International Brotherhood

We all know that we are part of an international organization, but never has it been so real to me. For example, today Jake and I (who are american in case you are wondering:-) went out in service with a Thai brother named Wiiman, a frenchman named George, a Russian named Igor and a Danish brother named Lasse. We were doing the thai congregation's territory, so imagine the variations in accents all trying to master a simple thai presentation. Once we were out in the field, I got to speak with a man from India who spoke some broken english. George, the french brother, handed me a tract in Hindi to give to him as well. When the man saw a piece of literature in his language, he literally grabbed it out of my hand.

The meetings are fun as well. I absolutely LOVE languages so I am having a blast greeting the brothers in their respective tongues...buon giorno! bonjour! buenos dias! sawatdee ka! previyet! hai! Because the majority of the brothers and sisters don't speak english well, the talks and comments really need to be kept simple. There is a lot of repetition and re-capping of main points so that everyone understands. Tonight was our 3rd meeting here in Pattaya. Jake had the Bible reading, a demo on the service meeting and the closing prayer, none of which he knew about until we arrived at the hall. He is giving the public talk in 2 weeks! Lets keep him on his toes!!:-) Tomorrow we go out in service and then a sweet German couple invited us over to their house for lunch. We also received an invite from a Hungarian couple to come over to their home and try some traditional Hungarian goulash. This. Is. So. Fun!