Dearest Family, April 12, 1998

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JEANNIE ON THURSDAY, THE 16TH!!! I am going on another trip so I won't be near the computer for a few days. I hope you have a WONDERFUL birthday Jeannie and I also hope you survive all the things that are going on in your life. I can't imagine a busier time for you but it is certainly a great time and one you and your entire family deserve!!! I want to hear all about it WHEN YOU HAVE TIME!!!

ANNIE - thank you so much for your efforts in trying to get in touch with Suppatra and Lek. One thing I have learned here in Thailand is to not count on anything happening like you think it is going to happen. We have had one e-mail message from Suppatra and they are supposed to be in California by now so don't worry about them - I gave them your phone number and if you have left it at the MTC that is enough!!! I have looked at the pictures you sent a thousand times and it is SO funny - I thought I was looking at Russell and when I took a closer look I discovered it was Jimmy - do they look that much alike now? Jessie is looking more like you all the time - a beautiful young woman!!! I'm happy that Lee Anna is a cheerleader - will she be at Timpview - WOW, am I getting old or what - I can't even remember what grades my grandchildren are in!!! I hope you get this letter - I have put your right e-mail address in the computer and I hope I did it right.

PATRICE - thank you so much for your Easter Letter. I am THRILLED that you finally connected with Chris and Wayne - they are very dear friends and they have wanted to be in Gulf Shores while you were there. Wayne would be SO happy to have Roy catch some fish - he was always disappointed when he took Daddy out and they didn't have success. I can close my eyes and just see how beautiful it is in Arkansas right now - I know your yard and flowers are gorgeous!!!

BOB - thank you so much for your letter too. I hope you all had a super time in Zions. I will never forget the time I went there with you and your family, the Weinerts and John & Julianna - a VERY SPECIAL TIME FOR ME!!! I remember stopping at the “rock” place and buying that geode (or something). You and Julianna hadn't been married very long and you had to share a room with me - Ha!

JOHN & JULIANNA - I haven't had a “real” letter from you for awhile. My friend Anne Smith wrote and told me that Julianna said March was a difficult time in the classrooms - I always remember January being that kind of a month. I hope the daffodils are blooming!!! My sweet friend, Bill Oldroyd, passed away - he was almost 92 years old so it was a blessing but I will miss him. One of his daughters who lives in California wrote and told me about his funeral.

WELL - it is now the Thai New Year and EVERYONE is celebrating. It is called “Songkran” and they celebrate by throwing water on everyone in the streets. The country goes by the international date of 1998 but everywhere else they go by “The Buddha Era” which is 2541 and it won't change until January 1st and then it will be 2542. When we have the teachers fill out forms for us and ask their birthday they have to do a lot of arithmetic to get it in terms of the international date.

Helen and I had our usual schedule of teaching in Ayutthaya and going to Lopburi this weekend. When the executives from Channel 9 came to teach us how to cook some Thai food (I hope I wrote and told you about that) one of the women said she had to go to Ayutthaya on Saturday and she would drive us there instead of having us take the train. She and another employee from the television station came for us at 7 a.m. They stopped at many historical places along the way - I am not kidding when I say I have seen every “Supa”, “Jedi”, “Royal Palace”, etc. there is in Thailand - Ha!!!

The most interesting thing happened. This woman's name is “Nut” (nickname and it is pronounced Noot) is high up in the communications part of Bangkok. She had a book for us to read on the way. This book was a memorial for a man who was head of MCOT - Mass Communications Organization of Thailand. He was murdered on April 11, 1997 while he was leaving his home with his wife - he was shot but she was not hurt. WELL - we went to the memorial and met his son and had “brunch” with all the family. WE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. We all ate outside under a little pavilion and they prepared the food on the ground and they kept bringing us all kinds of drinks. We were then ushered into a larger place - it is a typical Thai home and new - this man had just started to build it when he was killed and they are finishing it now and will use it as a museum for him. They had a very long table all decorated with gorgeous flowers and then they had clay pots with food in them placed all along it. We were seated among all the relatives and brought ice cold coconuts to drink the milk and eat the coconut inside. THEN - a big van came and it was filled with monks. They went upstairs where the wife was (we were not invited to go up there but Nut did). They started to chant and I was very happy when Nut said we could leave.

THEN - they took us to a “Thai Musical Instrument Factory” and that was unbelievable - all kinds of wooden instruments. Helen and I each bought a “wooden flute” - hers was 800 bahts and mine was 1200 bahts - they are made of beautiful wood. They only had one 800 baht one or I would have bought one of those. Most of them were around 3,00 bahts. Do you think I will ever be able to play it - I hope someone in my family will.

THEN - they took us to the Cultural Center Museum. We could only stay about 30 minutes but it was very interesting. THEN they took us to our school where we taught our English Class for three hours. THEN they wanted to take us to Lopburi - it is a long ways and we tried to let them have us just take the train but they wouldn't even think of it.

Nurack always meets us at the train station at 7:45 and we got there at 6:30. Nut would not leave us so she called Nurack on his cellular phone. We were SO embarrassed - he was on his way to a funeral in another province and he said he would call his wife to come get us. His wife, Winada, was there within five minutes. It was SO funny - they had already arranged for their son, Ot, to meet us so we had to wait until he came. He came with his girlfriend, Jai, and their daughter Aw so their entire family was there to meet us. Nothing would do but Winada would take all of us to dinner. We went to a roadside restaurant and had the most delicious Thai food.

THEN - Nut and Ruth went to the Lopburi Inn to spend the night and the rest of us went to Nurack's home. THAT WAS SUCH A SPECIAL NIGHT. Ot and Aw entertained Helen and Me for at least an hour - they have beautiful singing voices and they have a computerized music system and I JUST LOVED IT. I kept thinking how much I would like my grandchildren to meet that family. Ot and Aw are in their very early 20's - Ot has graduated in engineering from a University in Bangkok and Aw is a student. They have one other daughter who will be home in about a month - she has spent this past year as an exchange student in Japan. The only problem we can see is that Winada is a very social person and spends a lot of time with her “friends” - she is a beautiful woman and is a Thai dancer and also has a very important position in the mayor's office. Ot is going to have surgery on the 25th - Nurack has explained it to us and I believe it has something to do with his kidneys - he is a very handsome young man and SO sweet.

Sunday morning we all went to church. They have a new Branch President and he is 31 years old. The Stake Young Women's President was the visitor and she gave the lessons in Relief Society, Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting. She had left Bangkok at 5 a.m. with another woman to get there for the meetings. There were two other young women visiting from another area and then all of us and that was the entire attendance. Helen doesn't think it is worthwhile for us to go for so few members but they appreciate it so much when we are there. I can't tell you how hot it is - they only have fans and Helen just drips with perspiration all the time we are there - I can tolerate the heat better than she can. Her two daughters are coming from the States next Saturday so she won't be going - Janet and Darlene are going with me.

WOW - you will never read all of this.

Bob - I don't want you to bring us a computer - you are WONDERFUL to offer to do that but it isn't necessary. I don't know what is wrong with this one and we can't get anyone to come help us - they say they will come but they don't show up. I would love it if you could bring an empty suitcase and if you don't fill it with things you want to buy I have things I would love to send home with you.

I would like you to bring: 10 t-shirts with “Utah - Home of the 2002 Olympics” written on them (2 large and 8 medium), 1 large box of Velveeta cheese (they say I can find it here but I haven't found it yet) and 2 of those containers of lemon “Crystal Light” diet drinks. I will have $200 worth of Bahts for you when you come if you can bring those things for me. Our gate keeper is such a nice young man - he is from India. I told him I would ask you to bring him a Utah shirt and I asked him what color he would like and he said, white or red - Ha!

I AM GETTING SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO COME. Have you had all your shots yet? You can use my hair curler Claire and I have a blower for Bob and Michael - the ones you have will not fit into these plugs.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY, VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL. Grandma B