Letter 49 - He is the Light of the World

 Dear Family and Family,

Countdown to Christmas! We hope you are enjoying the holidays! We love you and we miss you! This past week has been busy with our big Christmas choir concert. We had 5 shows attended by more than 1500 people! The concert was so amazing, from the directors to the singers and the incredible production team! We had another patriarchal blessing, Christmas shopping, Christmas movie night with Jess, and an office party. 

And it is missionary departure, new arrival, and transfer week, so we get to enjoy seeing all of the Elders and Sisters that we love so much! 

Thank you for taking the time to read the blog. And we thank you for your love, support, prayers, texts, messages, letters, and calls! 

Now on to the pictures! 

With love,

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

The name of our concert last Friday and Saturday was "He is the Light." One of the songs we sang was "Jesus is the Light of the World." Over 1500 people attended 5 shows! 

Friday night - A view from the back!

Elder Brady sang with the concert director, Sydney, and our choir director, Jessica. They did a beautiful song called "Hallelujah Christmas." It was a Christmas rendition of the Shrek Hallelujah song! 

We sang with video, lights, and darling dancers! 

A close up of Sister Brady.

We had such beautiful videos playing in the background as we sang with the words in Thai and English. 

Zoomed in! 

All eyes on the director! 

Time for Elder Brady's big solo! He was a rock star!! 

Our Sister missionaries loved the concert! Sisters Pathoumma, Sanford, and Sirisouk! 

The lovely Sister Gemma and Sister Nicky our beautiful sign language dancer/artist! 

Sisters Erica, Gemma, and Yie Mon - Altos unite! 

There was a beautiful display of Nativities set up in one of the church classrooms.

Russia and Ukraine.

Philippines.

Vietnam, Peru, and USA.

James is from India and was in Bangkok for just three days.

Fortunately, Elder Brady had time to give him a blessing on Saturday morning.

After the blessing, we took off to do some shopping in Bangkok. We needed to get some secret Santa gifts for the office Christmas party! 

We had to stop and take a photo of us in the ornament! :)

The entrance to the Emsphere Mall!

Saturday night - back to the annex for the concert. 

Here is part of the display set up at the entrance. 

Alto section getting ready for warmups!

And so it continued . . .

Both day and night!

Singing and dancing! 

Elder Brady's solos with sign language dancer/artists dressed in black.

The whole choir and production staff at the end of our 5 performances.

This was put on by the Bangkok West Stake. We are actually in the East Mission. 

We were happy they let us crash their party/concert. We had so much fun singing!

Elder Brady with his special number group.

Sister Brady jumping in for a picture! (cup of popcorn in her hand).

Elder and Sister Brady with Jess, our choir director. 

Sister Mary Grace from Rayong came to Bangkok to enjoy the event. 

MG, Sister Brady, and Gemma.

People were invited to the 6th floor balcony after the concert for pictures! 

The view is so beautiful! 

Bradys with their new friend Kristy. 

Sunday morning we woke up to a message from Katrina who was singing in the DC Temple Christmas Choir. She sent us a zoom link so we could watch her performance! What an amazing small world we have! And technology allows us to connect anytime any where! We loved being able to watch her Saturday night concert - LIVE!

Sunday night Christmas movie night with Jess! 

Matching!

Monday - time for the Office Christmas Party! Woohoo! 

The food was brought in from a Michelin star restaurant! Yum! It was delicious! 

Chicken Sauté sticks with peanut sauce! 

Ornament picture! 

The full view with all of the food, prizes and secret Santa gifts in the background.

The office did a few Christmas songs. Sister Brady heard they were singing Mele Kalikimaka and offered to teach a Hula to two of the office workers and dance for our performance. 

A little throw back to Sister Brady's years of living in Hawaii! 

After we danced one time, we invited any and all to come up and sing and dance. 

The watermelon was cut into this cute Christmas Tree shape! 

Sister Brady's secret Santa got me these cute Christmas earrings! 

Elder Brady got a Toy Story Alien cell phone lanyard from his secret Santa! 

The office party included the West Mission and East Mission offices, the country office, the facilities, and groundkeepers! It was quite a party! 

These cute gift boxes were handed out at the door! Hello Brother Wissan.

Tuesday evening the sisters stopped by to pick up packages! They had immigration to go to in the morning. Sister Brady was already in her PJs but slipped into some sweats and a sweatshirt to come down and open the door! Sisters Lundberg, Merritt, Colver, and Brunt! And Sister Nok who is an amazing cook popped her head in too! 

Wednesday morning - Sister Brady is working in the office mailroom.

The departing missionaries and Bangkok missionaries come into the office to say hello and goodbye! Elder Wood (from the northwest) and Sister Faux leave on Thursday. Sisters Malquist, Sanford, Colver, Pathoumma, Lundberg, and Sirisouk and Elder and Sister Brady and Sister Kanyaphan (our mission leader) all smile for the selfie! 

Thursday . . . Taco Bell for lunch! Because - why not??

Friday - New arrival day! Breakfast - organized by the Senior Missionaries! That is us :)!

Sisters enjoying their breakfast on new arrival/transfer day. Sisters Gilson (taking the selfie), Sister Merritt, Elder and Sister Brady, Sisters Jasper, Malquist, Peterson, Sirisouk, Furlan, and Polsan!

Lots of missionaries enjoying the reunion! Sister Colver and Elder Brady stand at attention!

Training our new arrivals! Elders Brady, Pankrathok, Poomjai, Sisters Nukkara and Brady, Elders Casinillo, Dunham (not shown), Parker, Allred, Baltomore, and Sister Zabala. We have 3 new missionaries from the USA, 3 from the Philippines, and 3 from Thailand! They are a wonderful group! 

Sister Brady and Sister Howard in matching shirts again! Yay for Costco shirts! 

Time to take pictures of the missionaries to let their parents know they have arrived safely! 

On the 5th floor balcony outside the mission home with the temple for a backdrop!

All of our new missionaries with their companions! 

Quick picture at lunchtime. Sisters Henry (taking the selfie), Polsan, Cobia, Brooks, Elder and Sister Brady, Sisters Brunt, Sanford, and Sirisouk! We love these missionaries!

4th of July Babies! Elder Borden (on the left) serves down in Rayong and our new arrival Elder Allred will be his new companion! They let us know a fun fact that they were both born on the 4th of July and our jaws dropped! Elder Brady was also born on the 4th of July! Furthermore, we have the Family Tree  app that will scan for "relatives around me" and we found out that Elder Allred and Elder Brady are 4th cousins! What a small world! We are 9th cousins with Elder Borden by the way! 

Well that about wraps things up! 

Christmas is only 6 days away! 

Enjoy some hot chocolate and cookies for us!

We love you!

Thanks for reading! 

Bye!