The pastor's week so far...
Just some highlights...
Monday - I was really dragging in the morning - picking up some pieces from the weekend and putting them back together. This included trying to figure out a theft that occurred in one of our worship services. The day changed dramatically when I met someone for lunch who told me how she became a Christian last month. We scheduled her baptism! :-)
Then I had a late afternoon strawberry milkshake over a very happy and painful conversation. Someone I'm fond of is getting married. Yeah. She's found a guy who seems nice. But she's set the wedding date based on a fortune-teller's advice. At first she claimed it was "just tradition and culture" but turns out she is a true believer and despite her faith in Jesus - she has allowed the occult to push her Christianity completely out of the picture of her wedding. I'm very afraid about this. Pray that God would set her free from this evil.
Tuesday - I helped out at Jake's school. Jake has been having some attachment issues... not wanting mommy to leave him at school. After helping the class, I had an hour to kill before school let out. We'd spotted a new Mexican restaurant about a 10 minute walk away. So off I went. I brought some stuff to read as study for my sermon Sunday. The food was terrible. But what was weird was that the entire time I was eating there was (what first appeared to be) a woman with a skirt that only covered about half of "her" bottom out from prancing around arguing with a drunk (western) guy and another woman. After observing for a little while - I noticed that "she" was actually a "he".
Only in Bangkok at 12 in the afternoon would you be sitting in a mexican cafe eating bad tacos, reading sermon prep material while watching a transvestite hooker yelling at a drunk foreigner and his Thai girlfriend. :) What was truly amazing is that while I sat there - a number of people walked out of the building past the scene and NONE of them seemed to think anything of it. They just walked by. The only one who took any notice was the security guard who kept looking at me - watching the whole thing - and making thrusting motions with his hips. UN-BE-LIEVABLE.
Tuesday evening I had coffee with another person who will join our church.
Wednesday - In the morning I went to teach 4 year olds in Klong Toey how to use computer. We have a little curriculum using MS Paintbrush. I do this every Wednesday. Always fun working with the kids.
It occurred to me that we should invite the new members to lunch with our council members. Sent an email to our council members asking who was available. Didn't get a single positive response (out of 13 people) until Friday afternoon. Apparently our entire church leadership team is out of town this weekend (or otherwise unavailable) except one person. It's NOT a holiday weekend.
I was also informed in the afternoon that our car had a major oil leak and needed to go into the shop immediately.
Nothing else weird happened Wednesday.
Thursday - My lunch appointment canceled. This freed up some time for me to just relax and do some much needed reading. I didn't get as much reading done on Tuesday as I had hoped.
I got a call in the afternoon from our guitarist/songleader for the evening services. His boss called. He's got to leave for Singapore Sunday. Can't lead singing this Sunday. We figured out that we won't be in town on the same Sunday again until mid-November. Yikes. I worried about this non-stop for about 30 minutes. Then prayed for 5. Then I called Den. Den is our back up. He's an absolutely amazing guitarist. He IS available this week. Thank God. I was afraid I was going to have to pull out my guitar! :) That could easily spell the end of the evening worship!
Friday - This was supposed to be a largely free day. And it has been. But in the early afternoon I got a call from Janet. She's part of our church. She said she was at immigration. She didn't say anything else. Sometimes her English breaks down. I figured the police were harassing her. They do that. But her papers are in order. She's a refugee from Zimbabwe. Once she shows them the papers, they will eventually release her. Right?
Two hours later, I get a call from Dolores. She's now with Janet. They are arresting her. They don't care that she has proper documentation. They've "lost" her letter from UNHCR. It's bad enough for Janet, but she's got little kids. One is an infant.
I call Anji and Jane. I get contact info for lawyers at the Refugee Center. I get the chief attorney on the line. Thai police have arrested 30+ Africans. There is some sort of dispute going on between UNHCR and Thai immigration. Apparently Thai law doesn't allow for refugees. He told me that no agreement has been worked out. No one knows how long this will go on. Pray for Janet and her family.
--------------
Friday is not over. I haven't included anything of church administration, sermon/Bible study preparation. Meeting with others about membership or any of the "normal" duties of my job. Sometimes people wonder what a pastor does all day. There is no typical week. But this week hasn't been unusual.
Monday - I was really dragging in the morning - picking up some pieces from the weekend and putting them back together. This included trying to figure out a theft that occurred in one of our worship services. The day changed dramatically when I met someone for lunch who told me how she became a Christian last month. We scheduled her baptism! :-)
Then I had a late afternoon strawberry milkshake over a very happy and painful conversation. Someone I'm fond of is getting married. Yeah. She's found a guy who seems nice. But she's set the wedding date based on a fortune-teller's advice. At first she claimed it was "just tradition and culture" but turns out she is a true believer and despite her faith in Jesus - she has allowed the occult to push her Christianity completely out of the picture of her wedding. I'm very afraid about this. Pray that God would set her free from this evil.
Tuesday - I helped out at Jake's school. Jake has been having some attachment issues... not wanting mommy to leave him at school. After helping the class, I had an hour to kill before school let out. We'd spotted a new Mexican restaurant about a 10 minute walk away. So off I went. I brought some stuff to read as study for my sermon Sunday. The food was terrible. But what was weird was that the entire time I was eating there was (what first appeared to be) a woman with a skirt that only covered about half of "her" bottom out from prancing around arguing with a drunk (western) guy and another woman. After observing for a little while - I noticed that "she" was actually a "he".
Only in Bangkok at 12 in the afternoon would you be sitting in a mexican cafe eating bad tacos, reading sermon prep material while watching a transvestite hooker yelling at a drunk foreigner and his Thai girlfriend. :) What was truly amazing is that while I sat there - a number of people walked out of the building past the scene and NONE of them seemed to think anything of it. They just walked by. The only one who took any notice was the security guard who kept looking at me - watching the whole thing - and making thrusting motions with his hips. UN-BE-LIEVABLE.
Tuesday evening I had coffee with another person who will join our church.
Wednesday - In the morning I went to teach 4 year olds in Klong Toey how to use computer. We have a little curriculum using MS Paintbrush. I do this every Wednesday. Always fun working with the kids.
It occurred to me that we should invite the new members to lunch with our council members. Sent an email to our council members asking who was available. Didn't get a single positive response (out of 13 people) until Friday afternoon. Apparently our entire church leadership team is out of town this weekend (or otherwise unavailable) except one person. It's NOT a holiday weekend.
I was also informed in the afternoon that our car had a major oil leak and needed to go into the shop immediately.
Nothing else weird happened Wednesday.
Thursday - My lunch appointment canceled. This freed up some time for me to just relax and do some much needed reading. I didn't get as much reading done on Tuesday as I had hoped.
I got a call in the afternoon from our guitarist/songleader for the evening services. His boss called. He's got to leave for Singapore Sunday. Can't lead singing this Sunday. We figured out that we won't be in town on the same Sunday again until mid-November. Yikes. I worried about this non-stop for about 30 minutes. Then prayed for 5. Then I called Den. Den is our back up. He's an absolutely amazing guitarist. He IS available this week. Thank God. I was afraid I was going to have to pull out my guitar! :) That could easily spell the end of the evening worship!
Friday - This was supposed to be a largely free day. And it has been. But in the early afternoon I got a call from Janet. She's part of our church. She said she was at immigration. She didn't say anything else. Sometimes her English breaks down. I figured the police were harassing her. They do that. But her papers are in order. She's a refugee from Zimbabwe. Once she shows them the papers, they will eventually release her. Right?
Two hours later, I get a call from Dolores. She's now with Janet. They are arresting her. They don't care that she has proper documentation. They've "lost" her letter from UNHCR. It's bad enough for Janet, but she's got little kids. One is an infant.
I call Anji and Jane. I get contact info for lawyers at the Refugee Center. I get the chief attorney on the line. Thai police have arrested 30+ Africans. There is some sort of dispute going on between UNHCR and Thai immigration. Apparently Thai law doesn't allow for refugees. He told me that no agreement has been worked out. No one knows how long this will go on. Pray for Janet and her family.
--------------
Friday is not over. I haven't included anything of church administration, sermon/Bible study preparation. Meeting with others about membership or any of the "normal" duties of my job. Sometimes people wonder what a pastor does all day. There is no typical week. But this week hasn't been unusual.
