I am in Chiang Mai! I made it here Saturday afternoon, just a few hours after I emailed y'all. It was surreal, to say the least, getting all my bags packed up, in a taxi, and jumping on a plane. MORE than that, as we descended into Chiang Mai, I was just filled with such peace and excitement to get to meet the people I've grown to love so much. I was running on 5 hours of sleep in 2 days, but I was wide awake!! I got my stuff, met up with Sister Sorge, and we just got to work. As we taught at the church that night, members were coming in and out to learn institute, cleaning the church, etc. I got to see so many familiar faces, and it was just what I needed. My favorite was while we were in a lesson, Phii Jan (the lady baptized on my last Sunday here) peeked her head in the door to come clean, but saw we were in there, and so began to close it. Until it registered. The door SWUNG OPEN and she mauled me with hugs and laughs and kisses. Hahaha, luckily I was sitting on the floor teaching, or I would've been knocked off my chair for sure. Then she realized that we were in the middle of a lesson (luckily it was two younger girls that just couldn't stop laughing at the silliness of this lady--she's adorable, everyone loves her), and she left saying, "We'll talk later." Haha. It was a wonderful welcome back to my first area.
Since then, it's just been meeting lots of familiar faces, lots of hugs, lots of catching up, lots of confused faces at seeing me back here, haha. It has been like a dream........to say the least. But a really really really good dream. Now? We're expecting the sisters from Saphaansung (my old area I just left) to fly up here because their water and electricity got turned off for the floods. So we're expecting 3 more sisters (Sister Tano, Sister Yinn, and Sister King--my greenie again!) today, which is 5 in the house up here. That'll be fun for a couple days. Anyway, suffice it to say, I am loving being here.
I have had my final interview with President, and dinner, and testimony meeting, etc...that was all last Friday night at the hotel in Bangkok. Usually it's a little different, being at the house of the mission president. Instead he just interviewed us in the business area of the hotel, in an empty office. :) BUT, the power of his words and advice were just as penetrating as anywhere, I'm sure. His words will forever echo within my mind, and those feelings will remain with me throughout my entire life. I could never, ever, ever have gone without this mission. I'll leave it at that, the rest will take a lot longer to tell--and I get to tell it in person in just a few short days!
I love you, family. I love you for the support, love, and words of testimony you have expressed to me these past 18 months. You will never know how each of you have changed my life forever. It has been a sacred and spiritual experience these past couple days to ponder on the blessings I've obtained from my mission experience--some visible, most will unfold in years to come. I am overwhelmed. I love you, I'm grateful for you, and see you soon. Take care of yourselves, until that joyful event!!
All My Love,
Sister Naegle
"In whatever manner the Lord may choose to bless us during the course of a mission, blessings of missionary service are not designed to end when we are released by our stake president. Your mission is a training ground for life. The experiences, lessons, and testimony obtained through faithful service are meant to provide a gospel centered foundation that will last throughout mortality and into the eternities....President Thomas S. Monson has taught: 'missionary work is difficult. It taxes one's energies, it strains one's capacity, it demands one's best effort....No other labor requires longer hours of greater devotion or such sacrifice and fervent prayer.' As a result of that sacrifice, we return from our missions with our own gifts: The gift of faith. The gift of testimony. The gift of understanding the role of the Spirit. The gift of daily gospel study. The gift of having served our Savior. Gifts carefully packaged in worn scriptures, tattered copies of Preach My Gospel, missionary journals, and grateful hearts....There is no returned missionary for whom it is too late to consider the lessons obtained through faithful service and to apply them more diligently. As we do so, we will feel the influence of the Spirit more fully in our lives, our families will be strengthened, and we will draw closer to our Savior and Father in Heaven. In a previous general conference, Elder L. Tom Perry extended this invitation: "I call on you returned missionaries to rededicate yourselves, to become re-infused with the desire and spirit of missionary service. I call on you to look the part, to be the part, and to act the part of a servant of our Father in Heaven....I want to promise you there are great blessings in store for you if you continue to press forward with the zeal you once possessed as a full-time missionary.' "
--Elder W. Christopher Waddell
No comments:
Post a Comment