First Week in Bangkok

After a busy weekend I needed to take a day off to sleep in a bit and catch up on my blogging as Im woefully behind - so sorry for the famine then sudden flood of information.
So I arrived on Monday, met Lidia, Alanna and Terry, got settled in, had my first bit of genuine Thai food. 25 baht, yum!
Tuesday, walked along Phet Kasem a bit, did a little exploring for myself in the morning, picked up a few things at the 7-11 and realized these "sidewalks" and streets were not what I had expected and I was definitely going to need some more service shoes as one morning of walking seriously tore up my little gold BCBG sandals - thank goodness they were a $1 Bargain Box find! So I met up with Alanna at 10:30 and, as planned, she showed me how to get to the nearest mall riding the bus. This both is and isnt a normal mall as Im accustomed to - for one it has a grocery store in it! We first went shoe shopping and I got a couple pairs of cute shoes for a grand total of under 400 baht (about $12-$13). Next we went to the bank where Alanna was amused to be wished a happy valentines day - we'd both forgotten about it, but it seems to be big both in Thailand and Manila (along with many other western holidays). Then we headed onto the food court, which was definitely a new experience. Instead of paying with baht at the individual vendors, you trade in your baht for food coupons then buy your food with the coupons, and return any coupons you have left for baht. My only guess is that it is more sanitary for the vendors to handle coupons than baht? Or maybe they figure youll be inclined to spend all the baht you exchange? Dunno but apparently its the custom of food courts across Thailand. After that bought a prepaid phone for while Im here to keep in contact with the friends, and Alanna is needing a new phone also, so Ill most likely pass it along to her when I leave, or if she already has a new one I figure it can be given to the next foreigner passing through. It ended up being around 700 baht I believe, so about $25 or so for the phone and sim card, I figure its definitely a worthwhile investment! After that we briefly stopped at the grocery store, but I was admittedly dead on my feet at this point so I just picked up the bare minimum of my needs then we headed home and I  "had a lie down", as Alanna put it, before the English Meeting that night.
The English Meeting is quite interesting, it meets on the 14th floor of the ITF tower, and is just a little hall. I had left early to allow time for getting lost, Alanna had gotten me to the BTS, and drawn me a map with specific instructions as to where to get off the BTS at then which exit to take, but she was worried bacause apparently on Lidias first visit to the English Hall she ended up walking the wrong way! I managed it first try and ended up getting there a full 40 minutes early! Guess there is a first time for everything :)
What amazed me so much about the English Congregation had to be the number of nationalities represented. They were from Holland, Sweden, Japan, Lebanon, France, Phillipines, India, Canada, South Africa and who knows where else! It made for interesting comments and especially singing as you could hear the different accents. According to one older sister from Holland who spends about half her year here because she so loves the congregation, the number of publishers fluctuate a lot thoughout the year. I think my favorite speaker of the night had to be the brother from Lebanon who was so expressive and lively in his delivery.
After the meeting I met Natalie, a sister from France who is actually part of a Thai congregation, but accompanies her Bible Study to the English Meetings, and Chali, a Thai sister who speaks very good English and has relatives in the States. Natalie was very excited because we had a whole group of people visiting from France. Upon learning Id come to Thailand alone they promptly invited me out to dinner with them. The plan was to go to Sizzler, but unfortunately they were closed when we got there. So instead we had Thai food. I got stir fired ginger and wood mushrooms, topped with chicken served over rice. Yummy yummy yummy! About 40 baht with a bottle of water (you dont drink the water here, but its okay to like rinse your toothbrush in it). It was a fun night all in all, as the French brothers and sisters tried to use their english and I used my minimal French. And you would not believe how many servings the skinny French people ate! One sister joked it was because they had no food in France. Then they left and all hugged and did the kiss on both cheeks thing. It was super sweet. I then rode the BTS home partway with them, but they were staying in the city while Im farther out, though we were all rushing to get in before the BTS closed at midnight.
Next morning was my first time in Thai field service. Its definitely an experience, though Manila had helped to prepare me for it a bit. We work preaching door to door until noon then in the afternoon they do their Bible Studies, calls and letter writing. I worked with Alanna and it was a lot of fun, she'd even written me a little presentation so I could have a part. The people smiled and were very patient with me. We left something in every door (or rather gate) as there is no doing of not at homes here since the territory is so large and much hasnt been worked in many many years. Truly here the work is great but the workers are few, I learned just how true this was later when Terry showed me the congregations territory on the wall of the Kingdom Hall. This also makes it important to leave a meeting invite so the interested ones can find us, and Alanna and Terry also try to leave letters in the not at homes in hopes this will reach people and move them to read whatever literature was left. Which is why much time must be spent letter writing. I am trying to learn to do the letter writing but admittedly Im ridiculously slow at it as the letters are new to me and hence I write at the pace of a first grader. Truly learning a new language and visiting a new field is a humbling experience, but with there being such a need I truly feel like I am helping, and there is much interst to be found - in fact Im finding more than Ive ever experienced before the mentality here is that anytime is angood time to preach, especially informally. Specifically the other foreign brothers and sisters view any foreigner they see anywhere as their personal territory, especially since those that live there stay in condominiums that are unreachable to us. Im striving to adopt a similar attitude and hope I can bring it back to the states with me.