Wednesday night at about 11 our plane landed in Vietnam.
Shortly followed by a trip through immigration and customs and then out to a
wall of people, all waiting to greet their friends and family coming in. We searched
for a moment for Tim who was supposed to be meeting us. Found him! Yay, Reunited
with Tim! We got home and were finally able to fall asleep after a 36 hour travel
day. (why is it that planes are the one place I do not find it easy to sleep?)

We woke up the next morning to begin our time in Saigon. This has been a time of becoming reacquainted
with the city, culture and even old friends. We got to go to the children’s
home in Benh Thanh district both Thursday and Friday. It was definitely my
favorite experience so far. I just love getting to hang out with those kids.
Just sitting with them reading books to me, or watching them sing along to
Father Abraham, or enjoying the sweet embrace of little Tien… these are a few
of my favorite things.
 
It was so great to be reunited with Tien and his brother. The other guy, Than, has since I left moved back to his home town to live with other family members. As soon as I walked in Tien’s brother, who is deaf, pointed to his muscles showing me and his friend how strong he was and then indicated he was ready to wrestle. I was so excited he remembered me! (to be honest I was really nervous that they would either be gone or would not remember me.) Tien soon warmed back up to me also and today he rarely left my side. As we were getting ready to leave I tried to convince Daina and Bill that we needed a little Vietnamese teammate- they did not agree. They did reassure me that we would come back here every time we are in Saigon. (They better believe I am holding them to that!)

It is very hard to believe that we have crammed all that we
have into two short days. Having kicked jet lag in the face, eaten Pizza Hut twice and seen my boys we are ready to head to Mang Thit. I am very
excited about our time down south and getting to meet families and children in
the village where we will be working. I am mostly excited about just doing life
alongside the people in this district of Vinh Long province.