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