Thai'd Up for 18 Months: I'm training in Kohn Kaen! Week #23

Alright this week may have been the craziest of my whole life. Ha ha Where to begin... I guess at the beginning! Spoiler alert: I am training!!!

Last Monday I was saying we were supposed to get transfer calls. Well they didn't come until Tuesday night. Which is way late. Missionaries up North need to plan ahead because of how long it takes to travel. So our district leader got the call. Only Elder Curtis was moving. Elder Wolfley was called to train again. And then Elder Curtis moved a day early because he is an office Elder now. So it was going to be a boring transfer because only one person was moving, we knew we were getting a greenie and we knew where the one person was moving to. Boring.

6:19 Thursday morning I was in the middle of praying when the phone rang. Sister Her answered. It was President Senior. He told her a few things then started asking if I was ready to go senior comp. (Which means I would be training because everyone else younger than me is still in training). So he asked her a few questions about me. Asked Sister Her if she had packed yet. Her obvious reply was no because we weren't supposed to move. So he told her don't pack I will call you back if you are moving. So we just got ready for the day and then got in a taxi to head to transfers. When we were nearing the church we got a call from our district leader. This is what he said, "I want us to sit as a district at transfers. Oh and you are white washing out." That shocked me. I was sure I was staying in Bang Khen. Especially if I was going to train. So I thought maybe I wasn't going senior comp. Maybe President figured out a better plan. We walked into the church for transfer meeting and the place was crazy! A lot of missionaries had to come down for visas and stuff, but they didn't bring their stuff. They should have, because when we were called in the taxi, a lot of missionaries were called and told they were moving too. All these rumors started spreading that I was training. And it was just kind of crazy. After leaving Sister Her and talking to my MTC friends, I found her in the sea of missionaries again. President had grabbed her and told her where I was going and who I was going to be with. And she wouldn't tell me! So finally I settled on 2 questions to ask her. Could I still see the lantern holiday thing they do here. And would I be okay? She said yes to the first and pray a lot to the second. Not a comforting statement.

So finally after starting an hour and a half late, transfer meeting actually began. It seemed like it took forever until my name came up. It was announced that I would be moving out to the Issan which is the north east part of Thailand. I am in Khon Kaen if you want to look it up. Ha ha I am finishing the training of Sister Grover. Oddly enough, I think follow up training is harder. Her former trainer did misisonary work... differently. She is done after this next transfer so I guess she was pretty trunky. Luckily Sister Grover is a trooper and super awesome and puts up with all these changes I am coming in and making. I feel like that would be a hard adjustment. So back to transfer day. After transfer meeting I of course went to que pasa to eat and then headed to Bang Khen to quickly pack everything. We also had to make sure all of our records and everything were prepared for a white washing.Then we ran over to the church quick to say goodbye to whatever members we could. Man I miss them! I won't be able to leave this mission if just leaving Bang Khen was that hard. And our RC Connae was there and I seriously almost cried.

After that I hopped on a bus. The best part of living outside of Bangkok is the bus ride. It is way nice! The seats lean back and they give you snacks like an airplane. Oh and the best part, they are massage chairs! Yeah that bus was more comfortable than the bed I have been sleeping in the past 10 weeks (which isn't too hard to beat, it was pretty hard. Ha ha). So we left at 9 that night and got into Khon Kaen around 3:30 or something. When we got to the house Sister Grover's last companion and her new companion were sleeping in the beds (they had to come back and pack because she didn't know she was moving) so we laid a blanket on the tile floor and slept there for the next couple hours. It was a really long day.

So now I am in Khon Kaen in a super young district. My district leader only came in I think 3 or 4 transfers before me and his comp is two transfers before me. So yes a bunch of young missionaries here. It is also hotter, less humid, and it doesn't seem to rain here. I got a bike! Which is fun and not. Ha ha I am way out of shape from just walking... The bike kicks my butt! And it is hard in a skirt. It has only been a couple days so I am still learning. There are tons of little lizards here and little frogs that hop around which is so fun! But it is not the Issan where there are trees everywhere. There were more trees in Bang Khen (probably because I lived by some forest reserve). But I expected more trees and open space. There is still traffic here. Just less people to contact and no tall buildings. I miss Bangkok so much! But I am excited to be here. It is also way nice and convenient because we live right next to the church! It is this cute white house that we live on the bottom floor of. Nobody lives on the top. Although, the second day we got here. The water stopped working. Just what 2 new missionaries want to deal with. Ha ha. So luckily there are Elders willing to help us and members always at the church nearby! (We got it fixed... But now I think it might be flooding and we don't know how to fix that. We will have to ask the member who turned the water back on!)

Also, because they just changed districts up in Thailand, its created a weird situation for my mission district here. It wasn't supposed to affect the missionaries but it has. We were told we were moved into the other zone. Then they told us we were moved back. Then they told us we were moved to a completely different one. So now we are off the grid. :) We didn't get a conference call from the STL (sister training leader) last night. So we practically have a greenie training a greenie out here with no one checking up on us. :) What a great situation. Ha ha

The area book here is a mess! I flipped through and counted the RCLA's. There were 50! Only 4 of them are active... A lot of them have disappeared. Some of them just hate the missionaries. I don't know? Apparently the day I had my farewell, there were Elders here baptizing 20 girls on that same day who they had only met 10 days previous. All we have is a picture of that and a bunch of nicknames and the mall some of them work at. So our goal this week is to try and find them. Pray for us because we will probably need it when it comes to that!

Well I think that covers most everything that happened this week. I actually really love training. I feel Heavenly Fathers help and blessings. I think He has given me the gift of tongues (Or people are just a lot easier to understand in the Issan, which I have heard the opposite). I understand the people here and they understand me and I don't have to sit and think of the words I need before I speak. What a great gift and definitely needed right now. I am just grateful that Sister Her trained me the way she did. She worked me pretty hard in some ways but it prepared me for this. Now I am doing the same to my greenie and I can totally feel the same thoughts coming at me that I gave Sister Her. But I know it will be good for her in the end! Ha ha

This week I have been thinking a lot about the scripture that is on my missionary plaque. Philippians 4:13. I can do all things through Christ. I know that going from greenie to trainer wouldn't be possible without Christ's help. I know that the only way anything will happen here will be because of Him. I just have to have the faith He will bring about miracles and trust that He will answer my prayers. And yes, I will be praying a lot this transfer! I hope everyone remembers that no matter how hard things can get, you can do anything through Christ. Just have the faith and rely on Him. I know that He will help you!

I hope this week has been great for all of you! Love you!

-Sister Nethercott

Didn't get any captions with her pictures this week so I'll have to guess. . .