TED & SONJA MOLEFF - BANGKOK THAILAND MISSION

YOUTH CONFERENCE

Sister Moleff and I were invited to attend Youth Conference on April 29-May 1 2015. The youth were given Passports where Visa stamps were indication of areas of accomplishment. We had the Family History stamp. The youth would need to fill-in as much of their family tree as possible in the Passport to receive the Family History stamp, an image of the Salt Lake Temple. Photo record is shown below.

The bus that the Bangkok West District Youth and Senior Couples traveled in. Trip took 7-hours

Sign identifying the Imperial Phukaew Hill Resort

Imperial Phukaew Hill Resort Khao Kho - View

Clubhouse where teaching was performed and meals served.

What the Passport looked like

Sister Moleff's Passport. Salt Lake Visa stamp on bottom right

Elder Moleff stamping Passport for happy youth

Elder and Sister Moleff at breakfast with President and Sister Sathit, Bangkok North Stake President, and the person that Elder Anderson spoke about in the April 2015 General Conference

Youth at conference

All the youth love President and Sister Senior

L-t-R: President Sathit Bangkok (North Stake President), President Senior (Bangkok Thailand Mission President), President Arun (Bangkok West District President), and President Wongsagorn (Udon District President).

The youth in each District put on outstanding pertformances

I wonder if they will grow in Prosser. This is Jackfruit and is edible.

Some of the view was breathtaking including Sister Moleff walking to the Clubhouse

Our apartment - Moleff's on the left, Seppi's on the right

Our apartment was 3-levels. 3 stairs down to get to where Sister Moleff is sitting, and 2-more stairs up to the foyer and bathroom area

Our private balcony

Bangkok North Stake Youth and Leaders

UDON DISTRICT CONFERENCE

Sister Moleff and I attended the Udon (Udorn) District Conference on April 25-26 and taught several Family History classes. The photographic record is as follows:

We stayed at the Centara Hotel with breakfast included for 2000 Baht/night.

Udon 1 & 2 Meetinghouse and District Center. Chapel on 2nd floor.

Family History Center

Elder Moleff teaching President and Sister Sangvein (counselor in District Presidency also full time Thai missionaries) FIND, TAKE, and TEACH Family History Principles. Sister Wan, far left, is the Thailand Family History Adviser and our interpreter.

Sister Wan and Moleff passing out My Family booklets

Sister Moleff and Wan instructing on filling-in My Family booklets

Sister Missionary helping with computer

Sister Wan and Moleff teaching My Family booklet at the Sunday Fireside

Elder Moleff teaching FIND, TAKE and TEACH at the Sunday Fireside

All-in-all, a successful 2-days of Family History instruction.

Temple in Thailand

Sister Moleff wept after she opened her iPad at 6 am Monday morning and read the announcement from Heidi and Andy about a Temple in Thailand. Then she went to play the broadcast of President Monson's announcement and wept some more. Her joy was almost overwhelming. We found the following on-line and copied it below. Elder Moleff added the photo to the article.

BANGKOK THAILAND TEMPLE
Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking not announced (1)

Location: Bangkok, Thailand.

ANNOUNCEMENT: 5 April 2015

CONSTRUCTION STATUS
The Bangkok Thailand Temple is currently in the planning stages. No groundbreaking date has
been announced.

TEMPLE RENDERING
Renderings of the Bangkok Thailand Temple and site plan have not yet been publicly released.

TEMPLE SITE
No site location has been officially announced for the Bangkok Thailand Temple. However, some
members speculate that the Church office building on New Petchaburi Road in Bangkok [this is the office where we work], acquired by the Church in 2008, may be torn down and a multipurpose Church building similar to the temple in Hong Kong constructed here.The Makkasen Station on Bangkok's Airport Rail Link stands directly behind the property, making for rapid and dependable transportation from Suvarnabhumi Airport, which opened in 2006. The building houses most of the country's Church offices including the Thailand Bangkok Mission, the Bangkok Thailand Service Center, the Bangkok Thailand PEF Self Reliance Center, and LDS Charities.

This is a photo of the Thailand Bangkok Service Center taken on the day after President Monson made the announcement of a Temple in Bangkok. This is a possible site for the Bangkok Temple. If you look close at the bottom of the stairs going up into the Service Center, you will see Sister Moleff standing there. The Service Center used to be a bank building that the Church purchased. Three photos below show areal view of Service Center.

TEMPLE ANNOUNCEMENT
President Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of the Bangkok Thailand Temple during
his opening remarks at the Sunday Morning Session of the 185th Annual General Conference. The
temple will be the first in Thailand where the Church was first organized in 1966. There are now
approximately 18,000 Church members in 38 congregations in Thailand. The Bangkok Thailand
Temple will serve Latter-day Saints throughout Southeast Asia. Members currently attend temple
worship services in Hong Kong, over 1,000 miles away.

Nineteen years after the first stake was organized in Bangkok in 1995, the city's second stake
and a district were organized on June 15, 2014. Four additional districts operate in the country,
headquartered in Chiang Mai, Ubon, and Udorn and the Bangkok West which are expected to be reorganized as stakes in the coming months and years. In neighboring Cambodia, the country's first two stakes were both organized on May 25, 2014. Stakes have also been organized in the nearby nations of India, Indonesia, and Singapore. Several districts operate in the bordering country of Malaysia.

TEMPLE FACTS
The Bangkok Thailand Temple will be the first temple built in Thailand.

TEMPLE HISTORY
On June 12, 2000, President Gordon B. Hinckley became the first president of the Church to visit
Thailand where he enjoyed a "prebirthday" celebration hosted by Deputy Prime Minister Bhichai
Rattakul. The next morning, President Hinckley also met with Bangkok Governor Bhichit
and Thailand Prime Minister Chuan Leepkai who thanked the prophet for all the work that Latter-day
Saint volunteers had done for Thailand, noting in particular the 100 volunteers who had taught more
than 300,000 English teachers and students over the previous three years.

Bangkok was the second stop in a tour of Asia and the South Pacific to dedicate four temples in
Fukuoka, Japan; Adelaide, Australia; Melbourne, Australia; and Suva, Fiji. Before leaving Bangkok,
President Hinckley addressed a congregation of over 2,600 members at the Thailand Air Force
Convention Center. Some members had traveled 18 hours by bus to be in attendance.

In his remarks, President Hinckley recalled his first visit to the country in 1961 when there were
just a half dozen members of the Church. "We went quietly in the morning into Lumpini Park, a
small group of us, including Elder Marion D. Hanks of the Seventy, and there we lifted our voices in
prayer. We prayed that the Lord would smile upon this land, that He would touch it by the power of
His Holy Spirit, that the way would be opened for missionaries to come here, that the faithful would
accept the truth, and that the Lord would do a great and good work here." He continued, "Now it's
been a long time since I was here and I have seen a miracle, a very real miracle." He told the
members that they were pioneers of the Lord's work in their country and promised that if they were
faithful, the time would come when a temple would be constructed in Thailand. "The Lord expects so
very, very much of you. He expects you to be the best people in all of Thailand, and you ought to be
because you have a knowledge of His everlasting truth."(2)

1. "New Temples Announced: Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire); Port Au Prince, Haiti; Bangkok, Thailand," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints News Release, 5 Apr. 2015.

2. "'We have been on a long journey—but it was a great occasion,'" Church News 1 Jul. 2000, 27 Aug. 2010
<http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/38065/Wehavebeenonalongjourneybutitwasagreatoccasion.
html>.

Umbrella Factory in Chiang Mai

Elder and Sister Bush, Humanitarian Couple in Laos, had asked Sister Moleff to have the Umbrella Factory make 2-Family History Fan Charts for them. We were tat the Umbrella Factory on Monday and placed an order for 2-fan charts for pick-up by the Bushes on Friday.

If you go for a drive out along San Kamphaeng Road to look at all the silk, silverware & gem factories and showrooms be sure to go and visit the Bo Sang Handicraft Centre (8km south east from Chiang Mai). The local artisans make the world famous Sa Paper umbrellas and parasols that would be a treasured gift for either yourself or someone special back at home.

You can watch the whole process as the workers hand make the paper lamps, fans, umbrellas and parasols from start to end. From making the bamboo struts, covering them with paper, putting them out to dry and then hand painting them.

The artists in the Handicraft Centre who meticulously hand paint all the decorations on to the umbrellas are always willing to paint a variety of beautiful designs on items that you bring to them (for example a Purse, handbag, hat, jacket, t-shirt, even the leg of your jeans). Even very complicated scenic designs can be painted on your object right in front of you in minutes. Prices are extremely reasonable and are negotiated with the particular artist, don't be stingy with your money as you will be very proud to show off the beautiful finished product.

There is a large shop attached to the Bo Sang Handicraft Centre which sells a huge variety of exquisitely painted umbrellas and parasols along with other locally made handicraft products. If you don't have room in your luggage to fit all your purchases, the centre can easily arrange to post the goods overseas to your home for you.

Sister Moleff is giving the craftsman the fan chart he is to paint on the silk fans that Sister Moleff purchased for Elder & Sister Bush.

She is painting an elephant on my camera.

You can see a sample of designs that she works with. You go to the person that has the designs that you want painted.

She is painting elephants on a fan that Sister Moleff purchased.
Sister Moleff purchased the fan and told Elder Moleff he could choose
what he wanted painted on her fan - they are happy elephants.

Elder Moleff sitting on bike of peddler that started the Umbrella Factory. Capitalism at its best - which appears to be live and well in Thailand.

2nd Visit to the Celadon Factory

The finest Pottery of the region is known as celadon, which has a distinctive glaze made with wood ash. The technique of producing these wares involves applying the glaze before a second high temperature firing (1260° C in a reduced atmosphere of carbon dioxide). It was developed in China at least 2000 years ago.
Traditionally the glaze is designed to "run" (flow down the pot as the glaze becomes glassy) as well as "craze" and take on a crackled appearance. Though a light green color is considered ideal, old celadons could also be yellow and brown and the glaze matt and opaque if under-fired.
The main kilns in Lanna were at Kalong (near Wiang Papao), Phan (between Chiang Rai& Phayao) and San Kamphaeng.
Just when and how the considerable skills required to make this pottery came to Lanna is uncertain. It is generally accepted that production near Chiang Mai at San Kamphaeng began early in the 14th century, and, like other kilns, was helped by Chinese potters who had moved south away from the Mongols. However there is also the possibility that the necessary skills came from a hitherto undiscovered kiln site and could be Thai in origin. These kilns may have produced fine wares, perhaps with help from earlier migrations of Chinese potters, long before the establishment of the San Kamphaeng kilns at the beginning of the 14th century.
The local industry thrived until the fall of Lanna to the Burmese. The mid-17th century war and the competition from cheaper blue and white wares from China had put out the fires in Lanna kilns. Production began again at the beginning of the 20th century, bringing Lanna pottery to a new age.

Please enjoy the photos below.