Merry Christmas to all!

We had a wonderful combined Udon branches Christmas party. The primary children sang "The Nativity Song" and presented the cutest manger scene!

This is often where I am found--

The Branch One choir performed "The First Christmas in Zarahemla". Their hard work really paid off. They put a lot of thought into their costumes and performed the narratives and music with great feeling. I give it a "WOW" rating.

The missionaries always give 100% support to the branches! We love our eight missionaries!

Two of our English students surprised us by attending the party. They said they really enjoyed it. Beam made us a lovely Christmas card and Sangchai gave us a beautiful "crown of thorns" plant he grew from seed. We really love our English students. 

Outside was a lot of activity--food, games, prizes, and visiting. The evening was well planned, well attended, and enjoyed by all.

We continued some Christmas traditions like baking Granny's cookies for home teaching families and friends.

We went to the market and bought watermelon, pineapple, and oranges to go with the cookies and fudge.The tiny little mandarin oranges are so sweet and juicy. All of the fruit is so good!

We had fun decorating the tree with the elders and sisters. (Notice two helpful missionaries in the background continuing to do dishes.)

Christmas Eve found us gathered in our apartment singing Christmas songs, reading Luke 2, and sharing feelings about families, missions, and the blessing of the birth, life, and atonement of our Savior.  It was a special time.

When all of a sudden, there arose such a clatter, we flew to the door to see what was the matter. Actually, it wasn't a clatter at all but joyous singing by some of our great friends from Branch One who came to wish us Merry Christmas! It was great fun! We gave them each a Danish butter cookie, hugs, and good wishes.

They came on motorcycles and in a red and green balloon-decorated tuk tuk driven by the Relief Society president. What a party!

We had Michael buy these stockings from the dollar store at home. The postage to get them here was four times the cost of the stockings, but Santa had to have something to work with. We filled them with cans of A&W rootbeer, oreos and other cookies, candy, apples and oranges. We also printed off several Christmas stories for them to enjoy. I think it was the first Christmas stocking for the Saengwians and Sister Sumittra. They all seemed pleased.

Christmas morning at 8:00 sharp, the missionaries were at our door for breakfast. Two pans of homemade cinnamon rolls, chocolate milk, fresh watermelon, pineapple, and somo.

There was excitement in the air because there was food to eat, presents to open, and Skype calls to be made to families soon.

Merry Christmas, Elder and Sister Brown!

 Everyone enjoyed seeing what was sent from home!

Sister Hatch added a Thailand Bangkok Mission ornament to our tree that her mother had sent her. We all want one, too!

After Skype calls and preparation at our house, we all gathered again for Christmas dinner: prime rib and beef tenderloin, loaded mashed potatoes, carrots, rolls, coconut cream pie, apple crisp, and cheese cake. There were no complaints about the food! Smiles all around!

Sister Embley, Sister Hatch, Sister Sumittra, Sister Tauteoli, Elder Martin, Elder Mageno, Elder Darby, and Elder Winsor

 The missionaries had to be back to their regular missionary work at 6:00 p.m. So, after all the busyness and cleanup, Ray and I settled down in front of the television to watch our favorite movie which he downloaded from I-tunes:

We both still get teary-eyed when we hear: "To my big brother, George, the richest man in town!"

Even though we were far away from our family, we were still able to stay close via technology. Matthew and Meghan called us early Christmas morning (Christmas Eve Utah time) to wish us Merry Christmas and give us our Christmas present. It was a beautiful memorial book for Emma which Meghan had put together on line and published. They showed it to us on FaceTime and sent us a digital copy by email. It was so sweet and we both cried. It is waiting for us when we get home in February.

Friday morning, the 26th, we FaceTimed/Skyped our kids after they finished their Christmas dinner at our house. They all gathered around the tree in our living room and we watched them open the gifts we had sent to them and the family gifts. They gave us a beautiful bronze statue titled "Eternal Companions". (More tears!) It is also waiting for us at home--much too heavy to send. We are so grateful for our wonderful family and their support of us. We love them!

It is a remarkable to be in a country that does not recognize Jesus Christ. We are grateful for Him. He is our great hope and salvation. We are so blessed and honored to serve in His name.

I better give thanks before we celebrate Christmas!

This is the size of oven I use every day. I didn't think to take this picture until after dinner was over, so it has the left over apple crisp in it. (I store things in here that I want to keep away from the ants. We have a lot of those!)

It doesn't look very big, but. . .

it was big enough to cook our $80, twenty-two pound turkey. It was an imported Butterball since turkey is not eaten very much here.

Elder Saengwian, Sister Embley, Sister Tauteoli, Sister Hatch, Sister Packard, Elder Winsor, Elder Cooper, Elder Martindale, Elder Lim, Sister Saengwian

The missionaries were very appreciative, too. Good food, good company, and much gratitude expressed.

Home teaching!

We recently got our assignment for home teaching families. We are excited to visit, but there are some challenges. First of all, we have six families, but one we have no idea who she is or where she lives. (That will be our finding mission since people are very hard to locate.) Addresses are not really much help, we need someone to show us where they live or have people draw us a map. The maps are often hard to follow, but eventually we get there! We had a great time visiting.

 Sister Daa is primary president in Udorn Branch 1. Cute kids aged 14 and 4.

Udomsak and Nuu are recent converts of about 4 months. They are great!

We visit the branch president and his family. We didn't get a picture of them together, but this is President Aphiwat and Ray in the president's rice field. It is so beautiful in the country this time of year! (It makes me miss my garden!)

We also visit a young single mom, Wiw, and her little four-year-old son, Pooh. He was at school when we visited, so we didn't get a picture then. But we got a picture of them at the Halloween party--cute pair!

Sister Prajim is a sweet, giving soul. When we stop to visit with her at the market, I always buy shredded coconut from her, and she always gives me bananas. We kept trying to get her to smile, but this was the best we could get. She said she doesn't have pretty teeth, so she didn't want to let them show.

 It is a joy to get to know these families better, and we hope we can be of service to them.

One home teaching visit

We went to visit one of our dear sisters whom we love. We sat outside--I came home looking like this:

We counted 38 mosquito bites on my right leg and 12 on my left. Nice even number. They itch like crazy!

Branch 2 Campout

The branch was very excited about this branch activity--an overnight camp out. They had a good turnout and lots of fun.

VISITING

My dear friend, Sister Mo. She is the primary president and a sweet, wonderful person. We have worked together a lot. She is in process of turning in her papers to serve a mission. Love this girl!

Two of our little primary girls.They love Sister Mo, and she loves them.

Our new companions, Elder and Sister Sangwein

 

PLAYING GAMES AND LAUGHING

COOKING

Sister Uan is an expert at grilling corn. She cooks and sells it along the side of the main road from Khon Kaen into Udon. Sister Uan was just baptized the Sunday before this activity and her husband, Sanay, was baptized the next day. Sister Khanung and Sister Ut are both recent converts as well.

Sister Jinthanaa

 Steaks for dinner, but we couldn't stay. We had other appointments.

EATING

At night, a few had tents as you can see, but most of the people just rolled out their blankets or sleeping bags on the mats under the big awning that they had been playing under all day. Those who know us well, know there was no sleeping overnight for us!

It was a great activity that brought lots of people together!

Fun in the kitchen

Sister Nee wanted me to teach her how to make jello, so I took all the necessary ingredients to her house. She was really excited to make it for her nephew's birthday.The plastic bag by the bowl has blackberries we found in the frozen food section of the local version of  a Costco/Sam's Club. We enjoy frozen strawberries for our smoothies, too. Very nice touch of home!

I always feel like a giant here!

The jello turned out great, but she told me later that her neighbors ate all of it that night, so she had to go to the store to get more stuff to make for his birthday. It's a different taste for them that they like.

She couldn't have me come and help her without her teaching me something, too. So, she taught me how to make nam dok. Her sister is a great cook, too. Counter space is at a premium and kitchens are small, so they spread mats out on the floor to have a place for food preparation. This is where where we did all the chopping, slicing, and combining. Only the cooking was done up on the stove and counter. Worked great!

Pork, onions, lime juice, fish sauce and peppers. Spicy and delicious! I really like this!

Dinner party

We invited the branch presidency of Udon Branch 2 and their wives to our house for dinner one night just for fun. And, we did have a good time.

Pictured (left to right): Brother Preecha (first counselor) didn't know his wife, Nim, was invited so she stayed home. We were sad about the miscommunication and missed her. President Sitichai and his wife, Sombuun, Ray and Sister Nee. Sister Nee's husband, Tuy, is the second counselor. He was out of town caring for his mother.

"the girls"--Sombuun, Jeanene, Nee

In the first picture we took, President Sitichai wasn't sitting very close to Sombuun, and she said, "You don't love me!" and then laughed. (Even joking, that is an unusual comment here. I was a little surprised.) So in this picture he moved closer. Very cute!

We were a little concerned about what kind of food to serve, but finally decided on Vietnamese. I think they all enjoyed it. For dessert, I made blackberry and banana jello with whipped cream. Preecha liked it except for the blackberries which he thought were so sour--he really twisted up his face and picked out the berries. Nee loved it, said her family would love it, and later I taught her how to make it! Everyone definitely has his own taste buds!

We have dedicated leaders who work very hard. We really love them.

Monkeys!

Kumpawabi is famous for its monkeys. One day after piano lessons, we went to the park where most of them hang out. They are not afraid of people or cars or much of anything. They just go about doing whatever they want to do, including holding up traffic if they are playing in the street. They really are in no hurry to move until they are ready.

Mom and baby

Playing in a puddle.

Getting a drink. This one kept dipping the plastic bag in the puddle and then sucking on it.

They really are everywhere and very fun to watch.