September 8, 2014

HELLO! IT'S BEEN 2 WEEKS!!! 

Okay first thing. Thank you so much for the package!! I loved ALL of the food. Seriously. My tummy every night says Khap Khun Maaaaaaaaah!!!! (THANK YOU SOOO MUCH in thai). The shoes and midi shirt were perfect. I LOVED your notes. And lyncoln's note made my heart smile. :) Thanks buddy xoxoxo. As for the Deodorant; I am allergic to Dove.. :/ it makes me itch. So if you are able to send any of the 9 sticks of Degree that we had already bought that would be awesome! I was notified on Tuesday evening that I had a package but  I didnt get the notification until after i got back from choir rehearsal. So the mail office was already close.. So i got it on Wednesday morning. BUT in the future I should be able to get it right then. My Khuu's (companion) dropped off a bag off popcorn at the MTC! So if you wanted you could just fill a bag up with stuff and drop it where Teed did. Thanks Teed and love you and everyone! Anny I am still waiting for the cute packaged popcorn! Don't send unpopped popcorn.. We arent supposed to use the microwave for that.. Not sure why ://

I don't need any more G's or my Thai BOM sent to me. Thanks tho! 

Emailing and letters. I really cannot express how much i love hearing from you all. As weird as this may sound- i fell like i haven't been forgotten when i receive a ltter. And it is like someone is here with me- cheering me on saying "YOU CAN DO THIS". SO please send letters. There are 3 people in my district who have not recieved any mail. PLEASE send them a Dear Elder. 

Sister Lee Ann Lor, Elder Jason Chio & Elder Matthew Raleigh (All going to my same mission address). I can't imagine not getting a letter yet. Please do a little bit of service to them and the Lord will bless you IMMENSLEY. I only have 1 hour every P Day to email. So I don't have very much time to respond plus type up a big email.. We are only supposed to write letters on P days.. So i have plenty of time to write a letter! So please send me a letter so i can have your address! I HAVE to be obediant by following the rule or I will not have the spirit with me to help me learn Thai and teach. I desperately need the spirit with me. My district and I would really appreciate SPECIFIC prayers to help us with learning the language. 

Funny: There is an Elder in my district, Elder Chio, who is SO Asian and SO funny. AND for some odd reason totally loves me hahahaha (in a completely non romantic way). Elder Chio ALWAYS wants to take selfies.. So it  has become a tradition that every Sunday we take a selfie at the temple.. Well the first time he totally went to take a selfie with my and like basically put his head in the crook of my neck hahahahaha my whole district laughed and laughed and laughed . It was hilariiuos.s As missionary- you are not suppposed to be physically  close to a mish of the oppisite sex hahaha... Also during Volleyball he told my companion Sister Morgan, That Sister "Quarts" was his biggest compettiion hahahaha HE THOUGHT MY NAME WAS SISTER QUARTS hahahah Asians... ;)  ANd then another day we were all telling each other what our worst fear was.. And he goes: Sister Coates is probably my biggest fear Ahahahahahah... I can't wait till you meet him. HE IS SO FUNNY. There is an attached picture of him on the email. lolol It's the selfie. 

I found 2 of my Red Mango co workers! Elder Blaize Prior and Sister Shelby Espinoza!! Was THRILLED to see them.

We sang "we are as the army of helaman" at the sunday Devotional yesterday.. I felt the spirit in and out of my body. I am now the Lord's missionary. To bring the world his truth. Go listen to the song. <3

In Thai: I can pray, invite someone to be baptized, give the first lesson in PMG and hold a basic conversation. Stay tuned.

This week: We taught our investigator Icecream for the last time (if i hadn't mentioned him before.. Yes Icecream was his name). He is actually now our 2nd teacher. He came in and taught for the 1st time this week. WOW. I have never felt so overwhelmed and completely lost in my life. I could understand maybe a word or 2 or what he said. Everyone left class that day absolutely distraught. We all kinda thought we were getting a handle on the language. WRONG. Day 2 with our new teacher (Brother Hunsaker) came around and we were all dreading it. During this class session and the first class session, he spoke so fast that I could scarcely make out a few words. I knew everyone in the class, including myself was feeling VERY overwhelmed. When Brother Hunsaker asked for someone to volunteer to be the investigator, against my better judgement, I raised my hand. Before he began, I said a quick silent prayer and took a deep breath. He then started giving the first lesson in Thai.. And that's when it happened. For every Thai word he said, the English translation was immediately and quietly spoken in the back of my mind. It was NOT me that was translating those words. Before sitting down as the investigator, it would take me 20-30 seconds to understand a word or two out of the paragraph he had said! The Holy Ghost is very very real. I think God wanted me to have that experience to show me that He is very aware of me and of what I had been feeling. I hope and pray will all my heart that every missionary can experience something like that. I know that through just a little bit of faith, it is possible.

I still absolutely LOVE being a missionary. I love learning Thai despite the stress that it comes with. I know God lives/

Love you all,

Sister Quarts-- I mean Coates