Oh the craziness of THIS CHIWIT!
Alright. so last time I emailed.. It was Saturday. What happened since then.
Sunday: First day at church in Asoke. International branch came first at 9... WOW. That was one the strangest experiences of my life. Everything was in ENGLISH. So so so strange. For the Sunday school and Relief society portions of it we watched the women's conference! I love Linda S Reeves' talk. She has been special to me ever since the MTC... I know that I liked her talk.. But I can't remember off the top of my head what it was about because I had to translate half the meeting for an investigator. I am escited to go back and read the talks! The Thai branch was great. Lots of work to do! It'll be a great transfer that is for sure. In the evening the President and Sister Johnson invited our district to go to dinner at their house! It was so wonderful to be there. There was such a nice feeling inside their home. A feeling of family, love, worship, peace... Everything... We had the most beautiful dinner of my life..... Bread sticks... There were actual tears in my eyes as I ate them.It was so fun to get to know them more. They are wonderful people.
Monday:We taught and taught and taught. Ran to the office for meetings.. Ran to the church for more appointments. Had a great family home evening with some members... Including brother Ronny! Who I skyped while i was in the MTC. He is our branch mission leader. And the one who translates all the general conferences etc. He is way cool.
Thing ate today: Panang curry from the side of the road.. And I am STILL paying for it. The adventures are real.
Tuesday: Sister is Alley and I either lost our phone at an appointment we had in this big market... Or a little kid swyped it. We think it was the second one... So in an attempt to find it... We go to the office and borrow some bikes.. Because at that point it was around 5:30.. AKA the worst time to get a taxi because.... BANGKOK ASOKE TRAFFIC IS UNREAL!... And so we biked through the jungle. Sister Alley's dream came true.. While I pumped along... It was way fun being on a bike again... I was surprized at how out of breath I was!... We get to the market... To find that the phone... was not there.... So we bike back..... And wow.. Was I so out of breath... I honestly had thoughts going through my head...like wow I dont know if I am going to make it! Sister Alley was so far ahead of me... And I was literally pedalling my guts out! I could've sworn I was pedaling at her same pace if not even harder!........... So I am exhausted... We are weaving through traffic... I accidently hit someone's mirror in the process.. which I feel terrible about... We get to the office to find... That my back tire is completely flat.... And that was that... That was our day. We went and got Krispy Kreme donuts. The adventure is REAL.
Thing ate today: I finally ate blood. Yes.. It was awful. A big clump of mystery animal blood in my green curry.
Wednesday: Every Wednesday we go and visit the coolest woman from the International ward.. (Teaching in English.... So. Hard...Heavenly Father has so helped me). Her name is Robyn. And she is Navajo indian from New Mexico. She has the most incredible story. She is a wonderful wonderful woman. Right now we are reteaching her the lessons and simply coming to be her friend. There was an amazing spirit in her home (aka palace not even kidding) as we taught the restoration. Coolest part was... Her husband stayed in the room this time... AND turned down the TV so he could hear what we were saying. Ti-la ni ti la noy Little by little. They are amazing and I am so excited to see miracles unfold with them. Get this.... After words they took us out to BENA HANAS....... What.. on.... earth???? It was the most high class thing... I think i have ever done. I felt way out of place.
Thing ate today: I ate a lamby for the first time... And it was amazing. As was everything else at Benahanas... wow we are seriously so spoiled here.
Thursday:Sister Alley and I traveled to go and visit an RCLA in the international ward who had been helped taught and baptized by Elder and Sister Marvel (my sister's in-laws) about a year ago! It was so fun to go and visit them and to talk about our mutual love for the Marvels. As we sat and visited with them, they explained that the reason they had not come to church in a couple of months was because of extra busy-ness with a new and flourishing side job. They were such sweet and wonderful people.. But as they continued to talk a scripture from my studies kept coming into my thoughts.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
I kept pushing the thoughts away.. Because we had just met these people. I didn't want to offend them or make them think that we thought anything less of them (everything sounds so much more intense when teaching in English!). And I didn't want to tarnish their relationship with the Marvels.. So then I turned to Jacob 2: 18.. To see if that verse said it any nicer... Nope. It didn't. In the end I decided I would share a scripture on family prayer and that next time I would drop the bomb (such a chicken! But just wait I totally learned my lesson). So we begin to follow up with them on their scripture reading. They say that it has been going good and open their BOM in the Urdu language.. The member's wife says that she doesn't know how to pronounce in English where what chapter she is in so she reads out loud that she is reading in... "Yacob".... In my head I am thinking NO WAY.. NO way.. Then we check the chapter.... Sure enough. She was reading in CHAPTER 2. And verse 18 was at the very top of the page. We shared the verse. And there was a strong spirit in the room. They weren't offended and seemed to really understand and feel of our love for them. We have another appointment to come back at teach next week. To help Aamir (the RCLA) get back to church and help his wife, Samaya, prepare to be baptized!
Happy Birthdays to Melly, Jessica, T dog! I love you all.
And congratulations with all my heart to Jessica and Mason! I am so so happy for you. I hope you both have the most wonderful magical day. I know that the temple is the house of God. And it is there we can be sealed with our families for time and all eternity. God is so good.
I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve. It has taught me more than I ever thought I would learn.
I love being a missionary.
Love,
Sister Coates
pics: benehana and khon thais love to put corn in their icecream... Oh yeah. I ate that this week too.
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