A Boat Cruise Birthday Party!
Fr. Daniel is a Nigerian Redemptorist priest here in Bangkok. We know him from Holy Redeember, the one English language parish in Bangkok. He takes it upon himself to make sure that we get a chance to see a little more of Thailand than the slum. He returned at the end of August from his annual trip home and he said, let’s go do something! Being Nigerian, he was able to come up with several reasons to celebrate--my birthday was in July, his was in August, Marie’s was in September... So he invited us on the Chao Praya River Boat Cruise! We always ask some others to join us on these trips and he graciously says, “Of course! Invite whomever you choose!” I thought of my friends R and S and called to see if they could come on a Friday night and meet us at the church. When we all met, there was also the Pakistani family, William and Maryam, and their three lovely boys. Fr. Daniel saw them and on fly asked if they were free and wanted to join us! I love my Pakistani friends so much, I couldn’t have been happier.
To top off the whole night, we were sitting on the boat, eating delicious Thai food, I was getting ready for a toast with the champagne, and I asked S, "When is your birthday?" He answered: “Today." I freaked! What?! He thought maybe I knew and that’s why I asked he and R to join us (I’m sure they had told me a couple months ago, but I forgot). It was totally the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to invite them. R explained me that S has never had a birthday party like this, and the night prior, she had told him she wished she could throw a party or do something special. We made sure to celebrate with a delicious cake, dancing, pictures--with mango and sticky rice to top it all off!
Fr. Daniel is a Nigerian Redemptorist priest here in Bangkok. We know him from Holy Redeember, the one English language parish in Bangkok. He takes it upon himself to make sure that we get a chance to see a little more of Thailand than the slum. He returned at the end of August from his annual trip home and he said, let’s go do something! Being Nigerian, he was able to come up with several reasons to celebrate--my birthday was in July, his was in August, Marie’s was in September... So he invited us on the Chao Praya River Boat Cruise! We always ask some others to join us on these trips and he graciously says, “Of course! Invite whomever you choose!” I thought of my friends R and S and called to see if they could come on a Friday night and meet us at the church. When we all met, there was also the Pakistani family, William and Maryam, and their three lovely boys. Fr. Daniel saw them and on fly asked if they were free and wanted to join us! I love my Pakistani friends so much, I couldn’t have been happier.
To top off the whole night, we were sitting on the boat, eating delicious Thai food, I was getting ready for a toast with the champagne, and I asked S, "When is your birthday?" He answered: “Today." I freaked! What?! He thought maybe I knew and that’s why I asked he and R to join us (I’m sure they had told me a couple months ago, but I forgot). It was totally the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to invite them. R explained me that S has never had a birthday party like this, and the night prior, she had told him she wished she could throw a party or do something special. We made sure to celebrate with a delicious cake, dancing, pictures--with mango and sticky rice to top it all off!
September 17: Spiritual Pilgrimage
September 15 is the feast of Our Lady of Compassion, perhaps better known as Our Lady of Sorrows. She is a model of compassion as the Mother of God, standing at the foot of the cross, and therefore a fitting model as the patroness of Heart’s Home and our charism of compassion. To celebrate, we hosted a day retreat on September 17 for our friends in Bangkok, joining for Mass at Assumption Cathedral, with 20 friends representing seven countries! The most beautiful part for me was the number of young people. about 13 of the 20 people who came are in their 20s. Marion, a volunteer from France with FIDESCO, shared at the end of the day how timely this day was for her, only one week into her one year mission. She had been having a lot of doubts about what she was doing here! As we shared a text for School of Community written by Adrienne von Speyr, from “Handmaid of the Lord”, we reflected upon the ‘yes’ of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Marion shared how that struck her and affirmed her in this beginning of her mission--she re-discovered why she said ‘yes’ to this mission.
The following week, we hosted a Taize prayer meeting at our home. Taize is a place in Southern France, and the Taize community is an ecumenical community of Catholic and Protestant brothers from over thirty nations, living as a sign of unity among Christians. (www.taize.fr/en) September 23, we gathered in our small house, representing the global church! It was amazing: Lutheran pastors from Finland, Franciscan brothers, Christian Japanese pastors, Thai, French, Indonesian, Americans, Vietnamese... married, single, divorced, lay consecrated, priest--young adults, children, middle aged, over-middle-aged... It was a beautiful time of prayer and friendship, of unity as Christians. It was powerful to praise God together in song and a gift to have Thai Christians and farang who speak Thai, as a witness to the children to came!
End of September: Time Passing
September came to an end with a big good-bye to Katie, who ended her 16 month mission and headed home to the States. We took turns going with her on apostolate as she made her goodbyes to our friends. It was a blessing to go with her in the neighborhood, as it really made me reflect on my own mission and the time I have here. It has already been seven months! I will be ending my mission in June, three months earlier than planned, as I need to come home to find a job before beginning to repay my student loans. So I have 8 months more--and it will go sooo fast! It’s not so much time!
At the Spanish mass the first weekend of October, they sang the song “Alma Misionera”. It has long been one of my favorite songs. The words, loosely translated into English are: “Take me where the men need your words, need desire to live. Where there is no hope, no joy, simply for not knowing you...Lord, I have a missionary soul. Drive me to the land that is thirsty for God.” As they community sang this at Communion, I was overwhelmed with joy to the point of tears, not being able to sing. It was a gift of God, to have the grace to be so full of joy to be here, in Thailand, with Heart’s Home, in 70 Rai--living the mission of dreams!
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