Dear family and friends!
It was another great week in Thailand! Aside from getting over my cold and catching up in the office, I had fun celebrating my birthday all week! Woohoo! And a very big thank you to all of the wonderful birthday wishes from everyone!
I have waited my whole life to turn 64 - just so I could hum the Beatles' song, When I'm 64, to myself all day! In case you haven't heard of it, here are the lyrics. If you know the tune, you can sing along:
When I get older, losing my hair
Many years from now,
Will you still be sending me a valentine,
birthday greetings, bottle of soda?
If I'd been out till quarter to three,
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty four? Ooh
You'll be older too.
Ah, and if you say the word,
I could stay with you.
I could be handy mending a fuse
When your lights have gone.
You can knit a sweater by the fireside,
Sunday mornings, go for a ride.
Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
Who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty four?
Ev'ry summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight if it's not too dear.
We shall scrimp and save.
Grandchildren on your knee;
Henry, Jenna, Charlotte, Nicholas, August, Estela, Brady, Sebastian, Audrey, Dawson, Aaron, Eliana, Freddy, and Sawyer!
Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
stating point of view.
Indicate precisely what you mean to say,
yours sincerely, wasting away.
Give me your answer, fill in a form,
Mine forevermore.
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty four? Ho!
Without further ado, I will move along to the pictures!
But first, we love you and miss you and we thank you for your love, prayers, support, and kind words.
Love,
Elder and Sister Brady (mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, John and Shelly, and so on)
Friday afternoon, while I was working on the blog, Sister Justensen came in an early birthday treat...her famous peanut butter and chocolate bar cookies! I have been wanting to try these! It was the best way to kick off the day before my birthday!! They were delicious!
Friday evening, the birthday wishes began! Sister Ishla from India posted this picture and managed to photoshop a crown for the birthday "queen!"
Sister Margaret from India made this nice card and sent it to me over WhatsApp. These Sisters are so sweet and creative! We are grateful we know them and appreciate their friendship.
Saturday morning (Friday evening in Montana),
I got a FaceTime call from my Dad and Mama Linda to wish me a happy birthday!
It was so wonderful to see their beautiful faces and to catch up! After I talked to them, Katrina and Kevin called to wish me a happy birthday.
Pause for a throwback to the YSA conference! I love this quote from President Nelson: "Joy comes from and because of Him. For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!"
Another throwback to the YSA Conference! I love this scripture found in the New Testament, Hebrews 12:1-2, especially this excerpt: "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."
Back to the birthday...Saturday morning we got a knock on our door and it was Elder White with a special delivery! Dunkin Donuts! You might remember that Elder White was one of the first missionaries in Thailand back in the 1960s. Later, he and his wife (and 5 or 6 children) came back in the 90s to serve as Mission Leaders in Thailand. Elder and Sister White are here now serving as Senior Missionaries. Elder White works in the Area Legal Department and Sister White works in the Family History Department. Sister White is from St. Helens, Oregon. She and her husband met at college in Oregon. It is nice to have the PNW represented here!
Did I mention I love Dunkin Donuts?
These fed us a Saturday night snack and Sunday morning breakfast!
A birthday party, planned by me! Haha! I wanted to go to lunch at Sizzler and out to a movie for my birthday. We sent out an invite to our Bangkok Senior Messenger thread to see if anyone wanted to join us and all of the Seniors were in! Pictures are left to right: The Whites, Calls, Thorsens, Bradys, and Justensens.
We headed to Terminal 21 for lunch and a movie. There are usually fun decorations in this area. Elder Brady admires the clouds!
Riding the giant escalator at Terminal 21!
Sizzler! Why did I choose Sizzler, you ask? Well, not long ago we went with some of our young Elders to a Sizzlers at a different mall! The all you can eat Salad Bar was huge and included all you could eat salad, soup, bread, desserts, and sodas. I found out that not all Sizzlers are alike. The salad bar here was about 1/4 the size of the other one and did not include the drinks or the bread!! I was a little disappointed, especially since I had talked it up to all of the other seniors. The waitress told me that just one train stop away was another Sizzler that did have the free drinks, but we had already bought our movie tickets. It wasn't the end of the world as there was plenty to eat and everyone seemed happy :).
Funny story though: The waitress brought out little dishes with 2 pieces of YUMMY garlic bread and set one in front of me and one in front of John. We saw Elder White had a plate with 2 pieces of bread as well. We ate our bread (as it was delicious - we remembered it from the other Sizzler where we had about 5 pieces of the bread) and John asked for more bread and the waitress said it would be 40 baht (which is about $1.33 USD). We were surprised because at the other Sizzler you could eat all the bread you wanted to! A minute or two about that, the Calls asked the waitress when they would get their bread. And she said their bread was already delivered and they said, but we didn't get any. She said, yes they did. They said no they did not. Anyway, we found out that the 2 pieces of bread on a plate was actually supposed to be one plate per table - one piece per person. John and I chowed down on the 2 pieces set in front of each of us. Elder White did too. In Thailand, in restaurants, the wait staff often just sets the food down anywhere and the customers pass it to whoever ordered it. We did not even think about the bread being only one piece each! We had eaten the Calls bread! And Elder White had eaten what was for him and his wife! Haha! We felt bad and I offered to buy the Calls some bread, but the waitress had brought them some. Pictured above: Sister Call and Sister White sharing half a piece of bread!
After the Sizzler, it was off to the movies. We made up for the lack of bread and soda at the restaurant by buying a giant popcorn and drink at the theater! John is ready to go!
What movie did we see? Spider-Man Brand New Day!
All ready to watch!
Also ready to watch and get started on the popcorn. PS - the Justensens had their own popcorn! As did we :)!
Note on previews at the movies. You can be at the most family friendly movie and the previews can be terrifying. There seems to be a real love for scary movies here!
OK, now we can settle in for the next 2 and 1/2 hours!
After the movie, we took a closer look at the display outside Terminal 21. It is Mother's Day in Thailand on August 12th. So I think this might be for Mother's Day. I am just guessing.
Also, I want to know who Mama Kaka is...
This little neighborhood is nestled in between skyscrapers right outside of Terminal 21. These homes were likely here back in the 70s when Elder Brady first served in Thailand. You can see the Satellite dishes outside the houses. Bangkok is such a mix of the old and modern!
Saturday evening, I enjoyed phone calls from Tessa and Rikki (it was Saturday morning in Florida and NYC).
After lunch, we met up with Elders Dodini and Lewis! Since the Calls were doing the Chachoengsao House Inspection for us this transfer, I wanted to have ice cream with the Elders so we could get to know them a bit! Elder Dodini is brand new! He is from Virginia and his mother knows Katrina! I have communicated with his mom prior to his arrival and so it was fun to get to know him! Elder Lewis has been here a year already, but this is the first time he has been in the Bangkok Zone. So it was fun to spend time with both of them!
I ordered this amazing treat! Macadamia nut ice cream on shave ice! It was amazing!
I'm calling it my birthday ice cream!
Elders Dodini and Lewis at Swendsens with the Bradys!
Tuesday morning, on our way to a house inspection. Our trip to Ramkhamhaeng took 1 hour and 45 minutes. We took one subway, and then 2 different sky trains, followed by a 1 mile walk. The signs say In and Out. But it is not a burger place.
Almost to the Condo! It is a long driveway from the main road!
We were super impressed with the neat counters and fridge top! Good job Elders!
A closer view for curious readers.
We are going to have to try the Tim Tam Slam!
PS - Tim Tams are a cookie from Australia that you can buy at the Villa Market - the international store where we get our American foods, like cream cheese, bagels, licorice, and Cheerios! Only, I refuse to buy Cheerios there because they are more than $10 USD a box!!
Elders Bergstedt and Fairey did an awesome job!!!
After the inspection, we headed to lunch at OMNI 60s Burger'N Fries! The Elders told us the hamburgers and fries were great and the milkshakes were even greater!!
They were not wrong! This food was terrific!!!
After the burgers, we ordered Milk Shakes! John and I were going to share again, but after I took one bite of this Nutella Shake, I suggested Elder Brady get his own! He did! We enjoyed every bite!
Look how happy we are on the bus ride home after eating that delicious meal
and seeing the Elders, of course!
Sister Gilson stopped by the office to pick up her bags. She and her parents have been touring around Thailand and Singapore for a month since her release. They are finally on their way home!
We will miss sweet Sister Gilson!
Throwback! Kevin doing the dishes some 30 odd years ago! We were over housing then and we are over housing now! Teaching Young Men and Young Women how to clean! Haha!
Wednesday morning, Elder Brady gave a patriarchal blessing to this nice young man, Heber, from India. Elder Brady blessed his brother, Hyrum, who was a missionary in the MTC here in Thailand!
It was so wonderful to meet with the Isaac family. We have met with and blessed many of their family members from India.
After we got back to the office, Elders Westcott and Lowry stopped by and sang a wonderful song to me and Sister Call! It is Mother's Day in Thailand and they sang "Mother, I Love You" from the primary songbook. It made me cry! In a good way. We do feel like mission moms (and grandmas) to all of our missionaries here in Thailand. We love them so much.
Our mission boys! I'm wearing my big black sweater because we freeze in our office!
It is nice and COLD!
Also Wednesday morning, Malea (Sister Taylor) facetimed with us! She wished me a happy birthday! Yay! I love having a birthday week! We forgot to take a screenshot, so I will just put this throwback (that Malea sent us) here from when we played pickleball with Sister Taylor and Sister Bullock! I can't believe that was over a year ago! We love them and miss them!
Thursday morning, we had a FaceTime date with Kevin's boys, Sawyer and Dawson! It was good to see their cute faces! I cannot believe how grown up they are!!
Friday morning train ride to Bangkapi for a house inspection.
We got off the train early, so we walked through the mall to stay out of the heat and to stop and use the restroom.
I love the restrooms in the Thailand Malls! They are so crazy creative! This one was circus themed!
I love the parade of bears in the mall too! This mall had all kinds of fun statues!
We made it to the Sister's Condo! Sisters Brooks and Hanks did a great job cleaning!
I had to take a picture of this beautiful water lily on our walk back to the mall for lunch :).
All roads lead to Pepper Lunch!
And then the roads lead to DQ! I had to try the Bischoff Greek Yogurt Blizzard!
Time for a quick hug goodbye! Sister Brooks is from New Zealand and will be leaving the mission just a couple of weeks before us. Sister Hanks is from Arkansas and this is her second transfer in Thailand! We love these dear Sisters! 
We spent a little time with Brady from the Bangkok International Ward this afternoon! He is a nice young man who is living in Thailand for the time being. We are grateful to know him.
On the busy train ride home, Elder Brady had to find a seat away from where I was sitting. Can you spy Elder Brady? Neither could I!
That concludes this week's blog! It is Friday afternoon and I need to finish preparing a talk for church on Sunday. We will be heading down to Rayong for the weekend where we will have a couple of house inspections, lunches, and baptisms! It should be a terrific weekend!
Thanks for reading!
Until next weekend, buh-bye!
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