Joining the Hmong tribe......

Hello everyone!

Sounds like quite the hurricane going on there!

So Sis. Chambers finishes next week.... weird.
Great week was had by the 3-some here in Chiangmai.
Oh, this Sunday we're having a baptism!!!!! Her name is Green. She's from one of the tribes in the mountains. It's way cool!

Sis. Chambers and Sis. Sorge walking through the village. Notice we're wearing our Powerpuff girl colors. It just so happens we fit them. Since we have a brunette, blonde, and redhead.... what are the odds?

Me on the walkway that doesn't move.

So, ya, last week we took a 2-taw 1hour ride to Doi Bui. It's pretty much in the middle of no where in the mountains. There's a really small/cute Hmong tribe up there. There's little tribes all over the hillside. We were like the only tourists there! How sweet is that? So you know, once you join a tribe you must wear their traditional clothes. So I've enclosed some pics of it for you. I look cute right? All the ladies were on the side stitching away to make some more clothes and such. They're so talented! We also had a picnic up on the mountain side! Gorgeous! I wish I could put it all into my Mary Poppins bag. Really.
We also went on another 2-taw adventure to find a new investigator. That was fun!
Do you guys know what a 2-taw is? It's pretty much the only form of transportation here in Thailand. It's a pickup truck, but in the back they've built seats and a case around it. 2-taw means 2 rows. So you pretty much just hop on and go. No worries, there's plenty of bars to hang on to.

Love you!

Em

Traditional outfits





Sis. Sorge


















Sis. Chambers

The patterns of the skirts

Sis. Chambers walking to our house!

Mountains



Village, that's about it

Ya gotta stop and smell the flowers!

More mountains

Village again

The 3 some

Yep, my nose is real!!!

Hello everyone!!!!

It's an absolutely gorgeous day here in Chiangmai!!! It's been awhile since I've seen the sun around here.

This week was one of miracles!!!!!
Can't explain it but it was just amazing. Ran into many people who are ready for the gospel. Also I witnessed a member get hit by a motorcycle right in front of me. Talk about crazy! He must've been on something because he definitely zoomed through all the stopped cars and went through the intersection. Hit her pretty good but she stood up, he stood up and everthing was fine. Only one bruise and a few scratches. Not bad! :)

So when I come home I want to go to a play within the first week. I don't care what's playing, just take me to it. I'm starting to go crazy without it. You should've seen my companions' faces when I stood up and began to act out our lesson for our investigator. It was good for him though. :) He later asked Sis. Sorge and I if we got a nose job. We had to break it to him that they're real!!! He couldn't get over it.

Can't believe school starts tomorrow! Where did the summer go? Crazy!!!!

So, this week we came across a restaurant that makes everything imaginable. It's so good! Food from the outside world, what a thought! I got a milkshake and we all gathered around it wondering how it could taste so good. The restaurant is right across from a, yes, cheese factory so of course I had to buy myself some smoked cheese. :) Not bad! It's our new favorite by far! It was weird eating something that's not rice. It was like a long distant memory from the past eating there.

Well, love you all!!!! Have a fantastic week!

Em

The trip to the Blind School

Happy birthday Aunt Catherine!!!!!!
Also happy birthday John about 2 weeks ago.... sorry about that!!!

Okay why am I in a 3 some? Well, remember when Sis. Amero left? We've had a 3-some since then. But no worries, it will be gone next time. Actually the picture of all the sisters was missing quite a few. Like Sis. Richards, Sis. Jolley, Sis. Johnson, and Sis. Maxwell. Sis. Supansa left the 3-some in Ubon and came down with the Elders.... So ya.
This transfer will be shorter because Pres. Smith has a meeting in HK the week it's supposed to be on. So we have to move it up.

Well, this week was great! Got to spend Monday and Tuesday with Pres. and Sis. Smith. They're great!!! We had Zone conference. After reading the random notes to myself about the day in my planner I'm sure Sis. Smith thinks I've lost it..... Ya!

This week we sang at a Blind school. That was quite the event! It was Mother's Day this week so everything was about Mothers.
In Relief Society the primary and youth came in with vases of flowers they arranged themselves on Sat. They sang "Love is Spoken Here." Then they gave it to their mom. Needless to say, many tears were shed. It was adorable!

We've been doing a lot of exchanging with members here. That's been a lot of fun to be with the members one on one. They're great! I do miss Roiet a lot though! I just love them all so much! The people in Roiet are different than the rest of the people in Thailand. I don't know why. So ya! Not to say that I don't like it here, because I do. The people are fantastic here as well, just not the same.

Well, that's all I've got for ya now.

Love you all!!!!

Em

I must have died..................

Chiangmai skyline

because I'm in
HEAVEN aka Chiangmai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya, what are the chances? Craziest thing that's happened to me yet. It all happened so fast that I could've died!

It was a very teary farewell as both Sis. Lish and I moved out. It was very surreal. I don't think it has quite hit me yet. I loved that place! Anyways, spent a few hours waiting for the bus. In the meantime got to talk to the one and only British Elder. That was funny! He's from London. He was like, "Oh your dad is from UP THERE." hahaha! Funny! Then we got on the bus ride to Bangkok. We are soo lucky! The Pakkret chapel is FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we had our very first transfer meeting there. It's beautiful! It's ridiculously huge too! It was good to see everyone. I was called to a 3-some in Chiangmai with Sis. Chambers again and Sis. Sorge! I get to kill Sis. Chambers! hahaha! I'll always haunt her I suppose! :) This transfer is only 5 weeks so she's going soon! I have a 7 week last transfer! That will be fun! So I'm not too sure what's going down in the future, but I think I'm dying here in Chiangmai. That will be great! So after we waited for everyone to renew their visas, we got on a bus again. We didn't get to Chiangmai until 3:30 am. Quite the ride!

Chiangmai..... where do I begin???? It's GORGEOUS here! I've decided that in the future if we go to Thailand, this is the only place I could take you all to. Anyways, I don't feel like I'm in Thailand anymore. There's so many white people it's weird. You have to take into account that I just came from Roiet where Sis. Lish and I were the only white girls within many miles. Now I'm in the biggest tourist center in Thailand. It's not crowded though. I'd say, if you want a good vacation with great food, culture, and cool places to see without all of the places being crowded, come here. It's way nice! It would be a lot of fun! It's a lot of fun to work here. You know we get to go up into the mountains full of bamboo forests to go inviting. Plus lots of fun hills to ride my bike on! The people here speak English really well! In fact the branch here has an English sunday school class because there's so many foriegners that come. It's way different from every other area I've been to. All of you Google Chiangmai in the pictures catagory and look at what it looks like.

Love you all!!!!!

Em

Sis. Lish eating her last Cashew chicken dish in Roiet

Our last meal!

At the branch pres. house

Us with Waruni and Jambi

S. Sorge and I at our restaurant! It's way good!!!! Do you know how long it's been since I've had a good sandwich?

The pond we exercise around

Yay!

Well, she had to be escorted out........

Yep, we wore the same shirt!!!! Her husband just shook his head and laughed.

Hello!
This week has been me saying a lot of goodbyes and preparing for Noppamas' baptism. It was quite an interesting week!

For Enrichment or whatever they call it these days, we taught them how to make chocolate chip cookies (Nestle Toll House version) They LOVED it!!!!!! Even our Branch President and a couple priesthood showed up to get a nibble of the heavenly goodness. That was funny! The Relief Society president then went on to explain how farangs are so healthy because we eat chocolate. Apparently chocolate is just so good for our health that that is the reason we never get sick. I was like, "Yes, that's exactly it!" or it could be that we wash our hands and actually know how to take care of our food. She encouraged them all to eat more chocolate.

Sis. Lish had quite the scare this week. We came home at night and were walking in the house when she felt something in her skirt. She moved her skirt around when all of the sudden a cockroach fell out. You should've heard her scream! No worries, he's now moved on from this life.

Noppamas and Pa Lersan

Okay, so this sunday was Noppamas' baptism. It went really well. I think a lot of the members thought she already was a member considering that I started teaching her my 2nd day in Roiet. Ya, it's been awhile. So the baptism went well, but the rest of the sunday was quite a comedy.

All of us for Noppamas' baptism

To begin, let me set up the day.It was Sis. Lish's birthday along with Harry Potter. So in honor of this grand occasion we needed a cake. So Sis. Lish whipped up a homemade cake as the members came in to church, but we ran out of time so we just let the half-baked cake sit in the oven till the end of church.

As we were about to walk into the chapel, the Elders came out of the girl's bathroom carrying a snake. Looks like Moaning Myrtle is at it again! :) After they flinged the snake across the road, we all went into the chapel. I sat in the back corner with this family with a bunch of young boys about 8-11 yrs. old.

In the middle of the meeting they got into their mom's purse and were applying her makeup on each other's faces. Is it just me or is that something really weird for boys to be doing? Then they started play wrestling and the grandma had to split them up. That was a little crazy. So they're very energetic boys!

For Sunday School and Relief Society we had to translate. Exhausting!

Then we taught the youth how to sing "If you could hie to Kolob"
I'm just so glad that the members help out with our investigators. They're great. Don't even have to worry about them.

Then we went to go finish the cake. We opened the oven and it was done, with 2 slices taken out of it. No worries, I made everyone sing happy birthday to Sis. Lish!

Then it was the baptism. A lady who digs through the garbage as a living came to church drunk (she's the girlfriend of an investigator). She came up to me and gave me a big hug. I was not thrilled in the least. I had to pry her off. She hugged Sis. Lish and she tried to hug Elder Ackerman, but he got away.
Then in the meeting before the baptism she came in and started yelling at her boyfriend and hitting him. She had to be escorted out, but she kept coming back in. So a member had to sit out with her so that she wouldn't go back in. We were all laughing on the stand and in the audience. It was quite the scene. At least her baptism was memorable!
It was quite the Sunday! What a way to go out of Roiet! Love it!


Love you all!!!!

Em