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.

Ketchup, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Ovaltine

Deeeeearest Family.   You are the best! :)  I'm glad that everyone is doing pretty well.  The title this week... is brought to you by "things that I didn't expect to be popular in Thailand... that ARE popular in Thailand."  Yes.  It's true :)  Unexpected, but true! :)  I'm trying not to rekindle my old childhood addiction to Ovaltine :P  Haha.

Also.  Another funny thing.  Something that cracks me up sometimes here... is when people see us go by, and they just think we're so funny!  What are these white kids doing here? :)  Haha... I take it as an opportunity to be friendly, and hope that they'll want to learn more someday because they remember the missionaries who always "biked wayed" to them.  Buuuut.  My favorite is when people give us a thumbs up and say "very good."  It just makes me feel... very good.  :)  I love it! :)  I also love it when people... run out and say hello to us or something... and then are like... oh man... now they're actually coming to talk to us... noooo!  :)  But we do get a chance to talk to a lot of people because they're interested in learning English.  It's awesome!

Anyway.  This week has been a good one!  Why is it so hard to remember everything that you do in a week?  So much happens... and then it's hard to say when it did... but here goes...

This week!  We invited someone to be baptized on September 29th and she accepted the date!  Her name is Waan.  She owns a cocoa yen (yen means cool...) little shop.  And she has a daughter, and she's really great!  The Elders were teaching her before, but now we're teaching her!  She hasn't learned very much yet...but I have high hopes for her!  

Hmmm... I'm going to tell you about some more awesome members here in Phitsanulok!  Sister Amy.  Is AWESOME.  She has twin boys, named Nick and Name.  She is in her 50s I think.  And she is AWESOME! :)  Haha... she just makes me laugh so much!  I wish you could meet her!!! :)  The first time I met her she came to clean the church, and Sister Stewart told me she was kind of a less active lady... she definitely isn't less active anymore!  She calls us all the time and asks us what she can do to help us!  She LOVES coming with us to teach.  The first time she did she called us afterward and said "I LOVE SERVING.  It feels SO awesome!" annnnd today when she called us she told me "I want to serve... because I want to receive blessings... pause... and then she bursts into laughter!"  Haha.  Sister Amy is just so great.  I can't even tell you about her.  She just dyed her hair purple :) and she makes the most expressive faces ever.  And she has amazing faith, and loves to serve!  She told us this story... she said "Once... I was cleaning the church... and then afterward I was so hungry, so I prayed and said 'Heavenly Father, I'm really hungry, and I cleaned the church today.'  and then... someone just showed up at the church with food."  I LOVE it.  If only we could all have Sister Amy faith.  She also prayed that Heavenly Father would send sister missionaries to Phitasnulok.  And then He did.  We now have 4 Sisters and 2 Elders.  I love it!  She has AMAZING faith.  I'm working on having Sister Amy faith :D

Annnd.  Another thing that we do... is go visit a lot of Less Active people.  Which I really like doing I've decided :) I just want them to come back so badly!  They'll show us their baptism pictures... or tell us about their conversion.  And sometimes it's hard to help them rekindle their faith kind of!  Right now... we have this less active family, I'm DYING to come back!  Their names are Bunmii and Daw.  And I've heard they used to be strong members, and used to be so giving in their time to the missionaries, they would go everywhere, preaching the gospel, and helping the branch grow!  And now... I think there are some habits and struggles that have entered into their lives.  We've been to visit them... twice I think since we've been here!  We took the Branch President with us this week... and we sang a hymn, and taught out of Alma 5, and talked about the Savior!  (I love that chapter! It's awesome!) The spirit was there, and I KNOW they know it's true... it's just hard to help them step past whatever... fear... or problem, or whatever stumbling block is in the way!  There are some other less actives that are similar.  I just really want them to come back, and I know that they have the knowledge it's true, but they need kind of a rekindling... and hopefully through love, and direct invitations, and kind of trying to rekindle that faith, we'll get em back to church!  It's gonna happen.  I'm determined to get this couple to church!  It also makes me think... I probably didn't even think about the people that didn't come to church in our ward.  I probably didn't even know who they were.  Which is reaaaaally silly, I probably didn't even give them a second thought... besides like... man.  I wonder why they don't come to church.  Buuuuuut.  There is definitely work to be done there too!  Because it's all the same work!  

Annnnnd.  Also.  This week.  Brother Gap told us he might get baptized next month!  Which is AWESOME!  He's the great one who has been an investigator forever because of some family/cultural things that have pushed off his baptismal date!  It's really exciting!  He is so excited to be a missionary.  And he'll be a great one!  He helps us teach all the time already!  But it's awesome... as my companion pointed out to me... we talked to him about baptism... on the last day of a 40 day fast that our branch did (someone fasting everyday for 40 days, for missionary work!)!  Really awesome!

Also.  I'm getting less and less afraid of talking to people :) Haha.  Which is good.  This week I stood and sang hymns in a parkish thing... chased someone down that I thought I might want to talk to... and... I try to be friendly and cheerful to everyone I meet!  It's still kinda hard/scary to not know what people are saying back to you... buuuuuut.  :)  It's good!  :)  I love Thailand!  Woohoo! 

Love,

Sister Croft  

P.S. The guy in red is Brother Gap.  

Ummmm...

Sometimes I can't think of anything to put for a title.  Oh well :)  Haha... as long as it's not "Another week"  ;)

 

First I'll answer some questions from my momma... sacrament meeting is really good!  I don't really get what people are saying usually... in fact a lot of the time I'm like... "ehhhh..." and then I proceed to nod my head encouragingly... and pray that they're saying only true statements.  It's probably not a good practice, because sometimes I don't know if they are... but.. I'm working on understanding!  Sacrament meeting really is good though :) ... it's still a chance to take the sacrament, and feel the spirit, and be strengthened by other people's faith!   

We basically... don't ever cook :P that's maybe not good... I'm not even sure what to cook though!  We usually eat out for basically every meal!  At little carts... or those like... 3 wall restaurants. 

We go use the computer at an internet cafe thing. 

We have a cell phone, it's not a smart phone.  But it does have a touch screen, which is too smart for me :P haha.  Sometimes it takes me like 5 minutes to call someone.  First I have to scroll using my fingers... then accidentaly almost call 10 people.  Then I have to find their name in Thai. 

It is preeeeetty hot somedays.  Haha... my companion says, "you know it's bad when you have upper lip sweat"  or when you cross your legs and your leg starts sliding off because you're so sweaty!  Pleasant I know :)  Haha.  But we survive the heat for sure!  It's usually okay! 

 

This week was good, man... so much stuff happens in one week.  It's really hard to remember what we did... and what I've told you...and what was when!  Did I tell you about those two girls from English class?  Sister Ooom and Sister Dxey.  The ones who ask really good questions!  We've had one more lesson with them... well on splits!  But both of them had prayed and said they felt good and believed in God and in Jesus Christ!  Hooray! :)  I'm so excited to teach them more!  But... unfortunately they have tests right now... and school is making it really hard to meet with them!  I think we'll get to see them on Tuesday though! 

 

Hmm.... what else... we did a lot of service this week!  We went and helped this family sand and paint, and then on Saturday we went and helped at this English camp for a really long time!  I really like teaching English sometimes.  Haha... I think I'm better at teaching the really simple than the complex... and I also think I'm probably "that crazy farang" who makes them review vocabulary a lot so it'll stick to them... and tries to make everybody talk!  Hehe... if only I would take my own advice :P  The English teacher that teaches there comes to sacrament meeting!  She says that she likes feeling good, but whenever we try to talk with her more she is like "no no no, I don't have time for that!"  Or "I already know about it"  She has a really good heart though, and really cares about her students... we'll soften her up sometime soon hopefully ;)  It'd be great to teach her!

 

Hmm... we've had a lot of people pit on us (cancel an appointment, not show up, not be at their house... you know :) haha... I just turned to the other sisters and said... is "pit" an English word... or is that a Thai word?) this week.  So we haven't had a chance to meet with a lot of the awesome people that we've met.  We've tried to talk to that Christian woman that we met at the gas station, she is so amazing!  But also we were a little nervous to go teach her... because it'd end up not being teaching... because she doesn't feel like she needs anything more!  So... when I called her to try to change an appointment, I told her straight up that we really want to share the message of the restoration with her!  And she told us we could come by one day... and then... she pitted on us.  :(  Bummer!  It's hard when people don't want to learn, or don't want to meet with you!  I just want everybody to learn and recognize the truth!  And also... sometimes it makes me both laugh and sigh with frustration when we ride out a long ways to do service, or to talk to people... and then we call them because they aren't home... and they're randomly gone... noooo! 

 

Also.  The Elders in our district had a baptism this week!  Hooray!  The newest member of our branch is amazing!  His baptism was after that English camp, and the Elders had a member turn on the water so that the font would be full when we got there a bit before the baptism... but thennnnn... we got there and the water was turned off and the font drained.  Someone turned it off when they were cleaning the church!  NOOO!  So... we filled the font with every source of water that was available in that building... and a hose from outside.  And so we had a slightly late baptism in pretty dirty looking water!  But it was a baptism none the less!  I am so excited for him!!  Wow!  I'm just amazed by the faith and courage of people, and so happy at the covenants and steps that are being made!  Yay!!!  Brother I-team has the truth in his life!  I'm so happy for him!!

 

One more paragraph, we have 4 or so new investigators that I'm so excited about!  A brother and sister who are really interested, and want to know more, just because they're awesome!  And there is a mother and a daughter who are amazing!  The daughter speaks incredible English.  She's going to start up a nursery here in Thailand that will teach both English and Thai I'm pretty sure... part of my heart says.  Man that sounds like a dream... coming back and volunteering in Thailand in a nursery!  Thai kids are ADORABLE.  :)  But they are just such amazing people!  We had a lesson with them... the daughter has already learned a lot with other missionaries in Bangkok, and the mom is learning for the first time, and she has a lot of questions, which is so good!  Today we went to breakfast with them before they head of to Bangkok, and we ended up talking about the temple and how we could be sealed for time and all eternity in the temple!  The daughter is engaged, and will be getting married in a couple of weeks!  Man.  I just want them to have the gospel!!!  I'm learning... not to tip-toe so much with how I testify.  I get nervous sometimes... (this is not a good thing little brothers :)) to tell people the truth!  Because I don't want them to turn away!  I've seen the "ehhhh... now they're talking about Christ" look in people's eyes a lot!  And so I get nervous.  But also... honestly, all I can do is present the truth!  And really testify of the truthfulness... and then they choose whether or not to accept it!  I proceed with caution sometimes, instead of being bold!  That's not very good!  When we go out finding people we're supposed to talk about the restoration!  It seems kinda scary... because that's a pretty bold statement.  Part of me gets nervous about the change in countenance, the "My ow" (that's how you say it :)  but it just means like... not interested at all) attitude that happens.  Buuuut.  Actually.  What we're saying is the absolute truth!  And those who are ready will hear it... and if they're gonna be totally turned off after we say it... it probably doesn't matter too much when we say it... whether we tip toe around it and then share that slowly... or... whether or not we share the truth with them to begin it!  Maybe I'm preaching false doctrine in saying that :P but... I'm learning to be more bold!  Haha... I know that's weird because, I AM the girl who sings really loudly everywhere I go... and speaks my mind most of the time... but...it's kinda scary sometimes :) but also such a priviledge.  To know the truth first of all.  Second of all... to be the way Heavenly Father tells someone about the truth!  The most beautiful and true truths ever!  The gospel is true, I KNOW it!  And I'm so blessed to know it! 

 

Love you so much!  Have a GREAT week!

 

Love,

Sister Croft

P.S. pictures... that's the first rice field I've seen here :P  And just some... Thailand for you!  :)