Thailand Letter
September 9, 1997
Bangkok, Thailand
Dearest Family,
I wrote in my Sunday letter that I hadn't heard from the Woolleys or Weinerts for awhile and then early Monday morning when I checked the e-mail I had messages from Jessie and Lee Anna and then on Monday evening when I checked, I had messages from the Weinert Family and also Ann & Jimmy. Thank you SO much for writing to me - I have to feel "connected" to all of you or I will go crazy.
Barji - you are much TOO busy but I am SO proud of all the things your are accomplishing. Your D'Ettes sounds like such a fun, fun thing to do and I am impressed that you can make up dance routines for them. I'm also happy that you have a date to the Homecoming Dance with a nice young man. I know you will be happy to see Boyd again too when he comes home for Thanksgiving. Mary Ann - you are much too busy too but I know you well enough to know that you are happiest when you are "over-programmed". I love to watch the young people here play volley ball - they play it most of the time in their "little" playgrounds without nets - good luck with your games!!! I am SO happy that you like your Seminary classes - I'm sorry you had to transfer out of Brother John's class but in time you will like Sister Cloward just as well. Sarah - I am SO excited that you are going to be in Clytie Adams' Nutcracker again this year and it won't matter which part you get to dance. I am sad that I won't get to see you in the Nutcracker and also that I won't get to go to your violin recitals - if I have my time right your recital was yesterday and I hope you did well - Vivaldi's pieces - WOW - that's great!!! Ricky - thank you SO much for telling me your golf scores - some day I am going to understand golf more but after reading about your scores I believe it is best to score low - is that right? I hope you get to be Number 1 on your team if you want that but if you don't, you will always be Number 1 with me.
Jimmy - thank you for telling me about going to the cabin - I AM SO HAPPY THAT YOU WENT but I am sorry you didn't catch any fish. Math will come easy for you before long because your Dad is SUPER smart in math - 5th grade IS hard!!!
Ann & Jean - I am SO proud of you and I don't know how you keep up with everything you are doing. Whenever I go to the schools where I teach I think what a WONDERFUL asset you would be in the school system here - you have SO much to offer. I think it is great that Jeannie could help out with Barji's Junior Drill Clinic and that Annie could have a Young Men and Young Womens' Fireside at their home - it is all SO worthwhile though and I know you know that.
Ann & Jean - thank you SO much for going to Chad Forrest's wedding reception. I sent Chad a check and I received the sweetest thank you note from him - I was surprised because I haven't talked to him that much - he sent it here to Thailand. I LOVED hearing about EVERYTHING but it makes me unhappy to hear that Don doesn't look good. Don and Dee got their health from Grandmother Forrest and if you remember she was not in good health for a long, long time but she lived until she was 84. I got my genes from my Father and I know you remember that he lived to be strong and healthy until he was 92. Annie - thank you for sending me my calcium and cholesterol medicine - I'll bet they get here right in time. We only get any mail sent to the Mission Office on Sundays when they bring it to us at church. I am fed coconut milk and coconut at almost every meal so I need it.
John & Julianna - I had a long letter from Shauna Theobald today and she told me that you two have been working really hard on the yard. It is a BIG job isn't it? I hope you will be able to make it easier some way. She said she thinks the St. John's Wort is still alive and doing good.
Roy & Bob - I know you are doing good. Bob, Claire, Brett & Katie are in San Francisco - I hope you have a WONDERFUL time!!!
Our teaching is going well. I'll have to tell you something funny that happened today. We went to a new school and absolutely no one could speak English. I had something I wanted copied on a copying machine - I asked three different people - one person brought me a box of carbon paper and another person got a screw driver and took a pencil sharpener off the wall thinking that was what I wanted. I finally found the person who knew what I wanted - they had a copying machine and I got things copied.
My big news is that we got our toilet unplugged!!! I have worried and worried about that for about 5 days. I asked a young neighbor boy if they had a "snake" to put down a toilet to clear it out - that was a mistake and I could never make him understand what I wanted. Finally his father had him go get us a "plunger" and he worked and he worked and finally the washcloth went down the drain. He at first told us that they would have to tear out the wall to get to the pipe - I about died!!! I will NEVER pour anything down the toilet again without watching it very carefully.
WE ARE THRILLED - the school where we are teaching is going to the zoo tomorrow so we have the day off. I have so many little things to do and I am excited!!!
I love you all so very much. PLEASE BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL. Grandma B