Recent Pictures Up To October 29th

One of the members from Chiang Mai. He's going to Paris on his mission speaking Chinese!! crazy huh?!

Sister Kwan! :-)

The youth in P-lok

Hump day package from Sister Carper!

OH yeah, I made dinner for us and the Elders last night. I thought I'd take a picture cause you'd be proud of me...haha . Curry chicken and sticky rice.

I Love The YSA 215th Ward

This week went by really fast. I don't really remember the first few days but overall it was a really good week. 

Monday we spent time with a member; Sister Mink, who is essentially the definition of a ward missionary. She really hard working and sweet but she is going to America at the end of November so she will be missed. Tuesday was a little crazy because we had to change English class around because the Harris' went to Chiang Mai early and then we went on Wednesday. In the end it all worked out. I love English class...haha I think I'm the exception to the normal missionary. All my past companions either hate English or hate Inviting and those are the things I love. Then again what is there not to love about missionary work? 

When we went back to Chiang Mai, it was more so...whoa, I'm back again. This time it was fun seeing the zone and other missionaries and President Senior. Just as we were about to the bus station to return to P-lok, Sister Kwan (the mom of the twins I taught when I served in CM) pulled into the parking lot. I literally screamed! haha Yes, still a girl. Sadly, her twins weren't with her but I was still excited to see her. She was the only person I didn't get to see when I went on switch offs; which made me sad but this week I did. Heavenly Father is just toooo nice to me. Bam also stopped by the church and we got to chat for a few minutes. I love that girl. 

Oh yeah, so hump day was good. Sadly, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. S. King had to register for classes so we went to an Internet cafe. However, I did get to watch part of the Relief Society Broadcast, so that was good. 

Saturday however, made up for Wednesday because my last companion, Sister Carper sent me a huge package!! J She got me Mac and Cheese, Cheerios and things I used to eat all the time in my last area. It made me happy all day. S. Carper also called me Wednesday night and wished me a happy hump day J She's great... I love her ด้วย

So two cool stories for the week: On Wednesday, the Elders got a phone call from a lady who was waiting outside the church. She has been Buddhist her whole life but she learned about Christianity in College. So she worked for some really big companies and so has her husband. She's somewhat religious but the one thing she's always wondering is, 'if we all believe in Christ, how come church's contend with each other and essentially say bad things about one another. She looked on Facebook one day and one of the CEO's for the company had on his profile that he is Mormon. So she sent him a message and she honestly didn't think he would reply because 1) he is a CEO and 2) he lives in America. But lo and behold, to her surprise he sent a response and told her he is a member of the church and then gave her the link to the church’s website. Then she looked up the address for the church and drove up and down the road until she saw the church and got the phone number off the English sign in front of the church. They taught her twice but she actually lives in our area so she's now our investigator. She wants to meet every day and she has a date to get baptized on November 17. She's golden! 

Another one of our investigators, we haven't seen her a lot this transfer, so we were going to meet her a least one more time, and if she wasn't interested we were going to put her on the shelf and let Heavenly Father work with her. Today, when we taught her, she had read 14 chapters in the Book of Mormon and she is understanding easier and she just looks happier! :D The power of the Book of Mormon is real. I'm glad that you are still working toward your goal to finish it this year. And in answer to Dad's question, I finished it on transfer 3 so...3-ish months ago. [Note from Dad:  I asked her when she finished reading the Book of Mormon in Thai]  It was interesting because although I only understood 90% of it (as far as language) once I finished it, the way I received and answer that it was true, was exactly the same. I love, love, love the Book of Mormon. 

Okay last thoughts, I found my purpose specifically here in Phitsanulok. And that is the youth. I wish so bad that you could get to know all of them and love them the way that I do. In the time that I've been here, they never cease to amaze me. Yesterday, the sacrament room was overflowing. Literally no room for people to sit, so some had to sit outside and just listen to the speakers. Then there was time for the youth to share their testimonies about a district activity they went to up in Chiang Mai. The first one to go up was Mark; who is one of our investigators. By the time he finished sharing his testimony, I was in tears. He is so strong and he's not even a member. Then two girls who are less active shared their testimonies and finally Brother Gap; another one of our investigators. Seriously, they’re all amazing. So I feel like I stumbled on my purpose but certain things that I studied, revelation I received and personal attributes/talents Heavenly Father has given me; made me aware what I can do here. 

We were having our Thursday night activity and I heard brother Mark singing some hymns I asked him if he's want to sing in Sacrament one day in a choir and he just beamed. So the young men got in a group and we practiced the primary song, the armies of Helaman. On Sunday all our appointments fell through and my companion was washing dishes, so since we had a lot of youth I got them all in a room and we sang love at home. The young women knew the song because they have been members longer but the 4 young men: one is a recent convert, another a less active (PS he's the one we've been working with all transfer and HE CAME BACK! :-)) then the other two young men are investigators. They didn't know a lick of the song, the notes were everywhere. After teaching them for 20 minutes, they sang it as if they learned it when they were kids. I'm so, so, so impressed with our youth. I'm so excited to work with them. I feel like the opportunities I've had to serve in Primary, Young Women's and as and FHE coordinator for the YSA Ward before I left are helping me a lot now.

Fern is doing better, happier and healthy. Mark is still chipper and Gap got a stronger testimony of the gospel after going to the activity in Chiang Mai. There's hope here and they are awesome. 

Well I love you all and I hope you stay healthy!! 

LOVE always

Sister Yeo 

Best Week of My Mission Life!!!

How is everyone?! It’s about time for midterms and fun holiday seasons. Speaking of which, what is everyone going to be for Halloween? haha I think I'm going to be snow white and a missionary. hehe I'll make sure to send you a picture. Ooo and Birthdays are coming up!! yay! Trina eat some cake for me :O I can't believe I'm hitting my hump day on Thursday. GROSS! I did get your letters and packages! I love this bag!! It's perfect and thank you for the pillow case and pens! My favorite part is “beat the Elders at everything.” haha It's true though. 

Oh, quick shout out to Jana Reedy. Hey sis I got your letter, I'll try to get back to you soon!  I'm excited for you to enter the mission! You're gonna love it!! 

OH.MY.GOSH.

I loved Chiang Mai. Alma 26, can't even begin to say the smallest part of which I feel. But it was phenomenal! I wrote about 12 pages in my journal about that 24 hours. So I decided I'll just send you a copy of my journal. :P

I’ll just share real quick about the lesson with Bon and Bam and their parents. So I was actually up there for 2 and a half days and so on Monday I went out with my MTC companion, Sister Stolworthy and we went and visited them at their house. I think Bon was so shocked because she looked at me then looked again really confused. Trust me I got that look the whole time I was there. She kept saying, whoa your Thai is so good now. I just laughed because hopefully, my Thai is better than when I was a greenie. Bam wasn't home but Bon called her and she showed up shortly then the first thing she tells me, “whoa you got skinnier.” hahah It was all sorts of happy feelings. I missed them so, so, so much. Best feeling in the world being up there with them at their home and just begin able to talk and understand each other. So then, we sat down and start to have a lesson. It was phenomenal! We talked about prayer (the lesson was for their parents who haven't quite opened up to learning) so in the middle of the lesson Bon shares her testimony and experience with prayer. Oh my goodness, she is so strong. I looked at her and started to tear up and when I was writing in my journal I was trying to figure out how to accurately describe how it felt in that moment. The only thing I got was, This was her 6 months ago in the “investigator” stop and today she is a strong member of the church bringing others into the gospel, specifically her parents; family. So I wrote something to the effect of…it was like watching your kid grown up (not that I've had any) but I was so proud of her and Bam and filled with tears of joy. Mom, Dad; they are so strong! I seriously feel so blessed to know them and be part of their life. 

We had a few set back during the week because but they became blessings by the end. Most of our daters have moved or left the area so we found ourselves with no one to teach for a day. We jumped on some less active work and made goals to find new investigators.

Our investigators here in Phitsanulok are still progressing. Last night we made very detailed goals, notes and plans how to get this branch going. I look forward to the upcoming times. 

Well sorry this wasn't as exciting of an email but I'm excited to send you pictures and a copy of my journal because it was an awesome week!

P.S. I'm going to Chiang Mai on Wendesday AGAIN!! WOOO 

We have specialized training. Heavenly Father is so nice to me, I love it. 

Have an awesome week! 

Love you all! 

Always, 

Sister Yeo 

Recent Pictures Up To October 21st

My absolute FAVORITE picture of all time!!!

Switch offs with Sister Knight. Had dinner at the Dukes.

Sister Oui! I missed this lady soo, sooo, sooo much!

Second FAV picture of all time. ha I got to see almost everyone at English class!

HAPPINESS!!!!

AHHHHH I'M IN CHIANG MAI!!!! It's been a dream with so many memories and happy times. I can't even contain it. I'm doing switch offs with Sister Knight and I'll go back to my area on Wednesday. After email, I'm going to see BON AND BAM!! Ahh I'm so, so, so happy. :D 

How's every one doing? Conference was so fantastic and so perfect for answering several of our investigators’ situations. Although they were all great, I have to say that one of my favorites was President Uchtdorf. All his talks for the last few sessions have been special to me especially as a missionary. 

So real quick, this week was a tearful one. I think I cried every day except two. Remember Fern? The 16 year old girl that I absolutely adore?! Well after English on Tuesday we were talking and another kid, named Mark (he’ll be an eternal investigator, I think), well both of them have the same family situation because their parents are not open to the gospel and have actually been giving them a hard time about it. Well Mark has been doing this for a year and Fern, just over 3 weeks. We sat down and he started sharing how hard it was that their families don't support them and they also persecute them because they choose to come to church. She started to cry and she told me, her parents won't feed her if she goes to church. She's always hungry (and if you see this girl, she is soooo skinny). As soon as she said that I just cried. It absolutely hurts me to see her sad about all the trials she is going through. She said she still wants to come because she feels like I'm her family now and that Church is home. She likes being there and being involved, etc. We shared a scripture and encouraged her to pray and read. We can't teach her because she is a minor but right now I think she just needs us to continue to be her friends. I left that day so incredibly sad. I cried all night and just worry so much about her. She has such a testimony because she is coming to church for all three hours and she also came for all 8 hours of conference. She's involved in activities and English class...just everything. I wish I could give her more. I admire both of them so much.

Another one of our investigators, Dak is absolutely golden. I'm not sure why I've been so blessed on my mission to have all the golden ones. She learned ALL the lessons in 4-5 days. She is the daughter of Sister Dukda who got baptized on the 6th. She wants to get baptized SO badly but because of other circumstances she has to wait. She goes to school 3 hours away from Phitsanulok and the closest church is an hour away. He mom is also moving to another location south in Thailand to work. The reason why we taught everything so fast is because we wanted to make it possible for her mom to see her get baptized; because it was her mom that introduced her to the Gospel. I had a hard time accepting that we told her “No” and that she has to wait to get baptized. I asked my district leader to ask our zone leaders a few times and after praying much about it, I knew it was right to be obedient and like the white handbook indicated, we need to support our leaders. I think the Elders’ reasoning is mostly accurate but as for my debate; we as missionaries talk about families all the time. It is the central unit in the church so this mom and daughter have come to know the Savior and you can just tell that they love each other too. Their baptism days were special and hers should be too! So Dak came to us, the missionaries and had the desire to be baptized and sacrificed to make it happen. She sat in front of us and tried to re-arrange her schedule but we told her we need to ask our leaders first. I had my companion tell her the bad news cause I knew I would be so sad and as soon as they heard, they took it well but I looked right at the moms face and I could see how sad she was inside and as I continued to look at her I could just almost see the tears start to come. However, both have such great faith and they know as long as they are obedient they will be blessed. I love the both of them. I was so sad to see them go yesterday. 

OH I love loved loved the talk from President Nelson about “ask the missionaries.” To that I say... AMEN! It's a blessing to see how the gospel really does answer all our questions in life. Conference is always a special time. While I sat there, I flashed back to last conference where I got to sing at the conference center! It seemed like so long ago. 

Well, I'm full of happiness right now. I never thought I would be back here on the streets of Chiang Mai. Never! I'm so happy and so blessed. I'm so grateful we have President Senior as our mission president right now. He listens to us, our concerns, our problems and joys and our successes and he follows the spirit so closely. I wish you could feel the spirit that is with President Senior--he is awesome!!!

I'm pretty sure pictures work here so I’m going to try to catch up on a few weeks :-)

LOVE YOU ALL

I'll report next week about Chiang Mai :-) hehe.

Always, 

Sister Yeo 

Heaven!

Please excuse my bad spelling because there is SO much to tell you. Sorry if I don't respond to all your emails too. We will watch conference this weekend (due to translation) and so we are all excited for the weekend for sure!! PLUS, to make it a memorable weekend, after conference on Sunday I'm going up to CHIANG MAI on switch off with Sister Knight!!!! I'm so excited to be up there for 3 days!! I'm pretty sure I'll get to see Bon and Bam and Sister Kwan and her twins!! :D :D I'm so incredible excited. 

However, I love this area just as much. The people here are so warm and it's such a different feeling up here. Naturally, I feel like I am an “easy-going” type person and get along with everyone which makes it really nice that members here in Phitsanulok are welcoming. I've attached to just about all of them really fast. Sister June, Sister Na and Sister Mink are such fantastic members. We are actually in Sukothai with Sister Mink right now. Hopefully, if sending pictures work, I can send you some. I don't know how to explain in words but I just really, really, really love the members here. It's such a blessing! Oh and p.s., my friend Tanner was the first missionary to teach the member who is now our branch president. We went over to his house this past weekend to talk to him and his wife about how we can help the branch and we asked his conversion story and he mentioned that Tanner was the one who knocked on his door. Cool how it all works out...he's a hard working BP. 

This past weekend Sister Dukda was baptized and confirmed!! :D She has such a solid testimony and her daughter came down for her baptism and now she wants to get baptized too!! She’s such a cute girl. Sadly, she has to go back to school so she won't be able to get baptized until next year when she comes back. If she got baptized this Sunday, she would still have to wait till the following week to receive the Holy Ghost. *sigh* She'll be a freshman in college so we are hoping to help her make good friends and stay rooted in the Book of Mormon. Her mom already has shared a lot with her so Heavenly Father will take care of her for sure. 

The girl I told you about last week--Fern is still coming to church and all activities during the week! Sometimes, it just takes a little love and attention to those who don't usually get it. I think that has been one of my favorite things to do on a mission. In every ward/branch there are those outgoing people that everyone knows so missionaries tend to flock to them whereas there are those quiet members who don't necessarily put themselves into social situations. I still love to be social but it's been fun to take myself out of the scene and spend some time with those shy ones. As a result, those have become really close to my heart. She is such a cute girl and we are planning to meet her parents so we can have permission to teach her. 

Our other investigators are progressing well but most struggle with coming to church. One of the harder things we experience and not just here but in every area. Let me lay down the perfect day for you:  We woke up and worked out and studying from the good word. With the right start, we went and saw a less active couple, which is actually the same couple I went and saw 3 months ago when I was on switch offs here for the first time. For 4 hours straight we taught lessons at the church and at the Harris' home. My favorite question that I love asking every person we teach is..."Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" In answer to that question, they all said, “Yes.” Since all of you (minus Trina) have served missions, I’m sure you can relate that it’s such a happy feeling and strong spirit during that lesson to get an affirmative answer. Then, to finish off the night, we had a youth activity where we played the “tarp” game. Everyone stands on the tarp and has to flip it...you know. They all loved it! I was grateful that I was in the YSA ward and that Bishop Bilbro called me as an FHE leader because we do these activities every week and I'm sure that had I not served in that position I would have to rack my brain for game ideas. P.S. if you have game ideas, oh and recipes, can you send them my way please?!  :-)  It was an absolutely perfect day! I feel that I am fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. 

Oh, hey mom and dad you'll be so proud to know...I'm still doing yard work :P hehe. We had a service project on Saturday and we cleaned up the street by the church. There was so much garbage and so much weed. I was so tired after that day. But it was another fantastic day and a good way to start and prepare for fast Sunday. Again, I'm really, really excited for this weekend to be able to listen to conference and to go to Chiang Mai!! Next week’s email might come later than usual. I'm sorry to keep you waiting but the Internet cafe is close to the Chiang Mai church, so an email will be send for sure ;-) 

If I can make a request, can you send me a copy of my baptism pictures. I forgot to ask when I was in the MTC but some investigators in the past have asked and wanted to see them and I figure it’s a good thing to have in my possession. Also can I have a copy of the Conference Ensign when it comes out in a few months? We get copies here but they belong to the missionary house. Please and thank you! :) 

I LOVE YOU ALL! 

Sister Yeo