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
