day 17-sept 17

We are super happy with our hostel. The bed is extremely comfy, the bathroom is so close, everything is super accessible and it's really fun to hear so many accents around. We sometimes hear random farts coming from the others, I think it's mainly the Australian guy. Maybe.,. We got up and had some breakfast. The bread and honey was my favorite. The fruit was moms favorite, mainly pineapple. We got ready and walked to church. It's only a 10-15 minute walk. We are staying so close to where we were last weekend, it's nice to know our way around a bit. Last night when we were walking Sarah to her hostel, we passed the church and realized that her place was right by where we stayed last weekend. It was great to be able to partake of the Sacrament again because last week was district conference and we didn't have it. The meeting was great and hey had a special musical number by the primary children and it was adorable! They sang Nephis courage. We asked a couple behind us for some advice on places we wanted to go, a missionary gave his advise as well. They suggested we take an uber to Doi Inthanon. We also met up with Brother Barlow to get our stuff that we left with him last week, while we were talking to him, we asked him for help with other things we needed, he kindly took us to a shop and then back to our hostel. It was so kind of him, we've been so blessed with people helping us so much.

We changed, then tried to get an uber driver. I couldn't figure out the app until about 3 tries in. We walked to Sarah's Hostel because we wanted to join us for the day, then the uber drive came, we got in the car and he said "I can't take you to Doi inthanon, too far." So we got back out. We called for another Uber, he was there in aboit 5 minutes, and God is good!! He was amazing and were so grateful we had him. His name is Bank. He drove us to Doi Inthanon, which is a 2 hour drive up to the top of  tallest mountain in Thailand. He was very cautious and aware of everything. It was very foggy and misty up the mountain. He spoke English pretty well. He taught us about Buddhism in our way up. He said that Buddha was meant to be a King, not Buddha, but he wanted to know the full meaning of life and why and what we do in order to reach enlightenment. It was neat hearing it from a native.

Once we got to the top, he took us to get our picture in front of the sign, then told us to walk this jungle pathway. It was gorgeous! Words can't describe. Then he took us to another spot which again is beyond words. Our driver patiently waited while we walked around for a couple of hours, then offered to take photos before we got in the car.

We hopped back in the car and it started pouring, and I mean pouring. We asked to stop by a waterfall on the way down, he kindly said yes. Today he never rushed us, just enjoyed the day with us. This waterfall was majestic and magnificent. With the rain and SO much water, it was gorgeous. He loaned us his umbrella and stayed the the car while we went out and got soaked!

On he way home, we took our time to be safe, then we listened to a bit of music, hen talked with Bank. He shared with us about his first relationship coming to an end and his experience with that, then about his wife and daughter now. He told us thy  movies helped him learn English. He was really open and real with us. We were able to ask him about the government and questions about the King also. He was a tender mercy from God today. We ate dinner with Sarah at a local shop, bought some new dry clothes, then went to a night market. Oh and we got mango with sticky rice.  Staple of a day.