Suddenly in Bangkok?
October 10th, 2017
4 months, 3rd week
Thailand, Bangkok, Chaing Mai District
samuel.montague
This past week has been a little crazy. Tragically, I didn't bring my planner or anything with my notes of the past week, so this might be shorter than normal.
We woke up, got off the train, and immediately into the car of a member, her daughter, and Brother Ronny. We took a trip in her new car (aka super nice) to the Thai-Denmark Dairy Farm. I was just as confused, trust me. I learned about making fertilizer from spoiled milk, bacteria, and maggots. I milked a cow (not something I thought I'd be doing in Thailand), then fed a calf out of a bottle. We continued our trip to the rodeo, where everyone but us (against rules) rode a horse, watched a lasso performance, and a knife performance. It was Wild (west). We passed the camel, ostriches, deer, ponies, and llama back to the front. Our next destination was to a pretty resort for lunch, followed by a small excursion to see waterfalls. Before dinner, we made a last stop at a huge dam, in 2 different spots. The first stop we had it to ourselves whereas the second one was a touristy place. We went crazy at McDonald's (which made me a little sick), then slept over at the nearby Elder's housing.
We had to wake up way early to go to the immigration office. It was super nice that everybody that queued up early with us (we got there 2.5 hours before open) did so with experience as they brought things to make their stay comfortable both for sitting and activity wise. Then we sat. And waited. I had a honey-lime-club soda drink that was really good, then we continued to wait. Our office person, Sister Beth, got there with all of my documents, then we waited. Did I mention that we waited some more. Finally, the immigration office opened, we got in, got a queue number, and waited. LOL, so much time. When I was called and started going through the process to get my visa renewed, all the government employees recognized me as a missionary and kept saying "ell-dee-ed" (LDS, but the s sound as a d). We got back to the misson office, where we met again with Brother Ronny for a late lunch (he loves Elder Hanks so much, and I'm pretty sure I'm starting to grow on him). We got HUGE plates of a Japanese Curry dish.
4 months, 3rd week
Thailand, Bangkok, Chaing Mai District
samuel.montague
This past week has been a little crazy. Tragically, I didn't bring my planner or anything with my notes of the past week, so this might be shorter than normal.
General Conference finally came! In Thailand, everyone just watches it a week later. We watched the two Saturday sessions very comfortably with our branch's sister missionaries. We were in the branch clerk's office, with cozy chairs, snacks galore (I've consumed far too many mentos this weekend), notebooks out, and speakers turned up. After Priesthood session that night, our district (stake) president took us out with his wife and son to a restaurant called Duke's. It's "German" but really it's just various American dishes. I got a delicious hamburger, akin to the deluxe island burger at Burger Island. President Ken had us talk about our experiences as a deacon to his son, then we stayed the night at the zone leaders' house, right next to the church.
For Sunday, the members made us sit with them, because it was "tradition", but honestly it was more difficult for me and none of the missionaries really liked it. While we listened to the original English version on headphones, the Thai translation was blasting in the background. It was hard to focus on the talks at times, but I feel like I was still able to get answers and revelation meant for me.
We departed not too long after for our train as I had to report to the immigration office to renew my visa. We took the HiSo overnight sleeper train to Bangkok, and this time I was prepared- I had my change of clothes for the overnight journey, which made it immensely more comfortable (สบาย).
We woke up, got off the train, and immediately into the car of a member, her daughter, and Brother Ronny. We took a trip in her new car (aka super nice) to the Thai-Denmark Dairy Farm. I was just as confused, trust me. I learned about making fertilizer from spoiled milk, bacteria, and maggots. I milked a cow (not something I thought I'd be doing in Thailand), then fed a calf out of a bottle. We continued our trip to the rodeo, where everyone but us (against rules) rode a horse, watched a lasso performance, and a knife performance. It was Wild (west). We passed the camel, ostriches, deer, ponies, and llama back to the front. Our next destination was to a pretty resort for lunch, followed by a small excursion to see waterfalls. Before dinner, we made a last stop at a huge dam, in 2 different spots. The first stop we had it to ourselves whereas the second one was a touristy place. We went crazy at McDonald's (which made me a little sick), then slept over at the nearby Elder's housing.
We had to wake up way early to go to the immigration office. It was super nice that everybody that queued up early with us (we got there 2.5 hours before open) did so with experience as they brought things to make their stay comfortable both for sitting and activity wise. Then we sat. And waited. I had a honey-lime-club soda drink that was really good, then we continued to wait. Our office person, Sister Beth, got there with all of my documents, then we waited. Did I mention that we waited some more. Finally, the immigration office opened, we got in, got a queue number, and waited. LOL, so much time. When I was called and started going through the process to get my visa renewed, all the government employees recognized me as a missionary and kept saying "ell-dee-ed" (LDS, but the s sound as a d). We got back to the misson office, where we met again with Brother Ronny for a late lunch (he loves Elder Hanks so much, and I'm pretty sure I'm starting to grow on him). We got HUGE plates of a Japanese Curry dish.
And that brings us to the present. I apologize for inconsistency with emailing. It's way crazy as a missionary as our schedule gets shifted around so much but it's always on my mind to do! The problem with email is I can't blame it on a late letter on the postal system due to air mail, but I will respond to every email I receive.
I would like to encourage everyone to go back through Elder Cook's talk from conference. I don't remember why, or if there were multiple, just that I wrote that down.
Love you!
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Elder Montague
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