3 Days in Bangkok makes a man so humble

 It all happened in a blink. A red-eye flight out of India whisked us away to what felt like a different planet. We didn't sleep a wink on the flight so already we were a little loopy. We were severely hampered because our American phones had no data plans and the phone we bought in India had no sim card so we were completely relying on the kindness of strangers to help us navigate a brand new city.  The Lord provided little " young angels" along the way; one to get us on the metro from the airport who pointed us in the right direction. And once off the metro, a young girl pulled out her phone and said the temple was literally across the street. We navigated all our heavy luggage through some pretty heavy intersections. What felt unnerving though was the unusual lack of cacophony. All the cars were waiting in their lanes patiently and quietly. What alternative universe are we in now? Some familiar smells yes, and but some totally foreign ones wafted through the air. Another "employee angel" named Peter happened to meet us at the front gate of the temple and escorted us to the back of the annex. We made it to the Bangkok Temple by the grace of God! (And a few of his helpers)

                       Can you spot the spires? 

You may recognize this face. He was the general contractor of the building of the Bangkok temple. He sensed he was building something sacred. So he learned about the gospel from the missionaries and was baptized in the course of the construction.

We cannot say enough how rejuvenating for our spirits it was to come and enjoy the peace of the holy temple. Elder Dunlap had been wound tighter than a top down to the last day of his office mission in India so slowing the pace way down for a few days was exactly what he needed. 

                He came feeling a little like this!

              Then he found his peace in Christ 

We decided to concentrate all our temple work on our Scottish ancestors for these 3 days. The names were a little tricky for the workers to pronounce but it endeared them to us all the more. We just cannot say enough good things about the Thai temple workers. They were angelic. So humble. So kind. Their faces light up when they smile and their eyes almost disappear. They treated us like honored guests but we were the ones honored to be in their midst. 

What was amazing was that we ran into a Scottish man our 2nd morning here! He lives here with his Thai wife.  Nicholas was a very tall and talkative fellow and we enjoyed visiting with him and hearing his heavy Scottish accent. He said he was interested in having a tour of the annex building behind the temple but he cancelled the appointment last minute.We had a Book of Mormon all ready to give him. 

        Maybe our Scottish ancestors were involved in the meeting of Nicholas? 

Imagine our surprise when we saw this sign walking down a major thoroughfare. Which lead us to this:

Unmistakeably an LDS meeting house, (no matter where you are in the world.) Now that the annex of the temple has been built, this building is empty. 

One of the funnest things we enjoyed while here was eating our way through the open markets. The food was so good! Noodles, meat kebabs, rice dishes, curries, Tom Kha soup, sweet potato balls. We didn't have much time to venture out for any sightseeing but we did get adventurous and eat the foods off the nearby streets. 

        Rob is a magnet for finding rusty bikes

We saw this steak house with the hilarious name and thought after a year beef fast, it was time to have a steak. So we ventured there our 2nd night. But it was not meant to be because they didn't take credit cards. We chose not to beef. So we defaulted back to the hotel cafe next door to the temple. Now here comes a story that could only be orchestrated by God himself. We had the whole place to ourself and this older lady comes in by herself on a crutch and orders Tom Kha. That's our favorite Thai food too so we struck up a conversation with her. You will not believe this. We asked her where she was from. She's an American but has been living in Indonesia and was in Bangkok for a visa break. Are you kidding me? Here's where the story gets heartbreaking. She's living in Indonesia because her son has been in an Indonesian prison for the last 7 years. He bought a 2 ounce bottle of medicinal cannabis for a health condition and was arrested for it. She said she came to help him because they don't feed him enough food in the prison to keep him alive and they dont give him the medicine he needs. He could get out if they would pay $70,000. We were dumbstruck. This is not a story you hear every day. We told her the first thing we would do is put both of their names on the temple prayer rolls so that we can elicit help from God through the faith of all our temple goers. We told Rosalind we wanted to get her a book that her son Christian could read while in prison that might give him some hope and get her a support system to grt through this trial. It was the very least we could offer. She was very open to our sympathy. We have no idea if this is the last time we'll see or hear from her but we took her contact info and said once we were in Indonesia ourselves we'd get back in touch with her. I would not put anything past the Lord's amazing coincidences because here's our last amazing story. 

So on this trip, we reunited with the Chesnuts, the MTC President and his wife that were in Hyderabad over the Indian MTC when their visa ran out and now are the leaders over the Bangkok MTC. They are doing an amazing work and because they knew all our Indian missionaries as well as we did, we had so much in common to talk about. So they took us on a Metro ride to this mega mall in a different part of town and treated us to some amazing Thai food. 

                          Decisions, decisions 

                           A nutty 4-some

The food was awesome but their company was  really what nourished us. We've been so long without being with other senior missionaries, it was just incredible to talk with a like-minded couple and share mission stories and talk about how missions change you. We wish we could've stayed a week longer. As it turned out it was Sister Chesnut's birthday the next day so what a great occasion to celebrate with her. 

We go to use the public restrooms in an obscure corner of a 5 story megamall. Get Out of town. We run into Nicholas again. Please, what are the odds I ask you? So we introduce him to the Chesnuts since they're staying put in Bangkok and we're leaving the next morning. Maybe they can get him that Book of Mormon that we failed to bring with us us on our 2nd encounter.  You can't make these stories up!

      God is not even being subtle about these              "chance" meetings that keep happening. 

So we truly got so much "bang for our bhat". Our time was short in Bangkok but oh so sweet. 6 temple ordinance sessions. 3 endowments, 1 baptism, 1 initiatory, and 1 sealing. Eating delicious meals. Meeting two strangers that were very apparently not by coincidence and then the sweetness of reuniting with old friends. These missions are miraculous things. We are in a state of constant amazement at the goodness of our God. 

"And we ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of that which is to come." 

Mosiah 5:3