taryn 7.26.10

Hey!
happy birthday to all the July birthdays, especially paigey last week, and TODAY ash man! oh man i miss you all so much!
This past week was good, but oh so stressful! you dont realize how much your companion does to help until she is gone and you have someone that doesnt know much about the missionfield. you end up doing most of it, and then to help her grow make her do some stuff, but that takes even more effort. hah, i feel like mom and dad when they were making us clean the house- i know it would have been easier to just do it yourself, but you made us do it with all our whining. thank you for that by the way. it seems like every week i come to appreciate you mom and dad more and more. I feel like the whole area is on my shoulders right now. im trying to give it all to the Lord, but im so scared im going to mess up! I am training sister jessica naegle. she is way cute! shes from bountiful, utah and is actually taller than me! i dont feel like a giant anymore, it is so wierd! everyone called me training her, even those who met her a few days before and they didnt know i was training. when i saw her, i also i knew she was the one id be training. she is trying very hard, an awesome girl and is going to be an incredible missionary.
i guess ill start with tues of last week. for english class, every 6 weeks we have a game day where we do english things. last tues we had a talent show/ show and tell. we set up the cultural hall (yes, thats right, we actually have one in chaing mai!!! ) we had little tickets, a ticket booth, and the stage all decorated. we had some good talents: showing off artwork they drew, pictures of places they had gone, a man made a little wooden toy swing for it, and we even had a nurse bring in an electronic pulse taker thing (sorry my english isnt so great right now.. ) my favorite was kham, our investigator from burma. she showed the ctr right that sister josephson gave her the day before and explained what it stood for, it was cute. right after the show we headed to the bus station for a long night on the bus, a long day with meetings and trainings for trainers, waiting at the nasty bus station in bangkok with men from india hitting on us, and then another long night of trying to sleep on the bus, finally getting to sleep, and then the lights turning on telling you to go out and eat and stretch in the middle of the night.
at the moves meeting i found out some awesome and exciting news though! 4 of my investigators got baptized, and also a friend that i dont know. 1 was from saphaansung, lita! she finally kicked out her abusive husband who woulnt marry her and could get baptized! we have been writing back and forth and she wrote me a really cute letter with a pic of her and her baby from her baptism. then 3 girls from udon and their friend also got baptized!
weve been pretty busy, and when we arent busy we are inviting up a storm.
i think im going to have to drop some of my favorite investigators because they arent progressing. so hard, but i know that the Lord will provide for them and their time will come another time.
friday night i had a neat experience. we met for the first time with a girl named nui who came from english class. after teaching her she told us about a dream that she has had a few times about her in a pinkish room, wearing a white dress, and another lady there helping her in a white dress. she said it was so beautiful and felt so peaceful. she asked what we think this could be and we explained a little about the temple (well i guess i did, my comp didnt understand until i explained after.)
thais are funny about dreams, they talking and think a lot about them. sat we taught a recent convert who told us about her friend coming to her telling her she is hungry and asking what this could mean. we again taught temple work. then also sunday we had an investigator explain her dream and ask what it meant.
saturday we hurried place to place teaching 6 lessons! that is hard because chaing mai is so big, a lot of travel time. we started with nin and her mom who also forced us to eat japanese food. ha im glad im in thailand.... then taught a few new investigator lessons and recent convert lessons, one that i loved was taught to a thai-yai (hill tribe) girl who is alright at speaking thai. we taught in her family's tiny appt that really smelled like pee, but she was very cute and wants to meet with us again soon.
sunday was an awesome day after i got out working. well the beginng wasnt the greatest. haha it started with us biking fast to church, me about to turn a corner and a dog, i have no idea why, came sprinting around the corner. i had no time and ran right into it!!! it was startled for a min, and then ran off. my hands and knees are pretty beat up, and my muscles a little sore today, but my clothes were fine, we didnt have to go back and change!
sitting in church and then a meeting after isnt the best for someone who already had lots of anxiety and worrying about everything! for some reason i was just stressing about training and also about the area. i just didnt feel like i could do it. A byu student (she taught morg in the mtc! she served in s. france!) who i know Heavenly Father sent came up to me after church and congratulated me on training and then said things that helped me out so much like, "man, training is so hard, but you see so many miracles" ha i wanted to break down and cry right there. after church we went and dropped a booklet off at an investigator's house because i forgot to bring it yesterday. yes, im losing my mind... it was a blessing though because we got to talk with another family member that wasnt there the day before when we were teaching, and then ended up teaching her. i invited her to the district presidents house that night for dinner and she actually came! later that evening we went and picked her up, along with a few other investigators in a songtaw (a pickup truck with two rows for seats that are a common form of transportation here..) and we ate at presidents little house, sitting on the gorund on mats around ceramic pots with coals in them and a metal thing that you cook your own meat on.
ok, out of time. i love you so much. man i am getting so so excited to see you. it seems like i miss you more and more every day.
courtney, i hope that you are feeling better! know that there is someone across the world praying for you!
i love you.
sister young