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.