Other Stuff

The Hursts

This is Josh and Bryanne.

Ok first of all, they are awesome. 

They have been using our place as a home base while they travel around Asia, coming back every few weeks to wash their clothes and restock their backpacks.  They met at Bethel where they were BOTH serving and then continued to serve there together as a married couple. After that, they went into international construction and got to work on projects in Chile and Korea. They now live in Oregon and pioneer in the same hall as Cheri. We met them on their epic tour of Asia. They travelled all over Thailand, then Cambodia and Indonesia and are currently on their way to Nepal. After that, they're heading back to the states for a few days before they go to Zambia for the next construction project. I love meeting people like the Hursts. It proves the point that a life dedicated to Jehovah is never boring.

This is the dinner we just got:
Hot wings, beef salad, Tom Ka and sticky rice.
And we got it for free!!
It was at a great restaurant that a brother works for
and he treated us.

People warned me that I needed to be careful because there are things here made with blood. I only know how to order MAYBE three things in Thai and the problem is that the little stands and restaurants here usually specialize in only a few dishes at a time. So i'll ask if they have something (invariably they won't) then we stand there awkwardly as I stare at their ingredients and try to figure out what they DO make (invariably I can't) then awkwardly, I walk away. Some days I am INCREDIBLY frustrated that I am surrounded by probably delicious food with no way of ordering it. Why not just go up and ask them to make you something, you say? Well I finally caved and did it.

 I walked up to some ladies and asked them what they made. I THOUGHT they said Udon. And I was like 'Sweet! I love udon!' Well, that's not what she said. She made it and bagged it and I started feeling uncomfortable. Weeks ago, I had said a very earnest prayer asking Jehovah to help me know if I was about to eat blood and to keep me from doing it. I had the strong urge to ask them if blood was in the soup but I couldn't remember how to say it. So I paid for it and went home. I asked Amy what she thought and she didn't know but she told me how to ask. By this time the thought of eating it was actually revolting. So I walked all the way back with the soup and... Yep! Made with blood. But they had no problem with me not wanting to eat it and replaced it with a non disgusting soup free of charge. Crisis averted. But seriously, I need to learn how to order food. I've already eaten a lifetime supply of Pad See Ew.

I'm grieving the loss of Mexican food lately. I tried to make tortillas last night. I failed. Oh what I would do for a burrito. And chips. The next time you eat a luscious burrito, realize how awesome you are and be thankful that you have burritos in your life.

We had a bad day.

Little rental bungalow we passed in service.

It started the night before with a power outage. We thought we must have forgotten to pay the bill but in reality, our fuse box had kicked the bucket. So we spent a very hot, very sleepless night tossing and turning while our fans sat motionless. Then in the morning, Amy had to take some time out of service to go check with the power company to see what happened. Meanwhile, I met with the group.
 After the service meeting, I asked Brother Wimon to look at the back tire on my bike. I had heard some nasty little rumors that it was old and ready to explode, so I wanted to check it out. Well the sentence was half out of my mouth, "Is this good or..." when he looked down and said YIKES with his face. We dropped what we were doing and went that instant to get a new tire. Great.
But that made me lose the group. I had no idea where they went. I called and got directions, but got lost. Why not call again? My phone chose that moment to run out of minutes. So I couldn't call for help. I just drove around getting more and more lost, wondering if I even could find my way back home.
Then I got pulled over by a policeman at a mandatory police check where they were pulling over ALL the motorcycles. I had all my paperwork to get a license but no license yet so he could have fined me. He took pity on me and let me go though.
 I made it home by 11:45. I decided to try to get more minutes put on my phone but I didn't know how. I had to walk around asking people if they knew how. Finally, someone did it for me. Our landlord came over and turned on our power. I started cooking lunch. The power went out again. Now I was hungry and stuck in dead house. Hours later when the landlord came back with an electrician, they got it working for real. Yay!
But what was that smell? OH YEAH. My lunch. The hot plate was on when the power went out and I never turned it off. Now the food was charred and black. Our landlord was worried. He thought, "The girls that rent my house are a fire hazard," and decided to give us a little lesson in cooking safety. Having spent a day with no service, no food and no air we decided it was officially a bad day. 

But hey, I have my  license now!

Someone got licens'd.

Fa was kind enough to take me as it is SUCH an ordeal. It's in the middle of nowhere and it takes all day. We left the house at 7:20 AM, got there by 8 and were finished by 2:30!! Kinda makes our DMVs look efficient. The written test was easy thanks to Glen who gave me very helpful tips and the driving test was a snap because Fa had me practice on an obstacle course ahead of time. The hardest part was waiting in a cold room (a refrigerator with a TV in it really) and watching two hours of the most boring instructional videos on the planet. I didn't think I was going to survive. But I did!
And thank you to Fa and Glen for making it happen. Amy had the privilege of being my first passenger. A side point: Did I tell you it costs me $2 a week for gas here? There's a good reason we have scooters.

In front of our house.

I'm going to start posting some of the fruits we have here. They like to eat mango here before it's ripe. It's crunchy and not as sweet but still oddly good. They have almost all the fruits we have back home in one form or another and plenty we don't have...

Palmelo  is a sweet mammoth grapefruit that takes days to eat.

                A gecko jumped out of this bowl as I moved it to take a picture. Love the wildlife.

These are called Shampoos! They're  a cross between an apple and a grape.
With  a hint of cinnamon.

More to come later :)


Our cats finally have names! They are Olive and Octopus. But their Thai names are Ki Bon and Ki Len. Ki Bon means a bossy whiner, which is exactly what he is. And Ki Len means playful. Which is putting it nicely. She really is more like an attack kitten. I'm actually typing this one handed as I am currently swaddling two freshly washed kittens in the other.

The invitation work is a blast! We're handing them out in Thai and English. It will be interesting to see who comes...


Next week is the Thai Special Assembly day and our road trip to Hua Hin! More about that later. But for now...

Good night.