Mission College

Well, I have finally met Ryan & Laura Ashlock! My mom is friends with Pastor Ryan's sister, also named Laura. Because we all knew each other in some confusing  way, we really wanted to meet! I have been lazy here in Bangkok and just haven't taken the time to figure out how to get down to Mission College. Well, a fellow teacher here at my school has relatives there and she worked it out so we could ride in the van/shuttle service with her down there.

Me, Steph, Mike, Maria and Tatiana packed up our things on Friday and headed out Friday evening for Mission College. We were told it was a 2 1/2 hour ride in the van. Well, traffic had other plans. All in all, it took a little over 3 hours to get there, which really isn't that bad. The only bad part is that Stephanie, Tatiana, Jenn, and I were in the very back seat on the way there. If you know me, you know that I get carsick like no other - especially if I'm in the back. Stephanie gets carsick as well, and because of the primitive conditions of the shocks in the 

back row, Tatiana and Jennifer were queasy as well. Wow, were we a sight! It was awful! That was the worst 3 hours, ever! But trust me when I say that it was SO worth it! When we arrived, we stumbled our nauseated selves out of the van and were greeted by the warm welcome of the Ashlocks! 

As soon as we walked in, put our stuff down, and said hello to everyone, we were ushered to sit down and eat some of the best food my lips have ever tasted. The table was decorated with 

enchiladas, a delicious salad, a yummy egg casserole, and Pastor Ryan even made us Pina Coladas! After the meal, we had oatmeal raisin cookies. I repeatedly told Laura how amazingly 

delectable her food was, and I hope she realized how great it really was! Not only was it delicious because we have tasted nothing other than Thai food for the past....forever....but that 

food was delicious just because! We sat around talking for a while, and after cleaning up, us SM's sat around talking for quite a while and took some goofy pictures that are sure to be 

framed upon arrival to the States so as not to forget such incredible memories! I love you guys!

On Sabbath Stephanie and I woke up to several knocks on our door. When Steph went to the door, 3 little blonde beauties greeted her by saying, "It's morning and you need to wake up!" It was so cute! These cutie pies are Laura & Ryan's beautiful little girls, Katie, Leah and

 Madeline. We didn't realize that it was already 8! Once we made ourselves presentable, we went out to the table where Laura had outdone herself again. Do you know how long it has been since I have had a proper biscuit? OH MY WORD. I love homemade biscuits and she had a warm pile of them on her table! I dug in! Mmmmmmm :D

After breakfast, the Ashlocks left for Sabbath School, and we sat around waiting turns for the bathroom. It only took a little bit to get ready, but Mike told us that Laura & Pastor Ryan told him that they had free Skype calls! Stephanie and I had to take advantage of that. None of us

 brought our laptops, so it was so nice to be able to call my mom! We didn't want to wait until after church because they would have been asleep! I always appreciate being able to hear my mom's voice. Stephanie called her family as well! It was awesome! After we were done, we

headed out bound for Church. While we walked in the blistering sun, we sweated and cursed Mike for taking us the long way. It was OK though! 

We forgave him. After arriving, we immediately saw Laura and the girls

 and were asked the question, "Why did it take you so long to get to church?" After explaining myself, we went inside to the welcomed air-con and enjoyed a wonderful sermon given by Pastor Ryan. It was a lovely service and Katie and I enjoyed each other's company by coloring in Crayola's Color Wonder Coloring Book. 

After church we another delicious meal of pasta with homemade bread and peas! Oh peas! I haven't had them in so long! Ahhh! She had this really good pasta sauce made from tomatoes, carrots, celery, and butter. Man was that good! Dessert was a brownie/cake that was gross....just kidding. Just thought I'd throw in something other than delicious, delectable, great, amazing, or good to see if you were paying attention! But yeah, the chocolate cake was all of the above! 

After lunch we headed out to take a tour of the campus. Luckily Pastor Ryan was able to borrow a van to accommodate us all and we were able to swiftly tour the campus without breaking too much of a sweat. I had an awesome van seat buddy! Leah kept me company and we had fun in the front seat! After that, we went to a local park. This park has a great waterfall area where a lot of locals swim and cool off. It was beautiful, and although I didn't swim(didn't bring my swimsuit & only had one set of clothes and had no desire to sit for 3 hours in wet clothes), I still had a great time watching the girls, Pastor, and Andrew(missionary) jump and frolic in the cool water. Once we realized we only had a little bit of time left before we had to head back to Bangkok, we gathered our things and headed back toward the van. Once back, Laura made us delicious vegetarian hot dogs, we ate some great potato salad, and we gathered our things together to leave. After saying goodbyes we made our way outside and had prayer before hopping in the van. Luckily, Stephanie and I nabbed the front seat and neither of us got sick. The time flew by - literally! It only took us a little over 2 hours to get to BKK. That was nice. The whole trip was nice :o)