Letter 85 - Transfer Week Again!!

Dear family and friends,

It is another transfer week. What that really means is this week we have missionaries completing their missions and heading home, new missionaries arriving, some missionaries leaving the areas they are currently serving in and moving to new areas, and many missionaries getting new companions for another 6 week transfer period! 

This week included a lot of time in the office and a couple of doctor's appointments. Last Saturday, John had to have some dental work done and he needed to do some convalescing, which made for a pretty quiet week.

It is Thursday as I write this and I will wait until tomorrow to post. Friday will be insanely busy as transfer/new arrival day always is! We are heading to the temple now to attend a session with some of our departing missionaries. It is always so hard to say goodbye to them. We have grown to love them so much. 

Enough rambling and on to the pictures!

But first, we love you and miss you and we thank you for your love, support, kind words, and prayers!

Love, 

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

Last Saturday, Elder Brady is dressed and ready to go to the Market with me! Yay! 

We took a trip to Chatuchak Market to purchase a nativity for Sister Jenkin's mom! She has been asking me do this for her for a while now and she leaves this week! We finally got to the Market and made the purchase for her and her mother! 

This is what the Nativity looks like. I bought one for myself last year and I absolutely love it! It is Celadon Pottery and has been a Thai Specialty the 13th - 14th century. Sister Jenkins saw it in our apartment and knew that her mother would want one!

Thailand is also known for elephants! I love these celadon elephants! 

They are so adorable!

This shop sells so many beautiful products!

After the market, Elder Brady had a dental procedure at Bumrungrad hospital. Here he is walking the Klong home! We have walked this path countless times! 

We were very intrigued by this barge carrying an excavator. 

It was using the scooper to propel the barge forward! Pictures can't really capture it!

But we stopped and watched like young children mesmerized by the whole thing!

After walking the stairs, walking around the market, and walking to and from the hospital, my feet hurt. I decided to get a Saturday afternoon foot massage. This cost $4 USD for an hour massage. $6 if you count the tip. I don't know how I will leave Thailand in December. 

After the massage, I did some grocery shopping. Of course, I had to take a trip down the candy aisle. Mentos are only 10 baht here. That is about 33 cents USD. I googled how much mentos cost in the USA and I was shocked to see they cost between a $1 and $1.50 in the USA. IS THIS TRUE???

Sunday after church, Jess came over. We needed to catch up on all of the summer happenings. Jess was the YSA lead on the big conference we had at the end of July. We needed a debrief with her. She shared all of the stories and some additional ones! 

It was fun catching up with Jessica! We are going to miss her when we leave Thailand! 

PS - She just got cast in the musical Legally Blonde here in Thailand. She is the lead - playing the role of Elle Woods. We miss seeing our children and grandchildren back home in their plays and musicals. Her show opens just before we leave, so it will be fun to see her perform. 

After story time, we ate scrambled eggs and bagels for lunch; and then, we played a game of cribbage. Jessica won! 

After Jess headed home, it was time for dinner. Nothing sounded good, except Nutella. 

On Monday, I only took one picture. 

I have to wonder if the dogs can read this; and if so, do they read it in Thai or English!?

On Tuesday morning, I woke up to this sweet picture on my phone! 

We sure miss our grandchildren! This is Sawyer and Dawson! 

Sometimes I am accused of posting pictures of others on the blog that don't look good! So here is one of me . . . that does NOT look good! I am in the waiting room at the doctor's office.

Here is a somewhat better picture on our walk home from the doctor's office. 

This was around 6pm on Tuesday evening. Can you see the moon? 

Here, let me zoom in. 

Wednesday, I did not take any pictures. I was in the office all day long! So here is a picture of my desk. This will have to represent my Wednesday!

Thursday walk along the klong! I had a follow up doctor's appointment and after the appointment, I met Elder Brady on this path and we headed to the market to pick up our fruit order for transfer morning breakast! In case you are wondering, I bashed my elbow when Katrina and family were in town and it was still bothering me. All is well, I have some nerve inflammation, but nothing too serious! No permanent damage! Thankfully! 

Beautiful flowers on my walk! Google tells me this is a Rangoon Creeper. It smelled really good, which I think is funny, considering the name is Creeper!

Thursday afternoon, Sisters Merritt and Brown stopped by to say hello! They were our Rayong sisters, who are being transferred to other areas. We won't have sisters in Rayong any more! :(

Sister Justensen (from the West mission) and I bumped into each other on the 5th floor and saw we were wearing matching dresses!!! So we asked the missionaries to take a picture of us. And this showed up on my phone! West mission missionaries! Can you spy Elder Brady in the upper lefthand corner?

Matching dresses!! 

If you zoom out, we look taller and thinner! Haha! 

If you move the camera up high, our arms look longer than our bodies! 

Thursday afternoon, we went to the temple with the departing missionaries. 

We stopped for a picture on the way out. 

Our departing sisters! Sister Jenkins and Sister Sanford! 

I love these Sisters so much!! They arrived in the mission just after we got here. We gave them new arrival orientation when they got here, we inspected their apartments, we went to lunch with them, ate Cinnabon with them, and now we are saying good-bye to them. We have known them their entire time in Thailand! It is so hard to say good-bye! 

Thursday, missionaries are arriving for transfers! Sisters Jenkins, Merritt, Sanford, Malquist, Peterson, and Brown. And Elders Dodini and Lewis! 

One more picture! 

Friday morning, I came down to the first floor to drop off some supplies for training our new arrivals and look who I ran into!!! 

Ma Beer and Ma Pen from Rayong!! We were so happy to see them! I think we exchanged 20 hugs! 

8am, Friday morning, it is time for transfer morning breakfast! It is our standard breakfast of Moo Bing (grilled pork on a stick), Sticky Rice, Pantangko (Thai Donuts), and lots of delicious fruit! We have 3 new Sisters this transfer! On the left you see Sister Plue, Sister Prasitchai, and Sister Moss! Sister Zabala waves hello on the right! 

After breakfast, the missionaries gather around to find out who their new companions will be! The greenies meet their trainers! There are lots of cheers of excitement! 

More missionaries! 

More hugs! 

Time for a group picture! All of our new missionaries with their companions and our mission leaders!

Time for training. First Sister Nok gives them information on their visa renewals!

Next Elder Brady talks about housing and bikes! 

More training by Elder Brady! We were so proud of these 13 tired missionaries. They have been traveling for a couple of days and are so jetlagged! 

Picture time on the 5th floor balcony. 

A picture with Sister Hanks who is getting transferred! We have loved getting to know her in Bangkok. 

One of our new missionaries, Elder Myers, looks so much like a grown-up version of our grandson, Dawson! 

Lunch in the mission home was Khao Soi and Thai Fruit Salad! It was out of this world! 

Elder Dollar brought in some Durian Potato Chips to sample! 

I was a little scared. 

But I went ahead and tried it! 

I can't believe Lays has this flavor! 

It was not bad! 

But I did need some candy to get rid of the after taste! 

Friday afternoon, Elder Westcott and his new companion Elder Myers smile for the blog post! 

We love Elder Westcott! We have known him since the MTC and he was our Branch President in Rayong. He will finish his mission in December one week after we do. And we look forward to getting to know our grandson look-a-like, Elder Myers! 

Well, I started this on Thursday and now it is Friday night! 

Thanks for reading! 

Until next week, 

Sawatdee Ka!