Some Days

Some days are unbelievable.

Around 5 this morning we found out that Cheri's mom was critically ill. Cheri, who was vacationing in Krabbi yesterday, called to let us know she was in the midst of an emergency trip back to California to see her mother before it was too late. We told her we would pack her things and meet her in Bangkok so she could avoid an unnecessary trip back to Pattaya. 

By 9 am, her mother had passed away. We spent our last few hours with Cheri in Bangkok waiting at the airport. She left this evening. I can't believe she's gone! We were already such a great little team. Her mother suffered from poor health and diabetes. She recently caught pneumonia which turned into double pneumonia. After only a day in the hospital, her organs began failing and there was not much that could be done after that. Cheri was very close to her mother and is in a state of shock and disbelief. How could something like this happen so fast?

Cut, a truly amazing Bible student in our congregation, drove us to the airport this afternoon. On the way, we stopped by our coordinator Fred's house to borrow a GPS that could reliably get us through the nightmare that is Bangkok. While his wife was offering us lunch, we heard a disturbance outside. It was their longtime neighbor who hates the witnesses. We had parked too close to his house so he sprayed Cut's car with water. The windows were down by the way. After yelling at Fred, he then starting throwing bricks at the house. Never had bricks thrown at us before. Fred wasn't too bothered by it as he has dealt with this man for years.

Seeing Cheri suffer was very hard. We had only known each other for a short while but the truth draws you together quickly. I'm glad I got to see her good example of dedication to spiritual things and fearless commitment to a new assignment for at least a few weeks. I hope I can imitate it!

On the long drive back home, we took a detour through the country to visit another Bible student. The country was so peaceful. We rolled the windows down and soaked up the clean air. It was good to just look at the scenery and have the music take care of the silence. 

We arrived at a night market in the town of Sriracha. Wait, Sriracha? The same Sriracha as... Yes, the same Sriacha that we all use on our food.  I can't believe that tonight I ended up accidentally in a town that makes a chili sauce i've eaten for years. The night market was buzzing with people. The Bible student we visited  is a 19 year old girl named Mai. Her family runs a drink stand at the night market. She was a monk in a Buddhist temple when she got the truth. A sister who was an acquaintance of hers visited her at the temple to witness to her. After only 3 studies, she recognized the ring of truth and left the temple. She said she found no happiness as a monk. But after studying the Bible Teach book, she quickly saw that this was the true path to happiness. Cut says that Mai is an inspiration to her. And both of them are to us! Mai's mother and father are now studying as well. We're planning to visit her again after our assembly.

Cut, Mai and Amy

So that was how we how we ended our day. Well, almost. When we got home, I finished working on my talk and then Amy and I researched nuclear fission. There's actually a unit that requires her to teach her students nuclear vocabulary words. They have to explain the process to her in english and she has to correct them. Of COURSE we'd have to learn how a neutron gets absorbed by a uranium-235 nucleus and produces prompt gamma rays in order to teach english. That's just logical. Though when you consider the rest of our recent events, I suppose it fits right in.

But meeting Mai was a genuinely happy end to a day otherwise filled with grief and worry. What a great many things seem to be crammed into a single day here. I won't even get into the strange fact that just last night we taught two Korean brothers who were in prison together how to swing dance. And do the cupid shuffle. We danced very silly dances with people that were imprisoned for their faith. That one still hasn't sunk in yet. But I think it's pretty amazing.