We Aren't in Kansas Anymore

It's 'harvest' time here in Thailand. The weather has turned cold--we're in the midst of a blistery winter--It was 67 this morning here and we're all FREEZING! We went out yesterday to one of our church member's fields and harvested rice for about an hour or so. At first, walking ankle deep in smelly, slippery cold water was fun. After the stalks of rice have been cut, they're really sharp so wearing shorts wasn't the best idea. After about the first hour, it was pretty tedious. I was muddy from the knees down. My toes were shriveled up from being under water and I was itching and scratched all over my lower legs and my arms. Half the time, I would take a step and my shoe would stay in the mud where I had just been. Needless to say, I kept a watchful eye for snakes (we do have cobras and such here in Surin) and bees nests are always a threat. All in all, I left after helping for just a short while and thought "I can't imagine doing this all day, every day for weeks." I'll never look at a bowl of rice the same again.

“A Good Week, A Not So Good Week, It Depends on Who You Ask”

This past week was the annual IBFT Teen Camp held about 4 hours from Surin in the mountains of Korat, Thailand. Last year because of scheduling problems and bad weather, we didn’t have any teens attend from our church. This year we had 7 teens and 3 adults there for the week. It was a great week with 3 of the 7 teens that went with us not being saved. Once we got to camp we found out there were about 20 of the roughly 80 campers who weren’t saved. During the week the preaching was great, the weather was PERFECT and everyone had a great time. When Thai teens come together like this, they are just one big “happy” group. It’s amazing because there are no clicks, no groups of people who are ‘too cool’ to play games, and everyone really loves being there. At the end of the week, I think there were about 8 or so salvation decisions and many other good decisions. One of our teen girls sang a beautiful solo and played guitar solo as well that won her a second place medal for both specials. One of the salvation decisions was from one of our teen boys whom we have been trying to reach for several months now. His younger brother might possibly have also been saved this week as well. We will officially begin having “youth group” meetings on Saturdays starting November 1.

BUT, in spite of all the good news, there is inevitably some “bad” news to share too. Last Tuesday while walking through our neighborhood with Lindsey, a dog came running out of a house and bit Erica’s leg pretty good. She was really scared and upset especially since she was about a 5 minute walk from home. Courtney went over to talk with the owner ( I was already at camp) and found out it was the same dog that often chased her while she exercised. The owner apologized and said that the dog has had all of its shots so Erica won’t have to get treated for rabies. If it happens again, I’ll be going over there to have a ‘personal talk’ with the dog myself. AND, as if getting bit wasn’t enough, while Erica was away at camp two days after getting bit, one of the neighborhood dogs came and killed her pet rabbit. The neighbors found its body out in the street. Erica got the rabbit for her birthday back in June and has been really attached to it. So, as I said, it was a good week for some and a not so good week for others. Erica is doing well and is asking for a new rabbit. We’re thinking we’ll hold out and save up some money for a Jack Russell Terrier instead.

The Champion of Jogging

Here's a shot of our team last Sunday after we all went out and took part in a mini-marathon here in Surin. There were 42K, 10K and 3K races. Needless to say we all did the 3K and MOST of us actually ran the whole way. It was alot of fun. I'm hoping to do my first 10K in December in another province. Who knows?
I bet Jason Stover couldn't do it.

Looking for God's Leading in your Life?

Here in Thailand one of the most effective and most used techniques for opening doors to reach Thai’s is to teach English. This has proved in many churches to be an incredibly useful tool to encourage timid Thai people to enter the church and become acquainted with the people there. Most (if not all) Thai’s have a paralyzing fear of having to speak English in front of a foreigner and therefore it’s incredibly rare for a Thai to just “walk through the church’s front doors” unless they are personally invited by a friend. Building relationships with Thai’s is by far the MOST effective way to reach them and encourage them to overcome their fear of foreigners.

Over the past year, Drew and Leah Kilcup have been part of our team here in Thailand. Drew has been employed and working full time for a local university, and Leah worked part time in a preschool. Drew has a degree from Northland and also from Lansdale Seminary but neither of his degrees are in teaching or any type of education. Drew and Leah just felt burdened by the Lord to dedicate this year of their lives to serving in Thailand.

The Kilcups will be finishing their school term at the end of September and leaving Thailand to reestablish their lives in America. We have appreciated them greatly as Drew’s teaching position has given us many contacts with the university students and has enabled us to take mission teams into his classroom to teach on occasion.
Now, as the Kilcups return, the door is open for another couple, or single person, to come and take part in this valuable outreach in our community. The university pays a full time salary that Drew and Leah have been able to live on and Leah also receives a salary for her part time work.

The university also sponsors you for your visa and allows you to have the necessary paperwork needed to be able to stay in the country. At this point in time, the university’s needs are great as they have three openings for full time English teachers.
Surin is a wonderful town in the rural, rice farming area of the Northeast of Thailand. There is a pizza restaurant here as well as KFC and a nice ice cream place. Housing would be available very cheap. If you or anyone who know might be interested in more specific details about the opportunity there, please email me and I can share more.

The term here will begin at the beginning of November and would require that you were able to come late in September or early in October to begin the paperwork for you visa. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who is interested in serving the Lord in a short term (year long) position on a developed, foreign field. I look forward to hearing from you!

They say "lower weight and higher rep's" are better.

So, here's a picture I wanted to share with the world. This is one of my favorite Thai men here in the church in Surin. His name is "Grandpa Dee" and he's 76 years old. I've had a chance now to go out visiting villagers with him around the district and I've been able to sit on his front porch and just watch him. The day we showed up at his house to visit him, he wasn't wearing a shirt and I was impressed by how "toned" he is for a man of his age. So, I asked him to flex for a picture. Grandpa Dee has never been to a gym one day in his life but he's planted rice for probably about 74 of the 76 years he's been alive. It just goes to show you that lifting 100 million grains of rice over the period of a lifetime is better for your muscles than lifting weights for a few weeks. Slow and steady always wins the race.

Erica Understands the value of Money

It's true most pictures are worth a thousand words but this one needs a little explanation to fully understand its significance. The girl on the right it "Pot" our neighbor and the 'crazy' one standing behind them is Lindsey, our daughter. Erica is the one with holes where three of her teeth used to be on Friday morning. Let me explain: On Friday AM, Erica and I went out with with two older Thai men for visitation way out in the countryside villages here in Surin.
Erica has had two teeth that have been loose for about 3 months now. She's normally a pretty tough little girl as exampled by her scratched cornea back in early 2007 and her 6 stitches she got from falling in the bath tub earlier this year. BUT, she was not at all interested in pulling these teeth. So, Friday as we rode around in the back of the truck, I encouraged her to pull one out. Within a few minutes she had it and she was really excited. No tears, no help, she did it all herself. I decided to encourage her to pull the other one by telling her that the tooth fairy who normally gives $5 for the first tooth and $2 for the second tooth would give $5 per tooth if she pulled them both on the same day. About 30 minutes later she decided to pull the other one-again, no help and no tears-she just pulled it right out.

That night as I was preparing to put the teeth under her pillow, she said, "I got it Dad!" I turned to look and sure enough, she had pulled out her third one! Three teeth in one day each earning her $5 per tooth for a total of $15. So, now I'm broke and she looks funny but she's got plenty of money in her wallet now.

Hey, What's going on here?

It's been a while since our last post and I wanted to add a couple notes about the MANY, MANY things that have been going on here in Surin recently. During the last 6 weeks, we have had two wonderful missions teams here from the U.S. One was from Lansdale, PA and one was from Hays, Kansas. The first team came with 25 people and stayed with us here for about a week before quickly heading back to PA. The other team that just left this week from Kansas was with us for a couple weeks. Both teams were wonderful and their schedules were PACKED with teaching, handing out literature, basketball tournaments, and having special days at local schools. We loved every minute of it and we especially loved the fellowship with both teams.

Most recently, we had the group here from Kansas lead by Bryan and Sommer Lowery. Both Bryan and Sommer have believed for many years that the Lord was leading them to Thailand as missionaries and this trip has apparently confirmed the idea in their minds. Bryan will be returning to finish his college degree in the U.S. and they hope to be able to return here in a few years. This is very exciting to us and encouraging as Drew and Leah Kilcup will be finishing their time here in September and heading back to the States after teaching here in the local university for over a year.
Speaking of Drew and Leah: Both of them are recovering well after a serious motorcycle wreck that required surgery to clean out and stitch up Leah's knee. Drew made it through with some nasty scrapes and a broken thumb but both are healing quickly it seems.

During the recent missions trip with the Kansas team, I became pretty sick for about 6-7 days and required a trip to the hospital for some shots and medication when my symptoms took a turn for the worse. On the bright side, I was able to drop 11 pounds during those 6 days!

As you think about us here, continue to pray for our ministry here in Surin. Lord willing, we will have a buyer for our building within a couple weeks and we will move to purchase an existing building that we all feel certain will be a wonderful replacement for our existing location. Also pray for our ministry here as Jim and Kathi Hayes will be heading back to the States in late October for a 7-9 month furlough leaving us with a great deal of responsibility and work here.

Thanks for "Keeping Up with the Joneses".
For those interested in knowing, 6 weeks after completing my diet competition with Jason Stover, I am at the exact weight of 237 and he is at 239. Not bad for a couple of formerly overweight Baptist missionaries.

And the Results are In!!

Yes indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words. But, I think I'll add a few extra words to this picture to try to fully explain its' significance.
If you've checked out the blog belonging to Mr. Stover, you'll know that he weighed in today and posted at 236 pounds. Yes, that's right, I lost 48 pounds and he lost 49. Therefore, I admit, HE IS THE BIGGEST LOSER I KNOW.
But, lest he be allowed to gloat over this "victory" of sorts, allow me to further explain the situation at hand:

1) In the Fall of 2005, we both were accepted with Baptist World Missions as missionaries. 16 months later to the very day, our support was raised and we were preparing to head to the field. 3 months after we began serving the Lord on foreign soil, Mr. Stover finished raising his support (which is a lower amount than ours), and made it to Poland.
**Round 1 goes to the Joneses (Technically it was round 1 and 2 but I'm not counting the actual process of getting approved by BWM.)

2) I have more kids than you.

**Round 2--Joneses again

3) I have more supporting churches than Mr. Stover.

**Round 3--Joneses, no question.

4) I got married while you were still trying to convince Ginger that you were worth it.

**Round 4--Mine again.

5) We raised more funds for our O and P than you ever dreamed.

**Round 5--Still the Joneses

6) I was motivated to lose weight long before you ever realized your obesity. I play golf better than you too. And you've got a fat round head.

**Round 6--No contention

7) Finally, after all this time, you won something. Yes indeed, after three months of competition you beat me by ONE POUND. I'll not make mention of your shady trip to America and your medical condition that you were aware of before we started the competition. I'll not make mention of the scale at the Doctors office in Bangkok that said I was over 290 pounds just before we began our competition. I'll not make mention of the fact that if my scale hadn't have broken, I would have beaten you by 10 pounds easy.

8) My blogs are wittier and funnier than yours.

Round 8-100: Matt Jones for sure.

SO, in conclusion, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You beat me by 16 ounces. Yes, I drank a 16 ounce glass of water and therefore you won. You have every reason to rejoice. WOW, what a champ. You worked out 6 days a week, didn't eat for three days and shaved your legs just to end up 16 OUNCES lower than me. I concede, you've won ROUND 7.
So, in a boxing match you can win your one round but you're still the BIGGEST MISSIONARY LOSER in the end.

Thanks to everyone who kept up with this saga. We've had a great time doing this. I feel great, I look, well, better at least. Like Jason, I thank my wife who one night looked at me while I was laying in bed without my shirt and said "WOW, what's that laying beside you?" She was referring to my stomach. Needless to say, I found great motivation in her words.

Thanks to Jason who made losing weight fun. Lord willing, we'll keep the weight off and live longer than our 50's now.

Also, thanks to Caleb and Brady. If it weren't for them watching their daddy lose all the time, Jason might not have been motivated to lose this much weight.

Who's the new guy?

SO, maybe I don't look totally different than I used to, but I think it's a pretty big change. Speaking of pretty big changes, we have made our move to Surin and have our address here now. If anyone wants to send something, please take note of our new address

Matt Jones

P.O. Box 4

Amper Muang

Surin, 32000

Thailand

For now our phone number is still the same.
Keep an eye on the blog later this weekend. I'll be posting my total weight loss soon . . . .

WHO'S THE LOSER NOW????

So here we are the day after my leg of the competition ended. WOW! I celebrated this morning by having chocolate chip pancakes. Oh man, five chocolate chip pancakes can do a lot for your disposition. For lunch, it's pizza and for supper Courtney is making meatloaf, mashed potatoes, homemade bread and a bunch of other stuff. It's going to be a good day for sure. At least for me, maybe not for Mr. Stover who has 11 more days to anguish in the pangs of diet-hood.

So, on to more important matters.

How much weight did I lose in the past 3 months? Well, as I've meditated on this day for quite a while now, I've concluded that this is the best way to handle this situation . . .

I'm not telling how much I lost.

It would be a shame if Mr. Stover found out that he was just a couple pounds away from beating me and then decided to fast for a couple days to lower his weight quickly and win. So, my plan is to post my weight the morning after Mr. Stover concludes his diet on the 22nd. That way, we can announce our weight the same day and Jason is FORCED TO CARRY ON IN HUNGER FOR 11 MORE DAYS! My wife verified my weight today and took pictures of the scale. I'm emailing that picture to a pastor friend in America for proof that he received them on the 11th. That way when Mr. Stover loses, he can't cry "FOUL."

Also, we've never really talked much about awards for the winner of the competition but I've given that some thought too. I'm calling Mr. Stover out. If he's man enough, he'll accept the following conditions: If I lose, I will drink no Carbonated Beverages and no Dunkin Donuts for THREE MORE MONTHS. IF he loses, he can't drink any carbonated beverages or EAT POLISH DONUTS for three more months.
Check out his blog and send him a message. Tell him if he's man enough, he'll accept these conditions. http://www.stoversinpoland.blogspot.com/

So, check back in a few days because I'm going to post some pictures of before and after.
Thanks to all who have kept a regular check on our progress.

Is it over yet??

Yes indeed, we're down to the wire. I officially began my diet on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. That's just three days from now. It's amazing that in just a few short "EXTREMELY LONG" months that my lifestyle could change so much. I haven't had a Coke of any sort, that means NO MT. DEW and no sweet tea for a long time now. I've lost a good bit of weight and I feel a lot better. My uncle commented that I look like I'm 19 again. I think I had more hair back then.
So, I've been running a lot. I never thought the day would come when I would enjoy running. Before this diet I had never run more than 2 minutes at a time EVER. Last night I ran 19 minutes straight at 8.7 kilometers an hour which was 3 kilometers. That's a mile and a half roughly. Crazy. I've been doing 5 Km recently and that's about 37 minutes.
So, we're coming up on the big day but the problem is that Mr. Stover gets an extra 12 days to lose weight because he started after I did. So, I don't want to ruin his motivation by announcing my weight right now. In other words, I've got three more days and then I'll make my announcement to the world. Check back on Wednesday for final results for me.
I am making a formal challenge to Mr. Stover. DISIRREGAURDLESS--that's good Tennessee talk--DISIRREGAURDLESS of who loses the most weight, I'm challenging him to maintain the weight loss and post again on DECEMBER 30, 2008.
Any one can lose a little weight but it takes a person with CHARACTER to KEEP IT OFF. Check out his blog at http://www.stoversinpoland.blogspot.com/ and challenge him to try to keep the weight off for another 6 months.

Where Have I Been?

So, here I am sitting in Surin, Thailand, my new home.
I do deeply apologize for not posting my blog on this past Saturday. I ask for the forgiveness of everyone but Mr. Stover.
I was unable to post for the past few days because I had to take an EMERGENCY trip to Cheeseburgerville in the foreign country of Sissyanopia. I had to make some quick decisions to get some much needed treatment for an infected hair follicle. I think I'm better now and the good news is that my trip only raised my fellow missionaries' insurance premiums by 40%!! How exciting.
So, a couple weeks ago I made a claim that was bold and daring, much like Mr. Stover's hairstyle. I claimed that I would break the 250 pound or not drink a Pepsi for 4 months. That week I elected to not post out of respect for my nemesis and good friend, Mr. Stover who was very sick and on his way to Sissyanopia, uh oops, I mean America. That week, I did break the 240's and made it to 248.
Since that time, I've been celebrating and eating too much. Hey, it isn't like the competition is that tough.

So, here's the breakdown: 247 pounds on this past Saturday.
No Cokes or sweet tea for nearly three months.
Not much exercise either but I'm joining a workout place tomorrow here in Surin. I'm already making plans to shave my head and go on a 5 day fast to lose a lot of weight at the end. The big problem is that if Mr. Stover shaves his feet and back, he'll drop 20 pounds easy overnight.

Next week, IT ENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who's the Biggest Loser??

Yes indeed. It would appear that my nemesis Mr. Hillary Stover has yet to concede his defeat. Even in the midst of intense accusations, he refuses to admit that he will lose. So, he continues to badger himself with his diet in hopes that maybe I'll get some tropical disease that will cause extreme bloating and weight gain. It's possible, after all, this is Thailand.

So, let's catch up on the good stuff. I've continued my non-coke drinking status to well over 2 months now and that's pretty cool to me. I haven't gone this long without a Coke or sweet tea since I was 2 years old. Last week I broke into the 240's for a day before binge-ing for three days. I hit the treadmill pretty hard this week and was totally pumped to run 4 kilometers one night. I returned two nights later and made it a full 5 kilometers. It took me over 38 minutes so I'm not quite ready for any marathons yet, but it was cool to run over 3 miles. Never in my life did I think that the day would come that I would run anywhere but to the kitchen table.

So, here's the breakdown. This morning I was 250.4. A total loss of around 35 pounds and counting. I'd like to get to the 230's before the end of July but that's a long way from 250!!

Keep an eye on Mr. Stover, who knows what kind of deceit he's liable to produce on his blog in the next couple of weeks. http://www.stoversinpoland.blogspot.com/

I've heard he's coined a new phrase to kindle sympathy from non-commiitted readers. Beware of men who coin phrases like "kidneylogically challenged." It could be shorted to "logically challenged" to save time.

What's going on here?

So, with much anticipation, here is the most recent installment of Missionary Biggest Loser. I know that there are countless thousands of you waiting to find out why Mr. Stover and I have been silent this week. Well, here goes.
My good friend and arch enemy, Mr. Stover, had to make an emergency trip from Poland back to America due to some potentially very serious kidney problems. After a very rough ride back to Chicago, he was able to get the necessary treatment and is on the mend.
Now on to the issues at hand. When you sign up for new insurance, normally the insurance wont cover you if you have "pre-existing" conditions. If you are accepted but the insurance company finds out later that you had a "pre-existing" condition, you would then be disqualified also. So, it is along these same lines of reasoning that I accept Mr. Stover's resignation since he has OBVIOUSLY disqualified himself by not listing a "pre-existing" condition before our competition began. A less honorable man might even accuse him of being SCANDALOUS in his behavior. I mean how can you consider "Dr. induced weight loss" as honorable? I however, stop just short of accusing him of a scandal. I'm sure that after a couple weeks of eating at Red Robin in America, I'm sure he'll be back at 285 when he gets to Poland. So, I will await his response (concession) and report again in a few days.

Not the biggest loser. . .

So, let's just cut to the chase this week. I felt like I was doing pretty good this week until Thursday. I had a big bowl of noodles for lunch and then some (a lot) of pizza for supper. This week, hunger won over discipline. BUT, on a good note, I did run 20 minutes solid at 8 km per hour which was a little over 1.5 miles. Also I extended my Pepsi abstinence campaign to the 2 month mark.

So, here's the overview of the week. I was 255 last week and I'm 254 this week. Basically, I lost one pound, that was it. So, it will be at least another week before I hit the 250 landmark. The only good news is that the competition isn't that tough as you can tell from Mr. Stover's picture with the cheeseburger.

I'm making a bold claim: NEXT WEEK I'LL HIT THE 250 MARK or I won't drink a Pepsi for another 4 months.

Missionary Biggest Loser--The Saga Continues

You know this series of blogs between Mr. Stover and I has all the makings of a great mini-series or feature length film. There is incredible tension, dramatic victories and all the intense competition between a very likable main character (ME) and a villain (Mr. Stover). There are scandals (see week four's entry) and unforeseeable comical elements that would cause even the hardest hearted person to double over laughing. YES, specifically, I"m referring to Mr. Stover AND HIS SPANDEX WEARING SELF DOING A TAE BO VIDEO. To think of my dear brother in his apartment scaring the tenants below him as he "kicks 2-3-4, and punch 2-3-4," and shakes most of the pictures off his wall. It's just a bit too much. Then, he says "afterwards I purposely nicked myself while shaving just to make sure I had some masculinity left in me." I don't think cutting yourself while shaving your legs constitutes "masculinity" but hey, who am I to judge a brother? You can find his entry at http://www.stoversinpoland.blogspot.com/

Now, for the update.

I switched up the diet routine this week and ditched the Herbalife for a couple days. I just didn't eat any breakfast or supper and that helped kick start my sluggish weight loss from the last couple weeks. SO, after reaching 254 on Friday, I rebounded back to 255 this morning for a total loss of 4 pounds this week.

"Confession Corner" --I ate a buffet meal on Friday night and then polished off a bag of chips on Saturday afternoon. I found myself sorely tempted by the power of Pepsi but I resisted. I think when I get to 250 I'm going to have a Mt. Dew or maybe a nice big cheeseburger.

Now it's official, I am at my pre-marital weight from 9 years ago. If I lose another 30 pounds, I will equal what I weighed at the WILDS in the summer of '98. I'm pretty sure I'll have to contract some tropical disease to get down that low, but hey, I'm going to give it a shot.

Missionary Biggest Loser --Week 5

This week I decided to let the Polish news give their own explanation for Mr. Stover's unimagineable weight gain over the past year.
"Warsaw, Poland 16 February 2007 The average Pole eats 2 ½ paczki on Fat Thursday. That means about 100 million Polish Donuts, Paczki, were eaten in Poland yesterday. The Polish people added 50 billion calories to their waste lines and trailing posteriors. Fat Thursday is a day of gluttony and belly worship in Poland. People gather together and consume huge numbers of Paczki. Eating 10 of the lard fried calorie bombs is not uncommon. "

It would appear Mr. Stover has decided that there should be a "Fat Monday, Fat Tuesday, Fat Wednesday, Fat Friday and a Fat Weekend" to go along with Fat Thursday.

So, on to the facts of the week.

Current weight: 259 --ONE pound heavier than Mr. Stover

Total weight loss: 29 pounds and struggling.

Overview of the week: This one was the worst ever! I still lost 4 pounds but it was the hardest week so far. I think I've hit a serious plateau or something. I'm still SO STINKING HUNGRY all the time and I broke down and ate a candy bar this week. It was worth it though.

On a more positive note, it's been almost two months since I've had a Coke or Sweet Tea. I'd give anything for a Mt. Dew. I have a couple sitting in the cabinet taunting me. . . .

Major Issues--Biggest Loser week 4

Well, I must say that there have been some changes this week in my weight loss. I hit the 25 pound mark according to my scale here in the bathroom. BUT, this week my in-laws left Bangkok to go back to Cambodia and while they were packing up to leave, we used our scales to weigh their bags for the plane. We tried to put one wheel on the scale to weigh the bags but in doing so, we bent the scale and it quit working. Now, I've had to buy a new scale but that scale doesn't read the same as the old scale. So, I've lost 25 pounds but the new scale says I weigh about 13 pounds more than the old scale. So, my actual weight according to this scale is 263 not 250. So, my starting weight according to this scale would have been 288 not 275.
SO, even though I expect GREAT PROTEST from Mr. Stover, my total weight loss is 25 pounds. My actual weight according to this new (and expensive) scale is 263. This means I've got a lot further to go than I thought if I'm going to get down to around 235.
This was a total bummer because I fully expect Mr. Stover to say "his scales broke" and he now found one that says he weighs 210 or something like that.
But, we all know he can't do much more than "talk trash." Those of you who played golf with him in the States know that to be true.

Biggest Missionary Loser--Week 3

So, here we are again. Time to weigh in. Well, first of all let me tell you I'm in a whole new world now. It's a world I assumed I would never see again. It's a world called "The 250's." That's right, it's official. I've broken into the 250 range for the first time in about 8 years. Courtney and I got married in the summer of 1999 and I can remember writing on my Missouri driver's licence that I weighed 255. So, before I give the figures for the week, let me run down a couple of other accomplishments from the past 7 days.
I can remember back in the 4th and 5th grade that we had to run a mile for our physical education class. It was some sort of "Presidential Fitness" program that forced elementary school kids to not be fat and lazy. Well, needless to say, even then I couldn't run a mile without stopping for a Coke on the way. As time progressed, I grew taller and bigger and considered myself more of a "strength" guy than an endurance guy. (Yeah right-only if eating cheeseburgers is a strength) I consequently was never able to run a mile straight without stopping to walk for a little while. WELL, all of that has changed now. This past Thursday night I approached the treadmill with a new determination: I would RUN a mile without stopping to walk or rest. It took me almost 13 minutes exactly to accomplish my task, but I made it. I ended up walking and running 3 km which is 2/10 of a kilometer short of 2 miles. It was a week of personal victory. I celebrated by eating FOUR pieces of dessert that Courtney had made.
So, here's the breakdown.
*I've been at this for just over four weeks now. Total weight loss as of today, Saturday April 12,
20 pounds exactly. It probably would have been 21 if I didn't eat the 4 pieces of dessert but it was worth it. So now I am at 255 the exact weight that I was at when I got married almost 9 years ago. Sweet.
*I haven't had a Coke in 32 days.
* None of my pants or shorts fit anymore.
*I've lost 7.4% of my total body weight since I started.
So, this week I'll refrain from any comment about Mr. Stover. I'll let him see if his money is where his mouth is . . . .http://www.stoversinpoland.blogspot.com
ONE QUESTION for all readers: Jason and I never talked about a prize for the winner. If anyone wants to give any suggestions for an appropriate prize, we'd love to hear it.

Biggest missionary loser --Week 2

So here we are again at the end of another week. I will confess that those of you eager to scan the depths of my personal life and find out about the incredible victory that I've experienced over Mr. Stover this week, will be disappointed. Did I lose to Mr. Stover? Doubtful. Will I ever lose to him? Only in sumo match or a donut eating contest.
So, here's the lowdown. On Friday morning I had to make an unplanned trip to Surin to look at some houses here and transport some of our belongings to storage. So, I wasn't able to check my weight on THE official scale at home. When I left on Friday morning, I was running just at the 14 pound mark. So, I can't give an official update until next Saturday. For those of you who were able to view Mr. Stover's blog, you will see that he found a delightful picture of me that will adequately describe why I need to continue losing weight.
Speaking of pictures, where's this guys' chin????? Good thing it's cold in Poland for 10 months of the year. At least Mr. Stover can keep on hiding inside those HUGE jackets. Check him out at http://stoversinpoland.blogspot.com

Biggest Missionary Loser --Week 1

So, here we are at the end of week number 1. Sort of. I need to clarify for the rest of the readers that I had actually started a diet before Mr. Stover called me to challenge me to this little competition. Because I had started 12 days before Jason, he will get 12 days to continue after I finish in June. So, this being said, let's get started:
I began using HerbalLife about 18 days ago. After watching my partner Jim Hayes here in Thailand drop around 40 pounds using the stuff, I decided I'd give it a try. Then I found out how expensive it is and realized I would have to do more than "try" it because I've got a months supply! Nasty tasting stuff, but hey, it's working. A shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch and whatever I want for supper. That's the plan. The problem is that with only two shakes a day, I'm usually "shaking" with hunger by the time supper comes along. Then I eat too much. But hey, it isn't like Jason is going to do any better.
Here's the summary of everything thus far:
*I've been dieting for over two weeks.
*I've exercised three times now since the competition began. Not bad.
*I've not had a coke or sweet tea in 18 days. No Sprite and no diet drinks either. Just water, green tea and Crystal Light.
*I've already dropped a good bit in my pants size. I had to etch a new hole in my belt to keep my pants up.
*I've lost about 8 pounds as of this morning. That's officially .03% of my body weight. Eat that with your little Polish donuts, Mr. Stover

Week 2 Preview -- "Why dieting is poor stewardship."

Missionary Biggest Loser #1

So, here I am watching a nice film in my living room on the 12th floor of my apartment in Bangkok when my phone rings. I debate with myself, "should I answer it or not?" While I'm thinking about it, Courtney picks up the phone and I find that instead of her sister calling, it's Jason Stover. Yes, that's right, THE Jason Stover. The famous Polish missionary.
Mr. Stover and I both were accepted by BWM at roughly the same time (I was technically accepted a day before him-ask him if you need more details). Jason's wife, Ginger, is the daughter of our partners here in Thailand, Jim and Kathi Hayes. So, over the past couple of years, we've enjoyed keeping in touch and getting to know each better while on deputation and even now during our first term on the field.
Jason is a fellow who tends to deal with certain "insecurities" to say the least. Among those, would be the great sense of failure that engrosses his being when he daily meditates on the fact that we raised our support before he did and made it to the field first. He has issued a number of disclaimers, you can check his blog for specifics http://stoversinpoland.blogspot.com/ but I'll generalize the comments for you. He tends to think that we raised less funds than he did and therefore we were able to reach our full support first. However, not only did we raise our support first, but we were slightly over supported at the time we left for the field and therefore, no matter how you look at it, he lost.
Now, as he sits in his ice castle in Poland and I bask in the 95 degree temperatures of March while munching on yellow mangos here in Thailand, he has once again raised the "Banner of Challenge."
Here are the specifics for those of you skimming this post:
Mr. Stover has SWOLLEN up to around 280+ pounds. I on the other hand was a MERE 275 as of Tuesday, March 11. Jason has issues of restraint in the areas of polish donuts and coke and I have found that pretty much all Thai food is incredibly delicious and usually stir-fried in oil or deep fried. Not to mention that there is rice on the table three meals a day. Also, in the hot weather, I can easily consume 4-6 cokes a day even in a country with no Mt. Dew.

So, Jason and I have embarked on yet another quest to determine which of us will be the "biggest loser" come mid-June. That's right, we're on diets. We will determine the person with the greatest "overall percentage of weight loss." We will be updating our blogs on Saturdays with the highs and lows of our week for those interested. Since Mr. Stover has a tendency to "bend the facts" I hope to see a picture of him on the scale in the near future showing that he is indeed 282.
March 22--Aren't Saturday's made for overeating? We went to Disney on Ice this morning and I confess, I ate popcorn AND cotton candy.
It's going to be a long three months.

A Year of Near Misses --Part 3

I've chosen to break these "incidents" into three sections. The first part, which you can find if you scroll down, is a review of the 7 times I've been pulled over by the police in the past year.
Part 2 is a history of traffic accidents and so forth over the past year.
Part 3, the part you're reading now, is about personal injuries.
So, here goes:
One morning Trevor woke up. He does that every morning actually, but this morning was different. This morning he decided to stand up next to Erica's bed and poke her in the eye. Seemed like a fun thing at the time. Erica began complaining shortly thereafter about her eye. She laid around all day and wouldn't even play at the playplace at McDonald's. This was serious. We took her to the hospital and they patched her eye and told us to bring her back the next day and see a specialist. We did and the specialist said "the worst thing you could do for her eye was to put a patch on it, I'm not sure why the doctor did that yesterday." Thanks, doc. So, this doctor was corneal specialist and she determined Erica had a significant "corneal abrasion." In other words, her cornea was scratched enough that he could see the scratch.
He ordered her to sit in a dark room, without TV, without coloring, without looking at books and no physical exercise. WOW! What does a 5 year old do if they can't do those things? They sit and you read books to them. That was a long week.
The scratch healed and as far as we know, there was no lasting damage. Trevor now knows not to touch people's eyes.
#2 I was walking down the street one day. There are vendors EVERYWHERE in Thailand selling fruit and things like that. Many of them have large umbrellas over their carts to provide shade. As I was walking, I was looking down reading a receipt I had just been given when I abruptly came to a halt because my face hurt. I had run squarely into a peg on the large 6 foot umbrella covering a vendor's cart. It hit about 1 inch below my left eye and left a red scrape for a couple days. That was a near miss that I'm glad to have missed. Note to self: don't walk and read in Bangkok.
#3 While visiting Courtney's sister in Cambodia in February, I found a super cute "pile" of little black and white puppies. We were visiting a pastors home and these puppies were in a box out in front of their house. I walked up to the box while Forrest (my brother-in-law) talked to the people. While bending over petting the super cute puppies, I felt what seemed to be something scratching the back of my right leg. I was wearing shorts that day. I turned rather quickly to find that the mother of these super cute puppies wasn't at all happy about me touching them. She again made a lunge at my leg but only scraped the back of my calf with her teeth. Now I was faced with a dilemma. Do I turn and kick the pastors dog over the roof of their little house or do I try to slowly back out of the situation. I decided not to kick the dog and I made my getaway. As I retreated, she continued to try to finish her business of biting me. By this time the pastor's daughter had seen what was going on and ran the dog off.
I can't overemphasize how glad I was that I hadn't been bitten by a mangy, mongrel of a dog in the middle of the middle of the middle of NOWHERE Cambodia where my in-laws live. I haven't messed with any "super cute puppies" since that time.

So that's the story of personal misadventures. If you've got time, read the next couple of entries. Some of them are pretty funny.

A Year of Near Misses --Part 2

So, here's the continuation of my saga of near catastrophes here in Thailand. One thing to remember is that there are roughly 12 million people in Bangkok with probably 4-5 million motorcycles, taxis and tuk-tuk's. That makes for a lot of traffic. While driving, we have witnessed with our own eyes AT LEAST 6-8 motorcycle wrecks/bumps/crashes. They're quite common.
So, here are my stories. I've bumped a couple myself while crawling through traffic. The little "moto's" they drive on are small (125 cc's) and they slide between lanes of traffic all the time like ants cruising around an anthill.
#1The first guy I bumped didn't even turn around to look at me as we crawled slowly through traffic. My fault.
#2 A guy was driving between me and the car next to me and my mirror hit his handle bar. That one was probably his fault.
#3 A guy hit my mirror while driving by. I wasn't even moving. His fault.
#4 I was driving through a very congested part of town one day. Jim Hayes and Dr. Fred Moritz were in Jim's truck right behind me. I was looking for a very small road and I almost passed it so I did a quick signal and turned hard to the left. Remember, we drive on the other side of the road here. A motorcycle was passing me on the left and when I made the quick turn I nailed him pretty good. He stayed on his feet and didn't fall down but he gave me the evil eye. The great thing about Bangkok is that you don't even stop for something like that. I got a dent on my passenger side door but we were otherwise unhurt. I was kind of embarrassed that the Executive Director of Baptist World Mission had observed me hitting a moto driver, but it makes for a good story. Jim and Dr. Moritz laughed.
#5 While driving down a busy road a motorcycle got anxious to pull out. As I passed he hit the throttle too soon and he hit me in the back right tire. His front tire hit my back tire as I was driving about 50 km's per hour. It jerked the wheel out of his hand and almost knocked him over. His fault.
#6 I did get t-boned about a month after I got our car. A guy ran a stop sign and nailed me causing minor damage. I was almost able to jump out of his way but not quite. The Lord took good care of us that day. Trevor and Erica were watching a movie in the back seat. His fault and his insurance paid the bill.

"A Year in Thailand" A Year of Close Calls and Near Misses

First of all I feel it necessary to offer a significant disclaimer for the following information I'm about to share. As I summarized these events for myself a few days ago, I started thinking, "wow, this sounds like you're a pretty bad driver." SO, I must confess that a few of these experiences have come as a direct result of poor judgement on my behalf, but the vast majority have come directly from the environment in which we live. So, with that said. Enjoy.

First of all, when you think of police officers in America, there is generally a feeling of fear and respect, right? Primarily fear. In Thailand when you see a police officer, there is generally a feeling of "oh boy, what's this guy gonna try to get me for now?" The Thai police are a low paid group of guys and there are tons of places where they will set up a roadblock with 5-15 guys and "find" reasons for pulling you over. Especially a white guy. Here are a few of my personal encounters.
#1--Two days after I got our car I was driving through an unfamiliar part of the city. A light turned from green to orange and I didn't stop. Maybe I could have, maybe not. We'll never know. The cop standing in the street on the other side of the red light (previously unseen by me) thought I could have stopped. He literally jumped in front of my car and pulled me over. That's the way they do it here, jump in front of your car. Even on the highway.
SO, with him I just talked really fast in English explaining I couldn't stop in time, etc. He didn't have a clue what I was saying so he just said "Warning, Go!" I left, no ticket.
#2 Driving home from Surin one weekend a guy claimed I was driving 105 in 90 zone. They usually don't have radars here so I don't know how he knew how fast I was going. Again, I used the talk fast in English and smile method. He let me go. No ticket.
#3 While escorting my sending church pastor around town, we were stopped by a police man at a toll booth. My tags were expired but I didn't know because I couldn't read the Thai at that time. Here's the fun part. When you get pulled over in Thailand, you have two options. One: you let them take your license to the local police station and you go get it the next day and pay the full fine or you just barter with the cop over the price. Again, this is universally practiced by all people in Thailand. SO, I fished up what money I had and said "is this okay?" He shoved it in his pocket without looking and said "YES." He returned my license and I left having paid him roughly $6.
#4 This one is a favorite. A couple of "yayhoos" pretending to be stopping people for legitimate reasons were in the middle of nowhere on our way to Surin. I came around a corner and they again jumped in front of my car. They said I was going fast in a "sharp curve." These guys were just after money and I wasn't going fast. All he could say was "sharp curve." I was a little amused so I played the "I don't speak much Thai" game with him until he said "okay, go ahead and leave." No ticket.
#5 We were going to a school for a Christmas program that we were doing when I ran into one of the big groups of about 15 cops stopping everybody. They said something about having to wear a seatbelt in the passenger seat on the expressway. I hadn't been on the expressway but they didn't care. At that point, I didn't either and the cop was really nice. I have him about $5 and let us go.
#6 Yes, #6. Going to the border to visit Courtney's sister we ran into a couple guys who said I had driven too long in the wrong lane. I was supposed to "drive in the other lane." Again, this guy was nice and he didn't buy the "I don't speak much Thai" bit. He got $6 dollars from me.
#7 This one is good too. Probably my personal favorite but it's a sore spot for Courtney.
I have a tradition. For every one of my four children, I have taken them to McDonald's the moment they left the hospital after being born. Lindsey was in Blue Springs, MO, Erica and Trevor in Lawerence, KS and Tyler in Bangkok. The only problem is that there are only a couple McDonald's with drive throughs in Bangkok. So, I just pulled up to the one near our house on a busy street, left Courtney in the front seat with the newborn and ran inside. While I'm in line ordering Courtney called me. She was crying. A police man had pulled up behind me, pecked on her window and told her she can't park there. She was in the midst of post-delivery hormonal psychosis as it was and this sent her over the top. She wasn't very happy with me and she didn't care much for my extremely important tradition.
Here's the good part. The cop is now standing around on this busy sidewalk waiting for me to come and give me a ticket. I walked out of McDonald's and blended into the crowd. He was probably 15 feet behind my car talking to a street vendor. At the last possible second, I jumped out of the crowd, ran around and jumped in my car and drove away.
He didn't follow me. No ticket.
Grand Total Year #1: 7 times pulled over. 3 tickets paid for a combined total of roughly $15.
Not bad for a rookie. There have been probably 6-8 other traffic checks where I wasn't stopped. All in all, you never really get used to a cop jumping in front of your car to make you stop. They don't have patrol cars here so I guess their bodies are the next best thing.

Aint she cute?

New Year's Eve. . . The way it ought to be!

We spent 2 nights with our team at a beach called Rayong. All of our friends came down from Surin and we took a boat to this island for the day. Buying this bucket of toys was the highlight of the week for Trevor. All the kids spent the day swimming, digging and getting sunburned!

Presents! Presents! Presents!

Christmas Chaos! We had a GREAT time this year watching the kids open their presents. SO many people were incredibly thoughtful and sent presents. Our living room was covered on Christmas morning!