Xin Chào Vietnam

We left the Guatemala base at 8pm on Wednesday, December 6 and arrived at the Guatemala City airport at 8:30pm, only to wait in the lobby until check-in began. At the lovely hour of 1am, the only thing open was Subway, so you could find the whole squad there. We took off at 2:30am on Thursday, December 7 and landed in Houston at 5:30am. Because we were switching airlines, we had to grab all of our bags and trek across the airport, back to check-in. The flight from Houston didn’t take off until 4:15pm, so we had a 10 hour and 50 minute layover. And since we couldn’t check-in until we got closer to the flight, we camped out in the lobby. The check-in process took forever as the Delta staff took the worst way possible to check-in a group of 50 people. And on top of that, two of the Vietnam visas were slightly messed up, and they wouldn’t give boarding passes until the visas were fixed. So Bill and Katie were scrambling to get that fixed as soon as possible so we could finish there and head to security. We somehow all got through with time to spare at the gate and then we were off to LA.

We had a four hour layover in LA so we had fun exploring that airport and seeing the cool locations that were flying out of it. Places like Sydney, London, Istanbul, Paris, Hong Kong, and Seoul. We found ways to keep us awake and occupied until it was time to board the next flight. The flight to Seoul, South Korea was 13 hours through Korean Airways and the plane was HUGE. It was a double decker plane with ten seats per row. I got a lucky ticket next to the Abby Wallace and we had a good time figuring out sleeping positions and plane meals. And fortunately, we woke up with three hours remaining, meaning we had slept for ten hours which was awesome considering that we hadn’t slept in two days. The Seoul airport wasn’t like anything I’ve ever seen. Yet it was exactly what I imagined a Korean airport to look like. Suuuuper high tech and very fancy. In between the two big terminals was basically Rodeo Drive and there were talking robots that were rolling around available to answer questions. I was happy to see we had another Korean Air flight to Vietnam because the flight information video this airline showed was AWESOME since it was basically a whole production starring BTS. After the final flight of six hours, we finally made it to Vietnam. That was until we had to go through customs and our team accidentally chose the absolutely slowest line ever so we were the last to leave the airport. BUT we were very thankful to finally be in Vietnam!

We had a week of debrief in Ho Chi Minh to rest, reflect on Guatemala, and prepare for Vietnam. We stayed in a hotel in the heart of the city so we were able to explore a lot. We used this time to have one-on-ones with our coaches and have team debriefs with them and Bill as well. We made fried ham sandwiches with our coaches at our debrief and had Bill and Steve, one of our coaches, partake in the Team Abide initiation process…silent karaoke. In the afternoon of Thursday, December 14, we hit the road to head to Da Nang where we would do ministry.

Since it would be an overnight bus ride, we got a sleeper bus. But it wasn’t allowed downtown so we took a regular bus to get to the sleeper one. This bus couldn’t be parked in the street in front of the hotel for more than five minutes we had we to get every person and pack on this bus under that time. It was chaotic but successful. The sleeper bus was PACKED. It only had 46 seats and we had 49 people so some had to sleep in the aisles. There were two levels of beds but the air only worked at the top so those up there were freezing while the ones at the bottom were beyond hot. The bus broke down a few times and one time we all got out of the bus because it was going to be a while. We had a nice little game of hacky sack going on to keep us occupied. 15 hours later, we arrived in Da Nang. Fortunately, the bus pulled up right in front of the hotel our team would be staying in so we didn’t have to Grab or walk anywhere. After eating lunch and getting settled, we went to the beach which was only a five minute walk. And it was absolutely beautiful. We were looking at the South China Sea, surrounded by mountains. We were pumped that we would be able to go out there everyday. That is until it rained for three straight weeks.

Ministry looked very different in Vietnam than it did in Guatemala because it’s a communist country. All of the teams were separated except for ours since we’d be working and living with team Nissi. But we weren’t allowed to associate with Harvest, even if we passed them in the street, to protect the ministry they were working with. That first night, both teams visited the ministry we’d be working with, Vision. It was an English club, which is a place for the Vietnamese to go every night to strengthen their English by having conversation. Vision also hosted English classes, where the Vietnamese would learn words, definitions, and pronunciation. And while we were there, we were able to lead discussions in club and teach in the class.

We were invited to the big Christmas Gala put on by Vision that was held the day after we arrived. We got front row seats and all. This program ranged from scholarship presentations to video clips and live music from “Titanic” to a bubble show to an emotional skit about Jesus saving us. It was all over the place but really incredible. The fourteen of us even got presented to the huge crowd. And just as everybody predicted, the Bill Swan was picked in the raffle at the end and received a pretty legit trip in Vietnam.

Christmas Day looked a little different for us this year. We had a team sleepover on Christmas Eve so that we’d be able to wake up together on Christmas morning. We watched a Christmas Hallmark movie on YouTube and all. Our Christmas day started by our ministry hosts treating us to a big breakfast buffet at a fancy hotel. We came back to our hotel to exchange Secret Santa gifts between the team and love on each other a little as it was a bit of a hard day. And then both of our team leaders surprised us with a visit to Asia Park, the local amusement park. We spent our Christmas afternoon riding roller coasters in the middle of Vietnam. Never in a million years did I think I’d ever say that sentence.

Life was challenging in Vietnam for our team. We wouldn’t go to Vision until 7:30pm, only four nights a week, and visited church on Sundays from 3-5. So we had every morning to ourselves. And with the rain and communism, we had a hard time filling the hours, leaving a lot of room for overthinking and anxiety to creep in. But the time we spent at Vision was the best couple of hours ever.

In English class, me, along a few others on my team, would sit amongst the students, helping them learn English words. Don, our ministry host, was the teacher of this class and he made it very fun for us and for the students. Don used our American accents to help the students hear correct pronunciations and we would also help define words and teach spelling. One of my top memories from class has got to be the time Lianne was teaching the pronunciation of the word “short” to the students and just so happened to look directly at me as she said it. Coincidence? I think not. My “figure” got complimented plenty that day after that. Over the past few years, Don had been creating homework for the students for them to practice their English with every night. He would record Q&A videos about the short film they were using to learn English. He would ask a question through the video and the students would have to answer it before he did. So we had the opportunity to record the audio for these videos for the students, since our American accents were easier to fully understand. These videos will be used for many years to transform thousands of Vietnamese in their English skills.

In English club, we would host topics and discussion each night. Our topics ranged from all things Christmas to what joy is. We would open with a game, do a small teaching on the topic, and provide discussion questions for them to answer at tables with us. One of my favorite club experiences was when Peyton and I hosted on the topic of joy. This particular night had been the most crowded we’d ever seen club, and the people were very receptive to the topic. We asked them some hard questions about what they think joy is and where they can find it. And before we let them go, I asked them to process two big questions: 1) What REALLY brings you joy? and 2) Would someone see you as an example of what joy looks like? And if not, what can you do to change that? We ending club with Just Dance that day and didn’t leave until 10:45pm because we were having so much fun. We started doing karaoke and Just Dance every time we had club after that. Specifically the Rasputin Just Dance. The connections and memories we made at club far outweighed the hard of the day leading up to it. Shoutout to my buddy Mikey for always showing up to club and making it a really fun experience for us. And to Eugene for the fantastic karaoke performances. Much love to all the amazing people we met at club.

Our last visit to English club was very special. The Vision staff made a recap video of all of our best memories from Vietnam and showed the whole club and that was so special. The song that played in the background was “Party in the USA”, a top hit in Vietnam for us. We were even gifted with personalized photo frames that included pictures of us from club. And we had to end with Just Dance and karaoke of course.

Vision and Vietnam will forever have a special place in my heart and I will always be grateful for the season I had there.

Debrief in Ho Chi Minh