Tag Archives: YWAM

“At the Crossroads” Again – It is over, WOW!

Glenda and I remain in Hanoi. Our team flew back to Kona, leaving us behind. The past two months have flown by at light-speed.

So many great things have happened that it will be hard to report. Actually, reporting is hard because words can never do justice to the experience. For example, we can show a movie and talk about crossing the street in Hanoi, but until you step out into the traffic you cannot experience the parting of the sea. I am sure the Israelites had a similar experience when crossing the Red Sea. They also had to step out in faith. Can you imagine trying to describe that experience to others who have never been there? That is how I feel every time I try to write a post here.

Since our last post, we have been involved in may different activities

We were able to share in an English Club with Detech Gateway. This club was held at Gateway International School, many of the students were staff and teachers at the Sakura Montessori School which is located on the same campus. Here is a picture of one of the classes on the day that they brought TET food to share. Many great relationships were formed between our team and the students as we shared english and some of our western culture.

Our team was able to sing some kids songs at Hota Kindergarten’s outdoor gathering. There were lots of people, here are some our team leading the song “Feel it in my Bones“.

We spent some time in some drug rehabs where members of our team were able to share life-testimonies and stories about the freedom they have experienced. We were able to teach how addictions can be cured and complete healing found when we walk with the way, the truth and the Life.

A new opportunity came about this year as we were invited to start an english club at the VTV3 television station. This is a great story and the club will continue as we stay in Vietnam.

Our overnight trip to Ha Long Bay was a time spent on a boat on the calm waters. The first day was the clearest and brightest, with very good visibility, the second day was a bit cloudy, foggy and rainy. Andy was able to kayak and take a winter swim in the bay, Glenda visited a floating fishing village and we enjoyed a spectacular sunset.

While in Sa Pa we visited a few ethnic villages, we stayed 4 nights and the town was in the cloud the whole time. Even though it is in the tropics, the elevation makes for a cold and damp climate during winter. The last day we took the world’s longest cable car ride to the top of Fansipan mountain. We started out in the cloud, the 20 minute ride was almost all in the cloud, then we broke through into brilliant sunshine and blue sky just before we reached the summit. It is the highest point in all of south-east Asia, 3,143m (10,311 ft) and is the first peak in the Himalayas. We spent time leaving footprints on the high place and proclaiming the word over the nation. There are several temples and pagodas under construction on the summit, some of our Vietnamese Christian friends say there is a push for a church to be built to represent their faith as well.

We were able to eat many TET meals as friends invited us to their homes to share these special meals with us. These were times of great blessing for us as we fellowshipped with no other agenda than to enjoy each others company.

So now, we are in Vietnam until June, seeking direction each day, and looking forward to what will come about. We are planning a trip to Ho Chi Minh City in April where we will visit with some Y friends and take a course.

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

Scripture fromEnglish Standard Version (ESV)

Catch up: leaving ‘Nam, summer in Alberta and…

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Not really believing that I haven’t posted anything for 6 months!!! So before I start a new chapter “Back at the Crossroads” Again I should fill in the gap.

After the Tet holiday in Ha Noi we rented a 23 passenger bus with a driver and headed into the mountains NW of the capital city. We visited Sa Pa and some of the surrounding villages. The people were amazingly friendly and very resourceful, some of the villages are quite a distance from the nearest road capable of handling a 4 wheel vehicle. Everything is hauled in and out on the back – the back of a person, the back of a water buffalo or the back of a motorbike. All the materials used in the building in this picture were transported 4 kms (2 1/2 miles) on the back of something. On the day we were there, hundreds of children gathered in traditional dress inside the building.
We were treated to a great display of dancing and singing as we exchanged our traditions and cultures.
Outside the building were many more people, parents and other villagers, observing all that was going on. We had a lot of great experiences among these mountain people. There are so many stories we would love to tell but this page is not long enough. If you didn’t hear the stories while we were home, let us know so we can share with you next time we are back.

The town of Sa Pa is at 1500m above sea level and it is nestled under Phan Xi Păng mountain the highest point in Viet Nam, at 3143 metres. It is the south eastern end of the Himalayas, and while it is in the tropics, at these elevations snow is not very unusual, while we were there it was just rain and cold, around 4C.

Our outreach team was able to purchase some items which we left with community leaders to distribute to those in need. 240kgs of dried fish; 3 grocery carts of dried milk products, & diapers; 8 bunk beds for a drug rehab house; and hundreds of pairs of socks and gloves were among the practical items that we were able to give.

After Viet Nam we headed back to Kona with our team for a few days of debrief, staying at Uncle Billy’s. We said ‘goodbye’ to the many new friends who had shared the journey with us then flew into Vancouver. We stayed a few days there visiting with our son, Bryan and his family before arriving back in Okotoks March 1st to very warm and dry spring.

We contacted YWAM Turner Valley and Andy spent many days throughout the spring and summer working in support of their training programs (School of Biblical Studies and Discipleship Training School) by assisting with maintenance and construction at the base.

Renovating a bathroom; a stairwell; exterior painting; removing a 20cm (8″) thick concrete pathway; building a large deck using tree trunks for the posts and beam were some of the bigger projects.

Glenda was really blessed to be able to spend many days helping our daughters at Vicky’s Place Dayhome and with the many children in Joanna’s house.

During the first week of August we were able to participate in an Ellel School of Restoring the Healing Ministry at their retreat centre in Didsbury, Alberta. This was an intense week of training with many topics covered, it was excellent but in many ways just an introduction to healing ministry. We are sure that the future will bring opportunities to go deeper.

We both celebrated 60 years on this planet this year and were amazingly blessed to be able to gather together the whole family for a photo, oh and a party.

We are now back in Hawaii, at University of the Nations, Kona where we are staffing the next YWAM Crossroads DTS for 6 months, after that… ????

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

Back at the Crossroads – Chúc mừng năm mới!

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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.