Visiting Vietnam

When people have nothing to talk about in a correspondence, we often fall back on talking about the weather.  Weather is a bit more than just blog fodder for us here.  The weather affects many things that a lot of people who do not live here might take for granted…like if it rains, it means that the feet are most likely going to get wet and muddy, maybe even very muddy.

Bill walks to and back home from where his 1st year students meet twice each week.  It is not very far, but if it rains or has rained recently it becomes quite adventurous.  About 1/2 way there (or back) there is a construction site that he has to walk through or around.  The site is not completed and so there is a considerable amount of water and mud to get through on the way to and from classes.  One night, when returning, Bill stumbled into a family’s supper time…they were preparing to eat a meal cooked on an open fire under the shelter from the elements.  Needless to say, both parties were surprised at the meeting! 

We are in the beginning of our 6th year here and we are actually beginning to feel cool, cold even!  The Vietnamese are calling it winter, actually it really is still Autumn but even that is a bit of a stretch based on our recollections from Autumns in the U.S. and in Europe.  The temperatures are actually getting close to the lower 70′s…soon we may even experience 60′s!  And THAT would be “winter”…well, sort of.  We like Ziva’s line from NCIS, “It is what it is”, for many situations but categorizing the weather is definitely one of the main things we describe in those words.

We’re doing real well.  Hoping that you are as well.

Hẹn Gặp Lại

Last Thursday morning, Sue woke up with chest pain that had been lingering for about 2 weeks and had woken her from sleep 4 times the night before.  When Bill returned from teaching 3 periods of country studies, Sue said that she thought she needed to get to a hospital in Hanoi.  There is only one other person who might be slower than Sue is when it comes to getting to somewhere to see a doctor…and I was not needing a doctor at that time.  So, we made arrangements (our school graciously provided us with transportation to Hanoi), and went to the SOS Clinic.  After several tests, and a night in the clinic, Sue left Hanoi for a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand for further testing and, if necessary, an angioplasty. 

There is one area of life that gets Bill worried.  That area is anything involving serious danger to Sue.  That is the one area where he is absolutely vulnerable.  It is enough to cause tears and panic.  It is enough to lead to frantic behavior.  We’ve been boyfriend & girlfriend for 39 years, for cryin’ out loud (as of October 6th, 2011)!

Well, He really does take care of everything…Sue’s first ever business-class flight, accompanied by a doctor to a reputable hospital in Bangkok, a great doctor there and a great staff, a personal RN who is a member of our sending organization to be with Sue 24/7…the works!  We were even able to communicate via SKYPE, twice!!!!

Tomorrow, Monday, Sue will get discharged from that great hospital.  She’ll try to get a flight to Hanoi but will most likely need to wait until Tuesday morning to fly…and return home to Thai Nguyen, Vietnam sometime on Tuesday afternoon.

He really does still move anything and everything that needs to be moved!  Thanks be…

We’re doing great!

Hen gap lai!

What would life be like without some challenges now and then?  Some people hate challenges and avoid them; when they come, they try to “get by” with as little damage or embarrassment or loss, as possible.  Others love a challenge and thrive on them; when they face a challenge they tend to grab the proverbial bull by the horns and wrestle it to its defeat & their victory.  Many of us are some where in the middle.  Call this bunch the “take ‘em as they come”.  No matter what come their way, they get through it without a lot of fanfare or “terminal stress”.  These folks neither breeze through nor turn tail and close their eyes; they neither throw up their hands in frustration (at least not permanently), nor crash through like a bull in a china closet. 

Some people even get help when facing challenges that they know are bigger than what they can handle on their own.  And that is where we are this time.

This is our 6th year living and working here in Vietnam.  Our work is humanitarian…that is, we seek to help people and treat  for people in a humanitarian way, with the highest levels of dignity and respect.  Our goal, to facilitate the success of as many people as possible.  To make life worth living for as many people as we can, through our efforts, their efforts, and through what we give them to work with.  Now, we have a challenge, and, the challenge is too big for us to face alone.

We are part of a sending organization.  We are required to raise financial support to be here in Vietnam.  For about 4 1/2 years our levels of support were adequate but now they are at an all-time low and, in fact, we are in deficit. 

We need to raise monthly support by $600, we’d like to find 6 people or organizations who are willing to commit to donate $50 per month and 3 people or organizations who are willing to donate $100 per month.  We are looking for 5 one-time givers who will donate $500, 4 one-time givers who will donate $300, 4 one-time givers who will donate $200, and we’re looking for 9 one-time givers who will donate $100 and, we are looking for 10 one-time givers who will donate $50.  We need these people to respond to this challenge by January 31, 2012. 

If you are reading this, if you would like to help us improve the quality of life for hundreds and thousands of Vietnamese people, if you would please join with us in facing this challenge…please contact us via e-mail: bill.mcdonald@elic.org as soon as possible.  We will give you the information that you need to participate in meeting this challenge.

Other than that, we are doing really well.  The Yankees are out of the playoffs, the team we always hope will win; and the Phillies are out too, the team that looked like they would win the World Series.  The weather is good, students are doing well (OK, the first years are still in shock), and everything we’re involved in is still fun.  We do need to get this financial situation under control in order to maintain our momentum and continue the work.

Thank you, in advance.

Hen gap lai!

It is October, and that means Major League Baseball’s playoffs and the World Series has started. 

It is October, and that also means that we’re into the second week of the first term of the first year for First-Year Students (usually called Freshmen in the U.S.).  It is an exciting time for us…about 100 new names that all sound the same and about 100 new faces that (still) look almost the same.  It is a scary time for the first-year students…90% of whom have never even seen a white person, let alone speak English (or any language) to one.  The combination makes for LOTS of pretty funny episodes. 

We’re also having really great times with our third & fourth year students, many of them asking for help with research preparation and with  some realizing that  our time together is suddenly nearing an end after 2 and 1/2 or 3 and 1/2 years.  One just returned from a three month trip to Thailand where she student-taught English students there.  Great stories and experiences.

This week, Tuesday in fact, a long time friend will get married before she returns to South Korea to continue an MBA degree program there.  And, sometime this week we should get the results of another friend who took a TOEFL iBT to complete an application for a masters in English program in the U.S.  Exciting times this October!

We are doing really well.

Hẹn Gặp Lại

The NY Yankees are the American League Eastern Division champions…one more time.  Better than that, they beat the Red Sox yesterday!  NGL’s men’s retreat is over now.  And, this morning we received a call from Da Nang “just to see how you and Bill are doing”.  It is a long story but tomorrow (Monday) we will begin the first term for 1st year students finally.  It is a good problem, actually, not enough space for too many students.  So, the administration has to be a bit creative in coming up with living & teaching space for no money, or as little as possible.  And…they have and we will begin in the morning. 

THIS morning we are going to yet another wedding party.  This for another former student who is now a teaching colleague.  We are hoping that a few other former students will be there and that we’ll have a small reunion after over 2 years since graduation.

We are doing really well! 

Have a great week.

Hen gap lai

Over the last few days we’ve heard about several tough situations. The longer we are here, the more similarities we see in how people live here & in the U.S. and in other countries we’ve been to.  If there ever was support for the statement, “same same, but different”, there is even more so now.

One husband of a longtime friend lost a LOT of money on an apparently unwise investment and then, in an effort to recoup the loss, bet a LOT more money on football matches.  The debt got a LOT deeper resulting in having to sell a home and a car and that not even making a dent…!  On top of all of that, it could have detrimental effects on her pursuit of a master degree in Australia (which has been a dream for many years).

One woman, a disabled woman and single-mom who we have known for several years, spent about a month “on holiday” with the father of her 2 year old daughter; he came from another country in Europe.  One purpose of his trip was to let our friend know that he was dying of cancer!  In fact, he DID die and he died in her home!  A foreigner dying in someone’s home, especially a very rural home, in Vietnam is no small matter!  And, as a result of this already rather complicated situation, our friend has lost the financial support of this man, making her economic situation even worse than it already was (she earns less than $10-$15 a day). 

Fortunately, these two situations opened up opportunities, by invitation, to share what we know about Truth and Peace and “turning mourning into dancing”!  So hopefully, no actually we are confidently expecting and looking for Sudden Impact on all of the lives involved!

On a more education-oriented track, this week Bill will start teaching two additional groups.  These will be first year students.  It also means that Bill now teaches 5 days a week (M-F), twice on Tuesdays!  And…he has chosen to get to the other campus (about a mile + the fifth floor of a 5 story building) by walking (“Good exercise”, he says).   

We’re doing really well!  We hope you are as well. 

Hen gap lai!

On November 22nd, 1963 I was in a 3rd grade class at St. Simon Stock Catholic School in the Bronx, N.Y.  There was quite a stir when the President of the United States was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.  Not just there, but every where.

On April 4th, 1968 I was living in Selden, Long Island, New York when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee,

On June 5th, 1968 I was watching RFK’s victory speech in California on TV when he was assassinated.

On July 20th, 1969 I was at Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp, wishing I was in Woodstock, looking up at the moon to see if I could spot the first man landing on the moon, or at least see the space ship!

That was a wild decade.  I don’t remember all of it or even most of it.  I do know that things in the United States were “going berserk”. 

On September 11th, 2001 at approximately 8-8:30 AM (central standard time), I had just gotten off of work.  I went to my room to get some sleep before a grad school class that afternoon.  I woke up and went to see a friend at the Assembly of God Theological Seminary but found it closed, locked, and with a hand written sign on the doors that said something about being closed (I don’t recall the message).  But I knocked on the door and as I was turning to go back to my car, my friend appeared at the door.  I asked why the school was closed.  He could not believe I had not heard.  That was the first time I heard about the World Trade Center being attacked by terrorists.  I was in Springfield, Missouri at the front door of AGTS several hours after it happened.   

One close friend who worked near the WTC  had taken the day off; another, who worked close by was unhurt and physically was unaffected.  One brother-in-law, a law enforcement person working in Brooklyn, watched helplessly and in horror as the second plane hit the second building. 

Some people are crazy!  Who would go through all of that trouble, cause all of that death & destruction, just to make a point?  There really is a God.  I know Him.  And I know that He did not tell anyone to dream up or carry out that crime.  Neither did He tell anyone to drop tons and tons of bombs on Hanoi.  Neither did He tell anyone to murder millions of babies yet to be born.  Neither did He tell anyone to murder 6 million+ Jewish people.  Neither did He tell anyone to slaughter the people who many still call American Indians or Native Americans. 

Where were you when a few imbeciles decided that the best thing to do, the answer to their problems with the United States, the way for them to earn points with their god, was to hijack 4 airplanes, kill themselves & everyone else on every plane and many, many innocent people? 

Where are you today, this week, this month, this year?  Me?  I am in Vietnam.  No bombs being dropped.  No booby traps or mines (although a few explosions can still be heard in the central part of the country).  But many people have forgotten all about it.  People in the United States have forgotten Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, Assassinations, a Moon Landing and even Woodstock. 

Someone said: “The more things change, the more things stay the same”.  It is true, apparently. 

We like to think that we’re experiencing something completely different here and now.  We like to call “this” a “do over”.  We’re getting a second chance to make and do something right.  Yesterday, a former student, experiencing some real & serious problems in life made a surprised visit to our “permanent bungalow”.    After spilling out all that was going badly and all of the pressures not being dealt with in any significant way, after telling us that “There seemed to be no where to go, nothing else to do”, our visitor said, “But then I remembered the feeling of peace I have had whenever I have been in your room; and so, I came here today”.

Our hearts break as we see images and hear voice recordings from 9/11.  Current students are brought to tears after reading survivors’ accounts from that day and stories about the 10 years that followed.  But, we have hope.  We have a real hope that our obedience in surrendering “all” to come here, to teach here, to relate here has, is, and will continue to, make differences in what people will remember about where they were on September 11, 2011 and beyond.

We’re really well!  We’re rejoicing!  We’re praising!  We’re doin’ good!

Hen gap lai!

We’ve just returned to our “permanent bungalow” after spending a week with all of our group’s teachers getting “on the same sheet of music”; we call it orientation.  This year was unique in at least a couple of ways.  First, except for three “teaching fellowship” participants who are here for just a year, there were no new members of our group.  Everyone knew each other…well, there was one new baby!

Someone asked, “How do you like this meeting compared to the others”?  “It was the best”, came the answer.  “Why”?  Simply put, there was more G!  More G centered, more G seeking, more G presence, just more of him.  What more could a person and a group of people ask for, want or need?

Someone might ask, “What do you mean”?  For an example, our group spent an enormous amount of time “soaking”.  Have you ever “soaked” in his presence?  Bill’s first experience of really “soaking” was in Honduras, Central America.  He says it is the most anointed place he’s ever been.  There His presence was so strong that one could just sit and not do anything and come away from the experience having become “drenched” in all things Spirit.  This time was more toward that experience than any other experience we’ve had as an entire group here. 

Personally, and these may seem minor to some (but you weren’t there), on Wednesday night there was a very loud karaoke/music right below our hotel window…until after 10 PM.  We couldn’t watch T.V., we couldn’t read, we couldn’t go to sleep, and, the music was terrible!  We talked to the desk and FINALLY the revelers (it was Independence Day, after all) stopped.  Thank G!!!  But…then on Thursday night the same thing was about to occur.  Right after supper though, he intervened by sending rain!  Hallelujah!  And then again on Friday night, we were scheduled to have a L supper and commissioning meeting.  Right outside of the room where we were to meet were BIG tribal drums and chimes and chants, loud music and videos…the karaoke group was back outside of the room where we were to meet (our guitar player had no amplifier).  And suddenly, right as we were about to begin, it all stopped.  Inside and outside, there was quiet.  We could hear all of the music and all of the petitions being made. 

There was a guest speaker too.  He is a man named John, currently from Southern California but who has spent a lot of years doing what we’re doing in Eastern Europe.  Together we spent time delving into a Letter to the Philippians.  It was terrific and a blessing.  During one of the sessions the subject of fear came up.  What a life-changer! 

In John’s revelation (the saint, not our speaker), he wrote a list of those who would NOT enter into the Kingdom.  Most of the people who we know, who consider themselves members of the Kingdom, including us tend to focus or just start with the “classics”, fornicators, idolators, etc.  BUT, the FIRST group that is listed (and many of us think that whatever is listed first is often the most important) is the people who live in FEAR.  WOW!  THAT caused us to ask, “Uh oh, when was the last time we were in fear”?  Well, for us, it has been pretty recent.  Worry over G supplying all of our financial needs and having a fatalistic point-of-view about some other situations in our life = FEAR!!!!  So what did we do????  We REPENTED.  We admitted our mistake, we recanted our doubt in his ability to see us through anything and everything, we recommitted ourselves to not being afraid!  Glory! 

Now, we working at avoiding the “F word” and paying attention to when we inadvertently use it…because we ARE confident, we do not want to break our Father’s heart by operating in fear and doubt.  Especially because He is not “in” that except to rescue us from it.

So, we’re back in TN and sweating as usual; except, we are NOT sweating over our finances or our local group, or about anything else in or around our life.  Especially now, we hope that you (whomever you are or “is”) commit to getting rid of fear that is so detrimental to all of us.  We’re doing really well! 

“Hen gap lai”

Hello to any regular bloggers…like Dan.  Sorry, but sure enough (it seems) as soon as we get fired up about restarting the blog on a dedicated and regular basis, our internet goes POOF!  Life can be funny that way.  We chalk it up to one more thing that we take for granted.  Anyway, TG it is reconnected now and at least for the moment, we have internet. 

Bill is teaching 4 classes, 160 3rd year students who he taught and we interacted with in their first year, and who we have now known for over two years.  The course is UK & U.S. Country Studies.  This term is a bit more challenging as Bill’s Vietnamese counterpart, while being pretty fluent in English, is not very fluent in things American and British.  They’ll have to work on that.

We spent last Saturday in Hanoi “stocking up” on some essentials (i.e. “western food”).  Of course we saw a couple of long time friends there in Hanoi and last evening one of our many Thao’s came by for a cup of tea.  She just graduated and has a job already as an interpreter.  Our long time student-friend (and now colleague) Thao also came by the day after we got back to our “bungalow”.  She is doing real well and about to receive some increased responsibility.  Her co-worker, another friend of ours named Hien, will be leaving for S. Korea next Sunday to begin a graduate course there.

The temperature in the U.S. was actually a lot higher than it is here in Vietnam.  The trouble is, the humidity number is the same as the temperature number 85 or 90 or higher.  Seeing through the water can be challenging!

Isn’t it great when we sense that the L is taking us in a particular direction and we get several confirmations of that message?  For the last several years we have been spending a LOT of time “soaking” with Daniel, Nehemiah, and Ezekiel.  Our country team is focusing on Nehemiah this term and on developing a deeper and more significant (real) relationship with the L.  And, a Group we know is currently going through the Daily Walk B as part of their strengthening.  We decided to go through it too, just so we can be “somewhere near the same page” as one of our support team member Groups.  That’s nice, but even nicer (for us anyway) is that we began the walk on July 20 and it starts in Ezekiel.  Not necessarily a big deal BUT Bill had recently felt tugged to  jump into Ezekiel’s book.  For us, it is a thrill to have these sorts of things happen.

Have a great week. 

Tam Biet!

“Time flies when you’re having fun”.  Our time in the United States must’ve been hysterical!  On Wednesday we begin our journey back to Vietnam.  We are scheduled to be in Hanoi on Friday morning and back in Thai Nguyen at about 1-2 PM.  We’ve enjoyed good ice cream, a couple of good steaks, went to a major league baseball game & watched several others [including the Yankees losing to the Red Sox TWICE:( ] . We visited some family, spent a few days with both daughters-in-law and both grandchildren.  We met with like-minded folks, enjoyed some good music.  We have had a great time. 

Monday, Bill will start teaching 3rd year students.  On the 29th we’ll meet with the rest of our country team.  We’ve already begun planning for the 8-12 months we will spend in North America.  That is shaping up to be an adventure and a half!!! 

We are doing real well.  Of course, we miss the people we’re leaving behind in the U.S. but we are also looking forward to seeing students, colleagues, market people and friends.

Tam Biet.