Day 4 - No, I Can't Think Up Some Witty Title

This morning, we left the hotel about 7am for the church that the Awana training/celebration was taking place at.  It was about 1 hour away.

We took a little tour of the church before the training began.  Some things were very much like an American church and some things were very different.  The one visual that stuck with me and made me smile big was the Awana game circle.  The church is a very skinny church and is 5 stories tall.  The 6th floor is like an attic with a rooftop patio.  They told us that no one ever came out there or used the space because it was so high and there were no railings up there.  After Awana started in this church last year, they saw such value in the program that they raised funds to cover the patio with a roof and installed railings and they use that space for Awana now.

The game circle is small by our standards.  We were having fun thinking of all the games that would be easier to play with the smaller circle.  The 4 way tug wins in my book!

The training started off with singing which was awesome, even if we didn't understand what they were saying.  We did recognize one of the tunes as a Michael W Smith song so we sang along in English.  It was a great way to begin the day.

This was a picture of the sanctuary where the training was held

We had sessions on Excellence and Leadership.  The first session was strictly in Vietnamese so I couldn't tell you what was said but the Leadership session was taught by our very own Rick Pierson. 

Rick and his translator

Now Rick has told me that his image is copyrighted and I have to pay him to use it so no one tell him it's in here.  He'll never know!

Have no fear Compass peeps.  We are compiling a list of Rickisms.  I'm not sure they would be funny to anyone else so I may not publish them here but if you ever need a good laugh, I would be happy to share!

After the training, we headed to another church plant of The Compass Church.  They hold weekly English classes for young people and we went to help them practice their English.  It was a lot of fun getting to meet and interact with them.  Teaching these young people English opens the doors for the church to share the Gospel with them.

I am trying to put together a list of things that surprised me about Vietnam.  Today's giggle is specifically for Bradley.  They need cable management classes in Saigon.

Tomorrow is the 1 year celebration of Awana in Vietnam.  We will be heading back to the church we were at today to hear stories of the past year and celebrate with the leaders of the 15 clubs.  I'm really excited about this after getting a small glimpse of some of what we will hear.