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Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts

4/15/2013

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 3rd 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 


2/03/2013

History In The Making


At transfers with President and Sister Senior
My MTC District
Still in P-lok with Sister Zatarain!! :D SO happy!!


The four elders who are going to Laos
So much has happened this week that I'm not sure where to start! How's everyone doing over there? Hope you're hanging in there with the cold weather. Things in P-lok are starting to heat up. Yes, I am still in P-lok and serving with S. Zatarain!! I was sooo happy when we found out I wasn't moving. By the end of this transfer, I will have served in this area for 6 months and in the “North Zone” for 9 months…so about half my mission. I love it up here and I’m so grateful that I've spent my time in this part. So many cool things happened this week, I think I'm going to start with the bigger scale and come back down to P-lok. 

All the missionaries went down to transfers on Thursday. It was so fun to see everyone and President Senior made some pretty big announcements. New areas were opened and four missionaries were sent to Lao! However they are not allowed to proselyte. President Senior has given us instruction to share the following: 

“By invitation, the Thailand Bangkok Mission received approval to have four young service volunteers to labor in Vientiane, Laos.  These service volunteers will work with Deseret International Charities under the direction of the Senior Couples who are located in Vientiane, and will be involved in a variety of humanitarian and educational service opportunities, including clean water projects, hygiene, neo-natal education and English language instruction.  The young volunteers will also support the Branch activities of the Laotian Saints in Vientiane, Laos.  The Church is not yet officially recognized in Laos and this recent activity is for the purpose of providing additional educational and humanitarian service.”

They are not teaching the gospel yet but only giving service so that one day in the near future, missionaries will be allowed to teach members there. There is currently a small branch in the area.  Last year, there were 40 baptisms and a few months ago, a copy of the Book of Mormon was published. Big things are happening in our mission. It brought tears to everyone at transfers. The picture I sent home are the first four missionaries to go. I served in the same district with all except one and they are such good missionaries. 

Also new sister areas are open! They opened up my last area, Bangkhae again!! They also opened up the area where we have transfers meeting. So who knows where I'll go next?! 
It was really nice to get back to P-lok after that day. Being away from the area is really weird and even though we aren't gone for long, I missed it for the 24 hours. Our investigators are all progressing. They'll be getting baptized next weekend and one more the week after that. Yesterday, we taught Brother Guy the rest of the Plan of Salvation. It was interesting timing because at church he told us that his aunt just died. In the middle of the lesson he got up and he started drawing on the whiteboard what he understood from what we just taught and it was the cutest thing! He understands everything so well. It'll be so great to see him be a missionary in the future too! 

Our other investigator, Sister Praaw (not sure how to spell her name in English) is also on the same track. She is very quiet but she has a glow in her eyes every time we teach her and she just love it all. She keeps every commitment and she's been to church every week since we've started teaching her. 

I feel really blessed being in P-lok this long because I've seen it grow so much. Yesterday, we had another full house of 70 people and we are closer to our goal of 80 and getting a new church building! It was encouraging yesterday seeing 70 people and knowing we are so close. When I first got here there were about 40 people coming consistently. It been way cool to see the Lord touch the lives of the people here. The youth are so amazing and they have a special place in my heart because that is where I've focused my personal purpose in P-lok. Big things are happening here and we are determined to help this branch become a ward. Our new district leader is my Phii (the group one transfer ahead of me) so we are a really young district but everyone is hard working. Our senior couple is still soo awesome. P.s. they were in the news and we'll be in the news this month too. I forgot to bring the website address with me but I'll write it down for next week. 

Well, I love you all!! Thank you for all your support! Till next week 

Love always, 
S. Yeo