Week 6: November = Thailand

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Well hello! It is November! I go to Thailand this month! 

 1. THAI
So Thai is REALLY hard! But it is okay, I have 3 more weeks here to learn it and then I am off to Thailand and it should come a lot quicker there! But the cool thing about Thai is that it doesn't sound foreign anymore. I don't know much, but I know enough to pick up what our teachers are saying so that is great. It is really nice that there are no tenses in Thai. It almost makes up for the fact that reading in Thai takes forever! 

2. New Missionaries!
We had 2 new Laotian speaking missionaries join our zone this week, and tomorrow we have 10 new sisters!!! 6 Thai speaking, 4 Khmer speaking (spoken in Cambodia). We are excited to have some more sisters in the zone! 

3. Fun stuff!
For Halloween last week we dressed up with whatever we could find in our room and went trick or treating to the German sisters on the floor which was fun! I was a pirate. I bought a tiny copy of the Book of Mormon this week. Did I need it? Not really, I already have 5 copies of it, but it was really cute. In my corner of the classroom we make origami sometimes so we have a bunch of cute little elephants, rabbits, and other random stuff. It keeps things fun! 

4. sNOw
It started snowing in Provo today! But I am going to Thailand so I only brought 2 sweaters with me! Hopefully I don't freeze before I make it there! 

This week I have been reading about some of my scripture heroes. Alma the Elder, Alma the Younger, Paul, Amulek, etc. These are some of the amazing missionaries in the scriptures! But they weren't always amazing missionaries...Alma the Elder was a priest of the wicked King Noah, who killed the prophet Abinadi. Alma the Younger actively fought against the church and led people away from truth. Paul, who was known as Saul of Tarsus, stoned Stephen and actively fought against the church. Amulek ignored the call of God and hardened his heart. Yikes. However, they are called to repentance (most of them by angels!) and they all become powerful missionaries for the Lord who convert countless souls and continue to influence us today through the scriptures! Moral of the story: repentance is real! It can and WILL change your life if you let it! If you are suffering from guilt, from shame, or if you want to feel more peace and happiness, what should you do??? REPENT! Repentance is a beautiful thing! In Thai, the word for repentance means to return your heart to God. That is exactly what it is! As we repent, we let go of the our sins and mistakes. We tell God that we are sorry and that we want to become better! And what does He do? He takes away our burdens of shame and guilt. He gives us a second chance. We get to try again, and again, and again! What a blessing! There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon that talks about this. Alma 7:15-16 reads:

"Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism. And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me."

So repentance is basically laying aside our sins which weigh us down and elevating our life so that we can have more blessings! Q: Who wants blessings? A: Everyone. Q: How can you have greater blessings and happiness? A: THROUGH REPENTANCE!!! So what are you waiting for? Pray to God and ask for forgiveness for the things you have done that you are not proud of, or for things you haven't done that you should be doing. It will change your life and make you happy! It isn't always easy, but it is ALWAYS worth it. I have experienced this for myself and I want everyone to feel the joy that I do when I repent.

I love you all, but Jesus Christ loves you more! Have a great week and make good choices!

Love,

Sister Lahti


1. I LOVE the Book of Mormon!!!


2. 5 pounds of sponge candy from my family. Thank you!!!!

3. A nice study spot in the MTC
4. Happy Halloween!
6. More accurate photo of the district...https://photos.app.goo.gl/ErJn2inc1XDD3Hr33
7. I love the sisters in my zone!! https://photos.app.goo.gl/9DxxEfRJ6Ymn0xjj1






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