#11

More from Vietnam!

"Hello! Isn’t it hard to believe that Christmas is next week?! It rolled around so quickly this year. We are doing our best to make our room in Tam Ky feel like Christmas. We have a small tree with lights. We are on our second tree because the first one got eaten by rats, who also left other “presents” on our tree. We have some other decorations that my family sent last year. It helps make the season brighter!

Sometimes it’s hard living overseas at Christmas, especially in a small town that doesn’t really celebrate much. Even the students have to go to school on Christmas, unless it happens to fall on a Sunday. We’ve been struggling quite a bit lately with homesickness. We’ve been trying to come up with ways to make our Christmas here happy and bright. Today, I decided to bake Christmas cookies. It was a bit of a challenge with just a potato masher to cream the butter and sugar, but it really lifted my sp*rit.

I think of so many people right now who are dealing with far more difficult things than simply being apart from their family at Christmas. When I get emotional or feeling down, it helps remind me to pr*y for people who are going through really tough situations, like Nikki Sommersett’s family, who will spend their first Christmas without her. She is such an inspiration, and a reminder to keep the f*ith, even in difficult times.

I am truly blessed to be able to teach and serve in Vietnam, even during the holiday season. I went to visit Holly and her new baby in Hanoi last weekend. We had a really good time. He is such a sweet baby, and let me hold him and play with him. I was, however, thankful when I left Hanoi to not have to lug around a diaper bag and carrier anymore. Just as I was breathing a sigh of relief, I boarded the plane and got seated next to a crying baby. It’s nice to be back to quiet, calm MY CITY!

I had a “first” in Vietnam this week. I was at the ATM machine, when a university student came up and asked me, in Vietnamese, how to put her card into the machine. I was so happy to be asked for assistance, since in the past, I am always the one asking for help. I’ve never been quite so overjoyed to lend a helping hand.

Thanks for lifting up our friends! We also appreciate your pr*yers for us and for the other teachers, especially during the holidays! We appreciate the part that each of you play that enables us to serve here. Thanks so much! Merry Christmas!

Love, Yogi"

#10

More from our friends in Vietnam

"Hello! Well, it’s officially the Christmas season! December crept upon us so quickly! I hope that you are enjoying festive times with yourfriends and family.

Our five day conference in Ho Chi Minh City went very well. It was good to have the opportunity to talk with the teachers about both their joys and their struggles. We did a lot of w*rship, B*ble study,and just plain fun.

It was especially nice that our hotel was just a few doors down from The Coffee Bean, and American coffee shop. In Vietnam, they never make drip coffee like we have in the States. Although I like their coffee, it was nice to have some traditional, American style coffee. We also enjoyed Thanksgiving at a Brazilian BBQ restaurant. Strange for Thanksgiving, right? Well, not surprising for Vietnam!

We walked several miles only to find that the restaurant that served Thanksgiving dinner had moved to a new location. We were all so tired and hungry that we settled for BBQ. It was actually delicious!! We also took a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, about 40 miles outside of the city. The tunnels were used by the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. They are small tunnels under the ground that were used to hide safely from the Americans. The tunnels are now a tourist attraction, and have been widened for tourists. Unfortunately, they still weren’t big enough to stand up in. I would have had to crawl through, and so I opted to climb right back out after I got inside.

We got back from Ho Chi Minh City late on Sunday afternoon. We’ve been having some problems with the schools in Da Nang, so Monday morning I took a mini bus back to Danang to meet Andrea, my boss, and the school administrators. I had called Hannah on Sunday night, and asked her where to catch a mini bus. She told me just to go out to the highwayand flag down a passing mini bus. Easy enough. Well, about five minutes later she called to tell me to make sure to stand on the correct side of the road so that I would go north, to Danang, instead of south, into another province.

About five minutes after that, she called for a third time, saying that her husband would drive me to the highway on his motorbike and help me catch one. Although I could have done it by myself, it was nice to have his help. The mini bus was actually a lot better than the big busses. They are very slow, and not dependable, but if we have a lot of time, it’s a good option. I knew how much the mini bus was supposed to cost, but when I got on, the money guy took my money and refused to give me change. I was very frustrated, as this kind of thing happens to us a lot since we are foreigners, and are perceived to be wealthy. So, I just reached over and took the correct change out of his hand.The whole mini bus erupted in laughter. Even the money guy laughed.

The meetings in Danang went well, although somewhat frustrating. I headed back to MY CITY, but was 15 minutes late for class. Thankfully,they were taking a test, so a man from the office sat in with my students while they took the test. I have never been late to class, so I was quite embarrassed, but the school didn’t seem bothered. They are very kind to us!

This past weekend, I helped Hannah teach her kids class, and went out for dinner with "Boo-Boo" and a bunch of Hannah’s friends. We ate spicy eel dip on rice crackers. It was honestly better than it sounds. I actually ate quite a bit of it. It’s one of those things that’s more enjoyable if you don’t know what it is until after you’ve eaten it. I also went out with David and some friends from fellowship. We ate hotpot, which was actually nice since the weather here has been cool.

Besides going out for coffee and such with students, life has been pretty consumed with Field Director work. There are some issues with schools that need some major changes for next year. I keep reminding myself that G()d will open the right doors at the right times, and thatI do not need to worry. I want so badly for teachers to come toVietnam and enjoy it here. I also hope that they will want to return for a second or third year. In order for this to happen, though, there are changes that need to be made, mostly because of the huge rate of inflation in Vietnam. Over the summer, prices went up by around 30%.It’s really surprising, and also frustrating. The teachers can barely afford to buy food, and if they get sick, they are really stuck. Please pr*y that G()d will give us wisdom as we attempt to make changes for next year, as well as helping teachers make it successfullythrough this year.I appreciate your support and pr*yers so much! I couldn’t be here without your help! It means so much to have friends and family who care about us!

Thank you very much for your continued pr*yers andsupport!! We feel so blessed by each of you!
Love, Yogi"

#9

Another update from our friends in Vietnam!

"Hello! It’s hard to believe it’s almost Thanksgiving! I am reallylooking forward to Thanksgiving. All of the ESI teachers will bemeeting in Ho Chi Minh City for our yearly Thanksgiving conference.

This is typically the most difficult time of year for teachers. The newness and excitement of Vietnam has worn off, and homesickness andculture shock have set in. Although this hardly affects me anymore, I can certainly empathize with the new teachers. My first year ofteaching, until at least this time in the year, I cried every day. I try to remind myself of those tough times so that I can better help and understand the new teachers and the emotions they are feeling.

The other reason that this time of year is tough is because of the holidays. I rarely cry here anymore…..unless I think about Christmas. I really miss spending the Christmas season at home with family. I am so thankful, though, to have "Boo-Boo" here as she is like a sister to me. Because of the reasons mentioned, it’s good that we have a time every year at Thanksgiving where all of us teachers can gather together fo ra few days. We will talk about culture shock, study sc*ipture, andjust relax and chat together. I’m looking forward to some good westernfood, too!

Sunday was Teachers’ Day in Vietnam. It is a HUGE celebration. Theyhave a saying here that parents are most important closely followed by teachers. All week long we received flowers from our students. Wereceived at least 2 dozen roses, along with a large, decorated cake from our boss, and last, and certainly the most interesting, is the skin whitening cream that I received from my wealthiest student. Actually, it was a whole boxed set of skin whitening products. In Vietnam, white skin is the most important beauty component for women.It was a really sweet, and expensive, gift, but I think I will “regift” it at Christmas. Somehow I think that Hannah would appreciate it much more than I ever could.

Because of Teachers’ Day, the university had a huge traditional singing and dancing program that began at 8:30 am. That is actually late for Vietnamese, but still feels early to us on our day to sleep in. After the program, we were invited to a big dinner. Since we’vebeen teaching here for more than a year, and volunteering by helping the Vietnamese teachers in their classrooms, we have a lot of friendswho are English professors. It makes things like this so much more when you are among friends and not just people who are curious about us because we are Americans. I attached a photo of the party.

The director of the English department gave "Boo-Boo" and I each two different colors and patterns of silk material to have some clothes made at the tailor. Hannah’s friend’s sister is a tailor, so she is going to make some clothes for us. We are excited to have some new, free silk clothes!

Just when we thought our Teachers’ Day celebration was over, Hannah invited us to her friend’s party. We ate hot pot, which was really delicious. We had spent time with these friends before, so it was a fun, relaxed time. It was nice for Hannah to get out, too, since she’s been staying in bed most of the time. Please continue to pr*y for her. She is supposed to be on bed rest, but is afraid that she will lose her job if she doesn’t continue teaching. Also, please lift up the coming Christmas season. It’s a great opportunity to share with our friends. We really want them to come to the Christmas service with us, and plan to invite them soon. Please pr*y for the conference thisweek, too.

Our class of gov*rnment officials ended on Friday, so they took us out to eat the specialty of Tam Ky, which is chicken rice. While we were eating, they asked if "Boo-Boo"'s real name was "Yogi". He proceeded to tell us that we are "famous" in Tam Ky and Danang, but people are arguing about our names. They are confused by my name on e-mail and Facebook being "Yogi", but going by *** in class. We tried toexplain that *** is just a nickname, but I am not sure they totally understood that. It's hard to explain nicknames to Vietnamese people because their names are all only one syllable long, so they never need nicknames. I attached a photo of us with this class.

Thanks you to each of you for pr*ying for us and supporting us! We feel so THANKFUL for YOU this Thanksgiving! We are so thankful to beserving in Vietnam, and we couldn’t do it without you.

Thank you verymuch, and may G*d richly bless your Thanksgiving celebration!"

Love,

"Yogi"

#8

Another post from Yogi and Boo-Boo as they share the Good News in Vietnam:

"Hello! I hope that you are having a good week!

Although we miss the beautiful fall weather in the States, we have been thankful for a few sunny days this week during the rainy season. Some of you have just started receiving our newsletters this year, so I want to take some time to fill you in on the people who are mentioned often:

First there is Holly. I met her in Vinh more than three years ago. It was a really tough year there, but she became not just our language tutor, but also like family when she helped us out in many of our difficult and lonely times. She graduated from university, and is now married to a French man, has a one month old son, and is living in Hanoi.

Next, we met Anna when we lived in Da Nang. Although she is a practicing Buddh*st, she often came to ch*rch with us on Sundays and became a close friend.

Last year, we met David. He is a university student and my Vietnamese tutor. He is from a very poor family in the countryside, and we have had many fun experiences introducing him to western foods and customs.

Hannah is our friend who is a professor and comm*nist informant. We are glad we learned about her part in the gov*rnment long after we became friends. She was extremely resistant to anything pertaining to G*d when we met her last year. She has been reading a lot of Chr*stian fiction books that many of you sent with me, and she’s becoming more and more open to the G*spel message. After reading a Karen Kingsbury book last week, she sent me a text message saying that she learned so much about forgiveness through the book. Thank you for your pr*yers for all of our friends!! We appreciate all of you!

Last week, I invited David and several of our friends out for dinner. We decided to eat snails. Unfortunately, they were the tiny kind that I have trouble eating. One of David’s friends, after watching me struggle for a long time, told me to just pretend I was kissing my boyfriend, and the snails would be much easier to get out of their shells.

We also had another snail experience last night with "Boo-Boo"s class. The class is full of men who are gover*ment officials. They also happen to love soccer. Her class started at 7:00 pm, which just happened to be the starting time of a big soccer game between Vietnam and the team from the Philippines. They invited us to drink beer and watch the soccer game at a restaurant near the university. We agreed to go with them and drink Pepsi. Besides the snails, they also ordered chicken. When it came to the table, one of the men reached into the pile of chicken, pulled out the chicken lungs, and plopped them into my bowl. I was a little panicky, but then decided that I could swallow them whole with the help of my can of Pepsi. So, that is what I did. I just pretended that I was swallowing pills, and downed the lungs. I felt sick the rest of the night, but I really think it was more about my mind getting in the way than an actual physical problem.

We were thankful that finally, at 8:30, the two least inebriated men drove us back to the university. We had another outing on Monday that was very last minute. "Boo-Boo"’s class called while they were in class, and wanted me to come join them for chicken rice. It was 6:00 pm, I had to teach at 7:00, and I was still not showered or dressed. I tried to decline, but they wouldn’t hear it. So, I rushed and got ready in record time and went out to eat with "Boo-Boo" and her class. It was a fast paced, but fun, dinner.

Please pr*y for Hannah as she found out that she is pregnant and is now on bed rest after a scare and a hospital visit. Please also pr*y for me as I cover some of her classes. I just don’t feel comfortable teaching the young children by myself. Please lift up the other ESI Vietnam teachers as many of them are struggling with teaching and culture shock. This is typically the roughest time of year for first year teachers.

Thank you so much for your pr*yers and support! I hope you have a blessed week!

Love, "Yogi"

New Post #7

Another email from my friends in Vietnam("Yogi" and "Boo-Boo"), who are sharing the good news there still:

"Hello! I hope you had a good weekend!

Today after helping Hannah teach the children, we went out to eat snails and hot pot. They have an idiom in Vietnam that says something to the effect that “______ is as easy as eating snails.” They use it to say that something is really easy to do. The funny part? "Boo-Boo" and I have a really difficult time eating snails. They get stuck in the shells. It’s kind of embarrassing, but also funny that we have to use toothpicks to get the snails out of their shells. I guess that’s why we don’t use that idiom in America.

While we were with Hannah, she was telling me that her neighbor, who also happens to have his daughter in our kids class, is the Vice President of Foreign Affairs in our province. Hannah told me that he knows “many things” about us. I replied that I knew that because we had to fill out so many papers and turn in a lot of information in order to live in OUR CITY. Hannah replied that she didn’t mean that kind of information. She said that the gover*ment here is a lot different than in the United States and that they know many things about the people they allow to live here long term. I must have looked surprised because she quickly told me not to worry, that her neighbor, the official, likes us very much. In fact, he told her that many foreigners have applied to live in OUR CITY, but he will only allow the two of us to live here long term. He only allows other people to stay for around a month or so, but no one can else can live here long term.

I know that the only way we found favor with the gover*ment in OUR CITY is because of G*d’s working. It is His favor alone that has kept us here. We are so thankful.

Earlier this week, I invited David and a girl from fellowship to go to the new and only fast food restaurant in town. It just opened last week, and it is the only place in town that serves hamburgers and spaghetti. David ordered a hamburger, I ordered French fries, and we sat down to eat. The excitement in his eyes quickly turned to near horror as he took his first bite of hamburger. He had never eaten one before, and I don’t think that he will ever try one again. I felt so bad for him. I could tell he wanted to eat it to make me happy, but he just couldn’t. I told him not to worry, that I felt the same way when I ate a bird embryo here for the first time.

As we were driving home, he told me that his stomach was hungry for Vietnamese food. Maybe this experience will help him understand why we miss American food so much. I guess it’s all what you get used to! I included a photo of us standing in front of the Jollibee bee. Thanks for pr*ying for my health! I am feeling a lot better this week. I am glad that this four week illness is nearing its end. "Boo-Boo" seems to have picked up a slight cold, but other than that, we are healthy. Please pr*y for the other teachers in our organization. This is a time that people generally suffer the most with culture shock. Also, please remember our Vietnamese friends in your pr*yers. We are thankful for many opportunities that arise to share Him with them. Thanks for your pr*yers and support!"

Love,Yogi

MORE thank yous

We could not have had a wedding like this without our very generous friends offering their house and land to us for the wedding. A HUGE thank you to Mr. Bob and Mrs. Roi!!

And I am so thankful to and very touched by George Mixon coming to officiate the wedding. He is a good friend of the family and came from Nairobi, Kenya a few days before.

This picture is from 2009 when I got to visit him and his family in Nairobi. They took me out to Massai land where they lived when he was a vet with Christi*n Veterinary Missi*n. Here is George working on his land rover. He taught a few lessons while we were there. Told the basic stories from the Bib/e.

His family is so cool. Seriously. I've wondered for a long time now how he and Martha got their kids to be so cool. I want to learn. I wanted to be a vet because of George and homeschool my kids because of Martha.

When I was in college, they came back to the US and George went to seminary. Now he trains pastors in Kenya. Here he is working on the land rover again.

They are an amazing family and are in Kenya with http://www.whm.org/.
And if you want to support them, you can donate to the Mixons on that website, or you can specify 'Mixon Vehicle Fund.' They need a new land rover...

We wish the whole family could have been over here for the wedding! Francois just has his default face on here; I completely understand because I have one too

I just wish I knew what he was saying to me here.

Kris Carlson and Erin Rodriguez bought tons and tons of sparklers on their way down from Michigan and North Carolina. They got them out and played with the kids, then they gave them out to everyone when it was time for us to leave.It was AMAZING!

And my older brother Trey bought vuvuzelas for the bridal party-MONTHS before, just to be prepared. That was seriously cool, and was really special that he thought to do that. Francois (was so cute) heard them and said, "Vuvuzelas!" Then he turned to me and smiled and said, "...They planned that."Here, Francois is telling my dad to blow harder in the vuvuzela to make a noise and my dad is handing it to him saying, "You do it."
And of all these, we can't decide which one we like the best:

A Few Thanks

There are way too many people who helped to mention them all, but here's just a few of the details that made our wedding extra special to me:

Tara and I wrapped about 97 vases and beer bottles with yarn and twine. I really liked it- being able to be creative and new with every one. Cara came out and helped one day too, and folded invitations with us.

My aunt Sally worked her rear off tying (gosh, is that how you spell that?) the raffia on those baby food jars. And trimming the tealights. And ironing and folding napkins. AND much more. Also, a big thanks to Tori for eating all that baby food so we could use those jars.

Did you notice the flowers in the last picture too? Beautiful! Thanks to Katie Newman, Wendy Hall, Jennifer Galloway, Lynne Colbert, Tara Jones, and Cindy Baynham (and probably more, I was busy and probably missed some stuff). And a friend of Aunt Sally's gave us about 30 stems of huge sunflowers.

Again, my bouquet was perfect. It was so colorful that it made me decide to wear a necklace that I bought in Hội An, Vietnam. (The blue bracelet--my something blue-- was given to me by my student Selena) Thankyou Cindy Baynham for putting together a stunning bouquet!!
And Cindy's daughter, and childhood best friend, Kate designed the programs and the font for them! Although I printed them out with the song lyrics on the front (not her idea)(tryin to be green folks), her design was fantastic. And I was very touched that she made the font especially for us, with a little African touch for Francois. No one else has ever used this font. Pretty cool.

Laura and Steph glued the sticks in there and we all got a little giggly from the rubber cement.

Francois used the router to carve the words in all of the little signs you see. I love them.

I know this table was touched with many hands. I love it so much!

If anyone ever needs to borrow a water dispenser...

Granddaddy's lady friend, Mrs. Patsy, helped us get a bunch of September peaches from her family's farm.I had some ideas and just barely mentioned them and Tara and others just made everything happen. Everything looked great.

My lovely cousin MC made this chocolate cake with chocolate butter icing. Yum yum! Beautiful too. MC and I learned to knit together when I visited her in Montreat when she was going to school there (and 4 years later I copied her). She's very crafty and you can see on her website: http://www.nu-trio.com/

My cousin Suzanne decorated our little fisher price farmhouse people to be the bride and groom (see the little vest?). And I found out later that Brian (MC's husband) so expertly re-hotglued those sticks together. Well done all around.

That's still not all, but I'll post again soon. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED!!

(again, pictures by Cindy Stansberry Photography)

Some pictures from the wedding!

For those of you who haven't seen pictures from our wedding, here are some more, taken by my friend Cindy (http://www.facebook.com/#!/cindystansberryphotography). The wedding was September 10th, 2001 and the weather was a perfect miracle.

Some of the flowers I ordered didn't come in; apparently it was a bad time for cornflowers. The proteas did come though and I had a little bit of South Africa in my bouquet, which made me really happy. As for the rest of the flowers, friends and family pulled together and cut hedges, scoured flower shops, and cut out of their gardens, and came up with the PERFECT FLOWERS. Everything was better than I could have imagined. So many little details that came together right at the last minute.

These are only a few of them, some of my favorites actually. I'll put up more from the ceremony later. These take forever to load, so it's a process...

If you see 'the kiss' (it's on youtube too)... I'm so glad Cindy caught that on camera. Francois said that he hadn't planned it, but he just decided a few seconds before George said, "You may kiss your bride." Probably took a lot of people off guard who don't know Francois very well. I was shocked too because that could have gone very wrong, especially with how nervous we both were!

Ahhh, what a great day...

A big THANK-YOU to Cindy for our wonderful pictures!!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/cindystansberryphotography