Letter 10 - Earthquake!!

 Dear Family and Friends, 

I had so much I wanted to share with you including a visit from John's brother Rick and his girlfriend, Belle, but I am going to put that off one more week because I need to get to the main event of this past week, which by now you all know was . . . Bangkok had an EARTHQUAKE. 

First and foremost -  We are so grateful to say that all of the missionaries are safe and sound! 

So here is how our week went: Last weekend we spent time with Rick and Belle (details and pictures are coming next week as long is there is NOT another earthquake!), we played pickleball with the Sisters on Monday (thanks to Sisters Bullock and Taylor for the invite) and we had a blast (we haven't played a real game of pickleball since before the mission) did I mention it was a blast??, we had several missionary apartment visits (cleaning/inspections) Tuesday and Thursday, took my Thai language lesson and taught English Connect on Wednesday, went to the temple Wednesday after work (it was a much needed peaceful experience), went out for smash burgers and tater tots with some other senior missionary couples Thursday evening (tater tots in honor of the BYU basketball team making the Sweet 16), talked to my mom a couple of times (wishing her a happy 81st birthday), and went to a doctor's appointment Friday morning (for vaccines and a follow-up for John's surgery last August). 

That brings us to Friday afternoon in Bangkok. We had just gotten back to the office after our lunch break. The Belnaps (our coworkers) had just left for a late lunch. It was a very quiet afternoon around 12:50pm. Suddenly I heard some creaking and what sounded like papers dropping. Then suddenly John exclaimed, "What was that!" I wondered if it was Sister Ellis rolling in on her wheelchair (our mission nurse broke her foot recently and sometimes wheels in and we can hear her before we can see her over our office cubicles). I stood up and there was no Sister Ellis. John jumped up too (apparently his chair had started to roll across the office floor while he was sitting in it which is why he said "what was that?!")! I started to feel dizzy and that is when I realized the room was moving. We both looked at each other and said "I think it is an earthquake!" John rushed over to a doorway, I followed him. Then we realized we needed to get out of the building. We could feel the building/earth just swaying! It felt like we were on a ship or a turbulent airplane! We got outside along with other office workers. The earthquake went on and on! 

The 2nd floor of the annex has offices for the East Mission (us), the West Mission (them - haha), and the Country Office (a lot of workers who help with visas, humanitarian work, travel, managing the mission cars, and a bunch of other stuff). Several workers shared their stories of the earthquake. Many thought they were having health issues. One thought he was having another heart attack. Another said she was on the toilet when the earthquake struck and she thought she was having a stroke! Our friends the Belnaps were on their way to lunch when he suddenly worried if he was having a high blood pressure issue. He told his wife he was sure something was wrong. Then they saw hundreds of people streaming out of buildings and on to the roads. They went on into the Market where we often have lunch and it was empty of people; however, plates of freshly purchased lunches were just left on the tables! Our friends the Farmers were in their apartment on the 7th floor and Sister Farmer said the building was swaying and the ceiling was cracking and she was sure it was going to come down on her. Our friend, Brother Duffin, (who lives on the 5th floor near us) said the building was swaying so much he did not feel he could safely get to the door to get out! 

When things settled down (and this earthquake lasted a long time 10 - 12 minutes), we went back into work. And - all was well. The Annex and the Temple are new buildings which opened just last year. The church builds their new buildings and temples up to and better than code. They are built to last! We are so grateful to live in such a safe place. Many Thai people gathered on the temple grounds and sat in the shade since they could not go back into their buildings for work or back into their apartments until buildings had been inspected. Our missionaries took bottles of water to the people and offered them pamphlets about Christianity and Book of Mormons. 

In the meantime, traffic was at a standstill, complete gridlock, and the Metro (subway and trains) were shut down for inspection. Many people were stranded and unable to get home. Some of our missionaries were not able to get back into their high-rise buildings and slept at their local churches. Our hearts went out to them because we could not get to them and they could not get to us. But they were blessed and Ok and made it safely back to their homes (either that night or the next day). 

There was minimal damage to many buildings - cracked walls, glass enclosures at the tops of high-rise swimming pools blew out, rooftop swimming pool water fell all over the city causing spontaneous waterfalls over the tops of the skyscrapers, sky bridges broke, and cranes fell off buildings. You can see many of these pictures and videos on the internet. The most terrible tragedy was a building that collapsed killing some of the construction workers. Our hearts go out to their families. Things were much worse in Myanmar where the epicenter of the earthquake was. There are many photos online of Myanmar as well. We are praying for the people affected in both of these countries. 

Much of Bangkok was back to normal by Saturday. John and I did our weekly trip down to Rayong (I will share pictures and details about that in our next blog). I should add that while the metro is up and running and people are back at work and in their apartments, inspections are still being done to make sure everything is truly safe. 

It was a very long week with much going on! Our days were and are full from morning until evening. We look forward to crawling into bed and getting some rest every evening. I will post some pictures below with more details. I have posted some pictures and videos of the earthquake events on Facebook already.

So many of you reached out with concern and worry. We thank you so much for your love and prayers! 

We love you and look forward to hearing from you! May God bless you and keep you.

With love, 

John and Shelly
(mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, your friends)

Screen grab from the internet of the building under construction falling to the ground. 

This building (same as above) is near Chatuchak Street Market (we were just there last weekend with Rick and Belle). This market advertises itself as the largest in the world. It has over 15,000 stalls! 

Water from the rooftop pool cascading off of our friends Condo!

A screen grab from the internet. Water falling and a crane falling too!

This was grabbed from a video online. You can see the moment when the glass barrier shatters and this air mattress is about to go over the edge. Moments before a couple was floating in the water on that mattress! You can see a  man running to safety. So scary!

This is the market where we like to go to lunch. Elder Belnap took this picture of empty tables with plates full of newly purchased food.

Outside the market (were we go to lunch sometimes) and across the street is a university. You can see all of the people who have run out of the school and other businesses gathering in the streets.

A view from one of the pedestrian bridges of people gathered in the streets. 

Water cascading off of another skyrise condo.

One of our Elders crouched under a table!

The temple grounds were people gathered in the shade. It was a peaceful place to be amidst the chaos. 

The temple grounds near the entrance of the temple. More people are gathered. 

There truly is peace in Christ! 

The streets were so crowded that motorcycle drivers used the sidewalk to pass traffic. *sidenote - this actually happens everyday - motorcycle drivers will often use the sidewalk to bypass traffic!

Friday before the earthquake, I found several cute elephant statues on our walk to the doctor's office.

Another cute statue.

One more. 

Our view from the 19th floor of the hospital. We were here on Friday morning - just a couple of hours before the earthquake. I am glad we were back on the 2nd floor when the earthquake hit! 

Beautiful decorations in front of a building. I could not resist taking a picture. 

Water taxis on the klong. I am glad we weren't out traveling to visit missionary houses on Friday. We took so many train trips last week and the videos online of trains violently shaking are awful. I would not have liked to have been on a train or subway during the earthquake. Furthermore, we would have been stranded as the public transit system shut down for 24 hours!

Thursday evening. Smash burgers and tater tots with the Meekers, Belnaps, Felts, and the Farmers!

These burgers were good! 

House inspection with the Elders on Thursday! They were kindly walking us back to the metro!

The gorgeous swimming pool at their condo. Young missionaries don't get to swim! Senior missionaries can swim though! Unfortunately, we don't have a swimming pool where we live. Our friends the Belnaps live in the Condo next door on the 37th floor with a rooftop pool! I used to be jealous! But now am not so much! Haha!

Elders walking. 

Tuesday evening we checked out Terminal 21. 

It is a skyrise Mall not far from where we live. I am glad we weren't here Friday afternoon! 

John stands near the "golden gate bridge" in Terminal 21. There is an awesome food court nearby.

Monday afternoon pickleball with Sister Taylor and Sister Bullock! It was so much fun! 

Did I mention pickleball was a blast??!! 

Did I also mention how busy last week was?? I don't remember the last time we walked this many steps. Disneyland maybe?! Haha! The sad news is my Fitbit died! And I can't find one anywhere here in Thailand! I ordered a new one on Amazon and I am hoping it actually arrives! The good news is (and it is not a competition) I beat John! Haha! 

Letter 9 - Water Taxi and the Bus!

 Dear Family and Friends, 

This was a great week! As you all know by now, we love our office job on the mission. What could be better than a cool air conditioned office (when it is in the 90s plus outside), working with a cool couple (our good friends the Belnaps), and only a cool 1 minute commute to work? Not much! Except . . .

Field trips! I love to get out of the office as much as I love to be in the office! So this was a terrific week with a perfect mix of in office time and out of office time! Here are all the places we had to go:

The post office! Yay! If I am typing away at my desk and John says, "Shelly, I need to put a letter in the mail." I jump out of my office chair so fast, papers flying, grabbing my bags, and saying, "let's go!" It's about a 20 minute walk and by the time we get back, I usually need a coconut or Oreo smoothie to cool me down. 

A condo! Yay! John also needed to "close" one of our missionary houses. Basically, the mission no longer needs that condo to house missionaries. So we took a train ride to speak to a manager about shutting the condo down. 

More condos! Yay! OK, I have to say the absolute most favorite thing for us is to spend some time with the missionaries. These young men and young women are working so hard to share the gospel of Jesus Christ! They are really a shining light! On top of that, they are so fun to talk to and get to know! We scheduled a ton of visits this week. Some of these visits took up half of our office hours. Most of these places we reached by above ground train or underground subway. But . . . we got to try some new modes of transportation this week: The Bus!! And The Water Taxi! I loved the Water Taxi! The bus was . . . well, a bus! Haha! Payment is different on the bus and the water. You have to have cash and there is a person onboard whose job is to take your money and give you a ticket. And the price you pay depends on how far you are going. So I pull up my GPS and point to my stop and they tell us what we owe them. It is a fairly inexpensive way to travel and it is a lot of fun! 

Zoom meetings! Yay! We usually head out of the office up to our apartment for the zoom meetings so we don't disturb our office coworkers. This week we had a zoom meeting with the English Connect Coordinators in Hong Kong. We got a little training on how to run our English Connect class over zoom. Which leads me to the next zoom meeting . . . English Connect with the ESL missionaries. It is always so fun to meet with the missionaries - even over zoom! And there was one more zoom meeting just for me. I am starting my Thai language tutoring up again. I have the greatest tutor - Malia! She patiently meets with me and encourages me to practice and work on my Thai! I am trying to learn some basic phrases and also how to pray in Thai.

The Temple! Yay! We always love a trip to the temple. I still can't get over living right next to the temple. Highlights this week were running into a friend from Portland. Brother Tunks who is often serving in the Portland temple had made a trip to Thailand to serve in the temple here for a couple of weeks. We have run into him a couple of times (but I did not get a picture). I did take a picture of a new friend from Russia that I met on Wednesday evening in the temple. It is so much fun to meet people from all over the world! 

Lunch! Yay! We love to go to lunch! Whether it is heading up to the 5th floor for PB&J or walking outside to purchase some Thai street food, we love going to lunch. This week some sisters that we visited invited us to lunch the next day! And so we went to EAT AM ARE! This is a hamburger place just a couple of blocks from where we work! It serves great American food and sometimes you just have to have a burger. Well, John does. I had some Teriyaki Chicken! Haha!

The other highlight of the week was a visit from John's brother, Rick, and his girlfriend Belle. They flew over from the Philippines and spent some time with us. I took a ton of pictures and we crammed a lot of fun activities and sight seeing in a small space of time, so I will share all of that in next week's blog! 

We love and miss you all!

Love, 

John and Shelly (mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, friend, relative, and so on!)

Waiting for a water taxi ride on the klong (Thai word for canal). 

 Walking through the subway! We couldn't resist! We were supposed to dance and act peppy on the screen! John got a crying face emoji! I guess he wasn't peppy enough! Haha! 

One of the tall Condos we have to inspect! 

Not the whole condo of course - just the missionaries apartment :)

7-11 vending machine in the Condo lobby! 

My new friend from Russia! 

Huge elephant statue above the Erawan (Elephant) Museum! 

We plan to visit this museum sometime soon! 

Outside another condo we are about to go inspect.

View from our missionaries' condo! 

Waiting to take the Water Taxi for the first time! This is a really inexpensive way to travel. 

It cost us only 18 Baht (53 cents US).

Water splashing as we sail along (thank goodness for the plastic covering).

View from the water taxi.

Another way to travel is a songthaw (seen in the picture in front of the motorcycles). We haven't done that yet. John used to when he was a missionary here in the 70s. The most popular way to travel is on the back of the motorcycle taxis. We have not done that yet either! 

Riding the bus! 

The streets are so busy here. Thankfully, there are a lot of 

pedestrian bridges to use to cross over the highways.

Street food carts line the sidewalks everywhere. 

We often see small stores set up in front of people's homes. 

These dogs were not very happy to see us walking down their street!

Our visit to Sister Taylor and Sister Bullock! 

Their house was safe and super clean! 

Another bus ride back to the office! 

Bus ride followed by one more water taxi ride! 

Here comes our ride! 

Seriously . . . this was a fun day! 

Lot's of waves when water taxis pass. I should have taken a motion sickness pill! 

The guy in the orange vest takes your Baht ($$) shortly after your board!

A terrific end to a wonderful week - lunch at Eat Am Are with the Belnaps (our co-office workers and the Sisters! (Sister Hill and Sister Endaya)! John enjoyed his double bacon cheese burger!