So it's official!! The first stake in the Issan in Thailand has been established!! And now I am no longer serving is the Sisaket Branch, but the Sisaket WARD!!

So it's official!! The first stake in the Issan in Thailand has been established!! And now I am no longer serving is the Sisaket Branch, but the Sisaket WARD!! I think the hardest switch is going to be trying to remember to call our branch president, BISHOP, instead of president. 555+ Yes, Brother Somsak is still our president or bishop I guess now. Which is great. I love that family so much. 

This week was so full of emotions as I predicted. So we traveled to Ubon early Friday morning, and had our LAST zone conference with President Senior. It was so weird to think that I won't be seeing him again until next year. But my exit interview with him was really good. It was a very spiritual experience for the both of us. We both got pretty emotional just reflecting and talking about both of our futures. It was really cool. I am never going to forget him or Sister Senior. They have served INCREDIBLE missions.

After that we had an Ice Cream social with Elder and Sister Gong!! The Area Seventy of Asia. He is SO cool. Seriously. He has such a good disposition about him. I honestly just feel like famous to have gotten to hang out with all these people. So Hi-So. 5555 

Then Saturday came around and I saw Sister Noi and President Wisan again. I love them. And I told President Wisan that he better not be getting released when the new president comes in!! He just laughed. 555+ They are such a great family. They gave us mangos and sticky rice too. 555 So good as always! 

Then Sunday came around and we have the meeting!! Got to sing in the choir which was a huge bonus because it meant I could sit close to the stand were President Senior, and President Gong sat. It was just a really good meeting. I am so impressed with all the effort that goes into these things. Then we had Sister ก้อย's baptism!! I love her! (P.s. No mom, Sister Brown is still in Ubon, not Sisaket, we just saw her this weekend. 555) We get our companions this Wednesday!!!! They are coming back from the MTC. I am so excited! Sister Ong and I are both training. And President Senior joked that the Sisaket house is going to be a mini MTC for the next little while. 555 Everything this week has been so crazy!! It was so nice to be able to catch up with all the people I haven't seen in a while. Like Sister Alley. I love that women! 

I am honestly just so blessed!!! I hope everyone has a great week this week. Thank you for all the prayers! 

Love.

Sister Burbank

Random wedding of people I do not know.

Sisaket Ward (not a branch any more)

We have had so much work this week... and Happy Birthday to friends

First things first! 

Happy Birthday to Julie (June 3rd), my companion Sister Ong (June 8th) and Sister Grover, RINA, (June 7th). Hope you all had great birthdays!! :) 

This week was really good. I was telling President how I feel like I have reached a new level of consecration this week. It was like a level up, a checkpoint.

I felt like as I look back on the missionary and person I used to be, I can see a difference. And 

We have had so much work this week. Sister โรส got the Holy Ghost this last Sunday, and I honestly just felt so good experiencing that. 

I lead the music in church every week now because Sister Ong plays piano better than me, but I honestly love it. I get to sit on the stand and look out at all the members every week and just smile at them individually when they accidentally make eye contact with me. I can truly say I love these people here. And not just a surface, acquaintance kind of love. This is real deep love that can only come from charity, the pure love of Christ. Because that is where this love ultimately stems from. My undying faith and love of my Savior, Jesus Christ. As I have served these last 8 months, I have developed a form of charity for people that I didn't even know was possible. 

I feel like I have this connection to the Spirit that wasn't there before. Now I can literally read any quote and just really FEEL of it's truth. Not just think to myself "Oh that was a nice quote." Instead, I feel like I am experiencing the feelings the Apostle or Prophet experienced as he said it. And THAT is only possible though the power of the Holy Ghost, which I have been working SO hard these last 8 months to get on this kind of spiritual level. It's truly incredible. I have gained an even greater and deeper respect for the apostles and prophets of this church. And I honestly can say I LOVE them. The truths they speak are SO TRUE. Just so true. I could just spend hours thinking about a simple quote. It feels so enlightening when I do it! It's like I can't get enough and I am filled with this warmth and strength and happiness that can't ever be accurately explained. It is as if all the pain in my body both mentally and physically is just taken away. 

This week was just a lot of fun. Sister Ong and I get along so well, and we are both just preparing the area for training. We have so much work to do since we have to look after two area books together until our companions get here to help us. It's actually just so great though. We both have phones too, so we joke that we are the Sister AP's here in Sisaket. 555 

We have been teaching a lot this week, and just been biking all over the place to all these appointments. It's great. 

Elder Johnson and Wertz are great too. 

We are going to Ubon this week for the meeting where they make the first stake in the Issan!! And I get to be apart of it! :) I am singing in the choir that Sisaket made to preform at the meeting/stake conference too. They are all so cute.

I am so excited to go! I will be in Ubon, Friday-Sunday. So like when I went to Roi-Et a few months ago. It's like a 3 day thing again.

I can't wait! I'll get to see Sister Alley again too! And Sister Remington and Sister Tauteoli! They are all in the Roi-et Zone, and both the Roi-Et zone and Ubon zone are going to this conference. (P.S. I am in the Ubon zone if you didn't know) It will also be the last time I see President Senior and Sister Senior. So this is just going to be a super emotional week. 555

Hope you all are doing great.

Love you all! 

Sister Burbank

My MTC teacher got married and came to Thailand on their honeymoon.

Thai fruits and food

New Companion. Sister Rose got Baptized.

Baptism!!!!!!!

Sister Rose got baptized yesterday after we have been teaching her for 3 months! AHHH I Love her so much,.

I am out of time to email, because I was helping my companion set up her email most of the time. So I am just quickly sending pictures. We moved houses today as well so I am not going to send a big email. But hopefully with the explanation of these pictures, it will be enough to know how my week went. I am so happy! 

Also, we are going to bangkok again on wednesday. SO MUCH TRAVELING. I literally have traveled to bangkok every week it feels like since march. So many bus rides.....blah. 555

I never get sleep. The life of a missionary though!  

Swensen's with the Sisters! 

So we got back to Sisaket on Friday morning, and that is when we found out that my companion got accidentally sent to Chiang Mai (The slides at transfers were messed up, and president was just going to leave it, but then he called us Friday night and said that the spirit wont stop bugging him that I am supposed to be with S. Sihbut). Which meant we had to goto Khon Kaen that Friday night to pick her up Saturday morning, and send Sister Ong's companion (the khon Thai in the picture, Sister Sattatip) to Chiang Mai.

So now Sister Ong is waiting for her companion. And I am with Sister Sihbut สีหาบุตร.

I am so excited! Originally I was the one Sister in the companionship that was going to wait for her companion but now I am the one training right away. Crazy.

Sending Sister Sattatip off in the airport in Khon Kaen.

 Me, Sister Ong, Sister Sihbut

Rina being a crazy boss carrying her bike all the way down the street. On our way to transfers!

I hope everyone can feel of this contentment in their lives at some point. It honestly is the best feeling.

สบายดีบ่

So this week has been exciting. 

Sister Tau and I just tried to get everything going again. 

We got to meet with a bunch of our RC's this week that we haven't had a chance to meet in the last 3 months. (I can't believe I have been in this area for over 3 months. SO WEIRD.) 

Anyways, so here in Sisaket, just to give you an idea of the work, we have over 22 RC's (recent converts in the last year) that we as a companionship are supposed to be meeting with weekly. But unfortunately many of them are really hard to contact. But this last week we actually met with a majority of them, either in person or on the phone. That ended up being a huge miracle, because usually they don't even answer their phone. So by the end of the week we had 18 RCLA lessons! Which was awesome.

I feel bad for Sister Tauteoli because she literally just got here, and doesn't know any of these people. There's no way you can remember every one and their stories in only a week, so if I end up moving this transfer and she stays, GOOD LUCK. 555 

So yeah. This week is transfers. And we still don't know who is moving. Sister Tauteoli and I definitely won't be staying together, but we are grateful we got this week together! She is so much fun. She was born and raised in Salt Lake, but both of her parents are from Tonga. So she has been just perfect for me. And she loves basketball and volleyball! :) 

This last Friday we had a switch-off and Sister Witawee came to Sisaket. She is serving with Sister Brown in Ubon (about an hour away). and I LOVE HER. Seriously, she is khon Thai and so for an entire day EVERYTHING was in Thai. Literally hardly spoke any English on Friday, and I LOVED IT. I want to be a companion with a khon Thai so bad. It would make my language get so much better. Just spending one day with Sister Witawee I could already see a difference. And she is literally hilarious. She kept saying I am the weirdest "ฝรั่ง" (white person) she has ever met. Because I only eat Thai food, and I want to ใช้เวลา (take time) after my mission to get married. 555

She is so fun, I hope I get to serve with her again at some point.

I am just so happy honestly. I feel good this week, and I can't even remember thinking about home once. Even though I know I probably did. But being in Thailand just feels normal now. It's crazy hot EVERY SINGLE DAY, but I love it. I love speaking Thai, I love just teaching and helping people. It just feels so good. I love my District!! 

I love Sister โรส (Rose)!! Who is getting baptized next week.

I feel like I haven't even got a chance to talk about her. Every week I forget that no one back home know any of the people that I am constantly around. 

So let me tell you about her. 

She's been here with me ever since my first Sunday in Sisaket.

She is a 13 year old girl who is a student of one of the members here.

She has had the desire to be baptized for a while, but because she is only 13 and her parents are not interested in getting baptized she had to come to church 12 times before she could actually get baptized. So next week is Week 12!! 

I can't even tell you how much I love her.

Yesterday, was our last lesson with her before her baptism and I honestly teared up a little to see the growth in her testimony over these last 3 months. I was there when we first taught her how to pray, apprehension and all, and now she offers to say the opening prayer in our lessons. I honestly can't explain anything I am feeling right now, but I know the gospel changes lives. I remember how shy Sister Rose used to be, how insecure she was, but now all I see is the light in her eyes. The amount of confidence she has now is contagious. And I have been here to witness it all.

I've had 3 companions in these last 3 months, and one thing that they all agreed on is how adorable and perfect Sister Rose is. 555

And I actually just got off the phone with her because she randomly called me, so I can add my opinion to that too. SHE IS PERFECT! 555

I feel so blessed to be here and experience the things I have. I love these people so much. And yes, I have moments of frustration, and heart ache, and pain and exhaustion. But then I have moments like this. Peace just pure peace. 

"Truly, one of the great blessings of devoted discipleship is 'the peace of God, which passeth all understanding'" (Elder Bednar, [Philippians 4:7] General Conference, April 2015)

Read that quote this morning for personal study and just loved it. Seriously though. The peace of God "passeth all understanding". I can't explain it. I don't know why I feel so good when I think about Sister Rose's conversion, or think about the miracles that I've seen. But I know it's from God. And I know that it is a peace that only God can offer. "Not as the world giveth, give I unto you." (John 14:27)

I hope everyone can feel of this contentment in their lives at some point. It honestly is the best feeling. 

Have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Burbank

Me and Sister Piew (72 years old and first member baptized in Sisaket)

Mangos and Sticky Rice Stand 

 (she's been a member for 20 years)

 Sister Tauteoli and I Eating Mangos and Sticky Rice

Sister Witawee and I on splits for the day

We both came out better people.....God knows and that is all that matters.

สวัสดี

This has been a really busy week for me. 

As some of you already know. Sister Anderson flew home from Thailand this week.

And instead of trying to explain the situation, I am just going to give you the link to her blog because she is SO much better at explaining it than I am. But I just want everyone to know how much I love her, and that her leaving was a very prayerful decision on all of our parts. Including President Senior. It was NOT an impulsive decision. This has been in the works for a few weeks now.

See this: alltonguethaid.blogspot.com

With that being said. This last week was pretty intense. Tuesday we were traveling to Bangkok, and Wednesday morning I was in the airport. Afterwards, making me companionless.

I spent the next few days with the 4 Asoke sisters and that ended up being a lot of fun. But I was ready to go back to Sisaket. President promised me I would be coming back.

So Friday I took a bus to Mahasarakham and picked up my companion Sister Tauteoli! 

She was a trio there with Sister Remington (my MTC comp) and Sister Macknight (Her MTC comp). It was a fun few hours we got to hang out and catch up a little bit together, it was such a blessing. But I honestly have just been aching to get back to Sisaket since last week. So finally Saturday night I made it back.

Now being home for a few days I feel relaxed.

My favorite part of this last week was the 15 minutes at church I had to take the sacrament yesterday.

I had such a peace wash over me and comfort that everything was going to workout. Remembering my Savior and thinking about His sacrifice for me helped me realize how blessed my life truly is. That I even had the opportunity to meet Sister Anderson is a miracle. She has forever changed my mission, and my understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ has been strengthened because of that companionship.

As hard as this last transfer has been, I know more than ever that God loves His children and has a plan for each of us. 

Never has my testimony of that truth been so strong.

I am so proud of Sister Anderson and I know that she will continue to serve in perhaps an even greater capacity back home, as she empathizes with all of those missionaries in similar situations to hers. She has been an incredible example to me of tenacity and just pure love. She knows how to rely on Christ. More fully than anyone I have ever met, and she will be an inspiration to many throughout her life.

Thank you for everything you have taught me Sister Anderson. I love you.

Just a quick spiritual thought from this morning.

I read President Eyring's talk from the General Women's Conference and it was so inspiring.

It was all about the gift of the Comforter. He tells about a time he was asked to go visit a family who had just recently lost their 5 year old son, He writes:

"After saying those few words, I felt impressed to listen with love while they talked about their feelings. In the hour we sat together, they spoke far more than I did..."

LISTEN WITH LOVE. 

That is the biggest lesson I have learned this last transfer and no one will ever fully understand what this transfer meant to Sister Anderson and I. But we both came out better people. 

God knows and that is all that matters.

Thank you for all the support! Love from Thailand! 

Sister Burbank

My new companion is wearing the hat, Sis. Tauteoli and my MTC comp Sis Remington

Happy Mothers Day

WHAT DO I EVEN SAY RIGHT NOW?

So much to say, and so little time.

Can I just start by saying, 

My mom is the best person in the entire earth!!

Skyping my family today was so great! And today I actually realized how funny they really are.

I have been so blessed with the parents that I have and for my 3 crazy brothers, who don't even write me. 555

But I'm not bitter. ;)

I think the greatest part was how easy it was to just talk. It was like I had never left. 

After skyping, I just feel re-energized to just go out and serve!! 

These last few weeks have been really tough for Sister Anderson and I, but I feel like we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I seriously love her more than anyone. This companionship was so inspired, and she will never understand the impact she has had on me. I have been built this transfer in a way that I never thought I could be built. 

I think the biggest miracle of it all is how much my mom helped through all of this. 

She wasn't even here experiencing this, but I see so much of my mom in Sister Anderson that sharing my mom's life experiences has inspired her.

I honestly cannot think of a better Mother's Day Tribute than that.

I love my mom.

I love Sister Anderson.

I love this work.

And I love my Father in Heaven.

Who is TRULY the only person that really knows you.

My aunt sent me this quote she heard from Bonnie Oscarson today and it was honestly so inspired because it spoke right to me. I want to share it with all of you! 

“Our Father loves His children; we are central to His work; He is aware of the intimate details of our lives and stands ever ready and anxious to bless us with every possible good thing He can,” said Sister Oscarson. “This is especially true as we make every effort possible to honor our covenants with Him.”

It touched me so deeply. I can't even describe how much I needed to hear that this week.

God is mindful of His children.

Always.

I hope all the mothers out there feel how much they are loved this day and everyday! 

I can't even imagine where I would be without mine.

Love from Thailand! 

Sister Burbank

More elephants

I was part of the show!

Elephant truck chair

On the back of an elephant

Our Elephant Caravan

Just crashed on the bike.. no permanent damage done.

 Downpour rain storm