Transfers!

Dear Family,

P.S. Transfers were last week! I didn't set you up for this week very well... There are tons of changes! First, before all that, Sister Maughan got so much done before we left. I miss all those recent converts and the members in Udon. That was the place I've felt most comfortable my whole mission. Comfortable = not for long change is inevitable. So we found out Monday we were moving and just worked really hard the next two days met with 8 investigators and 2 RC's. And we packed. I simplified my life, got rid of stuff, and it feels great. Transfers were so exciting. Almost everyone in the mission moved. We now have two Elders in MYANMAR!! There was such an exciting spirit in that room. The work is hastening. We now have missionaries in all 3 countries of our mission! I wonder when they'll send Sisters there. Next, Goodbye Sister Maughan and Hello Sister Carter! Isn't that fun? Another Carter. White-washing in woot! We are serving in Din Daeng right in the heart of Bangkok. The mop (mob) is practically right outside our window. We are in the Askoe Ward. Yep, an actual ward! I love it. There haven't been Sisters in this area for 2 or 3 years! So we are basically taking over the ZPL's (They were additional AP's I don't know how to explain it) area. They did good work here. Two of their investigators got baptized on Sunday! The area book is bursting with Recent Converts it's great. The Elders left us some great people and the worst notes about them. "She's money. She wants baptism." We're working on getting to know our people. I can't believe I'm in Asoke. There are millions of people here. I could literally stand in the same place all day and talk to a thousand different people. I love it so much. We are right in the middle of everything. The mission office is 4 stops away on the MRT from our house (We are most likely moving. I will explain. Sum up. Something like that) It's so exciting to walk our of our apartment and just be surrounded by all these people. Our first day here it just threw me back to my first day in country. Everything was overwhelming and new. I kind of felt like a new missionary all over again that first day, but now that we're figuring out transportation and such it's just fun. I would be so lost without Sister Carter. She's 19, from Marietta California, and super easy going. Our first day here we met this girl named Mickey and we've taught her pretty much every day since then, once with Sister Senior, and she is just amazing. She'll be getting baptized next Sunday. Sister Senior is adorable. I feel so spoiled that we get to teach with her. She told us today that she was going to call Mickey "Do you think she'll remember me? Does she understand English?" She's helping us teach her again tonight. I really just feel spoiled. Bangkok is such a faster pace than Isan. I don't know what I like better yet. I love being surrounded by all these people, but I'm missing the สบายness of Udon. 

Mom, you asked about a memorable contacting experience of the week. I was trying to decide whether to talk to this man in English or Thai. He looked kind of Thai and I found out later that he was half Thai. There are people here from all over, it's so fun. So I picked Thai, told him about baptism and he responded in Thai. Yes! So then he asked why I knew Thai and kind of small talked and then all of the sudden he says really abruptly in English "Alright how much money do you want from me?" I said, "No money sir!" Then what do you want from me? I told him I was inviting him to learn more about Christ and then he said "I thought you were going to ask me to marry you." The nerve. I have no idea what face I made I don't even remember what I said, but he was completely serious. He seemed to be kind of in a hurry and confused and said it would be better if we just sat down for some coffee sometime and talked. Also not going to happen. He asked for my number. I honestly still don't know what our number is...Sister Carter wrote it down in her planner, but I didn't have it so that was nice. 

So about our living arrangements. Right now we have 5 sisters in a one room apartment on the 33rd floor of Lumpini Park View. It's a glorious view. It is definitely supposed to be a 2 Sister house. The odd number is because we have a con Thai Sister living with us for the week, she is getting ready to go to the MTC in the Philipines. She's awesome, I've learned a lot from her in 3 days. So 3 of us are sleeping on the floor and there are suitcases everywhere. It's not too bad actually. There only used to be sisters in this the international ward but now there are also sisters in the Thai ward thus 4 people do not fit and we have to move. The problem is we're all to chill to make a big deal about it. In fact, the Sister that just moved out of this area found out there was 5 people in the house and she was so mad we hadn't moved yet. So just when I was feeling more confident and decisive I now get to help make all these decisions about moving. 

Also, this is most definitely not a biking area. I miss my bike! But I know I would die if I tried to bike here. It's okay. I have a fast pass for the MRT and every day it feels like were shuttling to Disneyland. "Is this going to take us somewhere else?" Yes mom. 

This man on the left in the baptism picture is from Finland! Sister Carter and I were contacting on the corner outside the MRT kind of by the mission home and he  just walked up to us and was lost trying to find the church. One minute before we almost left but decided to wait for the next group of people to come off the MRT and no one was coming but then this man showed up and we were able to help him find the church. I love these moments when we're in the right place at the right time. Feels like we're doing something good.  

You asked my favorite Hymn: My favorite hymns as of late would have to be In Our Lovely Deseret or An Angel from on High. They only translate the best Hymns into Thai. We sang those hymns at almost every correlation meeting in Udon and I just have lots of good memories when I hear those songs. For real though my favorite hymn is Jesus the Very Thought of Thee. I love it so much.

We had a really awesome Sisters meeting. I learned so much. My favorite take away was from when Sister Painter was talking about faith and how faith is always pointing toward the future. I thought about how change brings renewed faith. Change in the mission is usually starting in a new place or with a different companion and we always start out looking forward to what's ahead. I realized that we don't need to wait for these changes to come, we can make them ourselves. I didn't really feel like I needed a change, but I needed to recommit  and re-energize my faith. I'm excited to make the change in myself and continue looking forward in faith.

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! 

Love, 

Sister Sahagun

Happy Valentines Day!

SO... I've gotten behind in posting Heather's letters and pictures! What can I say? Life happens! 
I'm posting the most current one now and will slowly get the ones that are before this one. Sorry for the lapse in information!
Love ,
Me, Mom and blog keeper of two missionaries!!

Dear Family,

I've developed the worst giggle. It's really a problem. I don't know why it's become a trait of mine to have this weird nervous Thai giggle, but it must go. We're in this internet cafe and there are two guys playing some game and having that same giggling. Oh well.

The other day me and Sister Maughan were at KFC and they have this new ice cream thing called a cream bon (Thai words don't end in L) The options of flavor: Strawberry? Chocolate? Corn? Corn is a desirable topping here. Yes. It's really good. Scoop up some ice cream in a slice of bread, sprinkle some corn on it, and boop you're Thai.

Every other day this week has been a birthday of a member! So fun! Lots of cake and singing happy birthday. (they just sing it in English) Also, we've been drowning in friendship books. I think we've written in 11 the past week. Dad, did people have friendship books in Taiwan too? They're so Asian and I love them. 

We've been needing new investigators so badly, and this week we found 4! One person we contacted brought a friend that was way awesome. Then Sister Maughan had this number of a guy she contacted January 17. He didn't show up to his original appointment, but he came on Saturday and againSunday and stayed for the baptism! I'm so excited for these guys!

Tap Tim was baptized yesterday! I don't know if I even got a chance to tell you about her. She's 21, adorable, and studying at the university here. We met her at the 7-11 across form the university on  the 24th of January. She was never free and then we finally had an appointment with her on February 8th. She was just so prepared. As we were teaching her the commandments she told us that her parents worshiped idols so she did too. We read a scripture together and she just looked at us and said คนและคน pretty much "to each their own" and committed to keep all the commandments even though her family is all Buddhist. I am so impressed by her faith. She is so willing and eager to learn. Friday and Saturday she was at the church with us and members for 5 hours. It's so exciting to see all the new members be so supportive of the even newer members. This branch needs that unity. The majority of the people in sacrament meeting are new members and investigators. The work is hastening. 

We have a new Senior couple! The Browns are wonderful. Elder Brown served here some 40 years ago. His Thai is incredible. He's really motivating, and I'm so glad because it could be intimidating that he is just a Thai master, but he's already taught me 5 new words. I must expand my vocabulary. Elder Brown is also a tease. Sister Brown, is a sweetheart. She knows how to make all these delicious Thai dishes and I really want to learn from her. She speaks some Thai too very clearly and is so nervous to speak. Yesterday they shared with us the most wonderful bless-ed secret ever. Tilamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese. So happy-making.

This last week we were with แม่พร (a member) and she told us that happiness is a commandment. It's true. Be happy, don't stress, and trust in God. The more I remember to do these things the easier life is.
We can have hope through faith in Jesus Christ.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Sahagun

Happy New Year!

Dear Family,

Happy New Year!!! Sister Maughan and I began celebrating New Year's Eve with a 7 hour bus ride to Bangkok. I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Thai by phone light! New Year's Day we were down to Bangkok for mission leadership council. It was such a good meeting! I love meetings. The bus ride home I tried to make a long plan of this year on the back of this manilla envelope. I just wanted to plan everything out and have goals and a theme for every month and it just got out of control so it turned into a doodle page. I have some good goals. It's going to be a great year.

This week was just crazy. New Years cleared everyone out of town. There's not a lot to tell. Here are some random events of the week:

- We met a crazy lady that led us to this food stand and down this creepy Harry Potter corridor to this open area where her friends were washing dishes. She was out of control and as we were leaving she just grabbed my hand and kissed it. She said she is coming to church.

- Yesterday this woman named แป้ง (bang) just walked into the church having never talked with members or missionaries before. She's our newest most wonderful investigator. Miracles!

- เกศินี (Gaysinee) had been a member for a few hours and today she asked us to help her pay her tithing!

- English Class was super small this week so we all combined. Teaching with the Elders was interesting..."There's obviously nothing else to say about the word the" Love English class.

- When someone asked me where I was from they clapped! Two claps for America.

- Someone else guessed that Sister Maughan and I were from Venezuela because of our long eyelashes.

This week I read in Alma 34:17-27 and thought about how much the Lord wants us to have comfort and joy in our lives. We can't become better on our own and we're not supposed to! As we pray for temporal and spiritual blessings the Lord will hear and answer our prayers. v310 Turn to the Lord in all things, repent and seek for His help. 

"The very moment you begin to seek your Heavenly Father, in that moment the hope of His light will begin to awaken, enliven, and envelope your soul."-Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

I know that our loving Heavenly Father hears and answers every prayer! I hope we all will trust in Him more and remember to pray more often. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Sahagun

ฃิสเตอร์ ฃาเฮกัน

Christmas

Dear Family,

It was the best Christmas ever!!! I loved seeing all your faces. It was a nice lil Christmas miracle we got all those technical difficulties worked out. I was way worried there for a minute my skype just kept saying that Dad had muted me. So sad. Nick's song was my favorite. Thank you so much for the graham crackers! They are really good dunked in hot chocolate justin case you were wondering. After we skyped, we went and had brunch and the Hart's (Senior couple) I ate funeral potatoes and orange rolls. So yummy! After brunch we went Ice skating with Sister Tilley and Sister Her. (It's so much fun living with Sister Tilley again) So the ice skating was at Central (local mall). We got there and there was this terrible rap music playing that we endured for an hour before thinking to ask if they had any Christmas music. They laughed when we asked and turned it on and it was way more Christmasy feeling and fun. As soon as we left they changed the music again, it was funny. We went caroling and contacting the rest of the night, it was so cold! I never ever thought I would be cold in this country. 

Happy New Year! Tis the season for everyone to disappear and go far away for long periods of time and stress out us missionaries! Just kidding but that's kind of what it feels like. Thursday and Friday were kinda rough. All of our investigators are leaving for the New Year going back to their home towns to be with their families in different provinces. So lots of canceled appointments and unanswered phone calls. Sister Maughan and I have been trying to meet with this girl Gasinee again, she's from Vietnam we met her at English class, and she's missed the last two appointments because of work. She's learning Thai and English right now. Christmas miracle, we had two people in our branch that speak Vietnamese so they can help us teach her! One is actually our branch mission leader and the other is this cute Sister Lan . We were a lil stressed because her baptismal date was this Sunday! Thursday, she didn't come. Friday, no asnwer. AH!!!! Lots of prayers for a miracle and trust in Lord's timing brought us to Saturday. She finally answered her phone and met with us at the church! We taught her a final lesson, she got her interview and was baptized on Sunday!!! Christmas Miracle! I'm so happy for her! It was such a good day. This whole week was not anything I ever would have planned for myself. Every time we asked Sister Lan to hep us teach, Gasinee would cancel. She speaks better Vietnamese and I just kept thinking "Isn't this how it should be working out? Sister Lan should be helping us. Gasinee would understand better." or "Gasinee should show up today and we'll teach a nice simple lesson." and then turns out Sister Lan isn't the one helping when Gasinee actually comes and then we teach all the commandments and the gospel in one lesson. So much! There were just so many little things that I never would have chosen to happen, but it wasn't until I stopped worrying about what I thought was best that things started working out. As soon as I let go of my plans and committed to doing whatever the Lord needed me to do to hep Gasinee things worked out. He knows much better than I. I hope I never get in the way of the Lord's plans. This really is His work. 

Christmas miracle! We had 4 investigators at church! Even with all this crazy ปีไหม่กลับบ้าน new year going home-ness. We watched the Christmas Devotional in Thai. Loved it. The branch President gave me a box of beng bengs (yummy rice krispie chocolatey treat) for finishing the Book of Mormon. The Relief Society President did a lil sketch of me during the devotional and kept scolding me for wiggling. 

I keep saying that everything is a Christmas miracle and Sister Maughan just laughs at me. It really is though! I loved President Monson's talk from the Christmas devotional. You just drop the last syllable and it's the Spirit of Christ. These are Christmas miracles! They are miracles that come because of our faith in Christ. I love you! Have a wonderful week! 

Love, 

Sister Sahagun

A White Christmas in Thailand!

Christmas Eve Skype

Family! It was so good to talk to you! Merry Christmas!! :) I hope you like all the pictures I sent! I'll write you a great long letter next week! I LOVE YOU!! Also, I sent you a package...I hope it gets to you soon! :)

Love, 

Sister Sahagun 

Mittens from the Branch!

Christmas Pajamas - A tradition even in Thailand

My Nativity Cookie

The Christmas Story

Santa Duck

Sheperd

Ice-skating on Christmas Day!

12-16-13

This letter was written after Heather heard the news that her Aunt Kathy passed away. The gospel is a source of peace and hope and Heather is sharing that peace and hope with others. Her Aunt loved the Savior and would always ask how my missionaries were. She knew Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and had a beautiful testimony of His gospel.

Dear Family,

I'm really missing you all right now. I'm so grateful for the plan of Salvation. I'm so grateful to be out on missions sharing this gospel with the world. I know it's true. It feels so good to know that this really is God's plan. I remember talking to Aunt Kathy right after Uncle Jordan passed away I think we were talking about all the flowers in her house or something and I had never thought about how just flowers could bring so much comfort and she told me to not say "just". She appreciated and enjoyed all the simple things. There's no just about it. She was such a good example of gratitude. I've learned so much from Aunt Kathy. She was such a strong example of faith and trust. I love her so much.

Thank you for sharing that poem that Katelyn wrote. I loved it so much. I know that Jesus died for us and that gives us great reason to rejoice! 

Here are some goings on of the week. It rained so much this morning and I'm sitting here in my cardigan and my poor lil purple toes are cold. I shouldn't even complain. You have real snow. How bout this: Alma 37;41 -- and they were slothful and forgot to exercise... not me! :) Recently the morning power walk has been a fav. Have I told you of my cereal obsession? I've been eating this Museli stuff with chocolate in it for pretty much every day for 8 months. Is that enough randomness for you?

Hymn selections in Thailand are quite entertaining. You know the song In Our lovely Deseret the one that talks about tea and coffee we despise? It's our branch mission leader's favorite and we sing it all the time. It was most recently sung at a baptism. Not really baptism related but I guess all hymns invite the spirit. There is this way cool recent convert that always plays Lincoln park and Evanescence on the piano and it makes me think of Dad and Nick and Tyler. I love it so much. 

I'm really excited to see your faces! It'll be December 24 in America. I hope you'll all do the nativity still. Traditions must be carried on. Pizza too. I told the other Sisters about our Christmas Eve pizza and it's going to happen. I'm so happy. Right now we have a Charlie Brown branch tree thing in our house. It was cute for about a day and then the leaves started getting gross. We'll have to find a new branch before Christmas. 

On Tuesday we had our English showcase. We gave each group a Christmas item and they had to do an advertisement for it. Then for the spiritual thought we were going to tie it all in by explaining the symbolism and talk about the real meaning of Christmas- Christ. I don't really know what happened but the Elders just didn't quite seem to catch on to our vision and they planned something else. It's probably better that way though because Sister Hart tried to look up some symbolism for us. I don't even know what to say about them. The gingerbread one was definitely my favorite. "Like us, gingerbread people are not immortal. They are destined to be eaten and thus to unite with their creators. God does not eat us, but our mortal bodies, like that of the gingerbread man's will not live forever." We ended up watching the bible video of the Nativity. It was perfect.

I love this Christmas season. I know that Jesus Christ was born for us. And yes like the gingerbread man we are not immortal, but because God is our loving Heavenly Father, he has made a way for us to return to live with him again. Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that families can be together forever. I love you so much. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Sahagun

ฃิสเตอร์ ฃาเฮกัน

12-01-2013

Dearest Family,

This week was wonderful!! We had mission tour on Wednesday and Elder and Sister Wilson came and gave us the most wonderful inspired message about how to better use The Book of Mormon in our teaching. Have you ever read the first chapter in 1 Nephi looking for the principles of the restoration? I never had until they asked us all to prepare a talk on it. I love that all in that first chapter we learn that the gospel blesses families, God is our loving Heavenly Father, and God calls prophets in every dispensation. Like Joseph, Lehi saw a pillar of light. God uses patterns and things that are familiar to us. I'll let you find the rest of the principles of the restoration on your own. Anyway, I just want to be the kind of missionary that does everything they can to help investigators read and apply the Book of Mormon to their lives. I know that when we read the Book of Mormon our testimonies are strengthened and we become truly converted. 

Thanksgiving day was so much fun! We went to the market in the morning to do our contacting and ran into this huge parade! It had absolutely nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but I just pretended that's what it was for. There was a bunch of cool floats and high school aged kids dressed up in traditional Thai clothes dancing and celebrating something...I tried to ask this man what was going on and he just really wanted to impress me with his English. It was a very struggly conversation with both of our limited language abilities. Basically what I learned is that it happens every year and it's a cultural thing. I'll try to learn more about that. We taught some great lessons, started reading in the Book of Mormon with our investigator (YES!) and then went to dinner at the Harts. Elder and Sister Hart are wonderful. We had turkey and mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and some ส้มตำ. It was perfect. Sister Hart made this delicious drink of something cinnamony I don't know it was just Thanksgiving in a cup. I felt like I was at home with all of you :) wish I could have somehow saved that smell. I'm so thankful for Holidays and forever families and this wonderful gospel. Still working on the gratefuls list.

Big news. Too many missionaries are getting hit while riding their bikes. Maybe I was one of those. Not a big deal, now we just get to wear these reflective vests. It say's I'm a mormon on it in Thai and has the mormon.org website on it too. They're pretty sweet! Some things you only get to do as a missionary - like wear cool vests and look like traffic cop. I'm thankful for these vests.

Sister Maughan informed me this morning that I talk in my sleep. In Thai. I feel so bad, she is the lightest sleeper! I've had some way weird dreams lately too. 

Yesterday we had all three of our new investigators at church! Miracles! Our mission had 109 baptisms in November. More miracles! I love this time of year of Gratitude and remembrance of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. My favorite thing is at the end of the day to think about all the simple ways that God has blessed my life that day. In all the busy moments, He is there and ever so aware of us. Remember Him and give thanks! Have a wonderful week! I love you so much!

Love,

Sister Sahagun

ฃิสเตอร์ ฃาเฮกัน