Happy Holidays!!!

Well, today is a holiday in Thailand. Not sure what, but it is! So happy whatever it is!!!!

We're heading into winter too over here. Too which I asked, "And how is this weather any different?"

Oh, had a FANTASTIC half birthday by the way... went to the bakery and got some cake. The lady has become a good friend of the sister missionaries.... She smiled when I ordered. She replied with, "You sure do love chocolate, don't you?"
She gave me 2 extra pieces of chocolate cake for free. It was divine!

Sis. Jongkaew is all healed. The doctor said that she just got hit really hard so it was severely bruised. She's doing great though!

This week we had 3 day training again. For some reason they decided to drag Sis. Jongkaew and me into the mix of things. Didn't have to go to the meeting, but had to help take care of all the greenies. Sis. Jongkaew went back to Bangna with 2 greenies and Sis. Eyestone (who was in the district after me in the MTC) came to me. It was pretty intense because she was depending on me to understand what everyone was saying. I will say that it is amazing how well I was able to understand and speak. If I had to train next transfer, this exchange helped me see that I could do it. Actually, next transfer I'm probably going to be companions with Sis. Eyestone. hahaha! Crazy!!! So, I'd say my language has vastly improved. I somehow seem to understand mostly everything. Just still a problem with speaking...

Well, we're in the process of changing how we teach English. I've been put in charge of teaching the very beginning class AKA the alphabet and how to read. If anyone has any advice email it to my mom and she'll email it to me.

Well, Mom, I must say, you are quite correct on the day I am ending my mission. I go to transfer meeting on Oct. 26th and I'll be riding down the escalator at the airport Oct. 27th in the evening. Home for Halloween!!!! YAY!!! So I only have one year left! Crazy, right?
So... everyone put that on your calendars.... :-)

One of our investigators told us that she doesn't have to read the scriptures at home because her priest said that they study them at church. No need to study them at home. We've had lots of Christian investigators recently. You have no idea how much your conversion story comes in handy. Because they think that people who are Christian don't change to another sect of Christianity. Just Buddhism to Christianity. Your story helps them see that no matter what church you are a part of, you can change. It's weird, I know!

Love you all!!! Can't believe it's already November!!!

Em
Sis. Henderson

Moves 3 or transfers

Hello all!!!

Elder Perkins told us the correct term is not moves but transfer. So this is transfer 3.

Well, the unexpected always happens! Sis. Homsombat and I thought we were staying together but not so! This transfer we had 4 Thai sisters come in so Pres. Smith really had to mix things up. So what happened to me????

I'm in Saphaansung with Sis. Homsombat, Sis. Jolley, and Sis. Jongkaew (or Zhonggao for you Chinese speakers). They split our area for the sisters. I'm in the south with Sis. Jongkaew and Sis. Homsombat is in the north with Sis. Jolley. We live in the same house though! Makes life exciting! This is only for one transfer though. So it's only temporary. Transfer meeting was crazy though! 65% of our mission is under 5 transfers. We're all really young! All the Elders that jopped or went home this past week were all zone leaders and office elders. Crazy!!! Anyways what this means is that I am currently senior companion or pii. Sis. Webb was saying she didn't go pii till transfer 8. Shows you how young everyone is right now. Sis. Hirschi and Sis. Johnson are serving together. They're already fluent so it's no problem.

My companion actually came into the mission with me but left for three weeks for the MTC. Now she's back! She's really great at being bold. I don't think I could ever get away with how bold she is. And this weekend was so scary! We were riding along on our bikes when this car zoomed out of the neighborhood and completely slammed into Sis. Jongkaew. She went flying and all the contents on her bike went flying. I didn't see it but I definitely heard it. She got up and walked away from it. She only has a couple of scrapes and bruises and possibly a sprained ankle. Her bike is in perfect condition. For the speed that car was going at, I'd say it was definitely a miracle.
She says there's nothing wrong with her ankle but it's swollen. I'm taking her to the hospital whether she likes it or not! Oh, by the way, there is no such thing as just a medical clinic. You go to the hospital for everything. Guess it makes it easier if you need some higher technology....

I made microwave cake last night and I've never seen Sis. Jongkaew more excited. Guess I now know the way to her heart! :-) She's been pleading with me to make brownies... any good recipes?

I already know the exact day I'm going home! :-) You'll find out soon! I'll tell you when I hit my year left mark.....

Well, to be honest, there really wasn't much going on this week. We've been doing lots of tracting or inviting because of the split. It's been really cold too! I've been contemplating buying a coat! Ya, you should look at the temperatures this last weekend and you'll know what cold is for me.....

Love you all!!!

Em
Sis. Henderson

Moves October 2010

Emily at the "moves" or transfer meeting.

Cooking show host

Hello Everyone!

The Elders just barely gave us back a family that we gave to them earlier. They keep coming to church but they have many problems with our church. They are Catholic right now and the mom spends the whole time comparing our church to hers. Yesterday was painful meeting with them. She's a tyrant as the Elders call her. When we are in the middle of speaking she'll rudely interrupt and go off on something about her church. Why does she want to know about our church if she loves that one so much? Anyways, if I go into more, it will make me feel frustrated again. Basically I explained that I'm from America and have been to many other church services, you don't have to explain it to me.

I had to go to the office this week to pick up a greenie!!! No, I'm not training! Don't worry! The Thai missionaries come in a week before the foreign ones so we get to be a three-some for a week. It's been a lot of fun! Good stuff!

So we were riding our bikes through the "Oh so perfect Perfect Place" when a car drove up next to us and they rolled down the window. It was Cecil. Cecil is from France. I think I've talked about her before. She's a member and has a really thick French accent. Anyways in her French accent she says, " Good Morning Sisters!" I could've sworn she was moving her hand like in Princess Diaries to say, "thank you for being her today" as she said it. At that moment, I felt like I had just dived into a Keeping up Appearances episode. Ya, she said it just like how Hyacinth would say it. It was weird....

Conference was great! It was all in Thai. What I got from it was something about families, Priesthood, and the Holy Ghost and that's about it. I also learned that jokes don't translate over. There were times when our translator was laughing at the joke before he translated it. It was awkward to be sure.

For lunch I made cookies for the branch. Everyone was in awe of me making cookies. I was placing the dough on the cookie sheets and taking them off and I had quite an audience for that. I felt like I was doing a cooking show or something. Needless to say, the cookies were long gone before the actual food itself. Everyone was telling me that I HAD to teach them how to make them. Hey, at least they were good! Then the members started breaking out Maltesers and dark chocolate and I was like, " Now we're talking..."

This week was bizarre! I was teaching at a recent member's house. The daughter speaks English and Chinese. The Dad speaks English, Chinese, and Thai. Their friend only speaks Thai. So I taught in English and Sis. Homsombat translated it over. Just another crazy lesson with 3 languages. I told Heavenly Father that this puts a whole new spin on language study! Anyways, here's the crazy part. That language was so hard to teach! Words were only coming in Thai, not English. They asked me to pray in English at the end and it was horrible! My companion informed that I literally sounded like a Thai trying to speak English. hahaha! Ya, I'm losing it my friends! Bare with me....

This week is a Chinese holiday where they go vegetarian for a week and the restaurants don't serve meat either.... I'm not a fan.

Okay, well, best go! Love you!!!

Em
Sis. Henderson

Hey!

Hello!

Conference sounds great!!!! I'm so excited for the temple in Indy!!! We have to go when it is done!!! I get to hear conference in Thai.

Oh, last week you talked about how dress standards changed for the Sister missionaries. They announced it my last week in the MTC. I was like, "Go figure! My last week in the MTC and now they decide we don't have to wear nylons." Ya, it's a nice change!

Well, this week has been a super crazy one! We ended up not having a baptism because she wasn't quite ready yet. That's all I'm saying about that....

Tuesday we had a fireside meeting in Asoke. No one knew what it was about. We all sat in the church wondering what on earth we were learning about. Then Pres. Smith announced that today we get to think about after mission stuff. We had people from BYU-Hawaii give a presentation about their school, etc. It was crazy to think about all of that again. I felt like I was in school again....weird. Basically it was for the Thai missionaries who don't get a lot of opportunities to go to school in USA. It was good!

So..... Heavenly Father always has surprises in store for us. On Tuesday, I mailed my letter to Austin explaining how I do not study Chinese anymore nor speak it because there is no one to talk to in Chinese. Well, I feel like I eat my words each week. That night a girl walked into the church. I started speaking in Thai to her and she was like, " No, I no speak Thai! I am Chinese." I was like, " Someone pinch me right now, this is not happening!" We were teaching english that night. She looked at the picture of Christ on the wall and started apologizing for not knowing about who he is. I was like, "Believe me, I know that you don't know." I asked if she wanted to know about him and she energetically said yes. Our first lesson with her was pretty crazy! Nothing like teaching in 3 languages!!! It was insane! My mind was like, "No more!" It was very simple and very eye-openingfor me. Chinese and Thai are not the same. The whole time I kept thinking about how chinese she was. It was great! I was so glad to have all of the Chinese stuff from Austin. So thank you Austin! You saved me there. I taught her how to pray in Chinese. She was just so thrilled to have it in Chinese.

We had companion exchanges with Sis. Jolley this week! That was a blast. And when we were returning, I was in a taxi and I looked out the window to see an elephant walking down the busy streets of Bangkok. I was shocked someone would use an elephant as transportation, but hey, why not?

I'm so proud of Nong Blithe! She's progressing by leaps and yards! On a test in school they asked the question: "Buddha and God are the same. True or False." She put down false because they aren't the same. She got it wrong. I was like, " That question is so unfair. What kind of question is that? Did she tell the teacher about it?" Sis. Homsombat was like, "This is Thailand Sister. You can't just go up to your teacher and tell them about it." I thought it was quite interesting. I'm very proud of Nong Blithe for standing up for her beliefs. She's amazing!

Okay! Well, I love you all!!! Thanks for everything!!!


Em

Sister Henderson

Halfway through Moves 2.....Really??

Hello!

Okay, First off thank you for all of the mail this week!

So this week was really good! More training meetings this week. I don't know if you've noticed, but we've had a meeting every week this moves. Crazy!!!

This past week we had companion exchanges with Bangkapi sisters. It was fun! I was with Sis. Oneil who is going to finish next month. She's served here before so she had a blast taking me to all these different places that I've never been to. Also rode the klong. It's a small path along the river. It was quite an adventure! And the people we met along there....

Well, as promised, here's my investigator update:

Note: In Thailand you use titles such as Mr. and Mrs. when talking to people. This is what you say:

Pii: Those who are older, but not way older than you.
Nong: Those who are younger than you.
Maa: Those who are old enough to be your mom. (not that I'm saying you're old mom)
Baa/yay: Those who are old enought to be your grandma.
If they're close to your age, you don't use a title.

Gip: Well, a little bit crazy this week because we had our meeting with the Branch President this week and we talked about how Gip is getting baptized on 10/10/10. Then he said that we couldn't do that because it's general conference day. Why they couldn't tell us this before, no one knows. Anyways, so we asked Gip what she wanted to do and we are now having it Oct. 3rd. This means I have a lot of work this week.... I'm excited though! She's really ready for it! She told us of, yes, another dream she's had with Christ in it. She hadn't read the Book of Mormon for two days. Christ in her dream came to her and told her that she's forgotten Him and she had a lot of pain. Okay, I didn't fully understand it, but basically after the dream she knew she had to read everyday. :-) Yep!

Pii Joy: Oh Joy..... words really can't describe her. Joy has a lot of pain in her life. She's been abused so much that she has a mental problem. There are 2 Joys see... one is normal, the other is some high pitched, english-speaking cartoon character about the age of 7. It's really crazy! The first time we met with her it took about 15 min. to establish what language she speaks. When she's not herself, she claims she can't speak/understand Thai. Her english is hard to understand because it's so high-pitched and mixed with Thai. It's crazy. Anyways, it's been remarkable to teach her because we have seen a vast improvement in her. She's not switching as much anymore. There's definitely more control in her life now. She even got a new job and is doing great. We love her!

Pii Rat: Okay, so I said last time that I know she received her answer, but she won't admit it, right? Well, here's the story... we watched the Restoration DVD with her and afterwards the spirit whispered to me that this was her answer. You could tell by the look on her face that she got it. Her whole countance has changed. I didn't know at the time that Sis. Homsombat received the same revelation. We asked her about it but she claimed she felt nothing. That I knew was a lie. Next visit with her I asked her about it. It was funny because she looked at me the whole lesson because she knew that I knew. She said that she did receive her answer, but she wasn't confident in it and was scared. I asked her to pray about it again about the feelings she felt in the movie. Next time we met with her, she said that it's true for reals. She's knows she's got to make a decision, either deny everything that the spirit has told her or get baptized. Hmmm... We're working on helping her let go of her fears and look at the big picture.

Pii Bu: Well, I wish we could say the same about Pii Bu. We're really struggling with her. I still feel like this is a recreational activity for her. The problem: the world. She's got her eyes on it. She's holding to the rod but earnestly looking and keeping her eyes on the great and spacious building. It's interesting to teach Pii Rat and Pii Bu together because Pii Rat even notices it. Everytime Pii Bu talks about something Pii Rat looks at her like, "Clearly you don't understand." That's the hard part for Pii Rat is seeing her friend not progressing and understanding like she is. Anyways, she definitely isn't getting baptized anytime soon unless she changes.

Nong Blithe: I've had questions about her. She's Pii Bu's daughter. They're on the same page.

Pii Oi: New investigator that walked into church the day of the Open House. She's doing good! She sincerely wants change in her life. Her family has lots of problems and she's seeking comfort and peace. She's a retired teacher. She's as sweet as honey. Last time we met with her, she had her dining room table full of food for us to eat! She's so nice!

Yay lamphay: She's Christian and just lists off these questions she has everytime! It's quite intense! It's interesting how people here don't understand that there are many different kinds of Christianity. Everyone thinks Christianity is like one church or something. So she's concerned about that.

That's all for this time! There's more, but I won't go into them right now.

So do I go tracting? haha! Yes! Almost everyday when we have no appointments because no one is home yet from school and work. In fact, this past week I ran into another family with a down's syndrome daughter. I know, go figure, right? I talked about Heather and she invited us in to her house. She loved hearing about Heather. She wasn't interested in the gospel but Heather opened the door a little bit. Her daughter reminded me of Heather too! She kept saying, " mai ow, mai ow! " Which basically means she doesn't want it or Nope! She even gave me the hand like Heather does saying "nope!" hahaha!

Well, I had my last rabies shot this week!!!! YAY!!!! I celebrated by going to the bakery and eating delicious chocolate cake. I love this bakery because everytime we order 2 slices, the owner insists that we take 3 more for free. Hey, I'm not complaining. She claims we are so cute and do so much good that we deserve it!

Love you all!!! Thanks!

Em
Sister Henderson

Bangkok East and West Zone Conference with Elder Perkins September 2010

Bangkok East and West zone missionaries with President and Sister Smith and Elder and Sister Perkins

Sister missionaries serving in the Bangkok East and West zones

Emily and Sister Jolley