March 1st to 4th Can Tho (the missing pages)

We censored this post until now.
When we left Hanoi we agreed as a family that our ministry did not end in Hanoi but that we would continue to pray as a family that God would continue to arrange divine appointments for us. We didn't meet anyone in Danang but in Hoi An Jenny spotted Marie Mah, a retired teacher from Fairview Elementary back in Maple Ridge. We were sitting at a cafe and Jenny spotted Marie across the street. Jenny spent a couple hours with her and chatted about their faith. Marie is a believer but has not been attending church recently very much.

In Ho Chi Minh City we a single girl named Bella occupied one of the beds in the hostel. We started chatting and she came out to dinner with us on Saturday night. Jenny did a great job sharing her story using her 4 page witnessing book as a picture guide.

The next day, as we entered Can Tho we prayed again that God would put people in our path to share the Good News with.It turns out that our guide on our Mekong River cruise is a Christian. We found out fairly early on during a conversation about religion in Vietnam. He was so excited when we shared that we are Christians too. We spent pretty much the whole 7hrs sharing our faith and how God has worked in our lives. An shared that his dad recently passed away and his mum is a cancer survivor. He is an enthusiastic member of a local church in Can Tho. We stopped for a break when we were introduced to our boat driver lady’s husband. He had a bandage on his foot and both Jenny and I heard from HS to pray for healing for him. 

When I say ‘heard from Holy Spirit I mean that I got an idea that we should pray for him. I didn't know if it was ‘my’ idea but when Jenny said that she felt the same thing that was our first confirmation. Not long after we mentioned to Andy that this is what we felt and he talked to the boat driver and asked if it would be OK. Her husband was operating another boat and they were nowhere near us but we said that if we see him at the drop off point then she would ask him. I was praying that she would accept and she said yes. Second confirmation. As we were pulling up to the dock he was driving his boat to meet us. Perfect - third confirmation.  Andy called him over and between them they told that we wanted to pray for healing on his foot. I told him that we are Christian and that God loves him, his wife and all the people of Vietnam. That Jesus heals even people who do not know him. We asked him about his injury, a sprained foot, and asked if he felt pain. He said he did. At that point we prayed for healing. Jemma and Jenny laid hands on him and we all prayed. He said that his foot felt a little better so we asked if we could pray again. The second time he said that his foot felt a lot better. Thanks you Jesus! 
Then his wife came forward and said she had a sore knee and her hands were shaking from holding the motor all day (for 30 years). We prayed for her too. She said that she didn’t feel any different so we prayed for her again. We didn't really get any confirmation that she was healed as they were in a hurry to pick up other passengers. We will hear back through Andy if her knee or hands feel any better. This was our first real experience with actual healing. People were prayed for at the disabled home and we heard reports that sight had been partially restored but we were not involved directly. We don't doubt that it is true, it’s just that we were not actual witnesses.

We exchanged contact info with Andy and he texted us to say how moved and encouraged he was by our day together. He is a tour guide by day and an English teacher at night. We were invited to come to his school that evening to teach some English to his 6 students.

On the boat that day we had all been singing worship songs and one that Andy had not heard of was ‘Fruit of the Spirit’. That evening we decided to teach the fruits of the spirit to the kids and sing the song with the students. It was a hit! We only stayed 1/2hr and were exhausted since we had been up since 4:45. 

Andy is a member of a local church and he mentioned that they have a worship and prayer meeting for the elderly on Tuesday night and would we like to come along. Of course we would! We were not prepared for how beautiful the church is. It is only three years old. Much of the funding for the church has come from Korean donors. We love Korea! Downstairs in a beautiful, air conditioned meeting room about 60 people were ready for worship, prayer and a quiz following their month’s bible teaching. At the end we were asked if we would share a little about what we were doing in Can Tho and before you knew it we were sharing our testimonies how God had brought us through Kona and to bless the people of Vietnam. Jenny teared up when she shared that it is Vietnam that has blessed us! Jemma was also moved to share how she has been moved by God’s church in Vietnam.We went out for crab soup with Andy after the service and he shared some more about his life and his dreams. We would love to get him in touch with our friends in Hanoi. He is like a South Vietnamese version of Yen.Tomorrow we will go out to one of the church member’s village for a service. 

March 3rdAt 10:00am I met Andy for a coffee while Jenny and Jemma had facials. We had a really good chat  and I told hm all about YWAM and what we learned at school. He is interested but concerned about leaving his Mom, who lives alone since his father died two years ago.We met the girls and Ryan and hopped in a taxi out to his Mom’s place. The plan was to have lunch at Mom’s and then go out to a village and visit Andy’s great uncle. I forgot to mention that I woke up to a crash as Jenny dropped the laptop on her foot. She thought that maybe it was broken but was walking around but in quite a lot of pain.

After lunch we prayed for Jenny’s foot and she had miraculous healing. Her fort was so swollen she could barely get her foot in her shoe but after prayer the swelling as gone and she felt no pain. PJ. After that we popped next door and prayed for healing for a neighbour. No results at the time but Andy will let us know.

The only access to Andy’s uncle is by boat along the river or via a narrow path only accessible by foot or bike. Believe it or not it is illegal for more than one passenger on a bike so we decided that Jenny and Jemma would ride on the back of two bikes and Ryan and I would follow on a bicycle. We did fine until we hit some bridges and then I broke the bike. I had to really pedal hard to get up and over the bridge and as I pushed down the back sprocket started slipping and the pedals just went around without any traction. Then the chain came off and Ryan and I were out of commission. We had to wait for the two mopeds to come back and get us and then Jemma burnt her leg on a the muffler of her bike (attack #2?). I didn't mention that Ryan was limping because of hang nail on his big toe and he was upset because it reminded him so much how he was out of commission for so many weeks.

We finally arrived at Andy’s uncles place which turned out to be not much more than a shack with a dirt floor. Andy’s uncle is 92 and his wife is 87. They look great. Andy’s uncle (actually his great grandfather’s brother) was a fortune teller for 62 years. Just 6 years ago he saw a vision of a cross and decided to follow Jesus. He had previously walked into a church and had heard a little about Jesus. I videod his Testimony (click this) where he described how he gave his life to Jesus quit drinking, smoking and fortune telling right away and has never looked back. The crazy thing is after he gave up fortune telling he started getting hassle from his neighbours and local officials. Well, not so surprising if you take into account the spiritual battle that must be going on.
We prayed for healing for a 76yr old local lady who has cardiovascular problems and she wanted to know Jesus so we walked her through a prayer for repentance and healing. We are eagerly waiting to hear if there are any changes in her health.

We called a motorbike taxi (who turned out to the owner of the house where we had left the broken bicycle - random?) and he took Ryan and me as far as the road and the we had to pull off as there was a police check point. What! We had to shuttle people (two at a time) past the check point and finally we got back to Andy’s mums place where Jemma was now in quite a bit of pain from her burn. We finally got home at about 6:30pm, exhausted after a crazy. busy day.

March 4thWe met Andy at 6:30 this morning, grabbed some food and a couple of coffees and hopped in a taxi for the 40minute ride out East to a church for the dedication of a new pastor. The kids stayed at home. Jemma nursing her muffler burn, Ryan has an infected toe and Jenny, well, her foot feels great!The church was buzzing with men in suits, women in dresses and the church decorated as if for a wedding. We had time to wander around to see lunch preparations well under way and hundreds of people arriving for the service. I wasn't expecting such a big deal. WE estimate that almost a thousand people were in attendance. The church was packed and two outside telecast viewing areas were also full. Our taxi driver offered to stay and wait for us rather than drive all the way back to Can Tho in an empty cab so he sat through most of the service. I was able to witness to him with Andy translating for me. There was a Vietnamese guy sitting behind us nodding and smiling the whole time. Maybe HS was working on him too?After a seemingly very long service with enthusiastic praise and worship it was time for photos with Andy’s mum, grandma, brother and at least one uncle. Plus, of course, the new pastor and his wife. Finally, at 11:30 we went outside for an amazing lunch of stir fry beef and pork and then a hotpot. Delicious!We continued to witness to the taxi driver on the ay home and prayed with him when he dropped us off. Andy has his contact info and will keep in touch.What an amazing experience. So cool.We are heading back to HCM City tomorrow morning so, sadly, we had to say goodbye to our new Brother in Christ but will definitely be keeping in touch.

Can Tho Testimony

Pastor Dedication Choir

Andy witnessing to the taxi driver

Our boat driver (we prayed for her husband's foot)

The new pastor, his wife and Andy's family.

A village church

Andy's Mum

Downstairs in the main church in Can Tho - Tuesday night bible class

English class

Our boat lady making ornaments for us out of reeds

Pho on the Mekong

March 26th - WE ARE HOME in sunny Maple Ridge, Canada!

Wow, that was a long haul! It was harder than I expected. It wasn't the layovers that got me but the back to back red eyes. Our connection in Bangkok was seamless thanks to Thai Airways checking us in as international travellers so that we did not have to mess around in Bangkok with our tight connection to Hanoi. 
The 8hr layover in Hanoi wasn't too bad in the end. We found a restaurant that was empty the whole time we were there that had soft couches that we could lounge on. It was like our own private sky lounge! The flight to Seoul was at 11:10pm and arrived at 3:30am or 5:30am local time. That was a red eye. I think I may have slept for an hour and I wandered the streets of Seoul with Min and Sean from our Kona class like a zombie. Thanks again guys for taking us out and to lunch. Sorry that I wasn't my usual energetic, annoying self. Jenny and the kids were fine. It was cold in Seoul. About 5C compared to the 39C in Thailand. That was a shock to the system plus we had very few warm clothes. Thanks again Sean for bringing us coats.

We flew from Seoul to Vancouver YVR at 6:45pm and arrived in Vancouver at 4:00am which was noon local time. I had about 2hrs sleep on that flight which adds up to 3hrs out of 60hrs.Thanks to our friends at Burnett Fellowship Baptist Church for filling our fridge and the lasagna and ham and cheese and everything. You guys are amazing.Our house looks like a bomb went off. Food, clothes, gifts covering every surface. Our house sitter, Lisa has gone away for the weekend which is probably for the best as she kept our house immaculate and now its a mess. Here are some photos of our fun with the elephants. Now we are back on safe ground I will post some of what went on back in VN in a separate post. 

Our elephants

Grand Canyon, Chiang Mai

Should I keep them?

Starbucks in Seoul, Korea

Sums up how I was feeling in Seoul

Thanks again for lunch Sean

Mmmm, appetizing. Some Koreans are a bit weird. Food served in a toilet bowl.

Chiang Mai Airport, 1hr in 47 to go...

Thanks for following us. God Bless. 
The Watermans.

19th March (Week 14 Thailand - Chiang Mai)

We are in Thailand! Many things are the same but many things are different too. It’s a sweltering 39C right now, even up here in the highlands. It’s burning season so the atmosphere is a bit hazy but still miles better than Hanoi. There are street vendors, restaurants but generally things here are just easier. 
Examples. 1. ATMS dispense more than $80 per transaction. It is possible to withdraw $800 in a single transaction here if your bank will allow it. 2. Cars drive on the left and follow traffic signs. In Vietnam I don't actually know what side of the road people were supposed to be on. It was a free for all, including the sidewalks. 3. There are significantly fewer vehicles. Seriously, Ho Chi Minh city was a vehicle, flood like apocalypse! It was insanity!Don’t get me wrong, I love Vietnam. I think it is cooler, less commercial, than Thailand. Thailand has been doing tourism longer and it shows.

Anywho, 4 days to go and then 3 days of travel. Our main goals coming here were to see the Mundays, check, meet Jon Brooks, check, see Owen, tomorrow evening, and possibly hang with some elephants, Monday afternoon. Cool.

It’s going to be a long slog getting home. We fly Wednesday morning at 10:10am to Bangkok where we have a whirlwind domestic to international connection onto our flight to Hanoi. Please pray that we make the connection and that our baggage does to. Bangkok Airport is massive.
Once in Hanoi we sit around for 8hrs waiting for our 11:00pm flight to Seoul which arrives at about 6:00am. We hope to pop in to the city and maybe see some friends as we have 12hrs to kill before our final 11hr flight home to good ol’ YVR!  7C and raining, yeeha!! I think I have a pair of jeans and long sleeve sweater deep in my backpack. Thanks to the International Date line we will arrive about 10hrs before we left at noon on Thursday 24th.
Thank you in advance to all those people preparing us care packages and meals for the first couple of days.

It’s kinda surreal that this is it. We left September 24th and will arrive home March 24th, exactly 6 months later. I was in my forties when we left and I am now in my fifties. We all celebrated birthdays while we away (Jenny’s was just this week). I was laid off on December 19th and exactly one year later on December 19th we all flew to Hanoi. Anyway, enough blogging. Here are some photos.

Our last night in Phu Quoc. Seafood hotpot on the beach.

Our Tuk Tuk in Chiang Mai

Mango smoothie on Jenny's birthday.

Jon and family at the movie theatre

Waterfall 1hr north of Chiang Mai

13th March (Week 13 Vietnam - Phu Quoc)

I had intended to post at least a dozen photos last week but it seems that there is a problem posting to Blogspot from this location. Other traveler have experienced the same thing. Anyway, I’m wring this from our little hut in Phu Quoc but will likely publish when we are in Thailand tomorrow. 

First things first, how is Jemma? Jemma is doing great. Her leg is healing now that we have the right cleaning solution, dressing pads and of course, python fat. The only downer is that she cant get the wound wet, or hater shouldn’t, for fear of dreaded infection. So the pool and ocean are out of bounds for her.

We are staying at the Ninila fruit farm. There are about 20 palm thatched rooms that are delightful. The new infinity pool is beautiful and we are about a 20minute walk from the beach. The fruit farm has a restaurant with a good menu with lots of seafood as well as western dishes. It’s been a week of rest, wandering and reflecting on our past few months. This is it. We are rapidly coming to the end of this adventure. Today is our last full day in Vietnam. We have a long travel day with a 7hr lay over at Ho Chi Minh City airport before heading up to Chiang Mai vi Bangkok. We will make no attempt to go out of the airport. I think we have come to the end of our patience with the insanity of the motorbike traffic of the city. We will stay put and wait the day out, eating at the Burger King and gorging on chocolate from the duty free.

10 days to go. We will visit the Mundays (Jamie Munday is Shannon's Aziz's brother. Shannon is our friend from ringette and we have been camping with the Mundays up at Kawkawa Lake in Hope for the past three years) in Chiang Mai. Leah is 9 months pregnant, delivery due at the end of this month. We will meet up with Jon, Andy and Glenda’s friends from their DTS last year and Owen Brown, an old school chum of Jenny’s. Chiang Mai is as warm as it is here and we just learned that we will arrive during ‘burning time’ when waste vegetation is burned off the fields taking the Air Quality Index up to a massive 120-140. Awesome!
Next post will be from Thailand or, possibly from the airport on our way home!

Below are a couple of photos that I was unable to post last week.

Dedicating the new pastor in Can Tho

Our last morning with Ms Ha in Can Tho

Phu Quoc. Jemma couldn't go in the ocean.

Sao Beach. One of the best in Vietnam

Our bungalows at Ninila Fruit Farm

Our restaurant and pool.

Cows just roam through the resort

8th March (Week 12 Vietnam - Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh City, Phu Quoc)

It turned out that our guide on our Mekong River cruise is a believer so we chatted for hours and over the next couple days got to visit some churches in Can Tho. We were really surprised/impressed with the size and beauty of the church in Can Tho. We were invited to attend a weekly bible group in a meeting room downstairs which was also beautiful. We spent the next couple of days visiting our new friend’s family and other churches. One day we went out to see our friends’s uncle in a  remote village where access was by boat along a river or by a narrow trail. We had to double on motorbikes and Ryan and I followed on a bicycle. Well, the bicycle gave out, partly due to my weight (well mostly) and partly due to the steep bridges crossing the river. Well, the back sprocket started spinning - it is supposed to stay fixed to the back wheel - and we could go no further. In the process of ferrying us back and forth to the uncle’s place Jemma burned her leg on the motorbike muffler. It is bad enough that we needed to get it cleaned up and bandaged.The next day we went to another church for a special dedication service for a new pastor and his wife. We had to leave at 6:30am so we left the kids at home as they ere exhausted (so were we!). It was like a wedding. Everyone was dressed up. The mens with shirts, ties and pants and all the ladies wearing dresses. The church was even decorated. There must have been 800 people there. The service was long and all in Vietnamese but our fund was able to translate some of the sermon and prayers for us. The service was followed at 11:30 by a huge lunch of stir fry beef and a hotpot.
The next morning we took the bus to Ho Chi Minh city sad to say goodbye to all our new friends and Ms Ha our guest house landlady. While Jenny and I were away the previous morning she had assumed responsibility of our kids and then them for breakfast and an hour later a huge lunch. Jemma is so polite she nearly burst as she struggled to refuse the hospitality. Maybe that led to the next day’s super high fever in Ho Chi Minh city (HCMC).
The next day I popped in to a pharmacy, they are on every corner, and asked if they had Silverdene, a good ointment for burns. Next thing I know I have 9 packets of pills, three packets day for the next three days for 64,000 Vietnamese Dong, or $4 CDN. Jemma took one pack and we carried on our way to a huge water park. Of course Jemma cant go in the water so Ryan and I start by tackling the Kamikaze water slide. Jenny had read some reviews that said that the park is not maintained terribly well and many people have reported injuries. That being said I looked down the kamikaze slide and thought ‘that doesn't look too bad’ and Ryan and I went for it. The slide wasn't too steep but as I put my arms out at the bottom I felt them wrench backwards. Ooh, not doing that slide again! No serious damage, on to the next slide. A tube slide. I’m not sure what caused the back slamming as the tube slide is completely dark but it felt like I was going over corrugated plastic. All I could do was try not to feel claustrophobic and the slide would end soon. I asked Ryan ‘Did you enjoy that?’ he said ‘Not really, but I want to do it again’. That kind of sums up the water park. Now add 10,000 people to the lazy river, seriously, how can you float when you cant move? I didn't take any photos as we left the phone at home as we were warned not to take anything valuable with us.
By now Jemma is feeling worse so we went back home. Jenny had been googling the antibiotic that Jemma was taking and did not like the look of the side effects and toxicity warnings. We decided that she would not take any more pills and I took her to a vietnamese hospital to get her would checked and have a doctor prescribe medication. I guess I assumed that the pharmacist was actually a pharmacist. Hmm. The vietnamese hospital was more like an ER with people groaning and bleeding from various places. Not a single person spoke English but a doctor (I assume that was his qualification) cleaned up Jemma’s would and put a clean dressing on it. I tried to ask about the medicine I had been given and with very poor communication he wrote a prescription for some new antibiotics which turned out to be Amoxicillin.
Jemma was still feeling quite weak but w managed to get her back up the five flights of stairs of our new accommodation which was an $8/day room in the city. Large metal creaking doors with huge padlocks it felt a bit more like a prison cell than hotel room but what can you do when you are on a budget?
An hour later Jemma started burning up. She had a super high fever and had the chills. Jenny was googling like crazy all the meds trying to understand what they were so we decided to go to a western clinic. We had called our insurance provider and they had advise several clinics in HCMC. Jemma was in no state to move but we had no choice. We were now quite worried about her so we careful helped her back down the 10 flights of stairs (five floors) into a taxi and took an hour to go about 10km across HCM City.
It is a sea of motorbikes there.
It was awesome seeing Jemma get so well looked after. They took her vitals, took some blood an tested her for everything. All tests came back negative which is good news but it left us wondering what to do next. We were scheduled to fly to Phu Quoc the next day at 8:30am. She was feeling a bit better because the tylenol was reducing the fever so we went home (cost was $630USD - thank you Pacific Blue Cross). The next morning, negotiate the 10 flights with bags, help Jemma into a taxi and off to Phu Quoc. Jenny arranged a wheel chair for Jemma, deja vous, and they got priority boarding while Ryan and I toured the airport shops.
Thank you Jesus, Jemma is a lot better today (we arrived yesterday). No fever, a bit of a headache and her leg is looking great. Unfortunately for Jemma she cant swim so even though we are in a tropical paradise Jemma cant enjoy the water. Oh. well. That as a very long post.
Here are some photos.

Out at the village. The man in the middle is 9 and his wife is 84. 

They live in a hut with dirt floors.

Ms Ha on our bicycle tour. She and Ryan led and we followed on bikes.

A church in Can Tho.

Downstairs for Tuesday night bible study.

March 1st (Week 11 Vietnam - Can Tho, Mekong Delta)

Lots of photos this time.

Squid at the market 

The Zoo Hostel is on the second floor of the apartment

The big cahuna of the monkey troup

Our guides. The lady is calling the monkeys

Another monkey..

Pho for breakfast (6:15am) on the Mekong - love it!

The pythons 

Banana king

Crossing a dodgy bridge

While driving the boat our captain made this bouquet for us out of reeds

An 88yr old lady we met on our bike tour

Jenny, Jemma and I actually rode bikes. Ryan and our guide got the easy rider. 

Hoi An turned out to be so nice we stayed five days there. After our initial sunburn the weather was kind to us and remained rainy and cloudy for the next few days. I realized that this week was supposed to be for relaxation after Hanoi so we settled in to an easy routine. We exchanged the mopeds for peddle bikes and spent each day riding around town, eating at the market and some shopping.

Our flight to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) was an easy 1hr but the 15min taxi ride took 45mins as the taxi driver wasn't sure where our hostel was. We had decided to try and save some money on accommodation and went for the ‘Saigon Zoo Hostel’.
Four bunkbeds in a family room with our own bathroom. Let’s just say it was a shock after the Red House Homestay. It was hot, the AC didn't work and it was best not to touch the bathroom floor. I’m not sure what was more unhygienic, stepping on the floor in bare feet or wearing the flip flops provided? Just saying.
It was a hot, sweaty night and we were woken by the sound of tropical birds from the zoo just across the river. We spent the morning at the zoo which is one of the oldest zoos in the world. Some of the cages and animals looked original. It was fun for Jemma and Ryan as this is the first zoo they have been to.

The following day we took a 3hr bus down to Can Tho on the Mekong Delta. We fell in the love with Can Tho instantly. The roads are wide and the traffic is 1/5 of any other city. It seems like a small town but its the third largest city in Vietnam. Last night we went on a 4hr boat ride to Monkey island and we were able to feed a troup of wild monkeys. The next morning we were up at 4:45am for our 7hr sunrise cruise and tour. We ate pho in our boat (a bucket list item), saw a snake farm (snakes bred for their meat and skins) , saw tons of wild bananas, jackfruit, mangos, papya and rice fields.
We are staying in another homestay which is squeaky clean. The owner, Mrs Ha, booked us our three separate tours right away which have all been amazing.
We plan to stay here for a week and then a couple of days back in HCM City before flying over to Phu Quoc a week today (Monday).