GIve me the Thai kanom and no one will get hurt......

Yes, planting rice was a lot of fun. Everyone was pretty impressed because a lot of Thai people have never done it. We were all really sore though! Oh well!!

Ya, Transfers is next week and I'll be going for sure. Who knows where?


Noppamas with Pres. and Sis. Smith


So this week we have another baptism. This one has been coming a long time! I've been teaching her with Sis. Eyestone. There were lots of things to overcome and she's changed a lot. I'm just so impressed with her! She's come a long way! p.s. she's the most likely to show up to our house one day because she's actually from America. She should be going back soon. Love her! Her name is Noppamas.

On Saturday the Relief Society had an activity. They taught how to make Thai kanoms or Thai treats. Apparently this will help make them more independent because they can make them and sell them. There was a little girl that just stared at them the whole time. It reminded me of the marshmallow experiment.

Mixing the batter

I want it!!!!!

Frying it up

Finally eating the kanom

Sis. Lish the Brave

Love you all!

Em

Party in the Rice Paddies!

Little Thai girl

Cutest people in the whole wide world (members)

Plowing the fields for us!


Us

The pa, if he looks in pain, that's cuz he is. He's getting bit by a red ant!

Rice!!!!

Me planting rice

Our fearless leader

The greenie

Me planting more rice

Look at us go!

The entertainment

Yay!

Sis. Lish detangling the roots

We're workin' it!

We're done!

plant it and step back!

This is lunch

us all eating

Sis. Lish eating SomtumSo.... this week I hit my year in country mark. Weird! I've been here for awhile!

Well, this has been a great week! I'm feeling a lot better. I had some investigators tell me that I got sick because I wore a T-shirt at night. Apparently I need to wear something buttoned up to my neck at night. Ya, it's not happening....

Sis. Lish had another proposal this week. We were sitting teaching a lesson when their next door neighbors noticed we were there. He was very determined to take her out on a date. He told her that he'd give 30,000 baht for her. He finally settled on being just friends for now. :)

So today was a lot of fun! We all went out to the rice paddies and planted rice. You climb in barefoot and just go. The mud was really deep and it was full of worms, crabs, spiders, and other creatures I never knew existed. It was way fun though! We did it for 3 hours. Not gonna lie, my back is a little sore from bending over for so long. It's so like me to spend my P-day playing in the mud, right?

Happy Birthday Sis. Supansa!!!!
Love you all!!!!

Em

Plagues.......

Us on our paddle boat adventure at the park Well, I'm glad everyone had a great 4th! Sounds like a ton of fun!

Anyways, back to my week. It was great. Sis. Lish got proposed to by an older Thai guy. That was weird. To be honest, I just kinda glared at him so he never talked to me. Sis. Lish said no.
To begin the plagues it started with incredibly hot weather. Like it was insanely hot! Everyone was like, "What's going on?" Then, the sickness. I got the flu which has ended up changing to an upper respiratory infection. It'll be around for awhile. Sis. Lish got sick too! Then the darkness! There was this HUGE storm and all of the electricity went out. Fortunately a couple hours later it went back on. Well somehow in the darkness we managed to flatten a gecko in our door frame. A death. That was nasty! Then as we are assessing how to remove the gecko out pops cockroaches from our door frame. They're just filing out. Don't worry. We killed them. Then my tire was flat. hahaha!

Quite the plagues! No worries! It was actually a really good week. Many miracles happened in more ways than I can mention.
Oh, we were biking when we saw some international investigators we've taught in the past. He learned before and now his wife has moved here to be with him. So this is her first time meeting us. She was so funny! "And how do you know these girls? You have their number?!" He was like, "Their missionaries!" Oh boy! She was not gonna let that one go.

Hahahaha! Great week mom! Really! Have you ever read "The Goose Girl"? Sis. Lish was telling me about it and it sounds like a great read. :)

Have a great week!

Love you all!!!!!

Em

Look at all the cute Thai primary kids! One of them is getting baptized!

Happy 4th!!!!

me with Gift (a member she's amazing!)

we ride past this almost everyday on that dirt road!

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday!

Hey so I finally remembered one of my crazy english comments that I made the other day. I said, " She's blonde as a bat!" Ya... It doesn't quite work.

This week was great! Really hot and a little crazy.... can't tell you why. It will make for lots of great stories when I go home!

So, I don't know what to say about this week. Met a lot of amazing people as always! Met this really cute Dad! Got lectured about how to know when your man is cheating on you. (there's a lot built up in some of these women you can tell). Helped a girl with her english homework entitled, "Elephants Alive and Dead" Quite the story! Got a monster in the mail! p.s. no, I'm not a monster. So....... ya! Crazy week! Loved it though! Lots of great spiritual experiences!

Today I'm going paddle boating and then to the aquarium! I'm on a boat! :-)

Love you!!!

Em

check out this weird bug on my helmet!

"I hate you!!! There's a hole in my shoe!! I hate you!!!!"

Isn't she the cutest thing ever? She's a member.

So....

I'm staying in Roiet!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

What a relief I must say!!!! I'm so excited to stay a little longer. This means I'll be here for rice planting!!! Yes, up to my knees in mud! It will be great!

Regardless I had to go down to Bangkok this past week to renew my visa. Sis. Lish and I were the only sisters on the bus going down and up. Let's just say it was a little bit crazy being in a bus load of 19-21 yr. old Elders. On the way back we got this great Thai zone leader who sang and played his guitar the whole way. The Elders were making up songs for the whole 8 hour trip. "I hate you!!! There's a hole in my shoe!! I hate you!!!!" was the hit song of choice. Don't ask me..... ask the Elders. :-)

So last week I cut Sis. Lish's hair. I did a really great job!!! Quite proud of the turnout. I will say though that it definitely is not going to be my career of choice. She cut my hair too!

before

after

Last week we went shopping on P-day. I got a really cute sweater and a cute dress. YAY!

We had a big goodbye party for Elder Crowley. It was really sweet! They all sang songs. They're quite the talented group!

So now that Elder Crowley is back in America, we got a new district leader. You might remember him.....
Elder Ackerman!!!! He was in Saphaansung when I first came to Thailand. Now we meet again! What are the odds?
Oh, met the Newman family, they might call you mom. They came to pick up their son and visited Roiet for church. So fun!

After discussing with my companion, we think that I should just have my homecoming on Oct. 30th and just get it all over. Just know I've currently been saying the weirdest things that don't make sense at all. (I've lost my English) Sis. Lish just looks at me like I'm a lunatic. I'll try to remember one of them for next week!

Love you all,

Em

Lily is the prettiest.....

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!! Hope it was a good one and that Jeff was satisfied!

Happy Birthday Molly too!!!

Yes, I do know an Elder Harris! He's been my zone leader before! He's a really great guy. He's one of those leaders that's level-headed. (which is rare) So yes, he will be missed after this week.

I will be home on Oct. 28th. Transfer meeting is on the 27th and then on Friday morning the 28th, really early we get on a plane home. I should get home a little before noon that day. Just a little heads up. (or at least that's what I've heard).

Ya, I only have 2 transfers left. Weird!

So this week was great! It mostly consisted of me and Sis. Supansa having a great time together. We exchanged with Ubon this week. Sis. Lish got to go to Ubon and attend a Buddhist funeral for a member and pull rice in the rice fields. Sis. Supansa and I did a lot of inviting. It was so hot it hurt to stand outside and talk to people. It was so much fun being with her again. I miss her! After the exchange we all ate lunch together at Peppers (a place full of normal food). It was so good! I quite enjoyed it!

We met with a 16 yr old boy who wanted a bible. We gave him a book of mormon too. It was so funny!! He seemed scared stiff of us because we're foreign GIRLS. He literally ran out of the room with his books. Poor guy!

Yep, taking a trip to Bangkok this week. That's exhausting!

Love you all!!!

Em


Okay so I have some extra time somehow...

Guess what? Sis. Lish and I made funeral potatoes last night!!!! So good! I haven't had those since my farewell! It's the closest I've been to tasting things from home! The only problem was that the potatoes were still a little crunchy. Oh well! They were good though!

Mom, if I move I'll be really sad. This is the first place I've actually been able to speak Thai well enough to get to know the members. I've become friends with all of them. Just one more transfer!!!!! Please!!!!!

Sis. Lish and I are going shopping today. We're buying me a new bike tire too. It's past it's days. It goes flat every week. Hate that.

Well, gotta go!
Love you!
Em

It's so cute!

Emily with her "death" papers

The church in Roiet

Wan and Muk (they're like BFF now)

Hey everybody!

It's been a great week! We're all gearing up for the BIG transfer meeting next week. About 13 elders go home. They're all our leaders right now... could be interesting. I'm going down for sure to renew my visa. Don't think I'll be moving, but you know Pres. Smith, he does whatever he wants to.

Nong Wan who got baptized

This week we had another baptism!!!! This one was really special because we were completing a family. The parents got baptized in January and we just baptized their daughter. It was a nice occasion.
















The family (I was like, get closer together and act like a family)
hahaha now this one is just funny! "We refuse to claim we are related."

Anyways, I'm sure you're all wondering if I got the black cat out of the yard. We did. It took all of our preparation day to get it out. He accidently got into our house and then climbed into the back of our refrigerator. Long story! No worries! I've got the whole thing on film!!! :)

Emily and Sis. Lish with their cat friend.

This week we had a special training on using the Book of Mormon more in our teaching. It was great!

Yesterday at church we had a lady from Africa. Who had to translate? Yep, me! hahaha! I've discovered that it's not a good career choice for me! It just made church a little interesting.

Well, I can't remember what else happened this week. It was fun!

Happy Birthday Virginia!!!! Hope it was great!
Love you!!!!!

Em