Merry Christmas

December 30, 2019

I have like no time because we travelled today for pday so it's going to be super short!

So many Buffalo!

Highlights:

We went to a school and did games and talked about Christmas, they had never seen a white person before so they were going nuts lol. Also no one knows why Christmas is a thing (they all think it's the American new year or something like that) so it's super cool! 

We had our ward Christmas party which was pulled together in one day! Sister yamma and I danced the night away and all the members were so shook that we were so fun! We still haven't heard the end of it aha.

We started teaching English in ทุงฟน​ and it went super well!! Hopefully we will get more people next week

ซ. นุ้น​ told me and sister yamma that we have gotten a lot fatter which is probably true but she's also a little crazy so I'm not taking it to heart too much

On Christmas day we visited 17 families, sang to them, shared a video, and gave them treats! We were so exhausted but it Was so fun and we really felt the joy and love that comes from Christmas and following christ

6:30am Christmas morning with our cute little paper tree Christmas set up! (thanks mom!)

Christmas lunch!

The gang

A family we visited on Christmas!!

A little bike incident

Almost Christmas!

December 22, 2019

It's only been a couple days but some fun things happened this week!! I was a really horrible journal writer this past week and now I'm regretting it aha.

Thailand is so so beautiful

Funnies:

One of the people we are teaching (she wants to get baptized so badly but we still need to work through some things) came to a baptism we had. After that she said she was getting really hot and had this weird feeling inside her (clearly feeling the spirit) so she ran out of the church building and said she doesn't want to get baptized because she's afraid of feeling like that haha.

At the Christmas party everyone volunteered all the missionaries to do an eating contest without our hands, and usually that stuff is with like pie or pudding or something... But no then did it with pasta with meat sauce!!! So difficult and really strange.

Random Tidbits:

Elder davis left us!! So sad but it was so cute to see all the members come together to come say goodbye to him and send him off! They are all so awesome!

We finally changed 3 out of the 5 lights in our apartment, so we officially have light!! I can't believe we've been living in this darkness for so long

We have light!!!!

we are going to start teaching English in another city and I'm super excited about it! It's going to make the 3hrs of travel time there feel a lot more productive

I had to use my mtc teachers advice for eating! Thai people love feeding the missionaries until they are going to explode but of you eat super slowly it always looks like your eating everytime they look over and then they are super happy. One lunch they brought out a meal which is usually the full meal so I filled up on that, and then they proceeded to bring out 2 other full meals!!! I was so full. Then for dinner after we helped paint the fence she fed us so so so much. 

Classic us getting locked out of our apartment! (it was late and we were so exhausted lol)

Elders being elders aha

It has now gone back to being like 35-36 degrees everyday but the woman at church still wears her cute strawberry hat every week!

The work:

น้องนุ่น​ was baptized!! It was so special and so cute. She was so worried about sharing her testimony after her baptism so she has practiced and memorized what she was going to say for about 3 months now lol. 

Our tuk tuk driver came to the Christmas party and then sat in a lesson the next day!!! HUGE MIRACLE. he has been driving around the missionaries for about a year now maybe and has refused any invitation for anything... But he is finally opening his heart! He's so awesome too. 

Spiritual Thought:

Hard things happen in life. Hard things happen to people we love and to us and sometimes we just don't understand why. Why is this happening, what is the purpose? All we can do sometimes is just out our trust in God which is not easy, and may seem impossible. However if we just want to be able to trust in God because we feel like we can't right now that is enough. The saviour will never reject what we can offer him, what our best is that day. If we can offer him only a desire to trust in Him, He will work with that. He is our loving father in heaven and understands us perfectly. He is with us always as we continue to TRY and follow him. 

I hope everyone has a great week and merry Christmas!!!! 

Love, 

Sister Clement 

Transfers Already!!

December 18, 2019

Good news is though I'm staying in Udorn and so is Sister Yamma..WOW! SHe will have been here for eight months by the time this transfer is over.

Also I'm writing this without my journal right now so it's going to be super lame because I barely remember anything!

Funnies: 

We waited for the bus for almost 2 hours the other day in the middle of nowhere with The elders after a lesson because we missed the bus 10 times, they just kept driving past us 

Random tidbits:

Sister yamma had her birthday!! 24 years old and this is the first birthday celebration she's ever had! We made it super special complete with ice créme cake, silly string and a lot of fun stuff (birthdays are not a thing in Thailand, most people don't know their birthdays) 

We had zone conference and I learned so much! It was also so fun to see all the people in our zone and get to know them better :) 

The work:

น้อวก้อง​ got baptized! He was waiting for Marc (the guy from France to come and baptize him) it was so so nice, even though the baptismal font kept draining and we barely had enough water it still happened and he was so so happy. We love him so much!!! 

Spiritual Thought:

I'm going to be short and sweet with this one. Come unto Christ, especially during this Christmas season. Notice the blessings, help à friend, come to church! All. These simple things and many others will help. You feel more love for yourself, for others and for god this Christmas season! 

Love,

Sister clement 

Pday (preparation day) in Laos with Sister Yamma

December 2019

I Had to Leave Thailand and Lost My Nametag Privileges

แม่มล​ baptism!! 

Hey everyone hope you all had a great week!!

Funnies:

This week while at the huge market inviting for English I was standing there all happy with my sign when all of the sudden I feel this hand poke my bum!! I thought it was another sister but it was some old Thai man who apparently didn't like that I was standing by his food stand. Thai people and bums man, so weird.

We had a "cold spell" this week and so all the Thai people didn't want to leave their house so we had a couple cancellations for appointments aha. It's like 15 in the mornings and 23 during the days (keep in mind it's sunny too) and no kidding people are wearing full on winter coats. For church in the building everyone was wearing hats and mittens and scarves.

Random tidbits:

We did switch offs this week! So we got to go to Roi-et and spend a day there, I learned a lot it was super fun!

6 hour bus ride to Roi-et

Waiting for another bus after a lesson on the side of the road for an hour aha, so sketch

I have officially eaten a maggot and some mystery bug with big legs and wings!  

We were helping one of the members redo her gate so we were scraping off paint and her friend comes out with this Wierd jell like thing. He told us it was to help get the paint off so I start using it and then my skin started to burn and get super itchy, and then I realized the water bottle the substance was in was melting. Whatever it was would definitely not be allowed in Canada and I'm slightly scared for my health now aha.

We fit 8 full grown people in a tuk tuk because we are super cheap lol.

Right now I'm in Laos... Hence the title! Here talking about our religion is illegal so no nametag and I have to use my first name... So weird!! I'm here for a few days to get my visa for Thailand. It's super awesome we have a really nice hotel!

First time eating on a table here!!!

Lunch with the. Laos elders

with Sister Yamma

A member left us food on Sunday!! (everyone here is so nice) 

English class shenanigans

STL's 

The work:

แม่มล​ finally got baptized and it was amazing! She has been learning for 2 years and has overcome so much to get to this point. We love her a ton. (she also owns a smoothie shop so we always get coconut smoothies from her and they are SO GOOD)

I'm really trying to focus on loving the people we are teaching and really building relationships with them because my trainer will probably get transferred and I won't be able to rely on her anymore aha. They aren't too hard to love though, they are so amazing.

Spiritual thought:

This week one of my weaknesses has definitely come to light and so I'm really trying to change that. It's not easy but I do just want to testify of the changing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I think sometimes we focus too much on the fact that it's for taking away our sins... It's not just that! Through Jesus Christ we really can change and overcome our weaknesses. He will help us with every righteous desire that we have because he loves us so much. We can all be better and do better and we've got Christ on our side. :)

Have a good week!! My pday is Wednesday next week because of transfers :)

Love, 

Sister clement

. 

I Live Amongst a Bunch of Vampires

Another week for the books!! I'm just living it up here in udorn it's pretty great! It's hot as always (even though it's winter here) and I'm so sweaty all the time but I'm having the best time. 

Funnies:

I met a baby named iPhone the other day! He was so cute 

I woke up one night praying, like I dreamed it was the morning and I fully woke up saying a prayer (sitting up in my bed and all) lol. Realized it was the middle of the night and then gladly went back to sleep. I guess you could say I'm in full blown missionary mode at this point. 

here they fully eat crabs, like shells and everything so I had a fun experience with that, and also eating intestines of some mystery animal and I had to try hard not to puke lol. No bugs yet though! I'm a little dissapointed! Other than that the food is super super good. 

An older man thought I was 30years old the other day lol 

In a lesson we were in the middle of praying and a bunch of crabs escaped this bucket, it was a disaster. Plus the elders were scared to pick them up but everyone was going crazy trying to get them back. 

Thai culture:

Thai people in the Esan love to drink/eat blood. So every soup place you go to there will be a giant bowl of who knows what kind of blood to put in soups and stuff. They will also just eat it straight up too!! Like slurp it out of a spoon.... So weird. 

Random tidbits:

We did a service project at a woman's house in the wilderness helping her clean up her yard. There was probably 10 years worth of garbage there so it was a big project but now it looks so much better and she feels a lot better :)) 

At church on Sunday the French guy was back and wanted to bear his testimony so I had to go up to the front and translate from French into Thai in front of everyone!!! Gift of tongues is real people because I could actually do it. At this point all my fear is gone, I know I won't understand people 80% of the time and I speak in broken Thai but I cherish that 20% I do understand! And the only way to improve is to keep trying!! Thai people think it's cute when I speak anyway so what have I got to lose?! 

I get a lot of food for cheaper here because I'm so "beautiful" ha ! I'm glad the sweaty, helmet hair look works for them! It's always funny when people talk about me and then I respond to them in Thai, because they really don't expect it lol. I feel like I'm going to get super prideful while I'm here because I get told I'm beautiful between 10-20 times a day (only because I have white skin lol) 

2 of the dancers came to fhe and sports night so that was so so awesome!! 

I got 10 pièces of dragon fruit for 10 baht (like 35 cents lol). It was hype 

Our apartment has only officially 2 working lights now, the bathroom and one other, we really need to get them fixed lol. 

Spiritual thought:

I've thought a lot about gratitude this week (not because of American Thanksgiving) . We really do live such a blessed life in Canada. We have so so much and don't even realize it. People live with so little here, and yet are still so happy. God has given us so much, especially as members of our church. We have so much peace and happiness in our lives with the knowledge we have, and we need to share that!!

Love, 

Sister Clement