Thailand Letter
November 10, 1997
Bangkok, Thailand
Dearest Family,
It is very early here on Tuesday morning and also very dark outside - I hope no one can see me through the windows because I am in my nightie and my hair is WILD - Ha!!! Virginia wrote letters for 5 hours yesterday so I didn't get to write to you.
Jeannie - thank you So much for your letter - I just knew I would have a letter from someone this morning. I am SO sad to read about Grandma Bev. She truly was a WONDERFUL woman and I just think people like that should live forever. I feel so very blessed to have known her and learned from her - I will write to Ron and his sisters. She looked absolutely beautiful the last time I saw her and I will cherish the pictures I have of her and yes, Bob, she did have lovely eyelids - wasn't she cute about that experience? Ron was a perfect son to her and she was SO proud of him, Ann and the Woolley grandchildren - they will never have any regrets and that is SO important!!! I don't ever think we should talk about people who die in the past tense because I know they are very much alive but we just do.
We have had a rather sad experience in our mission. One of the Elders was killed in Chaing Rai on Friday night - he was riding his bicycle and was hit by a car. He was from New Jersey but we haven't learned his name yet. All the missionaries at church on Sunday were crying. John had sent me $1,000 last week and they delivered it to me at church. I don't like to have that much cash around but that seemed the most practical thing to do - I would have had to open an account with the Zion's bank if I wanted to write out checks and that seemed unnecessary to me and I surely didn't want John to have to keep going to the bank to put more money in for me. Would you believe that I still don't have any money from a $500 check I wrote out the first of October? The money situation here is unreal!!!
Sunday afternoon they called me to see if they could borrow the 37,500 bahts I had received. They wanted to ship this Elder's body back to the states and they wouldn't do it without cash and since the banks were closed they couldn't get the cash they needed. I was SO happy to be able to help but sad to think the situation would get like that. On their way to my place to get the money they had a call saying they had arranged another way - I don't know how. I feel SO bad for the Elders' family - I understand the Father just wouldn't accept the fact he had been killed. I also feel bad for President Goodman - I know that was a constant worry for your Dad while we were in Montana. He has only been on his mission for the same length of time that we have and it is SO hard for him.
I am anxious to hear that Bob is home safe and sound. I hope he had a good and successful trip and that their family at home got along okay. It is SO fun to hear news from home and to hear about raking leaves, Fall weather and all the Halloween parties. I think it's WONDERFUL for Rick and Jean to have a Halloween dinner for Barji's trick or treating group. The spaghetti and bread sticks from the Olive Garden sound SO good!!! I can't imagine little Sarah in anything but a beautiful costume so I hope she doesn't change. You all are in such a "whirlwind" of activities - I thought Pres. Hinckley's advice at conference time to spend time meditating, pondering and reading was very pertinent for our times. I also worry about all the driving you are doing - PLEASE BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL!!!
This new district is SO different. They send a taxi or bring the school van to pick us up at 8:30 each morning and it takes us at least an hour to get to the school where we are teaching. We go the opposite way from where we have been going so it's interesting to see different sights. We are supposed to be giving a workshop in the school where we are now to the teachers. I always use a lot of visual aids so I have this HUGE bag of "things". When we got there yesterday they asked us to teach a class of 6th graders (Pratom 6) for 40 minutes and then another class in the sound lab of 5th graders in the afternoon. At noon they came and took us to a big luncheon in their dining room along with some dignitaries from Japan. THEN - they came and said they would have to take us home because of a problem with the school van being used later in the day.
They have asked us to give an American History class this morning to a class of 6th graders BUT that could be changed by the time we get there. They asked for pictures of important places like the Statue of Liberty and Niagara Falls - I am grateful for your pictures Jeannie because they are the only ones we have. I did find a map of the USA and have it copied for the students. They don't study about America very much - I think that is SO funny. We can tell the students and teachers in this school are much more capable than some of the others where we have been teaching.
We celebrated Virginia's birthday on Saturday. We left our apartment early in the morning and went shopping - we bought a skirt and blouse at the market for about $12 - they are just alike and she looks REALLY good in hers - I look like a pillow tied in the middle. THEN - I took her to lunch at MacDonald's - Ha!!! It was a fun day and we had success with our bus trips. I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY, VERY MUCH. AGAIN - PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL. Grandma B