Week 28: It is raining but I don't need an umbrella.....

.....because it is raining MIRACLES!! WOW life is so good right now! 

But before I continue on with my email, I want to apologize for my emails being weird the last few weeks. They haven't been sending correctly so I am going to try to get back on track this week. If all works according to plan you should have two emails in your inbox this week. And sorry last week I didn't caption the photos and I had a random list of things I didn't have time to talk about at the bottom of the email that won't make any sense to you, so disregard.

BACK TO THE MIRACLES! Okay so as you read in last weeks email I am still here in บางนา (Bangna) and I am with Sister Cabangil! Coming into this transfer I was a little nervous because I would be the senior companion but not that nervous because I know that, as Thomas S Monson loved to say, whom the Lord calls the Lord qualifies. And I testify to you all that is so true! I have seen so many miracles from the last week. 

So on Thursday we went to the mission office and we got to see all of the other missionaries who were transfering and I basically hung out at the office all day while Sister Cabangil was taking care of visa stuff which was fun because I got to spend time with other missionaries, especially Sister Christensen from my MTC group, and I got to meet some members from Asoke who were at the office. Anyways, after Sister Cabangil came back from doing vias we went to Bangna! And it was weird because Sister Ballif wasn't there but it was cool because I was able to reflect upon when I first came to Bangna and how much I have grown since January. And we went straight to work, teaching and inviting everyone to come unto Christ, to repent, and to be baptized! 

We taught this one person I met and invited last week named ปลา (bla, which means fish) and it was a great lesson. I was a little nervous going in because Sister Cabangil and I don't speak that great of Thai and our vocab is limited and we had never taught together before but the lesson was so good and the spirit was so strong! It was awesome because it really testified to me that it is the spirit who teaches, not us. Somehow through our broken Thai, we were able to help ปลา understand that she is a child of God and He loves her and wants her to be happy! The spirit testified of that so strongly and their were tears in our eyes because that spirit was so strong. It is always awesome teaching people how to pray and how to talk with their Heavenly Father for the first time and ปลา was no different. She really seemed touched when we prayed and she said she felt so good and excited to pray. I can't wait to see how she progresses! 

Another cool miracle from last week is this one woman named ฟ้าย (fay) who was referred to us by some other sister missionaries who got this referral from a ward member. She came to the church and we said a prayer with her and after the prayer she was crying. She said that we had prayed for exactly what she needed and that she felt so good. We continued to teach her more, especially about prayer. She told us how she was trying to get a visa so she could move to live with her husband in England and that it hasn't happened for a year now. She said she would pray about that. The next day she got her visa! It was such a miracle. She said that all her life being Buddhist she had never had any help but that when she prayed to her Heavenly Father miracles happened. How cool! I know that we really can pray to our Heavenly Father and He hears our prayers and will answer us. It's happened for me, it happened for ฟ้าย, and it will happen for you.

Another cool story - we have an investigator named น้ำ (nam, or water) and she is awesome. Finding her was a miracle - we had gone inviting for 5 hours one day with no luck. We were going to our appointment that evening and somehow, out of the corner of our eye, we turned around and saw her. She had come to oue English class before so we knew her. But we talked with her and invited her to learn more and she said yes! Since then she has been progressing so well! She told us that she is addicted to reading the Book of Mormon. How amazing is that?? I know reading the Book of Mormon brings the power of God into our lives and will make our lives better as we apply what we read and learn. 

We have a member named Sister ปุ้ย (booey) and she is so awesome! On her birthday she took us to visit these kids in the ward whose mother deserted them and whose father is in jail. They have an abusive older brother I think too but he is kind of out of the picture. Anyways, she took us to visit and teach them and invite them to come to church and she brought them cake to share. Then she said they could come eat for free at her restaurant on Saturday before church. It was amazing to see how loving and Christlike she is. On HER birthday she went out of he way to bring cake to these little kids to help them come to church. She didn't do it for praise or so that someone would notice, she did it because she is a Christlike person. I want to be more like her! Then, a few days later we were teaching someone and invited her to come teach with us. She came and helped us so much! Not only did she teach that lesson with us, but she ate lunch with us, visited ward members with us, helped us with our language study, and went to teach two other investigators with us AND bought us dinner. She closed her restaurant and spent the entire day helping the missionaries. She really is so amazing! We need more people like Sister ปุ้ย.  

There is this one member in the ward named Sister เบนซ์ (ben) who used to be less active but we helped bring her back to church again and I just LOVE her! She is amazing and even though she has a tough and lonely life, she has such good desires. We visited her on her birthday and it made me a little sad because I don't know if anyone else visited her or said happy birthday to her. So if you are reading this, do me a favor and please reach out to someone who is lonely and overlooked and make them feel special and cared about. Everyone deserves that. It is what the Savior would do and we all need to follow His example and minister to each other (@generalconference). 

Sweet story: so we have an investigator named Sister วาด (wad) and she is awesome but sometimes has a hard time remembering what we teach and she can't read so we have to be creative when we teach sometimes. Anyways we were teaching about the Plan of Salvation and we talked about how everyone dies and we drew it out and there was a little grave on our drawing. Her son, น้องนิ้ว (nong niew) asked if the dead person was his mom and we said "yes, everyone dies." He started crying and hugging his mom because he didn't want her to die and it was really cute. We explained that she wasn't going to die for a long time but then we got to teach that death isn't the end of life and we will live with our families again! It was touching to see how much they loved each other and to remember how applicable what I teach is to everyone's lives. So much hope comes from knowing death is not the end!! We can live again with our families and with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!

Okay now general conference: We watched it this weekend and it was SO GOOD. The ward watched if in Thai and the missionaries watched it in English in a different room. I loved It! The music, the talks, the spirit - it was all so amazing! I had some questions written down that I wanted answered and I had some questions in my heart and they were answered as  listened to conference and listened to the spirit. I loved all of the talks but especially Elder Lynn Robbins, Elder David Bednar, Elder Taylor Godoy, Presideny Dallin Oaks, and President Nelsons. I can't wait to read and study then all again! I absolutely LOVE general conference. If you haven't listened to it yet please do! I also really love President Nelson. He is amazing! I know he is truly a prophet of God, but I also know that he doesn't lead this church - Jesus Christ does. President Nelson is His prophet and this is His church. 

Oh another story: so this investigator โกมล (gomon) came to conference and he said he loved Elder Larry Wilson's talk and he said he wanted the spirit to guide his life too. WOW so cool! And I know the spirit can guide โกมล and everyone. 

Anyways gotta go - this is only a small fraction of what is going on in my life. Life is so good! God is so good and He blesses me so much! He wants to bless you too! Want to learn more? Talk to me or your local missionaries and see the blessing roll in. Love you all! Ps I have pday again on Friday because we are celebrating สงกรานต์ (songkran or the Thai new year aka a country-wide water festival) so expect an email then. 

Sister Lahti 

Ps check out the burned snake from the zoo we went to today. Also fed raw chicken to a crocodile