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! :)