Sister Hammon: Week 72 - Someone Knows What 'Utah' Is!

I AM KHON THAI

So something that happened this week reassured me that I have now become a Thai person. We walked out in the morning and I was freezing! There was a small wind and it was overcast and all day I was dying (especially because I have no warm clothes) Anyway so finally I asked a member what the temperature was and I almost cried when I heard....it was 73 degrees.73. Degrees. And I was cold.....This is a problem. I have gone full out Thai over here.

Anyway so besides that this week was good! Still trying our hardest to get our area back and running and it has been quite the adventure with lots of miracles and lots of not-so miracles, but it's been good. Definitely kept us both on our toes.

FIRST SWITCH OFF//CRAZIEST RUN IN

We also had our first switch off this last week. It was interesting because we still don't know our area all that well, so planning a double day was rough. I switched off with Sister Powley, who is adorable, but we had a grand day! Haha by 10 AM all of our appointments had canceled/not shown up. I was trying not to freak out and was praying SO HARD that things would all work out. I kept saying, "it's okay, this is obviously God's plan!" but I was really doubting it inside/feeling way bad our day fell through.

We ended up getting 2 last minute/miracle appointments which changed everything around...and the craziest part:

One of our last minute markets was near a market, so after we visited them we went over to the market for a split second to invite. I was literally talking to every single person within eye sight "Hey do you know who Jesus is? Hey do you want to learn about Jesus" (normal Bangkok inviting) Anyway so one woman passed me by then stopped, I turned around to keep talking to her. She told me she has lived in America before (pretty common) and I asked were, "Utah" (NOT COMMON AT ALL--UNHEARD OF! No one knows what Utah is, let alone has lived there!!) SO after I freaked out telling her I was from Utah, I asked where and what she said made my draw drop, "Bountiful." WHAT. I died. I have NEVER met a single Khon Thai to know what Utah is, let alone live in MY CITY! Needless to say I was dying asking her all these questions, turns out she lived with a host family right by Dicks Market (literally a 4 minute drive from my house) She's an older woman and was so sweet, she just kept hugging me telling me I need to come over and meet her family! So we have an appointment to visit her family this week. Crazy as it is, even though she has lived in Bountiful Utah she has never learned of Jesus Christ, so we are so excited to visit her and teach her all about this miraculous message:)

But seriously. What are the odds. One of the craziest run-ins on my mission.

LANTERN FESTIVAL

Also this week was the Loigratong Festival again (where you do the Tangled lanterns/candles on the water) This year I got a lot more out of it because I learned that part of the festival is to send away the bad and welcome the good. This can be so applicable in our lives as we choose our faults/areas of weakness and decide that we no longer want them in our lives..that is when true conversion happens/everyone's personal 'Challenge to Become' (a phenomenal talk by Elder Oaks, everyone go read it!)

I love you all very very much. Hope you have a dandy week. I don't know about you, but since Thailand has no Thanksgiving, the Christmas season has official begun!! Sister McDonnell and I have listened to nothing but Christmas music the past few days..so excited!

Also Elder Evans is visiting us this week, so we are so excited! Another week full of training!

รักมากมากเลย

Sister Hammon