Everything is better in Thailand!

So Ive been thinking for awhile about how Im going to blog about this trip and to be honest Im kind of winging it so it may seem all over the place, but oh well. So I already talked about how awesome the first week of work was, but each night after work we would head to the hostel to change and then we would get some dinner and do an activity. Monday night was FHE. I was in the group that went to the branch presidents house and it was so cool.  My favorite part of the night was when we sang nearer my god to thee. They gave me and my group a hymn book that is in english but saying thai words. Hopefully that makes sense, but it was my favorite thing to be able to sing thai along with the family.  We had a lesson about love that night and it went perfectly with how I was feeling during the whole trip.  I don't think Ive ever felt so much love for people that I had met in just a short amount of time. After the lesson and some good food, we played some games and listened to boon (one of the members that drove us around) play his guitar and sing. We loved boon. I always felt so cool because the thai people would usually make a spicy dish for their family and then a not spicy dish for the weak americans, well I always took from the spicy dish and the thai people were always impressed. I don't have any pictures from FHE, but it was one of my favorite nights. I also loved the feeling of knowing that I do the same thing with my family in america. Being able to be sitting in a members home in Thailand doing fhe and learning the same gospel principles we are taught in america is crazy. It just really opened my eyes to how awesome this world is and how real the gospel is. Another activity we loved doing was the night markets. We went to a few different markets and we loved them. They are packed with people and crazy things to buy. Hollis always told us to never buy an item for its actual price.  At first I was super nervous to lower the prices and be rude, but it wasn't too bad. I would usually ask for a lower price, the lady would then ask for a price in the middle, then I would take it. Some kids in our group got things for so cheap, but I felt bad. I did get some super cool stuff though. Tons of bracelets and jewelry, shorts, a skirt, stickers and a bunch of other stuff. I also got to get my feet eaten by little fish!  The fish loved my feet because of all my calluses from running. It tickled at first, but then you got used to it and it was just so relaxing. My feet have never felt so smooth. 

Every few nights we would get a break from rice and we would have american food like pizza, nachos, and chicken strips. It was the best. 

Thursday was our "p-day" and it was a party. We started the day off by doing some laundry and then we headed out. We first went to the "tree of life" and had a quick lesson, then we hit up the famous Doi Suthep temple. It was so bright and gold that you could barely look at it. 

Not sure what this scroll was, but we signed it anyways. 

Jack fruit bigger than our heads. 

Me rocking my mom shorts. I think I pull them off quite well...

Next stop was real close to home, not really but we went to the Grand Canyon (of thailand)!!! The Grand Canyon is a crazy water park that we spent the afternoon at and Im just saying, it would most definitely be illegal in the US. It was so much fun. We were all just slipping and sliding everywhere.  The boys would tackle us into the water and I loved to run as fast as I could on the slippery straightways and try my hardest not to biff it, but I usually would. There was this tower thing that we were all climbing. Hollis had the great idea for everyone to get on one side of the tower to weigh it down while one person got on the opposite side to be flung into the lake. Of course I volunteered. So I climbed to the top of the tower and waited for the group to drop into the water. On 3 they dropped and I was flung into the lake. The funniest part was the lifeguards, just watching us and laughing and clapping. In america, we would've been thrown out! Crazy afternoon and I had bruises from this place for weeks!  It started raining, but we kept playing. The motto of this trip was "Everything is better in thailand!" Somehow the rain made the waterpark even more fun. The waterpark was fun and all, but lets talk about the smoothies we had afterwards. So this waterpark has a little cafe and we all ordered smoothies. I got a strawberry, kiwi, passion fruit smoothie and it was thee best smoothie I have ever had. We sipped our smoothies while still in our life jackets, playing out in the rain and life was good. We messed around, danced and played games in the rain. One of the craziest days ever. I loved it. I wrote in my journal "It was just one of those moments when you're just having so much fun and everyone is so happy and no one can stop laughing or smiling." Life in general was just so good in Thailand. That night we had a good dinner and slept real well. 

The squad. 

Friday night we had sports night at the church with the youth. Thai dodgeball is insane. There is two teams but one team stands in the middle. The team in the middle can not touch the balls at all. The team on the outside has 3 minutes to hit as many people as they can. It was insane. You only play with 2 balls, but you have to constantly be watching each side of you, if you are the team in the middle. We played that game, basketball and a volleyball game that was way fun. We got super sweaty, but it was fun to get to know the youth more and hang out with them. Saturday we did a service project with the royal thai army. No joke, it was a little intimidating at first. We cleaned out a pond full of weeds with the army and the missionaries! We all got eaten alive by the bugs. At one point I looked down and this huge red centipede was crawling on my chaco. Also, there are these black and white spikey caterpillars everywhere.  I was wearing work gloves and I wanted to look at one a little closer so I grabbed a stick and picked one up. As I was looking at this caterpillar, this little thai grandma starts freaking out and somewhat yelling at me in thai. All I hear is "could kill you" then she swats the caterpillar out of my hand and smashes it with her foot. I was scarred. These caterpillars are not small, and the guts were everywhere, but apparently that lady saved my life? ya, I was disturbed for a little bit, but I still want to know more about those caterpillars. 

I also broke my no soda streak on this trip... 5 years down the drain. It was worth it though. They have this soda called bubblegum Fanta and it's delicious. After the service project we hit up KFC and this soda was called Merinda and it was also way good. After lunch, we walked through the botanical gardens and I felt like I was in Jurassic Park. It was so beautiful and green. 

Another night of markets and then we crashed hard. Each day in thailand was filled with so many fun things that none of us had any issues falling asleep at night. First full week was a success. Looking back at pictures Im actually jealous of myself, because I want to be back there so bad.