More critters!

Two days in a row I found one of these belly up on my kitchen floor first thing in the morning. The first day, the legs and antennae were still moving. (I decided on its back was better than crawling toward me.) Ray got the privilege of sweeping them up and taking them outside for the birds to eat. We've seen some pretty big ones outside but these are the first we've seen inside our house. Gives me the creeps to think about them crawling around in my kitchen! It didn't take me long to find the bug spray and use it liberally.

Yummy fruit!

We have so many options for delicious fruit.  There are lots of varieties of bananas. The green mangoes taste kind of like apples and are eaten with salt and hot pepper spice. The white one with the purple rind is called mangosteen. It's what xango juice is made from. It has a flavor impossible to describe, but, oh, so delicious! The pineapples are less than a dollar each and very sweet. The oranges are more like tangerines. We put fresh slices in jell-o. The golden mangoes are large, sweet, juicy and cheap (about 40 cents each). We didn't have a somo to put in this picture. They are kind of like a pummello but much sweeter. We eat lots of fruit every day. Love it!

 

This is one of our favorite markets to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. It's a wholesale farmers market open 24/7. Farmers bring their produce directly here so it is the freshest possible. Vendors in other markets come here to buy their produce. We have decided to go to the source. We even found delicious apples at this vendor--they are usually expensive and mushy, but these were crisp and delicious.

The market is huge! It has every kind of fruit and vegetable. Most vendors are very specialized. There are watermelon vendors, cabbage vendors, tomato and potato vendors, hot pepper vendors, etc. Usually they sell only one or two things at each place. It's fun to wander and see what we can find.

Here I am with a tuk tuk full of stuff purchased at Muang Thong (Gold City) Market. Oranges, mangoes, pineapple, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, etc. Ray eats a lot better than the young missionaries.

 

A change in attitude and style

There was a time when I would not even ride in the car with the window down! This is my usual
tuk tuk hair!

When I get to our destination, I finger-comb my hair and go for a little bit of a messy look. Quite an adjustment for me!

Ray still tells me I'm beautiful. He's a wonderful husband!

Kumpawabi

 We had a wonderful time attending branch conference in Kumpawabi. When the meeting started, there were about six members in attendance. We ended up with about 25 counting the babies. The branch president (far left holding baby) is a wonderful young man, 26 years old, and a member of the Church less than three years. He has a tough job with this struggling little branch, but he is working hard to help it grow. We went and visited less active members with the missionaries and branch president the following Saturday. Ray loved the interaction. He is able to be much more direct in his conversation because of his age--age has some inherent credibility and respect. The young missionaries might be considered disrespectful in encouraging an older person to change his ways.

 

President Thong and his wife with their little boy, Mormon. They named him Mormon so that when people asked about his name, they could tell them about the Church. Very missionary-minded!

 

He is a cute chunk of a boy! (Just as a side note, do I look a little warm? I was! Temperatures were around 100 degrees with high humidity. Not so good for the hair! or Ray's sweat glands.)

  

There is quite a disparity in standard of living: note the beautiful, big home on the right and the shacks built over the water on the left. This is a common sight.

If you look closely, you can see the fishing net hanging over the water--just waiting for the owner to lower it for his day's catch.

A Burial in Nong Khai

One Sunday, Brother Bunthom asked Ray if we could meet him at the church at 1:00 the following day so Ray could help with a blessing. Ray said that, of course, we would be happy to help. We met him the next day and started on an unexpected journey. We drove to a town a little more than an hour  away. Brother Bunthom treated us to lunch on the way--som tam (green papaya salad) and barbecued chicken).

If you look closely, you can see that the heads are still attached to the chicken. It was delicious. (No, we didn't eat the heads.)

 

As we drove, we learned that the blessing Ray was to give was a dedication of a grave. A member of the church in Bangkok had passed away, and she did not want to be cremated, which is the normal Thai way. There are very few cemeteries in Thailand, but a kind member of the Church has donated this land in Nong Khai in the northeast of Thailand for this purpose. The sister's family had driven her over 400 hundred miles, some of them riding in the back of a pickup all the way, so she could have the blessing of a burial. The members prepared the vault, digging the grave and mixing the cement by hand.

There were probably 15 members who didn't know this sister who drove as far as we did to help give her a proper service. The people are so kind and generous. They are such a small percentage of the population that we really rally around each other as members of the Church.

They came prepared with hymnbooks so they could sing. (The sister to the right of the car is carrying buckets of sand to mix the cement.) As the brother conducting announced the program, he announced that Ray would give a talk and then dedicate the grave. He had a song and a prayer's length of time to prepare. It's a good thing he is always prepared with inspiring thoughts.

You can see that the cemetery is not cleared and beautiful like ours at home. They had to be careful as they carried the casket not to step in holes or trip over rocks and weeds.

There was a beautiful, loving spirit in a place we would consider a less than ideal, and the family was very grateful for the service given them.

My laundry day friend

My laundry room lizard decided to pose for me. Pretty cute, huh! I think he is getting a little bit used to me--some days he just sits and stares.

A Little More About Our Home

Let me give you a quick tour of our lovely town home.

Our living room:

There is a television but we have never turned it on. We are not really sure what is available to watch. It does make a nice back drop for our "joy" plate and my 17th of the month orchids.

I have to explain about our "joy" plate. Our dear friend, Frank Clapp, wanted to give us something to remind us of him and his wife, Tamera. Tamera was always a happy person, in fact, her motto was "joy". So, Frank decided to create this plate with the help of our daughter-in-law, Rebecca. (She has become good at writing in Thai.) So this says "joy" in Thai with love from our dear Tamera. She reminds us to have joy in every day. Thanks, Frank!

Our dining room and kitchen:

Our friendly little geckos greet me nearly every morning. They are often in the sink at night, too, but they are very shy, so they don't stay around long when I start cooking or cleaning up. We like having them around because they eat mosquitoes.

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The laundry room with washer and "dryer" outside our back door:

I have a friendly lizard that lives in the laundry room and welcomes me when I go out to work. He is quite thin but about 12 inches long.

These stairs would have killed Ray three years ago before his knee replacement surgery, but they are not a problem now!

Upstairs are the bedroom, bathroom, and our office. 

I have a nice vanity where I do my hair and make up each morning.

Can you believe that we have an empty drawer in this dresser that both of us use? And we share this four-foot closet. Things like this are much simpler when you are a missionary!

Our bathroom is lovely tile and is the only place in the house that has heated water.

This office is where we usually study, practice language, plan our lessons, and is often the place we facetime or make our phone calls home!

So there you have it--our home away from home. We are very comfortable!