Dear family and friends,
Well, I don't know what happened this past week, but Tuesday night (going into Wednesday), we both woke up with horrible stomach pains and a bunch of other stuff I am not going to write about. Wednesday, was spent in the apartment, sleeping, resting, and a bunch of other stuff. Thursday a bunch of other stuff stopped and we were finally functioning around 75%, Friday up to 90%, and I think today we are a solid 95%. We think it is something we ate. Either some contaminated fruit, a street kebob, or some packaged noodles. We may never know.
So other than that adventure, it was a week in the office as usual, some time at the temple as always, and a lot less adventure in the food department (unusual).
We did have two of our missionaries finish their mission this week and four new missionaries arrived. Both events are exciting. We had some training to do with the new missionaries and we got to join them for breakfast, lunch, and a trip to the temple (that was Friday - so I was 90% able to enjoy the Thai food at the mission home - which was amazing)!
Moving backwards - Wednesday, even though I could hardly move, I went to a doctor's appointment I had at 1pm. It was a check-up to get established for my prescription and renew some prescriptions. It made more sense in my sleep deprived mind to NOT reschedule it. I walked a mile in 94 degree heat and when I got to the hospital, I broke out in a clammy sweat. This was not my smartest move. When the nurse took my blood pressure, the alarms started going off it was so low . . . needless to say, I thought it was best to not walk back to the apartment and took my first taxi ride home! And promptly went to bed.
Last weekend, we we went to Rayong and stopped and did a house visit/inspection at an Elder's apartment that was on our way. Their apartment had some large tiles fall off their bathroom wall after the earthquake and a few cracks in the wall! They have a stunning view of the coast though! So there is that!
The week prior we did some other house visits and almost 2 weekends ago got to attend a beautiful baptism at the beach. I love hearing the stories of how the people in Thailand find and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is inspiring.
Additionally, we attended firesides and my Thai language lesson over zoom. John and I also did a couple of service projects as part of our mission is to do some service in Thailand and be involved in conversational English classes which we often do after church or over zoom. And John had some follow up doctor's appointments.
We love and miss you all and pray you are well!
Lots of pictures with more details to follow!
With love,
John and Shelly (mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, and so on!)
Elder and Sister Brady with Elders Kargis and Belleza after our house visit in Rayong!
Elders Vang and Fife in Rayong with me and John after their house visit!
Some missionaries do NOT live on the 13th floor!
Picking up litter in a miniature Elephant park.
The statues are the elephants and the lady picking up litter is not an elephant!
More service in the Elephant Park.
Elephant statue in the background - not an elephant in the foreground!
Cleaning a condo that needed cleaning!
Elder Brady takes a breather!
The first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints building in Thailand.
This is the OG! It is where John spent most Sundays during his mission in the 70s.
We had an opportunity to go inside even though this building is no longer in use. It is still maintained until the church figures out what they will do with it.
More photos - the hallway John used to walk!
The gym or cultural hall!
Sawadee ka! (Hello in Thai) Time for Thai lessons with my tutor, Malia!
Piti's baptism in Rayong. Members of the branch come to witness this special occassion!
After the baptism.
The drive home from Rayong found us stuck in traffic (our 2 and 1/2 hour drive took 4 and 1/2 hours).
I had time to grab my camera and take a photo of motorcycles going over the pedestrian bridge!
After the temple - Elder Brady poses with some Elders (in Bangkok for Visa renewal day)!
Sister Brady posing with some sisters! Visa Day!
Elder and Sister Brady have grown really long legs here in Thailand!
Standing in front of the beautiful Bangkok Temple!
Visiting Elders Tripoli and Pantila! These Elders speak 3 languages! Thai, English, and Tagalog!
And they make their beds!!
Visiting Elders Bridge and Hanson
In between doctor's appointments we discovered there is a McDonalds at the hospital! And we have to
lunch! We met up with Sister Taylor while her companion had an appointment too!
Our walk home from the hospital (doctor's appointments are at the hospital) later that evening.
Also on our walk home. You can see the temple spire in the middle of this photo,
Visiting a missionary apartment, I held my phone over the balcony for this shot!
They have a beautiful view of the mountains!
And a beautiful view of the ocean!
Elders Gao and Nielson grab a selfie at their fancy apartment/condo!
These giant tiles fell from their bathroom wall after the earthquake!
In the fancy condo lobby!
Time for the monthly Senior Zoom meeting!
Some pretty summer flowers on our walk.
In case anyone cares, I have used the same Wordle word to start the puzzle
every single day for the past 2 years. It was finally my word this last week!
Our new sister missionaries admire the view with our mission leader, Sister Kanyaphan, from the mission home balcony!
Another view from the Mission Leader's balcony!
How would you like the temple to be in your front yard!?
Relaxing after breakfast in the mission home. Elder Canfield helps prepare our lunch!
Sister Kanyaphan and her darling grandchildren!
Sister Endaya, Taylor, Bullock, and me! :)
Temple trip with our brand new Sisters Gilson and Lundberg.
Elder Collado joins the photo!
This lovely family joined the church a couple of months ago and
came to the temple for the first time today. They were so happy!
We met them a couple of weeks before they got baptized. We are so happy for them.
Friday afternoon in the office. Elder Belnap and Elder Brady share some stories!
And that, my friends, is a wrap!
Love the pictures! Why is that OG church building no longer in use!?
ReplyDeleteGreat question! When they built the temple, they built the annex building too. The office, church, MTC, church history library, senior missionary apartments, mission homes, and temple patron housing are all in the annex. They don't need the OG building anymore. But the church still owns the building and the land and are trying to figure out what they want to do with it. They talked about making it an MTC because the MTC to be bigger than the small one here, but we don't really know.
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