Week 26: Six months already!!

- April 04, 2018

8. The 91 year old lady

Hello family and friends! Six months ago tomorrow I entered the MTC and the only things I could say in Thai were hello and a few letters of the alphabet. Now, I can speak, read, and write a little bit in Thai! How fun is that! But more than that, I have learned so much about the gospel and I have had the privilege of helping others come unto Christ for these last 6 months. This is what happened this week...

1. Sister Janjarus left :( we went to the airport with her and got to meet her family who were also there to drop her off. We were sad to see her go but I know she will do great things in Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It is weird because now that she left I sleep on a bed again instead of the couch and it feels so foreign.

2. English class: we were teaching directions and we made a maze out of chairs and we paired them off and had them direct each other through the maze. It was so fun and hilarious to watch!

3. สมบโรน์: This is the name of a lady I met this week, but I don't even know how to pronounce it because she pronounced it differently than it is spelled and she spelled it out for me...so we will say it is something like somboon (that is how she said it). ANYWAYS, last week we had zone conference and we learned all about better ways to invite and talk with people. Oftentimes when we are inviting, we usually talk about the Godhead and prayer, but our zone leaders challenged us to teach more of the message of the Restoration. Because of this challenge, I was able to teach her the Restoration and read the Book of Mormon with her on the bus. It was really cool to see that as I was trying to apply the counsel of my leaders, miracles happened!

4. This one lady named Sister นภา (napah) in the ward invited us over for lunch and then she wanted to take us to meet a friend and teach her about the gospel. So after we ate, we took a taxi with her to this little library near a members house and there were 4 old ladies all crocheting together. They are really good at crocheting. But anyways we were talking with these old ladies and I don't think they were really interested but they sure were interesting people. Then later that week we went to go and visit some members who live by the library and when we walked by, Sister นภา popped her head out of the library and told us to come in, which was pretty random. Inside the same ladies were all crocheting and the 2 oldest ones were wearing the same clothes they had on a few days before. It was a really weird deja vu moment. It was funny though because one of the old ladies started doing her exercise but all she did was stand on an inclined step and wave her arms around. Then sister นภา had a little photo shoot for us in which we wore the knitted hats the ladies were making....such an interesting experience.

5. Our district leader has given us some challenges to keep the enthusiasm up so one day he told us that whoever could find and take a picture with the oldest person would win. This was the same day we ran into Sister นภา at the library and she made us take photos wearing the hats. We told sister นภา about our dilemma and she got on her phone and called her friend and next thing you know we are all in a taxi together on the way to this old ladies house. The lady was 91 years old and we got a picture and won the challenge! But we also got a new investigator out of all of this (the old ladies aide) so the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Anyways, that's all I really have for you this week. Oh I don't remember if I said this before but if I did, it is worth saying again. The prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, is coming to Thailand next month! It is way exciting! OH and I just remembered something else - they released a picture of what the temple in Thailand is going to look like! It is so exciting to think that there will be a temple here in the near future! And in other news, Easter is this coming Sunday! I hope you are taking time to reflect on the life of Jesus Christ, His atonement, and His resurrection. This is the center of everything I teach and believe - that Jesus Christ lives! And because of His sacrifice for us, we too can live again! There is so much hope in this message! I hope that as you reflect on these things you will recognize what this means for you. And in other news, General Conference is this weekend! I encourage you to all prayerfully ponder and write down the questions in your heart and I promise you that as you do this and listen prayerfully to General Conference, your questions will be answered and you will receive the guidance you seek. Okay now I am really done. Love you all! And sorry I didn't really respond to anyone's emails again I am super lazy!! And next week my pday is on Wednesday because it is transfers week so I will talk with you all then!

Love,

Sister Lahti

1. Sister นภา got us all matching shirts