Sister Sawatdee: Feb 7: S I S A K E T

TRANSFERRED!

Yes transferred from the most booming busy area possible in Thailand.. The magical Asoke.. To the most ba-nogg (boonies) TINY TINY town.... Sisaket! (See-suh-gate). It is SO peaceful! I can actually hear myself think a little. But all those thoughts lately have been in Thai as my new companion is Sister Hassaya! Yes. A khon Thai! She is from Chaing Mai and has been serving for 6 months. I am the first faraang companion she has had since her first companion (4 transfers ago). So lots of fun here. We have been having a lot of fun exchanging stories!! She is super sweet and sassy.

It was sad and a little hard to leave Asoke.. But I am so grateful to have served there and for all the amazing miracles I was able to witness. Right now I still feel a little shell shocked.. As Sisaket is the exact opposite of Asoke in every single way. I like it though!

Thailand... STILL SO COLD! I don't know what to do either! I only brought one suit case to sisaket filled with the necessities... since.. well there are only.. 5 weeks here.

Monday: P day... Went out with a bang by going shopping one last time at Central world!! Can't beat Forever 21.. and Top shop.. haha. Glad that I went because there is nothing even remotely close to that here in Sisaket! hahaha That evening we went and had family home evening with sister Saa. In her tiny one room home. She was SO happy that we all came to visit her. Planning that evening.. The district leader called and gave us the transfers news. Where he told us where we would be going and who our new companions would be.. That was weird knowing before the actual transfer meeting!

Tuesday: Ran around making last visits to LA's and such. Last district meeting... It was sad.. I felt like I was being kicked out of the kingdom... Leaving all of my friends behind! I will for sure miss the Asoke crew. It was so awesome working with the APs and office elders. And That sister Rem... Oh!

Wednesday: Prepared the greenie lunch!!! We got 22 new missionaries! Only 4 sisters too! It was way fun though.. We were for real running every where. Got to visit Sister Gan and Noon one last time. It was a little hard! Oh we all cried. I love them all so much. They are so incredibly faithful. I am so thankful to have been a part of that miracle. We took the greenies out inviting... Which was way fun... And again opened my eyes to how real the Gift on Tongues is.... It is nothing short of a complete miracle that I can speak and understand Thai. And to end the day with a finale... We went to Robyn's. She taught us how to make pizza and cookies... To which we both had no idea... It all felt so foreign. I haven't baked in aged. Haven't seen an oven.. in ages!!! But it was great seeing her. I am so glad to have met her.

Thursday: Went to the office at 5:45 am.. With one suit case and my bike. Stuffed in a taxi with another khon thai. We road in a bus for 8 hours to Roi Et... Theeee isssan. Where I met my new comp Sister Hassaya!!! We took another bus...3 hours... to Ubon..... And slept there..... Both so dead.

Friday: Woke up.... Stuffed my stuff in the back of a truck... And road to sisaket.... the closer we got... The more and more boonies it got.. hahaha. It kinda reminds me of Udon. It is in the Issan... But more south.. It touches the cambodian border.. So lots of Sister Saa's around here! Hahah everyone speaks issan.. and cambodian. Good thing i dont speak either of those languages ahahah.

Saturday: Had our first coordination meeting.... It for real about knocked my socks off... It was SO organized. And the members were SO involved. And so excited.. And had split up the work.... I am excited to work here.

Sunday: Shared my testimony in sacrament meeting.. Again the gift of tongues is so real. It was interesting to reflect back to my first time bearing my testimony in saphan suung. So much has changed since then. This area is so awesome.. But needs a lot of help! So I was busy all day trying to figure out who was who! Haha it was fun. It was fun going to visit some LAs today... It is such a different pace from asoke.. I had to remind myself that I need to relax and sit down and talk with people for a moment. Let them know that I love them. For dinner we went to the bishop's house... where they fed us the biggest feast i have ever seen. I missed home made thai food more than i can even say!!!!! oh it was delicious. These members here are absolutely incredible. I am so excited to work with them

I am already learning so much from being in this area. In this district. With this new khuu! You'd would thing that after 17 months there wouldnt be much else to learn! But that is not true. Still learning and growing every single day.

In honor of Valentines day next sunday (meeep!) here is a scripture I way love in Moroni 8:16:

Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear.

I know that when keep Heavenly Father's commandments we are showing our love for him. I know that he gave us the commandments because he loves us. He has said that greatest commandments are to love lord with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves. For Valentines this week I want to encourage everyone to go above and beyond following these commandments. Show someone else the true love of Christ.

I love you all.

I love being a missionary.

Love,

Sister Coates