New Post #4

Here's another update from my friend in Vietnam. Thanks for reading!

"Hello! It’s hard to believe it’s the end of September already! It’s time for ROOMMATE and I to begin traveling to each school to observe the teachers and see how they are doing.

Everyone has been teaching now for almost 4 weeks, so we are hoping that their teaching is going well and that we’ll have some interesting and exciting classes to observe. This coming Saturday we will travel to Ho Chi Minh City to observe the girls who are teaching in a city near there. It will make a busy week for us as we leave as soon as we finish teaching this coming week, and then will get back to OUR CITY right before our classes on Monday.

The rainy season has officially begun! The good part of the rain is that it brings much cooler weather. The bad part is that it makes me want to stay in bed all day. It has rained almost nonstop for this entire week. We didn’t let that ruin our meetings with friends, though. The week began with a breakfast date with Hannah. She has been teaching a cross culture communication class, and was full of questions about Americans. She was also full of questions and comments about the Father.

She shared with me about some really sad things going on in her life. I told her that the only thing I knew for sure that would help is pr*yer. She said that lately she has been pr*ying “just in case there is a G*d who is listening”. That is a huge step from a year ago when she shut me out just for mentioning the word “pr*yer”. I am excited to see her growth! I just want to see her have true joy that only the Father can give.

After our breakfast, we went to the city market to do some shopping. The good thing about being large in a country of small people is that I can’t buy clothes or shoes here. So while Hannah spent money on shoes, I only spent $1 on bananas. I guess there are some benefits to being large!

On Tuesday night for dinner, we invited some of our ch*rch friends out for a meal. We really tried to choose a good, special place. While eating dinner, we asked them if they had ever eaten there before. They said that they used to, but hadn’t in awhile because it is known as an “unsafe” place to eat as far as their cleanliness practices go. We were quite embarrassed, but tried to just laugh it off and remember to not invite anyone else there in the future.

I’ve been teaching my kids class for two weeks now. I noticed a huge difference in the boys this week, when the girls didn’t show up. They actually were quiet and listened to the lesson. I could hardly believe it. I have come to the conclusion that teens are just too hormonal to be taught with students of the opposite sex. I hate to see the girls quit coming to class, but it does make the boys behave much better, so I am enjoying it.

Besides my class at the univeristy, Hannah asked if I could teach her kids class by myself since she had to take a test in another province. It turned out to be a little wild with the language barrier, but as usual, Uno saved the day. That game is immensely popular here! Kids always need practice saying their colors and numbers in English, so I use it a lot!

One night this week, around midnight, someone came to our door multiple times and kept knocking. This is especially strange since Vietnamese people usually go to bed around 9 or 10 pm. I was really scared until ROOMMATE reminded me that I am so much bigger than everyone here, and could easily take them out. I tried to take comfort in that thought and finally got to sleep.

This morning, I almost didn’t get out of bed for ch*rch. It begins at 8:00 am, and it was raining, so I hated to get out of bed. I was really thankful, though, when I pulled up on my motorbike and heard the choir opening the service with “Great is Thy Faithfulness”. G*d certainly has been faithful to us!

Please keep Hannah, Anna, David, and Holly in your pr*yers. Holly’s baby is due any day now, so that is keeping things exciting! Please lift us up, too, as we travel to Ho Chi Minh City and try to stay positive during all of the rain. We appreciate your pr*yers!!

I hope you have a great week!

Love, Friend Jane Doe"