Thailand Letter
September 28, 1997
Bangkok, Thailand
Dearest Family,
It's about 6 p.m. here on Sunday and we just finished our soup and tuna sandwiches. We leave here about 7:45 and get to church by 9 a.m. and we get home about 3:30 or 4:00. We are really through with church by noon but Virginia is teaching a gospel doctrine class in English and it doesn't start until those who want to attend are ready to come to it. I personally think they are kinda' thoughtless - we take peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch and the members usually bring rice and different toppings and they eat in the kitchen and on the floor and all over. There are usually five or six who stay for the class but today there were only four. I can't criticize the members though because Sunday is a day they all get together for fellowshipping and that is really more important than the English class. Virginia is SO smart - she can remember EVERYTHING she has ever learned in world history or church history - she REALLY has a brilliant mind!!! I couldn't teach a gospel doctrine class if my life depended on it.
Julianna - I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful things you sent with Bishop Patch. Virginia was SO thrilled with that book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" book - she wanted to take it to school on Friday so we did and she spent all afternoon teaching it to the teachers. She has used that in her class in Salt Lake but she had forgotten it and she was SO happy to have it. The teachers LOVE it. She teaches it as a chant with different voice intonations and it is SO effective. I am planning to take the four little books with tapes tomorrow and have the teachers listen to them - I believe they are the Arnold Books but I am downstairs and the books are upstairs where Virginia is sleeping. I love the Dr. Seuss 1 fish, two fish, etc. We have been working with rhyming words and that is perfect. You have solved many of our problems for months to come and we love you and appreciate it so very much. We have REALLY devoured the Time Magazine about Princess Dianna's accident and death - that was SO horrible. It is SO hard to come up with different things to teach the same teachers when we have them for five days and then we are going to have them again the middle of October. Try to picture in your minds, going into a library room with 15 teachers staring at you and they have no knowledge of English and some of them resent being there - they hand you a microphone and then video tape everything you say and do. We have been successful so far in having them like us and that is a big milestone.
The school we were at last week had about 5 Muslim teachers. One of them just stared at me - I don't believe she ever blinked her eyes. I decided to try to stare her down but I couldn't do it. Before the week was over she was so loving and friendly we couldn't believe it. I think they are terrified of us at first. There is a Muslim teacher at the school where we are at now and in talking to her we found out she lives in a sort of compound with her two brothers and one sister and her father and his 4 wives. I tried to change the subject because I surely didn't want to get into the Mormon Polygamy thing. They are SO far removed from our culture though and they have never heard of the Mormons. We had planned to leave school at 3 p.m. on Friday and when our driver came for us they said they had planned for us to have dinner with them. They ushered us into a dining room where there was enough food for an army - there was a teacher retiring and it was a dinner party for him. We stayed for a little while and then graciously excused ourselves - we had had breakfast at 9:30, a break with sweet rolls at 10:30, lunch at 11:30, another break at 2:30 with watermelon and juice and then this dinner at 3:30.
I hope Bishop Patch made it home with my pictures. I had to hurry so I didn't write on the backs of all of them but I think you can figure them out from the ones where I did write something. He gave us a big bag of Nu-Skin products - shampoos, hand cream, moisturizing cream, and other things. He was going to leave here late, late on Friday night and he had to perform a wedding ceremony on Saturday afternoon in Heber for a member of our ward - he said he was glad Thailand was a day ahead of Utah. He had already been to Guam before he came here. I thought his eyes looked tired but as he was leaving us he was going to a meeting to speak and then they were planning on between 3,000 - 4,000 for their grand opening - THAT BOGGLES MY MIND!!!
We are going to Sukhothai on Wednesday and will be home late Thursday night. We leave Bangkok at 6 a.m. on Wednesday - they are sending a driver to pick us up. They have sent us an itinerary and they really have a full two days planned for us. WE ARE EXCITED!!! The BMA is going to pick up the tab for the hotel, food, drinks and fees - we have to pay 1,000 Bahts each for the bus fare. I haven't received my Bahts from the check I wrote out to the Mission Office on September 10th. I have my rent money for October so I will use that and just hope the money comes through in time to pay the rent - ha!!! I tried to use the ATM at a bank here yesterday and it was ridiculous. They asked how much I wanted and I pressed the button for 2,000 bahts - the display said, transaction processing. Then it said to press the button to remove my card so I did but no money came out. I went to the lady in charge and she came to help me. She pressed everything in Thai and asked how much I wanted and I decided I would get $500 so I wouldn't have to go through the Mission Office again - well she pressed everything and out came 500 Bahts - I believe that is about $18 U. S. dollars. John - would it be a good idea for you to check on my Visa card in Lehi and see what happened? It is SO frustrating because no one speaks English. In the two transactions I got 500 bahts - $35 U.S. money per baht. This took place on Saturday, September 27th about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I didn't bring my Discover card with me - I just brought the Visa card with the Security Bank in Lehi. I also made purchases on my Visa card that day in the amount of about 2,000 Bahts. I bought a pant suit with the pants too short, a blouse with the buttons buttoned as for a man's shirt and some material for a dressmaker to make me a suit if she ever finishes the blouse she supposedly was making for me.
We are having quite cool weather - in fact it got so cool last night I had to put my housecoat over me on top of the sheet. It is raining A LOT!!! Our telephone rang about 1 o'clock this morning and before we could get downstairs to answer it they had hung up. We couldn't go back to sleep for a long, long time and I worried and worried but when no one called this morning we decided it was the wrong number.
Claire - thank you SO much for your wonderful letter. I agree with you that 2 years is long enough for the Home Making Leader to serve - I believe that is what caused part of Anne Smith's health problems. I'm glad you are feeling good and that the children are all doing good.
Sarah - I have thought about you constantly this week. I hope so much that your sore mouth is much better by now. I still can't imagine that many teeth being removed at one time. I'll bet you are skin and bones because you haven't been able to eat very much. I wish I could do something for you.
I had such a sweet letter from Carol Braithwaite and also Cheryl Forrest. Cheryl said the marriage ceremony was very different and they didn't ever say "I DO" so she hoped they were married - Ha!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY, VERY MUCH and I'm SO PROUD OF YOU. BE CAREFUL. Grandma B