Day 1

We got our first real taste of the true Vietnam this evening.  What an experience!  This is one of those times where I wish I were an eloquent writer who could capture what we saw, did, heard and smelled and to convey it to everyone.  Unfortunately, I'm not gifted in that way but I'll do my best to stumble through.

We went to a small church about 40 minutes from our hotel where Rick was preaching tonight.  The ride there was unlike any ride I've ever taken in my life!  The vast majority of the Vietnamese cannot afford cars so everyone has a motorcycle in some form.  How do I even begin to describe the traffic?  There are lanes painted on the roads but no one pays attention to them.  It is just a mass of motorcycles darting in and out of each other in every conceivable direction.  Some of them carrying up to 5 people (2 adults, 3 kids) plus the "stuff" they need to transport. 

Traffic

I tried to capture the roll of carpet but I didn't snap fast enough

4 people on the motorcycle, toddler is standing

I could fill a page just listing the things we saw being carried by the motorcycles.  Things like cases (8 maybe?) of beer, rolls of carpet padding (we think that's what it was), bunches of live geese hanging by their feet and stuffed into baskets, toddlers standing up on the seat in between their parents and oh so much more.  It was truly the most nerve-wracking and dizzying ride of my life.  Words and pictures cannot possibly do it justice!

The church is located in the "suburbs" of Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon (I'm not sure which I'm supposed to call it.  They are one and the same place.).  Suburbs here are unlike suburbs in Chicago.  The roads were rough and wound through rice field after rice field.  The oddest part was the cemetary plots in the midst of many of the rice fields we passed.  I wish I would have thought to take a picture!

We really enjoyed experiencing and participating in the church service.  Even in a different language, it was a blessing to be there.  We've been asked to come back on Tuesday morning to put on a 2 hour kids program at this same church.  I cannot imagine how they can fit 60 kids in that small room.

This is the church we attended tonight

Left to right:  Sherry, Jeff, Kerry & Rick just outside the church

 Stay tuned for day 2...