Dearest Family!!

I'm in THAILAND!!!The flight felt like an eternity! I'm so happy to be here! I'm serving in Pak Kret with Sister Carter! Our apartment is adorable. We have a cute yellow couch and a tiny lil fridge. It's hot and humid. I love it. Seriously. This has been an exciting first few days in Thailand! Our first day, we had our blood drawn at this random hole in the wall doctors office. That was quite the experience. The nurse asked me how much I weighed and I started telling her in thai...one hundred..and she just burst out laughing! In Kilos, that's like 200 pounds! oops! Then she asked me how tall I was and I said 5'8". Wrong again! So she just weighed me and measured me herself. We both laughed so hard. I went Dan Jones-ing and placed a Book of Mormon with one of the Sister Missionaries! It was great, the girl we gave it to understood me and gave us her information to come teach her more! I love President and Sister Senior! They are so wonderful and just down to earth. We have the most adorable senior missionaries too! 

Today is Sonkgran! Yeah, I'm not really sure what to tell you. It's so fun! Everything is closed for the Holiday. People started celebrating Thursday? and it goes until tomorrow. We went to the church this morning at 7 to help set up decorations. It looked kinda like a Hawaiian Luau. They had traditional flowers (they smell SOOO good) and other decorations. I'm not giving this holiday justice, I'm so sorry. So Sister Carter opened up this area 4 weeks ago. Our huge group of 28 new missionaries kinda threw off the whole transfer schedule. Anywho, there is a lot of work to do here. We need to find our investigators!I am a lil overwhelmed with everything I want to tell you. I can't thing straight.

Riding a bike in Bangkok is insane! We cross all lanes of traffic I'm pretty sure everyone just drives as fast as they want. Anything goes in Thailand. It amazes me, but somehow it works. I think because everyone is so sabi and chill things just work themselves out. I love it. Bangkok is smelly. Like so many different smells all happening at the same time. Some good some bad some terrible. That is going to take some getting used to. There are dogs everywhere. It's a sin to kill animals so they just roam free and no one has a problem with it. Thai people love plastic bags. They put everything in plastic grocery bags. I love the food! So far so good. I had some spicy curry that was pretty good. I tried something with this fishy sauce kinda flavor that I was not a fan of. There is fruit everywhere! So delicious! The grocery store is like a mall. There are random kiosks everywhere. My second day here, we went grocery shopping and I was completely overwhelmed. I can barely handle grocery shopping in America. I also rode in a tuk tuk my second day. We piled four sister missionaries into one, it was so fun. We took a bus the other day - it had no air conditioning and wooden floors. So funny.

I loved being able to hear the talks from general conference again.When I watched it in Provo, I had a lot of questions about what was expected of me here. I learned that the most important thing is to be exactly obedient, love the Lord, and love the people. While watching conference here in the beautiful church building, it was freezing!! I thought I would never be cold again! I added some questions to my list. I want to know what the Lord wants us to do in this area. I want to know how we can find these people that the Lord has prepared. Sister Carter and I fasted on Sunday and I feel like an answer that I got during conference was during Elder Holland's talk. There are so many things that I don't know, and things I don't understand because of the language, but I can hold fast to what I do know! I am excited to walk by faith and press forward trusting in the Lord. There are a lot of potential investigators from English class (we get to teach English every Tuesday!!) that have expressed a desire to learn more so I feel like that is the first place that we should start! I am ready to work hard and find these people. The Lord will help guide us and correct our paths if it's not right. I'm so grateful that my Heavenly Father is patient with me and my imperfections. Imperfect people is all he has ever had to work with! I loved that talk by Elder Holland so much. I know this church is true! I am so excited to share this message of Jesus Christ with the people of Thailand! I'm here!!! Have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Sahagun

Sister Sahagun has arrived in Thailand!

MTC Week 8

Thailand Sisters

My Dearest Family!!!

Happy Easter!!! I know that my Redeemer lives! We had the most amazing Easter here in the MTC. Sacrament meeting was kind of a historic deal. There were 3,000 missionaries that all took the sacrament together. It was so incredible to see 100 Elders passing the sacrament to us all. I can't even explain the beautiful spirit that was in that meeting. Bishop Causse (Presiding Bishop) and his wife were the speakers at our meeting. It was so incredible. I feel so blessed to have been at the MTC for this long. I've learned so much! Our Devotional speaker on Sunday night was Sheri Dew!!! Ah, I just love her. All day there was this amazing theme of the Atonement. Sheri Dew told us this story about a time she and her brother were stranded in last chance Colorado and were rescued by their dad. She talked about how the Savior can help us in similar ways. He's not our last chance, He's our only chance!

 

We moved classrooms this week! That's not really that exciting to any of you, but it's a big change for us! It's not as hot and stuffy in our new room. It's also nice to have a new perspective for our last week. AHHHH!!! It's our last week!!!!! We got our travel plans last Thursday and I wouldn't let myself look at them until I finished memorizing Joseph Smith's first vision in Thai. Well, it's still pretty rough, but I've got it and I'm soooo excited! We'll be on the plane for 47 hours or something I'm just kidding I don't really know I'm still trying to figure out how long it is since we're losing a day whatever. You all can figure it out and write me about it. We leave Monday at 4:30 in the afternoon. SO glad I don't have to leave early in the am. ALSO!!! We got our new name tags that have our names in THAI!! AH! It's just so cool. I do need to send some stuff home. That would be so helpful if Stacy could pick some of that up! Send me her information in a dear elder please and I'll work that out with you. Thanks for the cute Crocs!!! ( said no one ever...until there were cute mary jane ones that are perfect for missionaries!!) I can't wear the open toed sandal ones, but the mary janes are great! Wore then to the temple this morning in the rain. They'll be perfect for Thailand.

 

I'm sorry this isn't that great of an email. I left my sticky note of things to tell you in my residence...I know there was so much more I was supposed to tell you! And if I haven't told you before, this is always the most stressful 30 minutes of my week. I type so slow and I never know how to fit all the good stuff in.

 

Yesterday Sister Mullen and I taught one of our investigators, Bukkhi. After the lesson our teacher just said,"Sorry I have to be Sister Roper for a minute"..."How do you do it? What do you think about when you teach? " She just told us that from day one she could feel the love that we have for her. Our first lesson with her actually she cried a little bit and yesterday she told us that she never cries, but during that lesson she just had this thought of "I can't be in Thailand to teach, but they  can and they'll be amazing vessels for good." Ah, it was just the nicest best feedback I could have dreamed of from our teachers! We're definitely not perfect teachers or perfect at Thai, but our investigators can tell that we love them and that God loves them.

 

Have a wonderful week!!!

 

Love,

Sister Sahagun

MTC Week 7

Dearest Khrccbkhrua, (Pretend like the c's are backwards...it makes the awh sound)

 

Hello I love you! Happy Easter!! Thanks for the package! I just love this time of year! They are planting tulips here at the MTC and I really hope they start to bloom before we leave. How is everyone? I got an email from Nick this week, it sounds like he's working hard, loving his companion, and just being a good missionary. I am so excited to see Aubree here!!! And Conference is coming up! AH! I just can't wait!

 

So, I was asked to be a coordinating sister...like a week and a half ago. I check in with the senior companions, make sure everything is good with the khuu-ship and give support and love to all the Sisters. It kinda feels like a visiting teaching coordinator thing. I love getting to know everyone. The coordinating sisters before me used to come around every night and check in and chat and it was always such awkward timing because everyone was getting ready for bed, writing in their journals and winding down from the day - not much time ya know? I really felt like I didn't want to do that. There were a couple things I wanted to differently actually. Last night, we (There are 2 coordinating sisters) decided to write down a scripture on a sticky note and doorbell ditch it on their doors. It was so much fun! I hope this can be a way to show our love and support without taking up everyone's night time. Maybe I'm just thinking way too much about this. Anywho, love these sisters, learning how to be a better leader and serve the sisters around me.

 

I am leaving April 8th. I am not counting down. I'm doing my best to be in the middle. Go read the talk about that from Elder Uchtdorf. Love it. I am so grateful for the time I've had here in the MTC to study the scriptures,  study the language, and learn the fundamentals of teaching. I honestly feel like I've learned more about how to be abetter teacher in these 7 weeks than I have learned in a whole semester of Education classes at BYU. My teachers are AMAZING. I'll tell you all about them someday.

 

This week I've thought alot about faith. We read Alma 32 together as a distric and it was so wonderful to hear everyone's insights. I really loved verse 22. It reminded me of God's love for us. He wants all to believe on His word. His message is an invitation to all to come unto Christ so that His mercy can be extended to all. I just love that He is so powerful and merciful all at once. He truly loves us. I wish I could better express my thought better.

 

Have a wonderful week! Happy Easter! Hide some eggs for me to find in a couple years!

 

Love,

Sister Sahagun

MTC Week 6

A Windy day At The Missionary Training Center

This has been another glorious week here at the MTC! It's getting warmer and it is so sad to be inside our little classroom all day. It's definitely preparing us for Thailand though oh dear so hot in that room. Oh! Have I told you about TRC already? So every Saturday we teach two 20 minute lessons to volunteers that are usually returned missionaries from Thailand. It's so fun, it kinda feels like visiting teaching. This week they didn't have enough volunteers so we ended up teaching Brother Shipley for one of the lessons. I am so grateful though because after our lessons we went back to class and did an evaluation with him and he was able to give us some really good feedback. He told us to just be confident, and commit people to read to Book of Mormon forever. We're still laughing about that. We taught about receiving revelation through church attendance. (look up revelation in the bible dictionary, so good) Something I learned in preparation for this was that the principle of revelation is the principle of salvation. If we want to learn, progress, and change to become like our Heavenly Father receiving revelation is the way we come to know personally what the Lord would have us do. I hope that made sense. Our second lesson went really well too and our volunteer even said we had great Thai! Ah, that made my day. Thai is so wonderful. I'm so grateful that the sentence structure mostly follows English. For the most part anyway...We've been reading a lot more this week. It's SO hard! Especially since I haven't memorized all the letters...working in that. It is the best feeling thought when you can read a word right! Ah!!

I spelled my first Thai word right!

 

The MTC is great, I can't believe I've been here for 7 weeks. So funny story about the Elders in my district....they play a game every week. They call it "Game." I don't even know it's just funny. So basically they just write down challenges on note cards that they sell in the bookstore and they let us read some of them yesterday. One was, set Elder Mageno's watch 27 minutes fast. Elder Cutler had to eat a tissue paper. Elder Hunt had to tear out 20 pieces of hair out. Elder Martin wore 16 ties at once. Another one was don't read from the Pearl of Great Price the rest of the time you are in the MTC. Oh brother! The elders said they are making one for the sisters. Oh and Elder Hunt had to knock on someones door and then ask for someone and then jellyfish away. Elder Mageno had to go around sobbing all around on a different floor. They keep us entertained.

 

It really has been such a good balance. The crazy dose of fun from the Elders keeps me sane and I feel so much more patient with myself than the first few weeks I was here. I love the time I have to study on my own. I have grown so much in this short time here. I love my Savior. Christ is utterly incomparable to what I am- in what He knows, has accomplished, and who He is. And yet, He calls me friend. I am overwhelmed by His love for each of us. Last Sunday we watched a talk from Elder Holland (always so good) and this really stuck with me: Why is this so hard? (Life, your mission, whatever it may be.) Because Salvation is not a cheap experience. Why should it be easy for us if it want easy for Him? The road to Salvation goes through Gethsemane, it carries a cross to Calvary. We must expect to have some of those same experiences. And the most beautiful thing to me is that we go through these hard things and we are never alone. I am so grateful for the Atonement. I am grateful for God's love, His son, and the knowledge that I have that He lives.

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Sahagun

 

MTC Week 5

Dear Family,

This has been another lovely week at the MTC! I can't believe time is going this fast. It makes me crazy to think about it. Our Phii Thais left for Thailand yesterday! We will be joining them in just 4 short weeks. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I'm feeling good though.

I finally got to see Elder Sahagun again! We ran into each other a couple times actually. I saw him this morning at breakfast and he said, "Hey, so do you wanna take some of my stuff and send it to me? My laundry bag doesn't fit and I don't know what to do with it." Me-"Did you try folding it up and putting it in your bag?" Him-"No. It's full of dirty clothes." Oh dear. I told him to fold them haha it sounds like they won't have time to do laundry before they leave. Hopefully he figures that out. I probably won't see him again before he leaves. So sad! He came to my classroom yesterday and gave me the Girl Scout cookies (THANK YOU!!!) and I gave him a huge hug and almost lost it. He's going to be such a good missionary!

I wish you all could just read my journal or something, that would be so much easier! I don't even know how to explain all the amazing things I am learning here. I read this AMAZING talk by Brad Wilcox called His Grace is Sufficient. LOOK IT UP! (byu speeches.byu.edu) It changed my life and my understanding of the word grace. I have felt my Savior's love so much this week and my testimony of the Atonement has grown so much. His grace is not the finishing touch; it is the Finisher's touch. Ah, I just loved that so much and I can't say it any better, so just go read it. I love being a missionary!!!!! AH! Experiencing the spirit teaching others through you is just incredible.

The language is so beautiful. We have made some hilarious mistakes. Yesterday during our lesson, Sister Mullen was intending to commit our investigator to continue reading the Book of Mormon, but instead asked her if she would commit to reading it for the rest of her life! Our investigator just looked at us for a second, "...for the rest of my life? YES!" It was so funny! Especially since our investigators are our teachers! At least it was an eternal commitment for something great! Read the Book of Mormon for the rest of your life!

I love you all, have a wonderful week! The church is SO TRUE!!

Love,

Sister Sahagun

MTC Week Four

Dearest loved ones,

The MTC is now home to Sister AND Elder Sahagun!!!! The day he came in to the MTC was one of great excitement and rejoicing in the Thailand district! (Mostly just me and my companion...or just me) Sister Mullen got a package slip after lunch so naturally we had to go get it right at that moment. It was around 2-ish and I just kept thinking "Nick is coming any minute!!!" On our way to the mail room I ran into a Sister I knew at BYU it was so fun to see her, and then all the sudden someone grabbed my shoulder and it freaked me out! I turned around and it was Elder Sahagun looking super anxious, a lil excited, and lost with this huge grin!!! I was so shocked that we actually ran into him I was speechless. He gave me this super awkward missionary handshake and that was pretty much it. His host was walking away and the whole situation was just weird. Oh brother, I should have just hugged him! I haven't seen him since and I have no idea how he's doing or where his classroom is or anything! I got his box number from the front desk and they let me send him a message so I could get those pictures from him, but he just left the bag in my classroom without a note or anything! Such a punk! Any-who, I probably won't run into him since we have such different schedules, but I'll send him a message and you all should too. He's only here until March 13th so write him lots! Use dearelder.com! He'll love that.

Elder Nicolas Sahagun

MTC Mailbox #158 VA-RICH 0313

2005 N. 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1793

Elder Russell M. Nelson was our devotional speaker last Tuesday! It was amazing, I love every devotional here. He talked about how much the Lord trusts his youth. It's incredible to think about that and go through all the examples we have of that in the church especially Joseph Smith. The Lord trusts us! We must live worthy of that trust! Also, Preach My Gospel is the best book second to the Book of Mormon. I love it. Every question I've ad about being a better missionary, improving my scripture study, being a better planner, all of them have been answered in that book. This work is hard, but I know that I can do it with the Lord's help. I am so happy.

Thai is coming along. It's such a pretty language! Sister Mullen and I have memorized our purpose in Thai!! Oh and I can read script! It takes forever just to read one verse or scripture. There are so many rules and exceptions, but I guess it's not as bad a learning English. I think the hardest part is figuring out what tone it is. We are teaching two investigators right now, and we will begin teaching a third one this week (It will actually be a companionship from our district). Oh dear some of the Elders in our district say the most random thing. Elder Smith to our teacher Brother Shipley, "Do the people in Thailand use rice for sacrament instead of bread?" It was hilarious. That is not a thing. There is bread in Thailand. Wow.

Sorry this was all so random. All is well. I'll keep an eye out for Elder Sahagun. I hope you are all healthy and happy! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Sahagun

Missionaries going to Thailand

My MTC District