Week 11: TBM: Thailand Bangkok Mission aka The Best Mission

1. Great scripture from the MTC!

NOTE FROM BLOG ADMINISTRATOR (Emma's Father): The pictures she tried to send of Thailand did not come through. I tried all legal means available to me (and some that may be questionable) to try to gain access to them. Hopefully this technical issue will be resolved by next week.

Hey everyone,

Sorry my emails have been so terrible the last few weeks! Let me play a little catch up...(SORRY this is way long so feel free to just skip to the photos...I tried to attach a bunch so hopefully they all upload. although I don't know if they are in order...)

In the MTC we had Thanksgiving and it was awesome! We did a service project where we packaged food for the food bank for a few hours and we had a devotional prior to that from Sister Sharon Eubank. I got to talk with Sister Eubank for a bit and she asked if my last name is Finnish (it is!!) and she said she served in Finland and that she was in the MTC 33 years ago on Thanksgiving! She is an amazing, inspiring woman who has made a huge positive impact in this world. I really REALLY loved her general conference talk, it really helped me when I was struggling in the MTC. Read it to be inspired! Other than that, I can't remember much from the last week in the MTC haha...

So two weeks ago I said bye to all of my MTC friends...sad. I made so many dear friends after 9 weeks in the MTC who are going on missions all over the world. I also had AMAZING teachers who helped prepare me so much for Thailand - thank you! We left the MTC at 3am Monday morning and made it to Thailand around midnight on Wednesday. Nice! We stopped over in San Francisco and Hong Kong. When I got off the plane and Bangkok and felt the wave of humidity hit me, I felt like I was home and I knew Thailand was the place for me. We went to the mission home in Bangkok for a day, had some orientation, met the mission president and his wife (who are GREAT!! Love them) and then we met our trainers and my MTC district was split up as we went all over Thailand!

I am currently in Chiang Mai and my trainer is named Sister Khamvongsa. She is from Laos and speaks fluent Thai and great English! She is a great missionary. Chiang Mai is like 10 hours north of Bangkok and we took a nice long bus ride to get up here. We got to Chiang Mai around 4am, and at 6:30am we were up and going! It is awesome here in Thailand. I love the food, the culture, the beautiful language, and especially the people. They are so nice and so good and I love everyone I meet so much. Some of you have asked how the language is coming: it is coming. I learned a lot in the MTC but I knew coming into it I would pretty much know nothing - and I was right! I actually understand a lot of what people say here, but talking is hard. So is reading. But I get better everyday! I have had a lot of help from church members, our investigators, and other missionaries learning over here - they are so patient and willing to help! I love them and I am grateful for their help. I am learning so much, but it can be frustrating sometimes. But I just remind myself that it is okay to not be fluent in Thai after living here for 2 weeks!

So on most days here, we study the scriptures and the language for a little while each day and then we are off inviting others to come unto Christ! We teach a lot of lessons to people, and we have a lot of investigators and people getting baptized. A lot of them come to the church to be taught, but sometimes we bike out to teach to them while they sell in the huge outdoor markets here. (Biking in a skirt is an adventure but I love it! It is way fun biking all over Chiang Mai, biking in and out of the cars and motorcycles. It is a little stressful and sometimes I think I am going to die, but I know the Lord protects His missionaries...thank goodness! I have only got one dress stuck in my bike so I consider that an accomplishment.)

We go inviting at the park and the markets. We start talking to people about Jesus Christ and people are so nice! They like to listen to us and we set up appointments with a lot of them to learn more. We also invite people to our English class that we teach every Tuesday! The markets here are so cool and are full of great food - I love getting coconut water, papaya, passion fruit....lots of fruit! Which brings me to Thai food...amazing! I love it. We eat out a lot since it is really cheap and all over the place, so I eat really well here, plus members feed us! The food can be really spicy here but I have avoided it for the most part....the time I had spicy food was not fun, but I am working on it.

So we study, invite, and teach lessons to people...but we also teach English! Every Tuesday night we teach English at the church and it is so fun! We have 3 classes - a beginner, intermediate, and advanced. People of all ages come and it is so fun to help them (and they teach me Thai in turn!). We taught vocabulary about the park last week and taught about asking questions. We even have some Buddhist monks come. The English class isn't about religion at all, just straight English, but we have a devotional after where we talk about Jesus Christ and Christmas for those who want to stay and a bunch do! So teaching English is way good.

One of my favorite parts about being a missionary here is the ward. We go to the church to teach a bunch of lessons and there are always people there - sometimes playing basketball, going to seminary, etc. They help us teach our lessons which is so helpful. And everyone is SO nice at church! They talk with me, help me read, and are my friends. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! The people are hands down the best part of Thailand. They are so good.

Other fun fact: we go to 7/11 a lot. Go figure.

On Mondays, we email and we have fun adventures. We go into the mountains and check out sweet waterfalls and stuff. I think next week we will go ride and play with elephants so stay tuned!

So this was a long email, but if you have more questions shoot me an email and I am more than happy to answer, even though I don't always have time to get to everyone's emails every week. I really appreciate everyone who emails me - keep it up! I love hearing about everyone's lives! To finish off this email, I want to talk about the reason I am a missionary - Jesus Christ. I am here to serve Him and help others come to know Him more. It is way hard sometimes and I just want to curl up in a ball and sleep and cry. But as I pray and ask Jesus Christ for strength and for help, he gives it to me. He is truly my partner and helper in this work and I love Him! I could not do it or anything without Him, but with Him I can do anything. I LOVE HIM! HE LIVES! Come to know Him this Christmas season.

I have to go but I love you all! Have a great week! I tried to add a bunch of photos so enjoy!

2. I love these Sisters - I loved getting to know them in the MTC