Zone Visit Part 1

We had the wonderful privilege of attending the Zone Overseer visit yesterday in Bangkok. We missed out on the visit in Oregon because we lived just a little too far away. So we flew to the other side of the globe and got to attend anyway!

Most of the brothers and sisters in Pattaya stayed here and watched the visit on a big TV screen at the Kingdom Hall. But there was an open invitation to anyone who wanted to attend the actual visit in Bangkok...so how could we pass that up?

We went with a small group, all in all I think we were about 14 people. One of the Thai brothers named Wi-mon just happens to drive a school bus here in Pattaya and was able to use it to drive us all to the city. Wi-mon is an awesome brother by the way! He is an elder in the Thai congregation here and is a great support in service. Him and his family are also learning thai sign language because there is a great need for that. Apparently, before he was in the truth, he was a Buddhist monk. He also spent time working as a motorcycle taxi driver, and has broken almost every knuckle in both his hands against side view mirrors of the cars he would squeeze between. But I digress....

So anyway, we met at the Kingdom Hall at 9 am on Sunday morning and then we were off. About a half hour from the city, we had a little adventure. Wi-mon was zooming along the 4 lane freeway when we heard a loud noise and the ride got a little rough. Our back left tire had blown! Brother Wi-mon gracefully steered us off to the shoulder and him and all the brothers hopped out to take a look. The tire was totally demolished. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the poor little van was overcapacity...but thats just a theory. Anyway, Wi-mon took off his dress shirt, grabbed the spare and started working. We all had to pile out of the van and make ourselves comfy on the side of the freeway under the hot sun. Fortunately, a roadside assistance vehicle pulled up behind us after a few minutes and those guys were like a pit crew! They worked so fast that we were back on the road in no time! We pulled into the convention site safely and with plenty of time to grab lunch and iced coffee before the meeting started.