Week 53 - Where did all the miracles come from?!

So I have mentioned seeing miracles before, a lot before actually, but I cannot explain what happened this week. We worked like normal, I didn't do anything crazy different than I usually do, but our companionship got 11 new investigators and had 14 investigators at church....14. Hah--for call in reports the zone leaders didn't even believe us the numbers were so high, "Did you pay them?!" All I know is that it wasn't anything I did--GOD WANTS KORAT TO PICK UP, so he sent just about 39847293 miracle stories this week.

So also just a random fact--THE BIBLE IS AMAZING. I really dove into reading it on my mission and oh my word. I LOVE IT. Seriously I get ready super fast just so I can read more in the morning and at night.  Something that really stuck out to me this week was in Genesis 41:16, Joseph declared that it wasn't him who would interpret the dreams, " It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. " And that is how I felt this entire week...these miracles are not in me, but because of God's will and His infinite power! (<-- that is the challenge for this week, turn the glory to God!)

We had so many miracle stories but I don't know any to share! We had so many moments of split second decisions that resulted in us meeting a new investigator or being able to make an awesome invite! On July 9th we have 2 people scheduled to get baptized (see picture) and they are THE CUTEST. Sister Addt has had such a hard life, but once she heard about this gospel from her friend (YAY REFERRALS) she has spent all of her time reading and learning with us! I already love them SO MUCH and cannot wait for this special day of theirs. Pray for them:)

FUNNY

Sooo I don't know what it is but my companions have so many bike problems hahaha I'm laughing just typing this out. So we were running late for an appointment and Sister Henry needed to drop some bike spray off at the house but we didn't have time to stop so she decided to throw the bike spray over the fence to save time...the following occurred in a matter of 3 seconds:

     -Sister Henry throws the bike spray

     -the bike spray hits the fence and ricochets back at her

     -the bike spray hits her face causing her to swerve

     -Sister Henry runs into a parked motorcycle and falls off her bike 

     -the bike spray hits the ground

Hahahaha I am never bored with her as a companion and that is for sure.

LOVE YOU ALL! Have a great week--I promise miracles have not ceased! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. Blessings beyond belief every singe day:)

รัก มาก มาก

Sister Hammon

This is on the way to Sister Addt’s house!  Also fun fact, 

I tripped a second after this picture was taken hahaha

Haha just look at how many times this drink guy has been invited 

(notice the color fade of the pass along cards from the sun)

The Elders bought me sticky rice and mangoes for my year mark—

can’t believe I just said it was my year mark.

Our 2 new investigators! Sister Addt and the little girl Pomprame, 

getting baptized on July 9th!

Our HOUSE!

Corn!

Cute children

This dog lives in the church, his name is Coffee (so everyone makes a pun, 

“Coffee, you know your’e not allowed in the church” haha  I laugh every time.

Week 52 - Hello from KORAT!

Alright so this week was crazy, said goodbye to Sisaket (tore my heart out but it's fine) went to Bangkok and got my new companion and bam, headed to Korat!

KORAT

     So Korat is still in the Esan, located only 4 hours out of Bangkok! (Compared to the 9 of Sisaket it is literal heaven) I didn't realize how small Sisaket was until I left because Korat is HUGE. MASSIVE. SO BIG. A 'long' bike ride/crossing the city in Sisaket was probably 20-25 minutes, but here that doesn't even get you half way across the city! But I'm way excited, there are tons of CRAZY nice malls (honestly never seen such fancy places even in America) and there is tons of stuff to do on p-day so I'm happy!

     So in Sisaket we were on a roll (numbers wise) so it was a huge change to come to this area...definitely different but we are so determined to work hard and change it! It will be such a great transfer as long as we pray for miracles! (already seen so many!)

SISTER HENRY

So my new companion is Sister Henry...she is actually famous (as in sang on America's Got Talent in the One Voice Children's Choir) so because I'm her trainer that makes me famous too right? Anyway she's adorable, basically Buddy the Elf reincarnated in a sister missionary so I am never bored that's for sure! It'll be a fun transfer!

TWO FALANGS LOST IN THE MARKET

So I just barely got here and Sister Henry has only been here for 6 weeks and considering how big this city is that is no time to get to know the area. Anyway we were on our way to visit an investigator, but we had to get there by taxi truck. Her old companion wrote down how to get there but the one she wrote down didn't exist, so I asked one of the drivers how to get there....so a thing about Thai people, they are THE NICEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. The driver got out of his taxi truck to try and help us. He started asking everyone and their dog where we should go. So long story short, after about 5 minutes of us being lost the ENTIRE market was trying to help us. All you heard in the background was everyone saying, "there are two falangs lost! Do you know what truck they need to take?"/"Why is everyone surrounding the falangs"  Haha I think they felt bad for us/didn't know I spoke Thai but it was just so funny and such a Thai thing to do. Everyone was willing to stop whatever they were doing to help us! Anyway so the address we had wasn't real so that didn't help our case any, BUT miracles happen and we were able to find the right one. But even after we got back from our visit you heard people talking as we walked by, "hey look the falangs found the right truck to take!" Just so grateful to be in this perfect country, love it with my whole heart:)

FAITH IN GOD

So since coming into this area we have seen so many miracles and it really seems like we are ready and have the faith to change this area! This past week we had 6 NEW INVESTIGATORS! And as I was thinking about this I thought about the faith that Sister Henry and I have in this area which turned my thoughts to this quote by Spencer W. Kimball: "There must be a faith in God that will cause men to cleanse their lives; to forget themselves in the service of their fellow men and to overcome all weaknesses of the flesh; a faith that will bring about a repentance which is total, continuing and which will bring them to baptism, the priesthood, and temple ordinances."

Faith is the fuel of conversion! I just hope and pray that this area will help my faith grow! I am so excited to be in Korat....HERE WE GO! Thanks for everything, I pray we can all increase our faith everyday by doing the little things, pray for Korat and I know miracles will come!

Much much love,

Sister Hammon

Last p-day outing in Sisaket

One of THE COOLEST places I’ve been so fare in Thailand!

If you look closely you can probably see Tarzan in the background

Miss her : (

The Sisaket farewell crew…only cried a little bit

Transfer:  From Sisaket to Bangkok then back to Korat

Hahaha trying to fit all our luggage was an ADVENTURE

Cramming it into 3 tuk tuks

We decided to go inviting at a night market by singing hymns 

with us and a few members. SO FUN!

The market where we got lost

My new child!

Week 51 - Bye Bye Sisaket

So! Last night I just recieved news annnnd I'm leaving Sisaket and going to... KORAT!

I AM SO EXCITED. Not only have 3/4 of my companions served there but they LOVED it there! Honestly it has such a good reputation of being an incredible area. It is still in the ESAN (so very happy about that) but only about 4 hours out of Bangkok instead of 9! I also found out I am training again so it will be interesting! I am so sad to leave, but next transfer is getting me so excited to think about!

(Take an 8 hour bus ride to Bangkok tonight, get new greenie, then 4 hour bus ride to Korat.)

BAPTISM OF DONGDA (ตอ้งตา)

So! Miracle story right here: In February we had a random walk in who spoke english and was a member in America who brought her niece to learn. We got her number and after that her niece disappeared. We called about once a week to stay in touch but she was never free, but would always talk. Sister Dem and I had a joke that we hoped she would go to church before both of us ended our mission because she didn't really have a desire to learn...

Flash forward to this transfer. Sister Curtis and I set a goal to have 3 baptisms. Every single prayer we said this transfer we prayed for our goal and 2 weeks into the transfer a miracle happened--DONGDA CAME TO CHURCH! We didn't even call her she just showed up! We started teaching her, she was a slower learner but after the second lesson she said "I did what you said and prayed about Joseph Smith and I felt so..so...good. I know it must be true." She had some struggles but due to the grace of God she was able to get baptized this last Sunday. GOALS ARE SO POWERFUL. If I have learned anything on my mission it is that. When we set goals we show God our faith and after that He just dumps so many blessings on us that we don't even deserve! GOD IS SO GOOD.

BUG FARM--Seeing our true potential

So we got to do switch off's with my old trainer (which was surreal) but while we were there we helped a member with her bug farm! She raises bugs and then sells them at the market...Thailand. Anyway she was showing us around and I realized that the containers/areas didn't have any covers. We started asking questions about them and learned that the bugs are born in the farm and don't have an example of a similar bug that can fly so therefore they never learn to fly...or in other words, they don't understand their full potential. I thought a lot about this this past week and felt so certain that God has this phenomenal (you're lucky I threw in such a big word when I'm losing so much of my english) plan..for all of us. And yet so many of us just sit in the container not knowing we can fly. It reminded me of a quote I may have shared before.. "If we could see in vision who we were destined to become, we would rise up and never be the same again" 

I know that we ALL have incredible potential, and it is through Christ that we are able to see that potential, all we need to do is ask. SO challenge this week: discover your true potential! 

BYE SISAKET

The past 6 months have been the most incredible, joyfully difficult, exhausting, fun months of my entire life. I love Sisaket with my whole heart. Saying goodbye has been difficult, but it's time. KORAT HERE I COME!

Love you all very very much, happy father's day to all you dad's reading this letter (which may only be my dad, but it's the thought that counts) Have an incredible week and I will talk to you in a few days on normal p-day!

รักมากมาก

ซิสเตอร์ แฮมมอน

PS. Tons of pictures this week (I got sad because I new I was leaving so I took a million) but also for p-day today we woke up at 4 again to go to the border of CAMBODIA! SO cool, super foggy this time, but in about 10 minutes we are going to some random waterfall...yay for Thailand!

PPS. ALMOST FORGOT! If we count the bus we will have to take to go to transfers tomorrow, due to switch off's this week our FINAL HOURS SPENT ON A BUS THIS TRANSFER : 72!!! Good thing I love the Lord or otherwise you couldn't pay me to do this. 

              Seriously love this picture Sister Curtis snapped the other day—so Thailand!

Dongda baptism!

BUG FARM! All raised to see and eat

Slightly less disgusting than expected

3 missionary generations! My mom (trainer), me, and my child!  

grandma, mother, daughter

Rainy season is back!

When we have to ride home at night, in the pouring rain, in our pioneer skirts.

Officially the biggest TIM TAM SLAM in history (all of us and the bishop’s family)

GUESS WHOSE FAVORITE FRUIT IS BACK IN SEASON?!

When the neighborhood kids celebrate your birthday with you

Trip to the border of Cambodia again! This time had CRAZY fog and 

couldn’t see past the cliff but it was SO COOL

Monkey monkey monkey

When I find I don’t quite understand the direction God wants me to take, 

I go to the top of a mountain and meditate the meaning of life

 Last picture with my child :(

Climbing down the cliff!

This little boy (my favorite) in the closing prayer prayed that he would be able to go to the bus station to send Sister Hammon off safely and I just about cried

Week 50 - Conference Conference Conference

This week has been crazy...we spent 3 days out of our area. That's right, add 8 more hours to my bus ride total this transfer, because we had a giant stake conference in Roiet (big city in the Esan) as well as a combined zone conference the following day! Elder Funk (Asia Area Presidency) came and so did President and Sister Johnson so it was a great few days! 

CONFERENCES

Honestly it was the weirdest weekend of my mission, we did almost no work, and I hated it haha. We were stranded at hotels or the church and it was super weird. I really realized how much I love being a normal missionary...yeah meetings are fun and seeing old missionaries is fun, but it is so much better to just be in the field teaching and visiting members and being able to make yourself productive!

Saturday we got there, had the Priesthood meeting, then the adult session that night. Went to bed and bright and early we had to get there to practice for the Sisaket Choir! It was a HUGE conference, by car if you drive across our stake it would take about 9 hours, and we had about 300 members come from all over the Esan! It was incredible to see the faith of these members, taking off work and paying for a hotel just so they could hear from a member of the Seventy! (Sister Fone, her son AND Deewtor made the 4 hour trip and came too! All recent converts!) Then Sunday night we had interviews with President and the Monday we had our zone conference! Crazy, crazy weekend, but it was definitely a spiritual boost for sure!

One thing that really stood out to me was something President taught about faith. He explained that 'faith to find' wasn't just going out inviting one day with 100% confidence that you would find a new investigator, but instead it was being willing to DO the things suggested in Preach My Gospel. That really hit me, when we show God what we are willing to do, he makes so much more of us/our works than we can, but only if we show the faith first! I know this is true and pray for the ability to do this more in my life every single day, and challenge you all to do it too!

LONG SKIRTS

Hahaha wearing long skirts in 100 degree weather/rainstorms is the definition of an ADVENTURE! The very first day Sister Curtis was wearing her long skirt and I was biking ahead of her when I heard a faint cry, "Sister Hammon!" I looked back to find her on the side of the road with her skirt completely caught in her bike chain...so she is down 1 long skirt! She almost got hit by a car but she's good. I couldn't stop laughing because she has SO MANY biking accidents hahaa. She told me that I am, and I quote, an "Olympic biker" and I need to teach her my ways, but honestly she just keeps having all these random, hilarious, accidents...hahaha pray for her biking ability to improve;)

I love being a missionary. So much. There is NOTHING in the world like this and I am so blessed to be a part of this incredible work. Time keeps going by faster and faster but I am trying my best to slow it down. I know this is God's work. I know that He sent me to Thailand for a reason and each day it becomes more and more evident that this is where I am supposed to go. I love these members more than anything and consider myself blessed to be apart of the ward in Sisaket:) BEST AREA IN THE MISSION.

Much much love,

Sister Hammon

Let’s just say, rainy season is back!

When your house money request finally comes in…15,000 baht later ($440)

So it was June 3rd (my birthday) and we were all leaving the meeting around 8:20 when the elders in my zone found out I hadn’t had a cake yet…so they piled into a car and raced to the mall to buy me cake before 9.  We were already at the hotel when we heard a knock and boom, free cake!  BEST. BIRTHDAY. EVER.

This is the Sisaket choir…our special musical number for stake conference 

in front of a Seventy was “Book of Mormon Stories”…not kidding.

If you look close you will see 3 elders on 1 bike

(Photo taken by 6 sisters in 1 tuk tuk)

Picture of Skippy, the majestic horse outside our church

[From May 24 email: "There is this random horse that has taken up residence right outside our church. We named it Skippers and every time I turn town the church's street I freak out. 'Wow a horse' Then I remember it's normal now."]

Hahaha Sisaket is my favorite place.

Still don’t know how this object lesson at zone conference related to the gospel 

but it’s a hilarious picture so here you go.

Last conference in the Ubon Zone :(