serving in the land of smiles: “Hello, babeey!”

That was Pa Gua, talking to Sister Tia’s baby the other day. It was so cute.

Sister Zaugg and I with all of our crackers.

So this week was pretty interesting! There were a couple set backs—getting sick—but a lot of really good things are happening in our area.

So Monday after we emailed, Sister Zaugg and I decided to go back home so I could take a nap because I couldn’t breathe...or talk...and after my nap I felt even worse and had a fever, so we ended up staying in that night. Ugh, and Tuesday, too. Feeling sick as a missionary is so frustrating, because you feel guilty lying in bed. All you want to do is go out and work! But by Tuesday evening, I was feeling well enough to go to a really, really important appointment with our investigator, Jeep.

Jeep is the cutest girl on the face of the planet. I love her to pieces. She has grown so much since we started teaching her three months ago, but she has felt really hesitant about getting baptized. On Tuesday we sat down with Jeep and two of her friends who are already members and we just talked about baptism. We asked her about her fears. Then we talked about all the blessings that would be hers if she were to get baptized. We made a t-chart with her so she could see that her fears compared to blessings were really very few, and the blessings could go on forever if we all wanted to keep listing them. She realized that night that she really does want to be baptized. It was such a miracle lesson. After the lesson, I went back to bed. Haha.

Wednesday I was feeling better, so we went to a ton of appointments. It was a really good day. We visited a recent convert who lives with her mom and owns a little tiny nail salon in her living room. She has no money...but she has a little glass jar on display that she wrote “Tithing Money” on. The faith of these wonderful people just amazes me. We shared with her D&C 121: 8-10 about how our trials and afflictions will be but a small moment. She loved the message. She was so cute, and after we shared our lesson with her, she did our nails for us. Mine are so pink and girly and sparkly, I can’t even handle it. It’s so great.

On Thursday, Sister Zaugg and I were both sick from something we ate. So that was fun. We bought lots of crackers to eat. We saw Sister Ploy that day at the church and I was in the bathroom when she walked in. Sister Zaugg was right outside sipping a Sprite while sitting on the floor. Ploy was all “What is it?” When we told her we were both sick, she couldn't stop laughing. It was classic.

On Friday, we ran into Elder Barfuss and Elder De la Garza eating lunch at the same little place we always eat at. Halfway through our meal, I looked over and I saw that Elder Barfuss’ face was bright red and he had a little pile of peppers sitting next to his plate. I asked him how many peppers he got in his somtam...turns out he ordered 20. He was crying. It was hilarious. We also got lost in a super sketchy part of Bangkok after my dentist appointment...out taxi driver was taking us to the train station but turns out he didn’t know where he was going. So he was all, “Just walk down this street a little bit and you’ll find the train station you want.” We looked down the street and saw lots of interesting people and lots of neon lights. We didn’t go there. We found a tuk tuk driver who took us where we were really supposed to be. Turns out it was about 20 minutes from where our taxi driver left us. Haha. That was an adventure.

On Saturday, we started teaching this woman that we contacted into who wanted to know where we go after we die. We taught her the plan of salvation and her husband joined us. They have 3 kids. A FAMILY! That's all :)

Also this weekend, Kaw got baptized!!! AHHHHHHHH! This kid is seriously awesome. He was already Christian, but felt like his church wasn’t quite doing it for him. So he got on a motorcycle taxi one Sunday morning and said “Take me to a Christian church.” The Motocy driver took him to our church. Kaw knew he wanted to be baptized after minutes of talking with Elder Barfuss and Elder Angkham. Because he is only 14, he was supposed to wait for 3 months before he could get baptized. After being an investigator for like 3 weeks, he had finished the Book of Mormon. He loves missionary work. He has a missionary daily planner that he uses every day and sets goals for the number of people he wants to talk with about the church. He is also always eating something, which I find very humorous, since his nickname “Kaw” means “food.” :) So on Tuesday night, Elder Barfuss called President Senior and asked for permission to baptize Kaw early. Kaw was so ready. So yesterday after church, our favorite little guy got baptized. It was so awesome.

This morning we had zone sports day at our building. We played ping pong with Pa Gua and I got to see Elder Black, who I haven’t seen since we got into country so that was fun. He got his appendix out. Crazy huh? Also, lots of other fun people in Bangkok that I adore. We’re going to get lunch after we email with all of the Sisters in our zone. It’s going to be super. : )

I love you!

Sister Hughes/Hugh/Hungry/Choo/Q