March Mini Transfers

Well I was in the middle of helping a member Yai Baans move this last Wednesday, when I got the call that said I was moving in a mini transfer.  When we have Thai missionaries come in they have to do mini transfers because the Philippines MTC is on a six week transfer schedule; Provo is on a eight week schedule.

So I said my many goodybyes to the wonderful people of Phitsanulok on Wednesday night and was at the bus station Thursday morning.  Several members and my investigator showed up to send me off which was so sweet! I love them !!!!!! and miss everyone. 

I'm now in Bangkapi, which is a city in Bangkok. Whoa I feel like I've jumped from the boonies in Idaho to, like downtown LA.  Just kidding...but really.  Tuesday I was truck surffing as we helped Sister Bow move and waking up to the sounds of cats in my ceiling and now I'm in a high-so one room apartment that resembles a display in Ikea and serving in a ward with a actual church building.  LOL  Thailand has it all!

I'm good.  Moving was stressful but Church was exciting.  One of the speakers started singing the song from Pocahontas, the listen with your heart, you will understand part.  Before that, the three grandma singing in the movie is speaking Indian language and the Thai speaker was just making up chanting sound...so funny!  I was trying not to bust up laughing because I was on the stand to bear my testimony.  LOL   #lovethailand/thaipeople

Well I will definetly have more next week but I love you all!

Saying goodbye to Sister Speas

Week 21 in Thailand. Planted coconuts!

We started off our week, last p-day, by celebrating my Khuu's (Sister Speas) half birthday.  We did this by eating a Minion cake…that actually didn't taste good because it’s Thailand and they use butter for frosting, literally.  It was really cute!  Then it was back to work.

This week I re-read the talk from Elder Soares of the 70s (I'm going to be way embarrassed if I mixed up names) from general conference.  He talked about developing the Christ like attribute of Meekness and it was something that I tried really hard to improve on.  In the talk he defines a person with meekness as someone humble, calm temperate, teachable, and a desire to do the will of God.  I don't really have a solid way of measuring my how successful I was, LOL, but I can definitely say that I will always be able to improve! 

Due to my experiment I feel like I was extremely blessed this week to recognize these qualities in a lot of the members and investigators we taught.  We visited this really sweet member, Sister Tdoy, her circumstances are very humble but she is so generous, humble, and calm- mannered.  She gave us delicious mango's from her neighborhood garden. We also visited a member who is wealthier and educated but I was touched by humble attitude and how teachable she is.

The biggest example I saw of meekness this week was in the willingness of the members to serve when we embarked on a small but intense project of helping Sister Nooy, a recent convert, plant coconut trees in her yard. We planted like 100 plus trees in the Thai style of farming  :-)  which was really hard and laborious.  I think one of the biggest rewards in life is the opportunity to put your faith into action and serve!  

 

 

Well I hope everyone has a great week filled with many service opportunities!

Love, Sister Peterson

Things I did this week that I would never have done in my whole life:

2 March 2014  Week 20 in Thailand.  Things I did this week that I would never have done in my whole life:

1.  Sing into a microphone, in front of any, let alone an auditorium of Khon Thai's.

2.  Eat things that I can't identify without asking what it this (It’s definitely better not to ask!)

3.  Walk around asking complete strangers if they want to wash away their sins.

4.  Teach a class in a foreign language that I don't quite understand.

5. Ride a bike…everyday experience.

6.  Ride a bike through Thailand traffic (equivalent of live Frogger).  An everyday experience.     

7.  Clear out pigeons nests from the Church house.

8.  Play charades with workers at Big C (equivalent of Walmart here).

Blessings I've received as result this week:

To numerous to count!

Here are a few, brief but sufficient explanations of the aforementioned tasks.

Tuesday, like everyday this week, we invited a lot of people to be baptized and received a lot of rejection, as well as the blessing of getting two new investigators!  #3 in the List above.

Before English class, a sweet member taught us how to make somtom/สมฅำ, which is quickly climbing the charts of my favorite Thai dishes!  I also learned that somtom plaa, somtom that is really fishy (tasting and looking), is gross and I should never eat it!  cing cing  It is somtom that is in black sauce, instead of red, and has random body parts of sea creatures mixed in with it.  #2 in the list above. 

Wednesday, my companion and I were in charge of finding balloons for the mutual activity.  When we got to Big C, we realized not only did we not know the word for balloon, but we didn't have our dictionaries with us.  Thus we began a game of charades or pictionary with the workers at Big C.  After several hand motions and attempted drawings, a worker took us to an air pump section.  Tired and creatively dry, we decided to go look for ourselves.  Tender mercy!  We ran into a member who found them for us and we were able to make it to the church and have a way awesome activity!  #8 from the list above.

Friday, the other Sisters had a baptism so we deep-cleaned the church.  It also, just needed some love.  We ended up destroying a few pigeons nest.  Pigeons had discovered unused nooks and crannies in the church.  We cleaned out a lot of pigeon poop but the church looks beautiful.  It’s like when you clean anything, it just that much better when its clean and the spirit was definitely stronger as a result.  #7 from the list above.

Saturday, The Elders had a baptism!  We made a lot of phone calls to members who hadn't been to church in a while and invited them. Sunday, we saw the fruits of our labor when four of them came to church! Yay!  Sundays can be stressful as a missionary that is when all your responsibilities come together and you have to deal with them all in a foreign language.

This Sunday, Sister Jackson and I had to teach a class during second hour, which was really hard because, A.  We hadn't prepared and B. We are the two youngest sisters in our area (our phii's were translating).  Even though I’ve been in country for almost five months, my understanding is…not that good compared to my ability to talk.  LOL  So as we tried to understand question of our RC's and investigators,  we were also trying to read the said lesson plan from a manual in Thai.  LOL  It was kind of crazy but we survived Thanks to the help of the awesome RC's in our ward.  Daa and Kwan, who basically taught a really simple and inspiring version of everything we were trying to say and answered everyone’s questions like the bosses they are!  Made me so happy!  #4 from the list above.

For the Grand Finally of the Week: 

We ended our Sunday stalling at charity function, for donating wheel chairs, while the Senior Humanitarian Missionaries and the other LDS charities representatives were racing to get there.  They had gotten delayed from their previous donation function in Chiang Rai.  Originally we were just supposed to go for support but then the people MC-ing the event (from Rotary Thailand) were like, hey you speak Thai, come up and talk to everyone while were waiting.  Somehow one of the representatives remembered us and said, you guys should sing (because we helped with music at the Christmas event at the orphanage).  We whipped out our hymnbooks and Sister Jackson started playing her violin,  (which was good) but my singing was not.  LOL  So awkward but a great memory which is a blessing in and of its self.  The Senior couple and everyone were really sweet and appreciative, which also made it a better experience.  #1 from the list above. 

I definitely feel like my tolerance of doing uncomfortable or awkward things has grown since becoming a missionary and I’m sure that I will have many more growing experiences.  LOL

Well until next week,  Love you all!

 

 

Sisters in Thailand

23 Feb 2014

After Transfers...

23 February 2014

We had transfers this week.  I'm still in Phitsanulok but my companion moved.  My new companion is Sister Speas.  She grew up in Tremonton, Utah but went to high school in California.  She was at Utah State before her mission.  She is way cute and nice and I think we will have a great transfer together.  Next transfers will be in April, like the last week, I believe.

Love you.

Week 19 Transfers

Sorry everyone, this week's letter will be short! but long story short after a wanderful pday of tiawing (sightseeing) with my district we had to really busy days of meeting with RC's and Other members because Wed night we caught a Bus to Bangkok for transfers! Sadly my Khuu (companon) Sister Mullen moved and our Elders whitewashed out :( but Good news My new companion Sister Speas is so cute and amazing that I know I will come to Love this District as much as the last!  We've basically just been settling in this week and traveling alot but I love you all and hope your week is great!

With my new companion and the rest of the sister from Plok and Sister Mullen who is on to her next area.

.

Before transfers.

February 15, 2014

This is me and Sister Mullen.  Looks like Y Sparkle, doesn't it?

Here we are working hard contacting and almost out of water.  No fountains here...Yuck if there were.

Sister Mullen is Thai but lives in California.  This family in the branch is sooo awesome and knew Sister Mullen when her and her family lived here.  :)

Sister Tawng

Brother Sawad

and their son

Week 18, Valentine's Day in Thailand

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Not to be cheesy...but this week was definitely filled with Love! Don't worry, not romantic, LOL but love of, and from, my Savior and love for everyone that I'm serving, being served by, and serving with!

This week we had a Valentine’s party for Mutual, which was so fun!  We played games, met new people, and a lot of investigators came!!!  To role with the Love theme, this Saturday we had the first ever, musical fireside in my branch! The theme: Raw Ben Luug Kaung Phraphuubenjaw (We are children and God) and He loves us! Us missionaries were in charge of it and to be honest, it was stressful to plan and carry out, but I've never felt the spirit so much and the members really loved it.

 

One thing I've definitely learned from being in Thailand is to just do all that I can, but recognize when I need to step back, trust in the Lord, and just let what’s going to happen, happen.  Five minutes before our program started, everything was falling apart but then five minutes into it, nothing mattered and everything worked out.  There will always be something to learn from and improve on, in our lives but nothing is ever going to be as perfect as we want it. This life is a time to learn and grow and part of that is facing adversity, and learning to trust in our Savior's timing and plan. This is how we improve our self daily!

Well, transfers are this week and I don't really know what will happen.  Either Sister Mullen or I will probably be moving.  Change is bitter sweet but definitely fosters growth.  So here is to another week of growing improving and becoming more like the Savior!

Love Sister Peterson

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day!

Everyone plays rock, paper, scissors.

If you lose, you get a sticker put on your face.  

LOL  sanuk maag (way fun)!

 

 

Look who won!

Week 17, All Creatures, Great and Small.

Six months.  Whoa!  How did that happen???  Mai najai (not sure)?  Anyways, I'm calling this week, The Week of All Creatures, Great and Small.”

It all started on Wednesday.  We left the little ran ahaan (restaurant, kind of) that we ate lunch at and started to embark on our day.  It was my companions turn to decide where to go inviting, so I was just following her, when all of a sudden, a Spider crawled up from some unknown place on my bike onto my handlebar.  I was silently freaking out (due to my giant fear of spiders, especially in Thailand), trying to watch my companion and simultaneously watching the spider move back and forth between my hands, and the traffic all around me.  Yes I was too scared to flick it of with my hand.  When we finally stopped, the trauma was over.  I got of my bike and killed the spider with my shoe.

We locked up our bikes and before we even walked 10 feet, a pigeon swooped down and hit me in the head, tokjai ตกใจ. 

I’m not sure but I think Marina just swore in Thai.  LOL

It scared me so bad, LOL, but despite that It was a great Wednesday.

We had mutual activity which a lot of investigators came to! Yea!  We split everyone into three groups and had them make pictures of Book of Mormon stories by means of finger painting.  :)  Everyone here is freakishly artistic and they turned out so awesome!  On the other hand no one here has ever finger painted and they thought we were crazy when we first mentioned it.  LOL 

 

 

Thursday night We found out we have bats in our ceiling.  I've had nightmares, where I come home and a ceiling tile is removed in the bedroom and I can actually see the various creatures living up there.  Wake UP!

This week it became a sort of reality when part of the ceiling in the front room started falling down.  LOL  Luckily the bats and unnamed creatures are securely out of sight but I’m probably going to have various ceiling falling dreams this week.  LOL 

My last run in with nature was with a bee, so not too traumatic.  On Saturday we were in a songtaw, on our way to visit an recent convert and some less active members that live an hour outside of town.  As we were driving, a bee going the opposite way collided with my forehead and stung me…I still  have a giant red bump on my forehead.  LOL  But despite the bee sting, Saturday was an amazing day.

Before heading off on our adventure, Sister Mullen and I went and visited our RC Goong, who is so amazing and to top it all off, her son Guud, moved in with her.  He is 15 and interested in the gospel! (p.s. he came to church on Sunday!)  Then we went to visit Sister Noi who was baptized in June. She lives far away, so we haven’t been able to see her out side of Church since I got here.  All four Sisters and Sister Nancy made the trip!  So glad we did.  Her testimony definitely gave us a boost and then helping her (she’s like 50 plus) cut down coconuts from her coconut tree was an added bonus we got to experience!

 

Cutting down coconut trees!

 

Living the Thai life!  LOL  Well More next week!  

Love Sister Peterson 

My letter from Marina. 9 Feb 2014

Oi! I know I can't believe its six months already and a year from now, this will be over.  I’ve kind of forgotten what it’s like to be going to school, etc.  Definitely not as busy as I am now.  I feel like I'm a completely different person.  I don’t know how to explain it? I wonder the next year will bring???

Also, I’m freaking out a bit because transfers are next week and either Sister Mullen or I will be moving for sure and maybe both of us.  The suspense is killing me. 

This week was actually kind of tiring and long but, on Saturday we had a bit of an adventure that was well timed.  I will write more about in the blog email but it just strengthened my testimony that our Father in Heaven knows us and will never give us more than we can handle and really does answer prayers in ways better than we can imagine.

It may be my second to last p-day in Phitsanulok so were going to go shopping and painting at the river one last time! Next week were going out to Suko Thai again because three of the missionaries here haven’t been and they might get transferred. But I’m excited because I lost all the pictures from the first visit anyway!

 

Well more in a bit Love you!

Week 16 in Thailand, 2 Feb 2014

It’s February! I'm not even going to get into how crazy that is, but….

This week has been challenging in a creative good way.  We've really been focusing on stepping up the Auxiliary programs in my area; one to find more investigators and two to have a fun, productive, and wholesome activity for the member’s here to enjoy and bring their friends to.  It was a lot of work, extra work, but it’s definitely paying off.

The Elders in my district got two new investigators from our auxiliary programs which include:   FHE, English Class, Youth night, and sports day.  We had several of our current investigators come this week and it was very rewarding.  I think one thing I've definitely learned from this, is that deep down everyone likes to have wholesome fun.  Not worry about getting into trouble or dealing with consequences. It’s a lasting kind of fun!  It brings a spirit that fosters friendship and happiness just like the gospel.

Speaking of making activities fun...if any one has any good games or mutual activities, feel free to Email them to me!  Please!

This week we taught everyone how to line dance...or maybe square dance?  I don’t know, but our resident Texan Sister missionary here was an excellent teacher!  We can always use new ideas!  Well Everyone I love you and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love Sister Peterson

Youth party.

Week 15 in Thailand (Jan 26 2014)

This week was a blurr.  I've probably mentioned this before but time as a missionary is weird.  This week being an example how the week just flew by, but at the same time it felt like one big long busy day.  But this really long day ended on the perfect note because we had three baptisms in my area this week!

Two of our investigators, Goong and Bae were baptized!  Goong is the investigator that I talked about God loving all sizes.  They are the cutest couple in the world and the highlight of my week was definitely hearing their testimonies.  We've been teaching this couple for a few months and I'm so happy I got be a part of their conversion.

The other weird thing about being a missionary is knowing that you have to work hard at learning the language and improving you teaching skills to help people convert.  When you think about the people you teach and their testimonies, you’re like, I contributed nothing to that.  I was all the spirit.  That’s the beauty of missionary work, it’s the Lords work and He just lets you be a part of it. 

I can (and have) literally walked up to people and say, “do you know what baptism is?  It’s…(insert what ever explanation I can say in Thai) and ask, do you want this?  The Lord prepares people to say yes…then learn with us and then change their entire lives…then get baptized.  They are happy to do it because they feel the love of their Savior and the blessings these changes bring to their lives and their families.

This leads me to the other investigator who got baptized this week.  His name is Gapp and he’s pretty much the coolest 18 year you'll ever meet!  cing cing.  The other sisters in my area were teaching him currently but he's been an investigator for two years.  So many missionaries were bursting this joy when he finally got baptized this weekend!  He didn't have parent permission to become Christian, but despite that set back, he has been the most diligent pseudo member of the Church since the missionaries began teaching him.  He was pretty much beaming at his confirmation on Sunday and when he bore his testimony after his baptism, the spirit was so strong...which means I was definitely getting teary eyed. He's been such a good example to me my entire time here in P-lok.

This week was difficult in terms of missionary work but the baptismal service definitely reminded me why I’m here, why I don't mind "long days", Thailand heat, or being tired.  It’s because I know this church is true, I know that it can bless people’s lives, and I know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and I love him.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I love you all!

 

Love,

Sister Marina A. Peterson

 

 

Week 14 in Thailand

January is the month of Miracles!  “Asajaan” is “miracles” in Thai and to be “punny,” our mission has dubbed it Asajaanuary…it’s a Thai thing.   ;)  But honestly, this month has been tough, but every trial has made the many miracles seem even brighter!  My lesson learned from this week, definitely, that the Lord blesses us with miracles small and big. 

 

First miracle of the week was an awesome p-day!  My district decided to go hiking to a namtok (waterfall).  We got to the bus station and they'd changed the schedule.  We though all our planning was in vein and the trip would have to be postponed.  :(  But then we were talked to these taxi drivers who offered to take us…even though it was two and a half hours away (which doesn’t happen here).  It was a blessing nanon!  

 

Second miracle of the week:  When we arrived at the national park, they told us that buses going back weren't happening that day for some reason, lost in translation, but our cab drivers were like, eh we'll just wait here and then take you back, which kind of economically makes sense but still, they waited for like three hours for us to hike.  So amazing!

 

So, the third miracle of the day will take slight explanation:  The waterfall we were hiking to actually has seven layers so sometimes we were actually climbing over the water fall to reach the next layer.  Way fun but we didn't really know how to do it or navigate our way to the top. This mostly became a problem when we were at the third level/waterfall and there was no trail to be seen.  However this random Khon Thai Phuun was chilling on a hammock by the water and he just came over and showed us how to scale the rock and climb up to the 4th waterfall and then the 5th and 6th till we reached the seventh.

 

The entire way up we thought he was a guide that worked for the national park.  We were all planning our homecoming talks about how the Savior is a guide in our lives and he helps a reach a seemingly impossible goal.  -- Hiking is the best parable for most gospel topics ching ching.  As we were making our way back to parking lot, we realized he actually was just a random Thai person who lived in the area and was just way nice and saved us.  Miracle of miracles and a added another layer of depth to our parables.  :)  

The Fourth miracle was our Phusoncay's (investigators).  They were so awesome this week and two of them had their interview for baptism!!!  Which is happening this week! The more people we teach, the more I realize that every investigator is a miracle because they are so prepared by the Lord and literally handed to us from our Father in Heaven.

 

Best gift ever!  Fifth miracle of the week: Our district had two people get baptized on Saturday!!  Well their were many miracles in between but I feel it sufficient in saying we’re so blessed here in Thailand!

Every miracle to you,   

Love, Sister Peterson

 

Picture was to be posted last week...

 

 

Thai Sister's posing as Thai natives.

They never smile.

 

 

Last weeks post, to be done this week.