HEFY - Brinley in Thailand

The following is a guest post written by Brinley. Enjoy the brief recap from her time in Thailand!

After two days of travel we immediately went from the Phuket airport to a boat tour through beautiful islands. While visiting the islands, we swam, snorkeled and kayaked in the ocean.

Kayaking through a forest of bats.

We attended a Thai cooking school and prepared a different dishes.
I learned quickly to leave out the red/chili peppers - so spicy!

Visiting a Buddist Temple at the top of a mountain.  

I have no idea how they got it up there.

Me and Emily

The next day was Friday.  We got up and drove to a stair "hike". It was more like an uphill ladder climb through scary and aggresive monkeys, but the view at the top was worth it.

Saturday morning our leaders suprised us with a trip to an elephant sanctuary before catching our plane ride to Udon.

We got to play with and feed the elephants which was a blast.

Brinley, Lauren, Dallin in classroom

Monday morning we started our physical labor/manual work on the school bathrooms.
We also got to teach English to the children at the school.

Me and Lauren posing in the bathroom we tiled.

The finished bathroom with Lauren, Sophie, Emily and me.

 Carinne, Lauren, Me, Emily, Sophie

Teaching a girl the word "jump".  

Everyone takes off their shoes before entering homes, schools, temples, etc.

 In Thailand, the feet are considered 'dirty'.

Saying our goodbyes to the children.

Audrey, Emily, Kenna, Me, Lauren, the top of Maddie's head, Ellie, Shania, one of the three Bens

We worked hard all week long then had fun on the weekends.  The second weekend we drove down to waterfalls that we slid down into the water.  We got quite a few weird looks/creepy stares being the only white/caucasian people and the only ones in actual swimsuits.

After we finished the bathroom project, we started at a new worksite to help build a new school. The ground was covered in fire ants so we had to tuck in our shirts and socks to avoid too many bites. Eventually, we got rid of all the nests!

We had to dig a giant sewage hole with nothing but hoes and shovels. We also mixed cement by hand with the hoes which we poured into small buckets. Then we carried the buckets over to wherever they were needed.

Saying goodbye to the kids at the second school featuring my closed eyes.

Maysen, Lauren, Kenna, Me, Sophie, Emily, Carinne

Here we are at the church on the Fourth of July.  We put on a talent show with the ward members.
(Side note we also got to see four investigators baptized in the two weeks we attended the ward.)

The day before we left for the airport, we traveled to a market on the Thailand/Laos border. The group wasn't able to go to Laos but we saw it across the river.

We also went to several night markets where we went souvenier shopping.

Me, Collin, Emily, Dallin, Lauren, Sophie 

Baptisms at the Hong Kong temple.

Me and Kenna in Hong Kong

Leaving Hong Kong

I personally did not fall in love with Hong Kong because it's not exactly what I was expecting. It's dirty, smelly, and overcrowded.  Also, the buildings are falling apart. Sorry (Taylor and Jen) but I don't think I'll ever move to China - haha!

At the LA airport returning home