We visited the Cu Chi Tunnels as apart of our cultural orientation day to Vietnam. This was during briefing on Wednesday, September 17. In case you may not know what briefing & de-briefing means, I guess it would be helpful if I told you!
I like to think of briefing & debriefing like necessary bookends to ministry. Briefing is a time before ministry & debriefing is a time after ministry (you may have guessed that). In briefing, you learn about the place you are staying for ministry so as to better serve the people you are ministering to. Before going into a new country, it is just wise to know as much as you can about the culture & history of the people there. Debriefing happends in the final days of the month & is a time to process what God did that month, what He showed you & what you learned. I find it helps greatly in giving me closure. =)
For everyone who visites Vietnam, it is strongly recommended to visit this place & the War Museum. Below, is Dan w/the mannequins.
These underground tunnels are located in Ho Chi Minh City (old Saigon) & was the base of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam.
If you look under the tab titled “pictures” you can see more text that goes along w/each individual picture. Above, is Face Donkey 😉 Opps! Sorry, I meant Kara.
That is Matt Matt (above) from the January Squad. He stayed w/us during the month of ministry in Vietnam to help us (& to add some testosterone).
While visiting this site, they showed us how the guerrillas & their families survived during combat. They set-up communication & supply routes, food & weapon stations, & living quarters. Below, is another example of the booby-traps they set-up to kill American troops.
Our tour guide. He, as well as some of our squad members, went down in that hole.
I didn’t.
These tunnels first began as a means for the people to hide from French air & ground sweeps. A few of us were able to go down into a very long tunnel, that lasted for perhaps five minutes? There was no light & not much air, so we had to move quickly in & out. I unfortunately did not take a picture of it.
Another trap. Seeing all these traps & how they made them was hard. The enemies they made these traps for were the Americans…some even family members of us on the squad, who were in the Vietnam War.
All in all, I learned a lot. I spoke with a translator friend when we were visiting these places & I asked her how they viewed Americans today? She said something to the fact of, “Yes this happend to our older generation but, I am not upset. We know it is the past. We have moved on.”
