6/1/15 - Making my will become His will (& transfers)

It was a crazy week and my life has been turned upside down! I am now 20 years old. We threw some eggs off the roof (a tradition here to celebrate by leaving regrets behind), and had some yummy birthday dinner and then after English class they threw me a surprise party! I love the members and our investigators here all so much!!! There was cake and presents and confetti and so many people I love! It was an amazing birthday. Saying goodbye to them was really hard, ESPECIALLY my companion! I am going to miss Sister Forte so much!

I got the transfer call on Monday. I found out that I was going to be moving and training a native Thai. BUT my companion will be in the MTC in the Philippines for the next 3 weeks so I will be in a threesome for the next 3 weeks. To be honest, I was really freaked out about serving in Asoke which is the big, main city in Bangkok and all of Thailand. It is like NYC or Tokyo. We have 2 sister areas here in Asoke so I will have to watch over my area as well as one I am not serving in. I am still STL (Sister Training Leader). It is a little stressful but I can do it! I get to serve with the AP's and the office Elders and close to President Senior for his last month. ALSO I get to welcome in the new mission President! It will be an interesting transfer and I am excited. Asoke is a whole new world. There are so many crazy people, I LOVE IT! The downside is that everything is so expensive! All there is to eat is American food. I can’t believe I see that as a negative now--how things change! The members are great! There are a lot of YSAs here which is a lot of fun AND my good friend Sister News works at the office so I will see her all the time! We ride the MRT about 10 times a day and every Sunday I get to take the sacrament twice and go to 6 hours of church (Thai ward and International ward)! YAY!!

At first I did not want to stay in Bangkok or be in a threesome. I prayed so hard that my will would become His will. "Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness." "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;" After reading those I had the strongest impression that this exactly where I need to be…I am not exactly sure why but I know that God has a purpose for me being here. "And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." After this amazing realization I understood again--this mission is NOT about me. I came here to serve the Lord and this is what he wants me to do! "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." So I learned a lot this week, I am so grateful that I get to learn this lesson again and again.

My first day here we taught this guy named Lod and his girlfriend Ploy. They are amazing and have been so prepared by the Lord. They remind me of a cute 50's couple. Lod got baptized this Sunday and Ploy is getting baptized next Sunday! I am so excited for them and can't wait until they get married in the new Thailand temple! On Sunday lots of our investigators showed up with their family members which is so GREAT!

I am really excited for everything that is going to happen here in Asoke! This place is going to blow up with baptisms and a new stake!!! Love you all have a great week!!!

-Sister Herrmann

PS. I got my death papers (information about my release). I want to die that I have to die!!

5/25/15 - ... and then a huge rat fell out of the ceiling!

MAYracles just keep coming!! Some small and some big! Now that this transfer is coming to a close, I just want to express how grateful I am for my companion, sister Forte, and the members here in บางกะปี.. I love them so much! They really have become my family and show me so much love. I know I say that about every area I’m in but it is true!! Last Monday I got my birthday package from my mom. I was going to wait till by birthday to open it but patience was never my strong point. It was the cutest birthday package ever!! After reading all the little notes and seeing the pictures that Caitlin gathered from all of you, I just felt the biggest wave of love and gratitude come over me and I couldn't hold back the tears! Thank you so much to everyone who took part, it really meant so much to me! It was probably the best birthday present I have ever received!

This week everything was going smoothly until Wednesday when 2 of my RC's got in car accidents (Brother Satapon in Bangnaa ran a red light and just got destroyed AND Sister Gung was on her scooter and got hit from behind.) Thankfully they are both OK! My favorite old man in the ward died of a heart attack and then we get a text from lugblaa saying that she was ready to be baptized on Friday! (If you don't remember her she is the one who had a baptism date 3 days in a row but canceled each of them because of parent issues!) Long story short, she was on and off for baptism about 10 times…afraid that she was going to break a commandment, off... explained that the spirit will help you keep all the commandments, on... a member tells her she can't get baptized, off...we told her she definitely can, on...thought she couldn't get baptized so she made other plans with her mom far away, off...told her that this was her salvation and that if she puts it off now Satan will keep trying to get her to push it off...on! Those were probably the most stressful hours of my life! FINALLY she called us and said, "Sister, I am in a taxi now and I am getting baptized!” She got baptized an hour before the cute old man’s funeral. It was quite the event but truly a MAYracle!

That night we had a long sit down talk with Donut and her mom. We were so hopeful that she would get baptized! We bore our souls to her. She is ready and she knows the gospel is true but she is really afraid of water AND afraid that if she does it without her dad's permission she is going to be in a difficult situation. We made a plan. We decided that she is going to come to church every Sunday for the next month. She knows that if she is keeping the commandments that there will be a change in her and hopefully her dad will see it and let her get baptized! She told me that no matter what happens she is going to get baptized before August! It wasn't baptism but it was one step closer to baptism!

Sister Maliwan (the LA we were working with) has totally jumped back into activity! It is amazing to see her come back to the Lord! She is so much happier! I love her so much! We have been working so hard this week and have just been so HAPPY! I 100% believe that when we are serving the Lord we are truly the happiest we will ever be, even when we are exhausted!!

This week my knowledge and testimony of faith grew so much!! We knew that if we had faith, prayed our hearts out and worked our butts off, miracles would happen! It was amazing to see the blessings that came. It was amazing to feel that extra strength from God as well. The times that I felt the weakest and most disappointed he was right there to pick me up and give me the strength to press forward with faith. I remember on Friday night I was just simply EXHAUSTED. I knelt down to pray and I just asked my Heavenly Father for the strength to be able to finish my day out strong. I felt just like the people of Alma, "And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren {and Sister Herrmann} were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." I have a strong testimony that doubt and fear are opposed to faith. In the past I have been one to have a lot of fears but it has been amazing to see how faith can demolish fear. Recently whenever I am scared to do something and that fear kicks in, I say a little prayer, put all my trust in the Lord and do it. It has resulted in so many little miracles! I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that through him anything is possible! It has been an amazing week of growth and spiritual experiences. I am ready for another one, BRING IT ON!

Funny moment of the week: There were many but my favorite was while we were teaching a lesson, watching the restoration video, we heard weird noises above us. Then all of a sudden there was a loud thump sound and a huge rat fell out of the ceiling! We all started freaking out. Of course this had to happen right at point in the video when Joseph Smith sees the Father and the Son. It is OK because the Spirit was still there after we calmed down!!!

-Sister Herrmann