Sister Hammon: Week 14 - Just Keep Swimming...literally

Hello hello! This week was full of WATER. Aka--Bana Na. We had continuous rain from Monday to Saturday! And what happens with rain? Floods! Haha and I mean floods. As in treading through water to my knees. BUT! There were many lessons learned and it was such a good week!

JUST KEEP SWIMMING

So it was about day 3 of flooding and every street we went down that day was flooded. It takes a lot longer to get places and is just a hassle. Anyway, earlier in the day for my personal study I read a talk from the Liahona. A dad had a theme with his daughter. Every time something hard happened he would tell her "just keep swimming" from Finding Nemo. This phrase became very significant when she was a missionary! So as I was treading through the water around 3:15. I was exhausted and really felt discouraged. That's when I heard a little voice in my head say, "hey, just keep swimming"--or "just keep treading through water." I laughed a little to myself and kept on going. Sometimes days are long and life is tough--but I promise that if we just keep swimming, things always work out. So that is my challenge for you all! You may not have a flooded city-but if you keep going, the water will eventually drain:)

FUNNY

This week we had a ton of super funny moments, so here we go:

1. We were waiting for a song thaew (taxi truck) and I saw this old man struggling to get off of a motorcycle. Sister Fuai and I ran over to help. It took 4 people but we successfully got the man off of the motorcycle without dying. We kept talking to him afterwards and we introduced ourselves. After I said my name he replied, "Ahh yes, I met your husband earlier today." Hahaha either there is another person with the last name of "Hammon" or this man was completely crazy. Either way I had a good laugh.

2. We were contacting/waiting for a bus when a woman came up to us trying to give us some Buddhist paper. We started telling her who we were when she stopped us and started saying something. I was completely lost so I just nodded and smiled until she left. Turns out she was telling us how sorry she was that we have been overtaken with poison in our blood. Haha no wonder I didn't understand, somehow "poison" doesn't seem like a crucial vocab word to study.

3. SONG THAEW TRAGEDY (this is a good one)

So we ride song thaews every day. They are basically a covered truck with two rows of seats. You flag one down when you want a ride and press a button when you're ready to get down. They are super cheap and super efficient so we LOVE them. So it was Sunday and we were going to church with a less active member. We were about to pass the church so Sister Fuai went to press the button and it didn't work. I quickly went to push the button on my side because I didn't want us to pass the church. I was in mid squat/standing position when the driver slammed on the brakes. Lets just say I flew! To my horror I landed on a Thai grandma's lap as well as about 2 other people. Everyone on the song thaewtao burst into laughter. I was mortified. My first reflex was to start apologizing in English, then I changed to Thai and just kept repeating "sorrry sorry sorry!" Haha she was laughing so hard. For the rest of the day whenever the less active member saw me she just started laughing. Oh my goodness. I still turn red just thinking about it--but it was honestly hilarious.

A GREENIE'S MIRACLE

So every greenie in Thailand has a period of time where they are still adjusting to the food...I'm still in that period of time. We had just eaten dinner and were about to teach Mali in McDonalds, when I started feeling so sick. I told Sister Fuai so we went a little early so I could sit for a little bit. I was having a hard time focusing and really just needed to lay down. It was about 8:15 PM so we would be finished after this lesson. I really didn't think I could make it through the lesson because I felt so sick. She said a prayer that I would feel better and I said one myself. Mali started walking up and I still felt awful, and I was so worried for the lesson. Then she came and sat down. Immediately, IMMEDIATELY I felt completely fine. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life. I couldn't believe it. We then taught our lesson and it was SO GOOD. I was able to talk a lot and understood almost everything! The spirit was so strong and we really felt like we connected with her. The lesson ended and the moment she left I started feeling sick again. This was a MIRACLE. There is absolutely no logical explanation for what happened, but I know that God wanted me to teach that lesson so He made it possible. I just want to testify that we belong to a God of miracles. "God has not ceased to be a God of miracles," we just need to see them. (Mormon 9:15) I am so grateful that I get to be a part of this work and see miracles every single day. This is His work and He does it His way!

Life is so good. There are always challenges but challenges always end with joy and peace..I know it:) Have an incredible week!

รัก มาก มาก,

Sister Hammon

BANGKOK FLOODING

Flooding Day 2...spot the Elder...

We don't have bikes so we are secretly very jealous of them.

This is not a river. This is Bang Na's highway.

Flooding Day 1

This just made me smile as I thought of my dad trying to bike through this.

This is our beautiful beach front property.

Notice the water level showing how high the water reached.

When it floods all the fish come out from the sewers (yeah it's kind of disgusting)

and all the kids try to catch the fish. (Notice the children down the ally)

IT'S HER BIRTHDAY TODAY!

We had this banner that said "Merry Christmas"

so I taped "Happy Birthday over it!

It was SO SWEET and so funny! So we were finishing our studying and we heard this banging on our door. It was actually kind of freaky. We asked who it was and there was no response but the banging started again. Sister Fuai slowly opened the door and it was the elders! Haha they made microwave cake for her birthday! (My thumb is in there so we are being 100% obedient don't worry;)