March 2, 2025
Dear family and friends!
It's been more than a month in Thailand! It's like we live here now! We are sleeping well in our queen bed (which is a big deal for us), not minding the heat outside (also a big deal for us), loving the air conditioning in the apartment, office, and public transportation (which tracks for us), and loving the food! Our bodies might not always agree with our food choices . . . but that is not my problem (it actually is but it doesn't seem to stop me!)!
This week's highlights: Finding all kinds of fun places to eat (from Thai food to comfort food from home), trying new snacks from 7 (that is what the locals call 7-11), calling family for birthday wishes (stepdad Craig, son Kevin, granddaughter Audrey - and earlier this month - granddaughter Estela, and daughter Emily), and field trips that took us out of the office (trip to the post office, trips to 7-11, trips to the missionary apartments for inspections, and meals with the missionaries for the outgoing and incoming missionaries).
This week's lows: John is still not feeling 100 percent, but he is on the mend for sure!
A little more detail on some highlights: As you know, we work in the office 8 - 5 (ish). The hours are not set in stone so occasionally, I might get into the office a little after 8am. Or 9am. As long as we get the things done that we need to get done, we can really set our own hours. I love the office, the people I work with, the things I am doing, and the fact that it is airconditioned! But, I love getting out of the office too. So if there is an opportunity to run an errand, I am in!
This week we started making our house inspections. John is over housing, so once every 6 weeks we get to go and visit the young elders and sisters and see how they are doing and if they are keeping their apartments clean and tidy and of course checking things out to make sure they are safe (locks, smoke alarms, etc.). This was the first time John and I ventured out and caught the above ground trains! It took us an hour and a half to get to the first apartment! We were thrilled that we did not get lost and only missed a couple of trains by accidentally going to the wrong platforms, but fortunately corrected ourselves before we got on the wrong train! whew! We loved visiting with the missionaries and getting to know them. And we brought treats! There are around 12 houses we need to visit and we only did 3 this week. There are 4 districts in this Thailand Bangkok East mission. We will only be able to visit the homes in the Bangkok District because the other Districts are too far away. Other senior missionary couples will help us out in the other Districts. This will be one of my favorite activities I think. :)
We did one visit Tuesday morning and two visits Wednesday afternoon. When we finished around dinner time Wednesday, we noticed a McDonalds and a Dairy Queen. John needed some comfort food to help settle his stomach, so we needed to get him a Big Mac and I needed a Blizzard. :) :) :)
On Wednesday mornings we teach English Connect. This was our first official lesson. It is really fun to connect with the Elders and Sisters who are learning English (along with Thai for some of them). They are so motivated to share their testimonies of Jesus Christ in their native tongue, Thai, and English! They inspire me! (As a result I am trying so hard to study some Thai every day!).
This week was also the week of transfers. Transfers are when the missionaries get reassigned to different areas and new companions. It also means that some missionaries are leaving the mission (their 2 years are up) and new missionaries are arriving. Sister Belnap and I had some extra duties to do this week including getting bags of new bedding ready for new missionaries, treat bags for the new arrivals, assembling packers of information for them, and gathering food items for a to-go breakfast bag for Friday morning. etc. We also had a few extra things to do for the missionaries that are leaving (joping). We had to help one missionary consolidate all of their extra things into the 2 checked bags, one carry on and one personal item. My past experience of working as a flight attendant was helpful :). She ended up with a big box that needs to be shipped home.
We had some fun meals with the arriving missionaries. Breakfast was some yummy meat sticks (called moo bing), rice, fruit, juice, plankangto (a yummy friend bread you dip in sweetened condensed milk), and chips. The Thai breakfast is like an American lunch! Lunch was amazing Thai food and fruit!
This weekend, I had really hoped to do some sightseeing, but we didn't want to go anywhere too far from home so we ended up heading over to our favorite grocery stores since we needed some groceries and we just happened upon a Thai massage place with an even better deal than last week. We both got a Thai massage and that was another huge highlight of the week! I basically dared John to get one because I knew he would be screaming in pain. I was a little disappointed to not hear him screaming. Haha!
We had another dinner with the Mission Leaders and the Watts (senior couple) who leave tomorrow morning after serving here for 23 months.
Today, we went to church, came home and talked to a couple of our children. We love that as senior missionaries we can facetime them whenever (well because of the time difference it is usually morning or evening). It was fast Sunday today so we spent the day fasting and praying for a few of our family members who are sick with Type A flu and pneumonia. We decided to head over to Lumphini park for a little stroll this afternoon, but only lasted a short time as it was so hot out. We will go back some morning when it is a cool 81 degrees instead of being in the 90s!
That wraps up another week and the anniversary of our first full month here. The time really is flying by! Pictures with descriptions follow! We love and miss you and hope to hear from you!
Love,
Shelly and John
My gym! The stairs I climb 5 - 6 days a week!
Thanks for the update. Wow! It looks like snackville over there! Don't forget about all those lovely fruits and vegies. Sorry John isn't quite up to snuff yet, but you're both looking well and pretty happy. It seems your responsibilities have expanded somewhat. I guess more variety is good for the brain. We start our Pathway teaching this week and are quite excited to get going with it. We've got 21 students online. Keep up the wonderful service and know that you are in our prayers and thoughts. God bless!
ReplyDeleteI'd better start posting more pics of the fruit! Haha! The fruit is actually amazing here and we have tons of it everyday! We are getting busier each week with a variety of projects and tasks! Best of luck with your Pathway class! You two will be wonderful! We miss our cribbage games with the Standings! Thanks for the prayers and the comment! I am surprised anyone is actually reading this blog! Haha! :)
DeleteIt looks like you were the only ones in the park, well, you and the Komodo dragon that is.
ReplyDeleteI can’t believe all the stairs you climb; that’s pretty amazing.
I hope John’s feeling better soon!
I love the temple sign in the subway, too!
Yay! Thanks for your kind comments! The park was kind of empty! It was so hot out! Maybe it is busier in the morning and evening! I'm actually enjoying the stair walking! John has lost 16 pounds since we last saw you and I've lost 7 (so we are feeling a lot better actually). Walking and the fresh food and fruit has done the trick I think! We do still enjoy some snacks and comfort food as the blog shows! Haha! We loved the temple sign in the subway too!
DeleteLove the pictures!!!
ReplyDeleteSometimes you just need McDonalds and a blizzard. 😂
Spoken like a kindred spirit. You must be related to us! :) Thank you for commenting on my blogs! Now I know at least 4 people are reading this! Haha!
DeleteDo you. know how hard it is to not "Covet" what you are telling us about! I can't wait until it is my turn!!! Thanks for telling us about what all you are doing as I wondered what "Office Missionaries" do. It helps when I am looking at what is available for seniors. We are headed to Utah this week to bless our little granddaughter who had all of the issues. She got a clean bill of health from both the Cardiologist and Neurologist this week (okay so this one could change as she gets older, but looks normal for a 3 month old.) We will be doing the blessing in Rachel's home and without children to help keep Maggie's lungs healthy. (No cold, RSV, etc.). Keep up the GREAT work of the Lord!
DeleteSherri! I cannot wait for your turn too! You should request Thailand and we will come and visit you! Haha! In our mission we have office missionaries, MLS (member leader support) out in the field helping the missionaries more hands on and the ward and branches they are in helping the members and leaders, and we have a humanitarian couple (neither of the couple served in Thailand or speak Thai) and they have been involved in a lot of cool service projects for the country! There are YSA and CES missionaries, temple missionaries, church history and more. We did not request the office . . . never did I think we would land here . . . but we are actually enjoying it and we love the people we work with!
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