Count Your Many Blessing!!‏

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!!!

I'm in Thailand!!! And I absolutely love it so much!!! I know everyone has so many questions and I have so much to tell so hopefully I can get it all in!

It was so much fun talking to everyone last week on the phone! Thank you for coming over! That meant a lot to me! It was so good to hear everyone's voice. The long flight wasn't even bad. Haha I just slept the whole time. All the Elders and my comps were like, how can you sleep? And I just thought, because I am my father's daughter! Thanks dad! :) It was so much fun! It was so exciting getting to Thailand! Funniest story ever! We made friends with these 4 Thai teenagers, they were on all of the same flights as us. (starting in LA) so they helped us and we talked to them about the gospel and they gave me their addresses and said I could come find them and teach them! Ya! Anyways, so it was three girls and one boy. And at the Thailand airport when we said goodbye to them I gave the girls a hug and told them thanks for all their help, and then the boy came up and started giving me a hug! haha I didn't know what to do!! I was just like, uhh sorry! I can't hug! It was so funny. I felt bad cuz he got all embarrassed. But it was so funny. Anyways there is my funny story from the airport.

Pres. Smith and Sister Smith and the APs picked us up from the airport and helped us get everything ready. Sister Smith has a facebook page for the mission and says that she puts all pictures up on it so if you can find her she said she'll add anyone with the last name of Chambers :) They drove us to the mission office and we had a cute little American lunch. I seriously love everyone here!! They are so nice!! And I decided that Thailand is a mixture of Hawaii, California, Las Vegas, Mexico, and China. Hawaii because its so tropical. California because of all the traffic and the pollution. Las Vegas because there are so many tall buildings every where and its so dry. Mexico because its kinda ghetto in places. And China because there is a Chinese twist to everything! Haha it is so awesome! I seriously wish everyone could see what I see!!

After lunch we went on splits with some of the missionaries that are going home. I was with Sister Nielson and we went street contacting! Oh man!! I placed my first Book of Mormon and got three potentials! It was kinda scary of course because I couldn't understand anything they were saying. But I loved it!

After that we had our moves meeting. The missionaries that were going home all spoke for a second and then we got our new companions! I LOVE HER!!! I'm not even kidding when I say that everything has worked out so perfect! Her name is Sister Livingston. She is from Salt Lake and I'm her first greenie. She only has 6 weeks left so we are working so hard! She has had about 3 Thai sister companions so she speaks Thai sooooo good! I have so much to learn from her! I'm so excited!! She really is so cute! We are in Srinakarin. Its just outside of Bangkok. I bought my bike, and its so sweet! But in this area since its in the city, we don't ride bikes. So it's locked up inside the church. I said goodbye to my MTC comps and Elders and me and Sister Livingston (everyone calls her Sister L because the Thai people can't say her last name) headed home! (Sis. Harris is going to the East somewhere and Sis. Jensen is going to Loperi.)

The taxi ride was way fun! I still can't believe I'm here! We live in a huge condo. It has 23 floors and we are on the 17th. We got there and I unpacked and crashed. I was so tired. We have a little balcony and it is the prettiest view! There are no mountains, but its just green everywhere! I'm so excited to send home pictures.

We woke up and Sister L and I went running on the top of the condo. It's gorgeous up there! It reminds me of in Just Like Heaven how they have that pretty garden on top. I'll take lots of pictures to show you! We showered and got ready for the day! We got right to work. Since we aren't allowed to go door to door we just went walking and invited everyone we saw. We teach piano on Friday nights and English on Tuesday nights. So we pass out flyers for that and it helps to get people interested. Oh my goodness though I wish you were here!! It is so wonderful!! Aw!!! I can't even explain it!! So we just walked around. We can take the Santo, their version of a bus. Haha so funny. Its just a truck that has seats and a roof in the bed of it. Its cheap and its a great way to contact because they are sitting there and can't get away from us. haha. I've already taught, or should I say helped teach, so many lessons with Sister L. When we were walking to the church there were just two girls chilling outside and we talked to them about learning English and they said they were interested. then we asked if they wanted to come in and look at the church and they said they wanted to. Then we asked if they wanted to learn about our church and they said they wanted too!! So we taught them about prayer and the Book of Mormon right there! On my first day!! It was so exciting!! The church building is so cute and way nice! I was surprised! It has American bathrooms!! Hurray! Then we went to the store and bought me some food and everything I needed. It was so fun!! It's like their version of walmart. We live right next to a big mall though and its so nice!! It was the most random stores in it!

Friday night was piano and I met some of the members and investigators and it was so fun. I mostly just chilled in the back with Off, the cutest girl that just got baptized. She promised she will take care of me. And I met the cutest family that just got baptized! The Ma and Pa are so good! I look up to converts so much! Their daughter and son are so cute too!

When everyone finds out that I've only been here a couple days they just love me and love that I'm trying to learn the language. They are impressed that I can speak as much as I do. It's so cute.

Saturday morning we went running again! YA!! I love having a companion that loves to run!! We got ready and then we went to the park to contact and invite. It was perfect because there were all these families there!! So much fun!! I love Thai people!! We just walked to the park and there are all these markets and food stands everywhere in the streets. All over the city. That's how people make a living. They just sell everything and anything. So funny. But it's good for us because there are people everywhere! It is pretty hot, but not too bad. I was so tired after the park that we came back and after we planned for the week Sister L made me take a little nap. I seriously love her. She is taking such good care of me! Seriously you don't need to worry one bit!

Saturday night we went to the church to teach Ma Nid. (We call people that are older than us Ma or Pa and then there nickname or first name, or just Phii which means older) It was thee coolest experience ever! The Relief Society President came to help us teach her and the spirit was so strong. I'll be honest I didn't understand most of it. But she was talking about how she has know about the church for 20 years and it just hasn't been right, until last Saturday when she saw my companion and she knew that she needed to meet with us. She said she wants to be baptized before Sister L leaves! Oh it was so cool!!

Sunday was church. Haha oh boy. It was so cool though because we had 8 investigators at church! It was ward conference. I had no idea what was going on. It was so funny. I sat by Ma Nid and she took care of me though. Everyone came up and introduced themselves to me and they are all so dang nice! After Relief Society me and another member taught these two darling girls from piano about the Book of Mormon. They are so cute and I'm so excited from them!! Sister L and Off taught Bam-Bam, she is just getting ready to be baptized. After that we ate food at the church. I guess everyone always just brings all this food and everyone just chills at the church and eats. Oh it was so yummy!! They are so funny. Everyone kept asking me if I liked spicy food. They love ya if you can eat spicy food! After we went and visited this Ma who got baptized in Dec. but hasn't been coming to church. She has such a hard life I feel so bad. She sews and she really has like no money and just lives day to day. It breaks my heart. There are so really rich people and some really poor people in this area. Most are just about average. I was so surprised when I saw the cars here!! Everyone drives such nice cars! It really was like California Scott! All the Taxis are Corollas, (not sure if that is how you spell it) and are like pink and orange and green. haha so funny. Sunday night we went to this family that has been meeting with the missionaries for awhile. The Ma and Pa are pretty old and they have their two daughters living with them. Then I think a son. And their six grandsons. When we came they brought us out some water and some fruit and we all just sat in a big circle on their floor.SO cute!! I love the Pa!! They are so sweet and all the little boys had their little Book of Mormons and we talked to them about Captain Moroni and how he fought to defend his family and how we need to fight for our families and such. It was so cool!! Sister L does most of the talking and then I just pipe in and bear my testimony every so often! We are such a good team! She speaks Thai so good! I told her she has to teach me everything!!

Mondays are our P-days! Woot! We went running this morning for like an hour out on the streets! It was so awesome! Thai's don't run for exercise so everyone was looking at us two white girls like we were crazy. So funny!! Came home and showered and did some laundry. Studied and then came to this cute little cafe shop. These computers are so nice! its so funny! I love Thai's! They are so random! We are like in this little ghetto neighborhood and out of no where here are these samsung flat screen computers! haha. There are like 30 too! Thai's like their internet. Anways wow I'm sorry that I wrote so much. I still have so much I could say! Today during my studying I read through some of my MTC notes and it got me all pumped again! I really have so much love for these people and I am going to work my tail off to teach all of them!! Well just the women and the familes since were not allowed to talk to the men :) anyways, everything is going great! I love it here! I really am never coming home. I just do my hair curly every day, which with the humidity it is perfect! I don't wear much make-up because I sweat so much, but I love it! I don't have to wear nylons! And I don't have to ever put on lotion! My skin is so smooth! haha. Sorry random bonuses. Since we live on 17th floor we don't have any bugs in our room! Ya!! But I have seen lizards in some houses. Cats on the roofs. (Mike I thought of you!) Cats on leashes and in cages. Dogs are EVERYWHERE. Seriously like they just roam the streets. That is all the wildlife. Oh and chickens and birds. They love to put them in cages outside their doors. Haha its just so funny!!

I know it probably sounds like I haven't been very focused, don't worry. I haven't forgotten why I am here. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and I LOVE being a missionary!!! I'm So happy!!!! I love Thailand!! Even half way around the world, the Church is still true!!!