Mar 1: Pin Stripes!

Oh Okay. OH EM GEE. Elder Crump is sitting next to me right now... Talking to the AP's..Elder Tanawat.. about WHO IS MOVING OR NOT... OH EM GEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeee AND........

I'M MOVING

Oh my goodness... That just happened. I am moving. I am leaving Udon! :( Leaving Sister Embley! Weird... But I had this feeling.. that I'd be heading out. 

Okay let's see if I can focus enough to write an email.

OH MY We justfound 

So for starters... HOT SEASON has started. And OH my word... IT IS SO HOT. 

Monday: FHE w/... person who I can't even say their name... Boonchun?... And with Sister gaw and Brother Cake! We all played a game called "sheepy sheepy sheepy sheep" Wow I haven't laughed so hard since telling sister Jackson about the World's biggest freak out video!!

Tuesday:Happy 21st Birthday Elder Crumpy! For ihs B Day we went to the one and only Swensons!! And then later that evening he had to scale our house because we locked ourselves out of our house... We're cool. Thankful for Elders. Today sister Taw and I were companions again because President Senior called for a switch of with Sisters in Laos! I was soooo close to going... But Sister Sumitra got her passport worked out... And Sister Embley's expires in 4 months.. And it has to have at least 6 months left on it. We were so close! Sister Embley got to cross the border and buy fabric! Laos is only about 1 hour a way. Pretty cool.

Wednesday: Had a way busy day with sis taw. Coolest part of the day was we taught a guy named Mongkon with the Sangwiens (Thai Senior couple). He is very verrry buddhist.. And he says that he doesnt want to give up his statues/idols.. But really likes and agress with a lot of what christianily belives in . He asks so many quesitons. The kind of tick questions where he is really asking another questions.. Because he is a "learned" man as the scriptures would say.. Haha It was a little difficult. But really cool. Especially being able to tell him that he shouldn't take our word for it... But that he needs to pary.. And ask to know what is true.. And what he should do! I am praying for his heart to open. Praying that he will seach to find the truth and not search for ways to prove it wrong. 

Thursday: Sister Her from Laos stayed the night and told us about Laos! They are not allowed to wear name tags.. Or proselyte. They stay at the church mostly and tach English. And do service projects. There are no 7/11's or grocery stores.. really.. So they have to go to the morning markets to buy all of their food and then make it for themselves! She said that all the Laos people wear the traditional laos/thai skirts everywhere rather than regular clothes... And they drive on the right (& correct :P) side of the road... It is a different world over there. Thankful for freedom here in Thailand and in America!

Friday: Happy 6 months! I though about cutting my hair... But instead we ate @ Yayoi.. Japanese food. Ohhhhhh today one of the funniest things that i have ever experienced happened.... hahaha first let me explain... Here in Thailand.. There are a ton of Lady boys.... Transgenders... Drag queens... They are every where. The Thai word is...Ga-tduey... But if you say it out loud,... Then the ga--tduey will hear.. So instead teh misisonaryies use the word "decepticon"... Yes. From Transformers. :) So we were walking down the street with Elders Wolfley and Darby when we are passing a Decepticon.. I invite her..him.. to church... And he..she... Asks where the church was... But then.. Sees Elder Wolfley as he walked past and says- while stumbling over to him- she says "oh it's so hot... hot... going to faint" and then she mock falls on him and hugs him!!! hahahaha I wish I could've taken a picture of poor Elder Wolfley's face... Oh my word... None of us knew what to do hahahaha Once she let go... All I could say was... Okay bye.... And we all walked swiftly away.. As we turned the corner we burst out laughing and Elder Wolfley freaked out! Hahahaha Oh decepticons.

Saturday: Introduced family history to the cute girl who owns our favorite cafe! We made her a cute pinterest banner for her shop! She was SO excited about the banner AND family history!!! Thankful again to Heavenly Father for letting me do arts and crafts and talents on my mission.

Sunday: Oh Sundays.. Are always the best days. Pa Somyote and Brother Der reieced the Holy Ghost! What a sweet and wonderful experience that was.. Someyote is a changed man.. Look at the attached picture of the just before he was baptized and the 4 weeks prior. He has changed inside and out... So amazing. Before he would come to church in dirty pants and a holey shirt... But he came today with his hair combed and wearing a pin striped suit jacket, black dress pants, a white and blue striped dress shirt and a tie. Oh my heart broke when I saw him. He looked so handsome. I know Heavenly Father is so proud of him and is blessing him and his wonderful family. And then sweet Brother Der... Oh Brother Der I am going to miss him so much. He is the sweetest sweetest soul. He has so much goodness. So much faith. I have been so blessed to have been able to meet these people.

I still trying to figure out what I think about moving... I can't quite wrap my head around it. I am sad to leave these wonderful members. And of course my district.. I will miss Sister Gaw SO much! And Sister Shampoo... Brother Cake.. My sweet RC's... But I am so excited for this new adventure. Ah.. My heart is being tugged all over the place!

God is in the details of everything. He is real! And His plan is perfect. I am thankful to know that Somyote can live with his sweet family for eternity.

Stay tuned family. I will have Sister Gaw message ya on Facebook when the word is in!

Love you all

Stay safe.

Keep praying.

Keep reading your scriptures.

God is real.

I love being a missionary.

Love

Sister Coates

Feb 22: It Rained. It Poured.

Monday: Taught the FHE lesson on prayer at a cute member's house who had a few little kids! It was a way cool and powerful missionary experience. They had invited their friend over for the FHE.. And we taught her a little afterwords.. A less active member also came.. And started to basically challenge the church and started to make all these false statements... The spirit was leaking out of the room. So this investigator was so confused.. And just being fed so much false information! I tried a few times to speak.. But this LA kept going and going.. Haha Finally Sister Gaw raised her hand and said Sister Coates has something to say! Hahaha... Thank you sister Gaw! As soon as I started speaking (correcting the things this member misunderstood)... The while room went silent.. My word I was so on the spot. I was praying so hard to Heavenly Father to help me say what I needed to... Later that night Sister Gaw told me how grateful she was that I had said what I did.. And that the spirit was so strong.. She says she could've said something but it would not have had the same effect because she is not a missionary. It was a really cool experience... Missionary power is a real thing. I feel so blessed to have it! It something that has to be worked for though.

Tuesday: Grateful to President Sxa- Tiger :) He and his wife invited us over for lunch.. They were both missionaries in Thailand 7 years ago.. So they know just what we need! I almost cried when I saw homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Wednesday: Switch offs with Sister Grover! We went and picked them up in Nong Khai.. Fun thing... We are like 1 hour from Laos here in Udon.. But when we went to Nong Khai.. We were like.. 10 minutes away. We could see Laos! So that's pretty cool.. :) 

Thursday: Went to teach Somyote... Noticed something different about him today... There was a light in his eyes!... He told us he hadn't smoked ALL week. O. MY. GOODNESS.

Friday: OH my goodness gracious. I still can't even believe this story happened. Okay you might need to hold on to something!!! 2 weeks ago I invited this really sweet boy to come to church. Last Sunday he came. I called him the following Wednesday to see if he was interested in learning with us more. He said yes.. For Friday morning. He came to the church Friday morning.... And not even 5 minutes in to the lesson he accepted the February 22nd to be baptized. Yes. February 22nd. AS IN HE WAS BAPTIZED YESTERDAY! We hadn't even saved his phone number in our phone yet!! He is so cool and SO SWEET! Oh yeah... His name is Der.

​

 I am now going skip forward to 

SUNDAY: IT POURED today. Rain and miracles. Do you remember Somyote the one we have been teaching and praying for ALL transfer? He was baptized today. It was the most wonderful thing... His whole family was there.. There is just one person left in his immediate family now for us to get. His wife. :) Ah I wish I could describe in better detail how amazing it was to see him with his whole family!! They are going to go to the temple together in a year! And be sealed for time and all eternity! I got to take part in that I can't even believe it.. Der and Somyote were both baptized today.. Along with 2 other investigators. 

So much more happened this week.. And so much more is going to happen.. Like switch offs again in LAOS! And more... Being a missionary is so amazing. God is so good.

I love being a missionary.

Love you family.

I pray for you always.

xoxo

Sister Coates

Feb 15, 2015: 40 D A Y F A S T‏

Monday: Family Home Evening. @ Sister Gaw's! Have I mentioned that I LOVE HER. It was really good to go and talk with all the members. These people are so good.

Tuesday: Went to a Los Amigos w/ the Brown's (God bless Mexican food), Sister E and I sat in on the Advanced English class as we will be taking over when the Browns head out.... MISSION CALL OPENING!!! Cute sweet little Mook Mink is called to serve in the Australia North Sydney Mission! Oh it was so fun opening her call with her... It brought back memories of opening my call. My heart was beating for her the same as when I read: Thailand Bangkok Mission. Missions are MAGIC.

Wednesday: Visited an LA with the Browns today! Wow.. It was so cool to see the power of the priesthood manifest itself through Elder Brown's words... He gave this sweet young struggling single mom the most gentle and loving guidance and counsel. Was grateful to be a part of that. Another cool thing: :) Got a call from the Elders seeing if we were free to he;l[ the, teach a girl they had just met.. Because they didn't have a guy  to help them teach.. Ohhh It was way fun I am so glad we did.. She was a cute little Korean girl named Jessica (hehehe my best fwiend has that name), who decided to go on vacation for a day or two by herself to Thailand (...?...)She saw the two Elders inviting.. and Recognized them as a few months prior.. She had been a volunteeer investigator at the MTC!! So she asked them if they could teach her.. Too perfect! It was cool to answer her questions.. Especially fun because it was in English! She had a lot of quesitons.. as to why women don't have any important roles in the church.. It was cool to explain just how opposite from the truth that, that question was. The role and influence of the women in the church is substantial. She was so grateful to us for teaching her. We tried getting her number for the missionaries in Korea but she told us she already had lots of missionary friends there. Oh. Good. :) On her way out she taught us some Korean.. Oh man... It sounded like garbly gook.  It made me grateful to be speaking Thai. Tones and all. :) I can't wait to hear Elder Ross speak Korean! Someone please hug that family for me. Tell them I love and pray for them.

Thursday: Today was Insane. INSANE. We started a 40 day fast from somethings that aren't necessarily against the rules.. But aren't completely 100 percent in line with being a missionary.. So you could say... But we started it.. So that we could be more in tune with the spirit. As some of our investigators really need big help.. We don't know what will help them but the spirit does. So we are trying everything we can and making sacrifices to invite the spirit. One of the things that was on my list.. Was Singing any songs except Hymns and approved church songs. Which I will be honest is a big challenge for me as I sing ALL the time. I love to sing.. It makes me so happy.. If I am not singing something is wrong! And to be honest again.. I wasn't really excited for this fast.. All I could think about was how HARD it would be to give it up. But then I had to try and think outside myself for a second. How can I expect my investigators to give up things in their lives... If I am not willing give up something little in my own life. Having the spirit is so incredibly important. And if fasting from singing songs will allows the spirit to come more for my investigators, RCs and companions... Then the fight is over. I will give up somethings good for something much much better. Even if is so hard! So I started the fast with a prayer.. Telling Heavenly Father that this was the plan.. And that I really needed help.. And that as a result.. I was searching for miracles... And my oh oh my did he let it RAIN! Oh my word there were so many miracles today! To name a few we recieved TWO new investigators. The wife of our investigator Somyote! And Joe. Oh these people are so good. They are deep in problems but nothing that the Lord cannot fix. We bumped in to one investigator that we couldn't get a hold of and then found multiple potential investigators. Every where we went. Miracles followed. Fasting and prayer is real. 

Friday: Miracles still poured today. Got to teach Joe again. And Jina! She couldn't get permission for her to be bapt'd early.. So she will have to wait. Which is sad because she REALLY wants it. But she is still so golden. Her entire BOM is high lighted <3 Today I made Family Home Evening Charts.... Oh my word they are SO cute and SO Asian. Kirstin I thought of you the whole time! I am so grateful to have many opportunities to use the talents and abilities God has given me. 

Saturday: HAPPY VALENTINES DAY <3 <3 Drove out to the middle of no where to find a family referral.. Ended up getting appointments to come teach them an half of their neighborhood!!!! Later that night we went to Nong Prajak- this HUGE park.. Where they were having a huge Valentines celebration! We invited there for a while. Told people that God loves them. It was so good. :)

Sunday: The miracles continue! We had T W E L V E investigators come to church today. What. The. Heck? Is this real life? The 40 day fast I am telling you. It was our last Sunday dinner with the Browns! They are flying home Monday. They will be missed. Senior couples are seriously so awesome. I am not sure any of them realize just how awesome they really are. The young missionaries really appreciate their example, dedication and everything they do for us.. They will be missed. 

Thing learned about Thailand... Um okay I freaked out a little bit when I learned this.. So at the age of 21 every Thai male.. Has to choose- basically his destiny- out of a bowl or hat type of thing.. If they choose a black paper they have to be a SOLDIER!!! If they choose a red one then they are off the hook..... WHAT>?>?>? My word.. This country is the Hunger Games for real.

I love all of you so much.

Thank you so much for your support. For your prayers.

You will never know just how much they are appreciated.

I love being a missionary.

Love,

Sister Coates

Feb 9, 2015: b u i l d

What happened. How do Monday's keep happening??

Okay Here is the gist. This week was great x 10.

Last Monday. There was a Young Single Adult activity! Oh my goodness it was so fun... Sister Brown and Sister Sanvien (the 2 Senior Sisters) prepared bags of cookies for all of us to go and hand out to random citiznes just as a service and let them know we believe in doing good! It was basically just like inviting except a million times more fun because the members were with us. Wow Family.. I wish I could explain just how amazing amazing wonderful incredible these members are. They are such dear and wonderful friends. Already! Sister Embley and I went out with Sister Gaw (wow... I love her so much... More on her later...), Bro Sam (whoa.. He is a convert of a year.. And is on the Branch counsel... He is incredible! He has that desease they did the water bucket challenge thing for? But that doesn't stop him.. He works.. And works.. All for the church.. All for others. All for the missionaries. And he is SO happy. Oh i love him! He even learned how to play "A Sky Full of Stars" on the piano for me because he knew it is my favorite! I heard it... But didn't listen of course. :P).. And with Bro cake.. Sister Noon.. Oh all of them So amazing. 

tuesday... District meeting... We have such an awesome. And HUGE district.. 12 missionaries.. whoa! The Brown's leave next Monday! :( They did so much good here... They helped so many people.. They will not be forgotten. 

Wednesday

&

Thursday: Was Khuu's with Sister Tauteoli! (Sister Embley and Sumitra are both STL's so they had to go to the special training in Bangkok).. We had fun together! We would have never thought that we would've been together when we were in the MTC... And here we are.. 2 week shy of  SIX MONTHS LATER... Where is the time going? 

Friday: MISSION TRAINING! Some inspired changes are happening here in the TBM. Thailand Bangkok Mission. literally The Best Mission... :)... We are redirecting our focus a little .. We baptized almost 2000 people last year.. (oh my word that is so incredible..).. This year.. The vision is this.. We are redoubling our diligence.. redoubling our efforts..  And again, verily thus saith the Lord: Let the work of mytemple, and all the works which I have appointed unto you, be continued on and not cease; and let your diligence, and your perseverance, and patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in nowise lose your reward, saith the Lord of Hosts. And if they persecute you, so persecuted they the prophets and righteous men that were before you. For all this there is a reward in heaven.To bring in the families of these 2000... The FAMILY. I found my purpose here in Thailand. And we will bring them in one by one... One family at a time. :) I have a testimony of the family. Family is the most important thing in the entire world.. universe. Everything! These Thai people they will know that by the time by the time I am through with them!  Families.. Are so important. Our duty here.. Is to build up the kingdom of God.. We are truly building... We all need to help build. The building begins in the home. In the family. 

Saturday:

While helping Sister Stoker translate for the district training.. I had a few things dawned on me.. All my life I have been a member of this church.. And all my life I have doing it wrong. We are really truly building God's Kingdom here in Thailand.. And all over the world... In our homes.. In our hearts. We cannot leave it up to the leaders of the church to do all of the work... Service.. Oh everyone in the church needs to work together... Serve together. This isn't a get up in the morning.. spend 2 hours getting ready... go to church.. come home.. eat.. and then sleep kind of church. It is all about serving others. Helping others endure to the end... Helping others know they are loved and cared about. It is not an "all about YOU" kind of church. But then in the midst of it... Just like in Elder bednar's talk ....it BEcomes about you. Because you BEcome. As you serve. 

This week I BEcame as I served I helped 4 members create a family history account and helped them enter a family member... And taught them how to do it on their own.. Wow that was so fufilling.. 

I BEcame as I helped my sweet investigator Jina learn about how because God loves her so much... She can be with her family forever. 

 Therefore I would that ye should BE(come) perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.

Endless opportunities to serve surround us.. Comfort others.. Make them feel loved.. Take them an apple, a potato :), a card, a hug, a smile. Show them they are more important than a check mark on a list... Help them believe and understand that God loves them.  These people are out brothers and Sisters!! They NEED to know they have a Redeemer. They NEED to know that eternal families are a real real thing. This gospel is a REAL thing.. Just think of how amazing that is. 

Sunday: wow Best SUNDAY EVER> I had called a guy that morning to come to church.. Ned.. And he came... And he is GOLDEN. SO COOL! He had so many questions.. And was so inpsired by the words one of the Elders added in class.. *When thoughts come into your head during a lesson... share them! I would say most of the time.. Those thoughts are not for you... But what someone else needed...* What else.. Sacrament meeting in branch was so amazing.. It was the first sacrament meeting that I have understood.... In a long time. And wow it was so wonderful. Sister Gaw gave her homecoming talk. 1. I love her. I am so grateful for her example.. I look up to her so much. I will be good friends with her for the rest of my life. 2. I understood her ENTIRE talk. 1. The Gift of Tongues.. Is REAL 2. I love to listen to people speak Tahi when they can speak English too.. It is so much easier to understand! And it makes it so much easier to turn your mind set to listening and understanding when other non English speakers speak Thai... God is real. Thai is good. 

There were 3 baptisms on Sunday. Oh my good... These people are amazing.. They were probably the most sincere and incredibly testimonies I have heard so far being here... You could tell.. That they all knew it was true. BECAUSE IT IS TRUE! Oh it is so true... Our investigator Jina was there for the baptism.. Afterwords she was so flustered for words.. She was barely able to tell me how excited she was to get baptized. She is 15.. Which typically means they would need to wait 3 months and get permission.... She wants to be baptized on Valentines Day... THIS WEEK. <3 miracles. Miracles... God is SO good.

Monday.. Today.. We went to a wat. I was legit! But not as cool as the millions of miracles and times I felt the spirit this week. 

God is so good family.

Pray. He IS listening. 

He will answer.

In honor of one of the best holidays out there... Happy Valentines to all of you... To my wonderful family and friends... The people I love more than anything in the world! 

There is my rant.. That I could go on and on.

God is real.

I LOVE being a missionary.

As my wonderful Sister Jackson would say.. 

Ever Upwards.

Love,

Sister Coates

Feb 2, 2015

First matter of business: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNCOLN!

Second: Email time

Monday: Poor Sister Samitra was in the hospital with Bronchitis (seriously aint no   body got time for that) we took them Tim Tams.. As anyone tried to find those yet?

Tuesday: There are so many  faraangs in Udon.. It's kinda ridiculous. And a ton of them are from Germany. I have said avederzain to a handful of them this week! Ha.. Too bad I don't know how to say anything else but what my sisters have taught me: poopsagalossan. HA.

Wednesday: District meeting witht he Seniors!!! Oh they are so good. Such good and wonderful people. And just so happy. It's because they keep the commandments. and serve God in everything they do. A few things I loved from the meeting:

-Obedience + Diligence = Conversion : Obedience is the pathway to conversion.. Just like you can't plant a seed and expect to eat fruit from it the next day.. We cannot expect to be fully converted after a day's worth of obedience. We must be diligent! Going to church and really BEING there every Sunday. Praying every morning AND every night. Everyday try. Give Heavenly Father your best effort. We must be really really good at being obedient... Diligence. And then as were are trying to become obedient and are being diligent in it.. It is then we BECOME converted. Becoming. There is a scripture.. "..Those who were converted unto the Lord NEVER fell away.." You can still be a member of the church and not be converted... Change what you need to so you can be converted unto the Lord! To our Heavenly Father who promises true happiness and eternal life with our families.

Oh so good.

-We are representatives of Jesus Christ. The word for representative in Thai is Tuataan. It translates to "stand in place of"... So as tuataan of Jesus Christ... I am expected- we are expected to say and do all things in the place of the Savior. That changes everything! How we react to others.. How we testify.. All of it.

Thursday: Helped my companion take lice out of her hair. Yay for being in the cleanest country ever! :P Oh I seriously love it so much. She is all healed now. After many hours of scrubbing, coming, sleeping with olive oil and lice shampoo.. All is well.

Friday: Went to the boonies of Thailand with the the Brown's! We met a sweet less active.. Who fed us some food...... Oh my word. Had my first real... Uh oh experience with food. Let's just say I prayed extra hard before I ate it. :) Yay for fish chips... Crunchy chips because you eat the bones. And... That's it. :)

Saturday: I MET SISTER GOW!!!!! Oh my word word word... It was so good getting a huge hug through her from Brittany! Oh... She is so wonderful. She was so SPARKLY! Like... Sparkly shiny new.. Right out of Salt Like City... My home! Oh it was nice to see her.. And oh it was SO fun to get the package brittany sent!!! Thank you!! Love love love all those pictures. <3 You're all so beautiful! I can't believe how much Zurie looks like Anny did when she was little... And Lyncoln's teeth! Oh my word. Everyone is changing!

Sunday: Paa Somyot didnt pass his interview again.. because.. he smoked seven times the day before.. So he has another date for nest week! Pray. For. Him. :) Walked in to our first meeting not really sure if we were going to have any investigator in the 9 o clock service.. To find a man we had contacted sitting close to the front! Whhooooa. Thank you Heavenly Father! I sat with him during sacrament meeting and learned that his name was Billy.. He's a little rough around the edges.. Looked kinda like a rock star haha.. Was wearing a bunch of jewelry and a sweet vest.. :) He had a lot of questions.. I was so grateful for the book of mormon! I opened up to 3 Nephi 18.. And told him to read verses 1-12 as they talk about the sacrament... He ended up reading all of chapter 18 AND 19! Bwa! Miracle a little! :) He doesn't have a phone.. So I don't know how we will contact him but I think that he will come back... He's got a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet. All he needs now is to be baptized! :)

This week ahead: We will be preparing for our family history fireside!! Thailand is seriously being lit on fire with family history work. If we are going to have a temple.. We need Thai names. :) It is so exciting. The spirit of Elijah is here! It is bringing so many families together.. And so many people to the church. I am so excited!

Monday today... Emailing a little later than usual because.. We went to a Thai funeral today. Hmm! Interesting. 

I love all of you. 

Working really really hard here. 

There is a million things to do always.

I am so grateful for the scriptures. 

I am so grateful for my family.

I am so grateful to be a missionary.

Love, 

Sister Coates 

I cant send pics today because this computer is TERRIBLE... All is well. 

Jan 25: UDON

OH MY HECK FAMILY.

This past week... I'm tellin ya! HA

TRANSFERS.

OH MY WORD.

Okay are you ready?

Really quick-

mon: Didn't really know it but it was my last night and last FHE in Saphan Suung. But at the same time I did know it.. I had this feeling. And HF did too. It was really nice though. And sad at the same time. My word I love my district and those Saphan Suung people. We all had been waiting for the call from the office ALL day long...Seriously we were so anxious all day... the call usually comes in the afternoonish... But it has also been known to come the day before transfers or the day of transfers, etc... So we left FHE, finished planning for the next day and had pretty much given up hope on the transfers call WHEN... The phone rang. It was Elder Burke. He said... One person is moving..... Sister Coates..... Wow.. I was really... Heartbroken. I knew it was coming. But there was that little hope inside me wanting to keep that little band aid on... Sapaan suung was my last greenie band aid that needed to be ripped off.. I am a full fledged missionary now. Ha! :P

Tues: Renewed my VISA.. Was way nice to spend time with my district and see people from my MTC district. Have I ever mentioned that I love Elder Burke and Elder Hall? Well... I do. :) I will really miss them!

Wed: Last district lunch @ Ploy's today. Packed my suit cases... Not sure how this happened but I have way more stuff now than I did at the beginning of the transfer... Said good byes to my wonderful members and RC's... Both Sister Brown and I could not fall asleep that night.. We pillow talked for a long time. I will miss her! She is a sweet heart.

THURSDAY: oh my gosh. ARE YOU READY?  Okay her it is: I'VE BEEN TRANSFERRED TO UDON!!! In the ISSAN. What does that mean? It means... I am no longer in Bangkok.. Most definitely not in Bangkok anymore. I am in the country. As in there are... Trees.. And people live in sweet shacks and cook food outside in fire pits.. etc. It means there are MOTHS. And other bugs that.. Are just wow. I knew I was going to the Issan. I KNEW IT. Also.. The Issan means an entirely new language. Issan. Good thing saying "cing law"(whoa are you serious?) works for just about everything! :P My new companion is SIster Embley!!! YAYAYA! She has 3 more months on her mission.. Which is way weird.. Because as of tomorrow I will have been in Thailand for 3 months. Wat? Oh I am so excited to serve with this sister. Will talk more about her in a sec..... Later that day- almost every single missionary at the transfer meeting went to Que Pasa- one of the few mexican restaraunts in Thailand... Oh glorious mexican food. After dat! We packed all my suit cases in a taxi and headed out to the bus station.. For a SEVEN HOUR ride to Udon. 7 hours.... Before getting on the bus though... haha The taxi driver locked my suitcases in the trunk and didnt have the right key to get it out.... Oh everyday is an adventure. Can you guess how may khon Thais and missionaries it takes to get 2 suit cases out of a taxi? A lot.

Fri: We arrived in UDON @ 6:00... I unpacked. We had studies. We went inviting. we had a lesson out in the BOONIES. Oh my I failed to take pictures of this place... Because I was seriously in shock. I am not in Bangkok anymore. nope. Also new for me.... I rode a bike today for the first time in.... Years.... oh boy family. Bikes are hard hahah! I am going to lose a LOT of weight. I think I have already lost 4 lbs. Honestly I can't even remember the details of this day because it was insane we were running on like 4 hours of sleep. That night though... I slept soooooo good.

Sat: I purchased a bike!!! For..... 12,000 baht!! It's a shiny little red bike with a big basket in the back. It's name is Nong Dang.. Translates to.... Little Red... :)

Sunday: Oh man it is so different from Saphan Suung. So we are pretty much at church ALL day long. Which is way awesome! All day long BECAUSE... Instead having just one ward like in saphan suung... There are 2 branches. The little branch starts @ 9 and the big one starts @ 2. I've been to a few wards now here in Thailand.. The layout, the buildings, basically everything in each place i have been to is SO different.. However one thing has remained the same... And it still amazes me. The memebers here are INCREDIBLE. They are amazing amazing people. And oh my word there are GOOD people here just like there were in Saphan Suung. I am so excited for all the friends I will make here. I already have so many. Ah. God is so good. Udon is SO good! So, our goal here is to increase the size of branch one so that we can turn Udon into a STAKE!!!! Oh you know we are going to make that happen! I am so excited and ready to work hard... Which is TOTALLY POSSIBLE with my new wonderful companion sister Embley:

--->Whoooo-eee! Do I already love sister Mebley. Oh my goodness she works so hard. Whisch is what I have praying for. Oh I am learning so much form her already. She is from Ohio and has pretty much lived all over the world. She graduated from high school the same year as I did.. And then the following fall she left on her mission! So the same as jessica! She is an awesome awesome missionary. Is so good at the language.. I am so excited to learn more from her. God has blessed me with companions... I have learned so much from ALL of them.  Oh I can't even tell you how stoke I am to work so hard this transfer with her! She only has 2 transfers left.. So i could end up killing her in the mission... :) Possibly in Udon as well! We will see. :)

Home: We live in a way nice town hour. WAY nice. Furnished by Ikea. It is a 4 siter house. The other companionship is Sister Samitra (who is this sweet, gorgeous and wonderful khon thai!) and sister Tateouli (from my MTC group and whom I adore. She is sweet!). So are little house is way fun. 

UDON: Is huge. We live in the city center sort of.. So there are 7/11's and Big C's... There is even a little mall! Out side of the little town... There are trees.. And fields... And shacks... And scary creatures!!!! And trees.... And the only things that out number the amount of trees are the MOSQUITOES....So. Many. Mosquitoes. I can't even count the number I have on my legs. Thank heaven for 7/11 though.. Their bug lotion stuff really works.. You just have to remember to put it on. Ha! We live 2 houses down from the Elders and 5 houses down from the Senior couple!! Elder and Sister Brown! Oh They are so good. They feed us EVERY SUNDAY!! Oh my heart was so happy <3 last night we have french toast... :***) God bless Senior Missionaries.. Amurica and French Toast.

Our Elders are SWEET:

Elder Ankham- He is from Laos. And is the most boss missionary.. Oh I am so excited to serve with him is a Zone Leader with...

Elder Crump!!!- Ohhhh my I already Loooove Elder Crump. He is so awesome! And was way good friends with Sister Jackson! When we found out we were going to be in the same district.. We both said what! Sister Jax is going to freak! :P He is way way good. And Anny.. He has read every Harry Potter book (and listened to on Audio) SEVENTEEN times.

Elder Wolfey- is our District leader! He seems way awesome! His Thai is awesome!

Elder Darby- Is my Nong from the MTC (the thai group that came in after me).. He is Canadian and proud of it! Haha and he also looks EXACTLY like Prince Hans from Frozen. Will send a pic sometime.

Conclusion: This is going to be an awesome transfer.

Funny/Sweet moment.. We were inviting with a cute RC named Brother Cake. Here is our convo:

Me "Bro Cake would you want to be a missionary?

Cake: "Oh for sure!"

Me "You'll be a great a missionary!"

Cake: "what state are you from?"

Me "Utah"
Cake: "Oh I love Utah!"

Me "Oh really? Have you even been?"

Cake: "No.. But I've seen 17 Miracles"

Bahahaha Oh my goodness he is SO sweet! Good good people.

The scriptures = SO cool. We visited an RCLA last night and shared 2 Nephi 25:26 to help her have a better understanding of why the scriptures are so important.. The people who wrote the scriptures knew the things in the scriptures were so incredibly important so they wrote and sacrificed so that their children could know as well. What is it in the scriptures that is so incredibly important? They testify of Christ... Why is that important? Because in this life.. Our goal is to become like him and to return to him.. How can we become like him? Learn of him. Where can we do that? The scriptures. In the scriptures.. it literally tells us the way to return home. Oh the scriptures are so sweet. I will talk more on that later.. Because... Wow. I could talk about them for hours and I don't have a lot of time left.

Gift of tongues.. It comes exactly when I need it. And it leaves when things aren't really necessary to my purpose. We were sharing a scripture with an RC... Who started talking about how someone had wronged her.. As soon she started talking about these things.. I could only understand that... Someone had wronged her and she was offended because blahhhh idk idk idk "issan...issan.. issan... issan".. Which is all we really needed to understand in order to help her. But it is real.. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to say before we shared the scripture.. But then we did.. And thoughts were put into my head in English and then they came out in Thai. God is real.

In the same meeting with this RC @ her little house.. We were all sitting together on a mat in the middle of the room when this HUGE FLYING BEETLE landed on sister Embley- then it flew into the center of the mat where the RC then SMASHED IT WITH THE PALM OF HER HAND!!??.................. I am not in Bangkok anymore! Hahaha oh the adventures. And I didn't even write half of them.

I love being a missionary.
I am sad to leave Saphan Suung but excited to get to know this new area. 

I cannot believe how much God is really in the details of our lives. Like how the Temple Square sister missionary Sister Gow taught Brittany last week how to massaman and who had stayed with the marvels- And how that SAME sister Gow IS FROM UDON and will be back THIS THURSDAY! Whaaat. We do everything here with Sister Gow's mom, Ma Pon! It was so cool opening up Brittany's email and reading: I sent a little something with Sister Yui and SIster Gaw---> I hope you get sent to Udon! 
I. Am. In. Udon.

God is so good.

Family I love you. 
Keep praying.
Keep CTR.
Keep going to church. 

Good will come.

Love you all.
Sister Coates

Baptized cute sister Ning on Sunday! She had been learning from the Elders and Sister Embley and I for only one week before getting bapized! She was so ready! Her dad was going to be baptized on the same day but is struggling with quiting smoking. Please keep brother Samyot in your prayers!

Jan 18, 2015: Red Mango Again :)‏

It was Sister Browns birthday yesterday and Elder hall's 2 datys ago :) She is 21 and he is 19! Weird..... :) I GOT TO GO TO RED MANGO!!! AGAIN!!! HEavenly father is real life <3