"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Vietnam! I imagine that it’s cold wherever you are right now. And, believe it or not, we are “freezing” here, too. It’s gotten down around 60 degrees, so we have our long underwear, sweatshirts, thick socks, and scarves out now. It’s officially winter here! I never thought that my teeth would chatter when I was in 60 degree weather, but I guess I am now almost adapted to the cold here.
We had a really good Christmas! I have to admit that I wasn’t feeling festive for mos
t of December. As I mentioned before, we were really homesick this year. Thankfully, our friends here surrounded us at Christmas and helped us have a great day. We started out by going to Dà Nẵng to meet with the teachers there. We shared a traditional Christmas meal together on Friday at a western restaurant run by deaf people (Bread of Life). The restaurant was decorated beautifully, and we had a really good time together. After our meal, I had a meeting with the director of the English department at a reputable university in Dà Nẵng.
We’ve been pr*ying for new positions in universities in Vietnam. "Boo-Boo" and I are very happy in OUR CITY, and plan to stay there, but for the other teachers, it’s time to find new schools. Right now, we work only at English centers, except for "Boo-Boo" and I. In the future, we really want to transition into all university positions. I had a really good meeting with the director. She was quite an intimidating woman. I was so nervous during the meeting, and kept telling myself to think happy thoughts so that I didn’t look scared to death. Well, it was only G*d who made it turn out well, because at the end of the meeting, she told me how much respect she had for me because she could tell that I really love Vietnam. She also told me that she would like for me to come to Dà Nẵng often so that we can hang out together. I was really surprised, and know that it was only G*d who could have made the meeting turn out well. I will have to do a lot of pr*ying if I am going to hang out with her again! Please pr*y that if it’s His will, we can come up with a contract with this university for next year.
On Christmas Day, Hannah asked me to please help her teach the class and have a small party for the children. I took in some stickers, cookies, and other goodies. When I walked through the door, they burst out in “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. They presented me with homemade gifts and cards, and took turns singing Christmas carols.
After class, David, his girlfriend, and I went out for cow heart and seafood hot pot. No, this was not my idea. My suggestion was banh xeo, which is a dish made of fried rice patties with shrimp. I could tell that David really wanted hot pot, so I relented. The cow heart was not as bad as you might expect. I wouldn’t order it on my own, but after seeing it raw, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I brought along some sugar cookies that I had made, and they were absolutely thrilled. I really meant for them to share them with the other people at ch*rch, but they ate all of them. They ate them at dinner, while riding the motorbike, and even at the ch*rch service. I don’t think that anyone has ever enjoyed my baking quite that much. We headed to the ch*rch service, which was really wonderful. It was an outreach service, and it was really done well. They had skits, dance performances, and lots of singing. I attached some photos here. My favorite part was when “Mary” got “J*sus” out of the manger. “J*sus” was a blond, curly haired baby doll. I had to laugh. I guess it was a very multi-cultural manger scene.
One more thing that made our holiday complete was receiving a deluge of cards. We hadn’t gotten any cards the entire year, and then they all arrived at one time! Thanks to ALL the people who sent cards and gifts!
We are so blessed and thankful to be living and serving in Vietnam. Thanks for all you do to make this possible!
Love,
"Yogi"
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