serving in the land of smiles: “Seesters, he saw it in the peeeeectures.”

Me with the Elders’ investigator's little sister who is THE cutest girl in the whole wide world.
Her name is Boy, and believe it or not, she's 10.

Of course that title quote is from Pa Gua, and I will explain it later.

Our week was so good!

We had a companion exchange all day Tuesday and Thursday. I stayed here in Saphaan Suung with Sister Yim, who is the cutest thing around. She is from Hawaii and found the gospel while she was going to school at Boston University. She and her two brothers joined the church at the same time...but they didn’t all plan to. One of her brothers was living in Indiana. When she called home to tell her dad she was getting baptized, he said, “Have you been talking to your brother?” She said she hadn’t. She didn’t even know he had been taking the missionary discussions! Her dad just laughed and said “Well then, must be true.” Cool, huh? :)

Anyway, we did a lot of great stuff. We went contacting at a university that was pretty awesome. We also got 3 referrals from Annu, from India, who has been coming to church for about a month now. She was like “Here, meet all my friends, they want to come to church too!” Miracles, am I right? We also taught our investigator named Jeep, who has soooo many questions. She wrote down about 15 questions and gave them to me to look over for our next lesson. We met with her again and we taught her the first lesson again. I told her I would answer her questions, but not directly—she would have to find them for herself. After the lesson, she told me I was a really good teacher. Nothing beats the feeling of your investigator telling you that you are a good teacher. :)

On Wednesday, we also saw Sister Tia, and her poor baby was sick. Sister Yim asked her if she wanted the baby to have a blessing, and of course the answer was yes. After a wild goose chase over the phone (which was incredibly amusing, by the way) it was eventually determined that no one knew who Sister Tia’s home teachers were, so Pa Gua came to the rescue and gave the blessing with Elder Campbell and Elder Hunsaker. Good times in Saphaan Suung. That night when Sister Weed and I were reunited, we spent our dinner quoting the awesome Pa Gua for Sister Yim and her companion (Sister Slaugh!! Yeah!!).

On Thursday I met Jon and Liz Jagard’s friend, Nam! In real life! I’m pretty sure she is the cutest person I have ever seen ever and I can’t wait to get to know her better. She isn’t in my area, but she does live in my zone! I hope this next transfer I get to stay here and plant some more seeds. She’s such a good person.

On Friday we went into Asoke (West Bangkok, super duper fancy and stuff) for my dentist appointment. It was so fancy I thought I was going to die. I was also pleased because at the dentist’s office they played Moonriver, so that was a plus. On our way home, traffic was so bad that we decided to not take a taxi. And thus begins the story of how Sister Hughes and Sister Weed were dragged around central Bangkok at night in a tuktuk at high speeds by a crazy Thai man. He said “I’ll get you to the train station faster than any taxi...I can squeeze between cars!” Most of it was entirely illegal, I’m sure. And at one point we were driving on the wrong side of the road. Somehow, Sister Weed and I lived. We then took a train, and then from the train station took a taxi home. It took us 2 1/2 hours. And it was faster than a straight shot taxi. Thai traffic, man. Am I right or what?

On Saturday we watched Conference at the church. We had a room for all of the English speakers: the missionaries, Sister Becky and her family, and Sister Isrin and her family (the French speakers). It was super wonderful. We also taught Na, our lawyer investigator who had seen the temple. He is great. He keeps all of his commitments and can tell us Nephi’s entire family history without having to look in his Book of Mormon. He knows it’s true. The only problem is that he can’t get to church on Sundays because he is taking tests to advance his law degree. We’re working on that, though. Don’t you worry. When we talked a little bit more about Adam and Eve today, he told us he had seen a film about them. We didn’t recongize the word he used for “film” so Pa Gua piped up and in English announced, “Seesters, he saw it in the peeeeectures.” Made my day.

Yesterday we finished the rest of conference. EVERY single talk was SOOOOO good. I want to listen to them all again but I’ll just have to wait for the Ensign to come out so I can read them. I’ll just have to be patient, I guess. :) After conference, we all got to go back to President Suchaad’s house for TACO NIGHT. Best night of the transfer, always. Haha.

President Suchaad told us about how he and his wife were sealed in the temple. They started saving money to go to LA because that was the closest temple when they joined the church. Unfortunately, the US embassy denied their visas. So they waited for 15 years, saving money. When the temple in Tokyo was built, they bought tickets with a travel group to go to Japan. It was cheaper that way, and it was a perfect plan to fly with the group and then not do the tour— and just go to the temple. But the weekend before their trip, the travel company called and canceled the tour because not enough people signed up to go. They waited another 10 years before the Manila temple was built. They saved up their money and got there 3 days after the temple was dedicated, only to find that it was closed. (I'm not sure why it was closed right after it was dedicated...but it was. Anyway.) They called the temple president and explained their situation, who then called President Hinckley. President Hinckley gave them special permission to go through the temple and be sealed as a family, even though the temple was closed. They were the first couple to go through the Manila Temple. Crazy, huh? Those people. I am so amazed by them and their faith.

So that was the week! And guess what, my camera is working again so PICTURES! :)

LOVE YOU!!!!!!