So, funny story...

I go to a church called Grace Fellowship here in Doha. It's a wonderful place run by fantastic people who love the Lord and want nothing more than to serve Him. I'm blessed enough to have a wonderful friend  Kristin who not only goes with me, but drives me too since I have no car :) On this particular Friday, she also presented me with a task that anyone who knows me knows is pretty much the most difficult/impossible thing for me to do: trying not to laugh/stop laughing once I've started...

Round about the time the offering basket gets passed around, once of the men of the church got up to make some announcements. He starts talking and I'm only half paying attention...after a little bit, I here him kind of holler out a bit...sort of a, "whut! whoa hahaha" sound. I should probably let you know that I'm way against the wall and can hardly see more than the guy's head. Right after I hear him, I notice that my chair is shakin a little bit. See, we sit in these plastic garden/picnic chairs. They're really close together and the arm rests touch. I realize that my chair is shaking because Kristin is sitting to the left of me and she's laughing! At this point, I can maintain a little control since I have no idea whatsoever what is so funny...I should have left it that way. But of course, I want to know so I ask. Anybody who knows me can imagine Kristin saying what she's gonna tell me. Just picture me, laughing hysterically but trying to be quiet, all the while trying to get actual words out. That's how she sounded when I heard her choke out, "His pants fell down...his pants fell down!" What? Yup, I heard her right. She then proceeds to tell me through her quiet laughter that he went to leave the podium and his pants just fell down! As in--past his butt--fell down. She then told me that after they fell, he mumbled something like, "wow I guess I've lost a little weight"---at this point, I'm dying. Thank the LORD, the music started again and we could get it out of our system. All should have been fine...but then the Korean dude got up to give the message.

The only reason I mention that the speaker was Korean is because his accent is the reason for this story. The sermon was funny enough to begin with because this guy had his power point goin like none other. He was speaking about Paul's journey as he spread the gospel. He had maps, routes, you name it...and he's speaking a mile a minute. That, in and of itself is incredibly amusing. Not long into the sermon, he starts talking about some passages in Acts and a man named Aristarchus. Aristarchus accompanies Paul on his 3rd missionary journey and was a fellow prisoner of Paul's. The problem arose when Korean dude spoke Aristarchus' name---due to his accent, it came out as "octopus". I kid you not. So after the first few "octopus"s come out, I notice the all too familiar shaking of my chair. Unfortunately, this time I know exactly what Kristin's laughing about. I was doing fine as I hear him say "octopus" over and over again---well not fine, but not laughing. But when Kristin starts laughing, it's all over. I bent my head down and the next 20 minutes were long and torturous. Just when he stopped saying the name long enough to get control of ourselves, he goes back and mentions "octopus" again. Then there's the conclusion right before the end of the sermon. Again---thank the LORD for the closing song! It was over and we were saved. And now, unfortunately, I will never again think of Paul and his incredible life's work without thinking of his pal and prison partner, Octopus.