Hi family. Thanks for all the comments on my last entry. You guys are all so nice! Today Princess and I were playing a game to compensate for not being able to go to church, it was "I'm grateful for..." and one of my big ones was my awesome family!!
I won't say much about our trip out here, except that we were stuck in LA for 36 hours (we went to Disneyland) and when we got to China we were "detained" for awhile in a "marble prison" (along with the rest of the Americans on the flight) before we could proceed directly to our gate. I felt so welcome. But then, they gave us a stamp in our passport, so I guess we'll let it slide. I actually made a friend on the 15-hour flight named Xiaolong (sounds like Shaalom), and we got to have a great Gospel discussion. Apparently he'd been taught by many volunteer teachers from - of course - BYU. Mormons are so great.
When we got to Bangkok, it was about 2:00pm (3:00am DC time). We went down for a one hour nap that turned into four, and then we went out exploring. We made it as far as the nearest massage parlor and got the cheapest massage ever. (We hope to repeat this as much as possible.) We wandered down one of the most popular night market streets, Kao San Road, and may or may not have gotten weaves in our hair from one of the street vendors. (You'll see them in the pictures. Don't know how long they'll last...they're kind of annoying. But fun.) They said it'd take 2-4 hours. It took 6. We offered to pay more if they got some friends to come help them, but it didn't happen. So non-capitalistic. But we'd gotten used to sitting for long periods of time, and the people-watching options were fantastic. So we just sat and watched the world go by. That was our one night in Bangkok.
We had to catch our flight to Phuket later the next day so we only ended up getting about an hour and a half to see the Grand Palace (a golden and sparkly assault on the eyes) and Wat Pho, which holds the largest reclining Buddha statue in the world. It is seriously big. I'll put some pics at the end so you can all see. An interesting thought: they were building this palace around the same time we were about to start building the Constitution. Hmm...
Now we're in Phuket and it's beautiful. We're staying in the most southeasterly spot called Cape Panwa. Today, we went SCUBA diving. That's right, and I'm not even certified. We got an underwater camera so I'll show pics of that later. We actually checked around for an LDS church but stumbled upon a Muslim church instead. They directed us upstairs to the women's area, we said a prayer on the prayer rug, read a few verses of from the Qur'an, and were on our way. (I read a section with a pretty incomplete explanation of why they believe Jesus is only a Prophet, but they were letting us borrow their mosque for a few minutes, so I wasn't going to complain.)
I think I've gone on long enough. I just want to also say, I'm really glad I'm taking this trip with Princess. We've gone through some stressful situations already, but she takes it like a champ. I know a lot of people I probably wouldn't be friends with anymore after these things. She's great. Enjoy the photos.
HISTORY
A Little History:
Our story begins in Pocatello, Idaho, circa 1972, when the lovely Debby Christensen agreed to a first, though fateful date with admirer, David Croshaw. Long story-short, he bade her follow him, and they went arm-in-arm to the Logan, Utah temple for establishment of an eternal family unit, Generation 1, on May 23 1973.
From their first blissful summer in Salt Lake City, educational pursuits took them to Provo/Orem, Utah, birthplace of Leslie and Rebecca, and to San Francisco/Oakland California, birthplace of Colin and Matt. Then, for establishment of livelihood, expansion of the tribe with Abby and Dana, and for raising/unifying of Generation 2, it was back to the roots in Pocatello for a rewarding sojourn.
In time, driven by a raging, but commonly shared sense of adventure and independence, one-by-one, Generation 2 escaped the homeland to distant regions of the country and the world, each ultimately developing their own tribal expansions by pairing with worthy mates and initiating Generation 3.
Now sensing fulfillment of their purpose in Pocatello, Generation 1 has also left those roots and transplanted to Cascade Idaho, from which base, they anticipate more abundant contact with The Posterity, Generations 2 and 3, in the future. That contact however, awaits fulfillment of a call to LDS missionary service in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, wherein they hope to help the state of the world by sharing the love of Jesus Christ.
So now, including Generation 0 (Grandma and Grandpa Christensen) home base includes Yuma, Arizona, Pocatello, Idaho, Cascade, Idaho, Vancouver, BC, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Spokane, Washington, Boise, Idaho, Los Angeles, California, back to Boise, Idaho, and on and on (Generation 3+) to infinity.
Our Mission Statement:
This is the blog of our eternal family unit. Initiated years ago, it served well as a journal, but even more so, as an archive of our personal interaction. It was a gathering place, a confabulation instrument, a unifying force for four generations of widely dispersed and progressively prolific posterity, and their valued associates. Though it served these purposes well for many years, it eventually took a back seat to new-kids-on-the-block, Facebook, and Instagram, and was sadly forgotten.
We now move to resurrect this blog with an added functional purpose of archiving the missionary experiences of Generation 1, of their movements and activities as they participate with The Gathering of Israel in the land northward. In so doing, we hope that via their own comments and posts, this blog will again serve to gather and unify the posterity and their friends.
As in the past, that the young and vibrant may know the old and tired, that enduring bonds may be fostered and maintained, that experience and encouragement may be openly shared, that posterity may embrace truth, and that hearts may be knit together, we must resist detachment despite our geographic divergence. We shall do so here.
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5 comments:
Abby,
I just have one question for you:
wat fo is Wat Pho reclining?
Dad
Abby Gail! How fun!!! What great memories you're going to have. I'd love to go to Asia some day.
Dad - my guess is fo because he's tired! I'd get tired pretty fast if I was that big!
what a beautiful, incredible place you get to visit. where do you go next? be careful and keep having lots of fun. i love reading your entries. xoxoxo from home
Wow, one back pack. I think your Dad would be proud. He took more than that on our weekend trip to the Fiesta Bowl. Looks like fun, lucky ducky.
Jason
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