“I may look like Piglet, but I have the strength of Pooh Bear.” —Elder Pyne

Wat Phu Tok, Bueng Kan*

Dearest Family Family Dearest,

I am sorry this email is so late in getting to you! I'm glad the Browns got ahold of you, though, and you are not worrying. We got back from our epic district P-Day hike a little later than expected, so not a lot of time here. This will be fairly short; I need to get to work! : )

And to anyone I did not respond to...I'm sorry! 

This week was great. A lot of working. A lot of gratitude in my little suitcase heart.

This week President Senior showed up by surprise and conducted interviews with our district here Udon. The timing could not have been more perfect. It was much needed and he was able to answer so many of my questions. I am so grateful for my mission president.

This week Sister Packard and I had a wonderful experience with inspiration and following promptings: We are working with a recent convert who has become less active. We have been trying to contact her for weeks and just couldn't seem to get ahold of her. The other day, we were going to an appointment at another less active member's house when I had the thought, "Go see Jiin." We pulled over at her house and for the first time in weeks, she was sitting in her living room. God directs us in the most quiet of ways. The Spirit is almost never overwhelming—certainly, there are those times—but for the most part, I have learned over my mission (and over my life time) that I just need to trust the promptings from the Lord and then trust myself. And when you do, you will find yourself sitting in Jiin's living room and helping her to rekindle her testimony in her Savior Jesus Christ.

I loved Conference. SO MUCH GOOD STUFF. I felt like there were quite a few common themes that have followed me throughout my mission—how to make good decisions, the reality of absolute truth and how to find it, and the importance of the strength of our personal testimonies. It's funny, everything that our church leaders were inspired to say answered my missionary questions and personal questions about my future. I have no doubt that our church leaders are inspired of God. I have no doubt that when we follow the things our living prophet teaches, we will be happy. God has a standard that we must each choose to follow. When we follow God willingly, He will continue to reveal His plan to each of us personally. It's our job to choose to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ. General Conference, man. It's good.

Today for P-Day we went on a hike out in a province called Bueng Kan. We went to this temple on top of a mountain called Wat Phu Tok. It means "temple on the single mountain." It was so FUN. It was the craziest hike; we were walking around on these little rickety wooden beams and climbing up stairs that were so steep and adventuring through rain forests. When we got to the lookout points you could see pretty much all of Thailand. It was the BEST thing ever. So much fun. :)

This coming week will be exciting, we have a district conference in Khon Kaen on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. All three of the districts in the Isaan (Udon, Ubon, and Khon Kaen) will be meeting together. I am so excited for it. And, I will be able to see all of my people from Sisaket!!! And there are apparently some major announcements going to be made...Saturday will be a huge cultural celebration, as well. Monday will be our Mission Tour (Zone Conference with a member of the Area 70 present). (BTW we will most likely be emailing home on Tuesday, but be ready for Monday emails, just in case. I have no idea how P-Day is going to work haha.)

I love you, family. I am so grateful for you and your love. Talk to you next week :)

Love,

Sister Hughes

Photos...well. I don't have my card reader today because we got back later than we planned on, so we just came straight to the internet place... the photos from Elder Black will have to suffice for this week. I'll send next week, for sure.

Quotes of the Week

Sister Packard: "Two eyes are better than one!" (I had to agree...)

Elder Black: "Magic is this card game. It's my one geeky hobbit. SHOOT. I mean hobby."

Elder Pyne (who has been nicknamed Piglet and Pooh Bear his whole mission): "I may look like Piglet but I have the strength of Pooh Bear." 

(*JH note: Wat Phu Tok courtesy Google images)

On the Road

Dearest Family Family Dearest,

This week has been a week of moving. Off and on the road. 

It was all so good :)

On Tuesday night, (after spending all of Tuesday moving houses -- we now only live 3 houses down from where we used to live haha, but it still took FOREVER), Sister Packard and I boarded an overnight bus with the Zone Leaders to go to Bangkok for our Mission Leadership Council on Wednesday. It was a really great training meeting; we have been focusing as a mission to be better “all-around” missionaries—not only to find, teach and baptize—but to also help retain and reactivate. We are now a BRAFTing mission (Baptizing  Retaining  Activating  Finding Teaching). As missionaries, we need to spend time each day being organized and better focused on all five of these areas, and we learned  to also train other missionaries. We focused on how we can better serve. We have amazing, dedicated missionaries in this mission; so inspiring and good.

That day we had THE best surprise ever in the whole wide world. Brother Ford, from Lampang, was in Bangkok for the week and he showed up at the training meeting. We got to talk to him as we ate lunch. It was so great to see him again. He is such an awesome person. I feel so blessed to know him. 

Thursday we spent in Nong Khai, training the elders there how to BRAFT like Iron Men. Friday we were in Sakonnakhon, doing training there. And then on Saturday we were back to Udon again where we trained our own district on BRAFTing. Now we're home in our own area. (I've counted, and of the 12 weeks that I will be in Udon, I will have been traveling for 7 of them...haha.) It was a great experience traveling around Thailand. I love riding on the buses through the Esaan and seeing the fields of rice and skies that go on for miles, listening to people selling grilled chicken on a stick yell at us through the bus windows, talking with other travelers, and getting stuck behind lines of water buffalo blocking the roads. It's a good life out here. I really do love it.

With all that time on the road, I have spent a whole lot of time reflecting on my mission. I love sitting in cars and just thinking. (Can that be considered a hobby? If it is, it's one of my favorites.) I have reflected on how grateful I am ... for everything. How grateful I am to be in Thailand. My soul is just so happy to be a missionary.

"Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ ... yea, my soul delighteth in His grace, and in His justice and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death." (2 Nephi 11:4–5)

It's funny, because when you get your mission call, you wonder if it's because there is someone who needs you -- is there someone in the Thailand Bangkok mission who was waiting specifically for me? And yes, there are those wonderful people. I promise that. But I have also found that I was called to this mission because God knew that I needed these people, much more than they need me. Because of my people, my eternities have been changed forever.

All of my love,

Sister Hugh

Wat Sala Kaew Kuu in Nong Khai. 

Brother Ford! 

Borrowing jackets at the church to try to stay warm!

"What do you get when you win the Superbowl?" —Elder Lim

This question was posed in one of our zone trainings this week and Elder Williams responded, "SALVATION TO THE THAI PEOPLE!"  He got a gold star.

Happy (Re)Birthday!

Dearest Family, Family Dearest,

It has been both a hard and extremely rewarding week. Sister Packard and I have struggled with many set backs, but God pulled us through and gave us miracles. If there is one thing that I have learned on my mission, it is that you have to sometimes travel through the wilderness to get to the Promised Land. Sometimes, you have to have a hard week to experience and appreciate the miracles God wants to give you. I won't get into the struggles because no one likes to read about those. I'll tell you the good stuff :)

MIRACLE #1. Brother Srithai.

Brother Srithai went missing two weeks ago and we had no idea where he had gone. We had all been given new phones at transfers, so we lost a bunch of phone numbers (including Srithai's number...) and when we got his number again, his phone was off. For days. Then when he didn't come to church, we knew something was wrong, so we took our Monday evening to find him. We had an address and a small map that he had drawn. Turns out the address was non-existent and the map was not very well drawn ... (For anyone who has ever been to Thailand knows at this point, the smart option would probably be to give up because it is almost impossible to find something without a usable map.) So Sister Packard and I just started walking into different apartment buildings and showing people a photo of Srithai. No one knew him. For two hours we were searching until finally, a man said he didn't know him, but wait, maybe he did. He said try the first door on the right. So we tried it and it was Srithai. HOORAY. And he was fine. Just a little under the weather. And it turns out the Zone Leaders had given us the wrong phone number. Whoops. He is now back on his feet, feeling much better, going to every activity and being his giggly self.

MIRACLE #2. Philip.

Last week I mentioned that Philip was struggling. This week we met with him and he opened up about all of his concerns. He did not feel ready to be baptized on his birthday (like he had wanted to do). We had asked him to go home and pray and ask God what he needed to do. He had prayed but felt like he was getting no guidance at all. That is the hardest thing in the world—when you want guidance but aren’t feeling any and you have to make a decision all on your own and trust that it is the right thing to do. We asked him to read in Moroni 7:13–16, and to pray again. He said he would get back to us. Saturday was a day where everything possible went wrong ... it was hard. At the end of the day, Sister Packard and I decided to call Philip one more time. We called and this was how the conversation went:

Us: "Hey Philip, did you pray and read the verses we sent you?"

Philip: "Yep."

Us: "And did you get an answer?"

Philip: "Yep."

Us: "So....what was your answer?"

Philip: "God said it's my choice. He said if something is good, then I should just do it and not be afraid."

Us: "So what are you going to choose?"

Philip: "I'm going to get baptized."

Us: "Awesome! When do you want to get baptized?"

Philip: "Tomorrow. It's my birthday!"

So Philip was baptized on his birthday. Sister Packard and I had nothing to do with his decision. He made it all on his own while trusting God. His baptism was the best baptism ever. When I asked him how he felt afterwards, he said, "When I was under the water, it's like time stopped and I saw all of my past get erased except for the good things. And when I came back up I had goosebumps all over." He is the greatest. He couldn't stop smiling and neither could I. :)

Other adventures this week include trekking through the mud to get to some members houses with Sister Porm. She said we were her little ducklings so we called her Mama Duck. It was good times. 

This week I have thought a lot about the hymn “Jesus Lover of My Soul.” It might just be my favorite hymn (especially when Alex Boye sings it). There is one part where it says:

Other refuge have I none;

Hangs my helpless soul on Thee.

Leave, ah, leave me not alone,

Still support and comfort me.

All my trust on Thee is stayed,

All my help from Thee I bring.

Cover my defenseless head

With the shadow of Thy wing.

My whole mission I have been so fascinated by the analogy of light. I love that Christ is our light. But as I listened to this hymn the other day, I loved the idea that Christ also extends His care with His shadow. Christ is always exactly what we need Him to be. Our guiding light or our comfort and protecting shield and shadow. Whatever we stand in need of, Christ offers to us. I know that is true.

And there was our week. This week will be actually crazy. We are moving houses tomorrow; we have a meeting in Bangkok on Wednesday, and Zone Trainings the rest of the week. Lots of traveling. Lots of work. I'm excited for it all. October is going to be a busy month. Bring It On.

I love you!

Love,

Sister Hugh

QUOTES

"Grandma, your smile is so pretty." Sister Porm

"I don't have any teeth." Sister Somrudee

"Sister Hughes, sometimes I feel like you are my only friend in the whole world." —Sister Packard in the park where there were no people. 

"Sister Muller! I did my family history and I found out I'm only 23, not 24!" —Brother Bew

We love Philip!

Helping Sister Huang make somtam!

Brother Srithai back to his normal, goofy self : )

Following.

Mud trekking

Juice boxes during a member visit.

Sparkle crocks; it's been a while.