Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (I like parenthesis)
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
5:00 pm
03:30 am Wake up
04:00 am Get taxi
04:15 am Arrive at airport, realizing there is virtually no traffic to be
concerned about this early in the morning
04:30 am Find International Departures and get in line
04:45 am "Next in line!" immigration officer takes passport, opens it and
hands it back the same motion, "Step out of line. Fill out form."
Oops!
04:45:30 am Restart Line
05:10 am Almost two hours early... wait at gate for boarding
07:15 am Take off
10:15 am Kuala Lupur!
Wasn't a bad start at all! I'm used to embarrassing myself now and going in circles has become common practice. I was surprised as the airport in KL appeared to be in the middle of beautiful nowhere (been a long time since I've had that feeling). I changed my baht into ringgit (looks even more like monopoly money) and crossed my fingers as the immigration officer decided whether or not to let me into his country (am I the only one who always feels like they won't?). From there on, it was pretty much smooth sailing. I got a ticket for the shuttle to Sentral (yes, that's how it's spelled) Station, the main terminal on their rail line. I thought the shuttle would be like 15, maybe 20 minutes. Instead, it was more like 45 minutes to an hour.
Some Australian girl had no choice but to sit next to me and really did not seem jazzed about it. I guess she was prejudice against beards. Can't really blame her though, I guess I do kind of look like a hobo now.
We arrived at Sentral Station. I was expecting something pretty straightforward and simple (like the BTS). I'm not going to post the picture, because it doesn't show what I saw. Imagine what Grand Central Station would look like if it was in Tokyo instead of New York. I thought I was in an airport. There were multiple rail lines and I was a little disoriented. The information lady kindly pointed me to the LRT (Light Rail Train?). Finally, it clicked that this one was KL's BTS.
The only thing I really, really wanted to see in the city was the Petronas Towers. They were featured in the movie Entrapment (Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones rob all the major banks in the world in one shot during Y2K... awesome movie). Until 2004, they were the tallest buildings in the world. I read online that I needed to take the LRT to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre). I followed the directions and wound up in a mall.
I was trying to figure out which side I should exit to find the towers. I picked one at random and didn't see them when I got outside.
Then, I remembered the website said "look up". I turned around and realized that I had just been inside them!
I was too late to get a ticket to visit the bridge in between (first come, first serve), but I didn't really care. I just wanted to see them in person. I took pictures for a couple hours.
After that, I went to Starbucks to try and bum some free wi-fi to see if Pastor Doug had received the contact information for the pastor I was supposed to meet here (oh yeah, I have some work to do). Sure enough, he had addresses and phone numbers. The addresses were more complicated than in Bangkok and Google Maps wasn't helping much. I tried calling the pastor's cell phone and I got a recording saying his phone was unreachable. I called his office and they didn't know where he was. So I tried taxis. Two of them didn't know the address and one of them was willing to try and find it, but not willing to turn on his meter (GET OUT!). It was about 4:00 pm by this point and I was getting pretty tired (Malaysia is hotter than Thailand). Just when I was about to say "Screw it, I'm gonna go to a movie," I figured I'd try and call the pastor once more. Sure enough, I got him that time. He told me what LRT station to go to and that he would pick me up at 6:00. That brings us pretty much up to date. I figured I'd just go to the LRT stop right away and wait there (and now I have time to blog). So, we'll see what the next 20 hours have in store for me (current time is 5:48 pm, so the pastor should be here soon).
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
1:28 am
Wow! I'm so glad I got to go to the church and meet people! I had fun today, but it was terribly lonely. I waited about 20 minutes more and Pastor Petrik arrived along with his wife and son. They were having evangelistic meetings this week, so I just hung out (and grabbed a quick, much needed shower) before the program started. The church was in a beautiful area that had more of a suburb than an urban vibe. There were LOTS of trees and plants along with western-looking houses with red brick roofs. It was freaking beautiful as the sun went down.
I went inside and claimed a pew about 15 minutes before the meeting started. Now, I was already tired and I'm not a big socializer, so I'm used to keeping to myself while others mind their own business. However, I tend not to blend in so well, apparently anywhere in Asia. This worked in my favor this time, because about four or five people came over to meet me. I even had a new friend to sit with during the meeting! Afterwards, it seemed like everyone wanted to find out if I was coming back for the rest of the meetings. I sadly told them no, that I was actually leaving early in the morning. I got the footage I needed of Pastor Petrik and he arranged for me to spend the night at a church member's house. I told them when my flight was leaving in the morning and we decided it would be safest if I camped out at the airport. So that's where I am right now. Apparently, about two or three hundred other people had the same idea as me. I can't even find a good wall to lay down by. I've claimed a table at McDonald's while I wait and scout other potential sleep zones. People are really creative here. I'd take pictures, but I'm sure I look creepy enough already.
SIDE NOTE:
KL is pretty cool, but I'm already finding myself homesick for Thailand. I was shocked when I got here and thought, "Where are all the Thai people?" The language uses Latin-based letters, but I didn't realize it wasn't English because I'm so used to anything with familiar characters being in English. I stared at lots of signs for a long time, trying to decipher what I assumed was horrible spelling.
One For the Books
Sunday, October 3, 2010
10:15 am
Yesterday was definitely one of the most interesting Sabbaths I've had here in Bangkok so far. I wanted to sleep in and have some Skype time, so I went to church at BIC, which is right near the mission. Goi went to Thonburi again, but Nicole wanted to go somewhere else, so she came along. Everything was pretty typical for Sabbath at BIC. We got talking with the other SMs and Bronsen went looking for some girl from Spain, so Nicole (who speaks fluent Spanish) could talk to her. We went to potluck and I met a Japanese guy named Toshi, who teaches at a non-SDA school in On Nut. After potluck, Damaris (the girl from Spain) said she needed to go to MBK to use the Internet to contact her family. It wasn't until then that I got to hear her story. Apparently, Damaris was currently on her honeymoon... alone. She had just married a Romanian guy. In the Bangkok airport at customs, her visa was approved and her husband's was not. They sent him to Malaysia to get things sorted out. Damaris had already been in Bangkok for a few days. She's SDA, so she asked around where she could find a church on Sabbath. By God's grace, she was lead to BIC the same Sabbath Nicole was there. Damaris speaks pretty good English, but she has never spoken it to English-speakers so she was more comfortable speaking in Spanish. Not only is she all alone on her honeymoon in Bangkok, but she is only 21 years old! It gets better though... she works for a travel agency, who planned her and her husband's honeymoon! Nicole, Toshi, and I took her to MBK so she could contact her family. After sundown, we went to a night market near Lumphini Park. We saw some pretty cool stuff (definitely going back for a shirt that lights up when music is playing). Damaris was ready to go back to her hotel when we had finished exploring the market, so we got her back to MBK where she could find her way back. She thanked us for spending the day with her and told us that we were her angels that day. It was so cool to be able to see God taking care of one of his children like that and actually be able to be used by Him to do so! It sounds like if everything goes well with Damaris's husband's visa, he'll be able to get into Thailand on Tuesday. They'll have lost five days out of their honeymoon, but they will still have until October 14 or 15.
After we dropped off Damaris, we went to the bowling alley in MBK. It was epic! It was different than a bowling alley in the US. Typically in America, there are stools or plastic chairs that swivel out for you to sit on. At this bowling alley, there were couches! It was pretty much cosmic bowling all day. There were tons of crazy lights and fog machines. They even had a DJ! We only played one game, but just hanging out there was a blast!
Please remember Damaris and her husband in your prayers! I'm sure God is going to get them back together soon so they can enjoy their honeymoon together. But maybe with prayer, her husband could get into Thailand sooner than Tuesday! 
Toshi, sporting our lane number
Bowling Alley Pano
Thai Movie
Sunday, September 26, 2010
2:07 pm
Last night I finally got to go see a Thai movie! We went to the mall in Siam, which is the epicenter of shopping in Bangkok. Now, in America, the malls are pretty much middle class shopping destinations. In Bangkok, the class difference is so extreme that their malls make ours look like street markets. Shannon was quite entertained by Nicole and me, our jaws to the floor as we looked up and saw escalators crisscrossing seven or eight stories high. "Don't you have malls in America?" Shannon jabbed in sarcastic Aussie fashion. It was so crazy to see just how upscale the upper class is here in Thailand (There was a Lotus dealer on the fourth or fifth floor). And that is where Thais place us in their American stereotype. After reaching the seventh or eighth floor, the shock and awe was just getting started. At the very top of the mall was the movie theatre (that's how you spell it when you're not in America). This place put The Rave, the Universal movie theater in City Walk, and the one in Pleasure Island all to shame. Imagine a movie theater crossed with a five-star hotel, but a little fancier. There was even a bowling alley! Remember, we are already seven or eight floors up. We bought our tickets and had to pick our seats at the box office (there goes movie hopping). We went up yet another escalator to get to the actual screens. It wasn't a big surprise to find the seats recline as it usually is in America. Goi, Nicole, and I went to see a Thai movie called Hello Stranger. Shannon had already seen it, so he went to see Wall Street 2. Hello Stranger was a chick-flick, but it had an indie vibe going for it and I'm not gonna lie, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I really like the Thai sense of humor. It was pretty on par with anything that would have come out of American cinema (probably better than most in it's genre). I think I've been here long enough to catch most of the cultural gags: unknowingly eating dog meat, obsession with Korean movie stars, single man and woman traveling together, etc. Also, seeing places that I recognized like the airport, BTS, etc. was pretty cool. I don't think I've seen many movies where I recognize the exact location and can say, "Oh yeah, I know where that is! I've been there lots of times." It was quite an experience (so thankful for subtitles).
Trailer for Hello Stranger
Only picture I took at the theater... I'll get more next time.
Overwhelming Perspective
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
9:07 pm
So, I've been pretty lazy on the blogging. I've been back in the office and super busy the past couple weeks. Since then, we've added two more student missionaries to the H4BKK team: Nicole from PUC, and Sandrina from Germany. Nicole is here working at TAM doing graphic design. We picked up Sandrina from the airport today and took her to the church plant in Thonburi, where she will be teaching English. On the way to Thonburi, Pastor Doug decided to make a pit stop and finally take us to Baiyoke Sky Tower, the tallest building in Bangkok. After reaching the 80-somethingth floor, we spent a good 45 minutes to an hour staring out at the enormous city. I knew Bangkok was big, because I have commuted all over the place, but from the ground and on the maps it's hard to really understand how big the city actually is. All of us were in awe as we studied the buildings and watched the traffic below. It all looked like a little toy city that never ended. The crazy traffic that we were so used to now seemed calm and passive. Trying to imagine myself somewhere on the ground, I couldn't help but feel microscopic. Pastor Doug asked each one of us if we thought we could make a difference. We couldn't confidently say yes. Never before have I felt so in over my head. He continued to share that less than one percent of the population below us claims Christ as their savior. That hit me pretty hard. For the first time I could actually see the need in perspective. It's up to us on the little compound and at the tiny church plants to spread the message of hope in Christ... our little team for this enormous city.
I don't believe any of us can make a difference. How is a video, or a poster, or an English lesson going to affect any more than a fraction of this immense population? It's not... not by itself. With God it can. Slowly but surely I remember how I have seen God working through the people here. The places where people are truly coming to know Jesus are the church plants. That's where it's really happening. It's slow and it's frustrating, but since Thai society is built on relationships, it's only through their own communities that the Thai can really be reached. I'm so excited that this weekend I will get to see Soo and her daughter's (two of the people I met at the Bangkok Noi church plant) baptism! Their story is so incredible and their faith is unshakeable and I am honored that I will get to witness this incredible moment in their lives!
Nearly as much as I have seen God's hand at work here in Bangkok, I have also seen Satan's. He's working desperately to slow us down and keep people distracted and mislead. He's even gotten to me quite a bit lately. I've noticed that my pessimistic nature is starting to emerge full force. I listen to myself sometimes as I'm talking and realize that nearly all I've been saying is one complaint after another. Things are really going great here, even though there are frustrations and annoyances, but why must I make a point to single every one of them out and make them known? Why do I get so stressed when things get hard? Did I really think it would be a walk in the park? Why can't I just suck it up, shut my mouth, and deal with it?
A passage popped out in my devotions tonight that seemed too relevant not to share. Paul and Barnabus were in Lystra and healed a cripple. The people thought they were Hermes and Zeus, so they tried to make sacrifices to Paul and Barnabus. Paul and Barnabus immediately tried to explain that they had come on the behalf of the Lord who had really healed the cripple.
"Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day, he and Barnabus left for Derbe." - Acts 14:18-20
Why can't I be like Paul? He was stoned until he appeared to be dead and was dragged out of the city. What does he do next? He goes right back into the city and continues on his way the next day to witness in another city. He is nearly killed, yet he continues his campaign for Christ as scheduled. I want courage, determination, and commitment like Paul's. I really want to stop complaining and train my mind to focus on how to deal with all the things I want to complain about.
Please keep H4BKK, TAM, and the people of Thailand in your prayers.
Baiyoke Sky Tower
Nicole, Sandrina, and Goi take in the view over 80 stories above the city
Goi tries to squeeze the city into her cell phone
GREAT NEWS!!!!!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
11:30 pm
I just found out yesterday that I will be receiving a stipend from the student missions program at Southern! It's actually a pretty big deal, because this whole first month that I have been here, I haven't had any source of financial support. Just a day or two before I had left to come to Bangkok, I realized that I had never actually had a conversation with the SM office about my stipend. They had told me to direct all my questions to the people I would be working with and/or people who had been to where I was going. They had all told me that they received a stipend every month from the SM program. I called to see if I could ask them how it was going to work and all I got was a confused response and that they would call me back. I didn't receive a call from them and it was the night before I was going to leave. Naturally, I started to get nervous. Suddenly, I remembered something... something I wish I hadn't remembered: the financial agreement form I had signed. I read it over once more and found what I had forgotten. The policy was that I was to raise the requisite $3,000 for the mission program and then, on top of that, any other funds that I might need (i.e. stipend). At this point I was freaking out a little. I was less than twelve hours from shipping out to Bangkok, and there was no guarantee that once I got there, I would have money to live on for nine months. I spent hours trying to figure out what I could do about it. I even became angry and tried to blame people.
Eventually, I calmed down. My dad said he would work on it and gave me some money he had saved himself that he was going to give me anyways in case of emergencies (which is what I have been living on thus far). I figured that since God got me this far, surely He would take care of me when I got to where He was sending me. I'm sure that there has been sacrifice in order for me to receive the stipend. Ultimately, I can only blame myself for not addressing the issue earlier. I feel so silly though for getting worked up about it. God had proven to me months before I came here that this is where He wanted me and He continues to do so. I trusted Him with everything else, but I let this one thing get me down and for some time I hadn't been trusting my God. In my devotions recently, God has shown me lots of His promises regarding fear, worry, and our trust in Him. I thought that I would share them here:
"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap." - Luke 21:34
"I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side." - Psalm 3:5-6
"If you make the Most High your dwelling--even the Lord, who is my refuge--then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." - Psalm 91:9-12
"The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, 'Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you'" - 1 Kings 19:7
"This is what the Lord says: 'Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.'" - Jeremiah 17:5-8
These passages are just ones that I have come across in the past month. It's so amazing, because really they are saying if we trust in God, we have nothing to fear. Nothing to fear also means we have nothing to worry about. Nothing should cause us anxiety. I know we have been told this so many times, but how often to we actually remember and believe it? Honestly, if we are afraid of anything, then we aren't trusting these promises. Now, there is the instinctual sense of fear, which at times is appropriate. Psalms is full of David crying like a little girl, because he is so frightened. However, he always cried out to God. Even though he gave in to fear, he didn't face it alone. He prayed for the protection he knew God would grant him. I think many times we forget to share our fears with God and claim the promises of protection that He has given us.
DOUBLE RAINBOW!!!
Cory Goodwin's Wall Mural in Thonburi
Yes, that's a 5-story waterfall inside a mall
Some park Goi took me to on Sunday... it was probably the size of two Disney theme parks. We went kayaking, but I'm definitely going to go back and take wind-surfing lessons =)
I just thought this was cool
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