Transferred with a new comp! Week 35

Hello everyone! Sorry I am writing on Tuesday, President Senior showed up for some district training and switched our Pdays. But now I can tell you all about transfers.

So last Monday night I got a text from our district leader that let us know Sister Grover, myself and Elder Fin were leaving Khon Kaen. We left on a bus Wednesday and headed towards Bangkok. White washing Sisters is fun.... Because you have 6 bags and 2 bikes. But with the combination of all 4 of us and Elder Parker not moving we were able to do it. The best was going from the bus station to the church building. We managed to find a willing taxi driver to take 2 bikes and 6 bags and 2 people in 1 taxi. He was so great. And we fit it! Miracle! So after arriving to the church I decided it was too late to make our way and stay in Bang Khen. So we stayed with the Don Muang sisters. It was a long night... Sister Zoller and I had a lot of catching up to do. And then sleeping on the floor... At least this time they had pillows and blankets. Ha ha

Transfer day. Bitter sweet in some ways. At least it is when you like your companion. But I was really excited to move and see more of the mission this time. It felt like forever before my name showed up on the power point. I am in Pitsanulok! My companion is Sister Morgan. She just finished her greenie days. I am way excited about Pitsanulok! I wanted to do some time in Bangkok, then head out to the Issan, and then go to the north. Well I got my wish! And so far I absolutely love this area! Although I am a little scared. Apparently this is the hottest area of the mission and its almost hot season! All anyone could say when they found out where we were going was, "you are going to die its going to be so hot!" Oh well, I was cold in Khon Kaen so maybe this will be better. Ha ha

So after transfers we did the traditional Que Pasa lunch. Then after that we headed to the bus stop to buy tickets. The Elders had snagged a pickup truck so it was kind of a now or never situation. We had the 2 of us sisters, the 2 elders (One dying, one a fresh greenie), and then an elder who we had to deliver to his trio. We got to the train station and unloaded. Then the Elders bought the tickets (for 5-6 hours later). Then they left us with all the stuff to get the Elder going into the trio. He was at the office doing Visa stuff. So me and sister Morgan just sat and waited. It felt like forever! Then Elder Colderon being the gentleman that he is let us take the first bus. (They said they couldn't fit all our luggage on one). Well it turns out the first bus was way worse than the second one. And the second one got in ealier than our bus! Oh well. So we get to Pitsanulok in the middle of the night. Nearly morning. We get lost with our taxi driver who says he is from here. We finally get to the house which is right off the main road... (How in the world did the taxi driver get lost?) So between the night before leaving Khon Kaen and not sleeping much, the night before transfers and not sleeping much. and the night we got here with hardly sleeping at all. I was exhausted on Friday. Ha ha somehow I managed to stay awake and make it through the day though. And really, I LOVE pitsanulok! I am so excited to be here. Sister Morgan and I are technically opening our area  because there were only 2 sisters here before. We have been so blessed though. We already have a pool of investigators and some are on track to getting baptized on this Sunday! We just want to work really hard and be super obedient. We are expecting miracles this transfer. 

One of the fun things about being here is I now live in a 4 sister house! And the best part, Sister Alley is here! Elder Curtis came up to me after transfers and said, "You are going home to mom." Ha ha and man he was right. We had to move into the Elders house (because it went from 4 Elders to 2 and 2 sisters to 4) and she and her companion spent a ton of time cleaning it up before we got there. Another fun thing is Sister Burbank is Sister Alley's companion. Sister Grover knew her from before so I had heard tons about her. I am lucky that while I am in a 4 sister house it gets to be with these awesome sisters! 

Also, the branch here is really great. They have quite a few people coming every Sunday which is a nice change. It isn't in a church building, but the building church is held in is actually pretty nice. And I have an in with a lot of the members. Elder Parker served here before moving to Khon Kaen. I guess one plus side about him talking so much is that I knew things about this area and the members here. Some of the members I just tell them I am friends with Elder Parker and I just moved from Khon Kaen and they get so excited that I am here. Ha ha

Now for any missionary or future missionary reading this (especially Elders), I have two recommendations. Please A. Keep you house clean (you never know when sisters are going to be moving into it) and B. Take care of your area book. This is now the second time I have had to move into an elders house and thank goodness for Sister Alley who started cleaning from the moment I called her from transfer meeting. She was looking at our area book. She was kind of disgusted. She was talking to President about it yesterday. She says she has now gained a testimony on good record keeping. Well, all I can say is this area book is a lot better than the one I had in Khon Kaean. I wanted to cry when I opened that one. Ha ha So please, just be organized in all things.

Now to close with a spiritual thought, this was a scripture that was shared during district training yesterday. 2 Nephi 22:2

 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation."

We must trust in God because He knows everything. And why should we be afraid if He knows everything and He is the one in control of all things? We just need to trust in Him and follow His teachings and His commandments and everything will work out for the best.

I am going to miss the friends and the relationships I built in Khon Kaen but I am excited to be here to make new ones too. Its another bitter sweet thing about the mission and transfers. 

I love you all and I hope you have had a good week!

-Sister Nethercott

 Packing up and leaving Khon Kaen

 Oh yeah we fit all of that in a taxi! Skill!

 Waiting for the bus 

 Some pictures of the area. When the sun is setting, I feel like I am in southern California.

 The church

 Our new house

Baptisms, Statues and Crocodiles -oh my! Week #34

Hey everyone! Sorry for not writing last week but I got to spend the day in Nong Khai! Way fun! I would totally love to serve there, it is way pretty.

So since I last wrote... The work has picked up again. We had a baptism last Sunday! It was this cute girl Nuan who is the friend of our RC. We also have a few solid daters for next week too. So if I don't transfer hopefully I can see those through!

This week had the usual contacting almost all day everyday. But we had some good lessons and were able to visit a couple LAs. 

The Crocodile Slayer

Last P-day we went to Nong Khai. I got to see Laos! Now I just need to find a way to see Burma. It would be nice if I can't go to all the countries in my mission to at least see them. Ha ha So in Nong Khai we went to this cool statue place called Salagawgu or something like that. (Its hard to get from Thai to English). But the statues were way super tall and really cool. After that we went to this crocodile farm to watch a show. The guys were just playing with the crocodiles and kissing them and sticking their heads in their mouths. It was crazy! Then after they let us go into the cage to take a picture on them. It wasn't the crocodile I sat on that made me nervous (the trainers were distracting it) it was the other 6 or so in the cage. Ha ha From there we walked to Sister Grover's grandparents house. They are so cute and old! At first Sister Grover's grandmother didn't realize who she was. She just invited us to sit down straight away. Then Sister Grover said I've missed you. And her grandma looks at her and goes, "Oh Rina!" We said we only had a minute to stop by. Her grandpa is very stubborn. He kept insisting he would drive us back on his motorcycle. We kept telling him it was against the rules. Then he said it was ok, he'd take one of us at a time. Nope even more against the rules. He was being so persistent. Luckily we explained it to Sister Grover's grandma and she convinced him to let us walk back. After that we hurried over to the river market. Admired Laos for a minute. Then we had to head back home to Khon Kaen.

This week we went and visited this member that is an older lady. She isn't able to come to church anymore because her knees have problems and she can't walk or something. So we brought the Elders with us and they gave her a blessing. After they had left she started walking around and saying, "look, because of the blessing I can walk again. Maybe I can even come to church this Sunday!" It was great to see her faith and her testimony so strong.

I think I've mentioned this before, I have been reading in the New Testament. I came across this scripture in Romans 8:31. It says,

 "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

If God is for us, who can be against us. Its true. I mean yeah there is Satan against us, but what is he compared to God? 

Well I hope you are all having awesome lives. Love you!

-Sister Nethercott

 Sister Grover got a hair cut! That was exciting. The lady probably hated me because I supervised so closely that at one point I ended up with the brush and blow dryer in my hands. Ha ha  (This sounds so much like something she'd do!) 

 Our way crowded Songtaw

 Sister Nuan's baptism!

 That is how you get into Laos... Nong Khai is the border. Well, the river is. 

Tug tug ride in Nong Khai. Yay for fake cheep ray bands. ha ha 

 This is some cool statue place in Nong Khai

 Cool statue place... I have tons of pics. I think this enough though right?

 Me with a crocodile and that would be Laos behind me. :) Now I just have to find a city that you can see Burma from so I can see every country of my mission.

This dinosaur thing is at central.

Swensons for ice cream