VIETNAM:
Last month we stayed in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. Ever since I was a child I had always wanted to visit Vietnam and I always had a strong fascination about the Vietnam War. I read tons of books on the recon patrols, firefights, and ambushes. As a kid, my friends and I would always play “guns” in the backyard and the setting was almost always Vietnam.
Ministry:
I taught school in the mornings to a small group of children in a slum about 45min outside Ho Chi Minh City. The kids were awesome and the host was amazing. I loved teaching them English and doing daily review and games.
In the afternoons, we would sit in a Christian coffee shop and play board games and speak English with customers (which was boring/frustrating at times). In the evenings we held English classes for adults.
The staff from the shop were great and we built some good relationships.
Adventures:
We made a few great adventures around the city and also went several hours up north into the beach areas of Nha Trang and the rural villages of Da Lot. We had a great time exploring, swimming, and getting in some much needed rest. In Nha Trang, we took a boat tour around a set of islands with beautiful blue water and spent the afternoon eating seafood lunch and swimming in the bay.
The street markets in Saigon were fantastic and we also made a river trip up the Mekong to play with snakes, taste local honey, eat a traditional dinner, and canoe around the canals.
We also visited the “Museum for Crimes of War and Aggression, AKA the American War in Vietnam museum). I wrote a blog about that which is featured here: http://taskandpurpose.com/war-hell-especially-enemy/
My photo album for Vietnam is pasted below. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152379240178381.1073741853.514058380&type=1&l=2b75d2108b
Challenges:
There were a lot of challenges in Vietnam. Our team did not click together very well, everyone was upset half the month, our ministry seemed really weak, and we were living on $1/meal for the month (technically $4/day). I was constantly frustrated that I couldn’t go and do things without someone holding my hand all the time and that combined with my dislike of the way the World Race operates much of the time almost led to me being sent home. I found myself on a Skype call with staff one afternoon who told me that they didn’t feel I was “a good fit for the Race” and wanted to know where to book my flight home to. Obviously, I was more than a little shocked and the chat ended with a reversal of their decision. I’m not going to go into much more about that at the moment because I’m still pretty confused about exactly how that whole thing went down… but yes, definitely a major challenge.
God?:
One of my biggest struggles is recognizing God in my life and giving him praise and thanks for all of the incredible things he does.
I question God more than anyone I know, but then again, I question everything more than anyone I know. I analyze, dissect, and try to process everything. Not all things fit in my brain. I need to start realizing that.
How do I hear the voice of God? Do I listen when I do hear it? What is required of me to follow? What happens when I don’t?
I think that God is present in my life almost constantly and yet I rarely give him enough credit for all of the amazing blessings I have. In the coming months, I will change that.
God bless,
Dave
