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!

Damaris and Toshi on the left

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.

Here are some pictures to catch you up on what's been happening:

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

Greetings from My Apartment

Greetings from Nonthaburi

Greetings from Bangkok Noi

Only Real When Shared

Thursday, August 26, 2010

9:21 pm

            Tonight, I watched one of my favorite movies for probably the tenth time: Into the Wild. I've been trying to abstain from forms of entertainment that keep me from spending time with others, but I've been feeling like I needed to watch this again for a few days now. Also, I have never watched this movie for pure entertainment. It's always been an important reminder of many lessons that I think our generation is in dire need of learning.

            For those that haven't seen the movie, it's based on the true story of Christopher McCandless who, after graduating from Emory University in 1990, destroyed all proof of his identity and set out to live in the wild. He hitchhiked all over the United States from Mexico to Alaska where he died in 1992 (I didn't give a spoiler warning, because I think most people should know going into this film that it ends tragically).

            I think this film shows beauty in living a life of absolute simplicity in a very special way. You understand completely how someone, especially with Chris's background could fall in love with life alone in the wild. There is beauty to be found everywhere, the way God intended it and whenever I watch this movie I am reminded of many things, which I will try to summarize in two main categories.

LESSON 1:

BEAUTY IN SIMPLE, UNDISTURBED NATURE

            I think that the evil one has done a great job at keeping us distracted. When radios, and televisions started trickling into homes of families across the world, some people resisted, thinking they were no good and of the devil. Sometimes I don't think they were far from being wrong. I don't think radios and TVs were inspired by Satan, but I think he's found a way to keep our attention on worldly illusions and reset our priorities. Even here in Bangkok, television and video games have a strong hold on much of the city's population. Even so, with the poverty and cultural differences, life is much simpler here. I have to explain to nearly everyone I stay with that I don't really know how to cook much, because in America, most of us don't cook every meal. Sometimes, we hardly ever cook our own food. I tell them that for some reason, we are just too busy and even if we wanted to, probably wouldn't have the time. Here, most families cook every single meal. It takes some time too, but they are in no rush. The families I have stayed with rise with the sun and wait for people from the community to come for English lessons or Bible studies. Appointments are considered by many, a Western invention.

            Whenever I watch Into the Wild, I am always captivated by the beautiful imagery that is taken of undisturbed nature. Even in this world of sin, that sin is not powerful enough to reach the awesome wonders of God's creation. And it's so simple; it usually goes unnoticed, right beneath our noses.

LESSON 2:

THE VALUE OF RELATIONSHIP

            In the movie, Chris meets many people along the way who cannot resist falling in love with him and his spirit. They all want him to stay, but he insists he is looking for something that he can only find alone. In the movie's portrayal, as he is dying of starvation he struggles to jot down the one thing he had realized too late, "happiness [is] only real when shared". This brings a few things to my attention. If you think about it, relationship is the very reason we were created. Many search for the meaning of life. I believe we as Christians can confidently say that meaning is relationship. Consider Chris's dying statement as a fact. If it is true, then God could only have happiness if there were some other living thing other than Himself to share it with. Now, of course, there is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but they are also one. So this "One" still needs more. There are the angels and other heavenly creations that we do not know about, but as the Bible tells us, He created us with choice, so that our love could be real. This would mean that we are God's creation so together with Him we could share happiness. Here on Earth we have many people we can choose from to share happiness with, but God is the one who deserves it and has the most to share. It is still important for us to have relationships among ourselves, but God should be right there with us. It's too bad that Chris discovered this only as he was dying and it's a tragedy that so many were waiting his return, eager to share happiness with him. I think like them, God eagerly awaits our return so we can all be happy with Him for eternity. We should cherish those around us, sharing happiness everywhere we go! After all, I believe, it's what we were created for.

            If you haven't seen Into the Wild, I highly recommend it. Be warned, there is a good bit of language and nudity (though none of it is in a sexual context). It's not always easy to watch, especially the end of the film, which is incredibly heartbreaking. I still think there are many strong spiritual lessons that are very important in our present state and time. Over all, I think it's one of the most morally and spiritually sound films to come out of Hollywood.

Where I've Been

August 25, 2010

11:46 pm

So, it's been a while since my last post. I spent six days at the church plant in Bangkoknoi and got to hear lots of inspiring stories and met some amazing people. I'm now at the church plant in Nonthaburi. It was a bit of an awkward start again, but the people are friendly here as well and eager to make me feel at home. They have no air conditioning here either and their shower is a barrel of water with a cup. It's not always easy to get accustomed to these different accommodations (I spent a good three to five minutes trying to figure out the toilet, which was basically a porcelain tray in the ground), but it's always an adventure! It's a little intimidating, but once I have conquered each new thing, it's not bad at all. It's my first time using a mosquito net at night as well. There are a lot more people who speak English here! I will only be here until Friday and then I am supposed to finally have an apartment! However, I probably won't have this posted until I am back at TAM since my laptop is unable to connect to the internet here. It hasn't been bad roaming from house to house and I will still be visiting church plants. It will be nice, though, to have a home base so I don't have to tote all of my stuff everywhere I go.

I'm still doing well. My spirits have been a little down lately, but I think it's just because everyone is getting to Southern this week. There has been stress with the equipment and learning to adapt to the different living conditions. I'm still having fun though and God is showing me new things every day! It helps a lot to hear back from everyone, so thank you all for your comments and notes of encouragement! I wish I could more accurately give you all an idea of what it's like here. I'm going to start posting videos and will probably have the first one or two up to accompany this post. Thanks for reading and God bless!

A New (Temporary) Home

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

8:16 pm

            Today was my first day at the church plant in Bangkok Noi. Pastor Doug drove me and we arrived around noon. It was a little awkward at first. I ended up taking a nap, because nothing really happens around here until nighttime. It is a very poor community and everyone is out working during the day. I'm staying with a very friendly Indian pastor named Sudhakar. He is married to a Thai named Challim. They have a two-year-old bundle of joy named Lily. A local mother brought her two daughters here tonight. She and her older daughter are going to be baptized in September. Challim told me they wanted to talk to me, but didn't know how to start. I told her I didn't either. I sat in as the mother talked to Sudhakar and eventually I became the topic of conversation. She told me in English that I had beautiful eyes. Eventually we started talking with Challim's help. They wanted to know why I was only staying for one week (I may actually only stay until Sunday). Even though I've only met a few people, they all want me to stay. I'm not used to others having so much interest in me. There is a backwards prejudice here in Thailand (and most of Asia), where white people are looked on as upper class. And it's true, my family would be in the upper class if we lived here. It's strange, because I'm not used to being automatically accepted by others just because I'm white.

            We had great Indian food! Sudhakar made chapati, which is similar to naan just a little thicker. As Lily ate her dinner, about every other minute she would turn to me, shoot me a thumbs up and say, "Yummy!" Then, she would wait for me to give her a thumbs up in return and repeat "Yummy!" to her. Sudhakar tried to do it back to her and she extended her little arm, made a dismissing gesture to him, and said, "Sit down!" then looked to me to give her a thumbs up. We had a good long laugh about that.

            I was nervous about coming to stay here. It is hotter inside than it is outside. They have air conditioning, but leave it off, because they are struggling to pay their bills. They do have some fans, which help, but I'm still sweating most of the time. It doesn't really bother me that much though. I used to complain at home whenever mom and dad would keep the air conditioning high to save power, but maybe that's helping me be okay with how hot it is here. It's pretty interesting to think that maybe God was training me a little for when I would come here! It's still a little awkward, but for being the first night, things are going much better than I expected! It's always the people. Everywhere I go they are so kind and friendly, and only want to make me feel comfortable. They have all really touched my heart and I can feel God's love radiating through them. I'm so thankful for this experience and the idea of staying longer doesn't seem so bad any more!

***If you want to see a picture of Challim and Lily, they were featured in my August 14 post "A Jealous God"***

A Great Day for Pics!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

8:15 pm

            If there was one day worth bringing my iPhone to take pictures, today probably would have been it. Unfortunately, it was the one day I decided not to. It was raining when I woke up this morning around 7:30. Pastor Doug's front lawn was flooded. Actually, all the front lawns were flooded--a regular occurrence as I am told. The plan was that in the afternoon, I would help Shannon, the charismatic Australian who does various video projects around Bangkok, shoot an episode for his vegetarian cooking show. I was told as soon as I moseyed on down the stairs that plans had changed. He now wanted to go at 8:00 am and shoot two episodes! I did the morning routine on double speed and got in the taxi 30 minutes later.

            We returned to that Buddhist temple from yesterday where just outside is a whole soi of vegetarian restaurants. We had spoken to a lady at one of them the day before and she had convinced Shannon to return. She and a couple other ladies sat us down and immediately started bringing us some kind of spinach-pumpkin soup. It was very good! They also brought us some kind of drink, which I held in my one free hand. We weren't at a table, so I had to hold what I had. They also brought us a second soup to try (chunks of pumpkin in a coconut milk broth). My hands were full and as I was trying to decide how to handle this sudden flood of soups, I lost focus on the (very green) soup in my right hand. The contents of which proceeded to pour into my lap. All I could do was wait for the women to bring towels as I played the clumsy foreigner. I cleaned my shorts as best I could, but could not destroy the illusion that I had just had a diarrhea explosion. A great start for any first day on a shoot!

            The rest of the day actually went quite well. We struggled through some footage at the restaurants near the temple, then, by noon took a taxi to our next location--May Kaidee's Vegetarian Restaurant. As soon as we arrived, we were given two plates of complimentary spring rolls. One plate was fried; the other was cold. They were delicious! Now, May Kaidee is a very special lady. As we told her we would need about twenty minutes to set up, she replied, "It's ok, I'm ready anytime. I'm beautiful all the time, so no hurry." She then continued to tell us how she was no stranger to the camera. Apparently we weren't the first cooking show to pay her a visit. She told us Dominic Monaghan, from The Lord of the Rings and Lost, had even paid a visit to her restaurant. We had a great time filming her. About half way through, she decided to dress the American host in a Thai getup. It consisted of a bright and shiny gold shirt, some kind of head wrap, and another piece of material he had a hard time defending as not being a skirt. May had him dancing and singing along with her. We filmed them cooking three different dishes twice each (once in English, then in Thai). After each take, we got to eat the product! All the dishes were fantastic!

            It was a great day and the stains on my shorts have turned bright yellow, so now it just looks like a highlighter burst in my pocket or something. Josh was kind enough to clean all the junk from the ceiling in my office as I've been writing this! In a couple days, I will be going to the church plant in Bangkok Noi to collect and document stories, so I may or may not be online for three to four days. Thanks for reading and commenting! I miss you all!

...but I'm not gonna lie... I'm having a blast! Sorry there are no pictures this time.

A Jealous God

Saturday, August 14, 2010

6:27 pm

            This weekend, we've been taking a couple Adventist Mission directors to church plants. As we were scurrying this morning to get our gear together to meet up with them, I ran inside my office to grab a hard drive when I saw that a portion of a ceiling tile had collapsed. I looked at the dirt and wood covering everything on my desk (including my laptop). To my relief, everything was dry and nothing was damaged. I only had time to move my laptop, before I had to run back out the door to get in the car.

            We continued with our schedule and got to visit a couple other church plants. After lunch, we got to stop by a Buddhist temple. It was absolutely beautiful! It actually wasn't a building. Instead, it was a serene garden that felt like a small secret forest hidden in the city. In the center was a 20-foot waterfall! It was so incredibly peaceful, I felt embarrassed that we noisy Americans were intruding. I think that we as Christians, who have the secret to true peace, could learn a thing or two from the Buddhists.

            After supper, I returned to my office to clean up the mess and make sure everything was okay. For some reason, I kept thinking about the part of the second commandment where God says that He is a jealous God. I thought about it for a while and realized I had skipped my devotional time yesterday. I don't think God was punishing me and had the ceiling collapse on my computer because I had skipped my devotions. In fact, on the contrary, I think He saved my computer to point something out to me. He is watching out for me here in Bangkok. I've given the next nine months to His service, but I owe Him the time that is His daily. Everyday I see Him revealed in some way and I know that He wants to speak to me. The very least I can do is listen.

The rectangular shape in front of the chair is where my laptop was

Sook Sun Wan Mae (Happy Mother's Day!)

Friday, August 13, 2010

9:10 am

            Yesterday was Mother's Day in Thailand. It's a little different here, because it's actually the queen's birthday. However, for the most part, it's celebrated the same as in America. Everyone had yesterday and today off. However, we were going to go to a couple church plants and help the local communities. We wouldn't be leaving until the afternoon. I came to the office to wish my mom a happy mother's day on skype and check up on Facebook. When I returned to Pastor Doug's house, I saw him come down the stairs saying we needed to get a ladder. Apparently, Hannah had locked herself out of her room and couldn't find the keys. So, she and Josh tried to practice their lock-picking skills. They tried inserting a variety of different objects into the keyhole, the last of which was the end of a small wooden paintbrush, which had broken inside the doorknob. When Pastor Doug had gotten home, he had the key, but it was no use because there was a bunch of wooden splinters now blocking the keyhole. He tried to get them out, but he just couldn't get enough out to get the key through. To make matters worse, there was a cat trapped in Hannah's room.

            The only other option was to go in through the window. The room is on the second floor, so we would need to get a ladder and climb onto the roof of the first floor. We borrowed a homemade bamboo ladder from a neighbor and Pastor Doug went up to try and get in through the window. First, though, he would need to remove the iron bars from the outside. He worked on it for at least an hour, until realizing that we would have to go visit the first church plant before he could make any further progress. We left, but by the time we arrived, they were just wrapping up. We hung around for the last few moments before they started packing things up, then returned to fix the window.

            This time, I got up and tried to help. The biggest problem was that the iron bars were framed in a square shape that fit the entire piece into the window frame. The piece was also screwed in and the screws had been painted over. We had to break the seal of the paint, then work with the flathead screws, some of which didn't have much of a groove left in them, because they had probably been installed some twenty years ago. I'm not sure how long we worked on it, but we were now running late for our next appointment. Slowly but surely, every screw was removed and we began working at ripping out the entire piece. It was in there pretty good, even without the screws. We finally got the top right corner free! It would only be a matter of time. As we yanked on the piece and it was just about to give, we heard someone fiddling with the doorknob from inside. Suddenly, there was a click and we could hear the door swing open. Dawn came up to the window to greet us as we quickly pounded the metal back into the frame. "I tried the key. It didn't go all the way through, but it was enough to get in."

            "Good!" said Pastor Doug begrudgingly, "We were just ready to pull the bars out."

            At the end of the day-long project all we could do was laugh. "If I wasn't laughing, I would be crazy right now," said Pastor Doug. I had to admire his attitude, even though we finally got in, we were very late to the next church plant and again just caught the end of their community project. It was a big deal, because it involved the local non-Christian community leaders, who we don't want to upset. I know that there must have been some reason we had been kept from arriving on time. God was with us even though we weren't making progress on the window quickly. I know, because while I was trying to pry out a screw, I misplaced a strike with my hammer that landed directly on a piece of less than quarter-inch-thick glass, which miraculously didn't break. I also think the ability to laugh immediately at a frustrating situation, which had kept us from making appointments the entire day, was a gift of presence of the Holy Spirit.

Miracles and Hidden Treasures

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

8:58 am

            Another office day yesterday. Not much happened... until the end of the day. I got invited to join Pastor Doug and another Thai pastor to visit a couple from one of the church plants. As the Thai pastor (who's name escapes me right now) drove, he told us the story of how he became a Christian. He smoked more than one pack a day and drank every day, before he came to know Christ. He was invited to an SDA church and started attending regularly (mostly for the women). One day he was talking to an SDA friend of his and told her that if God could help him stop smoking, he would believe in God and become a Christian. They prayed, and he still couldn't stop smoking. Some time later, he was driving his motorcycle under the influence and was in a bad accident. He woke up in the hospital and had 70 stitches and many broken bones. He was in the hospital for a long time and never got to smoke. When he got out, the doctor told him not to drink alcohol until his body was healed. After all that time, he got used to not smoking or drinking and was released from his addictions. He later became a Christian and went to school to become a pastor.

            We arrived at the place where the couple lived and searched for a place to park. There was one small spot where we would have to parallel park. A man saw us struggling to fit into the space and went over to the car in front of us and pushed it forward. I couldn't believe what I was seeing until Pastor Doug told me that everyone leaves their cars in neutral so they can be moved for others to fit into the small parking area.

            We got out of the car and walked into the apartment building. There was graffiti everywhere and it looked like all eight or ten stories could come crashing down at any minute. Had I been location scouting for a film project, I would have been in heaven. It looked a lot like the abandoned YMCA building we shot Chris Stiles' freshman project in (except people actually lived there). We got to the apartment and the couple opened the door for us. I couldn't believe what I saw! I took off my shoes and stepped onto a floor so clean, I felt I should have washed my feet as well. The apartment was just one room (probably about 25 square feet) with a bathroom and another room for a small kitchen. It was absolutely beautiful! None of the furniture was incredibly fancy, but it was all so clean! The couple was very nice. The woman's name translates to "Sweetie". We sat with them and worshiped for about an hour and a half. It was great to experience such a special worship that truly felt genuine!

Markets, Tummy Troubles, and Ants

Monday, Aug. 9, 2010

3:34 pm

             Yesterday, Pastor Doug and his family took me to the Chatuchak Weekend Market (the largest in BKK). I needed to get clothes, because I only packed about three days worth. Got to ride on the BTS for the first time. Saw a lot more of the city closer to ground level. We went by some malls and saw the one that was bombed during the riots. As soon as we got off, Hannah was determined to have me try a waffle. It was so good! It was about the size of a doughnut and tasted just as good (probably my favorite Thai treat so far). We walked on to the street and politely declined the free condoms being passed out by about ten people who had crowded the base of the stairs. We entered Chatuchak Park, which reminded me a little bit of Coolidge Park in Chattanooga. People were enjoying themselves on blankets they had laid out on the grass. We entered the market and Josh wanted me to try an orange juice (one treat I would soon come to regret in trying). It was sweeter than I was used to, but it wasn't bad (yet). We made our way through the maze of shops, which reminded me of the markets in Cancun and the Bahamas, except the end was nowhere in sight.

            Josh and Hannah helped get me good prices on the cheap clothes. About twenty to thirty minutes in, I realized that the orange juice was starting to have its way with my intestines. Once I had everything, I requested a sit and popped a couple charcoal tablets. I journeyed to the bathroom, paid my 20 baht, and entered the stall. What happened the next 3-4 minutes was an adventure in itself, one which would deserve it's own little section on my blog, but I will spare you all from the graphic details. I must inform you that there isn't really toilet paper in Thailand unless you are in a Westernized bathroom (which are extremely rare). Instead, there is a small hose attached to the toilet. I came out of the bathroom, feeling better and quite fresh!

            We rode the MRT (BKK subway) to an Arabic restaurant called Petra. The food was fantastic and I even got to use the bathroom again! We took a taxi back home and arrived around 6 or 7 pm. I was exhausted. Still I stayed up a couple more hours and talked to Pastor Doug about were things stand with evangelism in BKK. It was the first time I really got to think about what I was actually doing here and how much Christians are needed in Thailand.

            Around 9:00 pm I was nearly falling asleep standing up, so I tried to get to bed as quickly as I could. As I was changing into PJs, I looked at some of the food I had brought with me next to my suitcase. Something didn't look right, so I looked closer. I watched as a crowd of ants were busying through my trail mix. I took the bag to the sink and rinsed them off. I assessed the situation to see if there was any way I could contain and exterminate the ants without anyone knowing they had been. But after following the trail up Josh's bookcase, over the top, between the board games, across the wall, and up to the ceiling, I realized I was in over my head. I went and knocked on Pastor Doug's door. Luckily he hadn't yet gone to bed and knew just what to do. He showed me how to make a missionary ant trap (tub of water in the sink with a jar in the middle that reaches above the surface, supporting a plate with bait on it). We cleaned up the ants and threw my infested trail mix in the freezer. He said, "A first-time missionary would through out the food. A 4-5 year missionary will eat the food with the ants. A 30-40 year missionary will have a jar of ants that they sprinkle on all their food."

The Work Begins

            Today was my first office day. I sat through worship and tried to follow along a Thai translation of what I think was an Ellen White book. I met the team and Pastor Doug coached me for an hour on a helpful devotional strategy. I'm glad someone finally sat me down and held my hand through understanding and practicing effective devotions. I haven't done much today. I'm working on setting up and NAS for our editing computer. Went to lunch with Goi and met a couple more SMs that are here until the end of the summer. I learned how to say, "Would you like to go to lunch?" but I forgot it already.

            Everything is still going well and I'm glad to start working. All of the fun excursions were starting to distract me from what I'm here to do. And don't worry mom and dad, I'm not sick any more.

First and Second Firsts

Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010

6:36 am

Firsts

My first day in Thailand was great! Simple things that would normally seem so boring and dull back home, I found fascinating here. Just watching Pastor Doug have worship with his kids, crossing the street (a great exercise in strengthening prayer life), meals, and many other things are so exciting! For breakfast, I had Mangosteen, granola from Sweden, and green oranges.

              Pastor Doug took me to see the office where I was able to contact my parents and tell them I was safe. He showed me around and introduced me to Goi, they're Thai editor. Pastor Doug had Goi take me to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant down the street (I'm vegetarian in Thailand). I'm not sure exactly what I ate, but it was good! I asked Goi how old she was, she said "22, you're 23, 24?" I told her I was only 20 and she nearly dropped her fork! Guess it's the beard. She took me to the ATM where I stood for about three minutes, trying to figure out how much Baht would be enough. Goi said the 200 Baht wouldn't be much at all, but 20,000 Baht would be way too much. I decided to take out 2,000, which turned out to be about $60 in US.

            I went back and met up with Pastor Doug. He wanted to take his kids and me to a restaurant called the Coffee Bean. We walked down the soi, a narrow road that connects the main streets. It's where all the houses and apartments are. We got to the Coffee Bean, which turned out to be a small scale Cheesecake Factory. It was beautiful! I was still full from my lunch with Goi, but I decided I'd order something small. Three spring rolls, a bite of everyone else's food, and a generous slice of strawberry cheesecake later, I was absolutely stuffed!

            After our meal, we went to ride the new sky train, which is taking people throughout the city for free every day during designated hours. It was so much fun! I got to see a lot of the city and we practiced some pseudo-helicopter shots. We got off the train and went through one of the markets to buy some more fruit. We rode a motor taxi back. A motor taxi is like a small truck that has a roof over the bed. You climb in and crawl to one of the benches. From floor to ceiling there may be about three and a half to four feet of clearance. When you come to a place you want to stop, you press a button on the roof that lets out an ear-piercing honk to get the driver's attention. Before getting back home Hannah and Josh wanted me to try a pancake. I was still stuffed, I'd had three meals and it was only about 4:00 pm. Once I saw what the pancake was, I gave in. They make them on the street and you can get it "sweet" or "savory". Depending on your choice, they will put on different kinds of syrups or sauces. Then, they wrap it up into what looks like a flattened ice cream cone. It was pretty good!

            That night, we went and picked up Dawn (Pastor Doug's wife) from the airport. She was in Laos getting some visa issue sorted out. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. I went to bed right away.

Second Firsts

            My second day, was my first Sabbath in Bangkok. I went to BIC, with Dawn, Hannah, and Josh. A man at the door made me sign a guest sheet. When the service started, they read off the names on the guest sheet and had each person stand so the whole congregation could see them. I'm white and at least a foot taller than just about everybody, so I didn't know why it would be necessary for me. They finished reading names and somehow, missed mine. I was okay with that, but the man reading noticed I hadn't stood up, so he pointed at me. I stood up hesitantly and he asked my name and where I was from. Everyone was very friendly. After the service, I was introduced to two other SMs from Walla Walla, who had just arrived the Tuesday before me. Alex was having some trouble with the pollution and told us stories from the coffee shop she worked at back home and Andrew (another one!) told us about his summer in Saipan. I didn't realize there were any other new people so it was really nice to be able to meet them and spend Sabbath afternoon with people who were just as new to everything as I was.

            After two delicious meals and two episodes of Little House on the Prairie, I was fighting to maintain consciousness. I guess the jetlag is still affecting me, because I went to bed at 9:00 pm.

            Things are great so far, and I'm having a blast! I realize that I need to start taking pictures so I can remember what everything looks like. PICTURES COMING SOON!!!

The First Act

Friday, Aug. 6, 2010

8:32 am

            I was supposed to be journaling from long before my departure, but of course, I didn't. So, now I'm going to tell everything that happened leading up to my departure to Bangkok, Thailand.

            In all honesty, my story starts when I was in seventh grade and first heard about Student Missionaries from my teacher who had been a student missionary when she was in college. I come from a missionary family; however, I was never a missionary kid. Both of my parents were. My mom was born and raised in Malawi, Africa for the first 12 years of her childhood. My dad had lived in Chile, Palau, and Canada. I've always loved traveling and always wished I'd been able to grow up in the environment my parents had. Since seventh grade, my plan was to be a Student Missionary when I got to college.

            Six years later, after speaking about mission work with my advisor in our first meeting, I decided I would go after completing my sophomore year at SAU. Sophomore year came and I became a little distracted from my goal. I completed the paper work around October or November. I wanted to do something that involved filming, since I knew I couldn't teach or do anything medical. I searched for calls and the only one I found was for Adventist Frontier Missions. It involved traveling all over Europe and Africa, and by the end of my term I would have shot and edited two shows for the Hope Channel. It sounded amazing, even though I felt under-qualified. It sounded like just the thing I wanted to do, so I applied for it.

            Among the mass amounts of paper work was a commitment form. In summary, it stated that I would promise to commit the next term to God's work and do everything possible to follow through without turning back. I agreed with it completely, so I signed it without much thought. However, a minor detail that would soon change everything was that at the very end of the form it said "...with AFM".

            Everything was in order and I was just now waiting for acceptance to the call. I was driving back to Southern after Christmas break, when my dad called me and said that Pastor Doug, from Thailand, had called our house. He had heard I was looking for video work and wanted to speak with me. My dad told me that even though I had already applied for this other call, I should get back to him and find out more. That night, I checked my email. AFM had accepted me for their call! I tried to get in touch with Pastor Doug that night. The next morning I was able to talk with him on skype. I felt that that his timing was providential, especially since I hadn't even looked in to Thailand. I knew it was where God wanted me to be.

            I e-mailed AFM the next week, saying I appreciated their acceptance, but I would need some more time to pray before accepting the call, because I felt God might be steering me in a different direction. The next morning I got a phone call. It was a woman from AFM. She told me she was sorry to read my e-mail. She brought up the commitment form that I had signed. She said that I had made a promise to AFM and to God and that it was a bond as sacred as marriage. I couldn't believe they weren't supporting my decision to go where I felt God was leading me. After she hung up, I called my dad immediately. When he answered, I couldn't even talk because I was crying (a rare occurrence). I finally got it out and he couldn't believe they had told me that.

            After more prayer and thinking about my situation, I wanted some kind of sign that God really did want me in Thailand. I prayed for Him to give me something that next weekend. I received nothing that made me feel that either call was the right choice. Sunday night I prayed that God show me something that I couldn't miss within the next 24 hours, so I could give AFM my final decision. On Monday, I received an e-mail from AFM's human resources. It was a lot more of what the lady had told me on the phone, along with bible references on how I was making the wrong choice. After reading the e-mail I said "Thank-you God!" and went to the SM office, where Rebeca called AFM for me to inform them that I would be going to Thailand instead of going with them.

            I know without a doubt that I made the right choice. God has done so many things to help me get here. SVAD was working on the possibility of shooting a feature film during the semester that I would be gone. The chance to work on a feature is every film major's dream. It was something that I was really going to be sorry to miss, but I had decided long ago that this would be the time I would be an SM, so I wasn't going to quit. I also got into a relationship, which I had planned to end before I left. I soon realized, that things I felt I was sacrificing to go and to God's work were starting to fall through. The feature ended up not happening and my relationship ended a month before I left.

            Towards the end of the school year, I started feeling depressed about missing the next year with all the people I had grown to love at Southern. Some of them would graduate and I could never see them again. Others would get to work on amazing projects that I would miss out on. When I got back there would be a lot of unfamiliar faces that my friends would already be close to. People would ask me if I was excited about going to Bangkok and I couldn't honestly tell them I was.

            School ended and I said goodbye to Southern. A few weeks later, I started work at Camp Kulaqua. I had heard I would be working with two guys that had been to Bangkok and worked with Pastor Doug as well. When I got there, I met Ricky and Brandan. They were so excited that I was going to Bangkok to work with Pastor Doug. They told me all kinds of stories and showed me pictures and videos. By the time camp was over, I couldn't wait to come to Thailand!

            I've seen God's hand at work just in the journey of getting here. I'm so excited to see what He has in store now that I am here!

Bangkok or Bust

Friday, Aug. 6, 2010

8:32 am

            First day in Bangkok! My plane landed around 9:00 pm last night.  I've just woken up and my computer is sweating profusely from the humidity. I tried to get word out on facebook that I made it here safely, but the internet only lasted a few minutes and cut out as I was posting my status update. Hopefully it went through.             The flights went great! I had three: a one hour flight from Orlando to Atlanta, a 14 1/2 hour flight to Seoul Korea, and a five and a half hour flight to Bangkok. I met a few interesting fellow travelers. I sat next to a woman who was traveling with her family after visiting their daughter in Florida. She was a reformed Baptist and was very excited to hear about where I was going. On the flight to Bangkok, I sat with two Americans. One was a regular world traveler who had been in a car accident and gotten two fake knees put into his legs just four months prior to our flight. The other was a quite large army guy, who was going to his first station in Korea. He was leaving behind his wife and newborn of only four weeks old (only two of which, he'd been present for). I can't imagine what it must have been like for him to leave home. He wouldn't see the wife or child for another year.

            My connection in Korea was rather exciting. The flight to Korea had left about a half hour late and my layover was only going to be an hour. By the time I got off the plane, I had less than 20 minutes to get to my gate, which was a good distance away. I walked as fast as I could, trying to get through the heard of travelers who were in no hurry. I made it to a plaza where there were different paths to take for selections of gates. My gate was 14 and the lowest number I saw was around 25. I spun in circles for a while looking at the numbers over and over, wondering if 14 might be somewhere with 25-40. I saw one path without any gate listing, so I took it and eventually saw a sign: Gates 10-25. Finally! I hustled down as fast as I could without drawing much attention to myself. I eventually came to a man holding a sign that said "Bangkok" on it. I motioned to him and he told me to hurry and pointed in the direction of the gate. I finally started running. It was 3:00 or 4:00 am in Florida and my legs felt like jello as I ran toting my 30 lb backpack. I made it on the plane five minutes before departure! I walked down the aisle looking for my seat: 39B. I had aisle seats on the two previous flights and I knew that since my letter had been "C" that this flight I would be between two people. To my surprise, 39B was an aisle seat. There were just a few rows that, instead of having 3 seats near the window, had only two. Thankfully, mine was one of those. However, no only was there only two seats, but no passenger had been assigned to the window seat next to me. I was ecstatic, because I had only slept about two hours collectively since I had woken up to leave that morning. I made myself comfortable propping two pillows against the window, covering myself with two blankets, and utilizing the two seats (I sat in the window seat, but rested my legs in the space for the isle seat). I slept nearly the entire five and a half hours. Only waking once to eat supper and fill out my immigration form.

            Now, I had a pretty good feeling that the one bag I checked didn't make my last flight since I had barely made it. So it was no surprise that I was at the baggage claim and my suitcase was not. I went to the baggage claim service and they looked up my claim ticket and told me it would be arriving in an hour. I called Pastor Doug and told him I had made it and asked if he wouldn't mind waiting. He agreed, so I waited. An hour and a half later, the carousel for the plane they said would arrive 30 minutes prior had not yet started. I returned to the baggage claim service and they said that the carousel had just started and offered to go get my bag for me. I took them up on that offer and waited.

            Around midnight, I finally met up with Pastor Doug, who was with his two children who looked more tired than I have ever seen any conscious human. They had miss-read my itinerary and had been at the airport since 4:00 pm (hours before I had landed in Korea). Nevertheless, they were all in good spirits and happy to see me. I'm so thankful that God made my trip go so well. I know I was meant to have every seat and that He had my back the entire time!