3rd Transfer

Hello!

Good news! (?) I got transferred to Kirkland.. I don't actually know where Kirkland is. Sister Olson gets to stay and it is her 4th transfer straying here now  (will be 6 months staying in SYSA 2nd) She is now a sister training leader woohoo! I knew that they were going to send me somewhere since there is a thai lady that just got baptized and she couldn't speak english at all. I will teach her new member lessons! Sister Chairaksa was teaching her but it was time for her to go home. I am so excited! I got to teach her with Sister Chairaksa a little bit and she gave me Thai dessert! I'm really excited to go back haha. 

Last week was crazy, we went to Seattle University to do finding there. We got a couple solid investigators so that was great. However, we didn't know how to get back to the institute. We took 2 buses to get there. So we asked different people. We asked 5 people and all of them gave us the different directions.... We ended up walked to downtown and took the light rail (Downtown station instead of Broadway station).  It was like 45 mins of walking haha. This is what happened when none of us have a smartphone. We can't really use the GPS because we don't know the address of the bus stop nor light rail that close to Seattle U. 

On Saturday, We went to Bee's baptism (Thai lady) in Bothell and then came back to Seattle because we had a lesson. After that, we had Tian's baptism...the elders couldn't get into the font so the water wasn't filled. All of us used bowls and pitchers to fill up the font so that was fun haha. We were running like a rat! 

So this week, I was able to forget myself and focus more on others, it was the greatest feeling ever!! Not only I get the work done, but I also enjoy the work. If I just do the Lord's will but my heart is against it, I can never enjoy it or I just get the work done. but when I put all my heart and mind into the work, I was able to love the work and my heart was changed! I love being a missionary!
Love you all!

Prayer is powerful

Hello!

Happy belated Thanksgiving! We spent our thanksgiving night at our mission president's house with other 12 unwanted missionaries. We are in YSA (Young Single Adult) ward so most people went home during the break. It was really cool and we got to go to the general authority room ( the guest room for general authorities when they come to visit our area). 

I want to share about prayer in this email. I have a strong testimony that when we pray for specific things, we receive specific blessings! Last Friday, We prayed to received 3 new investigators and we received 3! it was a thanksgiving week so campus was kinda dead. We decided to go to Downtown instead of staying at UW. If you still remember the story from the past email you will understand that we both don't like taking a bus. However, we received a strong prompting that we should take a bus instead of the light rail. We acted upon it. And guess what! we met a lady on the bus stop and we were heading the same way. She met missionaries before and asked for the copy of the Book of Mormon! The other one that we met in Downtown was our Dan Jones! (Dan Jones is  someone that we met and they came to church on the same week!) I know that God provides when we do the things that are in line with what he wants us to do. and as we do our part, he will help us!

Back to when we were in Downtown, we ran into the protest again. We were 20 ft away from them. We were walking on the street and they just happened to march to the street that we were on. Seems like we always pick the place that people would protest. 

ps. I forgot my camera so I only have a picture of my zone this week

The Atonement of Jesus Christ

To: friends and family

If you guys still remember that guy that stopped us on the University Avenue and told us that he was less-active. He wanted us to reactivate him again and we had been coordinating with him. His name is Aaron. He is an actor and also teaches acting.  He was raised in the strong LDS family but it was him that fell out of the path. We were trying to get him back to church but it wasn't that easy... We supposed to meet with him again last Wednesday but he didn't show up.

During the weekly planning, I felt like we need to contact him again so we texted him and asked if everything was alright because it wasn't like him. He told us that he was going to admit himself to inpatient rehab from addicted to cocaine and alcohol. After he said, we both were bawling. We didn't realize how much we care about him..

So on that night, I highlight the scriptures that I like in the Book of Mormon and gave it to him before he left. He couldn't take it but his girlfriend said that she will read it for him while he is gone.  The elders were able to give him the priesthood blessing. They asked him to pray before they gave the blessing. It was the most sincere prayer that I've ever heard in my life.  In his prayer, he finally opened his heart, turned to the Lord and relied on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. His eyes were opened for the obvious blessings that he has received. His heart was broken. Everything that happened to him is a trail of his faith. I shared this scripture when we first met him Ether 12: 6. I couldn't help but cry.

I can say that I have a strong testimony about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how it could help our life as we rely on him. Just like Aaron, the Atonement gives him hope, hope we will be able to do all the hard things because Jesus had already suffered the worst thing for us. I am so grateful for my Savior, my brother, Jesus Christ, and I know that without him, I wouldn't be able to live with Heavenly Father and my family again. 

Ps. Gwen just got baptized last Saturday! We met her last month and she was super prepared. She got baptized in 3 weeks! 

Ps2. We went to the fireside last Monday. William Tukuafu, Seahawks football player gave a talk.

Ps3. We will go to our mission president's house on Thanksgivings to have dinner with him! 

Love,

Sister Wat 

--

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

Forgiveness is for All

Hellllllo!

Everything is so great, like always! 

Last Monday (P-day) Sister Perkins took us to the Space Needle. It was so cool to see Seattle from the different perspective. We also got to help our member move to the new apartment. We got lost on the way to her apartment and on the way back to our area... but it was a fun experience getting lost in Seattle :D

We also had the stake conference last weekend. It was so good. I learned a lot from that. Someone mention about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness is not just for ourselves but it is for others also. We are forgiven from our sins because of Christ. but what about others that may have done something bad to us? Can they be forgiven? The answer is YES! If we expect God to forgive our sins, we need to start forgiving others! We may have wounds and scars but the healing comes when we walks away from the darkness and forgive others. I know that everyone can do it and I can promise you that as you do so, you will be able to find peace :)

Love,

--

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

Here are some pictures! 

This is sister Perkins! She is the best! 😁

The road where the bus stop was, was closed, due to the construction. Those pillows were from the member that we helped her moved.


We stole the elders' bikes (a.k.a. borrowed)

Halloween and Spiritual Food

Hellllllo!

How is everyone doing? I'm doing gooooooood. 

Halloween was really fun. I were told to stay inside our apartment. The reason that we have to stay inside was people dress   like missionary..... So we got to clean our apartment and it is super duper clean right now. We made a special dish to celebrate Halloween , too bad no pumpkins... ;) 

I have learned so many things since I came on a mission. If we could change our attitude, we would be so much happier than we were!  Change attitude to be gratitude. Start thinking in a positive way and our life would be so much peaceful. Trust me, if this works for me, it will work for you.

I want to share a scripture that I got during the personal time. 

In John 6:35 "  Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

Are you spiritually fed? 

 at the Perkin's house

Love,

-

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

Week 7

Hello!

I am running out of time so this email will mainly be pictures! 

We did the service project at the old lady's garden.


We went to contact a referral that we received. However, when we got there we realized that the address only has the apartment complex building number not the room number. So we decided to knock on every door.. since we were there already. When we reached to the last level of the apartment complex. We thought about the story that President Uchtdorf shared during the Women Conference. We decided to keep knocking. The forth door to the last answered the door! We talked to him briefly  and got a return appointment back! Woohoo! Miracles happen everyday!

LOVE YOU ALL

Miss you,

sister Wat

--

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

First Transfer!

Guess what!

My companion and I got to stay! Last night was not only excited but also scary. It was like being in the Hunger Games ( in the good way, of course) No one knows who is going to leave or stay. We both freaked out every time that our phone rang because it could be the call from our Zone Leader. There were 8 people in my district, two of them got transferred, and one died (he is done with his mission) Members in our ward didn't want us to leave. They asked us to text them if we did get or didn't get transferred. I feel so loved haha. We are their favorite actually ;P (sorry elders)

We had the MMTC last night (Missionary Member Training Center). The purpose of this event was to help members overcome their fear of sharing gospel in their life. Our ward missionary leader dressed up as our mission president. So he put a jacket under his shirt to make him look like he had a big belly. He asked one of the girl in our ward to be his wife so that was really cute. Our mission president tradition after they finish talking, they would kiss each other. So we told them that in order to act like our mission president, they should do the same thing too! ;D 

Alright, back to the MMTC, There were 3 workshops, the Roadblock, Testimony Builder, Life Hack (?) My favorite is the last one. I think it is really useful for members to be able to understand that sharing gospel doesn't have to be something deep or complicated.
We don't have to recite the proclamation for the family, or anything, just talk about good experience at church, what we've learned on Sunday or church activities. 

Elder Grader got transferred! ( the front one)

Elder + sister Sweeny, we are their favorite!

Lanaya and Cassie!

President Champion and his wife!

when 8 cameras were trying to take a picture at the same time...

With Krista and Jessica. They are amazing.

Here is the last picture.

love,

sister W.

​ 

-- 

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

Preparing for the Storm

Hello!

I'm doing so so great and everything is great!

This past week was a little slow, nothing much really happened except Seattle supposed to have a storm! We got so excited about it. Our members freaked out and gave us blankets and canned foods because they said that the power might be out for a few days. On Friday, the rain was pouring like crazy and the wind was so strong. If I weight 20lbs less than now, I would be gone with the wind haha. They said that Saturday night the storm supposed to hit really hard. We were told to stay inside in the evening to do weekly planning. At 6pm on Saturday, it started to rain heavily for 10 mins... then that was it. Nothing happened after that.. haha I was super disappointed but glad that nothing bad happened.

On the last email I mention about Trent, our investigator. Unfortunately, Trent is not progressing and he travels a lot. We may have to drop him. I believe that this time might not be the time for him but he will be ready in the future!  

We did a lot of contacting last week and got a tons of numbers. I think I texted 60 people for activities and church but 2-3 of them texted back. The funny thing was the one that show up at church was the one that I didn't even have his number! I believe that it is worth it to talk to thousands of people and only one get baptized. I know that as long as I have faith, the Lord will send the elected one to us. But right now we just need to talk to everyone in order to find THE ONE!

I miss everyone! Take care!  

PS.  I went to the Underground City Tour! 

We didn't freak out at all.... bowls filled with water...

Blankets that we got from our member, Krista!

Love,

--

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

Rely on God

Hi!

Last week was so so great. I have so many things to write on this email. But first, I want to follow up with the commitment that I extended it last week. How was it? Hope everyone has a great experience from doing that!

First of all, last Monday we were planning to go to the Underground city tour. We got direction (bus route) from our ward missionary. We were thinking about taking the light rail instead of the bus but none of us know how to get there so we trust our ward missionary (Luke) When we got in the bus none of us realized that the bus didn't take us to downtown but it took us to the opposite way. it took us half an hour to realize that we were heading to the wrong way! We had  to take the other bus to go to downtown and it would take an hour to get there. We spent an hour and a half on the bus last Monday. When we finally got to Downtown, it was around 4.30pm and our P-day ends at 6pm. The tour would take 1.15mins so we decided to do something else. Luckily, the Pike Place Plaze (Fish market) is close by so we spent time over there instead. On the way back, we took the light rail and it took us only 8 mins .... Taking buses is a pain for us.

Last Friday we had a special zone conference, Elder Echo Hawk (the seventy) came. We were told to prepare a 5 mins talk. I had a weird feeling that they were going to call me to speak because of my last name and they did. Fortunately, I was well prepared haha. I talked about the first topic on the first lesson in Preach My Gospel, God is our loving Heavenly Father. It is so important to view everyone as a child of God, the same way that you want God to view you. In the talk, I was comparing our investigator like beans. I had the opportunity to do service at U of W farm, harvesting beans. We could only pick beans that were big and long enough for this week. However, there were so many small beans that were not qualified for this week. Did that mean they are useless? Absolutely no, it was just not the right time. They would be ready some day but not now. We have faced so many rejection but I know that it might not be the time for them to learn the Gospel. We have to trust in the Lord's time table and his plan. And the most important thing is to never give up and always rely on God. I know that as we rely on him and have faith in him, noting will be impossible to achieve.  

One of our investigators, Trent, we found him on Friday. He was so ready to be baptized. He had been taught with missionaries before and been to church multiple times  and almost got baptized but he said he wasn't ready for that. As we talked to him, We could see his broken heart that only through gospel it could be healed. He is officially on dated to get baptized on Oct 22! I'm so so happy for him. Please pray for him!

Having Korean food with Jessica! 

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

Fear Not

Hi everyone!

How is everyone doing? I'm doing so so great. This week has been really interesting and there were so many things going on.

Since I came on a mission, I realized that there are so many ways to do missionary work. I missed so many opportunities to help others learn more about the gospel because I wasn't brave enough or too scared what others will think about me. We have a gift, which is giving by Heavenly Father. In Doctrine and Covenants 68: 4 "And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture...and the power of God unto salvation." How cool is that! It may be hard for the first time but as we keep trying, it will get easier! The Lord also promised us in verse 6 that he will be with you and help you, FEAR NOT!

I challenge you all to share your favorite talk to your friends, family and people that you love. Help them to understand and experience the true joy! Will you share your favorite talk to people that you love and help them experience the true joy? I know that not everyone will say that they want to learn more or get really excited about it but I promise you, it will help them when they finally open their heart and ready for the message.

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

PS. Here are some picture of me and sister  Olson.  

PS2. we are going to the Underground City tour today! I'm so so excited for that :D

that is my building! Watanawongworakula's building haha 

God Has a Plan

Hello!

My second week was amazing! 

Something really important that I want to share is about our plan is not God's plan. There were many things that we planned but not everything followed the plan. I was a little sad and confused why the Lord didn't make it happen to us. One of our appointments got canceled. I prayed really hard to find the answer and ask for his help and comfort. On the same day, a stranger on the street stop us and started talking to us. That was strange, I thought, not many people like to start a conversation with missionaries. He asked us if we could give him the institute address and later introduced himself to us. He was raised in church and went inactive for a couple years. He told us that he wanted to come back to church. I suddenly realized that if we went to the appointment that just got canceled, we would never ran into this guy. I understand now that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and we may not know his plan or why we are doing it  but I know that if we trust in him, he will never let us stray. 

Ps. I forgot to bring the USB for my camera so there will be no picture this week :( 

Sincerely,

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

First week in Seattle!

Hello everyone!

I can't believe it has been a week since I got to Seattle! I really do enjoy the weather in Seattle so far. It has been sunny all week and cloudy just a little bit. My first area is Seattle YSA2. We mostly focus on the University of Washington. The place that we always go is called Red Square. There are so many students walking pass that area and I met a lot of Chinese students, my people!

First thing that I want to say on this weekly updated is there are so many MIRACLE  that the Lord has shown to us. First of all, Last Sunday, we went contacting after we had lesson with a member. However, none of us had enough pass a long card so we decided to go back to our apartment and get some. While we were walking back, I had a weird feeling that we should go back to the institute (where we have church) first to get our stuff. When we got all of our stuff, we started walking home the different way that we walked back from the university. We ran into 3 Chinese girls, we talked to them a little bit and found out that they were looking for Church!  I was like whoa! you three ran into the right person! Because it was around 4pm, so there was no church service. We gave them the overview lesson about our church, Jesus Christ, and God. We were able to get an appointment back with them so we will meet them again this Saturday. The cool thing was one of the girl who is Christian, Betty, she said that she was praying to find the true church and someone to help her friends understand more about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. When they got out of the bus, they ran into us! I truly believe that it wasn't a coincident but it was the Lord's plan!!

I feel like I've learned something everyday, little by little. Charity and love were something that I've learned this week. We ran into a homeless guy and started talking to him. At first, all I wanted to do was to go back to the apartment and find something to eat since it was already dinner time. However, as I was talking to him, I found out that Joel, his name, was a super great guy. He was an active Mormon back in his 20's and he was trying to reactivate himself again. He asked us to talk to his father on the phone because his father is an active member and loves missionaries. While my companion was talking to his father, I had a chance to get to know him a little bit more. He told me that he wanted to start his life again and improve the quality of his community (the ave. next to our apartment where homeless people live) He also asked us if we could help (preach the gospel) his friend that is in jail right now because she needs the gospel in her life. While we were talking, he searched his backpack to give us a dream catcher. He said that it will protect us and help us to have a good night sleep.I couldn't believe that he could be so kind to us. He is homeless and has no job but still think about other people. This guy did completely change how I think about other people. We are all children of God and we should think and look at other people like the way God and Jesus Christ would look at us. We shouldn't judged other people based on their appearance but we should look into their hearts as we speak with them.

By the way, my trainer her name is Sister Olson from Idaho. She played basketball in college so my morning exercise is really interesting. Every two days, we go to the Red Square and she would run around me as I do my little cuties stretching.  

Ps. This is her second transfer so we are growing together

Here is a picture of us!

Sister Watanawongworakula

Washington Seattle Mission 

10675 NE 20th St. 

Bellevue, WA 98004

Lessons from the MTC

Hi everyone

This is my last week at the MTC! The time went by so fast! I love the MTC, my class and my companions. After all the things that we have been through together, we are more connected, united, and love one another. The MTC does soften my heart and teach me so many things.  I also learn more about patience and humility. Having companions is really hard since we have to do everything together. Sometimes we may not agree on the same things or think about ourselves before others.  It was really hard when we had a problem because those problems effected our lessons.  I am not perfect and sometimes my attitude isn't that great. I prayed to the Lord with my sincere heart to ask for his help. I asked him to soften our hearts and help us to understand one another more since we were all different. After the prayer, we were able to talk openly about our problems and try to understand one another's personalities. One of many things that I learned from, that problem was  was selflessness. It is one of the hardest things to do but as we keep doing it continuously, we will be able to be like Christ in one day.

This week I had an opportunity to teach Arisa (TRC.) She came from Japan to learn English at BYU. She met missionaries before and knew a lot about our church and the gospel. While we were teaching her, we found out that she had no faith in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I was really worry after the first appointment because having faith wasn't something that I could tell someone to have but they needed to earn that by themselves. However, as we went to teach her again, the spirit did soften her heart. On the last appointment, she said yes to us when we asked her to get baptized. I was really happy! There was one thing that she shared with us, she said that praying was very hard for her but as her kept doing it daily, she felt more comfortable doing it. I just want to say that we may find something difficult to do, but as we keep doing it everyday, that thing will become easier. Like when I read scripture, it is really hard for me to stay focus but as I keep trying, it becomes easier to do.

By the way, my district got to go the Temple Square last Friday, it was really fun! I went there so many times but this time was different. I have a name tag on my blouse! Woohoo.

Lots of Love,

Sister W.

Arisa is on the right side.

My favorite teacher, sister Limperle.

Teach by the Spirit!

I just want to share a short message of what I've learned on this one. 

I have learned that teaching is not as easy as I thought it would be. It requires us to listen and observe others. Moreover, I have to let the spirit guide me while I'm teaching. I didn't realize the fact that we pray a lot. We pray before we teach, when we teach, and after we teach to invite the spirit to be with us. After we teach, we always do the companion inventory. Not only we can understand each other more, but we also can strengthen our weaknesses. Preach my gospel is my good friend since I have to read it everyday. I've learned that in order to understand investigator, we need to listen and observe the body language. I like the quote from Elder Holland that said about being a good listener, he said that we shouldn't be worry of what we are going to say when we listen to the investigator, but to just listen and the spirit will helps us. I tried it and it worked very well! 

I want to invite everyone to pray more often and take your time to pondering about your prayer. Sometimes the answer might not come right after but be patience, the lord will answer your prayer like he always does 😁

Lots of love,

Sister W