GOING HOME

Back in Bangkok Al called the mission president and finally got to talk to him in person. He invited us over to the mission office where we visited for about forty-five minutes. It was a new and very nice building with four floors housing translation, physical facilities, a distribution center and the mission headquarters.

President Goodman was great. He was in Thailand on a mission in 1984 and is around 35 years old. He told us what had changed and what had stayed the same. New wards, new branches and growth – low retention and a shortage of leadership. ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same,’ he said.

We asked if there was anything we could do to help and he suggested we go visit Sister Sriluksana. She was one of the early (if not the first) member in Thailand and had translated the book of Mormon. I had worked with her a little on the D&C but didn’t know if she would remember me. It sounded like a nice idea but I didn’t know how we could do it. As we were walking down the stairs to leave, we met a Thai member who invited us into his office to talk. His name was brother Wisit and though he looked familiar, I couldn’t place him in my memory definitely. We decided we must have been in Bangkok about the same time in the Asoke branch.

He has two teenagers, was a missionary and now is over facilities and translation. He happened to be going to Sister Sri’s to take some translated documents for her to review so invited us along. She is near 80 years old now but looks as young as she did 24 years ago if not younger. Unfortunately she had two vicious dogs that she couldn’t tie by herself so we just visited through the fence. Brother Wisit was bitten by one of them once and wouldn’t even attempt to open the gate.

She is alone most of the time and wondered what the Lord has in store for her now. She said, ‘Every since I started this work of the Book of Mormon I have had trials. I’ll just keep on but wonder what the Lord has in mind.’ She asked us to give her love to President Brown – she dearly misses him.

Traffic in Bangkok is absolutely awful. Wisit started us back to the hotel but it got so late he dropped us at a service station. There is construction on the overhead expressways (they are really quite nice –German designed and constructed) which congests and reroutes traffic everywhere.

After Phuket and Cambodia, the Fortune Hotel looked really nice and had great service. We dropped our bags and headed out to pick up some gifts to take home. We cabbed it to Pratu Nam around the Indra Reagent (one of the grand hotels of our early days). The mezzanines and terraces had been converted into common goods stalls and we walked through them and the street alley markets looking for something that would be either useful or original but didn’t have much luck. I picked up some elephant skin wallets and spoons. Al got some musical instruments and a sword. We both picked up some silk shirts but aren’t sure how they will wash up in a machine.

We stopped for one last meal of noodles – I’ll have to save the lobster and turian for the next trip. At an Internet kiosk we checked mail. This one had T1 access and was fairly fast. Angela had taken the challenge to get a Web site up before I got back that I could register from. I was very impressed. I went to her site, filled out registration information and submitted it. Most people I know couldn’t have done that in months given the challenge and what she knew about the Internet when I left.

A short night at the hotel; wake up call at 5:30 a.m. for an 8 a.m. flight. We burned our last Baht at the duty free shop on water buffalo horn sling shots. An uneventful flight to Seoul where we were able to get seats on to Los Angeles without having to overnight. Outside it was 34 degrees, rainy and generally gloomy so we didn’t mind missing the layover. The flight to L.A. wasn’t bad with two meals, two movies and some good naps. It was one of those rare days in California when the sky is clear and the fresh snow on the distant mountains is visible. Beautifully sunny.

The next Delta flight was over booked but we still made it on standby to Salt Lake – even with the sword. Apparently it was considered a weapon and in Korea security had checked it through. In L.A. a security guard had to stand with it and wait until our flight cleared and then give it to a stewardess. According to the rules (told us by the security guard) she was supposed to store it in the hold but I watched her stick it in the first class cabin closet and then promptly forgot about it. When we got to Salt Lake, it had to be tracked down from baggage claim. The flight to Utah was clear below most of the way.

I have been reading the book I bought in Phuket, Marco Polo – incredibly fascinating. Many of the places he talks about I have seen and been to. His curiosity, sense of adventure really resonate with me. I’m reading where he traveled through Burma and came back through Thailand and Loas. What a fortunate find for a trip like this. In a way, it’s easy to see how you could just travel for years on end as Marco did. There are so many differences and yet so many similarities in every country and culture and discovering both seems to have a addictive effect. This was a great trip. It was wonderful to travel with Alan – to see how much we have changed over 22 years and yet how much we have stayed the same. And though we traveled Thailand from top to bottom there’s still an inviting urge to see much more of Asia – perhaps on a dirt bike!