It really is a small world after all...

This past week has been all about friends and marveling at what a small world we live in. It began two Sundays ago when I met Iven and Kashmira at ECB on Soi 10 for church in the morning. (Andrea was still feeling a bit under the weather and met up with us later in the day.) We first met Iven and Kashmira through a mutual friend back in Seattle/Tacoma who told us that next time we were in Thailand we should look them up. When we were here in 2007 we did just that, peppering them with questions in a small coffee shop about how they ended up here and why and how they were doing what they were doing - and we have stayed in touch since. Iven and Kashmira came to Thailand initially to work with male sex workers in bars and on the street. Initially they were the only missionaries hanging out with and reaching out to male sex workers in Bangkok. They moved into a tiny room above a restaurant in a neighborhood close to a main loop where men work the street and have been there since. As a result a team has coalesced around them who have also moved into the neighborhood to love it and the people who live there. Their life together is really amazing with many stories that you can read on their blog. We hold them in very high regard and love spending time with them. If anyone would ask us what would Jesus do or what should followers of Jesus look like or how to live incarnationally, I think we would quickly point them in Iven and Kashmira’s direction. They love everyone they encounter, wrestle with hard situations, ask us good questions, listen well and always encourage and challenge us at the same time.

Last time we saw Iven and Kashmira was right before we returned to the US two and a half years ago. Long time readers of this blog will remember that Andrea became really sick and we were not even sure she would be able to get on the plane as most airports were screening for H1N1 at the time. Kashmira also became sick at the same time so we weren’t sure if we had passed it on to her or vice versa. Turns out it was neither as soon after we were back in the US we received an email from them saying she was…pregnant with child number one. In the two and a half years since we have seen them they have produced two adorable kids – Izayla (pictured above with Iven - winning some university students over!) and Elian – and have rented another room above them for their growing family! Anyway, we had a great afternoon with them. At one point in our conversation, Kashmira said “Hey, we know someone who you went to school with…”

Turns out it was Anne (or Nini as we all knew her at the time) whose family was also in OMF (my parents mission organization.) I went to school at Chefoo School in Malaysia and Faith Academy in the Philippines with Anne and her sister Fiona who was in my grade and who now works in Cambodia with her husband Dave. We were really excited to meet Fiona and Dave two and a half years ago when we visited them in Phnom Penh as it had been 20 years since I had seen Fiona. I knew that Anne and her husband Andy (and their four kids) moved to Thailand just over a year ago to explore their options here and was excited they had met Iven and Kashmira. A few facebook messages later and we had arranged to meet at Lumpini Park this past Sunday for the Concert in the Park that the Bangkok Symphony presents eight Sunday evenings in a row during the “cool” season. Andrea and I were already planning to go to the concert to meet up with Fern and Fink who we became friends with last time we were here. Fern just happens to be the pianist for the Bangkok Symphony.
So we arrived at the park this past Sunday and met up with everyone and then we were surprised when Anne introduced us to Kyle and Lisa who live above them and teach English in Bangkok. (photo above - Andrea and new friends listening to the Bangkok Symphony.) Kyle and Lisa had been introduced to us via email a few weeks ago by mutual friend Mindy back in Seattle who had hoped we would have a chance to meet up. Such a small world! We had hoped to meet but didn’t anticipate everyone’s lives intersecting! (This was the second time in a week that we had met someone who we were hoping to meet in such a random and unexpected way!)Anyway a grand time was had by all as we talked and talked, introduced ourselves and Nini and I began to catch up on the past 20 years. After the concert Fern, Fink, Andrea and shared a hotpot meal together (photos below). It was so good to hear about their lives and what is going on for them.


These two Sundays served as bookends to our “friend” week which also included two other "friend" moments. This past Tuesday morning we made sure we were up early in order to skype with our book group/small group that meets once a month back in Durham. Times sure have changed since the days when urgent news was shared by telegrams here in Thailand when I was growing up! (And all the younger readers now ask – what’s a telegram?!) We love being part of this group and are very grateful that technology continues to allow us to be part of it while we are here. (Pictured below - a few of our book group friends back in Durham before we left.)
Tuesday evening we had dinner with Roy and Bonita, wonderful friends who we also met last time we were here. Bonita runs a vital outreach and ministry to girls and women who want to leave the sex industry called Home of New Beginnings. They are both tireless fighters for justice and do so in a warm, wise and inviting way. Like Iven and Kashmira (though in a different age bracket) we hold them in high esteem for their efforts at bringing hope and transformation to those with little and those with much.

So this week has been an abundance of riches when it comes to friends and we are encouraged and grateful. We have a couple other Thai friends here in Bangkok that we want to connect with but that will be for another post. AND, although we spent a lot of time with friends this week, Andrea also started school which has gone well and that might also be a future post!
Duncan