we were like, "Ohhhhh...." It was a cake made of jelly. Only jelly. It. Was. Disgusting. I kind of just chopped it up with my spoon and made it look like I ate it. haha! 

One of the friends who was at the dinner has investigated before, so on Tuesday morning we rode our bikes to Bro Noke's office. He teaches Japanese! Sometimes I try to say something to him in Japanese and it fails miserably. It always comes out in Thai. :/  Anyway, so we taught the friend in his office. It's pretty cool, Bro Noke just takes in wayward kids who don't have much going for them and teaches them Japanese and a job helping teach his students. You can tell that they really respect him.

The lesson went alright.... I don't think we'll be teaching him again, though. There's a reason why he's been dropped 4 times already. haha He's just not ready to commit!

Sweaty back!

This week we had some SUPER HOT WEATHER. I diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeed! I totally forgot how hot it was when I was a greenie. One day we biked out to Tesco and I saw my back in a mirror in the bathroom and I just couldn't help but laugh. I was sooo sweaty! There was a cleaning lady standing in the doorway (they sit and wait to mop up the floor after people). She must have thought I was crazy, but I was like, "Hey, I am not a normal person." and invited her to be baptized. She accepted and we taught her at the church that night! She was soooooooooooo cuuuuuuuute! Except she didn't go to church on Sunday, so I dunno if she's that interested. :( Darn.

On Thursday we went to Udorn for Zone Conference!!!!!!!!! I LOVE Zone Conference! My district totally destoyed the zone at scripture jeopardy because turns out Elder Sae Dan is a scripture GENIUS. We were getting crushed at first only because he didn't understand the clues, but at one point he just got fed up with it and shot his hand up, got called on, then turned to us and was like, "What does it mean???" and STILL got the point after we translated for him.

We got to see pictures of Pres. Senior from his mission in Japan, and he just gave us a lot of encouragement and love. I felt really inspired afterwards.

Switch off with Sis Tilley!

After that I left Sis Maughan in Udorn and took Sis Tilley back to Nong Khai for another switch off. I've always wanted to be companions with Sis Tilley, so it was really fun! 

On Friday we had 6 appointments set up and 5 of them fell through, but an older man who I'd contacted a few days ago came to Book of Mormon class. He's in the army and is way interested in becoming Christian!

These dancers were gathered across the street from our
house.It started pouring like, 2 minutes after this picture
was taken. lol!

On Saturday it RAINED. It hasn't rained in forever! At first I was way excited, but then I quickly remembered how annoying rain is when you're a missionary. We were riding our bikes when it started, so we bought some rain ponchos. Good thing we did, because we got splattered all over with mud from our bikes. When we finally rolled into Tesco Lotus, we were a mess. Wearing ponchos covered in mud, hair all frizzy, makeup running, legs covered in dirt.... as we were walking to the bathroom to clean up I said, "We do NOT look like representatives of Jesus Christ." and Sis Maughan said, "No. We look like homeless people."

When we contact there's usually 1-3 vendors
that are always there and just laugh at you
while you contact, and you get back at them
by inviting them 3 times a day. This is the group
of vendors at our favorite spot at Tesco.
One is a less active member. Anyway,
I thought this was a really funny picture of them.

After contacting at Tesco we changed into our exercise clothes for branch sports night! It was at a high school that's closed for the summer. They have a big building up on stilts made specially for volley ball. To give you an idea of how weird this sports night was: Elders Smith and Wheeler brought an LA that was higher than a kite on pot, there was an entire volley ball team of teenage girls just sitting and watching us play, and random street dogs had climbed up into the building and were wandering around, doing what? I have no idea. Eventually the high guy kicked me off the team because I'm that terrible, and some of the teenage girls hopped in. It... was ridiculous.

After that we raced the district leader back to the church for Tong's baptismal interview! She passed...... BUT SHE DIDN'T GET BAPTIZED.

Sunrise!

We called them Sunday morning to remind Bro Noke to bring his baptismal suit, and she was like, "I don't feel well, so I'm not not going." uhhhhh WHUT? Later that night when we were contacting at a 7/11 they showed up and bought stuff and she had obviously gone and had her hair died somewhere and we were like, "Uhhh.... So why didn't you get baptized?????" And Bro Noke was like, "Well, I felt weird that Elder Sae Dan was going to baptize her, and I think I should do it so we didn't go." Whaaaaaaaaat? We were like, "...... Who said Elder Sae Dan was baptizing her..... we thought you were!!!!!" We were soooooo confused! And obviously he was upset that we just didn't tell him right upfront that he was going to be the baptizer. I never even thought to tell him that he was baptizing his own niece.............. I thought that was implied!! But it ended up making her miss her own baptism! During the heat of our conversation Sis Maughan randomly was like, "HEY! Why are you buying stuff on Sunday!?!!?!?" At the point I was like, DOI! Now we're done. She's never getting baptized and he's gonna go inactive because he's offended. But for some reason that cooled him down. He was like, "OOPS!!! Well... uh..... I don't drink tea or coffee!!!" -__- So maybe it's good that she isn't baptized yet... we can go over the Sabbath with BOTH of them before. hahahahah At the close of the encounter I was like, "Hey, your hair is cute, Tong." and Bro Noke was like, "It was only 300 baht- GASP. THAT WAS SPENDING MONEY ON THE SABBATH." He was so embarrassed. lololololol Well, I'm glad that it ended up alright and nobody is upset, but man. What a pain.

Beautiful rice fields. :)

No one in our district had any investigators to church on Sunday... except we had that soldier go to church in Udorn. hahahaha It was a rough day....... But we survived! And we have a new week. All is well.

This week we get to teach the Young Women how to make cookies. That'll be fun!!

Love,

Sis Zaugg

Heyyy

This week started way awesome but ended on not the greatest note. Agency, I tell ya. It's the hardest thing about missionary work. 

We had a couple of investigators who really wanted to get baptized on Sunday, but both had some pretty big problems get in the way, and in the end, they just didn't have enough faith to push through them. :( This week we didn't get balanced, even though we worked SO hard, and taught SO many people and had SO many people say that they would go to church. But it's OK. We're just turning a new page and starting over. We still have one investigator with a date for baptism, though! Her name is Tong. On the day that we pretty much just had to drop everyone, we were riding to the church when a guy on a motorcycle waved us down. Turns out it was a member and he said, "Hey, my niece is gonna live with me for a couple months. I want her to get baptized. Will you come teach her today?" And we were like, "Uhhhh.... YEAH!" So later we taught her at his home. She's 12 and super shy, but she's a sweetheart and she's at a point in her life when I think being a member of the church will really help her. It's hard, because she's a kid and it's kinda hard to help kids see just how AWESOME and NECESSARY the Gospel is.... so that's been a challenge, but still! Tender mercies of the Lord, I tell ya. :)

Our church has a mouse problem,
so E. Wheeler and Smith bought a mouse cage.
One day we were there when they caught their third mouse.
We asked, "What do you do with them?"
They said, "Chuck 'em off the roof."
So we watched them chuck it off the roof....
and it HIT THE GROUND RUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were all so shocked and E. Smith said it perfectly:
"That's stupid."

Last week we bought a washer!!!!!!! Wahoooooo! but then we realized that we didn't have an extension cord so that was a bummer. hahah We got one a couple days ago. Yay for no more washing laundry by hand!

On Wednesday I went on a Switch Off with a companionship in Udorn. It was my first one as the sister training leader! I was pretty nervous. I've just kept wondering, "What on Earth do I have to teach these sisters??" I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to help with anything.... particularly because this one companionship has been struggling. Basically me and Sis Yim (Sis Ng's big-me from the MTC!) just contacted all day in Udorn. We got lots of numbers and return appointments! More than I've ever gotten in one day. I really enjoyed it, and I hope that Sis Yim got something out of it, too. :O

Saturday night after a long day of teaching and contacting, 

we went to 7/11 to buy some stuff for Sunday.... 

and somehow I ended up with sooooo many drinks. 

I didn't know that I was so thirsty! 

The best part was when one of the Elders' investigators 

ran into us, looked at us with all of our bottles and said: 

"Kin Nom" (drink milk) and then walked away. LOL

Here's a fun contacting story: One night we were just biking down a street and stopping to talk to every person we passed. We stopped at one little shop that had some people inside and yelled, "Hey! Do you wanna wash your sins?" And the guy inside was like, "Next time!" Sis Maughan pointed her finger at him and was like, "Ok! Next time!" So the next day we showed up and were like, "Hey! Look at that! It's next time!" And he just laughed and was like, "ok ok Come in." So we taught a bit about Christ and how He can help us no matter if we're happy or sad. The guy made a return appointment so that was pretty awesome!

This week is zone conference!! We haven't had a zone conference since I trained Sis Downs. I'm suuuuuuper excited!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great week!

Sis Zaugg

Watdiiiiiiiiiiiii!!

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. :) All we do is ride bikes. 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! That's Laos! 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!  We love our little cambodian girl! 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." That guy is our Branch Mission Leader... just passing by to get to the construction site that he works on! 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!  Baptism in the river! 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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Elder Sae-Dan's brother and sister came to visit him because they're about to leave for their missions and got permission to say bye! 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! The Dream Team 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)

Kickin' It Isaan Style

Well, this week lasted foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! It was a way good week, but man it was long! haha Okay... there's a lot of stuff to talk about.....

On P-Day we got permission to move into the house that we found. So we have a house now! Yayyyyy But we have no washer... no desks.... no records.... no area book... and currently I'm sleeping on couch cushions that we put on the bedroom floor. We're waiting for more money to get sent to us so that we can start turning this place into a real missionary home.

As for the district... it's GREAT!!! Our district leader is Thai, and he is so good.His name is Elder Say Dan. He isn't necessarily the best DL I've had in terms of leadership, but he's a way good guy and sometimes he speaks to us in English and it's the most hilarious thing in the WORLD. I think at first he was way stressed about having sister in his district so for the first couple nights he made his companion do nightly follow up with us. haha... For district meeting last week he basically just drew a map of Nong Khai on the board, had us talk about our personal studies and was like, "OK. Let's go eat ice cream." I thought he was kidding, but noope! I guess that's what we do every week for District Meeting. We've also got Elder Wheeler who was in my district in Don Muang, and he's training a way awesome kid named Elder Smith. Our district is way boss. :)

As for the area, it's soooo awesome! The Isaan is beautiful! Some neighborhoods remind me of Oregon. I love it! Our house isn't in the city part, it's a little out in the country, but it's only like a 10 minute ride from the church so it's perfect! Our house is right on the river. We get to say good morning to Laos every morning! Elder Say Dan told us "not to swim in the river or the snipers will get you"

We bike EVERY WHERE. I've never ridden a bike more in my life. I'm exhausted. hahahaha Also, I'm getting the biggest thighs. I'm gonna look like those speed ice skaters by the time I'm done here.

At first I was worried about contacting here... because it's such a small town! But we've actually found some people! No one has really stuck.... most of our investigators are this one 10 year old girl that the Elders passed on to us, a former investigator of Sis Maughan's from Udorn, and a girl from English... we're trying to work with some part member families and get recent converts to get more referrals, but we're really hoping that we'll start picking up some solid investigators from our contacting!

Speaking of that former of Sis Maughan's, he got baptized yesterday! It was pretty crazy. The sisters in Udorn called and were like, "Hey Sis Maughan! Brother Roong is going to be in Nong Khai for a couple weeks! You should teach him!" SIs Maughan found Roong in Udorn, but he doesn't live there. He travels around the Isaan selling traditional Thai clothing, and whenever he would go back to Udorn, she would teach him. But he would also go to church in other provinces and get taught there... so when he got to Nong Khai he was like, "Sisters! I want to get baptized!" And we said, "OK!" So he was baptized yesterday! He's awesome. He reminds me of a pirate. hahah Yesterday was pretty much a disaster though. When it got time for the baptismal service I realized..... WE HADN'T FILLED THE BAPTISMAL FONT. Yeah. I've never had to fill a font before! Our Elders always did it for us.... So we post-poned the baptism so that the branch could have branch council while we desperately stuck hoses in the font and filled buckets of water to dump in. Eventually the font was filled, council was finished and Roong was baptized! All was well, but boy did I feel stupid. It won't happen again next week when that girl gets baptized!

Yesterday the Elders told us that there was a big walking street that opens on Saturdays and Sundays, so we decided to go to it last night.... except there was hardly anyone there!!! We decided to go somewhere else, but I decided to talk to this one lady before we left. She was walking along the river with her husband and two daughters. Turns out that they've both been to the church in Udorn but have moved here and want to learn more!!!!!!! The whole family!!!!!!!!!!!! We set up an appointment for this Friday. This is a FAMILY!!!!!!!! It's been my dream to teach a family. I really hope that they will pull through. They are sooo sweet and I can just see them in white at the temple! I'm gonna pray for them every night 'til we meet them. haha

I really do believe that this place was prepared for sisters.... we're finding lots of investigators and lots of members are giving us referrals! Sometimes I feel like, "Okay.... where's the catch? When does it get hard?" Because it just seems too good to be true! Nong Khai is amazing. I love it here! The only set backs are that there are sooo many LA's and it's ridiculously hard to find som taam around here.... we're in the Isaan!!!! Why are there no Isaan food places here??????? Food is such a bother to find. I've been eating at an Islam place because I can't find actual Thai food! Bother.

Well, in other news I learned how to ride my bike with no hands. That's about all I have for this week!

Love you all!

Sister Zaugg