Dinner at the Baiyoke Tower with Steven and Som

On Chinese New Year it was also Steven's birthday and we went to dinner at the Baiyoke Tower, the tallest building in Thailand. We ate at a restaurant on the 81st floor.

A few shots of the buffet. How about a stripe fish ball -

 

Lots of inviting food that we passed on -

 

Steven and Som

 

Birthday cake

 

This sign is self explanatory for all the foreign guests.



Out on the observation deck. Great views of the city at night.

 

A fun night with wonderful friends.



A FEW RANDOM PICTURES.............

 

No theme, just a few pictures to share.

 

Elder Grange and I went to Phuket for Christmas, just a quick get away with our friends Elder and Sister Seppi.

 Elder Grange using his new pancake dispenser he received for Christmas. 
We make breakfast for about 30 missionaries the first Wednesday of each month.  "Betty" loved his new gadget, and it worked really well!

 
We checked out the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, preparing for our visitors in February.  Saw some elephants and a big statue.  The good news is we got it all figured out and we are ready to roll.

 Elder Grange with a big statue

We hired a long tail boat to take us back because we were hot and tired of waiting in the sun.  It was fun, until the motor stopped and we were adrift in the middle of the  ChaoPhraya river.  We drifted into a large boat docked, then they pushed us off and out to the middle of the river we drifted.  Kind of scary when the very large barges were going past us a bit to close.  The whole time the driver of the boat was working on the motor and laughing.

 

 Brownie making class at my apartment with Yi, her daughter Mickey and Lec.  Mickey played this wonderful instrument for us, it is made out of a coconut.

 Sister Coates and Remington were close by to translate and help with the brownie making.

They are two of my favorite sisters!  Awesome!!

fA La lA la LA La LA La la

Thank you to MABEL for our special Santa Hats.

Journey to Bethlehem at the Bangkok North Stake.  It was truly amazing. We heard over a 1000 people showed up.  No pictures were allowed inside the "journey".  Outside there was food, entertainment and many Bethlehem citizens.



 

 The Elders had us over for dinner tonight!! They really are a sharp group, and we love each one.  The welcomed us into their home with suit jackets on, very classy!  The dinner was wonderful and we topped it off  with a tim tam slam.

Elder's Grange, Smith, Leininger, Wright, Webb, Cooper and Lingard.

 Elder Grange with Brother Chut Mon Khon, aka Superman.  Brother Grange loves to buy moo ping and sticky rice from his street cart right in front of the church!

 The Relief Society Presidency.

Sister Gop, Sister Grange and Sister Yui.

 

The best part...welcoming new missionaries from the Philippine MTC.

 

 

President and Sister Johnson were delayed in traffic, so I got to welcome them with the tradition lei greeting as they enter the service center/TBM office.

 Love them already!

The end, and we lived happily ever after.

 

 

FRIENDS

I really hope that this video comes through!  This is how we sing "Called to Serve" in the

Thailand Bangkok Mission.  Led by the enthusiastic Elder Davenport.

Transfer meeting 12 Nov 2015

 

 

Our friend Noi.  She works in the Service Center.  Love Her! 

And our young friend, Beth, our "luug sow" (that means daughter).  She just received her mission call to Australia Brisbane!

On my walk home I caught Elder Smith doing a little work along the way.  He has been in country for 6 weeks and is doing so well! 

Christmas Explosion!  The AP's and Office Elders went a little crazy!  I refuse to get in the spirit until we have Thanksgiving, which is totally ignored here in Thailand!

 3 Elders at my desk, writing a tender mercy for me, see the brownies in the jar on the left.  When I bake cookies or brownies they need to share a blessing or tender mercy in their life on a sticky note before they can get one.  Elder's Lingard, Smith and Webb.

Sister Blaylock, Sister Peck and Sister Herrmann.  Sister's Peck and Herrmann finished their mission the next day. 

We welcomed 6 new missionaries, 5 sisters and 1 Elder. 

Sister's Htwe (Myanmar), Kwak (Canada), Smith, Parker, Black (USA), Sister and President Johnson, Elder's Blad (USA), AP's Cooper and Wright

 

One of our favorites!  Sister Alley at transfer meeting.  She returned to Spokane, WA the next day.

Love her and will miss her!  She was an awesome, totally dedicated missionary!

This is Sausitorn, she translates for me during 3 hour at church.  She is a wonderful lady and I absolutely could not get by with out her. She speaks English very well.  I love her, but do not like pictures with her........I look like an amazon woman next to her and every other Thai woman!

 Beth and me at church.  I had to counter the horrible picture she posted of me on facebook.  She is not my translator, thought she easily could.  She has interned at the service center for the last 3 months.  She calls me her "maa"  That means mom.  Love her!

This is Elder Grange with a girl from the English class that I can not remember her name, and Pui, who we work with in the service center.  Pui is a computer whiz, I go to her for all my computer problems, which are many!  She is kind and patient!  Thai's like to do the peace sign in pictures.
Love Them!  Isn't this a great picture of Elder Grange!!

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.