Beautiful Thailand by Brandee Davis

"We have to hurry,” he said. "The shuttle van will leave without us.” It was Sunday morning in Bangkok, Thailand. We had been in this big city for two days so far, with the boy we hadn't seen for two years. It was amazing. We couldn't believe our eyes, or our ears, as we sat back and listened to this child of ours speaking this different but beautiful language to complete strangers. This boy, who has never been one to step out of his comfort zone, was now looking for people to talk to. About anything. And everything.

We got to the shuttle place, which was under a large freeway, and a bit sketchy. We climbed into this fifteen-passenger van and waited for everyone to load up. It was going to be a two-hour drive. Not too bad. The A/C kind of worked. It could've been way worse, so we were good, but we were so happy to get out of that van when we hit Lopburi. As we got out of the van, Elder Davis told us we only had ten minutes and that we had to hurry. We did hurry, and we made it on time.

As we entered their store-front-looking church building, it was nice. You could tell they took great pride in their new church. Immediately they all hurried to say hello to an old friend. Elder Davis was so happy to see these beautiful people whom he served and loved. As they began their meeting, we began to look around. What a beautiful spirit these humble Thai people had! As they began to sing, you could feel their love for God. We couldn't understand what they said, but we felt it with our hearts. At the end of the meeting, they asked Elder Davis to say a few words. We didn't know what he said to those sweet people, but we could tell by the way they listened, that they loved what he had to say about the Gospel.

Immediately following the meeting, they all invited us to come back and eat with their branch after the three-hour block. We really wanted to return to be with them, but we had an errand to run first. Elder Davis wanted to go a visit a friend who couldn't make it to church that day, so we left to see her. We caught a tuk tuk over to her work. She was thrilled to see Elder Davis. He visited with her for just a few minutes, and while we were there, he received a phone call, again asking if we would please come back to eat with the church members. We headed right back. When we got there, the youth were setting up tables for lunch. Out of probably seventy people in their branch, I bet fifty or more stayed to eat. They loved one another. They truly enjoyed each other's company. As we looked around at these sweet, kind, humble people, who would give you anything they had, if only you'd ask, we were in awe, and we were ashamed.

What do we take for granted? Absolutely everything. What a great example those people were to us that day! We will never forget them. The charity they showed was such an example, as they fed us first, gave us the most, and wanted more than anything for us to be happy and just enjoy being there. What a gift they gave us that day! We are so blessed! Blessed to live where we do. Blessed to be able to speak freely and worship how we choose, without fear. We are so grateful to those people for loving Elder Davis the way they did. For taking care of him while we were unable to. That gift of love will never be forgotten.