Another post from "Friend Jane Doe" and "ROOMMATE", being obedient over in "MY CITY", Vietnam. Read and enjoy. Their stories are wonderful, personal, and amazing.
Happy Labor Day! Isn’t it nice to have a short work week? We celebrated Vietnam’s Independence Day last week, so this week we began teaching. It went really well for both of us, and we are so thankful! We are both teaching mostly government officials and employees right now. Usually they are pretty serious and stoic, but the students this year are much livelier. We had a handful of them last year as students, which makes it nice. It’s easier to get to know the students when they are not all first time students in the class.
I am also teaching children, which is always a test of my patience. I try to look at teaching kids as a way to stay energetic and flexible! I’m not sure if it’s working, though! One of the teachers from Da Nang contacted me this week and told me that one of my students from two years ago is now his student. She came up to him after class and asked if he knew [friend Jane Doe]. She then asked him if he is a Believer. She told him that she is now a Believer because of [friend Jane Doe]. I always pr*y for my students, but I never know what happens to many of them after I leave. This is a good encouragement for ROOMMATE and I to keep pressing on and not give up.
We’ve had a fun week spending time with Hannah. She seems to never grow tired of going out with us, and we enjoy being with her. She cooks a meal for us every week, and always tries to cook squid and morning glory, our two favorite dishes. This week, we decided to invite Hannah out to lunch since she has cooked for us countless times. We ate at a restaurant where everything is cooked in a clay pot. The meal was fun, and at the end, when they brought the bill, I told Hannah that we would pay because she always cooks for us. I got my wallet out, and immediately panicked when I realized that I had forgotten to go to the ATM machine!
I ended up having to borrow money from Hannah to pay the bill that was supposed to be a treat for her. She was so sweet, and I paid her back later, of course. She must not have been too upset with us because she called yesterday and invited us out for dinner to celebrate her wedding anniversary with her and her husband. That’s not typically how people celebrate their anniversary in the States, inviting two single ladies along, but we definitely would have gone had it not been for class last night. We felt complimented that they invited us, though. Hannah said that we are their only friends who don’t drink and get drunk when they go out, so she likes to do things with us so her husband stays sober.
Her husband has changed a lot, for the good, since I met him last year, which is a real answer to pr*yer. Today ROOMMATE and I decided to try something different, so we ventured out to a restaurant that serves hot and sour vegetable and noodle soup. You choose your meat or seafood and then they bring an assortment of raw vegetables and meat to your table and you cook everything yourself over a little fire. It’s a lot like hot pot in the USA, except with different vegetables. When they brought the raw shrimp to our table, I felt a little nauseous just looking at them, but we quickly dumped them into the hot pot and got them cooking.
We have finally gotten used to eating shrimp with the head, shell, and tail on, so we ate most of them that way. We were about half way through when ROOMMATE’s eyes started to water and she began shaking. She drank all of her drink and then asked for more. What happened is that she got a large piece of chili pepper in her bite. It was so hot that it was making her shake. If you think jalapeno peppers are hot, they are really mild compared to chili peppers. I really enjoyed the meal, but felt bad that I had talked ROOMMATE into trying out a different restaurant and then forgot to tell them to leave out the chili peppers. I will never forget that again!
Tonight for dinner, we ate pork and noodles with our friends from chrch. It’s always fun talking with them about the Father. We were sad to hear, however, that our p*stor and his wife were in a bad motorbike accident, and he is still in the hospital. Please lift them up when you think of it. They are a wonderful couple. Thanks for keeping ROOMMATE and I in your pr*yers! Please continue to pr*y for David, Anna, Holly, and Hannah. I was able to meet David’s family this week for coffee, and I included a photo.
I appreciate your thoughts for all of us! I hope you have a good week! Love,
Friend Jane Doe
If you want to support my friend Jane Doe and her ROOMMATE, you can go to http://www.teachoverseas.org. If I have permission to give their names, you can support them directly. Thanks!
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