Letter 27 - Burnt Cookies

Dear family and friends!

Happy Friday! We hope this finds you well and enjoying summer adventures! 

We have had a fun week spending lots of time with the younger missionaries. We inspected some houses, had lunch with some of the missionaries, went out to dinner with the senior missionaries for a birthday celebration, played games and made cookies with the sister missionaries on their P-day (preparation day)! 

The bad news: We started playing games with the sisters after I put the last batch of cookies in the oven. In the middle of our Phase Ten Hand, Sister Johnston said, "I smell something burning!" 

The good news: We gratefully did not burn down the apartment complex. We were afraid that the whole building would be evacuated when the smoke alarms went off.

BUT - the smoke alarms did NOT go off. We are not sure if that is good or bad news. 

Well, enough nonsense! Let's get to the pictures to tell the rest of the story!

We love you and miss you all! Thanks for reading!

Love, 

Elder and Sister Brady (Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, John and Shelly, and so on!)

PS - I also went to Young Women's Camp this week in Oregon. (But you will actually have to scroll to the bottom of all the pictures to see if I am telling the truth or not!)

The fantastic four! We love our Rayong Missionaries! I guess there are six of us Missionaries! 

Elder Jones, Elder Lowry, Bradys, Elder Sevilla, and Elder Bergstedt

We enjoyed our house visits with the Elders and hearing their stories of how they ended up on missions in Thailand! They had us in tears! 

Rayong Branch on Sunday, July 20th, 2025

Walking around the store on Saturday night we saw this yummy delight advertised!

Chicken and cheese wrapped inside a slice of Pizza!! 

This is a tub used for baptisms in one of the branches in Thailand! I was amazed that someone could be immersed in this! But they were! When there is no ocean or church building nearby, you make do!

Another temple view from our office. We enjoyed our trip to the temple on Wednesday night again. 

We cannot beat this commute. It takes us a whole minute to get to the temple. 

We will take advantage of this once in a lifetime convenience and blessing! 

Monday - P-day! Sisters Endaya, Taylor, and Johnston came over to our apartment to make cookies and play games with us! We don't get a set weekly P-day, 

so we played hooky from the office and spent the afternoon with them! 

We were so happy that these young gals would want to spend an afternoon with the geriatrics! 

We found out they had not had lunch so Nana and Poppa Brady had to make them some! Elder Brady shared his very special (hard to find in Thailand) Kraft Macaroni and Cheese with them! And they were so happy! Sister Brady had fruits and veggies cut up! 

Batch one! The chocolate chip cookies turned out great! 

Let's celebrate with a picture! 

We should make No Bakes too! And they turned out amazing! So far -- great success! 

I put the last batch of Chocolate Chip cookies in the oven and then it was time to play games. We pulled out the Phase Ten and started playing. After a considerable amount of time, Sister Johnston said, "I smell something burning."

So! I jumped up and opened the oven . . . and smoke came billowing out!!! 

Sister Endaya looks concerned! And rightfully so! There was a lot of smoke! We were sure the smoke alarms would go off and all 5 floors (apartments, mission homes, mission offices, MTC, Temple Distribution Center, and so on) would all get evacuated! 

But the smoke alarms did not go off. We turned the oven off. And eventually, the smoke went away. I don't know where it went, but when we opened the oven we found these tempting chunks of coal.  

The sisters felt so bad and wanted to let us know they still loved us, despite the burnt cookies. 

They sort of look liked triple dark chocolate chip cocoa cookies. The sisters thought it would be funny to make up a plate for the Elders! Hahahahaha! But we did NOT do that!

Here are the cookies side by side for comparison. 

We sent the sisters home with some just for fun! 

They sent us this cute photo of them on their train ride home! 

Hahahaha! 

Gifts of food are always fun in Thailand! We get to try the most interesting treats!

I held my google translator (iphone) up to see what the package said! And Langlang wants me to try it!

So, I will try it!  I did not call the number though! 

This package had about 9 little pieces of toast with a sweet and spicy Thai chili past on it and the yellow stuff on top of that was dried shredded pork! 

Here goes!

I'm going to have to think about this! 

It's not too bad! I don't mind trying all (well most of) the new things here! 

I would never have thought of eating toast with sweet chili paste and dried pork! 

Elder Brady is a little hesitant!

But he did it! Yay! 

Elder Belnap takes a bite and studies the packaging. 

He doesn't need google translate to figure out what it says!

Some of the missionaries needed new spoons. Elder Brady wondered if these would do! Haha! 

After inspecting the APs and Office Elder's house we headed to McDonalds for lunch! 

AP Elder Bird, Bradys, Office Elders Collado and Gao, and AP Elder Kiphibane. 

(AP - Assistants to the President - they help the mission leaders!)

(Office Elders - work a few days in the office to help us out!)

I thought this lone flower needed a picture taken. 

This is in front of the Elder's Condo. A Buddhist shrine is in the background.

Elder Hutcheon, Bradys, and Elder Fowles after their house inspection. 

Elder Wingrove and Elder Tang! We enjoyed our visits with the Elders (all of the above) and loved the stories they shared with us! 

Waiting for the train to head home! 

Happy Birthday to Elder Meeker! We celebrated at Hard Rock Cafe!

Bottom left clockwise: 

Elder Stepp, Elder Meeker, Sister Meeker, Elder Brady, Sister Brady, Sister Stepp, and Sister Belnap. 

Good morning to the Gresham Young Women Camp! For the past two years, I spent the last week of July at Camp with my daughter Katrina, and granddaughter Charlotte and some amazing campers as Cabin Moms! This year we are in Thailand so I could not be there. Or . . . could I?

Katrina and Charlotte still got to go and apparently they took me with them!! 

Hello! Mother and Daughter!

Camper Zoe holds me up for skit night! Charlotte in the background! 

Cabin mom Lori Parus (with Katrina) holds me up! I am ready for Crazy Hair night! 

And since everyone knows I like my sleep, the night owl comes to tuck me in! The night owl group really enjoyed pranking me last year in the middle of the night so they could not resist this year! 

If you read this far, you are a true friend! 

We love and miss you! 

Bye!

Letter 26 - Happy 6th Month Mission Anniversary - for Real This Time!

Dear family and friends! 

Oh, how we love and miss you! Thankfully, we are keeping plenty busy so that keeps us from being homesick. And, of course, we love these young missionaries and feel like we have 100 grandchildren now! We still miss our children and grandchildren, but having missionaries to love helps soften the missing a little bit. 

Anywho - I'll let the pictures do the talking! That way, I hopefully won't bore you or myself!! Haha!

In a nutshell - it was a week filled with a baptism in Rayong, zone conference in Bangkok, missionary house inspections, the temple, and lots of yummy food! 

Oh! And I jumped the gun on our 6 month anniversary! That was actually this week! July 13th was 6 months on the mission and July 27th will be 6 months in Thailand! Time is flying! 

In case I haven't said it! We love you and we miss you!

With love,

John and Shelly (mom and dad, grandpa and grandma, Elder and Sister Brady and so on!)

Taken on July 13th, 2025 - our 6 month Mission Anniversary! 

Throwback to February, shortly after we arrived in Thailand!

Zone Conference Day. Elders Stennett (MLS - Member, Leader, Support Missionary), 

Brady (office) and Belnap (office) 

Sisters Brady (office), Stennett (MLS and Mission Nurse), and Belnap (office)

PS - Did I mention the Stennetts are from Kauai?? Kauai has a piece of my heart as I lived there for 5 years as a youth. It was there that I joined the church! 

The Stennetts know a lot of the people I know and love! 

Zone Conference! The missionaries are enjoying lunch! PS - they enjoyed breakfast too! Pancakes, eggs, yogurt, granola, juice and milk! Not pictured - Belnaps and Bradys making pancakes and eggs!! 

Sister Taylor! Honorary Granddaughter!

Elder Brady got asked to share a message at zone conference! He shared some of his memories as a missionary in Thailand back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth! 

Sister Brady was asked to speak too! She does not remember what she talked about! But it was likely one of her five favorite stories! (Please forgive Sister Brady for going back and forth between first person and third person. I can't help myself! hahahahaha. 

Also please forgive her/me for laughing at her/my own jokes!)

Lunch time! Amazing Thai food as always! They kindly let the old Senior Missionaries dish up first! 

Back to work in the office! It may be 90 something degrees outside, but it is cold inside the office! 

We are so grateful for electricity and air conditioning! And warm sweaters! 

Dinner date in Rayong! We love our Oreo Blizzards! 

Breakfast at the buffet in Rayong! This was after I ate my fruits and veggies! I feel like I am obligated to try the pastries and I always have to have a spoonful of Nutella to cleanse the palate!

This needed a close up shot. Yes, it was located with the sweet pastries. No, it was not sweet! 

It is a hotdog pastry. I did take a bite. I will not be getting this one again. 

I was so glad to have the emergency Nutella to get rid of the taste! 

Relief Society. In the background you can see the men gathered for Priesthood meeting. 

We have four Elders. Two of them join Relief Society and help with translation as we have Thai Speakers and English Speakers (some sisters from the Philippines, and me). 

Another Baptism in Rayong. 

Rayong Branch at the beach to witness the happy day. 

It was a sunny, windy day. I love the fishing boat in the background. 

The tide was way out, so they had to walk quite a ways to find water deep enough for the baptism. 

Heading back to find a spot in the shade for the confirmation. 

Our newest Rayong Branch Member. 

Our new brother was given roses, hugs, and handshakes of congratulations. 

I spy some missionaries! 

Elder Wood and Elder Gibson the Bangkok Zone Leaders did a fine job cleaning their apartment.

To celebrate, we hopped on a Songthaew and headed to lunch!

Eat Am Are! Elder Gibson got a baked potato. Surprise! That is not Sour Cream! It's Mayo! 

He said it tasted OK! Hungry missionaries will eat anything! 

Elder Wood, Elder Gibson, and Elder and Sister Brady enjoying lunch!

On our way to find a restroom . . . we came across this! Ummmmm. . . .

Elder Brady did not come to Thailand with a suit. The packing list for Thailand says a suit is NOT necessary. So all he brought was a bunch of short sleaved white shirts and ties! When he got his new calling as Patriarch, we thought it might be good for him to get a new suit. This was tailor made for him! Measured on Friday and delivered on Tuesday! A beautiful new tailored wool suit!  

On our way home from inspecting the Elder's condo! Look who we ran into on the train! 

A happy coincidence to be on the same train with Sisters Taylor (USA), Endaya (Philippines), and Johnston (Australia)! We love the missionaries! 

This cool old bus stopped on the corner near the temple and I had to take a picture. I am pretty sure this was in Bangkok when Elder Brady was here in the 70s! 

Who loves Nutella! We do! This trio of sisters passed their house inspection with flying colors! 

Another Songthaew ride to go get lunch! (Yes, it was Pepper Lunch!)

We went to the temple on Thursday. It is so peaceful to step inside the House of the Lord.

This is the view from our office. It is so beautiful.  

Chicken Fingers. Literal Chicken Fingers on a stick. 

I don't think I can bring myself to try them. 

Sisters Thomas and Peterson joined us for lunch after their house inspection. 

Another stellar job! Our missionaries know that "cleanliness is next to godliness!"

On the one hour bus ride home from the Sister's Condo.

And that concludes our week! 

It's quitting time in the office! 

Thanks for reading!