Dear family and friends,
Another week flew by! And I should warn you, there are a lot of pictures on this week's blog! We had visitors this week (Joey Leavitt and Rick and Belle) and so we went out to see some sights that we have been wanting to see since we got here! I am excited to share them with you!
Besides spending time with loved ones and sightseeing, we had work time in the office, time in the temple, time saying goodbye to departing Senior Missionaries, time watching general conference, a game night or two, and more patriarchal blessings.
I say we get on to the pictures!
But first, we love and miss you and thank you for your kind words, thoughts, prayers, and support!
Love,
Elder and Sister Brady (mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, John and Shelly, and so on!)
PS - Happy Birthday to Grandsons - August and Freddy!
Saturday morning, we had a visitor from home!
Joey Leavitt was in Thailand and met up with us to catch up!
We went to Jones Salad for lunch and I had this amazing Japanese Style Salad. I had to spend a little more than my usual $3 USD, but it was worth it!
We met Joey when years ago when John was Bishop and Joey was in the Young Men's program. It is always surprising to see a little salt and pepper hair on people we still see as teenagers! Joey and his family were in DC last year learning Mandarin and the spent time with Katrina and family who were also learning Chinese. Joey lives in Taiwan now and came to Bangkok for a little mini vacation. It was so fun to catch up with him. He always has great stories to tell!
Happy 14th Birthday to our Grandson August!!!
We spent Sunday watching the rest of General Conference. This is my breakfast! Mango Sticky Rice and Pantangko! I'm going to miss Thailand!!!
This came across my newsfeed! Apparently, Nene Royal from Phuket, Thailand won America's Got Talent! Here she is meeting the King and Queen of Thailand! Fun Fact - John also met the former King and Queen of Thailand when he was a young missionary in the late 70s. He also met the current King, who was a prince at the time!
Sunday afternoon, I cut up some veggies to take to a potluck and I found this little guy roaming around the broccoli! And this is why for the past 21 months, we almost exclusively eat carrots and cucumbers, peeled. Occasionally, I eat salads when we go to restaurants - trusting that they have combed through the veggies and removed all the bugs and worms before they serve me. Out of sight, out of mind.
John sat in his chair on Sunday afternoon chuckling to himself while he used AI to create this fun beach photo! He created some more, but I will not post them here. Message me if you'd like to see the others! Haha!
Sunday evening, we headed downstairs for a potluck with all of Jessica's friends! Jess was celebrating her 25th birthday and Canadian Thanksgiving! So we joined in the fun!
Elder Brady met Elder Brady!
Elder Brady from the West Mission and Elder Brady from the East Mission used the family history app to "find relatives around me," and discovered they are 3rd cousins!!!
Elder Brady and the Birthday Girl!
Here he shows us a Ghost Pepper that he and grandma (my mom) grew in the garden.
He is excited to eat this HOT Pepper (known to be one of the hottest in the world)!
And this is the box of cookies they brought us from the Philippines! We heard from Katrina and family (who just went to the Philippines a couple of weeks ago to visit Gordon's old mission and Rick and Belley) that they are delicious! We are so excited to try some! 
Our first stop was Wat Mahathat.
Ayutthay is a historic city that was founded in 1350 and it served as the second capital of Thailand. 
It was destroyed by the Burmese in the 18th Century.
The Buddha statues are missing their heads due to a combination of wartime destruction by the Burmese army and subsequent looting for the international antiquities market.
And we met up with Rick (John's brother) and Belley who are in town from the Philippines! Do you remember those Cheez*Its we told you about?? We bought a box for Rick! He was so excited!
Monday morning, we headed up to Ayutthaya.
John and I went to Ayutthaya with Rikki last July, 2025. Unfortunately, I was sick with food poisoning and we only stayed about an hour and did not go into the historical park and see the "must see" sights.
This time, we all felt well and I did a little research ahead of time and asked Google to tell me the top 5 spots we should see in Ayutthaya!
Our first stop was Wat Mahathat.
At Wat Mahathat, one particular sandstone Buddha head rests at the base of a Bodhi tree.
As the temple lay abandoned for decades, the tree's roots grew around the head, cradling it without covering the face. It likely toppled there during the 1767 invasion or was hidden by a thief who could not carry it away (fun speculation from google!)!
This is Wat Ratchaburana.
This was built in 1492.
These ancient ruins are so beautiful.
We stopped at a little ron ahaan (which is a roadside eatery in Thai)
for some noodle soup and pad Thai!
The food was amazing! And the price was right! I think we spent less than $9
USD to feed all of us lunch!
The Pad Thai!
Afterwards, we headed next door to "Scoops Me Up Gelato Old City."
The chocolate gelato was amazing!
Wat Lokaya Sutha
People are not allowed to put gold leaf on this Buddha, so there is a small Buddha in front where people could do that. From google: Putting Gold Leaf on a Buddha statue in Thailand is an act of devotion, merit-making, and reverence known as Bai Thong.
The Chao Phraya River was so high! You can see the sandbags that were used to try and hold back the floods from a couple of weeks ago.
The Wat across the river is still flooded.
Neighborhoods still had flooding and boats were parked in front of houses. We saw some young children swimming and playing in the puddles!
Wat Chaiwatthanaram - 17th Century Buddhist Temple
This was constructed in 1630 by King Prasat Thong to honor his mother and commemorate milatary victories.
You can see more of the Buddha's with missing heads.
The bricks and designs are so beautiful.
Smile!
The carvings are stunning.
The weather was gorgeous!
Albeit, it was a little hot!
More of Wat Chaiwatthanaram.
This is the central prang (tower like spire). It is 35 meters high (115 feet) and built in the Khmer-influenced architectural style, making it highly reminiscent of Angor Wat. The steep staircases lead up to hidden relic chambers.
On our way back to Bangkok, we had to get a picture of this overloaded truck!
We missed our exit and got rerouted to this road under a very low overpass!!!
On our way to this little road, we had traffic coming towards us on a ONE WAY street. I was not fast enough to get a picture. Also, I was afraid for our lives. Apparently, those cars were too tall to drive under this road, and their only option was to drive the WRONG WAY towards us!
Tuesday, we headed to The Ancient City in Samut Prakan. This is about a 40 minute drive from where we live. We started our day around 11am, so our first stop was lunch!
This restaurant was inside the ancient city in the Floating Market. We had Pineapple Fried Rice!
It was amazing!
The Ancient City is the largest private open air museum in the world! It is about 320 acres and is designed in the shape of a map of Thailand! It features scale replicas of famous Wats and Landmarks representing different eras and regions of Thailand. The one I am standing in front of is Mount Meru Pavilion. It is surrounded by a decorative mythical serpent!
We have wanted to visit the Ancient City since we arrived 21 months ago. So it was fun to have Rick and Belle here so we could tour the park with them.
Rick jumped out and scared Belle at the Ghost house!
John stands on the bridge that leads to...
The Pavilion of the Goddess of Mercy Bhoti or the Pavilion of Enlightenment.
The Selfie.
This face has been making children and grandchildren laugh for decades!
It's the face that captured my heart! Haha!
Wat Phumin. This is a Northern Thailand Style Building.
Prathat Bang Phuan - this structure is influenced by Upper Northeast and Laos regions.
I call this photo - From Brick Grows a Flower.
This is a replica of the stone corridor found in Phimai Historical Park Thailand, which is located in Korat!
This is a replica of Prasat Phra Vihan near the Cambodian Border.
Mondop of the Footprint of the Lord Buddha.
This is a full-scale replica of the historic Khmer-style sanctuary
Phra Prang Sam Yot from Lopburi Province.
This is the other side of the Mondop of Phra Phutthabat.. The actual historical temple is located in Saraburi Province. The staircase rails are cool!!
The golden walls are beautiful.
Did I mention we rented a golf cart? It is a much better way to get around the park. You could walk, but I would not recommend that in the Thailand heat. You could also drive your car. But google told me that a golf cart is the best and most fun way to see the park. It was easy to hop on and hop off!
Sanphet Prasat Palace originally found in Ayutthaya.
This is Sepha. She is a character from Thai literature/folklore.
Here we are in our golf cart. John is a great chauffeur! Haha!
Detail of the bridge!
Dvaravati Wihan (or standing Buddha statue).
View of the Ancient City.
View of Elder and Sister Brady!
Another view of Elder and Sister Brady
Beautiful Fountain!
Beautiful dragon!
The beautiful Bhumibol Bridge!
Tuesday evening, impromptu Senior Missionary gathering at the Merkleys! Sister Merkley made some amazing lemon mousse! We played a getting to know you game and had a lot of laughs! I forgot to get a picture of the whole group (Merkleys, Bradys, Calls, and Justensens), so this picture of dessert will have to suffice!
Wednesday morning, we got to meet this wonderful Sister, Vennila, from Chennai, India! She was so lovely and so grateful to receive her patriarchal blessing.
Wednesday evening, the Mackleys arrived from Laos (which is part of the Thailand Bangkok East Mission. They are completing their Senior Mission and we were able to go to dinner with them, the Calls, and our mission leaders, the Kanyaphans.
Even though it is the rainy season, there is never a reason to wear a coat!
On our way to the restaurant.
Here we are at Simmer! This place has the best Thai Food! We ate so much that my stomach hurt!
Sister Kanyaphan kindly dishes us up some Tom Yum! It was amazing!
Thursday morning, this beautiful mother and daughter, Sagaya and Mary, also from Chennai, India, received their patriarchal blessings. It was such a pleasure to meet them and to hear their inspiring stories.
John and I shared the Burger and tots.
We did NOT share the Vanilla Nutella milkshake!
Thursday evening snack!
Cheez-Its!
The Country Office worked from home all week. They have a big office! Our office is a little smaller, so we got sent home around 10am Friday morning.
Aujima had this cute cupcake treat for me!
Here we are after the temple. We love Auiima! She is going to make a great missionary! She leaves to go to the MTC in the Philippines in less than 2 weeks!
I had to take a picture of this beautiful bride coming out of the temple!
Since we couldn't go back to the office, we headed to IKEA to return something and I was so excited to see Christmas decorations!!
We planned to meet up with Rick and Belle for one last goodbye, but the heat got the best of them, so they went back to their hotel. We ate some IKEA meatballs and enjoyed this lovely view!
It's Friday night and the blog is all done! Yahoo!
7 weeks and 3 days. But who is counting?
Thanks for reading!
Until next week - Sa Wat Dee Ka!
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