Thai'd Up for 18 Months: Missionary life is just the best ever Week #65

So much has happened since I last wrote I don't even know where to start! Missionary life is just the best ever! OK...

So we went to Bangkok on Friday. That was... fun. The bus we were supposed to take broke down so they sent another one that came an hour late. That means our plans for taking the 6 bottom seats for just the missionaries was destroyed. We planned to leave at one and get into Bangkok around 8. Well instead we waited an hour at the bus stop. Then we took almost 12 hours to get to Bangkok. The bus was great too. It was playing this really annoying Thai comedy show for at least 5 hours of the ride. And then the bus started to smell like a porta potty (I don't know what happened with the bathroom) so one of the workers kept walking up and down the aisle spraying air freshener that probably smelt worse than the toilet. It was fun though.... Ha ha When we stopped in Korat for everyone to get dinner at the bus station, the chicken had cockroaches running around on it. So I went with a cup of noodle, 2 snickers and an ice cream for dinner. And people wonder why sisters gain weight as a missionary. But it was all worth it. Because after just a few hours of sleep we got to meet ELDER HOLLAND!!!!

We all came to the church and lined up for the picture. Then Elder Holland came in and took his spot. After we all got to shake his hand. I felt like he was staring into my soul! Later as he spoke he said that is exactly what he did. They used to interview the missionaries before the task force was over 88,000 strong. We lucked out with the best seats too. We walked in late to the room after using the bathroom and the only seats were these chairs set right up front on the side. Sister Brown did not want to sit there. But it payed off. As Elder Holland walked out after speaking he hit her on the arm and said work hard. It was great. I love Elder Holland. He really knows how to be himself in his calling. His sense of humor is great. But what I love most is his sincerity. He shared with us how much his mission meant to him and how we shouldn't miss it! We shouldn't miss a second of it out here because this is our only time.

Later that day we went and เที่ยวed JJ mall which is the biggest market in Bangkok. It was weird being there after such a spiritual high. It seemed so wordly. I don't know if we even enjoyed ourselves. Ha ha But after we got really good Japanese dinner with Sister Browns friends. It was a good day.

Then Elder Holland spoke to the masses. All the members from Thailand gathered in Bangkok. Unfortunatley just one representative from Roiet. But I got to see so many of my old friends (the memebers) from my old areas. I got to see my RCs and that they are still good and strong! It made me really happy! Being out of your area on Sunday is not fun. We couldn't buy food but we also couldn't store food either. And well we didn't have a microwave and the store didn't sell peanut butter so we were all pretty hungry. Then there was this bike for mom thing going on which shut down a lot of the roadsin Bangkok. So the buses wouldn't leave back to our areas until late. But we were blessed for keeping the sabbath because I got edible bus food! They gave us A&W chicken sandwiches. That does not ever happen. Blessings!

I am sorry this is getting long. So anways Monday was a working day. We went way to the boonies of the boonies to have "FHE" at a members house. That was interesting. When we got home we got a call from a freaked out Sister Herrmann saying a bomb went off in Bangkok. We hurried and called our ZLs who stayed in Bangkok because they just ended their mission this week and had all that dying missionary errand stuff to do. They let us know everyone was accounted for and no one was hurt. Apparently Elders that work in the office were heading there. They were 3 stop lights away and saw the explosion. 15 minutes later and.... The crazy thing is this stuff happens all over the world. For some people it is a regular occurence in their lives. There are a lot of Pakistan people here and that is what would happen around them daily before they moved to this country. I think it happens in southern Thailand a lot too. But to be honest, being up in Roiet we didn't hear anyting about it. Just from Sister Herrmann. But one good thing came out of it.

We were hunting down LA melchizedek preisthood holders. So we call up this one and show up at his house. He used to be the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency. Apparently he only reason he was LA is because he moved to Bangkok. He worked at a hotel right accross the street from the explosion. He was luckily inside but he said everyone outside got hurt. Because of the bomb he was able to come back to Roiet. And well, he came to church yesterday. :)

Pa Maa got baptized this week! They are so old and cute! I am shocked they remember anything about the gospel. We were filling out their reccords and couldn't even remember 2 of their children. After about 20 minutes of hard thinking they remembered them all. Ha ha When Pa bore his testimony he said, "I have washed my sins. I am of God now." It was great!

Then Sunday Gade got baptized! He was so ready. He is so dramatic though... Ha ha it was quite an experience getting him to Sunday. But through the whole thing his testimony was so strong and continually growing. I don't know if I have had an investigator more prepared than him. When he bore his testimony he talked about when he first came to church he didn't understand when people would say this know this church is true. He then said pounding his fist in the air, "I understand now. I KNOW this is the true church." It was so cool!

Ok I think that about sums up everything that has happened. Oh wait, transfers happened. But we didn't move! Which means we didn't go to transfer meeting. We get to stay together in Roiet! I am so excited about it! And now we have some new Elders. And we aren't over the Udorn zone which means we actually get to be in our area this transfer! I am so excited about that. Yay for being only over the Roiet zone! 12 sisters is cut down to 6. Now we can work!

Sorry I don't have time for a scripture. I just want to let everyone know that I know this church is true. I know that God is our Heavenly Father. I know Jesus Christ attoned for our sins. Now I give you Elder Hollands advice, if you don't know it. Talk to anyone you have to to know it.

I love you all!

-Sister Nethercott