Thailand: The Land of Smiles, Sweat, and Sparkles. Week 3.

I love Mondays! :)

Ok, for this letter we're going to organize by day.

Because this week was CRAY. Seriously. 

TUESDAY

Got up early to go into Asoke to sign our work permits! I got to see a bunch of my peeps from the MTC, which was wonderful. Oh, I have missed them. We also had very entertaining taxi rides both ways...the radio music is oh so sappy and I kinda love it. A lot. Sister Weed and I also teach English every Tuesday night at the church. We teach the advanced section, and it is always exciting. There is a boy who comes every week and his name is Chicken. Enough said. Everyone calls me Sister Hungry, which they loooooooooove. Also, a man named Sam comes. He is a highly entertaining character. He lives in his trailer and owns an invention company. Apparently he gives the Sister missionaries a Welcome to Thailand present each time they move into Saphaan Suung. He gave us a "washer and dryer." It was a clip with a washer tied onto it. Awesome.

WEDNESDAY

We had exchanges with the Sisters in Sinakharin. Sister Weed stayed in Saphaan Suung and I went with Sister Wiganda (khon Thai—or from Thailand) to Sinakharin. It was so fun. We had dinner with a family from the ward there and we ate at their neighbor's house. There were about 6,000 kids and I had no idea who belonged to who and it was very loud and I understood approximately 4% of what was said, but I loved it. Plus, we got to walk down the street with the family and the little girl, Nong Fom, who is probably 5, decided to grab my hand and then point out all of the colors she could find in English. I was so perfectly happy in that moment. Also, Sister Wiganda's response to any of my questions was "Everything. Jingle bells." Such as, "Hey Sister Wiganda, what are we going to do for dinner?" "Everything. Jingle bells." "Hey Sister Wiganda, what is your best advice for a greenie like me?" "Everything. Jingle bells." "Hey Sister Wiganda, when do we need to do this or that?" "Everything. Jingle bells." You get the idea. I don't entirely understand, either. But I love her. She's crazy.

THURSDAY

The day of Taxis. We took taxis all over Sinakharin and into Bangkapi and then back to Saphaan Suung. I thoroughly enjoyed it because in every taxi, we happened to be listening to 93.5 Listen to Your Heart Radio. I got to enjoy hits such as "Play that Funky Music White Boy," "How Do I Live Without You?" some Gwen Stefani and Bruno Mars, "’Til You Come Back to Me," "Big Girls Don’t Cry," and "How Sweet It Is to be Loved by You." Also "You are so Beautiful to Me." I couldn't not think of little Alfalfa from Little Rascals. Also another common theme was that every single taxi driver (and every other khon thai in Thailand) told me I had a Baby Face that day. So that was fun. Sister Weed and I also taught Brother Boss and Brother Jom how to make brownies from a box. They had never done that before. They video recorded the entire process. Haha, so good. 

FRIDAY

We were literally so busy with appointments that we had no time to study. We are supposed to have set hours to study every morning...we didn't get any hours in because people kept calling us and it was ridiculous. We taught English at the courthouse in Minburi (our service hour for the week! We love it plus we get free lunch every week so we are in no way complaining) and at the end of every lesson we give, we share a spiritual thought. Sister Weed asked me do it...and it went so well. I felt like I finally could say what I wanted to say without having to take long pauses or anything.

SATURDAY

OH on Saturday there was a YSA activity at our building. OH it was so entertaining. We had a live band in the chapel. Not sure how kosher that was, since they were singing Adelle and things from Titanic, but hey. It was fun. We are actually going to be teaching the lead singer this week! She told us she wanted to learn more. She has red contacts. She is awesome. The rest of the activity was a luau. Oh I wish I had my card reader so I could send some photos home...I have never seen anything so entertaining as that wonderful huge group of Thais learning how to limbo. So good. Also, our friend Sam from English class was there in a tie dye shirt and Hawaiian floral shorts and some sweet Nikes. The outfit was completed by his invention toolbelt slash fanny pack, so it was definitely a good day.

SUNDAY

Well here's a wonderful thing that happened at church. I translated Primary into French. What?! There is a family in our branch that speaks French. The mom is Thai and the dad is from the Marshall Islands. They both speak English and French, but taught their kids only French in the Islands. Now they are back in Thailand and usually the mom or dad will translate for the kids, but yesterday they asked me to do it. My French is definitely rusty, but it was SO fun. We also had 5 walk-ins at church, which was AWESOME. We taught one of them and she wants to know more about the Book of Mormon...we'll be meeting with her again tomorrow. And then we also met with Sister Bay from the ward to get to know her better. We were at her house for a good while and she told us the story of her conversion. Every other word out of her mouth was either "happy" or "happiness." She doesn't have much, just a one room apartment with a bed and a tv and a sewing machine, but she proudly displays all of the photos from her baptism on her wall and the loves talking about that day. She has the biggest and prettiest smile I've ever seen. She also wanted to see all of the photos on my camera...which still has photos from FRANCE on there. And she went through every single one of them haha. She loved it, though, and so did I. She seriously is the epitome of joy and I want to be more like her.

MONDAY

This morning I went to the hospital! Haha, before you freak out, Sister Weed had a doctor's appointment, but since we're in Bangkok, we get to go to the international hospital here because it has the best medical care. It was very HighSo and super fun to explore. We even found a Dunkin' Donuts so that was a highlight.

Tomorrow morning Sister Na is having her baptismal interview! She is so sweet. We have had so many people walk into our path to teach this past week, it is crazy! We're excited and we love the work and all is well in Thailand.

LOVE YOU!!!!

Sister Hungry

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Thailand: the land of Smiles, Sweat, and Sparkles. (Referring to the sparkling sandals that everyone wears here, including me. You can bet I purchased a couple pairs of those babies.)