no appropriate title

Yesterday, my roommate and I were pondering the meaning of being a Believer in this country. We probably think about it every day, but I've been needing to vocalize it because it seems to be becoming more and more relevant.

What does it look like to be a Believer in Vietnam?

Does being a believer here mean fitting in? Assimilating? And only the good things, right? Or does it mean I can push to get on the bus? Does it mean that I say, "maybe," even when I know the answer is "NO"? Can I argue until I get the price I want?

Or does being a Believer here mean that I MUST argue to get a good price? That I MUST use the Vietnamese word meaning 'no-yes' to be more polite then to say the truth: 'no way jose.' And that I SHOULDN'T be a push-over, or I'll work too many hours, never eat, and never get a seat on a bus.

There are just so many grey areas about what a believer would do in these situations. A few specifically have to do with our school, but I won't talk about them on my public blog. But also, do I forgive a taxi driver his transgressions, and pay him the full price? Do I smile at the saleswoman I just heard talk about me in Vietnamese to her friend? I just don't know how much to accept, how much to complain about, and whether i've accepted too much for too long.

Just some food for thought. And now, in a completely unrelated way-- except that, like Jillann, I believe all posts should have pictures if possible-- here's what else is going on:

Our friend Tính, pictured below, had a birthday party at the school the other day. He doesn't work at our schoo, but he might as well because he's there all the time. He is a student there 3 days a week, but he's often the social coordinator with our friends there.



We all sat outside next to the street and ate crab and shrimp. The guys drank a LOT of beer and we all toasted Tính. We had cake, toasted him again, and they drank more beer.

It's always fun to hang out with our school's staff in a non-school setting. There was so much food and it was after midnight. We toasted Tính again, and more beers were passed around.

They told us we must finish the food before anyone can leave, but that turned out to be a joke. Then we toasted Tính, "Mọt Hai Ba Vô! (one, two, three, cheers!)"

Tú is my favorite.

We had a great time. The boys drank enough to where it looked like one guy might fall over. Then we got on their motorbikes and they drove us home. I'm not kidding at all, but I think they have a lot of practice at doing this. No problems. I'm trying to make wise choices (like a Believer should do?).

Reasons I'm thankful for My Roommate

I have decided to start a new tradition on my blog.

This is my roommate. So, once a month, I'm going to tell you something great about my roommate Jenni. Maybe I shouldn't be telling personal things abotu her on the internet without asking, but that brings me to ----

#1 -Jenni sang Karaoke on my birthday even though she did NOT want to! #2 -When I was having a hard time, Jenni came into my room to check on me over and over. Then she woke up at 4am to help me drag my huge bags to a roadside to wait for my ride to the airport.#3 -Jenni has a great attitue! She constantly tries food she doesn't want and doesn't complain (just asks for something to drink). I spell her name wrong almost every day. And in fact, I'm sure she'll laugh at these potentially embarassing pictures of her that I'm posting!
Thanks for being a part of this new tradition.

PTL for Jenni and for the good friend that she already is to me.

The post that's not really about Hawaii

So I went to Hawaii.

It was ON THE WAY to Vietnam, in my defense. And I needed it so much. I went in the middle of August and stayed with my best friend Laura. Let me explain:

A few days after I had been at training in California, I was writing on the overhead helping Steph teach a lesson. It was my turn to say something, and I just panicked. My heart started racing and I though I was going to pass out. I've never felt anything like it before-- I LOVE talking in front of groups, especially groups like this where everything isn't serious! When we finished, I went back to my room and lied (my grandma said, 'only chickens lay') down.

For the next week, that scene happened again and again and one afternoon where I had run out of church because I thought I was going to faint, I seriously considered the emergency room. Nothing seemed to help, so I looked up the addresses to several clinics, and finally found one within walking distance. I went and couldn't sit still in the waiting room. I paced around or shook my leg, but when it came time for me to get my blood pressure checked, it was nurse training day (I'm not kidding) so everything took twice as long and was explained before and after it was done.

I told them I thought I was going to pass out. The nurse then announced that my blood pressure was through the roof-- and I don't know why they were shocked, I was TRYING to tell them. Sweaty, and on the verge of tears, I said, "Yeah, that's why I came to the doctor, can you help me?" They sent me to the waiting room for an hour.

I paced and anxiously went to the bathroom 10 or 15 times, just for something to do. Finally they took me in to see a doctor, who clearly needed someone to pat him on the back for his probono work at this free clinic. He casually told me I had anxiety and I'll learn to live with it. He said if I hold my hands together tightly then I won't pass out (so many sarcastic things to say about that), prescribed me betablockers, an EKG, and a blood test that I would never do as I was leaving the country in 17 hours.

After those exciting three minutes with the doctor, I went back to the waiting room for another hour of misery, while I contemplated (with disbelief, and a little contempt) this diagnosis and waited for my EKG. And if you have never had an EKG, you should get one. It's kind of hilarious. They strip you naked and stick plastic things everywhere. Then they bring out these metal clips like they're going to jump start a car-- and they start hooking them to you. Now, try having anxiety ALREADY.

I tried talking to the nurses to get my mind off of it, but they just told me to be quiet. I heard one nurse tell the other nurse in Spanish that my heart was beating too fast and it wasn't working. I don't know why they thought that saying it in another language was going to ease my mind at all (nor did they know that I'm a professional at being talked about in other languages). They finally got it and told me to get dressed.

One last funny thing about this visit was that they left a piece of paper in the room with me. It showed the rythms of my heart--which were ALL over the place--and had warnings on the sheet about an abnormal rythm and PVC's. "What?" I went out and asked the nurses about it and she said they were having trouble getting the wires hooked up because of my fast heart beat, so this print out was just a mistake. I looked at her with no expression, but inside I was screaming, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??! I'M ALREADY HAVING ANXIETY AND YOU LEAVE THIS ON TOP OF MY CLOTHES!! Ps. it turns out my heart has a normal rythm.

So, my parents had left the country at this point. They were in Guatemala delivering a cement spreader, and I was due to get on a plane to Hawaii. I cried and wondered if I was even supposed to go to Vietnam. I've never felt so helpless for control over how I feel (present tense. not better). I was scared to death to get on the plane. We prayed a LOT, but I wasn't sure what was going to happen. When I got on the plane, I actually made a little note on my journal for the flight attendent: "If I pass out, I'm OK. Just get me to Hawaii."

I can't tell you how happy I was to land, longest 6 hours I had had in a while. I was SO HAPPY to see Laura. Here she is below, with her car Sally Jo.


She didn't plan anything for us to do. She just let me relax and took care of me. I seriously prayed about whether G0d was telling me I should just stay in Hawaii and never leave... We just kind of followed her routine and made sure there was nothing extra on our plates, except the beach, some skype, pizza, apple beer, and maybe a movie or two. That doctor should've prescribed THIS.
Laura and James' dog Mollie (or is it Molly?):

Laura is the kind of friend who will take care of you when you have high blood pressure. She is also the kind of friend who will help you out if you have something in your teeth.

The flights to Vietnam were also terrifying, but at the moment, I'm doing allright. I'm still anxious and have no idea why. And actually, if one more person tells me to relax and stop worrying, I am going to scream. I am still taking betablockers and I PTL every day because I feel less anxious because I know my heart rate is slowed and I won't pass out.

In our apartment, we leave the door and windows open so the breeze cools us off. One of our first days here, the wind was strong and it took my prescription bag, bottle, pills and all and blew it off the table and onto the floor. I thought to myself, "Wow, strong wind." I casually got up to pick it up, and the wind whipped it from my grasp and sent it sailing across the floor to our apartment door.

At that moment it occurred to me that my pills were in there (total addict) and my eyes (now, the size of saucers) met Jenni's and I froze as we watched the pharmacy bag fly out into the hall on it's way to the balcony edge. With a look of terror, I lunged at the bag and caught it with my foot right as it hung between the railing and the 10th floor ledge.

I came back inside and lied down on the couch. I sighed heavily and thought about the irony of almost losing my blood pressure medicine.

It's ok to laugh.

You're right, you're right. I promised more blogs, so here's one.

I never formally explained the presence of this new addition to the pictures on here. So, this new girl is my new roommate. This is Jenni. She's 23 and from Iowa and has a positive attitude about everything (so far, that's a little annoying), and almost always happy. My Vietnamese friends have noticed that she says thank you and sorry A LOT. She's a recent college grad, a morning person, definitely an extrovert, and a really good friend. Also, she reads my blog, Hi Jenni!

We kind of met first over facebook and then at training in California. One weekend we traveled to Chinatown, Hollywood, and Union Station and had to take pictures in each location. These are those pictures (check out my Vietnamese vest that Phượng gave me).

We've laughed because she is kind of like a 12-year old, and I'm kind of like a 60-year old. She likes to play games, eat candy and mess with things that she's really not supposed to (stay tuned for the day that I write about how much she is like Russell). I like to sit quietly and knit with plenty of light. She is easily distracted by shiny things and has an endless supply of energy. I like to go to bed on time and make sure to eat my fiber. Perhaps we'll balance each other out this year.

Jenni is perfect for HCMC because she has so much energy and wants to get involved with everything. She has been really patient as I spell her name wrong repeatedly, and with me since about my fourth day at training when I started to feel not-so-great. She has jumped right in and wanted to do everything and try everything. I'm glad she's here.

We brought a team of EIGHTEEN this year (not pictured: Dawn and Erica)! I'll have to tell you about them more later, but as far as I know, they all seem really cool. SO there are 10 up around Dà Nẵng and 6 in Biên Hoa. Aaaaaand 2 in HCMC. We're going to need some letters this year.

Ina Carolyn Jones/Jenni Hufford c/0 VATC

123-125-127 Binh Phu Street

Ward 11 District 6

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

A great team, and great to have a large team, but the support that I hoped for this year has fallen through. We're still working on what we can do to arrange support for ourselves here. But it can get pretty lonely, even in a city of 12 million people.

If you get a moment, please think of us, that we'll:

• Find more support, discipleship, something close by


• Find ways to get more involved in the community-- Jenni's hunting an orphanage that will let her help; I'd like to find friends to teach me how to cook Vietnamese food


• Be good roommates to each other, building each other up, loving even when we're tired of each other, angry, grumpy


• Vietnamese friends who are believers. And I don't mean someone who keeps statues of Mary on their altar


• Have better health


• Get more phone calls from females than males this year

Thanks for reading

More Beach Pictures

I'm far behind in posts, so I'm hoping to cram a few more in here soon.

This is Jenny! Remember her from last year?? She had less hair and could only crawl. Now she's all over the place. She didn't seem to remember me, but after a few hours around her, then a few weeks, we're old pals again.

One day at the beach Jenni (the roommate, not the baby) wanted to play soccer, so she asked some of the cousins if they wanted to play. I knew it would never happen because it would probably rain. I didn't want to play anyway because I take it too seriously and sometimes don't enjoy it when we're just messing around.

But it didn't rain and we played and it was great fun. We played boys vs. girls, which I thought was a terrible idea, but Jenni, Aunt Danh, and I DOMINATED. The cousins couldn't stop talking about how we looked like we would be, 'not good at football, but then [we] were so good.'

Then it rained, pounding like sleet on our backs and faces, so we ran to the sea. My only set of clothes, and promise to stay dry was drenched. No pictures in the rain, but we are finding the rainy season to be exactly as it promises. Then we covered one of the cousins in sand. Funny Aunt Danh made sure that the sand creature had both male and female reproductive organs and laughed hysterically while making them. It was a good time.

NOW-- Jenni had her first họt vịt lọn, half-hatched duck egg. She was less than excited about it. She says that she's not very adventurous with food and that was going to be one of her challenges here, but she has not backed down once yet.

Uncle Mike was challenging people to eat more than him, but I was satisfied with just one.

You crack it open, suck out the juice, and in this case, squeeze it out into a bowl and eat it. You can dip it in a salt, pepper, and lime mixture and some leaves. I actually like it.

Jenni looked at it and smiled, saying, "Uh, can I get some water first?"

Welcome back

Most of Team Vietnam arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on August 18th. Jenni and I were met by three members from our office, Tú, Linh, and Hồng, and two good friends:Phượng and Oanh. Walking outside I remembered, 'It is SO DANG HOT HERE,' and then I was met by people who were happy to see me (Oanh even cried!). So unexpected and great!

They took us around and out to eat seafood and drink tea (which would have been grand if it weren't after midnight and we had been traveling for days..), and finally to our apartment. Phượng and Oanh were awake waiting on us and Oanh was so happy and excited that she had us all sleep in one bed. My sheets and pillows were packed at a friend's house and the A.C. wasn't working. Quite the warm welcome back to Vietnam.

We were here one full day before we got in a car and rode to Vũng Tàu (actually Long Diền) beach with Phượng and her family. It was a lot like our last trip with so many relatives around, death anniversaries, SO MUCH EATING, trips to the beach, riding with too many people on a motorbike, slumber party on the floor, and lots of pictures. It really was a great time.

Jenni and Phượng hit it off right away. I found that immediately I was glad she was there. All of a sudden, I wasn't the center of attention anymore--I had been there before--Old news.

Everyone tried to make her say Vietnamese words and laugh when she repeated what she was told. Food was heaped onto her plate, as people watched to see her try a new food. Her chopstick skills were critiqued everyone wanted to know all of the new details about her. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

We had a blast at the beach. These pictures are all from our second day. More will come.

They reheated the hotpot from lunch for our dinner. So, noodles with soup, with various meats and vegetables. See the way she is sitting? All Vietnamese can do that. I think on my list of 'goals' for this year, I'd like to be able to sit like that for more than one minute without tipping over or my feet falling asleep.
Phượng, her baby Jenny, and her husband Tuấn.

Phượng is definitely one of my closest friends here. We communicated a little over the summer and she hounded me for new pictures of my niece and seasons 1-4 of Prison Break (which I did not come through with). She's great. She's honest and very perceptive, good at organizing time for us to be together. I missed her.