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.