Tet | Andy and Glenda Read

We have been in Hà Nội for three weeks without the team. We have followed them on Facebook and Whats App as they debriefed in Kona and moved on to the next phase.

We have moved into a different apartment on the west side of Hồ Tây, West Lake, near where we rented the first year we visited. Back in the old ‘hood, you could say.

We have continued with some of the work that started while the team was here, particularly the VTV3 (Vietnam TeleVision) English Club. We have started a couple of new clubs, two at the Mustard Seed, where our students range from 4 years to 74 years!! One of the ladies at the VTV3 club invited her husband a couple of weeks ago. He is a well-known doctor, known as Dr Happy. He asked if we would host a club at Hanoi Medical University for some of his colleagues; so this week we will go there for a test run. Out of all of this, we have some one on one tutoring in the works. In all of this there are so many opportunities for sharing life and our culture and worldview. This nation is hungry – hungry for English, hungry for the good news, hungry for relationship, hungry for mothers and fathers…

…and hungry for food.

There will always be food pictures. Here in Vietnam, fellowship around a table, or on a floor mat, is a integral part of the culture, whether it is a TET meal, Lẩu, Bún Chả, Phở, Cơm Rang or Nem Rán. An invitation to share a meal, even from those who have little to offer, is hard to refuse. There is so much life in the sharing.

English at the Seed

Hot Pot at the Seed

Meat & Tofu Hot Pot

BBQ Pork for Bun Cha

Moto

Fish Hot Pot

We will leave Vietnam for a short trip next weekend to renew our visa, we have been in the country for 90 days, already. We will visit friends in Penang, Malaysia, flying from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur then up to Penang.

We are picking up a bit more tiếng Việt, Vietnamese, but we are still asking Dad to wake us up one morning fluent in this tongue.

Still watching and listening for all other reasons we are here. Please keep praying for us to have the boldness and wisdom to walk in obedience to His voice.

Until next time be blessed and be a blessing, A&G

Scripture fromEnglish Standard Version (ESV)

Well, we are back in Kona!

Our last two weeks in Viet Nam were very busy. When we arrived in Ha Noi, just 9 weeks ago, we knew no-one, as we began to develop some contacts from the 3 telephone numbers we had this changed rapidly. We are now exiting this phase of our training and leaving Viet Nam behind. Now there are so many people to say “goodbye” to, all hoping that someday there will be a reunion, on this side of heaven. There was so much favour, God opened doors and many things happened that were beyond our wildest dreams. The country has very quickly become one of our favourite places away from home. For us, standing out from the many highlights was witnessing the joy and the power of the early church at work. Viet Nam is indelibly etched into who we are now.

When we came back from the trip to Sa Pa, we were winding up our english teaching and english clubs as we began preparing to leave.We had lots a special meals with good friends, one included crab! Actually,
there were many celebrations and parties arranged and attended. It was more difficult than usual to get around the city as traffic was building in anticipation of Tết holiday. The sidewalks, or pavements, normally cluttered with motorcycles were now filled with crowds of peach blossom branches and orange trees leaving us no option but to walk on the street. The trees are the Vietnamese equivalent of our Christmas tree. We see them frequently being delivered to the buyer’s home by motorcycle. Tết is the Vietnamese Lunar new year which began on Feb 19th this year. The holiday lasts a full week in Viet Nam with many businesses closing up as people travel to their family home in the country. We were leaving on Valentine’s Day, Feb 14th, and there were many of our new friends asking us to stay longer, but University of the Nations and our “graduation certificates” were calling, as was our family back home.

Some of our English club friends got some extra English practice by acting as tour guides as they showed us some of Hanoi.They took us to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which includes a museum and the grounds of his home. The history of Viet Nam is very interesting. We also visited the Temple of Literature, a 1,000 year old university. Glenda visited B52 lake with some students from another English club, it is site where a B52 bomber crashed during the war with America.

Part of our team debrief took place on an overnight excursion to Ha Long Bay, literally: “descending dragon bay”) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tuesday and Wednesday. This is a spectacular site, we cruised on a ship, visited a cave and Glenda went to a pearl farm, while I kayaked.