MONKEYING AROUND

We went to Lopburi last Friday afternoon with President and Sister Johnson.  Lopburi is also called Monkey City.  There are certain portions of the city that monkeys just run wild.  On Saturday we went to one area that are some old ruins that they have taken over, along with some abandoned buildings that are around it.  They are pretty well  behaved, and pretty much ignore you unless you have food.  We bought a bag of peanuts and they readily came to us, climbed up and on top.  It was really pretty cool!  We then drove to Ayuthaya the next day and saw lots of ruins from the mid 1600's.  That was interesting, but I gotta say, I loved the monkeys!!

If you look close you can see that monkeys are all around this building.

They love unfrozen otter pops!It was like being in the monkey cage at the zoo.

 

And a random Elephant Ride we saw at a park in Ayuthaya.

RIVER KWAE, KHON KAEN, CHIANG MAI AND A FEW OTHER THINGS.

This is the first time we have been in casual clothes since we have been here.  Feels weird!  It was our Preparation Day.  We drove to Kanchanaburi with President and Sister Johnson for a day  trip of sights.

This is a recreation of a picture that Elder Grange took 43 years ago at the Bridge on the river Kwae.

These cute little girls were dancing and singing for money (for their education) while their father strummed away.  The big sister below reminded me of  a little Thai Mabel.  She could really dance and was enjoying her performance.

 

We had lunch at a wonderful Thai (of course) restaurant down by the river.  It was really good, this is my pineapple fried rice and below is Elder Grange's penang curry, he said it was the best he has had in Thailand so far.

 

 Last week we went on the mission tour with President and Sister Johnson and also Elder and Sister Funk.  Our main job was to get about 100 new phones rolled out, downloaded with the right apps and then transferring the info on the old sim card to the new sim card in the new phones.  Below is the chapel in Chiang Mai.  We loved Chiang Mai.  It is green and a little less hot...I can't get myself to say cooler.  It is just not cool anywhere!

 

 A tuk-tuk ride to the umbrella factory, a wood factory with small souvenirs and beautiful furniture.  We bought a round coffee table that has some awesome carving going on in the center.  We will have it shipped home.  Daniel.............will you pick it up for us in about 3 months?

                                                 This is the dog at the umbrella factory.

                                                                  And the cat.

 

 

       Elder Grange talked up all the Thai women working there, this one has worked here for 30 years!

 

 

 Our tuk-tuk and driver.  I forget his name, he took us all over and then waited while we shopped and looked around.

The night market outside our hotel.

Leaving Chiang Mai, a familiar face, Sawatdii -ing us.

Our first visitor!  We loved seeing Gene, Elder Grange was super happy that his wife sent enough wintergreen lifesavers to last until the end of our mission.  We are so lucky!

Sorry this is out of order, but I do the best I can!  This is in Kanchanaburi, a super interesting museum about how the Japanese built the railroad on the river Kwai using prisoners of war during World War II and other Thai, Burmese, Malaysians.....  Over 100,000 lost their lives building this.   

A Week

Saturday night we went to a big show at the Thai Cultural Center called Siam Niramit.  Before the show there were dancers and elephant rides and a Thai village. In the village were women demonstrating silk making and weaving cotton cloth. The show is on a huge stage with at least 80 performers and a little river on the front of the stage. It had live elephants (and goats) and was a very good show.

On Sunday night we had 3 Sisters and 4 Elders over for dinner. The Elders got these "skirts" from Myanmar and brought one for Elder Grange to wear for the evening. This is Elder Slabaugh, Elder G, Elder Cooper, Elder Roberts, and Elder Arne.

Sister Sattatip made this really awesome birthday card for me. This is the outside and it opens up in two layers to show pictures of the Elders and Sisters we spend time with.







Here is the first inside layer with crazy pictures.

And the second layer.

I have found my most favorite Thai fruit. The mangoes are amazing. I have been having one or two complete mangoes every day.

Look at these beauties.

Ready for eating

CRUISN' THROUGH LIFE, THE STREETS OF BANGKOK AND ON THE CHAOPRAYA RIVER

These cute girls are the interns in the service center.  They come by and visit me and we practice their English.  They actually speak really well, but I like them to come by.

Meet Beth and Yo.

 

 I went to Chinatown with another Senior Missionary.  We rode the subway, then caught a Tuk Tuk to Chinatown.  Sister Smith got the price down from 150 baht to 80.  We bought some fabric and a few other little things.  Elder Grange was happy he did not have to go!

 

 

 

The branch had a talent show and here are some of the local talent.  It was fun to see some of the local Thai dances and dress.

 

These are the 5 senior couples that serve here in Bangkok.  We are about to leave the office for a dinner cruise.   The couples on either side of us will be leaving at the end of this month.  We will miss them.

Elder Seppi and Grange

This was our dessert platter.  If you look close you can see a bird in the nest made of taro.

 And a view from the boat.  We had this beautiful Thai playing music for us while we cruised.  We also had some Thai dancers.  The food was traditional Thai and there was lots of it!

 

Transfer Meeting...and a few other things

Transfer Meetings are a big part of mission life.  They consist of new incoming missionaries, missionaries going home (we call them cobbers, pronounced jopers, to jope is to leave), changes in companionships, pep talks, financial tips and instructions from Elder Grange, health tips from our mission nurse, musical numbers and talks from the President and his wife.  There are training meetings before and after.  Elder Grange does reimbursements, and we take care of phone changes and problems.  It is a lot of fun, as many of you saw in the last transfer video.

 

This is Sister Mon, she is from Myanmar and we met her in Provo at the MTC.  She learned Thai and English while she was there.  She calls us her "paamaah", which means parents and I call her "lugg-sow",  child-daughter. She misses riding her motorcycle and says she likes ride it very fast.

These are our 9 new missionaries, we actually had one more from Thailand that arrived a week earlier. We were responsible for keeping them hidden until their introduction in the meeting.

jj

"If you add what you have in your house wallet with your receipts, that will equal your monthly house kitty"  "Got it"?

SOME OF OUR NEWEST ELDERS.....

Elder Allen with his new companion, Elder Stone.

Elder Joyem, in the air, and Elder Chamberlin.

Elder Lindley, with his new comp.

Elder Reid with new Elder Walker on the right.

 

These are the Din Daeng Sisters.  Sister Tau, Sister Satatip and Sister Alley.

They serve in our area so we see them often and they are super missionaries. Sister Satatip is Thai and being taught funny English phrases such as "supercute".  

 

 

This is the boat you ride on the Klong (canal), it is commonly called the Klong Monster. The Klong is stinky and dirty, and these boats go so fast that you need to pull up the plastic to protect yourself from getting a little drink of klong along the way.  These boats are a bit tricky to get in and out off, and they often take off before you are in or out.  They are really for the young and limber.

 I am putting these in for Ryan, there is a lot of graffiti art along the klong.

This is actually when we were off the boat and walked to the Jim Thompson house museum and restaurant.