Steamroom Ramblings...

It's interesting the conversations one can have in a steamroom. This white man had such a dialogue with another regular gym patron this morning. Usually, over a period of time, regular users of gym amenities become familiar with each other. And the conversations they have are at first limited to politely guarded pleasantries , but then become more free and casual. Usually two-three times a week after gym this white man enjoys a spa and steamroom session to wind-down. A familiar face is a young Vietnamese woman who regularly swims first and then enters the communal spa/sauna/steamroom area. Like me, she is entrenched in a routine of dropping off her child at school and then going to the leisure centre. Over time I have engaged this woman in some general conversation about life to the point where she often tries to trick me by throwing in some random and quick Vietnamese questions. She catches me out more often than not and it is now a running joke between us. Anyway today this white man thought he would 'raise the stakes' dialogue-wise in the only appropriate way a pastor can...I asked her about her religious belief...

She explained that she was Catholic. No big deal there as many Vietnamese are Catholic. I went on to explain to her that I was Protestant - more than that, I was a Protestant minister...in a Vietnamese church! That's when things started to turn slightly weird! The woman's first response was to say how impressed she was with my church because many non-Vietnamese members could fluently speak Vietnamese. I found that intriguing, considering most of our church's second-generation youth can't even speak Vietnamese properly, let alone any of the few Anglo-Australians in the church. Then she went on to state her admiration of the commitment the young men had - how they always get around in their nice suits in pairs speaking in Vietnamese about their faith. And that's when the penny dropped - she thought this white man was from the Mormons! I explained frantically that my church was not part of the Mormon church and we were a traditional Christian church. She indicted that she now understood that I wasn't a Mormon and I was suitably relieved. She then went on to ask me how I could be a Christian church minister and have a wife and children - she had never heard of such a thing! Again I explained that our church was different to the Catholic church in respect to it's leaders and their ability to be non-celebate. She left soon thereafter and I'm still not sure she fully understood the legitimacy of this white man having a family. So perhaps I'm now a crazy heretic in her mind - who cares...at least she knows I'm not a Mormon! Other than that, all I can say is thank you God for Martin Luther!