Loi Krathong--Festival of lights

We knew that throughoutThailand the festival was going on--we joined with the people in Udon as they gathered around the lakes to pay respects to the goddess of water and seek good luck by releasing beautiful lotus shaped rafts, decorated with candles, incense and flowers onto the water. They also released big beautiful paper lanterns into the air. If your candle stays lit until it disappears out of sight, it means a year of good luck. The lake and sky were beautiful with lights. It was not as easy at it looked to get the lanterns to rise into the night sky, but very fun!

  We will have a year of good luck! (We are so blessed!)

Thailand 5000

The Mission set a goal to get 5000 people at church throughout the country on September 28. We invited members, less actives, called people on the phone, asked people to invite friends, invited the investigators, and then we did it all over again. It was talked about for weeks. We were really excited to have people join together to have a spiritual experience in church. I think there were between 3700-3800 in attendance across the country. Here were the results in Udon:

Sister Hughes, Elder Pyne, Elder Lim, Sister Brown, Elder Brown, Sister Hatch, Sister Muller, Sister Packard

Branch One--115 in attendance

Branch Two--121 in attendance

We love all of these people so much.

A lunar eclipse

When we came out of the church one night, we saw this eclipse in progress. It was lovely to watch.

More street sights

Just a few more pictures so you you can visualize the city better . . . normal, every day sights . . .

Need some sewing done? You can find people with sewing machines set up on the street. Many things are done "while you wait".

Want a whole pig head? No problem--they have lots to choose from . . .

Almost looks like some of them are smiling. . .(sorry)

He will walk around the city until he is sold out. Often a long walk with a heavy burden and little profit.

These people will push their cart all around the streets looking for people who want to buy. A movable restaurant. The tuk tuk driver will park on the sidewalk and take care of his vehicle until someone needs a ride.

This hard working man rides around town finding things on the street or in trash cans that can be recycled.

Notice the ladders that the cable company uses--made of bamboo, very sturdy They don't look very portable to us, but they are used everywhere!

People do not like the sun to get on their skin, so this is a very common sight. Sometimes even someone driving a motorcycle will hold a jacket or umbrella over their head to keep the sun (or rain) off.

This picture might give you an idea of how many motorcycles are on the streets. This is during class time at a technical school in Udon. I don't know how they find their own in the rush after class.

This was a house we saw many times as we drove to go visiting or on our way to our one Mexican restaurant in town. Many homes are built like this.

It was very unnerving to me to see families riding on a motorcycle with their little children.This is a small family with just one baby, but it was very common to see families with three children on a motorcycle. One would stand between the driver's legs, another would sit between the parents, and the other parent would hold one. I often saw a mom driving down the street with a baby or young child asleep over one shoulder and driving with the other hand.

I don't think I've seen any sights like these since we came home!

The tri-district conference--Saturday

The tri-district conference was a long time in the planning. As the name implies, it involved three districts--nearly 20 branches of the Church. Every one had things to do to prepare for it. There were displays with presentations, cultural events, food, and travel. (It was a two-day event being held about 90 miles from Udon and farther than that from other branches. Getting all of the people to Khon Kaen, housed, and fed was in itself a major undertaking.)

The branches in Udon were given the assignment to give a presentation about enduring to the endowment--the blessings of the temple. And so it began . . .

Brother O was the architect and project manager of the scale model of the Salt Lake Temple, and many people helped in "building" it. 

                                                    Sister Bee, Brother O, and Elder Lim

                                                           Sister Anne and Sister Bee

                             Sister Dam, Sister Bee, and Brother Jack (creating trees)--many spent long hours.

                               And it was worth it--a beautiful finished project! Very impressive!

Udon's display looked great! Brother Bunthom, Sister Jittra and Elder and Sister Moleff (family history missionaries) were some of the presenters.

There were many other displays and lots of people, so the room was very busy and noisy. Here are just a couple of examples of others. Much work went into these as you can see.

 

The next thing on the agenda was the cultural presentation. The crowd gathered with much anticipation because everyone knew someone who was going to perform.

The participants had put much effort into this, and they all did very well!

 

                                              An amazing group of happy performers!
Saturday was a wonderful day of sharing, learning, performing, visiting friends, and feeling the Spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood.

Tri-district Conference--Sunday

Sunday began early. Each branch had been asked to bake brownies for refreshments at the conclusion of the conference. The expectation was to have about 1200 brownies. People got so excited about learning how to bake brownies, that we ended up with close to 2,000! It was amazing. The missionaries and any other members who wanted to help were asked to come early to frost brownies before the meetings. We had quite a crew!

We knew the crowd was in for quite a treat when we saw not one, not two, but three tables heavily laden with brownies--all of them beautifully frosted and covered with sprinkles!

The crowd arrived early--over an hour before the first meeting, and two-and-a-half hours before the general session. While people were waiting, they were able to watch video taken of the activities of the day before.

The choir practiced during the few minutes of break---led by Sister Darlene Stoker. (I know she has her back to the choir, but she was practicing leading them and the congregation at the same time.)

The crowd at the general session--the room was full.

At this meeting, it was announced that three districts were going to be combined to make two. They divided the Khon Kaen District putting the Khon Kaen Branch into Udon District and all other branches going to the Ubon district. This would create two stronger districts to help prepare for stakes in the future. We all want to build up the church in hopes of having a temple in Thailand soon. District leaders were released and new ones called where needed. We heard testimony from many of these good men. It was a good meeting. The saints love to meet together.

A tour with a friend

Brother Wasana invited us to tour this beautiful Chinese cultural center in Udon with him to celebrate Thailand's Mother's Day. (Mother's Day is celebrated on the queen's birthday which is August 12.) This was a beautiful place, and we enjoyed a nice day.