Christmas in Bangkok

It was so nice to talk to you just now :)  Just some extra thoughts from this week.  As I told you over skype!  This week I got transferred to Don Muang in Bangkok!!  Crazy crazy times.  So we packed up all of our stuff and said goodbye to some of our awesome members/investigators in Phitsanulok (both Sister Sararat and I left!) and went off to transfer meetings!  I literally didn't leave the church building that we had transfer meetings at... my new companion Sister MacDurmet, was like "oh we have an appointment here at 5!  So... that's kind of exciting!  Bangkok is a whole new world!  It's definitely a lot more fast paced than Phitsanulok was!

 This week... one of our investigators, Brother Bank, got baptized!  I'm not sure if I even taught him a lesson before he was baptized :) but he is awesome!  We also have a couple of other investigators who have passed their interviews too!  It's so crazy to be here with a new companion, and just kinda in the fast pace of the work.  We have a bunch of people working towards baptism, and we're really trying to help them experience conversion!  We try to read the Book of Mormon with them!  It's amazing, with those 2 hours of contacting it's almost difficult to fit everyone in!  It's a great problem to have!

Ummmm... I dunno what else to tell you.  On Monday we had a big fires ide with all of the missionaries in Bangkok (I think that's 3 zones worth of missionaries!  It was HUGE!)  We went to a big (and delicious) buffet.  And then we went back to the church, spent some tim e together there, listened to our incredible mission president.  And decorated some cookies!  It was really an awesome fireside.  Don't you just love Christmas?  I love it so much!!  And aren't we the most blessed people in the world.  We know why we celebrate Christmas!  We know why there is a huge Christmas tree at the mall, we know why we buy people presents, it's all in remembrance of the TRUE meaning of Christmas.  I still love the Christmas hymns!  Don't forget to read that little card that I wrote you! :)  JOY to the WORLD.  We really do have every reason to have JOY.  I know that we have a Savior, and that our Savior is Jesus Christ!  That He came into the world so that we could be saved!  I know that He is the true source of peace and happiness in this world!  I'm so grateful for that knowledge! I love you so much! :)  And I'm so glad we are sealed together!  Sorry I just talked for... literally a whole hour without stopping :)  I love you so much though!  Have a wonderful Christmas :)  You better wake up at 4:30!

Love,

Sister Croft

Here is... a picture of... a million missionaries at a fancy hotel.  Annnnd.  A picture of us at a FHE at a member family's home.

20?? + A Baptism! + A Christmas Party + INVESTIGATORS + an elephant!

Wow.  Looking back to the beginning of this week feels like... foreeeeever ago.  But also.  I just barely wrote to all of you!  Weird stuff.  First of all.  I'm 20 years old.  Ewwww.  How is that even possible!  My birthday wasn't too significant.  My district was really sweet and bought me an icecream cake from dairy queen on Tuesday.  Then on Wednesday Sister Sararat bought me a slice of chocolate crepe cake.  Gooood stuff.  :)

Second of all!  We had a BAPTISM here in Phitsanulok!  The other sisters' investigator, Sister Da got baptized!  It was awesome! :)  I really love what Sister Mullen said when she was giving her talk, "when we invite people to get baptized, we do it by specifically saying Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ?"  Which when you think about it is amazing... wow!  The spirit bore testimony to me again of the importance of baptism, and the privilege that I have as a missionary... to invite people to come unto Christ, to follow His example and get baptized!  I love it when a new convert gets to share there testimony! :)  I love it!

This week.  Was also our Christmas party! :)  We had a room FULL of people!  Which was really awesome! :)  Some of the youth in our ward put on a nativity, the missionaries sang in a little choir.  I got to do a couple of songs!  Annnnnd we ate some good food together!  It was a really good day!  And even though it doesn't quite feel Christmas-y here in Phitsanulok :)  It's good to have time to think about Christ, and gather together to see a representation of His birth!  Especially in a country where those that do celebrate Christmas don't know what it came from!  Those that have heard of Christ... don't really know who He is, or what He did for each of us!  

Our Investigators!  Are doing pretty well this week!  I'm so excited for them!  And SO happy for them!  One of them... her name is Sister Wun, is a friend of a member in our ward.  She's already read through 1st Nephi!  If you can remember back to our missionary fireside... she is the girl that I gave the Book of Mormon to!  She has been reading!  And she is learning and progressing towards baptism!  :)  She's way awesome!

I also had several awesome experiences this week where both Sister Sararat and I felt like we needed to do the same thing as we were out talking to people.  One of those experiences... lead us to Sister Juey!  She works at a little hotel type thing near our church!  We were walking around talking to people... and then just as I was thinking "we should go talk to whoever is in that store with the Christmas Tree!" my companion said... "We should go talk to whoever is in that store with the Christmas tree!"  Welllll in that store.   Was Sister Juey!  She's awesome!  She really does want to get baptized!  It's going to be exciting as we start teaching her!  Hoooooray! :)

Hooray!!! :)  It's amazing to be out here... in Thailand!  Preaching the gospel.  I can't believe it's December.  I can't believe it's almost Christmas!  I'll get to talk to you next week!!  Weird weird weird.  Yep.  That's weird.  

I love you so much! :) I hope you have a wonderful wonderful week! :)

Love,

Sister Croft

P.S. There is my birthday cake.  Complete with my name in Pink Frosting :)

Also.  Bummer.  This picture of our nativity is all blurry.  Because I was the Choir pianist.  And I ran to the back and snapped a picture.  And it was dark.  My battery was gonna die.  I dunno :)  Haha.  It was prettttty "hi so" though (that's a real word in Thai.  High Society... you just say it! "Hi So")  That's all!  Talk to you next week! (weird).

Mosquitoes, Dogs, and Bugs

Oh mannnnn.  Time is flying by way too fast.  It's absolutely ridiculous!  I can't believe it's December still... it's crazy.  This week... a miracle happened.  And we had 74 people at church!  It was incredible!!!  And it honestly... was a blessing from Heavenly Father.  It made me think of the example of so many prophets in the Book of Mormon, who offered sacrifices and gave thanks when they saw just how many blessings Heavenly Father had given them!  I can't believe so many people were there!  We also had a room FULL of investigators.  Which was incredible.  We usually sit in a circle in that room, but this time we had to turn our chairs to make rows!  It was amazing!  Our companionship has a lot of investigators who are in the beginning stages of learning, so this week will be all about improving planning and goal setting to help these awesome new investigators progress!  

Just some other random things from this week.  Last Sunday when I woke up my eye kinda hurt!  Or like... underneath my eye... and then... as the day progressed it got kinda weird... then the next day it turned all red and creepy.  Then the next day it looked super creepy!  So my district made me go to the doctor to see what it was.  They told us that a bug bit my eye... oooookay.  But it looks all better now!  Even though I hate taking medicine... medicine actually works!  Hooray! :)  I'll spare you the pictures of my creepy eye!  :)  

Um... I'm not sure what else to tell you about this week.  It was kind of a normal week.  Like I already said... I feel like we have a lot of investigators right now... but... we also don't have a lot of people who are really progressing.  I feel like I still have so much work to do in honing my missionary skills to really help people progress, help them feel the spirit, and help them experience conversion!  So a lot of planning and changing, and praying and working gets to happen this week!  I've realized some funny things about myself in being a missionary... I'm really not much of a perfectionist... except for when it comes to what kind of person I am and the work that I get to do for the Lord!  It's a little bit hard to get rid of the perfectionist attitude, and rely on the Atonement as I try to get better every day!  But, I was reading some scriptures that I really liked this morning.  I think it was Alma talking to his son Coriantamer... Or something like that :)  I've always been bad at remembering names!  But he is explaining justice and mercy to his son... and he tells him something of the effect of letting those things work in his heart unto repentance!  He talks about the justice of God and also the mercy and long-suffering of God!  Sometimes I am humbled, and I realize just how much patience I should have with my investigators when I realize just how much patience and love the Lord has for me, as I continue to make mistakes, and don't always do a great job of turning away from my sins or my bad habits!  Buuuut.  What I really liked... was that... the Atonement isn't just about justice, it isn't just about the mistakes we've made, it's about the new person that we can become.  The new person we will become through the mercy and long-suffering of God!  The next verse in that chapter is awesome!  Because his son was a missionary... he tells him to go out and preach that word so people can choose the plan of mercy!!  I feel like every single missionary I can think of in the Book of Mormon was someone who had experienced the miracle of forgiveness.  Who knew first hand what the cleansing power of the Atonement was!  They understood justice, they had felt the regret and guilt for the things that they had done wrong, and they had also experienced mercy, and long-suffering.  And when they felt that joy and forgiveness, the peace that only comes from the Atonement... they couldn't help but go out and preach the word!  They had NO greater desire!  No wonder Preach My Gospel says that the more we understand the Atonement the more we will want to Preach the Gospel!  Wow the gospel is incredible!  I'm so happy that it's getting close to Christmas!  :)  Take the opportunity to share the good news with your neighbors! :)  With anyone who might need it right now!  Joy to the world, the Lord is come! :)  

I hope that everyone has a really great week this week! :)  You guys are the best family ever! :)  Hooray for miracles!  I can't wait to report back to you next week about how all of our investigators are doing! :)  

I love you!  Love,

Sister Croft

P.S.  A dog bit my hand this week!  I was kinda dumb probably... and I was talking to a woman behind a gate.  I stuck my hand in with a baptism card and her dog bit my hand! :)  It was kinda funny.  I dropped the card because I was surprised, and the woman didn't even react more than... picking up the card and saying "Oh.  I already have one of these.  And then handing it back to me."  Lucky for me... there were probably angel's hands around my hand!  Because the dog didn't even break any skin!  :) So it was just a good friendly reminder that I should beware of the many many dogs on the streets of Thailand :)  The title of this email is brought to you today... by "things that have bitten me in Thailand."  :D  Hehe... just kind of a funny story.  That will remind me not to stick my hand next to dogs... and... I dunno how to stop bugs from biting my eye yet... :)  But.  :)  you know! :)  Hehehe.  

I love you!  The church is true!!! :)  Have a wonderful week! :) 

I didn't have any good pictures to send you this week.  They were all scary looking :)  So.  HEre is the view from what we call "Food Street"  This week was Father's day.  So we got to go contacting at a festival type thing.  And they were sending lanterns up!  Hooray :)

Thanksgiving. Bovember. And "Cold Weather"

Dear family!

It was fun to hear about all of your weeks!  Woohoo for thanksgiving!  :)  Just a quick thought about thanksgiving.  We did have a "thanksgiving party" here in phitsanulok!  This one sister in our ward made turkey, pie, vegetables, and mashed potatoes!  Sister Peterson also made a pumpkin pie... but she had to like... physicalyl grind up the spices to make it!  It turned out WAY good though!  I was really impressed!  We also got to do a Thanksgiving activity on Tuesday for our English class.  I'm the "English class leader,"  so I got to do a little bit of fun prep for that... we had a thanksgiving tree, thanksgiving bingo, we played that game we play at Christmas (the Left/right pass the gift or treat or whatever it may be story) annnnnd it was good!  :)  Oh.  Haha... also our district at Pizza together for lunch on Thanksgiving day.  That was fun!

In terms of other things that happened this week... :)  This week was the conclusion of Bovember (Baptism November) in the Thailand Bangkok Mission!  It's amazing how many people were baptized in Thailand this month!  Hooray! :)  It was over 100, miracles were seen and people really worked together and prayed for each other!  We had a baptism planned... but... right now it's been pushed back toward a future date!  It was a little bit sad to have to cancel, but I'm happy about the changes that I've seen in this investigator, and that changes that will continue to happen!  We may not have had a baptism in November, but... I am confident that our investigator will be baptized in the future!  Which makes me very happy indeed!  

Yesterday I had a cool experience contacting... it was our new method of contacting "Do you know what this is?  It's baptism!  Or the way that we can become clean from our sins!  Do you want to be baptized?"  In general a lot of people just answer no.  Sometimes people just pretend you aren't there!  :D  It can be kind of a funny time.  Buuuut.  I met a woman yesterday who was sincerely interested in becoming clean from her sins.  She read the pass along card and then told me that she had a lot of sins, I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't sure if she could be forgiven.  But I was happy to be the person that got to tell her that she can be forgiven and she can change!  Unfortunately... she has my number and I don't have hers... but I'm praying that she'll call us so that she really can learn about the reality of the Atonement.  She really can experience the cleansing power.  And she really can receive forgiveness from God.  Man, I feel so blessed to get to be the bearer of that message!

Another cool experience.  Last night we got to meet with a man in our ward who has cancer, I felt so bad, he was in a lot of pain because the medicine he's taking makes all of his bones ache.  We planned to share a message about the priesthood, which was perfect because we asked him if he would like a priesthood blessing from the Elders... who happened to be at the church!  Elder Keller, who has been in Thailand as long as I have gave the blessing.  Every time I have a chance to witness a priesthood blessing I'm so amazed by the reality of Priesthood power!  IT really is the power of God on the Earth.  And Heavenly Father really does know us individually, He literally has the power to do all things.  And sometimes the instrument is someone who has only been learning Thai for awhile... but the power of God is still manifest!  This really is the way, and the power of God to perform covenants that bind us to God, really is on the earth!  What an incredible truth!  

I love you all so much!  I'm glad Thanksgiving was good :)  I hope that THIS week is a good one!  How is it December!?  What a scary scary thought!  Haha... which reminds me... people are starting to wear jackets and say it's cold sometimes.  It's STILL Hot.  Actually... sometimes when they wear jackets... it's just that perfect temperature, maybe bordering on hot :)  It makes me laugh so much!  If they were in Utah... I'm afraid of what might happen! :)

Have a really great week this week!

Love,

Sister Croft

P.S. Pictures... that's me and Sister Sararat.  We both wore dresses yesterday... so we took a picture.  I dunno :)

And just a little bit of thanksgiving activity!  I dunno!

Okkkkey dokey!  Another week has gone by.  Crazy times! :)  I can't believe it's BASICALLY December.  Oh my goodness! Wow!

This week has been a really good one though... it had a couple of crazy parts to it.  My companion was a little bit sick for one of the days.  We had our Sister Training Leader and her companion Sister Ference (my companion in the MTC) come down and do switch offs with us!  I got to switch off with Sister Ference!  It was really cool to get to learn from each other (though I think I did most of the learning :D) and work together again!  Sister Ference is way awesome, and super bold and loving in the way that she does missionary work!  It was really good!  And I think some of our investigators needed to hear things from her!  And I needed to learn a couple of things that I could improve on and work on!  :)  We went to visit one investigator... who... is hopefully going to get baptized on the 30th!  He had accepted a date for baptism but I was a tiny bit nervous about whether or not he felt like he just HAD to say yes or whether or not he really wanted to get baptized!  We had the chance to sit down with him and talk about what he believed.  And help him realize how the Holy Ghost answers our questions.  How we receive answers and testimonies!  It was really cool!  And I'm really excited for this investigator!  We're going to keep praying and working and praying some more until the 30th!  But even if he doesn't get baptized on that day!  I'm confident he will in the future!  And I'm excited to see him growing and learning and really coming closer to God and to his Savior! 

This week we also... got to go to Chaing Mai.  6 hour bus ride there and back again!  It was awesome though!  This was for our mission tour!  Elder and Sister Wilson came, and we received some really awesome instruction about how to listen to and follow the spirit, and also about how to use the Book of Mormon in our teaching!  I wrote down a couple of questions before the conference.  One of them was... how can I help my investigators experience REAL conversion!  Welll... the Book of Mormon is a very good answer to that! :)  It was amazing to be able to learn from Elder and Sister Wilson.  And I am so excited to implement our training and start using the Book of Mormon like I should!  I LOVE the scriptures.  I honestly feel like Heavenly Father has blessed me with a love for them... I'm not a scriptorian!  And I certainly have not been the best at studying the scriptures my whole life.  But I KNOW that they are the Word of God!  Man.  I LOVE them!!  Just take a moment and think about... Lehi's dream.  Which is becoming one of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon.  What was the difference between those who wandered away to a great and spacious building, who were left wandering in the mists of darkness, who wandered away to paths that no one even knows about!  Who drowned.  And those who feel down at the feet of the tree.  And partake of that which was white above all that was white, pure above ALL that is pure, and sweet above all that is sweet.  That which is desirable to make one happy!  Those who held FAST to the word of God.  That is POWERFUL!  There is peace, power, and help in the scriptures.  I testify that it is REAL.  I have experienced it.  I've received specific answers from the scriptures, I've felt peace and the love of God.  But there really is a power in that book.  Honestly, the more I've studied the scriptures the more I WANT to study them.  The more I feel God's presence in my life.  The more happiness I have.  It's simple.  But it's TRUE!  :)  Just like all of the gospel!  If you feel like your missing something in your life... try opening your scriptures, and asking Heavenly Father to teach you!  

Annnnnnd.  I'm not sure what else to tell you about this week! :)  It really has been good!  I'm excited for our investigator who should be getting baptized on the 30th!  Hooray!  I'm excited that he is feeling the spirit, that his testimony is growing!  It's really amazing!

Annnnd.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving this week! :)  Hooray! :)  Thanksgiving!  Tonight in our English Class we're having a special Thanksgiving activity :)  It should be pretty fun!  And then tomorrow we're having a Thanksgiving activity, with the hopes that we can invite some people who might not normally come, and get them out here to eat with us!  So there ya go.  Sometimes Thanksgiving happens in Thailand! :)  Family.  I am so thankful for YOU!  And so thankful for allll of the blessings of the gospel.  I feel so incredibly blessed and grateful to be sealed to you!  To know that I have a Savior!  To have the ability to pray!  To have a testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel!  And I'm thankful to be a missionary!

Eat some goood foood this week :)  I hope your thanksgiving is great!

I love you so much!  The gospel is TRUE!  And don't you forget it! :D

Love,

Sister Croft

P.S. Haha... we got these new beautiful vests in Chaing Mai.  Hooray for SAFETY.  This is what I looked like at 2 or 3 o' clock in the morning when we got back from Chaing Mai and rode our bikes home.  Complete with helmet.  Vest.  Multiple bags.  It was a beautiful sight.  Too bad no one was awake to see it! :)

Do you wanna get baptized?

Soooo.  This week was a good week! :)

This month in the Thailand Bangkok Mission (TBM - The Best Mission) we've all been working towards the goal of having one person get baptized in each companionship!  We also... received some new training about how to contact and invite people.  This is how we do it... we ask everyone we talk to if they want to get baptized right on the street!  We've been told to extend a date even!  It takes a lot of boldness to ask everyone for 2 hours if they want to get baptized.  Buuuuut.  It's exciting to meet with people afterward who know exactly what their goal is.  Baptism.  Who have come back because they want to learn more about the gospel, and they want to be clean from their sins!  I think it'll take a little bit of work to get better at it... but! It's exciting!  All of everything working towards having a temple here in Thailand! :)

Ummm... what else from this week.  In Thailand this week... there is a festival... that's name... always escapes me.  Some kind of festival!  Which involves lanterns, and little flower candle boats.  It was really beautiful actually... Saturday and Sunday at night there were tons of little lanterns in the night sky!  :)  And the river was all decked out with lights.  Sister Sararat and I went contacting on this really long street of food/clothing/everything for this festival.  We met some really cool people!  I'm always amazed by how many people I meet that have already met with missionaries!  It's incredible... I dunno if it's just a lot of the people that I talk to... or if there are really that many people who have gotten a chance to meet and learn!  What awesome proof that God is aware of us, and that even though it takes maybe... multiple contacts with the gospel... they can still accept the gospel!  Hooray! :)

We are still teaching some of the people that we've been working with in the past!  That mom who came to church last week is interested in getting baptized!  Hooray!!!  I really love seeing this family together... and how amazing would it be... to see them all get baptized!  To see them sealed together in the temple! :)  Hooray! :)  We're workin' on it!

This morning I've been thinking a bit about... Eternal Life! :) And alllll that that entails.  As a missionary... you face a lot of rejection... I think that the hardest ones for me are the ones who have felt to sing the song of redeeming love... but for some reason or another... they've forgotten!  The less active members sometimes... just tug at my heart strings, and I just wish I could clear the confusion and the distractions that are difficult to avoid in life, and help them see the Plan of Salvation with clarity.  The pearl of great price!  That thing which would cause them to sell everything they own.  I was reading about the Father of King Lamoni this morning.  I will ALWAYS love his heart felt questions to Aaron, after he learns of the Plan of Salvation... "What shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?" and his sincere pray... "I will give away ALL of my sins to know Thee."  I wish I could just make them understand that really really the Plan of Happiness.  Is a Plan of Happiness.  That Heavenly Father knows them.  That He loves them... when I was younger I used to get confused about why the Savior was always telling people He was the Savior, and why He was always saying "Come unto me"  (I don't really know why that confused me... but I didn't really get it!)  But I think if we could see things with the eternal and all knowing perspective of God... we would understand and feel the urgency and pleading and pure love in the call "Come unto Me."  The Savior asks us to come unto Him, to find rest for our souls, to find healing, to find help!  He knows the gift, which is the greatest of ALL gifts.  And that is His work and His glory.  To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man!  Man that's amazing.  And even though it's difficult to not be able to MAKE anybody feel or understand anything.  I know I'm blessed to have the chance to extend love!  To bear my testimony, and try to help these people!  Dear are the sheep that have wandered.

I love you so so much! :)  Annnnd I hope that you have a wonderful week this week! :)

Love,

Sister Croft

P.S. Pictures.  Haha... I ate this at that festival.  It was like... some kinda chocolate smoothie thing.  With bread/cake, cereal, and red... things.  I don't even know.  I think it had chocolate sauce on it too.  Don't worry... I shared it with my companion.  I didn't even notice the golden irony of the large bucket that it came in.  Eating Healthy. 

SukoThai. Bangkok. A flat tire. The Works

Dear family,

It was nice hearing about all of your weeks this week :)  I hope that everything continues to go well! :)  It's crazy... I'm sitting here sweating typing this email.  And you guys are starting to get really cold.  Weeeeeird :)

But.  First of all... last week we went to Suko Thai!  That was fun... it was warm.  We rented bikes... and we got to drive around and see all of these incredible and intricate.  I'm not sure what to call them.  I think a lot of it was parts of temples that you could still see.  Isn't it amazing that it seems like no matter where you go in the world, or how far you go back in time... humans always have the desire to progress to create, and very often they create things that are beautiful and intricate.  It's just cool... it reminds me of that talk by President Uchtdorf!  Just feast your eyes on the beautiful... SUKOTHAI.  It makes me want to make something pretty.  My love of texture was definitely fed on Monday.

In other just technical and unimportant news... we went to Bangkok this week for a meeting with all of the Thai missionaries... of course being Half-Taiwanese doesn't really qualify me to go to that meeting... so instead I got to go on switch offs.  Which was exciting! :)  It's always cool to get to study with and meet new people and see some of the awesome things that other missionaries do!  

Other than that... this week... Man... I don't even know what to tell you about this week!  IT was kind of a crazy one! Going to Bangkok sometimes took up multiple days.  But.  We're still working with a lot of the investigators that we were working with before.  It's been cool to see them progress and grow a little bit!  To see there hearts open up as we meet with them more often!  Sometimes I just love getting to talk to so many different people every day!  The challenge is not to just talk to them... but to invite them to learn with you!  To learn more about the restored gospel and the truthfulness of it!  And I'm seeing a lot of different things that I can do to helllllp people more and more. :)

Just kind of a fun story from the week.  Soooo.  My tire went flat randomly.  This is the second time that's happened to me :)  IT actually went flat on Saturday... and then while we were walking to get it fixed someone close to our house offered to fix it for us!  They filled it up... couldn't find a hole... and so we went on our merry way.  Then we went to leave for church Sunday morning and found that our tire was flat.  Awwww nuts.  At about the same time and member who lives close to us rode by on his bike.  His mom and brother had said that they were coming to church and we were SO excited!  Buuuuuut it turns out they didn't have a motorcycle like they thought they would... so... they weren't going!  Noooo!  But.  Since we had to walk anyway... we walked ourselves over to their house and invited them to walk to church with us!  It's true that we MAY have gotten to church a TINY bit late :)  but I was so happy because we had this member's mom with us!!  Hooooray! :)  I think we also got to meet a lot of people we wouldn't have met just because my tire was flat.  Sometimes a flat tire is a blessing.

I'm not really sure what else to say about this week... sorry that this email is so short and boring!  Hopefully the pictures will make up for the lameness. :)

I love you so so much.  And I hope that you have the BEST week!  EVER.

Love,

Sister Croft

I love Thailand.

This week was a good one!  I'm pretty sure several times while we were just biking around I just couldn't help but grin... Thailand is AWESOME! :)

This week.  Oh man... what all happened it's hard to remember.  Sorry that this email will probably be short and not very good!  Haha.  Well...Just for a fun fact.  We went to the hospital three times this week (hospital=doctors office here.) Once because my poor companion scratched her eye.  And twice to visit an investigator.

Another fun fact.  I have officially been "footed."  Eeek.  :) We had a kinda unique experience in the park this week... where someone really didn't like what we were doing!  So I've officially seen someone do the equivalent of "telling someone they're number one" in America! Ahhh :)

  

Also.  This week was Halloween! :) I hope that you had a thrilling time at home! :)  Haha... probably the usual hanging out at home and eating candy.  But I'm sure you could be wondering what Halloween is like in Thailand.  In Phitsanulok we had a Halloween activity, complete with donuts on a string (who knows where that even came from) toilet paper mummies, and other such Halloween festivities!  It was an activity planned by the youth... so it definitely had a lot of energy and excitement! :)  But it was awesome to see quite a few random people come (we invited tons of random people on the street!)  Sometimes... I think you just gotta know that entering the church isn't a scary experience!  We can have fun :) and the members are people too! :)  I'll attach a few pictures from the activity... unfortunately I only took a few.

I'm not sure what else to tell you about this week...we're still working hard with members and investigators, trying to help people come back to church, or even come to church for the first time!  With so many sometimes overwhelming concerns of both individuals and groups... this week my heart has turned again towards charity.  The words from "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" pop into my head so often... "Perhaps today there are loving words which Jesus would have me speak."  I'm really trying to make that one of my biggest goals in visiting less actives and meeting with investigators, that they can feel my love for them, as well as our Heavenly Father's love for them as we meet with them and invite them to do things.  Everything that the Savior did was out of love.  So I'm trying to make that the driving force behind everything that I do as well! :)

Annnnd.  Just some thoughts from my personal study this morning.  As I was reading in Alma 5.  This phrase popped out at me.  "And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate..." I'm not sure why that stood out to me so much.  But.  It did :) so you get to hear about it I guess!!  Isn't it amazing sometimes to look around you and see that we literally are in the last days?  Wow.  It's crazy!  It seems like the faster time rolls onward, and the more the world gets polluted with the philosophies of men, and the temptations of Satan, the more we have to consciously decide to follow the voice of the good shepherd, and BE YE SEPARATE.  Sometimes that requires courage.  But because it's true :) it's worth it!  And Heavenly Father will strengthen us as we try to follow His voice, and respond to His call as our Shepherd.  

I love you all! :) I hope you have a Thairiffic week :)  The gospel is true.  No doubt about it!!!  It is worth every "sacrifice" and every effort.  

Love,

Sister Croft

Fireside. Fireside.

So... this week.  Was a good one! :)  It's scary that October is over (scaaaaarry... Halloween is apparently a thing in America.  Just kidding.  We're having a party here too!  Who knows why? :))

I really can't believe how fast time goes though... lets see what I can remember from this week.

This week... we... did a lot more contacting than I have in the past!  I kinda like it... I always get a little bit nervous... but really trying to follow the spirit.  Trying to be bold, trying to be friendly... and not worrying about being a little awkward, make contacting so good!  We try to contact for a bit as a district every week.  This week... we sang hymns by the river, and took turns swapping out to talk to everyone.  "Why do you think all of those white people are standing over there singing?" is always a fun way to start it up! :)

Probably the real highlight of this week was a Fireside that we got to have on Friday!  We did a fireside about missionary work.   You guys.  Think about how awesome this is... here in Phitsanulok we have... I'm pretty sure over 10 potential missionaries!  That's more missionaries than my ward in UTAH has out right now!  Wowza! :)  It was a really good activity, President Senior came all the way out here for it!  He did a finding activity with them using "Where's Waldo" to teach them the importance of the spirit, and using your companion!  We had my companion, Sister Sararad, Brother Boy (who is an AMAZING returned missionary) and Sister Dxey (also a returned missionary) as speakers!  We did a role play with everyone, where we practiced giving a Book of Mormon to someone!  At first... I was a little bit interested in how this activity would play out... because we had a couple of investigators and other members come to the fireside.  I was "companions" with one investigator (a friend of one of our youth) and my companion was companions with another woman, Sister Saa, who we've had the chance to begin teaching!  So... how are they gonna pretend to give out a Book of Mormon?  :)  Well... I started... I talked about how there was only one true church on the earth, and there was a way to know if this was it!  I gave my "investigator" (who actually... is an investigator) the Book, and then when it came time to switch, she said "wait... how will I know?" :)  I was delighted to not exactly do the assigned activity... but instead pull out a picture of the Godhead and explain about prayer, and the Holy Ghost!  She left the activity early with her friend... but I left her with the Book of Mormon, which she has apparently read from!  I'm excited to meet with her soon!  Our other investigator... Sister Saa left the activity with a date to be baptized!  Hooray! :)  I think the youth were also affected well :) it was really good!  I'm gonna attach a picture of everyone wearing there missionary shirts :) these are our sharp youth :) Way to go Phitsanulok!

Another awesome thing... the Elders had another baptism this week!  Hooray! :) I was invited to sing a musical number for it, which was fun I suppose!  This girl is awesome! :)  It's so exciting to see people get the chance to make covenants with God.  It was really cool to hear her talk in a Sunday School class for recent converts about what faith is.  That topic has come up so much recently... faith.  Haha... well... it actually comes up ALL of the time.  But.  I suppose people in talks, and thinking about different investigators, my thoughts have turned often to Alma 32.  Which has got to be one of my favorite chapters.  The analogy of the word and the seed.  Our faith growing as a tree grows.  I love that it makes this point of doctrine clear.  Sometimes... in our lives, we want to experience the blessings, see the miracles, feel the spirit, before we exercise our faith.  We just wanna eat the fruit.  We think... once I taste the sweetness... I'm gonna start watering my tree!  Buuuut.  In all actuality, we have to water that tree, we have to take care of it, looking forward to the fruit of eternal life.  But I can promise that keeping the commandments, going to church, reading your scriptures... all of it!  Really is a blessing.  It really does lead to the fruit.  We just have to be brave enough to keep watering our trees when we meet concerns, trials, and troubles.  The fruit will definitely come!

Annnnd.  I dunno what else to tell you about this week :)  Sorry this might be kind of a short one.  Maybe that's a relief though! :)  You guys, the gospel is true!  I love it so much.  And I'm so lucky to know, and to be able to have nothing else to focus on.  This is the true church!  Jesus Christ IS our Savior.  Heavenly Father really is our Heavenly Father, He really really does know us.  He really does love us.  Every one of us!  Regardless of what we've done!

You guys are the best. :)

Have a WONDERFUL week.

Love,

Sister Croft

It's so hot my liver is gonna burst.

hat's a Thai phrase I learned this week!  Hooray! :)

You wanna know how I learned it?  This week we had TRANSFERS.  Which... honestly... before my mission I was like "Yay.  People had transfers"  But actually packing up your suitcases... moving to a new place and then having a new person you're gonna spend 24 hours a day with... is actually kind of crazy!  My entire district ended up in Bangkok this week (a 6 hour bus ride to get there... and 6 to get back!).  Annnnd.  This is what happened.  Sister Muller left.  Sister Stewart, my trainer, left!  Sister Sararad who is a Khon thai, and who WAS Sister Muller's companion is now my follow up trainer.  And we got a new companionship of sisters.  Sister Mullen, and Sister Peterson, who just got here this week!  Crazy! Mannnn.  I am so lucky to have Sister Sararad!  She has been so patient with me so far... I can't even imagine having to listen to my Thai all day :P  Haha... that can't be fun at all.  But.  I feel like my Thai has improved already... having to speak Thai all day has taught me that... there are lots of things I don't know the word for.  And also that Heavenly Father is so good to me!  I have no doubt He has expanded my ability to understand and speak.  I feel like... I can understand a LOT of what's being said (depending on the subject matter and who is talking :) but still!) and that I can respond and at least... use circumlocution if nothing else!  It's crazy.  I just have to remember that none of that is me!  I feel like I'm like... driving a car... and all I have to do is push on the pedal and then I shoot forward.  It's crazy.  Man I'm blessed.  I still have miles and miles and MILES to go.  But I'm really really really blessed.  (Three reallys worth :) it's true!)

Annnnd.  What else.  This week has been so crazy because of transfers.  You spend a whole day in Bangkok, plus travel time... and my companion had to pack all her bags, and we had to help the new sisters.  So unfortunately... this week has felt a little bit less than productive!  Buuuut.  It's been good.  Right now we have a good handful of investigators (that's another weird thing... we were like... who do we teach... who do the new sisters teach? Crazy!) one of them is named Jonrag.  I think I mentioned him before.  He walked into the church one day by himself.  So he hasn't been baptized quite yet... but with in the next couple of weeks!  He should be!  I'm still amazed by that.  Literally nothing to do with us.

Annnnd.  Also.  Just a story for y'all.  Yesterday Sister Sararad and I went to visit this less active woman who I am pretty sure the Lord has been thinking of recently! :) I randomly (but prayerfully) called her several weeks ago just looking through our phone.  And Sister Sararad did the same thing a couple of days ago!  Yesterday Sister Stewart called me from her new area saying that a member there wanted us to go contact that exact same sister.  Wowza! :)  We had better get our tails on over there!  So we did... she seemed like a really nice woman!  Her story kinda hurt my heart though!  She was a strong member in her last branch, but when she moved here... she came for 2 months.  And no one talked to her.  So she just stopped going!  Ouch.  That just kills me!  It makes me want to vow to always look around when I go to church.  Always introduce myself, always be loving and warm!  I hope that we can show her how much we love her!  And I hope that we can help her come back to church and then feel the love of the ward members there!  It makes me think of that scripture... where everyone's names were recorded, so that they could be nurtured, and watched over!  No wonder we are supposed to do home and visiting teaching!  And no wonder every new convert needs a friend! :) It just hurts my heart to hear that she felt so unloved at our church!

And.  What else.  Oh yeah.  This week.  We had a Somtam cook off at our church.   Haha... I love it!  It's like a CHILI cook-off.  But THAI style.  Plus... I think I prefer Somtam to chili.  Anyway.  I ended up being one of the judges somehow... haha... the Brother that asked me to judge was like... "can you eat, blah?"  Which... is fish... when I was talking to people before it started they showed it to me... it's like... fish in a bag full of slimy... fish juice.  And it smelled really strongly... and was kinda scary.  I said "yeah... I probably can down it!" And so I did... :)  Haha... Sister Sararad told me I would get "Thong siia nanon" (sorry I spell stuff whatever way I want!) A.k.a. Diarrhea was sure to follow!  I was actually fine though!  :) Anyway.  That's just a random story.  :)

And finally.  This week I've had some very sweet experiences with learning from the spirit.  It's amazing how you can tell when Heavenly Father is working with your heart... for me sometimes it's subtle.  Definitely LINE upon LINE.  But eventually you come to a conclusion... and then realize that you've been learning all along!  I've been feeling like I needed to have a good long prayer with Heavenly Father about it, and so last night I did!  And what a sweet feeling!  To know that Heavenly Father teaches you, is aware of you, and is listening to you!  It was a prayer that I didn't want to end, even though I wasn't sure I had anything more to say!  Heavenly Father knows us, He loves us, and we can trust Him.  

I love you so much! :)  I hope you have a really awesome week!  YAY!  I love Thailand.  And I love the gospel!  And I love my fambly.  You guys are the coolest.  

Love,

Sister Croft

P.S. This is our district right before we all parted ways.  My new companion is in the purple/yellow dress.  She's awesome! :)  She's hilarious and sassy, and a really skilled teacher! 

Switch-offs, A New Investigator, Conference, A Baptism!

Okeeeeeey Dokey.  This week.  Was really good :)  It was kind of an odd week, because we had switch-offs AND we watched General Conference... but here are some of the highlights...

This week.  We had switch-offs with the Sister Training Leader from Chaing Mai!  I was with her companion, Sister DuPlessie, who was my Sister Training Leader in the MTC!  She is really awesome, and we had a great day of walking around and trying to talk to people about the gospel!  

This week... we had the chance to teach a referral from a Brother in our ward who helps us teach a lot, Brother O!  He referred us to his little brother, Brother Daw!  These brothers have such a funny dynamic, they're both quiet but really funny! :)  I love it!  We invited him to be baptized, and extended a baptismal date... and he kinda just said "yep" to which Brother O said "Do you understand what they just said?" "Yeah... do I wanna get baptized?"  "Oh... okay." Haha... it was heartwarming and exciting!  It's gonna be really exciting to get to teach more of the lessons... and help him progress towards baptism and conversion!  He came to watch conference, and he also got to see a baptismal service yesterday!  So that is so wonderful!

Also... we got to watch CONFERENCE!  I love Conference so much!!  It was wonderful to hear so many strong messages about the family, about missionary work, about covenants, about conversion, about the unchanging nature of God's laws, and about waiting on the Lord in our trails!  Conference is SUCH a spiritual feast, and I was so PUMPED to watch it!  :)  I also love that we are so able to receive specific spiritual guidance through Conference.  While there are clear themes in what the speakers talked about, I also feel like there were clear themes in what the Lord was trying to personally teach me!  I love those moments of clarity when the spirit speaks to you and helps you understand what the Lord wants YOU personally to know!  Just some other cool thoughts from Conference...

We invited some of our investigators and members to think of questions for Conference.  One of them had a question about how he would pay for his mission.  President Monson, the very first speaker in Conference, spoke about how people's donations have helped so many serve missions already.  WOW! I loved hearing him share his experience with such clear, powerful, and perso

nal revelation!  Another investigator told me that he had 3 different questions, and that each of his questions were answered.  He said something to the effect of "that conference question thing you told us about really works."  Yes sir, it does! :)  What an incredible opportunity to listen literally to the word of God, and then to have our hearts personally touched and instructed!  Conference is the BEST!! :D  I LOVE it! :) :)

Annnnnnnd.  My last thought about this week... yesterday we had a baptism here in Phitsanulok!  Wow!  :)  This adorable sister, Sister Pink, is just so awesome!  She really studied out the gospel... I wish we all had the desires to learn that Sister Pink has.  Seriously.  This is how awesome she is... she asked me to teach her the Plan of Salvation one day, just because she really wanted to know!  She also wanted to know what the 10 commandments were.  She read from the scriptures and wrote down questions for the Elders ALL of the time.  She read the doctrine of Christ and then... her question for the Elders was basically "So... I have to have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End?"  Yep.  That is correct!  It was exciting to see her testimony grow... when she first began meeting with the Elders she said she believed something like... "50%" but... slowly she increased her percentage, until, as she said yesterday as she bore her testimony.  "I am 100% sure that this is true!"  Her faith grew brighter and brighter... until the perfect day!  She is so great!  I am so amazed by how much she really did study this out, and I hope she never loses that zeal for studying and learning the gospel!  

Love,

Sister Croft.

P.S. Photos.  One of these is at Family Night... we played a game... involving baby powder.  Fun times!

 

Just a couple of miracles!

Things are really good here in Phitsanulok!  I wish everyone could come here and talk to the members and get to know Thailand!  It's awesome!  This week... the weather was really hot!  This week.. we ate a lot of Somtam.  This week... we saw several miracles, and probably many more that I didn't even notice!  It was a good week!  Especially for all of you that got to watch Conference!  Conference is the BEST! :D  YAY!  Watch it. :)

Here are a couple of miracles.  Talk about incredible.

1. Last Monday, a man walked into the church during Family Home Evening.  Nobody recognized him, so the other sisters went over and started talking to him.  I honestly don't know a whole ton about him, except that he really was prepared by God!  Wow.  I think his baptismal date is this week!  We literally did NOTHING to find him, as it says in Preach My Gospel (I think :)) God will either place prepared people in your way, or they'll find you!  Wowza.  That is incredible.

2. On Thursday Sister Stewart and I had an appointment pit, and so, on a thought, I mentioned a less active member of the church who lives about a 30 minute bike ride away.  We decided to go visit her, so we hopped on our bikes and pulled up at her work!  Just as we pulled up a younger girl who we got to teach until she stopped meeting with us because of tests at school randomly shouted out to us and came up to say hello!  Meanwhile the less active member, who saw us and was not necessarily happy to see us, snuck off.  The miracle that happened was... this young girl Oom.  Is the granddaughter of the boss of this less active.  We found this less active member and began talking to her.  We literally saw her heart soften from "I'm going to avoid these missionaries" to sitting down together.  This member talking about her mission fondly, and remembering what kind of work she did and why!  Wow.  I think there still may be some obstacles to be overcome before we can help her come back to church.  But think of how intricate and perfect that meeting was.  We came right as her work ended.  Sister Oom was there right in time to see us and soften this member's heart towards us.  Wow.  AMAZING!

3. Maybe like a week ago, Sister Stewart and I were at 7/11.  And this man said "Hey Sisters, how are you?" or something like that!  Sister Stewart asked him how he knew the sisters... well... it turns out he is a less active member of the church!  We had an appointment with him that didn't work out... and then that very same night we ran into him at the grocery store randomly.  Yesterday we met him at the church and talked with him.  He explained how he hadn't planned on going to the grocery store, but he felt tired so he went to go get some coffee.  He pulled up to the grocery store and saw our bikes, and thought that that was weird.  But it's a big store!  So the odds of us seeing each other weren't very good.  But right as we were leaving and he was going in we ran into each other.   He said something that I really loved!  He said "I don't know why I keep running into you, there is only one person that knows why I keep seeing you!  God!"  Wow.  Amazing!  I'm so excited to get to meet with him more!  

I'm sure God's hand is in our lives so much more than we know!  I love the verses in 3 Nephi where Christ says "How oft have I gathered you... how oft do I gather you... how oft will I gather you!"  It's amazing to see that God works with people way before missionaries get there.  And that He is always looking to gather us and help us!  It's not just the lost sheep that He's looking to gather under His wings either!  He cares for each of the 99 and He knows the 1.

I love you so much!  And I hope you have a wonderful week!  Next week :)  I'm pretty sure I'll have watched Conference too!  Hoorah!  Hopefully... I'll get to watch it in English :P  Though... I guess if I don't... it could be because we had an investigator come.  So maybe... hopefully I DON'T get to watch it in English :)

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Croft

P.S. here are some pictures from Saturday... we helped someone move... and so we ended up all traveling on a big open moving truck through beautiful parts of Thailand.  It was kinda fun! :)  And really hot.  :)  But really good! :)  Hopefully it's not bad that my Ma snapped a photo of me and my little brother (we technically are in the same group... so he's my twin.  Buuuuut.  He just graduated from high school.  So he can be my little brother!)  I promise we weren't the only ones there :)  Annnd.  A 9 year old girl who is so sweet got baptized on Sunday!  The church is growing! :)  Hooray! :)  That's all!

It's Raining It's Pouring.

Dear Family.  I'm not really sure what this letter will talk about... so... here goes.

This week it was kinda rainy.  Honestly it hasn't rained a whole ton since I've been here.  I mean... it has.  But it hasn't!  Usually when it has rained though... it's POURED.  This week it rained quite a few times, which makes things a little bit more difficult... but it's still good!  We got to play sports in the rain.  We... bike in the rain.  And I'll attach a picture of what our bikes looked like... when we parked for lunch one day!  We rode our bikes out to eat Somtam.  And discovered that our favorite place... was a little bit wet.  We went in to eat... and then I said "what if my bike falls over?" and then... a car drove through... and all of our bikes fell in the nasty water.  Haha.  You gotta love it!

This week was a little bit crazy for Phitsanulok!  On Tuesday morning... 2 of our district members found out they were supposed to leave for Chiang Mai ASAP.  Soooo.... they... packed their bags and left.  We now have a different District Leader.  Annnnd we have a Khon Thai Sister!  Hooray!  Elder Lucas and Sister Sararad are our new district members :)  I love Sister Sararad she is SO awesome :)  Elder Lucas is cool too :)  buuuuut.  He also doesn't live in my house!  So I don't really know what he is like!

This week... hmmm... what can I tell you.  This week was scattered and fast and kinda crazy!  My companion wasn't feeling well one day and Sister Sararad wasn't feeling well either so I went on exchanges with Sister Muller and we had some more greenie adventures!  Man.  What a crazy :)  and slightly emotionally exhausting day.  We taught a good lesson, a really tough and heartbreaking lesson, and a slightly crazy lesson.  When we rode our bikes home from the crazy lesson (which involved... us going to visit a Recent Convert who was formerly Christian... and sometimes has some of her former beliefs pop out.  :)  But besides that... a member randomly brought along a really new investigator...Ahhh!!!! :))  Haha... Let's just say... that night... I alternated between laughing and saying "AAHhhhh!" as we rode our bikes home!

We've come into contact with a lot of people that have learned with missionaries or have a Book of Mormon, or other "random" things like that!  I'm so excited to teach these people again!  

I'm not sure what else to tell you.  We are having a rough time helping people progress at the moment.  And... so... that can be hard!  Buuuut.  I am so grateful that every day we get the chance to testify to people that the gospel has been restored on the Earth.  If they don't wanna meet with us after we've approached them in Big C (a.k.a. Walmart but in Thailand!) then maybe... when they go to hunt beasts in the forest, like Enos, then they'll ponder on our words and want to know!  I can't say that I'm a super great missionary, or that I don't get frustrated with myself often!  

Buuuut I can say that I am so confident in the truthfulness of the gospel!  So confident.  So confident in the promises of God, that when we keep the commandments it will bless our lives.  Confident that God loves His children.  Confident that He restored His gospel through Joseph Smith.  Confident that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that reading it will bless our lives.  Confident that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and that Conference is IMPORTANT!  :)   Confident that God is aware of each of us personally and that He hears our every prayer. Confident that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that through Him and through His Atonement we can live with God again. 

It IS true.  And I am so blessed to know it!

Sorry... you got a sermon, and a bad report on my week!  :)  I hope you have a good week this week though!   Loooove you!

Love,

Sister Croft

Okay khaa.

Haha... for some reason that's what I said to myself before I wrote this letter "okay khaa."  My thoughts are scattered all over the place today :)  I feel like I have a bunch to do... but actually I really don't :) we're just emailing a bit later today!  Which story... I suppose is to follow! :)

This week... was kind of an abnormal one because we had Zone Conference and a District Conference... which involved us leaving on Thursday in the afternoonish... taking a 6 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai.  And then going to bed... and getting up for interviews/the works of Zone Conference :)  It was a really good zone conference, we talked about the act of faith required to produce the miracles!  Annnnd we talked about repentance and true conversion!  It was really awesome and I had a chance to identify a bunch of specific things I hope to do better!  :)  Ummmmm... let's see what else.  Saturday I got to go on switch offs with my grandma Sister Zatarin!  She was my trainer's trainer, and she is our Sister Training Leader.  We had the opportunity to go visit this woman who has been an investigator for 2 years... but is nervous about getting baptized.  She doesn't feel like she's ready!  It was a really good lesson... because somehow between that and District Conference I think she heard what she needed to hear!  I got to share my experience with being a bit nervous to go through the temple.  But really... it was the MEMBER Sister Dang that came with us that she needed to hear and talk to! :)  After our lesson she said she'd talked to the President... and then after District Conference :) she said she was gonna get baptized!  Hooraaay!!!! :)  That's so wonderful!

Then Sunday we had district conference which was all focused on the Family!  Which is AWESOME! :)  I love that topic, and I have a really have a strong testimony of how Heavenly Father puts us in families for a reason!  :)  It was a great conference!  The members are amazing here!  It was so cool to go to a real church building in Chiang Mai.  And then afterward to eat a ton of food prepared by the members... and see them all sitting around talking.  And also to see the kindness :) they'd prepared some farang food for President and Sister Senior and Elder Funk and his wife, who are the area authority over us!  It was great!

Alllso.  Just some more thoughts really quick... sorry this email might be a little bit short compared to some of the monsters I usually send! :)  But.  I really like thinking about something President Senior said to me in an interview!  He said... it might take someone 7 times of contact with the church to be interested... and I've just seen some little miracles... where I can see how the Lord is preparing people and maybe softening their hearts a little.  It's kind of awesome! :)  So I might be their 3rd contact.  And they aren't ready yet... but they'll have more chances to accept it... and I can be there as a representative of Christ, ready to try to help them as best as I can!  I've met some amazing people recently... we ran into... the neighbor of Sister Mink the other day... he had a Book of Mormon, and was trying to tell us he couldn't come to church because he drinks!  He has a Book of Mormon though... and is really awesome!  :)  Hooray!  I'm so excited to teach him!  He's supposed to come to FHE tonight!  The other day... I think it was actually last week!  An AMAZING miracle happened... we met this lady who is the mother of a teenage member!  She knows a lot about the gospel but had some concerns... and didn't get baptized!  She called out to us while we were randomly tracting on a random tiny street at a random time of day!  :)  AMAZING.  I am so excited to teach HER!  :)  More examples... plus the story!  So today... I accidentally got lost in Thailand!  I was gonna tell you... because I was a little nervous that my momma would be nervous.  :)  Buuuuuut.  It's okay :)  Just remember the Lord knows where His lost sheep are.  And I definitely found my way back to my companion, even without a phone! :)  Buuuuut.  My getting lost... lead to a couple of miracles I think!  Fiiiirst of all... I accidentally ruined the lunch of the other sisters in our district!  For which I feel awful.  But also... they ended up going to 7/11 for lunch instead.  :/ and then they ended up running into someone who saw their name badge... and then made this excited/shocked face, and exclaimed "ELDER?!?!?!"  WOW! :) :)  They found someone who has come to activities and apparently been taught by Elders at some point... who is interested in coming back!  We should see HIM tonight too! :)  What a blessing!  :)  Also... while I was waiting for my companion to come to where I was... (hehe... oh man.  I'm the biggest greenie ever!)  I was chatting with this man.  Who... kind of had this glimmer of recognition/amusement when he saw my name tag.  I asked him if he'd ever learned English before... he HAD.  In PROVO!  :)  What in the world?  That's random!  I got his phone number and invited him to English because my companion rode up and hugged me just as I found that out :)  Buuuuuuut.  Wow.  :)  I'm so excited to teach him!  I have high hopes for all of these people... but also... I know that... God knows where His lost sheep are... whether they be... lost Greenies.  Asking people  "able to send mail, where?" but actually probably something else... because... I am not always good at tones! :)  Or... whether they be... the person who is going to 7... and happens to find some "Elders!!" again!  :)  Isn't that amazing!?!?  Even if we don't know where they are... or if my companion doesn't know where I am... (I know... I'll be more careful :D Hehe... really though... it's okay :))  Heavenly Father knows!!  Which is why I wasn't too afraid to be lost.  And it's awesome to know that the Lord is aware of each person that we meet.  He knows them.  And he has been preparing them for what we have to say. WOW.  The church is true!  And I LOVE it!  :)

Have a lovely week :)  I won't get lost this week :)

Love,

Sister Croft

P.S. This is a picture of me and my companion and some of the AMAZING youth here in Phitsanulok!  All together at District Conference!

Thailand. Is a pretty great place.

Sometimes... I still have these weird moments where I'm like... "Huh.  This is my real life.  Here in Thailand.  Preaching the gospel."  That's weird... but.  It's SO good.  I like Thailand a LOT!  And sometimes it's weird to me that I didn't know the people I know before.  And that if I wasn't here... I would have no idea that they were even here.  I wouldn't care about these awesome people, because I never would've met them/I wouldn't have been able to talk to them!  Weiiiird stuff.  But I really love being out here and being a missionary!  It's hard and sometimes it's hard not to get frustrated with yourself!  And I definitely... have so much I could do better every day!  But I'm so grateful that we have the Atonement.  And that I get a chance to try to be better each and every day.  And that I get a chance to talk to people and meet and teach new people every day!  These people freak me out because they are SO awesome!! :)

First.  Lets talk about Sadang.  Sadang is awesome! :)    She is an investigator that we got from English class.  We teach English every week, and the first week everyone comes we do a little intro, and invite them to come learn with the missionaries!  So, apparently Sister Sadang and her brother were interested in learning from the beginning.  They are buddhist, but they go to a Christian school, so they have some Christian background.  It's kinda hard to find time to meet with Sadang.  Buuuuuut.  This week we got the chance, and it was awesome! :)  Even though this was our first lesson with Sadang, she had a Book of Mormon and she had a read a little bit of it (okay.  Back story to the back story.  She has a Book of Mormon because the other sisters have an investigator who is currently reading the Book of Mormon and LOVES it.  It is one of my favorite things to see him ride up to the church, whip out his Book of Mormon and carry it around with him like it's his prized possession!  At an activity, they were sitting by each other and he just started telling her about how sweet the Book of Mormon is, and she was like "I want one of those!"  Yeah.  Way to go Brother Mii (the other investigator).  She definitely got a Book of Mormon!)  So... she has a Book of Mormon, and we only have a few minutes to teach her... so we got a chance to tell her a bit about the Restoration, and how this is the only true church, and this book is evidence of that!  We taught her about how she can know for herself that what we're saying is true!  She thought that was so cool!  Which... it is!  How amazing is that?  There is only one true church on the Earth and you can know if this is it.  It's AMAZING.  Ahhhh.  I love the gospel.  I'm so excited for Sister Sadang!

Okay.  Nexxxxt.  Let's talk about church.  This week... Sister Stewart and I had a plan... where... I asked if I could do a musical number in church (Yeah... I know!  Volunteering myself to perform... sounds like me :P) and then we got to give people a tiny bit more motivation to come to church!  We were hoping to be able to get some of the Less Actives that we go visit to come to church!!  As the week rolled on... we had so many people commit to come to church.  Amaaazing.  Then Sunday rolled around... annnnnnd.  No one was there.  Sometimes that makes me laugh... a bit of a frustrated laugh.  But.  We can't do more than invite them!  :)  It was definitely sad though... but... I still had to do the musical number... so right as I stood up to go sing... Sister Waan walked in the door with her niece and daughter!  Wow!  I was thrilled!!! :)  It was kind of a blessing that she had these two, beyond cute, little girls with her!  Because... everyone loved them.  I wish more than anything that I could take a video of her niece saying "Sawadiikhaa" and doing a beautiful way.  It melts.  My heart.  Haha... yep.  It's one of those things that makes my voice go really high, and I can't even control it!  Oh man.  Buuuut.  Anyway!  :D  After sacrament meeting we took these two little girls up to primary, and Sister Waan stayed in there with them!  Also a blessing.  The primary president just happens to be Sister Mink, the member we took with us to teacher Sister Waan.  Sister Waan had a good experience at church though and said she was coming back before anyone asked her I'm pretty sure!  Wow!  :)

Annnnnd.  Finally... I just want to share something I learned in personal study yesterday preparing to go see that less active family I talked about last week.  (These are just my thoughts... which hopefully aren't blasphemous or anything :P)  I've been learning a lot about love out here.  Specifically, charity, the pure love of Christ.  As I was sitting there... trying to figure out what we should share with them... I tried to think about what the Savior would say if He were going to their house to visit them!  I wasn't totally sure... we've been there a lot.  They are an AWESOME couple.  They've done a lot for the church.  I can see that they know it still... but... something is stopping them from coming back.  We've shared scriptures...we pray for them, we invite them.  But, ultimately... it's up to them to do the actual coming to church!  A lot of times it seems like agency can be a point of frustration for missionaries.  You just want them to make the right choice!!!  Because you KNOW that they need to come back to church.  You know that we receive blessings from coming to church!  You know the blessings offered in the temple!   You know the blessing ultimately... of eternal life!  You see the goal and hopefully you want them to come back for all of the right reasons.  ... but you can't force anyone to choose.  So I flipped to Moroni 7, which describes charity.  And... actually... just flipping through the scriptures randomly I kept opening to scriptures that talked about love.  "Perfect love casteth out all fear..."  "Love your enemies"  "God is love..."  "That ye love one another"  Apparently... I have a lot to learn about love! :)  But... these are some of the thoughts that came to me.  Charity is long suffering.  God's perfect love for us is manifested in the fact that we have agency.  We have the freedom to choose!  His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man!  We are His work, we are His children, and He wants more than anything to have us return to Him, and to have us have what He has.  He knows the blessings.  He knows what "All that the Father hath" entails.  He knows our potential,  He loves us a lot more than I love our investigators or members!  A lot more even than parents love their children!  But still He allows us to choose.  While it must be agonizing to watch us choose wrong.  Just like it's hard for a missionary to be dropped by someone... but times a million!  It must be unbearable to have His children not come back to Him!  But... He does everything that He can for us... He provided a Savior.  He chastens us.  He is patient with us, in our weakness.  But still the choice is ours!  I don't know how to explain that over email!  But... it's just amazing to think about... and kind of not what it seems like at first!  I have SO much to learn about love!  Buuuuut.  Just some food for thought... if you can even see where that train of thought was going! :)

I love you family!  I'm excited for another week in Thailand... Time already feels like it's going too fast!  And I bet it's just gonna keep on rolling faster and faster!  Noooo!

Have a GREAT week!

Love,

Sister Croft

We had some rainy days this week.  Where we got SOAKING wet.  Also.  We road a bus on one of those rainy days... and... then this weird... motorcycle with like... a pushy... cart.  Thing in the front where you ride.  It was windy.  Like... boating.  But more pleasant :)  I liked it.  Haha... and apparently.  I couldn't open my eyes because it was tooooo windy.  Haha... maybe not an attractive picture.  Buuuuut.  Oh well.  It was fun! :)

That's all.