Hello! I'm alive!!!

Okay!

Sorry for the delay! The Pres. decided to have a spontaneous 3 day training for all of the trainers, district leaders, and zone leaders this week. So everything is all mixed up and crazy! I'm currently in Bangna with Sis. Johnson and JongKaew (who is Thai) so we're good! It's just a little crazy that all of the greenies have to do three days on their own. That's okay! We're surviving.... well.... we have to go to the hospital for me today!!! It's going to be great! A dog bit me yesterday. Actually not even a dog, a puppy. We were at an investigator's house and they have a new puppy going through it's teething stage. I'm so used to dogs that I didn't even think about it running around until it decided to taste my finger. No blood or anything. Didn't even hurt. Regardless, Sis. Smith said that I have to go get those rabis shots..... I'm guessing more painful than the actual dog bite itself. That's okay! I'll tell ya how that goes!

So FYI, p-days sometimes change when things are going on. Sometimes I won't have a p-day. So if you don't hear from me, don't panic. All is well, really!

So Sis. Lifferth and I had to do her shopping for gifts for everyone last week. What a crazy trip with all of the things to buy. One store we went to had tye-dye and all sorts of crazy looking clothes. I saw a sweater that very much belonged to Mrs. Weasley in the store and I thought of you Mom.

Had Zone Conference last week, obviously. It was good! Pretty much everything they emphasized in the MTC. Good stuff!

So, I've been here for a month! Crazy! Time flies friends!

Crazy stuff has happened this week:

1. I'm tanning! No joke! It truly is the weirdest thing ever! Get ready for some crazy tan lines when I get back! Oh, Pii Rat said that apparently I was so white that I looked dead with no blood when I first came. According to her, I look so much better now! hahaha!

2. Ma A is not getting baptized. Her whole family joined together in the cause and told her she needed to stop all of this nonsense. No more church. No more prayer. No more Book of Mormon. See originially she told us she'll try to just do what we've taught her already, but they said she can't do anything. And if she does, they will cut off her money supply and kick her out of the house! It's really sad! She called the other day just to say how sad she is. I hope they'll soften soon. I'm not worried about her though. She has such incredible faith! Regardless, I know that it will work out in this life or the next.

3. RAIN- I've about had it up to here with the rain story! The Thais hate rain. They refuse to do anything when it rains. When it rains, literally no one except the leaders and a few members come to church or anything else. It's funny to watch everyone when it is about to rain, though. It starts with a cold wind to which everyone starts running around trying to get to cover. Then it starts raining. It rains like it does in the movie "Notebook" when she says, "Why didn't you write to me?" Sometimes I contemplate that in the rain too! No, I'm kidding! But it really rains when it rains. In fact, this last week our church was dedicated. Everyone was there. Every strong member in Thailand. Even the lady who translated the Book of Mormon and Pres. and Sis. Smith. So, we were inviting before it when it started to rain. Needless to say, we showed up completely soaked. They made us go sit on the stand and translate for Sis. Smith. It was horrible! Mostly because of the air conditioning. hahaha! Good times.

4. Pii Bu is amazing! She got up at 4am on Sunday to do someone's hair so that she can go to church! Amazing! I'm concerned for her though. Her house used to be full of people. Now, no one is over there. We asked about it and she said that all of her friends oppose her learning about Christianity. She said she doesn't care what they think because family is what matters, not friends. Wow! It's not easy though being social queen and dropping to commoner. She'll be fine though! She expressed a desire to get baptized on Monday... Next moves I think! She'll be ready!

5. Pii Num and Bu are the new family. They are the ones that expressed that they want to change religions. Anyways, we go back for our second visit and they are like, "This church is true!" We were like, "Whoa! What happened?" Apparently Pii Num was fed up with the taxi service he was working for because it gave him no time with his family. He wanted to spend more time with his wife and kids. So they both prayed that he would find a taxi car so that he could be an independant driver. Well, literally hours later a brand spanking new one appears for sale at a low price. Naturally he got it. They're a really cute family!

6. So Pii Bu and Pii Rat wanted to learn how to make American food. The simplest thing we could think of was spaghetti. So we got the materials and made it for them. They HATED it! The kid's faces were of complete disgust! It was hilarious! The thing is, they are used to using ketchup for spaghetti, not tomato sauce. Speaking of which, Sis. Lifferth and I found this place called "Pizza Thai". We ordered a Hawaiian pizza. The pineapple was amazing! The ham turned out to be hotdog. The sauce was ketchup and.... mayonnaise?!..... It was disgusting! But the ice cream was amazing! She's my new ice cream lady!

7. Well, I have to admit, things are a bit slow here. So we both fasted this week to get things going here. Miracles always happen with fasting! This sunday a 20 yr. old named Gip randomly showed up at church. We taught her following church. She said that she just felt like coming today like she needed to. She's been reading the Bible everyday for awhile now and wants to learn more about chrisitanity. She's literally amazing! She was begging us to give her the Book of Mormon and to give her the way to repent from all the guilt she carries. We all cried in that lesson. The spirit was so strong that she could really feel it. We met with her on Monday. She explained how she didn't want to go home from church because she felt so good. She said she was literally waiting all day to meet with us. She was begging with us to meet with her everyday! Unfortunately schedule doesn't allow but we will meet with her again tomorrow. What a miracle! I can't even describe our lessons with her! She's so ontop of it and so prepared!

So Sis. Lifferth has given me the phone, given me the house money and all of this responsibility. She said that I have to because I will have to train in a matter of 1 or 2 moves. Literally no option. I have to get it now. Everyone at Zone Conference was like, "What is it like training a trainer?" Even Pres. Smith was like you need to pick it all up fast Sister! Crazy!!! I have to because all of the old sister are going home. The only ones left are the new ones.

You asked about the language. Actually, many have asked about it. It's going is all I can say. It's like Chinese, I understand more than I can speak. Plus, I've had 3 years worth of not understanding so I'm very used to it. I have to go... I'll explain later.

Love you all! And thanks for the letters this week from Virginia, Molly, Holly, and Austin! Just so you know, the mail system works!

Love,

Em
Sister Henderson