day 22- day 23

day 22- We arose early this morning so we could get our bags packed. Then we took one last walk along the beach. We had a black dog join us for our walk. There were seven ropes running out to the sea, we think they were catching crabs but not sure what they were for. A couple of cages were attached to them in the water. The beach was so quiet and peaceful. We saw some sand on the beach that looked as though star fish had been there, but it was actually from little sand crabs. We ate some breakfast and took some photos with the cute host family. Oily, the host mom had called and arranged a taxi for us. He arrived and we set off to the airport. He pulled off about 2 minutes later and told us "one minute" we were thinking it was a drug deal or something sketchy because he was paying money to someone at a small market. He was actually paying them to go get gas because he had run out. We then pulled off again on the road and again he said "one minute" and he went in to get lunches for a later tour he had. We got to the airport and told him which airline we were going on, he dropped us off and we then learned we were at the wrong terminal and walked to the correct one. We checkout our bags and headed to Bangkok. At Bangkok we collected our bags, then checked them again for our flight home. From Bangkok we flew to China. We had a meal. We shopped a bit and went to find ice cream. We found a small coffee shop that took American money because we had changed it all back. We found little half cups of ice cream and went to pay. When the lady told us the price, we said no thank you. It was $23 for maybe 6 bites of ice cream each. Wowzers! Not saying that I wouldn't do that if I was desperate! ;) from China we flew to LAX. This flight was about 10 or so hours. We watched some good movies, got a little sleep, ate 2 meals (shared them) and arrived about 6:50 LA time. It was odd because we left China at 7:30pm Friday night, and arrived in LAX at 6:50pm Friday night. Our bodies are a little confused. It took us about an hour plus to get through customs and boarder patrol and whatever else we did. Joel and Sherri Wadman came and picked us up from the airport. We went out to chilis for food, then went to their house to sleep. 











day 23- we woke up this morning, showered and got ready for the day. We talked with the Wadmans then had a yummy breakfast of oatmeal, fried eggs, toast and strawberry/blueberry jam. It was yummy. We then talked for a bit longer, then packed up our stuff and went to the Ventura Pier. It was beautiful and very long. There were many people fishing off the pier. Then we went to the Harbor and felt the water. The water was cold! But we got used to it. After enjoying that for a bit, we walked over to a restaurant named Andrea's. It was a seafood restaurant. Mom got fish and chips and I got popcorn shrimp and chips. It was good but a lot of food and a bit different than what we've been eating. We dropped Sherri off and Joel took us to the airport. We are so grateful for Sherri and Joel's hospitality and kindness. We are grateful to be family with them. At the airport things went smoothly and we had time to listen to Elder Uchedorf's talked from the Women's Session of General Conference. And off to SLC we went. 





We are so grateful for our loving family and friends who have helped us make this experience possible and we are deeply indebted for their generosity. We love and appreciate their great friendship. 

We are also so grateful for Patti and her mom, Petch and his mom, Ray, Tina, Sarah (NY), Paul, Mihir, Yuichi, Christina, Joseph, Estefi, Noelia, Evan and our roomie Sarah(Canada) and her mom Carol, Nikki (volunteer coordinator), P-Akong (outdoor coordinator) the ladies who cooked our food, our cab/Tuktuk/uber drivers, especially Bank, our tour guides, especially Ging, our amazing 23 year old speed boat driver, our airplane pilots, the Stratton's and the Barlows, the missionaries who translated for us, and so many other friends that we met at the Mirror Foundation. 
Words cannot describe this experience and we are forever grateful we had the privilege to do this. We saw Gods hand in our lives everyday and when we trusted Him, it always worked out smoothly. We planned and did our part and He did the rest. 

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