It is the Lunar New Year here. 
Super Bowl Sunday in the USA. In British Columbia it is the Family Day weekend. In Norway it is Fastelavn. This week also has Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday when many Christians begin the season of Lent. And next week will be Family Day in Alberta. So much celebration, so much renewal, and so much of it involving family and friends! Here in Hanoi, we have been invited to be a part of many peoples celebrations, including New Year’s Eve with the family of one of our english club 
friends and this morning we shared blessings with our landlords at their traditional Vietnamese New Year’s breakfast. Tết is such a busy time in Hà Nội, many people have left the city to be at their families’ traditional homes. In fact, the city is a bit of a ghost town as nearly everything is closed for the holiday. There is hardly any traffic, the streets are emptier and easier to cross.. Those who originate in the city have cleaned and decorated their homes and are enjoying Thanksgiving, Christmas and western New Year all rolled up into one great celebration. The generosity of the people in Vietnam goes above and beyond, they are giving people, they are amazing hosts, they are very loving and we are left wondering what compels them.
There is also a lot of religious activity, ancestors are being worshiped at the ancestral altar in the home and temples and pagodas are being visited. We have the chance to bless people with prayer and by sharing God’s love. In Vietnam, Ông Trời is the owner of all heaven, a bit like the Greeks in Paul’s day who had a shrine to the unknown God, just in case.
This week has really been all about visiting. Along with friends in private homes, we were also able to visit a home for handicapped people east of Hanoi. We met the Director of the centre a man of peace who really cares for the 360 people and 95 staff that are under his care. In Vietnamese tradition we shared tea and then were able to visit many of the people in their homes. As you can see from these few photos there was much love and joy shared.
This week we are heading to Sa Pa, a small frontier town near the border with China, for 5 days. We are hoping for good weather. Last year we were in the clouds and rain for most of the trip with a high of 4C. It was very cold and wet and hard to move around, traveling between villages in the mud on foot was difficult. Our team has purchased 240kgs of dried fish in 20 boxes along with socks and gloves which we hope to be able to give to the minority people who live in the Hoàng Liên Mountains around the town.
We have had a couple of beautiful sunny spring-like days. Yesterday, we were in a village north-east of Hanoi visiting the family of Yen our interpreter. The sun was 
shining and the sky was cloudless. It was a first time experience for us. It is not unusual to see streets lined with flags as the Vietnamese in this part of the country are very patriotic. On a sunny day the red and gold really stands out. After we return from SaPa we will have just two days to debrief, clean and pack before traveling back to Kona. It is hard to believe that our two months in Vietnam is already coming to an end.
Until next time be blessed and be a blessing, A&G
Scripture from The Voice Bible unless otherwise noted.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Hanoi Revisited. It is an exciting place. It is a very busy, bustling with people city; there are motorbikes, taxis and buses, honking their horns everywhere, flashing lights, Karaoke clubs. Life is far removed from the quiet, solitude of the eastern slopes of the majestic Rocky Mountains and the open skies of the prairie that we enjoy at home. The city of Calgary, by comparison, is sparsely populated and quiet. And Okotoks is just sleepy. Yet somehow, we have fitted back in very quickly. To be honest, we were a bit shocked by how easily we fit back in after ten months away. We were only here for 2 months last year and yet we feel unusually connected. Truthfully, the Tay Ho district we live in is quiet and peaceful. Our rented apartments are near the beautiful Westlake again, as seen in this panoramic view taken near our home.
We are fast approaching the Tết Holiday in Vietnam (Chinese New Year). Following the lunar calendar, this year the first day of the Vietnamese New Year is Feb 8. The celebrations will begin before that and last for days after; many stores and businesses will close up for the week as people travel. Schools and Universities close on January 29th, as many people travel home from Hanoi to the countryside and their ancestral homes. Last year our team left before the new year celebrations began but this year we will be here for the whole time.
forTết and as building supplies are left on the side of the street over night (piles of bricks and sand, wooden scaffold) I am amazed that the fruit and bricks have not been scattered, or splattered on one of the nice Audis, Bentleys or Rolls Royces. Somehow, there still appears to be a healthy respect for other people’s property here. Crime is not unknown, but it is rare. We haven’t seen any policemen with guns, rarely hear any sirens and when we do they are from an ambulance. We have heard that there is corruption though, getting things done costs money. Last week, our taxi was selected out of many vehicles running a red light and the driver had to pay the policeman a 1,000,000 VNDong (~U$50) cash fine. The traffic cop s are smartly dressed the one on the right here paused happily posed for my camera. Check this 
Taking time out to write a blog has been challenging. The team been going pretty steady for the 4 weeks since we hit the ground in Hanoi. As the team leaders we are finding that “Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.” said Peter F. Drucker. It is also means more work which we are enjoying. We have a phenomenal team of folks from US, Canada, Switzerland, and Norway who are working very hard, who have proven themselves to be crazily flexible. Change is the norm here. Some are simple like, the bus isn’t available today, so there are two taxis waiting out front.” We walk around the front and the bus pulls up. Others stretch the whole team, after hours of preparation, events get cancelled at the last minute or no-one shows up or three times as many as expected show up. Everyone is so good at going with the flow and ministering from their strengths empowered by H.S.
We are in Hanoi, Vietnam, doing the fieldwork part of our course with our team. We are living in the north of the city near Ho Tay (West Lake) near where we were last year. The team gathers regularly for worship and prayer. There are 15 of us from USA, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and Germany, the youngest is Noah who is just ten months.
We are volunteering by teaching conversational english in both a private university and language schools. Our team has also been able to share some english with younger children too, on Christ
Andy and Glenda Read 