Letter 30 - Happy Birthday, Happy Thailand Mother's Day, and Happy 7 Month Mission Anniversary

Dear family and friends!

I know I need to stop saying time is flying by. . . but time is flying by! This was a fun week celebrating my 63rd Birthday, Thailand's Mother's Day, and our 7 month Mission Anniversary! It was joping and arrival and transfer week too, so that always adds a little fun and variety to our days! We love it when the missionaries come to the mission office for goodbyes, trips to the temple, and lots of yummy "last" and "first" meals (for incoming and outgoing missionaries) in the mission home! We also love that they invite the office missionaries to join in on the fun! 

As always, I think it is best if I let the pictures tell the story. So scroll on for more about our week.

And as always, we love you and miss you and keep you in our prayers!

With love, 

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

John really wanted to take me some place nice for my birthday, but I WANTED IKEA meatballs! I have been wanting to go to IKEA ever since I saw one here in Thailand! So we finally did! And they were exactly like the meatballs back home! There was also mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce! Yum!

And of course it was fun to walk around IKEA and try out the furnishings! :) Just like back home! 

Next Birthday stop was a trip to the movies! Superman! 

And guess what . . . the giant popcorn is back! Woohoo! 

This pretty shrine was next to this fancy building! It needed a pictures (taken from the train)!

This is my second actual physical letter since coming on the mission! 

Thank you for the birthday card Diane Knaupp! 

Another house inspection with the Chachoengsao Elders! Elders Lutter, Tupou, Olson, and Runia.

I loved the patterns on this sidewalk across from the Elder's house.

We didn't see the Elders when we walked out of our hotel in Rayong. 

But they saw us and took a picture! 

At church in Rayong,

Time for an after church group picture of our branch.

After church potluck! Lots of yummy Thai food and fruits!

Another Doctor's appointment! 

Time for lunch! John makes a triple stack PB & J! 

Sister Howard and husband came into town. They serve as MLS missionaries (member and leader support) upcountry. We had to get a picture of our matching Costco shirts! 

August 12th is Mother's Day in Thailand! Left to right: Our mission mom (and mission leader), Sister Kanyaphan, me, Sister Howard, and Office coworker, Sister Belnap. 

It's joping day! (Jope means finish). Sister Endaya is going home! Nine missionaries left this transfer!

Here we are weighing luggage with a hand held scale! 

This is inside the Market where we sometimes go to lunch! Elder Brady (circled) is holding a seat by a fan! It is so hot inside here! But the food is good and the price is right!

Sister Brady (circled above) is waiting for the fried rice! 

The sisters joined us for lunch and ice cream afterwards. 

I had to get a picture! 

Sister Endaya, Sister Taylor, and Sister Johnston

Stopping for a picture in front of the temple. 

At the mission home for breakfast. We are going to miss Sister Endaya! 

Elders trying to repack their suitcases so they don't weigh too much! 

They have so many souvenirs to take home! 

Another goodbye picture! 

Welcome to Thailand! Our new missionaries arrive! Elders Winfree, Nelson, and DeLange. We also got two Sisters! Sister Brooks and Sister Furlan. We look forward to getting to know them all! 

Sister Belnap takes a picture of our new missionary, Sister Furlan and her companion Sister Faux. She will send a letter and picture to Sister Furlan's parents to let them know she is here safe and sound!

Transfer day lunch! We sure love all of these missionaries!! Pictured: Elder Fairy, me and Elder Brady, Sisters Lundberg, Colver, Gilson, Brooks (new), Furlan (new), and Sister Taylor!

Posing in our matching Thai attire! 

Sister Ham brought us over some yummy Thai Desserts. She works in the Country Office and helps all of the missionaries with immigration. 

A table full of snacks in the office! Thai desserts and yummy Thai fruits! 

This was sort of a chocolaty coconut thing! It was delicious! 

This was made of pumpkin and other stuff! And it had a pretty design! 

Handmade earrings and a bracelet. Thank you Sister Endaya! 

I started this on Friday and it is now Saturday morning! It is time to pack and head down to Rayong! 

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend! 

Letter 29 - YSA and FSY Week! And Happy Birthday to Shelly!

 Dear family and friends!

Happy Birthday to me! But more about that next week! 

This was a crazy, busy, wonderful week! We had to conferences we went to: 6 days at YSA (Young Single Adults) and 2 days of FSY (For the Strength of Youth! 12 Blessings - to young people from Malaysia and Nepal - all typed up and hand delivered, amazing food, sights, and activities! And then back home and to the office to unpack and get caught up! 

As usual, I will let the pictures do the talking! Warning: there are a ton of pictures and I post them for us to remember our mission! If you have the time to scroll through them all, you have too much time on your hands! Haha! Thanks for even getting this far :)! 

We love and miss you all and pray you are well!

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

John and Shelly enjoying a snack in the lounge at the Millennium Hilton.

The view from our hotel room was amazing!! We arrived on Tuesday, the day before the Conference.

The food was incredible! I love the fruit in Thailand!

Getting a walk in on the treadmill in a real gym at the hotel! I didn't sweat as much as I do walking the stairs, but it was good to burn a few calories, because I had to sample all of the desserts! 

Fountain in front of the hotel lobby! 

Walking home from 7-11 Our hotel is in front of John. There are large pictures of the King everywhere you go! John forgot to pack his electric razor so we bought a razor and some shaving cream. 

All dressed up and ready to go eat some dinner.

Our first blessing on Day 1 (Wednesday) was for Dash from Malaysia. 

Dash is standing by us in the background while his older brother, Max, takes the selfie!  

YSA conference day 1 - Scavenger Hunt at Icon Siam. First task: Eat a tarantula! 

The picture says it all! 

Have I mentioned the amazing view of Bangkok from our hotel room?

The Chao Phraya river is muddy from the rains,

Day 2 - Teaching our workshop on The Power of Positive Relationships! We talked about the importance of positive relationships with ourselves, others, and with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It was also fun to tell the YSA our love story and how John and I met at YSA!

Some of the YSA after our class. We taught the same class three times to three different groups! 

We also had 3 blessings on day 2. This is Laxmi. She had her patriarchal blessing and also went to the temple for the first time on this trip. She is from Nepal!

Blessing number 3 - Kanchan from Nepal.

Have I mentioned the view?

In case I haven't mentioned it, the food was amazing! Mango Sticky Rice!

Coconut Panna cotta! Soooooooo good!

Zone Leader Elder Wood getting ready to perform for the YSA with his ward's dance group! 

Zone Leader Elder Gibson also getting ready to perform! 

YSA gathered to watch the Thai dancers!

Beautiful flower arrangements in front of the restaurant.

Sajjan from Nepal. Blessing number 4.

Day 3 - Friday! Time for lunch! So much amazing fruit! 

This is Passion Fruit! It is bitter and sweet and delicious! 

Blessing number 5 - Santosh from Nepal.

Blessing number 6 - Chaitanya from Nepal.

Blessing number 7 - Sayara from Nepal.

It was so amazing to meet these wonderful Young Adults. We got to hear their stories and get to know them a bit. The Lord has amazing things in store for them all, 

Day 4 (Saturday) - Bangkok Adventures! The Senior Missionaries hop in a van to head to the event. 

You can see John and Shelly at the end of the table. The YSA are making flower leis. 

This large group did activities all day long including learning about Thai massage, making Lotus flowers, and Thai cooking. 

We are standing behind Destiny. She shared a great story about how she saved a fish at the fish market! She saw a fish struggling to breathe and it jumped off the table twice. 

She purchased it and took it to the Klong to set it free!! 

Have I mentioned how amazing the food was??? 

Blessing number 8 - Sonu from Nepal! 

On our way to the Dinner Cruise Saturday night, we walked by the beautiful lit up Icon Siam Mall. 

So many pretty lights! 

Shelly and Cartoon! Posing in front of Icon Siam before we get on the cruise! 

Our Dinner Cruise - The Opulance! 

Fantastic Buffet. 

Yummy desserts! 

YSA gathered on the deck!

The Poons, Shelly, and the Pezzillos! 

Lots of music and dancing! 

Joining in on the fun! 

Beautiful sparkly Buddhist temple! 

City lights along the river! I would like to ride that Ferris Wheel!

More buffet pictures! 

Day 5 (Sunday) - Time to say goodbye and head over to the FSY Conference. 

Here is Jenna, Sister Belnap, and me posing for a picture! 

The whole group pose for a picture. The theme was:

Rooted and Rising. 

Rooted in Jesus Christ and Rising in Hope!

We got this lovely night light sketch of us! 

Arriving at the School for FSY - I like their motto:

Flair - Discipline - Academic Rigour

We stayed in a dorm room with twin beds. 

We missed our view! Haha! 

Sunday - Blessing 9 - Cherrie from Malaysia. 

We had the blessings in a sound proof room music room. 

Blessing 10 - Livia from Malaysia.

John taking a quiet moment in between blessings. 

Monday - Blessing 11 - Sariah from Nepal. 

Blessing 12 - Masana from Malaysia.

All of these young people had such amazing stories! 

It was such a blessing for us to have this opportunity to meet them and share this special day with them!

Taking a moment to enjoy the FSY talent show.

After the talent show was over, we were able to find all of the youth and gave them their typed up blessings. We had to spend time after the blessings to type them, edit them, and print them. 

We were able to do that at both the YSA and FSY. When John served as patriarch back in Oregon, he would do 12 blessings in a period of 4 months and it usually took a few days to 2 weeks before we would get blessings in the mail. So 12 blessings in one week all delivered was a little miracle.

There was another patriarch at the conferences from Hong Kong. Brother and Sister Anderson. So there were actually 24 blessings total done! Pretty amazing! 

Back home to Bangkok on Tuesday. We found a new route home from the Post Office. 

West Mission Missionaries (John and I are East mission). I joined the West for a little field trip. Sisters Skidmore and Abba and Elders Watchman and Hottman. We are on our way to drop of some donations of gently used items to the Good Shepard Sisters, a Catholic Charity.

On our drive, we drove through this little neighborhood.

 Do you see those tiny cement things over the creek? 

That is how the people walk to their homes! These were about a foot wide at most!

This is Sister Louise! She is 91 years old and has lived in Thailand for 60 years. She started this humanitarian school and home to help women and children out of poverty. The teach the women how to craft and sew and then they sell the goods at shops around Bangkok 

Elder Uchtdorf from our Church has met her a couple of times. And the Church has donated to this charity to help them improve their buildings and to add on to their facility.

Posing with Sister Louise in their store 

(where we also purchased some of the beautifully handcrafted items).

Back in the office. These great young missionaries are headed home! Their 2 years are over! 

Elder Canfield and Elder Hill! We are going to miss them.

And of course, the Bradys, the Belnaps, and Sister Kanyaphan (our Mission Leader)

Thursday evening, the 7th, we went next door to the FX Hotel for a birthday dinner celebration for Sister Meeker and me! Sister Meeker's birthday was on the 6th and mine is the 8th! 

Sister Kay in the left! Sister Meeker and Sister Brady - the birthday girls!

Meekers also brought yummy cupcakes and ice cream for an after dinner treat! 

And that is a wrap! 

Seriously! If you read this far . . . you get bonus points! 

My birthday is over now . . . and it's time for bed! 

Goodnight!