“Come come!”
This is what started the beautiful friendships with some of the most generous women I did not know I needed but God blessed Katie and I with. While in Vietnam my team and I woke up at 5:30am to build relationships with some of the locals around Danang. Vietnamese people do not like to get color because darker skin tone is a sign of poverty so everyone is up before the sun is out to start their day and during the day they’re completely covered. (By the way, if you are ever thinking about going to Asia, Danang Vietnam should be on your list. So stinking beautiful!)
One of my brilliant teammates, Katie, and I went to an exercise park that is packed early in the morning with Vietnamese people doing all types of workouts. To say the very least, we stuck out like sore thumbs. Everyone was extremely welcoming, especially the cutest group of women who were doing line dances. One of them called us over to dance with them so naturally we jumped right in. These women took us under their wings with joy on their faces from the simplest things in life radiating off of them. Fun fact: the teacher, Mrs. Trung, has memorized over 200 dances, she’s a boss! There was about 12-15 women every morning and 4 of them spoke English pretty well. They ranged from 34-76 years old and were all close friends. These women took us out to coffee, breakfast, invited us to birthday celebrations, even celebrated my birthday early (that was a bit of miscommunication), let us borrow a bike while we were there, got to help one of the women with her English to teach math, and were our Vietnamese moms that we truly needed. Mrs. Trung told Katie and I one day about how her kids were back in America and how much she had missed them but felt like we were a gift to her. It is so great to see how God puts people in our lives for a reason. He knows our hearts and desires and provides for us in His perfect timing.
I think the biggest thing The Lord is showing me this year is all He asks us to do is love others and He will work the rest out. Yes He calls us to spread His word but when we are loving people with the same love Christ showed us, we are getting to actually do life with others and grow in ways we can’t even imagine.
Oh yeah, did I mention we got to teach the women the cupid shuffle and the biker shuffle? So Cupid and Big Mucci, if you ever read this your welcome if your songs become famous worldwide!
Our lovely Vietnamese mothers!!
