#13

"Happy New Year! I began the New Year battling bronchitis and my stomach ulcer, but things can only get better from there. I thought that by explaining my illnesses to our friends, we would have a very quiet, uneventful New Year celebration! How quickly I forget that we are in Vietnam, and if you are sick, that is even more of a reason to have visitors.!

We managed to have a quiet New Year’s Eve, but by New Year’s Day, David and his girlfriend, as well as Hannah and her friend, insisted that we all have a party in our room. I told them that I would bake a cake for them, and that we could just eat cake and talk together. Well, they showed up with their own cake from the bakery, a LOT of candles that they insisted must ALL go on the cake, and a bunch of fruit. The cake really was a fire hazard. I included a picture at the end. I could barely hold it because of all the heat coming off of it from the candles. They loved the cake that I baked, and insisted that American cake is much better than Vietnamese cake. Their only complaint was the icing. They about choked when they took a bite of the icing, exclaiming “Ngọt quá!!”, meaning “too sweet”.

They gave me “lucky money” for the New Year, which is a tradition in Vietnam of giving small bills to young people to bring luck and happiness in the New Year. David started to sign the bill he gave me, but then stopped when he remembered that last year he signed a piece of lucky money and then the person died. They stayed for about three hours, and by the end, I was very tired, but also very happy. They told us that they just couldn’t stand to see us alone on New Year without our families. It’s a blessing to have such caring friends in Tam Ky.

We’ve been having a love hate relationship with Butter flavored Crisco that we found in a city nearby. I love baking, and we both love eating sweets, so I’ve been baking up a storm. We give most of it to our students, but we can’t help but eat part of what I bake. We heard that Hannah’s son tried to eat the entire half the cake I gave them without sharing any with his parents.

Thanks so much for your pr*yers and support again in this New Year! Please continue to lift up the university that I am communicating with. We hope to have teachers there next year if it's His will, but we have a lot of work to do to get to that point. We appreciate all the cards we've received! We hope that you each have a blessed year! We appreciate each of you, and all you do to enable us to serve in Vietnam!

Love,

"Yogi"

#12

More from our friends in Vietnam!

"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"

#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"