We love visiting the members

One of our favorite activities is visiting people with the young missionaries and sometimes on our own even though our facility with the language is pretty limited.  Some of these members are recent converts, some are very active, and some are less active.  We could post many pictures and notes and we love everyone we visit, but we will limit this blog post to just a few of our favorites.

Several members of the Church we have visited with elders and sisters are women in wheelchairs who are involved in playing basketball at a grant-funded rehab center on Fridays and Saturdays.  They receive a little money for their participation. On one Friday we were invited to come see them play.  It was fun to watch.  We were surprised at how aggressive some of the players were.  A couple of missionaries joined our cheering section for a few minutes.

Another of our favorite visits is to our "Mango farmer."  Even though the mango orchard at which he works is over an hour drive away with the last stretch over very rough dirt road, we love to visit him.  He spreads out a tarp to produce an instant "living room" for our visit.  He is a recent convert, and even though it is difficult for him to come to church each week, he has great spiritual depth.  We were also anxious to check out the two-wheeled tractor,  These are ubiquitous here and used for all sorts of things.

We also love going to a place we call "the jungle."  Very sweet members live in this area in several very humble homes.  We generally meet with women here because husbands are away seeking work in Thailand.  They cook outside over wood fires.  On the occasion pictured above, they were making rice cakes which they sell at a nearby school.  They were kind enough to share some with us and we were brave enough to eat them.  Several of these women are illiterate (and one is deaf). One of our goals is to find a way to set up a literacy program in the area so that they can prepare themselves to find better employment opportunities.

Here is a wonderful family with four children but the parents look after several nephews as well.  Both parents are in wheelchairs but they try to be very independent since there is no real government support for them.  The father repairs electronic equipment.  The kids are delightful and always happy to see us whether we are with the young missionaries or not.  They are not getting a good education, however, as evidenced by the fact that the 12-year old twin boys struggle to read.  We love them.