#16

"Another week has flown by! This one was a lot crazier than usual! I started out the week by going to Hoi An to celebrate our friend’s birthday. He was our p*stor in Dà Nẵng, and he is now working at a ch*rch in Hội An. Our “gang” from Da Nang, including Anna, our Buddh*st friend, met us in Hoi An to celebrate Paul’s 37^th birthday. We were so happy that he wanted us, of all people, to come and celebrate with him!

We had a great time! It was as if we had never been apart. We ate Lemongrass Clams for dinner, and then headed to the river to take a boat ride. As you can imagine, the boats were tiny, Asian sized, and so hard to get into. No nice ladders or steps. Just step off of the wall into the boat. "Boo-Boo" and I were incredibly nervous, especially when our friends were continually standing up in these tiny canoes. All I could think of the whole time were my friends Edith and Homer Arnold, who tipped over in their canoe years ago. I kept picturing the same thing happening to us. When we went under a bridge, everyone else could sit normally except for me. I was too tall to fit, so I had to duck my head. It was a fun experience, and we made it without ever getting wet! There were a lot of pr*yers being said on that boat. Especially after seeing how dirty the water was. Yuck!

The next day, I met Hannah for coffee. She told me that the p0lice have been watching me carefully, and are suspicious of my work with Hannah’s kids class on Sundays. They are afraid that I am telling the kids about rel*gion or something. To me, that seems ridiculous. The kids barely know their colors, numbers, etc., let alone be able to talk about G0d. Anyway, now I am only allowed to attend the class for 30 minutes per week, and we have to all be in the front room with the door open.

I met Holly in Danang this week, which went really well. I wasn’t able to stay long, because I had to teach, but we had a nice time together. We also met her for lunch on Saturday. It was nice being able to spend time with her and also with JoSan.

On Sunday night, Hannah and her family came over to the guest house for dinner. It’s the first time I’ve ever fixed a full meal in our room. We had spaghetti with homemade sauce, broccoli salad, jello and cottage cheese salad, and chocolate chip cookies. I felt so bad for Hannah. She didn’t like anything. I’m sure she went away hungry! Her husband and son loved the spaghetti, and both had three helpings. When she thought that we weren’t watching, she put her spaghetti into her husband’s bowl. I included a photo of Hannah's son eating spaghetti with chopsticks. Then, the thing they hated the most was the jello. I was so surprised! I thought that surely, since they love seaweed jello, they would love strawberry jello. I was so wrong! The looks on their faces when they tried it was priceless! We got such a laugh!

Last year, I took some of Naomi Wiederkehr’s children’s books to my translator at ch*rch who works for World Vision. She told me that she was translating them, and finally, this week, she had them printed in Vietnamese. It is so exciting to see these books! I have copies of the books, and will bring them to Naomi when I visit the States this summer. I am so excited that her books are now being read by kids in Vietnam! Thanks, Naomi!! Thanks, also to my grandma, and so many others for the cards!

I hope that you have a great week! Thanks for your pr*yers and support!!

Love,

"Yogi"