April Showers Bring May Flowers!!!

Sister Kratai's BAPTISM! (The first baptism S Mullen and I have together)

Sports day this morning - President Senior got way into it. :P 

How is everyone doing? The semester is now closed and it's time for a break right? Well on the flip side, we are doing the opposite with the work and picking up the pace big time.

I can't believe how incredibly busy missionary work could be. This week has been insane and in attempt to describe the work that is going on, I felt it would be best organized in chronological order.

Monday: We met with two of our daters and had such a wonderful lesson with both of them. Brother Somnik is progressing so well. During the first lesson, he would hardly look at us when we taught him and he couldn't remember things because of health issues he can't process everything. (BTW, he is the husband of the member who has been praying for 10 years that he will open his heart) However, as the lesson progressed, he was happy! He smiled back at us and he was responsive! The gospel is already blessing his life. 

Tuesday: Honestly I had a hard morning. The night before, I was still getting the hang of calling all the sisters and talking to the district leader and zone leaders and coordinating zone training with them. I also was trying to find time to write in my journal and talk to my companion and figure out our financial problems with house money and so many things. I had a bunch of stresses bottled up and then, it was 10:24 p.m. and I only had time to brush my teeth, scribble some things on a sticky note so I could write in my journal the following day and get ready to sleep. Back to the morning, meeting with our bishop helped a lot but we also had a missionary meeting and a few comments were made that pushed me over the edge. I got up and went to the kitchen and just had a nice cry for 10 minutes. It all got better during English class because we had so many new people come and a lot of potential investigators. In my nightly prayers, I felt so blessed that Heavenly Father knows the load that we are trying to carry and then blesses us for at least trying. 

Wednesday: MEETINGS! I never thought that planning for a zone training would be so hard. With my new SL responsibilities I met with the zone leaders and we planned out what we wanted to present on Saturday. We also had a very Spirit-filled day. Earlier in the morning, I told Sister Mullen that I felt that today we shouldn't be going to see Juen. We changed our plans and decided to invite and use what we've been learning in training. It sounded odd that we would choose inviting over an investigator we are already teaching. But we went to the elders’ house to pick up a flyer that we needed copied and they told us that there was a lady at the church who is waiting for them but they don't have a male church member available to help them teach. We went over and taught Sister Newt and she's golden!! She came to church and she is meeting with the elders regularly. We wished she was in our area and we could teach her but it was nice to be part of that experience. 

Thursday: English class renovation. We had another meeting. I feel so bad for my companion that her first experiences in the country is waiting for these meetings to be over. She just smiled at me and said, “But I get to learn my teaching points!” She's great! :-) In this meeting, President shared some awesome changes and vision that is going to be implemented in the mission as soon as possible. First, regarding English classes and second, how we work with the ward and with branch/ward mission leaders. My former district leader and I are putting together the pamphlet for this and I hope my English skills are up to par for this task. :P  I met with the zone leaders again for more finalization of zone training and we rushed home and taught two lessons to finish our evening.

Friday: Meetings!! SO MANY!!! I feel like it's almost too many. We spent our whole day at the church preparing for a million things. My companion played the piano for almost 3 hours and again so blessed with the patience she has. Started with a zone training conference call, then the Asoke elders came and met with me to start constructing the new English pamphlet. Then, we were supposed to have Sister Kratai and Brother Bob come and prepare their baptism outfits but the person with the key to the closet didn't show up. Instead, we went and got her baptism record signed by her dad and then finished the program and long planned for the evening. 

Saturday: Zone training! I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be and it turned out to be a very uplifting training from everyone's contribution. We rushed back to our area and got to the church and prepared for the baptism. Everything was ready and everyone was at the church but when 5:00 p.m. hits, Brother Bob who was baptizing Sister Kratai wasn't there!!!! I went through every single emotion on Saturday night. However, in the end she was baptized and all was well. 

Sunday: We had 6 of our investigators come to church. Two new ones and a partridge in a pear tree. jk but Sister Kratai was confirmed! :-)  Sunday was one of my favorite days and there are so many blessings that come from Sunday worship and actively participating in classes and truly preparing ourselves for self-inspection during the Sacrament.   

Today, we went to Chaengwhatana for sports day. The elders played dodge-ball most of the time. So, I am now a professional hula hoop-er. I played with the elders for a bit but I figure it's not worth the risk. This week will be just as busy. I'm teaching another zone training on Wednesday in the Bangkok North Zone and then we are going on switch offs on Thursday and last night, President said that he wants us to help out the sisters in the west zone so we'll be doing another special switch off. At the end of the day, we are so blessed. I have a wonderful companion--the best! The area is progressing and our investigator pool has doubled, almost tripled. Our investigators with baptismal dates are showing commitment and coming to church as well as preparing to get baptized. We are healthy and happy. I laughed when I read Garen's question--if I'm trunky. I think I would be lucky to just breathe and have time to write in my journal for 10 minutes every night let alone be trunky. So no, I don't have time to be trunky.  

I will testify that the Lord is hastening the work. We can ALL catch the wave or just be left behind. So here in Bangkapi, we work hard and play hard! We are on the Lord's errand and we just want to be obedient so that if He needs something done we're going to be there to take care of it. 

Love you all!! 

Always, 

Sister Yeo 

Hastening The Work of the Lord

My adorable companion. We went to the doctor and found out she has pneumonia so she's been taking a lot of medication. Despite the health problems she works so hard every day! So blessed to have her has my child.

 

Sister Jane's Baptism!!! (She's an investigator of the Elders) 

Sister Jane and I

How is everyone doing? The weather is warmer and everyone is almost out of school I assume? Yay!! 

Well, the weeks fly by and they get busier and busier. For starters, my companion is wonderful! She is such a phenomenal missionary and the members and investigators are so impressed with how advanced her Thai is for being in Thailand for just one week. I can't explain how blessed I feel to work with her and train together. I'm learning so much from her and realizing that I have even more that I need to improve on. This week, as we've been training, we've been working on how to begin teaching and inviting others to be baptized. We increased our pool of investigators with 3 more people, all with baptism dates for next month.  Also, yesterday we had 6 investigators attend church!!! It was such a wonderful day yesterday. At the end of the night, I felt a little flustered while accounting to the Lord for the day. However, we gave Him everything we could and used every minute of the day! 

This week, we got the instruction that as Sister Training Leaders, President would like us to call all the sisters every day and follow up with how their day went.  Furthermore, on Sunday nights, we have to follow up with the junior companions about their training and how they are adjusting. Yesterday was the first night that I made calls and it was a little stressful playing phone tag with the missionaries.  What’s more-- we still need to talk to the District leader and be accountable to them. I mentioned this to President and told him that it would be more efficient to make up a calling schedule so that everyone can be contacted in time and also that we can all be obedient and go to bed on time. If you have any ideas, changes and improvements, they are always welcome! I think if the Elders can manage to do it, then it's possible for us too. I also think I'll call the AP's and ask them how they like to do their nightly phone calls. Overall, my responsibilities as a STL is to inspire, uplift and build our sisters. First and for most is my companion; then, the other sister here in Bangkok. We still proselyte as normal and invite others to be baptized!! 

Our investigators are progressing! They have all been a lot more responsive to the gospel this past week. I firmly believe it is because of the faith of Sister Mullen, (it’s the new missionaries in general, with their greenie fire syndrome) which helps us all. On Friday, a sister from the ward called us during companionship study and asked for the Elders’ number. Then 5 minutes later, the Elders called us and said that the husband of this sister just found out that he has cancer. He asked for a priesthood blessing and is beginning to open his heart and wants to start learning about the gospel. He came to Sister Jane's baptism on Saturday and to church yesterday. We are teaching him tonight and he has a date to get baptized next month! It's really amazing to see how trials humble each of us and bring us closer to the Savior as well as our families. Their 2 children are both members but currently less active. This strong sister has prayed for 10 years that her husband will open his heart to the gospel. She keeps saying that now is the time and you can just see how much she trusts the Lord. The gospel truly does unite families, whether in this life or in the next. 

Well this week our investigator Sister Gradai is getting baptized!!  Yesterday, when we taught her after church, I was so touched that she would even come to church. She's been out of town and got home at 5:00 a.m. When I called her in the morning, she sounded so tired and she looked even worse (completely exhausted). However, she still came to church, and for all three hours. She even stayed after the meetings to meet with us. Her fellow-shipper Brother Bob, also a recent convert has been such a great help! He has only been a member for one month but when he teaches, it's as if he's been a member for years. He really understands the Atonement and repentance. 

Well I love you all. 

Have a wonderful week!! 

Always, 

Sister Yeo 

History

First Mission Leadership Council

The Four of us Sister Wiganda, Me (Bangkok) Sister Rod (North) Sister Stolworthy (Esan)   

Haha. I'm not sure how I forgot but we had Songkran yesterday. The FUNNEST P-day of the year. Lots of water and clay and foam!! It was great; that's all I have to say :P We played at the church on Saturday and we also played at Siam and Central world yesterday. 

Sorry, I don't have pictures from yesterday but a member took them and will send them to me later. So I'll pass them on when I have them.    

One of the Elders in my MTC group. Came back into the field! Elder Martin   

Sister Steele and I.  [Sister Steele is the daughter of Dr. Frost Steele, a faculty member in the Nutrition, Dietetic, and Food Science Department at BYU.  Traci was/will be majoring in that program]

Sister Weed and I. [Sister Weed and Traci used to work for the Life Sciences Student Services Office at BYU]    

How is everyone doing at home? It's been cold here for the last few hours but soon it's going to get hot! I have so much to tell you about this week, so here goes. 

My new companion's name is Sister Mullen. She got here with 34 other missionaries last Tuesday, full of faith and ready to work. She is from California and she is half Thai. Her mom is from an area in Thailand near Phitsaulok and her dad served his mission here in Thailand and know some of our ward members. Therefore, her Thai is amazing! She is ready to work and I'm already learning so much with her. 

Conference was amazing! I love President Monson's talk the most! It was the answer I needed to a very specific question I had prepared before listening. I also enjoyed Sister Dalton's talk about virtue and knowing who we are and whose we are. I remember thinking during her talk that, that is how I want to live and be an example of to my companion, investigators and members, etc. P.S. I saw Ms Dixon [Traci’s 3^rd grade teacher] in the choir during one of the sessions! That was neat! 

Okay, here’s an update on the house. The noises continue but there is no need to worry. Sometimes it's the neighbors and I'm just learning to get used to it. In the very busy week we had, I found that the more I focused on the work and purpose we have here in Bangkapi, the less time I had to consult my fears and worry about if something was wrong. It's been a full week and we haven't heard from Mr. John. Also, President called me last Monday night about it and I 'm keeping him updated on the situation. 

Now for history part. On Tuesday, President Senior called us again. Sister Kittima (who is now transferred to Korat) answered the phone and I expected him to ask us about the house situation and maybe, how we slept the previous night. After speaking briefly with her, she gave the phone to me and said President would like to speak to me as well. The conversation starts like this…

"Sister Yeo, how are you doing today? I have an assignment for you. Are you willing to accept it? As you know, the mission is evolving here and around the world. I would like to call you as one of the Sister Training Leaders for the mission. Will you accept?"

He went on to explain the details of the assignment; specifically for me. I'll have stewardship over the 12 sisters in the Bangkok area, as well as Sister Wiganda. But essentially, because of the increasing number of sisters that are entering the mission, there is a need for sister leaders. It's close to the responsibilities of a Zone Leader but not quite the position a zone leader. The correct title is a Sister Training Leader: not Zone Leader. :P I am one of the first four to be a SL in Thailand and I am excited but anxious at the same time because of my inadequacies and weaknesses. We are all trying to build and understand what the apostles want and expect from this calling and of course, we will need the spirit to guide us in everything.  

Friday morning, we attended the first Mission Leadership Council (no longer called Zone Leader Council) at President and Sister Senior’s house. It was a very special experience and I feel privileged that God loves the sisters and loves women to give us the chance to serve in leadership callings such as this. As appropriately, we talked about goals and what we need to do and we received a lot of revelation. President has a vision for this work and I support him in all aspects of the work. I've been studying humility and obedience because I hope to make Heavenly Father proud, President trust the sisters, and the Yeo name proud. :D 

Well, I look forward to the transfers to come. Training with Sister Mullen and as a Sister Training Leader and baptizing!! 

I love you all!!! 

Always, 

Sister Yeo 

Fast Week!!

My Adorable Companion.

Why I won't come home skinny :P haha

I'm not sure what to say today. This week has been so fast and I'm trying to catch a hold of all the things we need to do before transfers this Thursday. Overall though, I love how functional things are in this area. Yesterday during Sacrament meeting, it was so full and people know what classes to go to and to welcome the new people and everything.

This weekend we’ll be in Songkran and viewing General Conference. It such a challenge to get people to go listen to conference for a few hours instead of playing in the water and rubbing clay all over each other faces. It'll be a great weekend though. 

This week, I learned the power of faith and looking to the Savior in all things. We had some weird experiences this week and my companion and I got really scared. So we started to sing and we said a lot of prayers. Soon the fear went away and we have been alright. It was so interesting because I read a talk that Bishop Bilbro gave us titled, “Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” In one of the paragraphs, Elder Peason says that faith and fear cannot co-exist. After reading this I thought about how we felt during these experiences. Our initial human instinct is to be scared or doubt right? So it took us a little bit to come back to our senses and realized that every single day we teach others to have faith. We teach them that if they are doing the right thing they would be blessed and protected. If we teach that then we should live it to. However, hopefully we don't have to live through it again. 

Well I'm excited for this week!!! :D 

I love you all. 

Have a great Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! :) hehe

Love always,

Sister Yeo