Cabin Fever

 I caught something on the flight home Monday from Singapore. I shouldn't blame the young man assigned to the seat next to me. He tried really hard to keep to himself, wore a face mask, and even carried his strep throat medication with him.  By Tuesday, I was down--raspy throat, aches and pain, active stomach. By Saturday, I had a full-fledged cold. I had to get a sub to teach Relief Society on Sunday in my place.

The month of July has not been my friend with the Bangkok Belly, vertigo, a broken tooth, and now the flu turned into a cold. Feeling kinship to Job from the Bible, I've sat in the apartment more days than I have served in the temple. Again, the neighbor brought Thai food every day so we wouldn't starve--bless her sweet heart. Dennis went out in Saturday's pouring rain to get me a hamburger and French fries, and got the neighbors some too. Being Thai, they probably took one bite, and that was enough.

Dennis had all the fun in the temple without me. In addition to the Thais and Burmese who usually come, we had Russian and Vietnamese groups, many for their own endowments, and also a young adult girl from the ward who is waiting for her mission call. It is always a special experience to help patrons on their first time in the temple, and I'm sorry to miss it.

Cocolate chip cookies

I tried my hand at chocolate chip cookies for the first time since leaving Mesa in April. Though I used the same recipe, the dough didn't taste the same as at home. The sugars are different, the butter is different. I added more butter and sugar to get it to taste more like home. We still ate them happily. Maybe the Thai's sugar is why their cakes and goodies aren't as sweet as ours.

Persimmon

A member, Brother Yay, brings us fruit every week. This is a persimmon. I had to look it up to know what it was. It isn't ripe enough to eat yet. Perhaps in a few days. 

We are told today that tomorrow the electricity will be turned off all day to do maintenance on the temple. We hope they are fixing the air-conditioning. Our room got up to almost 80 degrees today with a humidity of about 80%. Since I'm still not well, Dennis arranged for a room for the day at the FX Hotel next door. How sweet of him.

This cute boy turned one year old on Friday. We talked to him on his birthday and he opened his present (a quiet book for church) while we watched. We are thankful for technology so that we don't miss too many precious moments of our grandchildren's lives.

Singapore 2

 

Joan and Dennis

We went to the ArtScience Museum in the morning. It is a lovely light exhibit that projects flowers, leaves, fish, etc on the wall, making you feel you are surrounded by these lovely things. They had kids and parents drawing fish, airplanes, and birds, they they put the picture through a computer and then the drawing flew/swam around on the walls. Fun.

Dennis' airplane flying

Too bad blogger won't let me post videos. This picture is one of the walls. Dennis drew the airplane. If you enlarge it, you can see that the word on the side is Sowards.

The green picture is a slide that a timid two-year-old is stalled on. Her mother finally came and slid down with her. The girl smiled real big on her way down.

Sliding through moving flowers.

 The last room was filled with threads of beads hanging from the ceiling, a mirrored floor, and the beads programed to light up in patterns. It was beautiful! Dennis made a joke, saying this would cause children to have seizures... and my eyes started seeing weird. The right side of my vision started flashing. 

We got out of there quickly, but the sensation continued. I thought if I ate something, maybe I'd feel better. So we went to the food court and had a plate of rice and chopped meats fried in different sauces. It was delicious, and I did feel better.

Light room

View from inside capsule

The capsule at the Singapore Flyer

Then we walked over to the Singapore Flyer (equivalent to London Eye and Las Vegas' High Roller). I was unsure about going up in the air that high, but we went, and it was a great experience. It even stopped when we were about a two-thirds of the way up. Talk about uneasy. The views were spectacular, and we did make it back to earth just fine. The ride was about 30 minutes.

Looking up at the Singapore Flyer

Our flight home was delayed several hours due to engine problems. Then we bumped along through through turbulence almost the whole way to Bangkok. Our taxi driver then performed miracles getting through the evening Bangkok traffic. (We are always thankful for the gutsy ones.) Exhausted, we arrived at our apartment at 7:30 PM, too tired and too late to serve in the temple.

Some of the blessings of our trip were that we got to see that wonderful city and its many unique attractions, saw people at church whom we had met in June in the Bangkok temple and more who are coming in August, and received an unexpected blessing of a 60 day visa on reentering Thailand. Now that's huge!

We are happy to be home in Bangkok and to serve in the temple again.

Greeting by a storm over Bangkok on our return.
Bangkok's many skyscrapers create a jagged horizon.

Singapore

 

Brother Chang and wife, and us in our costumes.

We started the week off by giving a pioneer powerpoint presentation for Family Home Evening and potluck, focusing on the handcart companies of Willie and Martin. Dennis and I dressed in costume (compliments of the Ayutthaya Branch.) About twenty-five temple workers came. We made pioneer biscuits and passed around a jar of cream to shake and make butter. Of course there was a lot of Thai food there too, but the biscuits got eaten!  

FHE singing "Come, Come Ye Saints"

We also showed the video "Eyes Turned Toward Zion" that I made a three years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRL6VtB4CXk

 

Back a day, we were delighted to see Boomee from Ayutthaya visiting our ward. She said she is preparing to serve a mission! Ten years ago she was just a little girl in the branch, now she's taller than me. She'll be a good missionary.

At the annex, a conference for single returned missionaries (about 50) from SE Asia was held. At least 12 received their endowments (post mission). Dennis and I led a session for 21 of the RMs on Wednesday morning. They were so tired (I guess from socializing all night) that it was humorous watching them try to stay awake! 

On Thursday, half of the conference did baptisms for the dead, and the other half did them on Friday. I'd never seen the baptistry so full. Dennis was the coordinator on Thursday, and I assisted. It went surprisingly well. I think it was a good experience for everyone.

My vertigo improved, but I still had to be careful with balance. The doctor said to sleep sitting up for a week. I did, and I got a little better every day. Our attempts at the Empley maneuver did no good and just made me sick to my stomach.

At the buffet

On Friday, we flew to Singapore to renew our visas. In Thailand, you can renew your visa once, but then you must leave the country and enter with a new 30 day visa. We tried to apply on line for a 60 day visa, but they kept asking us to jump through hoops and give up our first-born, so we finally settled for the 30-day visa. My knees don't do well jumping, and I'd like to keep my daughter.

Saturday, we took the Hop-on, Hop-off bus around Singapore. It is a beautiful city with modern architecture and wonderful landmarks.

Dennis with the buffet mascot.

We went to a fancy, high-priced buffet at the Fairmont Hotel because we heard it had a chocolate bar and you know how much we love chocolate. It had tables and tables of food from all over the world. The food was delicious and the chocolate bar was wonderful. We waddled out quite content.

This young woman is making a "Nitrogen Chocolate Bomb." It looked very impressive. It smoked all the way back to our table. I cut it with a knife and the contents oozed out. I will not order one again. 

The bomb is in the lower part of the photo below. 

The war memorial to the left, against the Singapore skyline.

We walked around the "Gardens by the Sea" --very lovely and peaceful.

Twelve of these SuperTrees "stand between 82 and 164 feet (25 and 50 meters) tall and consist of canopies of steel branches above steel-and-concrete trunks fitted with planting panels." I don't know if I understand all that, but they were impressive. It seems they capture solar energy too. Look closely and you can see people standing on the top.

Supertrees

Little India 

This ferris wheel looking thing is called the Singapore Flyer and moves very slowly. They say the trip around is over an hour.

Walking bridge

ArtScience Museum- the lotus shaped building in the rear.

Lovely architecture, incorporating the greenery of Singapore.

One of the malls inside the Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Digital interactive sea floor at the mall

Our hotel is in "Little India." We have walked through the shops a few times. A lot of lovely Indian clothing, authentic gold, electronics, and jewelry are sold here. Above is a henna artist doing her craft.

Our hotel is next door to a popular Hindi temple. There are always a lot of shoes along the street, left by temple attendees.

So many dresses!

Vertigo!

 "A sensation of whirling and a loss of balance."

Yep. That's me. And may I add, "Accompanied by nausea." 

The Staton family

Despite my vertigo becoming evident on Monday, we went to Sunrise Tacos for dinner, and guess who we saw there--Elder Staton who served in Thailand 10 years ago while we were here, with his wife and three adorable daughters. They have another daughter due next week. When we first arrived at the restaurant, he looked familiar to me, and I wondered if it was an LDS family visiting, but then he came over to us. I expected him to ask if we were missionaries, but he said, "Are you the Sowards?" Good memory! It was good to see him again. They had come to Thailand so she could deliver her baby here.

The hospital is clean
and very international.

Dennis served in the temple all this week without me. I got a bit stir-crazy staying home. Our neighbors brought us food daily, including a rubber chicken that honks, proclaiming the gospel. Thank you for the smiles.  

We finally gave in and went to the hospital on Thursday to see a doctor. The Bangkok International Hospital is huge and very state-of-the-art, with no waiting for hours in the emergency. They have their processes down pat. The greeters are dressed like stewardesses in uniform dresses, nylons and heels. I was seated into a wheelchair, and they pushed me back to the ENT office. (The little white-haired old lady in the wheelchair. That's me.) In only minutes we saw the doctor who assisted me in doing the Epley maneuver, then he told me I should sleep sitting up for a week.  Yeah. 

Pianist plays soothing music in lobby

In the lobby where everyone pays their bill was a pianist playing soothing music on a grand piano. Get everyone calmed down to pay their bill. Good strategy.

Sitting up while sleeping has lasted three nights now. I'm doing much better, but still a little light-headed.

Dennis had all the fun in the temple this week. On Thursday he was baptistry coordinator for 21 American youth on a work-study project in Chaing Mai.  He'd come back to the apartment every night and tell me all about it. Envy. We had a new group of Russians here, but they have returned home already. Another group arrives tomorrow. This is temporarily assigned as their temple.

Gathering my strength, I did an endowment session on Saturday afternoon. Susan was the woman whose name I took through. I had researched her, so she was special to me, and I had been given a special witness that she had accepted the baptism and initiatory previously done. There were only six participants in the session, so I stood in the prayer circle, knowing my name was on the prayer roll. Strange feeling. 

To my surprise, Dennis brought me through the veil at the end of the session! It was a sweet experience, being the first time since our wedding day forty-four plus years ago. We were both a bit teary-eyed, and I'm sure Susan was too.

We went to church on Sunday, I was still a little bit wobbly. A couple from the Philippines gave inspiring talks. The Elders assigned to our ward played a violin/piano duet--A Child's Prayer. Very well done. In this photo, we are with Elder and Sister Poon, serving here from the States.

German pancake is always  
comfort food.

We awoke to the news of the attempted assassination of former Pres. Trump. Having an ocean separating us from our homeland doesn't relieve the worry, or lessen our love for our country. We are sorry that two people had to lose their lives in this horrible incident. May the love of Christ fill all our hearts--and as Dennis reminds us at the beginning of each Sunday School lesson he teaches--Christ is always the answer.

Happy July 4th!

These missionaries completed their service at the end of June after serving honorably. The 2nd from the right is Elder Nut who is from Ayutthaya. We are so happy for him.

A large group of Vietnamese came to do ordinances this week. We witnessed history again when the first Vietnamese ordinance worker was set apart for our temple. Jonathan is a translator for the church and a delightful young man. We were privileged to visit with him and hear his conversion story. So many members give up so much--jobs, family, friendships--to join the Church and follow Jesus Christ.

I got a haircut this week as shown in this goofy "Stan Laurel" photo. I went to an upscale mini-mall near the temple. They had their prices posted, which seemed high for Thailand. They charged for everything separate--the wash, cut, blow style--which is not unusual for the states, but when the hostess showed me the price up front, I was blown away but just couldn't walk out because I was hopeful to get the cut. They said it would take 45 minutes, so I agreed. First, a young girl washed my hair. She washed and washed--two washes and a conditioner, and 20 minutes later--I pointed to my watch, wondering if I'd committed to a 45 minute head massage! I had to be in the temple in an hour. She giggled and ended the washing. Then came the cut, done by another lady. Nothing unusual about it or the dry. I tried to speak Thai to the person, but she kept say she didn't speak English, so I'd repeat the memorized line again, trying my best to say the tones and correct pronunciation--"Do you have children?" Easy, right? She'd again say she didn't speak English.

Do I speak Thai that badly? I guess so. 

We had a 7 AM session on Saturday for the new mission presidents and stake presidents and their wives. It was a privilege to be present as all these Church leaders in Thailand came for a session together.

I usually don't add spiritual experiences we've had in the temple, they being sacred, but there have been times when the person we are acting in proxy for has undeniably accepted the ordinance--the Spirit being so strong at times. 

I served as a witness in the baptistry one morning this week. For both the recorder, the baptizer, and the proxy, it was their first experience in those positions. The man baptizing had never baptized anyone, let alone in the temple. There was a quiet discussion on how to hold the hands and raise the arm to the square. It was a sweet experience watching these men prepare themselves to do this sacred ordinance. And then the Spirit witnessed to me as the baptisms began that this was the way it was meant to be, that we all work together to bring to pass the salvation for our dead, made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

We celebrated the 4th of July long before any of you even woke up (since we're 14 hours ahead of Arizona.)  Dennis arranged with the American senior couples and other American visitors to go to lunch for hamburgers. We walked across the street to Mos Burger (18 of us). They have good burgers, all Thai flavored, and the size is small. We had no fireworks, except Elder Belnap did blow the wrapper off his drinking straw and sent it flying through the air. Happy birthday, America!

Okay, I got over the belly problem, but now I have vertigo!