We Are Seeing Red!
NOTE: The website wouldn't let me create this blog when I tried, so this is posted a few days late.)
This is the week of celebration! It's actually been all last week as well, but we weren't in Hanoi to experience it in the capitol of the country. Well, we're back!! And the country was in a fervor of patriotism amazing to behold.
In celebration, a member of our branch invited all 6 of us missionaries out to lunch on Monday, along with a few other branch members and some of his family. He treated us to a delicious feast of mutton and salads and dessert, and it was delightful.
Khoi and a grandson
Knowing that the Humanitarian Missionaries, Darrell and Sheila Smart, live in a nice 2-bedroom apartment very close to the center of all the celebrating in Ba Dinh, I bravely asked Sheila if se could spend the night with them, and they said yes! So Monday night, as soon as the weekly missionary meeting (Preach My Gospel, from 6:00-6:30 pm) was finished, we packed our things, called a Grab car, and traveled as close as we could to the Smart's apartment, which turned out to not be all that close. Because of the parade and celebrations, there were road closures in place, and no cars were allowed within about 2 miles of the center of the celebration. What do you do then? Why, you start walking, of course. We ended up walking around 5 miles by the end of the day, which included walking around their neighborhood to see the decorations and the area where the parade, etc., would be.
Traffic was a bear to drive in; even our driver was exhausted.
The crowds were incredible.
We were walking after the sun went down, and the crowds grew and grew.
Roads were blocked off, and it was hard to find a way to get through to where we needed to go.
But we made it! We hooked up with our good friends, the Smarts, and wandered around their neighborhood for a little while, enjoying the spirit and excitement of the crowds.
"Proud to be Vietnamese"
These people are prepared to be here all night.
What's interesting is that the closest the parade will get to these people is clear across the lake that you see behind them, and that's okay with them. They just want to be a part of this historic moment. Amazing.
The next morning, Tuesday, Sept. 2, we left our friends' apartment at 7 am to go see how close we could get to the parade as we walked south toward our own apartment.
We found more roads blocked and more huge crowds.
And all along the way, homes and businesses had their televisions turned on to watch the parade.
Allen had found the different parade routes on a map; some routes were for troops marching, some were for tanks, some were for armored vehicles. He wanted to see the troops, but we were on the wrong side of the roads, and the wrong side of town.
We saw the large armored vehicles.
And there must have been some important people in this car!
Even the buildings under construction were highly decorated.
These kids were exhausted after a loooong night and morning...
Two families enjoying the day.
This banyan tree was so large someone had made it into a sort of house underneath.
This is my tired face after walking almost 8 miles to get home. We had planned to get a Grab car once we made it outside of the road closures, but we couldn't hail a Grab, and being of Pioneer stock, we hoofed it! Ouch! And we had a great experience for Independence Day/National Day/80th Year Celebration, and made it home by 11 am.
The day ended with fireworks that we could see from our 31st floor balcony--4 different shows, if we craned our necks just right. Very fun.
You'd think that would be enough for one week, right? But we had to get up early Wednesday morning and go right back to where we were the day before, at the district center in Ba Dinh for Zone Conference. But we love to go to Zone Conference and see all the missionaries and the Howells. We got trained by the Howells, by the Assistants to the President, by the Zone Leaders, and by the Sister Training Leaders. We heard some good things, ate some good food, and got to rub shoulders with some awesome missionaries. We are saying goodbye to 3 missionaries in 2 more weeks, and we'll gain 13 more.
Here is a role play; darn, we had to sit this one out.
Our District missionaries.
One of our favorites who is leaving in 2 weeks.
Running an errand to the mission office close by...
The rest of the week rushed by, as busy weeks do. I was finally able to get the LAST week's blog done, and that took a few late nights. Allen and I were asked to teach Sunday School for Sunday, so that took some planning and preparing in between our regular English activities, music class, and other meetings. And we actually had a date night on Friday night! That doesn't always happen, and I'm always very happy when it does!
Our branch had a sparse attendance Sunday, which was disappointing. We don't know why our members have not been coming, but we hope that once the summer ends and cooler weather begins, maybe that will have an influence. Our Sunday School class went well, so that was good.
Sunday night there was a double baptism at another branch that we attended. One of our Elders had taught one of the sisters being baptized, and one of our Sisters had taught the other sister being baptized, so we went with them to witness the baptisms and then enjoy the potluck afterwards. It was a crowded baptism, which was unusual--and fun!
Once a month the mission sponsors a special devotional called Why I Believe, where they invite recently baptized members to share their stories, and one of these sisters got to share that night, which added to the excitement for everyone.
May your weeks be as filled with happiness; may your hearts be filled with love.
Until next time...
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