More Pictures from my new Area - Roi Et

Roi Et (new area) - I LOVE BIKING AREAS! I feel like I can actually breathe out here. I love it.

Sister Yang!! My new companion! She is from California and is Hmong! Seriously this is going to be the best companionship. I already love her so much.

Sister Smith! A greenie from Washington. She looks so much like Sister Anderson we had to take a picture.

Our investigator Sister ชมพู่ She is so cute. 12 years old and already has the faith of a prophet, I swear! She is so cute. She has a date for Dec. 6th! <3 I love this ward. Honestly, I don't understand how you can literally have constant happiness like this! 

Traveling by bus with our bikes out to the Rice Fields of Roi Et. Best bus ride ever. NO A/C Dad!! 555

Sister Yang (my new companion) being adorable

So technically I have two companions! We are in a trio until Dec. 2nd. Sister Larson is STL with me! She is from Arkansas and loves Disney movies and Pride and Prejudice. So we obviously get along great.

Found these กระต่ายสองตัว at B. ปอ's house! We had dinner at his house last night. These are the cutest little soap stones I have ever seen. I freaked out when I saw them and then Elder Hales reenacted my reaction and it was so funny. I love this district!! I love 101 (By the way, Roi Et means One hundred and one in Thai)

You can't plagiarize the Holy Ghost

I am just so happy.

This week we got to see B.Nad and B.Yaa get baptized! They are the husbands of the two Cambodian sisters that we met! Before the baptism we met at their apartment and they made us Cambodian food. It reminded me of when we went to Long Beach and visited Brandyn's mission and hung out with all the Cambodians. They are such humble people. And their food is SO GOOD. I feel so lucky to have gotten so close with this family. Thai is neither of our first language but we still find some way to communicate and have SO MUCH FUN. 555+ I love them so much. They are so excited to meet Brandyn too.

I feel like it was inspired that Sister Hayes and I were both here in Srinakharin when they ran into us. Because of how Sister Hayes brother-in-law served his mission in Cambodian and is currently living there, and then how Brandyn speaks Cambodian. What are the odds?! Seriously...this is definitely God's work. These last 12 weeks here with Sister Hayes has been a dream....I love that girl so much!

Most of all though I love my Savior. I don't think I could ever express how eternally grateful I truly am for Him. Alma 26:16 pretty much sums it up for me. 

"Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel."

How grateful am I for eloquent speakers so I can just steal their words and instead of having to struggle to come up with my own. I feel like Bruce R McConkie said it best when he said, in his last conference talk (April 1985), "In speaking of these wondrous things I shall use my own words, though you may think they are the words of scripture, words spoken by other Apostles and prophets. True it is, they were first proclaimed by others, but they are now mine, for the Holy Spirit of God has borne witness to me that they are true, and it is now as though the Lord had revealed them to me in the first instance. I have thereby heard his voice and know his word." 

I feel like that is the best response I have ever heard. You can't plagiarize the Holy Ghost. 555+

Honestly though. Things are going great here. I don't know what else to say. Sister Alley dies in a few days and I am so excited for her! I could not have asked for a better trainer. She has worked WONDERS for the hearts of the people she has touched in Thailand. I love her so much. 

Best quote to date from her that I can think of is:

"And I wanted to go to Alaska" (What she would say everyday as she left the house to battle the Thailand heat) 

Who would've thought that after 18 short months she would be on track to go back and live in Arizona. Have fun in the sun babe, proof that you really did let this mission change you!! ^.^ 

I hope everyone can find a reason to smile this week. So many beautiful things to be grateful for.

"It's Great to Be Alive"

Sister Burbank 

Fun pictures from this week

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! 

Not a lot of time this week! But this next week is the last full week of the transfer!! SO CRAZY.

Life is so good right now. I hope everyone is as happy as I am.  

Love,

Sister Burbank

Here are two of our investigators that came to the Halloween party this last Saturday! 

Love them. And this crazy son of the RS. Pres. 55

B. Golf is going to Idaho on his mission!!! So crazy! He leaves Feb. 2016

 B. Ice and B. Win. They are hilarious. Just passed out on the couch after church.

 In case you wondered how we travel in Thailand. Last week on Pday. 555

Yes we hang off of the back of pick up trucks! 

 Me and Sister Beer on Saturday. The theme was Oscars night so she dressed up as Taylor Swift! 555

"Fullness of Joy"

Spiritual Thought:

I am going to start off with this thought I had during my personal study last Tuesday morning. 

"We receive joy in this life as our minds are reminded of the JOY we felt in His presence in the pre-life and as we look forward with faith to the JOY we will have in His presence in the next life."

Based on the scripture: Psalms 16:11

The only way to experience a "fullness of joy" here on earth is by consistently experiencing what Sister Hayes explains as "Caught a Glimpse of Heaven" moments. Moments that are undeniably from God and confirm the reality of His existence. I think it is safe to say that EVERYONE has experienced homesickness at least once in their life. That feeling of just wanting to be HOME. Because home is safe. Home is where you can be yourself. Home is where your loved ones are. Home is rest. That feeling of just wanting to be home is the longing of all of our hearts. That's what makes these "Glimpse of Heaven" moments so necessary for our spiritual sanity and earthly happiness. It is in these moments that we experience a "fullness of joy" because these moments are essentially a flashback to when we lived with God or flash forward to when we are going to be with God again. It is in these moments that we literally have a "glimpse" or taste of just how happy we were/just how happy we will be back in our real home, in the presence of our Eternal Father. This reminds me of President Uchtdorf's talk this last conference "A Summer With Great Aunt Rose". He writes about a little 11 year old girl named Ava talking with her Great Aunt Rose about how Great Aunt Rose is so happy. Ava asks: "Are you saying that being happy means just looking forward to happiness in the future? Is all our happiness in eternity? Can't some of it happen now?" To which Aunt Rose replies "Oh, of course it can! Dear child, now is part of eternity. It doesn't only begin after we die! Faith and hope will open your eyes to the happiness that is placed before you." To which I add: Because faith and hope are the necessary prerequisites to having "Glimpse of Heaven" moments. Without faith and without hope, we are unable to see the Lords merciful hand in our lives. And if we are unable to see and appreciate the Lords hand in our lives, we will be stuck in a eternal state of questioning. Questioning why we can't seem to turn our temporary happiness that the world offers us into a lastingly happiness of contentment and peace. We will be constantly disappointed and unsatisfied with worldly happiness because worldly happiness wasn't made to be eternal. Just like Psalms 16:11 explains. "...In thy presence is fullness of joy..." It is ONLY in God's presence we will receive that fullness of joy which makes catching a glimpse of heaven so much more desirable. 

This last week I experience a glimpse of heaven when Sister วรรณ, our investigator, got baptized. I was filled with so much happiness and love for her. You can't put feelings like that into words. But if someone could it would be the man in this Mormon Message "The Hope of God's Light". Ironically, we watched this at the stake fireside last night.

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/the-hope-of-gods-light

No matter how many times I watch it, I am amazed at the simplicity and the truthfulness of this mans testimony. He truly has found what brings true happiness. And that is the Love of God that is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

Come and See.

Sister Burbank

"It will all workout!"

This week was full of twists and turns when it came to our investigators, but honestly I feel like Philippians 4:11 explains how I feel about everything. "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Like Sister Neill F Marriott (Aka. Momma Roberts, she seriously reminded me so much of John Henry's mom. 555+) reminded us, "It will all workout!" I know this work is in God's hands. 

This last Wednesday, we had an amazing Mission Tour with the new Asia Area President Elder Funk. It was such a great experience I wish I could live it over again. Today, President Johnson asked us to share with him one goal we have made as a result of the conference. So I think I will just post what I shared with him:

"Thank you for the amazing conference with Elder Funk. It was such a great experience for me and I had so many questions of mine answered. My goal that I made from the conference was to use the Book of Mormon more effectively in my teaching. I feel like that was a direct answer to my question on how to teach more like the Savior. I can't remember who said it but I keep having this thought run through my head that the Savior had to have studied the scriptures diligently from a young age to have become the master teacher that He is. Especially to be able to minister in the temple at age 12. I have also noticed that as I have asked for counsel from the many great teachers that I know in my life, their answers come down to exactly what you counseled me in your last letter. Prepare. Pray for Charity. Live What You Teach. The Savior was PERFECT in all three of those aspects, which made it possible for the spirit to carry His words unto the hearts of those He taught. I have learned that it is less about what you say, but more about how you make them feel. So as I have focused my preparation more on how I want the investigator to feel in a lesson, and less on what I should say, I have found that Gods promise is made sure. He really does give you "in the very moment what ye shall say." (D&C 100:6). Which is such an important experience for both the investigator and the missionary to have. In the end, both of our testimonies are strengthened and we are both edified in Christ. So that is my goal. To better prepare for lessons, by diligently seeking the scriptures, using them in my teaching, and focusing more on how I want the investigator to feel, rather than what I want to say."

I feel like writing that up really helped me solidify all the great thoughts I got from that meeting. Anyways. Yesterday was also a great day, because I talked to Sister June for a while about being a missionary. She is preparing for a mission right now and it helped me so much to talk with her. It reminded me of when I would talk to the Sister Missionaries back home before my mission. It's so weird that I am now in their position. I seriously love all the members here though. I am so blessed to serve here. 

One last tip when comforting people, or trying to help someone through a hard time.

"Don't dwell on the problem, dwell on how the Savior is the solution." -Elder Funk

Christ literally is the solution to EVERY heartache, every struggle. Keeping that perspective can change your life. :)

Have a great week! 

Love you all.

Sister Burbank

Conference was incredible!

Sorry no time today. But I have pictures! 

Conference was incredible. 

Sister Hayes' sister (from the USA) was here today.  :) She is wearing the tan colored dress below.

We were with her all day so that is why we are emailing late and have little time to write. But it was so great. Love them.

Hope everyone has a great week, and got something out of conference. Because I definitely did! 

Love you all! 

Sister Burbank

One Year Mark! English.Thai.French.Cambodian.Arabic? October 5th, 2015

Hello! Bonjour! สวัสดี!  

This Thursday marks my year mark as a missionary in the Thailand Bangkok Mission! 

I can't even explain to you how crazy that is. 

I keep randomly saying to Sister Hayes: "I have been doing this for a YEAR?!" 

She just laughs at me. 

But seriously the time really did fly by. 

I feel like it was just yesterday Uncle Bill and Aunt Linda Jones were dropping me off at the MTC, in Provo, UT. But honestly if there is one indication that time really has passed it is looking at the growth I have seen in myself. It's so cliche (meow) but this last week it was as if I had come a complete circle.

Saturday: Started off like any other Saturday morning. Woke up (6:30), grudgingly threw myself on the floor to pray (since I made a pact with myself before my mission that I would get out of bed and kneel ON THE FLOOR every single morning), repented for grudgingly throwing myself on the floor, then got up to do my short little work out routine to try and throw some life into me. Next, showered, ate a yogurt (or 2 or 3), a banana (or 2 or 3), and 3 cucumbers like I do every morning and then sat down for studies. Of course had an amazing personal study about Mosiah 4 and the true meaning of Charity. Then had an equally amazing companionship study with my perfect companion Sister Hayes, (honestly though, I think she is perfect), and then proceeded to prepare to go to our meetings. Met as a district with our ward mission leader (B. Suu) and talked about how we can save these ลูกแกะ, next we made our way to Sabushii for lunch (aka. All you can eat SUSHi) in preparation for Fast Sunday. Following that glorious afternoon, we met with a Recent Convert Sister and helped her overcome her fears of paying tithing. Which actually was a really spiritually led lesson. I feel like every one benefited from that. Anyway after we finished doing all of that, it was still only 6pm. Which means we got to invite for the last 2 hours of the day! So we prayed and then went to the church to grab inviting cards, then hit the streets of Bangkok, talking to literally everyone we saw. It's so entertaining to watch peoples reactions to us when we talk to them. Even now, after a year of inviting, I still get a kick out of it. So after around the two hour mark of just walking up and down the streets, we found our way back to the church. Then, the most ironic thing of my whole mission happened to me. As we are about to walk into the parking lot of the church, a man walks by which we obviously stop and talk to. Except as we are speaking Thai at him we realize he doesn't speak Thai, so we try English. Nope wrong answer. But closer. He manages to stumble out the word "French", which then makes Sister Hayes turn, stare at me and say "Hey you speak french!". I reply "Uh, no...I USED to speak french." which became very apparent when I awkwardly tried to communicate with this man in my broken French. He agrees to come inside the church though, and we show him the Sacrament room. Somehow we communicated him to come to church the next day at 9 am. By saying, "Tomorrow, neuf (9), tomorrow, neuf (9), yeah? okay!" He proceeded to leave, and Sister Hayes and I just stared at each other like "What just happened??" Then we burst out laughing...555+. We then just went home and planned for the rest of the evening and got ready for Fast Sunday. 

Sunday: THE FRENCH MAN SHOWS UP! He actually COMES to the church at 9am. I am not even kidding you. Sister Hayes and I almost died. That isn't even the biggest miracle. We had 4 white visitors at church that day too from Australia. Two were a daughter (Zelda Matthews) and mother (Janet Matthews) from Brisbane area, Australia, and the other two were a husband and wife couple from Perth, Australia who knew Sister Aubrey Allen from Camas, WA! The two groups didn't even know each other, but the man from Perth served his mission in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and was born in England. And Zelda Matthews served her mission in Montreal, Canada. Zelda still could speak a little so she helped us communicate with Bassem (the name of the investigator). The coolest thing was that I could understand when they spoke, but I couldn't speak myself. SO CRAZY. But then as she is speaking to him, I realize something. He doesn't even speak French!! He actually is from Tunisia, Africa, and only speaks a little french. His native language is Arabic! But when Zelda asked if he was muslin, he said no, I am christian. That is about all we could figure out, since he really couldn't speak french either. So we ended up just getting his number and making an apt for Tuesday. Now we need to find a Book of Mormon in Arabic. Which they do have bytheway, and actually there is a member here in Srinakharin who lived in Egypt 6 years ago, and speaks Arabic (Which we didn't figure out until 6 hours after Bassem left, but its okay because she's talked to him now). She is also the same member that speaks Cambodian and is helping us with our Cambodian investigators who now have a baptismal date for this month!

Seriously this weekend was CRAZY. So many small world moments. I realized how determined I am now to re-learn French after my mission, and how much I actually LOVE Canada. Going back to my roots this week felt so good. Life is so full of twists and turns but in the end our identity will never change. Going even further back, I know I am a one of God's beloved children, and as I keep my divine nature at the forefront of my mind. I am guaranteed to never lose my way. No matter how hard the winds blow, and the storms rage, Jesus Christ will be my anchor. Which reminds me, Dad, my bishop here wants to go ice fishing with you. 555+

Honestly though! That knowledge is SO comforting to me. That no matter how confused I get in life, I can always have hope that one day, "everything is going to make sense." In the words of Great Aunt Rose (aka. President Uchtdorf). And that hope only comes because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Such a great weekend! Life is so GREAT isn't it?!? 

Hope everyone can keep that perspective this week. Love you all! 

Sister Burbank

Member braided my hair during church. Everyone sang "Let It Go" to me from Frozen the rest of the day. 555

Elder Sukhan coming back to visit srinakharin before he finishes his mission! 

Also the last day Elder Williams was here. He ended moving to train in Sapan Sung! So fun. Love this ward.

Last P-day going shopping somewhere in Bangkok. Forget where.