Tried SO many things this week. SO. MANY. THINGS.
-Rod-Dii
(spelling? Probably not right ha!) They sell these all over in street
vendors.. I am not really even sure what they are... It's like a yummy
Asian crepe? thing with egg, banana and sweetn' condensed milk> They
are OBSESSED with that here (sweetn'cond. milk- carnation brand
stuff?). SO GOOD.
-Tried the spiceiest food
i've ever had in my life. I wanted to slice my tongue off and bash my
head over and over on the table! AHH. IT WAS SO HOT. :( Oh my word it
was so awful. To help fix it... A sweet member, Benny, gave me a Hall's
cough drop.... They eat those things like candy here. Ew! Haha It helped
though... Yeah wow... Stay away from the prick>> SPICY.
-
Tried some WONDERFUL mushroom/ham/pineapple shiskabobs, Thai donuts
>>thought of you Anny! They were SO yummy!!! I also had some
strange ball things.. I can't even describe to what they look like
really... Because I have no idea what it is them... I also can't
describe how disgusting they look. BUT.... They are so good! Haha.. They
look kind of like an octopus ball of jelly....Mmmm:)
-We
eat fresh fruit every day! My favorite is the pineapple... Oh so good.
This morning I had Malagaaw> Papaya. Seriously SO amazing! Heavenly
Father knew I wouldn't do so well with all this spicy stuff.. So he sent
fruit. :) The guava and asian pears are good too. All of it. Oh all of
it. They have little smoothie stands everywhere. They are SO cheap and
SO amazing. One of our favorite things to get is a banana smoothie! I
like to put coconut in it too. Oh! Speaking of fruit.. Every Wednesday
night is Book of Mormon night a the church- where they Elders read a BOM
story and have an activity with it. So fun! A lot of our RC's (recent
converts) and investigators come! So this past week we rad about Lehi's
vision of the Tree of Life. And of his family eating of the fruit- at
which point they fave everyone an asian pear!... Hahaaaa So Sister
Jackson took a bite of hers.. And then looked down to see a WORM! No-
HALF A WORM!! Ahhhhhhh! Welcome to Thailand. Every single day is an
adventure.
-We went out as a district to an
Italian restaurant this week! I had a bacon and egg pizza. :) Trying new
things. :) Is was way fun and the pizza was so good. I ate an entire
pizza. It was huge. It was worth it. I really do love the food here...
So many way amazing fresh things.. But I won't lie.. eating American
food.... Makes my stomach smile.... hahaha Especially PB and chocolate.
#fatamericanatheart
- Also this week we had
Dairy Queen! I have decided all ice cream here.. Is impostor ice
cream... There is just something not right about any of it.. Hahaha In
this land they are obsessed with Kit Kats.... They are everywhere. I
feel like Kit Kats are like... The Reeses of Thailand.
Learned and Learning:
We
go out inviting 100's of people to go to church everyday. We call the
20 or so #'s that we are able to find on the street over the weeks time
and invite and remind them of church again. We keeping inviting even if
no one says yes. Why? Because we received a call from a prophet of God
to five out time to be obedient.
I would be lying if I were to
say that inviting is my top favorite missionary thing to do.. Truly
some days it is not so fun or easy. It's not always easy to
enthusiastically invite someone to church and then enthusiastically
respond to the same response you've heard a ba-jillion times. "I don't
have tiiiiiime!" (in my mind I say in a dragon voice: YES YOU DOOOO.
RAWWWR) hahah Argh!
But I will tell you this. We are not just
asking people to come to church. Like I said in my last email.. We are
planting seeds. Planting seeds in a big piece of seemingly endless and
empty land... The seeds are starting to sprout though.. And it is
exciting to see.. They are sprouting because past missionaries did their
job.. They were were faithfully obedient...
D&C
130:20-21 "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the
foundation of this world, upon which ALL BLESSINGS are predicated. And
when we obtain any blessing form God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."
...Everyday
we have the opportunity to see the blessing that comes from being
obedient.. Whether we are serving a mission or not. The other day while
inviting we came across a seed that had sprouted... It was like a big
beautiful lone sunflower that you usually see in dry field of dead
weeds.. Or off the side of the free way. Just a little pop of happy
among of all the nothingness around it... So the story is.. I saw this
woman standing across the way ahead of me.. & I decided to go and
invite her. She told me that she had already been to our church! And
learned some things! WHOA! Of the 100's of people around us I asked HER.
She said that a little while ago.. A Sister STEELE (<3<3<3)
gave her one of these cards (pass a long cards).. And that yes, she
would be interested in learning more.. Even though that may sound super
simple and insignificant.. It was a miracle. It was a blessing for being
obedient. For doing what might not have sounded so fun at the moment.
Wow. I am thankful to sis. Steele for being obedient and inviting that
day she did. I am thankful that Sister Jackson and I were obedient and
went inviting as well. That sunflower was a beautiful reminder of the
promise that has been "irrevocably decreed"... That God will and does
bless us... Each time we are obedient.
Regardless of what
others use their agency to do, as long as I am using my agency to choose
the right.. to be obedient.. That is all that matters. It reminds me of
a story I recently read in the BOM.. Alma, was called to go preach to
the Lamanites.. And was really down trodden and depressed.. Because they
were all rejecting him.. Ann angel came to him and said: (Alma 8:15)
"Blessed art thou Alma; therefore lift up they head & rejoice, for
thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou has been faithful in keeping
the commandments of God from the time which thou received thy first
message from Him.." He couldn't force those people to listen or to go to
church.. That is all in God's hands.. He did what he could do. He did
all he could by making sure he did as we was asked.
I have a
testimony of being obedient and of inviting. I really do enjoy going out
and talking to people... I love talking to people who THINK I can speak
Thai... :) When i totally can't. :) But they think I can and it is
awesome. The Thai is coming though, a sliver @ a time. And I am
grateful!
Sunday: Mom. I GOT YOUR HUG! Jessica
Hardcastle found me!!! Wow! I was so happy to see her! I recognized her
too because there is a picture of her in our house!!! Ah... It was so
wonderful to see her.. She was an answer to a prayer that I didn't know I
needed. She gave me advice that I know was divine. I feel like she was a
very similar missionary as to how I am now. Ah it was so awesome to
talk with her! I didn't get to talk with her for very long but just from
talking with for a little bit I felt like she became such a fast
friend! Please tell her thank you thank you thank you! She has a few
things to give and show you! I hope you work on Wednesday with her! :)
Shout
outs: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANNNNNNNNOOOO BONANO!!!! YOU ARE 15 YOU ARE 15
YOU ARE 15 YOU ARE 15!! & HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO FROGGY GRANDMA! Love you
both! <3
Anything else to update?
I love Sister Jackson SO much.
We made Massaman last night... AND IT WAS SO GOOD.
Those bus's with the wooden floors? I love them... Best air flow... All windows are open :)
Things I saw this week that were... gross hahaha:
Three or Four dead dogs.... I won't go into details..
A girl on the side of the road in shock with a broken arm...
Every day is an adventure.
I love Saphan Sung!
I love being a missionary.
God is real.
Love,
Sister Coates
PS. Sister Jackson & I fasted this week with the fam! Thanks for keeping me in the loop Britt. Love you all
PPS. I taught Sis. Jacks the Trolololo song... We sing it everyday.
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