2 down, 3 to go

So, we all have parted and are heading home. We all flew to Saigon, most flew to Taipei (I am blogging from their airport now), and I have 3 more flights to go. I pray for safe travels to all. We will miss Vietnam and its wonderful people...




**ADDENDUM** We are now in Hot-Lanta Hartsfield airport - only one flight left! It has been a wonderful time with this team - hard to say goodbye so I'll only say, "see you later!"

repairs and reconciliation

Today team members reconnected with friends and "adopted" families in the area - I'll give you a great story later - several of them lost their homes, and we have the joy of giving them back the home and roof they need. Detachments from our team went to meet with local authorities to work out a plan for caring for unwanted babies (born and unborn) by placing them in caring homes. Chuck and others went north to meet with the "Peoples Aid Coordinating Committee" to work on permissions for future clinics. Things happen slowly in Vietnam, but patience, prayer, and persistence pay off.
I am repeatedly amazed at the healing and reconciliation brought about through VWAM. Chuck Ward is a gifted leader - I hope to model his calm confidence and his relationship-building skills in the future. I am equally inspired by the "over 60" guys who are making the most of every opportunity by doing these missions.

Check this out from James 2: What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.


Amen!

Roofs and Tubes

So, now that we have $3000+ left over from the mission fund (even after paying for so many surgeries - they are cheap here) - we are finding people whose homes were destroyed by Typhoon Ketsana and we're buying them new roofs. One whole roof costs only $200 installed, so we should be able to cover 15 peoples' homes! Here is a cleanup crew:

In the mean time Jordon and I are enjoying by far the best surf yet - we awoke at 6am to glassy perfection - long, hollow, overhead lines slowly rolling beachward. I am so sore but so happy. I wish I had a video of it but who's going to stand on the beach and do it?


We went out again after breakfast, then again after we biked Monkey Mountain we caught an evening session - it was small and onshore but fun with friends: Jordon ripped, Jack surfed, and Debbie totally got up on a few Vietnamese waves: