Chiang Mai

We are in Chiang Mai. We got here on Tuesday evening around 5:00. It is green here and the weather is lovely.  Not as hot as Bangkok but it is still humid but in a different way.  It does get sticky during the day.  We just got the internet hooked up.  When we arrived here in Chiang Mai, there was one set of Elders here but they live north of the city and they couldn't be reached.  The Sisters had gone to Bangkok and the Zone leader and his companion had gone to Bangkok.  So here we were not knowing where our house was and the only thing I had was a google map that the mission President had printed out to show us kind of where we would live.  

We landed and got our luggage and went to find a taxi.  It was a struggle but we finally got one.  From being on google I was able to recognize the place when we got there.  We had a bag of keys and a gate that was locked.  Found it!  It is a nice place.  It is in a development that is a gated community.  It has stand alone houses and then it has rows of houses that are connected.  When we get pictures downloaded we will send one of our place.  It has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths(shower), an office.  There are three air conditioning units.  On in the bedroom, one in the office, and one downstairs in the living room kitchen area.  We are going to get plenty of exercise going up and down the stairs.  We have a car.  When we got here we looked out the back door into an area that is covered and is where we do the laundry and there were about 25 - 30 dead cockroaches laying all over the place.  These are cockroaches about 2 to 3 inches long.

I tried to start the car and it wouldn't start.  I called the District President and told him we were in town and then told him about our car.  He said that he would get a hold of a member and have him bring some jumper cables.  When he got here we could not get the car out of the car port because the battery was dead and it wouldn't let us  put it into neutral to push it out.  The member went and got a technician and he came to the house, said the battery was no good and put in a new one while I stood there.  It cost me 50.76.  that is for the battery and installation at my house.

The next thing was the internet.  We were supposed to have it but the username would not come up on the wifi.  I had paper work from the former couple but i did not have the vocabulary to explain in Thai.  We prayed for a miracle and got one.  I was sitting in the living room and I saw one of the neighbors come home.  I had the impression to go ask him if he could help us with our problem.  So I did.  He could speak English and Thai.  He came over but could not fix it but he called the support number and explained what was happening and they had someone scheduled to come the next day, that is today.  They came to the house and did something that Kirk does and they were off and on their way.  No charge.

Today I drove for the first time in Thailand.  I was a little anxious but we made it and we are still alive.

Mom is feeling great except for swallowing.  The more she uses her voice the tighter her throat gets.  She loves the weather here.  We are up at 6:00 AM and are out and walking by 6:30.  Mom is doing so good.  She has such a great attitude.  We have taken the last few days to get settled.  I have a meeting with the District presidency tomorrow evening to find out how things are going.

We love you and are praying for you.