This is It!

Dearest Family (and friends)

3 John 1: 13-14

Love,

Sister O'Neil

Well hello there little girl (old men, friends, family and everyone else..)

It's OCTOBER... When did that happen?...and when did months turn into fortnights?

Last past week was great. We worked really hard trying to find new people to teach and helping our current investigators prepare for baptism. I was amazed by how many christian Thais we met this week (but then not when we go around asking people if they know any Christians.... it was still kinda surprising) A couple of investigators are right on track for baptism, and then others need a little more time... but such is life. I love how so individual and smart this gospel is. Heavenly Father really does love and know us all INDIVIDUALLY... That's why I'm not really worried about my future. I know that when I'm doing the things I need to do (keeping commandments and such) the Lord will help me out. So yes... I'm not going to lie. I don't want to come home.... at all... but I know it's coming...and it's starting to show up in my dreams (my dream from my nap this morning was ridiculous....) Life is crazy, I love it.. And I also don't want to talk about it.

But I will talk about the Relief Society broadcast. We took a klong monster (boat) into the city to go watch it. It was in English.. (so easy). It was so good! And Tommy was on a roll.... i loved it. How amazing is it that we have a living PROPHET! Oh man the church is true. Also interesting to note while watching the broadcast was my culture shock.... white people are WEIRD.... I'm pretty sure my companion thinks I'm weird because of how often I confuse this land as America.......I honestly feel like I'm in America...UNTIL I watched that broadcast and then it was like I was a drug addicts dream... I was so internally confused. I'm having an identity crisis... I can survive Bangkok Dangerous... but I don't know if I'll make it in White bread America (good thing I'm going back to LA... Thai town...yes please).

People.... Sorry my letters are not of any worth... I just feel like it's all a repeat for you... but I know in reality I really tell you nothing...sorry! I'm really excited for conference. I'm pretty sure it'll be all in Thai again. Yes! I love it, esp now that I understand it. I hope you all enjoyed listening to the words of our inspired leaders. Revelation is fabulous. I'm looking for some everyday. (ask and ye shall receive.)

Ok... I LOVE YOU ALL.. I hope you all have a great week. In fact.. this will be the BEST WEEK EVER... Amen.

Love, Sister O'Neil


P.S. Wendy... i LOVED your letter... My companion and I often take "glamor shots" Cody....and I love being "a part of your world"... lol..

9/26/10

Well Well Well....

Here we are at the end of September... needless to say, that's just blowing my mind a little bit.

So was this week..

Here's the run down:

My favorite thing about this week (besides Di coming to church) was the opportunity to go and do exchanges in my old area Saphan Sung! You know I LOVED my life. It was like Christmas, but better be case there were klong paths involved. I MISSED THAT SO MUCH.. favorite part of Thailand, and I don't know why... It's like a real life video game. It was great to see the old house, and the old church, and the NEW church! While I was there they were building a new church (a real church and not just a rented 4 story office building). I'm pretty sure I almost shed a tear when I saw it for the first time. It was huge and beautiful! It really helped me realize that YES, the church is growing here in THailand. So yes... we taught some amazing investigators, with some help from amazing members in an equally amazing building. I love me life. And to top it all off, I got to teach "Gift" again.. One of my favorite people ever. It was great to see her and hear about her life for the last year. she's getting married in November. (8 days after I get home ) But that's ok. I'll just go to her temple sealing in a couple years after her Boyfriend (husband) gets baptised. So yay! I love my life.

We also had more training this past Saturday. That was good... I'm still so bad at this game of missionary-ness... so that was good to be enlightened. Oh, thanks for the mail everyone. We especially loved the pics Cody. i guess it's true, right at the beginning and right at the end everyone writes... so it's basically now or never... If you don't send it by the 9th, i might not get it. Just FYI...

Life is Bankapi is great. I love this ward. Every week is an adventure and I'm trying to keep up with it all. Sister Itow continues to keep me laughing. I love her. And I love that her name is a specific type of knife... and there's a legend about a horse woman attached to it.. hahah..

I love the rain... last night there was a huge storm... We went out to "dan Jones" and then we got stuck in the rain... and then we asked to stand under a persons parking garage thing, but we ended up just sitting in the house talking until the power went out, and they took us home and let us borrow an umbrella.. THai people are great.

This week should be great. We get to go see the RS session this weekend. And then conference next week! yes!!! So, yes. Take care this week. Have fun, be safe and live after the manner of happiness.

I love you all!

Love,

Sister O'Neil

9/19/10

Greetings from Siam,

Dearest family and friends... please forgive me letters, as I know they are not really informative or of worth lately. I'm trying to repent.

This week was great! We had a mission tour with Elder Perkins (In the Asian area presidency) which consisted of a full day of feasting ( on the good word and delicious Thai food). It was great to meet them, and it reminded me of last years tour with Elder Pratt. The two are so opposite, but both incredible. I especially loved getting to know sister Perkins a tiny bit. We talked all about receiving personal revelation and did a good activity of writing down two questions at the beginning of the meeting, and seeing how quickly the Lord Answers you. So yes. I would suggest that everyone do this kind of activity in your personal study or when watching conference or anything or the sort.. It's amazing how much you can receive when you ask. (thank you scriptures... ask and you shall receive) Truth. Fact. Awesome. It's changed my life, again. So that day was fun...especially the surprise talk I had to give. Thank goodness I prepared something. (also another principle I've been learning- preparation. Preparation is everything! Just read the scriptures again and see how important it is..and then think about the plan of salvation too... what is the purpose of life? yes, that's right... preparing.) This week we hosted a new Thai sister for a day. She just went to the MTC with the 8 other Thai missionaries who will be entering next moves. Sister Alisa is so cute. Plus it was fun to be with a khon Thai again. I think it would have been fun to be with another Thai companion at the end of my mission... but I've only ever had one...Sister Cherry (love). Maybe will get to host Sister Alisa again the week before moves... that would be fun. This week it rained a lot.. Thank goodness it didn't rain for more than 3 hours at a time... In only that 3 hours that it poured it flooded our entire street... a couple more hours and we would have come home to a flooded house... So good thing it rains in spurts and has some drain time.


Ok.. soo things are good and I love my life. I hope you all have a great week and I will talk to you next week.

Love,

Sister O'Neil

Hello dearest people,

well, I'm not going to lie.. I don't really know what to write. I've spent most of my time writing Pres Smith and watching Mormon messages on lds.org (SO GOOD... go watch them). So if you want to know how I'm feeling, watch the "listening to the spirit" and the "thanksgiving" one.

Life is grand here in Bankgapi. We're teaching a couple new families, and Ilene's getting ready to be baptised. We're having a mission tour with Elder Parkinson on Wed. That should be fun. I love my companion. We really are from California... and we only got sick once this week. yay!

Today I'm taking her "downtown" yay!.

Sorry I really wrote nothing today. Such is life.

All is well. I love my life.

Read the scriptures and follow the prophet.


Love, Sister O'Neil

Well... Greetings from the best place in the world.

Things are pretty much the same... but completely different. First of all... I have a new companion. Her name is Sister Itow and she is from Northern California (and she is SO Californian...it's fun). She just came to this country (so yes... I'm training again). She is Japanese, Spanish, English and french...aka GORGEOUS... everyone thinks she's a movie star. and sometimes I do to. She kinda reminds me of Glinda, (but in a good way). And we had a very eventful few days together so far. On sat we went to the wedding of one of our RC (BOW #1..she got baptised about 2 months ago) and they had a VERY nice wedding at the church.. (she asked me to be the MC for it... but in the end another one of her friends did it.... thank goodness... i can't speak Thai.) it was strange... i didn't feel like a missionary as we sat there at the "Chinese tables" and had delicious food served to us while we tried not to listen to the carpenters (and various other American popular artists) serenade us... So that was fun/ny.

Sunday Muk was confirmed and Soo was baptised. Soo is amazing. I love her. Her testimony is amazing (she's the one who dreamt about the tree of life before she even read that chapter). And she's another testament that member referrals are the best. This week is finding and teaching new people and normal missionary life (which means every day is drastically different and awesome...)

Sorry i don't have a lot to write today. Mom, I talked with you a lot.. so that's good.. just let me know. Remember I can leave some stuff at the office and just take a carry on around with me. Everyone else.. I love you all. Thanks for the continuous support and love and prayers. Read the Book of Mormon and go to the Temple. Amen.

Ok... farewell to Manazar,

Love, Sister O'Neil

How is it September this week ALREADY...... That just makes me want to vomit.

So, I noticed a trend in all these emails lately... You are ALL SO TRUNKY.. Actually... last weeks were all sorts of trunky... and they still mainly are (and I'm not gonna lie...reading mom's email about seeing John Williams made me trunky for about 3 seconds too...until i looked up and out the window and saw that I was in Thailand...and that took care of that). So yes...you trunky bunch of people.. haha.

I did enjoy hearing from people though...Sounds like everyone is sick. Please eat medicine and feel better. (<--look how happy he is eating medicine)

Let me tell you about my week. Last week after I wrote you (and went and wrestled with crocodiles and held tigers, lions and bears) we continued our three day training extravaganza. It was great, and it really has changed the way we invite and commit people to doing things that help their lives be better than mint chocolate chip ice cream served over a volcano cake. (yummmm). This church and gospel is really the most logical and smart and successful organization I've ever known. Genius really, and that's because it's lead by the All Knowledgeable. Sister Jolley and her other greenie friend did a great job running around Bankapi for 3 days. I was impressed, but not surprised. I knew they'd be fine. It was fun to see all of my Elders (for the MTC..all of us were there....and possible for the last time, too...?!?) and visit with the sisters too. I just love our lives.

Sunday was a great day. มุก was baptised! And โส will be baptised next week. So that's be grandious. They are really, really great. It's been a blessing to see their lives change and progress. After the service and meetings and calling potential investigators, we went our in search of new families. It was great. I love Thailand and talking to randos everyday. Plus, when we walked into this "muubaan" (neighborhood) I just felt so good and look at Sister Jolley (like Jolley Bear) and said "we're gonna live here." Then as we walked around and talked to people, i noticed this sign for a house for rent (called the number...which turned out to be the neighbor) and toured the house... it looks great! I feel really good about it. So I'll let you know how it turns out. This week should be equally as fabulous. (such is life) It's moves meeting, but I'm pretty sure we're not going because we're going to stay together.... but it's not เเท่ทอท yet...you never know what President will do. But If all goes according to what I feel will happen, I'll write you again next week from the same place, with the same comp. :)

Um... I love you all. I hope you have a great week. Will you read your scripture? Great. I promise a plethora of blessings if you do such things as keeping the commandments. excellent.

Love, Peace and ส้มตำ,

Sister O'Neil

Sister Hulme...got your letter! Good luck at school! Love your guts!
Sister Lo... you are fabulous... did I tell you that lately? I'm working on a letter
Tara... I can't believe you... but I can at the same time... when do you leave for the Korea.
Kellie... I love you. จริง.
Everyone else... this is just a warning...if you ever wanted to write me as a missionary...this is your chance...it will end faster than you believe it. Just saying...

Hello one and all, 8/24/10

Please forgive the delay, this has been a crazy week filled with trainings, meetings and changing P-days. So yes... our "day" is today, so here I am. (oh computer "raan" surprise... just discovered day old "kanom" wrappers behind my keyboard...oh thai teens...yum...) anyways, that's beside the point. Oh happy 2nd Chinese new year, too... yesterday was all full of Chinese treats and giving food to monks. (at least for Thai gentiles...not for me) (also besides the point) So yes. As I said, this week has been a little different. The church has changed the way they train missionaries, and so yesterday was our first full day of training (i knew it was coming...we heard rumors and then I read Justin's email which talked about it, so I wasn't surprised). It was great too! I kinda felt like I was back in the MTC, (which you all know i loved) It was all the the "leaders" in the mission together talking about the doctrine of Christ and ways to help our investigators understand prayer and reading more... There was just simply too much amazing information to remember or use, so I'm hoping and praying that my brain mixed with quasi-copious notes will be enough to help me recall and use everything we learned. AND that was just day ONE. Yes... we get another FULL 8-10 hours of training tomorrow. YAY! (¨ÃÔ§) I've especially loved watching "the District 2".. (first movie I'm gonna watch when I ¨º...I think only recent RM's would get that...sorry) .Along with all the fun from the meetings, we get to have fun switch offs, too. I'm loving life because I was able to be comps with sister Young again. (love my life) These three days are fun for our real companions too, because since all the trainers are at meetings all day...the greenies are all being companions. So the incredible Sister Jolley and Sister Herschi (both greenies) spent all day yesterday (and will again tomorrow) taking care of our area. It's great. I know that because it's hard, they will be please, so our areas should all be doing awesome this week! Yay for the gift of tongues! All the changes that are coming to the mission just make me realize how different my mission experience will be than my current new companion... but that's the great part about eternal progression: things just get better and better!

I know this past week included a lot more than just that... but I kinda can't remember anything...If it's more than 37 hours old and not related to investigators, I've probably forgotten it. Teaching, preaching, finding, learning, LAUGHING (as always). The usual...just different...every day. Oh, Muk's getting baptised this Sunday. That's good.

This church is true. Everything comes back to the Book of Mormon. It's true. I know it is. I can't dis-prove it, and I can't deny the feeling of truthfulness that comes from reading it. If anyone wants to know if God is real and if He cares about you, read his handy book of "Answers to ALL of life's problems" aka The Book of Mormon. You hate your life? You want more happiness? Want to know what the heck we're supposed to do with this thing called life? READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. Heavenly Father will answer your prayers. But you have to do your part first. you have to ask, and then use faith (aka...action...aka read, go to church, pray some more...)

Oh family, what more can I say? I love my life. I love yours for you when you keep the commandments.

Now I must go. A baby tiger is hanging out somewhere waiting for me to hold it..... or at least pet its mom.

Awesome.

Sister O'Neil

P.S. Sister Hulme!! (Bri) welcome...I just love you. Good luck at school! i wish you were here to sing for us as we ride through perfect.... word
Brenda...I love that you have sleep overs for your kids...
Kellie... Zebra cakes. :) She might should
TARA.... are you in Asia yet?
Laura... I had a dream and you were my Pregnant companion somewhere in America...the other Sisters didn't like us because we didn't dress all high-so like them.. Then I delivered your baby.... on a movie set? yeah....i don't know..


p.P.S..Mom... I'm glad you liked that stamps. my friend at the post office thought I was crazy for using those stamps... I'm glad you had such a great time all over the country and at Ed week...
Megan... your house looks cool...or at least sounds cool...that one picture wasn't much... just white walls... but still-- YOUR HOUSE. and your girls are just too cute to die.
Lisa... yay for girly shopping with the little one. I love you life.

Hello Neverland, 8/15/10

Greetings from Thai-town were we recently celebrated Mothers. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. Thanks to the Queen's birthday, I get to celebrate Mothers day (and father's day for that matter) twice a year. So once again, thank you for you amazing angel like qualities and determination to raise children in the way of the gospel. It's miraculous. Mother's day we had an activity at church that was great. It was a mini break through from one of our amazing investigators (ning). She will be baptised one day... I'm just not sure when. But she is great. Actually... this whole ward is. I really just LOVE them all. The Bishop is great and everyone is just great. Great used in this context means 100 different things.. I can not express what I really want to say about them because it would just take to long...

As was this past week...too much to explain...but here's a bit of it.. This week was filled with hilarity. I just love my companion... And now I'd like to talk about her like the "child" she is (k...she is not a child... but in Thai-town, she is still new...so you know what I mean) and tell you all about the funny and cute things she does. It's been fun to watch her experience all the things that I'm used to by now, but are still new to her... for example.. this week I enjoyed watching her pedal at warp speed down this one street and then pull BOTH her feet up on the frame of the bike because of the 2 HUGE dogs who were chasing and barking at her... Then I think her bike might be a little to tall for her, because she always is almost falling every time she gets off her bike... Then one time I looked behind me, only too see her fall/ run into this lady/fence... and I quote "Oh, I'm ok. I just fell into a barbed wire fence" Which was true... she did... but luckily she was ok. Then yesterday, she was praying and this is what she said "Please help us to find those people who are not interested".... I started laughing...I knew what she was trying to say "help us find new people who are interested" but it was just too funny... that's an easy prayer to answer... we find hundreds of those a day.. check.. haha. So yes... there was that, then we met this random old farang guy who spoke thai really weird.. It didn't dawn on me how wierd it was until this Thai person walked up and was like "WHAT the? 3 farangs are all sitting around talking in Thai to each other?!" It was funny. Other highlights from the week for the blender that we bought for the house.. It was like CHRISTMAS...we make "shakes" all the time now... love me life. AND I am also now an expert on making sticky rice... and by expert I have made it 1 time now, but it was good...so yes... check. Now i just need to learn how to make Som Tam for real.

We spent part of Mothers day at the hospital keeping on our our sisters company. She was supposed to go to New Zealand on her mission, but was delayed by visa problems and then appendicitis.... so we kept her company.. She's amazing. I loved her life story. Incredible.

So yes... teaching, preaching, reading, learning, loving, failing, succeeding, laughing, were all parts of my week. I hope that you are all loving life and doing well. Safe travels.

farewell to Manzanar,

Love,

Sister O'Neil

8/8/10


We're all about sending photos today, aren't we?
I loved the pics of little Con, Jr. He looks just like Riley did when he was little in some of them... that was strange.

In case you haven't inferred by the subject of this email, I have updated some pictures. I haven't done it for a while, mainly because I don't take that many anymore, but today was just convenient to upload.

This week was great. Yesterday was especially fun.. I like to refer to it as "the price is right" day... We kept winning at a game show.. AKA... people just giving us stuff.. It was weird. Food, bags, cool lights for our helmets.... I just kept thinking of that scripture in Mosiah 2:41 "blessed in things both spiritually and temporally." True story. Why are we so blessed? We had interviews which included us sitting in a taxi all day (i hate taxis...i get car drunk) but the good news is we were able to fix Sister Jolley's bike. YAY for riding bikes again.

I don't know what to write, again.... I still feel like I'm writing the letter from last week time flew so fast... Like i just took a bathroom break or something...

Jenny, I loved your email. I knew you would love EFY. That's so sweet. Thank you for your testimony. I feel like everyone had a really spiritual time lately. Awesome.

This week I've really just loved the Book of Mormon more and more.. I also love that how here in Thailand, it is pretty much the ONLY thing we use to teach from.. I've never used the Bible once in our teaching here... except in Sunday school...but then it's not the missionaries who prepared the lesson. We just get confused as to how to read the bible when we're called on. The Bible is true... amen. But the Book of Mormon is the truest...amen. If you have Preach my Gospel, pull it out and read chapter 5. Then study it. Then go and STUDY the Book of Mormon. It will change your life. (mom, I've loved hearing your studying...great job)

Family. I love you more than anything in the world.
Friends. I love you.

Keep up the good work. Help the missionaries. Invite your friends to church, and activities.It's not that hard, and then it's more fun to have friends there with you too. I think that's all for today. Travel safely.

Love,
Sister O'Neil

8/1/10


Well, It's day 2 of August and it's already awesome. Fast Sundays are always miracle days, especially as a missionary. The Lord really does bless us if we keep the commandments and we do all that we can with diligence and faith. This week was a typical week filled with highs, lows and hilarity, and we worked hard every day and on Sunday we saw the blessings from our "work" (which...still doesn't feel like i did anything but walk around and talk to randos).

So my dear new companions BRAND NEW bike broke on her, like 3 times this week (always the same problem of the pedals falling off) so I spent some time riding her bike around with one pedal ,..it was hilarious... i don't know who to describe it correctly for you... but there was some taping of the foot to the pedal involved, (with the dumbest tape ever.... where's the duct tape when you need it?) and then it just got funnier when each side took turns falling off. So we then spent a lot of time walking around town. (in fact the first FULL day of just walking in my mission... typically we ride our bikes everyday). Through all of walking and "preaching" we found several potentials and had a great time. Yesterday (Sunday) I mentioned was an awesome day, and it was because 1. we saw many of the less active people we've been working with come back to church (YAY) 2. The ward council is really do a great job at trying to become a real PMG ward. 3. The members, I just love them all... especially Sister Daw and Brother Pruck.(they are freaking hilarious). 4. We were able to find 9 new investigators (2 couples, a family of 3, and 4 of a members kids who just started coming to church) AWESOME... Plus I just love my companion and we have way too much fun together. So all in all my life is sweet, and I'm still in Thailand doing the best thing in the world, so what more could I ask for? ( NOT FOOD, thanks Oliver! The members feed us way too much this week... or at least it felt like it) ok, that's a lie... a little something something would be nice right now... I only ate a little oatmeal this morning and now it's 11... so maybe I'll go spend 33 cents a eat some delicious pineapple. (yummmm....yes please)

Ok... this is really random... but does anyone know if I have to buy a keyboard that has thai on it already to type in thai from a comp in America? or can they already do it... I just need to buy some labels so i know what "letter" is where on the board? I just wanted to throw that out there before i forgot.

but really, how is it august... it makes me sick.

I hope everyone has a great week this week! Lots of traveling for you all.. Oh hey Chris!! CONGRATS!! you look good and now you're way smarter than I'll ever be. Yay for the MASTER MAN. And tell Dan sweet work on the manquilt. enjoy Con, Jr. Baptism. what a cute little man.. All the Thai people love all the kids, I have a picture of them on the back of my planner and they love them. all...especially Izzy.. For some reason they all think Michael is a "luug Krrxng" aka.. Half thai/farang... or he's Arabic? I don't really know... it's just interesting. Umm yes... so once again.. I love you all. Keep up the good work. Love life and the Lord and then you'll love your life even more.

Until next week!,

Love, Sister O'Neil

Dear Family (and various other friends and Internet blog stalkers)

Greetings from Bankgapi. I'm still here in this wonderful area (as I knew i would be and just for those of you who maybe thought I didn't like it because the house is bad.... it's not actually that bad... I like cleaning.. I love the satisfaction you get when you see the before and after... yes please...but we are looking for a new house) Anyways. Last week was "moves" meeting and my dear little Hawaiian comp, Sister Akagi moved away to the boonies (Ubon) and I got a new companion. A very new companion. Her name is Sister Jolley... and we are having a jolley grand time. I love her. She's like my best friend, but I don't know that much about her yet. She's from Utah, and my favorite part is that she once worked as DisneyWorld too.. (she was Chip and Dale and other various characters) She's from Alpine, UT and she is just so fun. We make a really good team and I'm excited about this moves and the potential we have together. She is my 10th companion and I'm on "level 10" too... (aka.. It's my 10th moves.) So that's fun. Every since we've been companions I just can't seem to keep up with time.. I felt like it was going fast before... but now it's just kicked into Hyper Drive. Go GO GO... all the time and I love it.

It's interesting being a Trainer.. Really fun too. I love to see her experience Thailand for the first time and remember what it felt like to be new in this wonderful country. It's also very humbling. I don't know how to do this, and being with her just wants me to be better than I am now...and I have to be, because I'm the one showing her life as a missionary in Thailand. Lets just say I'm spending more time on my knees, and I definitely know that I'm being blessed. I love how the Lord works. The last week has probably been some the most abnormal days of my mission.... but they've all been a good introduction to life here for Sister Jolley. We went to drop off an investigator at the Stake Relief Society Activity on Sat and so that was fun for me to see a bunch of ladies from my old wards. fun.

We've had some really good experiences with investigators and members. Oh! I went and had dinner at my "grandparents" house here in Thailand. Sister Wichittra's parents invited us over for dinner, so it was fun to go to my Trainers real home and visit with her family. I love them. I love Sister Wichittra...(cherry). My comp now knows her too because since Cherry lives in UT now, she goes to the MTC to help do mock lessons. So that was fun for everyone. Oh, I'm the only missionary that didn't move from my area. Both elders were moved out, so I've been kinda showing everyone around...or at least explaining a lot of things. Oh man... Life is just fun.

Well.... I think that's all for today. I love you all. Thank you for everything! Have fun this next week. Be safe. ANd remember who you are.

Love,

Sister O'Neil

Alma 26:37

7/19/10

Hello there dear family,

Well, sorry I didn't email yesterday...they changed things up a bit on us this week, so "p-day" is today... but nobody seemed to notice, So i don't feel bad. And today is kinda strange too because we're actually at the office because today we have to go out with the new missionaries for an hour to help them "jump right in". So... basically I don't know what today is..... (besides Tuesday, July 20.... what the..?)

So yes.. this week was great! Missionary work as normal, but this week was filled with going on switch offs to a new area (with a greenie) getting sick.... (*cough.* that's still lingering a bit... but no biggy...being sick is just part of the work too). Then on Sunday we the a baptism of Bow. She is awesome. Her boyfriend (a Thai) found the church while studying in Australia and got baptised. Then he shared the gospel with his girlfriend (Bow) and she studying and found it to be try and so this past Sunday she was baptized! Oh, and random.. I never cease to be amazed by how small this world is:... On our last teaching appointment with Bow before her baptism, Pete (the boyfriend) called and asked to speak with me... (I was a little nervous/excited because I only heard about him, but had never talked to him). So we were talking and one of the first things he said was "oh, I know your friend Elder Kim" ok... i was like "who? I don't know an Elder Kim... is he Korean?" (i still don't know why I knew that) So i was a little confused but then thought "maybe I should check...he might be from La Canada stake.." so... just now, I looked at the handy email from the La Canada ladies (thanks again!) and sure enough... There is an Elder Kim who is serving in Australia from L.A. and apparently we "know" each other... How small is our world. An Elder from my "home"stake, is teaching a recent convert in Australia, who just happens to be the boyfriend of my (now) recent convert here in Thailand... The church is true. Amen.

So yes.. things are still going good.. And because of the late p-day, and can tell you about moves that are happening tomorrow.. yesterday morning I got a phone call at 8:30 am from President Smith: "how's my So Cal sister doing today?" Then he basically told me that I was going to train.. So yay, that will be fun. Sister Akagi, my dear friend since the MTC will be moving to a new area, and I will be staying in mine with a new 'dear heart" (mom? i just felt like you when i wrote that). Actually, I'm the only missionary that will stay that same in my Area of Bankapi... everyone else will be new, so...that will be fun too. new and exciting things... i just hope that I can do a good job.... i still feel like a greenie (doesn't help that I'm wearing ALL green today, too... yes!)

Ok...i think that's it for now. I love my life. I love yours, FOR you. Pray, get answers to your prays by reading the good word, and go to church and be grand.

Until next time...

SHAKE it up!

Love,

Sister O'Neil

P.S. Parentals... the office got your letter...every things good. :)

P.P.S. friends... I salute you.

7/11/10
Well hello there,
I DO want to talk about what's been going on here this week:

Not a whole lot out of the ordinary.. I've been doing this for a year now, so it probably all sounds the same to you. This Sunday we're going to have a baptism *by water*... Yay for Bow. She is great. Her boyfriend/fiance found the church in Australia as he was studying there, and then shared with with Bow, who in turn has found the truth for herself. So that is just fantastic. [ she is yet another testament that member referrals are the BEST when it comes to missionary work.] (*hint hint...nudge nudge...*)

We've been working with the ward a lot this week, trying to help the visiting teaching programs going....(mom...thanks again for being amazing.. I now your calling is hard, but I know you're blessed with inspiration and help. Plus...you're an angel...so that helps. :) ) I remember when I used to think that the auxiliaries of the church weren't really important... especially little things like visiting and home teaching.. But in the past little while I've realized just how essential they are to our eternal progression. Think about it.. This country desperately wants a temple... All saints all over the world would love to have the blessings of the temple in their own country. We are all working very hard to try and see this vision come to pass... but sometimes when I see members neglecting the smallest of duties, passing them off as of little importance, I think "If we can't even be responsible for doing the SMALLEST work of the Lord (aka be friends) how can we be trusted with the covenants of the temple?. Sometimes we look to the big picture but we forgot to do the planning and goals and little steps that lead up to it. So next time you think about going to the temple, ask yourself, "Am I doing all the things that Lord has put in my care? Have I down my visiting/home teaching? Have I gone to church? Have I paid my tithing" Take care of the little things, and then you'll be ready to do the big things.

The gospel is amazing. And real. and true. Read the Book of Mormon... Today I was reading Jacob 4 and it was cool. They wrote that book for YOU. For us.. To help US know our Savior. So read it. And love it. And let it change your life.

Well... sorry I really dont' have much to say.. My life is amazing. Thank you for your love and support. I think I'll go eat some SomDam....
Love and peace,

Love, Sister O'Neil

7/4/10
God Bless America...

It's still the 4th where you are... but here in Thailand... no one cares about the 4th of July. This morning we got up, CLEANED the house (my saga to clean this house still continues...slowly, but surely) (oh which reminds me...thanks for that book mom... ironic that it came just right after cleaning the house the first time.. I wish missionaries would take better care of the houses... I know we're not really in it... but still! Sounds like Justin's having fun times with his house too) So after deep scrubbing and killing 3 cockroaches (+) we got ready and went to the Presidents house for a sisters activity (aka enrichment) We made cards again... and it was mainly just fun to see all the sisters. I love my life. And these sisters... They really are sisters (calm down Jenny/Megan/Lisa ....they're not as "real" as you..) So yes... enjoyed chatting with the sisters in an American smelling house (it was delightful...it smelled like Christmas because of the rolls baking in the oven) Then we stopped by the office and then came back here to Bankapi.. So that was my day today...

"But what about the rest of the week?" you ask......

well... let me tell you:

It was pretty much like every other week.. We taught...we got some "phid nads" (appointments that fell through) got some unexpected people to teach, ran into some members at the grocery store right after church ( don't worry WE were just locking our bikes up so we could walk around) Some investigators progressing...some we dropped....

We continue our search to find families.

My comp cut her hair last week and it's so cute... I'm jealous... I miss my bangs... haha..... that was random... but i just looked at her again (we're the only people in the whole Internet cafe who are NOT a 13 or younger boy playing games and yelling at each other... joy)

Is it really July?...... last year I was having a "MTC rave 4th of July" and then hoping on a plane to come to my home, Bangkok Dangerous. That felt like 5 seconds ago...

So...nothing too exciting or crazy......We're in a drought apparently... so we're praying for rain (as we bike through floods..... but for Thailand it's a drought)

The church is true.. I try to live my life like this: 2 Nephi 5:27. I invite you to do the same.

I love you all..

Love, Sister O'Neil

Hello Hello dearest famile,

Well... another one bites the dust. (meaning weeks) I am really astonished beyond all measure (much like Alma and his brethren after hearing the prayers of the Zoramites) by how fast the time is flying. Can it just slow down a little bit? Thanks. This week was full of adventures (as per usual). I think one of my favorite moments was my phone call with Pres smith... he calls and this is all I hear "Hi Sister O'neil.. Normally when I hear "tranny" i think of transmissions....but your from California...so let me tell you what the church hand book of instructions says about this.." Or my favorite moment could be the day that I did switch offs with my dear Little Lifferth... My "pii" thai from the MTC who I really haven't talked to for a year.... so that 24 hours together was pure bliss and enjoyment. Or it could be the baptism we had yesterday. Or the new family that actually came to church! Or it could be that I'm in Thailand... Or that I'm a missionary... so yes... all of them above is the correct answer. (+2 for me)

This week I've noticed something very interesting. It is: I had to come be a MISSIONARY to learn how to be a MEMBER... We (as a mission) very truly feel like this is a turning point in Thailand... It's the general feeling (from GA down) that it's time for Thailand to Grow up... as a church.. They depend on the missionaries too much for everything, and so now it's our job to help them grow on their own. The members here are great... but we're trying to help them learn how to be dependent on their own members and not on the missionaries. (we teach investigators... not do visiting teaching FOR the members). So... I pretty much could go on an on for hours about this, but basically I just want to say...If you're not doing your home or visiting teaching...DO IT. Please... It's like tithing... sometimes it feels like a really hard sacrifice...but in the end you can receive the blessings the Lord wants to give you. If you are helping the missionaries... help them for real by finding people for them to teach... they arent' the ones that you can just say. "oh, this person's inactive...send the missionaries..." We as missionaries are blessed enough...you need to get blessings too... This is not like supererogation where I can do good things and pass the blessings along to you. ( See The Great Apostasy by Elder Talmage for more details... i may have spelled it wrong too...but such is my life in Thailand) Spread the love, help yourself, help the world... help the church grow. You'll find it's the best thing in the world... (universe...everything).

Umm... what else... We got locked in at the church yesterday...that was fun... They don't give us keys to the church at this ward because the sisters a few months ago lost them --twice... and their special keys from the America.... so it was funny when the sister who lives down the street came to rescue us... "I'm your hero." yes you are... sister Nok... thanks.

OK.. well.. I think that's all for now. I'm alive and well and loving my life. I hope you are all doing the same. Thanks for all your support and stuff.

Love, Sister O'Neen.

PS.. katie-k-shaw lady... I love you.. thank you for you emails.. I love them always...I just can't wait.

Brenda... Girl!! she has 3 kids now? what the? crazy.... Congrats on your new job too!

Kell dawg... Happy b-day again... was it fun?

Greetings from the Future! 6/13/10

Well, this week was moves (not "moons") meeting... and we got 3 new sisters yay!! And I also got moved. I am now in a place called Bangkapi... (which is about 20 min away from my last area). I guess as you get old in your mission, they send you home to "die" so.. I went back to Bangnaa for a little bit, before deciding (or, rather, forced) to move to a different city to discover my roots, or do some family history work. I was moved to the home ward of my trainer (or "mom") Sister Wichitra (now know as "cherry"). So I moved "home" to get to know my "grandparents". ok... my English and all is probably horrible so Basically what I'm saying is I moved to Sister Wichitras area... but she is not here.. I missed her by one week. She already moved back to Utah to finish school at BYU. I've been here in the area for 4 days and I think I'll really love it here. Well, all except for the house...which is disgusting.. and which I spent 5 hours so far cleaning.... it's getting there... but hey.. at least we have a working kitchen now and all the cockroaches are out of it. YAY!.

My new comp is Sister Akagi. She was in the group that came after me in the MTC, so we've known each other for a while now. Ever since the MTC, I've always kinda felt like we would be companions....so now that time has come. She's a cute girl from Hawaii. everyone thinks she's Khon Thai...but she's a Japanese/Chinese mix from Hawaii. So that's fun to explain to people. The ward is pretty great. I was kinda sad to leave Bangnaa again, esp becasue I was going to miss Nuu's baptism... but We just had a baptism yesterday here in my new ward instead..It was kinda a circus (because there are a lot of kids) but it went really well. Oh, I'm also back serving with an Elder that I served with when I was a greenie in Bangnaa...so that's kinda fun. Now he's my District leader... and we "cob" together (aka... end our missions together) I am excited for this area (probably my last one... I can not believe I only have 4 months left... ridiculous).

Sounds like everyone is doing well. Your party FHE sounds delightful. Have fun... Here's a little something somethin for Cody:

Dear CoCo,

You are smart. I told you that 2 years ago. Congratulations on completing for GRE.. If we all lived in Thailand together, I would buy you ice cream in a bread bun in celebration. (or a red fanta with a straw from seven). But we don't...so please just wait until sat and get yourself a cake or 2 (and some jalapeno bread) from my backyard. K.. Super. CONGRATS!!! YOU CANZ GOE TO SKOOL!

love, Grizz

I think that's all for the week. I love you all. please keep up the good work with life. Go to church and the temple. Keep the commandments and you'll be happy. (it's that simple).

Love,
Sister O'Neil P.S. 2 Corinthians 13:11

6/6/10

Dearest Family,

Well, greetings from ºÒ§¹Ò, where the sky looks fake today because it's so beautiful. The past two p-days have just been wonderful. Except it's still 309547592394829+ degrees. I really was just trying to "endure to the end" yesterday before coming home. I love being exhaustified at the end of the week though. We worked HARD.... and it was a rough week as far as actually meeting with people.. we had TWO FULL days of people not showing up or canceling our appointments, back to back... I'm not gonna lie... it was a little frustrating. Sometimes i feel like people are just too lazy to be happy. "Every religion teaches us to be a good person. They're all the same" hence "SAME SAME" but people...THEY"RE DIFFERENT. Despite all the bad things right now (ok... theres really nothing that bad... just a little sore throat this morning that won't go away)... I'm still completely happy and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Oh, before I forget:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

To Jenny, Chris, Ryan... and anyone else who's birthday was this week and I just can't remember. Oh...and late happy b-day to Adrian... So I McForgot to mention it in the email, but i did remember on the day.

I hope you all had a grand day. (sounds like Chris/Jen/Mom/Dad had fun at Mimi's cafe.. (yummm) ) Everyones b-day is this month... so that's fun.

I'm trying to think of things that are note worthy. Oh! This week we did Sister Switchoffs... I finally went out of my area... and went over to Bangkapi (my trainer, Sister Wichitras, home ward) I was excited to see her, but she actually left the SAME DAY to go to BYU Utah...so I'll have to wait to see her again. But it was fun to serve over in a different area... it felt kinda like a "vacation" because it's not your area... but you still do the same thing. (I love missionary work). It was so hot, and we spotted a McDonalds that was selling ice cream cones for 9 baht...( 30 cents) so we drove through the drive-thru on our bikes... The Thai's loved that... especially when I tried to order two cones.... which if you say "cone" it sounds like "¤¹" which means person.... so that was fun (I'd like two ice cream people please". Um.... wow... I really don't have anything else today. Sorry. We get new sisters this week! We haven't had any new ones for 8 months now, so we're all excited. to meet them. well, I hope you all have a good week. Enjoy the last weeks of school (unless it's already summer time... then enjoy that too... Lisa) Thank you all for your love and support and letters and such.

Love, Sister O'Neil

P.S. ESTEE.... I HAVE gotten your letters- i just sent you one back. Thank you! However... i didn't get your postcard yet.... so i don't know.. I dont' trust postcards some how... I don't even know if anyone ever got the ones I sent)

Katie-- thank you for that. I loved it.

Laura/Kellie--- i love your comments. Almost as I love you.

Sorry I've been so bad at writing letters lately... I just don't have any time anymore... But I'm TRYING!!!

5/30/10
Hello Dearest Family,

Another week has come and gone
and my companion and I still ä´èÃѺ¾Ã.

That was a poem... that none of you will get, because it only rhymes in Thai.

I'm discovering that I love Thai-glish more and more everyday. Almost as much as I love just Thai.

Well... just like the title of my email says.... everything is SAME SAME.... but different.. I'm still a missionary, doing the same thing... just some of the characters have changed. Some investigators we dropped, and we found a whole bunch more (yay for families!) So this next week we'll just be trying to help them all progress. We should have a baptism on Sunday...If not this one, the 13 for sure. ˹٠is just great. I love her. We will be friends for a long time.

It rained a lot this week... It's definitely starting to be the rainy season again. You should just see the lightning storms... it hit our church last week... fried a bird.. This second half of my mission is giving me the opportunity to get to know some of the other sisters that I don't really know.. We're a dying group... we've had no new ones come in for more than 8 months now... So we're excited for next week... we're getting 3 new ones! But then in the next 3 months we're all pretty much "dying out" weird...


Oh dear family... I'm sorry my letters are so lame now... There's always so much I want to say... but it's kinda like in 3 Nephi 7: 17 "and she did minister many things unto them: and all of them cannot be written, and a part of them would not suffice, therefore they are not written in this email" It's all or nothing.... so sorry you kinda get nothing. Such is life. I have not perfecting the art of getting my thoughts and feelings recording in a way that would actually give it justice.

I'm still safe, still happy, still preaching, still (insert missionary action-ing) here.

I uploaded some new pics... not very many and most are from Chaing Mai / Moves meeting. There are a few of my way high-so apartment in Bangna...

ummmm..... well....... big gulps ehh?


K- I love you all.. That is all.

Love, Sister O'Neil

5/23/10
Dearest Momsy and Popsicle (and everyone else that I love),

First of all... I'm totally fine. All the missionaries are. This week was definitely an eventful week and I'm sure you all know more about it than I do, just because of the way the CNN is probably covering it, but everything is fine now. They burned down a lot of things, implemented a curfew, closed all the 7-11s (probably the biggest casualty), and closed some of the roads going into the city....but every since Elder Oaks and his posse of other "high ranking" servants of the Lord flew into Thailand on Friday, things have calmed down and the city is back to normal (minus a few GREAT shopping areas/malls that they decided to torch). We spent one day on "lock down" so we deep cleaned our house and made delicious food together and listened to some great talks by John Bytheway. SO yes... I'm safe. No need to worry.

Hmm... this week was soo busy of happenings, I will never be able to write it all.. So here are some highlights:

Sunday (yesterday) We had a huge Bangkok Special Sunday conference at the Impact convention center and our special guest speaker was Elder Hallstrom of the Presidency of the 70. (Elder Oaks, Elder Pratt and Bishop Burton all came to this neck of the woods too... but only for a training of the priesthood leaders on Sat and then they divided and conquered South East Asia. I'm a little jealous of my MTC comps who are serving in Cambodia, because that's where Elder Oaks went.... but yay...good for them.) It was such a neat experience to see ALL of the those Thai saints (and international peps... i was surprised there was so many) but my favorite part was seeing some old friends from Saphan Sung. It was a great event ....I just wish more of our investigators went... but at least 1 went... so that's good. They talked about being unified.. Elder Hallstrom shared some thoughts from Elder Oaks's training with the leaders.. Elder oaks said "I've heard a lot about red shirt and yellow shirts. Today...I've come in a white shirt and it represents the Priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ" It was such a powerful thought to share with the Thai people, esp at this time. They stressed the fact that we need to support our leaders. Realize their not perfect, and maybe they will do some things that We personally don't think about right... but it's our duty as members in this church to support (publicly and privately) our ward, stake and church leaders. We all need to be unified "with an eye single to the glory of God" not to the glory of the bishop, or stake president. It's so true. When we raise our right hand and show our support, we are publicly promising to support our leaders... so if we go and trash talk them later... maybe we need to repent (change our thoughts). Plus, disagreeing with the Bishop is the first sign of apostasy.... so watch out there. Just keep the 1st and great commandment, and then Love everyone else and we'll learn to be more forgiving and supportive. There will be no success in the church without unity.

This morning we had a special meting with just Elder Hallstrom and his wife, just for the missionaries this time. They gave wonderful talks and the spirit was so strong. This gospel is just incredible. I just took a look at my copious amounts of notes (that my little notebook could hold) and there's just too much. Just teach your children (or yourself) to "grow up in the Lord" (see: Helamen 3:21, Samuel 3: 9-10, Jeremiah 20:9)

This week was just full of fun things. I've had a chance to get to know a couple of the Sisters that I've never really known before, so that just made it even more fun.

My English is REALLY horrible now... Sorry...

Zone conference and Interviews were also this week... I may have shard too much information with my President when I told him I had diarrhea when he made a comment of "oh...the sisters are still here" ... but I just wanted him to know that I had a legit reason for being at the office 30 min longer than normal, and not just being a lazy missionary. But... in Thai culture... that's not TMI (Too much Information) it's just a fact that they're happy to share.

So yes... I have BM issues.. just wanted to let you all know... Welcome to Thailand.

OK.. I have to write my letter to the president now.. Thank you all for your love and support. I really do love you all, and am grateful for your letters and prayers. I hope you all have a great week filled with lots of success and joy.

Peace in the middle east! (or Thailand...that's fine too)

Love,

Sister O'Neil

Hey there family,

Well, it's Monday afternoon here in Thailand and it's 3876273 degrees still and will probably rain a little later. yes. So, Happy Sabbath to you. I hope you all enjoyed your day full of churching and serving and eating and such. I bet it was a great day. (Especially for you Jen-Babe).

I'm sitting here at the computer and I'm not really sure what to say. I still feel like I JUST got off the phone with you, so I'm kind a loss for words. My life is still awesome. I'm still in Thailand and still doing the best thing I've ever done....so what more can I say?

Yesterday at church was fun. A farang family came to visit so I had to translate the whole time. It was a mental marathon, especially when the Bishop talked...which he did an abnormal amount of yesterday. But it was fun. Turns out this family from Idaho, is here building a water park? But one of their sons served his mission in Arcadia... Small world. He didn't serve in our ward...sounds like mainly in the La Crescenta Stake... but anyways. I love Mormon Land.

The teaching was good this week. There's a lot of turn over in some of our investigators though...so we're working on getting this stuck on the gospel. The only thing that was strange this week was that everyone kept asking us if we were scared. As I'm sure you know, there are some crazy things going on in the city right now. You don't need to be worried about me. Some missionaries have been pulled out of the heart of the city, and President Smith knows what's up....so I'm not worried. Life goes on as usual for us.

I went to Gospel Doctrine for the first time in a year (thanks to the farang family who needed a translator). You're studying the Old Testament?! Sweet. That's the only book I need to read now. I didn't know that Joshua parted the waters of Jordan.... What else does that book say? That is one thing I'm exciting for.. Gospel Doctrine class... weird huh?

I love tuna sandwiches... with cucumber, tomato, and lime........ yummm

I gave a pass a long card to an elephant yesterday. It was just walking down the street... could've payed 20 baht to feed it.... but it was Sunday.

Ok... well.. Sorry. I really have nothing to say today. I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all. I hope that you have an amazing week . Thanks for all the updates. Mom, I'm so excited for you! Congrats on finally graduating from all that stuff!! :) You are awesome. And the best mom. Way to support us all. Dad, you're awesome too. Same same..... but different.


Farewell to Manzanar..


Love, Sister O'Neil

Well, it was really great to talk to you ALL today. I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLL SO MUCH. I don't think I left anything out...

so today... i'll just make a shout of to my "family" that I didn't talk to.

Katie-k-shaw lady. I love your emails. LOVE... That person sounds like "little woman" Yes please. I'm so glad those two FINALLY got the message. We told them there furture almost 2 years ago... they could have kids by now. haha. And you are a nark. I love it.

Kellie- Caliente!!! I can not believe you. However.... i am excited for the letters. yay! And if you haven't sent that package yet... thrown some "church treats' into it... They don't sell those here....and I may be running out. :) I appreciate your concern for my engrish.... It really is something that will not be the same ever again.. So... i've accepted that. hope you can do. If not...i'll just yell at you in Thai all the time.

Laura/Tara--- love you guts. Hope you're well

Cody-- stop telling everyone we talked for 3 hours.. LIAR... it was only 2. please tell your mom I said hey. Oh wait... you ready this too, Tammie... so HEY GIRL!! Hope you're doing well..

Estee.... girl... i love you.

Amy. Thanks for the letter!...now send that other one that you took a picture of and didn't send. ;)

Cami-- a boy!? YAY!

TJ... just saw an Indian man who tried to sell me peanuts..

Tre---you don't even read this... but Hey there... hope you figured out my last letter.... and that we can still be friends. :)

Everyone else... I love you... just haven't heard from you for a while or whatever or jsut forgot for now.. sorry... but this is a shout out. Hope you're doing well

LOVE,

Sister O'Neil

Well, last week when I wrote to you, I was waiting for the phone call to tell me that I was moving "for sure". 2 hours after I finished writing, they called. So I packed everything up, took a 14 hour train ride to Bangkok, a 30 min songtaw to the church, sat and listened to all the greenies try and speak Thai (oh, that felt like just yesterday for me), listened to the "Joppers" testimonies, listened to training, listened to everyone else get their new assignments, and then FINALLY... I found out where I was moving. And then I was sent home... so see you soon!


Ok... just getting. I was sent "Home" though. Aka Bangnaa... aka my GREENIE area. I'm not gonna lie, it was quite the shocker and at first I really didn't know how to feel. Moves meetings days are always crazy anyways (it's like the one day where I didn't sleep for 2 days straight, because i was traveling from Afognak to Anchorage, playing all day/night, then flying forever to get to Arizona for the wedding, and then had to just keep going...and so I cried for stupid reasons just because I was sooo tired/excited/etc...) So... anyways.. It was hard to leave my little happiness in Chiang Mai. That will forever be my favorite part of Thailand...mainly because so far it's been the longest time in one area, and there were just so many miracles that happened while I was there, I can't even BEGIN to explain it all. And then, it was kinda hard to think about going back to my first area. It's back to feeling to opposite feelings at the same time, that makes me all confused. I'm SOOO excited to be back here in Bangnaa because now I can acutally TALK and get to know people for REAL.... but it's also so weird because it's my greenie area... and it was kinda crazy. But it's nice that I don't have to get to know a new area.... and I get to go see some old friends and really get to know them this time. Church was really fun yesterday because everyone was just like "What the?... you're back... were are your parents... they didn't come to pick you up?" and then I told them no... I still have 6 months left of my mission... I'm just back to serve here again. (it's cool to see that I actually HAVE progressed with the language.. I remember making a mental note in the head that if I could ever understand this one dad of an investigator here in this city, then I know I could understand Thai... and yesterday I talked to him for about 20 mins with no problem and we're going back on today to see the rest of his family.... Awesome)

My new comp, Sister Jacobson, is fun. She's one of the sisters I really haven't ever know except for seeing at moves meetings, so it'll be fun to get to know her more. She kinda reminds me of Megan, a lot. It's fun.

Actually... I'll tell you more about this all next week. When I talk to you (has it really been that long already again!... i just talked to you all like 5 sec again.

Here's the deal.. same as last time... just different number... 01166815566656.. the ones at the beginning are the country codes and such... 81-556-6656 is our cell phone number. You should call next Sunday night.. around 7 pm... that'll be Monday (p-day) for me.. So basically anytime Sunday night for you... cause I have all day monday.. :) ... I'll just wait and try to guess who's calling before I pick it up. (i know mom and dad will call for sure... I think anyone else family who wants to can... I guess? just coordinate with the parentals... like that time i talked to you all from the airport. :) I'm trying to make a list of things to talk to you about... or questions... so do the same and that will make sure our convos are at correct level of awesome. oh, speaking of awesome. Riles!!! I loved your letter. Thanks so much. You too Jill.. it was the perfect combo of hilarity, joy and deliciousness.. Same to you too, mom. Thanks for the package!!! I LOVE YOU ALL

I'll TALK to you all soon. .Kisses

Galatians 1 :20

Love, Hilary

P.S. happy birthday Adriana!

Death Papers

Well...

Last week when the mail came, I got a piece of mail that was shocking.... my "death papers". Yes... i can hardly believe that I only have 6 months left, and so just to slap it in my face, the President sent me a letter and said "hey.. time to step it up, You're dying soon" (not verbatim). So yeah. That was a weird day.

(ok... sorry... I just got distracted by the Mormon Messages on www.lds.org.... i literally got chills when I watched the one called "testimony of the Book of Mormon" with Elder Holland.. The coolest part is right at the beginning in the into page when it says "Elder Holland: Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ" oh ....chills.... i just watched it again. Go watch it... you'll see what I'm talking about)

This week was incredible. I'm trying to decided if it was the most successful week of my mission so far or not. Every week is awesome... but this is one of the ÊØ´ÂÍ´´´! weeks. I started to write a story, but then I remembered I kinda already wrote it in my presidents letter... so here's a excerpt from my weekly letter to P. Smitty:

"Hello again dear faithful leader. Greetings from the North. This week was packed with fun and teaching. I really feel like we worked hard...but i didn't notice because this "work" is just way too fun. These people are incredible. Their faith and hope amazes me sometimes. Sat night, our investigator, Mai (who got baptised on Sunday) showed up at the church and her right foot looked completely broken (umm...what's going on here in Chiang Mai...seriously). Turns out she was in a car accident as she was coming to the church to meet with us. Thankfully, a member was at the church with us and was able to take her to the hospital. So after that we, (sister Neilsen..who worries about everything WAY too much), just prayed and hoped that everything would turn out ok. And it did! When I talked to Mai later that night she said it wasn't broken, but she wanted to have a cast, but then she said, "but i didn't want it because I have to be baptised tomorrow". She's incredible. So, everything turned out just fine (as it always does with God). " (verbatim)

This girl is so funny. On Wed when we were teaching her she said "I wish I were God so I could turn you into a doll". She thinks Sister Nielsen is a tiger, and I'm a doll... like barbie...because of my eyelashes. I can't even begin to describe this girl, but she is amazing. I have seen her life change dramatically because of her faith.

Oh man... every week when i write letters home i feel like this... John 16:12. But mainly I can't bear to write them all becasue it takes too long and my writing doesn't give it justice. I feel much like the Book of Mormon writers who worry that they aren't good enough becasue of the awkwardness of their hands. Well, I'm not good enough because of the awkwardness of my...well, whole life... haha.

Today I found out if I'm going to move or not. hopefully I'll know before I end today emailing... but if not...We'll all just have to wait some more to find out where I'll be for next weeks letter. Oh mom, I haven't gotten the package yet, beacuse they don't send packages all the way up to Chiang Mai... they wait for us to come down to Bangkok...so I'll get it tomorrow! So "thank you!", in
advance.

I put some more pics up...enjoy those. I really love my life. And yes, i will actually be very sad to leave this place. I LOVE it here. It's my 2nd home. So if you do come here to Thai-land... make sure you plan a trip to the heavenly North. I will miss this members. Ugh. I love them.

Ok... Well, I think that's all for today. Thank you all for you constant love and support. the church is TRUE.

Love, Hilary

Hilary News 4/19/10

Dearest Family!

Greeeeeeettings from Chaing Mai, Thailand the BEST place in the world. Today I feel like there's so much that I want to write, that I'm having trouble knowing where to start. I want to write it all at the same time, but it would end up something like "shrimp,bluebowallgotbapstisedsonkranghelosthisglasesesinsestchinatown20portentinskaijdahlÊÇÑʴչСê." so yes. That was my week. I hope you enjoyed it.

No, but really. This week was probably one of the highlights of my mission. It was so extreme of everything... ridiculousness, hotness, spiritual(ness) ...just everything. I guess I'll just go in order...'

Monday...I wrote you that day, I don't really remember what else happened that day.

Tuesday... Songkran REALLY started.. therefore making it completely a waste of our life to go invite. Because we were try to go talk to someone, they just throw a bucket of water in our face.. (true story) ...so... we all kind of called "sanctuary" at the church and studied and tried to make appointments will members and investigators at the church. We had our usual weekly district meeting and then we planed and prepared for our English activity for that night...which basically turned into us playing songkran at the church... It was ridiculous...and so funny. So we were wet all Tuesday too..

Wed... P DAY..were we actually went out into the world and played Songkran with the locals. And let me tell you..... it was sooo FUN... I don't really think I could explain it all well enough to give you an idea of what it was like... But I'm sure if you google "songkran in Chaing Mai" you'll find some good videos of what it's like. We even had a miracle. One of the Elders lost his glasses in the mote that's around the city (which is filled with nasty water..) and since we can't swim we were just like..."oh GREAT" but... one of the Elders investigators happened to be there too, and he jumped in, and came up with a pair of glasses.... woman's sun glasses.... so.. he went back down again.. And came up with another pair (a different pair of woman's sunglasses) He swam around for a while...and finally was like.. ok.. last time.. We missionaries had all given up hope by this point, so we were all surprised when he came up the last time with Elder Newman's glasses.. It was crazy! He later told us that he was getting frustrated (and grossed out) and so he prayed and said "this is the last time...then I'm giving up" SO... not only is this kid awesome, but he showed all of us missionaries what it means to have faith. Awesome.. (and He's getting baptised this Sunday)..

Thursday... was long planing and the last real day of Songkran...aka... we were at home most of the day..

Friday... I don't remember it all... it kinda jumbles into sat.
Sat. Normal... But... we had lessons and inviting and then the Counselor in the mission presidency came up and ended up taking all of the missionaries out to a buffet. It was fun.. Muu Ga Ta is delicious.... and apparently we were rubbing shoulders with some high up government official... but since we're farang... we don't know... but he came to church withe the counselor the next day.. so that was cool..

Sunday: Pure AWESOMENESS... Gung, Blue and Bow were all baptised... they are all so cute.. Hopefully I'll put pictures up soon. Basically Gung is the "elected" I can't even begin to describe how incredible we felt to see her in her white dress. So yes.. Baptism is awesome. And then we found out that our other (eternal) investigator, Mai, can get baptised...so SHE will be baptised this coming Sunday.. And that is just the icing on the cake (because i think this Sunday is going to be my last up here in the North. :(

So, this email did not give my life justice.... but just try to imagine. The church is TRUE. I LOVE MY LIFE.

Thank you all for you love and support. It was fun "chatting" with you Chris, Lisa, and DAD (wow!! Mission first..holla! Gold star to you!) and even a note from Megan. I'll write more next week! Love you

Love, Sister O'Neil

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY To Brenda!!! (thank you for the pics.. I loved them...esp Sammy) I hope you had a great day! Sorry my card will be slow..

P.P.S.. Happy Birthday to you too, sister Lo!! thanks for the email a little while back.. I think i started a letter to you somewhere.. I'll moving soon, so I'll find it. I hope you're doing well!

P.P.P.S --Kellie.. i loved your comments... I feel the same way sometimes..

April news so far

4/11/10

Hello from the wettest place in the world.. (beside the ocean...or a pool...or a tsunami) Just in case you thought new years was over...IT"S NOT! Happy Thai New Year!! It's now Officially the hottest part of the year (no joke...it was 113 degrees the other day...and probably today) but luckily Thailand has a great way of dealing with the heat: They have a MASSIVE super-soaker crazy (on the verge of insane) water fight (aka my 5th grade dreams are coming true....all i need is soda coming out of the drinking fountain and I'm set). It's 9:40 am and yes, we've already been soaked. So needless to say...this is the hardest part of the year for missionary work in Thailand.. wish us luck. We, here in Chiang Mai, have truly been blessed and will be having our own water festival... with the waters of baptism.. We're just getting everything ready for Gung, Blue and Bow's baptism this coming Sunday. Speaking of Sunday... wasn't Conference AMAZING!!!!?! I think my favorite (yet again) was Elder Hollands talk. (and you shouldn't be serving tea anyway. Oh man. All of our leaders are truly called of God and I really loved how they ALL talked about Family. If that theme wasn't apparent or clear enough, I suggest you start strengthen your families... I support everything they talk about and I can't wait to read it in a month. Yes please. Utah looked glorious. I'm really glad you were able to go and have spring break up in the motherland (Mom, Fawther and Jen-babe). And I may be a little jealous of your time spent with the kiddies. they are just too cute. I love my family. I really do love you all. Even though you think I don't because I'm always out and about... you are my true family and Eternity will be so fun (and full of ice cream.....but lets try to keep the word of wisdom, please.. haha)

This week was great. We worked really hard because we knew this week would be difficult...and wet. Today's not even our P-day, but because Thailand during Songkran is like BYU during a Tuesday devotional and everything shuts down, they advised us to email today. So yes... nothing's different for you.. just telling you what's up. As far as the questions about Earthquakes and redshirt riots and all... we're totally fine. Didn't know about either of them.... but sometimes we are told to watch out for riots. This week, because it's Songkran and all morals are thrown out the window, we have to be in by 6pm every night...so that'll be ....fun?

In preparation of conference we taught everyone about Prophets. It was so cool to see people faces when they found out there were LIVING prophets today. It was pretty incredible. President Monson is a great man. It is so great (and comforting) to know that we have a man, called of God, to lead and direct us. Oh man, The church is TRUE...

In other news: next week is my 1 year mark.. what the? I don't want to talk about it.

I LOVE THAILAND. I decided I'm never coming home. I'll just be here in Chaing Mai. Come visit me.

Just so you know... if I have ever known you in my life, my companions know about you too...(we're together 24/7,, ok? it's not weird) So don't be surprised if a stranger walks up to you and asks how your ( insert some part about your life) is doing? They were probably just my Comp. (Yes, TJ... my comp knows you joined the army and she knows all about "I KNOW" and how our India/Thailand trip might be awake because we're not married... haha and that you have black siblings even though you white. (and no... you can take THIS as my repentance) And now everyone knows, and some people are confused... Don't worry about it. So yes. I love you all. Thank you for your love and support (and letters/emails).

Well, i think that's all for today. I don't know what else to write. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying life and keeping the commandments (because that's TRUE happiness). I will write again next week and maybe have some pics from the madness that is my life.

Take care

The church is TRUE

Farewell to Manzanar

Love, Sister O'Neil

I hope you all had a great Easter Sunday filled with feasting on good food and good words from conference. I may be jealous. But that's ok because I'll get it both next week! yay! I love general conference, SO MUCH. In fact, last night it was WAY too hot, that i couldn't fall asleep until about 1:30am, so i re-read last conference edition of the Ensign. I can't wait for the new one. Yes!

Well, lets see.. I uploaded more pictures... and I'm kinda running out of time because ended up "chatting" with Chris and Jen a bit. And now we do our president's letters online.. so yes. Please enjoy the pictures!

Things here are great! I can now ride my bike around and NOT use crutches, YAH!!!! I love my life. The work is great. We're getting ready for a real "water" festival... aka baptisms. And Songkran...the biggest water fight in the world..coming up next next week or so.. I'll tell you all about it. or youtube it... I'm sure it'll be on there. But I'll be sure to tell you all about it. I rediscovered how much I love talking to people. I love inviting. It's really just the best thing ever. Espeically when you're inviting them to accept the best thing in the universe. And for free! So I hope you're all pumped from Conference and you try to look for a missionary opportunity everyday. It'll change your life. It's changed mine. Amen.

Ok. dear family. Sorry i didn't write much today. It's kinda crazy. But i love you all.. Until next week!

Love, Sister O'Neil

P.S... (umm.... i only have one suggestion for your trip to Thailand... make sure to plan a trip up to Chaingmai..preferrably on the weekend...) how is that anyways?

P.P.S. cody/tarlena. I LOVED the book So did everyone else. I'll watch the other thing today/

P.P.P.S. Brenda/ Adriana... Oh my goodness.. I loveyou two. That was so fun. I may have had to put a missionary censor on it though... haha. Thanks for the birthday wishes!! LOVE! and sorry about your lame co-worker Bean.. Su Su!!

Lucky # 7

Well..... here I am. The beginning of my 7th moves in country. Crazy. And I'm officially OLD. Yes... I never thought I'd be this old, let alone be a missionary at this age too.... But hey. Life couldn't be better.

Let me tell you about my week.... It was ridiculous and I loved every second of it.

Tuesday: We spent the day teaching (our awesome investigators who will be baptized next month!) and then preparing for our English "showcase" night. This time we did Army, and it was sooo fun! Not to mention i got to drive around a tank... (just imagine a wheelchair transformed into a tank....yes....we're that good. Pictures to come sometime soon) Tuesday night was great and fun and we just loved showcase English nights.

Wed: Taught at the Church. Then hopped on a train around 4 pm to go to Bangkok for "moves" meeting. We were all kinda excited to take this train because we were going 1st class.... because of our brokenness.... (Normally we go 2nd... which is honestly just fine and I highly recommend it) However, when we got on the train, they said. "oh sorry...this train doesn't have 1st class car..." (even though they said it did) so we were just in a really nice 2nd class car....(which was find) UNTIL.... 20 min into the ride, the electricity on our car WENT OUT....taking the air conditioning and fans with it. It was the HOTTEST Train ride I've ever been on. And it was such a tease, too. Every station they would restart the engine and the air would come back on (Hallelujah!) but then 20-30 min later, it would die again. So at 10 we tried to go to sleep...but because of the no air issues, and the curtains that transform your bed into a HOT POCKET OF DEATH.... there was little sleeping. I read a lot of the good book. And then around 1 am... one of the Elders and I both simultaneously threw our curtains open and we've both just covered in sweat. It was sooo hot. And so we couldn't sleep so we just ended up talking the whole night about random things (like Hollow Earth, Admiral Byrd, etc, and how it fits into the gospel and such.... hahhah.. RAY! Oh....Actually we talked about that astronaut who said there was aliens behind the moon...it was on CNN a year ago..... who was that again?) It was ridiculous.

Thur: Got off the train at 6 am.... and hoped on the song taws to go to moves meeting. ... Had the meeting (My "mom" died .... Sister Wichittra is done! and so did one of my other comps, Sister Bradfield. SAD!) then we went to the renew my visa. Ate lunch at the local missionary favy...Que Pasa... then waited at the church until we got back on the song taws to go wait some more at the train station, it get on the train again (at 9pm...cause it came late) This time, they did have the 1st class car and it was quite lovely. :) We are definitely spoiled. This train ride was much better, except for the fact that it ended up being a little engine that COULDN'T so we spent a total of 18 hours on the train (3 or more hours spent just sitting on the tracks in various places...) It was fun though. Especially because of all the candy and treats from the packages. Thank you Family!!! Lisa and mom (and clan) you're packages were successful and my whole district thanks you. Packages with candy from the America are the BEST packages ever... So thank you. when we finally made it back to Chung Mai, we had to go to a wedding. It was so cute too. .. Mame, our recent convert got married, and then another couple (Bro. Uan and Sister Pin) got married and it was fun. They're so cute. Thai Mormon weddings are strange....They gave us ear cleaning sets as a party favor....yes.

Sat: Recovered. We taught and did the normal missionary things... but also has a stop at the dentist for my comp.

Sunday: Church.

Now today. And we're going to make brunch with the elders at the church to celebrate a new moves.

So.... I think that's about it. Thank you to everyone for everything. I just really love you all. My birthday was fabulous..... esp. the Party at the park.... ;) (can't wait to see pics)

Umm....ok....

Farewell to Manzanar...

Love, Sister O'Neil

P.S. .... my new e-mail address is hilary (dot) oneil (at) myldsmail (dot) net.... it's fancy and new and looks just like gmail....please use that from now on. :)

Happy birthday to everyone too: Amy, Quasi, Jelly Bean, Bagel.... Aunt Brenda, etc. etc. .. !!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!‏

Yeah! ! ! ! Greetings from Thailand! ! ! !

Oh man.... I can't tell you how fun that is to day. I love that I'm STILL in Thailand. I know I'm so very lucky. So thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and greetings (and packages....even for the ones I have yet to receive, but you said were on their way. We go down to Moves meeting this wed, so on Thursday, we'll see if they made it to this country yet) and everything else. I love you all.

Umm... lets see. I can't even remember what happened this week because I CAN'T believe it's Monday again. ALREADY. Time is flying. . . (Which we are thankful for sometimes because let's be honest... we'd probably hate our broken lives if it was going slow... haha) We're just one week closer to normal-ness. YAY!!!

We had some pretty cool miracles this week.

Dang it.... I just accidentally deleted the last paragraph I wrote....but here it is again... the Readers Digest version:

So we've been teaching this mom and daughter and had invited them to be baptised about 2 weeks ago, but they said they weren't ready. So this past Thursday we were meeting with them again and Sister Nielsen and I decided we were going to invite her again, but we didn't even get the chance! She came right into our appointment and started telling us about how she got her answer and that they wanted to be baptised ASAP. And better yet, she already asked the district president to baptise her... Soo.... it's all set... April 18th. SO that's a miracle. We're pretty excited. Then yesterday night, I was home alone and the phone rang. It was the mom (a newish member) of an investigator of ours and all she said when I answered the phone was

"**(sorry can't type the Thai symbols)**"" (She's good)

I was so confused. But basically just went on to say "Oh, she's ready... she wants to be baptised. Can we do it before the end of the month? Here, want to talk to her. Oh, she doesn't want to talk. Ok... thanks sister.. Bye"

and then she hung up...

So.... I'm thinking we'll have another baptism this month....

What the random. I love my life.

OK... what else. Oh, District conference was this week. President and Sister Smith came up for it, so it was fun to see them again. Elder Perry and I (the cripples) were the butt of EVERY single speakers jokes on Sat night (except pres and sister smith...they didn't mention us...thank goodness) IT was kinda ridiculous.... I'll tell you more stories from this later. I don't feel like typing it all now. But here;s a teaser... it involves me on the ground, yelling "hellelijah!" (or however you spell it)... That will be fun to tell you later. :)

I think that's all for today. Last night I laughed harder than I have for a long time because my comp was sleep talking. She really loves Disneyland and "fish food" ice cream.... and it was in Thai-glish too.... which just made it better. Oh man.... I love my comp! Yay!

Well....

I love you all!

Love, Sister O'Neil


P.S. A big shout out to my birthday buddies... AMY! Bagel, Jelly Belly, Aunt Brenda... And everyone else I may have temporarily forgotten. I still love you though!! I hope you all had/have a great day filled with cake and ice-cream. I will be spending my birthday....1st class - cross country Thai-Hogwarts train Style.... can't wait. It'll be a party for sure.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Oh.... p.p.s. myldsmail is changing soon... so.... i should be able to give you a new e-mail address by next week... if not... last week of march until I tell you the new one, make sure to send it to both myldsmail AND gmail....ok... grood.

SWEET LADY FREEDOM.....!

Hello..... So.... Here's the update on my life:

- I'm exactly the same.

The end.

Just kidding!

But I am kinda the same. I still have a broken ankle. (which cracks me up because everyone here will come up to me and ask "oh, are you better yet" and then I say "nope! Not' yet" I mean... come on people... isn't it OBVIOUS that I'm not "better yet?" but thanks for asking. It brings me joy. Everyday gets better though. I can do more and more. I even went out inviting again this week. and yes... the big farang on crutches does attract attention... so it's great... especially when we go anywhere and the elders are there too.. 2 big farangs on crutches attracts even more attention! The work still progress on here though. Did i tell you how my comp goes out on Member switch-offs while I stay home alone and party? Yeah... it's grand fun. She's off doing the work and I'm at home spending time with Paul (The apostle from the N.T.....calm down people) I still highly suggest reading the New Testament.... Think of me when you read 2 Corinthians 11:1 ....thanks).

I think the highlight of the week was Thursday. Elder Day (our district leader) came back from Bangkok and he brought all our mail too. I don't think I've EVER had a mail day like that. It was like Christmas, even. 3 packages and about 7 letters. YOAH DANG. So before anything else.

TTTTTHHHHHHHHAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKK YOU! so much. Everyone.

Megan.... those packages were delicious. I and my whole district thank you from the bottom of our chocolate/jelly belly filled stomachs. Seriously though....I'm pretty sure the chocolates all gone already...

This part is dedicated to everyone else who wrote me: First, Jesse...YAY!!! Loved the package. Thanks! I'm loving putting that on Pineapple... :) Cami---YAY!! CONGRATS!!!! but I was not even surprised by that news.
Tara - I Love you.

So thank you thank you thank you for all the mail. You all know I love mail, (even before I was a missionary) but I really just extrally love it now.

So.... the work it good. We had a baptism (the elders did... but we've taught him a couple times too because his new wife is a member) and a wedding. Actually- this ward is have 3 this month (including Mame, our recent convert) so the next party will be on my birthday! holla! (the 2 other couples are having a combined reception on the 19th)

Ummm.... well. I think that's about it for the week..

read, comment and ask away.

I love you all!!!

Love,

Sister O'Neil

Badniduuteud

That "subject" is not just nonsense... it in fact means..."now behold" It's just spelled in "Elder" language.

How is it MARCH already...seriously... is this a joke?

I don't even know what to write (again) this week. I basically just sat in my bed all week... with the occasional trips out into the "real" real to teach and go to Church. In other news.... only 100 pages left in the N.T. Paul and I continue to be bffs! I was jealous of the members who got to go out and be my companion's companion and ride my bike and everything. (Oh dear, Grizz....you be nice to those members. I miss you dearly... please excuse my shout out to my bike) But...no worries... ig may naan! (Aka soon) I will be back out there.

Church yesterday was especially hilarious. So remember that theory of "threes" meaning things happen in threes..? Well, it's true. Yesterday at church there were 3 people using crutches. 2 missionaries, and 1 member (who recently was called to serve in Thailand as a missionary, but who doesn't report for a few more months). Yes...I started a trend. Friday night, we had a meeting at the church will all the missionaries and ward missionaries. Since NONE of the ward missionaries showed up... the elders went outside and were playing sports with the sports night that happens at the church every Friday. 30 min later, we here Elder Perry saying "why are you laughing? if this happened to you, you'd be crying! you girl!" (don't worry...this is all in a jesting voice) but then he came in to the room, supported by two of the other elders. Turns out....he rolled his ankle really bad and he couldn't walk on it when he got up. He went to the doctors the next morning, and turns out...he fractured his foot. Copy cat. So he now ha a walking "cast" and we are twiners. So of course we show up to Church, both of us cripples, crutching along and every one's like freaking out. There was this one point where we were both out in the hallway just looking lost and I just looked at him and said "Elder Perry...way to create a fiasco...No one cared about this (pointing to my foot) until you did that (pointing to his foot)" It's quite the circus now. It's too bad we can't just go on switch offs... leave the cripples at Church and have our perfectly "normal" comps go preach together...But...alas and none... that is against the rules. (I mean... We might make out or something) (SCANDAL!!!)

But, we do help each other stay focused though. We call each other with a deep doctrinal question and say "you have one hour. research and report." Oh yeah... speaking of that... can anyone please give me the reference to Cane being something like "big foot" that's in the miracle of forgiveness... Katie... you know what I'm talking about... I need that quoted so I can stop thinking about it.
Thanks!

IN other news.... some of our investigators are really progressing. It's kinda mind-blowing to see how their faith has grown. Oh man, This church is TRUE. I love the scriptures. Read them. Everyday. If you don't... I WILL FIGHT YOU. ...(with my cripple foot and via the Internet...but only on p-days. :) )

Well... I think I'm done for today. I'm tired of sitting at this chair... it's broken... like everything else in my life...my ankle... my bed.... this chair... my brain... (that might just be sprained...)

I love you allllll SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! Thank you for your continuous support, love and prayers. I feel it all.

Until next time!

Love, Sister O'Neil

P.S. KELLIE... I LOVED your emails. Seriously. I LOVE you. just way to much. "I love you... just wanted to say it" You have no idea how much sometimes I wish you could be here and have one of "our days". IN fact... I was telling my comp about that just the other day, so I loved the "zebra cakes" comment. And yes.... You and my comp should def. meet. Sometimes I feel like I'm on a mish with you, when I'm with her.

Katie, Laura, Tara... I love you all.

JUP JUP!