Thursday, October 30, 2014

FamilySearch.org

We have helped several people get registered on FamilySearch.org and then enter their information to get them started on family history. They are very excited to begin their family record. One of them was a 14-year old girl who really worked well on the website and loved uploading pictures and entering information. She helped her mom, too.

Here are a couple of others:
We don't have a Thai keyboard for the computer, so they have to type their information into a translating program and then cut and paste it into familysearch. It takes a little longer, but it gets the job done.

Brother Srithai was very excited when he learned that he had enough information to send to the temple to have work done for his mother, father, and older sister who had all passed away. The sister missionaries who taught him have both gone home and they are working on completing the temple work for Brother Srithai's family. He is just this happy!
It makes us happy, too, to help with all aspects of missionary work.

Amazing!

It is amazing the things you see on, or along, the street!

A big truck followed by a pickup with an old style sound system for blaring advertising and a little tuk tuk going slowing along the side of the road. Looks pretty tiny, doesn't it?! Do you remember that's the way we used to travel before we got our car?  This picture gives it a little bit of perspective.

How high can you stack it? This high . . . .


This high . . .


And this high . . . . all you need is higher rails!


  Sorry this is a little blurry, (it was moving pretty fast), but as you can see, you can take anything home on a motorcycle. We have seen boxes six feet tall standing on end between two people, supplies for an entire sidewalk shop, a family of six, --- nearly anything can, and does, travel on a motorcycle.

Move your cattle in a pickup--no problem.

Safety is always of the utmost importance!

as you can see . . .



This brave lady walks the streets selling her wares and deals with whatever traffic there is. I've seen them  walk beside huge semi-trucks and not even seem to blink their eye. This is a very common way for people to sell--no overhead cost and they can cover a large market area. They sell everything from sausages and drinks, noodles, fruits and vegetables, to brooms, kids toys, and garden tools. Anything that can be pushed on a cart is available this way. If there is no way to pass because of busy traffic, then cars move at the walker's pace. We followed her for a way this day.

I have never seen a lawnmower of any kind here. That doesn't mean there are none, but even the fairly good sized lawns around the houses in our neighborhood are cut with weed whackers.  This is the way they mow the grass and weeds along the highway. Cars are going past them at 65-70 mph.

Sights to be continued . . . . .


A beautiful morning!

Several times a week, I try to go out walking at 6:00 in the morning for about 30 minutes. It helps wake me up and gets my heart pumping. Thirteen times around our little street/parking area is about 2 miles. It is already hot, but it is beautiful!

In the refrigerator, too!

Oh, my! I picked up the 30 egg-sized egg carton from the shelf in the refrigerator and this was hiding underneath. Poor thing chilled to death. Eek!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Every Tuesday night!

Every Tuesday night across the country, free English classes are offered at the church. Ray and I teach the advanced class in Udon. Our students have pretty good vocabulary and grammar skills, and  we continue to build on those. But we also spend a lot of time working on pronunciation. If you want to get a chuckle, find a Thai person and ask them to say "plural"! It is probably the most difficult word we've found for them to pronounce. 

The night this was recorded, we played jeopardy (all in English, of course!)--categories this time included "Say the Number" (included how to say fractions and up to numbers in the billions), "Say Four" (name 4 things in a category, ie four things people collect, four things in a pocket, etc), US Geography (US city with largest population,etc), "Idioms" (ie. meaning of "spill the beans"), and "Antonyms". The students get quite competitive when we play games.   There is a wide range of ages from high school to retired. It's a lot of fun, and we hope they learn something, too.

Welcome to the church we spend so much time at--and please meet our companions and friends!
(Copy and paste if necessary!)

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1569279569966893&id=1430086790552839

http://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSopYscD_m7Q%26list%3DUUWfXc9mv0kjEl_NK2qOmjmA&h=oAQE3KW-r&s=1

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

A clash of cultures!

This is the daytime security guard at our apartment.
You wouldn't see this on campus in Provo very often . . . Interesting . . .