Visitors to Udorn

The Meekers made a trip from Bangkok to Udorn to visit the missionaries along the way, check out their living conditions (which for the most part are very good), see some of the country, and bring a CAR to the Browns. Yes, we got a car. We are so grateful--not only is it more comfortable and convenient, but it allows us to visit more people and be of service in so many ways that we couldn't before.

The old and the new

Now, I am not saying that Ray likes driving in Thailand, nor does he like driving with ME in the car in Thailand (understatement!), but hopefully we will all survive. 

The Meekers were accompanied by the Moleffs who are the Family History missionaries. They presented a great family history fireside while they were here. We are hoping we can get the people excited about that work. President Senior has asked that the first thing the missionaries ask a new convert to do in the after baptism lessons is begin filling out the "My Family: Stories that Bring Us Together" booklet. (If you don't have one, and would like one, you can order one, or fill out an online version at familysearch.org.)  We really want them to catch the vision of temple work. 

 

While the Meekers and Moleffs were here, we took a little day trip to NongKhai. We visited the Friendship Bridge between Thailand and Laos which spans the Mekong River .

Just to the left of where we were standing was a quaint little restaurant.

And to the right was a garden. Made me think about my garden at home a little bit.

While we were there by the river, a monk and his family came by. He was married, had two children (who were grown), and five years ago, he decided he wanted to become a monk. He can go on vacation with his family at times but told us that he now lives at the wat (Buddhist temple); he no longer stays at home. Interesting decision at this later stage of his life.

Elder Moleff, Elder Brown, and Elder Meeker with this very friendly monk

Also in NongKhai, we visited a wat called Kaew Ku (pronounced gow goo). It is a park featuring giant fantastic concrete sculptures inspired by Buddhism and Hinduism. Many of these are over 80 feet tall. Interesting. . .

I wanted to add this last picture to give a little perspective of the size of these creations. The seven-headed snake is impressive, don't you think?

Pretty amazing!