Mid-Year Reflection Through Video

This year has been so amazing so far and I feel so fortunate to be in such a wonderful place. I have never met such an amazing group of people and I feel greatly blessed that He has called me here to be with these people.




I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I hope it was a time shared with family and friends! G0d bless!

In other news:
I am still $3238 away. If you would like to contribute please go to teachoverseas.org and click "contribute" on the left hand side. There you can donate online, where you type in my name and amount to donate or you can send a check to the following address. To send a check write my name on a separate sheet of paper along with my account number #209133. Thank you!

Christmas Time is Here

One week ago, two weeks from Christmas, I asked my roommates if they would want to throw a Christmas party for our students and friends. Even on such late notice, they agreed! The next week I was busy informing all of my students...over 90 in all...about our party, because the girls do not teach adults, they informed their friends. I figured I would tell all of my students because 1) I didn't want to leave anyone out and 2)not everyone would be able to come right? Well, to our surprise, over 60 students and friends joined us out our house to celebrate the Christmas season.

Prepping for the party and practicing the games

Our party started at 6 but because we were thinking Vietnamese time...we assumed people would start showing up at 7. I think people were too excited about the party because instead of coming late....people started showing up a half hour early!

For more than a half hour, floods of people came through our door, motorbikes packed in our small alley and shoes were in a jumble outside our door. I regret now that I did not take a picture of the chaos outside but what can I do now? Once people were finally settled inside, we tried every effort to get them to start eating. Apparently, the way we had it set up (at a table) was awkward for their culture, so we ended up moving the food into the center of the room where is was quickly devoured. And let me just say that we had asked everyone to bring some food and man did they bring food....our counter was loaded with more food than we could have imagined. We had no idea what we were going to do with all of it but by the end of the night, all but one bag of fruit and a cake was gone!

The party only lasted two hours but those two hours seemed to last forever...which was fine because we were having fun. During the night we played three games, which didn't get everyone involved but made everyone laugh. The first game we played was "Pin the Nose on Rudolph". There was a little cheating involved but because they seemed to have never seen this game, we let it slide. The other students had a fun time watching people spin around and try to stick the nose in the right place. Everyone would cheer and clap when a nose was placed. Our next game was pass the ornament which involved straws and paper ornaments. Each team was set up in a line and once the game began, the person in front had to pass the ornament to their teammate only using their straws. We let them practice first and that was funny enough but actually watching them during the relay was even better. When they dropped the ornament they would freak out and were quick to pick it up and complete the race. Each participant walked away with a beautifully decorated ornament of their own. Our last game of the night was an entertaining game of Musical Chairs. This game only came about because the winner of Pin the Nose on Rudolph did not take home his prize of a mini Christmas tree. It was a hot commodity, so we decided to make the students compete for it. The students danced around the chairs to the Christmas music and fought very hard for that tree.

Game time!

One of Lily's friends was way off with her placement of Rudolph's nose. We definitely had a good laugh with that one.

The night was definitely a success! I enjoyed so much seeing all of my students in one setting, enjoying an American Christmas party!

So many different groups of students...two of my business students even brought their children and nephews. Thank the L0rd for coloring sheets that kept them entertained for a while!

In other news....the morning started with a joint Christmas service between the International Fellowship and the Korean church. It was the most amazing experience, getting to sing about our L0rd and Savi0r together. It was definitely an experience I will never forget! The service ended with a lunch together with both American and Korean food....my favorite was definitely the chili!



All in all...it was a WONDERFUL day. And because the party ended at 8, we even got a decent sleep. Who could ask for anything better? I definitely felt blessed by the entire day.

He Is My Provision

The month before I went back to the states, I began meeting with, Shawna, a woman from my church in Ho Chi Minh City. Every week we would meet and she would let me talk and talk and talk while she patiently listened and spoke when she had insight. Well, one day I was telling her how upset I was going to be that I would not be with my good guys friends next year, since I would be moving to Da Nang. She told me of a time when she felt like she was being called to move and at the time it was difficult to leave her good friends behind...however, she knew that because G0d was calling her, He was also going to provide for her. Sure enough, when she moved, the friendships she made were even stronger. She encouraged me that it would be the same for me...she even threw in a little prayer that my new friendships would be with females. (Here it is a lot more culturally appropriate to hang out with people of your same sex)

So with that I was on my way. My first few months here I definitely lacked friendships and it was difficult but He knew what He was doing and after calling out to Him for friends, I now feel like I am knee deep in friendships and it continues to rise.

Already, I have been to karaoke with some, gone over to a friend's house for lunch, and been out to coffee with a few. Yes, I did fun things with my guy friends but I have been enjoying the girls I have so much this year! I find it "ironic" that my classes last year were full of boys and this year the majority is girls....or could it just be His plan?

Today was a difficult day in one of my classes....for some reason the students were not into trying and I was done begging them to do something! In situations like this last year, I would have texted the guys and vented to them and they would have been there...but this year I not only have a listening ear, I have words of affirmation. I know these girls and I have a special bond. All I have to do is think back to the beginning of the night where one of my students, who I didn't teach tonight, came into the classroom because she saw the light on and just talked to me. Or I could reread the text I received, at the end of the night, from a student who asked if I had forgotten her because we had not talked in a few days.

Little things like this reassure me that I am completely in His will. He moved me because He wanted to use me here and He has been nothing less then my provision!

Where Has the Time Gone?

I cannot believe November 13th was my last post! Time has really been flying by this year which is both good and bad. Good because that means the states are not too far away and I get to see family and friends...bad because I love it here and I am enjoying my students.

Because I don't want to think of the future too much, I will focus on the past...what have these past weeks held for me?

ESI had its first conference which was held the week before Thanksgiving and was in the familiar location of Mui Ne....where we went last year.

On the plane to Ho Chi Minh City

We had a few hours to kill in the city before we got on the bus for Mui Ne

Mui Ne sure has pretty sunsets

We got to go mini golfing!

Jenni in her matching PJs which is a typical day outfit for many Vietnamese women...at least in District 6

Drinking our Shirley Temples (Deidra and Ashley)

Other recent events:

We got a Christmas tree!

Getting sinh to (or fruit shakes) with the gang...don't worry we didn't try to drive like this

Hanging out at Le Funk

A group of students came over to cook dinner

The food was delicious and fresh as my students kept telling me while the still live shrimp were jumping off the plate before they were fried

They were such great girls

Mary is so quiet but so sweet

Hopefully it wont take so long to write my next post!

What's Been Going On

The southern Vietnamers came into town two consecutive weekends in a row! First we hosted Steph, Brittany and Melissa. The following weekend Deidra, Jenni and Ashley came up. We had many adventures from a trip to Hoi An for some shopping, a day full of eating and a jaunt down to the river where I picked up a kitty, as you can see in the picture above. I had him for two nights but eventually found him a nice home!


One of the girls from church was leaving us and in her honor with through her a "frou frou" dance party. Vietnam has stores and stores of extravagant wedding dresses and these very colorful ones you see here. The girls who set up the party set up a deal with a store where we paid to rent a dress and get our hair and make-up done. We danced late into the night and had such a blast! It will definitely be a difficult party to top....even though my zipper busted open. Yup that's right...my zipper broke! We tried taping it and it held for a while but I guess I was busting too much of a move because I broke it even more. Luckily, one of the girls in the house was my size. She gave me a new dress to wear and I was back on the floor!



The girl in the middle playing the harmonica is one of my students! Her school was having a talent show and she invited me to come watch. I was such a proud mama watching her and her partner take second place! The girls with the fans won first. They did a traditional Korean dance and the fans were beautiful. The guy in the right corner did an amazing hip-hop dance. Between these three acts, I was very entertained.


The night began with a trip to the movie theater to watch RED. If you have not seen it...watch it! My parents can testify that I am a harsh movie critic and hardly really enjoy a movie. I loved every part of this movie!...so that says a lot. After the movie we went to a friend's house to play cards and hang out. The night ended with drinks and loopiness. It was a pretty decent night.


You may be thinking....does that girl ever teach. Yes I do! I am still working over here but this year it doesn't feel like work. I am having a blast with my classes! Sorry for taking so long on the update. Thanks for being faithful followers!

Nights Out With My Students

From the beginning, I have been in love with my classes. As you can see from the following pictures, we have had a lot of fun.

These pictures were taken on our last night of class. During class I gave out awards and we played games which they really got into. After class we went out to dinner by the beach where we ate snails and a hot pot. We then headed off to ice cream for dessert! Please yarp that we will be able to hang out again soon because they are a great bunch of kids!

These pictures came from Women's Day which is celebrated October 20th. Our day began with our school taking us out to breakfast and coffee. Later that night, one of my classes gave my a flower arrangement which almost made me cry...I was not expecting anything from students, especially from that class. My last class is in their final days of class so the school had planned an "outdoor" activity. We got to go out to coffee for two hours where we talked a lot and played a few games. After coffee, I was planning on heading home and having dinner but they wanted to keep the night going. We decided to go get some dinner and after ten minutes of trying to get enough helmets and bikes, we headed out. Unfortunately we went out too late and could not find a place that was open. However, that lead to talk of a future dinner plans which I am definitely not opposed to!

I just wanted to make a note that since I was here the first year, I have wanted to take a picture of three people on a motorbike...I think it looks so funny. I finally got my opportunity when we went out to dinner. I could only take two because I was laughing so hard. They looked so funny squished together on one bike.

Karaoke With Our School Staff

So this past Sunday night Nicky, Lily and I were invited to go to karaoke with our staff. We didn't really know how to feel because they had invited a lot of other people we didn't know and so we, or at least I, went in with low expectations. I never really break out of my shell around a bunch of new people so I was not expecting to sing a whole lot....but oh how I was wrong. We ended up having a great night that lasted for three whole hours! From the first song everyone was up and dancing and it did not end until the night was over.

Lily and I starting off the night with "Beat It"


When we sang "My Heart Will Go On" we had some reenactments

This is just an example of how much dancing went on

Khoa and Anh...the girls who work in our office. They are so great!

When we came out of the club we realized it had been raining all night! What a way to spend a rainy night!