New Area...I'm Back Home!!! :-) Well Close

Heya! How's everyone doing? It's October? That's strange! But hey, it was good to hear that everyone is healthy and happy. I hope that continues on during the cold season. We are going to hit cold season but I got moved to the furnace so I don't think I'll be having that problem. 

So transfers last week was crazy! Sister Carper and I both got moved and there were a few whitewashes going on. Bangkhae is one that got whitewashed. Anyways, good news first! Prachak is getting BAPTIZED!!!! :D He'll be baptized on the 6th and confirmed on the 7th! Sister Carper and I were so, so, SO incredibly sad that we aren't going to be there for it but we know that the Elder are going to take good care of him. Plus they helped us teach him so I'm happy for Prachak. Last week, as Sister Carper and I reflected about our time in BangKhae and even though we had a hard time, we felt that we had done our best and done what we needed to do there at that specific time. Especially with Prachak and teaching him and helping him make this covenant with God. Oh, and there was our Mango lady. I don't think I ever told you about her. But on our last day before transfers we went and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon with our testimony on the inside. We always buy mangos from her because she has the best and because we go so often, she ends up giving us free mangos and other treats. We left notes in our area book about her so I hope the next missionaries will teach her. 

Right now, I'm in Phitsanulok!! aka the furnace. It's blazing hot here! But on the plus side, I'm back in the Chiang Mai zone!! :D So I'll get to go back up there in a few weeks here! I was SOO happy (and still am :P ). There are so many people here ready to get baptized. Two days ago, Sister Na got baptized. She is a little fireball and so full of the spirit. I'm hoping to get to know her better. This week Sister Tukda is getting baptized and she also has come a long way in a short amount of time. She’s really excited to get baptized and wants her daughter to learn too! We have 4 other daters we are working with and have seriously 25 or 30 progressing/potentials that are ready to get baptized. This is definitely a turn around from my last area. Phitsaulok feels like home and the people here are so prepared. 

The members are really willing to assist because most of the branch consists of female members. Now, we got to work on getting priesthood members active in the church and finding people too. I've been trying to get a feel for the area and what the branch needs and how we can help the branch president. We are going to go visit the branch president and his wife at their home as well as the first counselor and his family at their home. Oh my goodness…and there are kids again in the branch!!! The daughters of the first counselor is so stinkin cute!! They speak English so it's the cutest little thing. The husband used to be a missionary here so they are halzies babies. 

This last Saturday during baptism, two young girls came to watch. They found out about the baptism through our English class and the following day the 14 year old girl, Fern came to church for all three hours. She helped me wash the dishes and was really willing to talk with us. She SO cute! I don't think I've ever mentioned this but one of my mission goals is to have a baptism every Saturday for one transfer straight and to baptized 3 families. I really, really want to teach her family but their situation is difficult so we got to work with both parents on this one. At any rate, she got a copy of the Book of Mormon from the church and we haven't even taught her yet. Her desire is definitely there and she is willing to come to church so that’s all that matters, eh? 

Here in the area, we have a senior couple--the Harris'. BTW, when do the Darringtons come? Well last night the Harris let us go over for dinner. We got to know them more and why they came on a mission, etc. Elder Harris is still funny as ever. I saw him a little while ago when I was up in Chiang Mai. His wife is from England so he'll talk in her accent sometimes. They're a really sweet couple. We live in a house across the street from the Harris' and the Elders live down the street. I think I sent home a video of the house previously when I came for switch offs. The house is super nice and I have a real bed again!! :-) My body is so happy every night. haha 

As far as catching people up with the gospel, President Senior is phenomenal! Mom, in the letter you sent me about the girl who made the comment on Elder Bednar's talk, well it's amazing what technology does for us these days. President Senior is doing the same for the mission. You saw our phones--so now he's doing that with our English program. He put those scan boxes (forgot what they are called) but they are black and white and you put your smart phone up to it and it'll direct you to our English website. I might send one home to see if it works in the states too!! 

Hey Mom and Dad, I want to thank you again for all you taught me growing up! I love you both so much and I'm glad that I have such great support from home! You two are the best and have been my anchors on the mission. “No other success can compensate for failure in the home” right? Well, I know that you both have succeeded. Travis, Trina and I love you a lot and look up to you always, 

p.s. Pictures again aren't working. Sorry about that. I'll trying again next week.  BTW, my new companion is Sister King.

LOVE YOU ALL!! 

Sis. Yeo 

Small And Simple Things

Sister Carper and I. 

More of the Wat.

And then I fell in the mud and two Thai ladies helped clean my dress. :P 

We just got back from Ayutthaya, one of the prettiest places I've been to!! You should Google it if you have some time :) haha. Well this week we did a lot of travel down to Asoke, which is where the mission office is. We had zone conference and we had a stake sports day activity and we did switch offs with the Bang Na sisters. It's been an eventful week! This week is transfers so I’ll let you know next week where I'm at and who I'm with; but I would be happy to stay here with Sister Carper. For zone conference, we talked a lot about conversion coupled with faith. Our zone leaders gave us the talk “The Doctrine of Christ” to read. Overall, it was another good conference. Then for switch offs, I went with Sister Zatarain who came in last transfer. It's definitely different being the older missionary but we went and taught a few lessons and also visited a less active member. She's from Texas and she's doing really well as a new missionary. 

We had our first house inspection. So it was Wednesday night and I was sitting at my desk and I looked at Sister Carper and said, lets move the furniture! Not sure why but I had a sudden impulse. Our apartment was a MESS! We were cleaning as well as re-arranging so in the middle of it all, we get a phone call from Elder Jones who does the house inspections and asks us if he and Sister Jones can come over in the morning and look at the apartment. Sister Carper and I just laughed for the longest time because of course, it would be the one day we decided to get all Fung-shui. To be fair, we did a good job because our apartment now actually looks like an apartment and there is a study area and living area as opposed to just desks and stuff in random spots. We love it! I'll have to show you a picture; but the process was therapeutic for us. haha

The transfer has been slow, but there are still moments when I realize that yes, we are making a difference here. We had a stake sports day activity (which p.s. I got to play volleyball again!!!!! :D and believe it or not some of the members here are way good!) So we've been working with a less active member named Sister Balm (she was the one that started crying when we went to visit her) Anyways, for the longest time, she's just been heartbroken because her son has gone inactive and he still hasn't received the priesthood. This sports day activity was a huge opportunity because he came! AND he came to church!!! The members, especially the young men his age, welcomed him back in and it was probably the best Sunday all transfer! :-)  His mom is also no longer considered less active because she has been come back consistently. Next, we want to work with her husband and introduce him to the church. OH YEAH, her baby is SOOOOO stinking cute. If there's one thing that's hard as a missionary, it's not being able to hold people's babies!! But obedience is what we shoot for. This is it though, families in the gospel being happy together...eternally. One day, we hope that we'll hear they are going to get sealed in the temple!  :D

Prachak is also doing really well. Somehow on my mission, I have been able to meet those who are just so prepared and so golden! We didn't teach him a whole lot because we still don't have a member to help us but the Elders have taught him and yesterday, all four of us went over to visit and he has changed! He is reading, understanding and he knows his relationship with Heavenly Father. Before we left we didn't have homework for him but he asked for it himself. And it wasn't just something to read, he specifically asked for homework about baptism! He's SO great! So he'll be getting baptized in the next few weeks! :D 

I'm not able to send pictures so it might have to wait till next week. Sorry. 

LOVE YOU ALL!! 

Sister Yeo  

Apologies

Sorry, I haven't been as consistent in posting Traci's emails on her blog.  August and the first part of September has been ridiculously busy.  Now, I'll have to backtrack to last month.  I'll try to get back into the flow of posting each week again.  Thanks for you patience.

-Danny Yeo
(Traci's Dad)

And The Rain Came Tumbling Down

Our Elders hanging off the Songtaw in the rain.

Flooding ... it got to our knees.

This was the aftermath .. apparently it was worse.

This week turned out better than the last. Then again just about anything could be better than the last. But then again that's life, giving us the bad so we can later realize the happy. :-)

We had to get creative again because we've been talking with President Senior about ideas to help the area grow and so on. Tuesday we sat…of a bus for about an hour and a half and we essentially did some tracting by sitting by people who were going to work or home or wherever. Believe it or not, we got two phone numbers/potential investigators. That hour and a half was more productive than our previous week collectively. 

Prachak is doing great! He's recovered from his medical issue and the whole experience turned out pretty amazing. We went over for our usual daily visit and we explained to him what a priesthood blessing was. We asked for permission if the Elders could come over and give him one. We went back on Tuesday and Sister Nok, the Elders and the two of us are all sitting in his front room. After that he had THE biggest smile I've ever seen on his face. It was just pure happiness; I can't even being to describe that experience. Sister Nok, has never received or seen a priesthood blessing for the sick so she said it was a special experience for her too. We go back on Thursday and Sister Tan goes to teach with us. He explained that the doctors did an x-ray of his brain and said that it was a miracle that he is recovering the way he is. The best part about it all is that Prachak himself recognizes that the blessing is straight from God.

So after the blessing, we were going to start our lesson but something was wrong with Sister Tan. Her motor functions had shut down and she wasn't responding and it just wasn't normal. Usually this lady does NOT stop talking but she was absolutely silent and when we would talk to her, her responses wouldn't make sense. Prachak was sooo amazing and helped us get her into a Taxi and then we took her home. Her mom thought it wasn't a big deal so she just had her sit in a chair at the house and they watched TV together. The next day (Friday), we get a call from her mom saying that she's in the hospital and if we can go to visit her. We had to move district meeting so we left with the Elders to go see her in the afternoon and she's in bad shape. I'm not sure how to explain it but on Thursday when she wasn't quite normal, Sister Carper and I came to the conclusion that she's not in the right mental state and essentially, she wasn't. She tried to do something in her house, I think she was hanging up laundry and she fell down three stories!! She broke both her feet and broke two vertebrae in her lower back!!! When we saw her at the hospital she was still not responding but after about 2 hours she started to make sense and after being given a blessing by one of the members and the Elders, I think she's starting to come back mentally; not quite physically. We are going to go visit her tomorrow and see how she's doing. 

In other news, the work in this area is still really, really slow. Members still aren't free to help us teach which makes my heart breaks because Prachak was suppose to get baptize this Saturday. Sadly, if I get moved next week at transfers, I won't be here for his baptism. :-(  Even if I'm not here, I'm worried that the ward members won't fellowship him enough and help him build his testimony. I would be so sad if he went inactive because he is SO golden! In order to teach him so that he can now make his date, we've been team teaching with the Elders. On days that we don't have a member, which is just about every day except for two days, they teach him. It hard because 1) we don't get to teach - so I feel like I'm already losing my Thai and 2) he's in our area so it just feels like he’s "our" investigator. Of course, he is the Lord’s and we feel it's more important that he receives the gospel. Our Elders: Elder Jex and Elder Christensen are great too so we don’t mind working with them! We probably have the most district unity ever. I love this district and it's so fun! 

Oh and it's flooding again in Thailand. We went to go visit a new investigator we found and a less active member and the rains have come down and the floods have come up. It's the best time to show people how much we care and we want to help. Our 3 new investigators are a mom and her two daughters. We taught them earlier in the week and the mom started crying during the intro lesson. Apparently, she had seen and talked with the missionaries before and when she saw us she was just so happy because it was another chance to talk to us again. So she cried because we were talking about ways we are happy in this life and she said she doesn't have happiness right now. We told her that what we want to share and teach her is going to fulfill that. Essentially, SHE NEEDS THIS. Then a few days later, her house and the whole neighborhood flooded. We told her to call us because we're going to help her.  Even if we don't get to teach her this week, we want her to feel loved and that we care and of course that she deserves to be happy because there is hope. 

Don't worry too much about the flood; it's not gotten that high. So we're ok here! :P  This week we have switch offs and specialized training in Asoke, so it should be fun.  Anyways, I'm grateful for last week and the trial that it was because we were able to see such a turn around this week. We definitely still have very hard challenges this week but we always do our best and God does the rest. It's His work after all and we are blessed to be part of it. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!! 

Sister Yeo 

Short Report

Leadership dinner.

We made mac and cheese in a rice pot! haha.

At the Alligator farm.

With the Elephants.

Our district :-)

Us again.

At the Elephant show.

How's everyone doing? It’s really raining over here. How has the first week of school been?

Hmm well, this week has been quite the challenge; really, really hard times and people still haven't quite opened their hearts. Honestly, this has been THE hardest week of my mission. However, Heavenly Father gave us little tender mercies in our lives and the ward members are starting to work together with the missionaries more. Our district leader, his companion, Sister Carper and I had a dinner night for all the leaders in our branch. 

We prepared for it so much and it turned out really well. The branch president's wife has been so sweet to us and during Relief Society on Sunday she taught the lesson. She took 4-5 minutes to thank us for the sacrifice we made to come and teach the people here, to learn the language and all. It was so sweet of her. 

Today we went to the Alligator farm with our branch mission leader and the Elders. Our branch mission leader is seriously so awesome, he takes care of us missionaries soooo well.

Anyways, I'm sorry I don't have a lot for this week. I'll send you some more pictures!  

I LOVE YOU ALL 

Always, 

Sister Yeo  

Killing Birds???

Sports day :-)

Favorites!!

How's everyone?! I forget about holidays in the States that for a moment, I couldn't even remember what Labor Day is for. :P I hope everyone gets some rest and has fun!! 

Right now, I'm in Saphaansung with my companion and Sister Knutson. We had sports day here so we had all three zones here ... meaning all the missionaries in Bangkok. So fun and this place has such good fruit!!! We went to a market early this morning and so we missed playing volleyball. I was super bummed but I think it was probably best. 

Things in Bangkhae are just about the same but hopeful. We don't have a lot of investigators at the moment but we have one really golden one. He's been seeing missionaries for a while but never learned with anyone because he was never invited. He sells roti's by the church and we see him almost everyday and on the days we don't have a member to teach with us the Elders are going to team teach with us so he can reach his goal to get baptized. This last week we talked about baptism and we were asking him what his understanding of sin is. He responds that it’s when you do something wrong towards another person. We asked him if he's every had any serious sins and he gets really quiet and he says, “Sisters, I've killed in my past.” We were thinking uhhh...it's ok it'll just take much longer till he can get baptized. But then he gets quiet again and he says, “yeah Sisters, I've killed two birds.” OH my goodness, best-thing-in-the-world! Because he's seriously the most innocent person we've ever met. He's really quiet and almost fragile and probably can't do any wrong. He always will smile at us when we past by and he is seriously so kind-hearted. We're excited to see him baptized and he is progressing so well and so fast. He was the one that I think I told you we couldn't teach because we didn't have a member but now we have one and within 3 lessons he went from not sure if he believed in God to having absolute faith. How?! The Book of Mormon and the Spirit!! I know 100% and agree with Preach My Gospel that the Book of Mormon and the Spirit are the best tools for conversion. There's hope!! :D 

This last Sunday our family came to church!!! We met this family inviting. This was the one that we knocked on 250 doors and got rejected except for the last one. I really, really, really want to see this family get baptized. The mom stays at home and takes care of the kids and she has a 17 year old girl, 11 year old boy, and such a cute little 6 year old! They all came to church except the husband and it was probably the best Sunday we've had in BangKhae. We've had to get creative here...a lot! Sister Carper is awesome for that! Because everyday inviting is not fruitful, we came up with a list of things on how to just get the work moving, and fast! President Senior is awesome; basically, if he want's something done, he's going to make it happen. Last month, the mission set a record for the highest number of baptisms at 77 people.  This month we have a goal of 106. Gonna get it done! As for new ideas, if you have any please feel free to send them our way. This week we are having a dinner and fireside with the leaders in our branch. We are making them American food and going to talk about Faith and how to help the branch reach baptism goals! I also asked Sister Carper and the Elders if we can do Dan Jones at the market. So we are going to do that this week too! :D We are having a member fireside in the future. Visiting part-member families and less-actives. Really, just everything we can think of doing. Sister Carper shared something with me this week during companionship study that I really liked. She said that the “less-actives” at one point was someone's recent convert. And right now if I were to see Sister Bon, in Chiang Mai less active (which she's not...obviously; from what I've heard) anyways, I would want someone to take care of her and love her the way I love her. 

This past week we went and saw a sister who hasn't been to church in a few months because she just had a baby. She totally opened up to us. This was our second visit but the first time we went with members, so she mostly talked to them. At first, we weren't really talking a lot but we got to know her and asked her about her conversion story. I told her your conversion story (mom) - just the part where, missionaries would come by and sometimes, you didn't want to meet with them - and she just started crying. She could relate to that feeling of not wanting to meet with the missionaries but then at one point she also wanted to know about Joseph Smith and so she opened her heart and was baptized. That was Wednesday when we saw her and guess what... she was at church! She brought her kids too and then shared her testimony during sacrament meeting. Sunday was such a special day. Seriously, EVERY fast Sunday has been fantastic. 

Things with Sister Carper are great! She works hard and she loves the people. I love serving with her! She used to serve here in Saphaansung (which btw, is 3 hours away from Bangkhae) so she's been showing me all the fun stuff she's done here. We eat SOOO much fruit and we've been eating a lot of fish. My body loves it and feels healthy. Oh yeah and mom I wear 3 layers of lotion :P Sunscreen, the foot cream you gave me and bug spray. hehe 

Ok well I'm not sure how much time I have left so I'm going to send some pictures. 

I love you all!! This work is so important and I love it! 

Love always 

Sister Yeo