Crocodiles and Tigers, Oh My!

August 20th, 2017
2 months, 28 days
Thailand, Bangkok, Bangna (บางนา) District




Last Pday, we went to the Samut Prakan World's Largest Crocodile Farm and Zoo. There were indeed a lot of crocodiles present, but I also opted to hold a baby tiger and take pics with it. I played tug of war with some monkeys, and fed some crocodile fish heads. 

We saw a show of two guys doing stuff with crocodiles. We somewhat split off after that- there was a sister going home, so her companionship left. My companion and one of the other elders went to go get Shabu, and the rest of us (me and a Samut Prakan elder, and the Bangna sisters) went to one of the malls and kinda just chilled. It was nice to get to know each other better as we shopped and ate pretzels. I finally got a new pair of black shoes that I've been looking for, and I even got a new Potential Investigator in the mall! It was a low-key blast.

Here, they play ping pong after most ward events. So I've been playing as it's a way of socializing and getting to know the ward members. Just like with the volleyball at the MTC (which seems forever ago, oh my goodness),  I've progressed rapidly. I was terrible in the beginning, and now I can hold out fairly well against the best players we go against.

On Friday and Saturday, our days were literally completely scheduled with follow up visits and teaching appointments.  Then so many people just didn't pick up their phones or show up for the appointment. It all worked out good as we got some other opportunities.  However for one of the appointments, we went to visit a sister member who was going to introduce us to her brother and have us teach him.  Last minute he decided he wasn't interested and didn't want to talk with us. So we went to a friend of the mom (she's a member to) at his house. It was really far away from the center of town.  Based upon the directions, we went to the bootleg of nowhere and stopped underneath a bridge. From there we were able to piece together the remaining instructions and we proceeded to walk a tad further and stopped at his humble abode.  He was willing to listen and sit through our visit.  It was such an interesting lesson.

As a kind of tradition on Sundays, we eat dinner with the Bangna sisters and a couple of members. We rotate who makes it, and this week it was our turn! We got groceries on Saturday and I got designated as head chef so I decided to go all out and - nothing at all went according to plan. I was going to make my delicious bbq chicken and some fried rice with mixed veggies and egg. We were on a low 200฿ budget though and due to some buying decisions some mistakes were made. For example, we got a bag of chicken meat that was the cheapest available. . . turns out it was a bag of drumsticks. And the bbq sauce was expensive, so we ended up substituting a Thai sauce for 1/6 of the price. And I only had the sauce, salt, and pepper to work with to bring the meal together. They don't have bags of cheap veggies for cheap, so I got canned peas. It was an interesting ensemble, but it turned out really nice. I was afraid I had made too much, but everybody devoured more than normal. So I guess it wasn't as awful as I thought it might have been.

My scriptural thought this week is D&C 64: 9-11. Go and check it out! I've been doing some forgiving lately and releasing negative emotions to be replaced by Christlike love and patience. I know that when we do this, we can be filled with a more pure light of Christ, and we will achieve a greater happiness!

Love!

Elder Montague