This week was so incredible. I love this new area!!
Who would've thought that I would actually love serving in Bangkok.
There are so many people to talk to, and as much as I love biking. Walking has been a really nice change of pace.
Sister Hayes and I moved into our house finally this week too! No more hotel. I will have to send pictures of our little apartment next week. It's so adorable.
This week was full of just getting to know more members. I feel like we finally know enough people that we can really start working! Which is the best feeling. An equally good feeling is EATING, gosh I love eating. One of the highlights of this week was eating Issan from this amazing place by the church, and pigging out at a Sushi buffet with Hayes. We both are obsessed with Sushi, which is going to make this transfer 100 times better. Last Monday for Pday we went to a crocodile zoo with the Elders. First district picture we took there. Elder Williams is our DL, from Idaho Falls, and we finish our missions the same day. Then Elder Purser, from Utah, is my Phii from the MTC. Meaning he is one transfer ahead of me in the mission. So I met him in the MTC. They are hard workers and we just have a lot of fun together.
One of the spiritual highlights of the week was this last Sunday. Because we had so many appointments after church, Sister Hayes and I went on splits. I went with Sister Faa to a recent converts house, and Sister Hayes went with another member to visit a RC's sick non member father. It was so nice to get to know Sister Faa better, and honestly it made me think back to the time I went on splits with the missionaries before my mission. It's SO weird being on the other end of things now, but so interesting to see how much I have grown since then. Sister Faa is preparing for a mission right now, and honestly she is going to be an incredible missionary. She just gets it, she has so much faith, and we just get a long so well. It was perfect to have her go with me to teach Sister Tanaphon because this last week Sister Tanaphon has been really struggling with the stresses of being a new member of the church. She got baptized just this last month, and is having doubts if she made the right decision. As Sister Faa and I testified to her that she did make the right decision, and testified of the Restoration and Joseph Smith, I felt my own testimony become strengthened. It made me realize how important baring our testimony is. Sister Tanaphon then expressed how grateful she was that we came over and how it helped her feel at peace again about her decision. Satan is so real, but no one can deny that tender confirmation from that spirit that "YES" this is all true.
Sister Hayes and I then had a discussion this morning about our lives, and how we came to receive the testimony that we now have. We realized that for both of us, it came when we started baring it more and more often. That is why we grow so much as missionaries because we are literally called to bare testimony every single day! No wonder missionaries come home so spiritually strengthened. The biggest miracle is that you don't have to go on a mission to receive the spiritual confirmations that missionaries receive. It helps a TON, but honestly the simple recipe for gaining a testimony is what we missionaries teach everyday. However, in reality it's not something you can teach at all. As missionaries, we are just people who introduce to other people HOW to gain a witness for yourself. That's all. We can't force anyone to believe what we say, but we can bare testimony of how we came to believe. And it's in that baring of your own testimony that you strengthen it. You feel the spirit testify to you again that what you believe is true, and it feels SO GOOD. We are all on the same path! Missionaries try to teach others to bare their testimony by baring their own testimony and then we are all edified and lifted and happy together in Christ. Isn't this gospel AWESOME?! Being a missionary is the coolest thing in the world.
Hope you are all doing great. Love from Thailand!
Sister Burbank
Sushi Buffet
Crocodile Park
RS activity
Greatest Sunday School teacher
