Please Pray for Breanne!!

Hello everyone,
We did not receive a letter from Breanne this week but tonight we did receive a phone call from her mission president in Bangkok. He called to tell us she and her companion are in the hospital with Dengue Fever. He said there's a good description of it on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_fever which I have read and it doesn't sound fun at all. But with proper care - it should not be life threatening. Our son in law Jed had it on his mission in Paraguay and said it was very painful, lasted a week and he lost 30 pounds.

Bre and her companion are on IV's and receiving good care. Thailand doesn't like to mess with this disease so they act fast, for which I am grateful. I have a testimony of the power of collective faith and prayers so if you would remember her and her companion in your prayers, I'm sure this illness will be more brief and less severe, God willing. Thank you so much.

Love mom

She has Arrived!!!

Hello from Pratheed Thay:). I can't really believe it either, trust me.

Okay...In 100 words or fewer:

Get off the plane in Thailand and thought, "Oh my goodness I'm in Thailand." It was welcoming and warm and wonderful.

Meet President and Sister Smith, who are sooo loving and awesome and qualified to be presidents over a mission as large as this one. Sister Brown greeted the twelve, groggy new missionaries with a huge hug and a beautiful, aromatic bracelet of roses and jasmine flowers that she hooked onto our name tags....Stayed in the beautiful and spacious mission home and ate my first legitimate and delicious and spicy and rice-y and colorful and flavorful and cultural Thai food. Yummmm.... The next day we went to the transfer meeting where about about 40 missionaries switched areas and companions and the twelve of us greenies met our trainers.

Sister Itow (like Eed-oh) is....oh man how do I put it into words....she's evidence that Heavenly Father knows and loves me! She is a fantastic trainer. SUCH a hard worker, and Daddy--she even walks fast!! I have already learned so much about believing in yourself and having faith in Heavenly Father because missionary work is HIS work and He wants us to succeed. She lets me do a lot of things...like she lets me talk even though my Thai is spotty, and if I have ideas of ways to find people who want to learn more about the gospel, she's so willing to take my suggestions and support me and be encouraging. And when I say something funny in Thai, she smiles and then says, "We'll work on that later." She's similar to Megan Runyan--who is the perfect kind of personality to mesh with mine and be super productive. We get along super well and I'm her last companion before she goes back home to California, and she told me I was a blessing to her. Nice, huh! We got assigned to Roiet (Like roy-ette) which, in the words of Sister Itow, is the most Thailand part of Thailand. It is a relatively small city in the Easan (the eastern part of Thailand, and it sounds like "eeh-sahn"), and it's pretty rural on the outskirts of the city. Next month we get to harvest rice!! I can't wait.

Story time:

Okay. Jamie, remember on your mission when you were teaching that man who wanted to stop drinking and didn't think he could so you asked him if you could help him by pouring his beer down the drain? I had a similar experience this week.

Misaak (Me-sock) has been learning with the missionaries for years and reading the Book of Mormon and praying for quite a while alot. But he has a smoking problem and feels like he's not ready to be baptized. The second time I met him, we talked about how to overcome obstacles (like smoking). Then I felt like I should just straight up ask him for his cigs. So I did! And Sister Itow turned to me and her face was like, "Really?" and then it changed to, "Why didn't I think of that?" Haha. So yeah. I stuck out my hand and all I could really say was, "This is my hand. Can you please give me your tobacco?" Haha. And his eyes opened pretty wide and we were quiet for a sec, and then without saying anything he nodded his head, left the room, and came back with three bags of it (because he makes his own cigs). And gave them to me....Hahaha that was a weird feeling. Having three bags of tobacco in my bag right next to my Book of Mormon.

Then on Sunday I bore my testimony in church (the branch is amazing, btw. Around 100 members who are all converts but most of them are so strong and have so much faith) and while I'm up there stumbling through, I just looked out and saw 100 beautiful smiles. Thai people are sooo soo polite and kind and loving. Anyway...so mid-testimony-bearing, I see something small and red moving on the microphone, which is like 2.7 inches from my face....so naturally my eyes are drawn to it....which makes me look like those cartoons with little kids eating an ice cream cone and then a bee lands on it and their faces become cross-eyed-wonders when they look at it....hahaha that was me. It was a big fire ant on the mic. So I smiled at it and kept talking.....It's one of many bug friends I've made in the last six days:).


Okay...last story and explanation of the subject. Last night I was contacting in a park and saying, "We teach English every Tuesday at six o clock machine," when I was really trying to say "Six thirty" but thirty and machine are really close in Thai. Sister Itow laughed so hard and had to correct me and then the Thai people we were talking to laughed, too. And we were all laughing six o' clock machines at that point.

Okay in a nutshell....Roiet rocks and so does being a missionary. The times when I am happiest are the times when I am talking to someone about the gospel. This message is true and I love it when they can feel it.

Love you all all all all,

Sister Roper

Adios (I don't talk Thai) Provo!

I'm pretty excited to step off the plane and straight up wonder where all the oxygen went. I can't wait to hit the streets of Bangkok and go look for people who are looking for truth and light and happiness and direction. Which can all be found in the beautiful gospel and message that I can't wait to share, to stumble through, probably:).

Today I woke up and thought, "Really? This is the day? It's really here?" And I thought of how blessed I am with this opportunity to spend every second of my time thinking and breathing and teaching the gospel. I can't wait to meet my trainer (my first companion, who will have at least a few months of missionary and Thai experience). I've been praying for her all week and ever since I got my mission call, really. And I already love her so much because of how much she is going to help me learn. I'm going to try my hardest to be the dream companion that I want to have: which basically is just a crazy hard worker. I think that even if we are really different personality-wise, we can work anything out with the Savior's help. But if I had to pick, I would pick someone who wants to work. Who walks fast and prays hard and just works every second of everyday, 630 to 1030. I'm excited to bear my testimony to a real khon Thai (Thai person) and to realize how hard I'm going to have to work to understand what they're saying:).

Everyone asks if we're nervous. Hmmmm....in some ways, I guess. It's going to be such a different culture and climate and level of spice and flavor and color and humidity level and mindset and language and everything. But that's why I came on a mission. My companion told me last night something really nice. She said she seriously considered going home several times in the first few weeks. But that she stayed because she saw how much I loved being a missionary and how excited I was about it. And she wanted to have that same excitement. So we worked together and prayed and tried and struggled and grew and learned and now she is more excited than she has ever felt, and she is here, still a missionary, which is even more important.

This week was a great last week. First and foremost, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (one of the twelve apostles who leads the Church) came and spoke to the 2500 of us. He told a story about a sister missionary who had just been killed that morning in a car accident. It was so sad and so moving. It hit me just because I'm a sister and because I'm a missionary. But she was doing a great work and she and her family will be blessed for her service and her life. He went on to talk about how important our calling as missionaries is. It is a sacred calling and a special calling and we have a responsibility and an authority, even, to represent the Savior. He said that we always need to represent the Church and Christ and that nothing in our conduct or thoughts should ever detract from the name we bear on our chests. He also said that He prays for us. And that the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, prays for us. Isn't that neat? He said we were the most prayed-for group of people on the face of the earth. And I felt so loved and I think that it is true. So thank you for your prayers. I can feel them every day.

We got asked to be "hosts" this week, which means that we are the greeters for the missionaries that came in this week. We help them with luggage, pictures, finding class, getting books.

Every part of me, every ounce every cell every atom, is just burning, it feels like. I feel like I'm just burning inside with excitement and love for what the next 16 months has in store. I know this church is true. I know it and I love it. I know Christ is my Savior. I know that with His help and my efforts, we can all overcome weaknesses and sins and heartaches. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, a real one with real authority from Heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that we can return to Heavenly Father someday. I can't wait to share this truth. It's what I love the very very most.

So I was the leader over the sisters in my branch, and when they released me or whatever, the branch presidency said, "Why did you come on a mission? You could be finishing school and happily married by now?" And I said, "Oh man! Because Heavenly Father let me! Because I love this gospel and all I want to do is share it and I am healthy and able and know He'll help me." And they thanked me and said, "We'll never get another Sister Roper." Isn't that sweet? I loved them so so much. (Momma don't send that part out to the mass forward.)

I can't wait to hear your voices

Love,

Sister Roper

I"m an Aunt!!

Yayyyyy!! Josher and Jen! I'm so happy for both of you! I love little Presley already. And I knew that that was her name, anyway. I could feel it in my bones. Are you just adoring her? Ohhh!!! I love the pictures and news. Congratulations from the bottom of my heart. Yindii Duay!!!

I feel so loved and so blessed, once again, for a few reasons. To name a few: I got to go to the temple today for the last time for sixteen months. We spent three and a half hours there, and I felt so much love from Heavenly Father. It is such a wonderful, perfect place. Another reason: I leave for Thailand in six days:). Another reason: I have treats and love and letters coming out my ears. I have the best family and friends and the world and you are all far too good to me. Thank you for the packages and love and encouragement.

Okay. So the most exciting part of this week was hands down getting flight plans. I don't know why a piece of paper that tells me my flight itinerary brought so much excitement to my soul....but let me tell you what...it totally did. We all were sitting in class and our District Leader pulled out an envelope with all our flight plans and we all freaked and he placed them on our desks, all face down, counted to three....and BAM! In 1.7 seconds, it became 88 times more real that we are going to be in the field on September 5. 7th actually after the time changes and travel time.

We leave Monday at 10 pm. To San Fran. To Honk Kong (which I hear is a pretty rad airport) to Thailand, to arrive at 10 am. I'm so so so very excited. I love the Thai language and I feel as though I've learned almost everything I can here. I have sooo far to go, though, so Thailand will be great for me. I am expecting quite a humbling first few weeks. But humility is when we're the most teachable. So that means I will just learn lots more. Which is totally up my ally.

I'm not sad to leave the MTC, as much as I've loved it. The group of 11 missionaries that I've lived with and learned with for the past 9 weeks have taught me so much and we've all grown a lot together. I think the most trying and equally the most rewarding part has been learning how to communicate with and love my companion. Josh said that if I love all my comps but one, I failed that part of my mission. So I determined that every single companionship would be one I loved.

Okay. So the most exciting part of this week was hands down getting flight plans. I don't know why a piece of paper that tells me my flight itinerary brought so much excitement to my soul....but let me tell you what...it totally did. We all were sitting in class and our District Leader pulled out an envelope with all our flight plans and we all freaked and he placed them on our desks, all face down, counted to three....and BAM! In 1.7 seconds, it became 88 times more real that we are going to be in the field on September 5. 7th actually after the time changes and travel time.

We leave Monday at 10 pm. To San Fran. To Honk Kong (which I hear is a pretty rad airport) to Thailand, to arrive at 10 am. I'm so so so very excited. I love the Thai language and I feel as though I've learned almost everything I can here. I have sooo far to go, though, so Thailand will be great for me. I am expecting quite a humbling first few weeks. But humility is when we're the most teachable. So that means I will just learn lots more. Which is totally up my ally.

I'm not sad to leave the MTC, as much as I've loved it. The group of 11 missionaries that I've lived with and learned with for the past 9 weeks have taught me so much and we've all grown a lot together. I think the most trying and equally the most rewarding part has been learning how to communicate with and love my companion. Josh said that if I love all my comps but one, I failed that part of my mission. So I determined that every single companionship would be one I loved.

Sister Roper

A few pics from Provo

An Excerpt....

Bre is writing 'longhand' to a few of us each week and including different experiences with every one so we can then share with each other. Below is an experience she shared with Shan...

We didn't really know what to teach Phii Phen (who is our teacher acting as someone she taught in Thailand. Our teacher rocks and is Thai, so he speaks amazingly well and knows more about Thailand) so we prayed and felt great about the lesson plan on the P of S. Because Phii Phen is a mom with 3 kids and a husband who works a lot and they're all Buddhist and Phii Phen doesn't really feel appreciated.

Then we get in there. And beforehand, we prayed that if Heavenly Father wanted us to teach something different that we would do it and that more than anything we just wanted to follow the spirit and for Phii Phen to feel the Spirit.

So we went in and because of her questions and needs, we ended up teaching about baptism. We bore our testimonies of how much Heavenly Father and the Savior loved her and knew her. We taught about how after baptism, she'd receive the Holy Ghost, and we helped her recognize that she felt the Spirit. She said she felt it when we came and when she read and prayed but not at any other times.So we told her all the blessings that come with the gift. Anyway, she started crying when we asked her to be baptised so that means our teacher was touched by the lesson. It felt so good and the Spirit was so strong and I felt like the smallest person in the world because of how big the Spirit was. As in, hmmmm, you know the drain thing around the perimeter of our roof and the occasional pipe that comes down and releases the water from the sky? I felt like that. Just small and not important except for the teeny function of helping Phen feel the power of the Spirit. We ended that lesson feeling so blessed that we could be bystanders and watch the Spirit change Phii Phen. I realized that after 1.5 years, I won't be an amazing teacher like I expected/hoped. But, I will have learned better and better how perfect and powerful of a teacher the Spirit is.

Countdown........

Thirteen days:

Thirteen days, friends and fams. Thirteen days! It's a wonderful feeling. Some fabulous things happened this week, and I can't wait to tell you all briefly about them.

Okay in brief. There is a sister named Sister Sellers in my hall. Over the last four or five years, she has lost her hearing bit by bit, until the week before her mission she lost it almost 100%. I know a teeny tenny bit of sign language so I've been talking to her and communicating with her a little, and we've become friends. She is so sweet. She has huge curly curly hair and I love it. And she's really confident and friendly. The other night I was sitting outside my door reading a letter and she came up to me and started talking (she lip reads and still talks pretty well, it just sounds a little different but it is still very understandable). And she told me about how she is learning how to act out the lessons. And she did a little bit for me and it was so cool. And then she told me about her love for music. And how she can't hear the piano anymore. So she goes up to the piano and pushes her ear up to it and closes her eyes and feels the vibrations and imagines what it might sound like. Oh man. That misted my eyes for sure. It was the sweetest thing, because she acted so grateful that she was still able to just do that.

Anyway. I learned from her example. She bears her testimony with her hands but even more with her eyes and face. I felt so grateful for the incredible blessings we all have. I am so blessed to be on this mission. I don't deserve everything I am learning and experiencing and feeling. I am so blessed to have the chance to go to a place and teach something as precious and fundamental as the existence of God. The next year and a half are going to be so beautiful.

Goal suggestion: learn how to bear your testimony with your eyes.

I love you all,

Sister Roper